Chapter 24: Growth (3)
Kang Min-hyuk’s daily life had changed.
He attended classes in the Department of Magic every day, and afterward, he would train in the Mana Room. At first, he was overwhelmed by the pressure of his new workload and the pressure in the Mana Room, but after a few days, he began to adjust.
He took a few deep breaths.
He was in the Mana Room, breathing regularly, but not without focus to do so.
The Mana in the Room quietly flowed where Min-Hyuk directed it.
He slipped into a trance—the whole thing took about an hour.
When he felt himself slip out of the trance, he knew it would soon be over.
The Mana smoothly ebbed away, back into the world he had coaxed it from. The blue-tint slowly filling the Room normalized, and the walls returned to the steely gray of the bunker.
Min-Hyuk reflected on his progress.
‘I did not belong in the Guardian Gate, but growing up, there has helped me.’
Min-Hyuk had given up his role as successor, which had freed him to study Magic freely. He just did not think that he would be so good at it.
Stage One was stable.
He planned to continue to practice at Stage One for about 15 more days before moving onto Stage Two in the Mana Room. He wanted to make sure he was ready.
Every day, training in the Mana Room had helped him create his Magic Circles much more quickly than other Wizards in his world, even though possible.
But there was one drawback…
The tearing process was painful, but that was something Min-Hyuk could deal with. The drawback was that it was also expensive. Using the Magic Circle in the Mana Room required six Mana Stones each time. And the Stones did not last forever. This made training every day extremely costly, and it would surely add up to be a great sum of money over time.
Fortunately, Min-Hyuk knew the value of red Mana Stones, which were treated as disposable in his World.
He did not know if Klinssman had intended to teach Min-Hyuk this secret because it was such basic knowledge in Kilnss’ world, but nevertheless, it had saved Min-Hyuk millions.
Although red Mana Stones were not considered valuable, they did contain Mana, so they were treated as Magical objects.
Min-Hyuk wanted to obtain a large supply of the red Stones. The problem was that he was being watched. Ever since he won the Magic Academic Contest, the media would not leave him alone. They studied his every move, hoping to learn his secrets.
If he was seen buying a large quantity of the red Stones…
Well, who knows what would happen.
It would probably lead to more people taking a sudden interest in the Stones, even if they did not know why they wanted them. And this would increase the price.
He couldn’t afford the secret to be revealed just yet…
He needed somebody to buy the Stones for him.
But who…?
Someone suddenly came to mind: Young-Cheol Ko.
Young-Cheol was not somebody that anybody paid any attention to…
It just might work.
***
Suhomun is not a small group.
The group leader is the Gatekeeper, Doek-Cheol Kang, and there are several branches of Warriors who have sworn their allegiance to him. These include the Gashin and the Pan-Soo Jeong families.
Young-Cheol Ko was the son of this latter family—the second son. His father’s name was Gomujin.
Min-Hyuk sat across from Young-Cheol, who stared back with dark circles under his eyes and thick, matted black hair.
Min-Hyuk was straight forward.
“Is the promise you made to me last time we saw each other still valid?” he asked.
Young-Cheol blinked.
“What promise was that?” he asked.
“You know. You said you’d give me your strength in whatever way you can in the future. I need it now.”
Young-Cheol stared.
Gomujin, Young-Cheol’s father, was in charge of the Intelligence Unit within the Guardian Gate. Outside of the Gate, the unit was well known for dealing with information passed along to the Gatekeeper. But inside the Gate…it was known for dealing with all kinds of dirty work…
Because of this reputation, Young-Cheol earned the nickname ‘Black Panther’—a beast in the dark.
Young-Cheol had trained in the shadows rigorously since he was a child. Unlike Min-Hyuk, his brother was to be the successor of his father. But his brother has also forfeited his role as successor. That meant that while Min-Hyuk has stepped down from his role, Young-Cheol had stepped up to fill his brother’s role.
For this reason, Min-Hyuk’s story didn’t sound very good to Young-Cheol.
He was wary.
“You were the successor to your father, and I was second in line. I had some power and resources backing me up but did not have the responsibility of being my father’s successor. I promised you my support, yes. But you stepped down. Why are you asking for my help now?”
His voice was cold.
What he said was true. Many people had looked up to Min-Hyuk and had great expectations for him as successor. He had let those people down. Young-Cheol understood this role, as he was thrust into it when his brother stepped down. Min-Hyuk had no excuse for his behavior.
