The Archmage’s Swordsmanship Is Too Strong - Chapter 18

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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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18
Episode 18. Civil Servant Hunter
***
I looked at the personnel director standing before me.
No—I stared through him, at the towering edifice of ambition looming behind him: Invictus.
“I’m not interested in Invictus.”
“……I’m sorry?”
The man’s face went slack.
He couldn’t seem to process what he’d just heard.
“What did you say?”
“You turned them down? A billion won?”
“Are you out of your mind?”
The Gymnasium erupted.
Shock and chaos rippled through the crowd.
The Invictus director’s face cycled through shades of red and purple.
It was quite a sight to see.
“Y-you’re serious? A billion won! Invictus, for Christ’s sake!”
“That doesn’t matter. I choose my own guild.”
I walked past him.
He shouted something behind me, but I ignored it.
Reporters descended like hyenas.
“Kim Do-jin! Where are you headed?”
“To Guardians? To Arang?”
“Please give us an answer!”
I pushed through the barrage of flashbulbs toward Kim Dae-han.
I snatched the coffee cup he was holding right out of his hands.
“Just a moment, Hunter Kim Do-jin.”
A familiar voice cut me off.
A female reporter thrust her microphone forward with audacity.
Kim Min-seo, a reporter for Daily Gate.
My older sister.
‘When did she get here?’
Her eyes gleamed with the promise of a thorough interrogation later at home, but her voice remained professionally measured as she posed her question.
“Hunter Kim Do-jin. You’ve just rejected South Korea’s premier guild. So tell us—where exactly are you headed?”
Every ear in the room pricked up.
I draped an arm across Kim Dae-han’s shoulders.
Then I flashed a grin at the cameras.
“Nothing too grand, really.”
I took a sip of the coffee.
The cheap vending machine brew tasted sweet.
“I’m thinking of working as a civil servant near my home.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
My sister’s face went blank—a perfect close-up for the cameras.
The hand holding her microphone trembled ever so slightly.
Even a veteran journalist could be rendered speechless.
“Hahahaha!”
It was Kim Dae-han who broke the silence.
He clutched his belly, helpless with laughter.
Like an audience member who’d just witnessed the funniest comedy in the world.
“You all heard that, right?”
Kim Dae-han threw an arm around my shoulder and shot the reporters a knowing wink.
His shabby suit and tousled hair made a striking, almost surreal contrast with the gleaming designer uniforms of the Invictus delegation.
The Invictus personnel director’s face crumpled like aluminum foil.
Not just wounded pride—his dignity had been shattered entirely.
The mighty Invictus, bested by a mere City Hall functionary.
“K-Kim Do-jin! Are you in your right mind? A civil servant? What do you—!”
“Perfectly sound. Crystal clear, actually.”
There was no point in continuing this conversation.
“Excuse me. I need to get home.”
A fresh volley of flashbulbs erupted around us.
My vision blurred white, but I didn’t blink once as I cut through the crowd.
Kim Dae-han followed behind me like a guard.
As we exited the Gymnasium, a storm of shouts and questions erupted at our backs, but the moment the door closed, all sound was cut off.
***
“You’ve worked hard.”
In a corner of the Parking Lot.
Kim Dae-han opened the door to a worn mid-sized sedan.
Paint peeling in patches, bumper dented—a piece of junk.
For a man who’d just rejected ten billion won, the vehicle was painfully shabby.
“The car’s a bit dirty. I haven’t had time to clean it.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
As I settled into the passenger seat, a stale, musty smell mixed with paper odor wafted up.
The leather upholstery was torn, and the dashboard was buried under a mountain of unsorted documents.
Kim Dae-han casually hurled the papers into the back seat and started the engine.
Cough-cough-cough, sputter-sputter.
The engine wheezed like it was hacking.
The car lurched forward.
“Ha, well. I’m embarrassed, really. Bringing an A-rank Hunter in this old heap.”
“The driver matters more than the car.”
