Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 37
Every channel on TV was packed with stories about me.
It had been the same yesterday, but the breaking news now was completely different from before.
Up until yesterday, it was all rumors about me or my misdeeds. Now, though, the main focus was on Efnell's Flower Garden.
"This should be enough to make it convincing, right?"
"...You really cleared the Flower Garden?"
"Yeah, I get why you'd doubt it. A useless guy like me clearing an unclimbed dungeon."
Korea is a powerhouse of players.
Countless S-rank guilds are based on the peninsula, and it's produced numerous rankers and high rankers. On top of that, there's the world-renowned Chilseong Academy right here at home.
In a country like that, an unclimbed dungeon holds tremendous value. And one of them had just been cleared.
Baek Seok-ho's gaze swept over me in shock.
A look utterly different from moments ago.
His eyes pierced through me from head to toe in a way that was downright uncomfortable. But that was proof of just how stunned he was.
'He's completely on guard now.'
Before turning on the news, I'd felt like he was brushing me off.
That vibe flipped the instant the TV came on.
And it wasn't just the vibe that turned upside down.
Baek Seok-ho's entire setup had been upended.
Right now, as he alternated between staring at me and the screen...
This was my perfect chance to seize control of the conversation.
"So, how about the deal?"
"You don't mean you planned this whole conversation around...?"
"One of the three unclimbed dungeons was cleared by a member of Nine-Tail Guild. Sounds pretty good from the guild master's perspective, doesn't it?"
"Urk...!"
From Baek Seok-ho's standpoint, my offer was pretty sweet.
Accept it, and he'd snag not just the prestige of clearing one of the three unclimbed dungeons, but all the media spotlight and public attention that came with it.
The tradeoff? A nasty scratch to his pride.
He'd been ignoring me this whole time.
Or more precisely, up until just now.
And now he'd be swallowing that nobody's proposal hook, line, and sinker.
'Will he chase the profit? Or pick his pride?'
His serious expression suggested he was seriously torn.
No helping it.
Time to nudge him over the edge.
"It's a solid deal, isn't it? Just one interview wearing your guild badge, and the spotlight will be insane."
"...I can't fathom what the Family Head is thinking."
"Why? Is it that outrageous? I'm not asking for Nine-Tails status or anything unreasonable."
Nine-Tails.
The collective term for the highest-ranking executives in Nine-Tail Guild.
Baek Seok-ho here was the First Tail among them, and the other eight were all top-tier in skill and achievements.
Obviously, demanding that position was absurd.
Even if he agreed, it'd just be an empty title.
I'd casually name-dropped the top spot without batting an eye.
Now came the real key.
I let take the wheel.
Casually, naturally, I raised a finger.
As if it were the most obvious thing, I opened my mouth and added to the terms.
"In exchange."
"Hm?"
I spoke softly.
This was the heart of the deal.
"Give me a team leader position. And guarantee autonomy."
"...You must know how unreasonable that is."
"For a normal guild, sure. But this one's different."
I tapped the sofa with my hand.
The soft sensation enveloped my knuckles without sinking in too deep.
That alone hinted at how high-end it was.
And it wasn't just the sofa.
Everything in this room.
Most of the stuff making up this guild headquarters buildingwhose wallet do you think it came from?
"You know about the family-guild contract, right?"
"Of course. I'm the head of this guild, after all."
"Then you know what comes next."
"...You're not seriously threatening me with your Family Head status."
Baek Seok-ho's face showed no sign of being rattled by the threat.
Which made sense.
What could a powerless Family Head do?
It'd just look like empty bluster.
But surprisingly, he didn't seem all that displeased.
If anything, he was weighing it positively.
Nohad he already made up his mind?
Handing over a team leader spot and autonomy meant he'd have a perfect excuseand opportunityto keep me under direct watch.
Baek Seok-ho was already inclined to accept, but playing it cool anyway. No helping it.
Time to drive the nail home.
"Then let's add one more condition."
"...What do you mean?"
"The next dungeon I'll clear is 'Yotun's Inferno.' How's that?"
Like today's 'Efnell's Flower Garden,' it was one of the infamous three unclimbed dungeons. The difference? People knew how to approach the Flower Garden.
The Inferno's difficulty was just plain insane.
'An environment no human could survive in, let alone casually approach.'
Terrain flowing with lava.
Fire giants strolling around on it like it was nothing.
No rest inside, no way to handle food, clothing, and shelter on-site. A literal inferno of a dungeon.
And I'd just declared I'd clear it.
"Are you insane, Family Head?"
"Right now, I'd appreciate it if you saw me as just a player."
"...That's not something someone wielding their Family Head status up until a second ago would say."
"Is that so?"
"No helping it, then."
At this point, there was no reason for him to hold out any longer.
Baek Seok-ho fetched a few sheets of paper with a resigned look.
Guild enrollment forms. I'd take them home and read every line carefully.
I grabbed the papers and left the room without a backward glance.
I had no desire to stay in there any longer.
Waiting for the elevator, I zoned out, lost in thought.
He was tougher and trickier than I'd expected.
But nothing I couldn't handle.
'Team leader for now. Next time, I'll take it all.'
I planned to strip Baek Seok-ho of every bit of power and authority he enjoyed.
Guild master privileges, elder statusit didn't matter.
This guild was doomed in the novel's second half anyway.
No one would complain if I took it over.
Office politics might be a hassle.
But I could manage.
I had plenty of experience seizing command in armed groups.
'If anything, I'm looking forward to it.'
Backroom scheming and infighting from the shadows.
That was my specialty.
My mind and know-how hadn't weakened like my body had. With all that experience, I could definitely pull it off.
With that thought, I stepped out of the guild headquarters into the evening sunset.
