You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 81

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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81

 

 

 

The end of the corridor glowed red-hot.

 

The floor and walls shook as condensed pressure rapidly surged forward.

 

The mana lines reflected in my Fire Eyes were already ablaze, flowing rapidly toward the Explosive Magic Circle.

 

I had momentarily forgotten about the bomb while focusing on Liu Chen.

 

But that didn’t mean I hadn’t thought of a countermeasure.

 

I quickly drew up my Ghostly Energy.

 

Galmu changed form according to my intention.

Into the shape of a scalpel – sharper than anything yet incredibly delicate.

 

‘When did this guy pick up a scalpel?’

 

But now wasn’t the time for such questions.

 

I plunged Galmu deep into the floor.

 

It sliced through the concrete floor as smoothly as cutting tofu.

 

And then, with a soft touch.

 

The scalpel’s blade grazed the burning mana line.

 

The circuit flow that had been connecting like dominoes stopped in an instant.

 

With the connection severed, the Magic Circle on the verge of explosion lost its light and entered stabilization.

 

Only then did the vibrations shaking the Underground Corridor cease.

 

“It’s over.”

 

I pulled out Galmu.

 

Concrete fragments scattered from the blade tip.

 

When I came outside, the transport of Cult Members bound in Restraint Devices was in full swing.

 

And the Gemstone Weapons piled up on one side.

 

Those confiscated items were to be managed by Sadangpae.

 

When it comes to Ghostly Energy-related matters, Sadangpae and Sister An Hyeon-su are more specialized than the Association.

 

Of course, that Sister An Hyeon-su was currently settled in Ashin.

 

She said the sculpting skills were terrible, but the method of carving circuits was refreshing.

 

With new research material available, she naturally settled in Ashin.

 

I held out Liu Chen’s frozen upper body.

 

“No matter what, butchering someone to this extent…”

 

He clicked his tongue at the sight of Liu Chen’s remains – only the right arm and chest portion left.

 

What does this person think of me?

 

“Whatever you imagined, it’s not like that. I froze it thinking fingerprints or DNA might help with the investigation.”

 

These scientific aspects are the Association’s responsibility anyway.

 

The Association President called a Staff Member to recover Liu Chen’s body.

 

“We caught them all, but you don’t look happy?”

 

Perhaps not expecting such an attack, we succeeded in capturing most of the Cult Members except Liu Chen.

 

Even so, the Association President’s expression wasn’t good.

 

Instead of words, the Association President held out a bundle of singed Documents.

 

“It’s a Member Registry. Take a look. Very… interesting.”

 

I quickly skimmed through the Member Registry.

 

Some parts couldn’t be confirmed due to burning.

 

But the lineup of identifiable figures was absolutely spectacular.

 

From National Assembly Members to Provincial Governors, Mayors, and very impressive big shots in the business world.

 

There wouldn’t be a problem if they believed in ordinary religion, or even cults for that matter.

 

However, the problem was the annotations next to the Member Registry.

 

‘Human trafficking, illegal fund circulation, and… they dabbled in drugs too?’

 

My gaze, which had been quickly reading through the Member Registry, paused at one spot.

 

I could understand why the Association President was so angry.

 

And also the reason why sadness was reflected in his eyes…

 

I stopped reading and closed the member registry.

 

“What will you do?”

 

“Just killing him would be too light a punishment.”

 

I started to pray for that person’s soul, then stopped.

 

The evil deeds he had committed were too great to pray for his soul.

 

The special notes written under his name.

 

Young Hunter Aspirants field training, with a short annotation beside it.

 

12 missing persons, sacrifice processing complete.

 

***

 

I decided to keep quiet about the member registry for now.

 

Aside from them being big shots in political and business circles and the Hunter community, there was no physical evidence.

 

With just a few lines written in the member registry?

 

Trying to catch a dragon with a toothpick would be foolish.

 

Rather, it could backfire and restrict our actions.

 

Moreover, the timing wasn’t good either.

 

Already, voices demanding stronger punishment for Hunter crimes were growing louder due to the department store terrorism.

If we brought up the cult issue on top of this, the risk would become too great.

 

Instead, I decided to wait until they made their move again.

 

This time, I planned to take sufficient time.

Also to give the Association President time to sort out his feelings.

 

According to Yamyeong, times like these were when it was best to focus on intelligence activities.

 

Infiltration would be easier, and we could obtain quality information even from small cracks.

 

So we just needed to extract as much information as possible, then snatch their collars the moment they moved.

 

The Association President and I personally handled the arrest of the Hunters with gemstone weapon implants, excluding Yoo Seong-ho.

 

Since Doctor was imprisoned, they were bombs that could explode at any moment, so we had no choice but to make that problem our top priority.

 

Thanks to Doctor’s detailed testimony, we were fortunately able to subdue them all before they went berserk.

 

Human greed truly seems to have no end.

 

There were not only C-rank Hunters but also quite a few promising Hunters.

 

I left the problems after that to Sister An Hyeon-su.

 

Even though they were criminals, losing their lives just for receiving illegal procedures seemed excessive.

 

Well, Sister said she was actually happy because she had gained twelve test subjects.

