The Archmage’s Swordsmanship Is Too Strong - Chapter 113

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

113
Episode 113. The Tiger’s Greeting
***
Four in the morning. The road before the Penthouse in Downtown G City lay submerged in stillness and a cold sharp as a razor blade.
Each breath I drew scraped against my throat, and the white wisps of my exhale dispersed like fragments beneath the streetlamp.
I stood in the heart of that silence, my grip light on the handle of the Black Carbon Carrier.
The cold leather pressing into my palm stripped away the last traces of sleep, leaving my mind crystalline and alert.
The Academy Symposium schedule begins today.
It is no mere venue for scholarship. It is a fortress of intellect built by the most insular and arrogant established mages in South Korea.
For some it would be an object of longing that even a lifetime of devotion could not reach; for me it is merely a repository of bitter memories — of losing everything and being cast out.
To pry open the cracks in that fortress’s armor and reach its heart would require more than brute force alone.
I needed a powerful ally capable of shaking the system itself, or the backing of vast capital that sustained it.
Last night, Se-hui had pressed a VIP Invitation into my hand and boasted that she would accompany me in her car.
Her distinctive, exaggerated voice still echoed in my ears; I found my eyes narrowing at the memory.
She would prove a tiresome companion, but the Taesung Energy nameplate she carried was one of the most efficient keys to unlock that closed society called the Academy.
Two points of light pierced through the thick fog at the far end of the street, growing clearer.
The engine sound was barely audible — only the faint crunch of fine gravel beneath the tires’ heavy weight gnawed slowly at the silence.
A limousine with glossy black paint that smoothly reflected the streetlamp light came to a perfect stop at the curb before me.
Its body stretched abnormally long — the kind of armored sedan typically reserved for conglomerate ceremonies or state visits.
With a mechanical click, the driver’s door opened. A man in a crisp suit hurried down and approached me.
He bowed slightly, extending a hand toward the carrier in mine.
“Hunter, allow me to carry your luggage.”
I drew the carrier’s handle slightly inward. His hand faltered in midair, searching for purchase.
“I’ll handle it myself.”
“Ah, but I—”
“I prefer my belongings not to be touched.”
With that curt reply, I moved toward the trunk. Elaborate ceremony and excessive courtesy sat poorly with my nature.
My instinct as a Hunter whispered always to keep my possessions within sight or within the reach of my senses.
Especially when their contents bore directly on life and death. The chauffeur stood frozen in bewilderment as the rear door of the limousine opened smoothly.
I’d naturally expected Se-hui to emerge with some loud complaint.
From her, I would have anticipated words like “Isn’t Do-jin being too prickly?” as she descended in her usual gaudy finery.
But the presence that flowed from the gap in the door was fundamentally different from hers.
A chill, sharp and cold — like the weight of an enormous boulder settling across the shoulders.
The instant I confirmed the silhouette of the man stepping out, my gaze locked into a fleeting stillness.
“Pleased to meet you, Hunter Kim Do-jin.”
It was not Se-hui.
‘Jung Jae-ho.’
A man in a charcoal suit cut with impeccable precision, silver hair combed back with fastidious care. A symbol whose image graced the financial pages of the media, whose decisions shaped the flow of capital in South Korea.
Jae-ho, the CEO of Taesung Energy, stood before me. He approached at an unhurried pace.
Each step fell without hesitation, his footfalls striking the pavement block in steady rhythm.
He stopped before me and extended a broad hand, its knuckles prominent.
Behind his glasses, his eyes were calm, yet gleamed with the insight of a man who had steered the nation’s vital industries for decades.
I kept my hands in my pockets, observing the hand he offered. Though he was a Non-awakened, the presence he carried outweighed that of most Hunters.
I did not grasp it. To shake hands in a state of incomplete information was to surrender the initiative.
My silence and near-refusal bore not the slightest trace of displeasure on Jae-ho’s expression.
Instead, he withdrew his hand naturally and offered a subtle nod.
“I’ve intruded unannounced and been rude. My apologies.”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
I dragged my shoe across a patch of dry earth between the pavement blocks and continued.
“I’m simply curious why a CEO of Taesung’s stature would take it upon himself to play chauffeur at this hour. Where is your daughter?”
“Se-hui departed earlier with her attendants. She’s likely waiting at the agreed location. The reason I chose to ride in this car was that I had something to say to you, Hunter Kim.”
A faint smile played at Jae-ho’s lips. Yet his eyes did not smile. Behind his glasses, his gaze tracked every shift in my expression.
Though his body wielded no Mana at all, the pressure he exuded subtly altered the density of the air touching my skin.
Taesung Energy. They hold a monopoly on the cartridge technology that converts Mana-stones to energy.
Engineers and mages across the world had abandoned that frontier after thousands of explosive accidents; Jae-ho had broken through it with relentless capital and resolve.
