LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 2
While Yeonhwa was still trying to figure out what was going on.
Jinhyeon suddenly pounced on her, shielding her from a villain’s attack.
“Ugh…! Jinhyeon…?! Behind you!!”
Yeonhwa, who had naturally fallen under Jinhyeon’s protection, seemed dazed and flushed, but eventually noticed the villain targeting them from behind, her face going pale.
Bang!
The sound of a metal pipe colliding with a human was almost unbelievable.
However, Jinhyeon didn’t seem bothered at all.
…So that’s what it took to not get hurt. I was expecting at least a scratch, though.
It seemed the villains were a lot weaker than I initially thought.
“W-what…if they’re weak…Krah…!”
Seizing the moment when the villain was distracted, Jinhyeon swung his fist, hitting the villain square in the face and pushing him back.
Up until that point, Yeonhwa still appeared dazed.
But when Jinhyeon called her name, she finally came to her senses and pulled out a lighter from her pocket, igniting a flame.
Just before the villains could reach them, a wall of flames surrounded the duo.
It was an absurdly big flame to have come from a lighter, but that was her ability.
Pyrokinesis. The power to control flames.
The villains, who were about to be engulfed in flames, managed to stop just in time, avoiding becoming charcoal.
“You fight well. Heroes are definitely heroes, huh?”
Watching a battle from a distance was certainly amusing; it was quite thrilling.
However, it didn’t sit well with me. I wanted Jinhyeon to struggle a bit more; he was looking too fine.
I should have some resentment toward the protagonist, considering this was happening. I really disliked Jinhyeon.
I didn’t hold any grudge against Yeonhwa, but since she was always with him, I couldn’t help but get caught up in it.
If that guy wasn’t around, I wouldn’t have ended up in this situation. I probably wouldn’t even be in this body.
So, he should suffer at least as much as I have.
As the flame wall quickly fizzled out, it transformed into a snake shape, menacingly floating around Yeonhwa.
“From now on, leave it to me, Jinhyeon! Let’s hold these villains off until the hero arrives!”
Her ability was certainly enviable. To create such flames from just a lighter. It was quite cool.
Of course, with such great strengths, the weaknesses were clear.
The drawback of Pyrokinesis was that if her body got wet, its power markedly decreased.
Her Pyrokinesis grew stronger with how easily her body could catch fire.
Conversely, under conditions where fire couldn’t easily ignite, its power diminished significantly.
It was even implemented as her passive skill in the game.
‘On water, rainy fields, and damp areas, power reduced by 70%’ and ‘Power reduced by up to 70% proportionate to lost health,’ which was a nuisance but could definitely be seen as her character’s uniqueness.
The health proportional power reduction was because she would be drenched in blood as she lost health, or something like that.
And I had already tipped her off about her weakness.
One of the villains threw a bucket he was holding at Yeonhwa.
Yeonhwa tried to swat it away with her fire snake.
However, the physical force was only about as strong as a gust of wind, so swatting away a heavy bucket filled with something was a bit much.
The fire snake that swept past the bucket didn’t make it fly away; instead, it just spun in mid-air, pouring the contents all over her.
“Ugh…! W-water?! Why is this coming from those guys…!”
The fire, which had previously been as big as that of a serpentine creature, shrank down to the size of a worm after she got completely soaked.
“I-it’s real! That crazy girl wasn’t lying!!!”
The ones who were calling each other brother and sister grinned, looking pleased as soon as the flames extinguished.
I felt sorry for Yeonhwa, but it was an unavoidable measure. She was way too strong for these lowly goons.
Not to mention, she hadn’t even had an awakening yet, and her flames, which she unleashed for self-defense without intending to harm anyone, were certainly enough to turn these guys to charcoal in no time.
However, it seemed like Yeonhwa was still determined to fight with her diminutive flames, not retreating behind Jinhyeon.
Jinhyeon appeared to be engaged in a fierce inner conflict, debating whether he should step in or not.
A man watching while the girl who liked him was in danger wasn’t exactly a sight you could easily understand.
He was someone with a power so uncontrolled that he could hurt himself as well as others, regardless of strength, so how could he be the protagonist, and why was Yeonhwa infatuated with such a guy? I sighed.
“Don’t worry, Jinhyeon. The hero will be here soon…!”
It was ridiculous to the extreme. Seeing that made me feel oddly fulfilled.
But if you listened closely, you could actually hear the hero coming from a distance.
They arrived sooner than I thought. I’d expected it to take longer.
If those guys ended up caught by the police and mentioned my name, there would be trouble.
…Regrettably, it was time to clear the playing field. I wasn’t really planning to harm Jinhyeon. If I’d wanted to, I would’ve done it a long time ago.
I stood up, brushing off the dust on my stockings and skirt.
The purpose of this sudden attack was ultimately to create an event to establish connections with them.
It was now time to go build those connections.
