Martial Arts Returnee’s Game Broadcast

Chapter 61

Monsters, the enemies of humanity.
Before experiencing it firsthand, I had expected them to be of significant combat strength, drawing comparisons to mythical beasts.
But my actual impression after facing them was that they were closer to something far less formidable.

‘Surely, humanity didn’t face a crisis from these kinds of monsters, right?’

Bipedal lizards.
They wield spears and swords, and use weapons, but their technique is laughable.

Whoosh
They fall for my fake moves, one after another, and lose their balance.

Slash
As I adjust the position of my umbrella-wielding hand and change the gap between the weapons, they get sliced apart in succession.

Crack
When I focus solely on attacking with the weapons, the lizardman’s arm, which had been bent backward, is fully twisted, exposing its torso.

‘The air is leaking out.’

They have intelligence, but their primal instincts dominate.
They resemble humans but are closer to creatures with the true nature of monsters.

‘They're even worse than low-tier mythical beasts.’

The faint heat that had risen in Ha Eun-eung’s expression immediately faded away.
Her umbrella swiftly swung and chopped with no hesitation.
Fingers, wrists, arms, shoulders, neck.
Anything that crossed her umbrella's path was severed in mid-air, parts of the lizardmen’s bodies flying off.
While she was slaughtering them, she suddenly paused.

‘What is this? This disgusting energy...’

Just getting close made her stomach churn with an unpleasant, nauseating energy.
That energy, which came from the dead bodies she had just defeated, gathered toward her, attempting to burrow into her body like sperm chasing after an egg.

Cheonghae Simbeop
Kimak

A technique used to block toxins or contaminated air by sealing off one's qi.
With this skill, she managed to block the invasive, foul energy, and a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of her.

[You have killed several lizardmen.]
[You meet the basic requirements for an Awakened One.]
[You failed to absorb experience points.]
[Level up failed.]
[You are a level 0 Awakened One.]
[Your status window is locked.]

The ominous energy she saw in her mind’s eye,
a murky, dark energy—
it was, absurdly, what the Awakened Ones commonly refer to as experience points.

‘Is there a technique to purify this dark energy and absorb it into pure inner power?’

Curiosity finally surfaced, but first, the thought that came to mind was the reality of this ‘experience points’ concept.

Knock Knock

[Come out for a moment.]

Even though her absurd behavior of knocking on the convenience store door mid-fight was baffling,
the lizardmen couldn’t attack her.
This was because so many had already fallen to Ha Eun-eung’s attacks.

“Are you okay, sister? If you need another umbrella...”
Jua-Young rushed over, holding a spare umbrella, intending to offer it as an emergency weapon.
But her eyes widened as she spotted the lizardmen that were still alive, lying on the floor.
She quickly looked back at Ha Eun-eung in shock.

“Did you do this, sister?”
[You wanted to level up, right?]
“Can I kill those? Really?”

Ha Eun-eung nodded.
However, she had to make sure Jua-Young understood the risks.

[But, the experience gained from killing monsters can have harmful effects on the human body.]
“Ah, no way. If I become an Awakened One, I can invest in stats and get stronger, right?”
[You might get stronger temporarily. But this is impure energy.]

If you absorb any kind of energy,
you can easily increase the overall amount of internal power at first.
However, if the energy's purity is low,
it will circulate in your body, causing harm to your muscles and tendons,
which could lead to ruptured blood vessels or even sudden death.
This is the phenomenon known as "being possessed by the energy," often called Ju Hwa Ip Ma in martial arts.

[You might suddenly use this power and have your heart stop. The energy that Awakened Ones use as their power source is that dangerous.]

While the martial arts world’s status window is like a light status window,
the Awakened Ones’ status window is a dark one.
Handling impure energy,
it’s essentially a practice of a dark art, akin to the methods used by corrupt or rogue cultivators.
Still, does she remain undeterred in her desire to become an Awakened One?

Seeing Jua-Young’s determined face,
Ha Eun-eung had no intention of stopping her.
Ha Eun-eung crushed the lizardmen to near death,
and Jua-Young finished them off one by one.

[Failed to absorb experience points.]
[Level up failed.]
[Experience points have been transferred to the next contributor.]

Thanks to this, Jua-Young’s experience points grew explosively,
and as she stabbed her umbrella into the last lizardman’s neck,
Jua-Young cheered triumphantly.

“Sister, I awakened! I’m level 1 now!”

[Is experience really so necessary?]
“No, it’s not. Just killing a dungeon rat would fill up the experience needed to level up.”

Jua-Young shared the knowledge she learned at the Awakened Academy.

“For the first awakening, the excess experience is used for things like enhancing traits, job boosts, and increasing stat limits.”

[So, the more excess experience, the more it gets used somewhere?]
“Exactly. So usually, Awakened Ones who achieve specific feats will see a far greater growth than those who simply level up.”

The level increase is always one at a time.
But, with the excess experience required for the level up,
talent expansion or stat limit increases occur.

“I couldn’t do it by myself, but thanks to you, sister, I gained an insane amount of experience. This would be the kind of treatment that even major guild prospects would never receive, right?”

If it wasn’t for the gate collapse,
it would be nearly impossible for so many monsters to gather in one place.
And for all of them to be subdued and left with only the last hit to finish them off?
That alone was an incredible achievement, which made Jua-Young feel like she’d gotten a rare opportunity.

‘Speaking of rare opportunities, I can’t help but think about that place I set up.’

The old holy land of the Blood Cult.
The opportunities at the Taklamakan Desert ruins.
Before her return to the real world from the martial arts world.
The internal energy she accumulated,
the martial arts techniques and treasures she acquired,
and the arrangements she made for the foolish and pitiful possessed ones who would follow her path.

