Chapter 75: This Is Highly Rated by the Hero (Part 1)

A considerable amount of time had passed since the footwork lessons.

For some reason, I felt that way.

‘Strange.’

It hadn’t actually been that long since I started teaching Ji-eun footwork, yet it felt like a long time had passed. I didn’t know why.

“Is this déjà vu?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Ji-eun, who was resting nearby, tilted her head at my murmur.

“No, it’s just a strange sense of familiarity…”

I glanced at Ji-eun.

I could sense her looking at me cautiously.

Hmm… a familiar pattern.

“Shouldn’t we get up now?”

“Uh, huh? No, why? You said you had a strange feeling. That’s a bad omen, I’m sure of it.”

Ji-eun quickly changed the subject.

I looked at her and muttered softly,

“Ji-eun,”

“…Yes.”

“It’s no use stalling. Get up and grab your sword.”

I said so and nudged the longsword lying at my feet towards Ji-eun.

That’s right. A sword.

Ji-eun had finally graduated from footwork and could now wield a sword! It meant she had successfully learned at least the ‘basics’ of footwork.

‘It was quite difficult…’

How much had Ji-eun suffered from all those Hero Punches? As her master, I felt incredibly sorry for her. If she had learned footwork a little faster, she would have been hit less…

…Come to think of it, it was Ji-eun’s fault for not learning footwork quickly enough. I didn’t do anything wrong. Definitely.

Anyway, as I nudged the sword towards her with my foot, Ji-eun screamed as if something terrifyingly disgusting was crawling towards her.

“Please stop!!!! Stop it!!!!”

She reacted as if she had witnessed the second coming of Cthulhu.

I calmly muttered,

“Screaming won’t do anything, Ji-eun. We still have a long way to go with today’s swordsmanship lesson.”

“No, you should call it what it is. It’s not a swordsmanship lesson, it’s torture with a sword!”

“No, this is a lesson.”

And Ji-eun has to do it.

Ji-eun’s face contorted at my firm reply. It was quite fascinating how her face transformed into a picture of despair, like Munch’s The Scream. But I couldn’t go easy on her.

“You have to reach Master.”

“No, I don’t have to.”

Ji-eun shook her head.

She looked like a squirrel.

However, I couldn’t let her cuteness sway me.

I sternly scolded Ji-eun.

“No. That’s not how it works. You can’t do that.”

“Are you treating me like an elementary school kid?”

“Tsk.”

“Hey!!!”

Ji-eun yelled in anger, but it was completely useless, utterly meaningless.

Because I had decided so.

If I decided so, what could Ji-eun do?

“Now, now, let’s pick up our swords, Ji-eun. It’s time for all the children in the Hero class to learn swordsmanship together.”

“Now you’re really treating me like a kid…”

Ji-eun sighed deeply after hearing my words. Then, she reluctantly picked up the sword again.

She was such an obedient disciple.

After  day’s swordsmanship lesson,

Ji-eun mumbled weakly, completely exhausted,

“I can’t do this anymore… I can’t…!”

“I wasn’t planning to make you do any more.”

“How long do I have to do this…”

Ji-eun said with a tearful face.

She knew it was unsightly to complain like this after asking for lessons.

But.

But!

Shihyun’s swordsmanship lessons were so intense that she couldn’t help but complain. Beyond the footwork, the difficulty had increased exponentially.

‘This is… strange…!’

It definitely wasn’t like this before.

When Ji-eun learned swordsmanship from Kim Kuma, it wasn’t this difficult!

Of course, it was challenging back then too. She had wanted to quit, thinking she couldn’t handle it.

However, it wasn’t as bad as this!

‘Can I really endure this?’

It was difficult to the point where she questioned her ability to continue.

Well, it was natural.

What kind of swordsmanship was Shihyun’s?

It was the culmination of practical swordsmanship honed through life-or-death battles in a hellish world. It was ‘Hero Swordsmanship,’ passed down from the only existing ‘Hero.’

