Chapter 3: Awakening
Sword Sage Seo Jin-cheol.
He knew Kim Minwoo well. His granddaughter had mentioned him a few times.
—A cowardly little punk! His eyes were so perverted. I almost gouged them out, you know? If it weren't for Ilsung Group, I would've smashed one of his legs!
Public opinion agreed: he was lazy by nature and crude in both speech and behavior.
The only reason he had avoided any major scandals was not patience, but sheer cowardice.
Most people in the world had said as much.
‘This guy's him?’
The Sword Sage tilted his head.
His presence wasn't something an ordinary person could withstand.
A normal person would be sobbing, maybe even soiling themselves—no surprise there.
Yet Kim Minwoo showed no sign of intimidation.
He stood as calmly as a battle-hardened veteran.
The Sword Sage scanned Kim Minwoo's body.
No mana visible at all. He was undoubtedly an ordinary person.
‘A cowardly weakling.’
A hundred words meant nothing.
Reality before his eyes was what mattered.
The Sword Sage acknowledged it.
Kim Minwoo was a decent prospect.
“You have good eyes.”
“My sword will be even better.”
A smile crept onto the Sword Sage's lips.
Quite intriguing.
“One hundred billion is a lot of money.”
“That's why you use it at times like this.”
“Ever swung a sword before?”
“A few times.”
“To the training hall.”
The Sword Sage led the way.
Kim Minwoo followed behind.
It was the training ground used by Ilsung’s disciples.
When the Sword Sage appeared, the disciples' eyes lit up.
He moved to the center of the training hall and raised a wooden sword.
In that instant, his ferocious presence vanished like it had been washed away. To an outsider, he looked utterly ordinary.
“A spar should be fair to mean anything. I've matched my body to yours. Take a sword.”
“I'll learn a move or two.”
Kim Minwoo picked up a wooden sword.
An S-rank Awakener versus an ordinary person.
Even without mana, pure physical ability alone made it no contest.
So he'd evened the physical conditions.
‘Not easy.’
He knew the Sword Sage well.
He was one of the characters players had to interact with in the game.
The Sword Sage who created Wind Swordsmanship and rose to Korea's top Awakener.
But his sword realm was currently stuck.
At that level, popping elixirs wouldn't suddenly elevate him.
Pure enlightenment was needed too.
‘He'll stay like that for another five years.’
Then he'd create a new swordsmanship and advance.
‘Thunder Wind Swordsmanship.’
It blended the softness of wind with the speed and force of lightning.
‘I learned it directly.’
Of course, not as the broken personality Kim Minwoo.
Seo Yerim.
A four-star difficulty character, granddaughter of Sword Sage Seo Jin-cheol.
Using that connection, he'd learned Thunder Wind Swordsmanship from him.
He truly deserved the title Sword Sage.
He'd never once beaten him.
‘But now it's different.’
This was far in the past.
The Sword Sage wasn't that Sword Sage yet.
‘Plus…’
With sensory implementation limits lifted, he could now control his body far more precisely than before. A big advantage in combat.
Swordsmanship?
He had the superior version.
Experience?
The Sword Sage had decades of experience as an Awakener, but Kim Minwoo was no novice either.
And equal physical levels?
‘Winnable.’
Stripped down to his underwear, he had no equipment disadvantage.
At least for this moment.
‘No openings at all.’
Even without mana.
Even with a body like an ordinary person's.
The Sword Sage was the Sword Sage.
His raised wooden sword stance had no excess.
The stance guarded everything from his face to his abdomen.
Seeing it, fighting spirit flared in Kim Minwoo's eyes.
The Sword Sage felt the same.
‘A total beginner who's only swung a sword a few times?’
He was stunned.
Kim Minwoo.
The stance of this thunderbolt punk was incredibly refined.
Even the circling footwork had purpose. Subtly exposing an opening, or tensing toes like he'd charge any second.
Unbelievable. But he had no choice but to believe.
Kim Minwoo's body showed no signs of sword training.
No calluses on his hands.
Pathetic muscle mass everywhere. He looked like a complete novice who'd never touched a sword. Yet this novice was perfectly matching him.
You see something new every day.
Tension built without a single clash.
Then Kim Minwoo took a deep breath. It was a duel between masters.
The first to move gets read.
But they couldn't circle forever.
‘Have to yield one move.’
He thrust first.
“Where!”
The Sword Sage, reading his intent, charged like lightning in fury.
He was the Sword Sage.
Not decrepit enough to yield to a young punk!
His sword flowed softly, aiming for the opening.
Clack!
The two wooden swords clashed fiercely. Kim Minwoo's moved first.
Flowing the Sword Sage's sword softly, then thrusting with lightning momentum!
The Sword Sage twisted his shoulder to evade.
But Kim Minwoo's assault didn't end.
His sword snaked up, stabbing the Sword Sage's armpit.
Thud!
In that split second, the Sword Sage’s wooden sword struck Kim Minwoo’s shoulder as well.
That instant…
[Awakening begins!]
[Achievement blooming!]
Achievement bloom started.
Both stepped back two paces.
“… You really never learned sword before?”
“No.”
In all twenty-three years of Kim Minwoo’s life, he had never learned the sword.
There was no denying it.
Seeing his steady eyes, the Sword Sage nodded.
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should have requested this spar first.”
“Then give it your all this time. Until one of us falls.”
“Agreed.”
The Sword Sage accepted cleanly.
