I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

‘….Is this okay, Ichika?’

I was on my way to the infirmary, worried about Ichika, who had collapsed during class due to her desire control issues. I thought that a simple head pat would be enough to satisfy her desires, but it seemed it wasn’t enough.

‘She’s like a cat that doesn’t show pain when she’s sick. It’s hard to tell how she’s feeling.’

Vrrr—

My pocket vibrated with a notification.

‘Shin Se-hee?’

I answered the call, puzzled.

“Hey, can you come by for a bit? Well, Ichika…”

—Ah, Ichika’s condition has been checked, and they said she’ll be fine for now.

“Oh, okay. Is it urgent?”

Shin Se-hee’s urgent call made me change my direction from the infirmary to Utopia’s hideout.

As I entered, I saw Shin Se-hee sitting at the desk as usual, lost in thought. She had a pen against her cheek and her lips pouted, indicating that she was troubled about something.

‘Is something wrong?’

There shouldn’t be any pressing matters at this point, as the mission window was open.

‘Well, it’s not like we haven’t had our fair share of tangled plots before.’

It wouldn’t hurt to hear her out first.

“Shin Se-hee.”

“Oh, Jin Yuha. You’re here.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“It’s a mission.”

I was taken aback by Shin Se-hee’s sudden mention of a mission.

“What? A mission? Didn’t we decide to take a break from missions and regroup?”

Shin Se-hee nodded in agreement.

“Hmm, yes. For Utopia as a whole, that’s the plan.”

“….For Utopia?”

“Yes, Jin Yuha. I received a personal nomination request for you.”

A personal nomination request was when a specific hunter was chosen for a mission, usually for smaller incidents, while larger cases were assigned to parties.

‘But why me? I haven’t applied for a rank upgrade with the Hunter Management Bureau, so my rank is probably quite low…’

I was probably only a D-rank at best.

Aside from the ‘Camilla’s Forest’ incident with Lee Yoo-ribefore enrolling in Velvet Hunter Academy, I hadn’t taken on any other missions.

It would make sense for Kang Do-hee or Shin Se-hee, who were already famous prospects before enrollment, to receive such requests, but with my low rank, the scale of missions I could take on was limited, and the pay wouldn’t be great.

What was this?

While my value as a member of Utopia was high, my low rank meant that the missions I could take on were small-scale, and the pay didn’t match my worth.

“….Well, it’s a personal request, so I appreciate that they think highly of me, but… With my low rank, I won’t be able to take on any good missions.”

I honestly expressed my thoughts. Shin Se-hee, however, laughed as if it were only natural.

“Hmm, it’s a bit of an unusual request.”

“….An unusual request?”

“Yes, here. Take a look at this.”

Shin Se-hee handed me a mission request form. I took it and read it.

────────────────

【Personal Nomination Request】 – D-rank Hunter Jin Yuha

Type of Request – Undetermined

Request Details –

I want to see Jin Yuha personally taking on a mission without the help of other party members.

Any mission will do.

Please select and perform the mission of your choice for three days.

However, during the mission, please capture all scenes with your personal camera.

(A self-tracking drone camera is included.)

Mission Completion Reward – 100 million won

Mission Period – Three days from the date of acceptance.

Requester – Nice

────────────────

‘What the heck is this…’

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment as I read the request form. I noticed that the box next to it contained a drone camera.

“It’s an interesting request, isn’t it? All you have to do is perform a mission of your choice, one that you want to do, and capture it all on camera.”

Shin Se-hee explained as if it were only natural, as if she had expected me to wonder about the quality of the footage.

“I asked the requester if they would interfere with the quality of the footage, and they said no. I even received a separate confirmation about that.”

“…..”

But the reason for my bewilderment wasn’t the unusual nature of the request.

The requester.

‘Nice’.

I knew this person.

It was none other than Shin Se-hee’s anagram.

In other words, this was her other identity, one she used when she needed to act anonymously or handle shady business.

