I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

“As expected, Chairman Lina’s favorability rating of 7% wasn’t a lie…”

Master Baek Seol-hee, usually calm and collected, couldn’t hide her agitation.

“M, Master! It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”

Jin Yuha shouted in surprise, but…

Squeeze—

She bit her lip, glared at Lina, and then took off running.

Whoosh—

Jin Yuha immediately chased after Master Baek Seol-hee.

In the end, Lina was left alone.

“Leaving without even a greeting. Truly, a bold young man…”

Lina wore a bewildered expression as she watched Jin Yuha’s back, chasing after Master Baek Seol-hee.

“……”

Shockingly, Jin Yuha knew about her past.

No one in this world knew about her forgotten past, but she didn’t doubt that what he said was true.

With her improved perception, she could now tell when someone was lying or speaking the truth without needing to read their thoughts.

“But he can’t tell me about it…”

She understood his hesitation.

Being bound by the rules of the world, there was a cost to revealing her past.

However, the last thing Jin Yuha had said lingered in her mind.

─ No matter what happened in your past, whatever choices you made, you always did your best.

Heh—

Lina snorted.

Who was he to judge her?

“Of course, I always make the best choices. It’s only natural.”

─ And I truly respect you for that.

Jin Yuha’s sincere gaze as he said those words left a deep impression on Lina.

He was always insolent and disrespectful, a hyena waiting to pounce and take whatever he could.

But to think that he had these thoughts hidden within him…

She couldn’t help but feel pleased.

Her lips curled up.

Hmm—

Suddenly, Lina stiffened.

“Wait a minute.”

A group of women flashed through her mind—the same women who had been rotating around Jin Yuha like sushi on a conveyor belt throughout the day.

Lim Ga-eul, Ichika, Shin Se-hee, Kang Do-hee, Lee Yoo-ri, and even Baek Seol-hee.

The women who had stuck to his side, smiling foolishly as if they were going to drain him dry of his gallbladder and liver!

Their faces flashed one by one in her mind.

“That bastard, could he possibly be doing the same with all of them…?”

Lina bit her lip.

“You damn playboy!”

For a moment, she had felt that Jin Yuha wasn’t so bad, but now she felt ashamed of herself.

‘He’s a dangerous one. I need to be careful.’

Lina had sharpened her guard against Jin Yuha, but…

─ And I truly respect you for that.

Her lips curved upward again.

Ahem—

“Still, what he said was all true…”

Most of all…

“It felt good to see Seol-hee running away with her tail between her legs like a defeated dog.”

Master Baek Seol-hee often appeared at odd times to brag about her disciple.

She would boast about Jin Yuha,

how much he respected her,

and how proud she was of him.

Seeing Master Baek Seol-hee, who had always been so proud, running away like that…

Well, it was a little… satisfying, to say the least.

Lina couldn’t help but chuckle as she recalled Master Baek Seol-hee’s flustered expression earlier.

“Serves you right, Seol-hee.”

Lina muttered under her breath in the direction where Master Baek Seol-hee had fled, feeling rather pleased with herself, and then returned to the chairman’s office.

.

.

.

The next day,

I skipped all my classes and lay in a hammock hung in front of my house, staring up at the sky.

The sky was annoyingly blue.

“Ugh… I’m tired.”

What I had said to Chairman Lina the previous day seemed to have shocked Master Baek Seol-hee greatly.

To catch up with her as she ran away, I had to squeeze every last drop of mana from my body.

But the gap between her and me was still significant.

Eventually, as I collapsed from exhaustion, she finally approached me.

However, instead of explaining herself, she just stood there, staring at me intently with a stern expression, which was quite unnerving.

─ There’s no way I would respect Chairman Lina more than you, Master! That’s a completely different realm! Chairman Lina is like a, a, a historical figure! A figure of admiration! You, on the other hand, are like a personal lighthouse that I can trust with my entire life. That’s what it is!

After a night of intense rambling, I finally managed to get Master Baek Seol-hee to open up.

─ …my entire life?
─ Yes, yes, I truly mean it when I say that I would trust Master with my entire life!
─ Hmm…… Remember that, and remember it well.

After soothing Master Baek Seol-hee’s feelings, I returned home, only to find…

─ Didn’t you say you’d be right back? What time is it now?

Lee Yoo-ri, with her arms crossed, standing at the front gate, giving me a chilly look.

─ That, that was because of the Chairman!
─ Chairman? Hmm, sniff sniff. That smells like Master Baek.

I hadn’t lied, but the more I tried to explain, the more complicated it became.

And how did she know what Master Baek smelled like?

That marked the beginning of Round 2.

─ Oh, Jin Yuha?
─ Little Fool?
─ Junior?
─ Jin Yuha…
─ Haaam… My savior?

One by one, the other party members woke up and joined in.

─ I’ll explain everything, so please stop giving me those scary looks!

It took until the sun was directly overhead for me to finally finish explaining everything.

And that’s how I ended up in this state.

“Where did it all go wrong…?”

Wasn’t I supposed to be fighting alongside my party members to save the world?

How did dealing with the demons feel easier than this?

Pinch.

Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes.

“Haah… I need to go to China soon, too.”

After squeezing out all my mana the night before, I had no energy left to even move.

“Oh? Jin Yuha, do you have business in China?”

At that moment, a voice called out from behind me.

It was Shin Se-hee.

I rolled my eyes up to glance at her without moving my head.

Black hair, shiny and smooth, and fair, translucent skin.

She had become even more beautiful and radiant than when I first met her as Cheonhwa.

‘This main scenario is related to Shin Se-hee.’

I had been thinking about when to bring it up, but…

‘Hmm, since it’s just the two of us now, maybe I should tell her now.’

I didn’t hesitate for long before making my decision.

“Shin Se-hee, how’s Shin Su-yeon doing?”

I opened the conversation by asking about her sister, Shin Su-yeon, who was also a Shin-ga.

“……!”

Shin Se-hee was taken aback by my sudden question, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

“Tha, that’s! Um, my sister? Why, why are you asking about her all of a sudden!?”

Her reaction was more intense than I expected, and I tilted my head in confusion.

‘……Why is she reacting like this? Anyway, I figured Shin Su-yeon would be in the basement of her original house, right?’

Given Shin Se-hee’s slightly  twisted personality, it was hard to imagine her forgiving and releasing her family, who had tormented her for over a decade, without getting some payback.

But that didn’t change how I felt about her.

She was still my ally.

‘Hmm, does Shin Se-hee think I don’t know about her?’

If that was the case, her reaction made sense.

“Don’t worry, I know what kind of situation she’s in. So, it won’t change how I see you.”

I spoke casually, trying to reassure her, but Shin Se-hee shook her head.

“No, it’s not that… It’s just, I suddenly remembered a web novel I read where the author got so much hate that they disappeared for three months…”

‘What nonsense is this?’

I frowned at her unexpected response.

“You read web novels, Shin Se-hee?”
“No, no, it’s nonsense. I didn’t get any sleep last night, so my mind is a bit fuzzy.”

Shin Se-hee tried to brush it off as nonsense, but it was a bit suspicious.

Still, I let it go since she was denying it so adamantly.

“Well, yes, she’s in the basement. So, how is that related to China?”

I paused for a moment before answering her question.

“I’m going to take down the Shin family.”
“……”

Shin Se-hee’s eyes lowered.

“You promise. Right?”
“Yes.”

I nodded.

Yes.

At some point, I had promised Shin Se-hee that I would destroy the Shin family, the family that had mistreated and tortured her for so long, and give them to her.

And now, the time had come.