episode_0094

094.

The trainees in the waiting room watched the match with surprised expressions, buzzing with excitement.

Some of them exclaimed, “Wow, we didn’t even see Baek Yurin move!” in awe.

No wonder, as soon as the match began, she dashed forward like a flash of light, brandishing her sword in front of Lee Jinhyuk, leaving everyone in awe.

Is she really the granddaughter of the best swordsman in the peninsula?

After entering Union Academy without showing any remarkable performance and remaining quiet, many thought she was all talk and no action. But it turned out to be the opposite.

Perhaps today, they could truly witness Baek Yurin’s true skills, and the trainees watched with slightly expectant eyes.

However, not everyone was enjoying the spectacle.

There was one person who was deeply concerned.

It was Jin Soyeon.

“What, what is she doing? What about Jinhyuk…?”

Jin Soyeon looked back and forth between the monitor showing Lee Jinhyuk and Baek Yurin, her expression filled with worry.

Baek Yurin seemed even stronger than she had thought.

She had heard rumors about her, but she never expected her to use such powerful techniques.

What if Lee Jinhyuk got seriously injured during the match?

Her worried heart slowly boiled up from deep within her chest.

In matches like this, it was not uncommon for bones to break or internal injuries to occur.

Baek Yurin didn’t seem to have any mercy towards Lee Jinhyuk.

You could tell just by looking into her eyes.

Baek Yurin was clearly serious about the fight.

Come to think of it, didn’t Baek Yurin challenge Lee Jinhyuk at the academy correction center not too long ago?

It could be said that Baek Yurin harbored negative feelings towards Lee Jinhyuk, but it was a public secret.

Surely she wouldn’t use the ranking match as an excuse to take out her frustrations?

But what if, just what if.

If that woman, Baek Yurin, intentionally harmed Lee Jinhyuk.

She wouldn’t just stand by.

Definitely not.

***

“Why, why is it so fast?”

Fast.

Faster than I thought.

Baek Yurin’s movements were almost invisible.

No, they were completely invisible to my naked eye.

“Chukji, is that the Chukji technique?”

Chukji (縮地).

A technique that folds the space between the ground and moves through it.

In the world setting, it is classified as a kind of spatial teleportation magic. It is a top-tier technique and notorious for being extremely difficult. It means it is a highly demanding skill.

“I didn’t know she could use Chukji from the beginning.”

Even for the renowned Baek Yurin, Chukji is quite a burdensome technique.

It demands a significant amount of magical power each time it is used, and it puts a strain on the ankles and knees.

In the game, this was represented by a significant reduction in HP and MP.

In reality, it is a technique that consumes a lot of physical and magical energy.

That’s why I didn’t expect her to use Chukji right from the start.

Because I didn’t expect it, I couldn’t respond properly.

If it had been someone with a keen sense of combat, they might have been able to respond to some extent, but my combat sense was very lacking, so I couldn’t even react.

I truly felt like a useless piece of flesh.

“It was quite dangerous. If I had made a mistake, I would have almost lost the match as soon as it started.”

I forced down my bewildered feelings and pretended to be calm on the outside, gripping my sword tightly.

What if Baek Yurin had struck with her sword until the end?

There was no need to think about it.

Most likely, I would have experienced the humiliating result of a quick defeat in the ranking match.

But for some reason, Baek Yurin didn’t strike with her sword and quickly retreated.

Even though it was a golden opportunity.

Approaching with a burdensome but definite technique, why did you pretend to retreat so easily without attacking?

From the look in her eyes, it seemed like she definitely wasn’t going easy on me.

Baek Yurin was still silent, carefully observing my every move.

Her demeanor seemed different from that of a predator eyeing its prey.

How should I put it?

It felt like she was assessing whether I was just prey or an equal predator.

“Seems like she’s more cautious than I thought.”

Even though I approached with a meticulous technique, her decision to retreat without attacking might be because I exposed too many vulnerabilities.

Could she be intentionally letting me show my weaknesses?

Maybe setting a trap?

Since I didn’t even react, she might have found it even more suspicious.

