Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Len Smith scoffed at Shin Hayul, who had a clouded expression on his face after losing focus of his surroundings.

''Crawling back my foot. He's just a disabled bastard."

Len Smith spat on the floor.

Even if he was just acting, the fact that I had been apologized to by this pile of trash who shouldn't even be associated with mages annoyed me.

And though I contemplated hitting him to relieve my pent-up anger, there was a chance the magic may have become undone, so I held back.

"Tsk. I won't be seeing him again from Friday onwards anyway..."

There was no point in worrying.

Len Smith let out a short sigh of frustration.

And immediately took action to accomplish his original mission.

"Listen carefully, Shin Hayul."

Len Smith's speciality is mind control magic.

It has a difficult activation condition of having to touch the opponent's head or near their head, but once this condition is met, the effect is incredibly strong.

As long as the opponent's unable to unconsciously resist, he can to some extent control the opponent's mind.

"From now on, carry this on you at all times."

Len Smith took something out from his breast pocket and handed it to Shin Hayul.

It was a strangely shaped chip.

Shin Hayul sluggishly received the chip with a blank expression.

"Also, you will have no suspicions as to why you are carrying this chip."

"...Okay."

His response was also very sluggish.

And that response caused Len Smith to laugh with satisfaction.

'With this, everything is ready.'

All that's left is to execute the plan on Friday.

'I'm already looking forward to seeing this piece of shit being despised by everyone and returning to the edge of hell.'

The way Len Smith's lips contorted was unsightly.

And as he was about to release the mind control magic that was on Shin Hayul.

'Hold on.'

Something flashed through Len Smith's mind.

He'd just had a very good idea.

'You pile of shit. You have a vision magic that shouldn't belong to someone like you don't you.'

The magic coveted by the whole world, including the Blue Magic Tower's master Kim Kangin.

Alteration magic.

'If I steal it and sell it, I'm bound to make some money.'

Len Smith licked his lips with a greedy expression.

"Shin Hayul. Tell me the information on your alteration magic."

At the moment he was about to uncover the secret behind Shin Hayul's vision magic.

"Ugh..."

Shin Hayul frowned deeply and groaned.

"Tsk."

Len Smith clicked his tongue.

'You seem to have a strong unconscious desire to keep the secrets about your vision magic.'

As said before, Len Smith's mind control magic is unable to make someone do something that they truly don't want to do.

If he were to use additional magic here, he would have likely been able to gain the information on the alteration magic, however, Shin Hayul's mind would have been destroyed.

And that's something that mustn't happen.

Because that'll mean the mission won't be able to be carried out.

"You're a lucky bastard..."

It was unlucky but he had no other choice.

He had no choice but to give up on Shin Ha-yul's vision magic for now.

'I'll give up for now...'

Len Smith's smile grew even broader.

'And I'll steal it on Friday after the mission's over.'

By then, it wouldn't matter whether Shin Hayul's mind was destroyed or not.

It wouldn't be too late to steal Shin Hayul's vision magic.

"Student Shin Hayul?"

Len Smith, who had quickly returned to his original blank expression, dispelled the mind control magic and called out to Shin Ha-yul.

"...Yes, yes? Huh?"

The focus returned to Shin Hayul's eyes which had been blurry.

"What are you looking at so blankly? Are you not feeling well?"

"Oh, yes? ...Yes."

Shin Hayul tilted his head as if he was puzzled about the current situation.

Len Smith looked at the strange chip that he had taken out, and nonchalantly put it in Shin Hayul's pocket.

As if it were natural for Shin Hayul to have such a chip.

"Then, make sure to work hard today. This instructor will be going now."

Len Smith, who had confirmed that the mind control was working, turned away with a satisfied smile on his face.

* * *

Reaper Scans

[Translator - Nya]

[Proofreader - Karane]

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* * *

After Len Smith had gone, I made my way to school as if nothing had happened.

'This is pretty funny.'

I chuckled as I recalled the illegal artificial intelligence chip, the Innovation Leveling chip (IL chip), that was placed in my pocket.

I was surprised that Len Smith was a criminal mage belonging to the Black Magic Tower. And the fact that the Black Magic Tower had approached me was also surprising, but what was even more surprising was the reason why he had approached me.

'I had assumed that the Black Magic Tower was only after my vision magic.'

At first, I assumed they were aiming for my vision magic.

Since alteration magic is a vision magic worthy of catching the attention of the Black Magic Tower.

