Chapter 9: Season 1, Episode 2
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[3 years ago]
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All alone...truly a sight us powerless could always see. I was always the one who tried to fit in with the crowd but my classmates saw me as nothing more as a side cast.
In North Korea, on the bus
I was reading a WEBTOON called, Player until...
"Can you move your bag?"
I was startled and looked up to see a familiar face, a classmate of mine.
"...What?"
Hae-Seo Yoon...?
She sat down next to me, I was so nervous I could barely bat an eye at her.
'Kinda awkward....'
'I don't need to act like I know her, right?' I thought to myself, getting a small glance at her.
Hae-Seo Yoon....
My classmate.
She's not even a little friendly with me, but she sat next to me today.
She seems pretty popular in our class but...she doesn't have anything to do with me.
Because....
"Hold onto this for me!" She handed a pack of Narlboro cigarettes.
I stood their shocked and though to myself, 'Cigarettes?!'
"Excuse me, th... this is....why?"
"You probably know too but I got caught by the teacher already~"
"Hold onto it for a little bit and return it to me by lunchtime~."
"Wh-what?" I took the packs anyway and looked at them.
"Wh-why should I..."
"Because we're friends~." I stared at her in shock, it had to be a dream because I knew that I was an outcast from the very start.
I turned to see a small white hair boy walk past me whispering, "Don't believe her.." he said before turning the corner.
During the school hours, I sat alone at my desk, I thought very hard if I should hand the cigarettes to her now or lunchtime.
'I just need to hold onto it for a while, but it's pretty nerve wrecking. What's a high schooler doing with cigs in the first place...'
Don't believe her..
I shook my head trying to get what the kid was saying to me.
The third seat from the back of the class.
"Combustion Sword!"
"Hey I told you to stop~"
Where Hae-Seo Yoon and...
"Ha ha, what are you doing~?"
The main characters of our class.
Giving her the cigs right now is a little... I'll just put it in her desk during lunchtime.
"Combustion Sword!"
I heard someone shot out an attack from the WEBTOON, Player. I turned to see it was Hae-Seo Yoon's group.
"What's that lol Combustion Sword?"
"Do you not read Webtoons? This episode was so damn good hahaha!"
"What are you even saying~? Your explanation sucks lol!"
"That's not what I'm saying.."
I got up the courage to walk over to their group and speak, "You're talking about Player right?"
They all turned their heads to look at me.
?
"I read it too." I added
"That 'Combustion Sword' you were talking about earlier. That came out this episode, right?
"Yeah.."
"Uhuh..."
"The author really planned out how the main character used to Combustion Sword this episode..." I continued on about the newest episode of Player.
"...whatever." I heard one of the group member said.
What's with the cold reaction?! Weren't they talking about the Webtoon.
Actually, the topic of the conversation doesn't even matter! I'm the only one who butted in without even knowing my place as a quirkless..!
"Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to suddenly talk to..." I was cut off by one of my classmates.
"What a weirdo..." It was none other than Hae-Seo Yoon.
My world stopped, I felt hurt in the core of my very being.
"Hey, you're close with Heo Seol-Jin?" The group all asked each other the same question, then they all looked at Hae-Seo Yoon.
"Okay, then Hae-Seo Yoon, you, are you close with him?"
I was hoping what she was true and wasn't a lie, my heart was racing with fear and anxiety to know her answer.
"No, I don't know him." She answered making my world shattered. My eyes showed nothing more than betrayal.
"Oh by the way, did you see today's lunch menu? It's Rice Police."
"Rice Police? What's that lol?" Another student asked.
"You don't even know what that? It's the opposite of Rice Thief..."
My anxiety and the air around him grew tighter than normally, I should have listen to the kid, but how did he know that this was going to happen?
Suddenly, an arm wrapped around my neck, "I read it every week." My eyes took a glance to see who was that voice and it was none other than his classmate, Kim Tae-Won.
