I Became a Swordsmanship Genius in the Game

Chapter 01. Surviving in the Demon World

[…I curse this damn world.]

The character inside the monitor was screaming.

The character's eyes, burning with hatred for the world, looked as if they would pierce right through him.

Soon after, the words [Game Over] appearing on the monitor informed him that the character had failed to reach the ending in this simulation as well.

The man sitting in front of the monitor.

Hyunwoo scratched his head.

“…Did I make it too difficult?”

‘Drrrk’―

In the empty office, Hyunwoo spun his chair around and clutched his head.

‘The deadline… is tomorrow….’

Hyunwoo stared at the title of the game he was updating on the monitor.

⌜Surviving in the Demon World⌟

This game, often called by its abbreviated name ‘Masal’ rather than its full name, could be described as the only hit title from the company Hyunwoo worked for.

As for why the game's name was what it was… there was a trivial reason that the initial plan had started as a light indie game.

‘Masal’ was a typical RPG-style console game.

It could also be called a survival simulation game, focusing on stopping the ‘calamity’ and surviving in the Demon World.

And Hyunwoo was the lead developer who had created this game.

[…I curse this damn world.]

Hyunwoo looked at the character on the monitor, who was endlessly spouting curses.

This simulation was also a complete failure.

No matter how much failure was the mother of success, it felt like his spirit would break from the hundreds, even thousands, of failures.

Still, he had to analyze it.

With a deep sigh, Hyunwoo examined the character’s stat window.

⌜Name : Rafael

Title : Indomitable Seeker

Skill : Sky Piercing Swordsmanship (5-Star)

Unique Traits : Reckless Strength, Restorative Body, Magical Body

General Traits : PhysiqueⅢ, SwiftnessⅡ, BalanceⅠ, Magic PowerⅡ⌟

The titles or traits might have been lacking, but he had taken the utmost care to obtain the skills.

Before the end of the world arrived, there was no more time to get any stronger.

The game's insane difficulty didn't wait for the character to grow.

He couldn't even blame anyone if he wanted to.

Because the person who created the insane difficulty was himself, the developer.

“The deadline is right around the corner, what have I done….”

There were several reasons why the company had ordered a large-scale update for such an old game.

But most of them were excuses; the real reason was that all their subsequent titles had failed miserably.

That was why they decided to extend the lifespan of ‘Masal’ through an update.

In other words, the company's survival was at stake, yet absurdly, Hyunwoo was in a situation where he was solely in charge of this update.

‘What can I do? I’m the only one who can.’

A development period of 10 years alone.

Excluding the developers who had dropped out along the way, Hyunwoo was the only one of the original developers still remaining.

Since it was a game like a child he had birthed himself, he was participating in this update with a sense of duty.

However, the difficulty of the updated game was the problem.

‘…What was I thinking, doing something so crazy?’

The initial draft for the ‘Masal’ update wasn't like this.

The reason it became an insane game with a difficulty that no one could clear.

It was, so to speak, an accident.

―Are you preparing an EASY version right now? Is HARD not coming out?

The provocation of a veteran user who played the test version.

That had wounded his pride as a developer.

The result was the difficulty before his eyes.

[…I curse this damn world.]

“I’m sorry. Stop cursing already….”

No matter how many times he repeated the simulation, far from reaching the ending, only the names of the characters who died midway and went to their graves piled up.

When he realized his mistake with the terrible difficulty and tried to revert it, the deed was already done.

Just as the balance was broken beyond repair, the game files were also tangled in spaghetti code.

‘…I’m screwed.’

He clutched his head at the dizzying thought that to adjust the difficulty again, he would have to start from the original source file.

Just as Hyunwoo was breaking down in real-time amidst the desperate situation.

‘Tiring’―

Hyunwoo, who had lifted his head at the familiar notification sound from his smartphone, began to operate it.

“A deadline’s a deadline, but I gotta do what I gotta do….”

A notification that the resources in the idle mobile game Hyunwoo had been enjoying recently were all gathered.

All he had to do was acquire the collected resources and set it to idle again.

The game's name was ‘Idle & Synthesis’.

It was a name just as uninspired as ‘Surviving in the Demon World’.

‘Tiring’―

He collected resources like skills and weapons.

‘Tiring’―

He synthesized the collected resources to empty the inventory.

