The Audit Ends, But the Real Beginning Starts Now
“It’s like this. About fifteen hundred years ago, there was a ‘Dragon Lord’ in Elderium. Kaldor. He was obsessed with life-creation magic.”
“Hold on. Creating life? Was that even possible?”
“No. That was originally the domain of the gods alone. More precisely, it was a power you weren’t supposed to touch. But Kaldor broke that taboo and pushed forward anyway.”
Arin shifted her posture in midair and continued. “The other dragons waged war to stop him… and the aftermath was enormous.”
Her voice dropped slightly. “The Spirit Realm and the Middle Realm of Elderium split apart right then and there. The land tore open, shifted, and the two worlds were pushed in different directions. The Spirit Gods pooled their power to suppress the fallout, so it didn’t completely collapse… but it wasn’t whole anymore. The scars of that distortion still remain, and the Spirit Gods exhausted nearly all their strength and fell into slumber.”
“…Then what about you?”
“The other three Spirit Kings and I… were stripped of our power and sealed away before the war even began, simply because we hadn’t stopped Kaldor’s greed. We got caught in the fragments created when the dimensions tore apart… and in the process, I ended up fused with the dungeon core I was trapped in.”
“So that’s how we eventually met.”
I paused for a moment, then asked, “Weren’t there any spirits who knew you? Old friends or something?”
“Almost none. The number of spirits has dwindled… and after I lost my power and regained it, my very existence changed a little. It’s only natural they wouldn’t recognize me.”
“…That must have been lonely.”
“It’s fine. You’ll summon me often from now on, won’t you? And if you create subordinate spirits later, that’s fine too! I’m going to rise back up to Spirit King again.”
“Yeah. I’ll help you as much as I can.”
“Okay! Thanks, Jihoon. Let’s do our best together. And… could you get me lots of spirit stones too?”
“That’s… I’ll try my best.”
“Hehe. Don’t feel pressured. I was just saying.”
“Right. Anyway, let’s do well.”
Arin smiled brightly. “Good night, Jihoon.”
The red light faded and scattered into the air. The room quickly fell silent, and I lay down as I was. The ceiling gradually blurred as the day gently closed.
The next morning, the door to the Dungeon Investigation Bureau office opened and a woman in a black coat walked in. Neatly trimmed short hair. An expression that never wavered. The kind of person whose posture spoke before her words did.
“Park Eun-chae from the Audit Division at D.I.B. Headquarters.”
Team Leader Yoo Mira rose from her seat. “Welcome. We’re Investigation Team 3, and—”
Park Eun-chae gave a brief nod and swept her gaze across the room. It was a restrained, cold look that assessed the entire team at once. That gaze stopped at my desk.
“Investigator Byun Jihoon is here, correct?”
“…Yes.”
“There are a few points I need to confirm regarding the investigation. I’ll conduct individual interviews shortly.”
It was a short greeting, but the atmosphere was clear. She was someone who followed procedure without emotion. Her fast, precise work style was immediately apparent.
From that day onward, for three days, she turned over every detail of the team members’ relationships, commute records, assets, investigation site photos, movement logs, and equipment usage history without missing a single thing. Naturally, my records were no exception. She only called me in twice, but even in my absence, I could feel her meticulously examining everything around me. It was clearly an attempt to find any gaps.
Three days later, Park Eun-chae placed the final document on the desk.
“Investigation Team 3. No evidence of core misappropriation.”
“Is the same true for Black Tortoise Team 3?” Yoo Mira asked.
“Yes. It is the same.”
“What’s the final conclusion?”
“Traces of an illegal hunter team were found nearby. Some C-class cores appear to have entered black-market routes.”
“What’s Headquarters’ judgment?”
“Since this is the first case, they’re proceeding with caution.”
“…Understood.”
“That concludes everything. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The door closed, and the room fell briefly silent.
“Everyone did well. The audit ends here, and there are no charges against anyone.”
At the same time, in the Headquarters conference room, Director Han Seo-yeon continued speaking.
