The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong
You experience something bizarre.
You overcome it.
That's the condition for Awakening.
This bizarre experience came to every Awakener in a different form.
Like the Sword Emperor Kim Hong-sik, who trained in a white room for 1000 years to achieve enlightenment.
Or overcoming ten thousand poisons.
Or befriending a grotesque spirit that only you can see.
The world called these Awakening trials.
But these bizarre experiences sometimes took the form of games.
Im Ji-ah, who played the Death Tarot Game in 2025, apparently went through her Awakening trial on her smartphone.
That lit a fire in the hearts of Korean youth.
Seventeen-year-old Shin Si-woo.
I was thrilled too.
Because I'd made a name for myself in one particular game.
[Raise a Sword]
A unique game about raising swords.
It was the age of puberty, where I saw hipster appeal in outdated games and felt emotion in their dot graphics.
I was the ranking 1 player there—the only one who'd properly raised a sword.
It was 2025, two years after Awakeners first appeared.
"Um, I think I'm going to Awaken."
The bold 17-year-old me headed to the Awakener Management Agency to register.
"You haven't done anything, but you think you're going to?"
"Yes."
The receptionist tilted his head at my age, then asked in an irritated tone.
The middle-aged man's scowl scared the kid I was.
"A game?"
"Yes."
I proudly declared I was rank 1 in the ultra-niche game [Raise a Sword].
Of course, 17-year-old me thought they'd welcome me as a "super-rare sword-raising Awakener."
But no.
"Sigh."
The receptionist sighed deeply and glared at young me.
"Raise a Sword—that's the Steam game, right? User count's barely over a thousand."
"Yeah."
He seemed eager to lecture the kid.
"That's not a special or bizarre experience. You just played a lot."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. Park Sang-hyun, the top player in an AOS game with 100 million users, didn't Awaken."
He went on about a famous European FPS rank 1 who'd just failed Awakening screening.
"Even the world's best dismiss it as 'just playing a lot,' and here a 17-year-old—"
The nagging continued.
These days, Korean kids think grinding games hard is some "special bizarre experience." What a lamentable world.
That was the gist.
Seventeen-year-old me was deeply hurt.
"Tsk tsk, the kid just hates studying..."
"Can't blame him. With AI taking all the jobs, no future anyway—might as well dream of Awakening."
"Yeah, lawyers, accountants—all gone. College pointless? Better chase the Awakening lottery."
I heard the whispers around me.
Hearing them, the receptionist clapped sharply to lighten the mood.
"Alright, alright! Don't hurt the kid's feelings! You all came thinking you'd Awakened too!!!"
Ahem. Awkward coughs silenced the room.
"Student Shin Si-woo, follow me."
The man who'd hurt me most coaxed me along, bought me a soda, and murmured, "It's all for your own good!"
Of course, 17-year-old pubescent me didn't buy it.
Especially as a Gate orphan.
I wanted to Awaken and get revenge...
How bad did I feel, treated like a gaming addict instead?
Flash!
[Raise a Sword]
Young me launched my faithful friend [Raise a Sword].
No matter how I look, this world feels just like ours.
Pushing aside regrets, I focused on the monitor.
This game is about raising a [sword], but I don't wield it.
I guide good NPCs to pick it up.
A simulation-like feel.
Induce NPCs to take my sword and reach the ending.
Frustrating at first, but mastery allows wild experiments.
Click.
I opened the character creation screen.
Unlike other games, no human form—just a gleaming blade.
Time to shape the sword's appearance, base stats, and initial [skills].
The start of the build.
Holy swords are boring—and I'm in a bad mood.
So maybe that's why.
I tried a build I'd only theorized, too horrific to test.
[Vampiric Demon Sword]
A sword that grows by absorbing victims' power.
Seeing its end might unlock the next sword.
Let that pretty killer sis wield it.
Seventeen-year-old Shin Si-woo capped puberty with the brutal [Vampiric Demon Sword].
"Eat lots and grow big!!!"
Flash!
The continent has been destroyed.
"Si-woo, what're you thinking?"
"Ah... I was like that kid when I was young."
"Kuhaha, you?"
In 2035, 27-year-old me works at the Awakener Management Agency in Yeouido.
I'd just counseled a middle schooler claiming rank 1 in some famous game meant he'd Awaken.
"I came strutting in back then, thinking I was hot shit at a weird game."
I kept playing it secret.
"Online games have only three cases. Meaningless. More observers, lower odds—that's law."
Kang Seol-ah, section chief beside me, tilted her head.
