Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 15

Lesson 4. Rebellion - 3

The rumor spread throughout the school in an instant.

Since Dokgo Yeon and Ortima's duel was being broadcast live on the intranet, by lunchtime, there was hardly anyone in the academy who didn't know Dokgo Yeon's name.

"It seems this Ortima was the most promising freshman. But since it was a close match with them, their reputation is bound to rise."

"No, there was at least one more capable person in that class besides that."

Ban Yu-won, who had summarized what students were buzzing about on the free bulletin board, was contradicted by Dokgo Yeon, who had taken Light's seat next to him.

"I thought you would have been able to find that out."

"I was too focused on your duel."

"Then I suppose it can't be helped."

The distance between Dokgo Yeon and Ban Yu-won had decreased compared to the morning.

It would be more accurate to say that while Ban Yu-won wanted to maintain an appropriate distance, Dokgo Yeon was completely ignoring that and closing the gap.

As a result, the distance with Luciel, who he had just started to get a bit closer to, only grew further.

This was because Luciel was now openly afraid of Dokgo Yeon.

It's unimaginable how the two of them manage to stay in the same room.

"By the way... there's a lot of talk about you too."

"Yeah, since they can't put you down, they're putting me down instead, I guess."

One had desperately fled from the duel, while the other had pushed back against the most promising freshman.

With both of them being from the same lower-dimensional special admission, how much would people have to talk about!

"Indeed, there are many here who don't understand how foolish it is to judge without seeing with their own eyes..."

"I appreciate you thinking highly of me, but I'm still a small fry. We'll see in a week."

Ban Yu-won replied nonchalantly while spreading jam he had brought on a crispy toasted bread and eating it.

Seeing that jam, Dokgo Yeon's eyes changed.

"It smells incredibly sweet."

"Want some?"

Instead of answering, Dokgo Yeon subtly pushed forward the bread on her plate.

As Ban Yu-won chuckled and spread a spoonful of jam on it, Dokgo Yeon carefully brought the bread to her mouth and cautiously bit into it.

"...!"

The moment she tasted the jam-spread bread.

The cross in her eyes spun round and round.

At first, it was scary, but after seeing it a few times, even that became something to get used to.

After thoroughly chewing and swallowing it, Dokgo Yeon held out the remaining bread and asked:

"Can I have some more?"

"It's not particularly expensive or anything."

In fact, it's far more expensive than one might imagine, being the concentrated essence of tens of thousands of fruits, but if it's the price for gaining Dokgo Yeon's favor, it's cheap.

Above all, it's so sweet that just a teaspoon is enough to experience that ecstatic sweetness.

"This is truly... I've tasted all kinds of sweets from the central plains, but this is in a class of its own... Is this your ability?"

"That's right."

"Interesting. ...Very interesting."

No, can't you just say thank you straightforwardly?

Why does she always end up looking at him with that predatory lion-like expression, as if eyeing her prey? He couldn't understand!

But what was even funnier was Light and Luciel on the opposite side, quietly holding out their bread towards him.

"I'll give you some, so stop looking so desperate."

"Sorry, it just smells so sweet."

"Thank you...!"

As he spread the jam for them, Light and Luciel immediately bit into it and simultaneously slumped their shoulders with expressions as if they had ascended to paradise.

"What kind of taste is this..."

"Fruit, it's fruit itself. The essence of incredibly delicious fruit...!"

Meanwhile, Ban Yu-won flinched at Luciel's unexpectedly insightful comment.

Of course, the jam he had just taken out and shared with his classmates was indeed that elixir he had made at his previous home.

There was also a calculation in sharing it with his classmates; after all, there was nothing wrong with those who would grow alongside him becoming stronger.

"It feels like we've eaten something too precious."

"We're a team. Let's share the good things. You can also see it as a return for the kindness you showed this morning."

"Hmm, but still, it seems too much..."

Now that it had come to this, Ban Yu-won thought he should share jam with his classmates every day.

Even if it's just a basic elixir, an elixir is an elixir, and it will help if consumed consistently.

Above all, now that he could go out regularly, he could try producing elixirs here as well.

'I could also try to enhance the effects by adding various other concepts.'

