The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 37

The Shinbiwi family’s mansion.

Wi Sang-cheol, the current head of the Shinbiwi family and Adela’s father,

was staring at a large hologram screen with a serious expression.

‘Honestly, I thought it was just luck.’

Wi Sang-cheol glanced at his 40-year-old friend sitting across from him,

Shin In-hyuk, the head of the Mado Shin family, and casually opened the conversation.

‘Are you talking about Ha-yul?’

‘Yes.’

Shin In-hyuk replied without turning his gaze.

He was currently focused on the battle between Shin Ha-yul and Adela on the hologram screen.

‘I feel a bit bad talking about my child in front of you, In-hyuk. But honestly, I thought he would just shine for a moment and then disappear again.’

‘I understand. Ha-yul is a misfit, after all.’

It wasn’t a big deal.

In fact, Shin In-hyuk thought so too.

‘Even his victory against Ji-soo was more about technique and strategy than actual skill. I thought that once the information analysis started and his limits were revealed, he would soon fall.’

Modern magic is a high-level game of strategy, unfolding under solid information and thorough planning.

Among them, information gathering and analysis are the most important.

The win rate can vary by as much as 50% depending on the density of information.

It’s like in the sports world, isn’t it?

There are cases where a rookie who initially shines brightly falls miserably from the moment the analysis is complete.

Shin Ha-yul’s case was exactly like this.

Shin Ha-yul was a complete blank slate in terms of this information.

No one had any information about Shin Ha-yul.

In other words, he was in a state of having a perfect advantage in terms of information, which is the most important aspect of modern magic battles.

‘Actually, I thought my prediction was correct until the early stages of the battle.’

You can see it just by looking at the current battle.

Adela had been constantly gathering and analyzing Shin Ha-yul’s information since the mid-term evaluation.

The result was the early stages of the battle.

Even though Adela had become a 4th Circle mage, Shin Ha-yul was completely on the defensive, despite being someone she had already defeated once.

The analyzed rookie, Shin Ha-yul, was overwhelmed by Adela without even being able to launch a proper counterattack.

‘But it seems like I was short-sighted.’

Wi Sang-cheol chuckled and stroked his beard.

‘It seems Ha-yul wasn’t just a rookie who would shine for a moment and disappear.’

At Wi Sang-cheol’s words, the corners of Shin In-hyuk’s mouth slightly lifted.

He was a little pleased with the praise of his son.

‘I never thought he would fight on par with Ji-soo now…’

Wi Sang-cheol was genuinely impressed by Shin Ha-yul’s battle.

‘In-hyuk. What exactly is that magic?’

On the hologram screen.

The moonlight bullet flying towards Shin Ha-yul was deflected just before it reached him.

It looked as if the moonlight bullet was avoiding Shin Ha-yul.

‘What kind of magic is it that does such an absurd thing as twisting the trajectory of magic?’

It was a ridiculous magic to see again. To deflect the opponent’s magic.

What kind of magic did he use?

‘Well. I don’t know either.’

Shin In-hyuk smiled faintly.

‘I haven’t heard anything about it either.’

‘……Ha-yul didn’t tell you either?’

‘Yes.’

The corners of Shin In-hyuk’s mouth curled up a little more. He looked like he was finding the current situation very, very interesting.

‘That’s unexpected. Ha-yul hiding something from you.’

Wi Sang-cheol, recalling Shin Ha-yul before entering the Obelisk Academy, stroked his beard as if he was amazed.

‘He’s become quite bold in the past year. Now, he hides more from me than he tells me.’

‘It seems Ha-yul has changed a lot during the year he was away from home.’

‘He’s changed a lot.’

‘Hmm. So, is it true that men only grow when they leave home?’

Wi Sang-cheol chuckled as he looked at Shin In-hyuk’s smiling face.

‘Anyway, it’s a relief. That Ha-yul is back to his old self.’

Wi Sang-cheol let out a sigh of relief. It was a sigh of relief at the fact that Shin Ha-yul had completely overcome the penalty of being a misfit.

‘Thanks to that, Ji-soo has regained her motivation.’

It was a double blessing, as his daughter, who had been wandering after losing her rival, had regained her will.

‘With this momentum, I think we can expect good results in next year’s Olympiad. Hehehe.’

Wi Sang-cheol laughed heartily, as if he was genuinely looking forward to next year.

‘Well. I don’t think we need to wait until next year.’

‘You don’t need to wait until next year? What do you mean by that?’

Wi Sang-cheol asked back, as if wondering what Shin In-hyuk’s meaningful words meant.

‘I think Ha-yul is planning to win the gold medal this year.’

‘A gold medal this year? Did Ha-yul say that himself?’

‘Yes.’

