Those Who Covet (3)
Shin Ah-yeon vs Lee Soo-ah.
A match-up that was, in its own way, stimulating.
There wasn't any particularly grand reason for this sudden situation.
"We're screwed."
It was because of something Ah-yeon had said right when it was decided that she would participate as a mentor in Super Hunter K.
"Just say it's a big problem instead of that..."
Now, Ah-yeon didn't even bother to pretend to watch what she said around me.
"It's a big problem."
"... Okay, what is it?"
"I don't have confidence that I can do my job properly as a mentor."
"What? Why? Is it awkward dealing with Soo-ah?"
When I questioned her at her sudden words, she fidgeted, twisting her index fingers together and quietly gauged my reaction.
"That's part of it... To be honest, it's more that I don't know what I'm supposed to say. There probably won't be any decent footage for the show."
"But you're an expert when it comes to handling magic power, right? You could at least explain things like that."
Didn't Ji Yeon-hwa also carry out her role as a mentor in a similar way?
So I'd thought it would be perfectly fine for Ah-yeon to do something similar and get enough screen time that way.
After all, awakened ones are classified by the way they handle 'magic power.'
"Excuse me."
"What now?"
"Who am I?"
"You're Shin Ah-yeon. The genius of magic, right?"
"Exactly."
Ah-yeon nodded and continued as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Geniuses don't know how to explain those things."
"... What?"
"Moving magic power just comes as naturally as breathing, so how am I supposed to explain it?"
"I can't believe this."
But then again, considering Ah-yeon's talent, it made sense in a way.
She had mastered circle magic up to the 5th-circle in just a few months after learning it for the first time, and had entered the 6th-circle as well.
Could Ah-yeon really understand the effort required for an ordinary mage in the other world to raise their circle even by one—they had to devote years of sweat and write multiple theses just to move up by a single circle.
Looking at Ah-yeon, who grew in skill as naturally as she breathed while playing around as much as she liked, some mages might well give up magic in despair.
"Ugh."
In the end, I had no choice but to come up with a plan to solve this problem.
'Since it's come to this, let's have Ah-yeon work to improve the magic power fission phenomenon.'
Originally, I'd intended to tell her about it behind the scenes, but it seemed a better idea to present it as if Ah-yeon had discovered it herself for the sake of the show.
In the end, if Soo-ah ended up curing the magic power fission phenomenon—even if it only worked for a select few—it would undoubtedly cause a huge stir.
People would be digging everywhere trying to find out who had come up with such a theory.
So making Ah-yeon the source of it would serve as a good shield.
Annoying as she was, wasn't she still a Great Mage?
She was smart, and with a title that made her seem clever, it wouldn't be strange at all if she suddenly turned up with a treatment for magic power fission.
"Alright, so make sure to memorize what I'm about to say, okay?"
And so, the present moment.
KWAANG!!
With a burst of flame, Soo-ah's sword strike ricocheted off in the air.
Unlike during the mission, the weapon in Soo-ah's hand now was a training longsword.
"The output's strong, but your magic power movement is rough."
So said Ah-yeon, with faintly visible transparent barriers surrounding her.
A basic defensive magic: 'Shield.'
Fragmented, it orbited around Ah-yeon's body like satellites around a planet.
Shield exists even today as a kind of magic, but this one had clearly been upgraded through circle magic.
"The reason Soo-ah-ssi becomes so aggressive in combat is because the magic power fission is affecting her brain. And among those awakened who experience fission, this is a rare symptom."
Ah-yeon pointed out Soo-ah's aggression as she attacked her.
Her words carried magic power, making them clearly audible to everyone nearby even though she wasn't speaking loudly.
KAKANG! KAKANG!!
"...!!"
The longsword collided repeatedly with the shield in midair, bouncing off with each impact.
With a normal shield, Soo-ah's magic output would have cracked and broken it already, but Ah-yeon's barrier didn't have a single scratch.
'She made the shields just big enough to block the weapon.'
Just like when she took down the troll.
By compressing the shield to be only as large as needed to cover a weapon, its density increased accordingly.
