I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

That shameless old witch, claiming to be her master without a shred of conscience. If she had any conscience left, it would be a hideous, hairy mess.

“Even if you are my master’s master, I can’t agree to become your disciple without her consent.”

Fortunately, my disciple didn’t fall for the sweet words of that wicked old fox and drew a line.

‘Phew, thank goodness…’

Baek Seol-hee sighed in relief and glared at Sword Emperor, her teeth clenched.

That woman had thrown away her honor, pride, and convictions just to lure her disciple. Baek Seol-hee had no intention of forgiving her.

‘The moment I leave this place will be your end, Sword Emperor.’

“Well, I did promise to look at your sword, so I should keep my word. Show me what you’ve got. Show me everything you’ve learned from my ‘disciple’ in front of your ‘grandmaster’.”

Sword Emperor continued her grandmaster nonsense, unaware that Baek Seol-hee was grinding her teeth in rage beside her.

However, her request to see her disciple’s sword was welcome.

‘Prepare to be shocked, Sword Emperor.’

Her disciple was already at the stage where he could stand on his own; he didn’t need anyone’s guidance anymore.

If she saw his sword, she would surely give up on this ridiculous attempt to recruit him.

With a calm expression, her disciple drew his sword.

‘Perfect.’

Baek Seol-hee felt a sense of satisfaction at her disciple’s impeccable stance and calm sword-drawing motion.

And then, he slowly raised his sword above his head—

Swoosh!

A blue sword slashed through the air in a straight line from above to below.

At that moment,

Thud!

As expected, Sword Emperor stumbled backward in shock at the countless sword trails etched in the air, but—

“!'”

Baek Seol-hee was too focused on the sword trails to notice.

She widened her eyes.

‘Already…?’

The manifestation of possibilities.

Beyond the stage of choice, he had reached the stage of concretizing those possibilities with his will alone.

Her disciple had achieved this stage far too quickly.

As his master, Baek Seol-hee should have been delighted, but instead, she stiffened her expression.

‘This is too fast.’

Yes, it was too fast.

This wasn’t right.

Baek Seol-hee stared blankly at the air for a moment before turning away.

There, Sword Emperor stood with a serious expression, holding her disciple’s shoulder.

“You must inherit my sword.”

Baek Seol-hee missed what Sword Emperor had said just now, as she had been too focused on her disciple’s sword.

But it seemed that Sword Emperor still intended to make her disciple hers, even after witnessing that sword.

Once again, she faced the threat of losing her disciple, but this time, Baek Seol-hee didn’t falter.

The sword her disciple had just shown her was a path that led to failure.

‘Why…?’

Baek Seol-hee bit her lip and stared at her disciple with a bewildered expression.

.

.

.

The daytime fiasco was behind them, and night had fallen on Sword Emperor’s Forest.

Alone in the guest room, I lay under the covers, feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I got up and stepped outside.

“Soup and Puppy aren’t planning on coming back, either…”

I thought being with the party members might lift my spirits, but they, along with Alice, hadn’t returned either.

I wasn’t particularly worried, as I assumed that if there was a problem, Sword Emperor would have gone looking for them. However, the fact that she didn’t seem concerned suggested that their training wouldn’t be over in a day or two.

The reason for my complicated emotions was what Sword Emperor had said to me earlier.

‘You asked if my master had failed, and you said that my master could never perfect this sword…’

When she saw the sword I had learned from my master, Sword Emperor had changed her attitude as if she were a different person.

I wanted to immediately refute her, but I couldn’t.

After all, my master had declared herself a failure.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

I drew my sword and swung it again, but—

I could only see the realm of possibilities.

The sword energy didn’t spontaneously manifest as it had earlier, but that was the natural progression.

This was the correct path for the sword to take.

‘This isn’t a failure.’

There must be a solution.

My master believed in me, so there had to be a way.

“I really want to talk to Master…”

But my master wasn’t here.

Suddenly, an idea came to me, and I took out my phone and stared at it.