At my words, Kim Dae-han let out a quiet laugh.
He held the steering wheel with one hand while adjusting the rearview mirror with the other.
In the mirror’s reflection, the back seat.
There sat a single worn Child Car Seat, lonely and bare.
Dust-covered and faded—an ancient thing.
“……That’s where my daughter used to sit. I couldn’t bring myself to remove it.”
His voice dropped low.
Ten years ago, a family lost on the way back from a mart.
A daughter who vanished, leaving only a finger behind.
I didn’t need explanation for why he couldn’t scrap this old car, why he obsessed so over Gates.
This vehicle wasn’t a means of transport—it was time itself, frozen.
“I’m sorry.”
Hollow consolation wasn’t what he needed.
A man consumed by vengeance doesn’t need comfort—he needs a blade.
The car cut through Downtown.
The sunset bled red between the forest of buildings.
The roads were clogged with rush-hour traffic.
The faces visible through the window looked exhausted.
Even as Gates opened and the world inverted, everyday life rolled on with cruel ordinariness.
‘I want to protect this ordinary life.’
My brother’s habitual words before the Regression echoed back to me.
To preserve that ordinariness, he had to become extraordinary.
And in return, his very existence was erased.
“Do-jin. To be honest, I was expecting around B-rank.”
Kim Dae-han broke the silence.
“But A-rank? And an A-rank with an unmeasurable rating at that. If the Association Chairman himself stepped in, what exactly did you do in there?”
“Just… did my best.”
“You don’t grind a Mirror Golem to dust or bring Hunter Yoo Hye-sung to her knees by just doing your best.”
Kim Dae-han chuckled.
He knew.
He’d already grasped what happened inside the test arena.
It was good I’d turned down the Hunter Association’s offer.
“Ten billion won. Doesn’t it pain you? Honestly, I’d have wavered.”
“Ten billion is just scraps of paper if there’s no time to spend it.”
“···No time?”
Kim Dae-han looked at me with confusion.
I stared at the red traffic light outside the window.
“Because the world won’t stay this peaceful forever.”
“That sounds ominous.”
The collapse ten years from now.
That countdown had already begun.
Money? Reputation?
A single breath from the Evil Divine Dragon would reduce it all to ash.
What I need is power for survival and information.
The traffic light turned green.
The car moved again.
“While you were taking the test, I managed to dig up something interesting.”
Kim Dae-han’s voice dropped to a hushed tone.
“The Gate Management Bureau’s movements have been suspicious.”
Kim Dae-han spoke in a low voice.
“Recently, several Closed Gate coordinates were transferred to private companies.”
“Closed Gate coordinates?”
“Yes. Officially it’s listed as research transfer. The procedures look clean on the surface.”
“On the surface.”
“Exactly.”
Kim Dae-han’s eyes darkened.
“The real problem is who’s backing these companies.”
“The Gate Cult?”
Kim Dae-han nodded briefly.
“That’s right. And though it hasn’t been confirmed yet—”
He continued.
“The Hong Xue Alliance’s name is circulating in connection with it too.”
“The Chinese criminal organization?”
“You’re well informed.”
“I’ve heard rumors.”
“Then word travels fast.”
Kim Dae-han tapped the steering wheel lightly with his fingers.
“If the Hong Xue Alliance is involved, this won’t end with simple coordinate trafficking. They don’t just hand over anything that turns a profit and carries danger.”
“Gate Byproducts.”
“It could be worse than that. We’re talking about drugs like Boosters—narcotic awakening enhancers moving through their networks.”
The air in the car grew heavier.
Kim Dae-han fell silent for a moment, then spoke again.
“For now, we’ve only caught the tail.”
“The body?”
“It’ll surface soon.”
His eyes gleamed with lethal intent.
“We’ve already set things in motion.”
No hesitation in his answer.
This is why I chose him.
A ticket to truths that ten billion won cannot buy.
***
“I’ll contact you again tomorrow, sir. As for coming in… well, whenever suits you best.”
