I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

Close to a thousand Rage Howlers lay lifeless, their eyes devoid of light.

A mountain of corpses.
Sticky, dark red blood coated every inch of the wide cavern floor.
The once-deafening noise had finally subsided.

“Haaah—”

In that sea of corpses and blood, I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“Phew—”

It was a process of refinement to pull my senses, which had sunk into unconsciousness, back into reality.

When I suppressed the over-secreting adrenaline, a hollow sense of fatigue and intense physical exhaustion washed over me all at once.

Stagger—

I pressed my hand to my forehead and let a wry smile creep onto my lips.

“Whew, no matter how many times I experience this feeling, I can’t get used to it.”

-Jin Yuha…

“Hm?”

-You’ve returned.

“Returned? Wasn’t I acting like usual?”

-…Usual, yes. Well… you could say that.

Shin Se-hee’s voice betrayed a hint of confusion.

‘Does she think I was acting differently than usual?’

Oh, that might be it.
I probably displayed movements impossible under normal circumstances and exceeded obvious limits of strength.

-That, um, technique… it seems to have a larger backlash than expected.

“Yeah, it does. I’m sure tomorrow will be a muscle soreness day.”

Rotating my stiff wrist, I lightly stretched. If I didn’t do this properly after using Muah (a state of no self), I wouldn’t be able to move at all tomorrow.

“Hmm, will the others complain that my performance tomorrow isn’t great?”

While I was stretching my body thoroughly—

-Jin Yuha, please take off the restraining device for a moment.

“Huh?”

‘Oh, right. I’m still wearing the restraining device.’
Well, since we weren’t awakened criminals, this device could be easily removed with a single button press.

When I pressed the protruding red button on the device—

Click.
With that sound, the restraint released from my wrist.

Whumm—

At once, the suppressed mana surged through my body, filling every corner of my meridians and invigorating my muscles.

“Hoooaahhh…”

My body, worn out from fatigue, quickly returned to normal.
The irresistible sensation made me let out a satisfied sigh.

‘…This feels amazing.’

As I basked in the recovery, a thought struck me.

Couldn’t this restraining device be used to infinitely train in Muah?
It’s like that scene in Naruto, where Rock Lee unlocks limits by removing his weighted ankle bands.

‘Of course, I’m not dumb enough to try something like that.’

Why bother hiding my power unnecessarily? I had no interest in such “secret power” antics.

However, as a training tool, this could change things.

Whenever I trained alone in Muah, the training ground would end up so catastrophically destroyed that it couldn’t be auto-repaired.

The problem was, the high-level repair system was made by Lina.
In other words, there was no one else to fix it but her.
Each time, I had to call Lina to repair the damage.

‘She’s been looking increasingly annoyed as if the unspoken favor is wearing thin.’

But with this restraining device?

I could train in Muah without worrying about repairs!
Even Lina might appreciate fewer headaches caused by me.

“This is the best.”

A grin spread across my lips.

-J-Jin Yuha?

“Hm? What’s up?”

-Uhm, have you not fully returned yet? Or maybe the aftereffects are lingering? If the risk of this technique is higher than expected, it could disrupt the plan…

“No, I’ve returned. Why?”

-Just now… your smile…

“Huh? Smile? Isn’t it the same as always?”

-Uh, well, if you say so, sure…

Shin Se-hee responded in a hesitant voice.

Was I really acting differently? I tilted my head, puzzled by her reaction.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, after Jin Yuha and Shin Se-hee left for reconnaissance,
an awkward silence descended among Lee Yoo-ri and the rest of the party.

‘Ugh, Jin Yuha! This kind of role is way beyond me!’

Lee Yoo-ri screamed internally as she nervously gauged the reactions of the other party members.

No one had retired to sleep, nor had anyone broken the silence.
They just sat in a circle, staring blankly at the campfire.

Had anyone been explicitly at fault, Lee Yoo-ri wouldn’t have hesitated to confront them.

But the person in question wasn’t here.
And with Jin Yuha, the one who usually managed the atmosphere, also absent…

There was no way she could just blurt out things like, “Tomorrow will be fine!” or “Cheer up and let’s keep going!”
Especially when she herself agreed with the discontent and worry that Kang Do-hee and the others felt.

In fact, her anxiety was growing.

‘From the next Demon Realm Gate, Shin Se-hee will be leading us? And Jin Yuha said it’ll be a tough one…’

Jin Yuha was playful but never made baseless remarks.
If he said it would be tough, it surely would be.

So, like it or not, they had to adjust to Shin Se-hee’s leadership.

Still, just deciding to accept her didn’t make it any easier.
Everyone had grown too accustomed to Jin Yuha’s leadership—body and mind alike.

