The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 23

Thursday.

The night before Friday, the day Leng Smith mentioned for the operation.

[Then, please proceed as planned.]

Before the operation, I contacted Kim Kang-in one last time.

[Yes. You don’t have to worry about that. As long as the information is accurate, there will be absolutely no mistakes on our end.]

[I trust you. I’ll contact you again later.]

After ending the call with Kim Kang-in.

I headed to a family affiliate building nearby.

I passed through the lobby, took the elevator, and headed to the agreed-upon location on the top floor.

I opened the door to the room where my appointment was waiting and stepped inside.

At that moment, four pairs of eyes focused on me.

My two older brothers and two older sisters.

Four siblings of the same blood welcomed me.

‘It’s been a while, Hayul.’

My fourth older sister, Shin Min-ji, approached me first.

Compared to a year ago, she hadn’t changed much.

Her hair was a bit longer, perhaps?

‘It’s been a while. You look as radiant as ever.’

‘Is that a compliment?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Thank you. Hayul, you’ve grown so much taller.’

Her graceful movements, dignified demeanor, and an atmosphere that seemed to wear politeness like clothing.

Even the fact that she didn’t exude any ambition was exactly the same as a year ago.

‘Min-ji noona [older sister] isn’t the one, after all.’

It wasn’t Min-ji noona who dispatched Leng Smith to me.

I was once again certain of that.

‘You’ve really grown a lot, kid.’

Following her, my third older brother, Shin Min-hyuk, approached, cheerfully smiling and offering his right hand.

I grasped his hand with a moderate amount of strength.

‘Nice to see you. To be honest, it’s hard to be completely happy, but anyway, welcome.’

‘Yes, thank you.’

His way of speaking was still straightforward.

He could have just said he was happy to welcome me, but he had to add the embellishment ‘it’s hard to be completely happy.’ That’s just like Min-hyuk hyung [older brother].

‘His imposing aura has gotten a bit stronger.’

I heard that he had taken charge of a decent affiliate company in the past year and had grown quite a bit.

Thanks to that, an unknown imposing aura had increased.

‘He’s also white, as expected.’

He was originally a gray that was infinitely close to white, but anyway, Min-hyuk hyung, like Min-ji noona, was also white. [In this context, ‘white’ likely refers to someone who is not involved in the family’s power struggles.]

‘Haha. You’ve lost all your baby fat and become so manly.’

‘Little brother, it’s been a while.’

Finally, my first older brother, Shin Ji-han, and my second older sister, Shin Se-ah, approached.

They were also the same as ever.

‘They’re only smiling on the surface, this is…’

Both of them clearly showed that they disliked me in the most blatant way.

Their acting skills had improved a bit, but they were the same as a year ago, so there was no way to be confused.

‘It’s definitely one of these two.’

It was one of these two who traded with the Black Magic Tower and dispatched Leng Smith to me.

I was certain of it.

‘Let’s go to our seats first. We can’t keep talking while standing, can we?’

Shin Ji-han smiled and suggested we sit down.

Everyone agreed and returned to their seats.

‘Alright. So, what reason does our little brother have for calling us all here? Let’s hear it.’

Shin Ji-han, sitting at the head of the table, asked on behalf of everyone.

What reason did I have for gathering these busy people?

That was the look in his eyes.

‘Why did I call you? To see who sent Leng Smith to me, of course.’

…I couldn’t say that honestly.

‘Just… I just wanted to see my older brothers and sisters after a year, so I arranged this meeting.’

I made up a plausible excuse that I had prepared.

‘You gathered all these busy people for such a trivial reason?’

Se-ah noona frowned.

I met her eyes and smiled.

‘Even if I hadn’t arranged this meeting, wouldn’t Ji-han hyung or Se-ah noona have thought about arranging one eventually? I just took the initiative to save you both the trouble.’

‘……Your words are still as smooth as ever.’

Shin Se-ah clicked her tongue.

Her expression clearly showed that she was very, very displeased with me.

‘Alright, then let’s get straight to the point. Little brother, what are you planning to do?’

‘What do you mean by what I’m planning to do?’

‘Don’t play dumb and pretend you don’t know.’

My sister glanced at our siblings and then spoke.

‘Are you going to join the succession battle?’

It was a very direct question.

‘If I say here that I have no interest in the position of successor… would you believe me?’

‘No. I wouldn’t.’

‘Then, is there any point in that question?’

Se-ah noona’s gaze became even sharper.