Tap, tap. I typed out a message to my master.

[Master, I miss you.]

Then—

Vrrr!

As if it had been waiting for my message, a reply came immediately.

“Huh?”

[Baek Seol-hee: I’m sorry.]

I was a bit taken aback by the quick reply, but soon my mood improved.

Maybe Master had been waiting for my message, too.

[What are you sorry about? Oh, because you left without saying anything? That’s fine. It couldn’t be helped. You’ve been busy, and I didn’t want to waste your time because of me—]

‘Hmm, is this too wordy?’

I erased the message and started to rewrite it, intending to just say it was fine. But—

Vrrr!

[Baek Seol-hee: Your time is never wasted on me, disciple. Don’t ever think like that.]

I tilted my head to the side, puzzled by Master’s reply.

‘Huh? Did I just send a message?’

No, I hadn’t pressed the send button yet.

Yet it was as if she had already seen the message I was about to send and was replying to it.

‘What’s going on…? Is someone standing right next to me, watching my messages…?’

I turned my head quickly, but all I heard were the sounds of insects. There was no sign of anyone nearby.

I tilted my head for a moment, then smiled.

I knew what was going on.

I could predict Master’s responses to my messages without even closing my eyes.

In other words, she was pre-writing her replies!

‘Hmm, let’s test this out.’

I sent a message as if I were playing a mind-reading game with Master.

[Master, what did you have for lunch today?]

I sent the message and predicted Master’s response.

‘She’ll say she ate a calorie bar to supply her body with nutrients.’

Vrrr!

[Baek Seol-hee: I ate a calorie bar to supply my body with nutrients.]

Just as I expected.

Word for word, her reply matched my prediction.

I couldn’t help but smile, feeling a connection with Master, but then I stiffened my expression.

‘Will you stop eating those damn calorie bars already?’

Master had a habit of eating simple meals, and no matter how much I nagged her about it, she wouldn’t change.

[Master, I’ve told you. Even if you can’t taste anything, you still need to eat properly.]

‘I’ll try…’

[Baek Seol-hee: I’ll try…]

She would probably just say that and not change her habits.

Tsk.

[Master, is there anything you want to eat when your sense of taste returns in a month? Something you’ve been craving or something you’re curious about.]

‘Hmm, here… I’m fine with anything. Once is enough for me. That’s probably what she’ll say, right?’

[I’m fine with anything. Once is enough for me.]

Just as I expected, not a single word off.

This was quite fun.

It meant that I had grown closer to Master.

Then, I wondered how Master would react if I told her about today’s events.

[Oh, by the way, do you know what happened today? I met your master, Sword Emperor, and she wants to take me as her disciple.]

I sent the message up to that point and pressed send.

I figured it would take a while for Master to reply to this one.

After all, she was Sword Emperor’s disciple, and I hadn’t mentioned what my response was.

‘Maybe… Disciple, what did you say? She’ll probably ask that, trying to hide her jealousy.’

I intended to reply that I had refused, not wanting to trouble Master, who was busy. But—

Contrary to my expectations, Master replied quickly, and the content of her message was quite different from what I had imagined.

[Baek Seol-hee: …Perhaps that’s not such a wrong idea.]

[Huh? What do you mean—]

Just as I was about to reply, feeling confused,

“Hmm… Couldn’t wait any longer, huh?”

Sword Emperor appeared in front of me with a languid expression.

“Huh?”
“Well, it’s been a day, so let’s get started with the training.”
“Huh…?”

Thud!

Sword Emperor pushed me with the smoking pipe she was holding, and I fell backward.

“Huh…?”

And then I found myself in a hole that had somehow appeared behind me.

I looked up at Sword Emperor, who was peering down at me from above.

“This is the first trial you’ll face. It’s called Starvation.”

With a thud, the hole closed, trapping me inside.

.
.
.

And next to Jin Yuha, a short distance away,

Baek Seol-hee stood, watching him intently.