The Hero Returns

***

Half a day—that was how much time Su-hyeun took to attack the green cave-type dungeon and enter the room where the mother of the bugs was.

Kiyaaaaa—!

The boss was a giant stag beetle. It cried out, opening its giant mouth. Around it, dozens of small winged stag beetles flew around. Of course, "small" meant only in the relative perspective. The giant boss was tens of meters, and dozens of other beetles were about five meters long at least.

"Ugh…"

"Isn't this too gross to go out to live broadcast?"

"God…There are so many!"

One of the common features of insect-type monsters was there were always numerous monsters gathered around the boss, the mother who laid eggs.

Thanks to Miru's protection and Su-hyeun's Provocation skill, the reporters had been following him without any risk. However, there were too many monsters at the moment, and that would increase the chance of an accident.

"Uh?"

"Is he using a spear? Not the sword?"

"Oh, he is finally using the spear!"

Su-hyeun's main weapon was the sword, and the spear was a secondary weapon. In several of his previous interviews, Su-hyeun's use of spears as weapons to assist him had been revealed. Also, through Hak-joon, people got to know how strong the spears were. And for the first time in this raid, Su-hyeun brought out his spear.

[Provocation]

[Dragon Slaying Spear]

Kiyaaaa—!

When the stag beetle monsters came at Su-hyeun at once, they were caught by the wide-range Provocation skill as Su-hyeun threw the spear at them.

[Wave Spear - Explosion Style]

Crack, crack—!

Crunch—! Boom, boom—!

The spear scattered to tens of thousands of pieces. The rain shower of spears with enormous magic power tore apart the bodies of stag beetle monsters. The attack swept all around in the cave. More than a hundred stag beetle monsters were torn and fell to the ground in an instant.

Boom, boom—!

Kiyaaaaa—!

Naturally, the mother who lost her children became furious. The giant stag beetle, reaching several tens of meters in length, roared. It was too loud that it even shook the cave. But the reporters who were watching the fight were not scared. Instead, they were all surprised.

"He killed all of them at once…?"

"Everyone, did you see that? This is Kim Su-hyeun! He is the best awakener in Korea and the strongest in the world—"

"It is incredible! I have been broadcasting the dungeon raids many, many times… But I can't believe what is happening now!"

The people who relayed from the spot had either of two reactions: they lost their words and gaped at the scene, or they raised their voices in excitement.

"Finally, Mr. Kim Su-hyeun is moving to catch the boss."

Su-hyeun moved slowly, very slowly, so that way everyone could see.

Rumble—

The enormous magical power that came from Su-hyeun's body filled the cave. Some reporters even forgot that they were working and just tensely stared at him.

Kiyaaaaa—!

The mother stag beetle rushed toward Su-hyeun, crying out of fear and anger. Su-hyeun immediately raised his sword and tried to cut it down.

Whoosh—

"It's done!"

"I have to zoom in and catch the moment Kim Su-hyeun cut the head of the boss…"

When the reporters' cameras turned to shoot Su-hyeun's sword—

Clang—!

"…?"

"What?"

…something they weren't expecting happened.

Crack—!

The mother stag beetle's horn stabbed the ground, and Su-hyeun hurriedly jumped up and stared at his sword with a surprised look.

Chink, chink—

The broken pieces of sword fell to the ground. The reporters, who were attentively watching the situation unfold, hurriedly looked for broken fragments of the sword and turned their cameras.

"The sword is broken!"

"It's an emergency situation! The sword that Mr. Kim Su-hyeun was using was Geneva's sword—"

"How will Mr. Su-hyeun react? The sword is broken—"

At that moment, a heavy sound came.

Wham—!

Crack, crack—

Then, the massive body of the boss that was stuck and buried on the ground trembled.

"W—what the… He is beating up the monster with his bare hands!"

Is this possible? Kim Su-hyeun can even catch the boss of the green dungeon without any weapon?

Su-hyeun had thrown away the broken sword and just used his fists.

Crack, crack—

Boom, boom, boom—!

Every time he swung his fists, the hard shell of the boss broke. The reporters' jaws dropped in their astonishment. They even forgot about their cameras. They could not believe that they were seeing the swordsman knocking down the boss with bare hands.

"It looks like…" There was only one person who wasn't taken by surprise. "Su-hyeun broke the sword on purpose."

Hak-joon looked at the sword on the ground instead of Su-hyeun.

***

Wham—!

"What the hell is happening?"

Geneva, who was watching the broadcast in his hotel room, hit the wall with his fist in anger. He had hit the wall so hard that his fist went numb. As a blacksmith, he usually took care of his hands more than anything, but he was too upset to think about that.

"S—sir, your hand…"

"Did you deliver the right sword? Why the hell did it break just now? Why?"

"I have no idea, sir."

"Damn it! It's already been announced on air that it was my work! What humiliation! Besides…" Geneva pointed at Kim Su-hyeun on the TV, who was beating up the boss of the green-colored dungeon with his fists. He raised his voice. "And who the hell beats up a monster with his fists? A goddamn swordsman is defeating a monster right now without a sword!"

"That is…"

Geneva's assistant broke out in a sweat. He was not a blacksmith, so he had no idea why the sword that Su-hyeun used broke. He just thought the shell of the bug probably was just very hard.

Wait. Hang on. The assistant realized something.

He naturally had thought Geneva's sword could not penetrate the shell of the stag beetle monster. Maybe everyone thought the same thing; the boss of the green-colored dungeon, the stag beetle, was harder than Geneva's sword. However, Su-hyeun was knocking the boss down with his bare hands.

