Disassembling the Junk (2)
Bong Jaeseok must have sprinted over, because he paused for a moment to catch his breath after arriving. Once his breathing steadied, he skipped the pleasantries and went straight to inspecting the materials on the workbench. His reaction was nearly identical to the senior's beside me.
"These are practically brand new. You're telling me you took them apart?"
"Yes, senior."
Bong Jaeseok looked at me with an expression split evenly between admiration and regret.
"It's a crying shame, letting you rot away unaffiliated. A guy like you belongs in our club... You're really not thinking of joining?"
"I'm sorry."
"...Tch. Fine. Say the word whenever you change your mind. Now, take a look at these."
Bong Jaeseok pulled a few failed projects out of his inventory. Ordinary failures got tossed carelessly into a corner of Workshop 4, but when the materials that went into them were worth a small fortune, he would keep them stored away instead—with the intention of disassembling them himself whenever he found the time.
But the post of Magic Engineering Club president was no ordinary kind of busy. Bong Jaeseok could never scrape together a spare moment, so even as he kept telling himself he'd get to the disassembly, he'd surely just kept putting it off, day after day. And then, in the middle of all that, my message had arrived.
So my handiwork was that clean.
As I silently studied the failures he held out, Bong Jaeseok asked,
"So? Think you can take them apart?"
"Well... it looks doable..."
Difficulty wasn't really the issue. Even a step or two above what I usually handled was well within my reach.
"These will eat up some time, though."
The problem was how much bulk these failures carried, as failures went. They were nearly half-finished, so stripping them down completely promised to take a good long while. The components inside were high-grade materials hovering around B-Rank, too, so they would demand a careful touch. Put it all together, and it meant one thing: an enormous investment of time and effort. No wonder Bong Jaeseok hadn't dared lay a hand on them and had let them rot in a corner of his inventory.
"I know they'll take plenty of time. What'll it take for you to do them?"
Which was another way of saying: the longer and more laborious the job, the bigger the reward. If I handled the troublesome work on his behalf and, in exchange, got back a heap of B-Rank materials—even paying a certain price, wouldn't that be a deal in my favor?
With that in mind, I named my price.
"I'd like one [Mana Engine]."
A device that converted infused mana into forces of an entirely different nature. It was a core component used constantly in magitech equipment—weapon crafting above all. They were hard enough to come by that he might have hesitated to part with one, but Bong Jaeseok accepted my demand without a moment's deliberation.
"I'll have one set aside. How long do you think it'll take?"
"Is it urgent?"
"No. I'd been putting it off forever anyway."
"Then I'll have it done by midweek."
The materials were gathered, and today, completing Go Hyeon-woo's item took priority. Only then could he carry it into the remaining PvP assessments and put it to good use. As for Bong Jaeseok's disassembly commission and my other objectives, there was no harm in starting tomorrow.
Apparently even midweek struck him as quick, because Bong Jaeseok nodded in satisfaction.
"Sweet. Then keep at it. You using Workshop 1 today?"
"I was thinking of slipping in for a bit when it's empty."
"It should open up around eleven today. Come by then."
"Thank you."
Hong Ye-hwa, president of the Ruby Magic Tower club, furrowed her brow. A sight she almost never saw was unfolding right before her eyes.
"..."
Hong Yeon-hwa sat by the window, gazing blankly at nothing but the sky. Her gaze drifted slowly sideways, as though she were chasing the clouds. She looked like an old woman who had just awakened to the transience of the years. A far cry from her usual self, a bomb primed to go off at any moment.
Exactly one person could give a clear account of this situation: Baek Jun-seok, who had fought the 2v2 PvP assessment as Hong Yeon-hwa's partner. The moment she sent a message, Baek Jun-seok came to the Ruby Magic Tower club room.
Hong Ye-hwa pointed a finger at her sister and asked,
"Hey. What's wrong with that?"
"..."
Baek Jun-seok followed her finger and stared at "that" for a few seconds, then heaved a deep sigh and began his explanation.
"Well, you see..."
They had entered the 2v2 PvP assessment and been matched against Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in's team. Twice in a row, at that.
Hong Ye-hwa cut in mid-explanation.
"Kim Ho? The Kim Ho who lost at the placement exam?"
"Yes, that's the one."
"Mm, sorry for cutting you off. Go on."
In the first match, the gale whipping every which way had canceled Hong Yeon-hwa's spells mid-cast, and they had gone on to lose absurdly, leaving themselves wide open to Seo Ye-in's sniping shot. In the second match, Hong Yeon-hwa had fought defensively—what her reasoning was, who could say. It had worked to some extent: they turned back one wave of attacks from Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in, and even their counterattack met with decent success. All they had to do was keep it up—or so they thought. But the moment Kim Ho, who had done nothing but stand far off, closed in on them, the match flipped in an instant. A few flicks of his hand, and Baek Jun-seok was flattened into the floor; for Hong Yeon-hwa, left all alone, there was no answer. In the end, the second match, too, ended in a hollow forfeit.
"I see."
Hong Ye-hwa nodded slowly. She understood completely how her sister had ended up in such a soul-drained state. Hong Yeon-hwa had only just stepped out of the Ruby Magic Tower and begun fighting real battles beyond the well's rim. Three losses to the same person—and overwhelming ones at that, where she hadn't even managed to put up a fight. Of course the shock would be heavy. She understood all of it.
