256. Gifts (1)
256. Gifts (1)
"Disciple."
It was shortly after we returned from Gulliver's Travels.
Master came to me while I was training alone with my sword.
She watched me swing my sword for a while, then spoke.
"Hm, it's about time you changed your sword."
"...Pardon? My sword?"
"Yes."
I was taken aback.
All this time, I'd received her instruction, and she'd helped me in ways words could never express.
I trusted Master so deeply that you could tell me beans made soy sauce and I'd believe you.
But telling me to change my sword—that was still flabbergasting.
'Change my sword...?'
What kind of sword was I using?
It had been with me ever since I'd fallen into this strange world for the absurd reason that I'd flexed a gacha pull once.
It was a sword that had been with me the whole time.
Moonlight (月光).
A blade that had risen from Unique to Legendary grade after I'd slathered it with enhancements.
I'd never sharpened it, I'd poured every bit of Mana I had into it,
and it was still a masterwork sword that emitted a vivid blue edge.
'Surely it'd be impossible to find a better sword than this...?'
After all, this was a world without gacha.
Still, if Master was saying this, she had to have a reason.
I asked her again.
"So I'm to throw away this sword and use what kind of...?"
"Ah, I confused you. Not the sword. The sword technique."
"Oh."
*
Thump—
I drew up my focus.
In an instant, the world flowed sluggishly.
Ten black-clothed figures rushing toward me.
Each of them drew their swords and swung—nothing but perfection in their forms, not a single opening to be seen.
'Normally, here I'd deflect and evade first.'
Instinct screamed at me to dodge right away, but I didn't move.
- Disciple. Your sword is flashy. You steal your opponent's attention with technique variations, create an opening, and then sink in a sharp fang.
- ...Yes. That's... right?
- Yes. It would be. Because that's how I taught you. And it remains an unchanged fact that that is the swordsmanship that suits you best.
Master's blunt voice echoed in my head.
- Do you believe that only flashiness can steal an opponent's attention and create openings?
'In a single slash, contain multiple sword auras... Hmm, what does that mean.'
Baek Seol-hee had assigned it as homework.
Honestly, I still hadn't perfectly understood what she meant.
Even so, the reason I was attempting it now was—
- I've already taught you everything. And that will be confirmed in real combat.
Shuuuuh—
I exhaled heavily and drew my sword.
At that moment,
something strange was "read" in my eyes.
'Huh...?'
The opponent's breathing, the flow of the attack, a split-second gap in a solid pattern.
It was the domain of imagination, but—
a single line clearly drawn before my eyes.
And that line kept shifting position even at this very moment as they rushed at me.
'What is this...?'
Swish—
I timed it
and swung my sword once.
It was a slow, drawn-out slash,
but the blade perfectly overlapped the line.
In that instant,
flinch.
One of the bastards mid-swing in the air froze solid.
'Now!'
I didn't miss that moment.
Shrrrk—
The previously sluggish sword accelerated in a flash, skimming the enemy's throat in a swift, fine-toothed comb.
Slash—
Just like that, the head was severed anticlimactically,
and the Shin Family Guard collapsed on the spot like a puppet with its strings cut.
Dash—
I immediately flung myself through that gap, avoiding the remaining nine swords.
"Ha... What is this."
I stared at Moonlight in my hand and let out a hollow laugh.
"When did I learn swordsmanship like this...?"
She was truly an absurd master.
To have planted this technique in me without me even knowing.
Goosebumps rose all over my body, and respect for her swelled fiercely.
"Isn't this just absolute bullshit broken?"
* * *
"Kyaaahk!!! Kyaaaaaaahk!!!"
In the Shin family laboratory, a naked man was still shrieking.
By now, the other people locked inside the iron cage were covering their ears with both hands and trembling in fear. Even the researchers belonging to the Shin family were no different.
"...Annoying."
Shin Do-hwa's mood was plummeting further and further toward rock bottom.
Around her lay scorch marks strewn everywhere and the carcasses of bugs burned to death.
She didn't know where they were coming in from, but bugs drawn by the smell of blood leaking from the lab had gathered,
and each time, she had irritably used fire to dispose of them.
"...What the hell is the problem? I administered the maximum brainwashing rating and he's still enduring it? Ha, should I just dispose of him?"
Bugs kept setting foot into her domain,
and the experiment that only had the final step left had been ruined as well.
