I Hid My Power Too Well and Got Disowned
I had talent in sorcery.
Unlike the typical cliché of a young ordinary guy dying prematurely in his past life, this was the one advantage I could confidently claim.
Was this what it meant to be a genius?
Just having a second chance at life put me ahead of everyone else from the starting line, and in this nameless modern fantasy world, where talent was paramount, mine was exceptional.
At just five years old, they hailed me as a once-in-a-millennium prodigy.
It didn't take long for a new family to show up at the orphanage where I lived.
A middle-aged man, wrapped head to toe in bandages from what must have been severe injuries, his haggard face breaking into a wide smile despite the blood seeping through, staining them crimson.
"From today onward, I'm your father."
The atmosphere was downright chilling.
Those inorganic eyes of his—I still remembered them vividly. There was no way I could see him as some noble soul adopting an orphan.
I wasn't sure what accident had befallen them, but the direct bloodline of the family consisted only of my adoptive father and his daughter, who was around my age.
He shoved her in front of me and said just one thing.
"This is my daughter. When the time comes, you'll marry her."
There was a reason he'd gone out of his way to find an adopted son.
With the bloodline on the verge of dying out, he planned to raise a son-in-law from scratch. I learned later that a sorcerer's partner was for life—only one per lifetime.
To preserve the bloodline purely, such restrictions were necessary.
Still, the family's conditions weren't bad.
A small but storied clan with not just general sorcery, but even secret arts.
My fiancée and stepsister had been cute as a child, and by marriageable age, she had blossomed into a stunning beauty who perfectly suited the word.
Systematic training in sorcery, and a beautiful promised partner? From an orphan's perspective, it was the ultimate rags-to-riches story.
But with no intention of fulfilling those expectations, I never advanced beyond prodigy status.
I flaunted my talent freely only in the few years after starting sorcery.
Before being fully branded a genius, I gradually dialed back how much I showed.
"...So it wasn't talent after all—just precociousness."
My father was disappointed, but he let it go with that one remark.
A pure-hearted kid might have strived to meet his expectations, but inside, I was a man in his twenties.
Those eyes that looked at me like a tool—they were seared into my memory.
I didn't have enough trust to fully believe in him.
Plus, as an adopted orphan, I was in the perfect position to be discarded like a worn rag.
No matter that he'd adopted me himself and set up a fiancée—if a better option came along, he'd switch without hesitation.
I was certain of it.
A ferocious blaze devoured an entire building.
My personal sorcery workshop, my sanctuary of over ten years, was crumbling into cursed black flames alongside dense memories.
On this late night as the new year waned.
The special day marking both New Year's and my coming of age had turned into an unforgettable nightmare.
"Siwoo Gong. I hereby disown you from the Gongmyeongdang family register."
The lord of Gongmyeongdang. Gong Jin-cheol.
The man who was my adoptive father announced it coldly, the inferno raging behind him.
He had me thoroughly restrained, forced to my knees, gazing down at me with the pitiless eyes of a judge condemning a criminal.
As if all our past bonds meant nothing.
"Hahaha! Look at you. Who'd have thought the so-called prodigy was a total fake?"
Whoosh!
The man who mocked me as I was disowned and personally torched my workshop turned away with a smug grin.
Black embers lingered at his fingertips, flickering wildly with his vulgar laughter.
A prestigious sorcery house. Direct heir of Hwaseong Group. Choi Taeseong.
The spoiled scion of a sorcery powerhouse that had shed its old-fashioned "hall" name to become a modern conglomerate.
A man who shouldn't even be in Gongmyeongdang was doing what he shouldn't, as if it were the most natural thing.
"Happy birthday, Siwoo! Like the gift? I waited specially for today!"
Standing meekly in the arms of the laughing maniac was my former fiancée, Gong Seoyul.
His snaking fingers groped her sensitive spots, yet she showed no resistance.
Gong Jin-cheol declaring disownment. Gong Seoyul yielding her body to a man who wasn't her fiancé.
My gut feeling that they weren't trustworthy had proven spot on.
"It's all because you were useless. Can't have a half-baked kid who can't even use sorcery fathering my child, right?"
Gong Seoyul spat her cold accusation at me.
Her face twisted in disgust, but that emotion was aimed not at Choi Taeseong, but at me.
Truth be told, I'd noticed it for a while.
Her feelings cooling, then filling with fresh disappointment at the emptiness.
Still, I'd let it slide for one reason alone.
"If your body hadn't gone to shit, you wouldn't have lost the girl or gotten disowned! What, using Binding to amp your talent? If that worked, everyone would do it, you retard!"
"Must've missed the old days bad to gamble like a madman. Foolish bastard."
"And it failed anyway, leaving you with jack shit! Hahaha!"
Because I'd hidden my power so well that I couldn't use sorcery at all anymore.
Publicly, it was known as a failed Binding.
A reckless fool who'd tampered with Binding and ended up with an indefinite seal on his sorcery, rendering him powerless.
That was my current situation.
"...But is this really grounds for disownment? I've contributed to the family, haven't I?"
The question suddenly popped into my head, and I directed it at Gong Jin-cheol.
I couldn't use sorcery, sure, but I'd prided myself on contributing elsewhere.
Ten years with sorcery sealed.
From Gongmyeongdang's general sorcery to its secret arts—I'd refined them all, surpassing the first generation.
I'd hidden my raw combat power, but proved my intellectual value was still there.
So I'd thought I'd secured some position, but apparently, that was just my delusion.
"Siwoo Gong. I do value your abilities highly. Even without sorcery, you elevated Gongmyeongdang's arts to prestigious levels. ...But that's exactly why."
