Conquering the Academy with Just a Sashimi Knife (Novel) - Chapter 81 - Festival - Sashimi Sword Saint (1)

Chapter 81 – Festival – Sashimi Sword Saint (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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A shiver swept across the backs of the spectators.

Subspace declared victory and defeat.

The victor was Kang Geom-ma, cadet of Hoakin Academy.

The loser was Mao Lang of the Iron Legs.

It was an unbelievable situation.

Mao Lang of House Iron King had been cut down in a single exchange.

In truth, there was no one who knew exactly how many sword strikes had been exchanged.

All they had barely managed to catch was a single slash.

It was the judgment of the sacred subspace.

Even the civilians knew how foolish it would be to raise objections to that point.

But reality and human recognition were different matters entirely.

To the eyes of the spectators, it looked as though Kang Geom-ma had simply flicked his sword once, and Mao Lang had cried out and died.

They could not even properly take in that single exchange.

It was like some delusion had overtaken them, as though process and result had been reversed in a single strike.

No matter how fast a hand might be, could a human really produce a speed like that?

As shock spread through the stood of the training grounds, Kang Geom-ma slowly began to walk.

Step, step.

Toward Mao Lang.

At that, a tremor ran through the skin of the spectators.

‘Th-that bastard, he’s planning to finish it completely…!’

It was a subspace duel, a place outside physical reality.

Mao Lang’s heart might have been broken, but there was not even a fingernail’s worth of physical damage on her.

If the limbs remained intact, then even a broken spirit could be gathered back together.

But once an arm or leg had truly been cut off, no amount of bitter resolve would make it grow back.

That was right. That black-haired bastard meant to cut Mao Lang down in reality.

The staff who had been watching the duel were startled and rushed out.

It was just as hard for them to believe as anyone else, so their bodies were stiff, but if things continued like this a horrifying bloodbath would follow.

At that sight, Kang Geom-ma’s brow twisted.

‘What the hell are those idiots thinking?’

Did they seriously think he was about to lay hands on her himself?

It irritated him. He was no executioner. There was no way he would start swinging a blade in front of everyone.

He now understood well enough how he appeared to them.

“Haa.”

Kang Geom-ma sighed and shoved the sword back into his pocket.

He gestured for them to stay back. Only after he made it clear he had no intent to attack did the staff finally slow their steps.

Relief showed on some of the staff members’ faces.

To be honest, they had not wanted to go anywhere near that cadet in the first place.

The aura he gave off, despite being only seventeen, weighed heavily on their shoulders.

Kang Geom-ma stopped directly at Mao Lang’s feet.

The joints of the arm she had braced against the dirt jerked violently left and right.

“……”

Mao Lang lowered her eyes. A monster beyond all common measure stood before her.

That alone made it feel as though even the last traces of strength remaining in her body were being sucked out into the ground.

Kang Geom-ma looked down at her in silence. His eyes carried a sharpness like a blade. He opened his mouth in a low voice.

“Did you drop a coin on the ground or something.”

The words struck her out of nowhere, and Mao Lang lifted her head.

Was he joking? If so, then why were his eyes so cold?

This cadet was not only monstrous in strength, but brilliant in mind as well.

There was no way he would suddenly throw out a joke like this in such a situation.

Yet no matter how desperately she wrung her brain, she could not grasp the meaning of his words.

No, to be exact, she did not even dare try to grasp it.

How could an ordinary person like herself possibly understand a monster like this?

In the end, Mao Lang bowed her head low.

At the bottom of her heart, deep cracks were splitting open.

Kang Geom-ma gazed at Mao Lang without expression. His eyes were dry, as though all emotion had already frozen over.

Mao Lang feared those eyes. Yet she still forced her neck to work.

“You…”

The instant her lips parted, Kang Geom-ma turned away exactly as he was.

As though he had no intention of waiting to hear what came next. He moved forward without a word.

