The Best Partner (1)
"Whenever you're ready, we can start."
The day after my visit to the Magic Tower.
At Baek Seo-ha's request, I had agreed to be her sword sparring partner.
"Okay."
She gave a short answer and immediately drew her practice sword.
"Here I come."
Whoosh!
She closed the distance in a flash with a sweeping strike, followed by a relentless flurry of small, biting cuts.
'Oh.'
I deflected and parried, letting out a silent whistle of admiration.
Well, her potential was S-rank for a reason. Her growth rate was absurd.
'Not that I'm one to talk.'
She was on a completely different level from the girl I'd first met at the Sword Sect. Especially noticeable was how little hesitation remained at the tip of her blade.
The old Baek Seo-ha had an obsession with swinging her sword perfectly. Even when a better path existed, she had a tendency to mechanically pursue only the straight and proper way.
'Probably something she learned from Seong Yong-ho.'
Because of it, her movements had always felt oddly static.
"Hah…!"
Whoosh! Thwip!
Not anymore. Her swordsmanship had transformed into that of a starving wolf.
To put it unkindly, ruthless; to put it kindly, cunning.
"An opening…!"
The moment I deliberately left a gap, she slipped in like a ghost. In the past, she would have tried to dismantle my guard and attack head-on rather than strike at an exposed seam.
'Incredible growth.'
Even the Baek Seo-ha of before my regression never managed to fully shed that habit, not until the moment she died.
In terms of pure skill, that other Baek Seo-ha was still probably stronger. But looking at her ceiling — her potential — this one was far, far higher.
I barely kept the grin from crawling across my face. If a few months of training could produce these results, what would the Baek Seo-ha of a few years from now look like?
She would become a master standing leagues above the woman in my memories.
"Hoo… hah…."
Finished with the spar, Baek Seo-ha wiped the sweat from her brow.
"Good work."
"…I didn't land a single hit today either."
"If I let you hit me easily, that'd be bad for my pride as Guild Master."
Baek Seo-ha narrowed her eyes halfway, giving me a flat look.
Of course, if she came at me for real, she might land a hit or two. After all, even Gwonwang allowed a strike from her to graze him.
"By the way, your swordsmanship's improved a lot."
Praising a guild member's growth was part of the job description. I tossed her the ion drink I'd brought along and added casually,
"Gwonwang's special training is paying off, right? For a compromise of your pride, it turned out to be a pretty good deal."
"I'll admit it. It was a little miserable, though."
"Especially that attacking style of yours. Mixed into your honest swordsmanship — your biggest strength — it's terrifying. Did the master teach you that too?"
"…That part."
Baek Seo-ha, who'd been fiddling with the bottle cap, turned her head slightly.
"I made it after watching your spearwork."
"…Huh?"
"Gwonwang was the one who pointed out the flaws in my swordsmanship, sure. But the foundation of this style is your spear technique, Lee Tae-hyun."
That caught me off guard.
The basis of those movements was my spearwork?
'Now that I think about it, there are quite a few similarities.'
My spear art was, at its core, a weapon of the weak. It buried its fang deep into an opponent's softest spot — a style that suited prey more than predator. I never imagined that Baek Seo-ha, born strong as she was, would adopt it.
"That's… surprising."
"Why? You don't like it?"
"No, I'm just wondering why anyone would imitate such a dirty spear art."
There was a line every man who lost to me before my regression spat out without fail.
'You… y-you coward…!'
Most of them were stronger than I was, defeated by their own exploited weaknesses.
My way of fighting couldn't be called fair, even as a compliment. Never mind whether fairness belonged in combat at all.
"It's not dirty."
Then Baek Seo-ha's voice carried a flicker of anger.
"Has anyone ever called you that to your face?"
"Not yet, no…."
"Then that settles it. I copied your movements because they looked good to me. I trust my own eyes."
And then she smiled faintly.
"Your spearwork is good."
…Hah.
Who would've thought I'd meet someone who called my spear good?
'And of all people, Baek Seo-ha.'
Being recognized in such an odd way made my chest feel strangely warm.
"Weird. Feels like something of mine got stolen."
"I'm your master, remember? Teaching your disciple this much is only fair."
"Cheeky."
Jokes came pouring out of us now like flowing water.
Which meant we'd grown close.
"Anyway, keep me company for the rest of today's session. I want to prepare harder for the round of 16—"
"Ah, sorry. That won't be possible."
"…Why?"
"I have a prior engagement."
"A prior engagement?"
I hadn't actually made an appointment. But if my expectations were right, one would arrive soon enough.
Clunk!
Right on cue, the training hall door swung open. At the entrance stood the woman I'd been waiting for.
"I've been waiting for you."
An S-rank mage, the current master of the Magic Tower, and a dreamer of impossible magic.
"Miss Ji Yeon-ha."
"Why do you leave a message and then not pick up your phone?!"
"So that was your number, Miss Ji Yeon-ha? I don't answer calls from numbers I don't know."
"You treated me as SPAM?! Do you have any idea how valuable my number is?!"
Apparently she'd gotten hold of my number somehow and called. But if I'd picked up, everything would have been settled over the phone, wouldn't it?
I wanted to sit across from her, eye to eye, and talk in person.
"Anyway! We have things to discuss, don't we?"
"We do."
Watching us converse so naturally, Baek Seo-ha's expression darkened into something stormy.
"The… the prior engagement was her?"
"Yep."
"You know her?"
"We're about to get acquainted."
"…!"
Baek Seo-ha bit her lip, then snatched up her sword with an irritated flourish. As she turned away to practice alone, I threw a word at her back.
"Sulking? I'll be back soon for another spar."
"…GO!"
