An Older Brother My Father's Age
Kangmu Dang. The main house of Kang Moojin, chairman of the Sorcery Association.
It wasn't a prestigious family situated under a chaebol giant like Hwaseong Group. On the contrary, it was a traditional, old-world small-to-medium clan, much like Gongmyeongdang.
The sole reason such a family was treated as prestigious was one thing.
The seat of Special Grade at the pinnacle of sorcerers. Kang Moojin occupied that position.
The chairman's seat was merely secondary power. His fame stemmed purely from personal might, not political influence or wealth.
“...So this fresh-faced kid becomes my little brother?”
“I don't plan on sticking around forever. No need to get that involved.”
“Hah. Using our family to launder your identity? You sure don't hold back in front of the family head.”
“Bro. I'm not interested in your damn clan, so cut me some slack. Or do I need to chop off your arm like I did your old man's before you get it?”
Just like the family head who couldn't utter another word in my presence, Kangmu Dang without Kang Moojin wasn't much of a threat.
I'd come all the way to Kangmu Dang despite the poor hospitality of not even offering a drink.
My goal was the sorcery Kang Moojin had promised.
His swordsmanship, experienced firsthand, had piqued my interest.
I couldn't touch their secret arts like with Gongmyeongdang, but even a downgraded general sorcery would let me grasp its essence.
Besides, since I wasn't of Kangmu Dang blood, they couldn't wield it properly anyway.
“...We're not really brothers, so call me family head.”
“Got it, family head. Even if you put me on the family register, I'm like a live-in guest, so I'll respect the hierarchy. So, about that sorcery?”
Thud.
As I pressed the family head, something heavy hit the floor.
The chairman's right arm, covered in thick muscles.
That thing, stamped with a pitiful black footprint, rolled across the reception room floor.
“I didn't come here during your busy time just to play mind games, family head.”
“...We need time to verify if it's real. Wait a bit.”
The family head stared down at the arm rolling aimlessly with a complicated expression.
His sharp momentum had dulled, and he asked back in a subdued voice.
“Pulling that out now means you're offering it in exchange for Kangmu Dang's sorcery, right?”
“I can't keep that gruesome thing in my subspace forever, and isn't it something you'd welcome, family head?”
“...Ahem. What's your real intention here?”
The family head glared at me suspiciously.
In this situation, my strongest card was that chairman's arm.
If I threatened to curse it like a sorcerer, it might justify ripping out a pillar of Kangmu Dang.
So why hand it over so easily? What was my angle?
“Let's not be enemies for no reason, family head. Wouldn't it be nice if we both got what we want, no push-pull games or politics? You give generously, I take.”
I knew full well how shallow a relationship built on threats could be.
Left like this, Kangmu Dang would plot to stab me in the back anytime.
There wasn't much left to squeeze from them besides money or sorcery.
They weren't hurting for cash anymore, so handing over their sorcery and covering up the chairman's scheme would wrap up their obligations.
“Besides, this is a deal with the chairman, not you. No room for your input. You have to clean up my mess anyway—might as well get some credit, right?”
The real power in Kangmu Dang was obviously Kang Moojin the chairman, not the family head before me.
Otherwise, he couldn't make such a decision lightly.
Even for a figurehead family head, recovering an arm he'd long given up on would be a solid achievement.
Even if I'd snatched it in a sneak attack.
“You little... ”
But instead of looking pleased, the family head furrowed his brow deeply.
“...Do you think Kangmu Dang is worthless too? A family with nothing to show but our father?”
As if I'd triggered some PTSD, he vented his inferiority complex toward the chairman.
Returning the arm without demanding anything must have bruised his pride.
Gripping his sword hilt like it might shatter, the family head flushed red with humiliation.
“I'll admit you're impressive. I couldn't even scratch Father. But you have no idea Kangmu Dang's true potential...!”
—I'll prove it.
Bang!
Spitting the words, the family head slammed Kangmu Dang's sorcery onto the table.
The cover bore the characters passed down only within Kangmu Dang.
* * *
Flip.
The only sound in the quiet reception room was the rustle of turning pages.
The family head glared at me murderously as I read the sorcery tome.
He wouldn't let me leave until I'd read it all here.
What was his angle? My stomach churned, and I hadn't even eaten.
The heavy silence where no one opened their mouth.
This sorcery was my goal, but with a nagging reluctance, I turned the final page and finished the Kangmu Gisword.