Should he look around the market area today to find materials with good concepts?

As he was thinking this and closing the jam to put it in his inventory, Dokgo Yeon clapped her hands.

"Alright, I'll teach you a move."

"Huh?"

"I mean I'll teach you a martial arts technique as a return for the elixir I just ate."

"Elixir?!"

"Ahem."

Light was startled at the word 'elixir', and Luciel choked.

So she had figured it out, Ban Yu-won thought with surprise, but still refuted:

"It's not really anything precious. The effects are probably minimal."

"Of course, it's minimal. But an elixir that has absolutely no side effects and enhances potential itself is extremely rare. Of course... I'm not saying I'll just teach you for nothing. That thing, could I get a little bit more of it in the future?"

"That's what I was planning to do anyway."

"I see. Then shall we start right away as planned? ...That place should do."

Having finished her meal tray, Dokgo Yeon stood up, grabbed her student ID, and disappeared from there.

She left without even waiting for a response, so he couldn't even say she stood him up.

Ban Yu-won put the remaining ham in his mouth and hurriedly followed her to that place, namely Yumina's lecture hall.

Left alone, Light and Luciel stared blankly at the trays the two had left behind without cleaning up, but remembering the word 'elixir' that Dokgo Yeon had mentioned earlier, they sighed and started clearing them together.

*

"There's no one here. It's wide enough to move around comfortably too."

Dokgo Yeon, who had arrived first and was tapping the air, muttered contentedly and then turned to Ban Yu-won and said,

"I know you're growing rapidly. Perhaps even through real combat. I'll refrain from asking where you've been fighting... But is it your ability or talent that has changed your body posture in just one day?"

"It's ability. Maybe talent too. Though I'm not sure if that would be considered talent for you."

"While it's often said that 'hearing one and understanding ten' is talent, for those who wish to train in martial arts, it's enough to have the knack for remembering and not forgetting what you've seen. Above all, to teach martial arts with set forms and techniques, there's too much preliminary education needed..."

Dokgo Yeon raised her index finger and thrust it towards Ban Yu-won.

"Just this one thing for now."

Slowly, steadily.

But as the finger, imbued with fierce power, cut through the air and approached his eyes, Ban Yu-won could only stare at it, not daring to move an inch.

[Pierce (貫)]

A movement that focuses solely on piercing through and passing a single point.

He was certain that if this continued straight on, it would pierce through his eyes and head.

Ban Yu-won was so captivated by the depth of this concept, 'originating from human movement,' that he experienced for the first time in his life, he couldn't come to his senses.

"Liar."

The finger had already been withdrawn.

Dokgo Yeon said with a pleasant smile,

"You have the talent to instantly understand a martial principle shown just once, yet you're going to belittle it yourself?"

"...Alright, I'll start bragging from now on."

As Ban Yu-won, who had barely regained his senses thanks to her words, responded with a joke, Dokgo Yeon chuckled and added an explanation.

"Thrusting. Whether it's with fists, kicks, swords, or spears, it doesn't matter, but what I just showed you is the most basic and ultimate 'meaning' of thrusting. How many times you thrust, where you start from, what you imitate while thrusting, what energy you imbue it with - there can be countless applications, but this is the 'extreme of the basics.' Don't forget it."

"The extreme of the basics..."

Could this perhaps be the very concept?

The concepts that Ban Yu-won deals with also all start from one central meaning, but by mixing or adding other things to it, many other concepts can be created.

However, in Dokgo Yeon's movement, which had trained a single concept to its extreme - the ultimate of the basics - ironically, a much deeper power was felt than in concepts born from mixing many things.

'So focusing too much on just mixing concepts isn't the way either.'

Of course, what shouldn't be misunderstood is that the movement Dokgo Yeon just showed wasn't the universal extreme meaning of thrusting, but rather the extreme meaning of thrusting for Dokgo Yeon herself.

There are many Chinese characters meaning 'to thrust,' so why did Ban Yu-won capture 'Pierce' from her movement?

It must be because for her, thrusting is undoubtedly a fatal move that pierces through the target.

'This suits me better. The stronger, the better.'

