The Handsomer You Are, the Stronger You Become

The effects of the training were remarkable.

Roughly a week had passed since the tournament began.
Hyunsoo had made it through the second, third, and fourth rounds.
In his previous life, he had faced Kyle in the second round and was eliminated.
This time, however, he advanced with overwhelming victories.
His training partners also reaped the benefits.

Although Han Sungbin was eliminated in the fifth round and Jin Seoyun in the sixth, both had managed to rank within the top 1,000.
By the time the preliminaries concluded and the top 16 contestants were determined, only Kang Hyunsoo and Choi Jiwoo remained.
It was disappointing that the other two hadn’t made it, but the results still exceeded expectations.

In his past life, only Choi Jiwoo had reached the top 16. This time, Hyunsoo had joined her.
Thus began the much-anticipated top 16 round of the Ultimate Swordsmanship Tournament.
With different contestants advancing this time, the audience's enthusiasm had completely shifted.

Step. Step.
As Kang Hyunsoo walked onto the duel stage at Seoul’s main stadium, a wave of cheers erupted.
“Kang Hyunsoo! Kang Hyunsoo!”

“Ahhh! He’s so handsome!”
“They’re saying the hunter who performed at the Paju Stadium is also Kang Hyunsoo?”
“I saw the photos too. He looks even slimmer now. Did he go on a diet?”

The crowd's excitement was palpable.
As Hyunsoo progressed through the preliminaries, the number of fans visiting had steadily increased until the arena was now packed to capacity.
"You seem to have some serious ticket power, Master. I don’t recall this many people attending the top 16 round last time."
‘It’s probably because, back then, Choi Jiwoo was the only Korean hunter who advanced.’

"So all these additional spectators must have come to see you, Master. How does it feel to be the center of everyone’s attention?"
‘The attention, huh...’
Hyunsoo glanced briefly at the tens of thousands of spectators.
He had been cheered by large crowds before.
When he prevented an SS-grade dungeon break and eradicated the monsters, or when he resolved SS-grade dungeons overseas, he had been met with applause and even received bouquets upon his return.
But those weren’t pure expressions of enthusiasm.

This, however, was different.
This was the culmination of his relentless effort in honing his swordsmanship, combined with the unintended consequence of his newfound beauty.
In a way, this scene was the realization of a dream Hyunsoo hadn’t dared to admit even to himself.

“Quite the pretty face you’ve got there, haha. It’ll make crushing you even more satisfying.”
The voice of his opponent snapped him out of his thoughts.
Turning his gaze, Hyunsoo faced the speaker.

It was Jones, a towering American hunter standing nearly two meters tall. The guild master of the Golem Guild, Jones was a wielder of greatswords. He looked down at Hyunsoo with a smirk, his gaze dripping with arrogance.
However—
“Looks like all that muscle’s just padding for a glorified punching bag,” Hyunsoo retorted, his tone calm and cutting.

“W-what did you just say?!”
Jones’ face twisted in anger, his breath huffing through flared nostrils. He looked ready to charge at any moment, though the duel hadn’t yet begun.
Hyunsoo remained unfazed. He had weathered too many battles to fall for such petty provocations. He could see right through Jones’ intentions.

On the other hand, Jones seemed unable to keep his composure, his fury barely contained.
“Are both participants ready for the duel?”
The referee stepped onto the stage, looking between Hyunsoo and Jones.

Both nodded silently, and the referee began explaining the rules.
“The duel will be decided in a single round. If the full-body protective shield of either participant breaks, both are to cease attacks immediately. Failure to comply will result in intervention by the operations team. Do you both agree?”
“Yes, I agree,” Hyunsoo replied calmly.

“Understood,” Jones grunted.
With their agreement, the referee stepped off the stage and moved outside the protective barrier.
“Then let the duel begin!”

Ding!
Boom! Crash!
Hyunsoo and Jones moved simultaneously.

The floor of the stage, made from impact-absorbing materials, caved slightly under the force of their leaps.
When the two clashed in the center of the stage, the impact was explosive.
BOOOOM!

The sound wasn’t confined to the duel stage. The shockwave rippled throughout the entire stadium, causing the audience to gasp.
“Ahhh!”
“Holy…!”

The vibrations startled the crowd, but at the center of the storm, both combatants remained calm.
Following their initial clash, they began to trade blows, each seeking an opening in the other’s defense.
“You arrogant little brat!” Jones bellowed.

In a split second, Hyunsoo made a bold move—he abandoned his defense entirely and swung both swords in an offensive stance.
Jones’ talent lay in destruction. A single hit from his greatsword could not only shatter protective shields but also inflict serious damage on the opponent’s body.
Up to this point, Jones had secured victories with one-strike knockouts.

Despite knowing this, Hyunsoo didn’t bother to block.
Instead, as Jones closed the gap, Hyunsoo stepped in closer, wielding his dual swords in a seemingly reckless attack stance.
The reason was simple.

When Jones raised his greatsword to strike down from above, leaving his own head exposed, Hyunsoo activated his trump card.
‘Swallow!’
"Yes, Master!!"
[Your dazzling ally activates a stunning shield.]

