Attention Better Than Expected (3)

Ente came at Seolhwa with a sword in each hand. Watching the man charge in so recklessly, Seolhwa shifted her body lightly and slipped past the attack.

"You're slow."

At her words, Ente swung his sword again. A beautiful trail of starlight followed the tip of his blade as it cut through the air.

Seolhwa dodged what she could and deflected what she couldn't with her dagger.

"Just let me land one hit!"

Having evaded every one of Ente's strikes, Seolhwa seized the briefest of openings and drove her fist into his solar plexus.

"That's all."

Seolhwa sent Ente flying into the distance, dusted off her hands, and walked over to him.

"Get up."

Ente took her hand, rose to his feet, and laughed in sheer disbelief.

"I don't think the problem here is my swordsmanship."

"Hm. You think so?"

Ente shook his head at the chat's reaction.

"Believe it or not, I made it all the way to the semifinals of the Cheechik Last Promise tournament."

"Making the semifinals is still a solid result!"

Watching Ente bicker with his viewers, Seolhwa spoke up.

"Ente, do you want to become stronger?"

Ente considered the question for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a moment before answering.

"Stronger would be nice. I could show my viewers that much more content, after all."

Ente fired back at his viewers as if in a rage.

It was, of course, professional wrestling.

"I'm doing this for you people, and this is what I get?"

Seolhwa watched him for a moment, then spoke.

"There's a way for you to get stronger — but I'll need your help."

"Huh? Weren't you the one teaching me swordsmanship?"

Seolhwa shook her head.

"I only picked up swordsmanship on the side, so I'm no master of it. And martial arts like these have become relics of tradition — there's nowhere left that even teaches them."

She paused for a beat, then went on.

"However... there is a way to learn inside Last Promise."

"Inside the game?"

"Oh, come on. Don't mess with me. What does that even mean?"

Saying nothing, Seolhwa simply looked at him.

"...You're joking, right?"

"I'm serious. The only problem is that this NPC is hard to track down."

"Where is he, then?"

Seolhwa answered with perfect confidence.

"I have no idea. Which is exactly why I need your help."

At her shamelessly candid attitude, Ente let out a hollow laugh.

"Are you kidding me?! How am I supposed to find an NPC whose location even YOU don't know?!"

"Oh, but you've seen this NPC at least once. I'm certain of it."

The moment Seolhwa declared it with such conviction, Ente began digging through his memories — and his viewers started combing through information of their own.

"But if you're that certain, couldn't you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just find them yourself?"

Seolhwa shook her head.

"No. That th— that NPC only pays attention to the strong."

"Sorry, what does that mean?"

At Ente's confusion, Seolhwa kept explaining.

"You've talked with a lot of NPCs over your time in the game, so you must have left a trail behind you somewhere. And this game is so close to the reality we live in that it should have its own communities too."

At that, something seemed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠click, and Ente snapped his fingers.

"Oh! I've seen one! There's some kind of hunter community, right?"

Hearing Seolhwa's words, the viewers started checking for themselves as well.

"If you're as famous as you are, Ente, that NPC has probably contacted you."

"Well... I've never gotten anything like that."

The moment she heard it, Seolhwa let out a sigh.

"Then it'll be in your spam folder. Your account got banned, remember."

Ente began checking his in-game spam mail at Seolhwa's words. Since it was the game's built-in mail system, nothing strange had ever shown up there before.

Then he spotted exactly one message flagged in red.

Ente let out a hollow laugh.

"No way, it's actually real. And... it's exactly like the mail I've gotten before."

"When?"

"When I flamed out in the semifinals."

"What does it say?"

Ente began reading the mail aloud.

"'A hunter? You? All brute force with zero fundamentals. Watching you fight with a longsword you only half learned was... hold on. Why does this feel familiar?'"

"It's really similar to the mail you got in real life?"

"Yep. Word for word."

With that, the viewers couldn't bring themselves to tease him anymore. Ente kept reading.

