I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

Baek Seol-hee was just starting to run and was slowly learning about the world at the age of five.

At that time, the world was in shades of gray.
It was a chaotic era where one had to kill or be killed.

Gates were appearing, and the monsters that emerged from them were indiscriminately slaughtering people.

Of course, Korea’s Sun, Lina, was already active, and Velvet Hunter Academy had been established, but it was still an uncertain time before everything was properly organized.

Especially the area where Baek Seol-hee lived was a slum that had not yet been reached by hunters.
It was a high-crime area.

-God is angry, and the end of the world is upon us! Pray fervently! If you pray hard enough, you will shed your mortal flesh and achieve awakening!

On the streets, gate doomsday theorists were rampant, preaching that the gates were a punishment from a God disgusted by human arrogance.

-That’s mine! I found it first!

-Hah, finders keepers. What’s yours and mine? If you’re confident, try taking it from me.

Law and order had collapsed, and people no longer trusted each other. Violence, theft, and rape had become commonplace.

In such a world where power was the standard, if one was lucky enough to achieve awakening, they would be treated like nobility and could live a more prosperous life than before.

Unfortunately, Baek Seol-hee’s family was ordinary, with neither parent being an awakener.
In other words, they were at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

As a result, Baek Seol-hee’s family lived in a run-down one-room apartment in the slums, with leaking roofs and sporadic access to water and electricity. They often went hungry.

Even so, Baek Seol-hee was relatively happy at that time.

“Honey, the food from yesterday isn’t spoiled yet, is it?”
“Hmm, there’s a little mold, but if we scrape it off, it should still be edible.”
“You two share that, and give me the moldy part.”

In a world where even blood ties could be betrayed, Baek Seol-hee grew up with parents who still valued the old-fashioned idea of family.

This simple yet precious daily life was shattered when a group of awakeners settled in the slums.

“Ahahaha! Let’s start from here! Anyway, that damn Lina won’t care even if we raze this place to the ground!”

These awakeners had gained powers beyond those of ordinary humans through awakening,
But instead of using their powers to hunt monsters, they chose to hunt and dominate other humans.

At that time, such people were not called ‘Demons’, but were referred to as ‘villains’.

“Now, I’m going to wipe out everything here, so bring out all the rats hiding in the corners!”

Kwaaaaaaaaang─!

When the woman with muscular arms swung her arm,
It only took an instant for the already dilapidated buildings to crumble.

“Kyaaaaah! Please spare me!”
“I’ll come out! Just please don’t destroy my house!”
“Kyahahahahaha! Then you should have come out when I told you to! Hmm?”

The nightmare of the slums began that day.
The space was reduced to rubble, with no place to lay their heads. The people who had been hiding in fear were all dragged out.

And the villains made those people build a new foundation for them.

“Come on, hurry up! Build it neatly! If not, do you remember what happened earlier? If you want to live your life as a cripple with a missing leg, feel free to be lazy!”

They built a kingdom for themselves, by themselves, and of themselves.

And in that hell,
Baek Seol-hee’s family could not be an exception.

“Kick, you’ve got a good look in your eye. Yeah, you’ll do.”
“Seol-hee! No, don’t take her away!”

Baek Seol-hee was forcibly separated from her parents and dragged away by a woman.

The woman, with her face covered in white powder and her lips painted bright red up to her temples,
called herself ‘Joker’, but the nickname ‘Red Mask’ suited her better.

“What’s this? Why did you spare this brat? Brats are just a waste of food, why not just kill her?”
“Ah, this one is my experimental subject for testing my abilities. I’m curious to see what happens when I use my powers weakly. And if she dies, well, she dies, and if she lives, I get to watch her suffer for a long time, so it’s a win-win for me…”
“······Crazy Red Mask bitch. Cut the act. You fake psycho.”

The other villains muttered something to her and shook their heads, but
Red Mask didn’t seem to be giving up.

She was an awakener with the ability to turn her blood into deadly poison.

Swick─

She cut her finger with a kitchen knife,
And held out the dripping blood to Baek Seol-hee.

“Now, eat it.”
“······I don’t want to.”

At first, Baek Seol-hee clenched her teeth and refused to eat the blood.

But every time, Red Mask would chuckle and say,

“You really won’t eat it? Then I’ll feed it to your mom and dad.”

“Tsk, what an unfilial daughter. If your parents die because of you, that would be a pathetic death, wouldn’t it?”

“Hehehe, your dad’s quite a looker, and I know there are a lot of people after him. But do you know why no one dares to touch him? It’s because I’m protecting him.”

“Now, now, eat it. If you eat this, I won’t touch your family~”

If she didn’t eat the blood, her family would die.

Being young and powerless, Baek Seol-hee had no choice.

She clenched her teeth and said,

“······I’ll eat it. I’ll eat it!!!”

Then, Red Mask grinned and clapped her hands loudly.

“Yes, yes, good decision! Now, glug glug─ Good girl!”

Drip drip─

One drop.
One drop.

The droplets of blood fell into her mouth,
The revolting, briny blood slid down her throat.

She wanted to vomit the contents of her stomach right away,
But she forced herself to swallow it.

