Chapter 75: The Weight of Names

Four weeks had passed since the recruitment notice for the Silent Swordsman went up.

“Are they even hiring anyone?”

“None have been chosen, but the number of applicants keeps growing.”

“Is this for real? They’ve been ignoring this for a month!”

On a day when the applicants were shaking in fear of the Silent Swordsman’s cruelty,

a huge event that would send shockwaves through the awakened ones appeared.

[Silent Swordsman’s Martial Arts Tournament Announcement]

[Date: This Saturday at 10:00 AM]

[Location: (World Address – Details Here)]

[Number of Participants: 1]

[C-Class Awakened Applicants: 485]

“It’s happening!!”

“What the hell is this martial arts tournament?”

“Are you serious? 485 people signed up?”

“Guess it was about time.”

“Wait, only one winner is chosen, and everyone else gets eliminated?”

“No prize money in a martial arts tournament, seriously?”

“Why not just do a raffle? This wicked woman is turning the arena into a circus for viewers.”

The awakened ones, who had waited aimlessly for a month, were furious about the late notice, but…

“Huh? The tournament’s location is in some world?”

“I think it’s a virtual reality tournament?”

“What? I thought we were supposed to have a fight in real life.”

“Oh, if it’s virtual, we can just adjust the difficulty settings.”

“Well, the Silent Swordsman was a streamer, after all.”

“I don’t usually play games, but maybe I should try this to get used to it.”

As the reality of the tournament being set in virtual reality sank in, more participants became interested and began preparing to join.

“Still, the pain is real. There are things like post-death symptoms, right?”

“Hey, if you don’t want to join, don’t. I’m going alone.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but…” “Don’t you have plans for the weekend?”

“Yeah, I’ll cancel them.”

“Weren’t you going on a blind date?”

“Getting caught in a minefield of a blind date vs. participating in the Silent Swordsman’s Martial Arts Tournament. What’s the better choice? Back out? Or go?”

“Is that even a question? Of course, back out. But saying a blind date is a minefield… Look at your face… No, never mind. Let it go. Anyway, people die from fireball hits, okay?!”

As the tournament day drew closer, their bodies were honest enough to show that the venue was crowded.

“Isn’t that Kim Jecheol from Andong Sword Clan?”

“He looks like he’s wearing a satgat and a robe; it’s definitely him.”

“Hey, hey. Who’s that girl with the amazing figure?”

“Are you out of your mind? Turn your head right now.

You don’t know Seo Hye from the Viper Eyes? Many guys who tried something with her at the Gate ended up missing.”

“Oh, that’s the gang from Changwon Guild. They’re notorious.”

“Heh, these guys are famous. If they can’t win the tournament, they say the higher-ups will be disappointed.”

“See, this tournament should have been a solo event.”

Because so many people had gathered, the faces in the crowd were diverse, and among them, some awakened ones stood out more than others.

Participant number 37: Kim Jecheol from Andong Sword Clan.

He wore hanbok every single day of the year. Upon seeing the Silent Swordsman for the first time, he shouted.

“I knew my soulmate would be here!”

Kim Jecheol, known as a “gold digger” for his reputation of dating women only for their money, was surrounded by many such women.

However, none of them ever managed to win his heart.

It wasn’t because they had weak physiques or because their materialistic attitudes bothered him.

“I want to dress that woman in hanbok! No, I want to take off the hanbok she’s wearing with my own hands!!”

Kim Jecheol, who could pull off even the dullest warrior attire with ease,

thought about how attractive a woman would be in a hanbok, her front slit enhancing her beauty.

A hanbok enthusiast, he had decided to win the tournament and confess his feelings to the Silent Swordsman.

“Crazy bastard.”

Participant number 84: Seo Hye from Viper Eyes.

A freelance member whose name was only on the association’s list, she often ventured through the Gate on solo missions.

Seo Hye was feared by many for her ruthless skills, having taken down any awakened ones who tried to harass her.

“What’s the difference between the warrior attire she’s wearing and the hanbok I’m wearing? Why is she acting so high and mighty?”

Despite her rough tone, Seo Hye had a surprisingly innocent side.

She had fallen for Kim Jecheol after a chance encounter at the Gate,

where he had fought off the awakened ones targeting her, only to leave without saying a word.

“Is this really that unflattering?”

She lifted the hem of her modified hanbok and looked down at her legs, which were visible under the dress.

Objectively, she was attractive enough, but it didn’t meet Kim Jecheol’s hanbok fetish standards, and he rejected her five times because it wasn’t to his taste.

The reason for participating in the tournament was naturally because Kim Jecheol was entering.

Additionally, she wanted to see firsthand how impressive the woman who had captivated him was.

“Get away, you idiots.”

“Don’t come near me.”

“How embarrassing. Ugh……………”

Even someone like Lee So-hye, who was known for her determination, could not surpass these three men.

Participant numbers 92, 93, and 94.

They were the infamous trio from the Changwon Guild Ahn Chang-yoon, Kim Gil-tae, and Lee Jeong, who were the subject of rumors.