The moment he switched it back to idle mode and was about to put his smartphone away, something flashed in his mind.

“Hold on.”

Hyunwoo touched the screen that was changing to power-saving mode again.

A cute character was moving diligently and fighting.

Gathering the resources obtained from fighting….

“Synthesis.”

It was a system where you gathered Grade 1 skills to create a Grade 2 skill, and gathered Grade 2 skills to create a Grade 3 skill.

It was a method that gave the feeling of becoming endlessly stronger through simple processes.

Skill and Synthesis.

Those two keywords breathed inspiration into Hyunwoo's mind.

After the update, the biggest reason for being unable to reach the ending of ‘Masal’ was that the character had far too little time to grow.

That was why stopping the Demon World's destruction was utterly impossible.

‘If there isn’t enough time for growth… I just have to shorten the time, right?’

‘Tat’―

Before the brilliant inspiration vanished, Hyunwoo went and sat in front of the monitor again.

‘Make it possible to get stronger quickly through skill synthesis.’

Combine two 1-Star skills to make a 2-Star skill.

A method of creating the next higher grade by synthesizing two of the lower grade.

The idea was good.

However, before applying it to all skills, there was a need to narrow the scope and test it out first.

Because the difficulty could become too easy.

‘First… let’s try making it with only the most commonly used swordsmanship.’

Swordsmanship, the most versatile among the various skill fields.

Hyunwoo gathered only the swordsmanship category and began to create new traits.

⌜Trait : Master of Copying

Description : ‘The grass is always greener on the other side.’

You can steal another person’s swordsmanship just by watching their swordplay.⌟

⌜Trait : Swordsmanship Genius

Description : ‘Learn one thing and you will know ten.’

Your proficiency in swordsmanship will increase easily. The conditions for mastering swordsmanship are relaxed.⌟ Follow current novels on novelfire(.)net

⌜Trait : Swordsmanship Synthesis

Description : ‘The pinnacle of swordsmanship is ultimately connected as one.’

You can combine two lower-grade swordsmanship skills to create a higher-grade swordsmanship skill. Additional slots for learning various swordsmanship skills are added.⌟

The ‘Master of Copying’ trait for easily learning swordsmanship and the ‘Swordsmanship Genius’ trait for quickly raising proficiency.

And through these, the most important ‘Swordsmanship Synthesis’ trait, which allowed one to synthesize the created swordsmanship skills.

Hyunwoo looked at the newly created traits with a proud expression.

But he didn't know yet.

Just by looking at the created traits, he couldn't know exactly what level of performance they would show.

A simulation was needed.

He opened the in-game map and searched for a location.

“A place to test. Lots of varied, low-grade swordsmanship skills. And also….”

It had to be a place where one could easily raise swordsmanship proficiency.

A place that satisfied all these conditions and from which he could extract meaningful data.

“The Arena. This is it.”

Since battles unfolded ceaselessly and the forms of combat were diverse, it seemed like he could extract good data on the new traits.

“Alright. Dummy settings.”

He created a very common human gladiator in the Arena.

A common character who had only basic abilities other than the traits Hyunwoo had newly created.

Because the weaker the character, the easier it would be to feel the power of the traits.

The plan was perfect.

After finishing all the settings, Hyunwoo pressed the start button.

― Loading….

“…Huh? What’s with the loading just for adding a few traits.”

The performance of the PC for testing was good enough to run 100 simulations simultaneously without any issues.

There was no way it should take this long.

The thought that something was strange was brief.

[…I curse this damn world.]

The character that had failed in the last simulation appeared on the screen.

“What’s this now. A bug?”

He should have gone to his grave for sure?

Even when Hyunwoo irritably operated the PC, nothing worked.

[…I curse this damn world.]

[…I curse this damn world.]

[…I curse this damn world.]

The person who had created ‘this damn world’ was none other than Hyunwoo himself.

It felt as if the thousands of characters he had sent to their graves until now were pouring curses on him, giving him a chilling feeling.

“Ah! I’m going to lose my mind. Really!”

Just as he was on the verge of developing a neurosis from the endlessly repeating sound of curses, a notification window saying ‘Loading Complete’ popped up.

But the office was quiet.

‘Flutter’―!

Inside the office, only a set of clothes, presumed to be Hyunwoo's, was left behind.

* * *

A cool chill climbing up Hyunwoo's back seeped into his mind.