But what was happening here?

The Black Magic Tower wasn't aiming for my vision magic.

'Their purpose is to frame me as a user of illegal artificial intelligence.'

More precisely, to make it seem as if my rapid growth was due to the illegal artificial intelligence chip.

To completely ruin my image.

That's their purpose.

Otherwise, there's no reason for Len Smith to make me carry an illegal artificial intelligence chip around with me.

Then, why would the Black Magic Tower be trying to ruin my image?

There is only one answer to this.

'Someone asked the Black magic Tower to tarnish my image.'

It's not like tarnishing my image benefits the Black Magic Tower in any way.

Unless someone requested it, there's no reason for the Black Magic Tower to be involved in something so troublesome.

Someone 100% requested this.

'Now the question is, 'who' was it that commissioned the Black Magic Tower to do this.'

There's no need to think much about this.

'In all likelihood, it's either one of my two elder brothers or one of my two elder sisters.'

They are the only people who would do something like this.

'So they're trying to ruin my image and completely exclude me from the succession race, huh.'

So the question is, who out of the four is the culprit?

'Well, I can rule out Minji noonim.'

The second sister, Shin Minji does not care enough about the succession race to do something like this.

And she doesn't have that kind of personality either.

'And it's probably not Minhyuk hyungnim either.'

The second brother, Shin Minhyuk, though active in the succession race, is not daring enough to do this type of thing.

'As expected, it's between Jihan hyungnim and Seha noonim.'

The eldest brother, Shin Jihan.

Or the eldest sister, Shin Seha.

The two most aggressive in the succession race, and the two who are prepared to do anything to become the next clan head.

The culprit is very likely to be one of the two.

'Which one though?'

Considering the scale of the work, there's a high probability that it was Shin Jihan.

But, considering Shin Seha's capricious and outgoing personality, the possibility that it was her wasn't low.

'There's a chance that they may be accomplices as well.'

My thoughts soon became complicated.

With the information I had right now, it was impossible to be certain of who it may be.

'Should I catch Len Smith and interrogate him?'

I do have a solid piece of evidence in my hands: the illegal artificial intelligence chip.

It shouldn't be too difficult to catch Len Smith.

If I were to catch and interrogate him, perhaps I would be able to find out who's behind the incident.

'...No.'

The motto of the Black Magic Tower is trustworthy and secretive work.

Even if Len Smith was captured, there's a high probability that I wouldn't be able to acquire any information on the mastermind.

If that happens, I'll never know who orchestrated this incident.

And that's something that mustn't happen.

'In the first place, I have to be cautious about taking action and capturing him.'

If I take any unnecessary action here, I might catch the attention of the Black Magic Tower. And for now, I must avoid confronting them.

It's better not to take any action with so many uncertainties.

'Then what should I do?'

What must I do to find the culprit and tidily sort this out without me having to take any action? I was trapped in deep thought for ages. I thought it through over and over again and headed towards the best possible solution.

'This method could work.'

And I eventually came to the conclusion that I thought was the best.

'I'll have to contact the Blue Magic Tower first.'

* * *

All my classes had finished, so I headed over to the Blue Magic Tower.

After driving along the road for about 30 minutes in a taxi, in the distance, a looming azure structure caught my eye.

An old-fashioned, yet strangely stylish gothic building.

The outside of the tower was surrounded by magic stones of the sea.

The hazy blue emitted by the ocean blue lights caught my eye.

"Please come in. We were expecting you."

As I got out of the taxi, a woman greeted me.

"Long time no see. Secretary Jung Suha.''

''Yes. It's been exactly one year and 33 days."

Kim Kangin's secretary and top student.

The 6th circle mage Jung Suha.

She smiled broadly.

"Then please come inside. The Magic Tower's master is awaiting you."

"Yes."

I followed the secretary and entered the inside of the tower.

We passed through the lobby and got on the elevator that went straight to the top floor.

The elevator rose vertically with tremendous amounts of speed.

Ding-

We zoomed past 30 floors in 3 seconds and arrived at the top floor: floor 50.

The elevator door opens and the interior of the 50th floor is slowly revealed through the gap. All kinds of thick books were scattered all over the place and there were expensive reagents, magic stones, and artifacts around them.

'It's the same as it was a year ago.'

The top floor of the magic tower. Kim Kangin's room was still being used as his own private laboratory.

The secretary got out of the elevator first and walked towards Kim Kangin, who was concentrating on something on the other side of the room.

