Chapter 89 Rank UP! I



"You!" Seo Yeong-Ha said through her gritted teeth. I could see her fist clenched tightly until it turned white.

"Hello!" I exclaimed mischievously.

Upon hearing Seo Yeong-Ha's voice, Lux also turned around and immediately frowned.

"Zio…" he muttered.

"Lux," I responded spontaneously.

The intense and silent staring contest between the three of us was broken by the raucous sound echoing in the air.

"Hey! You! Run and take the flag away! We'll hold him here! If you do that, I'll welcome you to our circle even if you're a low-born!"

Seo Yeong-Ha's frown deepened, I could even hear the sound of her teeth grinding into each other. Meanwhile, Lux let out a long sigh, slightly lowering his shoulder as he looked at me.

"Don't do that, Zio. We're friends, aren't we?" he said.

Seo Yeong-Ha shot him a glare. Her demeanor, apparently, was beastlike.

"Are you dumb?! Just because you guys are friends, it doesn't mean he will do what you said! Especially him!" Seo Yeong-Ha exclaimed, pointing at me angrily. "Look at his grin! I don't think he will comply with your request!"

Then, she looked at me with a fiercer gaze than earlier toward Lux.

"Isn't that so, Rat?!"

My grin disappeared as fast as the money that was immediately used to buy an action figure on the first day after payday.

Though I hated the way Seo Yeong-Ha speak to me, I understood where her skepticism and paranoia came from.

How do I say this… 

She is uhh…actually a victim of betrayal.

Though I must say that the history was quite amusing?

No. The history was quite funny.

So, when she was seven years old. Baek Jin and Seo Yeong-Ha were BFFs but then something happened, which turned them into rivals.

Their mentor, Seo Yeong-Ha's uncle, favored Baek Jin more than her niece. 

At first, everything was going well between them. But as time passed, Seo Yeong-Ha grew jealous of Baek Jin because he always got attention and extra lessons from her uncle.

Instead of blaming her uncle because of the unfairness, Seo Yeong-Ha blamed Baek Jin, thinking that because of him, her uncle neglected her training for him.

That was the long-short story of her trust issue with a thing called 'friend'. 

I meant she was a kid back then so she couldn't differentiate between right and wrong. And she didn't even think that the one who was at fault was her uncle.

Well, her logic was on the lower side. She was stubborn and hot-headed. So expect the constant feeling of annoyance once you get on her nerves like I did.

Just because of one event and she would haunt you until death.

But, it was not like she couldn't be stopped. The only way to stop her hostility was to become her 'rival'---her term to replace the word 'friend'.

Just as in the novel, Seo Yeong-Ha immediately claimed Lux as her rival. But eventually realized that it was just her coping mechanism. In the end, they became a best friend.

Yes. Best friend. You heard me right. Because Lux's one and only lover was Ayano.

"Yes, that's right," I finally responded.

"See?!" Seo Yeong-Ha exclaimed crossing her arms across her chest and holding her chin high in triumph. "There's no way an existence like a friend can ex–"

"Catch this."

Before Seo Yeong-Ha could finish her last word, I cut her off by throwing the flag toward Lux.

Lux caught the flag and smiled at me, nodding approvingly. 

I chuckled upon seeing Seo Yeong-Ha's expression. She once displayed a triumphant face but had now fallen to disbelief. Her jaw dropped dramatically.

"W-what…" She stuttered, slowly shifting back her attention to me. "What are you doing?! W-why did you give the flag back?!"

Lux and I cocked our heads to the side at the same time, coincidentally.

"Because we're friends?" Again, we said that together purely coincidental.

Seo Yeong-Ha gritted her teeth harder, even clenching her fist tighter. She looked like she was about to burst out of rage.

"WHAT?! HEY! Why did you give the flag to him?! Are you an idiot?!" someone from Kaiser Circle shouted loudly.

Thankfully, Seo Yeong-Ha's rage wouldn't be directed at me.

As she made a full turn, now facing toward the Kaiser Circle.

I clasped my hand in a prayer gesture.

May God forgive you because this little devil won't. Latom.

Truly, thank you for saving me from her wrath.

"That idiot is his accomplice! Surround him! And search for the one responsible for blowing our accessories away! And these three intruders—"

As the speaker turned his attention toward Ember, he finally realized who had he been fighting all this time.

