Royal Road
Chapter 93 - Awesome Runes (1)
Chapter 93: Awesome Runes (1)
TL: SHW
No person appears in the video.
Dozens of sheets of paper with runes drawn on them are scattered across the floor. The edges of the papers slightly overlap, connecting them together. All the runes drawn on the papers are the same.
A hand suddenly appears at the bottom of the screen. It seems to be the hand of a Mage who drew the runes. The hand waves playfully at the camera before placing a finger on the rune at the very bottom.
The rune activates.
Even as it activates, there is no change in the rune on the paper. However, right above the dozens of sheets of paper, the air begins to turn hazy, emitting a faint blue light.
Mana.
A voice, whether it belongs to the Mage or the Hunter holding the camera, shouts something unintelligible. HOLLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK.
Then, the video ends with a single shout.
[AWESOME!]
“It really is awesome.”
Lee Mi-seon giggled.
Kim Chae-min squinted her eyes and replayed the video from the beginning.
“This… is that rune, right? The one that’s like an ‘Intelligence Booster’?”
“Calling it an ‘Intelligence Booster’ seems a bit much.”
“Then, what should we call it?”
Woo Hwijae answered without much thought.
“It’s an air purifier.”
“Not a mana purifier?”
“Aren’t they basically the same thing?”
The video ended. Kim Chae-min replayed it from the beginning again.
“This was uploaded yesterday morning, Korean time. Exactly 24 hours! Every overseas site is talking about this.”
“The rune?”
“The Mages have gone crazy experimenting with it. They’ve even figured out how to use resonance and amplification.”
“Well… that’s how the rune was originally meant to be used.”
Lee Mi-seon was still chuckling. Woo Hwijae watched her quietly and then spoke.
Kim Chae-min replayed the video for the third time.
“Could it be… you were waiting for this?”
“Waiting for someone to experiment with the rune? Of course. I was absolutely certain that some bored Hunter or Mage would try it out.”
“What if no one had done it?”
“Then we would have released it ourselves at an appropriate time. Obviously, without revealing our affiliation. Once the spark is lit, it’s bound to catch fire on its own.”
Meanwhile, Kim Chae-min replayed the video twice more.
“Once the Mages start coming to their senses, there will be a flood of inquiries to Daseon.”
“And when they do?”
“We’ll time it for maximum impact before revealing the next rune.”
“…The concealment rune?”
“Yes. We plan to release just one mana concealment rune.”
“Well… it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
“We’re also planning to reveal Teacher Woo’s name at that time. Is that okay?”
“…No. Let’s hold off on that for a bit. Keep using Daseon’s name.”
“Are you sure?”
“There’s the issue with my younger brother, and the Alex Hope case as well. It seems best to keep it under wraps for now.”
“Like a secret weapon or something?”
“It’s not quite that impressive….”
By this point, Kim Chae-min had replayed the video more than ten times.
Noticing something odd, Woo Hwijae and Lee Mi-seon began to slow down their conversation.
Soon, silence fell. In the meeting room, only the sound of the video Kim Chae-min had played echoed through the air.
[AWESOME!]
“…Teacher Kim?”
Woo Hwijae cautiously called out to Kim Chae-min. After one more replay, Kim Chae-min looked up at Woo Hwijae.
“Teacher Woo.”
“…Yes?”
“You can do it, can’t you?”
“…Do what?”
“This.”
Kim Chae-min pointed to the rune on the screen.
“I can draw the runes, but… Teacher Kim, you can do that too.”
“No. Not the disposable kind.”
Kim Chae-min looked at Woo Hwijae with unwavering eyes.
Woo Hwijae, uncharacteristically flustered, avoided Kim Chae-min’s gaze. Lee Mi-seon also subtly backed away.
“In one room. Keep the rune’s effect continuously maintained.”
“Well, if you draw the rune…”
“No. Not something simple like that. Make it permanent. Or, at least semi-permanent. Without needing to redraw or reactivate it each time.”
“…….”
“You can do it, right? Rune design.”
A calculating gleam appeared in Woo Hwijae’s eyes. However, he remained silent.
