“Na-me is trying to form a clan? Why didn’t you stop her right away? I hope you don’t have some ridiculous reason like not wanting to be hated by your daughter?”
“Then why didn’t you refuse?”
“Well… cough cough… ahem…”
Professor Cheon and Principal Gu fell deep into serious thought.
[Here’s the Bio-Akashic registration certificate from the Japanese Magic Copyright Association and this year’s Mana tax payment certificate. Could you write a recommendation letter to submit to the High Wizard Qualification Evaluation Group for the first half of 2052?]
In the Republic of Korea, there are 50,000 people engaged in magical professions.
The number of High Wizards is about 1,500, and when considering only those actively working, it barely reaches a thousand.
Among them, around 200 are recognized as military personnel ready for immediate deployment in case of war, and they appoint and control all High Wizards in the Republic of Korea.
Thus, becoming a High Wizard holds immense significance.
It is almost a declaration of completely shedding one’s status as an ordinary person.
As their existence itself is assigned a market value, they are often the subject of scrutiny and can face more criticism than celebrities.
To make matters worse, if a clan is established, the Academy can no longer protect Na-me.
“The reason clans can’t recruit Na-me is that the Academy is stopping them. Does Na-me know all this?”
“She does.”
“Well, she wouldn’t be ignorant of that.”
Creating a clan was an expression of intent to refuse the Foundation’s priority recruitment offer and escape from the adolescent protection regulations.
“Na-me is too young to handle this. Running a company and a clan is completely different, and at least Bio-Akashic has a separate CEO.”
Principal Gu sighed deeply.
He knows she’s a child who wants to do a lot of things.
But the problem is that she tends to rush into things too hastily.
At the point she is determined, it might already be too late to try and stop her.
“Na-me has a strong sense of pride… Hmm?”
“What?”
“I was thinking that if you put her together with someone else who has a strong ego, it might delay things a bit.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Na-me will definitely want to get a recommendation from us.”
“Of course.”
“Then we can say we won’t write it unless she gets it from someone we nominate first.”
Recommendations are kind of like guarantees.
If those giving the guarantee aren’t satisfied, it’s clearly a reason to refuse.
Professor Cheon narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Who?”
“Kim Woong and Park Tae-seok. Let’s at least include these two.”
*
“Somehow, it felt too easy to get permission.”
I found myself on a train heading to Gangwon-do, enjoying the external scenery.
Renowned wizards since ancient times have been, without exception, terminal patients with suspicion.
So, when they accepted disciples, they would test them with all kinds of bizarre challenges and even cover them with all sorts of black magic to prevent them from leaking information.
I was talking about the Magic Tower.
“It’s not that I don’t understand being in the position of providing a guarantee.”
I accepted Professor Cheon and Principal Gu’s suggestion and decided to get a recommendation letter from Kim Woong and Park Tae-seok the wizards.
They seemed like people who had actively worked together as military wizards in the same era.
Kim Woong was known for donating 15 billion won to Korea University to build the Kim Woong Advanced Gymnasium.
At first glance, one might think he’s a wonderful educator, but one must not underestimate the personalities of wizards.
Especially for this individual, he’s had a long career as a theoretical wizard since after the war.
Those who seek truth are usually tilted in some way.
However, if they align with their personal standards, they might instantly become lifeless.
Keeping this point in mind, I knocked on the door of a remote villa in Gangwon-do.
“Is anyone there?”
I called out loudly, knowing he was over 60 and might have trouble hearing.
In the meantime, I nestled in a shady spot, enjoying the sounds of the cool valley waters.
Just as I was fanning my face with a straw hat, an old man emerged, leaning on a cane.
“So you’re the kid coming? It’s really hot outside, isn’t it?”
“Yes, hello. I’m NoName.”
“Ah, I’ve heard a lot about you from everywhere, heh heh. You came all the way here alone, and your father is such a jerk! Air conditioning is on in the villa, let’s go.”
Starting off by badmouthing Professor Cheon seemed to be his strategy to annoy me.
I quietly followed him without getting pulled into it.
The man was on the shorter side.
Maybe he decided to live like a natural person; his hair was unruly, and he didn’t dye it, leaving half of it white.
‘The balance is perfectly maintained. He might actually be a user of physical enhancement aura?’
However, his exposed thighs below the shorts were considerably thicker compared to an average person.
“How’s school life going?”
“Yes. I’m adapting well at the Academy.”
“Are the kids bullying you?”
“They’re all nice kids.”
When he opened the villa door, an artificial cool breeze rushed in.
He sat down at a low dining table and handed me a peach iced tea with ice.
I sat across from him, accepting the drink he offered.
“Nice to meet you, kiddo. You can call me Kim Woong. I might be like a grandfather to you, but I’m called ‘dad’ by Byeong-ho, you know?”
“Uh, well…”
“Haha! You’ve got a cute daughter! It’s just enviable!”
Kim Woong coughed a couple of times, then quickly put on the glasses resting on the table.
“Your name and age.”
“NoName, 9 years old.”
“And you want me to write a recommendation letter for you to become a High Wizard?”
“Yes.”
“Huh! Hahaha! You’re bolder than you look! Sure, I’ll write it.”
“Really?”
“I mean, didn’t you have a plan to become something? You made an A-rank magic spell, so what more qualifications do you need?”
“…”
“Now, what should I write? Ah, this will do.”
He scribbled with a brush on A4 paper.
[国士無双]
“Do you know about Mahjong?”
“I don’t know much.”
“It means an outstanding talent that is unmatched in the nation. In Mahjong, there’s a tile called ‘Kokushi Musou’. Its appearance frequency is 0.043%, so at least you need to be in this category to be called a genius. Here you go.”