Leaving his defense to Swallow, Hyunsoo thrust his twin swords toward Jones' sides.
The result was exactly as he had intended.
Clang!

“What the…?!”
Jones brought down his greatsword, but the glowing blue barrier shielded Hyunsoo.
At the same time, Hyunsoo’s twin swords closed in on Jones’ flanks.
Although Hyunsoo’s attack utilized mythic-grade twin swords, it didn’t end there.

“Not so fast!”
Jones activated a skill embedded in his armor just as Hyunsoo’s blades drew near.
A crimson barrier emerged from the plate armor.

However—
[Activated]
[Black Sun Explosion (SS)]

Wuuuuuung—BOOOOOOM!
“Ugh…!!”
The small twin suns Hyunsoo conjured couldn’t be stopped.

The protective shield of Jones’ watch shattered instantly.
Ssssshh—thud!
Jones was flung backward, landing sprawled at the edge of the duel stage.

“Wooooooaaaaahhh!!”
“Kang Hyunsoo beat Jones!”
“Nice! That was a huge upset!!”

“Hyunsoo, we love you!!”
The crowd erupted into cheers, louder than when Hyunsoo had first appeared.
While many had cheered for him, most had expected him to lose.

The odds posted on international betting sites had been 30:1.
After all, it was a duel between an American guild master and an unaffiliated, relatively unknown Korean hunter. The odds seemed logical. But Hyunsoo’s overwhelming victory had electrified the audience.
Of course, not everyone saw it as an absolute triumph.

‘You struggled more than I expected, Master.’
I had no choice. The fewer cards I reveal, the better.
Hyunsoo could have ended the duel instantly using Bloom or summoning a divine beast, but he had chosen to engage Jones in close combat, relying on Swallow’s help.
It was a calculated move.

Hyunsoo glanced toward the entrance and spotted Kyle waiting for the C-group matches to end.
‘I can’t afford to show him my hand.’
Hyunsoo was wary of Kyle.

Even though he hadn’t wanted to reveal the Black Sun Explosion, he had no alternative. Without an SS-grade skill, it would have been difficult to finish the duel in one move.
Jones’ skill was an S-grade defensive ability—far from easy to overcome.
If the exchange had gone on any longer, Hyunsoo’s own shield might have been destroyed.
Duels in the tournament were decided purely by the depletion of protective shields, so the approach had to be more cautious than in real battles.

Hyunsoo employed a similar strategy in the quarterfinals.
His opponent was Vagush, a hunter from India.
Vagush specialized in throwing multiple curved blades from a distance, but Hyunsoo countered with Sky Cleave, then rushed in to finish the duel with Black Sun Explosion.

The crowd’s reaction was even more intense than during the round of 16.
Hyunsoo wasn’t just a topic on community forums or social media anymore—he was making headlines in the news, and even politicians were taking notice.
However, not all the results were positive.

“I’m sorry, Hunter Kang Hyunsoo. I wanted to win and meet you in the finals, but I just couldn’t do it.”
After the quarterfinals, in the private room of the Hunter Training Facility, Choi Jiwoo bowed her head apologetically to Hyunsoo.
“You don’t have to apologize, Hunter Choi Jiwoo. You did your best. It was an excellent match.”

While there was no reason for her to apologize, Jiwoo seemed genuinely sorry for not fulfilling her promise to meet Hyunsoo in the finals.
Her sincerity drew a response from their peers.
“Don’t worry, Jiwoo-unni! Hyunsoo-oppa will avenge you!”

“There’s no need to feel down. Just reaching the quarterfinals is a huge accomplishment.”
“That’s right. You were amazing, Hunter Choi Jiwoo!”
Yoo Hana, Jin Seoyun, and Han Sungbin, who had trained alongside her during the tournament, cheered her up with their words and gestures, giving her thumbs-ups and pats on the shoulder.

They then turned to Hyunsoo.
“Now it’s all up to you, Hyunsoo-oppa. Your semifinal opponent isn’t going to be easy, but I have a feeling you’ll win!”
“I think so too.”

“If it’s you, Hunter Kang Hyunsoo, I’m sure you can do it. We’ve trained together, and I believe in you.”
Their compliments weren’t mere flattery.
Having trained with Hyunsoo for the past two weeks, they knew just how strong he was.

Han Sungbin, in particular, had come to understand Hyunsoo’s style so well that he was now capable of planning training regimens for him.
“Tomorrow’s the semifinals, but you’re going to train instead of resting, right, hyung? I’ll help you out!”
Training, training, and more training.

Hyunsoo’s schedule consisted of nothing else.
It was a testament to his diligence and resilience, but this time, he remained silent.
The reason was simple.

A notification had just popped up, completing his auxiliary beauty quest and revealing a new Absolute Beauty Quest:
[Quest Unlocked: Absolute Beauty Quest 12]
Objective: Spend 24 hours shopping with someone of the opposite sex (0/24).
The content was entirely unrelated to swordsmanship training.

Hyunsoo hesitated for a moment before glancing around at the women gathered in the training room.
“Do any of you… like shopping?”