A Veteran Teaches Very Well

part 29

“Depends on how it goes.”

Bam-!

Before I could finish my words, Baek Seol-hwa brought the wooden sword down.

—

It was fast. Moreover, it was heavy.

I didn’t even know how I blocked it.

My body just instinctively defended itself.

Swoosh!

Baeksulhwa’s wooden sword began to dance in a loud, chaotic manner.

It was like the flowing swordplay from a martial arts novel.

The sword’s path twisted wildly.

It slashed horizontally, then suddenly bent at a right angle, stabbing at my torso before launching a vertical attack to my foot—movements that were utterly incomprehensible.

Whack!

What was even more astonishing was that I was responding to it.

The swordsmanship I had learned through my mentor was ingrained in my body, making it move on its own.

My mind couldn’t keep up, but I felt instinctively that I had to move this way.

“Just as I thought, Professor… then I’ll go all out without worry.”

What on earth is that supposed to mean?

Have you been holding back until now? My hand gripping the sword trembled slightly.

Baeksulhwa’s renewed assault was even more thunderous than before.

Swish!

Now it felt like I was witnessing not just flowing swordplay, but an illusionary sword technique.

The sword that had clearly been flying to the right suddenly veered to the left, and while it thrust, a slash came flying at me.

What kind of swordsmanship is this?

It was nothing short of magic.

“Ha!”

Whoosh!

This one was dangerous.

As Baeksulhwa knocked my wooden sword upward, she immediately lunged for my face.

My heart nearly dropped.

Fortunately, I managed to turn my head and evade.

“Did you have some complaints about my class? You’re really trying to kill me.”

“Of course not. I’m just doing my best as a sign of affection.”

At this rate, if my affection level rises just a bit more, my head might fly off.

There’s no answer in this way.

They say the best defense is an offense.

It didn’t sit well with me to torment my student, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Hmm?”

Swish!

A clean, swift strike.

But Baek Seolhwa easily stepped back to evade it.

My swordsmanship was entirely honed through my mentor’s talent.

Many students contributed to my learning, but the one who had the greatest impact was undoubtedly Baek Seolhwa.

If the root of my swordsmanship is her—

Whoosh—

What she can do, I can do too.

“Uh, uh?”

The sword I swung like a bell curved and thrust like a snake.

Baek Seolhwa seemed taken aback, as if she couldn’t imagine I would use the same technique as her.

The opening was there, directly leading to the outcome.

Got it!

My wooden sword struck the hand gripping her sword with force.

As a result, Baek Seolhwa had no choice but to let go of her weapon.

“Ugh!”

Baek Seolhwa collapsed, looking up at me with a dazed expression.

It was a complete victory for me.

Baek Seolhwa stared at me with a blank look.

It seemed that my imitation of her swordsmanship had been quite a shock.

I was surprised myself, so how much more must she have been?

“Professor…”

In that moment, I realized my mistake.

I had focused so much on the competition that I hadn’t considered Baek Seolhwa’s feelings.

Why is it that in games, using an opponent’s technique to win is often criticized as unsportsmanlike?

Baek Seolhwa’s pride in her swordsmanship couldn’t possibly be less than that of a mere gamer’s ego.

—

Even if she felt insulted, she had no words to say.

The moment I tried to apologize, Baeksulhwa spoke first.

“Wow, I was surprised.”

I kept silent, not knowing what to say. Baeksulhwa continued.

“You deliberately imitated my swordsmanship, didn’t you? You wanted to teach me.”

Fortunately, it seemed she wasn’t as angry as I had feared. She only looked slightly surprised.

I responded appropriately to the mood.

“To some extent.”

“Just as I expected from you, Professor.”

In the game’s story, shortly after enrolling, Baeksulhwa has a duel with Park Seohu.

This is a forced event that the player cannot avoid.

If the player chooses Park Seohu, the event continues until he wins. Thankfully, since I was controlling Park Seohu, the strongest playable character, NPC Baeksulhwa was not a formidable opponent.

However, if the player chooses Baeksulhwa, the difficulty becomes hellish.

The difference in stats is overwhelming; I would be down to zero health after just two hits, while I needed to land twenty hits.

Fortunately, this duel wasn’t designed for winning, so losing wouldn’t hinder progress.

But I wasn’t the type to let it go like that.

A trait of Korean gamers: if it’s made to be broken, it must be broken.

After countless retries to whittle down Park Seohu’s health, I was forced into a cutscene. The despair I felt at that moment was indescribable.

However, the cutscene didn’t continue the battle as it was, so it ended rather anticlimactically.

As soon as their swords clashed, both felt that the other was not their match.

─This man is incredibly strong…

Baeksulhwa internally wrote a lengthy text about how strong the man before her was and how weak she felt.

As for Park Seohu… well.

In her monologue, she mentioned that he wielded a pretty decent sword, yet from the second strike onward, he only used his left hand. For reference, Park Seohu is right-handed.

