Chapter 496 – What on earth is art school?

Challenge.

A word that means to face boldly and directly without avoiding a given situation.

This can be said to have a great significance as it represents mankind overcoming adversity.

After all, human achievement is accomplished through countless challenges in various fields.

[It’s just like you mindlessly rolling the gacha.]

‘Is that a challenge? And you want me to hold back after seeing that illustration?’

But challenge and recklessness are distinctly different.

[Can’t you just download the illustrations that come out in the gacha from the internet?]

‘……F*cking bitch.’

Despite having the same number of characters, the difference in meaning is like night and day.

Of course, in the sense that one tries to push beyond their limits, challenges hold significant value.

Although, the act of challenging inherently carries a degree of risk.

That doesn’t mean you should recklessly throw your life away and dive in without thought.

Generally, we tend to point fingers at such behavior.

Using negative words like foolishness, shame, and stupidity.

And that would squarely apply to the woman now confidently stepping up to Hyeji.

While others recognized the overwhelming power difference and immediately tucked their tails and backed down.

The woman before them was instead boldly declaring her intention to confront Hyeji.

As if she believed she could win, unlike anyone else.

“You? How dare you?”

“Yeah!”

Honestly, it was hard to grasp and accept this situation no matter how much I thought about it.

Hyeji was already well-known, and yet this person was still eager to confront her.

Was there even a slim chance of beating Hyeji?

Or was there a compelling reason to have to win against her?

However, the most incomprehensible thing wasn’t that.

“Haruka-chan!!!”

“Hey! I believed in you!”

“If it’s Haruka-chan, she’ll win!!!”

“What’s a demon king to us? We have Haruka-chan!”

Without questioning the sudden appearance of the woman, a few Japanese people began to rave about her.

When the odds seemed non-existent, they would come up with absurd excuses to avoid fighting.

Even if they lost, they’d immediately shout “Zainichi!” at whoever lost.

I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something they actually believed in to be cheering her on so confidently.

Their somewhat otaku-like appearance only added to my confusion.

Honestly, this part didn’t seem that important at the moment.

After all, in Hunter Academy, anyone you met was no better than an average person.

[At least it seems right to say she’s famous.]

‘Is she famous just in Japan? What the hell does she do?’

But before I could spew out those questions, Elcia quickly launched her preemptive strike.

“Our Hyeji unnie won’t fight with a dropped-out idiot from art school!”

“Shut, shut up!”

That comment was too harsh, sharp, and heavy to be called a preemptive strike.

Thanks to that remark, the woman named Haruka began to tremble.

Perhaps she couldn’t deny it and was trying to protect herself with unhelpful insults.

Then Caressy approached Haruka with a pitying look on her face.

“Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“Y-Yeah! People can fall sometimes!”

Whether she was comforted by Caressy or not, during the moment when Haruka tried to raise her spirits again.

Caressy suddenly took hold of Haruka’s hand and pressed it down onto the ground.

“That should do it!”

Finally, a bright smile settled on Caressy’s face.

It was a happy smile as if she had corrected something wrong.

“……Suddenly…what’s this?”

Haruka sent a questioning look at Caressy’s sudden action.

Caressy’s smile then began to change direction slightly.

From sheer happiness to a vicious and cruel sneer.

“If you can’t even draw, you should use those front paws according to their purpose.”

“You bitch!”

“That’s a cat.”

That made her tremble with a tighter grit than before, and all of a sudden, she strode toward me.

“This is all your fault!!!”

“Why are you freaking out at me?”

It was probably the thought that all this mocking started from my mouth.

“If you hadn’t said anything, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“You wouldn’t be like this if you had the skill to get into art school.”

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

Then clutching her head, she screamed and abruptly shoved her mobile phone in front of my face.

“What’s this?”

“Look at this once!!!”

Ignoring her request, I glanced at the phone screen.

There were quite a few types of illustrations displayed.

They were probably the pictures she uploaded from her account.

“My skills are nowhere near lacking for you to ridicule me!!!”

Of course, I still thought she wasn’t good enough to get into art school.

But I could acknowledge she had genuinely tried a lot in various places.

With that thought, I scratched my head, showing a reaction that wasn’t all that bad.

“….Hmm…? Sketches…? Landscapes…? Hmm?”

“Surprised? I draw all kinds of genres!”

Seeing that my reaction seemed to please Haruka, a confident smile began forming on her face.

“But you’ve never gotten into art school, right?”

“……”

Of course, her smile shattered immediately at my following statement.

And I promptly snickered at her, fully loading my response with sarcasm.

