The Class of a Magic God

The Republic of Korea.

More precisely, they had cut Colonel Kim Yongun and a handful of other officers clean out of the military — so thoroughly that none of them could ever stand again.

It was a signal, in its way, from Chairman Park Yongseok and the men at the top to Shin Haneul.

We have crushed the ones who hung that false charge on you, and saved your face in the doing. Come back, and Park Gyeongtae and the rest can be dealt with in much the same fashion.

And from Shin Haneul's side of it?

The man who, on the original course of things, would have become the first Director of the Awakened Management Bureau — powerful enough to strike birds from the sky — had fallen to ruin without ever getting near real power. Even so, he was small fry now. In the end it was nothing but the cutting off of a tail.

That was not enough to make a conversation worth having. A negotiation exists only where there is something to give and something to take, and he could feel no merit in being offered the cleanup of men who, left alone, would have been torn out by the roots regardless. His family, besides, was settling into America far too well. He could not see any particular reason to go back to South Korea.

"…So there is no answer at all. Arrogance that pierces the heavens."

For Chairman Park Yongseok, it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

"Just so, Chairman."

"He may have the air, just now, of a man who could knock birds from the sky — and yet he has no idea how long that will even last, and still he carries on like this."

The other high officials were of the same mind.

Reaching out at all, by their own measure, had been a considerable courtesy — a high estimation of Shin Haneul. Speak plainly, and there was no guarantee he would go on posting records like the ones from the first and second floors.

Even so, they had resolved to cut away several useful hands, as if to say that they believed in his potential to precisely this extent. From where they stood, that is. And being refused was no great loss. Plan B would do.

"He seems to want the whole of us buried, but that will not do. If that is what he wants, there is no reason to drag him back here in the first place."

"Quite. We hold out as far as we can. If it goes well, splendid. If it does not, we simply leave the country and have done with it."

"The safest place of all is still America, I should think."

"The assets have already been siphoned out. The moment the Tower falls, we put the private jet in the air. Route it through a few countries on the way, and he will not even know we are in America."

"Heh heh. He'll be guarding the place with all his might, never knowing we're sitting in it."

"However great the power one lays hold of, a poor head is only ever used by others. Is that not the way of the world?"

Chairman Park Yongseok thought no differently.

"Even so… public opinion will grow noisy for a time."

"Well. It is fine. We have a justification of our own."

The director of the National Intelligence Service smiled.

"I'll mobilize the comment brigade. Every last one of them."

Of course, plenty of people were not taken in by the manufactured comments.

And a palm cannot cover the sky forever. Little by little, the truth began to show itself to the public.

The Nationality Change Right was more than enough to topple, in a single stroke, the balance between nations and the Awakened that had only just been finding its level.

An Awakened capable of setting a nation's first-place record already stood above the nation. They would have to beg and plead for him to climb so much as the next floor — and now he might leave for a foreign country entirely. Shin Haneul, on top of that, was first in the world. He was the one who called the special privileges down, so they had no choice but to cling all the harder.

Had it been like this before? Similar, yes. The degree of resolve was not.

Take Curtis. He had thrown away the rank of colonel. He had walked out of the military to which he had given half his life, and the reason was simple: to attend Shin Haneul from up close, and for nothing else.

Leticia — his childhood friend from the time they were small, and his wife — asked him.

"Being a soldier was your dream your whole life. If you leave the service like this, won't you regret it?"

He answered.

Going without the uniform felt strange. Still, he could bear that much. From now on he was Leader of Team 1 at the Tower Attack Countermeasures Headquarters, and the sole mission of the entire team — some hundred strong — was to do everything in their power so that Shin Haneul might be satisfied with life in America.

"Mr. Shin. Preparations are complete to confiscate the paper companies the Korean politicians funneled into this country, and the black funds with them. Their families are all under watch as well, of course."

"I see."

"We could haul every one of them in this very moment, but we mean to leave them be for now. That way, should the worst come later, the parties themselves will still be convinced they can set foot on American soil."

Block their entry now, and they might find a second road. The cooperation of many nations could be sought, of course, but it was better, if possible, not to leave them any other corner to run to. A stone laid so the whole net might close at once.

Shin Haneul offered no verdict on it — neither well done nor poorly done. Perhaps everything Curtis was doing failed to stir him in the slightest. But a person's heart is not won by moving while one calculates efficiency. One simply gives everything one has. He drove the staff beneath him so that not a single name would slip the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠net.

"There is one thing, though."

"Yes, sir! Please, speak."

"There is a matter more important than all of that."

"What would that be? You have only to say the word—"

"The guard on my family. Increase it a little more."

"…?"

Curtis, ready to do whatever was asked of him, could not answer at once.

At present the family was under the close protection of Shin Haneul's own disciples, Awakened of S-Rank and above, and dozens more from Curtis's own team were posted nearby. Breaking through that to lay a hand on the people under guard was close to impossible — and he wanted the guard thickened further. Possible, certainly. A rather absurd request all the same. He did not put the thought in his mouth.

"Understood."

If Shin Haneul ordered it, Curtis did it. He was only carrying out the resolve he had made when he took the uniform off.

In truth, just as Curtis had thought, the security around Shin Haneul's family had already passed the point of reason. Some fifty Awakened of Tower Attack Team 1 were guarding a single family, and their concentration on the work was formidable, because most of them were Awakened who had kept their lives on the first floor of the Tower thanks to Shin Haneul. Try to kidnap his family in front of people like that, and one ought to be grateful not to be torn apart limb from limb.

