Chapter 284
Chapter 284
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 285
Chapter Title: Awakening the Bond
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Saturday morning.
I got up early from the start of the weekend, preparing to head out while also making breakfast.
Today's menu was my special doenjang stew.
I could have just eaten at the school cafeteria, but I felt like cooking for the first time in a while.
I scooped up a bit of the stew with a spoon and took a sip.
"Mmm~ Perfect."
The rich broth flavor that hit as I swallowed drew an involuntary sigh of admiration.
If I exaggerated a bit, I could probably quit being a wizard and open a restaurant.
It was the result of my long years of solo living honing my skills. Of course, the special mana MSG helped too.
I smiled in satisfaction as I set the stew and rice on the table.
As I sat down, Gretel took the seat across from me and eyed the stew curiously.
"Gretel, want a taste?"
"Ngah."
I gave her a small smile and handed over the spoon.
Gretel took it and, with her short arms and legs, scooped up some stew and drank the broth.
"How is it?"
"Ngah!"
Her high-pitched tone suggested she liked it.
I'd been a little worried she might not like it since she had a bit of a picky kid's palate for veggies, but nope—she ate everything except those just fine.
Right then—whoooosh. A burst of pure white light emanated briefly from Gretel's body.
[Gretel feels immense joy from the meal you made.]
[The 'Immortal Hell Demon Beast Gretel' has awakened its latent power!]
[You have acquired the unique trait, 'Bond (D)'!]
[You have achieved the 'Threads of Bond' accomplishment.]
[As a reward, you have acquired 3,000 points.]
"......Huh? What the?"
I'd only given her one spoonful of stew, and suddenly Gretel awakened a new ability, and I got points.
Bond.
It seemed like an ability related to the connection between master and summon.
I hadn't expected my cooking to lead to this, so I was a little surprised.
"Whoa. Talk about manna from heaven."
I immediately checked the ability.
[Bond (D)]
Description: Proportional to the bond toward the 'contractor,' the summon's growth rate and learning ability increase, and you can faintly share emotions.
When the bond reaches 100%, the grade of 'Bond' will rise.
Current bond: 12%
"Hoo."
Not a bad ability at all.
Exactly as described—the stronger the bond between Gretel and me, the more her growth improved, and we could share emotions.
The emotion sharing probably meant conveying intent.
Come to think of it, I could faintly sense Gretel's feeling that the stew was delicious.
There were times when communicating with Gretel felt frustrating because we couldn't connect properly, so this trait might alleviate that a bit.
In a pinch, I could even transmit my will to her mid-battle to issue commands.
I glanced at Gretel, who seemed oblivious to her own change and kept slurping away at the broth.
When I stared openly, she sensed something off, lifted her head, and looked back at me.
"It's nothing. Eat up."
She resumed eating after my smiling reassurance.
I started my meal too.
Spoon in one hand. Smart student handbook in the other.
I flicked through to a portal site.
The news section brought up the latest articles.
'Wizard Association: "Small-scale magic terrorism crimes surging recently—we will take measures"'
'Korean Wizard Academy 3rd Year Kim Sunwoo hot on the heels of No. 1 Lee Seojun, No. 2 Yoo Ara. Can he steal the top graduate spot?"'
'Magic crime organization "Silvers" eradicated. Practice students "Lee Seojun," "Yoo Ara," and "Kim Sunwoo" shine...'
"The Silvers takedown article is already up."
I clicked it right away.
'Pride of Korea's promising stars—Lee Seojun, Yoo Ara, and Kim Sunwoo, who shone brightly at this spring's Seongmu Championship—played key roles in apprehending a magic crime organization during their Special Task Force training. Yesterday afternoon, the Wizard Association's investigative agency...'
I skimmed the content, but there was nothing special.
Just that promising students from the Wizard Academy had performed impressively.
No mention of Silvers' backer 'Jaun' or the demon 'Seonhwa' who crashed the party midway.
It was somewhat expected from the security-obsessed Association.
Curious about public reaction, I checked the comments.
[eqr**: Lately, Kim Sunwoo stands out the most. Topping Seongmu, dual attributes, etc. I like him personally, hope he keeps rising. [Agrees: 1520 Disagrees: 91]]
[Young94**: No backing unlike other top rankers—that's what makes him likable. [Agrees: 891 Disagrees: 21]]
[babal2**: But isn't Kim Sunwoo getting handsomer? Doesn't seem inferior to Lee Seojun at all lol [Agrees: 402 Disagrees: 3201]]
Surprisingly, most comments were about me.
All positive too.
"Hmm."
A bit embarrassing, but this attention would turn into points eventually, so I quietly upvoted them all.
A few even got more agrees because of me.
Time flew by like that, and soon it was noon.
My appointment was approaching.
I cleared the table and got ready to head out.
"Gretel, I'm stepping out for a bit. Eat whatever if you get hungry later."
Leaving school, my destination was Hanseong Medical Center, where Han Dae-hyun was hospitalized.
I had an appointment with Han Se-yeon.
"Sunwoo!"
Entering the first floor of the now even more heavily guarded medical center, Han Se-yeon greeted me.
