The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 55

Cold sweat trickled down Ma Jin-seok’s back.

“What the hell did you do?”

Even now, over the radio, Jin Hee-yoon’s voice sounded like she was suffering from Shin Ha-yool’s magic.

‘Warping Wind Cutters’ and ‘fusing Flare Balls’.

Over the radio, magic was being unleashed that proved it was Shin Ha-yool.

Based on the voice alone, Shin Ha-yool shouldn’t be here.

How the hell is Shin Ha-yool here?

“Don’t bother trying to stall for time.”

Shin Ha-yool stated firmly, taking a step forward.

“I know you’re trying to buy time for Senior Kang Shin-woo and the others to return by talking to me.”

“…….”

Ma Jin-seok’s eyebrows twitched.

It was the reaction of someone who had been hit right on the mark.

“…You really are as thorough as I’ve heard.”

The moment Shin Ha-yool appeared, Ma Jin-seok sent out an emergency distress signal.

Kang Shin-woo, who received the signal, should be rushing back here by now.

It’s been about two minutes since they left the base, so if they return at top speed, it should take about one minute and thirty seconds.

He just needs to hold out for that long.

That’s why he tried to buy even a little time by talking to Shin Ha-yool.

It seems that such obvious tactics don’t work on Shin Ha-yool.

‘Still, I bought 10 seconds. Now, there’s 1 minute and 20 seconds left. If I can just protect the flag during that time…’

Ma Jin-seok calmed himself and observed Shin Ha-yool’s actions.

He prepared to respond immediately to whatever Shin Ha-yool did.

“Surrender. We’ve won this friendly match.”

Ma Jin-seok’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Aren’t you underestimating me too much?”

Shin Ha-yool’s declaration of victory was quite insulting.

It was as if he was saying, ‘You can’t even last a minute against me, so just give up.’

“Even if it’s you, I can hold out for at least a minute.”

“I know. If you were fighting me one-on-one, you could easily last not just a minute, but five. But right now, you won’t even last 10 seconds.”

Shin Ha-yool grinned.

“Because this isn’t a one-on-one, it’s a team match.”

“What do you mean by that…”

Rustle!

At that moment, Ma Jin-seok heard someone stepping on sand behind him.

A presence.

Ma Jin-seok turned around in surprise.

“Adela… Sterrett?”

“Hello.”

Adela Sterrett bowed her head politely.

“How the hell…”

Following Shin Ha-yool, even Adela Sterrett was here.

How the hell did this happen?

It was incomprehensible.

“I’ll say it one last time.”

Mana swirled around Shin Ha-yool.

Across from him, Adela’s blonde hair fluttered as gray mana rippled.

“We’ve won this friendly match. Surrender.”

The moment they succeeded in creating this situation, the outcome was as good as decided.

“…Okay. I surrender.”

Ma Jin-seok raised both hands, acknowledging defeat.

No matter how skilled Ma Jin-seok was, he didn’t have the confidence to withstand the two of them attacking together for a full minute.

* * *

The friendly match ended with the second-year team’s victory.

Everyone gathered in the conference room, and with Jin Hee-yoon’s return, all ten members were together again.

“Ugh, this is such a pain, seriously…”

She chewed her lip, looking utterly dissatisfied.

Jin Hee-yoon hadn’t even had a proper fight in the previous friendly match, ending up being toyed with.

It was natural for her to react like that.

“Jin-seok, why did you surrender so easily? Are you even a man?”

Jin Hee-yoon glared at Ma Jin-seok, who was sitting calmly with his arms crossed, grinding her teeth.

Her intense expression seemed to scream, ‘I want to kill you right now.’

“Whether I surrendered or not, it was only a 10-second difference. We would have lost anyway.”

Ma Jin-seok shrugged, calmly meeting her gaze.

It seemed like a small shrug, but because of his overly developed muscles, it looked somewhat intense.

“Frankly, how can you protect the flag while fighting those two in a 2-on-1?”

Ma Jin-seok looked at me and Adela, who were sitting across from him, one after the other.

“You should have tried to hold out for even a second or ten! Why did you surrender so easily?”

“What difference would holding out for 10 more seconds make…? Besides, are you even in a position to blame me?”

“What about me?”

“If you hadn’t been mistaken that Shin Ha-yool and Adela were on that side, this wouldn’t have happened, would it?”

“That’s…!”

Jin Hee-yoon tried to retort but then shut her mouth.

