Four weeks had passed since the Silent Sword Master’s recruitnt notice.
“Are they actually going to hire anyone?”
“They haven’t picked anyone, but the number of applicants keeps growing.”
“Seriously, is this so kind of sadistic idle ga outside of the main stream?”
The cruelty of the Silent Sword Master was starting to unsettle the applicants.
[You’ve received a mass email from the Silent Sword Master.]
An event big enough to shake the Awakener community was announced.
[Announcent of the Silent Sword Master’s Martial Arts Tournant]
Date: This Saturday, 10:00 AM
Location: (View Detailed World Address)
Number of Positions: 1
Participants in the C-Class Awakener Recruitnt Notice: 485
“It’s here!!!”
“What the hell? A martial arts tournant now?”
“Holy crap, 485 people applied?”
“No wonder it took so long.”
“Wait, so only one winner gets picked and the rest are out?”
“Are you kidding ? A tournant without a prize pool?”
“Why not just draw lots? Instead, she’s turning her viewers into a gladiator pit.”
The Awakeners, who had been waiting for a month with no updates, vented their frustration at the late notice.
“Huh? The tournant location is so ‘world’ address?”
“Looks like it’s in virtual reality.”
“Oh, I thought we were fighting in person for a second.”
“Well, if it’s virtual, we just need to adjust the synchronization rate. Not bad.”
“True. I an, she is a strear, after all.”
“I don’t usually play gas, but maybe I’ll give it a shot this ti.”
So participants, intrigued by the virtual reality setting, decided to give it a try.
“But doesn’t it still hurt the sa? I heard the post-death penalties can be brutal.”
“Hey, if you don’t want to go, don’t. I’ll go alone.”
“I an, it’s not that I don’t want to…”
“Didn’t you have plans this weekend?”
“Yeah, I’m canceling them.”
“Weren’t you supposed to go on a blind date?”
“Between walking into a landmine of a blind date and joining the Silent Sword Master’s martial arts tournant? Obvious choice.”
“Why even ask? Of course, the tournant! But hey, isn’t the blind date a landmine because of, uh… your face? Wait, no, don’t pick that up! Sis, people die when they get hit with fireballs!”
As the tournant day approached, people couldn’t resist their excitent, and by the day of the event, the venue was packed with participants.
“Hey, isn’t that Kim Je-cheol from the Andong Sword Clan?”
“Look at the guy in the traditional hat and hanbok. Yeah, it’s him.”
“Whoa, who’s that killer-looking woman over there?”
“Dude, turn your head away right now. Don’t you recognize Snake Eyes Lee So-hye? A whole truckload of idiots disappeared in gates trying to ss with her.”
“Oh, there’s the Changwon Guild’s infamous trio.”
“Ha! Rumor has it their higher-ups are threatening to beat them up if they don’t win this tournant.”
“Honestly, you’re supposed to enter solo for these kinds of events.”
With such a large crowd, the range of participants was diverse, including so particularly noteworthy Awakeners.
Participant No. 37: Kim Je-cheol, Andong Sword Clan.
Kim Je-cheol, known for wearing hanbok every single day of the year, shouted as soon as he saw the Silent Sword Master.
“My soulmate is here!”
Gold diggers who chased after him for his money weren’t uncommon, but none of them had ever captured his heart. It wasn’t because their figures were lacking or their greed was off-putting.
“I want to see her in a hanbok! No, I want to personally take it off after dressing her in one!”
A woman who could perfectly pull off the dull attire of a warrior’s robe, looking as though she had stepped straight out of a historical drama, in a slit hanbok?
To Kim Je-cheol, a hanbok enthusiast, the idea was irresistible.
He vowed to win the tournant and confess to the Silent Sword Master.
“You’re insane.”
Participant No. 84, Snake Eyes Lee So-hye, glared at him with disdain.
A freelance Awakener registered with the association, she often soloed gates.
She was notorious for taking down countless would-be predators who assud a solo female Awakener was an easy target.
“What’s the big deal between my hanbok and his warrior robe?”
Though her words were harsh, Lee So-hye had a soft spot for romance.
She had fallen for Kim Je-cheol after he defended her in a gate, cutting down a group of attackers who claid won belonged in the kitchen, only to walk off afterward as if it were nothing.
“Does this really not suit ?”
Lifting the hem of her modernized hanbok and glancing at her leg line, she was objectively attractive. But her outfit failed to et Kim Je-cheol’s specific aesthetic preferences, and he had rejected her five tis.
Her reason for joining the tournant was, of course, that Kim Je-cheol was participating.
She also wanted to see just how impressive this Silent Sword Master was, who had apparently captivated him.
“Get lost, idiots.”
“Nina, don’t co near .”
“This is so embarrassing. Ugh...”
Even Lee So-hye’s determination couldn’t compare to the desperation of three n:
Participants No. 92, 93, and 94—the infamous "Troublemaker Trio" of the Changwon Guild: Ahn Chang-yoon, Kim Gil-tae, and Lee Jung-yi.
“Why the hell did you follow and sign up?!”
