Chapter 61
Kwak Chun-Sik, known abroad as the “Aura Master,” is one of the world’s top experts in the use of Aura-related abilities.
He was once sentenced to three years in Niflheim for killing a villain as a regular Awakened, but due to his past history and his grudge against most of the other inmates in Niflheim he is currently serving the sentence at Hero Silver Town, a care facility for awakened people in Gangwon Province.
There are rumors that he is now suffering from senility…….
‘The rumor was spread by Kwak Chun-sik himself.’
And it’s not hard to guess why.
It was not hard to guess the reason: he wanted to diminish his presence, not only to attract annoying flies, but also to diminish himself a little bit.
For a hero, presence is a badge of honor, but it also makes for a lot of enemies.
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
Inside the helicopter heading to Gangwon Province I muttered to myself as I looked out over the vast forests of Gangwon Province below.
Before heading to Gangwon, I stopped by the academy to get a letter of recommendation from Ji-hyun, and after submitting my ‘Mentor Learning Application’, I borrowed the family’s helicopter to head straight to Gangwon and then to ‘Hero Silver Town’.
“It was probably today, right?”
By now, news of their escape from Niflheim should have spread.
I pull out my phone and check the news channels.
[Breaking news! A group of villains currently sentenced to life imprisonment in Niflheim have escaped. They number five in total, including the “Bloody Clown” who has operated across the U.S. in the past and a Korean villain…….]
It was the event that signaled the beginning of CS in earnest.
The main storyline is still tied to the Academy’s club, but sooner or later, big events will happen and the world will be thrown into chaos.
And in order to survive in such a world…….
“I’ll have to be strong.”
I had to be stronger than anyone else and to do so, I chose Kwak Chun-sik as my mentor.
[Master, we have arrived]
The voice of the pilot who landed in Hero Silver Town came through the headset.
“Good job. I’ll call you when I get back.”
I take off the headset and step out, and as if I’ve been waiting for it, the bespectacled man smiles and bows.
“I heard about you from the Academy. You must be Eugene Han, and I’m Yoo Seok-hoon, a nursing caretaker at ‘Hero Silver Town’.”
Since it was a ‘cadet from the academy’ who had come to this place, I bowed with a businesslike smile so as not to appear rude at his greeting.
“Yes, that’s right, first year at the Seoul Hero Academy, Eugene Han. Are you Mr. Kwak Chun-sik……?”
“Ah, yes. I was quite interested to hear that a cadet from the academy was coming. Normally, outsiders aren’t allowed to visit those who have been sentenced to detention, but since…… is the Academy’s business, permission was granted. He’s in the visiting hall now, so please come this way.”
He started to explain the facilities and advantages of the place as we headed to the visiting room, but it felt like he was reciting a setting I’d already seen a few times in the game, so I just listened out of the corner of my eye and nodded along.
Before I knew it, we were in front of a building.
“You’d think more people would think of retired heroes like Mr. Eugene. Ah, here we are. This is the meeting room.”
We arrived at the meeting room.
As I walked through the door that resembled a high-end cafe, I saw an old man sitting inside. His hands were shaking as he held his cup, his shoulders slumped, and his hair graying.
He was my mentor, Kwak Chun-sik.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Kwak, I’m Eugene Han.”
I glanced back to see that Yoo Seok-hoon had left, and I immediately sat down across from Kwak Chun-sik.
There wasn’t a single person inside the visiting hall, and it was all thanks to ‘Yoo Seok-hoon’ voluntarily taking care of me.
“You must be an Academy cadet.”
He was still sipping on a cup of Ssanghwa tea, but slowly put it down and looked at me.
His eyes are so deep and powerful that they don’t match his frail body.
“So, you asked to see me?”
“Yes, sir.”
I say, pulling Ji-hyun’s letter of recommendation from my inside pocket and carefully sliding it toward him.
“This is a letter of recommendation from Instructor Ji-hyun, asking you to take me on as a mentee.”
Kwak Chun-sik looked at the purple envelope in front of him and let out a huff.
“Ji-hyun……is giving me a letter of recommendation? You must be quite a funny guy.”
I don’t respond to his comment, just smile so he turns his attention back to the letter of recommendation and reads it. Soon, I can hear him laughing out loud.
“I see, it’s that childish letter of recommendation.”
Kwak Chun-sik says and places the letter of recommendation in front of me.
The letter says.
[“Grandpa, you’ll regret it if you don’t take him in. He’s a talented kid, so let’s raise him with the intention of making him a success.”]
……That crazy bitch.
