A Magical Innovation
Cheonseong had abruptly announced a major upcoming presentation.
The catchphrase: A Magical Innovation.
Cheonseong was currently enjoying what people were calling its second golden age, cutting a blazing trail through the industry — and when news like this dropped from a company riding that high, everyone rushed to weigh in with their own theories.
The internet was flooded with articles peddling every rumor imaginable.
Now, Cheonseong regularly held public announcements about new products or corporate direction. But this wasn't part of that regular schedule — it was a surprise presentation, and a large-scale event with no precedent in the company's entire history.
All sorts of theories flew back and forth, but slowly the speculation converged on a single point.
Those were the two technologies driving Cheonseong's current boom. The prevailing theory: the company would either launch a new product in that vein or announce a major upgrade to the existing tech.
In particular, opinion had crystallized around the idea that Cheonseong was preparing something new to meet the explosively growing demand for dungeon streamers and gate broadcasts.
And before long, the day of the long-awaited surprise presentation finally arrived.
"Aaaaargh, no! No no NO!"
The red-haired mage flopped down flat onto the floor.
"S-Sophia, ma'am..."
"That's it, I'm done! How am I supposed to enter a gate with this relic of a staff?!"
Saint Flower — an American guild, and home to its A-rank mage, Sophia, who had just declared a strike. The official reason: excessive equipment degradation.
Lofted in her hand was a wooden staff, beaten and battered beyond recognition.
"Do you have any idea how many years I've been using this thing?!"
It was a C-rank staff she'd scraped together enough to buy right around the time she awakened — and there hadn't been a single equipment replacement since. The grip had rotted soft, and the mana release point had worn down and split open with cracks. The thing had outlived its lifespan ages ago.
But she'd had no choice but to keep using it, weeping and gnashing her teeth all the while. Because magic tools were, for all practical purposes, never in stock.
"I should have bought it back then... at that auction..."
Not long ago, an A-rank staff had gone up for listing at a black-grade auction house. Sophia had shaken out every last coin she owned to place her bid, swallowed her pride, and even gone so far as to beg the other bidders to please, please back off.
Guys T_T please, please stop bidding T_T
I seriously dumped my entire life savings into this...
I want to wield a fancy A-rank staff too, not this bargain-bin trash T_T_T_T
And the result? Yet another victory for those cursed Magic Tower bastards.
From that day on, a fire simmered in her chest that simply wouldn't let her rest — and as a bonus, her longing for proper equipment only burned hotter.
"I'm not setting foot in a gate until I get a new staff!"
Just as Sophia locked herself into place like a stubborn monument, declaration delivered —
"Oh my, so this is where you were."
A young woman stepped into the room. Brilliant golden hair that seemed to hold the light of the sun itself, and a gentle, warm countenance. She gazed at Sophia with a smile like sun-soaked linen.
One of the world's Four Irregulars, and the hunter responsible for anchoring Saint Flower's support operations. The Saintess — Veronica.
"Venny!"
The moment Sophia spotted her, she shot up and dashed over, throwing her arms around her. The warmth and soft scent, like a comforter freshly dried in the sun, melted away the mountain of stress piled on her shoulders.
"Did something happen?"
"No... no, you don't need to hear about it, Venny."
"Hmm, now that you say that, I'm even more curious~"
Sophia buried her face against her and soaked in the healing.
Venny's such an innocent child.
Saintess this, Irregular that — but Veronica was, quite literally, purity of soul incarnate. Sometimes she was so guileless that Sophia genuinely wondered how the girl survived in this world. Thankfully, Sophia herself was on hand to cut down anyone who crept close with dark motives.
"Ahh... having Venny around really does heal the soul..."
"Fufu. You may keep me by your side as long as you like."
"Venny~!"
Just as the moment of blossoming friendship between two women —
— The Cheonseong presentation will begin shortly!
A loud voice rang out from the screen at the front of the room.
"What's that?"
"Ah, now that you mention it, some Korean corporation was supposed to hold a special announcement."
Who would have thought they'd even broadcast it live here? Sophia tilted her head slightly. Honestly, she couldn't have cared less.
"Come to think of it, Venny — you speak Korean, right? That's why you took that rental contract there, wasn't it?"
"Ah... yes. I was personally interested, so I studied it."
"Hmm."
Sophia owned a Box of Babel, so she had no particular need to study foreign languages.
"Well then, shall we see what all the fuss is about?"
She was on strike anyway — she had time to burn. So Sophia settled in to watch the broadcast with Veronica still wrapped in her arms.
A short while later.
"Good day, everyone."
A familiar figure stepped up onto the stage. Even Sophia knew perfectly well who that man was.
"That's Lee Tae-hyun, isn't it?"
His renown had spread far and wide by now. Especially hot lately was the story of how he'd brought down the dragon that turned Tokyo into a war zone and recruited Ayase Karin into his own guild.
"I'm not exactly fond of standing at official events like this, but the Chairman begged and begged, you see."
