Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Proof of the Irrational (2)

His master had once asked him.

"When you witness true talent, will you still be able to stay unbroken?"

At first, he thought it was just bluster.

No matter how great someone's talent, in the end, people are just people.

That's what he'd arrogantly believed.

"Hello, I'm Shin Ah-yeon, I'll be joining you for the Demonic Zone raid this time."

At least, until he met a real genius.

***

To be honest—

When Ji Yeon-hwa went on a rampage, Hojun had secretly sympathized with how she felt.

Because when he first saw Shin Ah-yeon, Hojun had felt something similar.

A monster who had become an S-rank Hunter at just nineteen.

Rumor had it even that had been delayed in approval.

Apparently, the association had refused to grant S-rank certification because she was so young.

He couldn't make sense of it.

How in the world could someone in their teens become S-rank?

'Even Master, whom everyone called an unparalleled genius, only became an S-rank Hunter in his mid-twenties.'

When Hojun first met Shin Ah-yeon in the Demonic Zone, she'd had a cheerful, refreshing personality.

She was popular thanks to her looks; enough so that countless male hunters scrambled for a chance to talk to her.

Secretly, Hojun had thought maybe she'd gotten S-rank status for her star presence, even if her abilities were a little lacking.

But during the following journeys in the Demonic Zone, he realized that was a huge mistake.

She was unmistakably an S-rank Hunter.

And not just that—she was leagues above him.

Yet what Baek Hojun felt on seeing Shin Ah-yeon wasn't the inferiority that Ji Yeon-hwa felt.

It was pure futility.

A hollow sense that all the effort he'd put in so far was being denied, filling his chest.

He was a swordsman, so if even he felt that way, he could absolutely understand why Ji Yeon-hwa, a mage, nursed such inferiority and jealousy.

'A day for a genius is like a thousand days for you.'

That was what his master always used to say.

He used to think it was an exaggeration.

But it hadn't been a lie at all.

His thousand days were but a day to a genius.

No, not even a day, perhaps.

Even so, Hojun kept swinging his sword.

For the three years Shin Ah-yeon was gone.

He'd tried to surpass her, recalling the person he'd seen in the Demonic Zone.

No doubt, Ji Yeon-hwa had been the same.

She'd finally touched something she shouldn't after realizing some things were simply impossible, and Hojun understood.

There were walls you simply couldn't overcome otherwise.

Always before, he'd magic powerged to overcome walls through effort.

But this time, he had no confidence he could break this one.

"This really annoys me."

Watching Soo-ah slowly walking toward him, Hojun quietly muttered the words to himself.

It had almost been thirty years now since he'd first picked up a sword.

In all that time, the woman before him had chased him nearly to his throat in an instant.

It made no sense.

He trembled at how unfair it was.

But what could he do?

That's how geniuses are.

"He said this to me once."

Hojun pointed the black sword in his hand at Soo-ah and said,

"Sometimes, you should try receiving help from others."

He was nothing more than an ordinary person.

He didn't try to deny that fact.

"Show me, Lee Soo-ah."

The path that only a genius can see—just as he said.

Kwaaang!

The instant their gazes met and with no signal, they both shot forward.

Wherever Soo-ah moved, blue flames burst out, rapidly consuming the magic power in the area.

Flames that burned magic power itself.

For mages, that would be a calamity.

Kaaang!!

When Soo-ah stabbed for his upper body, Hojun tilted his sword to block, then spun half a turn, aiming for her neck in return.

She ducked, flames flickering through her flowing hair.

She slid her right foot forward, holding her sword in reverse as she went for his waist.

Hojun deflected it with his left hand, countering by striking at her head with the hilt.

Block the sword, twist the arm.

Kick with the foot. Throw punches.

Without yielding a step, the two of them moved.

With each clash, shockwaves and burning flames spread through the whole hall.

'Amazing.'

Soo-ah gritted her teeth, constantly blocking Hojun's sword.