"Omg, Kim Tae-Won, you were an otaku? Hahahaha gross;"
"What, you talking about the guy who said Combustion Sword? Haha!"
"Ack- you asking cause you don't know? Haha."
I then walked away stop hurt after what transpired.
Unknown to me, a light inside suddenly sparked.
The day continued on till I walking back home, I noticed that this world will always see me as an outcast no matter what I do.
Crunch!
A sound of something munching on bones came from an alleyway I noticed it was a girl being harmed by a villain, I charged in without thinking and grabbed the closest thing to me, a steel pipe. Swinging down with all my might I barely hurt him because I was too weak, afraid of fighting.
I was then kick in the gut, I felt my knees giving up allowing me to fall to the ground, I curse myself for being a pushover and a outcast to the world of quirks.
"Are you really going to lie down like that?"
I painfully looked up to see the same white hair boy with glowing blue eyes. Why was he here? Is he a pro hero or a villain?
"Get up, you can't die here when you have so much you can do."
"...I-I can't even fight a low rank...villain." I felt more weaker until his eyes showed me what it means to be an outcast.
"Die runt!!" The villain screamed out using his quirk turning his arms into swords slashing at the boy, it shocked me more that the villain missed the boy. The speed was another level of that of a hero or villain with a speed quirk.
"I..impossible!" The boy then slammed the villain's head down right in front of me, his eyes so stoic and didn't even showed fear at all.
I wanted to be like him, a outcast who can protect the weak and have my own friends, that's why I have to stand up and fight..
"M-move body!!" I forced my arms to push myself back up and then 'it happen' my eyes glowing yellow aura appeared in front of me, and a young short white hair girl emerged from the light like an angel.
"So are you my wielder?" She asked him while I was still confused, was she my quirk?
"I-"
"Of course he's your wielder." The boy responded with a bright grin.
"Very well then, hold on tight!"
"Huh?"
The sword then transformed into a yellow aura then into a sword.
"..."
"We're fucked."
.....
.....
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!!!"
The women screamed out from the sword
"Sorry!!"
I never felt so scared in my life this Villain showed so much bloodlust that I dropped the sword and ran as far as my legs can carry me.
"Where are you going?!"
The sword transformed back and ran after the me.
.....
I thought now that I have a quirk I can be strong like that kid but I'm still running away from the reality.
In the end, I always ran away from reality no matter how harsh it was.
I dropped to my knees panting heavily.
"..."
"... There's nothing I can do."
"What do you want me to do..? I'm just a quirkless high schooler...yeah, that's right. There's nothing that I can do. This... is the best thing I could do right now.
"Running is not always the answer!"
I turned to see the kid and the girl, "Listen here, you're just like me, I'm no one special especially since I have a quirk and people still call me an outcast. I hated it since my quirk allows me to eat flesh and meat from living animals." The boy eyes had hints of sadness.
This kid was just like me but how can I be sure that he's telling the truth, "But I'm nothing...even with a quirk.." I mumbled as the girl slapped me across the face, leaving a red handprint.
"Let's prove those guys wrong about you and show them that even an outcast can be come something better." The boy offered his hand out to me, I had to take this chance to become something better so I took his hand and that's where my new life begun.
"Hahaha!! It seems I need to take care of you fake heroes!" The villain charged at us at hypersonic speed, I then gained up confidence and grabbed the girl's hand transforming her back into a sword but not the old broken one, but a new sword.
The opponent I needed to defeat was right in front of me, "Now let's end this!"
With one swing of a sword, I caused a massive shockwave sending the villain flying away destroying a few buildings.
"Not bad kid! How about we become friends?" The boy asked me as I was slowly loosing conscious.
"The...name is...Heo Seol-Jin...."
"Excalibur"
The boy smiled warmly, "I'm Kaiyu Tsuchikawa. Nice to meet you Heo and Excalibur."
And that's how the story of the Monster and the Swordsman met on that fateful day.
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