“If I cut you down, does that make me the strongest in the world?”
The words left Kim Donghu’s—no, Musashi’s—lips, and Sasaki flinched.
Was that really human presence he was feeling?
“He’s a demon obsessed with the sword.”
All Musashi held was a single wooden sword,
carved from a boat oar.
Nothing else.
And yet, Sasaki felt as though he were facing an entire army alone.
“Does that question even matter right now?”
Sasaki tried to bring back his usual laid-back demeanor.
“If it didn’t matter, I wouldn’t be here.”
But Musashi crushed that calm with confident, unrelenting steps.
“This path exists to determine the strongest. How could it not matter?”
Two warriors standing face to face with swords in hand—
what need was there for further conversation?
To counter the long sword, he wielded the wooden one carved from the oar.
Lifting it lightly with one hand, he pointed it at Sasaki—
and Sasaki was shocked, though in a different sense.
“He’s holding that? With one hand? So effortlessly?”
More precisely, Fujino Ren was the one surprised.
They’d told him not to worry about the weight, since Kim Donghu could lift anything—just focus on the form.
The sword weighed around 4kg, and Kim Donghu was holding it in one hand.
No—“holding” wasn’t the right word.
Swoosh.
He moved it freely.
Like it was a pencil.
He wielded the weapon as though he truly were a swordsman of that era.
“No... maybe even more than that.”
And so, Fujino Ren found himself forcibly pulled into Kim Donghu’s world.
His nerves adjusted automatically to Donghu’s tempo,
and the lines he’d memorized began to flow out naturally.
“Is it that fun to kill and be killed?”
“What matters is the process. The outcome doesn’t mean anything.”
Was he talking about the path to becoming the strongest?
He wanted to ask more,
but with Musashi raising that wooden sword high, there was no room to continue.
“Let’s play.”
And with that—
Fwip!
Musashi kicked off the ground and flew.
“Gasp!”
Clatter.
Sasaki dropped his sword, startled by the sight of Musashi literally flying at him.
“NG!”
The NG call came immediately.
“I’m sorry!”
Fujino Ren apologized in a rush,
and everyone on set—except Kim Donghu—instantly understood the reason behind the NG.
“He really did that... I can’t believe it.”
“Right? And without wires.”
He had no wire attached.
He had truly launched himself off the ground—
even while holding a 4kg sword in one hand.
Four kilograms might not sound like much,
but how was he supposed to act with that weight?
As the crew was still buzzing about Kim Donghu’s unbelievable skill—
“Musashi didn’t stick to form, right? Do you think he’d have used Tsubame Gaeshi?”
“Huh?”
Kim Donghu, quietly gripping the wooden sword, seemed to be thinking. Then he said:
“This is... done like this, right?”
He brought the blade down diagonally with both hands,
then skillfully spun it around and struck upward again in one fluid motion.
“?”
“...?”
“?!”
The entire set froze for a moment.
Using a 4kg sword over 90cm long,
he had just executed a perfect Tsubame Gaeshi.
And he’d done it without a single CG effect, purely with strength and sword sense?
From the moment the blade came down—
to the flawless reversal upward at the end—
That sword technique, known for its blistering speed,
was deceptively simple-looking—but incredibly difficult in practice.
The length alone made it nearly impossible to control.
And to execute it cleanly and quickly? That was a whole different level.
But he’d just done it? An actor?
“...I think I shouldn’t have come.”
The Japanese swordsmanship advisor they’d brought in stood there, mouth agape.
They’d invited someone better than me as the actor—why was I even called in?
It almost felt like a joke.
That’s how perfect Kim Donghu’s swordsmanship was.
And meanwhile, completely unaware of everyone’s thoughts—
“I figured it’d be better to replicate it at a high level of accuracy.”
That casual comment from Kim Donghu
sounded completely different to everyone else on set.
“You can all do this too, right? Just keep up.”
Maybe that’s why.
No one could bring themselves to respond.
They just silently vowed to give this shoot everything they had.
***
Mid-June.
After the long, long shoot for Musashi had finally wrapped—
“You really worked hard. We’ll contact you again when the final cut is ready.”
“So—straight to Cannes? Next year?”
“That’s right. We’re aiming for May 2022.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
ㄴ3.4M subs and you’re leaving two videos to rot? Really?
just hearing “workout video” sent people’s expectations through the roof.
“Huh?”
Then came the confusion.
He’d said it was a diet vlog,
but the food being laid out on the table didn’t look the least bit normal.
—“First, I’m gonna lightly eat 100 pieces of sushi.”
Lightly? Did he not understand the meaning of the word?
And just like that—
with the video sped up but with no other edits—
Donghu scarfed down 100 pieces of sushi.
But it didn’t end there. He immediately followed it up with protein shakes.
And as if that wasn’t enough, he said it still wasn’t satisfying and started eating salad.
“Did he just throw in five chicken breasts?”
“Wait... is this a 10,000-calorie challenge or something?”
The sheer volume was unreal.
It was like he was trying to explain why elephants get fat even though ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) they’re herbivores.
That’s how it felt watching him eat.
People were gradually stunned by just how much he could put away.
Sure, everyone knew he ate well—but this much?
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
Like some secret recipe on a pro cooking show—
—“I’m 80kg right now, and I’ve been starving trying to maintain it. So I’m bulking back up to my usual weight.”
To gain around 20kg, the diet he was showing off was downright inhuman.
It made people wonder if his digestive system was made of steel.
ㄴAt this point he could just be Korea’s top mukbang channel
ㄴJust his meal size alone puts other guys to shame
ㄴHe’s already past 10,000 calories by the second meal
And it wasn’t just eating, either.
—“Today I’m going to do some light sparring with my training partner and mentor, Coach Sangha.”
—“Huh? Wait, this is for YouTube?”
—“Yup. Wanna say hi?”
—“Of course! Hello! I’m Baek Sangha! Please be nice to me!”
With that lighthearted intro,
footage of Donghu and Baek Sangha training followed.
To keep it from dragging, Donghu sped up the footage—
ㄴYo watch it at 0.25x speed—this training is insane
ㄴI thought someone literally flew through the air in the middle—turns out, yeah, they did
ㄴSangha’s a legit fridge in person, and even he got tossed around
ㄴThis speed-up is crazy—looks like a four-hour workout compressed down
People ended up slowing the video down just to catch everything.
For the average viewer, it was just plain awesome.
But for the contestants of Physical 300?
“...Wait, so that’s the ‘physical’ we’re up against?”
“He’s telling us to take it seriously if we don’t wanna get steamrolled?”
“This is Donghu sending a warning—if you try to make it boring, he’ll wreck you.”
They took it as a chilling threat.
And there was still about a year left until the filming of Physical 300.
Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Life is Easier If You're Handsome