Flipping the Stage
This was before Lee Tae-hyun entered the C-rank gate.
Gong Gi-hyun, running a small workshop on the outskirts of Seoul, was facing the greatest crisis of his twenty-five years of life.
In other words: the ultimate crisis of his existence.
A tension on a completely different level from the time he'd accidentally woken a senior coworker during a night shift, or the time he'd been paired with a foreign student for a group project, hung heavy in the air.
…Though those had been disasters in their own right.
In any case, compared to this situation, the past barely counted as trouble at all.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Gong."
"Y-ye-ye-ye-YESSIR! It's an honor to meet you!"
"There's really no need to be so nervous."
The man sitting on the sofa across from him was smiling faintly. Lee Tae-hyun took a sip of the instant coffee mix in his paper cup.
The sight of a young master from a great family drinking cheap coffee mix in a cluttered space like this felt utterly surreal. Maybe this whole thing was a dream.
Gong Gi-hyun bit down lightly on his tongue.
Crunch!
The taste of iron flooded his mouth in an instant. Blood trickled from the corner of his lips.
"Uh… I'm bleeding…?"
"Aaahh. N-no, not at all. I'm fide! Perfeckly fide!"
His already clumsy articulation grew even more mangled.
Swallowing the blood, Gong Gi-hyun dredged up every scrap of information he had on Lee Tae-hyun. Scoundrel. Trash personality. King of thuggery. Coward. Even as flattery, the man couldn't be called good. He hadn't shown any of that behavior yet, but if things went off the rails, he could turn violent in an instant and do him harm.
Now was the time to keep his head as low as possible. Gong Gi-hyun dropped his gaze and stiffened his posture.
"What brings someone of your standing to such a shabby place…?"
"Why would a hunter come to a workshop? To place a commission, of course."
These days, forges and workshops were actually quite easy to find. Not every awakened became a hunter. Among the awakened, those who acquired 'crafting'-type skills opened workshops like this one and made a living producing equipment and items.
But the fact that Lee Tae-hyun had sought out Gi-hyun's small, unremarkable workshop was strange. The thriving workshops—the so-called 'Makers' or 'master craftsmen'—proudly displayed their products on Seoul's main boulevards or in metropolises like New York, Tokyo, and Beijing. What possible potential had he seen that brought him all the way out to this backwater workshop in person?
'Honestly, this is making me nervous…'
What this lunatic might ask of him was anyone's guess. Lately the internet had been full of claims that Lee Tae-hyun had lost his mind.
'What if he demands something like a mana bomb (for planting at Seoul Station)?!'
And then threatened him if he refused. With Lee Tae-hyun, it was entirely possible.
'Hiiiik!'
Just as Gong Gi-hyun was picturing the worst-case scenario—
"This is it."
Lee Tae-hyun set down a single orb.
"Aaagh! It's gonna blow!"
"……"
"Ah… cough, cough…."
Having restored his cowered body to its proper position, Gong Gi-hyun examined the orb closely. A fist-sized orb shimmering with blue light. Nothing about it looked particularly special.
"What is this…?"
As if he'd been expecting the question, Lee Tae-hyun smiled and added an explanation.
"What this is, you see…"
And with that, Gong Gi-hyun's eyes gradually went wide.
"WHAAAT?! Th-that's actually possible?!"
"Though even within Cheonseong, it's considered a failure."
"Y-you want me to complete something like that…? And the deadline's way too short…"
"If it's you, Mr. Gong, it's possible."
Lee Tae-hyun's eyes, fixed on Gong Gi-hyun, were brimming with trust.
"One hundred million won up front. One billion upon success."
"…Sorry? How much?"
Gong Gi-hyun doubted his own ears. What had that scoundrel—no, that man—no, that young master—no, that master just said?
"1.1 billion won, correct."
Lee Tae-hyun finalized the figure.
1.1 billion in total! A deal where he'd pocket a hundred million even if he failed. The dizzying sum made Gong Gi-hyun's brain tingle.
'So this is Cheonseong?!'
