Chapter 87: The Birth of the Whip-Patter Swordsman

The video ended, and the screen froze.

Yet, in her eyes, everything remained vividly clear.

The leaders of the great sects who once dreamed of a unified Murim.

The emperor of the imperial court who sought to impose an even greater Murim.

The countless martial artists who perished between them.

The common folk who were treated as mere property, not as people.

The Haenam Sect, which had fallen into ruin, unable to keep up with the tides of history.

‘Who would have thought that the aspirations of Murim masters, who wielded unparalleled power yet failed to realize their ideals, would be fulfilled so close at hand?’

Jeong Yohan cautiously glanced at her and asked,

“Uh… Silent Swordsman? The video is over. Should I play the second broadcast?”

Hae Eung Eung nodded.

She watched the second broadcast in its entirety.

Then the third.

She was about to move on to the fourth, which was a staggering 64 hours long, when So Kyungseok intervened.

“I’m sorry, but watching that would take far too much time. If it’s necessary, why not just get a copy of the video instead?”

Hae Eung Eung turned to Jeong Yohan, silently asking if that was possible. He nodded enthusiastically.

“If it’s a request from Silent Swordsman, of course! Just give me your email address, and I’ll send it right away!”

[Email?]

“Oh, right. You’re new to VR, aren’t you? This is your first time using it. Here, press this, then this, and go here your VR-linked email will appear.”

Following his instructions, Hae Eung Eung accessed the email linked to her VR account.

Both So Kyungseok and Jeong Yohan chuckled in disbelief.

“This must be her first time checking her email.”

“Wow… No wonder no one ever got hired as her manager or editor…”

Her inbox was overflowing +999 unread messages, spilling beyond the system’s count limit.

For the first time, her dust-covered mailbox was opened.

“Now, just press ‘Compose Mail,’ and your address will show up… Let me copy it real quick. I’ll send the file now.”

Jeong Yohan attached the video to an email.

Just as he was about to hit send

Hae Eung Eung lightly tugged at his training robe.

Without much thought, he turned his head toward her.

And suddenly, he found himself staring directly into her eyes.

He jolted in shock, his face turning red.

Both in the broadcasts and in real life,

She had always seemed indifferent, carrying a quiet solitude in her expression.

Yet now, those mysterious violet eyes met his, framed by her breathtakingly beautiful face.

Not just as a fan, but as a man, he found it hard to withstand.

“Wh-what is it?”

[Send me Namubalbal’s video too.]

“No way!”

[Why not?]

“Wh-why do you even have to ask?! This is different!”

[Is it another streamer’s broadcast?]

“It’s different, but it’s even more different than that. I mean, it’s still a stream, but the focus is completely different ah, anyway, you just can’t!”

[?]

“Silent Swordsman, you’re like a baby! You need to be protected!”

…What the hell was he talking about?

While Hae Eung Eung was left speechless, So Kyungseok chuckled knowingly.

“Why not just let her watch it once? There might be something in there that even the Guild Master shouldn’t see. Like, say… a baseball video.”

Baseball video? …Adult videos?

Oh.

The realization hit her.

She had spent 20 years in Murim, relearning language from scratch.

In a world without computers, such things had naturally faded from her mind.

That was something only her past male self had been familiar with.

And now, she had just asked for one of those videos, right in front of him.

No wonder Jeong Yohan looked like he wanted to die of shame.

‘Is he afraid I’ll look down on him? That I’ll think he’s disgusting? That I’ll despise him?’

His expression was full of despair.

Instead of blaming him, Hae Eung Eung quietly opened her notebook,

taking on the demeanor of a parent trying to act natural after catching their child watching something they shouldn’t.

[Try training harder. If you focus on martial arts, you won’t have such impure thoughts.]

She even offered advice with a wise and magnanimous air.

Her attempt at kindness only made Jeong Yohan bow his head even lower, completely defeated.

So Kyungseok, unable to bear witnessing such a tragic sight, covered his eyes with his hand.

‘Poor guy… He must want to crawl into a hole and die. I should probably delete my Orioles folder when I get home too.’

Like the war-torn Murim,

where countless martial artists had once gathered,

streamers now flooded the digital world,

each vying to captivate their audience with their skills.

Even if she could not command eternal loyalty,

‘Even if it is fleeting and transient, that too is the Magical Dominion you once dreamed of, isn’t it?’

Hae Eung Eung made a vow.

In honor of her long-standing friendship and devotion to the Heavenly Demon,

she would achieve a 100% viewership rating

and establish her own Magical Dominion

in a different world, through a different method.

[ Executing Half-Demon’s Aria.]

Unlike her previous four broadcasts,

this time, the Silent Swordsman wielded a new purpose.

Her fifth stream had begun.

2.

[New Virtual Streamer]

[Silent Swordsman has started broadcasting.]

[Game – Half-Demon’s Aria (by Simiral Studio)]

[Playtime – 66:07:32]

[Broadcast Duration – 00:00:00]

The Silent Swordsman had returned.

Is this real?!

Wow, I thought I wouldn’t see her for another six years…

After the martial arts tournament, she just vanished… I was losing hope.

Thank you for coming back!!

We are truly living in the Age of the Mommy Swordsman.

