I Became a Swordsmanship Genius at the Academy

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Kim Il-shin thought as he saw Baek Ha-yeon approaching him directly.

‘She doesn’t look normal.’

Her outfit was as neat as usual, but the gaze staring at him didn’t seem right.

Her blue eyes were clouded, not focusing properly, constantly wavering.

Her energy was also unstable, swaying awkwardly.

Overall, she looked very precarious.

‘Did something happen while I was away?’

While Kim Il-shin was thinking this, Baek Ha-yeon quickly stopped right in front of him.

It was such a short distance, barely a step away.

Baek Ha-yeon glanced down at the floor for a moment, hesitating, before opening her mouth.

“Kim Il-shin, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“If it’s okay, could you help me a little? I know it’s shameless. But… I really need your help.”

Her posture was so low, it almost seemed pitiful. Her expression was also desperate.

If he rejected her right there, she looked like she would crumble immediately, and that was something Kim Il-shin didn’t want.

“Just tell me.”

“I need your advice.”

“Advice?”

Kim Il-shin asked back, puzzled. He couldn’t quite grasp what she meant with just that.

“What kind of advice are you talking about?”

“I need you to tell me how I can become stronger.”

Kim Il-shin recalled what had happened a few days ago.

He had given her a piece of advice to manage her mental state after losing in a sparring match. He suggested she reinterpret that advice in her own way.

Seeing her like this, it seemed that advice had indeed been effective.

But that alone didn’t explain her urgent expression.

“Is there a specific reason you need me? You could get that kind of help from others, too.”

“It has to be you! …I-I’m sorry.”

Baek Ha-yeon, who had yelled loudly, flinched and lowered her head, and Kim Il-shin glanced around.

If anyone had heard, it would have been very easy to misunderstand the situation. Luckily, there was no one passing by.

“……I’m just a stupid person who can only choose the path to failure. I’ve always been like this and I won’t change in the future. …Unless the person choosing changes.”

Baek Ha-yeon raised her head and met Kim Il-shin’s gaze. Her lightless blue eyes shook violently.

“Kim Il-shin, I need you. You’re the only one who has told me the right answer. I will follow you. I will do whatever you say…! So, please, please!”

Baek Ha-yeon, gasping for breath, took a deep breath. Then, exhaling, she continued speaking.

“So please… give me your advice. Lead me down the path of success….”

A single tear fell from Baek Ha-yeon’s eye. It was a tear that hadn’t flowed since she was five years old.

Seeing this, Kim Il-shin could tell something had happened to her.

‘Is it the heart demon (心魔)?’

It seemed Baek Ha-yeon had reached a point where she doubted herself, beyond just self-hatred.

Not only was she afraid of failure, but she also seemed to shy away from choices that could lead to such outcomes. The heart demon had clearly gripped her tightly.

Who knows in which direction such a strong heart demon would develop?

With a slight misstep, she could become a failure or, as feared, spiral down the path of crime.

But there wasn’t a straightforward solution to it.

The heart demon had to be defeated with one’s own strength.

‘It’s probably best to just go along with her for now.’

If he rejected her here, the heart demon rooted in her heart would surely grow larger.

Since it wasn’t a terribly difficult request, it would be right to accept it for now.

“Alright. I’ll help.”

“Th-thank you…!”

Baek Ha-yeon’s expression noticeably brightened. She looked as if she had caught a lifeline.

“But I’m only going to give you advice about training. For everything else, figure it out yourself.”

“That’s more than enough. Thank you so much….”

Baek Ha-yeon seemed to want to entrust all her choices to him.

But Kim Il-shin had no intention of doing that at all.

Helping others would only occur as long as it didn’t interfere with him.

“Tomorrow when you go to school, I’ll give you a week’s worth of training in one go, so for now, go back and rest.”

“Got it. Then I’ll take my leave. …Thank you.”

With one last farewell, Baek Ha-yeon stepped outside the building without the slightest hesitation.

“Phew….”

After Baek Ha-yeon vanished, Kim Il-shin sighed and headed toward the training hall.

