Martial Arts Returnee’s Game Broadcast - 109 chapter

"Is it over?"
"Yeah, it’s over."
"It’s totally over."

Han Chae-rin, Min Woo-seong, and the camera director all sighed in unison, pressing their foreheads in frustration.
It was hard to believe, but Hae Eung-eung even had a camera phobia.

"¡Estoy tan feliz (I’m so happy)! To meet the Silent Swordsman in person, it’s an honor!"
"はじめまして (Nice to meet you), I’m Isono Nanase. It’s a pleasure!"

The 3rd generation female stars of Royal Club Entertainment.
Elogio Sherry Nina.
Isono Nanase.
When Hae Eung-eung faced them, there was no hint of the usual tension or excitement one might feel meeting celebrities.
She casually shook hands, and even signed autographs when they handed her their papers, making it hard to tell who the real celebrity was.

"Wow! Crushing with a blunt weapon!"
"I’m the one who does the Silent Killing."

Despite receiving signatures with names like "Cause of Death" on them, the two entertainers were jumping with excitement, and the atmosphere was light and cheerful from the start of the shoot.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
The Silent Swordsman’s tension had been revealed.
Whenever she spotted the cameraman’s camera, her body froze, almost as if by instinct.
Her posture, facial expressions, and even her movements seemed awkward, causing the Royal Club filming crew to grow increasingly anxious.

"How does she notice every time?"
"Even if she hides, she notices?"
"She even notices when the camera zooms in from 50 meters away."

Her acute awareness was uncanny.
When following the cameraman's instructions, she even hid a small camera inside her bag or pretended not to notice the red recording light, acting as though she wasn’t being filmed.
Even when they used a tiny pen camera to sneak shots, Hae Eung-eung always seemed to sense it.

‘She still doesn’t realize the difference between Awakened eyes and regular people’s?’
This was all due to her being unaware of just how much sharper martial artists’ observational skills were compared to regular humans.

"We don’t have much time, so we’ll need to go in quickly and get used to the situation."
"Please take care of everything, teacher."
"Don’t worry, I’ll find a solution, considering the special circumstances."

While other guilds were scrambling to fill their assault teams with more capable Awakened, Haenampa, already committed to winning the residents' votes through broadcasting, boldly inserted a therapist into the team, replacing one Awakened staff member.
But when they entered the gate, the therapist’s brave face quickly crumbled.

‘Ahh, I should never have said anything in the heat of the moment. How am I supposed to fix the camera phobia of the most important person in this gate entrustment competition? It’s too much pressure!’

Min Woo-seong, reading the therapist’s thoughts, understood the seriousness of the situation but couldn’t help but feel a sense of doom.
Regardless of how the therapist felt, Haenampa's assault team entered the gate.

Inside the Myeongho-dong Gate
Level 1 Joint Zone.

The gate had a complex structure, resembling an ant’s nest.
The dungeons were scattered throughout, and the monsters were concentrated in them.
To gather magic for the Void Stones—used for the gate performance evaluation—it was necessary to target and clear the dungeons.

"Don’t worry too much. I’ve already researched the dungeon distributions, so I know where the high-value dungeons are and which ones are easiest to clear."

Fortunately, Haenampa had Shin Seong-gwak, a former CEO of Myeongho Guild.
Even though his health was failing, he had studied the distribution of dungeons while managing Myeongho Guild’s assets.
His diligence in this regard had now become an asset for Haenampa.

"I’ll do my best to help with the filming and the competition."
"Ah, but please, don’t show yourself on camera."
"What do you mean?"
"If the public finds out that we have a Magic Disease patient on the team, we’ll be bombarded with hate comments."
"Hmm. It’s a tough situation."

As a result, Shin Seong-gwak became a backup member, while Hae Eung-eung, who should have been on camera, struggled with awkwardness.

"Is this going to turn into a broadcast accident?"
"If she freezes up and gets attacked by monsters, we’re in big trouble."
"Over there! Under the Silent Swordsman’s feet!"

