The Parent
That evening. The summons I'd been expecting arrived sooner than I thought. It was a short text from Yeoryeong, and I left the dormitory with the sinking feeling that the bill had finally come due.
Kang Sera's defeat... no, her public humiliation was already setting the Academy's forums ablaze. The secret bulletin board had been flooded for ages with posts begging for messages titled things like 'KangSeraOFaceFullVideo', 'KangSeraFountainShow', and 'KangSeraPantySlip' — there was no way her side would simply let it slide.
I just hope it ends with a reasonable disciplinary hearing.
Honestly, wasn't it partly the victim's own fault? The Yin Qi was nothing more than a side effect that leaked out whenever I used my technique. If Sera had blocked it or dodged it, none of this would have happened.
With heavy steps, I arrived in front of the main building and the President's office.
-Knock knock.
"It's me."
"Enter."
Her voice was lower, heavier than usual. I swallowed hard and opened the door.
"Pardon the intrusi—"
I didn't even get to finish.
-KRUUUUNG!
A crushing pressure slammed down over my whole body, strangling the breath out of me. It was no trick of the senses — mana powerful enough to visibly warp the very space around us was pouring down on me.
Reflexively, I drew up the energy in my dantian and weathered it.
"Hoh."
On the shadowed sofa of the President's office sat a man I'd never seen before. A massive frame, a scar cutting across his face, and eyes that glittered like a beast on the hunt. Smoke rising from the cigar between his lips blurred his features, but the raw aura pouring off him could not be hidden.
Kang Muhyuk, head of Prometheus, one of South Korea's top ten guilds. He was sitting right in front of me.
"Not bad. Holding your ground against pressure like this."
Kang Muhyuk rested his cigar lightly on the ashtray and murmured those words in a low voice.
"Sit."
Geum Yeoryeong, seated at the head of the room, gestured with her chin toward the sofa across from him. Her expression was frozen stiff, but her eyes alone were trying to reassure me: Don't worry.
I shuffled over and sat. The distance between Kang Muhyuk and me was barely two meters — close enough to hear him breathing.
"Let me introduce him. Kang Muhyuk, Guild Master of Prometheus. And..."
"Sera's father."
Kang Muhyuk cut in over Geum Yeoryeong's words.
"Skip the pleasantries. Hwan Yihyeon."
"...Good evening."
"Yeah, good evening it is not. Hard to feel cheerful after watching my daughter roll around in front of the entire student body like a dog in heat."
Blunt, coarse speech. This was clearly not a man given to beating around the bush.
Kang Muhyuk tapped the tablet lying on the table. On the screen was the now-infamous shot of Sera spraying her fluids all over the arena floor, panties bared for the world.
"Honestly? I wanted to wring your neck on the spot. You dare defile my precious jewel like that?"
A vicious wave of killing intent brushed past my throat. Cold sweat ran down my spine, but I forced myself to stay composed and held his gaze without flinching.
"Hmm..."
As I endured it, something flickered in his eyes — genuine interest.
"But."
The mood around Kang Muhyuk shifted. The murderous edge drained away, yet the sensation of a noose tightening around my throat only grew.
"I'm not some fossil with his head jammed up his ass. In the hunter's world, results are everything. No matter how filthy the process, the one who wins is the strong one."
He leaned forward and looked me dead in the eye.
"I'll ask you straight. That technique you used — the source of that power. Where does it come from? It's not part of any magic system the Academy teaches."
"That's..."
The pressure redoubled, and my mouth felt bone-dry.
"That's enough. There's a limit to how rude you can be, interrogating a man about his personal secrets to his face."
"Kuk kuk... I wasn't going to press. Just curious, is all."
At Yeoryeong's rebuke, Kang Muhyuk chuckled lightly, drew a single business card from his breast pocket, and slid it across the table. A heavy, weighty card — black with the PROMETHEUS logo stamped in gold leaf.
"This is... ah!"
My nerves frayed, I nicked my finger on the corner of the card. A bead of blood welled up before the tiny cut closed and healed.
"So... why give me this card all of a sudden?"
"Whew..."
He picked his cigar back up and took a long drag.
"About that..."
Only after the acrid smoke had filled the room did he continue.
"Our Sera. Take responsibility."
"...I'm sorry, what?"
When I asked him to repeat himself, convinced I'd misheard, Kang Muhyuk answered with utter shamelessness.
"I said take responsibility. You wrecked a rare and precious daughter of a fine family — the least you can do is take her off our hands."
"What on earth are you—"
"She was always too proud to marry off anyway, and then you went and trained her properly, didn't you?"
"Hold on, Kang Muhyuk. What nonsense are you spouting right now?"
Yeoryeong cut in sharply. But Kang Muhyuk merely shrugged.
"It's a recruitment offer. I'd simply prefer to bind you to us a little more tightly — by blood."
His gaze swung back to me. This time it wasn't killing intent in his eyes, but a sticky, clinging greed.
"Hwan Yihyeon. When you graduate, come to my guild. As Sera's husband, with an executive position guaranteed. I want to raise you properly at Prometheus."
Why go this far?
