Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A vast lecture hall, large enough to comfortably accommodate over 70 candidates.

Yet within a space so expansive, not even the smallest sound could be heard.

As everyone held their breath, Kim Dae-chun’s eyes bulged and his mouth fell open.

“Hey…are you actually insane?”

At the same time, several candidates sneered, their voices dripping with disbelief.

“I’m starting to believe that guy is really on something? What the hell did he just say?”

“If you’re going to act reckless, you should at least pick your opponent.”

“Kim Chang-sik is really done for now.”

By all accounts, Kim Chang-sik during this period seemed to have been living a fairly quiet life.

But now, reborn as Kim Chang-sik, the man who had once dominated the world would no longer tolerate being pushed around.

Calmly meeting Kim Dae-chun’s gaze, he delivered a single line, flat and stripped of emotion..

“You talk too much. Come at me, you lump.”

“…Is this guy for real?!”

The bastard immediately raised his fist.

True to his brutish appearance, he hurled it straight forward, with no technique or finesse, only raw force driven in a single, direct line.

Whoosh!

The moment the bastard threw his punch, Chang-sik’s thoughts accelerated, as if time itself had frozen.

He would slip slightly to the side of the straight punch flying directly toward him, drive a single blow into the now-open jaw and as Dae chun’s legs gave out and he staggered…

he’d plant a low kick and take him down.

Then he would secure the mount, pinning him down and subduing him completely.

.

.

.

…At least, that was what he thought.

Something’s wrong. Why won’t my body move?

Chang-sik’s body stuttered, as if caught in a moment of buffering.

He was already past the point where he should have slipped off the attack line and smashed a punch into the exposed jaw. Instead, his body only twitched, sluggish and unresponsive.

The bastard’s fist closed in, now just a breath away.

Sensing something amiss, Chang-sik hastily raised his guard.

And then he realized it.

Ah… I see.

In truth, his body had been moving this whole time.

The problem was simply that it couldn’t yet keep up with Chang-sik’s combat instincts.

Was it just… too slow?

Crack!

The impact rang out loudly.

He barely managed to block the punch with the guard he’d thrown up at the last second, but stopping the force behind it was another matter entirely.

Thud!

crash!!

Chang-sik went down, rolling several more times across the floor before finally coming to a stop.

He lowered his gaze to his arm, now throbbing and numb.

Hah… judging this calmly, this body’s pushing it just to manage that much, isn’t it?

Watching Chang-sik fall, Dae-chun curled his lips into a greasy, satisfied grin.

“Ha!! I thought you were acting tough as hell for a reason. Figured you had some kind of hidden trump card but nope. Just empty bravado after all, huh?”

When Chang-sik silently picked up a chair that had rolled across the floor, the bastard’s grin grew even more vile.

“I’ll make you feel the gap between you and me etched into your bones.”

Crrrk!

A sound like something splitting apart echoed through the hall.

From the fissures tearing open across his skin, a chalky, calcified substance welled up and rapidly hardened.

One of the candidates shouted in alarm.

“Dae-chun, stop! Don’t you know candidates aren’t allowed to use their Traits without authorization?!”

His exclusive Trait, huh? With his body like that, he could probably brush off a chair swung at him without a scratch…

Not just the chair he looked solid enough to deflect even close-range gunfire.

Watching him activate his Trait, Chang-sik was reminded of his own [Trait Modification] and quickly pulled up his status window.

* * *

——————————————————

What is this…? A Trait like this actually exists?

It was a type of ability he had never seen before in his life.

But now was no time to be picky.

“GRAAAH!!”

Kim Dae-chun roared as he charged forward.

Thud!!!

With his massive body hardened like stone, the sight of him barreling ahead looked exactly like a gigantic boulder rolling downhill.

Tap tap!

Chang-sik slipped past the brute’s reckless charge at just the right moment and, in the same motion, leapt onto his back.

Then…

He swung the chair down with full force toward the back of the man’s head.

CRASH!

The chair shattered into pieces against the rock-hard surface of his body.

Without hesitation, Chang-sik flung away what remained and activated his unsealed 

[Trait Modification].

A series of system notifications rang out in rapid succession.

Ding!

At the same time

a sound like something splitting apart echoed from Chang-sik’s entire right arm.

From the fissures that spread across it, a chalky, calcified substance much like Dae-chun’s rose up and hardened at rapid speed.

Gasps of shock rippled through the room.

“Hey…what the hell is that?”

“Didn’t Kim Chang-sik enter through the Non-Awakened category?”

Ignoring their murmurs, Chang-sik drove his fist straight down into the back of the Dae-chun’s head.

BOOM!

A sound of an entirely different magnitude from when he’d swung the chair thundered through the lecture hall.

This time, even the bastard couldn’t shrug it off; he cried out in pain.

“Ghk!! Y-you, how the hell…?!”

Without a word, Chang-sik raised his arm once more.

The man thrashed violently, trying to shake him off his back

but Chang-sik’s legs, locked tight around his chest, showed no sign of loosening.

“You bastard!! You came into the academy through the Non-Awakened category so how the hell can you?!”

Seeing no reason to answer the nonsense spilling from his mouth, Chang-sik brought his fist down again without hesitation.

BOOM!

“Guhh!!”

The bastard let out a ragged breath as he slammed face-first into the floor.

“Ghk…! W-wait just a second!”

He flailed in panic, struggling helplessly.

Chang-sik did not miss that opening. His hands came down again and again in relentless succession.

CRASH!!

The hardened skin began to fracture, cracking piece by piece, and anxious voices rose from all around.

“Stop! Kim Chang-sik, that’s enough!”

“Shouldn’t someone break this up?!”

