I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 155 : The Sword God (3)

Lee Un-hak.

In his youth, he was called an ill-fated swordsman born in the wrong era.

From guns to cannons, from cannons to missiles.

The battlefield where life and death hung in the balance over a span of land expanded beyond the sea into the infinite sky.

In that world, there was no longer a place for primitive cold weapons like swords or spears, made by heating and hammering chunks of carbon steel.

In such an era, a man's martial talent could at best only be recognized in competitions wielding bamboo swords.

Even that—the era when swords were the most interesting spectacle for the public—had to be traced back to the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago.

Modern swordsmanship was pushed to the periphery by ball sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball, then further marginalized by bare-handed combat like boxing and mixed martial arts, to the point where it couldn't even maintain a professional league.

At best, it could only secure a place in the Olympics as fencing, which had been extremely sportified with electronic equipment hanging all over for scoring.

Perhaps it was natural that Lee Un-hak, even after winning world championships in his 20s, wandered aimlessly around the world every day.

'It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this man began to live a true life from the moment the Gate Era arrived and humans were given the power of mana and characteristics.'

I thought.

'But he really is a monstrous old man.'

It was hard to believe, even after seeing it, that this man who looked like he was barely in his sixties had already passed his eighties.

"Hmm."

The Sword God, who was watching me while sitting formally in a manner that seemed comfortable yet conveyed extreme stability, nodded slightly.

"Your physical foundation is truly excellent. I can feel that you've trained your outstanding body with an extraordinary spirit."

"Thank you."

"Above all, you look straight into my eyes without any sign of intimidation. It means your spirit is much stronger than your body."

"You flatter me."

I silently bowed my head.

"Su-hyeon, I've been very curious about you."

"What do you mean by curious......"

"Because I felt a sense of incongruity."

As the Sword God's gentle eyes sharpened, the air suddenly became heavy.

'Is he trying to intimidate me?'

[Clear as a Mirror is activated!]

[You are not affected by Sword God Lee Un-hak's intimidation!]

"......Indeed, you're not affected at all."

The Sword God laughed as if he had expected it.

"I suspected it from the moment I heard that Chairman Hwang Yong-jae was interested in you."

"What did you suspect?"

"Anyone who has met that man once is bound to be influenced by him in some form. That has little to do with how strong he is. Yet you show no such signs."

"......"

"You have many secrets."

"!"

It felt like my heart jolted with a thud.

"I won't pry into what those secrets are. Considering the lives you've saved so far, that wouldn't be proper."

"......"

As expected of the Sword God.

'He definitely has a different aura.'

"Above all, the incongruity I feel from you isn't unpleasant like that of Ma-in or evil people. In fact, that's what's most interesting."

The Sword God's words were meaningful.

"I can tell. You are not an evil person."

"......At least I try not to be."

"Yes. This seems good enough. Your character seems fine too. For now, I can give you a passing grade in the first round."

"Passing grade?"

"Yes, there is such a thing."

The Sword God chuckled and changed the subject.

"Shall we pick up a sword for a while?"

'Finally.'

It was the long-awaited guidance time with the Sword God.

"Hmm. Indeed, that's right."

The Sword God nodded as he watched me swing and thrust my sword, cutting the air, and releasing sword energy to cut straw bundles.

"You've learned properly from Ho-seung."

"I'm still lacking."

"I heard you've also received guidance from Yu-jin? And you practice regularly together."

"Yes. I've been greatly indebted to her."

"I hear you've given Yu-jin an enlightenment. To follow her own path."

"I'm embarrassed."

"No, rather, I may have been partly at fault for not properly seeing my granddaughter. Since she's a child who keeps things inside and doesn't talk much, I thought it was just growing pains and took it too lightly."

'This is strange.'

He seemed much closer to having an open mind than the Sword God in my memory.

"By the way, your sword looks like it was made by a highly skilled master craftsman."

"It's a sword made by a senior at our academy. It was crafted by processing adamant."

"Adamant! That's impressive."

The Sword God expressed his surprise.

"Swords made of adamant have high mana resonance and excellent durability. As much as they are also tricky to handle."

"That's what I've heard."

