Side Story 7, Swamp (7-5)

With the intense desire to have at least one match with the protagonists of that shocking sparring match he had seen in the video, he felt a tingling sensation spreading from his brain to his cheeks, forearms, and fingertips for the first time in a while.

In this world filled with noise that he could never adapt to, the only time Yu-wan felt he could harmonize with this clamor was when he felt such anticipation before challenges like this.

Through the corridor windows as Yu-wan walked, the sunlight poured down harshly, indicating the height of summer. The sound of cicadas could be heard loudly. After glancing there and tightly clenching and unclenching his palm once, Yu-wan climbed the stairs with eyes that had become much clearer than before.

A cool summer breeze swept past once, as if patting the back of his straight school uniform shirt, before lightly brushing by.

It was summer, about three months before the National High School Kendo Championship.

After that, Yu-wan temporarily stopped all other exercises and focused solely on kendo to prepare for the competition. He even stopped riding his motorcycle that he had been actively using, and didn't touch computers at all for three months.

Fortunately, his grandfather understood his intentions and made sure not to assign him any work during his competition preparation. Thanks to this, Yu-wan could devote himself entirely to kendo until the end of summer vacation.

Among martial arts using weapons, kendo had always been one of his favorites. While skilled practitioners had an admirable grace that anyone would envy, what he liked was that beginners needed perseverance to reach their physical limits without feeling any of that at first. While normal people would shake their heads and run away if told to swing one motion a thousand times a day, for Yu-wan such times were precious moments when he could reflect on himself.

Finally, summer vacation ended and autumn began with the new semester. The regional preliminaries for the National High School Kendo Championship started. Among the kendo club members from his school who participated in the preliminaries, only one or two besides Yu-wan survived until the end. Even they had barely made it through, so Yu-wan was essentially the school's only hope.

Yu-wan boarded the car heading to the APC Gymnasium where the National High School Kendo Championship finals would be held, along with the kendo club members who looked up to him like a god.

"Did you see who all made it to the finals?"

Until now, he had just closed his eyes pretending to sleep, letting the chatter of the other guys who had come to cheer despite being eliminated wash over him, but strangely, this topic caught his attention.

"Hey, there aren't many guys as good as Jin Je-hwan."

"Not many? He'll probably just walk straight into medal contention."

"But still... those Suun High captain and vice-captain guys all made it through, right? Ah... I was hoping at least one would drop out due to some accident."

When one guy muttered regretfully, everyone implicitly agreed. Yu-wan felt his heart thump roughly once when they mentioned the protagonists from the PVP that had brought him to this kendo competition.

So those guys from the video had all made it to the finals too. As they approached their destination, it finally felt real that he would be able to face those guys he had watched on video every single day for three months.

"Those Suun High guys... they're trying to sweep everything this year while always making it into the medals. Dirty bastards."

"Hey, isn't the problem that we're not good enough rather than them being too good? At times like this, we should hope they face each other and one drops out early. Got it?"

"Puhahaha. That would be great. I heard they're evenly matched, wonder who would win."

When another guy laughed at the witty remark and wondered about the rumors he'd heard, yet another guy waved his hand dismissively.

"What do you mean evenly matched? Actually, when they face each other, one always loses. You didn't know that?"

"Eh, really? That's unexpected."

"Hey, have you heard about that freshman from Jeongsamgo who made it to the finals?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"That..."

Yu-wan tuned out after hearing that much. Though he wasn't sure how much of what those guys were saying was true, all he wanted was to directly face that amazing player he had seen from the middle part of the video onward.

That was his only goal now.

Though it was a competition, the matches themselves weren't much different from usual practice. Yu-wan advanced upward, defeating all opposing participants with overwhelming force. People were highly excited by this upset from someone said to be participating in his first competition.

When he entered the waiting room taking off his mask during break time after victory, he saw other participants preparing. He scanned the room once wondering if the Suun High student who had captured his attention might be among them, but no one particularly stood out. As he sat down wiping his sweat with a towel, a masked person sitting right next to him suddenly stood up.

They seemed to have the leanest build among those remaining here. The way they walked straight while holding their bamboo sword suited them very well. Seeing their ankles occasionally visible beneath their uniform stopping just inside the waiting room door, it seemed they would be up soon.

A few minutes later, when cheers erupted and the previous match was decided, a staff member who came in called the next participant with hands cupped around their mouth.

"Next! Number 16!"

The lean participant waiting by the door raised their hand with a precise movement. They exchanged a few inaudible words before heading outside. Along with the announcement that the match was starting, the player's name was called.

[ Next, from Suun High... ]

What!

Yu-wan jumped up from his seat and went out through another passage where he could see outside. After running for a few minutes and barely grabbing the railing to look down, he could see two people already in the midst of fighting.

Though he couldn't tell exactly which one was from Suun High, the difference in skill was obvious at a glance. Despite clearly seeing the bamboo sword that the more skilled one seemed to be striking down lightly, their opponent kept failing to block properly and losing points continuously.