A trap monster had set a trap in a seemingly normal section of the terrain, waiting to pull Hae Eung-eung underground.
In a split second, Hae Eung-eung awkwardly reached out her hand.

Thwack!
Grrraaar!

The trap monster’s back caved in as it was struck with an awkward whip, and then its ankle was caught by another whip, hurling it into the air, where it crashed into the ceiling before falling to the ground.

"Whoa!"
"Wow!"
"Unbelievable!"

Nina and Nanase, the two entertainers, rushed at the monster.
As the trap monster trembled on the ground, Nina stabbed it with an ice spear, and the monster died instantly.
It was a typical hunting scene.

"Wasn’t that attack a bit awkward?"
"But the monster’s almost dead."
"Impressive. The Guild Leader really is the Guild Leader."

The trap monster was indeed no weakling.

With its [Deadly Trap] ability, it could dig traps and with [Stealth] it waited for an opportunity to strike.
If the combination of its [Surprise Attack] and special traits worked, the monster’s danger level would increase from F rank to C rank.

"Look at that monster’s claw color!"
"Black? Oh no, it’s a Paralysis Poison!"

This particular trap monster had the rare trait [Paralysis Poison], making its surprise attacks incapacitate the target instantly, leaving them unable to resist.
If it successfully hit someone, even a B-rank Awakened might suffer severe damage—or worse, die.
But for Hae Eung-eung, it was over in three seconds.

"Ah! Bomb beetles!"
"Poison mushrooms!"
"Fake rocks!"

Monsters continued to appear and ambush, but with the sharp observational skills of martial artists, not a single one of their movements went unnoticed.
Every sign of attack was caught, from the initial tremors to the monsters’ strategies.

"Are you sure this is necessary?"
"Even if it’s awkward, it doesn’t look like anything will go wrong."

The filming crew’s concerns were unnecessary.
Even though Hae Eung-eung didn’t wield a sword, only a whip, monsters appeared and were instantly defeated.
Nina and Nanase, who had been preparing to impress her, ended up taking care of the cleanup with overwhelming force.

"At this rate, our team will be overshadowed."
"Next time, let’s handle things ourselves."
"Okay."

With a nod, Hae Eung-eung stepped aside, awkwardly ceding the lead to Nina and Nanase.

"This time, let’s show them!"
"Okay."

Nina, energetic, and Nanase, calm.
Despite their contrasting personalities, they had completely different combat abilities.

Nina could freeze any material or air she touched.
With her frozen arrows, she froze both the terrain and monsters to create attack opportunities.

With her Vector Control ability, Nanase closed the distance instantly.
She quickly opened the monster’s arms with a light push and struck its exposed neck, severing it cleanly.
Her vector manipulation, which controlled physical forces as she pleased, allowed her to deal explosive damage at close range, despite her calm demeanor.

"Ah, I knew our girls were great."
"They won’t fall behind the Silent Swordsman."
"The gap between their personalities and combat styles is striking."

The "gap moe," the charm of showing a different side of themselves, was a trait Nina and Nanase shared.

"Look closely, doesn’t the Silent Swordsman have potential?"
"She might seem careless, but she’s thorough, right?"
"She was strong too."
"She’s definitely suited for this line of work."
"Right?"
"It’d be great if she didn’t get nervous."
"Yeah, exactly."

Thwack!

Suddenly, Hae Eung-eung swung her whip, breaking the cave wall.
A Golden Club combat agent rushed in.
Responsible for the safety of the filming crew and star awakeners, they couldn’t afford to ignore any accidents.

"Did we miss a monster?"
[There was a cockroach.]
"Ah… right… I see now..."

The situation, though, ended up being a minor incident.

Thwack!
[There’s one more.]

Despite the overreaction, the filming crew couldn’t stop sighing in frustration.

While Haenampa Guild had a relatively smooth start,
Taebaek Guild’s assault team was charging ahead with full force.

"Charge!"
"Ah!"
"Hit!"
"Ah!"
"Run!"
"Ahhh!"

Only the physically strong guild members from Taebaek Guild were in the assault team.
They didn’t bother searching for dungeons.
They simply destroyed everything in sight, confident that the dungeon would eventually appear as they wrecked everything in their path.