"To think a cadet who hasn't even reached the age of majority made such an excellent sword with adamant? I'd like to request a supply for our dojo as well."

'As expected of Lim Eun-seo.'

For her to receive such an evaluation from the Sword God himself, her talent truly was exceptional.

"Does the sword have a name?"

"I call it the Moonless Sword."

"Moonless. A good name."

The Sword God nodded.

"Come to think of it, I heard you also gave Yu-jin a sword as a gift, perhaps?"

"Yes. By the same person."

"Interesting. That sword also had remarkable completion."

Realizing that he had shown too much interest in swords, the Sword God cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"By the way, I heard you've been receiving guidance from Ho-seung."

"That's right."

"That fellow has always had a stubborn side. I found it quite curious that such a Ho-seung would praise your qualities until his mouth dried up."

"I've heard a lot from Instructor Lee. About how he gave you a lot of trouble when he was young......"

"That insolent fellow, so he knows."

The Sword God clicked his tongue and said.

"Ho-seung has one of the top talents among my disciples. Moreover, he has a rebellious spirit, wanting to follow his own path different from his master's sword."

The Sword God stroked his beard, saying that at least his skills and passion for the sword were certain.

"What have you learned from Ho-seung?"

"I've learned numerous techniques and skills, but above all, I've learned the attitude toward the sword."

"A good answer."

The Sword God was pleased.

"To some, it might just be empty armchair theory, but I believe that a swordsman's attitude toward the sword best explains his essence."

"I think so too."

"Hoho. Either you're just going along with an old man, or you're truly insightful."

The Sword God laughed and asked me.

"So, what did Ho-seung teach you?"

"I learned that only when one reaches the state of forgetting the sword can one truly unleash sword energy."

"Good."

The Sword God said.

"That's just like him."

"May I ask what the Sword God thinks?"

"Of course, you have the right to ask."

The Sword God, who had risen from his seat, walked slowly across the floor with his hands behind his back.

"Listen. People often say that reaching the ultimate state means becoming the sword, and the sword becoming you."

"That's right."

"But a sword is just a sword, how can a person become a sword?"

"I thought it was a kind of metaphorical expression."

"That's correct. But think about it."

The Sword God's gaze turned to a distant place.

"Polishing the sword, grinding the sword, tempering the sword, swinging the sword, thrusting the sword, holding the sword, putting down the sword. All those processes are fully integrated into the life lived for a lifetime."

The Sword God slowly drew the sword from his waist.

Sreung.

A sword that had absorbed time, blood, and mana while maintaining its nobility appeared.

"Looking back, can I truly say that I am the master of this sword?"

"......"

"What is a sword? A small piece of metal held in this hand. If someone says this is all there is to a sword, it means he still doesn't deserve to be called a true swordsman."

His self-questioning continued.

"The true sword lies beyond that, and to grasp it in my hand, I had to sacrifice all my life, sincerity, passion, hardship, fear, and delusion."

His words had already transcended murmuring and became a kind of incantation.

"Now thinking again, my life was nothing more than a ritual to offer myself wholly as a sacrifice to the sword."

When his words ended.

Woooong.

The sword in the Sword God's hand rang clearly.

"Ah!"

The way the color and form of the sword energy changed left an impression on me like a long lingering sound.

'This is the Sword God's sword energy.'

Just by seeing that sword energy, I could realize that this man's realm had already reached a level that could not be fathomed by the mind.

To the point where I wondered if there was anything in the world that could not be cut by that sword.

"Hahaha. You're making quite a good face."

The Sword God burst into laughter seeing my face and put the sword back into its scabbard as the light disappeared.

"What do you think? Do you see this old man a bit differently now?"

"That's not it."

"Oh?"

"From the beginning, the Sword God has always stood before me as the pinnacle of swordsmanship."

"Wahahahaha!"

The Sword God laughed as if he was quite pleased with my answer.

"What an interesting child indeed. I'm feeling again, after a long time, what I felt when I first took Ho-seung as a disciple, when Cheong-myeong and Yu-jin first held a sword."

The Sword God's tone changed as if he was addressing a grandchild.

"Su-hyeon, I can see your exceptional intelligence. But you seem to have something fundamentally different from Cheong-myeong, Ho-seung, and Yu-jin."

