The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 53

The Rebirth of the Mythical Archmage-54

My provocation, though not intended as such, spread like wildfire.

All seven of the third-year members heard my proposal.

The reactions were largely divided into two categories.

“Alright. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Three of the seven ground their teeth, eager to take me on.

“Now, now. Everyone, calm down. I don’t know how this came about, but let’s try to talk it out first.”

Three of the seven suggested a peaceful resolution, wanting to talk things through.

“……Life is full of surprises. How did it come to this?”

“……?”

Soonchan looked even more despondent, while Adela remained as nonchalant as ever.

The stark contrast in their expressions, like seeing light and darkness, was quite a sight.

“Shin Ha-yul. What’s your intention?”

A man who had been silent throughout the entire conversation finally spoke.

Kang Shin-woo, the top-ranked third-year student, stared intently into my eyes as he asked.

“Knowing your personality, you wouldn’t make a pointless provocation. There must be a reason.”

Kang Shin-woo, the second son of the Shinmu Kang family. [Shinmu is a prestigious family known for their martial prowess and magical abilities]

He was a direct descendant of a prestigious family with a title, and since we were of similar age, we had met a few times.

“There’s no grand intention. As I said, I simply thought that a match would be the best way to objectively assess each other’s skills.”

“This little……”

A tall female senior, who had been bickering with Adela, almost cursed but desperately held back.

She seemed to be doing her best to suppress the renewed anger my words had ignited.

“Hoo… Junior? Is your goal perhaps to test our patience?”

The female senior, Jin Hee-yoon, smiled menacingly.

Her half-bitten words made the already tense atmosphere even more hostile.

“It would be best for you to tell the truth while you still have the chance.”

Emotional and temperamental.

She was exactly as the information I had gathered suggested.

“Are you trying to use your skills to suppress us and seize power? Is that it?”

While Adela and Jin Hee-yoon were bickering, a large man who had been mediating from behind spoke pointedly with a sharp gaze.

‘……As I’ve heard, he’s quite sharp.’

This man, with his large build and imposing muscles, might seem like a physical type, but he was surprisingly intellectual.

“Seize power?”

“What do you mean?”

Kang Shin-woo, Jin Hee-yoon, and Ma Jin-seok.

The genius trio who had never relinquished the top three spots in the third-year rankings.

They were the current power players of the third year.

“It’s just as it sounds. This junior wants to take command of this Olympiad.”

“Take command?”

“Yeah.”

Jin Hee-yoon glared at me with an even sharper gaze.

She looked as if she found it ridiculous that a second-year would try to take command.

“Is that true?”

I remained silent.

It was a silence that conveyed affirmation.

“Your arrogance is truly sky-high. Just because you’re a bit smart, you’re getting carried away.”

Jin Hee-yoon, having accurately grasped my intentions, scoffed as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Junior. No, you.”

As if she had truly reached her limit, Jin Hee-yoon dropped the honorific. It seemed she no longer felt the need for politeness.

“I know that you and Adela Stewart there have outstanding talent. I saw you two fight. So, probably……”

Jin Hee-yoon trailed off with a very reluctant expression.

It was the look of someone who didn’t want to say it but had to admit it.

“If we fought 1-on-1, you two would likely win.”

Her last bit of pride was in expressing it as ‘likely win.’

“But 3-on-7 is a different story. No matter how strong you are, you can’t beat more than twice your number.”

Jin Hee-yoon took a deep breath, desperately suppressing her emotions.

“If it were about three years later, you might have won. No, you would have won. I admit it. I’ve never been inferior in talent, but I can’t compare to you two.”

In modern magic studies, the starting point for a mage is 17 years old.

It is only after receiving an AI implant at 17 that formal training as a mage begins. [AI implants are a common technology used to enhance magical abilities]

In other words, the starting point for all mages is 17 years old.

Therefore, the difference in skill between each grade of academy students, who are between 17 and 19 years old, is bound to be significant.

It’s only natural.