“Hey, Kim Chang-sik!! Cut it out! Are you trying to kill Dae-chun?!”

But he did not stop.

In the life he had lived as Ha Jin seok, he could never afford to leave even the smallest opening.

To ensure he would never be looked down on again, he had to crush the bastard thoroughly…no, even more than that, he had to carve into him a trauma so deep it would never fade.

Right there. At that very moment.

If he stopped his hand…

The bastard would undoubtedly look at him one day and dream of revenge.

Hesitation breeds troublesome enemies.

Knowing that all too well, he pressed the attack with ruthless precision, leaving the bastard no room to breathe.

So that when the man looked at him, what surfaced wouldn’t be thoughts of revenge…

but the fear he felt right there.

Once more, Chang-sik brought his fist down.

Ruuumble!

Somewhere, the sound of a structure collapsing echoed through the air.

“Hah… Hoo!”

After striking without pause, even Chang-sik’s breathing grew ragged.

If he showed a single, overwhelming blow there, not only the bastard but everyone watching the fight would be unable to dismiss him any longer.

Good. Even if I have to push myself, I’ll show them something bigger.

“Hup!”

Pressing his left hand against his Hardened righ armt, he unleashed Rock Arm once more.

At once, the flesh of his left hand split apart as well, the liquid that burst forth merging with the other

coalescing into a massive slab of stone.

At the sight of that menacing form, the lecture hall plunged into utter chaos.

“Hey! Hey! Run! If he swings something like that, the lecture hall could collapse! Where the hell are the Instructors, how can they let this kind of chaos go on?!”

“Kyaa! Hurry get out!”

The candidates scrambled desperately toward the exits, while Kim Dae-chun still sprawled on the floor trembled violently, his eyes hollow and unfocused, utterly overwhelmed by the colossal mass of stone Chang-sik had created.

Ruuumble!

Another powerful tremor shook the building.

“K-Kim Chang-sik!”

“…It ends here.”

Chang-sik looked down at him with eyes steeped in killing intent.

The ferocity of the man who had charged in so stupidly, intent on crushing Chang-sik from the start, was nowhere to be found.

Now, he couldn’t even bring himself to properly meet Chang-sik’s gaze his face pale with terror.

“P-please…”

Thick tears spilled from his eyes, trooping  down like chicken droppings onto the floor.

“Stop, please…”

At last, he broke down completely, sobbing aloud in utter misery.

But Chang-sik regarded him with cold indifference as he lifted the massive slab of stone.

“Die quietly.”

And then… 

he brought it down toward the fissures in the man’s shattered skin.

Whoosh

His arms joined together, hardened like a slab of stone traced a wide arc through the air, swinging like a giant bell.

It seemed as if it would smash straight into the tear-streaked, snot-smeared face of the man below.

CRASH!!

…But something blocked its path.

A figure appeared…

red hair like a lion’s mane, clad in a candidate’s uniform.

Chang-sik recognized him from earlier, during that brief incident with Instructor Eom Mi-hwa.

…This guy.

As he briefly traced the face back in his memory,

“Ugh…!”

Kim Dae-chun, overwhelmed by extreme stress, rolled his eyes back and lost consciousness.

“Step aside.”

“…….”

“I said, step aside.”

“Don’t you think this is where you should  stop?”

“Why are you the one to decide that?”

Chang-sik’s calm question made the red-haired candidate pause for a moment before he bent forward, gripping his stomach and laughing out loud.

“Ah, this guy’s a real piece of work… heh heh!”

“You gonna crush me if I don’t move?”

“Puhahaha!! This is too damn fun!”

Rolling on the floor, he laughed as if completely unafraid of Chang-sik’s display of power.

Curious about his bizarre reaction, Chang-sik immediately activated Hero Detection.

Ding!

———————————

Gu Chi-sung…

Chang-sik clearly knew him.

“You… look familiar.”

“...What? You seriously don’t recognize me?”

At his question, chi-sung replied with a mocking incredulity, as if Chang-sik’s words were laughably obvious.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t place it.

Seeing the puzzled look on Chang-sik’s face, Gu Chi-sung’s eyes widened, then he let out a heavy sigh.

“Hah… I thought I was at least somewhat famous.”

“…….”

Where on earth had Chang-sik seen him before?

Just as he was about to open his mouth again… 

CRASH!!

Another thunderous explosion rocked the building.

“Huh??”

Now that he paid attention, the continuous roaring noise wasn’t coming from his fight with Kim Dae-chun.

“……!!”

And in that moment, everything clicked into place, like shattered pieces snapping back together.

The massive blasts and tremors.

The blurred image of a red-haired candidate finally came into focus… Gu Chi-sung.

The academy’s entrance ceremony. 

And…

“…the infamous terror attack known as Sprout-Stomping.”

The “Sprout-Stomping” was a notorious terrorist incident carried out by the Villain organization, led by Jang Docheol, targeting the Academy of Heroes.

It had been so long ago that even he had forgotten.

And that terror…

“I remember now.”

“Huh? Oh, you remember? Well, of course, I’m famous.”

Chi-sung grinned, stretching his mouth wide in amusement.

Only now did Chang-sik recall him properly.

“Right… sorry for forgetting.”

“Haha!! Forgetting? Don’t be silly!”

Because of that incident, his face had been plastered across newspapers in huge, bold photos.

“No… I really shouldn’t have forgotten…”

“Hmm? Well, it would’ve been strange if you didn’t know me.”

Why?

“…….”

“Because I’m the top-ranking student of this Academy.”

Those who trample the sprouts will die.

In the future, he simply doesn’t exist.

The Heroic Life of the Greatest Villain continues.