 

I assigned Yamyeong to track down Liu Chen who had escaped.

 

Last time it was Japan, this time it was China.

 

Of course, I generously put travel expenses and activity funds into his pocket.

 

The Association President was working through his troubled mind with work,

and Yamyeong had crossed over to China as soon as the chapel incident ended.

As for Jin-woo… he was always busy.

 

That left only me with nothing to do, all alone.

 

Ah, it’s not that I have nothing to do.

 

What should a Hunter do?

 

Get stronger.

 

I slowly made my way to the Magic Tower’s library.

 

***

 

If you asked what the most successful franchise worldwide was, people would give various answers.

 

But among all those answers, there was one place that was always included.

 

The guild that erected one tower in every country.

 

People called that guild the Magic Tower.

 

The explanation about being one of the first four S-rank Hunters sounds grand, but simply put, it’s an educational institution that trains mages.

 

Though it’s a horrible hybrid of university and graduate school…

 

Naturally, Korea also had a Magic Tower, and I headed toward the library open to the public while hiding my identity.

 

The Open Library.

This was one of the reasons the Magic Tower was able to establish branches worldwide.

 

The Magic Tower had opened everything about basic magic.

 

Anyone could access it regardless of age or gender, whether they were Hunters or mages or not.

 

I deliberately hid my identity because I didn’t want to cause a commotion.

 

My face was already well-known, and my popularity was exploding like crazy due to the Japan incident.

 

Articles calling me ‘the S-rank Hunter who reclaimed Dokdo’ were still pouring out.

 

Now I try to hide my identity whenever I go out.

 

I even brought nerdy glasses without prescription lenses to come to the Magic Tower Library.

 

Of course, they were meant to contain the Sadangpae’s disguise magic.

 

I was still someone who considered TPO to some extent.

I pulled out a book from the bookshelf.

 

My reason for visiting the Magic Tower was simple.

 

‘Utilizing Fire Eyes.’

 

I had thought Fire Eyes were just eyes that distinguished between truth and falsehood.

 

I never dreamed I would discover their true value in the battle with Liu Chen.

 

To be able to see the structure of magic and cut through magic by severing that structure…

 

It was a story that would shock mages if they heard it.

 

Using Fire Eyes to counter magic was all well and good.

 

But thinking I could master it with just the training manual was a misjudgment.

 

The magic flowing from the training manual was different from Liu Chen’s method.

 

Why were there so many connected lines and formulas? With my knowledge, it was impossible to accurately select and sever the right structure.

 

It wasn’t that Liu Chen’s magic was inferior.

 

It was just a difference in methods.

 

Liu Chen’s method was to stack basic magic consecutively to create higher-level effects,

while the training manual launched high-level magic from the start.

 

In any case, I felt the need to build up at least minimal knowledge to properly utilize Fire Eyes,

and that’s why I came to this place.

 

Here, I could accumulate as much knowledge as I wanted.

 

‘I’ve never even been to university, and the first higher education institution I visit is the Magic Tower…’

 

I chuckled and opened Fundamentals of Magic I.

 

And once again, I could intuitively realize something.

 

The fact that I was liberal arts oriented…

 

The black things were letters, and the white things were paper.

 

Why were formulas necessary to cast magic, and why were magic circles so complex?

 

The most advanced graph I knew was a cubic function.

 

And only the simple ones at that.

 

Trying to force myself to read such incomprehensible content gave me a headache.

 

And eventually, I had no choice but to admit it.

 

I was far from being studious.

 

But I couldn’t give up in this situation either.

 

So I began learning magic in my own way.

 

The method was obvious though.

 

Learning by doing.

 

I hid my hand under the desk and drew up just a little ghostly energy.

 

Then, like drawing pictures when summoning goblins, I began drawing the circuits written in the fundamentals with karmic fire.

 

Only then did I start to understand bit by bit.

 

To maintain smooth deceleration and acceleration, circuits are drawn in the form of tangent lines.

Following the fundamentals’ explanation and trying it myself made me understand.

 

When not using tangent lines, the probability of mana deviating from the circuit increased.

 

And that concept expanded into thoughts I could comprehend.

 

‘It’s exactly like road design.’

 

When designing roads, interchanges are designed in that same way.

 

Thinking of circuits as roads and mana as cars, I understood the book’s concepts.

 

‘The book was just terrible at explaining things.’

 

Even as I thought that, I was already turning to the next page.

 

***

 

Once I got hooked, I became completely absorbed, losing track of time.

 

Studying seemed to be quite interesting in its own way.

 

I only got up from my seat after the announcement came that it was closing time.

 

It was when I was leaving the library, thinking I should come out a little earlier tomorrow.

 

“Mister.”

 

Someone stopped me in my tracks.

 

‘Did I drop my wallet or something?’

 

That’s what I thought.

 

There was no other reason for someone to call me.

 

When I turned around, a girl who looked to be around middle school age was running toward me.

 

“Mister, what kind of magic is that?”

 

It was an absurd question.

 

“What?”

 

Asking me about magic when I don’t even know how to write the first letter of the word magic…

 

But the girl’s answer instantly made my blood run cold.

 

“The distortion you’re using on your appearance.”

 

***

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