Chapter 204
Translator: penny
Chapter: 204
Chapter Title: Fated to Hold the Sword
Sweat streamed down his bare torso, leaving Go Yohan drenched like he'd been caught in a downpour as he greeted Yu Baek-gyun.
Yu Baek-gyun stared blankly at Go Yohan's state for a moment before scanning the surroundings.
"What were you doing?"
He asked casually, as if the commotion outside had never happened.
"Doesn't look like you followed my instructions."
A clear veil of dissatisfaction shadowed Yu Baek-gyun's face.
Step.
Step.
Yu Baek-gyun approached Go Yohan.
"You too! Do I look like a con artist to you?"
Go Yohan took a step back at the sight, but Yu Baek-gyun didn't stop.
"You heard it too, right? All that talk about Snow Sword and whatnot! But you can't believe a word of it!"
Yu Baek-gyun shouted.
"Snow Sword isn't some title earned with a slick tongue—it's a name forged by single-handedly cutting down fifty trolls in a gate blanketed by heavy snow!"
Yu Baek-gyun leaned in close, right up to Go Yohan's face.
"So."
He finally snapped out of it and pulled back.
"Don't even dream of a refund! Got it?"
"No worries. I wasn't planning on it."
"R-Really?"
"Yes."
"Then..."
Yu Baek-gyun stepped closer again.
"Why aren't you holding a sword?"
That was it.
In the end, Go Yohan had signed up under Yu Baek-gyun's hawking, and before resuming his sales pitch, Yu Baek-gyun had assigned him homework.
"You're fated to wield a sword, I tell you?"
Pick up a sword and swing it hundreds of times.
"Don't tell me you think I look like a con artist too?"
"......"
Go Yohan fell silent.
That was when it happened.
Surprisingly, Go Yohan wasn't alone here.
"Of course! He's a con artist!"
Before Go Yohan, there were others who had fallen for Yu Baek-gyun's pitch and enrolled in the sword dojo.
"Fated to wield a sword? He said the same to me!"
"I trusted the name Yu Baek-gyun!"
"I'm the fool for believing in Snow Sword!"
Whether it was his past fame as a ranker that had drawn them in, or the sweet words about being fated to wield a sword, these were the people who had bought it.
"Now, now, why are you all so worked up?"
"If you're a con artist, at least pretend! He has us swing a sword five hundred times right off the bat."
They stepped forward, brimming with complaints.
"Then the next day it's two thousand. This is just forced labor!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
Yu Baek-gyun shouted.
"It's the natural progression when learning the sword! You all are definitely..."
"Bullshit! If everyone here is fated to wield a sword, then every tom, dick, and harry is a swordsman?"
"N-No...!"
"Refund us, you con man!"
The crowd surged toward Yu Baek-gyun—and Go Yohan standing in front of him.
"Or we'll beat it out of you!"
"Everything's reset anyway—what's a has-been Yu Baek-gyun got?"
"I was a ranker too!"
"This scam's been going on for four days already!"
The atmosphere teetered on the edge of a full riot.
"Enough—!"
At Yu Baek-gyun's shout, the charging players hesitated.
"You're fated to wield the sword! Fated, I say!"
"We thought it was something new, but it's the same old..."
And then.
Boom!
The dojo door burst open.
"They say Snow Sword's here?"
The swelling clamor died instantly at the arrival of the group.
*
*
*
A man with a menacing aura stormed into the sword dojo.
The instructors' eyes went wide at the sight.
"Great Sword! It's Kim Tae-san?"
Unlike Snow Sword Yu Baek-gyun, who had been a ranker in the old days, Kim Tae-san had held his ranker status right up until Babel appeared.
Great Sword, Kim Tae-san.
Not quite major league, but he ran a decent guild in one region.
"Why's Great Sword, who's already hit the 13th floor, here on the 5th?"
And now, with Babel's emergence, Kim Tae-san was one of its biggest beneficiaries.
No longer clinging to the bottom of the rankings, he'd entered Babel early and climbed fast, already reaching the 13th floor.
The man rumored to neglect food and sleep for nothing but climbing had appeared on the 5th floor.
"Yu Baek-gyun."
And he was looking for Snow Sword.
"So you really are here."
Kim Tae-san strode straight toward Yu Baek-gyun.
Clench.
Yu Baek-gyun trembled, fists clenched, as Kim Tae-san approached.
"Word was you're still scamming with that three-inch tongue of yours. Looks like it's true."
"Who're you calling a scammer!"
Yu Baek-gyun bellowed at Kim Tae-san's words.
In that instant.
Whoosh!
Mana began pouring from Kim Tae-san's body.
A feat said to be possible only for the elite among past rankers.
—Aura.