Shin In-hyuk smiled as he looked at Shin Ha-yul on the screen.

‘He confidently told me that he would give me a gold medal this year.’

Remembering Shin Ha-yul, who had boldly demanded two months of protection.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Hoo. That’s quite an ambition.’

Wi Sang-cheol clicked his tongue.

‘Well, I don’t know if it will happen or not. But it’s good that he has the will to aim for the gold medal.’

Wi Sang-cheol nodded a couple of times.

Beep beep beep!

At that moment, a buzzer rang loudly from the speaker, signaling the end of the test.

The test was over.

‘Hmm. It ended up like this.’

‘Wasn’t that expected?’

‘Well, yes, it was.’

Wi Sang-cheol chuckled.

‘The match ended due to lack of time. Both of them must be disappointed.’

Shin Ha-yul and Adela on the screen were looking at each other with dissatisfied faces.

* * *

An hour had passed since the end of the test.

Adela and I failed to settle the score.

This test was not a duel until a winner was decided. It was a battle survival test.

The goal of the test was to survive for 32 hours.

When the set time passed, the battle was naturally over, regardless of victory or defeat.

‘If we had kept fighting, I would have won.’

‘No. In the end, I would have won as usual.’

Thanks to that, the battle ended awkwardly. And I’m currently in a very uncomfortable state.

‘I was starting to see a way to counter that trajectory-bending magic. If I had just five more minutes, I would have won.’

‘The opposite. In five minutes, you would have lost due to mental exhaustion.’

‘……If you’re going to keep fighting, I’m leaving?’

Soon-chan, who had been watching the childish argument between me and Adela, shook his head with a look of utter disgust.

‘The 26th dropout is out of the picture.’

‘This is a battle of pride. Please don’t interfere.’

‘……Hey, you two? Putting aside the fact that your words are a bit harsh to me. Weren’t we supposed to be here for combat feedback?’

Soon-chan said with a very disgruntled expression.

What am I doing stuck in the middle of this?

Is this even a country?

That’s what his face was saying.

‘If you want to settle the score that badly, why don’t you fight again right now?’

‘No. That’s not possible.’

‘Yes. It’s not possible.’

Adela and I refused in unison.

‘……Why?’

‘The conditions are different from then and now.’

‘The terrain, the condition, the situation at that time. If everything isn’t the same as then, it’s not a fair fight.’

‘……Ah, yes. I see. I didn’t know that.’

Soon-chan laughed hollowly with a look that said, ‘Where am I? Who am I?’

‘……You’re like childhood friends, you’re really the same. Exactly the same.’

Then, he clicked his tongue while looking at me and Adela with the same expression.

It seems that the awkwardness and aversion towards Adela have completely disappeared.

‘Okay, okay. Let’s do this.’

Soon-chan said with a determined expression, as if he had resolved, ‘I need to get my act together.’

‘Since arguing like this won’t get us anywhere, let’s start with the combat feedback. If we analyze the battle step by step from the beginning, we’ll naturally figure out who would have won if we had continued, right?’

It was an unusually wise opinion for Soon-chan.

‘That’s a good idea.’

‘Yes. I agree too.’

Adela and I nodded at the same time.

‘Phew.’

Soon-chan let out a sigh of relief. He looked like he had finally survived.

‘Then, where should we start? Should we start from right after the two of you started fighting?’

Soon-chan manipulated the video of the test with the remote control.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘……Why? Should we watch from about 10 minutes before?’

Adela looked at Soon-chan with a face as if he was a weirdo.

‘No. We should watch from the beginning.’

‘……From the beginning?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’re going to watch the full match video?’

‘Yes.’

‘……Why?’

Soon-chan asked with a genuinely terrified expression.

‘That way, we can get a more accurate analysis. There might be things to give feedback on besides just the two of us fighting.’

‘……’

Soon-chan opened his mouth halfway, laughed in despair, and looked at me.

He had a look on his face that was asking for my help. He was desperately begging me to say something, which was quite amusing.

But he chose the wrong person to ask for help.

‘Of course, we should watch from the beginning.’

I also agreed with Adela’s opinion. Since the three of us had gathered to give feedback using collective intelligence. It wouldn’t do to just watch that short battle and move on.

We need to analyze it thoroughly, down to the comma.

‘……I’m screwed.’

Soon-chan was in despair.

Why did I say I would get involved here?

That’s what he seemed to be thinking.

‘Hurry up and play it.’

‘Time is money.’

At the urging of me and Adela, Soon-chan looked up at the sky and lamented.

‘Ah. I should have just washed my feet and gone to sleep. What kind of glory am I going to enjoy by coming here……’

His words were sincere.

* * *

Exactly 14 hours had passed.

‘……Ah, I wish both of you were dead…’

Soon-chan had been asleep for a long time.

