Chapter 25

<Chapter 25: The God of Sword Regressed to Level 2>

* * *

In the office of a Japanese trading company's Korean branch, located in a building next to the Sword Palace building.

This office, usually locked tight with an iron door, was actually used as the Korean branch of the Self-Defense Forces.

The reason the Self-Defense Forces' branch was established next to the Sword Palace was simple.

To recruit the Sword King, Yun Sejin.

Now that this office had become useless, it had...

“Tsk... Tsk...”

...turned into the personal space of the recruitment director, Takeda Kazuo.

A large desk with eight monitors neatly arranged.

Takeda quickly devoured the stack of hamburgers on the desk while watching Seong Jihan's performance with a dissatisfied look.

"Mr. Seong. If he stands out this much already... he might receive recruitment offers from other countries, not just Korea."

Seong Jihan, single-handedly sweeping away zombies.

Even though he was only Bronze, this scene clearly showed that his future value was far above that of an average player.

Although he hadn't been active in the league for long and hadn't received much attention yet...

If such unbelievable scenes continued to unfold, it was certain that things would get noisy around him even before he reached Silver.

'I need to secure Mr. Seong before that happens...'

Takeda frowned.

If it were just a matter of money, the Self-Defense Forces wouldn't be outmatched by anyone.

But Seong Jihan wasn't the type who could be recruited with just money.

To transfer him to Japan, 'special' means were necessary.

For that to happen...

'The approval from the upper echelons is needed.'

However, the conservative upper echelons of the Self-Defense Forces had not granted Takeda's request.

He needed solid evidence to persuade the upper echelons.

'That's the status window.'

If he added the clearly special status window data to the impressive performance Seong Jihan was showing, it would be possible to persuade the upper echelons.

Sip, sip.

Takeda drank his cola through a straw and began to calmly plan.

'Right... The primary goal of the Bronze Defense map was to protect the crystal, wasn't it?'

The crystal floating in the center of the tower.

Protecting it was the top priority of the Defense map.

And it was also possible for teammates to destroy it.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

Takeda put down his food and started typing on the keyboard.

One of the eight monitors, which were all focused on Seong Jihan, showed a different person.

['Sword King Family 898' has entered the 'Gyugyuhyeok' channel.]

Takeda's secondary account.

'Sword King Family 898' entered the channel of the mage Kim Gyuhyeok.

- Mr. Kim Gyuhyeok! I can't stand to see that Seong Jihan, who defied the Sword King, doing so well!

Takeda began his scheme.

* * *

'Ha. This crazy guy... He's really strong.'

Kim Gyuhyeok's mouth dropped as he watched Seong Jihan cutting through enemies alone.

Clearly, they were both Bronze, but what was this?

"Broken game, the balance is shit..."

Kim Gyuhyeok muttered and turned his gaze away.

He didn't want to see this guy perform so well.

"Ugh~ It's beautiful... So beautiful!"

Kim Gyuhyeok looked at BJ Geumbit, who was clapping her hands, with disgust.

He turned his back to the tower and slowly walked towards the crystal.

'Ha... When will this end?'

At this moment, he only disliked Seong Jihan, without any other thoughts.

[Sword King Family 898 has donated 100GP.]

[Mr. Kim Gyuhyeok! Please accept our Sword King Family's mission!]

But when a donation message suddenly appeared in his channel, which usually had fewer than ten viewers and was just left open,

[Sword King Family 898 has sent a viewer mission.]

[Destroy the crystal to stop Seong Jihan from ranking first.]

Reward: 50,000GP

Kim Gyuhyeok's steps stopped.

'...50,000?'

50,000GP.

50 million won in Korean currency.

Just for destroying one crystal, 50 million won?

It wasn't just that.

- Is this the location 898 marked?

- Wow~ As expected of 898. The distribution is amazing.

- We can't just let Seong Jihan run wild like that.

- I'll also donate to this mission!

As messages from the Sword King Family started appearing in his channel, which was almost in blackout,

The GP for the mission gradually increased.

