I Became an Illegal Cheat User – Chapter 17

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“…”

Lee Seo-yeon looked at her sword with a dazed face.

Only the handle and crossguard remained.

Lee Seo-yeon dropped it from her hand and let her arm hang limply, as it had become a useless piece of scrap that could no longer be called a sword.

‘…I lost.’

It wasn’t just a loss.

It was an overwhelming defeat.

‘…I couldn’t even touch him once.’

I didn’t think I would win easily.

Although I haven’t seen his true skills, he is the one who enrolled as the top student.

I had no intention of letting my guard down at all.

However… even though he didn’t manifest sword energy or use skills, I couldn’t even touch Lee Yu-jin with my sword once.

‘…When was the last time I lost like this?’

If I remember correctly, it was when I was 7 years old, about 3 days after awakening my sword talent.

At that time, my older brother, who was 3 years older than me, mercilessly beat me, saying he would teach me the sword.

I still remembered that time.

‘It hurt…’

There was no part of me that didn’t hurt.

It hurt so much that I cried a lot.

But the very next day, I asked my older brother to teach me again.

And… I returned what I had learned.

At first, I imitated his swordsmanship.

In the middle, I complimented his swordsmanship.

And in the end I took away his swordsmanship.

I broke my older brother’s wooden sword and returned the pain of what I had learned, exactly the same.

No, I returned it double.

Because I was taught that if you receive, you should return it double, as it is only natural.

But… this time, I don’t know.

‘I don’t know why I lost.’

There was no learning.

There was no pain either.

I was just… overwhelmingly defeated.

Lee Seo-yeon raised her head and looked at Lee Yu-jin.

She lowered her gaze slightly and looked at the weapon he was using.

A Gun.

A Firearm.

A weapon that superhumans didn’t use.

However, Lee Yu-jin handled firearms.

Beyond being skilled, he wielded it like magic.

Although I reflexively deflected the bullets, I was actually startled to the point of shuddering.

Even though he shot with trembling hands and the bullets flew off in strange directions, in the blink of an eye, the bullets changed direction and flew towards my hand and head.

And they did so instantly, at close range.

If I hadn’t been trained through hard training, I would have dropped my sword defenselessly and collapsed with a bullet to the head without even noticing.

That’s how much Lee Yu-jin’s shooting was beyond the ordinary.

‘…Could it be his talent?’

Otherwise, the bullets wouldn’t make sharp curves and be so fast you lost sight of them.

So…

‘I’m curious.’

I wanted to know.

Why did Lee Yu-jin pity me?

Why does Lee Yu-jin use firearms instead of melee weapons?

I want to find out.

No, I will find out.

‘If there is no way to figure it out.’

I will find a way to figure it out.

Lee Seo-yeon’s eyes, looking at Lee Yu-jin, flickered with an unusual light.

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I won.

Even though the sword Lee Seo-yeon used was a training sword, not Dainsleif. And even though she used mana, and not sword energy.

But anyway, I won.

Moreover, I won overwhelmingly.

‘Kya, this cheat is so good!’

It’s partly because I purchased a good talent, but honestly, the reason I was able to win so easily against Lee Seo-yeon was definitely thanks to ‘Super Accuracy’.

‘Even without the cheat, there would be no problem with winning, but…’

It was impossible to win in such a short time span of 1 minute like this.

If I were to face Lee Seo-yeon without the cheat…

It would have taken approximately… 7 minutes.

No, to be precise, it would have taken 7 to 10 minutes.

And with a sword and shield, I would have worked hard to perform evasive maneuvers to figure out what attack patterns Lee Seo-yeon mainly used.

Once I figured out the patterns, I would have dealt with her using countermeasures matching those patterns and steadily inflicted damage.

Just like in the soul-like games famous for crushing players’ mentality.

But thanks to the cheat, I was able to skip that bothersome process.

Feeling very satisfied, I suppressed my laughter that was about to burst out and performed a safety check on my pistol.

Then, as I switched the safety on and put it in the holster on my tactical vest,

Ding.

“…?”

A message appeared in front of my eyes.

‘…What’s this?’

Sometimes, when a main character level person gained a new understanding or enlightenment, the system informed me like this.

But… this was the first time I’d seen this one.

‘Lee Seo-yeon’s Sword Prodigy pioneers a new path?’

The Sword Prodigy, which was like Lee Seo-yeon’s identity itself, pioneers…

‘It’s not bad, but…’

So suddenly?

From what enlightenment?

I had no idea what Lee Seo-yeon had realized from her fight with me.

Because there had never been a case like this before.

However, since pioneering a new path for a talent was good, not bad, I decided to think positively.

‘Surely, the new path of the ‘Sword Prodigy’ wouldn’t be towards firearms, right?’

I thought that, then smirked and denied it.

Why would Lee Seo-yeon, who was called a sword genius, put aside the sword and take an interest in firearms?

Thinking that, the moment I was about to turn my head towards Lee Seo-yeon,

“The winner of the match between top student Lee Yu-jin and 3rd place Lee Seo-yeon in the semifinals Group A is Lee Yu-jin.”

Kang Cheol-su approached and announced the match result.

