Chapter 35
Translator - Zofu
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"How could this...!"
Cold sweat ran down his back where it had already dried.
Less than a minute into the duel, she already regretted her decision.
Si-woo's swordsmanship was clearly that of a master—no, beyond that. He had already struck down with full force ten times in a row. No ordinary skilled fighter could manage such a feat.
"Hah!"
Hye-yeon tried desperately to turn the tide, but each time, she was blocked by Si-woo's flawless technique.
But Si-woo also couldn't press further. Every swing of his sword was more than half-intended to knock Hye-yeon down. If he attempted a mediocre technique here, he might end up being the one struck instead.
"Damn it, she's blocking everything?"
If this dragged on any longer, he would lose due to stamina. Already, sweat poured down his entire body, and each thoughtless, all-out strike left him breathless.
In the end, his winning move wasn't swordsmanship.
"Phew, I'm getting tired... Ah?!"
Hye-yeon had noticed Si-woo growing tired.
She was trying to provoke him and look for an opening, but before she could even finish her sentence, she suddenly saw Si-woo moving away.
"Huh?"
Something was off.
Si-woo stood still. And she was falling backward.
Only then did Hye-yeon realize he had swept her leg, that she was falling backward. The moment she realized it, her back hit the ground. And she felt cold wood against her neck.
"Ugh!"
Even though the training ground floor was covered in sand and dirt, it hurt.
But the mental shock was so great that she couldn't even feel the pain in her back.
'I lost...? Me? To a man who looked like a beginner? To a male candidate I wasn't even going to fight directly?'
It felt as if her entire life had been denied.
"I think I won."
"......."
Even then, Si-woo kindly delivered the final confirmation.
The wooden sword that had lightly touched her neck was removed.
But Hye-yeon still couldn't forget the chill she had felt just below her neck. Though it was a smooth wooden sword enchanted to withstand many impacts, her neck stung as if pricked by thorns.
"Take it."
"Ah...."
Before she knew it, Si-woo was offering his hand, but she couldn't bring herself to take it.
It wasn't because she had lost.
She was embarrassed.
If she looked closely, she would find evidence of his considerable skill. Even if not, that was no reason to let her guard down. A beginner could be strong, and a weak opponent could win.
That was the way of the sword—and of battle.
"Th-that is...."
"Hurry up and take it. My arm hurts."
"...Okay."
It was a common phrase, but effective at prompting the other person.
Si-woo took Hye-yeon's hand and pulled her up.
"You're not angry, are you?"
"Angry?"
"That I should've fought with just my sword, not tripped you with my leg?"
"Of course not. How do you see me?"
"It was a joke."
"......."
Though he said it was a joke, his expression clearly showed relief.
Honestly, it would be a lie to say she didn't feel it was unfair, but Hye-yeon thought rationally. They had never said it was a swordsmanship duel, just a duel. Just because the opponent held a weapon didn't mean there were rules about how to fight.
What was regrettable was that she hadn't properly seen Si-woo's swordsmanship, and she hadn't been able to demonstrate her own. She couldn't understand why someone of his caliber would use such a crude fighting method. From the way he held his sword and channeled his strength, he looked like a considerable master.
'Ah...!'
Hye-yeon realized something.
'It was to teach arrogant me a lesson.'
She had misunderstood Si-woo.
The truth was, Si-woo was embarrassed to have won this way. He even thought it might have been better to lose while giving his all with the swordsmanship he had learned, so she could evaluate him.
'Baek Hye-yeon was evaluated as someone who would become a new SS-rank with a bit more time.... Hmm, should I suggest we fight again with just swordsmanship?'
He stole a glance at the silent Hye-yeon, but she was lost in thought with a serious expression. Thanks to that, Si-woo couldn't make his suggestion and had to keep quiet.
Having sorted out her thoughts, Hye-yeon took a deep breath, looked at Si-woo, and suddenly bowed deeply to thank him.
"Huh? Hye-yeon?"
"Thank you, Si-woo."
"Huh? Wait, what's with the sudden—"
"Thanks to you, my eyes have been opened."
"My eyes have been opened?"
Si-woo's eyes widened.
It was a phrase that brought something about her to mind.
"If you're pretending not to understand, then that's fine. But I mean it sincerely. Thank you for the advice you gave me, who was trapped in narrow vision and couldn't see the bigger picture."
"......."
'No, I'm not pretending—I really don't know... What the hell is she talking about.'
If they fought purely with swordsmanship, Si-woo probably wouldn't match up to Hye-yeon.
In the first timeline, Hye-yeon had awakened her magic in just six months, graduated, and immediately became a C-rank hero based on skill alone. In contrast, Si-woo took ten years to become C-rank.
The hero who graduates first is graded a bit generously due to expectations for the future, but even so, Si-woo had become C-rank not just through combat prowess but by accomplishing various missions.
That gap was by no means small.
"The kingdom you belong to is Palania Kingdom, correct?"
"Huh... Yes."
"I see. Understood."
Though he didn't know what she understood, seeing Hye-yeon nod, Si-woo thought things were going surprisingly well. Asking about his kingdom now meant she was interested in him, even if not to the point of betrayal.
'Is this... good?'
"Are you thinking of training? Then together—"
"Ah. No. I just came out for some fresh air."
"Is that so... That's a shame."
"Next time. Let's do it next time."
"Haha. Alright."
Hye-yeon walked away to train again, and Si-woo watched her for a moment before turning his back and leaving the training ground.
