The Hero Returns

***

Clank—!

A window was broken. Blood dripped from Geneva’s hand. Korea’s famous portal sites were covered with two people’s names.

[Kim Su-hyeun]

[Kim Dae-ho]

[The works of Kim Dae-ho]

[The sword of Kim Su-hyeun]

…

[Geneva]

The attention of the public was concentrated on the broadcast about Su-hyeun’s raid. Of course, the popular search words were about Kim Su-hyeun’s sword. The name of the blacksmith, Kim Dae-ho, who made Su-hyeun’s original sword was on the list as well.

People were wondering about Kim Su-hyeun and Kim Dae-ho. What was their relationship? Who was Kim Dae-ho? What kinds of work had he been making?

Kim Dae-ho attracted the limelight, and Geneva couldn’t help but be furious because he was the subject of the comparison.

“Arrrrrgh!”

Clank—! Clank—!

Geneva, who couldn’t overcome his anger, started breaking another window. His assistant came closer and tried to dissuade him.

“S—sir. Please, calm down! Your hand is bleeding—”

“How the hell I can calm down now?”

Wham—!

Geneva accidentally hit the head of his assistant. The assistant reeled for a moment but soon stood straight again. Geneva fumed, punching his own chest.

“It ruined my image! People are saying my sword was a defective product! They are saying I am not the best, and my weapons are overpriced! The motherf*ckers! They don’t know shit about me!”

He had arranged all this to make his image better and build higher premiums. But rather, it destroyed his name and helped another blacksmith attract public attention.

“Kim Dae-ho is the man at the auction from a few days ago, right?”

“Yes. He is the blacksmith who set the starting price as zero last time.”

“Who the hell is he? Is he famous?”

“No, sir. He was a nameless blacksmith until recently. He rarely sold his equipment at the auction house.”

“What? What the hell?”

“There was really nothing about him, but it looks like the quality of his equipment is quite good.”

“Kill them! Goddamn it! Kill both Kim Su-hyeun and Kim Dae-ho!”

At Geneva’s outburst, the assistant stood with his head slightly bowed. He had been working for him for years. He knew about his temper very well. Although Geneva would lose his reason and express his anger, he would eventually return to normal after a while.

Clank—!

Geneva even lifted the table now and threw it out the window. He crushed more furniture in the room for a while and finally stopped moving as if he was tired.

“Huu—”

Geneva breathed out long breaths. The assistant noticed his reason was coming back slowly.

“So, what would you like to do now, sir?” the assistant asked.

“How much loss do you expect from this?”

“I expect the price that was already set up in Korea would drop at least 20 percent up to 50 percent. It seems like the sword breaking incident during Kim Su-hyeun’s raid affected it significantly. Also, the new blacksmith, Kim Dae-ho’s equipment was released at a cheap price, now…”

“So, the loss will be huge.”

“Yes.”

“Meet some reporters. Give them some money and ask them to write some nice articles for me. That will help a little bit, at least.”

“I will, sir.”

“And Kim Su-hyeun…I guess I shouldn’t get on his nerve.”

His tone was different from before. It was certainly a rational judgment.

“I can’t do it in the first place. I can’t kill him, and there is no way I can destroy his image.”

Su-hyeun was quite known. He was the first awakener who attacked a blue-colored dungeon and solved many other crises. Not only that, but Su-hyeun also had enough power to finish an indigo-colored dungeon by himself. He was also a member of the Paragon Guild.

Besides, Gordon Rohan, one of the world’s most famous billionaires and was known as the world’s best awakener before Su-hyeun showed up, was also allied with Su-hyeun. This meant that it would be impossible to disgrace Su-hyeun’s name not only in Korea but also in the USA, where Geneva came from.

“What about Kim Dae-ho?” the assistant asked.

“Kill that bastard.” It was a rational answer, not an emotional one. “He knows his work, and this happening promoted his work. To succeed in setting my product up in Korea, he has to die. He doesn’t have any background, so we won’t have any problem.”

Kim Dae-ho was different from Su-hyeun. He had no background, so there would be no trouble in getting rid of him. If he was a blacksmith, not an awakener, killing him would not be difficult at all.

“Yes, sir.”

Geneva’s assistant nodded and took his phone out. Killing a nameless blacksmith was not a hard task.

Ring, ring, ring—

The assistant had called someone. “Hey. It’s the boss’s instructions.”

***

Kim Dae-ho became very busy. Orders rushed all of a sudden. People who had not known about Kim Dae-ho before now wanted to use his equipment.

“I guess you are busy.”

“You are killing me, man.” Kim Dae-ho, sitting while sweating, complained as he looked at Su-hyeun. “What the hell did you say on the air? Why am I getting so many orders?”

“The only thing I said was that the sword I was using was yours.”

“You really only said that?”

“Yeah.”

“Idiots. Whether it’s a sword or a shield or armor, it’s not about what to use but who uses…” Kim Dae-ho shook his head and clicked his tongue.

Su-hyeun agreed with him. Of course, better equipment was also important. However, even an excellent sword would become different depending on who used it. No matter how sharp and hard a sword was, if it was not a good fit for a user, it would be pointless.

“Well, even so, equipment is definitely important,” Su-hyeun thought.

“I just have to finish the last tempering. Just wait a minute. If it’s too hot in here, go outside and drink some Sikhye or something.”

