After we finished talking about what had happened yesterday with Eun Hye-soo, the promised transmission of Eunwol family’s secret magic finally began.
“Follow me.”
Lee Seo-jun and I followed Eun Hye-soo to Eunwol family’s training grounds.
The training ground had the atmosphere of a martial arts dojo.
Eun Hye-soo looked around at us before she began to speak.
“What you want from Eunwol family must be the protective magic that lets you pass through the illusion barrier set behind the Mage Academy, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
At Lee Seo-jun’s reply, Eun Hye-soo nodded.
“As I said before, that barrier contains both Eunwol family’s illusion magic and the mysterious power prepared by Jin Cheonwoo. To pass through it, you must learn the ‘Eunwol Hwanjeol’ also known as Eunwol Illusion Break.”
Eunwol Illusion Break.
One of Eunwol family’s secret magics, and one of the best protective spells that can free you from illusion magic.
It was also a spell that absolutely needed to be acquired for the events ahead.
“But to fully master Eunwol Illusion Break, it generally takes about ten years. With your kind of outstanding talent, maybe five years—but even that isn’t exactly an ideal timeframe for you, is it?”
Although she was lumping me together with Lee Seo-jun, in truth, my talent didn’t even come close to his.
Lee Seo-jun might learn Eunwol Illusion Break within five years, but for me, it would take more than ten.
“But there’s no need to spend five or ten years learning it. There’s a way—dangerous, to be sure, even very dangerous—but a shortcut nonetheless.”
“A shortcut?”
At Lee Seo-jun’s question, Eun Hye-soo folded her arms.
“You can use the Eunwol family’s treasure, the very essence of our legacy—the ‘Soul Stone’.”
“…Soul Stone?”
Eun Hye-soo pulled out a small box from her robes and opened it.
Inside was a small, translucent gemstone that glowed faintly.
“This is it.”
Soul Stone.
An artifact imbued with mystery that stores ‘concepts’ or ‘mana’.
With the Soul Stone, you could easily acquire certain special ‘concepts’ stored within the gem.
Thanks to that convenience, famous noble houses or certain clans would often store their secret magics inside Soul Stones.
Of course, it also came with the downside of being easily breakable, so careful handling was essential.
“The Soul Stone can store a ‘concept’ and inject it into someone easily. But with that convenience comes the risk of mental destruction or corruption.”
This was the part I was most worried about. Mental destruction.
To gain the concept stored in a Soul Stone, one had to overcome a trial—and that was no easy feat.
The mysterious will contained in the Soul Stone would judge the person.
If the user was deemed unworthy, it would mercilessly destroy their mind, turning them into a hollow shell.
“I heard you’re heading back to Seoul tomorrow because of your school schedule. Since time is short, today we’ll focus on developing your resistance to illusions. The Soul Stone trial will begin next week.”
With that, Eun Hye-soo waved her hand through the air.
A magic circle formed beneath where Lee Seo-jun and I stood, and light burst forth from it.
“Then let’s begin building your resistance to illusion magic.”
The light from the magic circle instantly swallowed both of us.
Flash!
And then—
When I came to, I was alone, standing in total darkness.
As I stood there, thinking over what I should do, a voice echoed in my mind.
[This is a special space created by Eunwol family to enhance resistance to illusion magic. It closely resembles the Soul Stone trial, so it will be of great help.]
It was Eun Hye-soo’s voice.
Not something I heard with my ears, but more like a will echoing directly in my head.
[Just in case, don’t try to escape from the barrier. The purpose of this training is purely ‘adaptation.’ Spend half a day in there, getting used to the illusion magic.]
With that, Eun Hye-soo’s voice vanished.
“Hmph.”
I slowly looked around.
This situation had been described in the original story, so I wasn’t too surprised.
Soon, multiple illusion spells would begin to trigger within the darkness, bringing mental attacks with them.
Just then—
The darkness around me began to take on a reddish hue.
Then it slowly shifted to a yellow light, and the two colors began to blend like paint.
As I watched this unreal sight unfold, a terrifying scream pierced my ears.
—Kkkiiiiiieeek!!
“Ugh!”
The sound was enough to make my eardrums burst, and I hurriedly covered my ears.
But physical actions couldn’t stop it.
Illusion magic shakes a person’s mana and disrupts the mind. Blocking it with bodily actions is meaningless.
As I writhed in mental pain, the next attack came.
Swoosh—!
From afar, I heard the sound of something slicing through the air.
Thunk!
A massive spear impaled me right through the stomach.
“Gaaah!”
A scream burst from my mouth at the pain of torn flesh.
But this pain wasn’t real. The spear that pierced my stomach wasn’t real either.
It was all fake.
If I let myself believe any of this was real, it would all be over.
Swoosh!
This time, a spike of fire came flying toward me from somewhere.
It pierced my shoulder, burning my skin.
“Grrrah!”