Time to head back to the dorms.
Today's my day off, so I need to get back soon.
"...What a tiring day."
Morning started with getting dragged to a meeting.
Ran into a student in the dungeon, used Loneliness to take out an assassin.
Then negotiated with Baek Seok-ho.
Body still wasn't fully healed, and I'd pushed it way too hard.
The packed schedule had worn me out physically and mentally.
Still, this level of fatigue was nothing compared to the injury on my hand.
"...It's pretty ugly."
I peeled off the tattered gloves.
What they revealed was a hand even more wrecked than the gloves.
Traces of burns covered my entire hand from poison and flames.
Dunking my already-burned hand into Loneliness had been the killer.
I didn't even have much poison resistance, so it looked hideous.
Or maybe it wasn't that bad.
No flesh gouged out, no charred black bits.
Depending on the angle, it could pass for a fashion statement or tattoo...
"Yeah, right. Who'd call this fashion?"
Dragon, rose, or goblin tattoos were cute by comparison.
Maybe because my hands were slender and delicate to begin with.
Even with the gruesome burns, up close it was a horrific scar, but from afar? Tolerable.
Guess I'd be living with it like this.
No potion could fix a scar this stubborn.
Unless I chugged another Elixir.
'You don't waste a potion that can save anyone short of death on a scar like this.'
No choice.
Just live with it.
The silver lining? I always wore gloves anyway.
Originally just to show off noble and Family Head dignity.
Now I had one more reason to keep them on.
'These are done for. Better pick up new ones on the way to the dorms.'
Staring at the shredded gloves, I felt the urgent need for replacements.
Might as well splurge on better ones.
Ones that wouldn't burn in flames or melt in deadly poison.
Hm, better to just get a full gear set custom-made.
Today and the last ambush too.
No proper equipment, so I'd fought bare-handed or shaped flames as weapons.
Between micromanaging my schedule down to the minute, I hadn't had time for gear. But soon, I'd visit that guy.
'At this point in the story, he should still be around here, right?'
Hoping my memory was spot-on, I hopped into a cab toward the academy.
Ended up with the same driver again.
This has to be fate at this point.
In the meantime,
I suddenly realized I'd forgotten something.
"Oh, right. I meant to look for tail-related documents or records back at the estate."
No helping it.
Next time.
Plenty of time, and plenty of days I'd need to show my face there.
* * *
"...Ridiculous."
The guild master's office fell silent after Baek Seung-woo left.
Baek Seok-ho's pale face and tails were flushed bright red.
His emotions weren't just showingthey were bursting out, veins bulging in eyes glinting with madness.
"I knew he was useless, but I never thought he'd go this insane."
Daring to make demands of me.
Even mixing in threats.
Part of me wanted to rip him apart.
Normally, I'd have killed a punk like that without a second thought about the fallout.
But not this time. The situation was too dicey.
With Baek Seung-woo's tails hitting two, the First Elder and neutral faction were paying attention. Make a move now, and who knows what the First Elder would do.
On top of that, among the direct descendants, Baek Seung-woo was the only heir.
The Heavenly Fox Baek Family clung to ancient customs and rituals.
Deeply steeped in Confucian idealsin the worst ways.
The Family Head had to be a man.
Couldn't just swap him out whimsically when the heir was still alive. That wasn't Baek Seok-ho's style, and it'd piss off the First Elder who actually held the family power.
Baek Seok-ho wasn't incompetent.
"Maybe I should push Baek Seol-ah or Baek Seol-hee into marriage, get some grandkids quick."
Regency.
Get them to produce a grandchild fast, name that kid the provisional heir.
Then pull all the strings from behind.
Theoretically viable.
Baek Seung-woo had no lover and had broken off his own engagementhe couldn't refuse. But the problem was...
"Those two bitches."
Eldest daughter Baek Seol-ah and second Baek Seol-hee.
His rivals vying to oust Baek Seung-woo and claim the Family Head spot.
Annoying in their own right, but manipulable into useful pawns.
Still, that wouldn't make him Family Head through his own power alone. It went against his principles.
"...I won't tolerate fox-posturing."
Fox-posturing.
The idiom for a fox borrowing a tiger's might to act tough.
But in the Heavenly Fox Baek Family, it was flipped.
A tiger's might meant nothing before a Heavenly Fox.
So it was tiger-borrowing-fox-might.
A tiger riding a fox's coattails. That was the proper saying here.
But in his youth, Baek Seok-ho had wondered.
Why was the fox above the tiger?
Didn't make sense ecologically.
Then he experienced it firsthand.
Baek Seok-ho was the tiger. An unmatched mountain lord.
But his opponent was the worst possible matchup.
He could still see it if he closed his eyes.
A nine-tailed fox wielding divine powers and astrology.
Before that fox, a mere mountain lord was just another wild beast.
'That day, I finally understood tiger-borrowing-fox-might.'
All the young Baek Seok-ho's prestige stemmed from that fox. He never dreamed of rebelling against her.
But she died, leaving three young kids?
A golden chance to challenge again.
This time, he'd shatter the fox's might and claim the top for himself.
Or so he'd sworn.
Why was this damn kid still doing it, then and now!
"It's disgustingly vibrant compared to back then."
In Baek Seok-ho's old memories, Baek Seung-woo had always been consistent.
At his first-birth grab, the provisional heir ceremony, even when his parents who reached nine-tailsdied.
Dead eyes, unchanging.
Like the person himself was broken.
An eerie revulsion.
"Still, back then it was just an uncanny valley."
Uncanny valleythe term for that visceral disgust toward something almost human but not quite.
Childhood Baek Seung-woo gave off that vibe in every expression.
Less human, more living doll.
Or was it the same even now?