Chapter 61
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: United Hearts (3)
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“What? You want me to be the older brother?”
“Yeah. You turn into me. And you become Seo-hyun.”
I pointed at Ah-young as I spoke.
The two of them exchanged glances.
Transformation magic.
Any mage who could cast 3rd-circle spells or higher knew how to use it.
Yoon Seo-hyun objected to my idea.
“
…It won’t fool Mom. A high-rank mage like her would see right through it.”
“That’s why we do it double-layered.”
I held up two fingers.
“Change your form with transformation magic, then layer reinforcement spells on top to hide your mana flow. Double-layered, like I said.”
The two of them looked impressed.
“Th-that’s brilliant…”
“Even Mom couldn’t see through that.”
The plan was simple.
Going head-on against Yoon Ji-ae meant a high chance of defeat.
But if we caught her off-guard and struck at her weakness, we had a solid shot at victory.
Of course, if things go south, I’ll have no choice but to unleash the power of Transcendent Awakening…
But Transcendent Awakening came at a steep price—collapse after its duration ended.
Its power outstripped any other awakening skill by far.
No former A-rank hunter could shrug it off easily.
“Yoon Ji-ae will target Yoon Ah-young first, no question. Ah-young, you’ll be taken out early somehow.”
“
…Yeah. I think so too.”
Ah-young nodded in agreement.
“We exploit that. I’ll disguise myself as Yoon Ah-young. Then, once she thinks she’s subdued her, we stab her in the back.”
While the two daughters of the Yoon family held Yoon Ji-ae at bay, I’d bide my time for an opening.
I didn’t remember the exam’s details.
But it surely wasn’t an impossible clear.
“Alright, dismissed. No slip-ups in the finals.”
“Got it.”
I didn’t know if the plan would work, but I’d give it my all with the chance I had.
It was all for that high-grade Mana Manual.
“Yoon Ah-young.”
Ah-young turned as she headed to her room.
Yoon Seo-hyun stood there.
She spoke softly.
“Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“…”
With that, Yoon Seo-hyun walked off down the dark hallway.
“Cough! Cough!”
Blood poured from Seo-hyun’s mouth.
Even in a simulation, the pain felt utterly real.
Yet she held her sister tight, unyielding.
“Heal.”
Seo-hyun cast her recovery skill.
Ah-young’s wounds began to knit, bit by bit.
Yoon Ji-ae frowned at the sight.
“Foolish. This is just a simulation. You’re wasting mana needlessly.”
“
…It’s not needless.”
Still channeling Heal, she glared at Yoon Ji-ae and repeated herself.
“It’s. Not. Needless.”
It was the first time Seo-hyun had defied her mother.
Tears welled in her eyes.
She hadn’t flinched even when a spear pierced her shoulder.
All she cared about was her sister’s safety.
“I raised you wrong. I thought I’d bred a lion, but you’re just a gutless kitten. That weak heart of yours couldn’t take down a single goblin.”
Yoon Ji-ae showed her disappointment plainly.
Gazing at the sisters, old memories surfaced.
Sisterly bonds.
Yoon Ji-yeon and Yoon Ji-ae had grown up in the same household.
Before the gates opened, Korea enjoyed unprecedented peace.
Yoon Ji-yeon and Yoon Ji-ae, in their school uniforms, were just high school girls.
Yoon Ji-yeon was the perfect daughter—beautiful, top of her class.
Yoon Ji-ae, timid and introverted, had no friends.
It was natural for her to idolize her sister, who always cherished her, in their harmonious home.
A world without magic had been true bliss.
But it all shattered with the ‘First Gate.’
The First Gate that slaughtered a third of humanity.
When the gate ripped open in Seoul, the sisters were in class.
Collapsing buildings, streets aflame, monsters emerging—panic was inevitable.
“Ji-ae! Run! Hurry!”
Peace crumbled in an instant.
The gates destroyed everything.
Loved ones, friends—all lost.
Before their parents’ graves, Yoon Ji-ae vowed with her sister: to slaughter every last monster.
Thus, the sisters forged order in a lawless world with their magic alone.
They became legendary adventurers, unmatched by any mage on earth.
…But.
The First Gate subjugation.
Twenty heroes.