Ban Yu-won took out a sword from his inventory and gripped it.

Dokgo Yeon nodded and stepped aside, then gestured to him and demonstrated the Pierce movement once more.

Seeing the movement piercing the air gave a different realization than seeing an attack coming towards oneself.

"Can you do it now?"

"Not perfectly, but..."

"If you could do it perfectly, the years I've spent would have been meaningless."

Dokgo Yeon smiled as if she had made an interesting joke.

When she smiled quietly like that, the cross-shaped pupils in her eyes didn't seem bothersome at all; she looked beautiful.

"Hoo."

Beside her, Ban Yu-won raised his sword, took a deep breath, and then, focusing on a single point in the air, thrust his sword.

Once more, and then once again.

At first, it was a miserable level where not even a fragment of true intent could be felt, but the second time, the thrust suddenly gained momentum, and by the third time, the concept of Pierce was clearly felt.

—Swish!

And on the fourth try, the air tore with a noise.

But thinking it was still a drop in the ocean compared to what Dokgo Yeon had shown, Ban Yu-won frantically raised his sword again...!

"Stop. You can't control the strength yet, so at this rate, you'll damage the room."

Before he could strike, Dokgo Yeon grabbed his arm.

The way the cross in her eyes grew larger and smaller repeatedly was quite peculiar.

As Ban Yu-won lowered his sword, panting, Dokgo Yeon advised,

"You'll remember what I showed you, right? Try the rest later in a wider space, or against an enemy you're allowed to kill."

"Got it."

Ban Yu-won nodded frantically.

As he did so, several notifications from the Babylonia Code appeared before his eyes.

[Having observed and understood the concept of the movement and successfully internalized it, the depth of All-Reading Eyes has become 110.]

[You have realized and mastered the concept of Martial Arts (武道). Swordsmanship has been absorbed as a sub-concept of Martial Arts.]

[You have realized and mastered the concept of Pierce. The depth of Pierce has become 16.]

'16, you say?'

After sparring so much with his sister and absorbing concepts from goblins all day yesterday, his swordsmanship was at 14.2, but now?

Ban Yu-won hurriedly checked his internal code and saw the part that read 'Martial Arts 36 [Swordsmanship 20, Pierce 16],' and let out a sigh.

Despite being performed with a sword, Pierce had become a concept separate from swordsmanship, and the two combined to form martial arts.

It was surprising that swordsmanship had grown by nearly 6, but...

To put it hastily and fragmentarily, at this moment, his combat skills had more than doubled.

However, unlike Ban Yu-won who was filled with delight, Dokgo Yeon's feelings seemed somewhat complicated.

"I never imagined you'd show the true intent itself, unbound by the form of weapons, right from the start."

"Ah, so that's why."

Ban Yu-won, who realized the reason why the concepts of swordsmanship and Pierce were separated through Dokgo Yeon's words, nodded in admiration, causing Dokgo Yeon to look puzzled.

"Hmm?"

"No, it's nothing. I think I was able to accept it as it was because you showed a movement that wasn't bound by weapons."

"To not only fully understand what was shown but even to execute it... You really take my breath away in just two days of meeting."

"It was truly great teaching. I'll keep entrusting the elixir to you from now on."

"I've unexpectedly taken a loss."

Dokgo Yeon grumbled as she stepped away from him.

And then.

"So I'll be making up for that loss from now on. Be prepared."

"Huh?"

Leaving behind words that were frightening just to hear, she disappeared from the spot.

Ban Yu-won, realizing only then that lunch break was ending, hurriedly used his student ID to leave the lecture hall.

'If we're going to the same lecture hall anyway, she could have gone with me. ...Hmm, the afternoon lectures seem to be mostly note-taking.'

Since they would just be sitting and listening to the professor's lecture, there probably wouldn't be any trouble like being challenged to a duel as in the morning.

Of course, Ban Yu-won knew well that things tend to happen precisely when you think like that, so he decided to make at least minimal preparations.

Note:

When I checked character 관(貫) in Korea it means string or thread, but reading the context of the character, it seems that Pierce fit more to the story than string or thread.

I will update it in the future if there is more context to the concept.