Chapter 58 – Tit for Tat (1)

Lee hummed to himself as he started the walk back to the dorms after the recruitment talk... Or essentially recruitment interview with Boss.

'Yi Byul, huh?'

The name didn't ring a bell in Lee's head... but then again, at this point, he had been memoryholed of The Novel's Extra anyway.

Honestly, it was like trying to remember all the details of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Like, there was the sorting, the owls sending Harry letters, Snape being mistaken as the big bad... but like trying to remember everything?

Unless you were a diehard fan, that was impossible... Especially if it had been years since you reread it.

So Lee remembering any details from the Novel's Extra past the opening was already miraculous... and he was hoping that the Perception increase along with his Intelligence stat would mean he could piece it together, but...

'Guess you can't make something from nothing.'

...You couldn't remember what you never memorized in the first place, apparently.

As Lee stretched and took a look around, he saw that the sun was already starting to set.

In the distance, he could vaguely hear sounds of explosions and some people shouting... probably Cheok Jungyeong fighting that serpent dragon Boss mentioned.

'That should be fun later.'

If he was the real deal, they could do a trade. Lee had some theories about martial arts that needed someone skilled enough to execute them, and he also wanted to test some hypothesis about bladework with a guy who had mastered the sword.

Originally, he thought about asking Suho... but considering that Suho was more of a sword 'user' rather than a sword 'master,' it wouldn't be much help.

That guy was very much 'sword goes slash' rather than 'use every bit of the sword to fight with.'

But anyway-

"Yo."

"...Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Lee chuckled and looked towards the voice to see Suho walking over.

Suho looked amused and brushed his dyed blue hair bangs out of his eyes. "I take offense to being called a devil. I'm more of a knight and hero than a bad guy, you know?"

"Please." Lee chuckled. "I saw the replays of your spar against Jonghak. I know a battle junkie when I see one."

Suho's ears turned a bit red and he laughed. "Well, that's on you." He idly rested his hand on his training sword and said, "I'd been stuck in improving my swordsmanship for a while. Since a new path's been opened, it'd be disrespectful to not see how far it goes, right?"

"That's true." Lee nodded. "If you can keep going, keep going, right?"

"Exactly."

After that, Lee and Suho started walking back towards the dorms together.

Suho stretched and said, "I heard you had a battle royale to finish up your duels? How'd that go?"

"Pretty fun. We all had a laugh about it." Lee chuckled and said, "Everyone who nominated me knew they wouldn't win one-on-one after the first few matches, but they already got paid off, so they couldn't refuse too. I just made a situation where we all won."

Suho laughed and said, "So it's true then, huh?" He looked amused and said, "Rachel's fanclub finally came to try and get you."

"Try is the operative term here." Lee chuckled. "Considering everyone in our class is still a teenager and never really took training martial arts seriously, I'll win against everyone except you and a few others."

Suho looked surprised and said, "You think you can't beat me?"

"Well, we'd probably draw. Your instincts are a bit too on point." Lee paused. "...Well, I guess since my physique improved a bit, it'd be close. But I saw that you've been improving too, so it'd be a toss-up."

Suho let out a soft smile and said, "I'm flattered you think so highly of me."

"You've got talent and experience, as well as dedication. It's a holy trinity." Lee chuckled. "And you can use magic too, so it'd be hard to win unless I beat you in three."

Suho chuckled. "That's true... I always forget that you can't use magic."

Lee nodded and said, "Magic is a very important factor for melee fighters. If you can cast it and fight at the same time... or cast it and close the gap, it's pretty much a checkmate. Like with my Rachel."

Suho looked amused and said, "'My' Rachel, huh?"

Lee smirked and said, "At this point, I dare people to try and keep us apart."

...Mostly because he had a literal power in the shadows backing him now who had unironically promised him the world if he helped them kill a guy.

Suho laughed and idly tapped Lee's arm with his fist. "That's the boldness I'm used to."

"Gotta be bold in this sort of world, Suho. I mean, have you seen Hajin?"

"Oh, I think EVERYONE's seen Hajin at this point..." Suho chuckled and said, "He's all over social media. The Sadistic War Machine is trending on Neighbor, you know?"

Lee blinked. "Neighbor- Oh, right. The search engine. I always forget how weird some of the names for those stuff are."

Was it because Hajin was terrified of copyright and trademark laws? Stuff that was Korean was parodied, like how Neighbor was Naver, but Google was still Google...

"But trending, huh?" Lee chuckled. "Yeonha is either going to kill him or kiss him for the publicity."

"Probably both."

Lee chuckled again. "Yeah, probably both... Although rumor has it Yeonha might be an M, sooo..."

Suho quickly took a look around and said, "Hey now, you might be able to get away with calling her that, but some of us are still in firing range."

"Sorry not sorry."

Suho rolled his eyes.

For a while, they walked along the path, making small talk.

And then Suho said, "Before I forget, do you mind if I nominate you tomorrow?"

Lee blinked. "You sure? You're going to be losing points even if you win."

Suho waved his hand and said, "It'd be worth the experience... but I have a condition. Think of it like an exchange for the free exam points."

"Mm... I'm listening."

"Use a sword."

Lee tilted his head and laughed. "You're still hung up on that, huh?"

"Obviously." Suho stared at Lee with a serious expression. "You chose the halberd and a spear because of weapon advantages since you lacked mana. But you clearly have technique. So I want to see it."

Lee hummed and said, "And what if I don't want to?"

"I'll tell Eva the reason I can't give her chocolate anymore is because of you."

Lee froze. "You wouldn't."

"You know I would."

"Tch." Lee grumbled. "Fine. I guess I should test something out now too."

Lee's mana was completely gone now... but he could still use <Mana Manipulation>.

Of course, that wouldn't let him use magic. Just because he could mold mana didn't mean he could make it cast a spell.

...At least, not without a lot of workshopping.

Either way, that didn't interest Lee. No, what interested Lee was martial arts and its various applications.

And an application that he thought about after chatting with Boss about his experience in swordplay...

'I should be able to use those forms properly now, right?'

Suho gave Lee a side-eye and said, "I know that look. That's the look of someone who just discovered a jackpot... like when I mentioned NovelFires were a thing."

Lee chuckled. "Oh, you'll find out tomorrow. You should nominate me first thing in the morning. I'm going to be nominating a few people myself, and there might still be some people crazy enough to nominate me. My schedule could fill up pretty fast."

"Bet." Suho immediately held up his smartwatch.

A few seconds later, Lee's smartwatch pinged with a confirmation on a duel with Suho at 8:00 AM sharp.

Lee chuckled. "You'd better be prepared, Suho. I'm not going to go easy on you since you used Eva against me."

Suho chuckled too and said, "That's exactly why." He stared at Lee and said, "...I have a feeling I'll figure out something amazing sparring against you."

"We'll see, we'll see... Also, thanks for the reminder." Lee pulled up his smartwatch and nominated Hajin for a duel at 9:00 AM.

Suho noticed and laughed. "You're going to duel Hajin?"

"Yep. If what I plan to use against you works, it'll be super funny fighting that guy next."

Suho raised an eyebrow. "...Now I'm really curious about what you have planned."

"Oh, you'll see. You'll see..."

'This world is not ready for lightsaber forms applied to real combat...'