Chapter 73: Power Can Be suppressed By More Power

Knock, knock, knock

Someone knocked on the door of the magic training hall.

“Who is it?”

Creak

Seo Ho-hyeok, the owner of the magic training hall, opened the door, puzzled by the late-night visitor.

A man in a neat suit, sporting an expensive-looking watch, spoke to him with a gentle face.

“Are you Mr. Seo Ho-hyeok, the owner of this training hall?”

Seo Ho-hyeok hesitated, a sense of unease washing over him.

The perceptive Lee Minhwan spoke again, his tone friendly.

“Ah, to avoid any misunderstanding, I’ve been sent from a guild. Our Guild Leader wishes to sponsor you, but they prefer to remain anonymous. Once we confirm your identity, we’ll leave the funds.”

“Th…There’s no need. I’m already receiving sufficient support.”

Flinch

Lee Minhwan, Won Yeojeong’s aide, didn’t miss that brief slip and questioned him further.

“If you’re already receiving support… is it from someone named Choi Juwon?”

“H…How did you… know…”

Thwack

Before Seo Ho-hyeok could finish his sentence, Lee Minhwan struck his neck with a swift chop, knocking him unconscious.

Thud

Seo Ho-hyeok collapsed to the ground. Lee Minhwan left him there momentarily and called Won Yeojeong.

– Guild Leader Won, target confirmed and secured. I’ll take him to the basement and extract information about Choi Juwon.

– Understood. Good work.

Click

The brief report concluded. Lee Minhwan looked down at the unconscious Seo Ho-hyeok.

Scoop

He hoisted the man over his shoulder and casually left the scene.

The next morning. The magic training hall.

Jingle

“Dad, I’m here!”

Seo Rina opened the door to the training hall and looked around.

“Dad! I said I’m here!”

No matter how much she called out, her father was nowhere to be seen.

It was strange. Her father had never been careless about locking up the training hall. But today, when Seo Rina arrived, the door was wide open.

At first, she assumed her father had simply arrived early and was cleaning inside. But he was nowhere in sight.

“Honestly, Dad… You shouldn’t leave the door open and go somewhere else…”

Grumbling, Seo Rina tidied up the training hall. Though she lived on her own now, she always stopped by her father’s training hall before work, often helping him out like this.

‘Something’s not right…’

But as she cleaned, a sense of unease washed over her.

She slowly looked around.

Scattered equipment, the disorganized state of the hall, and the open door.

Her father always meticulously cleaned up and closed the hall every evening before going home. This routine had never changed. But today, the hall was strangely disheveled, only partially cleaned, as if something had interrupted him mid-task.

Rummage

Seo Rina frantically searched through a drawer and pulled out an artifact.

It was a D-rank medical artifact.

Its function was simple: to check the health status of the person connected to it.

Seo Rina had saved up her part-time wages for a long time to buy it for her father, worried about his poor health. She had intended for him to carry it around and monitor his own health, but he always kept it tucked away in a drawer, saying it was too precious to use.

Beep
Beep

The artifact flashed red.

– Warning!
– Heart rate excessively high. Monitor breathing!

– Warning!
– Excessive blood loss detected. Apply pressure to the wound!

– Warning!
– Rapid changes in mental state detected. Avoid stress…

‘Wh…What’s going on?’

Tremble

Seo Rina stared at the artifact in her hand.

‘An accident… Did Dad have an accident?’

Seo Rina didn’t know that her father had been kidnapped. So, the most logical explanations she could think of were a car accident, a fall, or something similar.

Rumble

Seo Rina rushed outside.

‘Please… please… please…’

A mere D-rank medical artifact didn’t have a location tracking feature. Such a feature would drastically increase the price, making it far beyond what Seo Rina could afford with her part-time job.

So, she had to search. She had to run frantically and find out where her father was.

Ring… ring… ring…

Her calls went unanswered.

“Gasp… gasp…”

She ran. She searched everywhere her father frequented, from the paths he usually took to the area around his home.

Bang!

“Dad!”

She finally reached her father’s house, but he wasn’t there either.

‘Please… Dad, please…’

Seo Rina prayed. She prayed that her father was alive and unharmed. She desperately hoped that whatever had happened, it hadn’t been life-threatening.

“Gasp… gasp…”

She kept running, frantically searching and shouting.

“D…D…Dad! Where are you… Please come out!”

“Sob…”

She cried out for her father, but of course, she couldn’t find him.

“Waaaaah! Dad… please…”

Seo Rina wept. Her father, who had always taken care of her. He had worked his entire life for his family. He was a man who, even if he couldn’t have what he wanted, made sure his daughter could have everything she desired. That was Seo Ho-hyeok.

She had to repay him. Now an adult, she had resolved to repay everything her father had given her. She had promised to work hard, earn money, and let him live comfortably. She’d promised to buy him delicious meals and nice suits with her own money, not the sponsorship funds he received. But now, this disaster had struck. Her father was in danger. But she didn’t know why, or where he was.

She had been running for a long time, and it was now late evening.

