EX rank supporting role's replay in a prestigious school

Chapter 900

Amidst the cheers, Kwang Gyeong-gu and I materialized our weapon item cards.

Although it wasn’t a promise, we both chose the school-issued items.

As the swords of identical design solidified, they were drawn toward each other like magnets, pointing directly at our opponents.

〈The skill ‘Manmul Usage’ has been activated.〉

Clang!

As soon as the system's notification rang, the sound of blades clashing echoed.

Kwang Gyeong-gu, who had been beyond the starting line, was now right in front of me.

He had moved swiftly, without the sounds of stomping or preparing to leap, as if he had cut through the air with ease.

I silently admired him.

‘Kwang Gyeong-gu usually prefers to overpower his opponents with strength rather than technique, yet he’s fast.’

Despite the impression he gave off, as though he would patiently and skillfully wear down his opponent, Kwang Gyeong-gu preferred quick, decisive victories.

Because his Gwangrim could only be used for 100 seconds a day, he developed a tendency to avoid prolonged battles.

This is why the first strike against Kwang Gyeong-gu was always the most critical.

‘When fighting Kwang Gyeong-gu, one must remain calm even if the fight drags on and practice not giving up.’

Perhaps in an effort to cultivate this mindset, Kwang Gyeong-gu had participated in chess tournaments.

Last year, when we met in the semifinals, the match had been far from over, and there were still opportunities, but Kwang Gyeong-gu declared his forfeit early.

I hoped that wouldn’t happen this time.

This time, it was swordsmanship, not chess, so Kwang Gyeong-gu wouldn’t give up so easily, I thought.

"Surprise attacks and strength won’t work."

Kwang Gyeong-gu, who had been pressing down with heavy force, said something that could almost be considered a compliment.

Despite the restrictions we had imposed, there was no way I would have immediately fallen to this much force.

I had once felt the weight of a massive sword swung by Baek Ho-gun, the greatest weapon master of the Ho Clan. If I had fallen so easily, it would have been disrespectful to the tiger who had taught him.

Swish!

Instead of answering, I swept the sword’s edge to the right and lowered my body.

I aimed to use my size advantage to dive inward and disrupt my opponent’s balance.

However, before I could execute that, Kwang Gyeong-gu quickly stepped back two paces and then leapt forward in an instant.

Screech!

The sound of the blade cutting through the air reached my ears.

Kwang Gyeong-gu had gripped his sword with both hands and was swinging it downward toward me, who had lowered my stance.

I could see the falling sword tracing a clean, straight line in the air.

Seeing the line of the blade that seemed ready to pierce through me, I thought of my next move.

‘Kwang Gyeong-gu is putting all his strength into both hands. If I block it with just my sword, my stance will collapse. I can’t dodge. Thinking of the key techniques of the Iron Blood Twin Sword style...’

Even though Kwang Gyeong-gu was using just one sword now, he could still strike a follow-up attack easily even without the other sword.

Having made up my mind, I stopped my feet and gathered my Inungpa.

The black aura flowing from the hand holding the sword seemed to devour the blade as I channeled the power.

Swish!

Just as Kwang Gyeong-gu’s sword was about to strike, I released my Inungpa, and it enveloped the blade.

The once ordinary iron sword appeared to transform into a black sword instantly.

Kwang Gyeong-gu’s eyes widened as he saw the sharp black sword refined by Inungpa.

Clang!

The swords collided with such force that Kwang Gyeong-gu had to immediately pull his sword back.

It was foolish to meet an Inungpa-enhanced sword with a regular item.

As Kwang Gyeong-gu pulled his sword back, he quickly scanned the blade to check if there was any damage to it.

"This isn’t the effect of Manmul Usage, is it?"

It wasn’t because of Manmul Usage that I could respond like this.

Manmul Usage only helped me wield the sword well, but how to control Inungpa or respond to the situation was entirely up to me.

I had learned to channel Inungpa so quickly into my sword from Baek Ho-gun, who would wrap his white Inungpa around his Baek Ah to strike.

‘If I could train Kwang Gyeong-gu’s Gwangrim like I did in the game...’

The thought of the game suddenly flashed through my mind, and a plan came to me.

However, before I could think it through, the situation changed.

The Inungpa surrounding Kwang Gyeong-gu’s sword began to fade, and his stance wavered.

As the match dragged on and distractions crept in, Kwang Gyeong-gu, who was weak in prolonged fights, was the first to falter.

I wouldn’t let that opening slip by.

I moved to strike, aiming to completely knock his sword out of his hands.

“...!”

Kwang Gyeong-gu, realizing his situation, tried to react too late.

He instinctively moved to keep his sword from being knocked away.

Unfortunately, in doing so, he moved to my left, and I noticed his movement only after a delay due to my blurry vision.

Kwang Gyeong-gu stretched out his bare hand to intercept the trajectory of my sword.

In a hurry, he raised his hand without any armor or Inungpa protection.

Rather than losing his sword, he chose to block with his arm.

‘No, I’m really going to cut Kwang Gyeong-gu!’

I vividly pictured the scene where my blade would slice through his uniform sleeve and dig into his arm.

I had seen my playable character bleed countless times on screen.

But even after replaying it and seeing the ending of Plmago, I had never gotten used to the blood.

I couldn’t make that scene with my own hands and see it in front of my eyes.

It was the obvious choice Kwang Gyeong-gu would make with his 100 seconds of grace, but I couldn’t accept it.

Fwoosh...

I pulled back the Inungpa wrapped around my sword and forced the blade to change direction.

Instead of cutting Kwang Gyeong-gu’s arm, the sword veered toward the blade.

The speed was fast, but the sword I swung in a collapsed stance drew a sloppy curve.

Clang!

The moment the blades collided, my sword slipped from my hand.

Without Inungpa flowing through the hand that had been holding the sword, I felt a sharp ringing in my hand.

Only after feeling the pain did I feel a bit relieved.

That meant it was now impossible for my sword to cut Kwang Gyeong-gu.

Whoosh!

My sword flew far and fell weakly above the arena.

Due to the noise from the crowd, the sound of my sword hitting the ground might have been hard to hear, but strangely, it echoed loudly.

Seeing me unarmed, the teacher who was overseeing Class 0 shouted.

"That’s enough!"

Kwang Gyeong-gu, still trying to figure out what had just happened, looked on in horror.

People from far away or those who couldn’t follow my movements were still unaware of what had occurred.

But there was no way Kwang Gyeong-gu wouldn’t know.

He must have realized that I had pulled back my Inungpa and intentionally aimed for the wrong target.

Kwang Gyeong-gu, in a hurry, was about to speak to the referee about something.

But the referee spoke first.

"Kwang Gyeong-gu wins!"

Amidst the applause, as I exchanged greetings with Kwang Gyeong-gu, my mind cooled down.

‘If it hadn’t been for me, Kwang Gyeong-gu would have been seriously hurt.’

In Plmago, Kwang Gyeong-gu dies in his senior year of high school, the same age as me now.

But the Kwang Gyeong-gu in Plmago didn’t take things so easily.

The scenes of those I had seen during the selection tournament flashed through my mind.

As a player in Plmago, it seemed the time had come for me to take responsibility for the growth of my playable characters.