The weight of a man who commands a stage where tens of thousands of lives and astronomical sums of money are at stake pressed down on my vision.
“Let’s keep this brief. I haven’t much time before registration closes for the symposium.”
At my curt urging, Jae-ho adjusted his glasses slightly upward.
“Simply to offer my thanks. Many people owe me debts in South Korea, but few have caused me to owe them one. Hunter Kim Do-jin, you are the latter.”
“I have no recollection of ever extending such a significant favor to Taesung.”
“I’m speaking of our daughter, Se-hui.”
At the name that fell from his lips, my eyebrow twitched slightly.
“I offer my sincere gratitude for saving Se-hui’s life.”
Club Arabian. I recalled Jung Se-hui trembling in Jang Yu-cheong’s office.
At that time, I’d simply moved to remove the obstacle before me and extract the information I needed.
“That was merely part of my work. There was no particular sense of mission involved.”
“Results prove process, don’t they.”
Jung Jae-ho’s pupils darkened with depth.
The businessman’s solid mask crumbled in an instant, and through the gap flowed the genuine heart of a middle-aged man—a tangle of bitter regret and profound relief.
“I’m not merely speaking of saving a life. You rebuilt that child’s shattered soul. The girl who only knew how to run away came back on her own two feet, saying she’d shoulder Taesung’s future. That was something I could never have done.”
“You underestimate her far too much.”
“That’s true. All of it was my failure to have faith in that child.”
Jung Se-hui was no longer a runaway girl adrift in confusion. As director of the Dekima Project, she moved with fierce determination to prove her worth.
“Se-hui may prove troublesome throughout the conference schedule. She’s talkative and restless by nature. But if you were to remain at her side, I could ask for no more dependable shield than that.”
“I never signed a bodyguard contract. We’re simply partners moving toward our respective goals.”
When my answer ended, Jung Jae-ho let out a soft, brief chuckle. At the tail of that laughter, he straightened himself anew. His gaze behind his glasses sharpened to a keen gleam.
“Very well. That alone is enough. And let me make you a promise.”
His eyes flashed like blue flame.
“Taesung Energy’s debt is never light. Whatever you desire, whatever scale of resources you may need, speak it to me. I keep every word that leaves my lips.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“I hope you do.”
Jung Jae-ho turned to leave, then stopped.
“One more thing.”
At his gesture, the chauffeur withdrew a black document envelope from the limousine. On its face was stamped Taesung Energy’s crimson seal.
“Once you enter the Academy, you’ll hear the details directly from Se-hui, but it would be better if you knew beforehand.”
I didn’t take the envelope. Instead, I looked at his face.
“What documents are these.”
“A record of the Mana-stone Cartridges the Academy has ordered from Taesung over the past three months.”
It was an unexpected word.
Taesung’s cartridges are industrial modules that store Mana and release it at a set output when needed. For large-scale facilities like monorails, protective barriers, and research equipment, steady demand was naturally expected.
But materials that Jung Jae-ho would bring in person at dawn could not be ordinary delivery manifests.
I took the envelope and tore the seal.
The first page displayed a bar graph showing monthly shipment volumes. For the past two months, orders for a specific specification had spiked abnormally.
“Bio-reactive Cartridges.”
“Precisely.”
Jung Jae-ho pushed his glasses up.
“Special specifications used in the healing and experimental facilities. Products that adjust output according to the user’s Mana wavelength and biological signals. They cost twelve times more per unit than standard models, and come with mandatory usage reporting to the Regulatory Bureau.”
“How many did they order.”
“Official requisitions alone represent seventeen times the previous volume.”
My hand, turning pages, stopped.
Even if the Academy had simultaneously replaced all its medical equipment, the quantity would be difficult to explain. What was more strange was the delivery destination.
All cartridges were being concentrated into a single building in the Western Research District, not the Central Medical Building.
‘Rianna Research Building.’
I knew the location. Before the Regression, it had been a dilapidated annex where research on low-grade Magical Creatures was conducted.
“Did you verify what research it’s being used for.”
“The Academy only repeated that it was classified joint research. Se-hui demanded contract disclosure, but was refused.”
Jung Jae-ho pointed at the final page with his finger.
“Moreover, the contract terms are unusual. The Academy insisted on disposing of spent cartridges themselves rather than returning them. And they prohibited our technical staff from entering the facility.”
“Did you accept those terms.”
“Initially, we refused. But then the Academy’s Chancellor sent a personal guarantee letter.”
My eyes dropped to the bottom of the document.
A name written in neat handwriting struck my vision colder than the pre-dawn chill.
[Jeon Byung-jun.]
“A man who roams overseas and doesn’t even touch administrative matters personally guaranteed this.”
