Chapter 144
Chapter 144. Missing
In the dice’s training session for Yoon Do-ha’s spirit education.
While both his spirit Mumu and Yoo Ji-han’s spirit Sylph were summoned.
Yoon Do-ha watched Yoo Ji-han, who was concentrating with his eyes closed.
Shaa—!
A green aura flickered above the sword held in Yoo Ji-han’s right hand.
In his left hand, three Wind Arrows, a basic magic, floated in the air.
It was a process similar to a mage’s multi-casting.
However, the actions Yoo Ji-han displayed were even more challenging to pull off.
‘Have I taught him too well?’
Through repeated training, Yoo Ji-han showed signs of gradual progress every day.
Ever since revealing his identity as a spirit master to the world, keeping Sylph summoned for extended periods gave him tangible benefits.
Thanks to recently learning various magics, his battle options had expanded significantly.
“Stop!”
“Phew…!”
Yoo Ji-han withdrew the aura and magic he had maintained for several minutes.
Just then, Sylph, who had been rolling around beside Mumu, slowly flew in front of him to catch his breath.
“Hm…”
Even at the moment of lending her power to her contractor, Sylph appeared remarkably relaxed.
Yoon Do-ha cast a questioning gaze at the green orb.
It was rare for a spirit to be so relaxed while its master was intensely focused and consuming a large amount of magic.
‘Well, I guess it’s just a personality difference.’
Just like when she merrily devoured magic crystals.
Yoon Do-ha regarded Sylph as having an unusual character.
“Ji-han. You should try to relax your body a bit when using magic.”
“Understood.”
“Besides that, you seem much more stable than before.”
The volatile magic of spirits.
Yoo Ji-han was becoming adept at holding onto it for longer periods.
Watching him sheathe his sword, Yoon Do-ha spoke.
“And from tomorrow, I think I’ll need to pause our training for a bit.”
“Something busy has come up?”
“Yeah, because of the IUPC.”
Yoo Ji-han’s eyes twitched at the mention of IUPC.
He was already aware that among the guilds in Korea, Dice had openly opposed the IUPC.
But for Yoon Do-ha to be taking action personally…
“Are you planning to go fight them?”
“Pfft, fight? I’m just planning to erase them from Korea.”
Yoon Do-ha casually threw out a line that could sound quite intimidating depending on the listener.
“Remember those guys who ambushed you? They have connections with the IUPC.”
“Well, they sure do hang out with their own kind.”
“The recent upheaval was partly due to that. The thanks I just expressed to you was because of it.”
“……”
To think that the incident in which he got attacked led to the expulsion of the IUPC.
Yoo Ji-han felt a complex mix of emotions inside.
“I detected their movements in the provinces, so I’ll head down there. It shouldn’t take long—maybe about four days at most.”
“Have a safe trip.”
“I’ll definitely be safe. They won’t be, though… And Ji-han!”
“Yes?”
Yoon Do-ha narrowed his eyes while looking at Yoo Ji-han.
Perhaps because they had been seeing each other frequently lately.
Or maybe because he wanted to see the junior spirit master he taught in action.
He wanted to take him along for this mission.
‘Maybe it’s too much to ask.’
Given that Yoo Ji-han was an esteemed hero, what did ranks even matter?
However, if a physical confrontation were to occur, the Hero Department would strongly demand at least Rank 2 heroes to accompany him.
If he were to bring along party leader Yoo Ji-han, naturally, he’d have to bring his party members along too, which felt like a stretch.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s an invitation to the spirit master gathering I mentioned last time.”
Yoon Do-ha handed him a black piece of paper the size of a business card.
“It reveals hidden words when infused with magic. Soon, spirit masters in Korea will be gathering, so if you’re interested, come to the designated place on the date written on that paper.”
“Got it.”
“People seem curious about you.”
A rare opportunity where all 21 spirit masters existing in Korea would be gathered.
It was an uncommon chance to see various spirits in one place.
*
The gathered Yoo Ji-han party rode in Min Yu-ri’s car to a hero academy.
This was the academy attended by a prospective hero, Fran Fager, who they had briefly encountered before, a dwarf from Sky Shelter.
As they drove through the grand entrance of the hero academy, Kim Si-hu spoke in an oddly excited tone.
“I never thought I’d be invited to the hero academy.”
“Right? I feel similarly.”
Sometimes the hero academy would invite current active heroes as temporary instructors to motivate the students.
The reason the currently active Yoo Ji-han party was at the hero academy was that they’d become temporary instructors for a day at the request of Fran Fager and the academy he attended.
“When I was a student, I looked up to the invited heroes so much…”
“Now we’ve become those people.”
Immediately after rising to Rank 3, the Yoo Ji-han party was now a hot topic.