“……”

Mao Lang stared at Kang Geom-ma’s back.

There was no way for her to understand what this act of disregard truly meant.

A sparrow could never fathom the inner thoughts of a phoenix.

Thud.

Kang Geom-ma suddenly came to a stop.

Slowly, very slowly, he turned back only halfway.

An indescribable pressure crushed down on Mao Lang’s reason.

Kang Geom-ma looked down at her with just a sidelong glance and spoke.

“Don’t ever call kimchi by some pao-whatever name again. If you do that one more time…”

Kang Geom-ma gave a quick flick. The sheath of the sashimi knife slid back by the width of a palm.

A cold sound came from the blade.

Mao Lang swallowed dryly and nodded.

“…O-okay.”

Kang Geom-ma said nothing more. At this point, she would surely interpret the rest on her own.

To be honest, the fact that kimchi had become his trigger point felt embarrassing in hindsight.

In cases like that, you leave space in your words. The other person would expand that space with their own imagination.

That was a lesson he had learned from a few instances of intimidation after being dropped into this world.

Added to that was the `mental stature` of the Blessing of the Sword God.

Even a careless remark carried weight when it came out of him.

Ironically, Kang Geom-ma himself had no awareness of that fact.

He merely thought that Mao Lang had frightened herself into compliance because of the display of force from earlier.

In response, Mao Lang misunderstood the action in a completely different direction.

‘Showing me the sashimi blade at the very end means…’

This was not a simple threat. It was a political gesture.

A Korean wielding a Japanese-style sashimi knife. The truth of that must be his intention to encompass both Korea and Japan. Was that not also why he insisted so strongly on sashimi in the first place?

And so, to her, a representative of China, he had presented a choice.

‘Either stand with him, or else…’

“Ha.”

Mao Lang let out a hollow laugh. Then she stared at the back growing more distant.

The back of a figure that looked lonely, desolate.

Mao Lang reflexively stretched out her hand. Through the gaps between her fingers, the black hair entered her view.

She had seen those called geniuses before. In her cadet days there had been All Mute, and after entering society there had been the Seven-Star Heroes.

But that boy was walking in a realm that effort alone could never reach.

“……”

Clench.

She tightened the hand she had stretched out. At the same time, she shook off the yearning she had felt toward a genius.

A being that cannot be understood was endlessly lonely.

Mao Lang felt the full meaning of those words laid plainly before her eyes.

* * *

The corridor leading to the training ground waiting room.

Supported by one of her attendants, Mao Lang staggered toward the waiting room.

An enormous sense of exhaustion was cutting through her body. She could hardly even move a finger.

One of her attendants asked in concern.

“…Lady Mao Lang, are you alright?”

“It was subspace, so I don’t have a single injury. I’m fine. More than that… I feel a bit sorry toward the people of my country. I was someone meant to represent the continent, after all. But now I’ve lost to a seventeen-year-old, so won’t our international standing be a joke…”

“……”

A shadow fell over the attendant’s face. Mao Lang smiled at the corner of her mouth.

“That’s what I’d like to say, but don’t worry. Kang Geom-ma is going to climb much higher before long. Once that happens, my own evaluation will naturally rise with it.”

The attendant inwardly marveled. Even after making such a grave mistake, she was already thinking like this.

‘As expected, Lady Mao Lang is someone deeply versed in hidden principles.’

She was not swept away by petty emotions. That was the very reason this attendant respected Mao Lang.

Mao Lang gave a shrug. Sweeping her hair back, she added.

“It’s actually better that I got beaten by him at this timing. If it had happened later, it would have been even more humiliating. Just wait and see. Whether it’s All Mute or Mahatma Sindbad, they’ll be kneeling to him soon enough. I should just think of it as me having the bad luck of drawing my number ticket too early.”

“That cadet… was he really that much? No matter how much of a genius he is, I can’t understand why you would evaluate him so highly, Lady Mao Lang…”

Mao Lang answered with a short, breathless laugh.