From the rooftop to the signboard. From the signboard to the streetlight. From the streetlight to the sidewalk.
Quietly and swiftly descending, I ran over the stopped cars that paused to watch the fight happening on the sidewalk.
As a result, it didn’t take long to arrive between Yeonhwa and the villains.
“Academy uniform…?!”
“Y-you, why are you-”
Yeonhwa was flustered upon seeing my uniform, curious about who I was, while the villains looked like they recognized me, stuttering as they wondered why I was there.
“Get back; it’s dangerous.”
I wasn’t going to give an answer to either side just yet, so I sprayed a dense smoke screen from my palm.
The smoke spread terrifyingly quickly, swallowing everyone around in an instant.
The villains, blinded by the smoke, howled and thrashed around, but I was a step faster, snatching Yeonhwa and pulling her out of the smoke.
However, even as Yeonhwa was weakly being dragged along, she still showed slight resistance, worrying about Jinhyeon.
“W-wait! Jinhyeon is in there! If the villains are targeting him, I have to…”
“What can you protect in that state?”
What was she thinking? How could that feeble flame flicker protect anyone?
When I pointed that out, Yeonhwa fell silent, seeming aware that it was futile.
Then, as if noticing something strange, she spoke to me.
“…Wait a minute, how do you know my weaknesses-”
“Later. You said that boy’s name was Jinhyeon, right? I’m going to get him out, so stay safe.”
Yeonhwa seemed taken aback by everything being so sudden, hesitating for a moment before nodding, prioritizing Jinhyeon.
“…Then, please take care of him! I don’t know who you are, but…please help Jinhyeon! And I’d like to know who you are!”
I understood her request to learn who I was. I gave a vague agreement before leaping back into the smoke.
It seemed like the effects of the smoke started to kick in, as the villains’ appearances became quite grotesque within the thickening smoke.
Their noses and ears bled, while their bloodshot eyes made them look almost inhuman.
This was to be expected. A substance that could enhance powerless individuals to go against abilities users wasn’t without consequences.
“Uuuh, aaargh!!!”
The villains screamed in pain and rage while they pummeled Jinhyeon, but he didn’t seem to care at all.
Poor thing. I crept up behind the overzealous villains and covered their faces with my palm, spraying them with a sedative.
“Gah, huck…! What…is this…?”
The concentration was only light enough for self-defense.
It wouldn’t kill them or leave lasting effects, but it would be enough to make them collapse immediately.
As one comrade fell, the rest of the gang rounded around, seemingly confused about what happened, until we locked eyes.
Then, one by one, they dropped like flies. It was thanks to them staring stupidly at me.
After subduing all the villains, I turned back to Jinhyeon.
Other than being dusty from the beating, there wasn’t even a trace of a fight on him.
“Hah. A-are you okay?! Are you hurt?! I’m sorry; it’s my fault you…!”
As I silently stared, Jinhyeon looked bewildered, then he ended up saying something I should’ve said.
The one who had just been attacked worried for the person who put an end to the ones who were attacking him.
The one who should’ve thanked me was doing this.
As funny as that was, anger boiled deep within me.
“You’ve got enough strength left to say that, so you seem fine. Get up and walk out.”
I managed to calm the fire gnawing at my insides, moving back beyond the smoke. And then I saw the heroes coming toward the smoke.
Before I could ask if he was okay, the villains had already told the heroes that I had subdued them all, and not a single one was hurt.
“…I-is that so? So you’re a student from Heros Academy. Impressive skills. You wouldn’t look out of place in active duty!”
The heroes seemed to judge by my appearance that I was a second or third-year student in the Academy.
“I’m a new student.”
“Ah.”
—–
Thanks to Yeonhwa and Jinhyeon eagerly explaining the situation, I didn’t have much to do.
Just a statement saying I happened to be passing by when I saw a fellow Academy student being attacked and lent a hand.
Then pretending to be surprised at the sight of the villain gang that suddenly dropped dead was all I had to do.
Police officers who arrived late were going to investigate, but Jinhyeon managed to talk them out of it.
He babbled something about how it was the entrance ceremony, and being late would be a huge problem.
Nevertheless, I still had to give them my name, abilities, and address.
I was prepared for that much and didn’t particularly mind, but I disliked that Jinhyeon had helped me.
“I see…Blanca! That’s a pretty name, Blanca!”
“Stop it, Yeonhwa. We just met…”
“And she’s a benefactor who helped us! This is also fate, right?! Jinhyeon, you’re way too timid!”
And so it happened that I naturally accompanied them to the Academy.
Being first-year students at the same Academy and having gone through the same ordeal, it couldn’t be helped that Yeonhwa clung to me, claiming this was fate.
“My name is Yeonhwa! Lee Yeonhwa. This is Jinhyeon! Nice to meet you, Blanca! Let’s be friends!”
Right. Let’s be very, very good friends.