“That’s precisely why I remember it. It was the first time Chancellor Jeon Byung-jun had put his name to a single supply contract with Taesung.”
Jung Jae-ho didn’t know I intended to meet Jeon Byung-jun. Yet he’d brought these materials anyway—meaning his seasoned businessman’s instincts had detected the anomaly first.
“How much did you tell Se-hui.”
“Everything. She said she’d verify the usage records of Rianna Research Building before the conference ends.”
That was true to her nature. Simultaneously, it was a dangerous judgment.
Jeon Byung-jun and the Correction Prayer Order.
Bio-reactive Cartridges in abnormally high quantities.
A research building that never exports waste to the outside.
Disconnected points were beginning to link together in patterns I couldn’t yet perceive.
I slid the documents back into the envelope.
“May I take these materials with me?”
“Of course. I brought them here to give to you in the first place.”
“They’ve been helpful.”
For the first time, I offered something beyond mere courtesy.
Jung Jae-ho smiled faintly.
“That single word makes it worth my trouble getting up before dawn.”
With that declaration, the man standing at the apex of South Korea’s corporate hierarchy bent at the waist ninety degrees toward my feet.
Fabric whispered against fabric, the only sound cutting through the dawn air. I felt the Chauffeur behind me draw a sharp breath, his expression etched with shock.
I didn’t move an inch.
As he straightened, I rapidly catalogued which of Taesung’s assets I could mobilize immediately.
The gratitude Jung Jae-ho had expressed became a promise, and a promise becomes leverage when called in.
The vast infrastructure of Taesung Energy had suddenly become responsive to my requests.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
I offered a brief farewell and settled into the limousine’s rear seat.
The Chauffeur quickly shut the door, and Jung Jae-ho remained motionless at that spot until the car carrying me had completely vanished from his sight.
***
The limousine glided silently onto the road.
I sank into the backrest and reopened the black envelope. Right now, Jeon Byung-jun’s signature on the delivery manifest mattered more than Jung Jae-ho’s blank check.
Bio-reactive Cartridges synchronize with a person’s pulse and Mana cycle. Connected to medical equipment, they save patients’ lives—but deployed otherwise, they could bind a living body’s Mana flow to an external device.
If the Order had set their sights on these devices, their intention was transparent.
To transform life-saving equipment into instruments of human harvesting.
The car left the city behind and reached the Outskirts of Ganghwa Island, then ascended the long Great Bridge that connected to the Academy’s artificial island.
Thick sea mist coiled around the bridge’s railings, and beyond it, a fortress of grotesque proportions rose up oppressively.
The Academy.
The Dome of Light atop the main building, soaring skyward, caught the pale rays of dawn and gleamed brilliantly.
That dazzling radiance bore itself with an arrogance that suggested they alone held absolute truth.
But my gaze fixed not on that brilliance, but on what lay beneath it—the obsidian outer wall that encircled the entire fortress at a height of thirty meters.
That wall was no barrier meant to shield mages from external threats.
It was a massive mousetrap sealing in the ugly truths festering within, a symbol of discrimination that rejected the unselected.
As the limousine entered within a few kilometers of the Academy, the Mana wavelength in the air began warping violently.
My skin prickled, and a sickening sensation of adhesive air clung to me from head to toe.
[Successor. Multiple layers of ultra-high-density Mana barriers are deployed across this area.]
[Standard wavelength detection cannot scan for presences within.]
[Data collection is experiencing temporary bottlenecking.]
“Understood.”
Airi’s flat report echoed in my ear. I flicked my fingertip lightly.
Faint Mana blooming from my fingertip collided with the barrier in the air, birthing invisible flame.
That nauseating vibration.
The sensation of being hurled beyond the obsidian wall when I had neither strength nor standing resurfaced vividly.
But what I needed now was not revenge.
Meet Jeon Byung-jun. Confirm the purpose of the Rianna Research Building.
Where to begin dismantling this bloated, rotting structure—the first coordinate was already in my hands.
‘Still the same, this place.’
The eyes reflected in the window were not unfamiliar. They were the eyes I’d worn each time I hunted targets within Gates.
The shell before my Regression and who I am now are fundamentally different.
The limousine’s speed smoothed to a halt, and it came to rest silently on the roadside at the end of the fog-shrouded approach—before the Checkpoint.
This was the external waiting area before entering the Checkpoint proper.
Far ahead, elaborately decorated vehicles of mages lined up waiting to be inspected.
They’d come to enjoy this festival, believing themselves chosen ones, but I was different.
I was an uninvited guest come to topple this impenetrable fortress, a hunter poised to rend their arrogance to shreds.
“We’ve arrived, Hunter.”
At the Chauffeur’s soft voice, I rose from my seat. The door opened, and the Academy’s cool air rushed in.
I tightened my grip on the carry-on luggage and stepped out of the car.

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