I Gave Up Being Stronger

Before Cha Jin-Hyeok’s regression, Shelby had pointed her sword at the fallen Jin-Hyeok’s throat.

“Your only misfortune is being born in the small vessel called Earth,” she had said.

“...”

At that time, Jin-Hyeok had sensed his impending death. Shelby was a universe-level ranker and he was just the Sword King of Korea, so he was unable to handle her. His sword, which he boasted to be among the top ten in the Earth Server, had long been miserably broken into two.

“Then farewell.” Shelby had raised her giant greatsword and brought it down toward Jin-Hyeok’s neck. To be precise, she had stabbed the ground right next to his neck. Despite hitting a solid concrete floor, the sword had sunk deep as if the ground were made of tofu.

“However, it’s remarkable that you cultivated this level of skill in such a barren Server, so I will give you a chance.” Shelby had retrieved her sword and leisurely left the scene. Her presence at that time had been indescribable.

However, in his current life, Shelby was a bit different in the Sword Emperor Tournament.

‘Why is she so full of openings?’ Before his regression, he had felt like he were fighting a lifeless wall. It was just an unfathomable feeling. However, now, it was as though he were looking at a child. ‘Damn, has she not gained enlightenment yet?’

Players who had reached a certain level would become stronger in stages through enlightenment. He guessed Shelby had yet to reach that level.

Jin-Hyeok had been very excited after hearing that Shelby was going to be his opponent, but that excitement had fizzled out now. If one were to put it in exaggerated words, Jin-Hyeok felt betrayed.

‘What should I do now?’

Jin-Hyeok relaxed and continued fighting Shelby. Since he could easily read her movements, it was very easy for him to distinguish between feints and real attacks. He did not react to the feints and dodged the real attacks by a hair’s breadth.

The people watching Marshmallow’s livestream went wild at the sight.

-Wow, Chul-Soo’s nose almost got cut off.

-This is so intense!

-I was a little disappointed that the livestream was not in the first-person perspective, but this is amazing.

-Marshmallow!

Marshmallow was exclusively broadcasting Jin-Hyeok’s fight. Encyclopedia, who was watching his friend from the side, shrugged and thought, ‘I can tell just by watching your livestream.’

As a long-time friend, Encyclopedia could read Marshmallow’s mood just by watching the video.

‘Anyone watching your livestream can tell that you’re a Chul-Soo Lander.’

The focus of Marshmallow’s livestream was not the intense combat.

‘He seems to be fixated on making Chul-Soo look beautiful.’

Nevertheless, Marshmallow conveyed a high level of intensity in the livestream, which showed how outstanding his skills were. Thanks to this top-notch production, Chul-Soo Landers from all over the universe were flooding onto Marshmallow’s channel like a tidal wave. The number of real-time viewers on Marshmallow’s channel surpassed five billion in a blink.

-Is this where we can see Chul-Soo’s fight?

-I came here because I heard they showed Chul-Soo’s actual face.

Marshmallow went a step further and even provided a 3D screen.

-It’s graceful, so graceful.

-I’m glad to be alive!

-Mom, I’m proud of myself.

Of course, this led to side effects as well.

-Can you focus on the fight and not the face?

-Wtf? Why is everyone drooling over Chul-Soo’s face and ignoring this amazingly high-quality fight? (said while wiping drool with my sleeve.)

While the battle-focused faction and the Chul-Soo-focused faction were divided in a fierce online argument, Jin-Hyeok made a decision.

‘Overwhelming dominance should be my theme until the main tournament!’

To ensure a smooth transition between the themes of his content, Jin-Hyeok went for a production style that he had used before. “Watch closely, Shelby…”

-It’s the time of Swordsman Chul-Soo!

-He’s here! This is amazing!

-Swordsman Chul-Soo has arrived! Sound the trumpets!

-Rejoice. Cheer for Swordsman Chul-Soo!

“It’s Swordsman Chul-Soo’s time.”

***

Jin-Hyeok could read Shelby's every move, so he didn’t need to check whether her movements were a trap or not.

