Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 285

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 285

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 285

The Old Fox (5)

Baek Seok-ho.

Passed away at 55.

Or perhaps 56.

He had long forgotten his age and birthday, not that they mattered much to him anymore.

For Baek Seok-ho, who had reached his fifties, the age when one was said to understand destiny, his birthday had become a day for receiving flattery and bribes disguised as gifts.

Before he knew it, his birthday had become a day for handling special affairs rather than a celebration.

But if you were to ask if his birthday was a celebration in his childhood, well…

That wasn’t the case either.

Life was too difficult in his early years.

Even if he wanted to celebrate, he didn’t have the means.

There was no table laden with food or dazzling gifts.

Instead of food, young Baek Seok-ho savored hunger, and instead of gifts, he received poverty. He was the child of a despised collateral branch [a branch of the family not in the direct line of inheritance].

Moreover, he was the son of a father who had been pushed out of the power struggle.

He was accustomed to contempt and oppression, and he considered it natural.

When it became known that Baek Seok-ho had tremendous talent, when the rightful heir of the family took his grimy hand…

Baek Seok-ho’s life changed completely.

It became a life where eating his fill and receiving gifts was natural.

No one ignored him. Rather, they bowed their heads.

At first, only the low-ranking servants bowed, but as Baek Seok-ho’s power grew and his talent blossomed, even the stiff-necked nobles began to bow.

He had gone from being ruled to being a ruler.

However, there was one person.

That person never bowed to him.

There was no reason to.

He was far above Baek Seok-ho.

Skill, talent, status.

He was a man who reigned supreme, grasping everything. The head of the family never bowed.

But as time passed, the number of people who didn’t bow to Baek Seok-ho increased.

The second person.

The family’s respected First Elder.

Baek Seok-ho, who had learned commercial ethics and politics, bowed to the First Elder.

He needed to be seen favorably because he was a man with a wide network of connections.

The third person.

The head of the family took a wife.

A distant relative with powerful divine powers.

Not only was her talent outstanding, but her lineage and pedigree were also solid.

The fourth person.

The head of the family had his first child.

A daughter. As a woman, she couldn’t become the head of the family, so she would either marry into another family or give up marriage and become an elder in the future.

But at least until the age of five, she played with Baek Seok-ho, pulling at his beard.

The fifth person.

It was an ominous child.

The eldest son. The family’s only direct descendant and Baek Seok-ho’s next master, designated as the next heir from birth.

However, he was born with black hair, which was considered ominous in the family.

Many elders and direct and collateral relatives expressed concern about this. However, when he began to show unbelievable talent in magic, no one said anything more.

He soon became the Young Head of the family.

The sixth person.

The second daughter. A girl with a tender heart.

Unlike the eldest daughter, who grew up pulling at his beard, she was shy and often hid behind her brother.

However, unlike her personality, she inherited her mother’s tremendous talent for divine power.

Soon, the girl became the priestess in charge of the family’s ancestral rites.

The priestess was not a position with power like the head of the family or the elders, but it was a position as glorious as theirs.

She was only seven years old at the time.

After her, no one else bowed to Baek Seok-ho.

Rather, the number decreased. It never increased.

Baek Seok-ho, who was training in spears and developing his divine powers, grew stronger and stronger.

Before he knew it, he became the 8th Guild Master of the Nine Tails Guild and made a name for himself in the ranks of the High Rankers.
The moment the six people above Baek Seok-ho’s head suddenly decreased to four.

For some reason.

He felt a sense of relief rather than sadness.

It was as if two large stones had been removed from his heart.

‘That’s strange. Why am I not crying?’

No matter how talented he was, Baek Seok-ho’s current position would have been impossible to reach without the head of the family’s full support and patronage.

To him, the head of the family was a benefactor and the sky.

When the sky hanging over his head disappeared, Baek Seok-ho realized.

‘The opportunity has come.’

The opportunity to become the sky himself had come.

‘If I surpass everyone, there will be no one left above me. Starting from the lowest position, I can stand in the highest place.’

A golden opportunity had come to end his humble origins with a glorious life. The elder is the head of a collateral branch.

Becoming the head of the family, encompassing both the direct and collateral lines, is a distant dream, but it’s possible if I become the head. I just need to surpass the three children of the head of the family and prove that I am the right person to be the head of the family.

‘Money. Seize the financial power.’

He gradually took over the businesses and financial resources tied to the head of the family’s seal.

In the process, Baek Seok-ho often met the eyes of the young head of the family, Baek Seung-woo, and felt a strange sense of guilt due to the tightening pain in his chest.

But that feeling was fleeting.

‘Grow the group and raise your voice.’

He developed the S-class guild, , to its limit.

It was originally an S-class guild, but it has now grown to the point where rumors are spreading that it is the best in the world.

He also developed talent to its limit. He secretly leaked the family’s vision and grew all of his subordinates into S-class players.

Some talented subordinates even became Rankers.

‘Get rid of the direct descendants.’

The epitome of direct descendants. The children of the former head of the family.

The eldest and second daughters could be sent away under the pretext of marriage, but it wasn’t as easy as he thought.

Perhaps it was because the world had changed.

The eldest and second daughters were not interested in marriage.

When the elders brought up the need to continue the bloodline, they refuted their logic point by point, leaving them speechless.

