“What?”
“As you know, I am a member of the Unix Group.”
Yeah, I was wondering when that would come up.
Unix is one of South Korea’s leading conglomerates. Not only is it dominant in Korea, but its global presence is solid as well.
True to its reputation as a master of business expansion, it recently ventured into the hunter market and now owns the second-largest hunter guild in Korea.
And Jung Seo-jin is the third son of the Unix Group’s chairman.
“What do you think will happen if Unix learns about the existence of the potion? They’ll stop at nothing to take control of a new power.”
“I know.”
“Knowing that, I’m curious why you approached me.”
“You’re a member of Unix, but…”
I took a sip of coffee and continued.
“Aren’t you the one who hates Unix’s methods the most? Am I wrong?”
“…….”
“I did my research. The succession battle seems pretty intense.”
Currently, the strongest contender for the Unix Group’s succession is the eldest son. Beneath him, the second son and eldest daughter are in a tight competition.
Although Jung Seo-jin, born much later than his siblings, had the highest level of talent among them, he was unable to rise due to the intense suppression from his already-established siblings.
At one point, he leveraged his expertise to acquire a small IT company and successfully expanded it.
However, in the end, it was absorbed into a subsidiary run by his older sister, and in exchange, he was handed a small bakery factory.
Before he could even recover from the shock of being demoted from a successful startup CEO to a bakery owner, that factory, too, was quickly shut down due to various obstructions and regulations.
He was like a modern-day Joseon-era prince.
When one sibling was designated as the crown prince, the others had to either play the drunkard or seek refuge in religion just to survive.
Jung Seo-jin, too, had no choice but to keep his ambitions and claws hidden, pretending to have no interest in power.
But deep down, he must have been boiling with resentment.
“I’ll be blunt.”
I clasped my hands together and spoke.
“The reason everything you build gets taken from you is because you relied on Unix’s capital and borrowed Unix’s name.”
Unix isn’t your wings—it’s your shackles.
“Even if you handed this mage tower over to Unix entirely, nothing would change.”
In the end, as long as you remain in Unix, any effort you make will only serve to fatten your siblings’ pockets.
“…….”
After a long silence, Jung Seo-jin finally let out a sigh-like response.
“I won’t deny it.”
“So this time, exclude Unix’s help and try using only your own abilities.”
I met Jung Seo-jin’s gaze.
“The mage tower has the potential to stand against Unix. Right now, only the first floor is open, but even with just potions, it can send shockwaves through the world. Every time another floor opens, you’ll gain access to an entirely new level of magical technology.
If you can’t have Unix, then just surpass it.”
“……But they still have overwhelming capital and control Korea’s second-largest hunter guild. That means they have both financial power and military strength in this country.”
“The hunter guild? Hmm, eventually, I could take care of that myself.”
Jung Seo-jin let out a smirk.
“That’s some serious bluffing.”
“After seeing magic and these potions, do you still think I’m bluffing?”
I shook the potion bottle in front of him as I spoke.
Jung Seo-jin fell silent, lost in thought.
Then, after a moment—
“Alright. What exactly do you want me to do?”
“For now, take full charge of distributing and selling the potions in the mage tower. I’m giving you complete authority over it.”
“That’s not difficult, but what about potion production?”
“I’m planning to hire people for that separately. By the time you’ve set up distribution, I’ll have everything ready. I already have my eye on some people in the academy.”
Jung Seo-jin ran a hand through his hair and slowly nodded.
“Then I’ll do it.”
With that, he pulled out a contract from his bag.
“This kind of thing needs to be official.”
“…You suddenly seem motivated.”
“I won’t deny it.”
Jung Seo-jin quickly filled in the contract and handed it to me. As I read through it, my expression twisted.
“…Hey, an annual salary of one billion won is too much, don’t you think?”
“I already cut it down. Do you know how much my consulting is worth? Since I’m handling this exclusively, this is only fair.”
He grinned and added,
“And since this is a startup, I factored in that I won’t be getting paid right away. When we renew the contract, I’ll be demanding several times more.”
“You crazy bastard.”
Still, he was undeniably competent.
Once I recruited him, he would probably make hundreds of times his own salary with ease.
I signed the contract and stamped it.
“Then I’m counting on you.”
