Chapter 116: Daily Life (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 116: Daily Life (2)
A peculiar laugh echoed from Choi Hyena’s private workshop in the Seongbuk Choi family’s mansion.
“Hehe, just as I thought.”
Choi Hyena forced the wide grin from her face and set a document down on her desk. Unlike the formal, perfunctory smile she usually showed the world, this one revealed her true feelings.
She had recently hired a fairly well-known information agency to run a background check on Kang Hyun-woo’s supposed lover.
For the record, it wasn’t illegal. The investigation was conducted without invading his privacy. Her plan was to obtain simple personal information—name, age, and race—and then go meet the person herself.
But what was this?
The results were completely different from what she had expected. Kang Hyun-woo didn’t have a single person in his life who could be called a lover.
Sure, he had some female friends back in middle and high school, but she was the only woman he had been in contact with recently.
“How cute.”
In the end, Kang Hyun-woo telling her he had another woman was just a common attempt by a man to protect his pride.
Not that she didn’t understand.
He had become engaged to her, the successor of the Seongbuk Choi family, overnight. He must have thought that if he didn’t put on a brave front like this, he would be the overwhelmingly subordinate one in their future marriage.
It was a little vexing, but she could let it slide. It was also kind of cute.
“By the way, the Full Moon Sword Dojo? Why is he going to such a shabby place?”
According to the report, Kang Hyun-woo seemed to be a frequent visitor to a sword dojo in a run-down neighborhood.
The investigation into the dojo revealed that, aside from Kang Hyun-woo, there didn't seem to be any other members. The only people who entered the building were the occasional delivery driver and Kang Hyun-woo himself.
Of course, the lights turned on inside at night, suggesting there was a director or an instructor present, but this person had never once been seen outside.
The report concluded by stating that they had tried to check the interior, but the windows were always covered by curtains and the door was always locked, so they had determined that further investigation would be difficult and had withdrawn.
She understood why they had backed off; any further investigation would have meant invading his privacy. But there was something else she truly didn't understand.
“Seriously, why is a mage going to a sword dojo? If he needs to stay in shape, he could just go to a gym.”
“Tsk, tsk.”
As Choi Hyena muttered to herself, a bluish woman materialized out of thin air before her.
“Still not very sharp when it comes to anything but magic research, are you?”
It was Wendigo, an intermediate spirit of snow and ice.
“You ignore me whenever I ask for help with my magic research, but now you show up just to pick a fight?”
Choi Hyena’s voice rose slightly. Although her affinity with spirits was rock bottom, a series of special circumstances had allowed her to form a formal contract with Wendigo.
“Of course not. I am merely here to offer my contractor some advice.”
“Advice?”
“Think about it. Could Lord Hyun-woo’s exquisite technique truly come from a virgin?”
“…”
Whenever Choi Hyena met with Wendigo, she tended to forget who the contractor was.
The spirit had never once used honorifics with her, yet she unfailingly attached a respectful title whenever she referred to Kang Hyun-woo.
“So?”
“If a search of his past reveals no contact with the opposite sex, it must mean he is intentionally hiding his lover’s existence.”
“He could have had a one-night stand.”
“A one-night stand? Ah, you mean a night of fleeting passion. That is a possibility, of course, but I find that sword dojo you mentioned far more suspicious.”
“Hmm…”
Just as Wendigo said, it was something she had been suspicious about as well. It was extremely rare for a mage to learn a martial art like swordsmanship in the first place.
To a mage, magic was the honor they had built for themselves. For a mage to set aside magic and learn a martial art was no different from denying their own honor.
There were the rare cases of magic swordsmen, but their numbers had dwindled to the point where they were now hard to find, their influence all but gone.
A mage using martial arts was like openly advertising that their magic was pathetic. Mages, who were nothing if not proud, would never do such a thing.
“Don’t tell me…”
“The report said it was difficult to investigate the dojo’s director or instructor, correct? Why do you think it was so difficult?”
An idea flashed in Choi Hyena’s mind at Wendigo’s words. She quickly picked up her phone and called the information agency.
“It’s me. There’s someone else I need you to investigate.”
*
“Pant, pant, pant…!”
My stamina, which I’d just recovered at the church, was completely drained.
The floor was slick with sweat, and my hands trembled from swinging the wooden sword for so long. All I could do was lie sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.
“The sun’s already set. If you weren’t so needlessly full of magic power and internal energy, this would have been over much sooner.”
“…”
I fought back the curse that was about to erupt from my dantian.