Gong Jin-cheol's follow-up was utterly repulsive.
The sorcery I'd advanced with my own hands, plus a political marriage to Choi Taeseong.
With Hwaseong Group's backing, Gongmyeongdang could rise to true prestige, his eyes gleaming with greed.
A nauseating ambition that would betray all principles for the clan's ascent.
Gong Jin-cheol's scarred face twisted viciously as he flashed the same smile as back then.
"Heh. Can't let a good catch like her go to a useless punk like you, right? Why should I put up with your ex-fiancée wandering the house?"
"Hwaseong Group's direct heir as my son-in-law? Discarding one adopted bastard is no big deal."
"Thanks to you, our sorcery got usable enough for Hwaseong to take notice. I'll give you that much credit."
Their self-serving bullshit polluted my ears.
Would things have been different if I'd shown my full talent without hiding?
If I'd revealed the reward from ten years of Binding, would it have changed anything?
No one could know.
"We said disownment, but we can't just let you walk."
"Not with Gongmyeongdang's secrets in that head of yours. No choice."
At least I could be sure of one thing: they had zero guilt in orchestrating this.
Disown, betray, backstab, murder—easy as pie for them.
"Yeah. Knew it would come to this."
I'd already factored in this outcome.
Compared to my shallow trust in Gong Jin-cheol, the gains from Binding outweighed it, so I'd pushed forward.
"Acting all enlightened? Pathetic—beg properly. Satisfy me, and I might let you live."
"Ha."
I looked at Choi Taeseong spewing empty threats, then at the Gong duo flanking him, and opened my mouth.
"But why are you so sure I can't use sorcery?"
My days as a power-hiding meta were over.
I'd planned to play the web novel protagonist, holding back until growth peaked, but I wasn't about to cling to a failed method.
I glanced down at the restraint sorcery binding me immobile.
Metal chains forged indestructibly, unbreakable by force.
"Void Resonance Art."
One ring on my finger shattered, activating Gongmyeongdang's secret art.
I couldn't use sorcery, but I could still draw on soul force itself.
And artifacts to wield that soul force—talismans I always carried.
An emergency measure I'd hidden even from my fake family.
"Wha...!"
"How...!"
I skipped across space, savoring their bug-eyed stares.
Gongmyeongdang's secret art, Void Resonance Art, manipulated space.
Perfect for escape, but I wasn't the only space sorcery expert.
Every Gongmyeongdang member was a specialist in the space sorcery I'd refined.
Shaking pursuit with just limited talisman effects was impossible, as expected.
"How many talismans did you prepare, young master? Took some effort to track you."
Unfortunately, the ones I ran into last weren't Gong Jin-cheol or Gong Seoyul.
Gongmyeongdang's 1st Grade sorcerers, who just days ago we'd joked around with idly.
"Young master my ass. That punk's nothing now."
"Show some respect, at least. He did make us stronger."
Finally, three sorcerers surrounded me with weary expressions.
Necklaces, rings, piercings—over half my accessory-disguised talismans were spent.
"The lord ordered immediate execution. Shame on your birthday."
"Orphan—probably doesn't even know his real one. Orphanage slapped a date on him."
I ignored their chatter, quietly gazing at the night sky.
A cloudless, pristine heaven, the moon subtly asserting its presence high overhead.
"Moon for your final view? Poetic."
One sorcerer, still polite, extended his hand.
The others mirrored him.
A flawless joint assault to ensure no tricks, no gaps.
I watched the moon shift slightly past zenith and spoke casually.
"It's exactly ten years today."
"Pardon...?"
"Ten years since my sorcery was sealed."
The Binding I'd set for ten years expired today.
I'd timed it deliberately.
The moment of adulthood. When a sorcerer could stand alone. When I could leave Gongmyeongdang on my own.
Ironically, Choi Taeseong had chosen this day for disownment too.
Lucky or unlucky—I couldn't say.
As the moon crossed vertical by a hair's breadth, the day fully ended.
Kuuuung!
"No...!"
"The Binding's releasing now?!"
Formless soul force gained direction.
A bizarre sense of liberation surged as it erupted outward, wildly tracing sorcery formulas.
"Even for you, a ten-year gap is...!"
"Too late."
No matter their Gongmyeongdang affiliation, they lacked the secret Void Resonance Art.
Their space sorcery was diluted general versions.
Secret arts were reserved for bloodline—except exceptions like me.
"Shouldn't have rushed me with inferior knockoffs."
I'd waited until this instant, right before their spells activated.
Theirs all fizzled.
The surrounding space fell entirely under my control.
I fixed their positions, allowing no tremor.
"...!"
Absolute stasis—no opening mouths, no breathing.
Easy to dominate when it was just degraded Void Resonance Art.
I finally spoke to my ungrateful acquaintances, lips twitching.
"...If this Binding wasn't a side effect, what the hell did I gain?"
I'd kept my mouth shut for a full ten years.
For these doomed traitors, to make their path to the afterlife less boring.
Magic.
I uttered the word that didn't exist in this modern fantasy world.
"This is gonna be fun. Finally get to fire it myself."
My independently built conversion formula kicked in, corrupting the soul force.
Soon, unlike red soul force, blue mana sparkled at my fingertips.
Runes and a magic circle traced by my gestures.
The central hexagram shone brightest.
—Fireball.
The bestseller that came to mind first with magic.
"Th-that's not sorcery...!"
Kwaaang!
Their desperate struggles faded into irrelevance as three fireballs incinerated the shady sorcerers.