"What is that?"

"I don't feel the same intense longing from you as from those three. How should I put it."

The Sword God, who had been pondering an appropriate expression, finally said.

"Yes. For you, the sword itself is not the purpose."

"......You saw right through me."

The Sword God smiled as if he appreciated my attitude of neither denying nor making excuses.

"Good. Only someone who firmly believes in himself can show an attitude like yours."

"Yes. I am confident in my path and merely strive with all my being."

"That too is good."

The Sword God smiled.

"If there are a hundred swordsmen, there are likewise a hundred paths of the sword. But only a handful can follow through with their paths, so I hope you will be one of that handful."

That was a bit different from what I had expected.

"You're not scolding me?"

Given the Sword God's character as I knew it, he should have clicked his tongue and said it wasn't pure enough.

"It's because I've learned something by watching Ho-seung."

The Sword God's answer was different from my expectation.

"That there are types of people in the world who cannot be dissuaded no matter how much you try to talk them out of it."

"That's true."

Well, that man's stubbornness is well-known.

"So what can I do? If you doubt and disrespect your master, I could curse you saying you'll surely regret it, but otherwise I can only say, 'Go ahead and try,' and watch."

"......"

The fact is, I had almost never had such a conversation with the Sword God at this point in previous runs.

The Sword God's much more flexible thinking than expected gave me a somewhat unfamiliar feeling.

'The Sword God who has such a mindset now, why later......'

"By the way, you don't seem to have reached that realm yet."

"Which realm do you mean?"

"The flying strike. That very realm that can raise a swordsman's level by one step."

"Yes. That is still completely beyond me......"

"That's to be expected. In fact, considering the time you've been seriously holding a sword, the fact that you handle sword energy this skillfully is already astonishing, so there's no need to blame yourself too much."

The Sword God smiled kindly.

"So I'll teach you the flying strike directly."

'Finally!'

Finally, I would be able to use ranged attacks, the attack option that was most lacking for me right now.

'Later, I'll be able to use fist wind and palm wind as well.'

If that happens, my attack skills can evolve once more.

"Hmm. But it's getting late today."

The Sword God smiled.

"Let's stop here for today."

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

Dinner time.

The members of the Lee family exchanged glances as they saw the noticeably softened attitude of the Sword God.

'What, he seems to really like him?'

'He passed, he passed.'

Lee Yu-jin, who also felt that atmosphere, likewise smiled brightly and created a cozy atmosphere by needlessly scooping a side dish for Su-hyeon and getting one back.

"The love birds are really going at it."

"Is it that nice?"

"Well, even I would feel full without eating if I could look at a face like that."

Despite the adults' teasing remarks, Yu-jin remained steadfast in this moment.

'As expected of Su-hyeon. I knew Grandfather would like him.'

Her fantasy kept puffing up like cotton candy.......

"Then sleep well, Su-hyeon."

"You too."

That night.

After putting all her clingy cousin siblings to bed one by one, Yu-jin, who had enjoyed a good time with Su-hyeon until late, returned to her room and picked up her phone.

"......"

Normally, she would have been giving a live update to Song Yu-ha and boasting.

'Yu-ha hasn't been in contact lately. I heard she's busy, but.......'

What on earth is she doing that she can't even check her phone?

Even amid the dreamlike joyful day, Yu-jin sighed with worry for her friend.

'I'm sure nothing's wrong?'

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

-Beep, beep, beep.

In the laboratory, where only dry mechanical sounds echoed under the pale lighting.

Researchers in white coats busily recorded notes on charts as they observed Song Yu-ha sleeping in a giant test tube filled with culture medium.

"Test subject p-7278, activity name Song Yu-ha. She has achieved a recovery power increase exceeding expectations."

"Yes. The mana increase was similar to expectations, but in terms of characteristic conversion rate and efficiency, over 10% improvement was observed in each."

"Interesting. We need to investigate in depth how the various variables that occurred outside the curriculum have affected her."

"Yes, sir."

Bubble bubble.

In the midst of wandering through the sea of unconsciousness.

Song Yu-ha's eyelids twitched slightly each time she heard the researchers' voices.