“Likewise, Yushin hyung. No, Tower Master.”
“You’re calling me that too?”
“Should I call you CEO instead?”
“…That’s even worse. Call me whatever you want.”
We shook hands and stood up.
“So, what’s your first move?”
“I’d like to check how many potion ingredients are in storage.”
“Almost none. We’ll have to acquire them on-site.”
“Then the first step will be outsourcing to distribution companies and gathering monster byproducts.”
Right from the start, everything was falling into place smoothly.
I knew I could trust him.
“I’ll leave it to you. Oh, and just to be sure… You won’t be using Unix’s capital, right?”
“I won’t.”
Jung Seo-jin’s face hardened with determination.
“I’ll build the mage tower with my own strength alone.”
“Good. That’s all I needed to hear.”
“By the way, if you’re delegating everything to me, what are you planning to do, Tower Master?”
I smirked and pointed upstairs.
“Office expansion.”
Cube Reattempt, Round 4
Wooong, wooong.
The mana arrows flew at me relentlessly.
But by now, I could dodge them with just a slight tilt of my head.
One downside was that my stats weren’t skyrocketing like before—maybe I had hit a growth limit, or maybe I had just gotten too used to the combat for it to be a true life-or-death struggle anymore.
‘It’s about time to graduate from here.’
Whatever the case, I decided to give my all to clearing the cube this time.
I had accumulated plenty of experience through trial and error.
Dodging arrows, I summoned a magic circle for my gauntlet, keeping it ready to equip at any moment to block or deflect incoming mana arrows.
My agility had increased, sharpening my reflexes. Once I caught sight of a projectile, reacting to it was no longer difficult.
With this method, I breezed through the early stages.
Wooong, wooong. Wooong, wooong.
Now came the mid-stage.
I checked the tile positions and calculated the timing of the projectiles.
A set of two mana arrows fired in delayed attacks.
The timing was tight—blocking the first wasn’t too hard, but the rapid succession of the second and third could be overwhelming.
The solution? Simpler than expected.
I just had to preemptively deploy a shield for the second attack.
For the first arrow, I deflected it with my gauntlet.
For the second arrow, my pre-set shield automatically blocked it.
And as soon as I heard the impact sound, I threw myself out of the range of the third attack.
Just by changing the blocking order, I had yet to be hit even once.
BZZT!
Now came the real challenge—the bright red flash signaling the final phase.
The crimson lightning had a long casting time, but shields were useless against it, and its speed exceeded human reaction time.
Both my second and third attempts had ended here.
But now, I knew what to do.
<Mana Arrow>
The rule of this trial is that only the three basic spells can be used.
And inside the cube, I had only used Shield and Gauntlet—I had never once used the offensive spell, Mana Arrow.
So then, where should I use Mana Arrow?
Thinking about that led me to the answer.
‘There!’
I sent a Mana Arrow flying toward the tile flickering with a red glow. It passed through the blue barrier and struck the target precisely.
Boom!
As the attack landed, the flickering red light extinguished.
‘…As expected!’
Defense alone wasn’t everything. Disrupting the opponent’s attacks with my own was also an element being tested in this trial.
Kiing! Kiing! Kiing! Kiing!
As if to celebrate my breakthrough, red lights flared simultaneously in four directions. Among them, green Mana Arrows were also mixed in.
‘This difficulty curve is ridiculous!’
But the harder it got, the more I burned with determination. Because I knew overcoming this ordeal would lead to further growth.
20 seconds until the red lightning strike.
Don’t let the lightning intimidate me—calmly block the incoming arrows first.
Then, fire Mana Arrows in the order the red tiles light up.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
All four red tiles fell silent.
[Mana Arrow magic circle proficiency has reached 70%.]
[Magic power increased by 1.]
[Intelligence increased by 1.]
‘Nice!’
I clenched my fist in triumph.
As I smoothly adapted to the combination of Mana Arrows and red lightning, the cube presented yet another trial.
Gurgle, gurgle.
This time, mud walls began rising from the ground.
For a moment, I thought it was generously providing cover—but then, a Mana Arrow fired from a tile passed through the mud wall like a ghost and grazed my shoulder.
‘Ugh, that stings. Of course, it’s not actual cover!’