“Damn it, why did you follow and sign up?”

“Whatever you do, I do better.”

“I tried to get some points for guild activities, but this is such a disgrace. Hoo……”

These three, who had joined the guild around the same time, often found themselves compared to each other, leading to a poor relationship between them.

Ahn Chang-yoon entered the tournament out of pure fan admiration, but upon hearing about this, Kim Gil-tae signed up to defeat him and embarrass him.

When the news spread that two of his guildmates were entering the tournament,

Lee Jeong, worried that his colleagues would gain points while he stayed behind, decided to join as well.

“Damn, these contract-less bastards follow you like leeches.”

The problem was that their recent performance in the guild wasn’t great.

Rumors of them loafing around together while being incompetent reached the guild executives,

who mocked them externally and harshly criticized them internally, turning them into the guild’s punching bags.

Furthermore, the guild executives, while allowing them to participate in the tournament, imposed two conditions.

The member who performed the best would earn additional points for their evaluation,

while the other two would face a three-month pay cut and a penalty in their evaluation.

It was no wonder Ahn Chang-yoon, who had entered as a fan, now had to fight with his life on the line.

“Wow, look at these impressive faces.”

“Seriously. There are some we’d rather not deal with outside.”

Two C-rank awakened individuals, Woo Jiwoo and So Kyungseok,

who had been early members of the Hae Eung Eung Guild and were now judges in this tournament,

were oblivious to the participants’ complex emotions as they simply watched with great interest.

[Start the tournament]

When the silent swordsman held up a sign from the stage, Jo A-young, who stepped up, grabbed the microphone and shouted in a clear voice.

“I sincerely welcome all of you to the Silent Swordsman’s Martial Arts Tournament! I am the host and broadcaster for this tournament, Jo A-young……”

She paused for a moment, closed her eyes tightly, and trembling with nervousness, Jo A-young mustered all her courage and shouted.

“A-young likes jumping rabbits!”

The tournament hall was already in chaos, even before the competition had begun.

Jo A-young protested with tears in her eyes.

“Sis, do I really have to say my nickname?”

[The host must reveal the nickname during the martial arts tournament to indicate how significant the event is.]

“This embarrassing nickname, what significance does it have? It’s nothing!”

A-young likes jumping rabbits.

Jo A-young, who had recently logged into the virtual world, blushed in embarrassment and covered her face with both hands. Her nickname was truly something.

“I’m going to change my nickname. I can’t show such a shameful nickname to everyone!”

[That’s disappointing.]

“Eh, sis?”

Hae Eung Eung, who usually kept a blank expression and rarely showed emotions, revealed a rare anger, leaving Jo A-young startled.

[Names carry the emotions and memories of when they were given. Denying them just because they’re embarrassing is like denying yourself.]

“Ugh. That’s cowardly. You’re saying such wonderful things when I’m the one suffering the embarrassment. Do you want to see me suffer?”

[How did you come up with that nickname?]

Jo A-young hesitated for a moment and began recalling an old memory.

“When I was growing up in the orphanage…”

Jo A-young, who had achieved a high assimilation rate during the government’s virtual world aptitude test for orphans, caught the attention of the officials.

However, her high assimilation rate was only a result of playing a game called Jumping Rabbit.

“There was a rabbit I raised at the orphanage. It was a poor thing that was bitten and killed by a monster that came down to the rabbit pen at night.”

One day, after the rabbit she had lovingly raised as a child died, she fell into sadness. It was then that the game, Jumping Rabbit, came into her life as if by fate.

“Others call it a bad game, saying it causes high blood pressure, but for me, it was a fun game. I could see my rabbit again and even jump around as the rabbit, so how could I not like it?”

The shame that had filled her face gradually turned into nostalgia for her late rabbit, Tosoon, and the memories and emotions of that time.

“I think you’re right, sis.”

Jo A-young reflected deeply.

“It’s a little embarrassing, but I don’t want to deny my past anymore. If I change my nickname, I might forget about Tosoon one day.”

She didn’t want to experience the self-loathing of forgetting who she was.

Moved by Jo A-young’s sincere response, Hae Eung Eung finally relaxed her angry expression and gently patted her head, praising her.

“Then what about your nickname, sis?”

Suddenly, Jo A-young launched a counterattack.

Hae Eung Eung awkwardly avoided eye contact.

Both the name Silent Swordsman and Hae Eung Eung came from the same incident.

One fateful night, out of uncontrollable lust, she impulsively created a 19+ nickname with a playful Hae Eung Eung sound, which also became linked to her silent concept.

That truth? Never. Under no circumstances.

“I knew it! That’s cowardly! Tell me too, you can’t leave me out!”

“……”

“If you keep this up, I’ll just change my nickname too!”

Jo A-young finally softened after Hae Eung Eung told her a true story about the saddest name she had ever seen in the martial arts world.

It was the name of her senior, The Best Sword of the Wulin, Angi-Motti-Oji-Goji-Riget, who had a name so ridiculous yet continued to live without shame,

and Jo A-young felt that if someone could wear such a name with pride, maybe she could do the same with hers.