"As you all know, I'm not much of a talker, am I?"
"So let's wrap this up quickly."
"Pfff! I like his personality already."
Straight to the point, no bloated niceties or rhetorical padding. The brisk, unfussy pacing was worthy of praise.
"Is... is it really okay for him to talk like that...?"
"Oh, Venny. Sweet, naive Venny. What am I going to do with you."
On screen, Lee Tae-hyun pressed on with his presentation.
"As you all know, Cheonseong has been growing at a staggering pace again recently. The exact figures are... ugh, what the hell, why are there so many numbers."
He scrunched up his face at the graphs and figures floating across the presentation screen behind him.
"Let's just skip this. Nobody here came to look at that anyway, right?"
"PUAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sophia doubled over, clutching her stomach.
"PAHAHAHA! You absolute lunatic!"
"In any case — Cheonseong is once again pushing toward being not merely the best in Korea, but the number one corporation in the world."
"And yet."
His voice shifted, turning just a touch more serious.
"I still think we fall short. Cheonseong has insisted on better experiences and better innovation across every field touching hunters and the hunter industry. But there is a group that has been thoroughly, shamefully overlooked — by Cheonseong, and by the hunter business as a whole."
"Mages."
"PAHAHA... huh?"
Sophia's laughter slowly died in her throat.
"A true craftsman blames no tool? That's all garbage. Good equipment is the very first means of preparing yourself for the unknown world called a gate. And yet, compared to hunters of every other discipline, mages have been given an absurdly narrow range of choices."
"Y-yeah... that's right..."
She found herself nodding along before she even realized it.
"How unfair is that? Mages have every right to choose their own equipment and wield gear that matches their level. A staff worn down to a nub. A grimoire falling apart at the spine. A crystal orb spiderwebbed with cracks! While everyone else tosses their broken gear and buys brand-new replacements, mages have had no choice but to swallow their tears and watch!"
In that instant, Sophia's emotions lurched violently.
"YESSS!!! Now that's how you say it!"
"Why? Because there was nothing to buy! Because plenty of people wanted them, and the supply was next to nonexistent!"
The sight of her battered old wooden staff lying on the floor sent a surge of bitter resentment welling up all at once.
"Hk...!"
"S-Sophia?! Are you... crying right now?"
"N-no, I'm not..."
"But I could never simply look the other way and pass by the sorrows of those mages!"
Sophia dabbed at her glistening eyes. Strange. Up until a moment ago, he'd just been a sharp-featured man with a cold impression. Now he seemed to have a halo glowing behind him.
"And so — right now, allow me to introduce it to you."
Behind Lee Tae-hyun, an enormous logo bloomed into view as an animation. A blue sun raising its head above the horizon — that was the emblem.
"Cheonseong's artifact brand. A creator and seller of magic tools."
The man on the other side of the screen grinned, teeth flashing.
"Horizon!"
"Now — a new horizon opens."
"W-wait a second... they're making what?..."
Sophia found herself murmuring without meaning to. He had definitely just said they would manufacture magic tools, hadn't he?
That's impossible. There's no way!
Countless corporations and awakened had thrown themselves at the problem, and every one of them had failed. Even the United States, the United Kingdom, and China had crashed against it. How could some tiny little country possibly—
"Hmm. You all look like you don't believe me."
"Then I'll simply show you."
Snap!
Lee Tae-hyun snapped his fingers, and the partition wall behind him slid upward, revealing what lay beyond. Stacked high, by the hundreds and thousands, were wands — every single one of them stamped with the Horizon logo.
"The first Horizon Artifact, presented by Horizon. This — is the Breeze Wand."
"All of them B-rank, upper-intermediate grade."
Her throat tightened in an instant.
That many staves, and all of them B-rank? Until now she hadn't been able to get her hands on a single C-rank staff, let alone a B?
"I think the performance will be quite respectable. The person who designed them is rather capable, after all."
Lee Tae-hyun plucked one of the stacked wands and demonstrated it. Unmistakably, undeniably a genuine B-rank wand. Far from being shoddy, it actually looked to outperform other staves of the same grade.
Well, of course it did. Unlike the staves that others had used and repaired — or not repaired — for decades at a stretch, this one had come off the line brand new.
"Haha. Ah, the reaction's heating up now."
"The release schedule, you ask? Hmm... well."
Lee Tae-hyun shrugged his shoulders.
"Right this second."
The moment those words landed, the reaction from the venue turned ferocious enough to feel through the screen.
"Oh — and the first sale will be limited to Korea."
"That's all from me — Representative of Horizon, and Guild Leader of Shin Guild. Lee Tae-hyun."
The broadcast swept past like a thunderstorm, fierce and blinding.
"...Venny."
"Yes, Sophia."
"W-we need to get to Korea. Now."
"Wha—?!"
"Korea! We have to find plane tickets right now! If we sit here dithering like earthworms, they'll sell out every last unit!"
Screaming with frantic obsession, Sophia began searching for flights to Korea.