Baek Seok-ho was the same. He made a mistake in an official setting, and the eldest daughter, not missing the opportunity, brought down Baek Seok-ho’s position.

However, Baek Seok-ho, who had grown his financial power and group, quickly rebounded, but the eldest and second daughters had already succeeded in building a group comparable to the elders.

Therefore, the plan to get rid of the direct descendants was still in progress.

It seems like it will take a long time.

But the most important thing was successful. No, until a few months ago, he thought it was successful.

‘Make the position of head of the family, the throne, vacant.’

The former head of the family.

Immediately after his death, who was Baek Seok-ho’s benefactor.

The position of head of the family was succeeded by Baek Seung-woo, the heir, according to the family precepts and rules.

Everyone was concerned about the fact that a minor would become the head of the family, but the real intention was different. He is a genius, but too young.

Take away the power little by little through power struggles, depose him, and take his place to become the head of the family!

A position that elders from collateral lines could never dream of in their lives.

That was the position of head of the family. A very good opportunity arose.

So he invested a very long time.

To become the head of the family, he put down the spear he had been training until now and picked up a pen.

He participated in power struggles and learned politics instead of divine power in order to gain the greatest benefit. Baek Seok-ho was no longer a spearman.

In the past, he was proud of being a martial artist.

Spear Master.

A legendary spearman who once competed with the Divine Spear of the time and achieved a draw.

That was no longer him.

Of course, Baek Seok-ho’s skills gradually declined, and he sought out divine weapons to make up for his declining skills. Just like he did when he was young.

He searched for a weapon that would allow him to perform swift movements and rapid spearmanship. In the process, he came to know Gu Yaja.

Gu Yaja.

Someone said about him.

The reincarnation of a legendary blacksmith who created countless precious swords.

Precious swords, legends, reincarnation.

Such expressions were just promotional phrases to promote him.

However, many martial artists began to take notice of the phrase, and Baek Seok-ho was the one who showed the most interest.

He commissioned Gu Yaja to make a spear.

A spear that could restore his power to its former glory.

To this end, the details he requested were so extensive that they filled more than two A4 pages. In fact, it didn’t matter if half of the details were not fulfilled.

Because he knew it was impossible.

But surprisingly, Gu Yaja fulfilled all of Baek Seok-ho’s requirements.

The spear was perfect.

It was so perfect that Baek Seok-ho suddenly became afraid.

What if Gu Yaja’s weapon fell into the hands of his rivals?

It’s just imagination.

But Baek Seok-ho was soon consumed by the imagination he had created.

In his imagination, Baek Seok-ho’s head was cut off by his rivals, the elders or Baek Seung-woo, and dangled as a trophy.

When he came to his senses.

Rather, Baek Seok-ho was holding a head in his hand.

The heads of Gu Yaja’s wife and children. Baek Seok-ho annihilated Gu Yaja’s family with the mindset of striking first before being struck.

But.

‘Where is Gu Yaja? Did I kill him?’

He can’t remember.

To be exact, he couldn’t remember anything.

What came into Baek Seok-ho’s sight was a half-destroyed smithy and a collapsed house. The scene of a family whose heads had been cut off.

Well… maybe he’s dead.

He felt relieved when he thought that.

Yes, this will bring me one step closer to the position of head of the family.

After that, Baek Seok-ho completely forgot about the incident.

It wasn’t that his memory had deteriorated due to old age, but rather that it wasn’t an incident worth remembering. At least for Baek Seok-ho.

Perhaps he doesn’t know.

That Gu Yaja is sharpening his sword for revenge and has given Baek Seung-woo a token of this. He can’t even imagine it.

One day, Baek Seok-ho, who was wielding a spear, wanted a better spear.

It was because he was getting older and more familiar with the pen than the spear, so he needed a better spear.

However, there was no way to find a better item than Gu Yaja’s spear on the market, and Baek Seok-ho eventually moved his feet to the underworld.

There, Baek Seok-ho met a demon.

A demon with a strange aura. He gave Baek Seok-ho a spear made of lightning and a black sphere.

Both were unusual items.

The spear made of lightning was not a weapon that an ordinary human could possess, and the black sphere felt like touching flesh soaked in blood.

Baek Seok-ho and the demon made some kind of deal.

And he abandoned the spear after that.

Gu Yaja’s spear too.

The spear made of lightning too.

He abandoned everything he had cultivated so far.

And that was the end of Baek Seok-ho.

I repeat.

Baek Seok-ho.

Passed away in his 50s.

The man who didn’t even know exactly how old he had lived died. As a spearman, as an elder, as a human.

As a spearman, he had died more than 10 years ago.

He put down his spear and picked up a pen, and the legend of the Spear Master, who had shaken the industry for more than 15 years, came to an end.

As an elder, he had long forgotten the meaning of assisting the head of the family.

He also lost his humanity.

The old fox couldn’t control his greed.

“Your blackened appearance is hideous. At least in the moment you wielded the spear, your eyes were alive.”

That greed eventually became so large that it swallowed even the fox himself.

“But now you’re just a horned beast.”

The fox is no more.

Only that hideous greed remained, glaring at them.

It goes without saying that it was no longer something that could be called Baek Seok-ho.