52,000, 53,000...

When it reached 55,000, Kim Gyuhyeok's eyes shook uncontrollably.

'I knew the Sword King Family was crazy, but this... What is this?'

[Sword King Family 898 has donated 300GP.]

[Mr. Kim Gyuhyeok. Act quickly! If another tower falls, Seong Jihan will automatically rank first!]

Encouraged by Sword King Family 898, Kim Gyuhyeok smiled bitterly.

'Really, this guy must really hate Seong Jihan.'

'Even if I come in last this time, I won't lose any skills...'

'Of course, I have to call him out! Thinking about the skills I lost because of this guy...'

'Right. I'll use this GP to make up for the loss!'

55,000GP was enough to distort past memories.

Kim Gyuhyeok, his eyes wide with excitement, immediately took action.

[Sword Kingluv124 has donated 100GP.]

[Before destroying the crystal, please curse Seong Jihan a lot in voice chat. I can't stand his arrogance.]

Kim Gyuhyeok looked at Seong Jihan, who was far away, and nodded.

What can he do to me from there?

"Kukukuk."

The fear he felt when he first saw Seong Jihan was gone.

Kim Gyuhyeok approached the crystal with excitement.

And when the crystal came within range of his magic,

He turned on the voice chat.

"Seong Jihan, you bastard without parents."

* * *

'What is this?'

Seong Jihan, suddenly hearing curses, felt more bewildered than angry.

The troll, Kim Gyuhyeok.

He was acting normally just a moment ago, but now?

'He's starting trouble just as I'm about to reach 1,000 kills.'

He had already achieved 920 kills.

This was a crucial moment, just before he could see the next quest.

Was he trying to get revenge for what happened last time as the game was about to end?

'I'll ignore him for now.'

It would only take 80 more kills, so there was no need to pay attention to such curses.

As Seong Jihan was about to turn off the voice chat to focus on killing zombies,

Kim Gyuhyeok's curses came in rapid succession.

[Is it fun to scam your high school nephew? No, isn't it because your father abandoned you and went to Japan to play with you?]

Starting with this, Kim Gyuhyeok cursed Seong Jihan and Yun Seo-a together.

As if predicting that Seong Jihan would try to turn off the chat,

[Did the Sword King go to Japan after seeing you and your family roll around? Dirty bastards~ Hehe.]

Kim Gyuhyeok cursed like he was rapping.

When Seong Jihan turned off the voice chat, the curses stopped,

But he had already stopped in his tracks.

"..."

It was fine to curse him.

After all, he had heard countless curses in his previous life.

He had long learned how to ignore insults.

But.

Touching his nephew was a different matter.

Especially when he was cursing him and linking him to dirty things.

"..."

The last moments of Yun Seo-a, which he had tried to forget, came to mind.

The day the Sword King massacred Korean representative players and made Korea the last in the league.

Yun Seo-a was attacked by the Sword King Family.

Her face was torn apart by the Sword King Family, and she suffered cuts all over her body.

Even though she was the biggest victim of the Sword King's abandonment,

Even though she was not at fault in the Sword King's destruction of Korea, either rationally or logically,

Fanatics don't make rational judgments.

'...She barely survived.'

Her torn face could not be restored by modern medicine.

To return to her original state, she would need care from a high-level supporter, but no supporter was willing to help the daughter of the Sword King.

After about a month of hospitalization, Yun Seo-a could move her body.

She could stand and walk slowly.

And... the first action she took with her recovered body was...

'Suicide.'

Yun Seo-a, struggling to move her unrecovered body, jumped out of the window.

There were many factors that led to her extreme choice...

Seong Jihan remembered.

The messages she left on her smartphone when it was turned on.

These were the curse messages left by the Sword King Family.

-We tore your face. Seong Jihan will also abandon you. Hee. Heehee. Hehehe.

-What will you do now that you can't move your dirty body anymore?

The text bomb that rained down on her after the Sword King Family attacked Yun Seo-a and she was hospitalized.

