The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 180

Let's see... if it's Ma Kwang-Soo’s test...

While en route to the exam, Se-Hoon pondered what the exam could be. But it wasn’t long before his thoughts were interrupted upon feeling a gaze from the side, which was then followed by a familiar voice.

“Se-Hoon!”

Turning toward the voice, Se-Hoon saw a blond young man, Jake, running toward him.

“What? Aren’t you supposed to be in the lecture hall already?” Se-Hoon asked, puzzled.

“Huh? No, I was taking the department exam until just now.”

Seeing the equally puzzled look on Jake’s face, Se-Hoon finally understood.

“Ah, so this exam was pre-scheduled for today.”

“No? The professor just didn't want to explain twice, so he told me to come straight after my exam.”

“...”

Se-Hoon couldn't believe it. While other professors tried to help students manage their condition during exam periods, Kwang-Soo called them over immediately because he didn't want to explain twice.

...Well, it’s not like I was expecting anything different from him anyway.

Shaking his head in acceptance, Se-Hoon changed the subject.

“So, how did your exam go?”

“Well, I got a perfect score, but I'm not sure about how much higher they’ll grade me. Still, I think I did well. What about you?”

“Me? Pretty much the same.”

“I see...”

At the sight of Jake nodding with a curious expression, Se-Hoon raised an eyebrow.

“What? Are you aiming to be the year-wide honor student too?”

“Huh? No, it's not that...”

“Come on, just be honest. Even Erika told me she's aiming for it and wanted to make a deal with me.”

Surprised, Jake looked at Se-Hoon's words before answering, “To be honest... I don't really care about being the year-wide honor student.”

“Then what is bothering you?”

“Well... if my sister were a first year, she would have immediately become the year-wide honor student... so I just think I should be it too.”

To Jake, being the year-wide honor student was just a bonus. His true aim was to stand undeniably at the top by an overwhelming margin like his sister in the past.

Wow... I didn't think he'd say something like that.

Honestly, he had thought Jake had no thoughts of his own since Jake had never spoken up against his sister. But it turned out that he had a competitive side as well.

Wondering what brought this side out, a thought crossed Se-Hoon’s mind.

Could it be because of what Sung-Ha mentioned.... Damn, instead of helping, he just stirred things up.

Because Jake was even more motivated, things were even more annoying. Irritated, Se-Hoon internally cursed Sung-Ha.

“Also, since we’re on the topic, I have a favor to ask.”

“What favor?”

Pausing his steps, Jake turned to look at Se-Hoon with a serious expression.

“Se-Hoon, I want you to aim to be the year-wide honor student too.”

Se-Hoon looked at Jake with a strange expression.

Unlike Erika, who was confident she'd win, Jake seemed to want to use Se-Hoon as a stepping stone to surpass Aria.

...Which means he doesn't even consider me a threat.

Se-Hoon smirked at Jake’s audacity, amused.

“Sure, I was planning on easily becoming the year-wide honor student anyway, so no problem.”

“Thank you... wait, what?”

“I said, I can easily become the year-wide honor student. So, just do your best. If you do well enough, maybe I’ll rank you higher than your sister.”

“...”

Jake felt his eyes twitch at Se-Hoon's confidence, but he forced a smile.

“Yeah... let's both do our best, whatever the outcome.”

“Sure.”

For a brief moment, Jake seemed to take Se-Hoon seriously. And having noticed, Se-Hoon smiled in satisfaction.

Continuing their walk, Jake looked toward the approaching lecture hall.

“You know what? This exam might decide the winner between us.”

“Hmm? Yeah, you could say that.”

“Professor Ma will probably give us a tough exam... so we should both work hard.”

Since the two were from different colleges, their only overlapping exams were the new year-wide one and the upcoming Physiology Controls ones. Therefore, scoring higher could tilt the scales of their competition, especially if their other scores were similar.

“Right... wait, a tough exam?”

Noticing Se-Hoon’s confusion, Jake looked back at him with a puzzled look.

“Huh? He’s also an S-rank hero, so his exams will probably be difficult and complex, right?”

“Ah...”

Se-Hoon couldn't help but chuckle bitterly.

Not necessarily.

As an S-rank hero and a past colleague of the Emperor of Ascension, it was understandable that one would expect Kwang-Soo to craft unique exams. But Se-Hoon knew better thanks to his past experiences.

No matter how skilled someone was, they were still human. And this meant that...

“Sigh... This is annoying.”

...one shouldn’t expect anything special from someone with a bad personality.

