Holy Sword's Instant Clear (1)
“We should get you changed first.”
“Changed?”
At Choi Junseok’s words, Lee Nayeon glanced down at herself as if wondering what the problem could possibly be.
It wasn’t exactly a problem.
She wore a plain cotton tunic and leather pants—the kind of basic starting gear a level-one commoner would get in a medieval online game. Surprisingly modern in cut, yet undeniably shabby up close.
Just then, the door lock clicked. Choi Junseok spun around, tense, only to hear a familiar voice.
“Oh my! Junseok, you should’ve said something if you were home!”
It was his mother, clutching a bundle of his sister’s clothes against her side. From the look of it, the two women had already exchanged proper greetings.
“I brought something that might fit. Would you like to try it on?”
“I am honored. These appear far easier to move in. May I accept them?”
They were leggings his sister had worn only a couple of times and a gray hoodie.
“Of course. I bought them for exercise, but that diet plan went out the window ages ago. Go ahead and put them on.”
“Then…”
“The room! Go change in the room!”
Choi Junseok stopped Lee Nayeon just as she began to strip on the spot.
She tilted her head, puzzled, then asked, “Would it not be better if Lord Junseok stepped out?”
“…Ah. I didn’t think of that. Right. That’s an option.”
His half-hearted grumble earned no mercy.
Lee Nayeon turned her indifferent gaze to the clothes, turning them over in her hands. “Lady Junhui, which side is the front?”
“That side is the front.”
“I see. This pouch at the nape is quite practical. It appears designed to hold the heads of slain enemies.”
“Pardon?”
“No, it’s a hood. Just a hood.”
“Lord Junseok, please stop talking and move aside.”
“I’m going, I’m going.”
Lee Nayeon held the hoodie with a solemn expression. “A hood. So it was camouflage attire.”
It was clearly easier to give her space. She was also examining the leggings, trying to determine which way was forward.
Choi Junseok slipped into a nearby empty room and opened the internet wiki, wondering if it might offer some insight into Lee Nayeon’s personality.
He typed “Richard I” into the search bar—the legendary knight known as Richard the Lionheart.
As expected of a warlord and one of the greatest commanders of the Middle Ages, the entry was substantial.
‘Lord of the Angevin Empire.’
‘King of England.’
‘Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony. Count of Poitiers, Maine, and Nantes.’
‘Overlord of the Duchy of Brittany.’
‘Lord of Ireland and Cyprus.’
And above all—
‘An unprecedented calamity upon the Muslims and the greatest strategist of medieval Europe.’
‘Descendant of the Devil.’
Some of the descriptions didn’t match Lee Nayeon at all. She was cold and ruthless, but not to that extent—or so it felt.
Perhaps her summoner’s influence was suppressing the more extreme aspects of the Lionheart’s character.
Scrolling through his history, Choi Junseok paused at one section: personal records that hinted at his personality.
One entry in particular caught his eye.
- [Sexuality]
The first line was explosive.
‘From his youth, none could rival his reputation as a libertine.’
‘…’
Choi Junseok’s eyes darted away in a hurry. Nothing else on the page registered.
“No way. She’s just a motif. Yeah, definitely.”
He cleared his throat, moistened his dry lips, and scrolled aimlessly.
“This cohabitation thing… it’ll be fine, right?”
Of course, he was talking to himself.
Lee Nayeon seemed eager to experience life outside, and for safety reasons alone, having her around was a relief. Honestly, what red-blooded twenty-something man would object to living with her?
No—her looks were the kind that would make anyone, regardless of gender, happy to have her nearby. With beauty like that, people of all ages would line up.
Just then, Lee Nayeon knocked on the door.
“I have finished preparing for departure.”
─┼
“It has been a long time since I last stepped outside.”
A fresh breeze stirred Lee Nayeon’s hair. She smiled faintly, as if breathing easier.
“Sorry. I never even took you out once.”
“I understand. Your schedule has been relentlessly busy.”
He had only focused on climbing the Magic Tower; he had never really considered her outings or daily life. While he was content staying indoors, Lee Nayeon was different.
Born with the memories and temperament of the Lionheart, she had spent her life on battlefields and marching campaigns. Forcing someone like that to stay home would only make her ill.
Especially after that spine-chilling advice from Team Leader Kang. How could he keep issuing orders after hearing that?
Choi Junseok belatedly realized she deserved to be treated with the same sincerity as a key business partner.
“Anywhere you’ve been wanting to go?”
Lee Nayeon closed her eyes briefly, then shook her head.
“There are many places I would like to see, but anywhere is fine.”
“Then… let’s head to an empty lot for weapon testing.”
“Understood.”