‘I just need to push forward in a line.’ Jin-Hyeok kept thinking about Unknown. “If I defeat Shelby in the same way as how Unknown defeated his opponents, I’m sure it will draw a lot of attention.”

-I like this dagger form too, hehehe.

Miri responded to Jin-Hyeok’s will and transformed into a dagger.

-The stimulation is stronger in this form, ha… Size doesn’t matter!

Miri faintly moaned in excitement. It said the stimulation was better when stabbing in the form of a dagger.

Seeing the highly excited weapon, Jin-Hyeok felt a bit sorry. ‘This is not a real fight. You cannot kill her.’

-I will think of it as a practice session, hehe.

Miri didn’t seem to care. The weapon seemed to be saying that if it practiced hard, it could stab accurately and deeply next time.

Since Miri did not seem like a normal weapon, Jin-Hyeok felt a bit strange.

‘Wait, people say these kinds of weapons are mentally connected to their masters. So, why is Miri acting like this when I’m perfectly normal?’

Ignoring Miri’s craziness, Jin-Hyeok attacked Shelby in the same way Unknown had attacked his opponents.

Shelby scornfully laughed as if she could not believe it. ‘I can read your moves, Chul-Soo.’

Crouching down and approaching in a straight line was what an amateur Swordsman would do. Chul-Soo had made no movements to disperse her attention at all. He seemed to not have any alternate plan, and his movements were plain. ‘I guess you became impatient.’

In truth, Jin-Hyeok had gone easy on her while deciding the direction of his content, but Shelby didn’t know that. She fought so fiercely that she could not even dream that Jin-Hyeok had gone easy on her.

‘If he had just a little more experience in swordsmanship, he would not have made such a reckless and foolish choice,’ Shelby thought. But she knew it could not be helped. This was the difference between a real Swordsman and an Eltuber.

‘Huh?’

However, the situation unfolded very differently from Shelby’s expectations. Before she knew it, Jin-Hyeok’s dagger was touching her, and blood was flowing out of her temple.

“The winner is Kim Chul-Soo!”

Although the spectators cheered loudly, Shelby could not hear the roaring cheers. She felt like she was alone in a silent space.

‘What was that, just now?’ She wondered what had happened, but she knew the answer. ‘I knew where the attack was coming from, but couldn’t stop it…’

Chul-Soo had been too fast. She could not react properly to that overwhelming speed. This was closer to a difference in physical prowess than a difference in swordsmanship.

Shelby unknowingly dropped her sword.

‘I didn’t know… I could lose this easily…’ Shelby had first held a sword when she was three years old. She had never lost a battle when she had read all of her opponent’s movements and sword paths.

Without picking up her sword from the ground, Shelby just turned and walked toward the exit.

‘He’s a wall…’

Jin-Hyeok was a huge wall that she couldn’t climb. Shelby’s eyes had no focus at all. Walking unsteadily as if she would crumble with a slight touch, she declared her retirement that very day.

***

It was rare for a new star to appear in the Sword Emperor Tournament and advance to the main tournament. Even if new stars appeared, most of them had participated in previous Sword Emperor Tournaments. Hardly any people advanced to the main tournament in their first Sword Emperor Tournament like Chul-Soo or Unknown.

Therefore, Chul-Soo and Unknown received immense attention. However, due to Unknown’s tremendous performance, many people ridiculed Chul-Soo.

-Chul-Soo’s true skills have been revealed!

-Chul-Soo: I’m so weak. T_T

-Unknown will beat him up!

The reason for these reactions was a post titled ‘The Difference in Skill between Unknown and Kim Chul-Soo.’ The post had spread to various online communities.

[Comparing the Speeds of Chul-Soo and Unknown]

This time, Jin-Hyeok had faced Shelby in the same way as Unknown—getting close to the opponent and swinging a dagger.

-Thanks to Chul-Soo attacking in the same way as Unknown did, it’s easy to compare their speed.

-You can watch it at 1/1000 speed with Marshmallow’s video.

The author of the post analyzed the two videos in depth.

[Considering the distance from the opponent, assuming the distance is the same… calculating… the result is…]

The post even had a video attached to it. The video showed Chul-Soo and Unknown simultaneously running from the same starting line, and Unknown was faster.

