How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 97

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (97)

“…Together with the noble blessing’s oath, I shall toast to the dawn of the new festival!”

Long.

Excessively so.

I took a deep breath and lowered the hand I had raised into the air.

Marian had been watching the performance with a hardened expression from the middle part onward.

On the other hand, the acting teacher seemed quite pleased, nodding his head as he approached me.

“Mr. Granach. You definitely said it was your first time….”

“Mr. Granach.”

Marian lightly waved his hand to silence the teacher.

Instantly, all eyes in the practice room focused on him. The initial gentleness could no longer be felt from him.

“Your voice projection is lacking.”

He pointed at me with the tip of his fountain pen as he spoke.

“You cannot perform on stage with that level of vocal power.”

That’s true.

The field I’m familiar with is acting in visual media.

That doesn’t mean the voice can be quiet, but it’s inevitably different from the vocal power required on stage where you must project your voice using your entire body.

And unfortunately, Luca himself doesn’t have a large resonating chamber.

“Also, your movements aren’t big enough. Same goes for your expressions.”

I nodded.

Everything he said was correct.

While naturalness is emphasized in visual media, theater is different.

In this place where no filming techniques or editing techniques are allowed, the way to immerse the audience is not through typical naturalness, but by expressing the essence of emotions that people don’t reveal in the real world in the most dramatic way possible.

Marian clasped both hands together and his eyes flashed.

“Mr. Granach. This acting is not suitable for the stage. To express my impression in crude terms… it’s good acting for deceiving someone one-on-one.”

“….”

Accurate.

I acted with the stage in mind as much as possible, but to him who had been immersed only in theater, my acting must have seemed too mundane.

However….

‘Now I understand why his evaluation was like that.’

He doesn’t distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said.

Of course, for me who needs to deceive him one-on-one, his acknowledgment felt like the highest praise, so I wasn’t in a bad mood.

Though those who truly wish to perform on stage would feel frustrated hearing this.

‘Well, either way….’

I succeeded.

I suppressed my smile and answered simply.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

With those words, silence followed.

After a while, Marian, who had been staring at the script, looked up.

“Are you free at midnight?”

* * *

The atmosphere in the practice room was hostile.

About ten apprentices hadn’t left their seats even though the time was over.

One apprentice, fuming alone, stood up and kicked the trash can.

Crash―!

“Damn it, fuck….”

Sharp glares poured onto him for suddenly causing a commotion.

“What! Aren’t we all thinking the same thing?”

“….”

“Is Marian Baum someone who points out others’ acting? No! That bastard who kept his mouth shut and played dumb all the time, why is he nitpicking a beginner who’s never learned acting?!”

The oldest apprentice spoke up.

“Wurfel.”

“What.”

“We’re all thinking the same thing, so be quiet. He probably feels bad about being criticized too.”

“That wasn’t just any criticism. For us, there’s no point in saying anything since we’re hopeless anyway. But he seems like he’d understand if you tell him something, that’s why!”

“Who doesn’t know that. Just accept it.”

“No, how can you say that. Hyung, you’ve been here for 5 years, shouldn’t you be the angriest right now?”

The atmosphere turned cold at those words.

The apprentice called hyung glared at Wurfel, then let out a deep sigh.

“He did well. It’s just a different style, but with a little polishing he’ll be better than us.”

He left the practice room with a bitter expression, giving advice.

“You probably don’t know since you haven’t been out of school long, but this isn’t school. There are places where acting like this works and places where it doesn’t. Practice instead of getting angry.”

“….”

Wurfel’s fists clenched.

He spoke to the apprentices his age.

“Hey.”

“….”

“We’re not just going to stay like this, right?”

Several shook their heads and stood up.

“…Hey, just accept it. He looked pretty good to me too.”

“I’d use a kid like that too. Let’s just practice like hyung said.”

“No, fuck… Do you know how many more years we’ll be delayed if he gets promoted?”

At those words, his friends snorted and left the practice room.

“Then what? Are you going to beat him up and chase him away?”

“Geez…. Work hard. I’m just going to practice.”

Now there weren’t even five left in the practice room.

Wurfel, who had been blankly watching their retreating figures, looked at the remaining students and spoke.

“…Hey, guys.”

* * *

“You’ve learned acting before.”

As soon as I visited his practice room at midnight, a question came from the darkness.

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

‘After listing only shortcomings until now, what’s this?’

