Became a Mechromancer - Chapter 57

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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 57.
Mentor (2)
By the way, Lim Doo-ho.
“The mana concentration is… denser than that assassin from before.”
“An assassin?”
“You know, that light-year wielding a fork.”
Ugh.
“Stop spouting nonsense like that.”
Before I could finish speaking, my gaze naturally shifted toward the door.
Huh?
The aura really was extraordinary.
Behind Dr. Yu So-young.
Dense mana surged in from beyond the Workshop’s inner gate.
Very rarely.
It resembled the oppressive presence that high-ranking hunters exuded—the kind I’d felt once when passing through the Hunter Management Bureau’s training grounds and nearly collapsed.
The mana grew even thicker.
W-what is this?!
Huff!
I tensed my legs hard to keep from buckling.
Then a woman in casual attire casually radiated mana as she stepped inside.
Wow.
“I’ve never been to a workshop like this before, ma’am.”
She scanned the workshop through her goggle-style smart glasses as if appraising it.
When she gathered her long hair and tied it back, a pale, full forehead was revealed.
Thump-thump.
My heart raced.
Oh!
-You’re barely holding on, yet your pulse is going wild?
Geez…
Isto was right.
‘Why am I like this?’
Then Jang Moon-seo’s heavy voice pressed down on the workshop.
“Contain your mana.”
She flinched.
The woman’s shoulders shrank. It was only one phrase, yet she seemed overwhelmed by his presence.
“W-what, ma’am?”
She turned to Dr. Yu So-young with a bewildered expression.
Snort.
“Look at her face~.”
“Aunt, you’re not… pranking me again, are you?”
“Ye-na, think about it carefully. You came to pick up equipment you ordered—what seller would verify your qualifications using mana and then hand it over?”
Dr. Yu So-young patted her niece’s back, silently suggesting she was in the wrong.
Jang Moon-seo, observing the scene, furrowed his brow and reproached her.
“Dr. Yu, how old are you now? Still playing pranks like this?”
Yu So-young’s niece, who had been flustered by the prank, regained her composure.
She straightened her clothes and bowed respectfully.
“I’m Seol Ye-na, burdened with such an immature aunt! I apologize for the commotion!”
Hmm….
“Workshop owner, Jang Moon-seo. This is my apprentice, Lim Doo-ho.”
Doo-ho snapped to attention belatedly and quickly greeted her. Then Dr. Yu So-young stepped forward.
“I never imagined the apprentice Master Jang never stops praising would be Lim Doo-ho.”
Hmm, hmm….
Jang Moon-seo covered his mouth with his thick hand and let out a dry cough.
“Well, unnecessary talk….”
The fact that his normally taciturn master had praised him so lavishly behind his back filled Doo-ho with overwhelming emotion.
Dr. Yu So-young’s gaze turned toward Jang Moon-seo’s workbench.
There lay the auxiliary device Doo-ho had crafted. Upon closer inspection, it bore considerable signs of use.
Dr. Yu So-young examined the equipment with evident interest.
“You’ve been conducting proper user testing. You’re doing well, Lim Doo-ho.”
“Ah….”
Doo-ho hesitated and opened his mouth.
“My master was kind enough to accept it, so I gave it to him as a gift….”
“I said I wanted to participate in user testing.”
Jang Moon-seo cut off Doo-ho’s words and chuckled.
“My body wasn’t what it used to be. But ever since I started using this, I feel about ten years younger. Heh heh….”
Though Doo-ho’s intended explanation was interrupted, his master’s praise in his own way warmed his heart.
As Doo-ho stood awkwardly, unsure what to do with himself, Seol Ye-na regarded him with a peculiar expression.
That person….
‘…I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.’
* * *
Shortly after.
Jang Moon-seo pulled back the long cloth draped across the center of his workbench.
“Wow….”
An exclamation escaped Seol Ye-na’s lips.
The unadorned scabbard seemed all the more appealing for its simplicity.
“May I look at it?”
Dr. Yu So-young gave her a pointed look.
“It’s the sword you’ll be using—you’re not planning to take it without even looking at it?”
“I’m just nervous.”
Seol Ye-na approached carefully and grasped the scabbard.
My goodness!
It wasn’t even the handle, yet the grip fit perfectly in her palm.
“It feels just as comfortable as holding the handle!”
“That’s fortunate.”
Shiiing—
The blade sang as it was drawn, the sound crystalline and pure.
The grain of the exposed steel rippled like water, breathtakingly beautiful.
“Channel some mana into it.”
At Jang Moon-seo’s instruction, Seol Ye-na closed her eyes and infused her mana.
Whoooooom—!
Unlike when Jang Moon-seo had channeled mana, the resonance was considerable.
The very air around the blade began to shimmer faintly.
As she poured in more mana, the effect intensified.
Booooom!
Heat shimmer rose like smoke, and space itself seemed to warp and distort.
Lim Doo-ho’s eyes widened as he watched.
Wow!
-Her natural mana reserves are quite impressive.
‘You see it too, don’t you?’