She could barely breathe.

He didn't give her a single second to catch her breath.

His swordsmanship was aimed at a path entirely opposite from hers.

Jung-woo had told her:
His swordplay was solid, nothing Soo-ah could imitate.

No, was it a little different?

He'd said exactly this:
"To be exact, there's no need for you to imitate it."

She'd been troubled when she'd asked Jung-woo about swordsmanship—

He had replied nonchalantly to Soo-ah, who was mired in doubt.

"Originally, technique is something created by the weak to beat the strong."

Countless techniques had been invented to get greater strength from little power.

But that was for the majority, not the minority.

"Just as a normal person can't understand a genius, a genius can't understand a normal person either."

If she learned swordsmanship, she could become constrained by it.

So Soo-ah didn't really need to "learn" the sword at all.

The one who best knew the sword that suited her was herself.

When the time came, her instincts would guide her naturally, Jung-woo had said.

At that time, Soo-ah hadn't understood what Jung-woo's words meant.

But now, she felt like she did.

'This path.'

In a black-and-white world, blue trajectories appeared before Soo-ah.

It wasn't simply the path of Hojun's sword.

Her own flames showed her where her sword should go.

Her burning talent guided her to the optimal path her body could take.

Thus, the blue flaming sword began to twist, break the solid sword of Hojun, and drive forward.

Grit.

Hojun clenched his teeth, refusing to budge even an inch.

He didn't intend to back down.

Fine, so this is what it means to be a genius.

"When you witness true talent, will you still be able to stay unbroken?"

His master's words, once laced with even anger.

Now he understood them. When humans are faced with irrationality, it's only natural for such emotions to arise.

His master, himself once called a rare genius, may have once faced a similar monster.

A monster that rendered effort meaningless.

So Hojun understood his master's words.

He empathized with Ji Yeon-hwa's inferiority.

He accepted Jung-woo's advice.

And, he acknowledged his own limits.

'Master, you were right.'

He slashed and slashed through the flames coming from every direction.

'For my sword has already been broken.'

In Soo-ah's eyes, blazing with blue fire, he could see the face of a man.

His own desperate face—the one struggling not to break.

Wasn't it truly pathetic?

'More than a thousand times already.'

But so what?

Beneath his feet lay more than a thousand broken swords.

They had supported him so his knees did not buckle.

He might be pathetic, but he had never fallen.

That's why he was the Thousand Swords.

'But that doesn't mean it's impossible to beat a genius.'

To block a genius's sword, you need a thousand swords.

Conversely, to break a genius's sword, you just need a thousand swords.

If a thousand wasn't enough, he would offer up several thousand more.

That was how Hojun had lived so far.

'You were right.'

As Soo-ah and Hojun's swords, wrapped in blue fire, ricocheted away from each other,

Both fixed their broken stances and stepped forward with their right foot at the same time.

The wall that once looked insurmountable—

Now showed cracks.

'Sometimes, getting help isn't so bad.'

At last, he could see the path.

Soo-ah's magic power surging, her sword moving along its course.

Her stepping forward, magic power from her mana hall coursing up from her solar plexus to her head.

Clashing countless times against Soo-ah's sword, Hojun had learned that as well.

Thus, the wall was broken.

Almost absurdly easily.

Wuuuung!!

Hojun's sword blazed white-hot, splitting into countless swords.

A thousand swords.

They poured toward Soo-ah.

Kwaaaaa!!

At the center of Soo-ah's hand, a radiant blue flame erupted.

With every sharp breath, the flames roared and sparks flew from between her clenched teeth.

Soo-ah realized it.

That Hojun had just broken through his wall.

She thought it was amazing.

She even felt respect.

But she did not want to lose.

Genius.

No doubt that was how he saw her.

She didn't deny it.

She never expected that such power lay dormant in her body.

It felt as if all her prior effort had been a lie.