“I can tell what score I should give them by just looking at them. Why do I need to give them a proper exam? All this talk about different approaches and whatnot.... He’s acting all high and mighty just because he’s the chairman of the academy...”

“...”

Standing before Kwang-Soo, who was sitting in a chair with a sword, the two listened to him badmouth Ludwig.

To Jake, Kwang-Soo’s lack of enthusiasm was disheartening, so he looked around to find evidence of otherwise—but nothing seemed different. Despite it being the first-semester evaluation exam, the only new element was the sword Kwang-Soo was holding. And even that, upon closer inspection, was just a mass-produced, Advanced-tier weapon.

Is he planning to conduct the exam with a duel... again?

It would be a discerning method, but it wasn’t any different from their usual routine. Disappointed by Kwang-Soo’s lack of effort, Jake’s spirits dampened. On the flip side, Se-Hoon, having anticipated it, was unperturbed.

“When are we going to take the test?”

“...Fine, fine. Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue, Kwang-Soo got up and looked at the two students.

“For this exam, I will be attacking you guys twice. You guys must dodge, block, or counter the attacks. I’ll grade you based on your performances.”

The exam method lacked any semblance of sincerity. But, Se-Hoon and Jake still immediately began pondering how they would go about it. But Kwang-Soo wasn’t done.

He added another piece of information, “And you can retake the exam as many times as you want.”

“As many times as we want?” asked Jake in confirmation, surprised.

Kwang-Soo nodded.

“As long as it’s during the exam period and before your college-wide exams, you can challenge me as many times as you want. Then, I’ll pick the highest score from all your attempts.”

“Oh?”

The fact that Kwang-Soo allowed them to retake the exam until they were satisfied with their score intrigued Jake.

But in contrast, Se-Hoon frowned. What is this old man up to...?

He had realized that allowing retakes meant the exam was challenging enough to warrant multiple attempts.

He doesn’t care if we can see through his attack patterns later on...

What exactly was he trying to evaluate? Wary, Se-Hoon scrutinized Kwang-Soo.

“So, who’s going first?”

“I’ll go first!”

With no hesitation, Jake stepped forward before Se-Hoon could even think. He thought that since he could retake it, there was no point in hesitating.

“Alright. Jake, draw your sword. Se-Hoon, step aside.”

Following Kwang-Soo’s instructions, Jake drew his Luminescent Sword and constructed its blade, while Se-Hoon moved to the side. Once they were both ready, Kwang-Soo lowered the sword he held in his left hand.

“I’ll start in three seconds. Prepare yourself.”

Jake focused. He gripped his Luminescent Sword tightly, examining his opponent's posture.

It was strange. Despite Kwang-Soo’s relaxed stance, something felt off.

Something’s weird...

The way Kwang-Soo looked at him, the way he held the sword with its handle pointing downward, and the way his right hand was empty instinctively triggered warnings.

Jake tensed due to the inexplicable sense of danger.

Clink-

The sound of Kwang-Soo drawing his sword rang, and his blade lightly touched Jake's neck.

“Okay, your grade will be a B.”

Kwang-Soo sheathed his sword, completely nonchalant.

Lagging, Jake, who had been staring blankly, finally processed what had happened.

Did I almost... die just now...?

If Kwang-Soo had been an enemy, or if he had misjudged his strength, Jake’s head would have been severed before he realized it. The clear sensation of the blade on his neck sent a shiver down his spine and cold sweat down his back.

Wobbling, a realization struck him.

Why was his posture like that?

Kwang-Soo, who should have been pointing his sword downward, had ended up in a middle guard. Confused by the dissonance, he stood still and watched Kwang-Soo look over at Se-Hoon.

“Your turn. Come over here.”

“Okay.”

Stepping forward, Se-Hoon patted the dazed Jake on the shoulder, snapping him out of it.

“Ah, sorry. I’ll move—”

“Just watch from the side. You’ll understand what happened.”

Like always, Se-Hoon seemed to have grasped something no one had.

Unmoving, Jake looked at him closely for a moment before nodding.

“Got it.”

Jake stepped aside, and Se-Hoon pulled out a hammer from his void pocket.

“What happened to your sword?”

“I broke it last time and haven’t made a new one. Besides...”

Se-Hoon smiled as he adjusted his grip on the hammer.

“This seems more fitting for this duel.”

“Tsk. I knew I shouldn’t have taught you that.”

Annoyed, Kwang-Soo resumed his previous stance.

“The same three seconds.”

“Okay.”

The two faced each other, and Jake, watching from the side, started counting the seconds in his mind.

Three.