Yoon Ji-yeon vanished there.
Thanks to their sacrifice, the gate closed, and humanity clung to peace.
But no one knew if Yoon Ji-yeon lived—or where she was.
Yoon Ji-ae couldn’t lose her last family.
…Sister’s alive.
Yoon Ji-yeon was surely alive.
As her sister, she felt it.
And she’d sworn her remaining life to finding her.
She founded the Yoon family.
Adopted and raised children to search for her sister.
She needed to grow stronger.
Stronger than anyone, to conquer the ‘First Gate’ where Yoon Ji-yeon waited.
Even a corpse would do—she yearned to see her again.
That was Yoon Ji-ae’s sole desire.
The high-grade Mana Manual had to be hers.
Her daughters here were mere obstacles.
“You’re in my way. All of you.”
Yoon Ji-ae slowly approached Kang Tae-hyun.
The current Yoon family strayed from her will.
She’d just build a new academy.
Raise new children, find her sister.
For that, she needed the ‘high-grade Mana Manual.’
It couldn’t go to an outsider unconnected to the Yoon family.
“Hand over the Mana Manual.”
Curse Style No. 7 activated.
Whoosh—!
In that instant, curses coiled around him.
Tae-hyun’s hands and feet were bound immobile.
“Ugh…!”
Stronger than before.
He couldn’t twitch a finger.
“Curse Style No. 7. You’ll be trapped here eternally. Don’t hate me too much. It’s your fault for meddling in Yoon family affairs.”
Whoosh—.
The golden spirit in Tae-hyun’s hand flew toward her.
“The Mana Manual is mine.”
Yoon Ji-ae reached out.
Just as her fingertips brushed the golden spirit—
Thud, smack!
Ah-young seized Yoon Ji-ae’s hand; Seo-hyun snatched the golden spirit.
Yoon Ji-ae’s face twisted.
“You little brats…!!!”
The hand Ah-young gripped began to freeze solid.
Seo-hyun tucked the golden spirit away and turned to Tae-hyun.
He was desperately unraveling the curse.
Even Kang Tae-hyun struggled with Curse Style No. 7.
Seo-hyun asked,
“How many minutes do you need?”
“Hold out for five.”
Block their mother for five minutes while Kang Tae-hyun broke the curse.
That was the sisters’ new trial.
Seo-hyun summoned fire clones.
Ah-young countered with an ice golem.
Whoosh—!
A massive flame dragon spear ignited in Yoon Ji-ae’s hand.
Yoon Ji-ae declared,
“Neither of you is right. I’ll let Yoon Ah-young slide, but you, Seo-hyun—you disappoint me.”
Slash—!
The Great Flame Dragon Spear cleaved through the fire clones in one swing.
Three or four vanished in a single stroke.
“The flames of the Great Flame Dragon burn hotter than any other. Pathetic clones can’t stop it. Time to relearn magic affinities from scratch.”
The spear thrust forward.
Stab!
It pierced the ice golem’s core, melting it instantly.
“Are you brain-dead? Ice against fire?”
The ice binding her arm had thawed away.
As Yoon Ji-ae said, no skill held up against the Great Flame Dragon Spear.
Yet the sisters charged without surrender.
If skills won’t work, close combat it is.
Ah-young whipped out a kick.
Yoon Ji-ae dodged effortlessly and countered.
Thwack!
But Yoon Seo-hyun’s flame armor blocked it.
Lifelong training partners, they moved as one without words.
A perfect 2v1 matchup.
Yoon Seo-hyun and Yoon Ah-young fought like a single body.
When Ah-young was targeted, Seo-hyun covered; when Seo-hyun was hit, Ah-young covered.
Flawless teamwork.
“Insolent…!”
Thud! Thump!
Even Yoon Ji-ae couldn’t withstand their fierce assault unscathed.
The spear’s reach ended at its blade.
In close quarters, it was useless.
Yoon Ji-ae had honed magic to its peak, but her hand-to-hand was average hunter level.
“Enough games.”
Grab!
Yoon Ji-ae snatched the lunging Seo-hyun.
“Permafrost.”
“Urk… ugh!”
Crack, crunch.
Seo-hyun’s body began to freeze.
Twice the intensity of standard freezing spells.