Her long straight hair swayed as she smiled with her eyes—my entry-year colleague and close friend.
"True. But at 17, I didn't get that."
Ten years later, Awakening rules hold.
Special, bizarre experience.
Overcome it.
Games count too.
Though mostly ultra-unique, visible only to the person.
Now I know how foolish young me was.
But I don't mock it.
Gate-orphaned kid Shin Si-woo deserved credit for trying.
Thanks to that uncle, I snapped out quick.
His counseling made me aim for "working with Awakeners."
Couldn't enter Gates unawakened to avenge my parents.
But I can support and get indirect revenge.
I'm the type who always pays back what's done to me.
So I joined the Agency fast.
Damn, I'm impressive.
I was alone back then.
Look at that middle schooler.
"Mom!!! That uncle called me a gaming addict!!!"
He came with his mom. No—her tone and glare said she pushed the "grind games for Awakening" idea.
She stormed over, snorting.
Seol-ah eyed me in horror.
Meaning...
Want me to handle it?
But I can't let the sharp-tongued Seol-ah loose.
I shook my head and approached the mom.
Before I spoke—
"Why crush the kid like that?!"
I stared her down firmly.
Composed myself, then—
"Parents these days go overboard forcing kids into extreme stuff for Awakening. That's child abuse. Law's passed, right? Games too."
Unlike early Gates, 10+ years brought tons of research.
Forced experiences can induce Awakening; nations have methods.
Hence pushy parents.
"H-he wanted to!!!"
"Dodging laws by making game addicts. Stop the abuse."
Kid can love games.
Parents can support hobbies.
But engineering addiction for Awakening? No.
"It-it's possible!!!"
"Theoretical. Only three cases worldwide."
Why parents do it? One reason.
Martial God, Zhang Chen.
World's first SSS-class monster.
Chinese guy from a wuxia battle royale online game.
And a personality wreck.
Other two cases similar.
"Aim for something solid."
Gates brought Awakeners.
Monsters flooded; civilization partly ruined.
Then Mystery appeared, enabling rebuild.
AI's toast, jobs booming now—
That's Earth 12 years post-Gate catastrophe.
"Raise him like me—an Agency civil servant. Good pay, pension, benefits. Government aid if he Awakens later."
"Induced Awakening?"
"Yes."
I offered the fallback.
Governments found safe induction methods post-10 years.
Lower rank, but—
"Natural Awakeners have high psycho rates, right?"
Far less mental breakdown risk.
Awakening needs overcoming "special bizarre" trials.
Hard for normals.
Hence many natural Awakeners are nuts.
You go mad to overcome.
Didn't know at first; now common knowledge.
"Whatever you want, don't push your kid to ruin."
I wrapped up and left.
Almost 6 PM.
"Agency civil servants clock out on the dot, FYI."
Click!
[Raise a Sword]
"Hmm... still?"
Seol-ah asked if I wanted drinks after, but I dodged with "busy."
That busywork? [Raise a Sword], over 10 years deep.
Turning tiny, pathetic swords huge and mighty.
That's what kid me grasped.
Now? Different.
Turning tiny, precious swords huge and mighty.
Tiny swords are potential.
Can be anything, do anything—the starting point.
Hence precious.
Player's role: give experiences, bloom into grandeur.
Like parenting.
Kid me did horrific stuff, clueless.
Play 1: Sad Ending.
Play 2: Bad Ending.
Play 3: Bad Ending.
Play 4: Sad Ending.
Play 5: Normal Ending.
Varied endings.
My sword destroys the world.
Or world wars over it, perishes.
Or lukewarm status quo drags on.
Etc.
Happy Ending?
But my latest sword was different.
[Diligent Knight]
<My sword... you brought this old body all the way here. Thank you... so grateful.>
I skipped drinks to rush home for one reason.
New [Raise a Sword] ending.
Got attached.
12 years together.
My memories, my time.
Or fruit of my obsession.
I realized: I hyperfocus, dive deep—into what I love.
Kid me thought this world mirrored ours...
Earth has [Gates].
Here, [Abyss].
Similar, fundamentally different.
Earth's red, this black.
27-year-old Shin Si-woo knows [Raise a Sword] is just a game.
So thinking, I focused.
The old man gripped my sword, slowly closed his eyes.
Then—
Flash!
Ooh...
My heart swelled.
Trembling, I watched a mere NPC hold "my sword."
The only one to slaughter all demons, bringing perfect peace.
The Diligent Knight.
The old lunatic gleaming-eyed with my grand sword irked me.