Then the family head spoke in a chilling voice.
“Well? I heard you personally refined Gongmyeongdang's Void Resonance Art. Through those eyes, see any flaws worth fixing? As if an outsider like you could touch the essence we've refined over generations!”
It was a challenge.
Kangmu Dang claimed to have perfected a sorcery that could reach Special Grade like Kang Moojin one day.
They blindly trusted their history that an outsider like me couldn't improve it.
A harsh question for someone who'd read it once.
“Got the gist. The essence of Kangmu Gisword.”
For me, who'd mastered magic too, it was no challenge.
Red joryeok gathered in my hand.
It stretched upward, forming a dagger about 30 centimeters long.
“Proficiency issue means it's still at this level for now.”
“What...!”
Without a sword, manifesting his own blade from formless joryeok—the chairman's technique recreated in my hand.
“That's not in the Kangmu Gisword...!”
“Having experienced it firsthand is enough. I just filled in the gaps and made it my way.”
I had a talent for sorcery.
A fact I'd known since the orphanage days, unrelated to being a sorcerer.
A clueless kid had awakened abilities without help.
Even invented a unique sorcery, exclusive to some sorcerers.
A mere general sorcery was child's play after one read.
“As for improvements...”
“...”
“Honestly, everything but this joryeok blade can be scrapped.”
I laid out my thoughts plainly to the middle-aged man staring wide-eyed.
“Kangmu. Sword entrusted to brute strength, right? Might as well rip off the gisword part and graft it onto another sword style. Though controlling joryeok is tough enough without messing with swordsmanship too.”
To me, who'd seen mercenaries and knights' swords in the Otherworld, Kangmu Gisword's swordplay looked simplistic.
No different from a wuxia novel's basic horizontal, vertical, thrust—three sword forms.
“The gisword part's decent, though. Wait, this is copied from the chairman's, right? What's written here feels like it's regressed a century.”
The chairman's gisword was superior enough to shred mine.
I'd never seen a sword master, but he was close.
“I can't accept this...! Swordsmanship is personal skill...!”
“Swordsmanship is 'mere'? Don't touch sorcery using swords with that mindset.”
I pointed my crudely made red dagger at the family head's face.
His stubborn, defiant face paled as he stepped back.
“Want me to show you the difference in swordsmanship? Even the chairman overlooked that.”
There was theory behind calling Kang Moojin's swordsmanship merely excellent.
His style was unshakable but monotonous—strong sword.
Overwhelming power renders all powerless, but why hold a sword then? Swing a club instead.
The marvel was reaching Special Grade with such basics.
“Haa... Grandpa's so heartless... How could he dump all the cleanup on his granddaughter?”
Kang Seo-ah finally left the association as dawn broke.
Juggling her academy professor role was backbreaking enough, but for that insolent fake relationship attempt, she had to handle that man's aftermath alone.
Restoring the wrecked chairman's office, destroying investigation records.
Even personally handling the administrative transfer of Gong Siwoo—now Kang Siwoo—to her uncle's family register.
They said skipping a day of training set you back three.
Her fingertips dulled in real time, infuriating her.
As she dragged her heavy legs home, it happened.
Clang!Sching—!
A chilling metallic ring echoed from Kangmu Dang, where everyone should be asleep.
A sinister wave of joryeok rippled out with thick killing intent.
Was it a night raid? On guard, she traced it to the training grounds.
“What lunatic swings a sword tirelessly at this hour... ”
As successor, Kang Seo-ah vaulted the training ground wall to give a piece of her mind.
She barely held a sword herself, yet someone trained passionately all night.
A dark jealousy stirred her sense of justice.
But what she saw inside the training grounds...
“Huh, Dad...? What are you doing with Kang Siwoo...?”
The Kangmu Dang family head and the man who'd just become her uncle yesterday.
“What meaning does this cowardly swordplay have! As family head of Kangmu Dang, I can't accept such petty tricks!”
“Yeah. That's why you've been beaten over 20 times already? 'No brother like your own'—found him here.”
“Again!! True strong sword can't be overcome by cheap tricks!”
“If it bugs you, bulk up more than others. Or what?”
Before she knew it, they were sparring as equals, ignoring age and status.
“...What the hell happened while I was gone?”
Just yesterday, he'd ambushed the chairman with killing intent.
Why did the men in this family get along so well with a guy like that?
Kang Seo-ah couldn't comprehend it at all.