## Chapter 17 – 17. Reunion
#17. Reunion
A brilliant mind, handsome looks, a father who was a prosecutor-turned-congressman, and a mother from a family that had amassed enormous wealth based on vast real estate holdings.
He had grown up wanting for nothing.
From the moment he entered elementary school, all the kids in his class were desperate to befriend him, likely due to the influence of parents who had heard rumors about him.
It was the same in middle and high school; even the teachers from middle school onward were obsequious towards him. Whenever he got into a fight, the teachers would unconditionally side with him.
Even if he unilaterally bullied or assaulted someone, the teachers would collectively hush up the incident and cautiously inquire about his parents’ well-being.
He didn’t remember the details well, but he thought he had laughed back then.
Could life really be this easy?
As long as he put in the effort to maintain decent grades, he didn’t have to do anything else.
Friends? Romance?
His surroundings were always filled with idiots desperate to win his favor.
The girls were just empty-headed types who were easily swayed by his looks and money, readily spreading their legs.
The school bullies who swaggered around? He framed them, left evidence, and sent them all to juvenile detention or blackmailed them into doing his bidding.
When he was bored, he would pick on some loser in the class and play with him.
It started with a rumor that the loser liked the girlfriend of one of the school bullies, and then he secretly stole the girls’ gym uniforms and put them in the loser’s locker.
During the search for the culprit, when the lockers of the boys in the class were opened and a pile of gym uniforms was found in the loser’s locker, his joy reached its peak.
The sight of him crying and shouting that it wasn’t him was truly, he was almost sorry that he couldn’t laugh openly.
However, the disappointment he felt when he heard that the loser had dropped out was indescribable. It was annoying when a toy he was playing with broke, but it was absurd that it ran away on its own.
Still, finding a new toy wasn’t that difficult.
And it was the same in college.
In the department he had entered with the intention of just messing around with airheaded girls, there were a few guys who didn’t know their place.
He heard that there weren’t any guys among the freshmen last year, so why was this happening only when he came?
So this time, he didn’t just play with them, but he set up a situation where they would break on their own and disappear.
Just like he did in high school, he looked for someone who was suitably loser-like and wouldn’t squirm when stepped on.
And while gradually excluding him from the group, he talked about him when he was with the other guys. He smells, his taste in women is too dirty, he saw him looking at strange women’s pictures and laughing the other day when he looked at his phone. Of course, it was all made up, but what did he care?
Originally, what’s important to people isn’t the truth.
What’s most important is what seems plausible.
Guys are just as empty-headed.
They act like dogs, volunteering themselves as subordinates just because he paid for a few meals and drinks that weren’t even worth much.
Around the time when most of the freshmen guys were wagging their tails at him, desperately hoping that they wouldn’t be the target of bullying, a guy who was subtly annoying appeared.
Kang Hyun-woo, a classmate in his department, was tall and lanky, but his face was ordinary. No, he had a rather fierce look when he frowned.
In fact, he didn’t intend to mess with Kang Hyun-woo from the beginning.
It wasn’t that he had a bad first impression, and he thought that if he took him around, it would be good for giving off a sense of intimidation, so he was just going to use him.
But he kept doing things that he didn’t like, such as constantly looking at him with disapproval and not attending the drinking parties that he was paying for, so he decided to make an example of him.
He didn’t care who that bastard liked, but one of the losers who had gone to a drinking party that he wasn’t at told him the girl that Kang Hyun-woo liked.
At that moment, a plan came to mind, and the result was a success.
The guy’s distorted face that he showed at the MT was so funny that it still made him laugh.
But he got hit by that kind of guy.
Who?
Him?
Bang!
The flowerpot hit the wall, and its fragments scattered everywhere.
“Fucking hell!!”
Jeon Hye-sung vented his anger by smashing and throwing household items one by one with a golf club in uncontrollable rage.
“That orphan bastard…!!! How dare he, how dare he…!!!”
Clench-
A voice full of anger flowing from beyond his neck, which was strained with blood, echoed throughout the house.
No matter how much he smashed, he couldn’t relieve his anger.
“…Kang Hyun-woo.”
A strange madness could even be seen in Jeon Hye-sung’s eyes as he stared somewhere with a chilling gaze.
For Jeon Hye-sung, who had always stood above others, what happened today was a fatal humiliation that he could neither forget nor tolerate.
“Just you wait, starting next semester, I’m going to torment you until you drop out.”
First, he would scout a suitable freshman girl and create a situation where Kang Hyun-woo was alone with her.