The disciples charged with the direct guard were no less loyal.

"Isn't it obvious? If it weren't for him, I would've died when that variant dungeon broke, you know? And if he hadn't chosen me, do you really think I would've been granted an SS-Rank class?"

"What manner of talk is that."

"Everyone who received his teaching awakened at S-Rank or above. Grandpa Graham. You think that's a coincidence?"

In truth, Shin Haneul knew ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the future. He had simply picked out people who would awaken at S-Rank or higher — and who had the classes, and the character, to be of use in protecting his family. But from the side of those who did not know?

SS-Rank and above are vanishingly rare in the whole world. How is it that most of his disciples are S-Rank or higher?

There has to be some special teaching. There has to be.

They had more than enough cause to think so.

"Certainly. If it is not that, the thing does not hold together."

Alex Graham, the old gentleman likewise receiving Shin Haneul's instruction, inclined his head with quiet dignity. He had been thinking the very same.

"But that is no excuse for our young master slaughtering the animals he happened upon during a picnic."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous wild animals are?!"

"A muskrat does not attack a person without a particular reason. The other animals were the same."

"So you're saying that if there is a particular reason, they might attack? Hazards have to be pulled out by the root before they become a problem!"

"And so, directly before the young master as he went to pet them, the muskrats……."

"Better than letting them be dangerous!"

Graham creased a face already full of wrinkles even further.

"To my eye, you are the more dangerous of the two."

Most would-be kidnappers never even made it near Shin Minwoo. It stood to reason they could not compare with Catherine's sudden fits. Even so, there were times she stayed a little quieter — precisely when Shin Haneul was with them.

"Minwoo. Handling mana is simple."

This life, Shin Haneul had not the slightest intention of putting his son through harsh training. But no matter how thick a guard one laid down, a person still needed a measure of caution of his own, and he meant to teach at least the bare minimum of how to handle power.

Shin Haneul raised his hand. A thin hum rose — zing — and a faint light gathered above his palm. At first it was small and dim as a firefly; then it drew together into a bead the size of an egg, and a soft blue-white radiance gently washed the whole of the yard.

"Don't try to drag it in by force. Just feel the current running through your body. The way a river finds the sea on its own."

He flicked a finger, light as anything. The bead lifted into the air and drifted in a quiet circle nearby.

"…I'll try."

Shin Minwoo pressed his small lips firmly shut and slowly opened his little hand. Jessica and Graham watched at their leisure, as if the sight were nothing but adorable.

No chance he manages it on the first try.

Of course not.

Ten days, on average, to sense mana for the first time. Four, at the very fastest. That was common sense in this world.

And yet—

"Huh? Is this it?"

Shin Minwoo opened his palm. A blue-white light had gathered there.

"……."

Shin Haneul grinned.

As expected. Tremendous talent.

"Waaaaaah—!"

Jessica shouted, all fuss and noise, and Graham beside her broke into applause along with her — that same Graham, with a reputation for being stone-faced, the corners of his mouth lifted clear to his ears.

"He's a genius!! This is a genius, right?! On the very first try?!"

"……Difficult to deny."

Graham murmured it low. The voice was calm, but the eyes could not hide it. They were the eyes of a man genuinely astonished.

Shin Haneul, unlike himself, felt his pride lift for no good reason.

Talent like this — and an EX-Rank class besides.

Creator.

Not a combat class, but Shin Haneul had set his head together with others, researched, and trained the boy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to clear the Tower with the things he made. The result? What was there even to say. He could state it flatly: had more time been given, the boy would have become, at the very least, the strongest existence after Shin Haneul himself. That was how immense an EX-Rank was.

At first, everyone just thought — what is that.

Class grades ran from F to SSS-Rank. That was as settled as common sense. Then a combination of entirely different letters had appeared, and of course it was hard to judge whether the thing was good or bad. But the result had been enormous. The conclusion reached later was that EX-Rank sat above SSS-Rank — and that the gap was far wider than the one between S-Rank and SSS-Rank.

Perhaps for that reason, in his previous life Shin Minwoo had set new records from the Tower's lower floors and climbed hard and fast. The class's role was that large. Especially early on.

Which is why I couldn't make a name for myself in this period.

His climb had also been delayed by injury, back then. But that did not make much of an excuse. Those on the highest floor now were only waiting for the next floor to be generated; on the lower floors, one could climb several floors of the Tower in a single day. Delay alone could not account for the early slump. There was also the awkward class he had been granted: Mage (B-Rank).

Shin Haneul watched his son practice for a moment and glanced at the clock.

Third day since the Tower was generated. It's about time my class showed up as well.

Surely the class would be much the same this time, too. Ted, Jessica, Graham, and the rest — the future had changed, and still every one of them had received the same class. Near proof that the hypothesis from his previous life had been correct.

After we clear the third floor, the whole world is going to get a little loud.

He would set a record there as well, but this time the label would not be Jobless. It would read Mage (B-Rank). A Mage was, by any original measure, an overwhelmingly better class than Jobless — and yet there would be people quietly disappointed, murmuring that the early first-place records might truly end as nothing but an early lead.

No matter.

I only have to prove it with skill…

The time had already come.

A notification window rose before his eyes. The same hour as his previous life. A class was given, just as expected.

Only the result was a little different.

…?

Shin Haneul was badly shaken. For the first time since he had regressed.