Chapter 209 (2/2)

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.