Chapter 132
When Kwak Chun-Sik joined the Academy, a new course was created.
It was called Applied Theory of Aura and Mana.
It was a perfect fit for him.
“There’s a saying that most famous heroes and researchers have a habit of saying ‘Aura and mana are living things.’ Well, it’s understandable that they’d say that, given that they’re actually blessed with mana and have good sensitivity to it. Yes, I can, but-”
With a bang, he slapped the board with his aura hand.
“Consider it all bullshit, at least in my class.”
Kwak Chun-sik smirks, having captured the students’ attention for a moment.
“Aura and mana are tools that you use. I don’t suppose any of you think you can befriend a tool, do you?”
At this, Mari flashes a hand.
“Ha, but Instructor. Mastering mana, well, that feels very different.”
“What? You, let’s see, what’s your name……Marie Nate?”
“Hic!”
Kwak Chun-sik walked up to Marie and looked at her carefully, then shook his head and quickly turned away.
“Okay, I guess we can consider you a friend.”
“……?”
“The one with the high mana sensitivity that daydreamers talk about. One who is blessed by mana. You’re one of them, so you don’t have to think of yourself as controlling.”
“Ah……!”
As he had said, Marie Nate was in the category of those with high innate sensitivity, so Kwak Chun-sik’s words could be said to be correct.
“From the looks of it, it doesn’t look like Ji-Hyun has gathered just ordinary children, so I’ll have to explain it a bit more easily.”
As he spoke, Kwak Chun-sik drew a human form on the blackboard.
“This is you. Most Awakened have a core called the Mana Vessel and an Aura Vessel in their bodies, and an external Mana or Aura that you absorb and use. By the way, I don’t need to explain the difference between mana and aura, it simply depends on how you go through the refining process, so don’t worry too much about it.”
Perfect. That’s it.
Drawing a star in the middle of the human form, Kwak Chun-sik continues his explanation.
“The question is how the body receives the outside energy. In the case of the child I just asked, she has a high ‘sensitivity’ to external energy, which means she can fill her body with it if she needs to. We call it being gifted. And──”
He stopped talking and looked at me.
“The opposite also exists. One who willfully draws in external mana, forcibly refines it, and uses it for his own purposes. We call it having a high degree of control. Now, the question is this. Which one am I? For you kids, I’m going to explain the method in a nutshell.”
Huh? He’s telling us about that at this point?
What he’s trying to say is something that Kwak Chun-sik doesn’t announce until later in the game.
It was something he should have announced when he came out of seclusion in Gangwon province to regain his lost honor and fortune.
“First, gather mana and aura in your hands. I don’t care what form they take. Just as clear as the eye can see.”
At his words, all the other children close their eyes and begin to channel their own shimmering energy into their hands.
“Boss. Can’t you do it?”
Jin-woo, who has already compressed a sphere of wind in his hand, asks, looking at me as I sit there in a daze.
“This is what I always do after eating.”
A little more application here and I’ll be practicing my usual aura maneuvers.
So for now, I just watch the other kids do it.
“Here’s what you’re going to do, you’re going to squeeze your hand. The aura or mana in your hands will either be absorbed into your body or dispersed outward. It’s a simple test, but it’s a sure sign of your class.”
One by one, the children began to clench their fists.
However, as Kwak Chun-sik had predicted, most of the children’s auras were absorbed into their bodies and then dispersed and disappeared.
Unlike Mari, they had no talent for mana sensitivity.
Except for a few.
“Oh. Did you see Eugene, that mana scattered, right, I’m a genius, right?”
“Boss Boss, was I ever a…… genius? Mana just blends into the wind and disappears?”
Aside from Mari, there were about three or four people, including Jin-woo and Se-ah, who reacted to the mana sensitivity. The rest all absorbed it into their bodies.
……And there was an exception that fell into neither category.
“……Instructor. What is this?”
Young-jae cautiously asks Kwak Chun-Sik, since his mana has moved to his fist despite clenching his hand.
The mana lingering in his fist burns like fire.
“I explained everything to you earlier, but what─── no, what is this?”
Genuinely surprised, he leaps up and rushes over to Young-jae, then crouches down to look at Young-jae’s fist, where the mana has solidified.
“The magic power has solidified…or should I say it’s stalled?”
He suddenly starts muttering to himself, then slowly pushes his hand against Young-jae mana.
However, even with his prodding, the mana only stood still as if it had hardened.
“Heh. That’s it. That’s it.”
Kwak Chun-sik nodded as if he understood and stood up.
“Are you in Eugene club?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah.”
“See you after school.”
This was probably the last thing he wanted to talk about in public like this.
‘That’s cool.’
* * *
Kwak Chun-sik came to our club after school, just as he had said in class, and immediately sat down on the couch, ordered a coffee, and looked at Young-jae.
“You. Is your teacher the one with the terrible middle school nickname Arcobaleno?”
“Huh? Ah, that’s right.”
“Isn’t that right? After all, I may be old, but I’m not senile.”
He bursts out laughing, delighted that his prediction was correct.
“Here’s your coffee.”
“Yep. Thanks…… What is this, this stale water? Coffee?”
Then he sees the Americano that Jin-woo has brought him and his face crumples.
“What? It’s coffee, right? Americano.”
