The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 75

Kang Hye-rim swung her sword in a trance.

This was the first time she used her full power.

She knew that the Heavenly Thunder Sword was amazing. 

That’s why she had practiced alone several times to refine this power.

More delicately. 

More powerfully. 

More quickly.

To become stronger, and not to hold back her benefactor.

She swung her sword where no one could see.

Her efforts shone in this place.

Zap!

This intense current could easily run wild if she let her guard down for a moment, disobeying her command. 

To suppress it and use it as she wished, she needed superhuman concentration and swordsmanship that could contain this destructive force.

Kang Hye-rim had it all.

‘This is it.’

She swung her sword without stopping. 

Ju Kyungsoo desperately blocked or dodged her attacks with a pale face.

The attacks that he couldn’t block perfectly burned his clothes and grazed his skin.

Every time the sword filled with lightning swung, part of the forest was cut off. 

Trees burned and fell, and large scars were drawn on the ground.

‘What I wanted.’

Kang Hye-rim trembled with the joy that rose in her chest.

Fight. A fight where they bet everything on each other.

The feeling of freedom from swinging her sword in a situation where she would fall to the bottom of hell if she made a mistake was a great liberation for her.

It felt like she was releasing everything she had been holding back until now. 

She didn’t need to restrain or control the thunderous will of the Heavenly Thunder Sword that begged her to use it.

A different feeling of buoyancy from when she fully opened three traits in the Constantinople Siege.

Kang Hye-rim smiled unconsciously.

“Haha.”

What made her most ecstatic was Ju Kyungsoo’s reaction.

His eyes widened, unable to accept the reality, and he struggled desperately. 

There was no trace of his previous arrogance.

Probably, the outside reaction was the same.

People predicted Kang Hye-rim’s defeat, and they believed it without doubt.

But, look at this reality.

‘So this is how it feels.’

Kang Hye-rim felt like she understood why Yuhyeon deceived his opponents and fought many battles.

It was an unbearable pleasure for her to knock down those who thought they were the best and were sure they would win, who ignored and looked down on others.

Ju Kyungsoo’s expression of despair in front of her eyes opened Kang Hye-rim to a new sensation.

Zap!

Ju Kyungsoo’s cheek was wounded as he turned his head. 

A line of blood ran down his cheek, and his forehead bulged with anger.

He opened his mouth and screamed.

“Ugh! How dare you, my handsome face…!”

He was furious that she had injured his face, which was his source of income. 

He thought he wouldn’t spare her anymore, but as soon as he swung his sword, his attack was easily blocked.

Clang!

“What… cough!”

Kang Hye-rim’s knee slammed into Ju Kyungsoo’s bewildered face.

Thud! 

His nose collapsed and his front teeth broke. 

Ju Kyungsoo’s body rolled back several times and bounced off the ground.

“Kyaaak!”

“Artist-nim!!”

The female fans screamed with their mouths wide open at Ju Kyungsoo’s appearance. 

On the other hand, those who came to enjoy the fight itself cheered for Kang Hye-rim’s exhilarating attack. 

Especially the male fans who were obsessed with swordsmanship had extreme reactions.

“Good! Do more!”

“Oh, how satisfying!”

[The spirits admire Kang Hye-rim’s fight.]

Ju Kyungsoo got up from the ground right away. 

He saw the blood flowing from his nose and yelled.

“You bitchhhhh!!”

“You’re noisy.”

Kang Hye-rim didn’t bother to listen to his words. 

She immediately gave him a taste of the Heavenly Thunder Sword’s skill towards Ju Kyungsoo who had just risen.

In the midst of the blinding lightning, a sword light that was much more dazzling than that inflicted wounds on Ju Kyungsoo’s body one by one.

Ju Kyungsoo’s reason returned late as the pain increased.

‘Oh no! I’m going to lose at this rate!’

This fight had to be his. 

Everyone had to look only at him, and he had to become the champion in front of everyone’s eyes.

Until a while ago, Ju Kyungsoo was imagining that he would win right away.

But.

‘Am I going to lose?’

