Obtaining Heavenly Demon Martial Arts in the Magic Era - Chapter 28

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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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28
[URGENT] The Ugly Truth Behind Cheol-hyul Jang-ga. What Really Happened at Club Babylon.
Kim Jun-pyo’s older brother, Kim Jin-hyuk, had built his channel into a sensation with the concept of “reporting without sacred cows.”
His latest content carried a title that openly targeted none other than Madō Myōga.
And the substance of the video? Even more damning.
Specific financial records, testimony from an internal whistleblower (voice altered), and evidence of illegal activities at Club Babylon—all woven together with meticulous precision, leaving no room for escape.
The response was immediate. Within ten minutes of upload, it surpassed 100,000 views. In an hour, a million. By midday, over five million. Real-time search terms were flooded with “Cheol-hyul Jang-ga,” “Jang Ki-han,” and “Club Babylon.”
And as the already-famous Club Babylon was dragged into the spotlight, viewers who’d never subscribed to Kim Jin-hyuk’s channel before came flooding in, pouring fuel on the fire.
– Wow… insane. This is real life, not a movie?
– This guy Jin-hyuk really is risking his life for this broadcast. Is he even alive?
– Let’s boycott all Cheol-hyul Jang-ga subsidiaries. They’re garbage.
The growing inferno consumed even the major news outlets.
– Why are the news agencies staying quiet?
– Seems like they know and are just keeping their mouths shut
– The fact that every single news outlet is silent is way too suspicious.
Eventually, unable to resist public pressure, smaller media outlets began reporting on the Club Babylon scandal one by one.
By Monday morning, as soon as the stock market opened, the share prices of every subsidiary connected to Cheol-hyul Jang-ga began plummeting in unison. Cheol-hyul Bio, where Jang Ki-han’s name appeared on the board of directors, hit the daily limit-down the moment trading began.
Market capitalization erased in a single day surpassed billions. At that point, even the established media could remain silent no longer. They rushed to cite “Jin-hyuk’s Eye” and flooded the news cycle with related articles. The fortress Jang Ki-han had spent years building was crumbling before his eyes.
#
In the main compound of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga, despite its reputation as a titan of the steel industry, a sprawling traditional Korean mansion sat on a one-thousand-pyeong estate in Pyeongchang-dong.
Deep within that compound lay a study, its towering bookshelves running from floor to ceiling, lined edge to edge with rare old texts, while the room was filled with the scent of ink and a suffocating silence.
Jang Ki-han knelt in the center of the room, his head bowed so low he couldn’t bring himself to meet anyone’s gaze. Before him, seated behind an enormous desk, a white-haired elder held his brush poised over a sheet of rice paper, not sparing Jang Ki-han even a glance.
Scratch.
Hours passed in unbroken silence.
Long ago, Jang Ki-han’s legs had gone numb. Sweat poured down his back like rain.
“The Bio stock price dropped in half, then.”
The eternal silence broke. Jang Ki-han’s father, Jang Jae-yeong, spoke in measured, quiet tones, yet his voice carried an ineffable, steely weight.
“…I apologize, Father. I will take responsibility and set things right.”
“Set things right?”
For the first time, Jang Jae-yeong lifted his head and looked at his son.
“Do you think this old man would reproach you over losing a pittance like this?”
Though billions had evaporated, to Jang Jae-yeong it was merely pocket change.
He brought his brush down against the desk with force.
Crack.
The desk, crafted from oak and renowned for its durability, split with a sharp sound.
“Do you think the name Cheol-hyul Jang-ga could be tarnished by a handful of insects spouting their filth? My anger is not over that. It is over your attitude in the face of crisis. Set things right? Have you, born bearing the name of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga, made the judgment to tuck tail and run?”
The media and that YouTuber had dared speak the name of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga carelessly, but he was unbothered. No matter how they tried to sully it, the prestige of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga was not the sort of thing that could be dirtied.
What truly enraged him was Jang Ki-han’s response to the crisis.
“….!”
The moment Jang Ki-han heard his father’s words, he understood at once what he had done wrong. He felt the terror of the Patriarch’s overwhelming presence, but also shame and humiliation washed over him.
His mind raced, and he began to trace back his own actions.
‘Why did I hastily abandon the Hwang-geum-nyun operation?’
That was it. He had fled in fear.
Cheon Do-hyun—always acting in ways he couldn’t calculate, always catching him off guard.
It seemed as though everything could be destroyed, torn to pieces by the man’s hand at any moment.
And then what came after?
He imagined the disappointment in his father’s eyes when faced with the loss of all he had built.
Terrified of all of it, he had hastily erased Hwang-geum-nyun from existence.
He had tucked tail and run, exactly as his father said.
“Is that the spirit of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga? Tell me yourself. What is the spirit of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga?”
“To be tempered… or to break.”
“That’s right. In the name of Broken Steel, be tempered or break, Jang Ki-han.”
Jang Jae-yeong looked down at him with eyes gone cold as winter.
“…Yes, Father.”
“I will grant you the chance to set everything right. Destroy with your own hands everything that made you afraid. Only then will you be able to live again under the name of Broken Steel.”
It was a verdict that could not be revoked.
“Yes, Patriarch. I will obey your command.”