“What? I don’t know what an Americano is. I know coffee. Mixed coffee?!”
“Ah.”
“You know what! Get me a mixed coffee!”
“Neng…….”
Shaking his head at the sight of Jin-woo shuffling away again, Kwak Chun-sik sighs again and focuses his gaze on Young-jae.
“Anyway, to change the subject. The reason your mana stayed still in your fist was because you commanded it to ‘huddle.'”
“You mean I……commanded it?”
“Yes, in a way, you could call it control, but as I said in class, ‘control’ requires that it go through your body. But in your case, you’re commanding the external mana directly, and there’s only one person I know who can do that.”
“That would be my master, I suppose.”
“Yes.”
He reached for the mixed coffee beside him, took a sip, cleared his throat, and spoke.
‘It’s a direct command of external mana, so it doesn’t obscure the nature of the magic, and the casting is extremely short. It’s one of the greatest gifts a mage can have, and he calls it ‘command’.’
“Ah…….”
It was because of this ability to use so many different kinds of magic at once that it earned Young-jae mentor the name “Conductor of the Rainbow,” a combination of the words Arcobaleno, meaning rainbow, and conductor.
“I can’t believe he has a pupil, ha-ha. So, how’s he doing?”
Young-jae’s expression hardened at the sudden question from Kwak Chun-sik.
“Master…… is currently locked in a dungeon.”
“What? He’s locked in a dungeon?”
“Yes. That’s what…… Eugene said.”
Kwak Chun-sik’s gaze turned toward me.
“Was it true, and if so, how do you know that?”
“It’s information I came across by accident, but its reliability is close to 100%.”
“Hmph……I see. You say he’s trapped in a dungeon……so I assume he’s still alive.”
“Yes, that’s what I understand.”
“Heh, then I wouldn’t worry about him. It wouldn’t be strange for him to spend the rest of his life in a dungeon. Do you know which dungeon it is?”
“Uh, yeah. All we know is that he’s trapped in a dungeon. We’re still trying to track him down.”
Well, actually, I do know.
The thing is, if I went out there unprepared, I was going to get stuck.
“Okay……Well, whatever, so I guess you guys should get ready for your club activities, huh?”
He asks as he stands up from his seat, having drained the last drop of his coffee.
“Yeah──.”
“We’ve been hanging out all the time since we were recently auditioned.”
Before I can finish my response, Jin-woo speaks and Kwak Chun-sik looks in my direction, smirking.
“That’s right, you’re playing, aren’t you?”
“Eh, old man?”
“My Eugene, I thought you might need some training for this week.”
“No, it’s just that──.”
“Come with me. There’s a good training ground right here, right?”
Kwak Chun-sik grabs my hand and semi-forcibly drags me to the training center.
I was supposed to get a good night’s rest before going to Jeju Island today, but is this how things work?
I glared at Jin-woo and tried to curse him with my eyes.
“Oh, it’s recipe development club day. I’ll be on patrol Boss!”
The quick-thinking guy quickly ducked and ran out of the room.
‘……that asshole. I’ll get revenge on him.’
That’s how we came to the stale training ground.
“Alright, then. Let’s start by learning how to deal with the monsters on Jeju Island.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I know all about the monsters on Jeju Island.”
“Uh-huh! Don’t talk back when an adult is talking to you. I see. Why do you want to talk about something that can be done?”
……I don’t understand.
“You know that the monsters on Jeju Island use aura and mana, so if you want to go, go, be sure to come back.”
As he says this, his eyes light up with a blue glow.
“You don’t need to know how to read the movement of a monster’s internal energy, you just need to apply what you learned in class today.”
“I do need…….”
Reading the flow of an opponent’s aura or mana? That alone could tip the scales in my favor.
“Hey, I heard Mr. Kwak Chun-sik is here, so let’s go learn some mana tricks.”
“No! I used up all my mentors this week, instructor!”
“Yeah~ It’s a club activity~ I’m the torture instructor, so get out of the club~”
“The world hates me!”
Looking at Se-ah being dragged by Ji-hyun’s hand, my heart relaxed.
Yeah, I thought, at least I can take comfort from seeing Se-ah suffering next to me…….
“Now, if you’ve learned, let’s put it to the test. Let’s see if you can dodge my attack.”
“It’s ……?”
I never thought I’d suffer more.
I’m going to get f*cked up…….
* * *
Chirp─! Chirp─!
It was a very noisy morning at Busan Harbor in the early morning, when the sun was just rising.
Fishermen hauling their catch to shore, men loading truckloads of ice and a fish market where an auction was being held.
However in the middle of it all, there was one person who stood out.
“Move the rice and kimchi over here!”
“Bread and wine over here!”
Unlike those wearing rubber boots and gloves, the boats with the nuns, priests, and men in black suits are carrying other necessities than fish.
And the name “Francesco” written on the boat.
The boat was bound for Halla Cathedral on Jeju Island.
After confirming that this was the boat I was supposed to board, I walked over with a big smile on my face.
All eyes were on me.
It was obvious that they were puzzled because no ordinary fisherman would walk up to this place.
I walked up to the priest who seemed to be the leader of the group and extended my hand with a bright smile.
“Greetings, Father. I’m the Corleone Hitman who’s accompanying you this time.”