'Her understanding of circle magic is on an incredible level.'
The main difference between modern magic and circle magic is diversity.
Unlike modern magic, which has developed into attack magic and basic elemental magic, circle magic boasts a variety of classifications and forms.
Transmutation of elements.
Colorful variations produced by magic power's fluidity.
Utilizing these, Ah-yeon had mixed circle magic formulas into basic defensive magic to create various new forms.
In terms of sheer difficulty, it was defensive magic of 6th-circle and above.
A denser shield was clearly tougher as well, so she could easily deflect Soo-ah's current attacks. No, at that level, she could nullify the attacks from an ordinary S-rank Hunter.
As far as defense went, it wasn't a stretch to say she now surpassed her prime.
'The fight with Soo-ah was put together hastily, but is this actually working out better?'
Going beyond mere screen time, it was a chance to once again showcase her skills as an 'S-rank Hunter' for the show.
The camera crew filming in the corner of the training hall were absorbed, all their focus on the battle.
"Magic power fission occurs due to oversaturation of magic power density. More power gathers in the body than the mana hall can handle, so the fission (eruption) happens. If not, the oversaturated magic power will rupture the mana hall or cause the magic pathway to burst."
Ah-yeon said this with a quick glance at me.
Probably wondering, 'Did I say that correctly?'
Obviously, everything Ah-yeon was now saying about 'magic power fission' and its solutions were things I had explained to her beforehand.
With her sharp mind, Ah-yeon had memorized it and, it seemed, even understood it well enough to explain smoothly.
Still, just to be sure, she kept stealing glances at me as she spoke to Soo-ah.
"... That's why magic power fission has been called a 'curse'. But if it could be improved, I thought it could become a 'blessing' instead."
"!!"
At those words, the attacking Soo-ah's gaze flickered toward me for a brief moment.
Because what Ah-yeon had just said was the same thing I'd told Soo-ah.
"If the phenomenon occurs because the mana hall can't handle the oversaturated magic power, then the solution is simple."
KWAANG!!
With a wave of her open palm, Ah-yeon thrust forward.
As she lightly grasped at the air toward Soo-ah, a blast of magic power erupted, sending her flying backward.
"To increase the number of mana halls."
"Agh...!"
The shock of the magic power explosion must have been greater than expected; a spark of reason returned to Soo-ah's once-dulled eyes.
After confirming this, Ah-yeon slowly extended only her index finger from her clenched fist.
"You're still immature. Soo-ah-ssi, you need to fully control two mana halls. If you use magic in the same way as before, you'll just have two cores, but won't really be able to handle the oversaturated magic power."
As magic power momentarily condensed into her index finger, a white glow shimmered with a heat haze around it.
That meant magic power was being converted into heat and blazing.
'... What's that?'
The spell Ah-yeon just used was one I didn't even know.
Judging by the amount of magic power used, I guessed it was at about 3rd circle magic.
"All right, I'm going to attack now, so focus. If you use both mana cores at once, you'll be able to block it. Like that blue flame you used against the golem."
"U-uh, yes, okay...???"
"Here it comes~."
With the magic power that had affected her brain now knocked away by the shock, Soo-ah could now clearly see Ah-yeon's glowing index finger pointed directly at her. The magic power concentrated there shone white, emitting intense heat.
PENG!!
A gunshot-like sound echoed out as a beam of light shot straight toward Soo-ah.
"W-wait...!!"
The beam was so fast that Soo-ah was hit in the chest before she could even raise her sword to block.
"Kyaa!"
KWAANG!!
With a deafening boom, Soo-ah's body was blown backward.
People watching by the side of the training hall were startled and let out small screams.
It looked, plainly, as if a serious accident had just occurred, so their reaction was natural.
"It's all right."
Calming them, Soo-ah said in a composed tone.
"I blocked it, if not completely."
Just as she said, although she'd been knocked down and was groaning on the floor, there were no significant injuries to be seen.
'Impressive.'
Just before the beam of light struck, blue flames had surged up from Soo-ah's chest, neutralizing the magic.
In a moment of crisis, her second mana hall had instinctively activated, and a barrier of magic power enveloped her whole body.
