Became a Mechromancer - Chapter 55
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 55.
Hand It Over (5)
Only Han Hyun-chul and his grandson Go Gyeong-taek remained at the top of the Ancient Tree.
Han Hyun-chul raised his hand.
After weaving a barrier of mana to prevent sound from leaking into the surroundings, he spoke.
“Early this morning, our building’s security was breached in rapid succession. So I came to check after receiving word, and found a letter sitting on my desk.”
Go Gyeong-taek swallowed dryly.
It was something he already knew.
But that wasn’t the important part.
‘Why… did you keep only me behind?’
If it was simply a matter of relaying Ghost’s message, it could have been revealed when the elite team was present.
The fact that he deliberately dismissed everyone and unfolded a soundproofing skill to speak alone meant…
‘Could it be… the letter’s contents…’
The worst-case scenario flashed through Go Gyeong-taek’s mind.
‘If there’s something about me in there, it’s all over.’
At that moment, Han Hyun-chul gazed at the enormous letters in the distance and recited the letter’s contents calmly.
“The Hunter Management Bureau is not a place to be used as you see fit. If you wish to understand the meaning of these words, enter the 2nd Floor with Go Gyeong-taek.”
“…Pardon?”
“That’s all.”
Go Gyeong-taek’s first thought was.
‘Was that really all he said?’
What if he was testing me?
Each time Han Hyun-chul’s silence stretched on, his throat grew parched.
Then.
“You reported that you clearly had a friendly relationship with Ghost.”
A piercing interrogation.
Han Hyun-chul’s voice dropped low.
“Yet this friendly fellow enters the Chairman’s Office as he pleases and leaves such a message for all to see?”
“…That, that is…”
“Isn’t that an act of hostility?”
Go Gyeong-taek’s breath caught short.
His abilities and the credibility of his reports were being questioned. If he lost ground here, his standing within the family would be finished.
He had to package their actions in a plausible way.
He could handle the aftermath later!
“Actually… Ghost came to my house, which is why I was delayed.”
Han Hyun-chul’s brow furrowed.
As if hearing something absurd.
“While he was ransacking the Chairman’s Office and the Abyss, he went to your house too? Does that make physical sense?”
“Ah, no! It wasn’t a direct visit, but…”
Go Gyeong-taek added with conviction in his voice.
“I took control of my home’s system and accessed it through a household Android.”
What?
“Ghost hacked into it?”
A frown creased Han Hyun-chul’s brow.
Early this morning, the letter that had been placed on his office desk.
That too was a trace left behind by someone who had breached the security network.
‘The main house and that bastard’s residence operate under the same security system.’
If so, it’s reasonable to assume it’s the work of a single person.
“Certainly… that could be the case.”
Han Hyun-chul nodded, yet his suspicious gaze never wavered. Given his nature, he didn’t trust reports based on words alone.
Go Gyeong-taek’s mind raced rapidly.
‘He’ll naturally demand I submit evidence to the security department.’
If so, there was only one way.
To open and reveal his personal server.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been terrifying.
Because it contained double ledgers.
But now it was different.
‘Fortunately, those bastards took the double ledgers and erased all traces.’
For now, the weakness had vanished.
Only the marks left by their tampering remained vivid.
Having finished his calculations, Go Gyeong-taek made the first move.
“I will submit my personal server and the main house’s intrusion logs for comparison tomorrow.”
Han Hyun-chul nodded slowly.
Go Gyeong-taek didn’t loosen his grip on tension.
Just as Go Gyeong-taek had anticipated, Han Hyun-chul bored into the core like an awl.
“That’s not an answer to my question, is it?”
“You’re right.”
Go Gyeong-taek drew in a breath.
‘If I couldn’t fabricate a reason, I wouldn’t have started in the first place.’
Hostile actions and the act of coming to find me. If I explain—no, fabricate—both simultaneously…!
Go Gyeong-taek carefully opened his mouth.
Actually….
“Ghost is a ‘team.'”
“What? A team?”
“Yes.”
At this new information, Han Hyun-chul’s frown eased slightly.
Sensing that, Go Gyeong-taek spoke quickly.
‘One misstep here and it’s over.’
“Among them, there was someone who was displeased with me consuming Ghost’s image through media mentions. So they attempted the hacking and came to find me.”
“Hmm, there’s dissension within their ranks?”
“Yes. That’s why I made a sincere gesture to clear up the misunderstanding.”
“A sincere gesture?”