Of course, I fully understood that even such criticism was his way of expressing interest.

From when he just closed his eyes without saying anything about the apprentices’ performances earlier, I knew he doesn’t waste any energy on cards he has no intention of using.

“No, I can’t ask ‘have you learned before.’ How many years has it been?”

“This is my first time.”

“It can’t be your first time.”

“Why do you think that?”

He just shrugged his shoulders.

Then, as if he thought of something, he opened his mouth.

“You acted without the script. You’re not going to tell me you coincidentally practiced that page dozens of times by yourself, are you? Unless you’ve been acting all of Faust for a long time.”

“Those were lines I read for the first time today.”

“….”

Marian Baum smiled artificially and clasped his hands together.

“Mr. Granach, I hate jokes. They’re the biggest waste of time in the world.”

“I’ve never joked. I just memorized and recited it.”

“Memor….”

Marian Baum was looking at me with a gentle smile.

I could feel the silent pressure asking how long I was going to keep joking.

“…I’ll prove it to you. Please give me a script.”

“Well, shall we?”

He pulled out a piece of paper from his file and handed it to me.

“It’s not a script. It’s ten sentences, so try memorizing them within a minute.”

I could do it without difficulty.

When he confirmed that I had really memorized the sentences within a minute, his face gradually hardened.

“You said you’ve never learned acting.”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“…Yes.”

“…”

The corners of his mouth slowly began to rise.

“Can you come in the morning too?”

And so, for the next two days, I had to say I was taking leave from the family and spend the entire day at the theater.

Marian Baum was someone who was easy to get close to once you met his standards.

I could only return to my lodgings at dawn each time, because of his desire to tear apart and rebuild each piece of acting in his own style.

‘Well, it’s good for me if we spend a long time together.’

I needed to become close with him so things would go smoothly even after entering the Catacombs.

Then Marian Baum looked out the window and clapped his hands.

“Well, let’s end it here for today. At this rate, the sun will rise.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes. And… Mr. Granach.”

When I turned around, Marian Baum looked at me for a while, then said quietly.

“Let me see your hand.”

“Why?”

“I have something to give you.”

‘…That’s fast.’

He doesn’t really intend to give me something.

He’s trying to test me right now.

He must be trying to see if he can detect magic power from my pulse or not.

I had deliberately been walking around with my core suppressed to the maximum, but it’s surprising that he could sense my magic power in that short time.

Anyway, if my prediction is correct, the reaction I should show now is…

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be going now.”

“Well, alright.”

Marian Baum shrugged his shoulders as if it meant nothing and said.

“Be careful on your way.”

* * *

He told me to be careful on my way.

I thought it was just a casual greeting like ‘get home safely’…

Maybe I should have taken it seriously.

I let out a deep sigh and took out my wallet containing the forged ID card, handing it to those blocking my path.

It was fortunate that I only had 10,000 fel.

‘This is terrible.’

Why is public safety in this state?

I narrowed my eyes and looked into the distance.

Worried that I might flee, two people who seemed to be accomplices were standing guard at the front of the alley.

Of course, my capture wasn’t solely due to poor public safety.

“You have a lot of money? I guess nobles aren’t nobles for nothing. Maybe I should have gotten a job at a noble family too…”

It’s simply amazing that they’re saying 100,000 won is a lot when the only options are bills or checks in this place.

When I silently started to walk away, another person standing beside him grabbed my collar and slammed me against the wall.

Bang—!

“…”

“Where are you going? We’re not done.”

“I gave you what you asked for, so we should be done. I don’t know what else you’re trying to do.”

At those words, the people surrounding me looked at each other.

“Huh…”

“This bastard talks really casually.”

They started speaking informally first, so I just followed suit, but I have nothing to say since they’re reacting like this.

Although I couldn’t see their expressions because they were wearing masks to hide their identities, I could definitely feel that the atmosphere had turned cold.

“Hey, let’s just finish this quickly.”

Before those words even finished, something flew into my field of vision, and I reflexively twisted my shoulder back.

The person who had thrown a punch at me quickly regained his balance and shouted in confusion.

“Huh!”

“What do you mean ‘huh,’ damn it, you’re ruining our image.”

The person who had taken my wallet shouted angrily and then suddenly threw a punch.

Thwack—!

“Ahhh!”

“Hey, this bastard…!”

“…”

I was confused too.

He was about to throw another punch so I kicked him, but it was ridiculous that this happened just from a kick.