It was as if she had nothing to say about that, no matter how many mouths she had, and she just bit her lip with a frustrated expression.

“But I really thought Shin Ha-yool and Adela were hiding there…”

Now, her expression went beyond anger to one of injustice.

“If you were in my position, you would have done the same thing, right? With Moonlight Bullets and Wind Cutters flying from all directions, you would naturally think Shin Ha-yool and Adela were there…”

It was natural for Jin Hee-yoon to be mistaken.

From the start, the situation was set up to make her mistake.

“That’s enough. Both of you calm down.”

Kang Shin-woo, who had been listening quietly, calmed the two of them down.

“There’s no need to have an emotional fight. This time, it’s not that either of you did anything wrong, but…”

Kang Shin-woo looked directly at me.

“The opponent was just better.”

“…….”

“…….”

The two of them simultaneously closed their mouths and turned their gazes to me.

Soon, the eyes of all the third-year students were focused on me.

All sorts of emotions were conveyed in the eyes looking at me.

The strongest emotions among them were ‘curiosity’ and ‘inquisitiveness’.

“Shin Ha-yool. What the hell did you do?”

Kang Shin-woo was the first to bring up the topic.

Everyone’s gaze became even more intense.

How could me and Adela be present in both bases at the same time?

That was what they were so curious about.

“I’ll start by explaining what you’re most curious about. First, to explain our team’s offense and defense distribution, the only person guarding our base was Soon-chan.”

I slowly began to explain.

“Really, there was only Ji Soon-chan? Then what? All that magic was used by Ji Soon-chan? Is that it?”

Jin Hee-yoon reacted sharply, as if it was nonsense.

“No. Of course, that’s not it. It’s true that I used all the magic that trapped you seniors.”

“…What nonsense are you talking about? You weren’t at the base, right? But how did you use magic? Did you shoot magic from our base to your base?”

“It’s similar.”

I floated magic into the air.

It was the Wind Cutter, the wind-attribute magic that had been tormenting Jin Hee-yoon.

“I used magic from a distance by releasing the fixed magic that I had pre-cast and fixed in all directions.”

“Fixed?”

“Yes. Senior Ma Jin-seok, you must have analyzed my combat videos, so you know, right? That I can fix magic in the air.”

“Yeah.”

“I used that method to fix magic around the base in advance.”

It was the same method I used when facing Joo Han-wook at the Blue Magic Tower before.

There was a limit to using magic simultaneously, so I pre-cast magic, fixed it in the air, and then released the fix to fire it all at once.

“The magic prepared in that way doesn’t disappear even if I’m far away. If I release the fix, it activates normally.”

“Then what about the aiming? Your magic clearly targeted us. How do you explain that?”

“Soon-chan did the aiming.”

“…Ji Soon-chan?”

“Yes.”

I canceled the Wind Cutter.

The remnants of the wind scattered and disappeared in the air.

“During the battle, you must have heard Soon-chan muttering meaningless numbers. Don’t you remember?”

“…That 22-13 thing?”

Jin Hee-yoon said, looking like her memory was hazy.

“Yes. That’s the signal. 22 is the number of the fixed magic. The 13 after it is the angle of the fixed magic’s trajectory correction.”

“You just moved the magic from a distance according to that instruction?”

“Yes.”

“…Ha.”

Jin Hee-yoon laughed as if she was dumbfounded.

“You expect me to believe such nonsense?”

Jin Hee-yoon’s eyes were full of disbelief as she looked at me.

“It doesn’t make sense that you used magic from that far away. And you’re saying you controlled it so precisely? Does that make any sense?”

It was an understandable reaction.

It was a way of using magic that was impossible according to Jin Hee-yoon’s common sense.

“Jin-seok, you tell me. Do you think that makes sense?”

“…Honestly, it’s hard to believe, but it’s probably not a lie. The Shin Ha-yool I’ve come to know isn’t stupid enough to tell a lie that would be exposed so easily.”

Ma Jin-seok defended me with a rational reason.

“Yes. If you want, I can show you directly.”

“See? He’s confident. It’s not a lie.”

“Then what about Adela Sterrett? Moonlight Bullets clearly flew. How are you going to explain that? If you’re going to say that Adela also fixed magic like you…”

“Those Moonlight Bullets weren’t used by Adela.”

“…What?”

Jin Hee-yoon narrowed her eyes.

“I used those Moonlight Bullets too.”

I lightly floated a Moonlight Bullet on my palm.