‘A rare opportunity is no joke. Unless you buy it in the store window, you won’t easily find it.’

Rather than thinking about distant, unseen worlds,
what was in front of her seemed far more pressing.

‘That guy, he’s not just pretending to be cool, he actually fights decently.’

The man who lured the monster swarm into the alley.
His sword skills were no joke.

Click

“Ugh!”
“Sister, why are you aiming a flashlight at a person?”

Even as the rebuke flew through the air,
Ha Eun-eung, who had been watching the man intently,
confirmed with her own eyes that all the wounds on him were scratches that had grazed past and missed his vital points.

[Your sword skills are decent.]

Ha Eun-eung acknowledged the man’s skill.

2.  

The man acknowledged by Ha Eun-eung.
He wasn’t the first to receive this honor.
Jua-Young had earned it early on as well.
However, their positions were entirely different.
While Jua-Young, as a trainee Awakened One, was recognized for her training and future potential,
Ihaechan, even if he fell into the martial arts world,
could easily survive off his sword skills alone.

“Can I ask you something?”
[No.]

Ihaechan, surprised by the cold tone and confused by the response,
looked at Ha Eun-eung, who subtly flipped the pages of her notebook with a smile.

[Just kidding.]

It wasn’t a concept, after all.
This guy was naturally a troublemaker.
Flustered, Ihaechan immediately asked what was on his mind.

“Can I interview you for a moment?”
[Are you a reporter?]
“Don’t you know who I am?”
[Do I have to?]
“No, not necessarily….”

Still, this is how you treat me?
You were the streamer who had driven the viewers away at the beginning.
I wanted to argue, but
knowing his malicious personality,
I’d end up with nothing, not even a 30-second clip for a short video.

“I don’t really know, but, uh, thank you for your help. You’re not hitting on my sister, are you?”
“Ha, what’s the problem? It’s just because we’re both famous. It’s a bit disappointing though. Okay, you don’t know my face, but have you never heard of ‘Nationalistic Prosecutor Ihaechan’?”

I’ve donated several times, you know?
If you don’t even know that, you’re not really human.

“Let me just look it up. Wait, it’s real. 1.22 million subscribers... 1.22 million? Wow, you’re that famous as a VTuber?”

Jua-Young was amazed, and Ihaechan shrugged.

[You’re famous?]

His shoulders drooped with just a page of the notebook.

“If you have a million VTubers, you’re living the easy life!”

“Then what? You two don’t even know me. Well, I can understand that, but it’s really shocking that the Silent Swordsman doesn’t know me.”
“Silent Swordsman? Oh, is that the nickname you used when you set the record in the game?”

If Jua-Young hadn’t misunderstood,
Ihaechan might have realized that Ha Eun-eung was aware of his stream.
But Jua-Young’s awkward misunderstanding led Ihaechan to believe she knew more than she let on.

“What? You knew all along.”
“?”
“Just talking to myself.”

Ihaechan sat down on the ground, taking a moment to breathe,
while Ha Eun-eung sat on the guardrail in front of him.
After the fight, as they relaxed,
she sat with her legs neatly crossed, as if she were wearing a skirt,
calm and collected.

‘Surprisingly feminine.’

For someone like Ihaechan, who was never beaten in terms of skill,
this unexpectedly feminine side of someone he genuinely acknowledged as a formidable opponent
contrasted with her overwhelming achievements and added a surprising charm,
so much so that ‘gap moe’ could be used to describe it.

‘Huh?’

And the gaps weren’t just one.
Her S-line waist and hips,
the triangle line between her pubic area and thighs,
often referred to as the Thigh gap.
This golden area wasn’t just suited to a slim body.
The right pelvis, developed glutes,
and solid, muscular thighs all came together perfectly to form a complete physique.

Enchanted by her beauty, Ihaechan stared blankly
until he snapped back to reality with a flushed face.

“……”
Ha Eun-eung was looking down at him,
with a completely expressionless face.

“Ah, um... I’m sorry, I let my guard down and lost focus.”

Ihaechan, bracing for a slap, honestly apologized.
It would have been better if she had scolded him.
Even with a look of disdain, it would have been easier to deal with.
Instead, she gave him a look as if to say, “Is this who you really are?”

Ihaechan, with both hands respectfully clasped together,
bowed deeply, as if nothing could make him feel more serious.
Jua-Young, who was standing next to Ha Eun-eung, spoke up instead.

“Ugh, you should be more careful.”
“I’m truly sorry.”
“Is she really mad?”

Ha Eun-eung shook her head.
She had survived.
The famous streamer harassment controversy was over.
Just as Ihaechan let out a sigh of relief,
an urgent call came in, and urgently arriving was
an Awakened One from the association, codename Spider-Man.
He threw several monster corpses from the air,
trying to land with a superhero landing but slipped on the blood covering the floor,
landing clumsily with a loud thud.

“Ughhh... I’m Spider-Man from the Awakened One Association, responding to the urgent call. Sorry, but my legs are numb, so, uh... I’ll just lie down for a bit.”
“Unbelievable. Sigh.”
“…”

Jua-Young, shaking her head, and Ha Eun-eung, who recognized the Spider-Man, greeted him warmly.
With such a unique entrance,
it was impossible not to draw attention,
so the focus shifted away from Ihaechan.

‘Wow, I get to slip under the radar now.’

From now on, the Awakened One Association was no longer a tax parasite, but
the righteous staff of the people.
Ihaechan silently expressed gratitude toward the Spider-Man.