“I donated 1.1 billion coins from my personal funds to the organization they desired, under Ghost’s name.”
“1.1 billion?”
Han Hyun-chul’s voice grew heavy.
It wasn’t about the sum itself.
What grated on him was the fact that his own blood—even if a grandchild by marriage—had handed over money to appease people who wouldn’t even reveal their identities.
“Why should we grovel to that extent?”
“Chairman, please look ahead.”
He urgently pointed to the massive “Hand It Over” carved into the floor.
“Those who leave messages on such a scale and pierce through the main house’s security like tissue paper are no ordinary people.”
“….”
“More importantly, the letter’s contents. He said that offending our boss requires a separate sincere gesture.”
“What do you mean, sincere gesture?”
“Yes, a sincere gesture. When I asked what that was, my grandfather contacted me.”
“So what is this sincere gesture?”
Go Gyeong-taek swallowed hard while staring at “Hand It Over.”
‘One thing’s certain—Ghost is favorable toward the Hunter Management Bureau and knows me well.’
So then.
If I’m to survive.
“The dawn after we subjugated the Dragon. They’re demanding we cover the losses the Hunter Management Bureau incurred while blocking the overseas forces.”
Hmm….
Han Hyun-chul closed his eyes.
He didn’t like the idea of reaching out to a government agency like the Hunter Management Bureau.
Go Gyeong-taek spoke again.
“What matters is that he came to me specifically, not someone else.”
He drove the point home.
“I’ll serve as the bridge. So please entrust the Ghost Team to me!”
Sigh….
He’d exhausted every excuse he could muster.
Han Hyun-chul stared at Go Gyeong-taek with his mouth firmly shut. After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“…If you’ve judged and acted with such conviction, then oversee them for the time being.”
“Y-yes, thank you!”
Go Gyeong-taek nodded repeatedly.
He’d weathered the crisis for now!
Of course, there was the caveat of “for the time being.”
Han Hyun-chul spoke once more.
“And you’ll also settle things with the Hunter Management Bureau.”
“Yes!”
Go Gyeong-taek brushed his chest and practically bounced with joy.
‘That stubborn bastard Na Yong-seok kept pestering me with calls, so I should give him a proper warning this time.’
It was then that a sinister smile crept across Go Gyeong-taek’s lips.
“Gyeong-taek.”
“Yes? Yes!”
“Unlike your mother… you’ve got real backbone.”
“…Ah.”
“Good work.”
“…!!”
Recognition from his grandfather—something he’d yearned for his entire life.
Though it was a sandcastle built upon lies, those words were sweet, enough to make his chest swell with emotion.
He flashed a broad smile toward Han Hyun-chul.
A foolish grin that revealed the gap where his front teeth were missing.
* * *
Lim Doo-ho’s House.
Ding-ding-ring, ding-ding….
At the alarm’s sound, Doo-ho stretched his arm to silence it, then stretched languidly beneath the blankets.
Yawn….
Doo-ho gazed at the sunlight streaming through the window and smiled contentedly.
My old room made it hard to tell day from night.
That was because I’d had to cover the window to make space for a bookshelf in that cramped space.
I brought my hand to where the sunlight touched.
Indeed.
‘People really do need sunlight.’
Doo-ho rose from bed.
Stepping onto the balcony, the air felt quite crisp.
Hah, huh, hah….
I loosened my body lightly, feeling the cold air against my skin.
“Ah, this is nice.”
Doo-ho returned to the room.
Out of habit, I poked just my head into the Garage to peer inside.
Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap.
Isto was aggressively typing at his dedicated desk.
Crunch, crunch.
While chewing and swallowing what looked like stone.
Oh!
-Master Doo-ho, did you sleep well!
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
-That’s great! Hehe.
As Isto’s LED eyes rounded brightly, a smile bloomed across Doo-ho’s lips.
‘That guy’s always so cheerful, which is nice.’
Turning my head, I see Hawkeye sitting cross-legged, taking a rest.
Up to this point, everything was as usual.
Clang, clatter, thud.
My gaze shifts toward the source of the sounds.
Hop, hop.
Bom-i is bouncing across a mine robot larger than herself, working on maintenance.
Oh my.
Startled, I quickly pull my head out of the Garage.
‘She’s been maintaining mines since morning?’
Yesterday’s events come flooding back.
Ah!
“So you’re back from farming.”
Bom-i must have been out all night.
I head into the Garage.
Honestly, I’m still wary of the mines, but I approach Bom-i, who is diligently working.