[Your mental strength is adapting to illusion magic!]
[Adaptive Trait ‘Illusion Resistance (F)’ acquired.]
“…Huff!”
It had been a while since I’d obtained an adaptive trait.
Illusion Resistance.
It was only F-grade, so its effectiveness was low, but it was still much better than nothing.
Even in this chaos, I checked the details of the trait.
━━
[Illusion Resistance (F)]
Category: Trait
Description: Increases your ability to adapt to illusion magic.
[Passive Effects]
▶ Mental Strength
- Increases mana by 1
- Reduces pain from illusions by 10%
- Reduces confusion chance by 10%
━━
As the name suggested, it raised resistance to illusion magic.
It would’ve been nice if it could dispel illusions too, but that belonged to a different field entirely.
Still, having the trait made the pain much more bearable than before.
“…Whew.”
I still had about five hours left.
I had no idea how I was going to endure it.
After around six hours of enduring illusion magic training,
I returned to the real world and collapsed onto the ground.
“Huff… huff…”
[‘Illusion Magic Training’ achievement unlocked.]
[You have received 3,000 points as a reward.]
It was an experience I never wanted to go through again.
Endless mental agony. Constant fear.
Since escaping the illusion was off-limits, I could only endure and adapt—it was hell.
Of course, I did gain something from it.
The Illusion Resistance trait I gained today had risen from F to D-rank.
Thanks to that, the 10% damage reduction became 20%.
“Huff! Huff!”
Lee Seo-jun was also gasping for breath beside me, his face twisted in pain from the aftereffects of the illusion adaptation training.
I had the [Evolution and Adaptation] trait, so I managed, but he must’ve had a much harder time than I did.
“You both did well. That was a high-intensity training session from the start, but you endured it well.”
Eun Hye-soo said as she looked around at us. Then she turned her gaze to me.
“Especially you, Kim Sunwoo. I was surprised—you seemed more composed than I expected.”
“…No. I really almost died.”
“You say that, but you look relatively fine. Have you gone through similar training before?”
I shook my head.
“No. What kind of lunatic would volunteer for something like this?”
“…First time, huh? Your mental strength is impressive. That’s a real talent.”
She said that to me, then continued.
“Come to think of it, you dismantled that illusion magic quite easily two days ago too. Is support-type your specialty?”
“No. I’m manifestation-type.”
“…Manifestation?”
Eun Hye-soo looked at me in surprise. Then her eyes filled with interest.
“Have you ever considered officially joining Eunwol Family? You seem to have talent.”
“No.”
At my curt answer, Eun Hye-soo made a regretful expression. But I couldn’t help it.
I’m not talented.
“…I could personally raise you into one of the top three illusion mages in the world, you know?”
“Not interested.”
As I answered firmly, Eun Hye-soo slowly nodded.
“Can’t argue when you refuse that decisively.”
She looked at her watch and then spoke.
“Alright. It’s getting late. You may leave now. Return next Friday for the Soul Stone trial.”
“Yes, understood.”
Lee Seo-jun nodded and stood up. I stood as well.
After quickly gathering our things, we left through the front gates of the Eunwol clan.
The time was already 7 PM.
About two hours remained until my drinking appointment with Han Se-yeon.
“Then we’ll be back next Friday.”
“Yes. See you then.”
Then she turned her gaze to me.
“I want to thank you again—for curing Seol-ah’s illness.”
“…Thank you.”
Eun Seol-ah, standing beside Eun Hye-soo, gave a polite bow.
I gave a faint smile and said,
“See you next week.”
“Yes!”
So, after leaving the Eunwol family, Lee Seo-jun and I used the portal gate to return to Seoul.
Lee Seo-jun looked back at me and said,
“You’re heading straight back to the dorm, right?”
“No.”
At my response, Lee Seo-jun gave me a puzzled look.
“Huh? If not the dorm, then where?”
“I have a quick appointment with someone.”
“An appointment? At this hour?”
“Yeah.”
Lee Seo-jun stared at me with questioning eyes.
“Who are you meeting?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“…I’ve been thinking this for a while, but you sure have a lot of secrets.”
I just shrugged in response.
“Is it a girl?”
A girl? Well, technically, yes.
“Yeah.”
“…Huh?”
Lee Seo-jun’s eyes widened at my answer.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Oh? Ah, no, just didn’t expect that.”
Lee Seo-jun scratched the back of his neck.
“Kim Sunwoo. You’re quiet, but you get around, huh.”
“…What are you even saying. It’s not like that.”
“Sure it’s not.”
“…Anyway, I’m busy, so I’ll get going.”
“Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
And with that, I parted ways with Lee Seo-jun and walked down the night street.
When I checked the time, it was 7:30 PM.
There was about an hour and a half left until my appointment with Han Se-yeon.
Wondering what I should do with the remaining time, I decided to send a message asking if we could meet earlier.
[Ms. Han Se-yeon. Would it be okay to meet now?]
