Chapter 46 – Drinking with the guys

After class, Rachel, Nayun, and Yeonha headed off to have a girl's night, taking Evandel with them.

The moment that happened, Suho immediately grabbed Lee and Hajin, insisting on sharing a drink with them.

And like that, the three male Cube Cadets found themselves back in Wonju at a bar Suho picked out, one that asked no questions.

Hajin looked around at the mercenaries hanging around and said, "Are you sure we can be in here, Suho?"

Suho laughed and poured Hajin a shot of soju. "Relax, Hajin. I come here all the time to unwind."

Hajin looked surprised and said, "You drink? No, you come here to unwind?"

Lee chuckled, taking the shot of soju that Suho poured him. "What's so surprising? Being number one takes a toll on you."

"Cheers to that." Suho chuckled and raised his glass.

Hajin raised his too, clinking it with Suho and Lee. After that, he downed it and said, "I never took you for a drinker though, Suho."

"Mm." Suho poured another shot of soju and said, "I usually don't. But after everything that's happened, I figured we could use a bit to unwind."

Lee took the refilled shot glass and raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't invite your buddy? What was his name... Yeonga?"

Suho chuckled and said, "Yi Yeonghan. And you should pay more attention, Lee. He's our class president, you know?"

Lee shrugged. "It's fine. He seems like a guy who doesn't care about much."

Hajin took the shot Suho slid towards him and said, "Isn't that you? Other than Rachel and your daughter... and maybe Nayun, you really don't care about anything, do you?"

"Hey." Lee pointed at Hajin and said, "I care about things. Like getting number one at Cube. So watch your neck, Suho. I'm heading for your spot."

Suho looked amused and said, "I'm number one in combat, not overall. Won't you have to beat your wife too?"

Hajin coughed mid-sip of his shot, smacking his chest. "W-Wife?! Lee? And Rachel?!"

Suho rolled his eyes. "Come on, Hajin. They're as obvious a couple as you and Yeonha."

"WHAT?! Yeonha and I aren't-! I mean, she's pretty cute and rich, but-"

"Wooow." Lee teased. "I see how it is. You're the type to go for a sugar mama, huh?"

"That's not...! I mean... N-No! Definitely not!" Hajin crossed his arms. "Yeonha and I are just business partners!"

Suho raised an eyebrow. "Right. Business partners..."

Lee shrugged and said, "You can call yourself business partners all you want. But when you start calling yourself partners, share a bank account, and start living together..."

Hajin pointed at Lee and said, "W-Well, what about you, huh? Rachel's cute and rich! Aren't you just going after her for that?"

"What?" Lee blinked. "Of course not. If I want money, I can just go hunt down a few bounties at this point."

Since he had confirmed the limits of his Gift as well as the mechanics of <Mana Manipulation>, money was a solved problem.

Hajin paused. Then he sighed. "...Right. You're crazy like that."

"Hey." Lee pointed at Hajin. "If I'm crazy, you're crazier. What kind of cheat lets you use every long ranged projectile weapon like that?"

Hajin's ears turned red and he said, "I can't use EVERY projectile weapon..."

Suho snorted. "I saw the mess at the museum, Hajin. And you were using that meteor hammer during Anti-Personnel class like you had it your whole life. Don't lie."

"...Okay, maybe I can use most projectile weapons."

Lee paused. "Wait. Doesn't that mean you can use a spear too? Like, actually throwing it?"

Hajin opened his mouth. Then he paused, furrowing his brow to think about it. "...I did throw a few bone spears in the museum..."

Lee burst out laughing and said, "Doesn't that mean you can do that meme? What is it... Moon Knight? The 'random bullshit go?' Where he just throws everything and the kitchen sink?"

Suho burst out laughing too and said, "Hajin definitely could do that, couldn't he? After all, if you count anything thrown as a projectile weapon..."

Hajin slowly blinked. Then he placed a hand on his chin, seriously considering it. "...You're absolutely right. Did I accidentally make a bullshit Gift?"

Lee pretended to not hear it.

But Suho's eyebrows widened. "...MAKE a Gift?"

Hajin coughed. "Uh..." He glanced at the soju and let out a nervous laugh. "Must be the alcohol. Slip of the tongue..."

"...Uh huh." Suho didn't look convinced. But he decided to let it slide. Instead, he looked at Lee and raised his glass. "So... did you wake up today and decide to ruin Jonghak's day?"

Lee clinked his glass against Suho's and shared a shot with him. Then he said, "I decided to ruin his day when he decided to ruin mine. I was going to wait until exams, but someone decided to be a little brat and try to show off in front of his crush."

Hajin chuckled. "Yeah, Jonghak has a bit of an inferiority complex..."

Suho raised an eyebrow. "You remember that, but not about Nayun's older brother?"

Hajin cleared his throat. "That's... uh..." He quickly poured himself another shot to dodge the question.

Lee poured a shot for Suho and said, "Relax. Clearly his Gift burned all his memories too. Haven't you noticed how he's just been improvising the entire time Cube started?"

Hajin coughed, stuck in the middle of drinking his shot. Then he looked at Lee with his eyes wide. "You noticed?! I mean... Fuck my life." Hajin groaned.

Suho looked genuinely concerned. "...So that's why you suck now. I remembered you being at least decent with the sword... but now you seem like you haven't touched one your entire life."

Lee nodded, deciding to throw Hajin a bone. "Yeah. Enlightenment can do that, I heard. Like, isn't Nayun's grandfather losing his emotions due to his Gift?"