What he remembered now was the least severe.

Most of the content was too dirty to remember.

'...This was the final trigger that pushed Seo-a to the extreme.'

And if Yun Seo-a were watching this broadcast now,

She would have heard those words.

'The linked quest is not the important thing.'

Seong Jihan turned his back and looked at the tower.

Although it was quite far away,

Seong Jihan's eyes could clearly see the figure on top.

And he saw something he had not expected.

Kim Gyuhyeok, approaching the crystal, was generating a fireball.

'So that's why he was cursing all of a sudden.'

Was he doing it before destroying the crystal?

'Whether it's just out of grudge from last time or because someone incited him... I don't know.'

Whatever the reason,

The conclusion was simple.

'I'll kill him.'

The distance was far,

And the mage was about to destroy the crystal.

Rushing like this wouldn't be enough to reach the tower.

A simple sprint wouldn't be enough time.

To close this distance, what was needed was...

'Unnamed Divine Skill.'

An SSS-grade skill he couldn't learn because his strength was not 30.

But even without it in his skill window, it was a martial art he had practiced for half his life.

If he could gather all his strength now,

He could mimic it.

Unnamed Divine Skill.

Stepping technique.

Flash Heaven Thunder Step.

Zzzz-

White lightning rose from Seong Jihan's feet,

And the zombies approaching his back were all burned away.

The stepping technique that pierced the sky, Flash Heaven Thunder Step.

However, Seong Jihan's feet, filled with current, were heavy.

Was it because the Unnamed Divine Skill was not in his skill window?

Could he generate lightning but not turn himself into lightning?

'No.'

Seong Jihan tempered his rising anger into coldness.

If he couldn't use it because it wasn't in his skill window, the lightning wouldn't have appeared.

There was definitely a way.

Zzzz-!

Trying to lift his heavy feet with all his might,

The energy in his lower dantian reacted with his middle and upper dantian.

In this heightened state of alert, he could faintly sense the movement.

Seong Jihan found the key there.

'Unnamed Divine Skill... Wasn't it a martial art that only used the lower dantian?'

Perhaps because he had used it through skills so far, the lower dantian was enough.

To test his hypothesis,

Seong Jihan fully gathered his energy.

Lower dantian, middle dantian, upper dantian.

The power of the three dantians gathered in an instant.

And in a moment, he felt his body become light.

This was a similar sensation to when he used the skill before his regression.

Seong Jihan was confident at this moment.

'It's possible.'

Rumble!!

Seong Jihan's body turned into light,

And a white current shot up from the ground where he stood.

And soon.

Flash!

A bolt of lightning struck the tower.

* * *

[Sword King Family 898 has donated 100GP.]

[Mr. Kim Gyuhyeok. Hurry! Destroy it quickly! Seong Jihan is coming!]

Kim Gyuhyeok, who had been cursing in the voice chat for a while, thought it was time to finish the mission with the viewer's donation.

'Even if he comes. What can that guy do from this distance...'

Honestly, Seong Jihan, who was at the base of the tower, was not a concern.

"You, what are you doing!"

As BJ Geumbit, who had been filming Seong Jihan, approached with a menacing aura, Kim Gyuhyeok decided to clear the important viewer mission.

"Hehe... Explode!"

Just as the fireball Kim Gyuhyeok had summoned was about to fly,

Boom!

His fireball suddenly exploded in mid-air.

"What, what is this!"

Thud. Thud...

Below the suddenly exploded fireball, a blackened soccer ball fell.

The culprit was obvious.

"Masid! You bastard!"

As Kim Gyuhyeok shouted at Masid, he calmly extended his middle finger.

"You. Curse. Kid."

Pretending not to understand Korean,

This guy knows it well, doesn't he?

Kim Gyuhyeok wanted to show this foreigner a lesson,

"Damn... Fireball!"

But to complete the 55 million won mission, he started casting the fireball spell again.

However.

"Kim Gyuhyeok."

A voice that shouldn't be heard here

Pierced his ear coldly.