Chapter 58: The Hero Goes to the Academy (Part 5)

After defeating Instructor Yoon Seong-il…

The duels with the other instructors ended rather quickly.

There were a couple of reasons for this. One was that Shihyun had demonstrated her full capabilities. The other, more significant reason, was that the other instructors were simply less skilled than Yoon Seong-il.

‘So, Instructor Yoon was the strongest.’

Ji-eun clicked her tongue as she adjusted the camera, focusing on Shihyun effortlessly defeating the last remaining instructor. Her swordsmanship was truly impressive.

Ji-eun watched for a moment, then checked the chat.

[lol]
[Wow lol]
[She actually did it]
[For real, I didn’t think she would]
[Her swordsmanship is art]

The chat was exploding.

‘Well, it’s to be expected.’

This was the Korean Swordsmanship Academy. Not some no-name academy in the countryside. This was a top-tier academy.

And she had just defeated all their instructors. A calm reaction would be strange. Of course, the viewers were excited.

[Wait, the Korean Swordsmanship Academy is supposed to be top-tier, but they lost this easily? Is this rigged?]
[This is too unbelievable to be real]

Of course, not all reactions were positive.

Ji-eun grinned at the comments questioning the legitimacy of the duels. As the temporary manager, she could have deleted them, but she didn’t feel the need to.

Why?

[Rigged? lolololololol]
[Idiot lol]
[If it’s a top-tier academy like you said, why would they rig it? It would only damage their reputation?]
[For real lol]
[Think before you speak]

A barrage of comments appeared, all supporting and defending Shihyun.

Ji-eun smiled.

‘She’s finally getting fans.’

That was why she hadn’t deleted the negative comments. Shihyun’s newly acquired fans would handle them.

Ji-eun watched with satisfaction as the fans shut down the trolls, then turned her attention back to Shihyun, who had just finished defeating the last instructor and was now exchanging greetings.

Ji-eun approached Shihyun with the camera.

“So, you’ve conquered the dojo. How do you feel?”

“It wasn’t as difficult as I expected.”

Ji-eun’s face hardened.

You’re saying that out loud?

She quickly whispered, “…Shihyun, save that for later. It’s rude.”

“Oh? Ah, okay.”

Shihyun nodded, and Ji-eun glanced at the chat.

[lolololol]
[Don’t say that out loud, you fool]
[Oh lol, she said it was easy]
[Trash?]
[For real, she won so easily, it seems real]

The chat was in complete chaos.

Ji-eun clicked her tongue.

‘Is this part of her character? Or is she just accident-prone…?’

After a moment of consideration, she shook her head.

It didn’t matter what she thought.

‘More importantly, those were some amazing duels.’

Ji-eun gulped, recalling Shihyun’s performance.

She had completely dominated them with pure swordsmanship.

Just watching it felt like she had gained some insight into the art of the sword.

‘Of course, it’s just a feeling.’

She wasn’t a martial arts protagonist; her skill wouldn’t improve just by watching. Ji-eun decided to consider it a feast for the eyes. Which it was.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Ji-eun tilted her head.

“Whew, so now… Huh? Where did she go?”

Shihyun had vanished while she wasn’t looking. Ji-eun looked around and spotted Shihyun pointing at something at the far end of the room.

She approached and saw Shihyun requesting to take the sign hanging on the wall. The chat, naturally, went wild.

“…Here it is.”

“Thank you.”

Shihyun successfully acquired the sign.

The initially hesitant employee changed his mind after a few whispered words from Instructor Yoon.

Ji-eun chuckled wryly at the sight of Shihyun walking towards her, proudly carrying the long wooden sign.

“…How are you going to take that home?”

“…Taxi?”

“And where are you going to put it?”

“…Good point.”

Ji-eun smacked her forehead.

But it didn’t change anything.

Shihyun put the sign in the trunk of a taxi and took it home.

“…She already left?”

After Shihyun left.

Choi Sangcheol, arriving late at the academy, listened to the account of what had transpired from the students and instructors and chuckled wryly.

“…She took the sign?”