Everything from A to Z was grating on her nerves.
Shin Do-hwa twitched her eyebrows and bit her fingernails.
"Ha, I want to just kill them all and be done with it..."
Flinch.
The researchers belonging to the Shin family and the people locked inside the iron cage trembled and cast their eyes down,
afraid they might needlessly set her off.
"...Now that I think about it. The ones who released these bugs. Did we catch them?"
Shin Do-hwa pulled up a hologram
and switched the feed to one of the drones.
The annoying flying bugs still flitted in front of the camera,
but she persevered and flew the drone to where the Shin Family Guard was.
'...What?'
Contrary to what she'd thought—that they'd be nearby—
the Shin Family Guard was located in an uninhabited area a considerable distance away.
"Did the little rats run away? Well, as long as they properly dealt with those intruders, it's fine."
And at last, the Shin Family Guard appeared on the hologram.
"Huh?"
Checking the screen, Shin Do-hwa couldn't help but widen her eyes.
Because the Shin Family Guard she'd expected to have dealt with all the intruders were, conversely, being slaughtered.
Slash—
Slash—
The sword the boy wielded consisted of very simple movements.
Swinging, cutting, thrusting.
It was only those three movements,
"Slow motion...!"
Whirr.
The camera attached to the drone captured him in high definition.
And his swordsmanship replayed again.
Only after checking his sword in slow motion could she grasp
just how utterly absurd that sword was.
'Huh, what is this... He's adjusting speed and force mid-swing?'
And a sword that clearly should have converged into a single sword path was instead spreading into multiple branches as if it were alive,
drawing lines that were impossible to evade.
The Shin Family Guard were helpless before that boy.
For her, it was the worst possible situation,
but on the contrary, a faint flush rose to her face.
"...Beautiful."
A thirst clawed up her throat.
"I want him."
That appearance, reaching the pinnacle of beauty.
Swordsmanship that didn't seem human.
Even that cruel disposition.
Wasn't it just like a jewel?
Her possessive desire—which had lain quiet no matter what she looked at until now—ignited with a whoosh.
In this aspect, Shin Do-hwa unmistakably resembled Shin Se-hee.
'But who is that child? I feel like I've seen him somewhere...'
Then, suddenly,
she recalled the report her idiot daughter had submitted long ago.
[ This is a list of Utopia's members. ]
They are Utopia cadets,
but they now belong to the Shin family and I will be managing them from behind the scenes.
I will periodically submit reports on Utopia.
- Shin Su-yeon.
'Ha, right. The kid I saw there back then.'
The name that had been briefly included in the lengthy report Shin Su-yeon had sent her, claiming she'd reeled in Shin Se-hee.
Utopia's Jin Yu-ha.
It was definitely a face she'd confirmed there.
But back when she'd received the photo, he'd been a boy so beautiful he was on a different dimension.
"Hm, so she failed, I guess? There's no way someone like my daughter could ever keep a child like that."
Stroking her lips and watching the Shin Family Guard get taken apart, Shin Do-hwa smirked.
"...So the one behind this cute little stunt is definitely that child, Shin Se-hee, isn't it?"
Shin Do-hwa, who'd grasped everything from the circumstances alone,
swiftly turned her head.
Bubble bubble.
The naked man still looking at her with hate-filled eyes.
"Hmm, if this is how it is, I guess I really can dispose of this one?"
Beep—
She pressed a button and spoke.
"Since I can just put that child in here instead. Hohohoho..."
Her cruel laughter flowed through the laboratory,
and the man's eyes stained red.
"Grrrrrk..."
"Go on and rampage to your heart's content. Failed experiment."
* * *
"Hoo..."
I let out a sigh in front of the pile of Shin Family Guard corpses.
'This mental fatigue is no joke...'
I'd gotten my hands on a new swordsmanship that was practically cheat-level in interpersonal combat,
but it seemed I'd need a bit more time to get used to it.
Whirrr—
I glanced up at the drone observing me from above.
'Hm, that's probably Shin Do-hwa, right? Annoying...'
I'd let it watch during the fight since I didn't have the leisure to care,
but I couldn't show it what I was about to do from now on.
I swung my sword.
Slash—
Kzzzt— Boom!
The drone exploded in midair.
"Shin Do-hwa. I'll prepare a gift you can't even imagine."
I smirked as I looked at the Shin Family Guard corpses.