Watch the Swordsman, Not the Sword

The blue window vanished as quickly as it came. The man clicked his tongue loudly.

"Tch." He looked right at the spot where the window used to be and sighed heavily.

"Fake names and titles. You kids really have terrible manners these days."

Seo-Jun raised a dark eyebrow.

"...Kids?"

The man nodded firmly.

"You heard me."

"You look much younger than I remember," Seo-Jun pointed out.

"And?" the man shot back.

"You just called me a kid," Seo-Jun said.

"I also called you ugly earlier," the man replied.

"That wasn't true either," Seo-Jun stated calmly.

The man's lips twitched in pure amusement.

"Oh? So you have grown confident."

Seo-Jun shook his head.

"I have just grown honest."

"Hah..." The swordsman rested the wine bottle on his shoulder again.

"I actually like that answer." He looked at Seo-Jun for another long moment before asking lazily.

"So... what did that floating thing just call me?"

Seo-Jun answered simply.

"Sword Saint."

The man made a disgusted face, like he had just eaten a rotten lemon.

"What an embarrassing, ugly title," he groaned out loud.

Seo-Jun shrugged his shoulders.

"I have heard worse names."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"It could have called you Old Drunkard," Seo-Jun smirked.

The man stared at him for a few silent seconds.

"...That is actually much better."

Seo-Jun could not help but let out a quiet laugh.

The swordsman pointed at him in victory.

"See? Even you agree with me. Sword Saint sounds like a fool who spends all day posing on a tall cliff."

He puffed out his chest and struck a fake, heroic pose.

"I have mastered the blade! I am one with the sky! Look at my perfect beauty!" He instantly dropped the pose and snorted loudly.

"What a total load of trash."

Seo-Jun laughed again. It was a real, true laugh. Not because the joke was amazing, but because hearing those words from this man felt so perfectly right.

The man noticed the laugh. His teasing smile softened into something much kinder.

"...Good. You finally remembered how to smile again."

The words were spoken lightly, but they hit much harder than any sword strike. Seo-Jun's face slowly returned to its usual, calm mask.

"...Did I ever forget?"

"For a little while." The swordsman took another sip of wine and looked at the red sky.

"A swordsman who forgets how to smile... usually carries more than just his sword."

It was not a scolding or a pitying remark, but just a simple truth. Seo-Jun lowered his gaze to the dirt. Without even realizing it, his grip on the cracked wooden sword had tightened.

The man noticed it instantly. Of course he did; he always saw everything. He let out a soft sigh.

"...Looks like you have picked up a few new tricks."

A small smile slowly returned to his face.

"...Unfortunately... you have also picked up a lot of useless baggage."

The gentle breeze scattered another wave of white flowers between them.

The mountain waited patiently, and neither swordsman moved an inch from their spot. Yet somehow, it felt like their swords had already clashed hundreds of times in the quiet air.

It was the deep silence shared only between true sword masters. A single glance carried more meaning than a hundred spoken words. The man lazily scratched the back of his neck.

"...Tell me something." Seo-Jun waited quietly. The swordsman tilted his head just a little bit.

"Are you still chasing after someone else's sword?"

The question was asked so casually, it sounded like he was asking what was for dinner. Seo-Jun did not answer him. Not because he was scared, but because he truly did not know.

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Once upon a time, the answer would have been an easy yes. Every stronger foe had been a mountain he wanted to climb. Every new move was something he desperately wanted to steal.

He used to believe that true strength was just collected piece by piece from people better than him. But after living a second life and crossing endless bloody wars... was that still the truth?

The heavy silence became his only answer. The swordsman sighed in defeat.

"Damn it. I was really hoping you would laugh and tell me I was just getting old and crazy."

He took one last drink of wine and casually tossed the empty bottle away. It landed softly in the tall grass without spilling a single drop.

"What a terrible shame."

Seo-Jun finally spoke up.

"...Why?"

The swordsman smiled brightly.

"Because if you already knew the answer... there would be absolutely no reason for us to fight today."

A clear, sharp ringing sound echoed across the quiet mountain. The man slowly pulled his blade from its sheath. It was an incredibly plain and ordinary sword.

It had no godly glow, no blazing magic, and no special markings. It looked like a cheap tool belonging to a poor traveler. Yet, the exact moment the blade came out, the world changed.

The mountain breeze completely vanished, and the falling white flowers froze solid in midair. The distant songs of birds and bugs died instantly in the quiet air.

It was not that the man was crushing the world with his power. The world had simply chosen to hold its breath, too afraid to interrupt him. He rested the plain sword on his shoulder.

"...Do you know what your biggest problem always was?"

Seo-Jun gripped his cracked wooden sword tighter.

"I had many problems," he admitted easily.

The man nodded.

"You sure did. You were too proud, too stubborn, and terrible at listening. You had the charm of a solid brick."

Seo-Jun blinked slowly.

"...That is more than just many."

"I am not done yet," the man continued.

"You thought too much. You trusted your eyes way too much. You believed raw talent could fix things that only time and pain could cure."

He paused for a second.

"Oh. And your cooking was absolute poison."

Seo-Jun frowned slightly.

"I only cooked one single time." The man nodded firmly.

"Exactly."

A tiny smile pulled at the corner of Seo-Jun's lips. The swordsman pointed his blade right at it.

"There it is again. That smile. Do not ever lose it."

His voice was light and playful, but Seo-Jun understood the deep warning hidden inside. A swordsman whose heart turned into cold stone would eventually find his sword doing the exact same thing.