Moreover, he hadn’t used any aura in the second duel.

Park Seohu was such a kind and earnest guy that he had never described anyone negatively unless they were villains.

─Is he looking down on me?

This thought made Baeksulhwa treat Park Seohu particularly coldly.

She felt frustrated not only by the difference in skill but also by the fact that he was using only his left hand, which wounded her pride. She quickly realized he meant no malice, but she still disliked it.

Perhaps it was because I was seen as a mentor rather than a rival. He didn’t seem dejected at having lost to me.

—

—

Rather, Baek Seol-hwa spoke excitedly.

“Professor, you said you were practicing swordsmanship, right?”

“And?”

“Then how about playing with me from now on? I’ll make it amazing for you.”

Baek Seol-hwa boldly uttered a line that could easily be misunderstood.

“…That means you want to spar with me in the future, right?”

Baek Seol-hwa tilted her head. It seemed she didn’t understand the intention behind her own words.

I thought about giving her a warning, but then I felt like I was overreacting, so I stopped.

“If you have time occasionally.”

“Hehe.”

Baek Seol-hwa responded with a bright smile.

Now that I think about it, I remembered An Se-ri had been grumbling about her group member.

On the first day, she had to deal with Nam Hye-joo to establish discipline, and since then, she kept clinging on and demanding sparring.

So, she said she would fight once for every exam if she did well. Since she got an A+, I thought she might want to spar this time.

“I’ve been a bit struggling because there hasn’t been anyone to spar with.”

“There’s Park Seo-hu.”

“I don’t like him. He holds back when he fights me, so I can’t fight seriously either… Anyway, that’s how it is.”

“I see.”

The lack of sparring partners meant that the level of other students was lacking.

It was quite an arrogant statement, but Baek Seol-hwa had the right to say such things.

Third in the grade.

Numbers don’t lie.

Baek Seol-hwa said quietly.

“…Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.”

“You’re going out of your way because of me. I have no talent, after all…”

Suddenly, Baek Seol-hwa crouched down and began to belittle herself.

I wondered if it was because I had said I wasn’t a genius, but the atmosphere didn’t feel that way. Baek Seol-hwa was speaking sincerely.

“Park Seo-hu has classes with you alone. I felt a bit envious seeing that. There wasn’t a professor looking for me.”

“It’s not common for a freshman to have a supervising professor.”

—

“…I heard that Seo Da-yoon is bragging about taking one-on-one classes with the professor?”

I was itching to correct the misunderstanding.

Contrary to Baek Seol-hwa’s assumptions, the professors of the swordsmanship department were all eyeing the position of Baek Seol-hwa’s advisor, merely exchanging glances with one another.

Why not Park Seo-hu?

He already had a formidable mentor attached to him, so no one dared to touch him.

If they heard that I was mentoring Baek Seol-hwa, there might be professors rushing in with fire in their eyes.

Still, since I wasn’t even a major in swordsmanship and was only sparring for a bit, I hoped they wouldn’t take it too seriously.

Baek Seol-hwa shook off the dust and picked up the wooden sword again.

“Well then… I look forward to your guidance.”

“Sure.”

The sparring began.

At first, I caught her off guard and won, but as we exchanged blows, my defeats began to pile up.

Even though I had been prepared for this from the start, it still felt a bit disheartening.

─Huff, huff.

We clashed our swords fiercely, sweat pouring down.

In the end, it was a sparring session that was beneficial in many ways.

Baek Seol-hwa, breathing heavily, asked, “Professor, to be honest, you went easy on me, right?”

It seemed she thought I had gone a bit easy on her.

I felt a mix of gratitude and bewilderment at her infatuation with me.

“It was my full strength. I promise on my honor.”

“Ah….”

Baek Seol-hwa let out a gasp of joy, perhaps thrilled to have bested her teacher.

If I had been a great swordsman, I might have felt a mix of frustration and joy, but as a novice who had just picked up a sword, I fully empathized with my disciple’s happiness.

However, my competitive spirit as a gamer ignited, and I resolved to win against her soon.

Now that the sparring was over, it would have been fine to end it here, but it felt too anticlimactic.

I decided to take on the role of a mentor a little more.

“Your swordsmanship may seem like a form of transformation or illusion at first glance, but its roots lie in the swift sword style, right?”

“Just as I thought, Professor. Most people wouldn’t catch that after just a few looks. But you copied my sword style the moment you saw it….”

I felt sorry for betraying her expectations, but I hadn’t recognized it; I had just seen it in the game settings.

“It’s just an imitation. I understand the principles, but I can’t fully replicate it.”

In reality, only a very few could truly master the sword techniques of Baeksulhwa.

The difficulty was one thing, but the strain on the joints would make it impossible to even mimic with ordinary flexibility.

For an average person, just a couple of attempts would have left their joints shattered. Even my body, enhanced by the character’s special traits, couldn’t endure it for long.

“If you’re not careful, it could strain your body, but… I don’t think it would be a problem for you, Seolhwa.”

