Martial Arts Returnee’s Game Broadcast

Chapter 169

1.

Someone once said,
There is an expiration date to friendships.
When one side’s emotional trash bin fills to the point where it can no longer contain the feelings of the other side,
the overflowing emotions return as malice.
The friendship between Gwang-A Sword, Lee Jeong-un, and Dashman.
Which side was the first to overflow emotionally in their relationship?
Lee Jeong-un still didn’t know the answer.

‘Still the same cowardly guy.’

When Lee Jeong-un forced a bloody battle to induce mutual losses, Dashman always retreated.
Even when he broke up the two-man party,
even when he was blocked from entering dungeons by the guild’s orders,
even when he smashed the fixtures of a regular shop and knocked out the owner under the pretext of collecting bribes,
Dashman always retreated.

• "Go ahead and open your spot first. Don’t mess around and fall over just because I’m not there."
• "8:15. Gate entrance 3, barrier camera OFF."
• "This envelope is the bribe the old man used to pay. Don’t say I gave it to you, just pass it on."

The guild’s collector and the local self-defense members,
though they clashed due to differences in their entry roles,
understood Lee Jeong-un’s unchanged feelings behind the scenes.
No matter what evil deeds he committed,
Dashman trusted him,
and Lee Jeong-un also trusted that Dashman would believe in him.

“Subordinate Lee is showing signs of leaking our confidential documents. Do whatever it takes, but eliminate him.”
“What do you think about using his girlfriend to lure him out to a public place to stop him from escaping?”

The suspicious movements of a fellow colleague.
The plan to lure him to the department store.
Since it was a guild matter unrelated to ordinary civilians,
just this once,
he didn’t give Dashman a heads-up.
That he would capture his colleague at the department store.
That something might happen that day.
He was too embarrassed to send such a message.
He was ashamed to have joined Myunho Guild.
He thought that to reach his place, Dashman had to clear the spot first.
He was afraid of being rejected if he told the truth.
Afraid that Dashman’s upright nature would get in the way.
So he said nothing about the dirty work.

‘I dirty my hands for you.’

The fateful day.
The plan to apprehend the traitor Lee at the department store was simple:
Follow his girlfriend, track him down, and capture Lee.
However, when a villainous organization Lee had been in contact with intervened,
the department store became a battlefield.
The awakened from Myunho Guild
and the unnamed awakened from the villainous organization.
Their powers crossed paths, and the department store was left in ruins.

“Lee Jeong-un! What are you doing here?!”
“What do you mean, what are you doing here? This is a guild matter. Don’t interfere and step aside!”
“No! If you unleash your powers any further, the floors will collapse! The awakened may be fine, but the civilians—!”

As their voices became rough,
Lee attempted to jump out the window to escape.
The plan had changed.
Abduction was impossible.
It had to be a kill here and now.
It was better this way.
If Lee had any useful information to spill,
or made any backroom deals,
his position would never open up.
Then his friend could never rise.
He would be stuck doing unprofitable self-defense work.
Better to end this here and create a spot for his friend.
“Lee, what are you hesitating for!”
“I’m sorry. Now that I’ve caught the attention of the higher-ups, I can’t get involved anymore.”
“Stop it!”

Dashman unfolded his powers and charged.
Gwang-A Sword did not fear him.
With every clash of swords, his confidence toward victory grew.
They had been closer than anyone,
once comrades who trusted each other.
Only Lee Jeong-un knew Dashman’s weakness.
At critical moments, he always stepped back.
So he boldly made his move.
Step back,
or you’ll be hit in the torso.
If you step back, you won’t get hurt.
You’ll only block the fleeing Lee by knocking down the pillar.
It was a deadly tactic built on trust.
He used his ability because he trusted Lee to retreat.
That belief overturned their relationship.

<Awakened Ability - Dash>
<Unconventional Technique - Side Dash>
<Unconventional Technique - Long Wide>

That day, Dashman was different.
He ignored the usual safe distance.
Diving forward at high speed, he struck fiercely.
A burning pain spread across his face.
Before he could even realize it, his sword cut across Dashman’s torso.

‘What a fool!’

He knew. He knew Dashman would swing his sword to make him step back.
They had feigned moves many times to fool the guild’s eyes.
But Dashman broke the unspoken promise.
He crossed a line that shouldn’t have been crossed.
Lee Jeong-un was wounded in his face, Dashman in his torso.
Both left with deep, irreparable wounds.
But Lee Jeong-un still believed they could overcome this.

If he just got rid of Lee, everything would work out.
With that belief, he passed Dashman, who was falling.
Fully unleashing his ability,
he destroyed the pillar.
Then, he tackled Lee, who had been fleeing through the window.
The entire department store collapsed.

Kwangggg!

Dust clouds filled the collapse site,
and beyond the falling debris,
he saw—

‘I did it. Now you can rise too.’

The same day he arrived in Seoul, holding a sword in hand, ready to become an awakened one with nothing.
They would start again, together.
With this joyous feeling, he fought through the rubble,
but in front of him,
“Su-young!!”

