#Side Story, Sword Master - 1

Waaaaaah!

At the highest and rearmost part of the arena where excited people's voices burst forth, just inside the entrance to the fifth floor, a man was standing. Every time the rising heat from the large arena created by opening up the entire third floor tickled his forehead, his drooping bangs gently floated before returning to their place.

Wearing a long black coat with both hands in his pockets while leaning against the door, his appearance clearly showed efforts to avoid people's attention, and indeed he might have gone unnoticed, but that was impossible due to his face that captured people's gazes even with sunglasses covering half of it.

Even now, there were easily five or six people constantly glancing back at him.

'Is he a model?'

'No, doesn't he look like that... actor?'

However, paying no attention to all those gazes, where his gaze behind the sunglasses was fixed straight ahead, the most talented high school kendo practitioners from across the country were currently engaged in fierce battles.

Two figures wearing white and blue belts moved their feet as if dragging them across the ground, facing off in tension before clashing like lightning and separating again, a sight overflowing with youthful spirit, and the heat in the arena was high enough to rival midsummer.

Yet as if completely unrelated to that heat, the man watched the matches without moving for a long time. As winners emerged and losers fell, and the matches grew more intense as victories and defeats were decided, the man's expression gradually changed to disappointment.

And finally, when only a handful of players remained, a long sigh escaped from his mouth.

"Not here either..."

Just as he was about to turn around and leave while furrowing his brow, a small vibrating sound began coming from inside his chest. The man quickly reached into his chest and pulled out an old-fashioned phone that only supported voice and video calls. The screen was flashing with an icon indicating an incoming voice call.

The man quickly opened the door and stepped outside while bringing the phone to his ear after immediately confirming the caller's name.

"This is Yoon Seok-ho."

[ Did you see anyone useful? ]

"No. I'm thinking it might have been better to just visit famous dan-holders across the country instead."

[ You weren't just watching carelessly, were you? That won't do. Like you said, touring national masters wouldn't have been bad, but to find good gems quickly, you need to look where the raw stones are, right? ]

"..."

[ As our clever Dave said, and I think the same - what we need is the freshest material possible. That's why we sent you, right? Because we believe you'll do it better than anyone. Hahaha. ]

"...Yes. I understand."

[ How cold. I thought you'd be happy to go to Korea after so long... guess not? Isn't people's attention uncomfortable everywhere you go? Has no one asked for your autograph? That would have been hilarious... ]

"I'm hanging up."

[ Wait... I still have more to... ! ]

"It must be late there, senior. You should get some sleep."

Click.

"Sigh..."

After hanging up and lightly shaking his head, the man, Yoon Seok-ho, looked down at his mobile phone with a deep frown.

By now, everyone would be too exhausted to think properly. For someone to call him even while he was out at such a time meant they had reduced their own rest time by that much.

If they had time for that, they would be better off sleeping even one more minute, but he had been calling Seok-ho like this occasionally since he came to Korea.

After watching the phone screen for a few minutes to see if he would call again, and confirming it remained quiet, Seok-ho put the phone back in his chest pocket and casually glanced toward the arena where matches were in full swing as he went back inside. A few seconds later, his frowning eyes suddenly widened, and he quickly leaned forward over the railing closer to the arena.

'That...'

There, two boys wearing men were clashing without the usual shouts of spirit.

One's sword seemed remarkably stiff in movement, but despite that, it was a refreshing sword that clearly carried tremendous power in motions that looked like they came straight from a textbook, while the other, though smoother in connected movements than his opponent, showed a sword of such incredible force with each attack that one wondered how such attacks could be avoided.

They were both swords born for attack, though different in type.

Their battle, attacking head, wrist, and waist almost like a barrage, finally ended in victory for the second boy who showed signs of longer training.

It was clearly an unusually intense match, as everyone could see them breathing heavily even through the men that hid their faces.

And when the boys exchanged bows and turned around, removing their men to wipe away sweat, surprisingly, pink-tinged admiration that seemed out of place in such a venue began pouring forth.

Even from a distance, both boys' appearances looked outstanding enough to expect promising futures, so the generous reaction from those around was understandable.

But what mattered to Seok-ho wasn't their appearances. Though their attack-only match was merely the result of a pride battle between kids who could afford to abandon defense due to their young age, the refreshing sight of those attacks came as a light shock to Seok-ho.

The young vitality felt in each movement. Looking at that sight, he momentarily recalled once again why he had come here.

'Yes... that's how it should be. Being able to feel the fun while swinging weapons excitedly without fear, even if you've never done it before in your life.'

Though their match clearly had many issues to be called exciting, Seok-ho's mind was already busy working.

'Anyway, I should first find out who those kids are.'