Ding.

– Semifinals –

[A]

[01][Lee Yu-jin][Win]

[03][Lee Seo-yeon][Loss]

The matchup result arrived on my smartwatch.

And it updated the content of the event quest.

As if congratulating me, the quest window appeared without me even opening it, I smirked and closed the quest window.

Then, as if he had been waiting, Kang Cheol-su approached and said,

“Top student, I was thinking while watching your fighting style…”

Kang Cheol-su, who trailed off, suddenly raised his mana and cast a mana barrier around us that blocked sound and presence.

Then, with a serious face, he looked at me and continued,

“Are you related to the 9th Extermination Unit in any way?”

At that question, I immediately shook my head.

“I have no relation at all.”

Not yet.

“…Is that so?”

Kang Cheol-su stared at me with questioning eyes.

Well, it could seem questionable.

The combat style I was using now was very similar to the combat style used by the 9th Extermination Unit.

No, rather than similar, it was the same.

It was just that I’d modified it to my own style from that same one.

So what was the ‘9th Extermination Unit’?

It was an unofficial Fallen extermination unit operated by the Superhuman Association, where vengeful spirits who had lost their families, lovers, and friends to Fallen gathered.

As a place where such people gathered, they mainly used bold methods that didn’t hesitate to use any means to eliminate Fallen.

For example, dropping bombs on places where Fallen gathered.

Shooting small railguns from ultra-long range.

Creating a fake village where Fallen might swarm and blowing it up entirely.

However, that didn’t mean their abilities were weak or low-class.

Most of the people in the 9th Extermination Unit were mid-to-high-level heroes.

And the unit’s captain was a top-level hero close to the level of a transcendent.

The reason they mainly used firearms like me was…

To inflict pain on the Fallen.

Even if firearms were weapons that didn’t work on superhumans,

Even if superhumans didn’t get pierced by bullets unless their bodies were weak when their mana was depleted, they still experienced pain.

The same applied to Fallen.

And the heroes of the 9th Extermination Unit were veterans in dealing with Fallen.

They didn’t use ordinary firearms, but Fallen-specific firearms.

For example, those made with melted gold, those containing salt, those made with holy water, etc.

They primarily used things that were effective against evil.

And when I said, “I have no relation at all,” and added “Not yet” in my mind…

It was because I plan to join the 9th Extermination Unit as an intern during the summer vacation internship later.

Why did I want to join them?

To obtain a talent.

‘Fight evil with the blade.’

Not becoming evil to destroy evil.

Becoming the blade to destroy evil.

Literally, that talent gave additional damage to everything related to evil.

And that talent could only be obtained from the 9th Extermination Unit.

So I must join them.

To face the Fallen and beings from the other worlds.

“…Hmm, I’ll take your word for it for now.”

Kang Cheol-su, still with a serious face, very lightly patted my shoulder.

From that action, I knew that Kang Cheol-su hadn’t resolved his suspicions but had some misunderstanding.

He probably thought there was a connection between the 9th Extermination Unit and me.

Or since I was listed as an orphan, he might think the reason I don’t have parents is that they died in the line of duty in the 9th Extermination Unit.

Anyway, if he misunderstood, it would be good for me, so I didn’t bother to clear up the misunderstanding.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Kang Cheol-su cleared his throat and dispelled the mana barrier that had been blocking sound and presence.

“…Top student, I have no feedback for you this time either.”

Kang Cheol-su added that there was no need for advice because I did well, and continued, looking at Lee Seo-yeon.

He gave various pieces of advice on what the problem was and how she should have acted.

Then he manipulated his smartwatch and activated the automatic recovery and cleaning in the arena.

“Top student Lee Yu-jin and 3rd place Lee Seo-yeon, you may return to the spectator seats now. And 2nd place Arthur and 5th place Noah from Group B, I will start your match in 5 minutes, so come down to the arena and get ready in advance.”

“”Yes.””

Arthur and Noah spoke in unison and stood up from the spectator seats.

And Lee Seo-yeon and I went up the stairs towards the spectator seats.

As we passed by Arthur and Noah, they slightly bowed their heads to us as if to say good work.

Like that, I sat next to Asuka, who was excitedly telling me her thoughts on the match, saying,

“Top student, you were really amazing!”

And Lee Seo-yeon…

“…”

She sat next to me like Asuka.

Lee Seo-yeon on the left.

Asuka on the right.

The two most beautiful women in the vecinity were sitting next to me.

Perhaps because of that… I felt piercing gazes stabbing at me from all directions.

‘Why…?’

I looked at Lee Seo-yeon with a puzzled face.

Then, my eyes met with Lee Seo-yeon’s, who happened to be looking at me.

Tilt.

Lee Seo-yeon just slightly tilted her head as if she had no idea what the problem was.

Seeing that, I deeply sighed inwardly and turned my head towards the arena.

And I thought.

The plan I had when I first saw Lee Seo-yeon, to avoid contact as much as possible and secretly help her from time to time.

It all went out the window.

Ah.

I’m scared.

Of what will happen from making contact with Lee Seo-yeon.

The Sword Star’s endless interference.

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