And yet... she could not let it pass.
"...!"
Sensing the ominous shift in the air, Baek Jun-seok stumbled backward. Hong Ye-hwa walked up behind Hong Yeon-hwa and stopped. Then, with a sharp snap of her fingers—
- FWOOM!
Hong Yeon-hwa's body went up in flames.
"Hwaaaaagh!"
Fire erupting out of nowhere, Hong Yeon-hwa let out a bizarre shriek and tumbled from her chair. She quickly spotted the arsonist—her own sister—and squawked from where she sat sprawled on the floor.
"Sis! Come on!!"
Her sister's protest only stoked Hong Ye-hwa's temper further; she pressed close and began raining down Flame Back Smacks. Her palm was searing red-hot with flame, so these smacks were no ordinary sting. Each blow came paired with a word.
"What did you do so well, huh! Quit! Your sulking!"
"Ah! Ah! Stop it! I said stop it!"
"You're the only rising star out there with three losses already! And to the same opponent, no less!"
"Agh!!! What do you want me to do about it! He's the one who keeps getting matched with me two times running!"
- FWOOM!
Flames erupted once more, and the fire leapt onto Hong Ye-hwa as well. The Hong sisters glared at each other from within the roaring blaze. The temperature in the club room spiked, and beads of sweat broke out on Baek Jun-seok's forehead. Whether from the heat alone or from his gnawing unease, none could say.
Hong Ye-hwa pressed her offensive anew.
"If you think the same opponent will get matched against you again, take a breather first! You're the one who rushed to schedule the next match—who are you blaming?"
"Agh!!"
- FWOOM! FWOOM FWOOM!
Baek Jun-seok hurriedly turned to face the wall. Listening to that exchange, he could see sparks about to scatter his way.
"Hong Yeon-hwa, let's pull ourselves together and take the next match."
For he was the very man who had proposed grabbing the next PvP assessment right away. And sure enough, Hong Yeon-hwa's glare swung his way. Baek Jun-seok stared at the wall for dear life. If he turned his gaze now, he would be caught in a flame explosion. One hundred percent. And unlike the Hong sisters, he had no resistance to fire magic.
Thanks to Baek Jun-seok's timely evasion, Hong Yeon-hwa found herself without a target for her wrath. Left with no other recourse, she turned her protest on her sister.
"What would you know, Sis! You've never even fought him!"
"..."
Hong Ye-hwa's brow creased. Because for an instant, fear had flashed through her sister's eyes. Just how soundly had that Kim Ho thrashed her, to plant actual fear in her? She found herself a touch more curious about who he was. But satisfying that curiosity could wait; right now, hauling her sister up off the floor came first.
Hong Yeon-hwa was the future of the Ruby Magic Tower. She could not be left to stew in the taste of defeat any longer. Losing was one thing—but she had to be made to keep pressing forward. Hong Ye-hwa retracted every last tongue of flame in a heartbeat. Her tone, too, settled into calm.
"So. Are you planning to lose to him every time you meet from now on?"
Hong Yeon-hwa flinched. Experience had taught her that this, above all moments, was when she needed to answer very, very carefully. One wrong word here, and things would not end at flame explosions and back smacks. So Hong Yeon-hwa, her bearing shrinking further still, answered with the utmost care.
"N-no... it's not that I'll lose every time we meet... I'll face him again later... once I'm stronger..."
"Good. Then apply for mentoring."
"How did we get there?"
"You said you'd fight him again once you're stronger? Then do it."
Hong Yeon-hwa had been holding out against mentoring all this while, and the reason, examined closely, was rather childish. She refused to learn from just anyone. She was a girl who dreamed of one day ascending to the seat of the Ruby Magic Tower Master.
Picture it: after long years of painstaking effort, she finally takes the Tower Master's seat—and then some random nobody comes calling, claiming to be her old mentor... Her stomach turned at the mere thought. The Tower Master's seat was still far, far out of reach, but that was how it played out in Hong Yeon-hwa's imagination, anyway. So this was, in the end, a matter of pride.
If she was to be mentored, it had to be by someone belonging to a Magic Tower association—or at the very least, someone whose name was inscribed under a major power. But from the applicant's side, there was no telling who you'd be assigned, so in Hong Yeon-hwa's eyes the whole system was already suspect. She timidly pushed back once more.
"Do I really, really have to do this? Can't I just work harder at everything else?"
Hong Ye-hwa answered with a sweet smile.
"Then I'll give you a choice. Apply for mentoring, or challenge Kim Ho to a duel."
Meaning: if she truly wanted to prove she had no need of mentoring, she could go and defeat Kim Ho right now. In effect, it was the bell around the cat's neck—a demand easy to make and impossible to meet. Hong Yeon-hwa's expression curdled.
"...Fine, I'll do it. The mentoring. I'll do it..."
"Good call."
Hong Yeon-hwa filled out the application form right before her sister's eyes.
Caster, and... All-Rounder.
What Hong Yeon-hwa had overlooked was this: so fixated on from whom she would receive mentoring, she had never once stopped to think about alongside whom she would receive it.
[54] The Support Ate It All