But what the hell was this? 

He rolled on the floor several times and dirtied his clothes, and some of his hair even burned. 

His handsome face was already ruined.

It was an unbearable humiliation for Ju Kyungsoo, who cared more about his coolness than winning the fight.

“Yikes!”

I tried my best to find a way out. 

I was a decent collector, even if I was rotten. 

I was someone who had some skill in fighting.

After regaining my senses, I thought I could read Kang Hye-rim’s attacks and react accordingly.

But then, she changed again.

“So that’s how you do it.”

“What?”

She muttered something as if she had realized something, and her attack method changed.

Sharp and powerful. 

But monotonous. 

Her sword that slashed at me suddenly became smooth and flexible, creating variations.

I felt like my jaw dropped at the sight.

‘She’s adapting her fight to the opponent’s sword on the spot?’

That was something only geniuses could do.

Changing one’s fighting style meant that one had to overhaul one’s habits from scratch. 

How much effort did that take?

But Kang Hye-rim was doing it on the spot with a simple insight.

It was an unbelievable talent.

There was one more thing that bothered me more than that.

‘This, this woman. She’s deliberately dragging this fight out, not ending it.’

I belatedly realized the discomfort that had been provoking me for a while.

Kang Hye-rim had a chance to end this fight from the beginning, but she deliberately kept it going, knowing that. 

She even increased the small scratches on Ju Kyungsoo’s body as if to show off.

At first, I thought it was a fight that I could somehow manage.

It was a big mistake. 

When I realized that, I felt goosebumps all over my body.

‘Is she playing with me?’

Kang Hye-rim had been attacking me at a level that would not knock me out from the start. 

She subtly adjusted her strength and acted in a way that would somehow make me react.

It was no different from deliberately messing with me.

‘Crazy!’

It was as I thought. 

Kang Hye-rim had no intention of ending this fight nicely from the start. 

She didn’t show it on the surface, but she had a lot of grudges against me.

That horrible gaze she sent me, and the subtle actions she took to pressure me.

“I’ll never forgive you.”

She decided to use this opportunity to thoroughly smash me.

And she would show off her victory in front of everyone as if to boast.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

A fist flew out of nowhere and hit Ju Kyungsoo’s face while he was swinging his sword. 

She could have hit his abdomen or leg, but she didn’t. 

She knew that he cared about his face, and that’s why she deliberately attacked his face intensively.

Ju Kyungsoo’s body was pushed back. Kang Hye-rim didn’t stop her attack.

Bang! Thud! Thud!

Ju Kyungsoo’s handsome face was already ruined beyond recognition. 

His nose was broken, his teeth were gone, and his face was swollen with bruises everywhere.

But he couldn’t easily surrender.

‘She, she’s blocking me from surrendering!’

Ju Kyungsoo didn’t want his face to get any worse. 

He opened his mouth to shout surrender, but all he got back was Kang Hye-rim’s indiscriminate violence.

Her fists, her kicks, they didn’t let him finish his surrender and hit his face relentlessly.

‘No, no!’

Ju Kyungsoo had to somehow struggle and resist. 

But the more he fought, the more he felt like he was slowly sinking into a swamp.

He didn’t think he could win no matter what he did. 

That’s how big the difference between Kang Hye-rim and Ju Kyungsoo was.

The situation where he was thoroughly destroyed in front of everyone by the opponent who he had looked down on and thought he could win.

Ju Kyungsoo felt like he was having a nightmare.

“Wha, what?”

“This is…”

As the endless fight continued, the people who were cheering enthusiastically at first also had to lose their reactions one by one.

“What the hell.”

“The opponent… is hopeless.”

The duel was one-sided, unlike what I had expected to be a fierce fight.

Kang Hye-rim, the sword master, crushed Ju Kyungsoo without giving him a chance.

And the fight that followed was so overwhelmingly violent that it was embarrassing to call it a fight.

[Uh, um.]

Even the announcer, who was supposed to hype up the atmosphere, couldn’t say anything with the microphone in his hand. 

He couldn’t think of any appropriate words to describe this situation in his head.

