“Is anyone here?”
Even though I stuck my head inside and looked around, I couldn’t sense anyone nearby.
‘This is definitely the right kendo school.’
The address was correct. I stepped back outside and checked the sign again, but there was no mistake. I took off my shoes and entered the kendo school.
Sword Saint Shin Taeyang.
He had not even been one of the Last Eleven.
He died before that.
Like so many extraordinary geniuses, Shin Taeyang left behind countless legendary exploits before disappearing from the battlefield.
They said he had split a massive mountain with a single stroke, or cut the sky itself apart.
The usual stories.
Miracles that became beacons of hope.
Despite his incredible abilities and exceptional talent, his life was short.
‘If he’d just fixed that personality of his, he probably would’ve survived to the end.’
The reason was the Sword Saint’s personality.
He loved showing off. Rather than training, he was always gathering people around and boasting about his accomplishments. More than anything, he loved basking in his popularity.
He was strong.
And endlessly arrogant.
Once, I had heard the Sword Saint proudly bragging in front of a crowd.
“Now, everyone wrote that down properly, right? That’s the name and address of the kendo school I used to run. Hm? Why am I telling you something this pointless? Isn’t it obvious? Once I save the world, this place will become holy ground. You need to prepare for your pilgrimage in advance, don’t you? Hahaha!”
‘…….’
If I remembered correctly, there had even been idiots seriously writing it all down because they liked what they were hearing.
Anyway, that was why I knew the Sword Saint’s address.
I never imagined a story I’d listened to for amusement would end up helping me like this.
“Yaaawn.”
There were several rooms farther inside the kendo school.
A man wearing training clothes emerged from one of them, yawning as he walked.
His face was much younger now, but I remembered him.
That was Sword Saint Shin Taeyang.
“Hm?”
Shin Taeyang blinked sleepily when he saw me, then furrowed his brow.
What came out of his mouth next was unbelievable.
“Don’t tell me you’re a fan. Come on…… No matter how much you like me, you can’t just come all the way here. I’m a person with a private life too, you know.”
He waved his hands as though genuinely troubled.
“…….”
I was dumbfounded.
At this point in time, Shin Taeyang’s name was almost completely unknown.
Or was I misunderstanding something?
When I didn’t answer, Shin Taeyang hesitated, then gave an awkward laugh.
“Ah, right. Not yet. I’ve spent so long imagining what it’ll be like after I become a famous hunter that I got confused. So, what brings you here? Wait. Are you actually my fan?”
“…….”
I was speechless.
This bastard was even less sane than I remembered.
I hadn’t realized the Sword Saint was this far gone.
‘Should I just leave?’
The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I shook my head.
I had come all this way.
I might as well ask.
“I’m not a fan. There’s something I’d like you to teach me—”
I hadn’t even finished before Shin Taeyang broke into a huge grin and pulled me closer.
“You want to learn something? Then come inside and let’s talk. Hahaha!”
***
The office was overflowing with sheets of paper covered in scribbles.
They were on the chairs, the desk, the floor—everywhere.
“Ah, it’s a little messy, right? I’ve spent the last month thinking up my signature, so it ended up like this. Just clear a spot and sit down. Want some tea?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“You drink coffee, right? Give me a second. While you wait, take a look at my awards.”
I slowly looked around the office.
There really were a lot of trophies and plaques, but none of them had been organized. The place was buried under scraps of paper.
Seeing this mess, I understood why the kendo school was covered in dust.
‘This is the Sword Saint?’
I sighed.
As much as I wanted to deny it, that man really was the person who would become the Sword Saint in the future.
‘……Yeah. The world really is unfair.’
Tap.
Shin Taeyang returned with coffee I hadn’t asked for and set the cup down in front of me.
Apparently, he had finally become curious about me.
“So what did you come here hoping to learn from me? I registered as a hunter, but I’ve never actually gone into a gate……”
“Actually, I—”
“Did rumors about me already spread across the country?”