Kim Chae-min waited patiently. The video kept replaying on its own. “HOLLY SHIT”, the voice in the video shouted.
Finally, Woo Hwijae nodded with a resigned expression.
“You’ll do it?”
Kim Chae-min’s eyes curved into a bright smile.
“Yes!”
The voice in the video shouted, as if on cue.
Awesome!
* * *
To Kim Chae-min, Woo Hwijae was a mystery in and of himself.
Though she felt sorry for Hong Seok-young, to be honest, Kim Chae-min didn’t have much interest in the Pilot High School.
When Pilot High School was first established, people reacted with mild curiosity, mostly because Hong Seok-young was such a well-known figure. Some praised it as a good initiative, while others scoffed, calling it a waste of time.
‘Did you hear?’
‘Hear what?’
‘That school Hong Seok-young is setting up—they’re even accepting Mages, apparently.’
‘As students?’
‘Yeah!’
‘A Mage?’
‘That’s what I heard!’
‘Who’s going to teach them?’
‘Who knows? Maybe Hong Seok-young himself!’
The mages’ bar was filled with raucous laughter. Kim Chae-min sipped a cocktail garnished with a cherry as she listened to the rowdy chatter.
When was that, exactly?
It was right after she had teamed up with Hong Seok-young to take down a Minotaur in Myeong-dong.
A message notification blinked on Kim Chae-min’s phone, which was lying on the table. It was from Hong Seok-young.
[There’s something I need your help with.]
After a brief moment of consideration, Kim Chae-min picked up his phone and stood up.
‘Hey, Kim Mage! Where are you going?’
‘Going to meet Hong Seok-young.’
‘What?’
‘Why?’
‘Oh… uh…’
They’d been enthusiastically mocking the whole idea just a moment ago, but as soon as that name was mentioned, they hesitated.
Mages, honestly.
She was a Mage herself, but still. They were like that.
‘It’s fine. I’m not the type to go around spreading gossip.’
The Mage gave an awkward smile, and Kim Chae-min smiled back.
‘Would Hong Seok-young even remember a mage like you? I don’t even know who you are.’
Ultimately, the deciding factor in the Mage world was the presence or absence of unique magic. Archmage Kim Chae-min waved cheerfully.
‘For the record, I’m the one teaching them, you know? Spread that around if you like.’
And so it happened.
That was how Kim Chae-min ended up heading to Pilot High School.
She figured she could settle her debt to Hong Seok-young this way. It’s not like Hong Seok-young was expecting anything grand; she’d just teach them some basic public magic. If the students were well-behaved, she might even throw in some mana management techniques. An Archmage’s lectures—this was a pretty one-sided deal, wasn’t it?
At that time, Kim Chae-min had no intention of staying tied to Pilot High School for long. Ark was something she was helping out with for personal reasons…. She hadn’t planned on getting so involved, really.
At most, she’d intended to make a few appearances, earn some credit for helping the Pilot High kids, and assist Ark if they ever needed tracking expertise. She had absolutely no intention of becoming a full-time teacher!
And the reason she ended up like this?
It’s all because of that damn rune.
Afterward, she grew attached to the kids. They were actually quite adorable, following her around and calling her ‘teacher’.
Then, Woo Hwijae came up with an unheard-of method to determine attributes.
This time was no different.
‘So, that’s how the rune is supposed to be used?’
Then he must know how it was originally meant to be used!
She probed, and Woo Hwijae confessed easily.
The very next day, Woo Hwijae handed Kim Chae-min five or six sheets of A4 paper.
“What’s this?”
“Rune blueprints.”
“…You made this already?”
“Well, I didn’t make it, the mage I know made it.”
That Mage was as much of a mystery as Woo Hwijae himself.
Not that she was even sure if this Mage actually existed.
“Teacher Hong.”
By now, the title had become second nature as she called out to Hong Seok-young.
“What?”
The blueprint Woo Hwijae had given her was unbelievable.
He used another new rune again. Kim Chae-min wrinkled her nose.
“Do you think Teacher Woo might be a scam artist?”
“What?”
“Or maybe a once-in-a-century genius?”
“Did you eat something strange?”
“No, just….”