‘…It’s cold.’

His hand, which he reflexively stretched out to lift a blanket, felt a cool sensation.

No, it was a dreadful chill that went beyond coolness.

Something cold and hard was felt to the touch.

‘…Huh?’

His eyes flew open at that clear abnormality.

The sight that entered his slowly blinking eyes was of people wearing ridiculous scrap metal.

‘Clang’―

As he tried to get up, he realized that the ridiculous scrap metal was also on his own body.

At the loud sound of iron clashing against iron, people's gazes gathered on him.

Flinching for a moment, Hyunwoo stopped moving and looked around.

A musty and damp smell floated in the dark space.

The hard floor was filled with a chill, and the gloom on people’s faces was like that of death row inmates awaiting their execution.

Adding to that, seeing the iron bars blocking all sides, this place was….

‘…A prison?’

The more the information entering his head was combined, the greater his confusion grew.

‘Why am I in a place like this….’

As Hyunwoo looked around, his eyes met with someone’s.

A bald man with a dirty impression.

He suddenly approached and yelled abruptly.

“You stupid bastard! How can you be sleeping your ass off in a situation like this!”

He had just fallen asleep, and now he was awake.

Instead of retorting to the stupid-looking guy's stupid remark, he just stared at him blankly.

‘So. What exactly is this situation?’

It was too short a time to solve the countless questions rising in his head.

Because even the sight of the bald man getting angry in front of him felt like a dream.

Just as Hyunwoo was staring at the bald man with a dazed expression.

‘Tiring’―!

A cheerful electronic sound, unfitting for the situation, echoed in his ears.

For a moment, a translucent window appeared before his eyes.

⌜Surviving in the Demon World

You have now been thrown into a new dimension, the ‘Demon World’. Please survive in the Demon World through a special blessing.⌟

⌜Converting the special blessing into traits. Applying the converted traits to the status window.

Traits : Swordsmanship Synthesis, Master of Copying, Swordsmanship Genius⌟

It was a very familiar window.

The initial screen that appears when starting ‘Masal’.

Something even more familiar began to appear.

⌜Name : Kim Hyunwoo

Title : None

Skill : □

Unique Traits : Swordsmanship Synthesis, Master of Copying, Swordsmanship Genius⌟

“…Shit.”

The moment he realized it was the status window from ‘Masal’, a curse reflexively shot out.

It seemed he was having this kind of dream after staying up for several nights working on the update.

“…What? Shit? This bastard wants to die!”

Once he realized it was a dream, the bald man spitting and fuming in front of him felt like an illusion.

He’d probably wake up soon, now that he realized it was a dream.

‘Whoosh’―

Even as the bald man's right hook approached, he felt no fear whatsoever.

Because it was a dream, after all.

‘Thwack’―

“Aargh!”

Stars flashed before his eyes.

As he grabbed his hit cheek and rolled on the floor, the scrap metal on his body clattered loudly.

‘Thwack― Thwack―!’

He faced the merciless violence while covering his head.

The vivid pain that he shouldn't be able to feel if it were a dream was felt just as it was.

Someone stepped up and was holding the bald man back.

“———!”

“——————!”

Perhaps his eardrum had been hit in the process; instead of their voices, a ringing sound filled his ears.

‘Ptui―’

He tried to spit out the blood that filled his mouth, but it just trickled down— ‘jureureuk―’.

His hands and feet began to tremble.

It wasn't because of the pain from the unfamiliar violence, but because the current situation felt so vivid.

The pain in his mouth and the sticky blood trickling down.

There was no way this was a dream.

This was reality.

‘What… is all this….’

As he sat there blankly, watching the bright red blood fall onto his trembling hand.

His damaged eardrum function must have returned, as he began to hear voices.

“—Stop it! Aren’t we all in the same boat?!”

“Let— go! I said let go!”

The people before his eyes no longer felt like a dream.

The spit coming from the agitated bald man’s mouth and the wrinkles etched on the face of the man holding him back were felt vividly.

‘…Don’t tell me this is real?’

The gravity of the situation suddenly hit him.

Hyunwoo’s gaze once again rested on the status window.

⌜…You have now been thrown into a new dimension, the ‘Demon World’.⌟

For real.

“Surviving in the Demon World… you say?”

It seemed he had damn well entered the game he himself had created.