The underside of the transport vessel stands wide open.
And scattered around Bom-i are numerous mine robots.
I hesitate in surprise.
The mine robot with its top open contains nothing inside.
Relieved, I crouch down beside Bom-i.
Tap.
Bom-i places a single mana stone into the interior of the mine robot.
Whirrrr—.
The mine robot’s lid closes, and it scuttles sideways into the transport vessel on its own.
Watching this entire sequence unfold.
“…Wait.”
I raise my hand to stop her.
“It wasn’t explosives?”
Puffff.
Bom-i puffs out her cheeks.
-It works by compressing mana from all directions and releasing it when energy is maximized, ribbit!
“…!”
I’m momentarily at a loss for words.
Then it’s actually safer than explosives, isn’t it?
Only then does my anxiety ease.
But still.
“Isn’t it wasteful to destroy and discard such a robot in a single detonation?”
Bom-i waves her webbed hand, telling me not to talk nonsense.
-The mines are made of adamantium, so ordinary types of mana stones won’t even crack them, ribbit!
“Ah, I see.”
My eyes widened as I rose from my seat, understanding what she meant.
Wait, adamantium??
They’re using something rarer than mithril as a mine?
I’d only heard of it—this was my first time seeing it in person.
In other words.
Just the bottom of Bom-i’s transport vessel alone was worth an astronomical sum.
“Our Bom-i is quite wealthy, isn’t she?”
At my words, Bom-i’s shoulders drooped.
-It’s low-grade adamantium, ribbit….
“L-low-grade?”
-Adamantium is divided into common, rare, heroic, and legendary grades. I’m low-grade, so I’m common, ribbit….
I was at a loss for words.
Well….
‘I suppose adamantium was common where Bom-i came from.’
I chose to understand it that way.
Bom-i spoke with renewed hope.
-If we descend further into the Abyss, we’ll find adamantium. I hope we discover a high-grade ore vein then, ribbit!
“I hope so too.”
Though an adamantium ore vein was beyond my imagination.
-That’s the mineral I mined yesterday, ribbit.
A sack placed in the corner.
I peered inside.
Quite a bit of reddish-brown metal was packed within.
“…Echo Metal?”
The most commonly handled material at the Moru Workshop.
I’d heard you needed to venture at least to the 6th Floor of the Abyss to find even small amounts of it.
“This much should fetch around ten million coins, shouldn’t it?”
After praising Bom-i, I stepped out of the Garage.
My fist clenched without my realizing it.
“Automatic farming is the best!”
After all, I’d woken up to find a small fortune had materialized!
* * *
Splash, splash.
I refreshed myself with a cool wash.
‘At this rate, couldn’t I convert this rented house into an owned one?’
Grin.
A smile spread naturally across my lips as I gazed at my reflection.
Then I noticed one corner of the mirror flickering.
Hmm…
‘Was that a news alert?’
The world truly becomes convenient when you have enough money.
I realized then that I could never return to my old life.
Tap.
I pressed the edge of the mirror.
The moment a news headline appeared in the center, my complexion darkened.
『Breaking News: Ghost’s Message Found in Abyss Layer 2』
“A, a message?”
Swallowing my unease, I tapped to see more details.
Along with the article content, text appeared on a photograph of Abyss Layer 2 taken with an analog film camera.
“What, what… hand it over?”
My gaze dropped lower.
『Ghost Donates 1.1 Billion Coins』
『Ghostly Good Deeds』
『Natural Human Rights Foundation Blooms with Joy』
『Ghost: An Angel Without Wings』
Articles praising Ghost everywhere.
“What, what is this?”
One article caught my eye.
『Ghost as the Ruler of the World!』
Ugh.
As I read through the content with my eyes, one hand rubbed the back of my neck.
Checking the byline.
『Isto, Intern Reporter』
Ah…
Isto’s frenzied typing from moments ago flashed through my mind.
As I looked at the “hand it over” photograph someone had posted and the various articles, the puzzle pieces gradually aligned in my mind.
Shoving my head into the Garage, I let out a sharp cry.
You all…
“Stop what you’re doing!”
The impromptu hearing had begun.
Became a Mechromancer
Author |
Keongang E
Published |
February 25, 2026
Publisher |
Tail Six
Website |
https://talesyx.com
Email|
[email protected]
ⓒ Keongang E, 2026
This publication is protected by copyright law and may not be reprinted or reproduced without permission.
UCI|
G720:N+A277-20260210015.0055
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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