The man slowly lowered the tip of his blade.

"But out of all those terrible flaws..." His warm smile slowly faded away.

"...there was one that nearly destroyed you."

Seo-Jun met his golden gaze head-on.

"You always watched the sword." The words struck him with surprising, heavy force. The man slowly began to walk forward.

"So many smart students and gifted fools. They spend decades learning moves. They study how to step and how to breathe. They perfectly copy the intent of the blade."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"...Then they sit around crying, wondering why they never become as great as their masters." He stopped just a few steps away from Seo-Jun.

"The sword itself does not kill anyone. The swordsman does." He tapped his own chest lightly.

"Right here." Then he tapped the side of his head.

"And right up here."

Only then did he raise his plain blade.

"The sword is just a dumb piece of metal that follows orders."

Seo-Jun's breathing slowed down completely in the quiet air.

He had heard countless long lectures in both of his lives, but none of them had ever sounded quite like this. There were no grand, confusing riddles. Just simple, brutal truth.

It was easy enough for a child to understand, but hard enough to spend a whole lifetime trying to master. The swordsman smiled warmly.

"So... show me what you have learned."

Seo-Jun lowered his body into a ready stance, and his battered wooden sword rested naturally at his side. His heartbeat grew quiet, and his breathing disappeared into the silent air.

The mountain held its breath right along with him. For a fleeting moment, neither of the two men moved a single inch. Then, the swordsman's smile grew wider.

"...Good. At least you finally stopped making those ugly, messy stances."

Seo-Jun almost let out a tired sigh.

"Can we just fight now?" he asked plainly.

"We are already fighting," the man replied smoothly. Seo-Jun frowned in confusion.

"You just haven't realized it yet," the drunk man warned him softly.

Before Seo-Jun could even process the warning, the man simply vanished. It wasn't magic or a burst of super speed. There was no blurry shadow left behind on the dirt.

It was as if his entire body had simply been erased from the world. Every single instinct inside Seo-Jun screamed in pure terror. They didn't scream at a deadly sword, but at the sudden emptiness.

His body moved completely on its own, and the cracked wooden sword shot upward blindly. Steel crashed violently into cheap wood, and a deafening explosion ripped across the quiet mountain.

A massive shockwave tore through the peaceful valley. Ancient trees bent over backward, and loose stones shattered into fine dust. Thousands of old swords sang out in ringing pain.

Seo-Jun felt both of his arms go completely numb. The heavy shock rattled his very bones. His feet carved deep, ugly lines into the dirt as he was blasted backward.

Ten steps. Twenty steps. Thirty steps. He finally stopped sliding after being thrown dozens of meters away. The sleeves of his training shirt fluttered wildly before settling down.

His fingers were shaking hard. It was not from fear, but from the terrifying impact. He slowly looked up at the path ahead. The swordsman had not moved a single inch from his spot.

He stood exactly where he had been before the strike. One hand was tucked lazily behind his back, while the other rested his plain sword on his shoulder. His face was full of deep disappointment.

"...You are still just watching the sword."

Seo-Jun's eyes narrowed sharply. He had blocked the deadly attack, and his pure survival instinct had saved his life just in time.

But... he had never actually seen the man attack him. Not even a little bit. The swordsman sighed heavily.

"What have you been doing all this time? Fighting giant, stupid lizards?"

Seo-Jun kept his mouth firmly shut, and the man clicked his tongue again.

"Tch. You have definitely become much stronger." His annoying grin slowly returned to his face.

"...Unfortunately... you have also become much dumber."

Seo-Jun let out a shaky breath.

"I blocked your strike." The man shook his head instantly.

"No, you didn't."

"You just blocked your own death. You never actually blocked my sword."

The harsh words hung heavily in the dead air. Seo-Jun replayed the brief clash in his mind over and over again.

The sound, the heavy crash, the angle, and the timing. Something was incredibly wrong. His eyes had chased the shiny blade, and his body had barely reacted in time.

But the attack itself had started long before the metal sword ever moved. The sudden realization hit him like a lightning bolt, and the swordsman smiled brightly at him.

"There we go. You finally looked somewhere interesting."

Before Seo-Jun could ask a question, the man vanished into thin air once again.

This time, Seo-Jun completely ignored the deadly sword. He ignored the empty space where the man used to stand. Instead, he watched everything else around him.

He watched the quiet breeze and the dark shadows. He watched the grass bending under completely invisible feet. He watched the tiny movements of the falling white flowers.

For the very first time in his life, he wasn't desperately searching for the weapon. He was searching for the man holding it.

"...That is much better," a warm voice whispered.

It was not behind his back, and not in front of his face. It was right beside his ear. It was far, far too close. Seo-Jun's dark eyes shot wide open in shock.

He hadn't found the man at all. He had only figured out where the man wasn't standing. A cold, sharp feeling brushed very lightly against the skin of his neck.

It felt just like a falling flower petal. It was gentle and almost kind. Then, his entire world went pitch black. The mountain melted away into glowing dust.

The red sunset shattered into pieces, and the white flowers faded into total nothingness. Everything simply ceased to exist.

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Memory Reconstruction Interrupted

Combat Entity: Active

Result: Defeat

Cause of Failure: Fatal Slash

Performance Evaluation: You observed the sword. You failed to perceive the swordsman.

Recommendation: Learn to read intent before movement. A drawn blade is already too late.

Restarting Memory Reconstruction...

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