Collapse

“Sob… Dad, please… where are you…”

Seo Rina collapsed on the ground, weeping.

Tremble

Her legs had given out, refusing to move. Her heart pounded frantically, close to bursting. There was nothing she could do but cry. Then…

“What? Seo Rina? What are you doing here?”

“B…Brother…?”

Choi Juwon occasionally visited the magic training hall to deliver donations, and he’d often run into Seo Rina. They were acquainted.

Seo Rina looked at Choi Juwon, her face streaked with tears.

“Brother…? Why are you here…?”

Choi Juwon responded, looking perplexed.

“This is in front of my house.”

He had stepped outside for some fresh air, his head pounding. He’d heard loud crying from a distance and come to see what was wrong.

Seo Rina looked around.

“Wh…When did I get here?”

There was a considerable distance between the magic training hall and Choi Juwon’s home. Without realizing it, Seo Rina had run frantically all over the place searching for her father, unaware that her feet were blistered and bleeding.

Choi Juwon looked at her with concern.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Seo Rina finally came to her senses and explained everything to Choi Juwon through her sobs.

“Brother… My dad is hurt… I think he’s badly injured, but I don’t know where he is… Sob…”

Confused by her words, Choi Juwon said,

“Explain clearly what happened.”

Seo Rina told him everything: the empty training hall, her father’s condition as displayed by the medical artifact, and all the details she could remember.

“…”

After listening, Choi Juwon tried to comfort her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. Stop crying and wait here.”

“Brother… Will my dad be okay? Please… I might really die if something happens to him… Please… please help me, I’m begging you… Please save my dad.”

Choi Juwon looked at her and tried to speak calmly. But he couldn’t promise to save her father. He didn’t even know Seo Ho-hyeok’s current situation.

“Just wait here.”

Whoosh

Choi Juwon quickly used magic to travel towards the magic training hall. Behind him, Seo Rina’s sobs echoed in the air.

Swoosh

Not long after, Choi Juwon arrived at the training hall.

His reason for coming here was simple. Wherever Seo Ho-hyeok had disappeared to, he must have left from the training hall. The fact that he’d vanished without properly closing up meant something had happened.

[Scholar’s Eye]
Allows for more detailed observation of objects, living beings, or mana flow.

Choi Juwon activated his unique skill.

Countless mana flows appeared around him, faint shapes beginning to form. Wherever a person walked, traces of mana remained. Choi Juwon was reconstructing the faint remnants of Seo Ho-hyeok’s mana using Scholar’s Eye.

Twitch

Something began to appear. Choi Juwon channeled more mana into his skill. The mana began to take on a human-like shape.

“Groan…”

His eyes started to become bloodshot. Finally, the clump of mana transformed into a human form visible to Choi Juwon’s eyes. The past played out like a video.

The mana wavelengths could even reconstruct sound. Of course, there were limitations.

Mana remnants had to be present and not too old.

Not many people should have passed through the area.

Fortunately, the mana wavelengths of Seo Ho-hyeok felt here were less than a day old, and there were only a few other mana signatures in the training hall.

The sound became clearer.

– Guild Leader Won, target confirmed and secured. I’ll take him to the basement and extract information about Choi Juwon.

After hearing the voice, Choi Juwon stared blankly at the ceiling.

“Ah… Won Yeojeong…”

“Haha…”

Choi Juwon began to laugh maniacally, as if he’d lost his mind.

“That f
b*tch…”

The people Choi Juwon supported were those struggling in poverty or unfortunate circumstances. They were people who clung to their will to live, lived passionately, and even in their hardships, spoke of helping others. Good people. Choi Juwon cherished them. But Won Yeojeong, the Daepeld Guild Leader, had harmed Seo Ho-hyeok, one of them.

‘I’m going to kill them all.’

He wouldn’t hold back any longer. He had overlooked Won Yeojeong and the Daepeld Guild, fearing the situation might escalate, thinking the incidents that had already occurred were enough. But not anymore. It was time to make an example.

Grind

But Choi Juwon didn’t know where they had gone. Scholar’s Eye wasn’t omnipotent. It couldn’t track someone who might have fled tens or even hundreds of kilometers away.

Ring… ring…

So, Choi Juwon made a call. He reached out to his most powerful connection, a man whose authority likely extended to knowing the hidden locations of guilds.

“Oh, to whom do I owe the pleasure? The Masked Instructor, is it? I heard you saved my Eunbyul again at the Black Gate. Not only my life but my daughter’s life as well… I truly don’t know how to repay this debt…”

“Hunter Association President Kang Sung-ho. I’ll get straight to the point. Could you do me a favor?”

“Yes, anything. I’ll do whatever you ask, Masked Instructor. You’re the savior of me and my daughter.”

Choi Juwon paused for a moment, then spoke.

“This is a difficult request. But it’s a necessary one.”

“It doesn’t matter. If it weren’t for you, both my daughter and I would be dead. I promise to fulfill any request within my power.”

Choi Juwon spoke in a cold voice.

“Today, I intend to erase the Daepeld Guild from existence. Can you help me?”