“I—”
“I did put on quite a show during the assessment. Guilds kept contacting me nonstop for a while……”
This bastard wouldn’t give me a chance to speak.
It wasn’t the first time I had ever felt like hitting someone, but I wanted to hit this bastard quite a lot.
“I’m not exactly ordinary, you see. Hahaha! Anyway, what did you say you came here for?”
I stated my business as concisely as possible.
“I’m a hunter too. I came because I want you to transfer one of your Skills to me.”
Certain Skills could be transferred to other people.
Even an ordinary hunter could create a Skill after reaching an independent level of mastery, and most Skills like that could be learned by someone else.
“Which Skill exactly? It’s not like I only have one or two.”
I couldn’t see what he was looking at, but he waved a finger around and scrolled through something for quite a while.
How many Skills did this guy have?
“Straight Slash. Could you teach me that Skill?”
Important Skills were sold at high prices or transferred only in secret.
But the Skill I wanted to learn, Straight Slash, was something even Shin Taeyang himself did not yet understand the value of.
Shin Taeyang furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin.
“Straight Slash. Hmm, yes, I have it. But there are circumstances that make teaching that one a little…… I have plenty of flashier Skills. Do you really need that one?”
“Yes.”
Before my return, after Shin Taeyang had become the Sword Saint, he had once said this:
“Straight Slash. Every sword technique I use now started from there. It’s simple, and anyone can learn it, but it’s the technique that serves as the beginning of everything. I don’t know why I couldn’t understand that when I was younger. If I’d realized it sooner, everything might have turned out differently…… Anyway, that’s not important. Have I ever told you about the time I met the Grim Reaper?”
Among all the things he had said, that had been one of the rare stories that actually sounded sincere.
That was why I had decided to learn from the Sword Saint.
After hearing my answer, Shin Taeyang gave me a mischievous grin.
“So you want to learn Straight Slash…… but you expect me to teach you for free?”
I made my decision immediately.
Okay.
I’d learn something else.
I stood up.
“Never mind. I just won’t learn it.”
“W-Wait!”
I was about to leave when Shin Taeyang grabbed my shoulder.
There was something strangely desperate about his grip.
“It would be a shame if someone capable of recognizing my true worth just left like this. I’ll make a special exception and teach you without asking for anything in return.”
Shin Taeyang sighed in relief, wiped the corner of his mouth, and spoke.
“Sure……”
“First, pick up one of the swords in the kendo school.”
Apparently, living alone for too long had left him desperate for attention.
I decided to think of it that way.
I left the office and stepped onto the dusty floor of the kendo school.
The walls here were also covered with trophies and group photographs.
Looking at those alone, it was almost strange that the school had failed.
I was about to pick up one of the bamboo swords lying off to one side.
“Ah.”
Shin Taeyang shook his head, suddenly serious.
“This won’t work. Seriously. You have absolutely no talent.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
I hadn’t even done anything yet.
“I haven’t even touched the sword. What are you talking about?”
“I can tell at a glance. Seriously, I think you should give up on swords. I don’t like lying about things like this.”
From his expression, he didn’t seem to be talking nonsense.
Damn it.
Was someone with enough potential to become the Sword Saint capable of seeing talent at a glance?
“Then I’ll leave.”
“N-No! Wait. You should at least pick up the sword before you go.”
He changed his mind constantly.
At Shin Taeyang’s pleading, I reluctantly walked over to the bamboo swords.
Apparently, whether someone had talent or not was decided before they even touched the weapon.
Ridiculous.
I chose one I liked, picked it up, and lightly swung it up and down.
『 Swordsmanship Lv.10 has taken effect. 』
The moment the Skill took effect, even I could feel the change.
It was as though every sensation I had forgotten suddenly returned.
My movements became decisive and confident.
Whoosh.
I swung the sword another couple of times.
Would this be enough?