The walls rising from the ground further shrank the already narrow cube, restricting my movement.
I tried firing a Mana Arrow at the wall, and cracks formed as the surface split apart.
Ah.
I immediately understood. Instead of using Mana Arrow, I punched the wall with my Gauntlet-clad right hand. The mud wall shattered into pieces with a single strike.
So it had to be broken with physical attacks. Easy.
After effortlessly overcoming the mud walls, the trial transitioned into a cycle of three types of attacks.
Block incoming arrows with Shield.
Disrupt lightning attacks with Mana Arrows.
Break walls with Gauntlet.
Repeating this pattern endlessly, I entered a daze-like state while casting spells.
At this point, my body automatically deployed Shield magic circles the moment I saw green.
[1 minute remaining.]
Just a little longer.
But just as I was about to embrace the hope of finishing—
Woooooooooooong!
An overwhelming surge of light erupted from all directions.
Not just green, but a flood of red as well.
Meanwhile, mud walls began creeping up from the ground again.
What is this, a damn gift set of challenges?
Almost every tile was flickering with light. There were too many to track with my eyes alone—this level of difficulty practically screamed at me to give up.
Continuing as before would lead to failure.
The cube was demanding a new level of mastery from me.
I closed my eyes.
Focus.
More.
Even more!
Instead of tracking my surroundings, I abandoned external perception and focused entirely on the flow of mana within my body.
As my mind emptied, my senses reached their peak.
Only then did I open my half-lidded eyes.
Countless green lights filled my vision.
A human only has two arms—it was impossible to block all of them one by one.
Then, a thought struck me.
Do I even need to use my hands to draw each magic circle?
‘…….’
Slowly, I lowered my arms and clenched my teeth as I watched the incoming storm of Mana Arrows.
‘The entire atmosphere is my base.’
I seized control of the mana in the air.
In my mind, I envisioned the space itself as a vast canvas, then constructed multiple magic circles at once through simultaneous casting.
Srrng. Srrng. Srrng. Srrng.
Imagination became reality, and the magic circles began forming.
But the moment I tried to manifest them, an absurd amount of calculations surged into my brain like a tidal wave.
“Ughhh…!”
My mind felt like it was burning out from overload.
But if I didn’t complete this, I would die.
Driven by sheer survival instinct, I forcibly calculated through the mess of equations—but there were simply too many.
My stomach churned.
My vision blurred.
My consciousness drifted.
What the hell did I just attempt?
Drowning in a sea of formulas, on the verge of losing myself—
At that moment, my eyes caught the first completed magic circle’s formula.
Right.
Don’t overcomplicate things. Simplify.
Mana always follows a consistent pattern. Even with simultaneous casting throwing the equations into chaos, the core framework remains intact.
Recognizing this, I refocused on the formulas in my mind.
And then—I saw it.
A single connecting thread among the tangled equations.
‘This is it!’
Using that line as my anchor, I began tidying up all the calculations.
The cluttered six-digit numbers cluttering the equations were reduced, streamlined, and purified.
At last, I could see the essence of it all.
‘Now—deploy!’
I trusted my instincts for Shield placement.
Head, chest, legs, abdomen—I prepared to deploy shields simultaneously.
Mana surged like a rampaging river, and I guided its flow naturally.
Soon, intricate blue magic circles unfolded around me—just as the cube’s arrows came crashing down.
Listening to the sound of arrows bouncing off my shields, I felt a spine-chilling thrill.
Not a single arrow touched me.
[You have attained a new level of mastery by fully immersing in mana.]
[Acquired the “Remote Casting” trait.]
[“Multi-Casting” trait has reached Lv.3.]
[Magic power increased by 10.]
[Concentration increased by 5.]
Holy shit.
This is insane.
The exhilaration was so intense it made my mind go blank.
But I couldn’t relax yet—red lights still remained.
Immediately, I deployed and fired Mana Arrows.
Two.
Four.
Then six!
I neutralized all the red lightning attacks.
Even with my brain feeling like it was melting from overload, I didn’t stop.
I shattered the rising walls with my Gauntlet and remotely blocked the final arrows.
And at last—
[You have perfectly mastered the core techniques intended by the cube.]
[You have cleared the cube.]
[Magic power increased by 5.]