‘Shin Se-hee’s leadership… it won’t change overnight.’

In all fairness, there wasn’t anything wrong with Shin Se-hee’s guidance today.
Had they not experienced Jin Yuha’s leadership, they might have been impressed.
Even Shin Se-hee herself probably felt she wasn’t meeting expectations.

Sigh—

With no solution in sight, Lee Yoo-ri let out a long, deep sigh.
Unknowingly, her thoughts spilled out aloud.

“Ugh… Shin Se-hee… Can’t Jin Yuha just keep leading— huh!”

Realizing what she’d said, Lee Yoo-ri clamped her hands over her mouth.
But it was too late.

All the party members’ eyes were now on her.

“…Lee Yoo-ri, do you… think that too?”

Sophia asked hesitantly.
Cold sweat dripped down Lee Yoo-ri’s forehead.

She needed to come up with an excuse. Jin Yuha had entrusted her with managing the atmosphere here. She couldn’t badmouth an absent teammate.

“Um, well, it’s just… since we’ll need to rely on Shin Se-hee’s leadership from the next Demon Realm Gate… and Jin Yuha said it’ll be dangerous, right? But, um… we’re not fully accustomed to her leadership yet, so I thought maybe we need a bit more time to adapt…”

Yoo-ri desperately tried to come up with excuses, blurting out whatever came to mind. But to her surprise, her words sparked an unexpected, fervent response.

“Exactly! Sure, Se-hee is amazing; she’s almost reached the level of Yuha’s leadership! But we’re still more used to following Yuha’s lead. Changing the command of the Demon Realm Gate operations in this situation seems unreasonable. Maybe if we had more time to adjust.”

—Lim Ga-eul.

“Shin Se-hee… I don’t know… she treats me like a tool. If Yuha did that, I wouldn’t mind, but Se-hee feels… different…”

—Sophia.

“Our benefactor lets me see more. Se-hee… good. But not for commanding.”

—Ichika.

“The instructor trusts me more, but Se-hee-senpai… it feels like she doesn’t trust me at all.”

—Alice.

‘Oh no… This is turning into a full-blown gossip session!’

Yoo-ri clutched her head in despair. This wasn’t her intention at all. She had to do something to stop this.

“Still… this is just the first day…”

She was about to suggest giving Se-hee another chance when—

“She doesn’t deserve it.”

Kang Do-hee, who had been leaning silently against the wall with her eyes closed, suddenly dropped a bombshell.

“!”

Yoo-ri desperately glanced at Kang Do-hee, silently begging her to stop, but her lips moved again.

“I refuse to be anyone’s tool for self-satisfaction or self-actualization. If she commands tomorrow, I’m not following.”

Oh no.

Yoo-ri closed her eyes tightly.

“Tool for self-satisfaction or self-actualization”—those were harsh words.

And Do-hee outright declared a boycott.

The worst part was that her words resonated deeply with the group’s emotions.

Even Yoo-ri felt the same. So how could the others feel any different?

Yoo-ri bit her lip and looked around at the rest of the team.

“She’s right. We’re not Se-hee’s tools.”
“Should we talk about reinstating Yuha as our commander?”
“Agreed.”
“I’m fine with the instructor.”
“The only one who can lead me is the golden mutt.”

The team, which had been silent just moments ago, was now passionately voicing their opinions.

‘…Yuha, I’m sorry.’

Yoo-ri closed her eyes, resigned, and spoke:

“…So, how can we get Yuha to lead us again?”

Yeah, I think this is the right decision too.

.

.

.

On the way back to the hideout.

I was planning to point out the problems with today’s leadership and highlight why Se-hee needed to take command moving forward.

“You want me to take charge again?”

“Yes. While it’s helpful for me to hear your feedback and improve, that approach won’t work right now.”

“So what’s your plan?”

“I’ll negotiate with the team.”

“…Negotiate?”

“Yes.”

What was she thinking? I glanced at her gemstone, growing slightly uneasy.

“Hehehe, I’ll make them see reason. They won’t be able to refuse me.”

Se-hee chuckled darkly.

‘…This will be fine, right?’

I didn’t know anymore.

‘But it should be okay.’

I had my own backup plan.

I left the care of Kang Do-hee and the other team members to Soup.

By now, they were probably all raring to go with a “Let’s do better tomorrow!” or “Let’s give her one more chance!” kind of mindset.

That would help Se-hee regain her confidence and lead effectively.

Yeah, I believe in you, Soup!

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.

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Back at the hideout.

“Yuha! Be our commander again!”

At the forefront of the passionate cries for leadership change stood none other than Yoo-ri.

‘…Seriously, Yoo-ri?’