Their spending really was on another level. Hadn't he been living on nothing but ramen for days because the workshop couldn't even cover its own upkeep?
'If I take that commission…!'
He might get to eat a proper rice-and-sides dinner tonight! A full Korean meal—grilled mackerel and even soybean paste stew!
A spark lit Gong Gi-hyun's eyes, and the corner of Lee Tae-hyun's mouth curled up ever so slightly.
"Will you take it?"
There was no choice to make.
Dawn was breaking.
I wound down my morning run, toweling my hair dry. The exhaustion that used to leave me feeling like my body was falling apart was gone. Just a light, pleasant ache now?
Feeling my growth rate firsthand was exhilarating. Before my regression, I'd thrown my entire body into the effort and grown by a pinky's worth at best; now I was packing on strength by leaps and bounds just from breathing. At this rate, I'd get addicted to growing.
"Still a long way from enough, though."
I clenched my fist tight. The power flowing into my grip still fell far short of where it needed to be.
Soon, the Mutation Gates would begin appearing across the world. Sudden difficulty spikes, shortened windows before a break, gates that poisoned the regions around them… an unprecedented chaos was about to descend.
But even that was merely the foundation for what came next. The Babylon Gate—the event that would redraw the map of the world. There was so much to do before it opened.
First and foremost: getting stronger. To walk straight through the events carved into my memory while becoming strong enough that no variable could crush me.
"Within one year, I will become the strongest in this country."
I wanted to keep training this very instant for exactly that reason… but unfortunately, I had an appointment today.
After a quick wash, I changed clothes. A black suit that bound me from head to toe. The moment I was fully dressed, tie and all, my breath caught short.
'Ugh… so stifling.'
Had this suit always been this small? My chest felt compressed, like I was wearing a straitjacket.
"…Come to think of it, this pisses me off."
Why should I stand on ceremony for those people? If anything, a prim, proper suit clashed with my image entirely.
Pop! Pop!
I undid the top button of my shirt and slung the jacket carelessly over one shoulder. Somehow it made me look like an office worker heading home from work, but—
"Phew. Now I feel alive."
Finally, I could breathe again. Savoring each inhale and exhale as I checked myself in the mirror, I noticed something strange.
"Hasn't my frame gotten bigger?"
It was clearly different from simply bulking up with muscle. My whole body had grown, evenly, from head to toe. The frame of my body had shifted broader.
'So this is what raising my growth limit feels like.'
I wasn't a muscle-bound meathead yet, but nowhere I went would anyone call me weak.
"Old man Gwonwang will love this."
Good timing, too, considering I'd been planning a pilgrimage to the Four Gates—Sabangmun—before long.
After a light check of my condition, I took out the finished version of 'that thing' I'd received a while back.
Clunk!
A mechanical device resembling a camcorder. The Cheonseong logo was emblazoned boldly across its side. It was still a prototype, hence the crude appearance.
"It'll get more compact soon enough."
Someday, everyone would be carrying an improved model of this thing. A device that had once been Cheonseong's—and would belong to Cheonseong again.
"As expected of the Magic King."
Gong Gi-hyun. The man who would one day command the highest price in the magitech crafting industry. Right now he was blundering around, oblivious to his own worth, but his light would shine soon enough.
I had to use this opportunity to pull him into Cheonseong's fold. And while I was at it, rewrite the fate that would see him robbed of his technology and murdered by Chinese assassins.
"Good…"
Thanks to that, every preparation was complete. With my signature smile, I steeled my resolve.
"Let's do this."
Time to flip the stage.
Today was the day of a rather entertaining event.
The day Lee Tae-hyun—central figure of the 'B-Rank Gate Raid Team Massacre' and eldest son of Cheonseong Group—held his official press conference.
The conference hall at Cheonseong headquarters was already a sea of people. Hulking cameras stretched their long lenses out like gun barrels. Reporters checked and rechecked their question sheets, which read like court verdicts.
What's more, today's press conference would be broadcast live across the nation. Thanks to that, the live chat was blazing hot.