Their standoff showed no visible movement, but Jake felt a strange sense of displacement between what he saw and felt.

Two.

Neither Se-Hoon nor Kwang-Soo had moved, yet it felt like they had. The disconnect between his visual perception and physical sensation was disorienting.

One.

The final second passed. And, an invisible force instantly rushed Se-Hoon.

Click!

“...Huh?”

Once again, Jake was confused. The sound of a sword being drawn came a beat later than when he was taking the exam.

“Done.”

Like Jake, Se-Hoon had a blade at his neck. However, despite the seemingly same outcomes, there was a critical difference in their postures. If Jake’s sword had stopped midway up, Se-Hoon’s hammer stopped an inch above midway.

Does that mean... he was faster than me?

Jake was completely lost. He was sure that while Se-Hoon’s reaction speed was similar to his, his own physical abilities were superior.

Trying to solve the puzzle, Jake recalled Kwang-Soo’s initial explanation.

Wait, didn’t he mention he was going to attack twice?

“Did you figure it out?”

Noticing that Jake had realized something, Se-Hoon casually asked to confirm while stretching. And though still somewhat uncertain, Jake had a response.

“Before that... did the professor use Sword Control?”

“Yep. To be precise, he used an application technique of Sword Control.”

Kwang-Soo had said he would attack twice, but both times, Jake had only seen him swing his word once. And because he was unable to perceive the attack properly, he had assumed it was a double strike. However, Se-Hoon was unlike Jake. He was able to use his Eyes of Clairvoyance to see through Kwang-Soo’s tricks.

“By using Sword Control, he compressed his synesthetic mindscape into a minuscule amount of mana and released it simultaneously with his attack.”

Just like how high-ranking heroes could use only their synesthetic mindscape to cast a psychological shock on those weaker, Kwang-Soo had used his to paralyze Jake momentarily, allowing him to strike twice within that brief window.

“I didn’t know there was such a method...”

“It’s tricky to use in real combat, as it won’t work on people of similar skill, and those with some training won’t be paralyzed and will counter immediately.”

“Oh. So then my swing was...”

“It was likely a reflex honed by practice. That’s probably what this exam is testing.”

Se-Hoon guessed that the exam tested how perfectly one could perform techniques unconsciously. It made sense too, since it aligned with the teaching outline of the Physiology Controls class that taught one to understand and control their body.

I thought it was a poorly designed exam, but it turned out to be well thought out.

If there was only one attempt at the exam, it would have been too harsh and unsuitable for the students with little combat experience. However, allowing retakes balanced out the issues. Repeated attempts would also allow them to get used to such usages of synesthetic mindscape, making the exam also educational.

It would be great if he also gave generous scores, but that’s unlikely.

Accepting that he would need to retake it, Se-Hoon pondered how he should improve for his next attempt.

“So how did you respond?”

“Hm? Oh, I also used Sword Control to block the attack. It’s easy to counter an attack that only uses a synesthetic mindscape.”

“Ah, Sword Control... wait, what?”

Though he had initially been nodding in understanding, Jake suddenly realized something odd about what Se-Hoon said.

“You can use Sword Control too...?”

“Of course. Have you not seen me use it before?”

The moment the words left his mouth, Se-Hoon realized that he had shown his sword techniques but not his use of Sword Control to Jake, or even Seon-Woo.

Jake widened his eyes at Se-Hoon’s nonchalance.

So he can also use Sword Control.... Don’t tell me he inherited the entire Celestial Infinity Blade too...

Jake knew Se-Hoon had learned various skills from Kwang-Soo, but he hadn’t imagined he had also inherited the Celestial Infinity Blade.

Wait... it doesn’t seem like he’s become the professor’s disciple though.... Still, I’m sure he didn’t learn Sword Control on his own either.

Jake was certain that Sword Control wasn’t something one could learn just by watching. Reevaluating Se-Hoon, Jake fell into deep thought.

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Kwang-Soo began, interrupting Jake’s thoughts. He had been listening to their conversation. “While you did use Sword Control pretty accurately, you missed the point of the grading criteria.”

“Huh?”

“If I only wanted to see how you guys would react, I could have just sent out a bit of killing intent. Why bother using Sword Control?”

“...”

Realizing he wasn’t wrong, Se-Hoon frowned.

I thought he was just showing off his Sword Control...

If it wasn’t that, then what was his real intention?

Kwang-Soo continued, “And by the way... you shouldn’t be boasting to Jake.”

“...What do you mean?”

“It’s your exam score.”

At Se-Hoon’s question, Kwang-Soo smirked and pointed at him.

“You got a C.”