Today’s training was different from usual. It was training to swing my sword while releasing my magic power at full force. When my magic power ran out, I used my internal energy.
Thanks to that, my mana circle and dantian were now completely empty. The world spun before my eyes as if I were anemic.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
“…Is this really training?”
“It is.”
“You call it training to overwork my body by needlessly wasting my magic power and internal energy?”
I had heard that this kind of training method was quite popular in the old days. It was a way to purely train the physical body by intentionally depleting one’s magic power or internal energy.
However, in the modern era, it was an almost obsolete method. These days, you could just wear special restraints without the hassle of depleting your energy.
“You still don’t get it?”
“Get what?”
“Hmm, I thought your comprehension was quite sharp… but I suppose it would be greedy of me to expect you to notice it right away.”
My master suddenly crouched down beside me and raised a single finger. I stared, wondering what she was doing, when a pure white energy began to rise from it.
The shimmering energy slowly took shape, eventually becoming Sword Qi.
The Sword Qi my master created quickly dispersed, only to reappear moments later. She repeated this bizarre act over and over. It was like a flashlight blinking on and off.
“Did you see that?”
“…What was that?”
“You still don’t get it?”
“No, I mean, what did you just do? Didn’t you just gather energy in your finger to create Sword Qi?”
It was certainly an amazing skill.
Creating Sword Qi by gathering qi in just a finger, not the whole hand, required considerable concentration and control.
But that was all it was. I could do it too if I tried.
“…I had my hopes up, but it seems it was too soon for you.”
“What?”
“That’s all for today’s training. Swing your sword a bit more before you go.”
After spouting a few more cryptic words, she went straight into her office.
“What was that all about…?”
I wanted to follow her and ask a million questions, but past experience told me that in a situation like this, she wouldn’t answer anything more.
I had no choice but to do as I was told. I pushed myself up, planning to swing my sword a little more before heading back.
My magic power and internal energy were still nearly depleted. I hadn’t intentionally tried to recover them.
“It was definitely like this when I used Boundless and Heavenly Light.”
Boundless (無窮) was the technique of spreading my Vajra Qi in all directions to move the natural mana according to my will, and Heavenly Light (天光) was the technique of accelerating the internal energy throughout my entire body to its absolute limit.
But just releasing my internal energy now didn't allow me to move the surrounding mana at will like it did then. The same went for Heavenly Light; there was a fine but distinct line between simply circulating internal energy quickly and accelerating it.
Back then, just like now, my magic power and internal energy had been at rock bottom, and my body had been so battered that even swinging a sword was difficult.
But I couldn’t use Boundless and Heavenly Light now like I did then.
I had forced myself to use techniques that were beyond my current realm, but the sensation from that time remained vivid. If the conditions were right, I should be able to use them.
I dragged my body, which felt like it could collapse at any moment, and swung the wooden sword. I tried using a tiny amount of internal energy to create Sword Qi, just like before, and I tried scattering my magic power to move the natural mana at will.
But the result was failure.
I had to return home without any significant gains.
The thought that I might find the answer if I set my sub-job to Martial Artist crossed my mind, but I wanted to save that as a last resort.
*
The next day, my house was bustling with workers from a furniture store starting early in the morning.
They began to fill the house, focusing on essential furniture like a sofa, a bed, and a desk. Normally, I would have had to wait a few more days, but in modern society, there was nothing that money and connections couldn’t solve.
The once-empty house began to feel a little more like a home, and as time passed, it became afternoon.
Ding-dong. The sound of the doorbell from the intercom prompted me to open the front door.
“You’re here?”
Beyond the doorway stood Choi Hyena, looking lovely in a white one-piece dress, her hands full of shopping bags.
“I told you you could come empty-handed.”
“This is practically empty-handed for me. Besides, if my grandmother had found out, she would have sent two or three trucks over.”
Her face was more serious than ever, making it hard to dismiss her words as a joke.
“The place is a little small. I told you to let me know if you were short on money.”
“You think this is small?”
For reference, my place was a two-bedroom apartment with a separate living room and kitchen and one bathroom.
It was more than spacious enough for a man living alone.
But having recently visited Choi Hyena’s mansion, I found it hard to argue with her. For someone who lived in a real-life mansion, a place like this probably did seem small.
“Well, I’m going to be living alone, so this is more than enough.”
“You’re going to be living alone?”
“Huh?”
The moment I finished speaking, her expression soured, ever so slightly. A sudden chill ran down my spine.
‘…Did I say something wrong?’