After that, if he succeeded in leaving Kang Hyun-woo’s fingerprints on the girl’s body by any means, he could report him for sexual assault as is.
What kind of country is this?
It’s a country where the victim’s tears are evidence. Fingerprints left on a woman’s clothes and the victim’s tears are enough evidence to make a sufficient guilty verdict.
With that, dropping out was impossible, and expulsion was possible.
Of course, it didn’t matter if he was released due to insufficient evidence. What about false accusation? That was something that the girl would take care of, and it had nothing to do with him.
Even if Kang Hyun-woo, that bastard, safely returned to school, it would already be after the rumor that he was a sexual assaulter had spread throughout the school.
He wouldn’t be able to continue attending school in that situation.
Thinking about that time, his shitty mood seemed to be relieved a little.
“Who should I call today.”
He looked through the DM filled with numerous contacts and contacted a junior he hadn’t eaten yet.
Around this time, women are really easy to get over with just a few pictures of expensive hotels, so much so that you wonder if it’s okay to do this.
To him, women were just toys that were perfect for playing with.
Jeon Hye-sung had no doubt that it would continue to be so in the future.
Foolishly.
Bang bang!
“What the fuck?”
Jeon Hye-sung reflexively frowned at the sound of someone banging on the front door as if they were going to break it down.
Did they come to complain that it was too noisy because he smashed things earlier?
‘Ha, there are so many bastards who don’t know their place.’
He would either persuade them to leave, or just beat them up with a golf club and send them away.
If they were the type who understood what he was saying, he could choose the former, but if not.
‘Chief, you’re going to have a hard time today.’
He would just quietly give them some settlement money as usual.
But unlike those optimistic thoughts, things far exceeded Jeon Hye-sung’s expectations.
Creak-
“What bastard is knocking on someone else’s door…”
Pow!
“Kkeuaack!!”
Jeon Hye-sung rolled around the shoe cabinet in a pathetic manner at the fist that was slammed into his face as soon as he opened the door.
“You, what the hell are you… Father…?!”
The culprit who had punched him was not the crazy neighbor who he thought was eager to eat prison food, but his father, who he feared the most.
“Jeon Hye-sung!!”
Congressman Jeon Jin-muk, who burst into the door with a flushed face, was making a more ferocious expression than ever before.
At that sight, Jeon Hye-sung could only caress his reddened cheeks like a blushing teenager, and there was nothing more he could do.
“What kind of dog shit are you doing outside?!!”
“Yes, yes…? What are you talking about…”
He could only clench his teeth, considering it fortunate that his father didn’t have a golf club in his hand.
Slap! Slap!
“Because of you! Things have gone to shit! Like that!!”
“Keok, keueok, eoeok…!!”
Jeon Jin-muk slapped his son’s cheeks mercilessly and familiarly.
“Do you think I give you pocket money every month, apartment deposit, and monthly rent so you can do that?!!”
While beating his son, Jeon Jin-muk recalled the contact he had received from the Magic Tower during the day.
-Ma, Magician, what are you talking about?! You’re giving up on cooperation now?!
-I’m sorry. I heard that there was an unpleasant incident between one of our magicians and your son. As you know, Congressman, it’s not our style to do things without considering the feelings of magicians belonging to the same Magic Tower. I’ve already received permission from the Tower Master.
-Yes, yes?! My son?!! That, that can’t be!
-I have nothing more to say.
-I’ll take care of it! So please reconsider… Magician?! Magician!!
It was a cooperation that he had barely concluded after sucking up to the Magic Tower for years until his asshole was sore.
Thanks to that, his re-election was almost certain, but the situation changed drastically due to the Magic Tower’s sudden notification.
At this rate, his re-election was as good as gone.
‘I can’t do this… I have to come up with a plan somehow…’
-Breaking news.
Jeon Jin-muk’s gaze turned to the sound of the TV that was on.
-Evidence of bribery, election fraud, and massive real estate speculation by former Congressman Jeon Jin-muk, who is running in this election, has been revealed, causing shock.
Ddiririri-
Ddiri-
The phone rang.
-It is believed to have originated from the maternal side of his spouse, Lee Hyun-sook, and evidence that they made a profit of several hundred billion won has been additionally revealed, causing controversy.
-The evidence is so clear that even members of the same party are raising their voices, saying that it should be strictly investigated.
Thud-
Jeon Jin-muk slumped down in his seat and couldn’t get up for a long time.
***
On the day he submitted his application for withdrawal from university, he bought a lot of food and bottled water from the convenience store and returned home.
He had told Magician Choi Young-ok, and more than anything, he would be reunited with Iris in a week.