‘Such reckless idiots.’

Shin Do-cheol, who planned to settle things with the Silent Swordsman,
was saving his strength for a showdown with her,
but the assault team leader, filled with reckless enthusiasm, was too eager and overzealous.

‘Keep fighting like that. But does wrecking everything really lead to finding the gate?’

The assault team leader, who believed in his specs alone, couldn’t even find a nearby gate.
He was stubborn, wanting to fight with his subordinates for control, without realizing that the situation was much bigger than his petty arguments.
Instead of correcting the assault team leader’s mistakes, Shin Do-cheol remained silent, following quietly behind.

‘My job is to defeat Hae Eung-eung. The gate entrustment doesn’t matter much.’

The guild members of Taebaek Guild, focused only on proving their strength,
were starting to show small signs of discord at the beginning of their mission.

As Asan Guild prepared for their filming, everything was running smoothly.

"Hello, everyone~ This is BJ Han Hye-ji from Dungeon Assault Team. Today, we're covering the hot topic of Myeongho-dong Gate. Have you heard?
Three guilds are fiercely competing to take control of the gate that was abandoned by the original guild.
And here we are, participating in the gate entrustment competition, Asan Guild’s assault team!"

Jeong Ji-su, the Vice Guild Leader of Asan Guild, responded with a counter-strategy to Haenampa and Golden Club’s popularity stunts.

"Make sure to introduce the guild and attach the pre-recorded footage. It should be about 10 seconds long."
"Vice Guild Leader, I’m sorry, but editing is handled by our PD..."
"Quiet. Didn’t you hear from above? This time, everything is handled by us. Stop mentioning that PD who can’t even get into the gate, and just do as you’re told."

Using the advertisements placed by the broadcasting company as leverage,
Jeong Ji-su didn’t stop meddling in the filming schedule, video angles, and editing methods.
Despite the suffocating interference from her, Asan Guild’s dungeon strategy and filming proceeded smoothly.

"Those who brag about doing it in-house can be easily put in their place. Just do as I say."

Jeong Ji-su was confident.
With their average viewership of 8% on weekday broadcasts,
combined with the professional reporters and stable editing crew,
and Asan Guild’s dungeon-clearing skills,
with promotional support, there was no way any new program could compete with them.

‘Once today’s dungeon run is over, the first episode's edited footage should be ready.’

Jeong Ji-su watched as Yu Eun-ho, the Star Awakened member, showed off his abilities by effortlessly dismembering monsters with his telekinesis.
With that mask and that level of skill,
she couldn’t imagine them losing.

Crash!

"Ah! What should we do?"
"Cut, cut! It’s a trap monster!"
"If you get pulled into the swamp, you’re done! Grab something and hold on!"

It wasn’t until a minor accident happened that the calm was broken.

"Tch, how careless. What are your staff doing? It’s not our responsibility, so keep that in mind."
"Alright, just hurry and help us!"

Despite the minor accident where a filming crew member got injured,
it was within Jeong Ji-su’s expectations.

"I brought extra potions just in case. Get them in quickly and send them to the base camp."

The filming crew, now looking at her with growing frustration, couldn’t care less about Jeong Ji-su’s harsh demands.
She had pushed the filming schedule forward and made the team go on a forced march, even if it resulted in injury.
So what?
In this situation, the ones with the real power were Asan Guild and their advertisers, not the filming crew struggling with their budgets.

"We don’t have time. Just mosaic the scene with the broken leg and put a subtitle saying we took care of it quickly. Let’s resume filming with Eun-ho looking serious and worried."

Even as she pushed forward with an unreasonable filming schedule,
Jeong Ji-su was adamant about not taking any responsibility for the incident, while constantly meddling.
The filming crew for Dungeon Assault Team began to feel increasingly discouraged.

‘I really hope they fail.’
‘Is the Haenampa filming site like this?’
‘I heard the Silent Swordsman hits people with a whip. I hope it’s better than this. I really hope it is.’

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair.
The morale of the crew quickly plummeted.