First to arrive were the Space Refugees,

who had drifted endlessly through the void, analyzing past lore for any clues.

Next came the Silent Swordsman Devotees,

who had immersed themselves in “Catch-Up Content” just to fill the void she had left behind.

Then, the Face-Touching NPC Cult,

the Wandering Merchant Sect,

and even the Prince Execution Faction,

each a splinter of her ever-growing fanbase.

All of them gathered beneath her banner once again.

[Current Viewers – 4,200]

Within just five minutes,

her stream had already drawn in 4,200 viewers.

And as time passed, that number would only continue to grow.

But why is she just standing still at the start?

No clue.

She was like that when I joined too.

Wait, hold on. Why are her eyes moving?

Oh god, here come the Magnification Addicts staring at her pupils again.

A streamer standing still,

only her gaze shifting slightly.

It was an unfamiliar sight, yet oddly familiar.

The viewers had seen this before.

Wait… Is she reading chat right now???

She finally sees us! (pant pant)

Ew, gross.

Someone ban Breathless Pervert Bomber from chat.

Mom, I can’t even type… I’m shaking.

Why couldn’t you type this clearly during your Language Arts Exam?

FYI, I barely scraped a top-tier score. 😉

What’s the reaction-less Silent Swordsman gonna do first?

Please react to something!

Can you see us? You can see us, right??

Faced with the chatbox before her,

Hae Eung Eung silently stared, deep in thought.

‘What would the Heavenly Demon do in this situation?’

She rifled through her memories,

pushing aside the nostalgic yet almost ridiculous laughter

that had once echoed in her past.

And finally

‘I remember now.’

When the cultists had chanted the Heavenly Demon’s name in reverence,

the Heavenly Demon had done exactly this.

Smack!

???

What did we even do?!

Why are you hitting us?

Pat, pat.

???

(Not sure what just happened, but I like it.)

…Mommy…

Smack!

Oh, come on, wtf.

WHY DID YOU HIT US AGAIN?!

WAAAHHH! WAAAAHHHH!

Where the hell did she even get that whip?!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!

Even the text feels loud af, stop crying already!

WAAAAHHH WAAAAHHHHH AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

HELP, I CAN’T HANDLE THIS, I’M NOT FIT TO RAISE A CHILD!!!

Pat, pat.

Haa… I’ll let it slide this time.

Hngh…

Where did she even learn this fixed-gaze whipping and head-patting technique?? LOL

Whoever taught her, I respect them.

LMAO.

The one who had taught Fixed Gaze this skill Min Woosung

had done so in an attempt to keep her from resolving everything with PvP.

He was probably watching the stream in real-time.

Whether he liked what he saw was uncertain,

but the viewers were certainly thrilled by this unexpected playstyle.

Whipping and head-patting.

To the audience, it might seem like some kind of dominant sadist persona,

but in reality, this was exactly how the Heavenly Demon used to handle her followers.

As if teetering between heaven and hell,

the chat’s mood shifted dramatically.

Yet, as the cycle of discipline continued, the chaos slowly subsided.

Once the chat finally calmed down,

the Silent Swordsman gave a small nod and

tucked the whip into her belt.

<JumpingRabbitDie has donated 10,000 KRW!>

I asked for a reaction, not a damn training session, ffs.

<OhYouLikeThisHuh has donated 10,000 KRW!>

I like it.

<JumpingRabbitDie has donated 10,000 KRW!>

You’re literally doing AoE damage with your basic attacks, you damn masochist freak.

LOOOOL

LMAO

So we now have a Mommy Swordsman whose basic attack is AoE?

(Note: “AoE” refers to “Area of Effect,” meaning an attack that hits multiple targets at once.)

Swordsman (…whip?)

What is this, a 20th-century military camp? Why are we getting whipped in formation?!

STOP, DOMINATRIX SWORDSMAN, PLEASE!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT UP THAT CRYBABY??

Although the Silent Swordsman’s usual reactionless demeanor

had now evolved into a heaven-and-hell “whip-pat” combo,

her chaotic broadcast style remained unchanged,

and the audience’s reaction was no different from before.

Even though the whip-pat cycle had momentarily tamed the chat,

just a few donations were enough to send it spiraling into madness again.

Hae Eung Eung crossed her arms in frustration.

‘Back when the Heavenly Demon used the whip,

it never failed to instill discipline.’

A single strike of the whip had been enough to keep the cultists in check.

Was she simply not intimidating enough yet?

No matter how much she tried, the viewers refused to maintain the harmony she desired.

(Of course, the very fact that she was trying to enforce harmony through whipping

was a contradiction in itself.)

Still, back in the Demonic Cult,

the followers always behaved after being whipped,

which left Hae Eung Eung with one lingering question

‘Why aren’t they submitting after being whipped?’

Then, an answer came to mind.

‘Ah, right. The Heavenly Demon back then

was far stronger than I am now.’

Without her former peak martial strength,

mere whipping alone wasn’t enough to bring them under control.

She simply wasn’t strong enough yet.

But there was plenty of time.

‘Just like martial arts, consistency is key.

If I keep up the whipping, eventually, I’ll get results.’

And so, the whip-pat reaction officially joined the ranks of the Silent Swordsman’s legendary gimmicks.