Duke’s Son: Re

Chapter 65

From an age too young to have developed proper discernment, Oh Jaha had received elite education.

He was naturally skeptical of school life.

Frankly, there was nothing more to learn.

Every minute, every second spent attending classes felt like a waste.

Especially the children who enrolled in Class A were generally naive about the ways of the world.

Watching those who relied on a single first skill they had mastered early and dared to believe their talents were the greatest filled him with frustration and exhaustion, as if it could cause him an illness.

Yet, never once did he resent his young master.

Silla Kyung’s reason for enrolling in the Lion’s Castle was to clear a ‘quest that had remained unsolved for hundreds of years’.

Supporting and helping such lofty aspirations was both the duty and blessing of a loyalist.

Thus, every day, though he grumbled, he diligently assisted Silla Kyung.

However, there was stress building slowly, almost imperceptibly.

Especially after Lauren arrived as an exchange student, Oh Jaha’s stress hovered on the brink of explosion.

This foreign noble not only enrolled as if it owned the National Treasure of Korea, the Lion’s Castle, but also did not particularly respect Silla Kyung.

“Lauren, you see, I didn’t like you from the moment I set eyes on you.”

Two hours before.

Returning from an all-night quest search with Silla Kyung, Oh Jaha witnessed an intriguing scene.

A few male students were hiding behind bushes or fountains, closely watching the dormitory entrance.

All of them belonged to Class A.

They were the ones nearly killed by the named Death Knight.

It was easy to guess where the hatred in their eyes was directed.

Lauren.

That despicable fellow who fled alone when Class A was in danger.

Oh Jaha did not want to miss this interesting spectacle.

So he sacrificed his short break and followed the students to observe the whole situation.

The five male students who taunted and sneered at Lauren on the way to the cafeteria, and Lauren, who didn’t hold back and made a bloody mess of them.

The situation turned out quite favorably.

Oh Jaha now held ‘reasonable grounds.’

“So there’s no intention of letting it slide. Not only did you flee when your classmates were in danger, but you responded with brutal violence when confronted about it—a beating is the only cure for such an inhuman creature, wouldn’t you say?”

“It’s more fitting to say it’s biting than beating.”

Snorting, Lauren equipped his armor.

The five male students who taunted him were the ones whose legs gave way when they encountered the Death Knight.

The reason they went out of their way to blame Lauren despite surviving was a desperate attempt to conceal their own shame.

Oh Jaha was well aware of this fact.

Yet, he used it as an excuse solely because he needed a pretext to instigate trouble.

Lauren, who was anything but lenient enough to overlook the transparent ploy of a cocky brat, responded.

“Come forward. I shall pluck out all your teeth so that the dog never bares them at someone again.”

“Don’t like the sight of someone so cocky being full of themselves in the middle of South Korea.”

Oh Jaha frowned, grasping the hilt of his sword, having been provoked and turned around completely.

“…….”

“…….”

The students swallowed dryly.

A clash between Silla Kyung’s closest aide and Austria’s National Treasure candidate.

Regardless of the outcome, the impact would be massive.

Considering the notoriety of necromancer, the incident was likely to spark some interest within the community.

“A top-tier duel at a freshman level. I’m excited.”

“The outcome is too obvious, though. The opponent is a National Treasure candidate. Lauren will win regardless.”

“You’re right, a candidate. He’s not a National Treasure yet. At the present point, I don’t think Oh Jaha has anything to worry about.”

Born to S-ranked players, nurtured with support from the Silla family, a boy.

If National Treasure candidates were selected solely based on ‘physical prowess’, it wouldn’t be strange if Oh Jaha was also a candidate.

As the students’ anticipation reached its peak…

Click, clack, clatter.

Jaehyuk scooping food became louder and faster.

“…….”

The number of students turning their attention to him increased.

While Oh Jaha and Lauren maintained their tension, they kept glancing at him, causing other students to start getting irritated as well.

‘Hey! Kang Jaehyuk!’

Chun Hyeji shouted loudly, unable to stand it any longer, but Jaehyuk didn’t pay any heed.

He had a ghostly ability to pick up on insults directed at him, yet remained oblivious in situations like this.

‘No, that couldn’t be.’

Jaehyuk was exceptional in all stats, considering his level.

Especially his insight was extraordinary enough to instantly see through Haha Kyungsoo’s stealth.

There was no way he couldn’t hear my voice.

“Hey! What are you going to do about it!”

An increasingly instigated Chun Hyeji ultimately raised her voice, and as the attention of the students converged on her, Jaehyuk finally turned his gaze towards her.

