Unrecognizable (6)

Immediately after the final blows of the battle rang out, which didn’t sound like they belonged to two first years, the hall became silent. It was the first time they had seen the true nature of Baek In-ha, who rarely had the opportunity to show off his skills for lack of the right opponent.

“He won that…”

“It’s true his trait has evolved. He must be using something other than magic.” His pace was so fast that it felt impossible to catch up with. No matter how much his status had been strengthened, even with the added boost from Golden Dragon and his spiritual power, he was too fast for Kang Shin-hyuk to catch. If so, how could he fight back? That was because the trait skill, Golden Dragon Fighter, enabled him to read and alter the behavior of Baek In-ha with Wind Mastery at the last minute.

“Lost…” Baek was stunned, coming to his senses shortly after thanks to his magical power. He stayed on the floor, however, mumbling like that.

“You act like you’ve never lost.” Kang Shin-hyuk was refreshed by the thought he had done so in front of everyone’s eyes as he helped Baek up. He had thought once that he would never overcome his friend, and it filled him with something he couldn’t yet describe.

“It hurts…”

“Because I hit you in the head.” He had a broken arm, too, so he would need to go to the health center. Kang Shin-hyuk supported him.

“Sir, I’ll take In-ha to the health center.”

“Yes, yes.” Gong Joonpyo replied awkwardly as he remained frozen in place. The moment he became the Rookie King, he was already as strong as the teacher. Now, Shin-hyuk was well beyond him.

“Ah, are you not taking me? I’m sick too.” Karen spoke up behind, and Kang Shin-hyuk replied with a laugh without looking back.

“Ask Do Woojin.”

“Ahhh…”

“Don’t look at me with those eyes, I don’t like it either.” Grumbling, Do Woojin gently supported Karen. However, as a condition, he told Kang Shin-hyuk to fight him after school at the Wyvern Knight’s training center.

“I’ll show you I wasn’t playing around during vacation, either.”

“No, I didn’t think you were.” Do Woojin pouted at him unpleasantly.

“I heard you’ve gotten stronger from a guy who took first place in the school rankings.”

“The number one ranking…”

“You should be prepared.” Do Woojin paused, thinking.

“Since Baek and I both lost to you, I wonder if guys like that will show up to fight us?”

“That’s good…” Baek, supported by Kang Shin-hyuk, heard the words and painfully clenched his fists. He had forgotten he had a broken arm.

“That’s what I want. To strengthen the student council’s authority, we need to actively step on other students.”

“That way of thinking is too militant.”

“I’m excited to hear so from Shinyuk.”

“Are you mad at me?” He took Baek to the health room, where Cha Hye-rin, an active ranker who could use healing magic, was waiting as the health teacher.

“Aren’t you guys…oh.” Cha Hye-rin greeted the party, amazed by their appearance.

“What a fun sight. To see Baek in-ha coming to the health room…”

“His arm is…”

“Wow, it’s shattered.” Cha Hye-rin healed the injuries while quietly mumbling things like that. While there had been some serious wounds, they were easy to take care of thanks to her magic. It was still necessary to rest for a while, however, to fully recover.

“Now, let them rest.”

“Help Woojin out, Shin-hyuk.”

“Karen, you go out too.”

“No, why?” Cha Hye-rin kicked Karen out, who was trying to stick to the bed, claiming that her wounds still hurt. Kang Shin-hyuk was about to leave as well when Baek called out to him.

“Shinyuk, let’s talk.”

“…Okay.” Do Woojin stopped to look at the two before letting out a laugh and leaving. Cha Hye-rin tilted her head but didn’t try to drive him out.

“Would you like some privacy for a minute?”

“I don’t know what sort of misunderstanding you have, but please stop.” Kang Shin-hyuk let out a sigh and sat on the chair opposite the bed Baek In-ha was lying in. Baek had an excited expression on his face.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Huh. Well, it’s not a big deal.” Baek swung his arm around as if to confirm it was still properly attached before nodding, satisfied.