Third-year students have been learning magic for over two years, while second-year students have only just passed one year.

The difference in training time is almost double.

Unless one has exceptional talent, it’s hard to overcome such a significant time difference.

That’s why Jin Hee-yoon was saying those things.

She was saying that it might be possible three years later, when their experience was more established and their talents had fully matured, but not now.

“If we were to concede, maybe 2-on-4 would have been doable. But……”

Jin Hee-yoon glanced at me and Adela once each, then stared intently at Soonchan.

“3-on-7 is not going to happen. The remaining one is too far below par compared to you two.”

“……”

Soonchan’s expression hardened.

It was a complex expression, as if he both understood and was offended by the words ‘below par.’

“I’ll say this one last time, nicely.”

Jin Hee-yoon took another deep breath.

It seemed her anger had cooled down a bit as she returned to a calm expression.

“Apologize now. Then we’ll just let it go.”

Jin Hee-yoon was demanding an apology for the remarks that seemed to disregard them.

It wasn’t an unreasonable request.

In fact, it was so reasonable that I was surprised.

The Jin Hee-yoon I knew would have exploded in anger a long time ago and said, ‘Fine, let’s fight.’

Why was she so calm?

“Yeah. Junior. Do as Hee-yoon says. I know you’re strong, but even so, 3-on-7 is too much of a disregard for us.”

Ma Jin-seok stepped forward, supporting Jin Hee-yoon.

“And we were already thinking of actively accepting your opinion without going that far.”

“My opinion?”

“Yeah.”

Ma Jin-seok pointed his chin towards Kang Shin-woo, who was observing the situation from behind.

“He said that, even if nothing else, your brainpower is beyond the realm of common sense, so it wouldn’t hurt to listen.”

“……”

Ah. So that was it.

I understood why Jin Hee-yoon was able to remain so calm.

In other words, the third-years had already finished their meeting regarding my treatment.

Having already discussed my words once, they were able to control their emotions to some extent.

It was probably something like this.

“Just in case you’re misunderstanding, I didn’t propose a 3-on-7 match because I was disregarding you seniors.”

The ten people here were the most outstanding students in Korea.

Why would I disregard them?

“You seniors are amazing, but we are far more amazing than that. That’s what I intend to prove.”

“……Ha.”

Jin Hee-yoon’s anger finally exploded.

“That’s what people call disregarding. Didn’t you learn Korean? Is your brain so full of magic that you can’t empathize with emotions?”

It was the look of someone who was saying, ‘I’ve been patient, but you’re taking me for a fool.’ It was a hostile expression that seemed to embody anger.

“And you said that you were thinking of actively accepting my opinion, but that’s just ‘accepting’ it.”

“That’s right. We’ll ‘actively’ accept your opinion, share ideas, and……”

“No.”

I cut off Ma Jin-seok’s words.

“I don’t want my opinion to be just one option. I want my opinion to be the basis for everything.”

“……”

This time, Ma Jin-seok and Kang Shin-woo’s expressions also turned hostile.

“So, is it like this?”

Kang Shin-woo spoke again.

“We should shut up and follow your orders.”

“It’s a bit of an extreme way to put it, but yes. It’s similar.”

“……Ha.”

Kang Shin-woo scoffed.

It was an expression that genuinely thought it was ridiculous.

“……Wow. I really didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere from the start, so I tried to mediate, but you’re really making me lose it.”

Ma Jin-seok’s brow twitched.

His whole body tensed up, and his muscles swelled even more.

The veins bulging on his arms seemed to be screaming that they wanted to punch me right away.

“I was going to let it go quietly, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to work. Shin-woo, is it okay?”

“……Yeah.”

Kang Shin-woo nodded with a serious face.

Having received Kang Shin-woo’s permission, Ma Jin-seok turned back to me.

“Alright. Let’s do it. Second-year versus third-year. 3-on-7 team battle. But……”

Ma Jin-seok’s sharp gaze pierced my eyes like a dagger.