“Eat, what else? You guys should stop worrying about pointless stuff and eat. Or are you planning to train on an empty stomach?”

“That’s not it….”

Chun Hyeji hesitated.

The reaction to Jaehyuk, who dismissed the looming big match between Oh Jaha and Lauren as something pointless, among the students, was not insignificant.

Especially, Oh Jaha was glaring at Jaehyuk as if ready to devour him.

“That’s right. The weird ones are those causing commotion in the cafeteria.”

In the midst of worried Class B students, Park Haerin suddenly sprang forth.

With her tray, she confidently approached Jaehyuk, and the other kids began to follow her hesitantly.

“Do B-class kids lack empathy?”

Oh Jaha grumbled.

“Can’t you see that kids in our class are beaten black and blue? Calling this pointless when I’m trying to avenge a classmate?”

“Indeed. If they’re just going to eat, they should quietly eat instead of criticizing Oh Jaha’s actions, right?”

“Surpassing mere impudence, aren’t they psychopaths?”

The public sentiment rapidly deteriorated.

The hostility harbored towards Lauren by the students had shifted into a favorable disposition towards Oh Jaha, and it made many students reflexively respond to Oh Jaha’s criticism of both Jaehyuk and the Class B.

From the beginning, he was a charming boy.

With a refreshing appearance and spirited personality, rare skills, and a notable status, many sought to establish a connection with Oh Jaha when given the opportunity.

“Calling someone causing a ruckus in the cafeteria while people are trying to eat a ‘psychopath who blabbers about empathy’.”

Of course, Jaehyuk did not consider the opponent’s status as he spoke.

“Uh…?”

Oh Jaha was dumbfounded.

Blinking his eyes repeatedly, he seemed to question his ears in disbelief.

The other students were even more startled.

Regardless of them both being sons of dukes, Kang Jaehyuk was not Lauren.

He was merely a descendant of a fallen family.

There was no justification for uttering such insolence towards a vassal of the great Silla.

“Do you, do you even know who I am?”

The mole beneath Oh Jaha’s left eye twitched.

He wiped the bright expression completely off his face, frowning intensely as he did so.

“How can you not know who I am? Don’t you even have internet at home?”

A genius touted even among the esteemed members of the Silla family.

And with a bright, radiant appearance.

In a perspective, Jaehyuk’s demeanor was a shocking affront to someone like Oh Jaha, who believed without a doubt that he was the most famous teenage boy in South Korea, second only to Silla Kyung.

‘Is he ignorant of worldly affairs?’

Jaehyuk regarded the genuinely flustered boy incredulously and gestured with his eyes to Lauren.

“Instead of engaging in wordplay, which is unlike you, when are you planning on dealing with him?”

“For the same reason I keep you alive,”

Lauren responded.

“I find it uneasy to physically reprimand a vassal of Silla.”

“You really are something else. With a demeanor like that, no wonder you get into fights everywhere you go.”

“Is this the moment when saying ‘the pot should not call the kettle black’ fits?”

Jaehyuk himself incited fights wherever he went.

He was the origin of turning the cafeteria into a battleground.

He not only threw a tray to fight with Dojin but also swung a sword at Silla Kyung.

The expression ‘the pot should not call the kettle black’ depicted the situation to a tee.

While Lauren, astounded by Jaehyuk’s unabashed audacity, shook his head, a recovered Oh Jaha wore a meaningful smile.

“Kang Jaehyuk, I wondered why you kept interrupting the atmosphere. It was to prevent a quarrel by assisting Lauren, wasn’t it? Did you really want to calm the fight so badly?”

“When did I—Hey, Lauren. Hurry up and fight him.”

“I shall not move according to your whims.”

“Ha ha, you see? He’s naturally defusing the situation. Did you perhaps make a pact with the Baos family? No, considering there’s no way the Baos family would associate with a fallen Kang family, should it be expressed as submission instead?”

The students buzzed vociferously.

They nodded in agreement or pointed fingers at Jaehyuk, as if Oh Jaha’s words held merit.

“Come on, isn’t that an extremely harsh comment?”

Jinsung, unable to ignore it, intervened.

“What did Kang Jaehyuk even do to provoke you like this? Frankly, if you had spent the time fighting Lauren instead, wouldn’t it have been over by now? Honestly, weren’t you just scared? Jaehyuk created a convenient excuse for you to hide behind while hesitating.”

“And who are you? Are you Kang Jaehyuk’s subordinate? How foolish must one be to voluntarily become the servant of a has-been?”