‘Ah, never mind. Just answer the question.’

‘Se-ah, you shouldn’t ask like that.’

Shin Ji-han, who was still smiling, interjected.

‘It’s meaningless to just say you’ll join the succession battle or not. You have to prove it with actions.’

Shin Ji-han stared intently at me.

‘Hayul, you got a pretty good arcane magic, didn’t you? Was it alteration magic?’

His smile grew deeper.

‘That magic. Do you have any intention of sharing it with the family?’

‘Ah~’

Se-ah noona exclaimed at those words.

She seemed genuinely impressed by Ji-han hyung’s words.

‘That’s a good one. If Hayul shares his arcane magic, we can believe he’s given up on the succession battle.’

Shin Ji-han smiled and agreed with Shin Se-ah’s words.

‘……’

A good move.

Arcane magic is a kind of trump card, a hidden ace.

To share this with the family is the same as throwing away a hidden ace.

In other words, if I share my arcane magic, it would prove that I have truly given up on the succession battle.

And if I refuse to share my arcane magic, they would judge that I have the intention to fully participate in the succession battle, and their checks and interference would become more blatant.

It was a good move, no matter how I thought about it.

‘But.’

It wasn’t a checkmate.

‘This is my only hope.’

‘……’

‘I don’t want to rashly share my only hope, the only way I, an unsuitable person, can live as a mage, with anyone. Regardless of the succession battle.’

A refusal to share, not for the sake of the succession battle, but for my survival as a mage.

My last hope and final bastion as an unsuitable person.

The justification for refusing to share was clear.

‘Alright. Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s our younger brother’s only hope, after all…’

‘Thank you for understanding.’

With this, my intention to participate in the succession battle remained a gray area.

‘Considering they’re trying to exclude me by even mobilizing the Black Magic Tower, I wonder if there’s any point in doing this.’

Whatever the case, it’s better than giving my siblings a definite answer.

‘Internal politics is all about justification.’

Giving them a clear justification to check me and leaving it ambiguous are clearly different things.

‘Alright, alright. Hyung [older brother]. Let’s put aside the talk about the competition that won’t lead to any answers anyway. Let’s just catch up.’

Shin Min-hyuk interjected to lighten the heavy atmosphere.

‘Yeah. I also want to hear about Hayul.’

Shin Min-ji also chimed in.

‘Alright. Shall we do that then?’

After that, trivial small talk began.

How well Min-hyuk hyung’s affiliate company was growing.

How Se-ah noona was about to form a new connection.

How Min-ji noona was about to take charge of a small company.

Such minor things were discussed.

I also shared some of the things that happened at the academy, and before I knew it, 40 minutes had passed.

‘It’s almost time.’

And at that moment.

The signal came.

Buzz-!

Buzz-!

‘What’s with the sudden noise?’

‘An emergency contact?’

Including my phone, all of my siblings’ smartphones vibrated at once.

A rather strong vibration.

It was an emergency contact that was only sent when something urgent happened within the family.

‘What’s going on at this hour?’

Everyone checked their messages with puzzled expressions.

I also paid attention to the changes in everyone’s expressions as I checked my message.

[It has been confirmed that a criminal mage affiliated with the Black Magic Tower was hiding among the faculty of Obelisk Academy.]

[The captor is Jung Soo-ah, a mage affiliated with the Blue Magic Tower who was visiting the academy for a brief matter.]

[The spy’s name is Leng Smith. The second son of the prestigious Smith family of France…]

There was no need to read further.

As planned, Kim Kang-in had obtained evidence that Leng Smith was a spy for the Black Magic Tower and had even succeeded in capturing him.

The operation was a success.

I took my eyes off the message and carefully observed the expressions of my siblings around me.

Shock, horror, fear, disgust, and so on.

Among the expressions filled with all sorts of emotions, an incongruous emotion that shouldn’t have been there was felt.

‘……’

An emotion that shouldn’t have been felt on his face.

Confusion and bewilderment were being conveyed without filter.

‘I found him.’

Shin Ji-han.

He was the one who sent Leng Smith of the Black Magic Tower to me.

* * *

On the way back to the dormitory.

I checked the news portals on my phone.

[Shock! It has been revealed that a spy from the Black Magic Tower was hiding among the instructors of Obelisk Academy!]

Articles about Leng Smith dominated all the portals.

[Today at 10:31 PM, Jung Soo-ah, a 6th Circle mage affiliated with the Blue Magic Tower and Kim Kang-in’s secretary, discovered Leng Smith’s suspicious behavior in the training materials room of Obelisk Academy.]