He planned to practice Il-shinpa Cheongong’s Lightwave Strikes as he had intended earlier.

‘The training schedule… I’ll just make it really tight for now.’

The more comfortable his body was, the more absurd thoughts would arise, so he intended to keep it moving without rest.

As he did so, there might come a time when he could abstractly convey the training content and allow her to make her own choices.

Then he would be able to shake off the heart demon as well.

But even so, if her condition didn’t improve and instead went in the worrying direction, he would have to sever ties completely.

*

Boom!

With a powerful surge, mana raced upward through his body and gathered in the straightened Hyeonwol Sword.

The compressed mana resonated with the air, exploded along the trajectory falling downward.

Il-shinpa Cheongong’s Lightwave Strike was unleashed through a sword, not through a fist.

Kwahhh!

This time, sound and movement occurred simultaneously. Compared to what had unfolded in the ruins, it lacked power.

But despite that, the momentary destructive force created by the sword strike was certainly not to be underestimated.

‘Clean.’

Kim Il-shin observed the training scarecrow scattered in front of him.

The scarecrow’s body was split vertically, with irregular deep scars ingrained all over it.

There were similar traces on the ground as well.

The interior of the training hall was constructed so solidly that it wouldn’t even be scratched by a considerable impact.

However, it had been damaged not from being hit directly by the Lightwave Strike but from the accompanying vortex generated during its execution.

‘With this level, I should be able to use it in actual combat.’

The maximum Lightwave Strike he had used in the ruins was something his current body couldn’t withstand.

Unlike the internal changes that allowed for rapid growth, the body’s growth had a limit determined by its speed, no matter how hard he tried.

Therefore, Kim Il-shin had to find a standard that wouldn’t put his body in jeopardy, and after several trial-and-error attempts, he had managed to figure it out.

‘Is this enough to work with?’

At the threshold of being operational. At that level, it could be used without restriction on frequency.

Of course, even just that was sufficient to be deadly. Most things could be pierced through head-on.

If necessary, it was also possible to increase the power further. It would be a burden on his body, though.

‘But I’m still lacking.’

However, there were many parts that felt unsatisfactory to be content here.

He wanted to test the operations of this move in more varied situations, ones that couldn’t be done in the training hall.

In short, he felt the need for actual combat.

And for that, he already knew where he had to go.

A place where only the truth of the jungle exists, and those who desire to fight gather endlessly. The underground fighting arena.

‘It’s a place I had to go anyway.’

He had been thinking about when to go to obtain the items available at this time, and that day was today.

Kim Il-shin checked the time and stepped outside.

The underground arena started late at night, so departing now would set him up just right.

He took only the Blood Moon Sword and departed immediately. There was nothing else he needed to prepare.

That place was one where strong power could solve everything.

*

Located on the outskirts of Itaewon, the underground fighting arena was actively in operation once again today.

“Yeah! That’s it! Kill him!”

“Shit, what are you doing! Get up! I staked my entire fortune on you!”

A cage specially treated so it wouldn’t break during superhuman fights.

Inside, a fierce bloodbath was taking place, as the people surrounding the cage screamed either cheers or curses, their eyes bloodshot.

Dozens of such cages were spread out at regular intervals, and the heat from the ongoing fights showed no signs of cooling down.

“Hey, Johnson, did some decent fighters come today?”

Sitting at a bar slightly away from the main stage, Choo Kyung-seok asked the waiter, Johnson.

He was a regular at the underground arena, coming to watch entertaining fights.

“I checked a moment ago, and Giant Trevor came today. What do you think of him?”

“That guy isn’t much. He only fights those weaker than him. It’s obvious he’s just a coward under the shiny exterior.”

But recently, Choo Kyung-seok was feeling bored.

No one was providing the kind of fights he wanted to see.

He was coming out of habit, but after having looked around, it seemed today would end up being another fruitless visit.

“…Huh? I haven’t seen that one before. Who is that?”

“Let’s see, that’s Kim Il-shin. He’s a student from the academy.”

“Oh….”

Choo Kyung-seok scrutinized Kim Il-shin closely.

He looked like someone special, and such people tended to showcase equally special fights.