-Please, let’s be friends.
“….”
Just then, Dr. Yu So-young asked a question.
“How’s the blade’s condition?”
Seol Ye-na gave a thumbs up.
“A mass-produced blade would have shattered by now. I’m satisfied with how it’s holding up.”
Hehe….
At Seol Ye-na’s words, Dr. Yu So-young looked at Jang Moon-seo and laughed.
“Our Ye-na seems worried that Chairman Jang’s blade might break?”
“N-No, auntie? That’s not what I meant….”
Leaving the flustered Seol Ye-na behind, Jang Moon-seo went to the corner and returned.
In his hands was a chunk of metal that appeared to be at least twenty centimeters thick.
“I’ll throw it—try to cut it.”
“N-No, I don’t want to.”
Whoosh!
Without warning, Jang Moon-seo hurled the metal chunk toward Seol Ye-na.
From the hand gripping the blade’s hilt, mana surged forth in a volume incomparable to moments before.
Shrieeeeek!
An otherworldly sound emanated from the blade.
Her wrist rotated smoothly and gracefully.
There was no sharp crack, no metallic clang.
A soft thud, then a rolling sound.
The chunk of metal that fell to the floor was cleaved perfectly in two.
The cut surface gleamed like a mirror.
Silence.
After a moment, Seol Ye-na opened her mouth with an excited expression.
“It’s even better than I imagined!”
Her face radiated overwhelming joy. This was no mass-produced blade—a sword crafted solely for her.
“Um… boss. How much does this sword cost?”
A blade of this caliber couldn’t possibly be cheap.
Jang Moon-seo returned to his workbench and answered as if it were nothing.
“Didn’t Doctor Yu mention it?”
Doctor Yu So-young interjected with a wry smile.
“Don’t even get me started. Where did all that friendship go? He demanded 100 million coins.”
Lim Doo-ho’s mouth fell half-open.
‘A… a hundred… million?!’
Until now, I had never known the true value of weapons Jang Moon-seo crafted with his own hands, and I was considerably shocked.
Moreover.
‘Echo Metal isn’t even an expensive material…’
Jang Moon-seo exhaled deeply, then spoke to Seol Ye-na.
“Bring it whenever it needs work. I’ll restore it to pristine condition.”
At Jang Moon-seo’s words, Seol Ye-na broke into a radiant smile.
Ah!
“I look forward to working with you going forward!”
In other words.
Seol Ye-na hadn’t merely purchased an exceptional blade—she had secured Jang Moon-seo himself as her exclusive craftsman.
When you thought about it that way.
‘Isn’t that actually an incredible bargain?’
Seol Ye-na carefully cradled the sword and bowed her head.
“Thank you for the gift, Aunt!”
“Just make sure you’re always careful so your mother doesn’t worry.”
“I will~.”
“Don’t take that lightly. The day you registered as an Awakener, your mother called me crying her eyes out, begging me to talk you out of it.”
I recalled my father’s words.
「I don’t mind living a hard life. But I can’t bear to see you collapse doing something dangerous.」
Parents’ hearts are all the same.
Just as I wore a faint smile, Seol Ye-na pouted and replied.
“I’ll be careful. Happy now?”
She shifted her gaze and looked at me.
“Um…”
“Pardon?”
“Haven’t we met somewhere before?”
I waved my hand frantically, flustered.
“No, this is our first meeting.”
Isto’s voice echoed in my mind.
Lim Doo-ho!
-That’s one hundred percent flirting, sir! Just play along and say you think you’ve seen her before!
Ugh, this is maddening!
‘Just hold on a second!’
I mentally rebuked Isto, but my face grew inexplicably warm.
Lim Doo-ho!
Get yourself together.
‘Stop thinking such ridiculous thoughts!’
Seol Ye-na narrowed her brow and stepped closer to me, scrutinizing my face as though searching her memory.
A soft, soapy fragrance brushed against the tip of my nose.
Thump, thump, thump.
My heart feels like it’s about to burst!
Fortunately, she stepped back.
“I’m certain I’ve seen you somewhere….”
Snap!
Seol Ye-na clapped her hands together.
“The Hunter Management Bureau!”
‘…?’
“You’re the one who asked about the location of the Awakening Measurement Chamber!”
Ah….
Over six years, only a handful of people would have asked such a question.
She elaborated further.
“The Android. You said if we solved the mana interference issue, it would be huge. And I said that would make my awakening meaningless.”
My eyes widened suddenly.
Ah, yes!
The day I awakened!
Thanks to her, the memories of that day came flooding back vividly.
I had genuinely envied her as I watched her walking toward the measurement chamber that day.
‘I never imagined we’d meet this way.’
Bom-i, perched on my shoulder, whispered.
-Master, this is like a fateful encounter. Ribbit.
‘…You’re getting on my nerves.’
-I’m just worried because Mechromancer only works like a robot, sir.
Yeah.
Don’t worry. I’ll handle it myself.
I turned my head and my eyes met those of Dr. Yu So-young.
She brought up something that had just occurred to her.