"Magic Tower master. Sir Shin Hayul has arrived."

"What, it's time already?"

With a look of regret, Kim Kangin removed his hand from the magic stone on the table.

"It was just getting better as well. Tsk."

Regret soon turned into frustration.

Kim Kan-in quietly clicked his tongue and took a deep breath before getting up from his seat and approaching me.

"Haha. I'm sorry, I was so focused that I didn't even feel the time passing by."

Although he was feigning warmth, his tone and expression were harsher than usual.

"No, I'm more sorry for suddenly coming on such short notice."

"..."

Kim Kangin's eyebrows rose in surprise.

'So he knows that he's being discourteous,' is what he seemed to be thinking.

'Is it because I interrupted him during his experiments? He's a bit hysterical.'

The gentleman-like demeanor he had displayed before felt like a lie.

That's how foul his mood was.

I would believe it if you were to tell me he was a different person entirely.

'Anyways, that magic stone that Kim Kang-in is analyzing...'

A special type of magic stone that had four colors jumbled together.

That magic stone being here is several times more shocking than Kim Kangin's foul mood. Why is that here?

"Then I'll be heading back to the lobby. I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Alright. You did a great job guiding him here. Get some rest."

Jung Suha nodded and disappeared after taking the elevator.

"Then please come this way."

"Yes."

I followed Kim Kangin and headed towards the only somewhat tidy table in the room.

Kim Kangin sat down first, and I sat across from him.

"Since we're both busy, let's get straight to the point."

Kim Kangin rested his chin on his clasped hands and his eyes lit up coldly.

"Please tell me as fast as possible what was so important that you felt it had to be discussed in person."

His smile didn't reach his eyes and his expression was completely different from his usual caring look.

"I've always had a soft spot for you so I agreed to it but..."

I won't forgive you if you're just wasting my time.

It felt like that's what he was saying.

I've heard that Kim Kangin gets a bit cranky when he's concentrating on his research, but I don't think it would be to this extent.

It must be because I bothered him when he was in such a sensitive state.

He was in a mood fouler than I could've imagined.

'...This is going to be awkward.'

I don't even have to say it really, but the reason I visited the Blue Magic Tower today was to prepare for what Len Smith was planning on Friday.

In order to tidy this up smoothly, I require the power of the Blue Magic Tower.

'There's no way that Kim Kangin in his current state will listen to me.'

Since it would be impossible to present proper evidence, the outcome of the negotiations is bound to depend on Kim Kangin's mood.

'I'll have to deal with what's pissing him off so much.'

To start negotiations, I must first start by easing Kim Kangin's foul mood.

'And I know just the perfect topic to discuss for me to accomplish this.'

It won't be difficult to erase the displeasure Kim Kangin feels for me right now.

"I have something I want to say before we move on to the main topic at hand."

''I'm sure I've already said this. That since we both don't have any time, we should get straight to the point."

''It makes no difference to me, but will you be okay with it? I think that you'll regret it."

"Regret it? Me?"

"Yes."

I smiled broadly and pointed at one side of the Magic Tower.

The place Kim Kangin had been sitting at until recently.

"What I have to say is about that magic stone that you've been studying... "

A crafting table prepared for the purpose of studying magic stones.

I pointed to the magic stone placed at the center of that table and brightly smiled.

"It's about the Elemental Mana Light."

"How do you know about that magic stone? Forget its name, even the existence of this magic stone has never been revealed."

Kim Kangin's eyes shone sharply.

His eyes are suspecting me of being a spy.

''It's not like there's a spy within the Blue Magic Tower and it's not like I stole the information so please don't misunderstand."

Whether it be the Magic Shin Clan or whoever, how would they steal information from the Blue Magic Tower?

"Then how do you know about Elemental Mana Light?"

"For a simple reason."

I took a box out of my bag.

I had brought the mana stone with me to commission the Blue Magic Tower, a place with a reputation for having the best mana stone workmanship and producing the best artifacts in Korea.

The greatest artifact ingredient I had luckily managed to attain at the first trial's page.

''I have one too as well. An Elemental mana light."

"...!"

The moment I opened the box, Kim Kangin's eyes widened.

His expression shows that he's more than just being astonished.

It's an expression of not being able to believe one's eyes.

"It's been... Perfectly... Refined? How... No, who..."

I spoke out whilst enjoying Kim Kangin's reaction.

"How is it? Do you still have no interest in my words?"