A sphere that looked like a clump of moonlight.

It vibrated clearly with a ‘humming’ sound.

“!”

“!”

All the third-year students were shocked, suppressing their voices.

Even Kang Shin-woo, who rarely showed any change in expression, widened his eyes this time with an expression that couldn’t be more surprised.

“You, you, you guys, that…”

“I’ll say it in advance, it’s not like Adela leaked any secret magic or anything like that.”

No matter how close they were, leaking the magic formula of secret magic was forbidden.

It wasn’t legally prohibited, but each family strictly forbade it.

If this was violated and the magic formula was leaked, the circle would be forcibly dismantled, and they would be excommunicated in a state no different from a cripple.

“If it wasn’t leaked, then what is it? Are you saying you analyzed it yourself and figured it out?”

Jin Hee-yoon said sarcastically.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“…That’s right?”

“Yes. I have eyes that can see the magic formula directly.”

Jin Hee-yoon’s eyes widened.

“You… you were a possessor of the Mystic Eyes?”

* * *

After that, I had a long debate with the seniors that lasted for 30 minutes.

I explained the strategy used in this friendly match, and I also explained almost everything about my powers that I had explained to Soon-chan and Adela.

The reason I shared my information was the same as before with Adela and Soon-chan.

They were also comrades on the same boat. If they were abilities that would be used in the Olympiad anyway, it was better to share them in advance.

“How is it? Do you still think it’s impossible to win a gold medal?”

Besides that, there was nothing as effective as revealing my powers to make them believe in my ambition, my ambition to win the Olympiad and win a gold medal.

“…….”

“…….”

The seniors were silent.

They had expressions that seemed to ask themselves what they had just heard.

Half of them were in a daze.

“I’ll say it again. My goal is to win. A gold medal. For that, I need your cooperation.”

They all turned their gazes to me in that state.

“I think I’ve proven to some extent how useful the strategies I create are through this friendly match.”

The hostility that had been felt 30 minutes ago was no longer felt.

“Likewise, through this friendly match, I’ve also shown proof that we can fight against the formidable figures of the Olympiad.”

Through this team match, I proved my worth.

“So, seniors. Please follow me. In return, I will bring you a gold medal.”

“…….”

“…….”

The third-year students’ eyes trembled.

It seemed like they were deep in thought.

“Hoo.”

Jin Hee-yoon took a deep breath.

It was a deep breath filled with many meanings.

“Okay. I really don’t like it, but… I’ll follow your lead for now.”

“Hee-yoon?”

Ma Jin-seok seemed surprised.

Jin Hee-yoon, who seemed like she would oppose me until the end, was the first to say she would follow me, so he seemed surprised.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I lost the bet anyway. Whatever happens, I have to follow his lead. And it’s not like I can give up on the Olympiad. I have my honor as a representative of Korea.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Honestly, I was a bit surprised too.

I was worried about how to convince this fiery senior, but I didn’t expect her to come around so easily.

“And… even if it wasn’t for the bet, it seems like he’s capable enough to take on the overall command.”

Jin Hee-yoon looked at me with a strange expression.

It was a strange expression that seemed to say that she was insulted and unwilling, but she acknowledged it.

“Capable? Do you mean his skills?”

“Not skills. I’m talking about his capacity as a human being, as a leader.”

“…What do you mean?”

Jin Hee-yoon clicked her tongue and glared at Ma Jin-seok.

It was as if she was saying with her eyes, ‘You’re good at analysis and calculations, but you don’t understand things like this.’

“What do I mean? You, me, and Shin-woo. We were all secretly giving up on winning a medal, let alone a gold medal. Unlike him.”

“Ah…”

Ma Jin-seok and Kang Shin-woo closed their mouths. It meant that there was no room to refute Jin Hee-yoon’s words.

“Unlike us, he’s talking about a gold medal as if it’s a given. And he even presented the possibility of winning a gold medal. See? His capacity is different.”

Jin Hee-yoon bit her lip as if she was frustrated.

That anger wasn’t directed at me, Soon-chan, or Adela, but at herself.

She was feeling anger at her own patheticness for giving up on winning a medal from the start.

“I think a leader should be someone who is looking at the highest place. And among us, the one who is looking at the highest place is clearly him.”

Jin Hee-yoon sighed deeply again. It was a deep breath to shake off the remnants of anger.

“So, let’s just follow him for now. In many ways, he seems to have enough qualities as a leader.”