He wanted to see her surprised face.
He sat cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes.
What’s important to him now is endless concentration.
He had to reach the deepest part of his heart, the source of the mana circle where no substance exists.
[All Knowledge Acquisition Correction Rate Regarding Basic Magic +1000%]
[Mana Sensitivity Increase +1000%]
[Mana Magnetization Speed Increase +10000%]
That was the buff he was currently receiving from the app.
Knowledge acquisition correction rate is not necessary now.
What he needed now was the mana sensitivity and magnetization speed increase buff. Thanks to this, it was no exaggeration to say that he was constantly loved by mana.
Of course, he usually prevents mana from being absorbed into his body.
Blood transfusions are also a treatment in moderation, but if they exceed a certain amount, they can cause complications.
Mana is the same. If you try to absorb mana that exceeds your capacity, your circle may collapse and you may die.
Nevertheless, he opened his whole body and absorbed the massive natural mana.
‘Keueup…’
As soon as the door opened, it felt like his blood was flowing backwards with the mana that came in, shouting, “Alright, good!”
If he lost his mind here, he was guaranteed to be at least half crippled.
In tremendous pain, he forcibly held on to his mind and guided the flow of mana.
Hands, feet, neck, legs. It doesn’t matter where the mana comes from. He makes it all flow to his heart.
Of course, accepting all of this mana was the same as committing suicide.
He filters out some of it just before it reaches his heart.
If he were a magician who had reached the realm, he wouldn’t have to go through this troublesome process. He could have filtered it out in advance at the point when mana was absorbed into his body.
But unfortunately, he is inexperienced.
So he just uses his survival instinct to filter it out near his heart, one of the most important vital points in his body.
‘Hey, if you don’t want to die, filter out the mana on your own?’
‘…What kind of crazy guy is this? This is your body!’
‘Do I care?’
He compresses the mana that he has collected by filtering and filtering like that.
As if pressing a car with a press to make a thin steel plate 1 cm thick.
He knows. That it’s crazy.
That’s how difficult it is to increase the mana circle.
A normal magician wouldn’t be doing this.
The process of increasing the realm of ordinary magicians that he heard from Iris was that the mana accumulated in the body for many years would replace the role of the press with an enlightenment gained at some point.
On the other hand, what about him?
There is no enlightenment. He is just forcibly compressing it with a technique to handle mana.
Of course, this was a shortcut, and it was probably a method that would not work as the realm increased.
There was no need to talk about the risk of losing his life.
Nevertheless, the only reason he was pushing ahead was.
‘…It’s doable.’
The mana compressed to the limit takes the form of an infinitely rotating ring.
And it takes its place in the heart where the magicians’ mana circles gather.
“Hoo…”
When he opened his eyes again, it was a week later.
Tsk, he said he would make it in three days, but this means he lied.
As expected, his phone was filled with numerous missed calls from Choi Young-ok.
He felt sorry, but his priority now was not her.
[Name: Iris Lemeria Bayart Pelledia
Age: 524 years old
Race: High Elf
Affiliation: EB-17
Occupation: Archmage
Disposition: Benevolent Ruler, Non-killing, Devotion, Vegetarianism······]
[Would you like to re-match?]
[Y/N]
“Of course.”
It was really a week that passed in the blink of an eye, but he missed Iris.
“…Ah, wait a minute.”
He hurriedly remembered something he needed to prepare before going to see Iris, so he went here and there right away.
Was it because his whole body was overflowing with mana as he became a 2-circle magician? The speed at which he ran seemed to be 30 km/h. And he wasn’t even running at full power.
Who said magicians were rear-line jobs?
Anyway, after finishing his errands, he returned home, stuffed them into his inventory, and turned on the app again.
[Would you like to re-match with Iris Lemeria Bayart Pelledia?]
[Y/N]
[Y]
As soon as he accepted, a pure white ray of light wrapped around him like last time.
He closed his eyes, felt the flow of air change, and opened his eyes again.
“In, instead, next time, I’ll go a, all the way…!”
Iris, who was red as if she was about to explode, was standing there.
“Ms. Iris.”
“I’ll do it…!! Huh? H, Hyun-woo?”
Iris, who was speaking with her eyes tightly closed as if she was talking to herself, raised her head in surprise at the sound of his voice that she heard right in front of her.
Did she think he wouldn’t hear her?
In front of Iris, who was stuttering, he opened his inventory.
And he took out the magical red box he had purchased from the convenience store before coming here.
“I’m back, so we’re going all the way this time, right?”
It was a condom made of magical engineering with a thickness of 0.001mm.