I turned slightly and checked Shin Taeyang’s reaction.
Something was wrong.
“That can’t be……”
He muttered with an expression of disbelief.
***
The man who would one day become the Sword Saint.
Shin Taeyang received a fresh shock.
‘I thought my eyes were never wrong…….’
The fan who had come to see him.
He had not even asked the man’s name yet, but Shin Taeyang had been certain from the moment he saw him walking toward the bamboo swords.
No.
In truth, he had already known before that.
He had seen it countless times since childhood.
Shin Taeyang instinctively understood the difference between someone who had talent and someone who did not.
The shape of the hands.
The rhythm of breathing.
The way a person walked.
Every element of the human body could serve as a standard for judging whether someone was suited to wielding a sword.
And in that regard, the man before him was unmistakable.
‘Forget having no talent. His compatibility with swords is catastrophically bad. He’d probably be better off learning a different weapon.’
That was why Shin Taeyang had advised him to give up the sword.
‘Everyone has different things they’re good at.’
He thought that would be better for the man.
And Shin Taeyang’s instincts about things like this had never been wrong.
But something was strange.
“Huh?”
The instant the man gripped the sword, every judgment Shin Taeyang had made changed completely.
Swish.
His form settled.
His breathing stabilized.
A proper stance emerged.
Calling his fundamentals solid would have been an understatement.
They were completely refined.
“That can’t be……”
It was as though he had become a different person the moment he touched the sword.
Only one possibility came to mind.
‘Does he have a high-Level Swordsmanship Skill?’
But Shin Taeyang soon tilted his head.
That explanation still wasn’t enough.
Shin Taeyang himself possessed Skills and used their effects, but they did not grant this degree of ability in an area where someone was fundamentally ignorant.
Skills could only assist within the boundaries established by a person’s own talent.
‘Hmm.’
Still, the result was right in front of him.
He had no choice but to accept it.
With a considerably more serious expression than before, Shin Taeyang said,
“I misspoke. If you’re this skilled, then you’re more than qualified for me to teach you Straight Slash. But I should show it to you first. We shouldn’t do it inside the school…… Would you follow me?”
Shin Taeyang led the man into the forest behind the kendo school.
The mountain had been inherited from his grandfather, and he used it as a training ground for things he could not practice indoors.
Shin Taeyang picked up a bamboo sword lying on the ground and stood before a wooden training block.
“Straight Slash……”
He hesitated for a moment.
In truth, Straight Slash was an incomplete Skill.
Its Level remained at 9.
Lv.9 was certainly not low, but Shin Taeyang still possessed some stubborn pride as a martial artist.
As someone who had spent practically his entire life training with the sword, he disliked showing an unfinished technique.
But that reluctance did not last long.
‘Still, he says he’s a fan…… Maybe it’s fine to show him.’
He had no idea where the man had seen his Straight Slash, but if someone wanted to learn it badly enough to come all this way and practically beg him, he couldn’t simply ignore that.
Thinking that, Shin Taeyang inhaled.
He exhaled, stepped forward, and swung in a single motion.
His sword traced an unwavering straight line.
Crack!
The air split sharply.
At the same instant, the wooden block separated along an immaculate cut.
It was difficult to believe he had struck it with a bamboo sword.
Shin Taeyang scratched his head.
Even after demonstrating it, the technique looked absurdly simple.
“Now you try.”
At Shin Taeyang’s words, the man stepped forward and stared at the wooden block.
He took a roughly similar stance and brought the sword down.
The wooden block merely flew away.
‘As expected. He has no aptitude at all. It’s almost painful to watch.’
His Swordsmanship fundamentals were impeccable.
But the instant he tried anything beyond them, everything collapsed.
“No, that’s not it. It should feel more like this……”
Shin Taeyang demonstrated Straight Slash again.
The man copied him and swung downward.
Naturally, it was a mess.
‘He’s terrible.’