‘…Let me check this quickly.’

Frank Wurfel

Favorability -7*

Title: —

Stamina: +2

Mental Power: -5

Magic Power: —

Skill: +1

Impression: -2

Luck: 0

Traits: —

All values are at an extremely ordinary level.

I quickly scanned the other two as well, and they were all similar.

If the stamina value had been 3-5 points, it would be similar to the level of Imperial 2nd Education Institute students, but around 2 points just puts them slightly above average among ordinary people.

And I have higher values than this guy in every category.

‘…But while one at a time might be manageable, four people is a bit much.’

I dodged the guy charging at me with his full body weight and furrowed my brow.

They’re really serious about this.

From the familiar names and voices, and seeing that they know where I work, these guys are from the theater.

It seems like they’re trying to put me in a state where I can’t return to the theater again…

Thwack—!

The guys had already realized that coming at me one or two at a time was ineffective, so they were steadily dividing the work.

One guy had completely fallen back and grabbed my shoulders from behind.

Thud—

“…”

I felt my skull ringing and tried to focus.

While I elbowed the solar plexus of the one behind me to shake him off, even the guy who had been guarding the front joined in and started charging.

When I lost my balance and fell to the ground, someone struck my face again.

Smack—

“Ah, finally now I feel a bit…”

“Damn, that was nerve-wracking.”

My flesh hit my teeth and blood began flowing in my mouth.

This level is still in decent condition.

It’s nearly impossible to shake off four people with pure physical strength, so I should use magic before getting beaten beyond recovery.

Actually, I could make them all unable to move with just a flick of my finger.

That would be the common-sense response, but…

‘No.’

I have to take the beating.

Absolutely.

I turned my head to look up the path I had come from.

The office building used by the theater came into view.

At the same time, someone grabbed my collar and lifted me up.

An arm pulled taut behind struck me again.

* * *

“…”

“Shouldn’t we beat him more? His eyes are still alive.”

“That’s enough. He can’t even get up. Hey.”

Someone tapped my shoulder.

“You know why you got beaten, right?”

“…”

“If you had climbed up step by step from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened. We would have treated you well.”

“Right, if you had just conducted yourself properly, we wouldn’t have gone this far. Now get lost on your own.”

“We beat his face so badly he can’t come out even if he wants to.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

The bastards giggled and muttered something before disappearing.

The ones who won’t be able to leave are them. They’ll be arrested as soon as dawn breaks.

They probably covered their faces thinking they could deny everything even if police came to the theater, but it’s meaningless since I already read all their names with my status window.

I wiped the blood from my face.

The smell of blood vibrates through the air. The magic power I’ve desperately hidden until now becomes meaningless in this state. Because magic power is mixed with the blood.

‘Anyway, that’s done now…’

I exhaled deeply and looked up at the sky.

In the cold wind, the blood gradually dried and stuck to my skin.

I wish they’d come out around now, I don’t know what they’re watching and waiting for.

As I closed my eyes and lay down comfortably, footsteps could be heard from somewhere.

Splash―

“Ugh!”

Cold water poured over my face.

I bolted upright and looked at the person who had splashed water on me.

Marian Baum was holding a bucket with no expression.

“I thought it might be necessary.”

“…”

I hardened my expression and glared at him.

It wasn’t particularly because I was angry or afraid. It’s just that if I was going to act appropriately for this situation, I had to do so.

“No. It’s not necessary.”

“I don’t think so.”

Of course you wouldn’t.

Old humans who emit detectable magic power would be killed on the spot once discovered.

Of course, that’s what happens outside Bavaria, but since the Imperial Government’s stance is zero-tolerance execution, there’s no part where they can feel at ease.

“I didn’t know that’s what you meant when you told me to be careful.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I didn’t order this. You just hear all sorts of things when you’re at the theater.”

“If you knew, then why…”

“You want to ask why I didn’t help, right?”

“Yes.”

“You were very thorough. Normally when someone gets beaten like that, they’d try to escape by any means necessary…”

He looked around and then looked down at me again.

“You didn’t use magic even once. I think I would have used it at least once.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, I know you’re very wary since we’re all in mortal danger… but there’s no need for that.”

“…”

It was worth getting beaten.

I had to suppress the laughter that was about to come out.

Marian spoke quietly.

“You’re a mage.”

When I didn’t answer, Marian Baum raised the corners of his mouth and sat down to meet my eye level.

“I am as well.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————