“Good. Officially, we’ll close it with no charges. However, let’s pair Black Tortoise Team 3 and Investigation Team 3 one more time. Assign them to Pocheon C-08 during the next cycle.”
Audit Division Chief Choi Jun-hyuk flipped through the documents. “Here are Investigator Byun Jihoon’s records. Monthly rent lifestyle, no fluctuations in bank account, no vehicle or loans, steady income, parents’ income at average levels. No hunter activity history… nothing unusual.”
Director Han Seo-yeon’s fingertips lightly tapped the desk.
“…We’re continuing observation?”
“Yes. The records all match, but… it would still be better to take another look.”
“Then let’s do that.”
The file was quietly organized, and the meeting concluded.
The next morning, in Investigation Team 3’s meeting room.
“I have one piece of good news and one piece of troublesome news. The audit has officially ended, and everyone has been cleared of all charges. Also, in three days, we’ll be entering Pocheon C-08 together with Black Tortoise Team 3.”
“It’s a C-class dungeon.”
“Yes. This time, upper management is providing transportation equipment as well. They say walking is inefficient because the terrain is grassland.”
“Everyone can ride the Black Tortoise bikes, right?”
“It was part of the exam, so even with little practical experience, we can operate them.”
Sorin cautiously raised her hand. “I’m fine. Riding motorcycles is my hobby.”
“Doyun and I have ridden Black Tortoise bikes before. No problem.”
“Then there shouldn’t be any issues. We’ll only check the necessary parts and begin preparations starting today.”
The meeting concluded just like that. I stood up and organized my terminal. The schedule for Pocheon C-08 lingered in my sight for a long time. There were no particular signs of trouble, yet a quiet feeling inside me refused to let it go lightly.
After work, I stopped by the dojo. The faint smell of sweat on the floor and marks from wooden swords remained, and Master Han Do-hyun straightened his back and glanced my way.
“You’re here. Your footwork has been a bit off these past few days. Let’s take a slow look at that flow today. No need to push yourself.”
“Yes. I keep feeling like my movements are misaligned. I want to fix that.”
“Good. Then pick up your sword.”
I lightly rotated my shoulders and wrists to loosen up and took my first stance. As I drew the sword line, the master pointed at the tip with his finger.
“The angle drops here. The power leaks upward, so the center shifts. Try again with the feeling of lifting from below.”
I swung again, and the master briefly pressed the side of my wrist to correct the angle. The pressure was light, but the sense of direction being fixed was clear.
We checked the footwork next. As I took half a step, the master looked at my toes and said, “Don’t lift from the heel first. You have to push the edge of your foot forward so the flow doesn’t break. Once you get that one thing right, your sword line will stabilize too.”
After moving a few more times, the rhythm between my feet and sword began to align little by little. The master nodded lightly and stood at sparring distance again. The sound of swords clashing continued steadily, with brief corrections only when necessary.
Once the basic physical conditioning was finished, the master clapped his palms once.
“This is enough for today. Pushing further in your current state would only throw the flow off. If you come again tomorrow, just continue from the center we found today.”
“Yes. I feel like the movements are starting to stick a bit more.”
By the time I left the dojo, the sky had already darkened. After a quick shower, I dimmed the lights in my room, and a quiet air settled in. When I gathered a faint amount of mana at my fingertips, the internal flow rippled ever so slightly. It was clearer than yesterday, yet at the same time, the power didn’t spread evenly. The strength was definitely there, but control wasn’t keeping up—a strange balance kept shifting in my hand.
‘…Is this normal? It’s not easy.’
“Arin.”
A small flame rose, and Arin appeared. The tips of her hair swayed a little brighter than usual.
“Is the Spirit Realm’s condition okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. But Jihoon, you… feel a bit blocked. Your body is well trained, but you’re still lacking in controlling mana flow. You need ‘flow control’ techniques like swordsmanship or mental methods.”
I nodded and turned on the computer. The boot-up sound rang briefly, and the screen lit up.