Jang Ki-han, who had been kneeling, slowly rose to his feet. Though his legs had long since lost all feeling and might have buckled, he rose with perfect steadiness, not a tremor in sight.
#
In the dim light of early dawn, Jang Ki-han descended into the basement of the main compound.
A basement space where concrete and skeletal steel frames merged in desolate monotony. By the standards of the family, it was a shabby place one would hesitate to set foot in—yet for Jang Ki-han alone, it was a cherished refuge where childhood memories lingered.
The obsessively fastidious members of the main house could never have imagined that Ki-han, born of noble blood, would hide in such a filthy cellar.
Whenever his father punished him, he would slip away here to escape the servants’ eyes and soothe his wounded heart.
A soft exhalation.
The damp, musty smell distinctive to basements—a scent he hadn’t encountered in ages. Every space where he normally stayed had a top-grade Purification Magic Circle operating twenty-four hours a day, so he never had occasion to breathe such foul air.
Yet the moment Jang Ki-han set foot in this basement, he could shed the weight of his heavy station entirely. The immense burden of the name “Cheol-hyul Jang-ga,” which had shackled him like chains since the moment of his birth. For a brief span, he escaped that suffocating pressure. Once he had drained away the sediment of emotion, he could perceive matters with far greater clarity and reason than usual.
“It seems there’s nowhere left to retreat to.”
He had spent the entire night searching for another way to evade the Patriarch’s blade, but the only conclusion he reached was singular.
Once born into Cheol-hyul Jang-ga, the Patriarch’s command is absolute.
Now he had to end Cheon Do-hyun’s breath by whatever means necessary. If he failed this time as well, he would never be treated as a member of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga again. He had grown weary watching how mercilessly the Patriarch culled those called “Broken Steel”—the failures who could not complete the tasks he assigned.
Complete isolation, contempt, and perfect erasure. Treated as an invisible man, breathing yet no better than dead. A punishment so severe that death itself seemed merciful by comparison.
Jang Ki-han closed his eyes tightly.
He drew a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.
The moment of proof he could not escape was at hand.
Opening his eyes gradually, Jang Ki-han retrieved his phone and dialed a familiar number, calling one of his men.
—Yes, Master.
“A final command.”
Jang Ki-han’s voice was ice-cold.
“Mobilize every last man and resource under Hwang-geum-nyun. I care not for the methods. Whether that bastard still draws breath or lies dead, you will bring him before my eyes without fail.”
As Jang Ki-han hung up, a dense killing intent flickered in his gaze. He was resolved to unleash every remaining hunting dog of Hwang-geum-nyun to retrieve Cheon Do-hyun. After issuing his final command, he moved to prepare for the final battle with Do-hyun.
Jang Ki-han’s footsteps came to rest at the Armory—the heart of the main estate.
Among those vast warehouses existed one private vault reserved solely for Jang Ki-han. From the moment he was assigned to this space upon being born as the legitimate heir of Cheol-hyul Jang-ga, it had been packed to bursting with the finest artifacts and weapons he had collected throughout his life or received as gifts.
A vault containing legendary armaments that could not be carelessly donned even at the family’s gravest ceremonies or rituals—treasures beyond valuation.
Jang Ki-han walked slowly from the entrance, surveying the armaments that rested in the warehouse. Each piece was an object beyond simple appraisal.
The vault contained a diverse collection: ancient artifacts worthy of history texts, through to weapons crafted by celebrated masters whose names blazed bright in recent times.
Any one of these treasures was magnificent enough to be lauded as a national treasure.
Yet Jang Ki-han’s gaze passed unmoved through those brilliant weapons, until it reached the deepest alcove of the vault.
A transparent glass case protected by the most formidable magical seals. Within lay only two objects, displayed with solemn dignity.
A staff that poured forth crimson-red radiance, and jet-black armor wrought with the precision of scales.
At the heart of each artifact sat a massive jewel—blood-red and luminous—that pulsed with an absolute power as though the depths themselves had been condensed. Unlike the degraded Mana Stones that circulated in common circles, these radiated a force of profound, overwhelming presence.
A low, resonant hum—
As Jang Ki-han drew near, the artifacts began to emit a deep vibration, as if sensing his presence.
These were the ultimate armaments—achievable only through the overwhelming wealth and power of the Madō Myōga. The world called them “Unique Armaments.”
Perfectly synchronized to the mana wavelength of Jang Ki-han alone, these two custom-forged weapons bore intact, whole Mana Stones as their cores—not fragmented shards. They stood in a wholly different dimension from the crude Degraded Grade Artifacts that the janitor underlings Cheon Do-hyun had faced once wielded.
A Unique Armament equipped with 100% pure Mana Stone forcibly transcended the user’s baseline mana the instant it was grasped. The moment Jang Ki-han donned this armament, he could cast Grand Magic at the level of at least the “2nd Circle” or higher, far surpassing his ordinary limits.
That was merely the beginning.
With the artifacts’ embedded magic supporting the battle, the probability of Cheon Do-hyun surviving this encounter was
“none.”
Jang Ki-han smiled coldly and extended his hand, grasping both weapons.
A low, resonant hum—
The artifacts trembled at his touch, beginning to pour forth a colossal torrent of mana.

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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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