“Then, I will be in the yard. Call me when you’re done.”

“Whatever.”

“Can I use a sword outside?”

“Just don’t break anything. I mean, it is a house you got for me anyway…”

“I will be careful.”

Kim Dae-ho gulped the iced coffee that he was holding and got up from his seat. As he left to finish the armor that Su-hyeun had requested, Su-hyeun came out to the yard behind the workshop. The yard was about 1.3 are. It was a bit small, but it wasn’t too bad for practicing alone.

Schwing—

Su-hyeun slowly pulled out the sword. At the same time, he checked his skill proficiency.

[The Swordsmanship of Wrath]

* Skill Grade: –

* Proficiency: 12%

* LV: 2

*The swordsmanship that the best swordsman, Wrath, used. He recreated his family’s swordsmanship in his own way. Depending on the proficiency and level, power and speed will be corrected when the user uses the sword.

* Correction rate: 6.1%.

It was the new skill that he had gotten from the blue-colored dungeon in Paris. No, it was something different from regular skills. It had a form of a skill, but strictly speaking, it was like a real swordsman’s.

Authentic swordsmanship…

Su-hyeun also had learned swordsmanship. His teacher was Bak Yun-gyu. When Bak Yun-gyu had become an awakener, he took interest in swordsmanship. Naturally, he had learned various swordsmanship. Su-hyeun had learned from Bak Yun-gyu in his past life, and he had been using that so far.

However, the swordsmanship of Bak Yun-gyu and Wrath were very different. Unlike Bak Yun-gyu’s swordsmanship, which relied on the skills of the awakener, Wrath’s swordsmanship focused on minimizing unnecessary movements and power depending on the posture. Su-hyeun realized for the first time that the power of the sword could be so different depending on the posture and the distribution of power.

I have to use my lower body instead of my arms.

Swish, swish—

Su-hyeun wielded the sword. He didn’t use any magic power. He did not intend to move quickly on purpose. He moved slowly, very slowly, but precisely.

When I swing, I have to turn my waist as well, and then, my feet should move together for the next movement.

Swish—

Su-hyeun spun around. It was almost the same time as wielding a sword. He spun faster than he had expected.

Swish, swish— Whoosh—!

The sword’s path is the path where the magic power moves. I am not pushing magic; I just have to feel it. I have to shape my magic like the sword.

Rumble, rumble—

The slight magic was injected in his sword. No, it wrapped around the sword. It was as if a thin blade covered the original sword.

When I wield, I have to hold the handle away. If I have enough power in my hands, the attack power will be doubled, and the sword will become longer.

Whoosh—!

Su-hyeun continued to wield the sword, recalling the explanations written in Wrath’s book about the swordsmanship. He could not move fast enough. But he was sure that if he connected the movements smoothly, he would wield his sword more powerfully.

“Heew—”

Su-hyeun, who had been wielding the sword for about 30 minutes, wiped the sweat on his forehead. His focus was more intense, and he swung his sword more slowly than before. He didn’t even use his magic powers to strengthen his body, so he consumed his strength quickly, and he lost his concentration immediately.

[The Swordsmanship of Wrath]

* Proficiency: 14%

* LV: 2

* Correction rate: 6.2%.

The proficiency increased faster than he expected. It was the same for the correction rate.

It’s not bad. If I raise the skill level about five, the correction rate will rise exponentially.

He thought, perhaps later, the power of the sword alone might have increased to 30 percent because of this swordsmanship.

It wouldn’t be bad to spend more days to practice this. If I concentrate on it, the proficiency will go up quickly.

Su-hyeun would have kept moving until Kim Dae-ho finished his work—

Rustle—

“…Hmm?”

—if there was no indication of people trying to get into the workshop.

***

There was a saying that people have three opportunities for big money in their lives. For Kang Yeong-hoon, this was one of his chances.

$2.5 million to kill a civilian!

A request came to three awakeners, including Kang Yeong-hoon. The client asked to kill one civilian and promised $2.5 million for the work. It was a huge commission. Even if they split the amount among the three of them, each one would get a handsome amount. For the three C-Ranks, such a sum of money was something that wasn’t easy to come by.

“This is it.”

It was a private mansion with a large yard.

Clang, Clank—

A hammering sound was coming from beyond the fence. The person they had to kill was a blacksmith who just began to sell his stuff to auction houses. It seemed like he was very busy working in the middle of the day.

“All of the CCTV cameras have been taken care of, right?”

“Of course. You know radio jamming is my specialty. Just don’t leave any fingerprints.”

“Good.”

“Remember, $2.5 million is waiting for us at the end of this job. We can laze around for several years off of that, so keep your wits about you.”

In response to a colleague, Kang Yeong-hoon placed his hand on the wall. The fence was high, but it was not difficult for him to jump over since he was the awakener. The alarm sensor on the fence didn’t ring because of the ability of a fellow awakener.

Thump, thump—

Three people crossed the fence. However…

“There is a saying that fits this situation…”

Surprised, Kang Yeong-hoon looked back to see a man with crossed arms, leaning on the fence that they just jumped over.

“Easy to enter but difficult to escape. Have you heard of that?”

“Kim…Su-hyeun?”

Su-hyeun stared at the three with cold eyes. “Why the hell are you here?”