“Are there any sword techniques or mana control skills like that?”
“I don’t know exactly what’s available. But in Elderium, there used to be things like technique manuals. There was a culture of organizing swordsmanship, mana flow, spirit arts, and such into ‘books.’”
“That’s enough. I just need to find them.”
“If they’re in book form… we might actually be able to find them.”
I nodded while typing in a website address. “Then there might be sword techniques or mana control skills left somewhere here too. If I search the auction site, there could be some.”
“Yeah. You should be able to find them. I can only see the general structure of what they are.”
“Then let’s check the auction first. I heard books are traded for around three million won since their origins aren’t clearly known.”
I opened the ‘Books & Documents’ category. There was no search function, and most titles were garbled. A few photos were uploaded without context, and the summaries simply read “Source unknown / Estimated dungeon drop.”
“These are the books. It’s a mess, but… at least the pictures are visible.”
I stared at the monitor screen and flipped through them one by one.
“Arin, is there anything that feels like swordsmanship?”
Arin leaned forward and scanned the screen. “Hmm… this one’s movements don’t match any weapon… that one’s a mana structure diagram… Ah, wait. This one definitely feels different.”
I immediately zoomed in. Residual light spread like scattered starlight dust, and within it, a figure holding a sword was faintly drawn. Faint characters that looked like explanations were blurred around it.
“…Is it swordsmanship?”
“Yeah. This looks like the Astra Blade. The sword art of Grand Master Jeron Valter, the greatest in the empire. I never thought something like this would still exist in this world… but it really is something extraordinary.”
“It’s the sword art of someone that great?”
“Yes! It’s highly likely the sword art personally written by Jeron Valter, the empire’s greatest swordsman and ‘Dragon Slayer.’ There’s no need to hesitate. We have to buy it right now! It’ll be a huge loss if we miss it.”
“Really? That much? Then I should join the auction immediately. But… I don’t have much money right now. What should I do? I’ll have to sell the mana stones I’ve collected tomorrow.”
“There’s still time, so let’s place a bid for now! Swordsmanship aside… how are we supposed to get mental methods? It’s hard to tell from pictures alone, isn’t it?”
While I was selecting a few books on the auction site, Arin looked up from scanning the screen.
“But… instead of the auction, isn’t there somewhere else you can look, Jihoon? The books listed here seem limited.”
I lifted my hands from the keyboard for a moment and thought.
“…There is. There’s a library at D.I.B. Headquarters that only investigators can access. I heard there are a few reference copies kept there. Even if they’re not originals, it would be much better to see mental methods in person.”
“Then we should go there first, right?”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday, so the schedule is flexible. I’ll sort out the mana stones I’ve collected and head straight to the Seoul headquarters.”
Arin rolled a small flame at her fingertips and nodded. “Good. Then let’s leave the auction for swordsmanship and properly look for mental methods at the library tomorrow.”
I turned off the computer and slowly stood from the chair.
“Yeah. If there are proper technique manuals at the library, my abilities should stabilize much faster.”
Arin spun lightly and smiled. “Then let’s stop here for today. You should rest a bit if you want to focus tomorrow.”
The small flame slowly disappeared, leaving only quiet air in the room. I felt an inexplicable sense of anticipation about what I might find at the headquarters library tomorrow.
The next morning, I stopped by the Uijeongbu Hunter Department Store first to sell the mana stones. When I checked the total amount entered into the system, the figure appeared immediately.
“Whoa… twenty-five million won.”
I let out a breath and looked at the amount again.
“As expected, C-class and above really make money. Now I can seriously participate in auctions.”
Arin peeked out from beside me. “Making money… what does that mean? Weren’t they just lumps of mana?”
“Here, mana stones are practically used like money. The higher the grade, the greater the value, and selling them turns them into cash right away.”
“Ah… so that’s how it works. Then this is quite a lot, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Now I can afford to bid properly.”
Arin nodded in a small circle. “Then it should help with finding what we need.”