“Would you like to join our guild?”

“Another very abrupt offer…no.”

“Oh, I’m a passionate scout. I’ll be watching quietly, so feel free to talk to me, master.” First of all, he wanted Baek to explain what guild he was talking about. Yet, when he refused, both Baek and Chae Hye-rin, who was nearby, blinked at him in surprise.

“Huh, didn’t you know?”

“What?”

“I guess you really didn’t know. How couldn’t you?”

“No, he’s originally a guy like this.” Kang Shin-hyuk wanted to smack Baek and Cha Hye-rin, who weren’t explaining properly. Baek urgently explained as he felt the danger approaching him.

“Baekyang.”

“Baekyang?!” Baekyang was the second-largest guild in Korea, right behind Vanguard, that also belonged to the top ten in the world. In short, it could be said that Korea was held up by Vanguard and Baekyang. Korea’s high status in superhuman society was thanks to those two guilds leading the country.

“No, wait a minute. Isn’t the guild master determined by a direct line of descendants?”

“Well, my grandfather is in charge.”

“Are you serious…?”

“Rather, it’s even more amazing that you didn’t know. Quite a few kids stay away from me because of it.” Unlike Vanguard, which focused solely on its capabilities as a battle guild, Baekyang was famous for also being associated with various domestic and foreign businesses. It was said that their financial power might actually surpass Vanguard’s, and Baekjuin, the guild master, was ranked among the top five in the world. But the grandson of that man was in front of Kang Shin-hyuk.

“I’m the highest ranked, but that doesn’t mean I’m the only successor. I have quite a few cousins looking to take my position.”

“Baekyang… like that. Looking at it, even back then…” When Lim Hoon, the leader of Vanguard’s team one, tried to recruit him, he mentioned some problems in scouting him. Perhaps that was because he was close to the prince of Baekyang.

“But why now?”

“It’s not that sudden. I’ve wanted to recruit you since the start.” However, Baek In-ha said that he had postponed his offer because he was worried it would hurt Kang Shin-hyuk, who was weaker than himself, to join the guild.

“It would’ve been simpler if we weren’t friends. Taking into consideration your self-esteem…”

“That’s why you’re proudly recruiting me now.”

“I didn’t let you win if that’s what you’re thinking!”

“Would the conditions be better than with Vanguard?”

“Of course, Shinyuk. Let’s start with an executive position right after graduation.” Even though Baek had been defeated, he had a big smile on his face that Kang Shin-hyuk couldn’t help but return. In the end, however, he shook his head.

“Regardless of the conditions, I will refuse.”

“Hey, you’re going to refuse it for Vanguard?”

“It’s because I haven’t felt the need for a guild. If I wanted to join one, however, I would go to Baekyang. So please be satisfied with that for now.”

“I see…” Baek narrowed his eyes as Cha Hye-rin, still nearby, laughed. Kang Shin-hyuk realized with a start that she had been there the entire time.

“Should the teacher be here while we talked about this?”

“She’s originally from Baekyang. She entered the school as my escort and guard.”

“Oh.” It started to sound more and more like a novel. Considering Shinyoung’s strict standards to crack down on corruption, it felt absurd that they had two people from Baekyang.

“The master would have taken on Shinyoung no matter what we did.” Kang Shin-hyuk felt convinced as he heard her words, nodding. She seemed like she was holding back a laugh.

Only

“By the way, go make some other friends in the same year as us.”

“Oh, don’t say that!” Baek in-ha finally exploded. Kang Shin-hyuk stood up with a smile.

“There’s one more thing I forgot to say.”

“Is it about the guild?”

“Oh, you refused the guild already, so listen to this.”

“I won’t help the student council.”

“Ah, please.” In the end, Kang Shin-hyuk let out a small sigh, sure that whatever it was would be related to the student council. He left Baek and the health room behind him, unwilling to listen.

Thus, on the first day of classes for the second semester, Shinyoung’s existing power structure had been overturned by two superhumans.