Who the hell writes a letter of recommendation like that?
“So, according to this, you’ve traveled all the way to Gangwon Province to learn from me?”
“That’s right.”
I nodded in response to his straight-to-the-point question. But Kwak Chun-sik waved his hand.
“You’re asking a retired old man to be your mentor. It’s nice of you to come to me like this, but……is hard enough to take care of this one body, how can I be responsible for a disciple? I have no intention of taking on a disciple, so you should go home.”
I locked eyes with him and slowly opened my mouth as he waved his hands in the air, trying to come up with the expected answer.
“If I go back now, your family will all die.”
“……what?”
He asks, and at the same time, the air around me freezes cold.
“Kid, are you threatening me?”
A crimson flame forms in his eyes.
Did he really think that the rumors about him being an old man would work?
“I’m not here to threaten you, I’m here to help, haven’t you seen the news today?”
“Yes, I did. They said that two of the men I captured escaped Niflheim, and you say that has anything to do with what you’ve been saying?”
“Yes. They’re going to be hitting this place where you are soon, with that ‘miner’ in the lead.”
With a bang, the table in front of me collapsed as Kwak Chun-sik had slammed it.
“Okay, child. Let’s say you’re right about everything, but how do you know that? It hasn’t even been a day since they escaped, so how is it that you, a mere cadet at the Academy, know their purpose and target?”
He was suspicious since that was information that carried far too much weight for a mere Academy cadet to know.
It was not unreasonable to think so, given that such information had come out of my mouth less than half a day before.
“That’s because I’m good.”
“What, you’re trying to make a pun with me……heh.”
Kwak Chun-sik interrupted as he looked at my hand, which was covered in red.
“It’s……a horrifyingly destructive red aura. I’ve seen one like that once before.”
His gaze slowly shifts from my arm to my face.
“……Who are you?”
I knew he would recognize it in a heartbeat.
“──Vito Corleone.”
He flinches, and his eyes flutter.
“Don Vito Corleone, the head of the Corleone family, is my father.”
“……I see.”
I bow to him and introduce myself once more.
“Allow me to introduce myself once again, Eugene Hah Corleone, first-year student at the Seoul Hero Academy and heir to the Corleone family. I sincerely apologize for not giving you my proper name when we first met.”
After what seemed like five seconds, something slid in front of me, accompanied by a rustling sound.
I slowly lifted my head to see Kwak Chun-sik wrapping his aura around a new table in the corner and dragging it over here.
What monstrous control.
“I guess your……story is worth a listen.”
The aura wrapped around the table slowly disappears, absorbed into Kwak Chun-sik’s body as he sits back down and crosses his legs.
“So, the information you told me came from the Corleone information network?”
I nodded, already knowing the information from the game.
There was no way Corleone wouldn’t know this information.
“Yes, sir. It’s just that it wasn’t part of the deal.”
“……If it wasn’t information you brought with you to trade, why did you tell me about it?”
“It’s……kind of a gift, a reminder to take care of you, and isn’t that what you value most of all?”
I said, and manifested a pale red aura in my hand, just as I had just moments before.
“Don’t you want to raise me?”
I knew he was a man who could never leave a greedy talent alone.
If you get close enough to him in the game, he’ll share some stories with you.
“None of the children in Korea these days are Aura-awakened. It’s a shame…….”
After hearing his words, I created a new Aura user concept character and went to visit him again. Then he told me these stories.
“Would you be interested in learning the Aura Formula from me?”
Yes, he was an NPC with a hidden class quest that allowed you to switch to a hidden class.
And that’s not all.
True to his reputation as the greatest hero of the past, there is another hidden event that will be unlocked when you master the Aura Formula from him…….
“The best talent I’ve ever seen was ‘Corleone’. Yes, yes, Vito Corleone of the ‘Corleone family you know.”
This is the event where you’ll get the inside scoop on Vito Corleone abilities.
“Hmm? And how did Corleone get to that position? It’s obviously because Vito Corleone is strong. Perhaps, if his son comes to me later in life, when he’s grown, I can make him surpass his father…….”
Ordinarily, I would use this information as a springboard to attack Vito Corleone but now I am “that” Corleone and my path was set.
Aura is like water, shaped by the path you take from an early age and this old man who stood before me now was the world’s foremost authority on Aura.
“I wish to learn the Aura Formula.”
A fresh, green newbie appeared before him wanting to learn his skills, even with ‘those’ abilities that had frightened him in the past.
If he really was a great figure in the world of heroes, would he not raise me and teach me?