I closed the car door.
Kim Dae-han’s car pulled away with a worn engine wheeze.
I looked up at the familiar Apartment entrance.
My home, returned to at last.
But there was no time for sentiment.
Ping.
Blue light coalesced in the empty air.
System notifications that I’d silenced during the exam period came pouring down like a waterfall.
[Undefeated Archive System ‘AIRI’ reactivated.]
[Combat data analysis complete.]
[Unconfirmed alerts: 52.]
“It’s begun.”
AIRI’s voice echoed in my ears.
[Undefeated One, congratulations. This trial has resulted in a dramatic surge in your Blade Saint skill’s synchronization rate.]
[Current synchronization rate: 15% → 22%]
Seven percent in a single bound.
They say there’s no teacher like real combat, and it seems my death match with Yoo Hye-sung was the catalyst I needed.
As synchronization rises, Aura efficiency improves, and latent Blade Saint skills unlock.
“Not bad.”
I opened the front door.
Familiar air, the smell of worn shoe racks.
Tension released, and fatigue crashed over me like a tsunami.
I headed straight for the bathroom.
I turned on the hot water.
Steam filled the bathroom.
‘It’s getting bigger.’
My body, which had been like dry kindling, was now packed with lean muscle.
It wasn’t just a matter of increased bulk.
Compressed muscle. Balanced proportions.
My shoulders had widened, my abs were defined.
It was a body of such refined completion that it was hard to believe it belonged to a mage.
[Bodily reconstruction of the Regressor is in progress.]
[Muscle fibers and skeletal structure are being optimized to match the Blade Saint’s combat data.]
AIRI’s explanation.
My brother’s legacy was transforming me.
Shedding the fragile body of a mage, stepping into the vessel of a swordsman.
“Could I ever produce an Aura like Yoo Hye-sung’s?”
A sudden question.
That high-purity, steel-like Aura I’d felt in the fog.
I coveted it.
[Analysis indicates it’s impossible with your current Mana circuit structure.]
[The Regressor converts Mana into Aura, so you cannot match the density of pure Aura.]
A cold answer.
Innate limitations couldn’t be helped, could they?
But there had to be a way.
Magic knows no impossibility.
If I pushed Synchronization to its absolute limit, or altered the nature of Mana itself—
I sank into the bathtub and lost myself in thought.
Warm water melted away my exhaustion.
***
“Hey! Kim Do-jin!!”
My peaceful rest didn’t last five minutes.
The moment I stepped out of the bathroom, a thunderous shout exploded from the living room.
She was standing on the sofa in her business suit, huffing furiously.
Without thinking, my body tensed.
She looked like an ogre.
“When did you get here?”
“When did I get here? I just got here. Is that the problem? You crazy bastard! What the hell did you do!”
She rushed over and slapped my back.
It hurt.
And she was faster than Yoo Hye-sung.
“Why are you hitting me?”
“Do I look like I wouldn’t hit you? One hundred billion won? A civil servant? You’ve finally lost it, haven’t you? Huh? Why don’t you just spin around and live your whole life that way?”
“What are you talking about?”
She thrust her phone screen in front of my face.
[BREAKING] Rookie Hunter Kim Do-jin Rejects Invictus’ 100 Billion Won Offer
[SHOCK] Monster Newcomer’s Choice: ‘Civil Servant’? Hunter Industry in Uproar
[ANALYSIS] Why Did an A-Rank Hunter Choose City Hall?
[EXCLUSIVE] Association President Jung Eun-jin: “I simply graded according to regulations.”
The portal site’s main page was plastered with my name.
My name dominated the top five real-time search terms.
The comment section was in chaos. “Insane,” “attention-seeker,” “playing the long game,” and so on.
“See this? This is what you’ve done!”
“···It is pretty loud, I guess.”
“Pretty? Preeeeetty?!”
She huffed for a while longer, then finally calmed down and looked me over.