Suho paused. "...That's true." He looked back at Hajin and frowned. "...Is that happening to you too, Hajin?"

Hajin quickly shook his head. "No! It's nothing that extreme. I just, uh... Well." He rubbed his neck and muttered, "It's complicated. I guess you could say I got a big setback the moment Cube started? I'll catch up soon though."

Lee poured Hajin a shot and said, "Considering how much Yeonha's feeding you, definitely sooner rather than later."

Hajin took the shot and toasted Lee, downing it. Then he said, "Enough about me. What about you, Lee? That technique you used against Shin Jonghak... what was that?"

It was a clear probing question.

Lee saw right through it... mostly because Hajin had a terrible poker face.

But Suho looked curious too and said, "That's right. It was definitely a martial arts... but it looked like a spear technique, but with empty hands?"

"Mmhm." Lee nodded. "It's nothing much. Just a rederivation of bajiquan from Li Shuwen's martial arts. It's not the real thing, more like my interpretation of it."

Hajin's eyes widened, and then he nodded his head like he confirmed something.

...Lee was curious what was going on in Hajin's head considering he was starting to seem as delusional as Yeonha these days... probably because they hung around each other so much.

But before he could ask, Suho looked over and said, "A 'rederivation?' And Li Shuwen... isn't that the Godly Spear or something? I heard Jonghak talk about him once when he was mentioning famous spears."

Lee nodded. "That's right. He's pretty famous. His whole philosophy was 'no second strike' meaning that every blow he did, even if it was a feint, was enough to kill. He also had the whole theory about encompassing an opponent in qi or something." He shrugged and said, "I don't remember the details. Just the myths. And I'm trying to recreate them."

Suho looked impressed and said, "I see... So that's why you move like that in battle. You don't fight. You just end the encounter." He paused and chuckled. "...And why I couldn't get past you. I have to trade a blow to get one from you, don't I?"

Lee looked impressed too and said, "You figured it out, huh? That's right. Moving from a ready stance is faster than moving between steps. And when you advance, you leave a tiny gap to exploit. If I'm defending an area, you have to trade to reach me."

Suho rubbed his chin. "Hm... but that means that you suck at offense." He paused. "...Actually, I've never seen you move to attack, only counter."

Lee laughed. "Well, a halberd is meant for defending. If I want to attack, I need a spear or something like a glaive. But in that case, I'll need to end the fight immediately with lethal blows... so it's not good for training."

Hajin looked confused and said, "Uh... why are you not training with your spear then? You have one, right?"

Suho's eyes widened. Then he laughed and said, "Oh, you're cheeky. You're deliberately separating muscle memory with different weapons to shift styles on the fly."

Hajin blinked. "...What?"

Lee rolled his eyes and said, "Unlike someone here who has a cheat-like Gift that autocorrects his movements, us mere mortals have to actually train on how to use weapons. I'm using a halberd in class because I don't want muscle memory making me accidentally go for kill shots. Also what Suho said in mixing up styles on the fly to confuse people."

Hajin's eyes widened in shock. But then they narrowed in understanding. "...I never thought about that in the setting..."

Suho raised an eyebrow. "Setting?" He nudged Hajin with an elbow and said, "Hey, Hajin. Don't tell me you're secretly writing a NovelFire like the ones Heroes read."

Hajin turned a bright red. "What? N-No! Of course not! Besides..." He slowly regained his composure and looked bitter. "...Even if I did, it would suck."

Lee paused. "Wait. Suho. Back up."

"Hm?" Suho looked at Lee. "Back up what?"

Lee looked at Suho and said, "...Are you telling me that Heroes read NovelFires? Like, there's a market for them?"

Suho looked amused and said, "Of course. Aren't they pretty much the only easy source of entertainment when out on the field? Since Dungeons mess with reception, you can't stream anything. And video can get distorted too. Text is simple though and you can save them on the go."

Lee stopped for a minute to think.

...While he had stopped reading The Novel's Extra, that didn't mean that Lee had stopped reading NovelFires in general.

And if this was a different history...

'This is a goldmine.'

It was plagiarism. Absolutely wholesale plagiarism.

And if Hajin caught wind of it, he would absolutely be suspicious.

...But on the other hand, easy money.

And since Lee had a superhuman body... at least in comparison to a normal human...

'I can literally write like 20K words a day at a bare minimum and 100K if I push it.'

That would be a nice source of passive income to get gifts for Evandel...

Suho looked amused and said, "What's with that look, Lee? You have the face of someone who just struck gold... Are you planning to become an author?"

Lee hummed and said, "Well. My baby girl DOES need an allowance... and I have loans to pay off. It's also definitely safer than being a full-time Hero..."

Suho laughed. "Well, cheers to that." He raised his shot glass and said, "If you make it big, buy me a nice sword or something."

Lee chuckled and said, "Sure. I'll go steal Excalibur when I head back with Rachel to England or something."

"..." Hajin looked between Lee and Suho and said, "...Can we even joke about that?"

Lee downed his shot and said, "Relax, Hajin. I'll get you something too. The Clacton Spear is in London. It's broken, but you could probably get some use out of it as a projectile weapon."

Hajin blinked. "The Clacton Spear? What's that?"

Lee paused. "...Like. The literal oldest spear in all of human history from over 400,000 years ago?"

"...What?"

Lee stared at Hajin. Then he slowly said, "...You aren't that smart or well-read, are you, Hajin...?"

Hajin's ears turned red.

Suho burst out laughing.