Min-Hyuk met his eyes. He knew he had done what he needed to do. He was not ashamed of himself for doing it.
“I let you down. I know that. But the Guardian Gate is not mine. My father and his ancestors before him raised the Gate with skill and bloodshed. I am not a great Warrior like them—I don’t have those skills. If I had stayed on as the successor and eventually took over the Gate, it would have been a Warrior with little skill. I would have been a weak leader. And a leader who does not have power can be overpowered. The Gate would have fallen apart. I knew my brother would be a better successor than I would. I stepped down because of these facts.”
He was being honest.
Young-Cheol’s look had not softened.
Min-Hyuk continued.
“Things are different now. I have found my place and something I am good at. I want to hone my power and create something that is mine and that I can take credit and responsibility for in a way I never could do as a Warrior.”
Min-hyuk had hated that the only reason for his power within the Gate was that he was born into the right family. He wanted a bigger reason for being something than that he was simply born in.
The house of Suhomun was important to Min-Hyuk. But that was not where he belonged.
Young-Cheol scoffed.
“You’re right, as always,” he reluctantly admitted.
Young-Cheol and Min-Hyuk had been friends. But where Min-Hyuk always seemed to find an easy way out of things, Young-Cheol always seemed to end up with the burden of more work.
“What do you want me to do?” Young-Choel asked.
Min-Hyuk may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but Young-Cheol did have fun with him.
“I want you to create your own private information force. I’ll fund you. And the first project I want you to work on is this: I want you to gather as many red Mana Stones undetected as you can—hundreds or thousands of them. Can you do this?”
“Sure thing.” Young-Cheol’s eyes shone.
He thought this was a curious request, but he also thought it would be fun to create his own task force. It could come in handy in the future as well…
Min-Hyuk was pleased.
He had found himself a source of red Mana Stones that would be less detectable than a shadow.
***
Min-Hyuk had won a prize of 300 million dollars. But he needed a supply of red Mana Stones that would not run out any time soon.
He gave 10 million dollars to Young-Cheol to gather more Stones. He wanted to show his friend that he was good for the money and that he was serious.
Young-Cheol, however, did not bat an eye when Min-Hyuk presented him with the money. Young-Cheol dealt with large sums of money every day, and it bored him.
What interested him was the challenge of gathering up these Stones—this garbage—without anybody noticing.
Min-Hyuk returned to his training. After meeting with Young-Cheol, he trained for several days before asking himself an important question.
‘What level am I on?’ he wondered.
An old saying came to mind: “Know yourself, know your reality.”
He was happy to be studying in the Department of Magic, but he felt that it alone was not enough. He thought about joining the Department of Swordsmanship but did not know if joint membership would be allowed or helpful. Most of the battle skills they practiced seemed like childish games.
There had to be another way…
Min-Hyuk settled on the idea of Dungeon Hunting.
There are two ways of hunting Monsters. The first is finding a Monster at a Gate where a crack in space randomly appears. The second is waiting at an already open crack—a dungeon—where the Gate is already open, but no Monsters had yet appeared.
Min-Hyuk chose the second way.
Dungeon Hunting was regulated, but anyone could hunt if they had the authority to do so. You could get permission to hunt directly from the Hunter’s Association or join a party that already had permission to hunt.
Min-Hyuk decided to look for a party to join.
Many listings were posted looking for hunters, but when Min-Hyuk narrowed it down to parties looking for a Wizard to join them, the number decreased dramatically.
Finally, he found what he was hoping for:
“Wanted: Wizard to Join Class-D Dungeon Party”
The party has three members who get along just fine. We are looking for a Second Circle Wizard or above to join us in a secondary role. Instead of being an offensive player, we are looking for help maintaining balance in the battle. Rewards will be divided 3:3:3:1. If interested, please send us a message.”
A Class-D dungeon.
It was perfect. A Class-D dungeon would be the perfect environment for experimenting with Second Circle Magic.
He also liked the idea of being a secondary member of the team—whoever wrote the ad knew how to use a Wizard in battle. The reward also met the industry standard.
Min-Hyuk sent a message and arranged a meeting with the party leader the next day.
“Hello,” he said, “my name is Klinssman.”
Min-Hyuk had decided it was best to use an alias for his first party hunt as a Wizard.