She'd effortlessly—almost carelessly—transcended the realm she'd only ever imagined.

But this was not a realm achieved by her own power alone.

If she had never met him—

If he hadn't told her she could do it—

She'd never have become the person she was now.

So.

'If I really am a genius—'

She did not want to betray his belief in her.

If he was the Thousand Swords, she would become the Thousand Sword.

A sword able to cleave even the sky in two.

'A single sword that shatters a thousand swords.'

Hojun's eyes reflected her own face.

The hideous burn scar was gone, showing a new, utterly changed Lee Soo-ah.

With a burning breath, Soo-ah gave everything she had, swinging her arm.

"Aaaaahhhh!!!"

Burning up her every past step, Soo-ah's sword swept forward.

A single sword against a flood of a thousand.

Kwakwakwakwa!!

Something shattered.

Blue radiance surged in all directions, white fragments scattering like flower petals.

"Wh-what happened?"

The audience had squinted against the brilliant light for a moment; then, slowly, their eyes returned to the inside of the arena. The stage where the two had battled—Super Hunter K's final platform—had been smashed to pieces, unrecognizable.

And there, the two remained.

Hojun holding a broken sword.

Soo-ah on one knee, her sword intact.

"He, heugh!"

Soo-ah, panting, struggled to straighten her buckling knee.

The blue flames that had consumed her entire body had vanished.

Only the remaining embers on the stage provided light.

"... It broke again, huh."

Hojun caught his breath, looking at the black sword—or rather, just the hilt—in his hand.

He'd broken the wall, but the sword hadn't withstood it.

After briefly gazing at it, Hojun shifted his eyes away.

The trial was now over.

"Hunter Lee Soo-ah."

"Huh... Y-Yes?"

Hojun began walking slowly toward Soo-ah as she forced herself to stand.

For a moment, Soo-ah tensed and tried to raise her sword, but no chilling intent emagic powerted from Hojun anymore, and she gradually lowered it.

"Excellent."

"... Uh."

"You've perfectly proven you are worthy of S-rank. I'm sure all the audience here will attest to that."

"But—I lost?"

While Hojun's sword had been destroyed, he was still composed.

Soo-ah, on the other hand, was at her limit.

It was the recoil from having reached her limit for the first time in her life.

At Soo-ah's response, Hojun let out a baffled laugh.

"Even so, I've been an S-rank Hunter for over five years. You shouldn't expect to win already."

After looking at the stunned Soo-ah for a moment, Hojun turned to the audience. Now, it was time for his final duty.

"With this, the test for proving S-rank Hunter status is complete. Hunter Lee Soo-ah has proven herself, and I, Baek Hojun, guarantee her entry as a new S-rank Hunter!"

Lifting one of Soo-ah's arms high, Baek Hojun shouted,

"Now everyone, please give your applause to Hunter Lee Soo-ah, winner of Super Hunter K and our newest S-rank Hunter!"

As Hojun's voice echoed in the silent hall, the crowd finally exchanged glances.

The birth of a new S-rank Hunter.

They had witnessed with their own eyes this unprecedented sight.

"Wow..."

Finally, the emotion hit them like a tidal wave.

"Waaaaah!!"

"You're the best, Lee Soo-ah!!"

"Hunter Baek Hojun-nim, you're amazing!!"

Thunderous cheers erupted, applause raining down.

Would she ever be congratulated again like this? Countless people shouted words of blessing to Soo-ah.

"Hunter Lee Soo-ah."

Seeing Soo-ah awkwardly wave to the crowd, Hojun smirked.

"From now on, it's going to be pretty exhausting."

"... Sorry?"

"Living as an S-rank—it's never easy."

Super Hunter K had ended today, but the real story was just beginning.

Hojun chuckled quietly at the thought.

Wishing his new S-rank junior well as she now embarked on her own grueling journey.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Hojun is from Grand Nova, but he's a decent guy. I hope there are more decent guys like him.
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