My words seemed to surprise Baeksulhwa, her eyes widening.

Most of the other instructors had advised her to change her technique, fearing the strain it would put on her body.

When I was playing the game, I thought this was a foreshadowing, but nothing happened until the very end. I had confirmed my abilities through the setting book and the teachings of Sethhet, so I was certain.

“Really?”

Baeksulhwa always hesitated to set aside the swordsmanship she was attached to.

So my words seemed to resonate even more with her.

“When have I ever been wrong?”

“No.”

The encouragement ends here.

Now it’s time for the whip… or rather, feedback.

“However, there are a few issues.”

“Issues?”

I moved my body to mimic Baeksulhwa’s stance.

Pretending to thrust the sword forward, I spun around and executed a horizontal slash. It was quite a clean movement.

She probably still didn’t understand what I wanted to convey.

“Watch closely from now on.”

I displayed the sword technique once more.

This time, I thrust the sword and then abruptly twisted my body to follow through with the slash. It was faster, but my joints ached.

“What do you think is different?”

“The second attack was a bit faster.”

“Correct. That’s right.”

Baeksulhwa paused for a moment before speaking.

“But that movement is essential. My father called it a connecting motion. He said it could alleviate the strain on the body.”

Half of that was true.

It wasn’t easy to twist the body violently with a man’s rigid physique.

But it was different with a soft, feminine body.

“Your body is flexible, so it’s fine.”

No matter how much Baeksulhwa trusted me, her expression showed that she was still skeptical about this.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have trusted it either.

I wasn’t even a master of swordsmanship, and I had only seen Baeksulhwa’s skills for a few hours.

Still, it wasn’t a lie.

I was merely reciting what I remembered from the game, so there was little chance I would be wrong.

According to the original history, Baeksulhwa would gain enlightenment around the middle of her journey and improve her swordsmanship on her own, but I thought a small change in history like this wouldn’t matter.

Baeksulhwa nodded with difficulty.

“I’ll trust you. Since it’s what the professor said.”

Her positive response moved me a little. It meant that Baeksulhwa trusted me that much.

I had thought the chances of her refusing were higher.

“Next…”

I shared a few more points for improvement with Baeksulhwa.

There were more techniques beyond this, but they were high-level skills that I couldn’t demonstrate with my own body, so I gave up.

As the short lecture was coming to an end, someone approached us.

“Seolhwa? Are you training?”

The guy called Baeksulhwa’s name in a friendly manner.

At this point, there was only one boy among the students who treated Baeksulhwa like this.

It was the first time I faced him directly, but he felt so familiar.

Some called him the top student.

Some called him a genius.

Some called him the greatest hero.

Some called him the protagonist of this game.

A man who would stand at the forefront and protect humanity in the near future.

The Sword Master, Park Seohu.

The version of him from our school days stood before me.

“Park Seohu?”

Baeksulhwa shot him a slight glare, as if she didn’t like his appearance.

Park Seohu let out a warm smile, lightly brushing off her gaze.

“Is that you next to me… Senior?”

“It’s the professor.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

As Baeksulhwa corrected the misunderstanding, Park Seohu politely apologized.

A guy with outstanding abilities, and he’s courteous too.

In many ways, he was someone I couldn’t bring myself to dislike.

I briefly introduced myself.

“I’m Cha Eunwoo. You’re Park Seohu, right?”

It wasn’t strange that I knew Park Seohu’s name. In fact, it would have been stranger not to know it in Florian.

“Oh, if you’re Professor Cha Eunwoo… I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I felt a bit flustered.

Objectively speaking, I was just a brand-new professor. Who would be spreading stories about me?

I looked at Baeksulhwa, but she shook her head vigorously.

Park Seohu directly answered my question.

“I heard it from my mentor.”

“Your mentor, you mean Professor Jo Seongwoong?”

“Do you know my mentor?”

“I’ve only heard of his reputation.”

It seemed Park Seohu was quite intrigued that I knew his mentor.

It’s a ridiculous question.

Who wouldn’t know the man who was ranked 4th in Korea during his active years? Even spies would know Jo Seongwoong’s name.

The fact that Jo Seongwoong knows me is far more astonishing.

What reason would that remarkable man have to care about someone like me? When I asked, Park Seohu shared what he knew.

“It’s nothing special… just that he’s an amazing person but dangerous? That’s all I know.”

“Professor Jo really knows a thing or two. Our professor is great.”

As I received the compliment, Baeksulhwa looked quite pleased.

I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment. Why was I being told I was dangerous for something I did?

As I pondered what connection I might have with that person, a shout rang out from behind me.

“Seohu, you b*stard! What are you doing here again?”

“Ugh! It’s the Master…”

The Sword Saint, Jo Seong-woong.

He has come to find his disciple.

* * *

Jo Seong-woong.

In his prime, he was ranked 4th in Korea. A hero who made a name for himself as a Sword Saint, always at the forefront defending South Korea.