They had been receiving love calls from all over recently.
Unless they could use some kind of clone technique, it was impossible to meet all the requests with just one body.
“Here, over here!”
Upon arriving at the academy, they met Fran Fager, who had been waiting in the parking lot.
With his stocky dwarf stature, his jumping waves were almost cute.
As Kim Si-hu approached him, he said, “Fran, how have you been?”
“Very well! Thank you for taking the time to visit us despite your busy schedule!”
“Thank you for inviting us.”
“Here’s your access pass!”
The Yoo Ji-han party, each donning their temporary instructor badges, followed Fran deeper into the academy.
They met with other temporary instructors for casual introductions, and soon it was time for class, where they observed the morning class Fran was part of.
“Alright, alright! Our seniors are watching, so let’s focus and proceed with the lesson!”
Under the lead of the main instructor, the class was held outdoors.
“Wow……!”
“Cool!”
Most of the students’ gazes were directed towards Chilla, who entered the class.
Especially the female students couldn’t concentrate on the lesson as they were completely captivated by Chilla.
“Chirp!”
Chilla, responding to the surrounding attention, arrogantly lifted his head.
He looked exceptionally pleased today.
Seeing this, Min Yu-ri playfully poked Chilla’s side out of embarrassment.
Meanwhile, amidst the lesson, whispers about the Yoo Ji-han party could be heard.
“My brother told me that heroes famous from movies all have their skills exaggerated.”
“Are these guys the same?”
“Well, probably.”
The students whispered about the heroes who gained fame through hero movies.
Their voices were low enough not to carry much, but the instructors present could hear it all.
The main instructor, conducting the magic class, turned to the Yoo Ji-han party and asked, “Would you mind demonstrating something?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
At the request for a demonstration, Kim Si-hu stepped forward, pulling out his wand.
Then, pointing to a student, he said, “Hey there, can you help me for a moment?”
“……!”
The designated student was the boy who had just said Yoo Ji-han’s party was exaggerated in skill.
Nervously approaching Kim Si-hu’s side after a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “What’s your name?”
“I’m Lee Jin-seop.”
“Jin-seop. You seem like a mage; have you ever made a magic top?”
“I’m really good at that.”
“Perfect timing. Let’s try it out together.”
The magic top.
It was one of the games enjoyed by mages, especially young students familiar with magic.
It was also a useful exercise for practicing magic control.
Wiiing—!
Soon, two quarter-sized orbs of magic floated into the air, spinning wildly.
One was Kim Si-hu’s, and the other was Lee Jin-seop’s.
The rule was that whichever of the two tops fell to the ground or broke would lose.
“I’ll just stand still, so feel free to attack me.”
“Really?”
Lee Jin-seop’s eyes widened at Kim Si-hu’s statement.
Since the attacking party had a considerable advantage in the structure of the magic top.
‘Acting all big just because he’s a senior!’
The two tops looked identical from the outside.
The rapidly spinning magic top of Lee Jin-seop charged fiercely towards Kim Si-hu’s top with the intent to smash the arrogant senior hero’s pride.
Bang!
However, when Lee Jin-seop’s magic top collided with Kim Si-hu’s, it instantly burst apart.
The defeat was so dramatic that it failed to maintain even the slightest shape of magic.
“Geh!”
“Did you see that?”
“Wow, amazing!”
The result was shocking not just to Lee Jin-seop but also to the onlooking students!
Kim Si-hu, the one who caused that result, said somewhat regretfully, “Not bad for a student.”
“……”
“However, there were about five points where Jin-seop’s top fell short.”
“Five points…?”
“No, I’ll change that to seven.”
Following that, Kim Si-hu continued advising on magic control.
The students were frantically taking notes on the tips that weren’t found in any textbook.
“We’re moving to the sparring arena!”
Following over an hour of the magic class was the sparring class.
As temporary instructors, Yoo Ji-han took the role of sparring partners alongside the ranged dealer Min Yu-ri.
“You should form a two-person party like the instructors…”
“Nope, students can come out without restrictions.”
Yoo Ji-han stated that there was no limit on the number of students forming a party.
Thanks to this, students stepping up for sparring sometimes came in groups of four to seven.
The main instructor worried that Yoo Ji-han might be taking on too much.
“Cough!”
“Aack!”
The duo of Yoo Ji-han and Min Yu-ri, composed of just two members instead of a full party, easily overwhelmed the inexperienced students.
“Graah!”
“I can’t land an attack!”
No matter how hard they tried, every attack was either dodged or blocked by Yoo Ji-han.
Although he was known as a spirit master, his movements were dazzling without any special skills.
Even the main instructor, a Rank 3 hero, was left in awe at his actions.