He was leaning his head on the desk, drooling, and cursing me and Adela in his sleep.

‘Ugh…. Analysis…… I hate it.’

It seemed like he was having a nightmare.

Looking at Soon-chan like that, Adela covered her mouth and giggled.

‘Why are you laughing?’

‘No. You’re just too funny.’

‘Him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Soon-chan is quite funny, isn’t he?’

‘Yes. He’s cheerful. And kind.’

Adela used magic on Soon-chan, who was suffering from a nightmare.

It was one of the basic 1st Circle magic, ‘Sleep’.

At that moment, Soon-chan’s mumbling disappeared. He had fallen into a deep sleep, freed from his nightmare.

‘Honestly, I thought you would run away halfway, saying you couldn’t do it anymore.’

Soon-chan had been complaining about whether we really needed to go this far.

It was natural to think he would run away.

‘Well, he’s a stubborn guy who complains but still does his best.’

‘Yes. I was actually a little surprised. His unique ideas and all…’

‘He’s a bit of a 4D thinker, so he’s good at that kind of thing.’

I also received a lot of help from Soon-chan’s unexpected ideas and opinions.

‘And… he’s a really good friend.’

‘He’s a friend that’s too good for me.’

They say that a friend who stays by your side when you’ve lost everything is a true friend.

Soon-chan is exactly that kind of friend.

‘……I’m sorry.’

Adela suddenly apologized.

‘What’s with the sudden apology?’

‘For not talking to you for a year…’

‘Huh?’

I wondered what she was talking about.

‘Why are you sorry about that? I was the one who rejected the signal you sent.’

A year ago, on the day I was diagnosed as a misfit and fell apart miserably.

Adela had clearly tried to comfort me.

I was the one who rejected Adela.

It was for a complex reason.

My pride was hurt. And my mental state was a little… no, a lot messed up.

‘How could I face her, who gave up her studies in France and stayed in Korea just to defeat me?’

In many ways, I couldn’t face Adela.

That’s why I refused Adela’s approach.

In other words, I was the reason why Adela and I became awkward.

It’s not something Adela should apologize for.

‘And well, it’s not like you didn’t talk to me, you were taking care of me behind the scenes.’

Over the past year, the reason why students, except for Baek Sa-hyuk and a few other bad apples, didn’t interfere with me was because Adela was subtly helping me from behind the scenes.

If it wasn’t for Adela, I would have had a much harder year.

‘I should be the one apologizing. I should be the one saying thank you. Why are you apologizing?’

‘……Just because.’

Adela smiled bitterly.

‘Watching the two of you, I suddenly thought that maybe it would have been right to keep approaching you, no matter what…’

It seemed like she had a lot on her mind.

‘It’s okay. I’m saying again, it’s not something you should apologize for. And it’s definitely not something you should regret.’

The awkwardness of the past year was inevitable. There’s no point in saying anything about it now.

‘And…’

I quickly raised my fist and smacked the back of Soon-chan’s head, who was sleeping face down.

‘Ugh!’

‘If you’re going to have such embarrassing conversations, do it when it’s just the two of us. Don’t do it when there’s someone like this who will keep bringing it up.’

Soon-chan raised his head hesitantly.

‘……How did you know? I was holding my breath properly.’

Soon-chan had been awake for a minute.

‘How did I know? I knew because you were holding your breath.’

It wasn’t the regular breathing of a sleeping person.

‘Wow. Are you some kind of martial arts master?’

Soon-chan clicked his tongue.

Adela next to him also seemed a little surprised. Her cheeks were a little red.

She was feeling ashamed for having such an embarrassing conversation in front of Soon-chan.

‘Okay, enough. If you’re awake, let’s talk.’

‘Huh? Talk about what?’

Soon-chan stretched, making cracking sounds from his neck.

‘About my magic.’

‘Huh?’

‘……Suddenly? That’s very random.’

The two of them widened their eyes.

‘I think I need to work with you two to prepare for the Olympiad. If we’re going to work together, it’s better if you know about my magic, right?’

Of course, I wasn’t going to reveal the details of the Bytenner style [a unique magic style].

I was just going to reveal the magic I would use in the Olympiad, including interference magic.

To win the gold medal more easily in the Olympiad.

‘Can you explain in detail? It seems like too much is being omitted.’

‘Let’s look at this first. It’ll be easier to explain that way.’

I lightly rotated my mana.

At that moment.

Woong-!

A fusion of black and white flickered on my hand.

‘……!’

Adela was surprised and jumped up from her seat.

‘……Woah, a Moonlight Bullet?’

‘That’s right.’

The magic that the Shinbiwi family is proud of.

‘This is my magic.’

The Moon attribute magic was shining on my palm.