Su-hyeun was a swordsman. A swordsman had to use a sword, not his fists. And if the sword made him use his fists instead, it meant that the sword was just nothing but a piece of crap.

Using Kim Su-hyeun as a model was poison.

If it were a normal awakener, the story would have been different. It was a common occurrence that inefficient awakeners cracked their equipment during raids. But Kim Su-hyeun was different. He had to be perfect and faultless.

Also, the sword in his hand should be a perfect one, too. That was the point that Geneva was trying to make: the illusion and delusion that the best would use the best things. Even if he held a twig instead of a sword, people would expect that it would be invincible. But even with such expectation, Su-hyeun's sword broke, and that sword was Geneva's work.

The assistant hurriedly accessed the Korean awakeners' website, Abyss Online, and checked the postings. The show already had more than a 15 percent audience rating. And since it was broadcasted in many other broadcasting companies, the audience rating could be seen to actually exceed 40 percent.

People noticed two things in this situation.

[Kim Su-hyeun is so awesome. I thought he was in trouble after the sword broke, but he just beats the monster up with his hare hands. Lolololol. 'Highlight clip.']

└He is not in the same league. Lolol. His fists are stronger than the sword. What the hell!

└ I heard he caught all monsters in one dungeon in Russia with only his fists. And apparently, it was a blue-colored dungeon.

└ BTW, why did the sword break? Wasn't it Geneva's sword? I thought it is a top-notch brand among awakeners?

└ Don't you know Geneva's works are usually overpriced? Well, he made good things at first, but what he mass-produce these days are not as good. It's just the name value.

└For real. It's just brand value.

└ How he seriously messed up! Kim Su-hyeun just wielded it, and it broke!

└ Didn't Kim Su-hyeun use another sword so far?

└For real?

└If you look at the pictures, it's not the sword he used today. He only used the same sword until recently.

As he expected, public opinion was not good. The assistant couldn't tell Geneva about it because he worried that Geneva would punch his face instead of the thing he was hitting at the moment.

Geneva could be heard screaming in frustration.

Act 6

- I wondered what you were gonna do. You can be seriously spiteful sometimes.

After the broadcast and after Su-hyeun and the others had come out of the dungeon, Lee Ju-ho immediately called Su-hyeun. When Su-hyeun had told him that he would gather the reporters and broadcast his raid, Lee Ju-ho had had no idea what Su-hyeun had been trying to do.

Occasionally, famous high-ranking awakeners, such as A-Ranks or S-Ranks, accepted the request of shooting their raids and allowed their live broadcast. Such broadcasting was already established, and there's nothing unusual about it.

But Su-hyeun did not like such a thing. He thought it was a waste of time, and he didn't want to be the center of people's attention. However, he used the broadcast in this way. The laughter of Lee Ju-ho came through the phone.

- You did f*ck with him big time. I thought petty tricks was usually my job, you know.

"Well. It's just starting now."

- I guess the business with Geneva is off the table, right? It will be funny if you advertise his stuff in this situation.

"Of course."

In the beginning, Su-hyeun allowed shooting this dungeon raid to promote Geneva's equipment. That had been Geneva's request, and Su-hyeun had attacked the dungeon with his sword.

The problem was that the sword had been broken. So, instead of a promotion, Geneva received a stain on his reputation. And if Su-hyeun worked as a promotional model and advertised that Geneva's equipment had excellent quality, the whole world would laugh at it.

- But what do you mean, this is just starting? What else do you have to do?

"I didn't go through such hardship just to get him in trouble."

- Ha! Hardship? I bet you even didn't sweat.

"I have to do an interview. Bye."

- Alright. Call me later.

"Okay."

Su-hyeun hung up the call and walked where the reporters were. Hak-joon had already been bombarded with questions. He was sweating hard, but his face brightened when Su-hyeun came back.

"I'm sorry. I had an important call."

"Oh, is this a bad time for an interview then?"

"No, no. I'll be fine in a minute."

"Getting an interview with you was like getting blood out of a stone. I am very lucky today."

Smiles spread across the reporters' faces. Their broadcast today was a big hit. They had gotten high ratings, and they could also interview Kim Su-hyeun. Moreover, there was a lot to talk about since his sword had been broken.

"Then, I will ask first. What made you decide to allow us to shoot your raid? You have previously rejected…"

When the interview began, Su-hyeun replied with sincerity. The interview went over 30 minutes. The journalists were busy writing articles with their laptops. Then, the question that Su-hyeun was waiting for came.

"Your sword broke during the raid. What do you think was the reason? You said that sword was made by Mr. Geneva."

"Is there any other reason? The sword was weak."

"What do you mean the sword was weak?" one reporter asked.

"I was disappointed," said Su-hyeun. "The boss's shell was hard, but I thought Geneva's sword could manage it."

"Are you saying the sword fell short of your expectations?"

"Yes. That is what I am saying."

It was a slightly cool-headed assessment. But the reporters and other people would still think that Su-hyeun tried to keep Geneva's reputation. It was obvious. Even if it were the boss of the green-colored dungeon, it was not very common for a sword to break during a fight.

"Then what kind of sword have you used before? Did you use several swords alternately?" The next question followed naturally.

What sword had been Su-hyeun used so far? To that question, Su-hyeun replied the answer that he had prepared.

"I used the sword of the master blacksmith, Kim Dae-ho."

That was the moment when the name of Kim Dae-ho became known to the world.