About ten seconds later, I received a reply.
[Now? I still have a meeting scheduled today, so I’m sorry, but could you come to the office instead?]
“…Office?”
Isn’t today Sunday?
To have meetings even on a Sunday evening—she really lives a busy life.
Well, since she deals with all sorts of people, I guess that makes sense.
There are plenty of people and mages who work on weekends.
[Alright, I’ll come to you then.]
After sending the message, I walked into an empty shopping complex with no people around.
Then I changed into Kim Jinwoo’s appearance and stepped back outside.
“Hmm.”
It feels like it’s been a while since I took on this appearance.
Feels a bit awkward for no reason.
And so I headed into the Hanseong pharmaceutical building.
Even though it was late—Sunday evening at 7—the first-floor lobby was bustling with people.
I walked up to the reception desk.
“Hello. How can I help you?”
The receptionist greeted me with a friendly smile.
“I’m here to see Director Han Se-yeon.”
The staff member stared at me for a moment before speaking.
“Um… Did you say Director Han Se-yeon? One moment, please.”
She quickly checked some documents. Then she said,
“I’m sorry, but—”
Before she could finish her sentence, I held out the card I had in my coat.
It was the emblem Han Se-yeon had given me before—a symbol of being someone from the Han family.
The receptionist’s eyes widened as she recognized it.
“…Oh? Ah! I apologize! I’ll take you up right away!”
Her attitude did a complete 180 as she began to guide me.
And just like that, I took the elevator and arrived in front of Han Se-yeon’s office.
The staff member whispered to me,
“Director Han is currently in a meeting. You can wait here for a moment.”
I nodded.
“Alright.”
I sat down in a suitable seat and waited.
I could hear voices coming from the director’s office, but they weren’t very clear.
About ten minutes passed like that.
Creak.
The door opened and someone stepped out.
Looks like the meeting was finally over.
I stood up and began walking toward the director’s office.
That’s when it happened.
“Huh?”
Right in front of the office, I ran into a familiar face.
Striking red hair. White gloves covering both hands.
“…Kim Jinwoo?”
It was Elin. She looked at me with wide, surprised eyes.
I was also a bit taken aback—I hadn’t expected to run into her here.
“What are you doing here?”
“…I came for consultation about some meds.”
“Ah.”
I nodded.
I already knew she was practically addicted to taking medicine.
“Then what about you?”
“Me? Just dropped by for a visit.”
“Is that so?”
Elin gave me a curious look. Then she looked me up and down, as if thinking deeply.
“Hmm. Still, you really do look strangely similar…”
“Similar to what?”
“Oh? Ah, nothing. Anyway, I’ll get going.”
With those words, Elin quickly vanished.
She sure has a knack for showing up suddenly and startling people.
“Alright, guess I’ll head in.”
Creak.
I opened the door to the director’s office.
As the door opened, Han Se-yeon turned to look at me from behind her desk, where she had been reviewing documents.
“Jinwoo.”
She greeted me with a warm smile, calling my name.
I smiled faintly and stepped inside, sitting across from her.
“It’s been a while.”
“It has. We’ve both been so busy, haven’t we?”
Han Se-yeon smiled brightly.
“But I thought we’d meet after nine—why did you come early?”
“I finished earlier than I thought.”
“Ah, I see.”
Han Se-yeon nodded.
“Then shall we head out now? I’m done with my work too.”
“Sure.”
With that, Han Se-yeon and I stood up.
“Ah, wait a second.”
Han Se-yeon stopped me, then stepped closer and touched my hair.
“You have some dust on you.”
“Is it gone now?”
Ring-ring!
Just then, the phone in the room started ringing.
Han Se-yeon ignored it and kept brushing at my hair.
“…Aren’t you going to answer that?”
“Quiet, please.”
At her firm words, I shut my mouth.
The phone soon stopped ringing.
“Hmm. This isn’t dust. More like powder or something—it’s hard to get off.”
Murmur murmur.
This time, I heard noise coming from outside the room.
Just as I was about to glance toward the door to see what was happening, Han Se-yeon grabbed my head again.
“Hold on. It’s still not off yet.”
Creak…
At that moment, the door to the office opened.
Still in that position, both Han Se-yeon and I turned our heads toward the entrance.
“…….”
There stood an older man in a wheelchair, accompanied by someone who looked like a secretary.
“…Huh?”
Seeing them, Han Se-yeon’s eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly pulled away from me.
I was just as shocked.
I hadn’t expected this at all.
The man looked at me with a confused expression.
“F… Father?”
The man’s identity—
He was the head of the Han family.
Chairman Han Dae-hyeon.
TL : I am thinking of adding premium chapters to keep up with my fast pace uploading. What do you guys think? If you guys don’t want that, leave a review at novel updates in the next 24 hrs—I might change my mind.
P.S. Don’t say I blackmailed you into writing the review.
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