Then she stopped short.
“Hey. You···.”
“What?”
Min-seo jabbed my forearm.
“What? You were skin and bones, weren’t you? You only got discharged recently. When did you grow like this? Look at your shoulders!”
A blood relative’s eye for detail never deceives.
In just a few days, I’d transformed.
I dried my hair with a towel and spoke casually.
“When you Awaken, your constitution changes a bit. It’s like a second growth spurt.”
“You’re joking. Bones grow just from Awakening? That’s suspicious, Do-jin. Very suspicious.”
Min-seo didn’t let go of her skeptical gaze, but she didn’t press further.
She collapsed onto the sofa with a sigh.
“Sigh… Fine. What would a civilian know? But I have one question.”
Her expression turned serious.
“You’re really rejecting Invictus and going to work as a civil servant? Are you serious, or was that just something you blurted out in anger?”
“I’m serious.”
I grabbed water from the refrigerator and drank.
“Ten billion won? Sure, it’s a lot of money. But if I take it, I become a dog on a leash. Hunt when they tell me to, get dragged into fights I don’t want.”
“And? You think being a civil servant would be different?”
“It is different. I’d have the say.”
I sat down at the dining table and looked at her.
“Min-seo, there’s something more important to me than money.”
“What’s that?”
“The truth.”
“What?”
“The truth about the Gates. Why Father disappeared, why the world works the way it does. I want to know. A guild would only get in the way.”
Her gaze wavered.
Min-seo’s eyes trembled.
The reason she became a journalist.
She’d pursued that path because of Father’s disappearance too.
“And to uncover that truth, I need your help.”
“My help?”
“Yeah. The information you have access to. The Gate Management Bureau, the Gate Cult, and the underground rumor networks. Share that with me.”
It wasn’t a trade.
A request from family, and a proposal from a partner.
Min-seo stared at me for a long moment.
Then she burst out laughing.
“Ha, you really know how to leave someone speechless.”
She stood up.
“Fine. I’ll help you. But I have one condition.”
“What is it?”
“An exclusive interview later. You have to give it to me first, no exceptions. Got it?”
“Deal. I promise.”
Min-seo ruffled my hair.
“And call Mom. She’s about to have a heart attack.”
I answered with a light laugh.
“Got it, reporter. Oh, and I bought some Osung Electronics stock in your name.”
“What? You’re playing the stock market?”
Min-seo asked with a skeptical expression.
I shrugged.
“Just a gift. Hold onto it for now.”
“You crazy bastard, always full of wild ideas. Fine, I’ll take it.”
Min-seo laughed softly and headed to her room.
I’d rejected ten billion won, but I’d made sure to set up at least minimal safety nets for my family.
That was both the privilege and the duty of a Regressor.
I remained alone in the living room.
Outside the window, night had already fallen dark.
***
The next morning.
When I arrived at the meeting spot, I saw a familiar face.
Kim Dae-han.
But the car was different.
Not the decrepit wreck I’d ridden in yesterday.
A glossy black sedan, gleaming under the light.
An emblem glinted on the hood.
“You’re early, Kim Do-jin.”
Kim Dae-han swept open the rear door with a flourish.
His face was freshly shaven, tie knotted perfectly.
A uniformed driver waited in the front seat.
“What… what is this?”
“Ah, this? The mayor’s personal vehicle.”
Kim Dae-han chuckled.
“I raided the mayor’s office this morning and borrowed the keys myself. Can’t very well put an A-rank Hunter in a rust bucket, now can we?”
A laugh escaped me despite myself.
“Get in. Starting today, you’re G City’s VIP.”
I breathed in slowly and opened the car door.
Before the regression, I was vice-captain of the Blade Saint Guild—South Korea’s strongest.
Now I was about to begin a life as a mere bureaucrat hunter under City Hall.
Thud.
“We’re departing now.”
I settled into the seat.
The leather cradled my lower back with comfort.
Nothing like yesterday’s rattrap.

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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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