“He’s a monster.”

* * *

The lounge area reserved for outsiders at Hoakin Academy.

Tadadadak.

Men with cameras hanging around their necks hammered away at their laptops. Most of them looked flushed with excitement. To them as well, this festival was an unexpected piece of good fortune.

“Hmm.”

Among them, one man’s fingers came to a halt. Only the cursor kept blinking upon his retina.

‘The Star of the Continent, Mao Lang, Falls!…’

He tapped his temple as he organized the words floating in his mind.

“Hey, Reporter Yoon! What’s with that look on your face!?”

“Ah, Reporter Han.”

Reporter Han approached him while sipping instant coffee. The veteran air of a journalist showed even in his shaggy hair. Barred yellow teeth showing, Han spoke.

“Why are you sitting here all solemn by yourself on a day like this, Yoon? Just look around. Everyone else looks thrilled. There was already plenty to see at this festival, and now a blockbuster story just dropped right out of the sky!”

“…That’s true.”

An hour earlier, Mao Lang of the Iron Legs had been defeated by a first-year cadet. Most people had assumed it would be a one-sided display of violence from her.

Instead, the result had smashed everyone across the back of the head. Reporter Yoon still had not recovered from the shock, and his body tingled.

“What do you think about it, Reporter Han?”

“About what?”

Reporter Yoon spoke in a faint voice.

“No, I just can’t make sense of it with my common sense. How does an academy cadet beat Mao Lang? I was even there in person, and I still couldn’t properly see what happened in the match. And on top of that, I don’t have enough information about that cadet to write an article…”

Reporter Han rubbed his rough chin and replied.

“Who knows. Can ordinary people like us understand the world of heroes? We should just be satisfied that we got ourselves a story. Yoon, a reporter thinks too much and it does him no favors. Our job is to season things heavily with the spices people like and scatter them everywhere.”

“Even so.”

While gently massaging the back of Yoon’s neck, Han added.

“What’s gotten into you today? You’re usually famous for being good at structuring things. Put some strength into your shoulders and fingers. In the old days we’d run around and report all the inner workings, sure, but nowadays that’s all useless nonsense. Just adjust the flavor properly and put it out there. The public will handle the imagination part on their own. And besides, we already got ourselves a perfect character. A genius academy cadet who defeated Iron Legs. Just try tacking on some keywords the public would swarm over.”

“…Understood.”

Reporter Han let out a rough, easygoing laugh.

“Good, good. Once this festival’s over, let’s head out and knock back a few glasses of soju. Alright, I’m off!”

With those words, Reporter Han left his seat. Looking at the back growing farther away, Reporter Yoon murmured as though chewing on the thought.

“What kind of wind got into me, anyway.”

It was a kind of hesitation unlike him. He only had to do as he always did.

Spreading gossip was what reporters did. Still, an indescribable discomfort kept circling in his chest.

Reporter Yoon shook his head, brushing the stray thoughts away. He resumed moving the fingers that had stopped and revised the headline.

People always cheered for a new face. All you had to do was add a subject anyone could recognize to it.

As the direction of the article settled into place, a smile rose at the corner of Reporter Yoon’s mouth.

Tap, tap, tap.

A bright rhythm rang out, as though he were striking piano keys.

‘The monstrous newcomer who brought the Star of the Continent to her knees…’

The clattering stopped for a moment. The fingers choosing the words turned cautious. Depending on the keyword, a great many things would change. At that moment, certain words brushed through his mind.

“…Provocative, but unmistakable.”

Reporter Yoon murmured for a moment.

“Yeah. This is the one.”

Tap!

At last his index finger placed the period at the end of the title.

‘The Sashimi Sword Saint.’

After finishing the typing, Reporter Yoon stared hard at the screen.

Then color came into his face, and he snapped the laptop shut.

“I ought to buy Reporter Han a drink later.”

He smiled brightly as he gathered up his camera.