Meanwhile, Kang Hye-rim’s merciless violence continued.

“What the hell. I thought Ju Kyungsoo was really strong. He only had a mouth.”

“He always acted so cocky. But when I looked at him, he was nothing.”

“He just relied on his appearance.”

“I just trusted his looks and installed it.”

The people’s eyes turned colder towards Joo Kyung-soo. 

They felt betrayed by him, who had dashed their high expectations. 

He only felt annoyed by them.

On the other hand, some female fans who had fallen for Joo Kyung-soo couldn’t bear to watch him anymore. 

They sat down on their seats and burst into tears.

The men who had wished for Joo Kyung-soo to fail felt pity for him, seeing him suffer so horribly.

“More importantly, what about Geom-hoo? He’s more amazing than the rumors.”

“That’s crazy.”

On the contrary, the public’s evaluation of Kang Hye-rim soared to no end. 

Those who saw her for the first time today were captivated by her fight. 

They were mesmerized by her beautiful figure wielding a sword that contained lightning, and they were fascinated by her strength.

The same was true for the collectors who came out of curiosity, and for the other clan officials as well.

The only ones who couldn’t enjoy this situation were the Hesiodos clan.

“Damn it! Why don’t they stop that fight!”

“That, that’s impossible. That swordmaster woman, she’s blocking them from surrendering in advance!”

The Hesiodos clan thought they could win this fight and deliberately enlarged the stage.

When they opened the lid, the outcome of the fight was completely different from their expectations, and the huge stage they had expanded turned into a prison that trapped them.

They couldn’t believe it. 

They couldn’t win.

The people in the Hesiodos clan who were involved in this matter could only despair at the backlash that would come to them.

Bang!

‘Ah…’

Ju Kyungsoo, who was hit in the face again, felt his mind fading away.

He couldn’t stand properly anymore. 

His stamina had reached its limit, and his mental strength was mercilessly shaved off.

Kang Hye-rim had trampled on his body and mind thoroughly. 

Ju Kyungsoo, who was ruined to the point of pity in front of everyone, lost his sanity.

Thud.

Ju Kyungsoo collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Kang Hye-rim seemed to think that this was enough, and left him lying on the ground.

When she looked up at the sky, she met the eyes of the referee, who belatedly came to his senses and blew the horn.

[The, the duel is over! Swordmaster wins!]

Feeling satisfied with the victory she had longed for, Kang Hye-rim glanced at Ju Kyungsoo, who was writhing on the floor.

His face was so badly damaged that it would cost a lot of points or money to heal it.

But, physical wounds were nothing. 

The broken heart was the most serious.

From now on, Ju Kyungsoo would never be able to restore his previous popularity, no matter what he did. 

He would cause a scene and have a seizure whenever he saw the women he loved so much, and his shattered self-esteem would never go back to the way it was.

His life as a collector was over here.

‘Ah.’

Kang Hye-rim seemed to remember something belatedly, and threw her gaze toward Ju Kyungsoo’s crotch.

‘I should have zapped there too. I was too focused on his face.’

She didn’t feel any guilt at all, but rather muttered inwardly as if she regretted it.

Even Yu-hyun would have shuddered if he heard this.

‘I still won. I wonder if Yu-hyun is watching?’

Kang Hye-rim couldn’t help but tremble with ecstasy at the thought that Yu-hyun had watched her entire victory process.

She had won the duel that she thought would be hard in front of everyone. 

It was exactly the same as what Yu-hyun had shown at the Story Exhibition.

‘Ah, this is amazing.’

Kang Hye-rim felt like she was flying, as if she and Yu-hyun had become one.

***

“Yu-hyun! My sister won!”

“Yes. I’m happy for you, but please don’t jump around too much.”

Baek Seoryeon, who had relieved all of her stress from a while ago, smiled brightly and held Yu-hyun’s arm, rejoicing. Yu-hyun was also in a good mood about Kang Hye-rim’s victory.

‘But, there are still a lot of things to deal with.’

This is a rare opportunity.

I have to make the most of it.