This young man, in pure swordsmanship, was a worthy rival.
No, this one was superior.
The Sword Sage's eyes turned deadly serious.
* * *
Waaah!
At the faint cheers echoing, Seo Yerim opened her eyes from meditation.
Sword Sea Pavilion was unusually noisy today.
‘What's going on? No special schedule…’
The only oddity she recalled was that total wastrel visiting.
Puzzled, she stepped out of the training room.
She saw instructors moving busily.
“Something happening?”
“The Sword Sage is sparring.”
“Grandpa? With who?”
Seo Yerim's eyes sparkled.
Sword Sage Seo Jin-cheol.
The greatest, most brilliant swordsman in the world.
His spars were worth watching.
She was dying to know who could make her admired grandfather spar.
Surely a great figure.
Her mind flashed: Divine Spear, Fist King, Poison Demon…
All top-10 Korean Awakeners.
Worthy of her grandfather's personal attention.
Then…
An instructor scratched his head.
“Uh, well… it's that Kim Minwoo punk.”
“… Pardon?”
Kim Minwoo? That Kim Minwoo?
No way…
“The one scheduled to visit today.”
But the instructor's words shattered her thoughts.
Seo Yerim was shocked.
She loathed Kim Minwoo.
His snake-like eyes raking her body were still vivid.
Pathetic, vile human.
And he was sparring her grandfather?
Something even she couldn't do?
“No, why would Grandpa spar that pervert? Isn't there a misunderstanding?”
“Well… he bet one hundred billion on one spar.”
“One hundred billion?”
“Yes. Win or lose, all donated to Sword Sea Pavilion…”
“Crazy? One hundred billion…”
Now Seo Yerim understood why the Sword Sage bothered.
Even for him, that sum wasn't trivial.
Enough to overhaul Sword Sea Pavilion's facilities. Quite the price for thrashing a wastrel.
Of course.
Why else would Grandpa bother with that scum?
A corpse except for his money.
Money, as expected.
“Guess I'll watch. Instructor, join me?”
Her mood lifted sharply as she smiled.
See the wastrel get beaten, upgrade the worn facilities.
Killing two birds with one stone.
She headed to the spar with the instructor.
“Impossible…”
Yerim was aghast.
Was someone hypnotizing her?
Otherwise, the scene before her made no sense.
It was definitely that Kim Minwoo.
Yet that Kim Minwoo was fiercely crossing swords with the Sword Sage.
Wooden swords grazed bodies by a hair.
Grandpa wasn't going easy.
He wouldn't smile like that if he were.
‘What?’
Sword strikes soft as wind, sharp as lightning at times.
Watching Kim Minwoo's sword, Seo Yerim felt distant awe.
A duel of pure physical prowess, no mana.
It was art.
Only then did she realize why cheers kept erupting.
“Not bad!”
“You neither, sir!”
“Ha! You young colt!”
Two swordsmen rampaging in the training hall's little world.
She'd never seen Grandpa so joyful.
Grit.
Yerim bit her lip.
She'd devoted her life to sword for her respected grandfather's recognition. At twenty-two, she earned her title.
Sword Phoenix Seo Yerim.
She was proud.
Even if not now, she would be the first person he acknowledged.
But like this… it'd be stolen.
By that loathed wastrel.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
* * *
10 minutes.
20 minutes.
30 minutes.
As the spar dragged, Kim Minwoo fell further on the defensive.
‘Stamina running out.’
Even restrained, the Sword Sage was baseline S-rank.
Natural recovery was worlds apart.
The Sword Sage's speed didn't drop.
He didn't tire.
But Minwoo did.
A twenty-three-year wastrel who'd lounged.
How good could his stamina be?
Swordsmanship needs strength to move.
Normals collapse after three minutes of sparring.
Let alone thirty.
Mind foggy.
Body trembling.
Superhuman will kept him up, but limits neared.
Then.
The Sword Sage snapped out of his trance.
‘Damn.’
He felt dismayed.
The wall blocking him.
It was just coming into view!
Too long a spar.
Kim Minwoo lasting this far was the anomaly.
‘Incredible mental fortitude.’
His amazement was brief.
Like watching a grandson, the Sword Sage's heart warmed.
“Got lost in my thoughts. Sorry.”
“… Huff. You didn't forget our deal?”
Achievements needed more.
Take more hits.
Ending here meant nothing!
Please hit more!
Kim Minwoo said it elegantly.
“… Right. Until one falls.”
The Sword Sage nodded.
Victory seemed clear.
Yet even on the verge of collapse, Kim Minwoo didn't slump.
Eyes still burned with will.
Iron tenacity.
Unyielding spirit.
Thirst for victory!
This young man was already a complete swordsman.
“Yes. Long or short.”
“We'll see.”
Grin.
Smiles on both lips.
“Take this.”
The Sword Sage lunged, thrusting his wooden sword.
Head, shoulder, torso.
Three precise strikes in sequence.
‘Don't block.’
One more hit, and he'd drop perfectly.
Kim Minwoo abandoned defense, countering mutually assured destruction.
His wooden sword slipped between the three strikes, smacking the Sword Sage's chest.
Smack!
Crack!
As both wooden swords struck bodies.
Kim Minwoo crumpled to the ground.
Flash!
Azure light burst from his body.
Undeniably awakening.
Near-top-tier!
“Awakening?”
“He's awakening!”
“What achievement makes that light…!”