“I’m not a servant but a classmate. Speaking as if everyone else only runs errands for Silla Kyung as you do 24/7.”

“Master Kyung is the next head of the Silla family. Serving the future champion of Korea is an honor beyond measure, and you call it provocation?”

“Listen to this guy going on like a noble’s slave. Serving the Silla family for generations really engraved that servile nature into your bones, huh?”

Jinsung had a reputation for a sharp tongue.

He wasn’t the type to lose a verbal exchange unless his adversary was Jaehyuk.

“Sl-slave? To berate all those serving the Silla family, numbering in thousands, by calling them slaves? Do you…do you think you can handle the repercussions?”

“Oh, looks like you pull others in the moment things don’t go your way. Are you hoping I acknowledge that I insulted your entire family? Aren’t you ashamed of letting your family down?”

“Grrrr! Should I deal with you first?”

“…….”

What’s going on?

Why is the atmosphere like this?

As the anticipated grand match between Oh Jaha and Lauren devolved into an insignificant squabble with an unknown boy, the students began to recover their senses.

“Indeed, fighting an Austrian National Treasure candidate indiscriminately is risky. It might escalate into a diplomatic issue, you know.”

“The first to resort to violence was Lauren, so who cares about diplomacy? He was just scared as that kid mentioned.”

“Need to understand. If the Silla family and the Baos family clashed recklessly, it’d spell disaster, right? The Silla family might be the top in Korea, but globally, they aren’t that prestigious.”

“…….”

How did things turn out like this?

Momentarily caught up in excitement, Oh Jaha realized the atmosphere around him had drastically chilled.

Adding to this, there were people blatantly disgracing his family.

Oh Jaha’s sunnily gentle eyeline turned sharp as a lie.

Infuriation welled within him over the dishonor brought upon his family. He felt a pressing need to redeem it.

“… Both Lauren, you, and Kang Jaehyuk. You’ll all pay for the unforgivable crimes.”

Shtick!

Oh Jaha’s dual-wield swords sprang out like lightning.

With the sword in his left hand thrusting in like a spear and the sword in his right hand tracing a semicircle, it was as though two swordsmen attacked simultaneously.

Stunned by the swift and mysterious swordsmanship, Jinsung’s thoughts were paralyzed.

For someone at his level, reacting to Oh Jaha’s attack was impossible.

‘Next is you.’

Oh Jaha was determined to properly disgrace the trio who insulted him and the Silla family.

His plan was to cut open Jinsung and Jaehyuk’s belts, exposing their underwear, and then ambush Lauren promptly to secure a victory.

But his swords didn’t even reach Jinsung’s belt.

“You three will have 10 penalty points!”

Oh Jaha’s sword halted midair.

The students thought it was due to a professor rushing in and shouting.

However, Oh Jaha’s trembling gaze was actually fixed on Jaehyuk.

“Good intuition?”

Jaehyuk, who had already withdrawn his hands from the sword hilts, smiled lightly.

The lunch trays that had floated momentarily in the air were neatly stacked in his hand.

“But there’s something I’d like to ask you as well. How are you going to handle the situation?”

“… What?”

Jaehyuk’s low voice snapped the confused Oh Jaha back to reality.

“The vassal of the Silla family has insulted the Kang family in front of everyone. Shall I ask if you plan to stake your paltry life in exchange?”

“What nonsense…”

Oh Jaha could not retort.

The professor who had arrived grabbed his wrist and yelled loudly.

It was Professor Geoseo.

The one who previously gave penalties to Jaehyuk and Dojin for fighting in the cafeteria.

‘That professor’s daily routine never changes.’

Jaehyuk had known full well that he would arrive around this time.

He encountered him every morning.

Tap tap.

Jaehyuk patted the still pale-faced Jinsung on the back.

“Thank you. Let’s go eat.”

“Huh? Oh…”

Jinsung experienced something remarkable.

The moment he felt Jaehyuk’s touch, he somehow felt relieved and his tension eased away completely.

‘Nice.’

As he led the way to the table, Jaehyuk’s lips curled continuously in satisfaction.

Thanks to Oh Jaha, he now had a legitimate pretext to demand an apology and compensation from the Silla family.

‘Since a reckless vassal humiliated the Kang family before so many witnesses, the dukedom cannot simply gloss over it to save face.’

Should he navigate this skillfully, it might return astronomically valuable.

With pleasure, Jaehyuk savored the meal as he observed Lauren, who was frowning due to the penalty received.