“By the way, the Hunter Management Bureau informed us that Lim Doo-ho recently awakened as a Production-class Hunter.”
“Ah, yes. That’s what happened.”
“CEO Choi Tae-jin seemed quite disappointed about it.”
“Pardon?”
Seeing my bewildered expression, she mimicked CEO Choi Tae-jin’s voice.
Damn this awakened Hunter management law!
“It seems CEO Choi Tae-jin wanted to scout you for his company.”
She continued with a slight smile.
“But I never expected that Lim Doo-ho would also be working as an item craftsman here.”
She told me that having too much good fortune wasn’t necessarily a blessing, then glanced at Jang Moon-seo.
“Watching you handle the mithril earlier, it seems like fortune smiles on you, Mr. Jang.”
“You think so too, Dr. Yu?”
“I do.”
Then she suddenly made a proposal.
“So here’s the thing—could I purchase some of the refined mithril for personal research? The purity is excellent, and I’ve been coveting it.”
Jang Moon-seo gestured with his chin toward me.
“For something like that, you’d need to ask the owner.”
“It was yours, Lim Doo-ho?”
Dr. Yu So-young pulled one corner of her mouth awkwardly.
“It would be problematic for me to get involved in financial dealings with a competition participant.”
As she expressed genuine regret, Jang Moon-seo chuckled and stepped in.
“What’s so difficult about that? I’ll buy it and hand it over to you—problem solved.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“In exchange, there’s a brokerage fee….”
She quoted a price first.
“One billion coins.”
“One point six billion.”
“Isn’t mithril normally four hundred million per kilogram?”
“I know that. And this piece weighs over two kilograms as a single lump.”
In other words.
A single two-kilogram piece of mithril was incomparable to two kilograms of individual fragments collected together.
Yu So-young was getting impatient.
“Are you really going to do this?”
“Isn’t it you who’s trying to lowball me, Dr. Yu?”
“One point one billion.”
“One point five five billion.”
“Sir!”
“So now I’m ‘sir’ again?”
In the end, the winning bid settled at 1.25 billion coins.
* * *
A moment later.
Through Jang Moon-seo, 1.25 billion coins flowed into my account.
“Master, is it really okay to receive this much?”
“You receive what your skill is worth.”
“…!”
Words I’d never heard before.
‘So someone with absolute skill like Master can be confident about it.’
I should too….
I need to aim for the very top.
-That’s right! You will become the greatest ruler, Lim Doo-ho.
‘….’
I didn’t respond any further.
Anyway.
Adding the 15 million coins from the echo metal, the total I earned today came to 1.265 billion coins.
My heart was racing.
Then I looked at the people around me.
Everyone was smiling happily.
Jang Moon-seo, delighted to have refined mithril after so long.
Yu So-young, satisfied with having obtained high-quality mithril.
And Seol Ye-na, thrilled to have acquired her own renowned blade.
Smiles bloomed across every face in the Workshop.
A glance.
I watched as Yu So-young placed the mithril into her subspace pouch.
I’d felt it during the awards ceremony last time too….
She seemed to give participants genuinely practical advice.
And so the thought arose.
‘What if Dr. Yu were my mentor?’
The deliberation didn’t last long.
I spoke first.
“Dr. Yu.”
“Yes, Lim Doo-ho.”
“Next week… there’s that mentor selection, right?”
Dr. Yu So-young’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me.
She neither rushed for an answer nor laughed it off.
“Yes. Next Wednesday, the Grand Prize and Excellence Award winners must come to the Competition Association to select their mentors.”
“Yes….”
I hesitated for a moment.
“So… I was wondering if I could designate you as my mentor?”
A brief silence fell.
Yu So-young’s lips curved upward ever so slightly.
“I appreciate the sentiment.”
“…!”
The back of my neck flushed with warmth.
Then Yu So-young spoke carefully.
“Choi Tae-jin mentioned he’d like to become your mentor.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I think he’s quite a good option, actually.”
What?
‘…Am I being rejected?’
-Seems like it?
Yu So-young quickly clarified.
“Don’t misunderstand.”
“Pardon?”
“A few days ago, the Korea University team contacted me about wanting me as their mentor.”
“Ah….”
“And according to Competition Association regulations, if mentees nominate the same mentor, the choice falls to the mentor.”
“I see.”
In other words.
She wanted no trouble.
That left me even more conflicted.
‘But I don’t want to choose a mentor from people whose intentions are so obviously transparent.’
Hmm….
‘What if I did this instead?’
“Doctor, may I ask one more question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Would there be any disadvantage if I competed in the global tournament without a mentor?”
“…What?”
Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw….
Jang Moon-seo burst into hearty laughter at his student’s third option.
Became a Mecromancer
Author |
Keongang E
Publication Date |
February 25, 2026
Publisher |
TalesYX
Website |
https://talesyx.com
Email｜
[email protected]
ⓒ Keongang E, 2026
This publication is protected under copyright law and may not be reprinted or reproduced without authorization.
UCI｜
G720:N+A277-20260210015.0057

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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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