Its practicality and difficulty were vastly different from the swordsmanship of ‘gamers’ who didn’t fight for their lives, or the swordsmanship of modern swordsmen, which was closer to a ‘sport.’ Frankly, Ji-eun was being naive for thinking she could easily learn it.

However, Ji-eun was completely unaware of this.

‘…This is swordsmanship for killing, swordsmanship for killing.’

From Ji-eun’s perspective, it was a bizarre and terrifyingly difficult swordsmanship that she couldn’t understand or comprehend.

‘…This is why Shihyun is number one.’

Ji-eun couldn’t help but feel awe as she learned Shihyun’s swordsmanship. She had admired Shihyun’s achievements before, but it was incomparable to what she was feeling now.

A sense of awe she felt with her ‘body.’

“Okay, okay… I have to try. I have to.”

So, despite the overwhelming fatigue, Ji-eun persevered. She was grateful to Shihyun for spending her time and energy on her, and she knew the value of the opportunity she had been given.

“I will, I will reach Diamond.”

“Ji-eun, not Diamond, but Master.”

“…I will reach Master. And then I’ll get my revenge on Shihyun.”

“Yes, yes. Our Ji-eun is so admirable.”

“…I’ll get my revenge!!!”

Well, to be precise, all the pain Ji-eun was experiencing was due to Shihyun forcing her to learn an unreasonably difficult swordsmanship to reach Master tier…

Unfortunately, Ji-eun hadn’t realized that yet.

“…Ugh.”

Ji-eun, who had been lying on the ground groaning, suddenly sat up. She took a deep breath and muttered,

“Well, at least today’s lesson is over. It’s over, it’s over.”

Immediately, her chat scrolled rapidly.

[Lol]
[Haha, there’s still tomorrow]
[She says ‘today’s’ lesson is over lol]
[Yeah, there’s still tomorrow lol]

“…You guys, be quiet.”

[Gasp]
[!!!]
[Haha, getting angry won’t do anything]
[But what can Euning even do if she gets angry?]
[What can Platinum Euning do besides get angry or ban people? lol]

“Manager, ban that guy.”

[Suppression ON]
[Everyone run]

After banning a troll, Ji-eun checked the time. There was still some time left before her usual stream ending time.

‘The timing is awkward…’

Ji-eun hummed and touched her lips.

Usually, after the swordsmanship lesson, she was too exhausted and it was almost the end of her regular stream time, so she would just end the stream and go rest. But today, she was tired, but there was still some time left.

‘I shouldn’t have started the stream so early today.’

Ji-eun regretted her past decision and turned her head slightly to look behind her. She saw Shihyun a few steps away, muttering something while looking at the chat.

“Well, that’s true. But there’s nothing I particularly want to do. Oh, thank you for the donation.”

Shihyun, now a somewhat seasoned streamer(?), was even doing donation reactions(?).

Ji-eun felt a sense of pride for a moment, then suddenly remembered something and called out to Shihyun.

“Shihyun,”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Hey, how long are you going to stream today?”

Shihyun tilted her head at Ji-eun’s question, then wiggled her fingers.

“Hmm, I think I’ll stream for a few more hours.”

“Arfellium?”

“Probably World Conquest? I don’t really have anything else to do.”

“…Really?”

Ji-eun’s eyes sparkled.

Seeing that, the chat exploded.

[Look at her eyes, she’s planning something again]
[What are you going to do to our Shihyun, you evil Euning]
[Stay away from her!!!!!]
[Lol, is this Euning’s stream or Shihyun’s stream lol]
[Haha, it’s a double stream lol]

“Oh, it’s nothing weird. I’m going to suggest something good.”

[Something good?]
[Good ]
[Euning, you’re going to play that boring game again, aren’t you? You can’t live like that]
[Shihyun, run!]

Subtly ignoring the chat condemning her, Ji-eun turned to Shihyun and asked,

“Shihyun, then…”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to…play a different game?”

“A different game?”

Shihyun seemed interested.

[Run!!!!!!!!!!!]
[That Euning is going to play that game again ]
[She’s really good at setting up these situations]
[that game again??????]

Ji-eun said with a mischievous glint in her eyes,

“Have you ever played a game that tests your patience?”