“It’s no fun if we just do it normally, right? Let’s make a bet. If you win, we’ll do as you say. We’ll follow your strategy and do as you tell us. But if we win……”

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

Let’s make a bet.

That was exactly the answer I wanted.

There was no need to hear more.

“We haven’t said what we’ll do if we win yet?”

Ma Jin-seok’s aura became even more menacing.

“You can bet anything. Because it won’t happen anyway.”

A moment of silence passed.

“……Wow, this little brat is really something. He’s a pro at pissing people off.”

Jin Hee-yoon laughed sharply and spat out a rough curse.

“Good. Then we’ll decide our terms. Don’t regret it later.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, because it won’t happen.”

I met the eyes of the seniors who were glaring at me and smiled calmly.

“Oh, right. One more thing. Can I add a condition?”

“What is it?”

And finally, I glared back at Jin Hee-yoon.

“Please apologize.”

“……Apologize?”

“Yes.”

I pointed to Soonchan, who was making a very complicated expression next to me.

“If we win, you’ll have to properly apologize for calling Soonchan below par.”

Only I, as his friend, can put down my friend.

* * *

After that, everything from securing the arena to all the preparations proceeded smoothly.

“You all know the rules, right? No need to explain them?”

“I know.”

“Yes.”

The rules for this 3-on-7 team battle were based on the international rules for a simplified siege battle.

The team that first captures the flag placed at a random location wins. It was a very simple rule.

“You’ve all memorized the strategy, too.”

“Yeah.”

“Yes. I’ve memorized it all.”

As it was a simple rule, it was a perfect way to assess each other’s skills.

“But did we really have to go this far?”

Soonchan asked very cautiously.

“What do you mean?”

“Was it really necessary to have this team battle while fighting emotionally like this? From what I heard earlier, it seemed like they were willing to listen to you from the start.”

“As I said before, it’s not enough for them to just listen to me. If you’ve been in strategy meetings with me, you’d know. Even if the seniors think well of me, would they accept such a strategy?”

“……I guess not. Your strategies aren’t normal.”

Soonchan nodded as if he had quickly understood.

“But even if we win, will the seniors follow your orders? Won’t it just create more resistance?”

Soonchan surprisingly offered a sharp opinion.

He seemed worried that the resistance caused by emotional friction would break the team apart.

“It’s okay. We just have to eliminate any room for resistance.”

“Is there a way to do that?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it?”

“We just have to suppress them with overwhelming power so that there’s no room for resistance.”

Suppress them with skill.

Make the seniors acknowledge me from the bottom of their hearts.

And make them think that following me is the best option.

“Is that possible? Isn’t it usually the case that the harder you push, the stronger they resist?”

“That would be the case normally. But it can’t be that way this time.”

“Why?”

“Because our goal is none other than the gold medal at the World Academy Olympiad.”

The Olympiad gold medal.

The desire for it will melt away the seniors’ resistance.

“First, I’ll force them to acknowledge me by winning, and then I’ll slowly give them the carrot by showing them the possibility of winning the gold medal……”

“The resistance will disappear, and the team will naturally unite around you, Ha-yul?”

“That’s right. Everyone will want to win the gold medal, regardless of their pride.”

Once I can force myself to be at the top, it won’t be difficult to make everyone believe in me and follow me. I’ve already made perfect preparations for that.

Now, all that’s left is to win this friendly match.

“So, you know? Your role is the most important.”

“If you keep putting pressure on me, I’m going to run away?”

Soonchan laughed.

His expression was burning with fighting spirit.

“What? Are you going to run away after being disregarded? Soonchan’s pride is all gone.”

“Ah, if you say it like that, I can’t stand it.”

Contrary to his words, he didn’t seem to have even 0.1mm of intention to run away.

“Show Jin Hee-yoon, who disregarded you, what you’re made of.”

“Of course. I’ll make sure she never says those words again.”

Why did I specifically include Soonchan in the Olympiad team?

Everyone will find out the reason today.