"No way!" He said in disbelief. "Are you Ember? The Headmaster's granddaughter?" 

A moment later, he and the other Kaiser Circle members found their cheeks reddened as they stared at Ember.

I know that she's beautiful, pretty, and cute, I guess? A mini version of Nuria Crimson. But, aren't they giving her too much credit?

One of them cleared his throat and walked forward, kneeling in front of Ember with his hand extended.

I almost chuckled when I saw him do that, albeit found myself frowning. 

'What's he doing?' I thought.

"Oh, Ember," he began, his tone sounding as if he was playing a theater drama. "I, Ramoz, have come to you to con— ughh!!"

A full blow of an invisible fist had sent him flying several meters away.

Slowly turning toward where might the blow come from, the Kaiser Circle found Seo Yeong-Ha with clenched fists emitting hot steam.

"Wh- what the fuck was that?!"

Peeking over her shoulder, Seo Yeong-Ha shot me a glare full of rage, but there was an uncertainty mixed in her eyes.

As she turned her attention back toward the Kaiser Circle, she said, "Don't run away, Rat. Stay there. I'll deal with you later after I beat up these bastards!"

With that, the ground beneath her feet glittered a light. As she made her way toward the Kaiser Circle member, the trails of her movement materialized, looking like an illusion.

"S, stop her!"

They couldn't.

Seo Yeong-Ha launched a simultaneous Formless Fist technique at each opponent she passed. Also thanks to her movement trail that produced a melody of note, it weakened the defense and overall stats of whomever heard the sound in 5 meters range.

I was far enough from her, surely it was more than 5 meters between my position and her. So, I didn't get affected.

Taking notice of something strange happening to the Kaiser Circle member in a five-meter area around the trail, Ember backed away a dozen paces with Niah and Hulio.

Seeing her dominating almost twenty students by herself, I made a mental note of her movement art: Melody Trail.

If my memory served me right, the way to prevent the weakening debuff from her technique was to cover the ears with mana. 

I might be able to avoid the debuff because of her currently low mastery, but as the technique mastery reached its peak, it would be hard to prevent it.

But of course, by the time she finally reached the final mastery. I, too, would already improve and get stronger than I am now.

The thing about Melody Trail was that it would only be effective against those with lower magic stats or those who couldn't properly control their mana to even make a simple barrier. As for those with stronger magic control and stats, it would be a bit useless against them.

"Uagh!"

The scream of those getting hit by the invisible force, combined with the note sound of the Melody Trail, really sounded grandiose. Like music. No, it was music.

Subconsciously, I hummed along, trying to match it with the music.

"Zio?" Lux turned around and found me humming, his face painted with confusion.

I ignored him as I walked toward my teammates while still humming. I didn't even need to see how Seo Yeong-Ha beat them up, just hearing the melody was enough for me to imagine it.

I saw Enzo walk toward me, his brow arched but didn't say anything. He walked along with me, side by side. His eye momentarily locked on me before shaking his head.

I still humming.

"W, what…?" Niah's surprised voice sounded as I approached. "What's wrong with him? Why is he humming?"

Stopping the hums, I also stopped my feet, standing in front of the trio.

Smiling, I said, "Don't you hear the melody?"

They raised an eyebrow in response.

"Isn't it sound nice?" I continued.

Niah blinked several times before throwing a comment.

"You're crazy…"

"Am I?"

She shook her head in disbelief.

My eyes shifted toward Ember…

I might be crazy to say this after what I said earlier, but, I think she really does deserve the credit for having the unmatched beauty.

As I gazed at Ember, my heart skipped a beat. 

'What the hell is wrong with me?!'

There was something about her that resonated deep within me, and the worst was I couldn't tell what was that!

I couldn't tell what happened to me!

'Huh! Don't tell me that this original body's owner started to assimilate himself with me?!'

No way! I don't want that. I am already comfortable with this body. No one taking anything from me.

But, no matter how much I tried to distract myself from not staring at Ember. It rendered to be useless.

Lost in the depths of her red eyes, I finally spoke, my voice barely above a whisper.

"You're… Incredibly beautiful."

"?!!"

"Huh?!"

"Wow!"

"..."

What the fvck did I just said…?