A regular trainee might not be able to respond, but they could have shown some reaction.

“Maybe she’s being extra cautious because she thinks I might be that man from two years ago.”

Two years ago.

She was defeated by a man.

In a humiliating and disastrous way.

For Baek Yurin, who was hailed as an unparalleled genius, it must have been a humiliating experience.

She had never lost to her peers before.

Having a perfect record of victories, being defeated by a peer she had never seen or heard of before must have been a truly indescribable feeling.

The unerasable shame from the past seemed to have heightened Baek Yurin’s caution.

“I should try to use Baek Yurin’s caution to my advantage.”

There’s no chance of winning through normal means.

Of course, losing to Baek Yurin is almost a given, but I don’t want to just wave the white flag.

I wanted to test how well I could fight against a villain alone through this fight with Baek Yurin.

As a test opponent, Baek Yurin leaves nothing to be desired.

Or rather, she might be too strong.

“If this were a real fight, I could have created various variables by using all sorts of tools and equipment.”

Setting up explosives and mines, blocking vision with flash grenades, spraying nerve gas, launching unavoidable attacks with wide-range ultrasonic devices, and restraining with powerful special arrows, and so on.

I could have created countless variables by using various methods.

But the ranking match is being watched by many people.

I can’t use any tricks.

But that’s okay.

It’s more meaningful to fight with pure skill, tactics, strategy, and psychological warfare without using strange items.

Excluding strange items, I’m curious to see how far I can go fighting against a skilled person like Baek Yurin with just my skill and strategy.

“….”

“….”

We stood there for a while, holding our swords, staring at each other.

A strange silence filled the arena.

The murmurs of the audience in the distance were faintly audible.

I’ve heard that when masters fight, they don’t engage immediately but wait for an opportunity to strike in an instant.

I quietly observed Baek Yurin.

Baek Yurin was scanning my body without blinking, focusing on finding any weaknesses.

However.

“….Too many weaknesses.”

There are too many weaknesses.

“….Intentional, trap?”

I was trying my best to maintain the stance of the Baekgeom-style swordsmanship.

“….Baekgeom-style, our family’s swordsmanship, and yet so poorly executed. Is she…provoking me?”

Oh, no.

It’s the most famous swordsmanship in South Korea, after all.

So I’ve been learning on and off for a while, but a provocation, really?

It seems that in the eyes of the genius swordsman, my stance is rather lackluster.

But what can I do? I’m not a swordsman.

The reason I don’t use a bow as an archer is that I don’t have the confidence to break a sword with practice arrows.

Special arrows and the Galgumasu Crow’s Bow could definitely deal damage to Baek Yurin, but I can’t use them during a match.

As an archer, having to fight with a sword. This is ridiculous.

“…Fine.”

Finally, Baek Yurin clenched the sword a bit tighter, as if she had made up her mind.

“If you don’t come, I’ll go.”

“…”

Is she finally coming?

Baek Yurin slowly stepped forward, using her right foot as a pivot and placing her left foot down.

With the sword held diagonally, she began to slowly, ever so slightly, gather mana.

Properly connecting with her would be nothing short of suicide.

I had to lead her into attack patterns I could handle.

After analyzing the footage for a week, I discovered some habits and tendencies in response to certain actions.

When the opponent used a certain sword technique in a specific situation, Baek Yurin often responded with a certain technique with a high probability.

I diligently memorized them for a week… Ah.

“Oh, here she comes.”

Hey, give me a moment to think!

Whoosh.

It was a split second.

In the blink of an eye, Baek Yurin’s figure blurred and leaped towards me.

This time it wasn’t a pivot step.

Cloud Step.

One of the sword techniques of the White Sword Style.

It was a technique that Yishiyun often used.

It was slower than a pivot step but still hard to follow.

With my naked eye, it was difficult to keep up with her technique.

But it didn’t matter if I didn’t see it.

Unlike before, this time I had seen what move Baek Yurin was going to make in advance.

If I could see what move Baek Yurin was going to make in advance, I could roughly guess what technique she would use.