Shin Taeyang secretly sighed.
At this rate, it might take ten years.
And Straight Slash was far too crude a technique to spend ten years learning.
He had no idea why the man wanted it so badly.
Thirty minutes passed.
“Can’t you explain it any better?”
The man, who had continued trying in his own way, finally asked in frustration.
Shin Taeyang was frustrated just watching him.
He could only imagine how the man himself felt.
If he hadn’t been a fan, Shin Taeyang would have given up long ago.
‘Simpler. I need to explain it even more simply…….’
Shin Taeyang racked his brain, trying to find the easiest explanation possible.
Perhaps his experience teaching kendo would finally prove useful.
“Hmm. When you raise the sword, imagine its tip connecting to the sky. When you bring it down, imagine connecting the ground and the sky. That line has to become perfectly straight.”
The man nodded after hearing the explanation and began swinging again.
Swish.
Swish.
Watching him, Shin Taeyang gave a bitter smile.
There was no improvement whatsoever.
If anything, he might have gotten worse.
Shin Taeyang had already tried to make the explanation as simple as possible.
If even that didn’t work, he had no confidence he could explain it any better.
“Let’s stop here and head back down. If that explanation didn’t work, then even if you spend years—”
Shin Taeyang had just turned around, giving up on teaching him.
Whoosh.
The sound was clearly different.
Not by much.
But it was better.
Shin Taeyang turned around without even realizing it.
‘No. That had to be coincidence.’
In his judgment, this wasn’t something that could be fixed in such a short time.
Whether the man understood his own lack of talent or not, he simply continued swinging the bamboo sword with a blank expression.
Then came the next swing.
Whoosh!
‘What……?’
The man brought the sword down again.
Shin Taeyang watched it clearly with his own two eyes.
The movement had definitely changed.
Every part of it had become more refined.
Then came the next motion.
And the one after that.
The movements Shin Taeyang had judged hopeless began to come alive.
His eyes gradually widened.
‘Wait. What am I looking at?’
With each repetition, the man’s Straight Slash grew sharper.
The sword of a man Shin Taeyang had considered hopeless was creating a miracle.
Boom!
“…….”
Eventually, the man’s sword reproduced the Straight Slash Shin Taeyang himself had created with complete accuracy.
Shin Taeyang was speechless.
He even began doubting whether he was seeing things properly.
‘What in the world……?’
Straight Slash might have been a simple and easy technique, but there was an enormous difference between learning something and performing it perfectly.
It was no different from a child who had only just learned to walk suddenly breaking into a full sprint.
And running as perfectly as an adult.
‘So something like this can actually happen.’
Shin Taeyang had no choice but to admit it.
Some talent he could not perceive had been sleeping inside that man.
Apparently, things like that really did happen.
He felt as though he had gained a small realization himself.
Delighted, Shin Taeyang started toward the man.
“I admit it. My eyes were completely wrong—”
Then it happened.
Even though the man had already acquired a Straight Slash equal to Shin Taeyang’s own—
His sword did not stop.
‘Huh?’
Shin Taeyang froze where he stood.
He couldn’t even bring himself to breathe carelessly.
He thought such a thing should be impossible.
Yet without realizing it, he was concentrating completely.
Swish.
He couldn’t take his eyes off the man’s fingertips.
He didn’t know why.
But a thought entered his mind.
The next Straight Slash would surpass his own.
And then—
BOOM!
The man’s sword split the space before him in a perfect straight line.
A flawless Straight Slash.
More perfect than anything Shin Taeyang himself had ever achieved.
The man had done it.
“H-How did you……?”
Shin Taeyang’s mouth hung open.
It should have been impossible.
But it was unquestionably real.
The man had reached a realm Shin Taeyang had only ever imagined.
And he had done it after only a few dozen swings.
Thud.
Shin Taeyang collapsed to the ground.
That day, the world Shin Taeyang thought he understood fell apart.