A high school girl, trapped under the rubble of a collapsed floor,
his sweet younger sister,
who once playfully teased him about when he would tell his brother.
There she was, lying in a pool of blood.
Only then did Lee Jeong-un realize.
Why Dashman had chosen a forward Dash, not a backward one.
Dashman’s younger sister had been there.
His lover had been there.
There must have been some operation.
Perhaps some big commotion was going to happen at the department store.
If only he had given a single hint.
It could have been avoided.
The tragedy came too late, and the regret was already there.

“Crazy. What the hell did you do?!”

“Boss! I’ll take the punishment later. Please call an ambulance first!”
“Was there anyone left alive?”
“You took all the phones away because they were interfering with the operation, didn’t you?!”
“What stupid things are you saying?”

The boss raised his hand, and the target of his finger was unmistakably the siblings.

“Kill them all. It’s not too late now.”
“What... What do you mean, it’s not too late?”
“The department store collapse was caused by the villainous organization that teamed up with Lee. If we eliminate these two, we can make it look like it was their fault.”
“……”
“What are you hesitating for? You’ve already done worse than this before.”

The boss quietly scolded him.

“It’s that guy, isn’t it? Your so-called friend.”
“Did you... know?”
“You’re a useful sword. They’ll elevate you soon. If you value your friendship that much, then your loyalty to the guild should also be exceptional.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s not impossible.”
“I can’t!”
“No. You can.”

The boss laughed.

“The road to success you’ve always wanted has opened. Just eliminate these two, and your ridiculous mistake will become the villain's fault. Such an opportunity doesn’t come often.”
“Just call the damn ambulance!”
“You’re a smart guy. You know by now. The name of Myunho Guild can’t be tarnished under any circumstances. If you hesitate now, you’ll take all the blame.”

The victims of the collapse,
the enormous financial losses for the department store,
the villainous organization that got involved to help Lee.

“You’ll be kicked out of the guild, and the department store will sue for hundreds of millions. The association will revoke your awakened status, and soon your name will be tied to the villainous organization.”

Lee Jeong-un realized.
What he had done, just to seek success.
Even if he hadn’t intended it.
The tragedy that could no longer be covered up,
the disaster that was now unavoidable.

‘It’s all my fault.’

His old, frayed conscience spoke up.
What was all this for?
What had he dirtied his hands for?
Was he really planning to betray them here?
Having finally shaken off the blind pursuit of success,
for the first time in a long while, his eyes were open.

“I should have done this from the start.”
“You fool…!”

He cut down the boss.
The fool who couldn’t escape, his sister pinned under the rubble.
The one who had risked his life to protect her.
He cut down the guild members coming at him.

“Crazy bastard. Your life is over!”

He wanted to kill the guild members who weren’t attacking too.
But he couldn’t.
The mistakes made so far were more than enough.

‘If I leave this place, that fool will die.’

And so, the survivors fled.
His betrayal was exposed.
The future star of Myunho Guild was stripped of his awakened status overnight, and the department store collapse became his tomb.

“10200.”

Before a shadow appeared in front of him.

“…Cough. You can’t pass this way.”
“Gwang-A Sword, Lee Jeong-un. You have quite good skills. A maximum burst power of 10,000 awakened ones is rare these days. Have you been hiding your skills?”
“If you’re not going to fight, then get lost.”
“Can you protect the siblings behind you with that body?”
“If you challenge me, I’ll cut you. That’s all.”
“And then everyone will die. You too. Your people too. Your body is at its limit. But if our organization reaches out, the poor siblings might survive.”
“Is it your organization that Lee joined?”

The shadow’s owner,
Whisper, swung his arm.

Crunch

Under the dim lighting, several bodies rolled across the floor. The villains from the chaos.
What kind of harm they had suffered, their terrified faces were twisted in a way that was barely recognizable.

"Just a bunch of worms trying to show off power, nothing more. I’m nothing like these insignificant ones."

“Good. I was just thinking about quitting this pathetic act.”

The organization took in Lee Jeong-un, and the siblings became the only survivors of the department store collapse incident.
But months later,
despite all his efforts, Dashman’s younger sister, his lover, died.
From that day on, their trust was completely shattered.
Perhaps it had been broken much earlier.
The overflowing trust turned into poison.
What began as insecurity, doubt, and anxiety, eventually morphed into distrust.
And distrust led to catastrophe,
culminating in the death of the only woman the two men had been trying to protect.

‘It’s all in the past.’

In the darkness,
the unnamed, unlicensed,
after five years as a villain.

‘50cm.’

A precise gap of Dash's ability.
Lee Jeong-un understood the meaning of that gap.
On the day of the disaster.
Blinded by rage, Dashman had chosen a forward dash,
and with the powerful activation of his ability,
the gap that was too small to save his sister.

<Awakened Ability - Light of the Warrior>
<Unconventional Technique - Blood Flow Acceleration>

Chasing Dashman’s retreating distance,
the blade struck.

‘You weren’t the only one who wanted that gap.’

At the end of that brief exchange,
just like that day five years ago,
Lee Jeong-un’s blade cut through Dashman’s body.