“You’re the tanker! Try blocking some arrows!”
“Oh come on! There’s just too many!”
From the rear, Min Yu-ri rained magic arrows down like a storm.
While some students attempted to surprise her, she calmly responded in close combat and shot arrows right in their faces.
Thanks to Yoo Ji-han teaching her how to respond in close combat during training sessions.
“Chirp…”
Chilla, who was sitting far away with Kim Si-hu, seemed regretful for not having a chance to participate.
“Really, they are on another level.”
“There’s no exaggeration in that movie at all.”
“My brother is also a Rank 3, but why does it feel like there’s such a gap…?”
The students who had lost to Yoo Ji-han’s party gradually began to grasp their true level.
They were realizing that the heroes had skills equal to their fame.
*
The teenage guilds that detected IUPC’s movements sprang into action.
Under Yoon Do-ha’s will, all the Rank 1 heroes of Korea were about to gather in one place, but…
Additional discoveries of movements from the organization in various regions led them to pair up and spread out.
Boom! Bam! K-Whaam!
In front of IUPC’s secret base, countless monsters blocked the entrance.
Most were confirmed to be 3rd and 2nd Grade mutations, and their attacks were quite threatening.
However, with just the intervention of Yoon Do-ha and Baek Kang-cheon, they fell one after another.
“Do-ha! After we finish, let’s go have Gukbap in Busan?”
“There’s an amazing restaurant there.”
“I wanna go too.”
Amid the massacre of dozens of monsters happening right in front of them, the two chatted about Gukbap.
Feeling reassured by their guild leaders from Dice and the heroes of Red Hole standing at the front.
With them around, they felt they had nothing to fear, no matter who their enemies were.
[Moonlight Explosion]
K-Whaam——!
A beautifully blinding explosion of moonlight.
As many heroes were distracted by it, Baek Kang-cheon turned to Yoon Do-ha and said, “You were teaching Yoo Ji-han, right? How’s it going?”
“I wanted to bring him here if possible, but unfortunately.”
“Seems like you really liked him.”
“You were the one who went for the Cheong-Youngsa interview, right?”
“I just went to take a look. I found their party members pretty impressive.”
“Those guys are definitely worth looking forward to.”
Conversations surrounding Yoo Ji-han’s party ensued.
Soon, they entered a passageway leading underground.
“Here we are.”
Upon reaching the end of the deep and spacious passage, they found a massive iron cage.
It seemed like a space used for the storage of monsters.
To prove that, a smell combining the excrement of monsters and something unidentifiable wafted through the air.
“They’re all those drugs.”
On the ground were small syringes scattered about.
They were all presumed to be items used to mutate monsters.
“Let’s go further inside…”
However, just as they were about to start their exploration in the basement.
Both Yoon Do-ha and Baek Kang-cheon turned their heads simultaneously upon sensing something behind them.
“Yoh-ho-ho! Nice to meet you.”
A man in a red top hat suddenly greeted them.
Instead of responding to him, Yoon Do-ha quickly scanned the surroundings.
‘Where is this place?’
The space where Yoon Do-ha, Baek Kang-cheon, and the suspicious man stood was entirely different from the basement they had just been in.
A square cube-shaped room with not even a small exit in sight.
The hundreds of guild members were all nowhere to be found.
Yoon Do-ha arrived at a conclusion in his mind.
‘Teleportation.’
It could not have been an illusion, and the movement to a completely different space could only be described that way.
However, long-range teleportation magic greater than 2m was mysterious magic still in the research stage.
Something that was deemed impossible in the world occurred in an instant so fast that even the two Rank 1 heroes failed to recognize it.
In the midst of this unexpected situation, while Yoon Do-ha and Baek Kang-cheon were silently glaring at the man.
Baek Kang-cheon spoke first.
“You are… not a human from Earth, are you?”
“Oh? You recognize me.”
“The properties of magic possessed by humans from Earth are so radically different.”
“Yoh-ho-ho! Just as I heard in rumors, you’re quite impressive.”
The man with the peculiar laughter seemed genuinely impressed.
Then, Yoon Do-ha, concentrating on everything felt beneath his feet, said, “You seem pretty calm. How exactly did you abduct us?”
“There are many methods.”
“And what’s your relation with the IUPC?”
“Do you think I would answer that?”
“If you want to live, you’ll have to. Or can you handle us by yourself?”
“Of course, I can’t!”
“……?”
At that cryptic response, as Yoon Do-ha narrowed his eyes.
The man in the top hat broke into a broad smile and clapped his hands.
Clap!
Thus, on the day the teenage guilds attacked the IUPC.
All Rank 1 heroes existing in Korea went missing.