Soon, the deadly poison permeated her body,
And a burning sensation spread throughout her body.

“Kuaaaa!!!’

Baek Seol-hee’s veins bulged, and she clutched her neck, spitting out black blood onto the floor.

Splat─

The black blood splattered on Red Mask’s shoes.
Red Mask’s face hardened.

“······Damn it. Disgusting. Phew. I thought this would be fun, but it’s boring as hell.”

Baek Seol-hee trembled like a paralyzed frog.
Red Mask looked down at her with disinterest.

“Should I just kill you? Hmm, no, that’s not it. Ah, what about raping and killing your dad in front of you? Hmm? That might be quite fun.”

She was going to harm her family.

Flash.

Baek Seol-hee’s fierce gaze turned upward.
But Red Mask just snorted.

“Hah, what are you looking at? You’re about to die anyway. I’ll just let you watch something fun before you go.”

As Red Mask grabbed Baek Seol-hee by the nape of her neck and lifted her up like an object,
Baek Seol-hee’s eyes fell on something.

It was the kitchen knife that Red Mask had used to cut her finger, tucked into her waistband.

She had to get that knife.

Instinctively, that thought dominated Baek Seol-hee’s mind.
But her body, already poisoned, refused to move.

‘Please, please, please───!’

She gritted her teeth and forced her arm to move.

And at that moment.

Ding─♬

A clear bell rang in her head, completely out of place with the current situation.

And with that bell,
Her body moved.

Hwek─

Baek Seol-hee reached out and successfully grabbed the kitchen knife.

“······How did you─”

Red Mask was taken aback, her eyes widening in surprise.

Poke!

“Heuuuuuuuuurk······.”

Red Mask, with her throat already pierced, could only make a deflated sound, unable to utter another word.

She glared with resentment, but death was inevitable with her throat pierced.

Thud.

Red Mask collapsed on the spot.

“······”

It was the moment when the Slaughtering Maniac awakened.

“······This crazy─! Three of them are already dead!”
“Goddamn──!”
“Kill that brat!!!!”

Kwaaaaaang─!

Whoosh!

Several villains used their abilities to try and capture Baek Seol-hee, but
She moved nimbly between the terrain of the slums.

And when she spotted a villain who was separated from the others, she would quietly sneak up behind them and…

Swish─

Slice their throat.

“Kwik─.”

Thud.

Another villain fell.

As soon as she held the kitchen knife in her hand, she knew.

She knew how to wield it,
How to slice so that her opponent would die instantly,
And how to hunt efficiently.

This was possible because she had awakened the S-grade Sword Mastery specialty along with the [Quick] and [Intuition] traits.

To begin with, the insane talent for the sword, S-grade, was a talent that could only be found in one or two people worldwide.

In other words, S-grade represented the limit of human talent.

It was the Utopia, with its abundance of S-grade talents, that was the odd one out.

So there was no way these villains, who had tried to rule over a mere slum, could catch her.

As time passed, the villains realized that they were not chasing her,
But rather, they were the ones being hunted.

“Damn, we escaped one monster brat only to encounter another!”
“Crazy······. Shit, we messed with the wrong person. Damn!! Where did everyone go? Did you all die to one person?”
“Who the hell suggested coming here to escape Lina?!”

And when Baek Seol-hee realized there was no longer a need to hide, she finally revealed herself to them.

In one hand, she held a blood-stained, bright red kitchen knife.
With her black hair hanging loose, her sunken black eyes, she was a small girl.

Stomp─

Stomp─

As she approached, the villains took a step back in fear.

“Mi, monster!”
“Don’t come any closer!! You monster!!”
“Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!!!’

Then, the woman with muscular arms suddenly exclaimed as if she had just remembered something.

“Hey! Earlier! Bring that brat’s mom and dad here!”
“······!”

Baek Seol-hee wanted to stomp her foot and act immediately, but
The villains had her parents as hostages.

“Hey, you! Do you want to see your mom and dad’s necks snap!?”

The woman with muscular arms held Baek Seol-hee’s mother and father by the neck with each hand and pushed them forward towards Baek Seol-hee.

“······Ah.”

And when Baek Seol-hee saw this, her eyes began to shake uncontrollably.

“Seol-hee! We’re fine!”
“Don’t worry about us!”
“Shut up!”

Crack─

As Baek Seol-hee clenched her hand,

“Kweeek─”
“Kheuk!”

Baek Seol-hee’s mother and father grimaced in pain.

‘······What should I do?’

What should she do?
Baek Seol-hee didn’t know.

She knew she had become stronger.

But she wasn’t strong enough to save her family from the villains.
If only she had more power, she could have saved them…

‘How······how do I······!’

Just then.

Swoooosh─

“Heuk······!?”

Suddenly, without any warning, a pure white light descended from the sky.
The light shone upon the villains, Baek Seol-hee’s mother and father,
And in an instant, the villains were wiped out without a trace.

“······Huh?”

Baek Seol-hee looked up at the sky.

She could see
A small girl with purple hair split into two braids,
Descending slowly from the sky with an arrogant expression that didn’t suit her.

“How dare you try to escape my grasp, Lina? You trash.”

This was the first meeting between Lina, the chairman, and Baek Seol-hee.