What I'd shown in the duel was nothing remarkable. I'd simply put a touch of energy into a swing and cut her down. What on earth did he see in me that he'd pull out all the stops to reel me in? I couldn't understand it at all.
"Wouldn't... your daughter object, though?"
"It's for the family. And for the guild. What reason would she have to object?"
"..."
Apparently, Kang Sera's own will simply didn't factor into it. His readiness to use even his own daughter as a bargaining chip left a sour taste in my mouth.
"Think it over carefully. Consider what benefits you."
Having said his piece, Kang Muhyuk rose from his seat without a hint of attachment. His massive frame blotted out the lights, casting a deep shadow over me.
"Keep that card safe. It'll be the ticket that changes your life."
-Thud, thud.
Without waiting for an answer, he strode out of the room without a moment's hesitation. The aura rolling off his back dominated the space right up until the moment the door swung shut.
-Click.
Only after the heavy door closed did the crushing pressure vanish, as if it had all been a lie. All that remained was the foul stench of his cigar and the black business card sitting abandoned on the table.
"......Haa."
Only then did I let out the breath I'd been holding, long and slow, and sank deep into the sofa.
The presence of an S-rank exerting himself for real was on a completely different level.
"Yihyeon, are you all right?"
Yeoryeong asked, her eyes full of concern.
"Whew... I thought I was going to suffocate to death."
All things considered, things had gone far better than I'd expected. With the injured cadet's guardian being that friendly, there'd be no disciplinary action, and he seemed to have no intention of retaliation either.
"So... are you going to accept it?"
"Hm?"
"...The arranged marriage."
Yeoryeong asked in a shy voice.
"What, are you jealous?"
"N-no... it's not that..."
She fidgeted with her teacup, lips wavering, before continuing.
"Objectively speaking... it's not a bad offer, is it? And that girl, Kang Sera, is certainly beautiful... and young, and..."
Her voice trailed off into something oddly ambiguous.
A mischievous spark lit up in me. I rested my chin on my hand and pretended to weigh it seriously.
"It's true, though. Son-in-law of Prometheus... honestly, any man would be tempted, wouldn't he? Money, prestige, and a beautiful wife all in one package."
"..."
"Plus the father-in-law's so passionate. I like him. Maybe I really should go that route, come to think of it."
-CLACK!
Yeoryeong slammed her teacup down on the table.
"...Hmph."
The usual seductive, aloof Chancellor was nowhere to be found — in her place sat one sulking fox, cheeks puffed out round and full.
"Go on, go. Go off with that young, bouncy little thing and live happily ever after. I'm sick of it, clearly."
"Pfft!"
"You're laughing? You're laughing right now? And whose fault is it that I'm suffering like this!"
Yeoryeong huffed and whipped her head away. Her swollen cheeks looked ready to burst if poked.
Chuckling, I got up and walked over to her.
"Aigoo, Madam President. Your cheeks are about to explode."
"Tch... go! Go run back to Kang Sera!"
"Oh, come on. Go where? You're the only one I see right now, Noona."
Wrapping my arms gently around her waist from behind, I lightly tickled those smooth, plump cheeks with my fingers.
"Nnh...!"
Her shoulders flinched.
"That girl's just a child. I like women like you, Noona — mature, sexy, someone who takes care of me like this."
"......Really?"
"Of course. You think I'm crazy enough to leave you behind and walk away?"
I dipped my head and pressed my lips to the nape of her white neck. When I kissed her with an audible little smack, I felt the tension drain out of her body like a sigh.
"Tch... you're all talk, you know that?"
She was still grumbling, but the puff in her cheeks had quietly deflated. In its place, her face burned as red as a boiled beet.
"Feeling better now?"
"No. Not yet."
Yeoryeong turned around and wound her arms around my neck. Her eyes glittered anew with a sultry light.
"Don't try to get by on sweet words alone. Do you have any idea how much my heart's been burning?"
"Then what should I do about it?"
"Prove it."
She took my hand and guided it onto her ample chest. Beneath the thin blouse, her pounding heartbeat and the supple, yielding warmth of her breasts came through, unfiltered.
"Make it clear whose I am. From my head down to my toes — I want you to brand it in, absolutely and completely."
Yeoryeong ran her tongue over her lips and breathed hot air into my ear.
"Right here. Right now."
"In the Chancellor's office?"
"Why? Don't want to?"
"No."
I grinned and pulled her into my arms.
"I'd love to. That old bastard Kang Muhyuk had me wound up so tight I've been stiff as a board..."
-Slide.
Undoing her buttons one by one, I whispered:
"Just like you asked, Noona. I'll make sure you know it, beyond any doubt."
"Fufu, half-hearted effort won't be forgiven, you know?"
The usual WWE. And as always, it ended in a chorus of consecration.
"Hnghooooooh❤️"
"So, what do the test results say?"
"The full lab analysis should come through tomorrow, sir..."
"No, just repeat what you told me earlier."
"...By the preliminary screening, as expected — a 99% probability that he is her son."
"Good. Keep at it."
"Understood, Guild Master."
Sitting in the back seat of the car as it pulled away from the Academy, Kang Muhyuk plucked the comm device from his ear.
"UWAHAHAHA!!!"
In his mind, a future in which his offer was refused simply did not exist.