[It is said that Leng Smith was tampering with the materials for the survival test, and if mage Jung Soo-ah hadn’t happened to visit the training materials room, it’s unimaginable what kind of disaster would have occurred during the survival test on Friday.]

[The Korean government, the Korean Magic Association, and the International Magic Association have stated that they have no intention of overlooking this intervention by the Black Magic Tower…]

I scrolled down and skimmed through the article.

-This is really, everything happened just as Hayul-gun [a polite title] said.

Kim Kang-in’s voice was heard from the cordless earphones in my ear.

-It was a deal, so I moved as you asked, but I never thought everything would be true.

His voice sounded genuinely impressed.

-Amazing. Among other things, how did you know that Leng Smith would be tampering with the training materials warehouse?

‘I just made inferences based on the information I obtained.’

Leng Smith said that he wouldn’t see me after Friday.

That meant the day of action was Friday.

Considering that he used Leng Smith, who was an instructor, it was highly likely that he would do something within the school.

And coincidentally, Friday was the day of the large-scale battle survival test.

It was highly likely that he would try to do something by targeting that test.

And in order to tamper with me during the survival test, it was essential to touch the training materials.

The auxiliary artifacts for the survival test have surveillance functions for the safety of each individual.

To do something to me, he would have to turn that off.

‘And usually, the inspection of training materials is done the day before, in the afternoon.’

In other words, Thursday night was the perfect time to touch the training materials without being caught by anyone.

So, I set Thursday night as the day of action and planned the operation.

‘I asked Kim Kang-in to secretly monitor the training materials warehouse. And I gathered my siblings.’

And after waiting for Leng Smith to be caught, I would observe my siblings’ reactions.

Since they wouldn’t have expected Leng Smith to be caught now, there would definitely be a change in their expressions.

If I didn’t miss that reaction, I could find out who was behind this.

That was the plan I had in mind.

‘Everything went well.’

As a result, everything was resolved well.

I managed to capture Leng Smith safely.

I also found out that Shin Ji-han was connected to the Black Magic Tower.

I also thoroughly concealed the information that I was involved.

The danger was eliminated, and the information was obtained.

The operation was perfect.

‘It’s a bit of a shame that I couldn’t get any evidence that there was a connection between Ji-han hyung and Leng Smith.’

It was a shame, but it didn’t matter much.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it either.

There was no way that the person who went against my father’s words and sent the Black Magic Tower to me would have left any evidence.

I’ll be satisfied with even getting a hunch this time.

‘Now that I know he’s related to the Black Magic Tower, I can find the evidence eventually if I look for it slowly.’

There is no such thing as a perfect secret in this world.

If a deal was made, the evidence would be somewhere.

-The reasoning is one thing, but where did you get the information about Leng Smith? That’s what I’m very curious about.

‘I’m sorry. As I said, I have a duty of confidentiality regarding that information.’

-Yes. I know. I just said it because I was curious.

Kim Kang-in smiled wryly.

-Anyway. It seems like I’ve benefited again. Instead of paying back my debt, it feels like I’ve accumulated even more.

With this incident, the Blue Magic Tower gained the reward of an improved image.

An improved image would translate into a definite reward of increased brand value.

-I will repay you for this incident later.

‘I won’t refuse if you’re going to give it to me.’

-Haha. I like that you’re honest.

Kim Kang-in laughed heartily.

-Then, I’ll go and take care of the rest of the work. I’ll be going now.

‘Yes. Please take care of the rest.’

-Yes. I’ll contact you again later. Goodbye then.

With those words, the call ended.

I took out the earphones I had in my ears and stretched my body.

‘Ughhh~~’

Since all the work was done, I could focus on magic training with peace of mind today.

‘I have to complete resonance today, no matter what.’

Second Circle Master, I’m really close to resonance. [Second Circle refers to a level of magical proficiency.]

I can definitely finish it by dawn today at the latest.

‘If I just go through 38 more trials and errors…’

As I was thinking about resonance and walking comfortably, it happened.

Whoosh!!

‘Magic!?’

Suddenly, I felt a flow of mana from the side.

A flame filled with strong murderous intent.

A huge fireball that was clearly far beyond the 4th Circle was flying towards me. [4th Circle refers to a higher level of magical proficiency.]

‘Die! Shin Hayuuuuul!!’

Baek Sa-hyuk’s voice was heard from beyond the fireball.