Kim Chae-min looked at the rune blueprint again.
One of the first runes he had taught, a support rune, wasn’t as simple as combining five runes. Instead, it used a method of layering them in sequence, stacking them up. The design even took into account how the resonance of the rune would affect the building’s structural integrity.
“Teacher Woo couldn’t possibly be a Mage… could he?”
“Teacher Kim.”
Hong Seok-young, who was eating a late lunch in the kitchen, looked at Kim Chae-min with a sympathetic expression.
“Are you going through a hard time lately? Want to take a few days off? I’d prefer if you didn’t go too far given the current circumstances, but if it’s just resting within the Hunter’s villa, that’s fine.”
“It’s not that! It’s that Teacher Woo is just too…”
“Too?”
“…knowledgeable about magic, don’t you think?”
Kim Chae-min spoke hesitantly.
Hong Seok-young put down his spoon and replied with a serious expression.
“It’s not just magic he knows well about.”
“…I only mentioned magic because I’m a Mage.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with being knowledgeable, right?”
“Isn’t it suspicious?”
“Weren’t you following him around happily before?”
“I never followed him around happily, okay?”
“You even drove him around. I’d say that counts as following.”
“How is that…!”
Kim Chae-min started to raise her voice but then took a deep breath to calm down. She couldn’t let herself get dragged into Hong Seok-young’s game.
Hong Seok-young picked up his spoon again and took a big bite of rice.
“It’s convenient, isn’t it, having someone who knows so much? He’s practically a jack-of-all-trades.”
“…And that doesn’t seem suspicious to you?”
“Not particularly.”
“Why not?”
“When you get to my age, you develop an eye for people.”
Kim Chae-min looked at Hong Seok-young skeptically. Hong Seok-young stuffed some meat into his mouth and continued speaking.
“He’ll change once he finds his brother.”
“How would you know that, Teacher Hong?”
“Because lately, Teacher Woo has been getting a bit loose-lipped.”
Kim Chae-min tilted her head, not quite understanding what Hong Seok-young meant. Hong Seok-young chuckled.
“The other night when the kids were attacked, he apparently spilled quite a bit in the early hours. Hunter Lee told me about it. I bet he was pretty flustered—he probably said more than he intended.”
“That happened? Why didn’t I know about it?”
“You’re hearing about it now.”
“Teacher Hong!”
With an indifferent look, Hong Seok-young continued his meal.
“…What exactly did Teacher Woo say?”
“It’s a bit too personal to repeat, honestly.”
“But he told you, didn’t he?”
“Of course. I’m Hong Seok-young.”
“Wow.”
Kim Chae-min let out a disbelieving laugh.
Seeing this, Hong Seok-young waved his hand dismissively.
“I have my own plans, so don’t worry.”
“I’m completely worried.”
“I told you, don’t worry.”
“…….”
Hong Seok-young’s firm tone left Kim Chae-min with nothing more to say.
Instead, she left the kitchen, grumbling as she went. She spread her mana widely to pick up on the presences within the building. The kids were gathered in the garden, Lee Seung-yeon was in his room, Lee Mi-seon and some of Daseon’s Hunters were in the study.
And near the seaside window was Woo Hwijae.
Sensing Kim Chae-min’s presence, Woo Hwijae turned his head.
“What’s the matter?”
“Huh?”
“Is there something wrong with the blueprint? I wouldn’t expect there to be.”
“No, it’s not about the blueprint….”
Kim Chae-min looked at Woo Hwijae with a long, steady gaze. Woo Hwijae, looking puzzled, remained silent.
After a moment of contemplation, Kim Chae-min broke into her usual bright smile.
“Has Ark ever used runes like this before?”
“…No. This was created by a Mage I know, so it doesn’t have much to do with Ark.”
“That Mage actually exists, right?”
“Yes. Not anymore, though.”
Ugh. That answer felt like cheating.
Still, Kim Chae-min didn’t lose her smile.
“When you find your brother, what’s the first thing you want to do?”
“…What?”
“What would you like to do with your brother?”
Woo Hwijae looked at Kim Chae-min as if he had just seen a ghost.
*****
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