I remembered seeing her use this name in the game quite frequently, so I recognized it.

‘….What are you thinking?’

She wasn’t trying to trap me, that was certain.

Just then,

“Hmm. This.time.it.is.a.per.son.al.nom.i.na.tion.re.quest.”

An awkward, stiff voice suddenly interrupted.

“S, Master…?”

Baek Seol-hee poked her head in, glanced at the request form, and nodded.

“Hmm. It.seems.there.is.some.one.who.thinks.high.ly.of.my.dis.ci.ple.’s.abil.i.ty.. Excellent.dis.ci.ple.”

Her tone was as robotic as ever, even more so than usual.

‘….Your acting is terrible!’

I desperately maintained my expression.

“Bu.t.my.dis.ci.ple.is.of.low.ran.k.so.he.can’t.choo.se.a.high.ran.k.mis.sion.even.if.he.wan.ts.to.”

Shin Se-hee, realizing that this wasn’t going to work, interrupted Master’s speech.

“But if it’s a student from our academy, they can freely select missions under the supervision of an instructor, with my approval.”

Master glared at Shin Se-hee, as if to ask why she was interrupting.

“So.I’ll.be.free.for.a.whi.le.”

Honestly, even from the sidelines, it seemed like Master shouldn’t be saying this.

‘You’re terrible at acting…!’

This was a moment when even the usually perfect Master fell short. Anyways, I understood Shin Se-hee’s intentions.

‘Ah, so you want me to take care of something personal while I’m at it? And you’re attaching Master to make sure it’s legitimate?’

The fact that she included Master showed her consideration.

Anyways, Utopia needed to regroup for a while.

If there were any difficult or dangerous missions that required me to lead the party members, now was the time to take care of them.

‘With Master, this is a sweet deal!’

Master was a powerhouse, a cheat code in human form. With her by my side, I could take on missions that would normally be out of reach at this point.

I grinned at Shin Se-hee and smiled. I welcomed such a surprise gift.

“Thank you for arranging this request for me.”

I said this even though I knew she was the requester.

“Yes, Jin Yuha. Please go with a light heart.”

“Okay.”

.

.

.

In Utopia’s hideout, after Jin Yuha and Baek Seol-hee had left.

“Hoo…”

Shin Se-hee sighed deeply.

“To be honest, I didn’t really want to send those two…”

But there was no choice. The timing was what it was.

Sophia’s dissatisfaction with Ichika was about to explode, and on top of that, there was Baek Seol-hee’s threat—or rather, blackmail.

‘….Isn’t that instructor usually more reserved? I don’t remember her being so brazen when I first met her.’

Shin Se-hee couldn’t help but laugh bitterly as she recalled Baek Seol-hee’s chilling visit in the middle of the night. She had been startled to find a woman staring down at her with cold eyes while she slept.

It was none other than Baek Seol-hee who had broken through the ironclad security designed by Chairman Lina.

—You said that my disciple’s favorability would increase if I played the role of an instructor, but it hasn’t changed.

‘Well, she is an instructor, technically.’

And what she said was ridiculous.

—So, think of another way. The calculations still don’t add up.

Indeed, it was true. Thanks to Baek Seol-hee, Utopia’s status had soared even higher.

Without her special training, they wouldn’t have achieved such remarkable results in the US monster-hunting mission.

Now that the need for internal reorganization had arisen within the party, and with Sophia’s dissatisfaction with Ichika reaching its limit, Shin Se-hee had no choice but to come up with a plan.

That plan was to send Jin Yuha on a personal nomination request with Baek Seol-hee as her companion.

To make this happen, Shin Se-hee had even used her other identity.

‘Well, they’ll be filming everything, so they won’t be able to do anything inappropriate…’

Still, it was hard to imagine Master doing something like that to a student.

Anyways, Jin Yuha was now away from the academy for a while.

“Now, let’s begin the internal reorganization.”

A cold smile formed on Shin Se-hee’s lips, foreshadowing the storm to come.