[Unknown overwhelms Chul-Soo in terms of speed. Unknown is also much more efficient.]

In slow motion, the video showed how Unknown’s movements overall were much more natural.

[Perhaps because he’s not used to swordsmanship, Chul-Soo’s sword trajectory is too large and not concise.]

The actual reason for this was that Jin-Hyeok was considerate of Miri. Miri preferred to attack the temples or the back of the head of Jin-Hyeok’s opponents. So, he had no choice but to add some unnecessary movements to his fights, and accordingly, he had to make the trajectory of his dagger’s movements larger.

[It’s a fact that overall, Chul-Soo is nowhere close to Unknown. Of course, that is assuming he didn’t use his abilities as an Eltuber.]

The analysis post and video were quite detailed and plausible, so it became a hot topic.

-Did you guys watch the video?

-Chul-Soo got beaten badly.

-Is Chul-Soo’s hype finally bursting? Lol.

-Honestly, I bet Chul-Soo’s opponents lost because they let their guard down.

-The main tournament is on a different level. Chul-Soo will probably get eliminated early.

People who already disliked Chul-Soo were fired up, and conservative people who disliked an Eltuber entering the Sword Emperor Tournament were also pleased with the post.

-Still, he did quite well for an Eltuber.

-Is Chul-Soo finally getting eliminated? God, I waited for this day for a long time!

-Chul-Soo was always weak.

The post comparing the skills of Chul-Soo and Unknown spread across the universe, and accordingly, numerous Eltubers covered this incident.

Kyle frowned. ‘This can’t be happening!’

He wanted to face off against Jin-Hyeok in the finals and fight fairly in the best condition, but he didn’t think there would be this kind of negative opinion against Jin-Hyeok. When Swordsmen were at the top level, the difference in skill between them was as thin as a sheet of paper. Anything trivial could change the outcome of the fight.

‘If he’s mentally frustrated, he won’t be able to show his true strength!’

Kyle hurriedly headed to Jin-Hyeok’s lodging. He did not even have the leisure to find it strange that he thought, ‘Of course, Chul-Soo will make it to the finals.’

“Kim Chul-Soo!” Kyle shouted.

As he had expected, Jin-Hyeok’s room was dark. All the lights were off, and Jin-Hyeok seemed to be covered in blankets. Kyle irritably walked and pulled the blankets off Jin-Hyeok.

“What are you doing?” Kyle asked.

Jin-Hyeok was holding his phone, his eyes red and bloodshot.

“It’s the main tournament now. If you can’t properly pull yourself together because of some rumors, you won’t be able to fully demonstrate your ski…” Kyle felt something strange. Jin-Hyeok was grinning. “Wait, you…”

Kyle secretly peaked at Jin-Hyeok’s screen.

[Chul-Soo’s Humiliation]

[Chul-Soo and Unknown Speed]

[Chul-Soo Hype]

[Chul-Soo dagger]

The trending keywords that had been filled with Unknown had changed to ones related to Chul-Soo. On Jin-Hyeok’s screen, Kyle saw Chul-Soo’s Humilia written in the search bar.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s nothing,” Jin-Hyeok said while smiling awkwardly. Kyle could see that Jin-Hyeok was about to type [Chul-Soo’s Humiliation], but had stopped midway.

‘Was he typing that to increase the search count? Is he trying to raise the view count for the term Chul-Soo’s Humiliation?’ Kyle was speechless. It just did not make any sense, but since the one doing it was Chul-Soo, it also kind of made sense.

Kyle saw Chul-Soo’s search history.

[Chul-Soo’s Humiliation]

[Chul-Soo and Unknown Speed]

.

.

.

[Chul-Soo Hype]

[Chul-Soo Dagger]

Seeing Jin-Hyeok’s bloodshot eyes, Kyle unknowingly took a couple of steps back.

‘He’s… crazy!’

Chul-Soo as an Eltuber seemed a bit frightening.

Jin-Hyeok was very satisfied. ‘I won, Unknown!’