Impossible for the old Kim Tae-san, but now feasible after climbing the tower and honing his mana sensitivity.
"Urk."
Even the instructors groaned under the aura's pressure.
Fizzle.
Kim Tae-san dispersed it.
"You all seem duped by Yu Baek-gyun's silver tongue. If you don't want trouble, best head out."
His speech felt archaic, out of place in modern times.
A clash between two old men.
"W-What?"
"You're teaching swordsmanship here for a fee? If it's a waste of money..."
At Kim Tae-san's glance, one of his companions stepped up.
"We'll pay you upfront. We can always get it back from that con artist over there."
"...In that case..."
They already harbored grudges against Yu Baek-gyun.
And now refunds too?
"No! You're fated to wield the sword!"
"What the hell! That crazy old man's still at it!"
"Kim Tae-san!"
But despite Yu Baek-gyun's pleas, the instructors quietly moved behind Kim Tae-san.
And then.
"......"
"......?"
That's when they noticed something odd.
"Who're you?"
"Not leaving?"
The man who left both Kim Tae-san and Yu Baek-gyun baffled.
"......"
Because Go Yohan had just stood there, blankly watching the clash.
"Gutsy or just dumb? Can't believe Yu Baek-gyun's a con artist? Or..."
Kim Tae-san's gaze sharpened.
"If you're angling for a better deal, maybe you're the smart one."
A sly smile crept across Kim Tae-san's lips.
"I don't haggle."
He eyed Go Yohan, as if offering one last chance.
"No."
Go Yohan suddenly spoke up.
They couldn't hear it, but...
-Captain, say the word and we'll sort this out right now.
Yun Seung-ah's voice.
Ding.
[It's the Taesan Guild folks.]
Yu Se-hwa seemed itching to butt in on the noisy scene.
Already under house arrest, she apparently saw this as the perfect chance to step up.
-Captain.
[Send the elves? Or should I go myself...]
Amid the chatter.
"Could you all please be quiet?"
That's why he said it.
"......"
Kim Tae-san's face hardened.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Yu Baek-gyun burst into booming laughter.
*
*
*
"You've got one lunatic on your side. Figures, since anyone still trusting Yu Baek-gyun and sticking around must be crazy."
Kim Tae-san scowled at Go Yohan's words.
"I'll pay you triple what you shelled out. Go over there now. Last chance."
As Kim Tae-san issued his ultimatum.
Step.
Yu Baek-gyun blocked Go Yohan.
"No! You're fated to wield the sword!"
"Still on that crap!"
Kim Tae-san roared.
"Fated to wield a sword! Born swordsman! How many lives have you ruined with that nonsense?"
And then.
Grip!
Kim Tae-san grabbed Yu Baek-gyun's shoulder as he closed in.
"Get a grip, for god's sake!"
A strange emotion flickered across Kim Tae-san's face.
It was worry.
"How long are you gonna spout this madness? How long! It's time to stop!"
"No, fated to wield a sword..."
"Yu Baek-gyun!"
This was Babel.
A place where the strong gathered to flaunt their power.
With countless clashes already, further fights seemed pointless.
'Administrator, and...'
Go Yohan.
Peace maintained by those two—Kim Tae-san, at the forefront, had no reason to shatter it.
Just.
"There's still a spot for you in Taesan. Quit this. We climb together, that's all. Climb higher, and you can swing that sword you keep talking about yourself!"
"No... the sword... the sword..."
The two were.
-Kim Tae-san was originally in Sword Mountain Guild under Yu Baek-gyun.
Once close friends.
-When Snow Sword was hounded as a con artist, they split, and he formed Taesan. Kim Tae-san sought him out after, but was refused.
More complicated than it seemed.
"So this isn't just venting or anything."
-Yes.
"What're you muttering about?"
"You..."
Kim Tae-san, and Yu Baek-gyun mumbling like a madman.
And then.
Step.
Go Yohan stepped between them.
"Here's how we do this."
"......?"
"......"
"I've got the gist of the situation. Even that you're this worried about the dojo master."
Go Yohan said.
"You know that and still...?"
"That's right."
Go Yohan had come to the 5th floor to check out Babel briefly.
The reason he'd followed to this remote spot, to a dojo run by someone who screamed con artist at first glance, wasn't just to lay low quietly.
"Why not let swords do the talking?"
"...What?"
"Swords?"
"A duel."
Go Yohan stepped back again.
"Kim Tae-san? You seem to think the dojo master here's a con artist or a lunatic."
"Right."
"And the dojo master seems to have plenty to say about that sword he's talking about."
Whoosh.
A faint breeze stirred.
"Let your swords have the conversation. That's what I'm saying."
Words hard to swallow in modern society.