Chapter 209: 209

***

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 .