On the way to a quiet park clearing near the city center, Lee Nayeon asked about everything she saw, like a curious child. When he answered, her eyes widened in surprise, and sometimes her mouth fell open.
“I know that one. I saw it on television.”
She pointed at an ice cream cone a passing child was holding.
“You’re drooling. Want one?”
“……I am fine.”
She looked anything but fine.
Choi Junseok led her into a convenience store and told her to pick anything. Lee Nayeon licked her lips, bit them, and pondered with deadly seriousness, as if making the most important decision of her life.
“The boy just now took the green one.”
Melona—the nation’s favorite, the very symbol of ice cream.
“I shall have that one as well.”
She swallowed, peeled off the wrapper, and took a bite.
Her aura flared involuntarily.
“……”
“How is it?”
“……”
Lee Nayeon blinked at the ice cream, then took another bite. Pure, childlike joy spread across her face as she chewed.
“It is… magnificent. Truly magnificent.”
“……I’ll buy more for the house. You can have some whenever you want.”
Her eyes widened. At the same time, her ears flushed slightly.
“Choi Junseok, you are a good person.”
Her reaction was far stronger than when he had promised her the longsword.
“Ice cream supplier… No. Choi Junseok. I will protect you with all my heart and soul.”
“…Thanks. That’s reassuring.”
She had protected him before, of course, but it had always felt like an obligation. Now it felt different.
During their climb through the third and fourth floors, he had seen her expression while tearing a lizardman in half—utterly expressionless as she glanced at him, blue blood dripping from above. That cold, almost contemptuous gaze had felt like a warning: “You are my master, yet you cannot even handle something this trivial?”
Facing that look made a person feel utterly insignificant.
‘So gifts really are the answer.’
According to the ancient traditions of dating sims, nothing raised affection faster than presents. Handing her this sword might change things.
It was no ordinary item, after all.
At the empty clearing, Choi Junseok summoned a sword before Lee Nayeon.
Item Name: Kim Chun-sik’s Longsword (Unique)
Category: Equipment – Weapon
Description: A blade steeped in the sweat and soul of Kim Chun-sik, the 34th-generation swordsman of the renowned Kim family sword school. Grants a special effect when slicing kimbap.
Equip Requirement: Lv.15
Summons shared their master’s level, so Lee Nayeon was only level 5. Still, a ten-level gap might be manageable with her physical abilities. After all, this was the Lionheart who had endured malaria and plagues during his crusades. A mere ten levels would be nothing.
‘She even managed to lift the level-999 Holy Sword a little.’
No warrior would refuse to grow stronger. Lee Nayeon would probably snatch the sword and start carving up monsters right away. Meanwhile, he could safely snipe with lasers and throwing skills from the side, racking up experience without risk.
Thud!
The moment it materialized, the sheathed sword planted itself lightly into the ground.
Lee Nayeon’s eyes as she stared at it were different from when she had looked at the ice cream—sharp, focused, the gaze of an expert filled with cold excitement.
“A fine sword.”
She grasped the hilt as if communing with it, closed her eyes briefly, then drew the blade in one smooth motion. The scabbard remained embedded in the earth as the sword slid free.
Shring—!
She turned and executed a casual horizontal slash. Leaves on a nearby tree trembled and fell.
“How is it? Think it’ll work? It’s a gift.”
“…Is today my birthday?”
“No. I just haven’t been taking proper care of you. I wanted to give you something better, but this was the best I could manage for now.”
“This sword is more than enough. Thank you.”
She sheathed it and smiled, extending her hand to Choi Junseok.
“Truly.”
That strangely heart-fluttering smile and goodwill left him momentarily dazed before he took her hand.
“I’m counting on you.”
At that moment, a message arrived on his phone—from Team Leader Kang. The timing was so precise it almost felt like the man was watching them.
It almost felt like pressure to climb the tower. Not that he couldn’t understand—Player Management had invested quite a sum in him, after all.
‘Yeah. Let’s just climb the tower.’
But Kang’s message wasn’t only about that.
The agency had detected repeated, regular vibrations of unknown origin in southern Kaesong, North Korea—highly likely the precursor to a new Magic Tower emerging.
─┼
At the same time, a report reached the Player Management Agency.
“There are reports of repeated earthquakes and aftershocks of unknown origin in southern Kaesong.”
“…Unknown origin?”
“It could be a normal quake, but in cases like this, there’s only one possibility.”
“You mean a Magic Tower is about to rise. It was about time one appeared in North Korea. We haven’t had a single one yet.”
The news that a Magic Tower would emerge in North Korea was shocking.
“Summon the rankers. We can’t let the first-floor hidden reward fall into North Korean hands.”