The blue flames were the sign of magic power burning; so the magic cast by Ah-yeon had been burned away in its entirety, together with the power.
"Well, then..."
Ah-yeon looked for a moment at Soo-ah, still unable to stand up.
Though she'd managed to block it, she hadn't completely neutralized the power, so it must still have been quite painful.
"How about we stop here for today?"
With that, Ah-yeon turned to look at me with a broad smile.
Her expression seemed to ask if she'd done well, so I chuckled and gave her a thumbs-up.
Really, she couldn't have been a more perfect 'mentor' than this.
***
【Super Hunter K's First Filming Gets Rave Reviews from the Studio Audience】
【Disciple of the Sword King Appears in the Audition Program】
【Major Twist in 'Super Hunter K's' First Filming? What Happened?】
Thud!
"Nothing but boring articles."
Ji Yeon-hwa, skimming through articles related to the current Super Hunter K, set her phone down on the desk with an annoyed face.
The star of the first Super Hunter K shoot was supposed to have been 'Upstream', but judging from the article contents, people were focusing on something else entirely.
"Yeon-hwa, don't mind it so much. Shin Ah-yeon didn't really do anything, did she?"
"She did, to me. Do you know what that girl said to me?"
"What did she say to you?"
"Aju... Ha! Just thinking about it makes my blood boil. What's she got to be so proud of?"
Just recalling Shin Ah-yeon's face made Ji Yeon-hwa grind her teeth.
She'd just escaped her shadow—so why had she come back?
"Hey. Ju Ji-sang."
Ji Yeon-hwa called Ju Ji-sang, who was sitting in the corner of the executives' office.
Normally, rank-and-file Hunters like Ju Ji-sang couldn't enter Upstream's executive offices.
But with so many cameras and filming crews set up everywhere inside the Upstream headquarters now, he'd had to be brought here.
"You. If you lose to that kid from Unique in the next mission... What was her name again? Anyway, if you lose to that one, you get it, right?"
"..."
At Ji Yeon-hwa's words, Ju Ji-sang furrowed his brow and said nothing.
Her tone wasn't just unpleasant—she was also implying he wasn't even as good as some second-rate kid.
"Hey, aren't you going to answer?"
"Yeon-hwa, that's still a Hunter from our own guild. Show some respect."
"Hmph, respect? That's for management types like you, not me. I'm a Hunter. You forget what it's like out there because you made it to company executive? Don't you know how Hunters operate?"
At Ji Yeon-hwa's sharp retort, Jo Chang-woo let out a sigh.
Upstream hadn't started out as a guild in the form of a management agency.
But because it had grown as a Hunter management agency almost from the outset, its culture still closely resembled that of the old guilds.
In other words, survival of the fittest.
The strong made the rules, and skill trumped all.
Right now, there were only two people in Upstream who could really say anything to Ji Yeon-hwa.
The company president, and Upstream's star S-rank Hunter.
"... Javelin Guild just got in touch."
At that, the scowl on Ji Yeon-hwa's face eased.
"They finally got it?"
"Seems so. I plan to visit Javelin Guild tomorrow."
"Well, why didn't you say so sooner?"
With a low, pleased laugh, Ji Yeon-hwa's mood quickly brightened.
"Anyway, there's nothing to worry about with Super Hunter K."
"Fine, fine. I'll keep teaching this one myself."
Smiling brightly, Ji Yeon-hwa seemed to have forgotten her earlier foul mood entirely.
But Jo Chang-woo was still uneasy.
'What are those jewels, really?'
Beautiful, iridescent jewels.
They looked lovely, but Jo Chang-woo felt something oddly unsettling about them.
'Where does the Javelin Guild even get that stuff?'
Upstream had tried to gather information wherever they could, but hadn't been able to obtain those items.
Maybe the Javelin Guild had their own supply lines, or maybe...
'For now, I'll just have to keep checking.'
There hadn't been any problems so far, but there was no guarantee that would continue in the future.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Ah-yeon being proud that she could explain shit is hilarious.
Hmm, are those demonic energy jewels?
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】