At this distance, if she used a Cloud Step in that posture, there was a high probability that she would use that technique.

If my prediction was correct, I could probably block the strike.

“Ugh!”

Clang!

Before I knew it, she appeared right in front of me, thrusting her sword.

White Sword Style, One Point Thrust.

Thanks to my preparedness, I was able to block the attack with my shield in my left hand.

For Baek Yurin, it was probably a restrained attack, but for me, it felt almost like a finishing move.

If I hadn’t looked up information on Baek Yurin and watched the footage, I might not have been able to block this attack.

“As expected… you blocked it?”

After confirming that her first strike was blocked, Baek Yurin seemed pleased(?) and immediately tried to swing her sword.

The fluid continuation of the sword’s movements, like flowing water.

But I had a trick up my sleeve.

In the many videos, Baek Yurin showed several follow-up patterns after failed attempts at Cloud Step and One Point Thrust.

Through the position of her left hind leg, right shoulder, chest height, right foot placement, waist angle, sword grip, and more, I could see up to nineteen moves.

…Of course, memorizing all those preliminary moves was impossible.

Even if I could memorize them, recalling and reacting immediately in a real fight was practically impossible.

But I could remember a few representative patterns.

A few of the most commonly used response patterns by Baek Yurin.

In the end, as a human, Baek Yurin had habits and tendencies.

In other words, there was a high probability that Baek Yurin would use the technique she used most frequently and skillfully.

“Stepping forward with the left foot, extending the right arm back, slightly lowering the chest and waist… Is it a diagonal slash to the upper body?”

Is my guess correct?

It should be.

Am I not using a different technique?

If the prediction is correct, the probability is roughly 70%, right?

“It’s either all or nothing!”

Without further hesitation, I quickly raised my shield.

I wasn’t relaxed enough to think any longer.

I had to move before Bai Yurin swung her sword.

I wasn’t quick enough to react to Bai Yurin’s movements just by observing them.

In simple terms, when dodging a bullet, you don’t wait to see it coming, you move out of its path beforehand.

It’s about predicting.

Oh, um. Prediction, huh…

Damn. It sounds good to say prediction, but isn’t it just gambling?

No matter how much you observe, memorize, and analyze someone’s behavior patterns, they could suddenly change their mind and launch an unexpected attack.

“!”

“Kuk.”

Out of nowhere, Bai Yurin’s sword swung diagonally past my shield. Oh, oh! I got it, damn it!

The blade, infused with magic, emitted a hot heat as it grazed the surface of the shield.

Thankfully, it was a training sword and shield, or else the shield could have been completely shattered in a real battle.

“Alright, now!”

I dodged Bai Yurin’s sword and immediately thrust into her guard.

As I blocked Bai Yurin’s diagonal strike, I attempted a counterattack with my sword.

If it were an ordinary trainee, they wouldn’t have been able to dodge it.

“…”

But as expected, my sword didn’t connect.

Bai Yurin swiftly dodged my sword like a flying squirrel, then leaped back.

She readied herself for my attack and countered it with a swift movement.

I could have at least caused a minor injury like I did with Yudahee back then…

“Well, Yudahee was being careless at that time.”

Also, she trusted her own skills, so she didn’t bother dodging my attack.

But Bai Yurin was different.

She was somewhat wary of me.

“You… predicted my movements?”

She murmured, looking slightly surprised.

“…It doesn’t seem like you just reacted to my movements. You anticipated them before I even swung my sword… I’m a bit surprised.”

Bai Yurin infused her sword with a strong magic.

“I was hesitant because you seemed vulnerable, slow in your movements, and your swordsmanship was lacking… Are you really weak or… is it all an act?”

No, that’s the Sword of Truth, right?

“Are you… the man I’m thinking of…?”

“Hey, I’ve told you multiple times it’s not me.”

“Words are just lies… I can’t be sure. So…”

Bai Yurin slightly lifted the corner of her mouth.

“I’ll test our swords… Swords don’t lie.”

That was truly a madman’s statement.

Indeed. Bai Yurin is somewhat of a madwoman.

A madwoman obsessed with her sword.