I Bought This Broken Sword for 200,000 Won
“This one… no explanation needed. Back in the day, a ranker’s prized master sword, the very first S-class weapon in the country! Its name was well-known—[Byeori]! Starting bid, one hundred thousand won!”
The auctioneer guy hoisted me high into the air.
……Byeori.
Yeah, if that was my name, then so be it.
The first owner who owned me came up with it. No clue what it meant. A sword needed a name to feel affection and last longer, or something like that?
Turns out that guy didn’t keep me for long and passed me on… and then my owner changed hands a few more times after that.
Sigh.
Names are useless anyway.
Everyone who owned me ended up tossing me eventually.
Maybe it was just because I wasn’t a cool name? Excalibur or something flashy like that—if it had been, I wouldn’t have ended up broken and sold.
My broken blade shin glittered under the spotlights. Someone had even angled the lighting to make me look fancy.
“……”
The auction room was dead silent. No one raised a hand.
That made sense.
Who would buy a rusted piece of scrap metal with a jagged crack right down the middle?
The C-rank dagger sitting on the next display case had sold for fifteen thousand just minutes ago, and this once-national-treasure blade I used to be? I started at one hundred thousand and the bidding stayed lukewarm at best.
‘……I’ve become worse than a C-rank dagger. Me.’
I was the sword that used to be called a national treasure.
I’d even fought in international tournaments back in the day…
Me? Back then? All of it—my seniors, my juniors, everything—I’m done, damn it!
“Um… starting bid one hundred thousand! Anyone? Is there really no one who’ll pay a hundred thousand?!”
The auctioneer’s voice carried a hint of desperation. He looked uneasy if I didn’t sell.
That was rough on me.
I didn’t know my value had dropped this far either.
“Excuse me!”
That was when a hand shot up from the back of the room while I was mentally apologizing to the auctioneer.
“Two hundred thousand!”
……Huh?
*
I got sold.
This body for two hundred thousand won.
Five thousand more than the C-rank dagger that had just gone for half a million. Not bad at all, but the problem was the buyer.
She looked about twenty-five. The woman who scooped me up and grinned ear to ear… it wasn’t the proud, happy expression of someone who just scored a great sword.
Um… I guess it was more like the face of someone who picked up a soggy street dog.
‘……Tsk.’
Poor me.
Before long I’d probably be dumped again.
Next time I’ll either get sold for five thousand or end up as scrap metal…
*
“Senior!!”
Right outside the auction hall, someone slapped my back with a loud, satisfying smack.
Whack—sharp and clear.
“Hey, are you trying to make the guild bankrupt?! Rent’s already late and you go buy a broken sword for two hundred thousand?!”
“Hey, but she looks kinda pathetic… Did she even call for me?”
“Pathetic sword my ass! Even if it’s 2D rights, swords don’t have rights! Or do you mean sword rights?! What kind of nonsense is that?!”
“Hee hee.”
There were two women.
From what I overheard, the one who bought me was the guild leader and the one who slapped my back was the senior. They were university seniors and the only two left in the guild now—the rest had all quit.
In other words…
A guild on the verge of collapse had bought the broken, last-of-its-kind master sword with its last scraps of money.
I might turn into scrap metal sooner than anyone expected.
“The sword they used to call a national treasure. The very first S-class weapon to fight in international tournaments back in the day—”
“So what?! That’s not even a master sword! What are you gonna do with it? Visit a sword training hall?!”
“……I’ll just try it and see. I might have hidden talent after all—”
“Talent? The edge is all gone! What are you gonna do with a broken sword?!”
The senior was right.
What was I supposed to do with this broken blade?
Especially not being a master sword anymore.
See? That’s why I don’t get it—why would anyone pay two hundred thousand for this junk—
…I wanted to chime in, but
…I didn’t have a mouth.
For three years I’d been like this.
No matter how many words I wanted to say, a sword didn’t have a mouth to spit them out.
After I got this iron body instead of the usual skills everyone else woke up with.
So I just stood there, taking the back-slaps while the strange guild leader never let me go from her arms.
Just like always.
I had nothing to do but watch.
*
The guild office was shockingly empty.
Two of the three desks sat vacant, and the guild flag on the wall had a corner ripped off.
Through the slightly open fridge door I caught a glimpse of only soju and a couple of eggs.
……They really were on the brink.
The torn flag read “Saetbyeol Guild” in embroidered letters.
Saetbyeol.
What a bright name.
The office looked like it was right before sunset.
While the guild leader laid me on the desk, the senior was packing a massive backpack in the corner—potions, rope, and several days’ worth of clothes.
“Senior, we’re leaving at dawn, so get some sleep early.”
“Mmm~ Okay.”
“You saying you’re okay after buying junk at the auction and we might lose this request? I don’t know if you realize how badly we’ll be short on rent…”
“What? She’s gonna be our mascot!”
Expedition.
That was why the bags had been so heavy since earlier.
Some desperate client had contacted us right before we went bankrupt, and in the meantime I’d cost two hundred thousand, so getting slapped on the back was only fair.
Dinner was jjajangmyeon.
Pre-expedition feast?
“Since we’re going to suffer a lot starting tomorrow, let’s eat well tonight!”
“……If we hadn’t blown those two hundred thousand I’d be in a much better mood right now.”
I sat there on the desk and listened to the two of them slurping noodles.