SLAM!
Half-kicked out of the training hall, I left.
We settled into a suitably modest conference room.
"Not even a VIP lounge, just a meeting room… and the refreshments are instant coffee mix…."
"Are you disrespecting coffee mix? Nothing in the coffee world comes close."
I hadn't even planned to offer it — she was lucky I extended that small courtesy. How could someone who didn't appreciate the sanctity of office supplies ever be a Tower Master?
"Hoo… anyway, that's not what matters."
Ji Yeon-ha exhaled and fixed me with a sharp, intelligent gaze.
"…This is the first time we've talked face to face like this."
"And for me, seeing you in person rather than on a screen is a first as well."
Swoosh—
Purple hair slipped back behind her ear. With her emotions settled, she radiated a mysteriously elegant air.
'Ji Yeon-ha.'
Honestly, this woman and I had little common ground. Including both before and after my regression, this was the first time we'd ever stood face to face.
'Not just an S-rank hunter — she's the Tower Master, after all.'
That said, I didn't know nothing about her. At minimum, I had cards prepared in my hand that could be played at the negotiating table.
"To be honest, I was a little taken aback. Leaving a message like that out of nowhere."
"It was the surest way. If I had requested a meeting through official channels, you wouldn't have granted it at all, would you?"
"Who knows? If you'd requested one directly through Cheonseong, things might have moved a little faster."
She meant shortening the timeline from about four years down to two.
Ji Yeon-ha smiled softly, and then—
GUUUUUM—!
—she raised her mana, slow and deliberate.
"You have quite a lot to answer for."
I felt the mana in the air begin to swirl.
"Ohh…."
The woman was angry right now. Angry at me — the one who had brought her all the way here.
If I failed to give an answer that satisfied her, I wouldn't be enjoying what came next. The authority held by the Tower Master of an entire nation was no small thing in the hunter industry.
"My time is expensive, you know? There are lines of people who'd kill to buy a single minute with me."
"And yet you cast it all aside to come here. I take it my proposal was that interesting?"
"Interesting enough. The eldest son of Cheonseong, riding the highest stock price in the country right now — I wondered what little scheme you were playing at with me."
A lie.
A Tower Master wouldn't come all this way for such a shallow reason. If I had to describe her true feelings?
'She's clutching at a rotten rope, even if she knows it's rotten.'
Even if the rope had been thrown by a scoundrel she'd once showered with public scorn.
"If that's your only reason, I'm afraid I'm disappointed. What I have to offer is built on mutual trust."
"Trust is something built steadily over time. If you expected me to blindly believe you just because of your recent exploits, you're mistaken."
Ji Yeon-ha crossed her arms and tilted her chin up slightly.
That overbearing gaze, that imperious posture. She was naturally maneuvering to seize the upper hand in the conversation.
'I thought mages were all gloomy shut-ins.'
Apparently, to reach the summit of any industry, you had to turn into a slippery snake. Most people would have buckled here and gone submissive — nearly everyone who came to see Ji Yeon-ha arrived wanting something from her.
'But she seems to be misunderstanding something.'
The one who needed this negotiation more desperately…
"Well, I suppose there's nothing to be done about it."
…was not me. It was Ji Yeon-ha.
"Let's end the conversation here."
"…Huh?"
"As I said, this item is meaningless without mutual trust. Continuing would be a waste of both our times, wouldn't it?"
"Wh… what?! Are you toying with me right now?!"
Her emotions flared and her mana surged. Fine cracks spidered across the window glass, and the coffee in the paper cup began to roil and bubble.
Truly the greatest mage in South Korea. The mere shift in her mood released enough mana to match several magic-type hunters combined.
"You're playing games with me?!"
"Playing games? I was sincerely trying to negotiate. And just now, that negotiation collapsed."
"Don't lie to me! Aagh! I'm so furious with myself for trusting a guy like this I could go mad!"
I meant it, though.
I laid my sincerity out on the table.
One black plastic box.
"We talked for, what, three minutes? Adding travel expenses and various miscellaneous costs to that…"
Click!
The box opened to reveal a mountain of golden bills.
"One hundred million won, cleanly counted."
"You—!"
Ji Yeon-ha, who'd been mid-rant, snapped her mouth shut the instant she saw the money.
"Wh… what is this?"
"Already forgotten what you said with your own mouth? You told me your time was expensive. Your going rate."
"Th… that's true, but…"
"So I've paid you one hundred million. What, is that too much?"
Ji Yeon-ha, who'd been visibly drooling, hugged the box tightly to her chest.
"Of course not. Fufu… you're better at arithmetic than I expected."
"If your business is finished, please leave. I'm a busy man."
"Was it sincere? All that stuff you said earlier?"
Only after the hundred million was in her hands did Ji Yeon-ha's expression change. From coercion to something almost hopeful.
The face of someone gazing at an old lover they couldn't quite let go of.
'Pfft.'
I laughed on the inside.
"I was sincere. That's why I paid you properly."
"Then… what about my research?"
"That's correct."
"Liar."
Ji Yeon-ha's eyes trembled at the corners.
"You're telling me you know what my research is, and that you could actually help with it…"
"Otherdimensional Magic. Am I wrong?"
Otherdimensional Magic.
The moment the words left my mouth, she clapped a hand over her mouth, aghast.
"H… h… how do you know about that…?"
"I have my methods. For now, let's call it the fruit of my discerning eye."
Long live pre-regression knowledge.
"What a shame, though. This could have been a truly wonderful deal for both of us."
To the stunned Ji Yeon-ha, staring at me blankly, I gave a cheerful wave of my hand.
"Goodbye, Tower Master Ji Yeon-ha."