A normal cadet couldn’t break free.
Ah-young rushed to help, but Yoon Ji-ae grabbed her too.
She throttled Ah-young’s neck.
“Guh… guh!”
“You worthless trash…! If it weren’t for you!”
“Kyaaah… agh!”
ZZZAP…!
Ah-young’s neck burned under mana discharge.
“Die…! Die! In the world I created!”
Ah-young thrashed, then clamped onto her hand with all her strength.
Grip…
Eyes blazing, Ah-young stared Yoon Ji-ae down.
No longer the Yoon Ah-young who cowered at a mere glance.
“The one who’s gonna die…”
Ah-young’s trembling finger pointed—no, aimed—at Yoon Ji-ae.
“…is you.”
Pierce—!
A tiny icicle shot from her finger, striking Yoon Ji-ae’s forehead.
2nd-circle magic: Ice Pistol.
Yoon Ji-ae had let her guard down.
She never imagined her weak, sniveling daughter—untouched by harm until now—would strike her.
“Kuh… kuugh…!”
Yoon Ah-young collapsed unconscious.
Cumulative damage had overwhelmed her.
Blood trickled from Yoon Ji-ae’s forehead.
Even an A-rank hunter couldn’t balance with a hole in the brow.
Thud!
Yoon Ji-ae crumpled.
Seo-hyun, who’d been waiting for her chance, looked up.
Perfect. Now’s the time.
She chased the golden spirit at once.
Swallow it, and victory was theirs.
Match end would warp everyone back to reality automatically.
They had to return first.
To stop her rampaging mother.
Huff, huff!
Catching the spirit in her weakened state was grueling.
It darted faster than before.
Even swarms of fire clones couldn’t corner it.
Seo-hyun yelled at Tae-hyun,
“How much longer?!!??”
“Just a bit more.”
Even a top scholar struggled with Curse Style No. 7.
Ah-young was down too.
Seo-hyun faced this alone.
She squeezed every last drop of mana.
No guarantee of success.
She could barely manage 4th-circle spells now.
Humm…
Shards floated into the air around her.
Her first attempt at 5th-circle magic.
It often failed lately.
But failure wasn’t an option now.
She was a genius.
The heir to lead the Yoon family.
And she had to protect her sister.
“Wind Storm!”
Whoosh, whoosh!
The shards hurtled toward the golden spirit on fierce winds.
Success.
The spirit dodged with its speed.
But Wind Storm lifted everything in the area airborne.
No escape—shards waited everywhere.
Splat! Smack!
They smashed into the golden spirit.
Yoon Seo-hyun wrenched her last strength to pull it toward her.
“U… ugh!”
Mana depletion paralyzed her legs.
Thud!
Clinging to consciousness, she crawled toward the spirit.
“Got it… it’s over. Over…!”
She reached out.
But her hand met no spirit.
“Kyaa…!”
Crunch…!
Yoon Ji-ae stomped her hand and claimed the golden spirit.
“Now I’m certain, my daughter.”
Curses spread around Yoon Ji-ae.
The arena’s barrier reformed.
No way back to reality now.
Unless Yoon Ji-ae canceled her skill.
“Stay trapped here forever. You’re trash unfit for the outside world.”
Yoon Ji-ae devoured the golden spirit.
Boom! Bang!
Fireworks blanketed the arena.
The winner was decided.
Light from the sky formed the high-grade Mana Manual.
Yoon Ji-ae seized it.
“Finally…!”
The Mana Manual fell into her hands.
One step closer to her lifelong dream.
Yoon Ji-ae opened the first page.
Then—
“Auntie.”
Her hand froze mid-air.
Yoon Ji-ae turned toward the voice.
Kang Tae-hyun stood there.
A golden aura enveloped him.
Effect: All stats doubled. (Duration: 30 minutes)
His trump card: Transcendent Awakening.
Yoon Ji-ae’s brow furrowed.
“Deciphering even Curse Style No. 7. You’re no ordinary boy.”
She extended one hand.
“I’ll share my glory with you. Become my new son? If you do, then—”
“Ah, shut up.”
Tae-hyun’s bracelet shifted form into a sword.
“Come at me.”
He assumed his stance.
(To be continued next time)