Public opinion on Lee Tae-hyun was still rotten. Just as the C-rank gate record had drawn everyone's attention, he'd spewed more asinine remarks, driving even the indifferent to start pointing fingers.
All eyes were on today's press conference. What excuses would Lee Tae-hyun spout this time? How else would he drag Cheonseong's name through the mud? Just what tricks had he pulled inside the gate?
Love him or hate him, Lee Tae-hyun was the most talked-about man in South Korea today.
Now—onto the main stage, where the spotlight burned white-hot.
BAM!
"Pleasure to meet you all."
The man of the hour had arrived.
The instant Lee Tae-hyun stepped into the conference hall, camera flashes erupted in relentless bursts of light.
Click! Click!
Click! Click! Click!
Pushing through a brilliance that made it hard to keep his eyes open, Lee Tae-hyun took his seat before the microphone. The reporters were already clacking away at their laptops, scribbling something down.
Lee Tae-hyun, jacket dumped carelessly on the seat beside him, opened his mouth with perfect composure.
"I'll now take your questions."
Hands shot up in unison. The one he picked was a man whose eyes were narrowed into ratlike, irritating slits.
"This is Seo Jun-seong with the Naeil Ilbo."
"I see. I'm Lee Tae-hyun."
"…?"
After the baffling exchange of introductions, the reporter fired off his question with a venomous tone.
"You stated previously that 'I bear no fault in the B-rank gate incident.' Is that the unvarnished truth, without a shred of fabrication?"
"That's correct. I bear no fault in that incident. It was entirely my party members' fault, and I was the victim."
A murmur swept through the hall in an instant. He'd fled alone and crawled out alive—and he was calling himself the victim? This went beyond dodging responsibility; it bordered on outright deception.
"You don't feel even a shred of guilt?"
"Do you have nothing to say to the bereaved families?!"
"Wasn't it against your own will that Cheonseong paid the funeral costs and compensation?"
"Just how did you achieve the record in the C-rank gate?"
The reporters who won the floor gleefully hammered away at Lee Tae-hyun. Each time, he offered nothing but occasional, curt replies. He showed no agitated reaction whatsoever.
Naturally, the questions only grew more vicious.
"Are you aware that your conduct amounts to something on par with murder?"
"Is it true you attacked Mr. Yoo Sung-wook out of an inferiority complex?"
"What are your thoughts on the rumor that a villain in a popular webtoon was modeled after you?"
The reporters kept dragging in outside incidents, doing their best to provoke him. Some even tossed out questions that amounted to outright character assassination.
The moment they caught on that there would be no consequences, the atmosphere flared even hotter.
"A death penalty petition was just filed—what is your response to…!"
"They say you've been pushed out of the true line of succession at Cheonseong Group—is that fact or…!"
Words tangled over words, and the clatter of shutters grew raucous.
Lee Tae-hyun kept his eyes serenely closed.
The focus tightened, bit by bit. Steeped in madness, eyes gleaming with the hunger to bite and tear.
And when that frenzy reached its peak—
"A little… noisy in here, isn't it?"
In a heartbeat, all of that attention converged on a single point.
KWAAAAAH—!
A crushing weight settled over the entire conference hall. The reporters felt a vertiginous pressure bearing down on their shoulders and heads.
"Urk?!"
"Wh-what is this…!"
"Gghh……"
It was nothing special. A technique that vented mana in an instant to briefly dominate the surrounding area. A cheap trick anyone could pull if their mana control was just 'a little' above average. In truth, any awakened even slightly higher in rank would have felt nothing at all.
'But the reporters were all unawakened.'
For ordinary people with no mana in their bodies, this was enough—pressed flat by raw mana alone, their mouths snapped shut. The reporters who'd been whooping it up just moments ago all stiffened at once and turned their eyes on Lee Tae-hyun.
The people watching the live broadcast noticed the strangeness too. The feed had crackled with static, and the rowdy atmosphere had gone dead solemn in a flash.
"Now it's finally peaceful in here. Wouldn't you say?"
Lee Tae-hyun flashed a bright smile and took hold of the microphone.