She smiled brightly, but dark circles under her eyes spoke of exhaustion—truly pitiful.
I greeted her back with a light smile.
"Sorry for calling you here again. Dad said he has something for me to pass to you."
"Something to pass on?"
Han Se-yeon glanced around before speaking.
"He's only been asleep a short while. We should move somewhere else."
We headed to the parking lot and got into her car.
A sealed space.
Just the two of us.
As a sweet, cloying diffuser scent tickled my nose, Han Se-yeon rummaged in her bag and handed me something.
It was paper inscribed with complex incantations.
"......What's this?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but it seems like a clan insignia."
"Clan insignia?"
"Yeah. Engraving this on your body makes you part of the Hanseong clan, like me and my brother. We got these incantations on us as kids."
I didn't know exactly what it was, but it was clearly something hugely special.
"......But why give this to me?"
Han Se-yeon let out a deep sigh.
"I don't know either."
"......"
"Dad suddenly told me to give it to you. Secretly, without anyone knowing."
I took the 'clan insignia' and examined it.
The incantation was quite intricate. Decoding all the info would take considerable time.
From a surface scan, it was mostly 'security' and 'verification' data—confirming it was indeed a 'clan insignia.'
But it wasn't a full one; it had a usage limit safeguard.
"He said you'd understand the reason once I gave it to you."
"Yeah, I think I know why he gave me this."
The true nature of this incantation probably wasn't just a 'clan insignia'—it was the Hanseong family's mystic borrowing pass.
Perfect timing, since I needed one.
I hadn't expected it in insignia form, though.
Then Han Se-yeon looked at me suspiciously.
"You and Dad must have some kind of connection, huh."
Sharp as ever, Han Se-yeon.
"Yeah, well...... we did."
Having accepted this, it was too late to dodge, so I answered honestly.
"That deal—is it about protecting me? Like what Dad asked when you visited last time..."
She trailed off.
She pursed her lips briefly, then shook her head.
"......Never mind."
"......? Why stop mid-sentence?"
"......No, it's nothing."
Her sudden shift threw me off.
Then she fidgeted with her fingers and spoke cautiously.
"......So, Sunwoo, did you do a blood oath too?"
Blood oath?
Her bringing that up meant she'd guessed the deal.
Well, I'd offered Han Dae-hyun a blood oath in exchange for protecting Han Se-yeon, but it ended up not happening.
I wasn't sure how much she knew, so I didn't know how to react.
"Uh, well...... no, I didn't."
"......Liar. Why would you do that? Do you know how terrifying that magic is..."
She looked at me as she spoke.
For some reason, her gaze held pain, pity, sorrow.
"......I didn't, seriously?"
I tried to explain quickly, but she still didn't believe me.
"To be honest now, I overheard you and Dad that day. The blood oath to protect me..."
She spoke firmly, then sighed in distress again.
She seemed to have a huge misunderstanding, and I was the flustered one trying to clarify.
"No, Se-yeon."
But she cut me off and continued.
"It's fine. I know Dad's personality best. He's greedier than anyone, never takes a loss. If he'd give a clan insignia, then what on earth..."
She sighed again, looking at me reproachfully.
"Are you really an idiot, Sunwoo?"
No, really, I didn't.
Meanwhile, in the Special Task Force headquarters team leader's office at the Wizard Association, Kim Deok-hyun leaned back in his chair, reviewing documents.
"......Kim Sunwoo."
The file he was looking at contained Kim Sunwoo's personal information.
As one of the top executives in the Wizard Association, Kim Deok-hyun had access to special Association-exclusive intel that ordinary info guilds couldn't obtain.
In other words, the info on Kim Sunwoo in his hands contained only irrefutable 'truth.'
......But.
"It's suspicious no matter how I look."
Most of the entries on Kim Sunwoo's paper were blank.
He'd known it before, but considering Sunwoo's recent activities, it felt even more off.
"......There has to be some background."
Effort mattered in magic mastery, but innate talent was far more crucial.
Most 'hardworking' star wizards were just packaging their exceptional talent as 'effort.'
And that innate talent was inherited through bloodlines.
The reason the five great noble houses dominated.
Why Lee Seojun was called a once-in-history genius.
Certain minor clans.
All sustained by the strong genetic force of bloodlines.
But Kim Sunwoo showed no such background.
Even if parents were unknown, a normal file would list an orphanage or something.
"......Hmm. Having it blank like this doesn't make sense from the start."
No matter how I thought about it, this file had been falsified.
......But even so, one thing didn't add up.
Who in the world could falsify Association records?
"It doesn't make sense."
The only one who could tamper with Association files was the World Wizard Association Chairman, 'Kim Jin-cheol.'
"......Hm?"
Then a new suspicion dawned on Kim Deok-hyun.
Something felt off upon reflection.
The file was definitely falsified.
And only Chairman Kim Jin-cheol could do that.
At the same time, sixteen years of Special Task Force experience sparked deductions racing through his mind.
The rare 'versatile wizard' talent in the world.
Sunwoo's talents shown so far were unprecedented anywhere on Earth.
And Kim Deok-hyun knew one person with equally outstanding versatile wizard talent.
"......No way, the Chairman?"
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