The savory smell of jjajangmyeon wafted onto my blade shin.
……I would’ve loved to eat it.
The one thing that always made me the saddest after I became a sword was this—smell food but no mouth to eat it with.
I’d been watching other people eat for three whole years!
This was torture! Why didn’t they just block my sense of smell too!
“Hey, do you want some?”
The guild leader playfully held a slice of pickled radish right up to my blade shin.
If I could eat, I would’ve eaten it long ago, you idiot…!
“Senior, don’t get food on the sword. It’ll rust.”
“Aww, just one bite—”
“A sword doesn’t have a mouth for one bite!”
……Spot on.
p>If I had a mouth I wouldn’t be this miserable.
“Hehe. Sorry, sorry.”
Still, the senior at least understood my feelings.
I’d better give her a point.
*
After finishing the dishes, the senior headed to the shower first and the guild leader laid me on her lap, carefully wiping my blade shin with a dry towel.
Clumsy, but with all her heart.
“Starting tomorrow we won’t be here, so just bear it if it gets lonely.”
……A sword giving advice on everything.
“Originally our guild had a lot of people too—twelve of us. But I wasn’t strong enough and everyone left… hehe.”
She was smiling, but it didn’t sound like something worth joking about.
“Still, Jihyeon never left. With her skills she could’ve joined a top-five guild… she’s such a dummy, right?”
Maybe she was just looking for someone to vent to.
She muttered to herself with no one to answer.
Then the towel she held froze for a second right in front of the broken edge and she grew even more cautious.
“It must’ve hurt there.”
……It did hurt.
This was the first time someone asked me if it hurt.
“Once we earn money, I’ll take you somewhere nice. A blacksmith or workshop. If we can fix you, we’ll try, okay?”
Fix me?
Fix this scrap metal?
Even S-rankers had all shaken their heads when they saw me, saying repair costs would exceed a new sword’s price.
This woman wasn’t even thinking about that calculation.
……Was she just bad at math, or did she have too much heart? Either way, it would make life in this world pretty inconvenient. I worried about her.
After wiping my blade shin, the guild leader laid me back on the desk and rested her chin on her hand, staring at me for a long, long time.
“It’d be nice if you were an Ego Sword.”
“……What kind of nonsense is that.”
“Imagine it. If this sword were an Ego Sword, how awesome would that be? Our guild could pull off a miracle in one blow.”
“Ego Sword? What kind of neighborhood dog name is that? The world only has two of them—national strategic weapons!”
Ego Sword.
Exactly what the senior had said—the ones the world only had two of.
Weapons that grew a soul and turned into people—national-level strategic assets.
I laughed inwardly.
Soul? I have one too.
Everyone just doesn’t know it.
“Imagination is free~ It’s like winning the lottery!”
The guild leader stroked me, gently touching the broken blade shin.
“Since you’re gonna be an Ego Sword…”
……Warm.
The first warmth I’d felt in three years.
No one had ever touched my blade like this before.
Well, technically they had when repairing me, but not with this kind of affectionate touch.
“It’d be so cute~ The kind that makes you feel happy just looking at it.”
That was the moment.
Class 'Master Sword' has met the conditions to evolve.
Master Sword → Ego Weapon
Emotional output calibration applied according to owner's wish.
‘……Huh?’
[Class evolving.]
[Master Sword → Ego Weapon]
[Emotional output: calibrated according to owner’s wish.]
For the first time in three years, a System window appeared in front of me.
And—
My body started to heat up.
Like molten metal boiling again.
The temperature began to rise from the exact spot where my blade shin had broken.
‘What… what is this—’
It wasn’t painfully hot…
More like the warm feeling of something melting.
And as that warmth enveloped me, my consciousness grew blurry.
‘Wait a second… am I falling asleep?’
That was ridiculous.
Swords don’t sleep.
For three years they’d been awake night and day, grinding away.
I tried to resist, but it was no use.
The sleep that came after three years was too sweet to fight.
***
Next morning, dawn.
“Jihyeon, hurry! We’ll miss the car!”
“You’re the one who slept in… hah.”
The two of them—backpacks bulging—hurried out of the office.
A two-night-three-day expedition we couldn’t miss if we wanted to pay the overdue rent.
Just as I was about to lock the door, the guild leader suddenly shouted, “Wait!” and turned around.
“Jihyeon, the sword! Should we take it with us? Like a charm!”
“Where would I even use a broken sword. If I bring it along and it breaks again? It’s just extra baggage. Just leave it.”
“Tsk.”
The guild leader waved sadly at the sword lying on the desk.
“We’ll be back soon~ Take good care of the office!”
“……Why are you saying goodbye to the sword.”
“She’s part of the family! Our new guild member!”
The senior sighed and dragged the guild leader out.
Click—door locked.
Silence returned to the office.
The broken sword on the desk didn’t answer.
It hadn’t noticed the two of them leaving.
Because it was sleeping deeply.
Only—
Just before dawn light came in through the window.
My blade shin began to glow faintly.
***
At the same time.
An A-class dungeon that had been closed last year and no one had bothered to check.
A long-dormant crack on the sealed gate surface had widened just a little.
Crack—
Once, just for a moment.
A sword-shaped beam of light leaked out and vanished.
No one remembered that a sword had broken in this dungeon anymore.