I Became a Swordsmanship Genius at the Academy

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People die when they do things they usually don’t do.

Even if it’s just a trivial act like walking towards the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

– Wobble.

“…Ah.”

I lost my balance on the wet stairs I didn’t even notice and fell crashingly.

My whole body throbbed from the lingering shocks, but my head ached the most, almost to an unbearable extent.

Not long after that, drops of red liquid fell onto my pure white hospital gown.

I briefly closed my eyes against the unbearable throbbing, only to realize I was already being carried somewhere.

“Patient, you can’t sleep! Keep your eyes open!!”

What I could hear was a voice tinged with urgency.

What I could see was the dazzling light of a penlight blinking every second.

However, barely ten seconds had passed.

– Swoosh.

I felt the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness blur and finally closed my eyes.

I didn’t want to know that I would never open my eyes again.

Just as often said in famous poems or novels, it was truly a pitiful life.

*

– Pat pat.

– Pat pat.

A strange sensation.

“Oh dear, who do you take after to be this pretty? Our Haeun.”

“Hmm, they say daughters usually resemble their fathers…”

“What did you say?”

A strange voice.

“Of course, we can’t ignore your side of the family’s DNA. No, now that I see, she looks just like you.”

“Really?”

“Yep, really.”

A strange atmosphere.

In a scene where nothing was familiar, the hypothesis that this was all a fleeting dream was entirely disproven.

The only conclusion that could be drawn from this absurd yet overwhelmingly realistic sight was reincarnation.

‘…What a strange feeling.’

Typically, good people go to heaven, and bad people go to hell, they say.

But for someone like me, who didn’t do anything during my life, it seems I was sent back to this world.

Thinking about it, it doesn’t seem all that strange.

Yeah, living a life that ended after years of suffering is a bit off.

“Our Haeun, say ‘Mommy.’ Om, ma!”

“What are you saying to a baby who isn’t even a year old yet?”

“How do we know, maybe our Haeun is a genius of the century?”

Apologies to the woman looking at me with a mix of hopeful and affectionate eyes, but I was starting to feel sleepy.

It seemed that as my life progression neared zero, my resistance to sleep was recalibrated to approach zero as well.

Not long after that, I ultimately entered Dreamland.

But the inability to perceive the flow of time was the same as in reality.

“Happy 6th birthday, Haeun!”

“Congratulations, our daughter.”

When I came to my senses, I had somehow reached the age where I could not only walk by myself but could also easily say the word ‘mom.’

Without me noticing, my infant and toddler years had been wiped out like Thanos.

“To make a wish, you have to blow out all the birthday candles at once, Haeun. So, take a big breath and huff!”

Eventually, with just a brief puff, the candles extinguished.

I felt a pang of regret at how quickly the moments, just like the extinguished candles, disappeared.

Of course, as a child who hadn’t even entered elementary school, there wasn’t much beyond eating and sleeping that I could do.

Perhaps due to my memories of living a countdown, I wanted to spend even a little more meaningful time.

The next morning, right after my sixth birthday.

I picked up a small hand mirror from the dresser in the main room.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I attempted to have a somewhat serious conversation with myself about what I should do moving forward.

It was just that I had not fully grown accustomed to the appearance of the young girl reflected in the small mirror.

“Mmm…”

Like those who experience something as unrealistic as reincarnation, I had quite the cute and beautiful appearance.

Of course, my mother, who would ooze affection and say I was the cutest every time she saw me, gave me the feeling that it might be a bit exaggerated.

Still, I couldn’t say I was ugly even casually.

When someone asked about future aspirations, I wouldn’t feel embarrassed to say model or actress.

However, that didn’t mean I had firmly set my heart on being a model or actress already.

Right now, my appearance was flawless, but there could still be unforeseen developments as I grew up into adulthood.

After pondering the future of this life called ‘Lee Haeun’ for quite some time.

‘…Why do visitors entertain themselves while leaving the patient alone?’

‘Ah, you see, it’s about being a VTuber—’

One memory that lay dormant at the bottom of my mind briefly awoke and resonated in my ears.

Come to think of it, that career path existed too.

I had read a few stories about people who suddenly turned into women becoming streamers or VTubers, so imagining a future as a VTuber wasn’t too difficult.

At the time I read those stories, I never imagined I would become a part of such an unrealistic situation…but here we are.

However, surprisingly, as I repeated my thoughts, the option of becoming a VTuber didn’t seem bad.

Especially since this was a time when the concept of a VTuber wasn’t even known yet.

In contrast, the competition for models or actors was enormous even now.

The entertainment industry is definitely not a blue ocean.

However, if I started preparing little by little for a career in a field that hasn’t even been explored yet, and patiently waited until the influence of the internet grew more than traditional media, diving into the blue ocean of VTubers before anyone else.

That could lead to seizing what people often refer to as ‘success.’

No one but the gods knows how things will turn out, but isn’t it all the more reason to choose a path with the least risk of failure?

Thus, while I carefully examined the memories of VTubers still lingering in my head like a panorama.

I cautiously opened my mouth while locking eyes with the girl in the hand mirror, who still wore an awkward expression.

“Ha—up.”

I tried to imitate the appearance of a VTuber who would puff up her cheeks as a response to a donation during a broadcast.

And before even a second passed—

“Ribbit ribbit. Are you kidding around with Mom’s mirror this morning? Ribbit ribbit.”

“Ribbit ribbit. Looks like that frog prince story you read last time left an impression. Ribbit ribbit.”

“…!…!!”

Before I knew it, two shadowy figures standing behind me jokingly turned me into a frog.

Instantly, my cheeks flared up, turning tomato red.

I felt the heart of a VTuber caught in the act, all while being in the body of a baby who hadn’t even debuted yet.

…It’s not going to be easy from the get-go.