It was just a walk to kill time anyway. Dinner time was approaching, and he had met Hye-yeon as hoped, so he had seen everything he needed to see. Perhaps because it was his first time swinging a sword in this body, his hands were already sore.
'After all, there aren't many people worth noticing in our batch anyway.'
As Si-woo crossed the garden to return to his room, he belatedly recalled something about Hye-yeon.
"I remember. That phrase definitely..."
The phrase about opening her eyes.
It was definitely something she said when talking about her love story with her husband. She said that meeting him—who had opened her eyes with his sword—was her first encounter with her husband, and she gradually fell for him after that.
It was always part of the rumors that spread when Hye-yeon, the hottest prospect, married the captain of her knight order after three years. Thanks to party members who loved gossip, Si-woo had heard it many times.
"...It's nothing serious."
Si-woo, who had been making a serious face, laughed off the thought that came to mind.
If he had returned to the exact same world, maybe, but this was a reversed world.
Here, that man—the captain—would have become a noble husband, enjoying tea parties and whatnot.
Even if not, Si-woo planned to recruit Hye-yeon and bring her to Palania Kingdom from the start. At that point, the same marriage as in the first timeline was already out of the question.
'Then what will happen? Will Baek Hye-yeon fall for me?'
The future was unknown, but it was a rather pleasant thought.
Thanks to a well-placed first button better than expected, Si-woo returned to his room in high spirits.
'I don't need to do much more for Baek Hye-yeon.'
Just by occasionally talking with her, training together, and discussing swordsmanship, she would naturally come to him. If the start was good, recruiting Hye-yeon would be easy, and he had succeeded in that.
'Overall, I'm pretty lucky in this life.'
Si-woo, back in his room, sat at his desk and rested until dinner time.
There was a reason he had returned to his room even though he could have stayed at the training ground and had dinner with Baek Hye-yeon. It was a very trivial and personal reason.
"They definitely said it would be right before dinner.... Hmm, maybe they won't come in this reversed world? The schedule is quite different from the first timeline...."
Si-woo muttered as he skimmed through a secret notebook containing information and events from the first timeline.
He was waiting for a woman to visit his room. The problem was that he wasn't sure if she would come, nor did he know the exact date. Because in the first timeline, she hadn't come to him.
But Si-woo waited for her with hope. For the past week, whenever there were no classes, he always waited in his room at this time until dinner, hoping she would come.
Knock, knock.
"......!"
"Si-woo? Are you there?"
'She's here...!'
It was that woman's voice.
"Yes, yes. Just a moment."
Si-woo hurriedly got up from his seat and walked to the door. Just before grabbing the handle, he realized he was too excited and regulated his breathing. Having waited a whole week, he was impatient.
'Calm down, Han Si-woo. You have the advantage. She's not that sharp, so don't let your guard down. You need to lead the situation calmly.'
"Hoo."
After a few deep breaths, he quickly regained his composure.
His opponent was a merchant skilled at handling people. A woman who would dig in like a ghost and gain the upper hand if she sensed even the slightest advantage. Letting his guard down was forbidden, absolutely forbidden.
"Si-woo?"
After he said "just a moment" and some time passed, the other person called for him again.
"I'll open it right away."
Having organized in his mind what he needed to gain, he opened the door.
As he slowly turned the doorknob and pulled it back, he saw a dumpling bun hairstyle tied up at chest level. With her hair wrapped in cloth, it was a perfectly Chinese-style bun.
Her attire was also close to Eastern style. It was clothing she had brought from the Cheonan Empire in the eastern continent, the nation that had summoned her.
"Nice to meet you, Han Si-woo."
"Nice to meet you too. Your name is Hwang Sa-yeon, correct?"
"I'm pleased you remembered my name."
"Beautiful names are hard to forget."
"Oh my. I'm happy to hear that."
Hwang Sa-yeon covered her mouth with an elegant gesture and smiled shyly.
But every one of those movements was calculated by her.
"I don't know what it's about, but would you like to come in?"
"Thank you. And I'm sorry. It's almost dinner time, and I barged in like this."
"You wouldn't have come now if it wasn't something that would end quickly, right?"
Si-woo also knew why she had come to him, but he smiled slyly.
Of course, Hwang Sa-yeon couldn't know that, so she was pleased that Si-woo seemed to have a favorable impression of her. With 54 female candidates, memorizing all their names in a week was no easy feat.
'Maybe things will work out well.'
"So what is it you want?"
"I came to make you a proposal."
"A proposal?"
"Yes. I want to join hands with you."
Hwang Sa-yeon got straight to the point without beating around the bush. It was unexpected for Si-woo, and he pondered her intentions but couldn't think of a suitable reason.
"Joining hands. That can't be in the physical sense."
"Haha. If you want that, it's not bad either. But wouldn't this be more appealing?"
"Maybe. I'll have to hear the details to know."
"It won't be anything bad for you either."
Hwang Sa-yeon sat lightly on Si-woo's bed. Even though she was wearing a skirt that reached her knees, she naturally crossed her legs, revealing the sleek curves of her skin and drawing a man's gaze.
"I know. That I have no chance of becoming a hero."
"You're talking about mana awakening. You haven't even tried yet, have you?"
"There's no need to try. I already did something similar in my world."
No trace of regret showed on her face. She had already learned the hard truth about her lack of talent for magic and internal energy in her homeland.
Hwang Sa-yeon was from a martial arts world, not Earth. A place similar yet different, not Earth's past, a world where martial arts and chivalry existed—like a parallel world, much like this reversed world.
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