"'If you wish to meet me, reply to this mail. I'll teach you a thing or two, kid.'"

"The sender is... RomanticSwordDemon."

While the chat erupted into howling laughter, Seolhwa alone was not smiling. If anything, her expression was growing colder, and the fist clenched at her side was trembling, ever so slightly.

Same as ever.

A flicker of anger rose in her — and along with it, certainty.

So I can see them after all.

Seolhwa smiled.

"I think that's him."

"Huh. Never seen anything like this. And I thought I'd been playing this game a long time."

Ente watched Seolhwa, who was quietly gazing into empty space.

No idea what kind of person she used to be — but one thing's for sure: she's going to bring the buzz to this game.

Thinking that, Ente walked over to her.

"Then let's go together, shall we? You have your reasons for finding this NPC. And honestly? This is prime content for me."

Ente said it with a grin.

Seolhwa took his hand and managed a small smile.

"Should we go now, or set a date?"

"You saw that. We go today."

"You sent the reply mail, right?"

"Of course."

"Then check it. The answer should already be in."

"Already?"

Just as Seolhwa had said, a reply was waiting. Ente read it slowly.

"'I will wait at Seonsimdang, in front of Daejeon Jungangno Station. If anyone accompanies you, record their names in your reply — I shall prepare fried soboro bread for each member of your party.' ...It says?"

Hearing that, Seolhwa laughed out loud for the first time in a long while. Granted, it was at least ninety percent disbelief.

Still crazy about his bread, I see.

The viewers who'd heard Ente's reading started posting in equal disbelief.

"Then let's reply 'two people' and head out!"

The two of them used a waypoint to travel to Daejeon. After covering some distance, the Seonsimdang building came into view.

And there he was — a red-haired young man in a gray jumpsuit, a red belt cinched at his waist for a flash of color, eating a fried soboro bread.

"Even without checking, I'm pretty sure that's him."

At Ente's words, Seolhwa pressed a hand to her forehead and nodded.

Back then or now — his fashion ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sense hasn't changed one bit.

Ente and Seolhwa walked toward the young man. Spotting the two of them, he waved and came over.

"Oh, it's you two~ Eat first, then we'll talk~ This here's that hard-to-find Seonsimdang fried soboro, y'know."

Ente stared at the young man in disbelief, and the man just grinned.

"Aw c'mon now, fried soboro ain't a rock or nothin'. My arm's about to fall off holdin' these all day. I ain't gonna eat 'em all, so just take a bag already."

"Ah! Yes, of course."

Only then did Ente accept the paper bag. He fished one out and handed it to Seolhwa.

"You're that RomanticSwordDemon, right?"

The young man answered with a laugh.

"That's me!"

"No, come on — the mail, the look, and the way you talk do NOT match up."

"I hear that a lot, actually. Us true masters, we ain't what we look like on the outside — that's just how it goes. And hey, whatever my talk sounds like, I'm a strappin' young man of twenty-two!"

"Well then, allow me to introduce myself properly. RomanticSwordDemon. The name's Hong Cheonho!"

While the two men carried on noisily, Seolhwa was staring at the fried soboro bread Ente had handed her.

She took a bite, and the faintly bitter matcha cream and sweet red bean met her tongue.

"Hey y'all, big bros and big sis — I brought fried soboro! Come grab one each, quick now! Ah, not that one! That one's Seolhwa's!"

Every time Cheonho came up from Daejeon, his hands had been full of bread. In his own words, his hometown had nothing going for it but bread, so he figured he'd better bring some.

And it was always this matcha fried soboro for me.

"If sweet stuff ain't your thing, you gotta try this one! That little bit of bitterness hits just right."

At some point the two men had stopped talking, and now they were both looking at Seolhwa.

"Suits your taste?"

"Is it good?"

"Yes, it's delicious — but you two staring at me like that is a lot. Give me some room."

The two of them backed off at her words and got straight down to business.

"So what exactly is wrong with my swordsmanship?"

Hearing the question, Cheonho flashed a wide grin.

"All of it!"