Instructor Yoon nodded.

“It’s not like the sign is that important. It’s not like we worship it or anything.”

“But…it still means our academy lost to her.”

“…Right. That’s the problem.”

Choi Sangcheol scratched the back of his head.

Yoon Seong-il shrugged at his reaction.

“Well, it’ll be fine. There’s no need to be ashamed. We lost because she was stronger. And we can always challenge her again and get the sign back, right?”

Choi Sangcheol snapped his fingers.

“That’s a good idea.”

“Huh?”

Yoon Seong-il blinked, and Choi Sangcheol grinned.

“I’m a graduate of this academy. I can’t just stand by and do nothing after our sign was taken.”

“So?”

“I’ll get it back.”

Get it back? Yoon Seong-il frowned.

They couldn’t just buy the sign back. To retrieve it, they would have to defeat Shihyun in a duel.

He chuckled wryly, wondering if that was even possible.

‘This is…’

To doubt the possibility…

That was like doubting Choi Sangcheol’s skill.

‘Sangcheol is strong. Objectively, he’s one of the best.’

Choi Sangcheol had trained for a similar amount of time as him. But he was more talented, resulting in a significant difference in skill.

“Just trust me.”

Choi Sangcheol thumped his chest confidently.

“S-Sure.”

Normally, Yoon Seong-il would have been reassured by his confidence, but having witnessed Shihyun’s skill, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Would Choi Sangcheol’s skill be enough against Shihyun?

“…”

Yoon Seong-il couldn’t answer that question.

They would have to duel to find out.

A week had passed since the Korean Swordsmanship Academy incident.

During that time, Shihyun and Ji-eun had visited and challenged all the famous swordsmanship academies in the Seoul metropolitan area.

And the result?

“Shihyun, what are you going to do with all those signs?”

The signs piled up in the corner of Shihyun’s room spoke for themselves.

Undefeated.

She had taken the signs from most of the academies in the capital region.

The only ones she hadn’t challenged were the smaller, less established academies.

Most of the major academies had fallen to her.

‘Well, there’s nowhere left to challenge, and no reason to.’

The initial purpose of the dojo challenge was to create content for her streams. While she might have gotten carried away and used up the content too quickly, she had enough material for both her streams and YouTube videos, so she had achieved her goal.

“The person who edits your YouTube videos does a great job.”

The edited videos were uploaded to her new YouTube channel. The rapidly increasing view counts were a testament to both her good content choices and the excellent editing.

Ji-eun giggled and waved her hand dismissively.

“He’s my exclusive editor. I’m not sharing.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t steal him.”

Despite her words, Shihyun couldn’t deny being envious. But he was Ji-eun’s exclusive editor. There was no way Shihyun could poach him.

“More importantly, what are you going to do with all those signs? Are you going to keep them piled up here?”

“For now? I can’t just throw them away. That would be disrespectful.”

“And taking them in the first place was respectful?”

“They should have won if they didn’t want to lose them. And we agreed on the terms beforehand. If I had lost, I would have filmed a promotional video for them. It’s their fault for being greedy.”

“That’s true.”

Her subscriber count was steadily increasing.

Just as she had hoped.

‘My Tricky subscriber count increased thanks to this content, too.’

But those were minor details.

This content had proven that she wasn’t just an Arfellium Saga streamer. And she had done it with a unique concept, the dojo challenge!

‘Expand your content gradually, like this.’

That was Ji-eun’s advice.

“Good, good.”

A satisfied smile spread across Shihyun’s face.

She hoped her streaming career would continue to be smooth sailing.

Just as she thought that…

Buzz!

Her smartphone vibrated.

She glanced at it. An unknown number.

But she answered without hesitation.

CEO Park had told her that her new manager would be contacting her today.

“Hello?”

A clear, pleasant voice greeted her.

[Hello, Creator Sung Shihyun. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Kang Ara, your new manager.]

Her new manager was a woman.

Pleased, Shihyun replied cheerfully, “Hello, Manager Kang Ara. It’s a pleasure to meet you too. Shall we meet in person?”