“Anything you do, I can do better.”
“I was just trying to score points with the guild for external activities, and now this? What a disaster…”
The three who had joined the guild around the sa ti were often compared to each other, which frequently led to conflicts and strained relationships.
Ahn Chang-yoon had entered the tournant out of pure admiration, but upon learning about it, Kim Gil-tae joined with the intent to humiliate him by beating him in the tournant.
Then, upon hearing that his two peers were participating, Lee Jung felt pressured, worrying he would fall behind in external activity scores if he didn’t participate as well, and hastily followed suit.
“Damn it, these leeches can’t even justify their signing bonuses, yet they cling to like barnacles.”
The problem was that the trio’s recent performance within the guild had been subpar.
Word of them slacking off together spread to the guild executives, leading to ridicule from outsiders and harsh criticism from within, turning them into punching bags for everyone’s frustrations.
To make matters worse, the executives set strict conditions for their participation in the tournant:
The top perforr among them would receive bonus points on their performance review.
The other two would face three months of reduced pay and penalties on their reviews.
Having joined the tournant with nothing but admiration, Ahn Chang-yoon now had to risk everything in a fight, leaving him no choice but to curse under his breath.
“Wow, look at the lineup here.”
“No kidding. Even outside, there are people we’d rather not cross paths with.”
Woo Ji-woo and So Kyung-seok, two C-Class Awakeners who had been early recruits for Hae Eung-eung’s guild and were serving as judges for the tournant, found the participants’ diverse emotions fascinating but rely observed with amusent.
[Begin.]
When the Silent Sword Master raised a placard from her seat of honor, Joo Ah-young stepped up to the podium, took the microphone, and announced in a clear voice:
“Welco, everyone, to the Silent Sword Master Martial Arts Tournant! I am your host and live comntator for this event…”
She paused, closing her eyes tightly and trembling slightly as if summoning great courage, before shouting with determination:
“I’m JumpingRabbitLoverAhyoung!”
Even before the tournant began, the venue erupted into chaos.
2.
Joo Ah-young protested tearfully.
“Do I really have to say my userna, sis?”
[In a martial arts tournant, even the host must reveal their alias to emphasize the event’s significance.]
“There’s nothing significant about an embarrassing userna like this!”
JumpingRabbitLoverAhyoung.
Having logged into the virtual world for the first ti in a while, Joo Ah-young was so mortified by her userna that she covered her flushed face with her hands.
“I’m changing it! I can’t possibly reveal such a humiliating userna in front of everyone!”
[Disappointing.]
“Huh? Sis?”
Hae Eung-eung, typically stoic and reserved, rarely showing emotion, suddenly displayed a stern expression that startled Joo Ah-young.
[Nas carry the emotions and mories from when they were created. Rejecting them out of embarrassnt is like denying yourself.]
“Ugh… That’s not fair. How can you say sothing so profound right now? Do you just want to see humiliated?”
[Why did you choose that userna in the first place?]
Joo Ah-young hesitated briefly before recalling a mory.
“When I was young and living in an orphanage…”
During a governnt project testing virtual adaptation rates, young Joo Ah-young had achieved a remarkable synchronization rate of 20%, garnering attention from officials.
Unfortunately, her high rate only occurred when she played the ga Jumping Rabbit.
“There was a rabbit I raised at the orphanage. It was such a sweet little thing, but one night a monster got into the pen and… tore it apart.”
On the day her beloved rabbit died, leaving her heartbroken, a ga appeared like fate. That ga was Jumping Rabbit.
“People called it trash or a rage-inducing ga, but to , it was pure joy. I could see my little bunny again, and even beco the bunny, hopping all over. How could I not love it?”
Her sha slowly gave way to fondness and longing for her pet rabbit, Tto-soon, and the mories tied to it.
“You’re right, sis.”
Joo Ah-young reflected deeply.
“Even if it’s a bit embarrassing, I don’t want to deny my past. If I change my userna, there’ll co a day when I forget Tto-soon. I don’t want to experience the pain of feeling like I’ve beco soone unrecognizable to myself.”
Her heartfelt words softened Hae Eung-eung’s expression, and she affectionately patted Joo Ah-young on the head, praising her resolve.
“Then what about your userna, sis? What’s the story behind it?”
Joo Ah-young’s sudden question caught Hae Eung-eung off guard. She averted her eyes awkwardly.
Both the origins of “Silent Sword Master” and “Hae Eung-eung” stemd from the sa incident—
A late night of overwhelming impulses and a poorly thought-out, risqué character na for an R-18 gacha ga.
It was a truth she would never, under any circumstances, reveal.
“Ah! That’s not fair! Tell ! Leaving out is so unfair!”
“…”
“If you keep this up, I’ll change my userna after all!”
Joo Ah-young only cald down after Hae Eung-eung recounted the story of Anhui’s Finest Sword, a martial artist whose na was tragically “AngKimoDdiOhJiGoJiRiGoLetItGo.”
The tale of soone who lived on despite such a painfully unfortunate na managed to restore her sense of humor.
Reviews
All reviews (0)