It was enough to rival the depth of the smiles the heroines had worn until now.

“Well, that’s trash talk. We were talking about getting into art school, right? Me.”

[For me, art is murder.]

‘Thinking back, several famous artists have committed murder. Though, it was suicide, actually.’

[……Whoa.]

At that moment, Hyeji glanced back and forth between Haruka’s phone and her.

“I got the gist of it, your skills.”

“……Oh…how is it…”

The woman cautiously asked Hyeji, perhaps hoping for a positive reaction about her drawings.

Or maybe she was expecting Hyeji to provide a different evaluation?

“I felt like dying from how boring it was.”

Of course, Hyeji’s response was far from hope or expectation.

Thanks to that, the word “emotion” momentarily disappeared from Haruka’s face.

At first glance, one might have momentarily misunderstood that she was a doll with no emotions at all.

It seemed our words had been so shocking that it effectively stunned her.

“Oi www If you dropped out of art school, just go commit suicide www”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Kyoukyou brought back her lost emotions through her words.

It was a rather bizarre sight, treating shock with shock.

But somehow, she returned to normal, so I was relieved.

Meanwhile, Haruka was rushing toward Kyoukyou, ready to grab her by the collar.

“Hey!!!!!!”

“What’s with that www”

Among us, Kyoukyou seemed to be the easiest target.

“You ever even tried challenging art school!!!”

“Are you talking about me?”

“Yeah! Do you know how tough the entrance exams are?!”

It’s likely that Kyoukyou’s remarks were particularly sharp.

“I got in www”

“……Re-re-examination…?”

Of course, Kyoukyou’s follow-up words were even sharper than before.

“Isn’t it obvious that I got in right away? www”

“……N-no way…”

“Can’t even get in with that? www”

That was a cruel comment for someone desperately wanting to get in.

Then Kyoukyou looked at Haruka’s face, filled with despair and emptiness.

In a very un-Japanese manner, she raised her hand and showed a middle finger.

“F*cking dog shit bastards www”

[With this, a world war caused by Kyoukyou is unlikely to occur.]

‘What a relief.’

Thus, Haruka dropped to the ground, feeling utterly defeated.

“……Why…only me…why me…”

“Hey, why are you trying to fight with me?”

As if entranced by Hyeji’s words, she raised her head and glared.

“That’s right…that’s right!”

“If you don’t want to get hit, just tell me.”

Honestly, this part was the hardest to understand.

“Did I make you lose money or something?”

“You think I’m here fighting just for money?”

“Then what the hell is it? You f*cking bitch.”

It’s not like she was saying she lost any money.

“Through Hyeji, you want to drive me to suicide www”

“No, I don’t you f*cking bitch!!!”

It wasn’t like I was trying to induce suicide through anyone else, either.

“You should call me senior, not bitch!”

“Watch your mouth! Failed students aren’t even regarded as juniors!”

“You’re just a pathetic loser now.”

“Go and sketch your losses www”

“……F*cking…bitches…”

There was probably no intersection between us at all.

What could possibly be the gain in wanting to fight directly?

Especially against Hyeji, who was labeled a natural disaster.

“So why do you want to fight?”

“That’s simple!”

In that moment, even the Japanese people who had been mindlessly rooting for Haruka turned silent, seeking the reason.

As she opened her mouth, she began to candidly pour out the lowly desires she had kept in her heart.

“If I can take you down, they said they’d give me a special admission to art school from Hunter Academy!”

That was utterly personal, and in a way, it was very disgusting.

But at this point, it felt justifiable to use words like understanding and acceptance.

For some people, personal objectives could very well be more valuable than their own lives.

[Looks like I was wasting time at the academy.]

‘Must’ve really messed up, you idiots.’

However, the lingering question remained: ‘Does Haruka really have a chance of winning?’

Compared to the excitement surrounding her, she seemed too average.

Her vigorous words and deeds until now felt rather detached from her appearance.

Of course, judging people by appearances isn’t a good attitude.

But at least there didn’t seem to be any indication she’d win, so it was only natural to harbor such doubts.

It seemed Hyeji shared those doubts too, as she visibly expressed them.

“What in the world are you capable of that you think you could possibly beat me?”

“And you just plan to escape without a rematch? Surprisingly, you’re just as lacking as your own chest, Hyeji?”

In response to such questions, she merely countered with provocation.

“You’re truly dead, you f*cking bitch.”

“That’s how you should be. Just walk straight to the center of the arena.”

The foolish one who dared to harm the fortress of pride had the king reveal his fangs.

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