He abruptly shoved the paper in front of me.
While Kim Woong smiled, his smile seemed hollow and empty.
“How can I actually get this recommendation?”
“What do you mean? Just take it already! I’ll lose my arm here!”
“You don’t really want to give it to me, do you? Not now.”
[Spell: Visualization Barrier]
I cast a simple spell to reveal the spell surrounding the recommendation.
Then, a spherical barrier that rotated around the letter appeared.
“Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose softening agent. The moment it touches my hands, this recommendation will just disappear.”
As soon as I said that, the wrinkles around his eyes which had been drawn in amusement smoothed out, and he adopted a serious expression.
“Did your dad tell you this in advance?”
“There’s no way he did.”
“Even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. You see, I wish Na-me would just enjoy this forest and valley, not walk on this thorny path.”
“Why?”
“For my own reasons, kid! Why are you asking such detailed questions to an adult?”
“Then can you at least tell me how to break this barrier? Is it that simple that I could break it instantly if I knew how to?”
“Well… If I don’t tell you, you might just annoy me, so I’ll specially tell you. It’s a kind of puzzle.”
“A puzzle?”
“Yes. It’s a puzzle with 50 overlapping 2nd circle magic circles. If you solve all of them, you will earn the recommendation.”
“And if I can’t do it?”
“What’s so hard about a 2nd circle puzzle?”
“Not hard, but it’s just a lot.”
2 to the power of 50 is 1,126 trillion.
Even if I solved one per second, it would take 35.7 million years.
Is he just joking with me?
“Or you could also consider killing the spellcaster.”
His mocking tone made me glare at him fiercely.
“The capacity of my Aura Heart is about 7 times of yours, output is 1.8 times, exterior manifestation seems naturally possible, and the available circles range from 6 to 7…”
Then, Kim Woong stood up, lightly patted my head, and walked past me.
“This little punk exudes such killing intent. Just give up early and enjoy your summer vacation. If you go upstairs, there’s a stationery arcade machine, so feel free to use it. Nowadays, it seems kids have no interest since they only play with capsules?”
I scoffed at his relaxed demeanor.
“I think I can break it in a day…”
“Is that so? Good luck then. By the way, the thorns of Ham Cho-rong couldn’t break it in her lifetime.”
“You keep mentioning Ham Cho-rong…”
I surrounded the barrier surrounding the recommendation with exterior manifestation and left the villa.
“Don’t ever compare a useless guy like that with me. I’m starting to get really angry.”
“What the hell…!”
I slammed the villa door shut and left.
Well frogs believe the sky they see is all there is to the world.
Humans aren’t that different.
The Republic of Korea is trapped in the boundaries created by Ham Cho-rong.
Just how long must I keep being compared to her?
Hearing it repeatedly is starting to wear me down as well.
I climbed a nearby low mountain in search of a suitable open space.
The area surrounded by trees, invisible from the outside, was just right.
Carefully, I placed the barrier I brought whole with exterior manifestation onto the ground.
The barrier is kind of a knot.
Should the knot be untied?
Alexander the Great cut the knot with a single sword stroke.
However, with barriers, it’s the opposite.
You have to overlay a larger barrier over it to disrupt the internal spell structure.
[Spell: Le Kaizen Familia]
Eighty-eight national defense magic circles that protected the Kaizen Empire are summoned.
They are the products of human civilization that swiftly dropped flying wyverns and mercilessly burnt down deathworms.
Various animals dove from the sky, jaws wide open, crashing into the barrier.
First it was wolves, then lions, sharks, leopards, and crocodiles.
Eighty-eight divine beasts converged on the barrier, increasing the density of the spell circuit.
The barrier compressed beyond its critical point began to emit light.
It was a process where the structure of the mariposa disintegrated and transformed into energy.
Crunch-!
As soon as a gap appeared, the mana divine beasts quickly sank their fangs into it.
Ultimately, the barrier lost even its original structure and became extremely malleable.
Is it surprising that it wasn’t broken yet?
In that state, I wrapped my hands in aura and pulled the barrier sideways.
There’s still some elasticity left.
“Huff!”
Pushing even harder, it did stretch a bit more.
I stuck my tongue into the gap and grabbed the rolled-up recommendation with my mouth.
“Whoo, got it out.”
If you’re going to give it, just give it normally.
Anyway, I just can’t comprehend the twisted way of thinking of these wizards.
I immediately bought a train ticket for my next destination.
It was now time to meet Park Tae-seok, Principal of Aspen Academy in Busan.
*
“The kid sure has some spirit.”
After sending NoName off, Kim Woong quietly enjoyed a cup of tea.
“Anyway, it’s hard to understand the thinking of geniuses. I don’t even know why he was angry.”
The barrier Kim Woong proposed was nearly impossible to breach.
This was because it was a scaled-down model of the national defense forces of modern-day Korea based on the principle of dimensional homogeneity.
Regular missiles or tank shells cannot breach the territorial waters as long as the national defense forces exist.
In this way, the national defense forces introduced in the mid-20th century marked the end of war based on attrition and material.
If someone provides an idea to break the model, that alone would be a significant contribution to Korea.
“There’s no reason not to recognize such a person as a High Wizard. Slurp.”
At that moment.
Weeeing—!
A red warning siren blared throughout the villa.
“What the hell is this!”
It wasn’t just a problem that I spilled tea all over my knees.
This was a warning that the territorial defense forces of Korea had been breached.
Kim Woong rushed downstairs to connect with the national defense hotline.
[What? What do you mean? There are no abnormalities, Commander.]
“What did you say?”
He checked his phone in disbelief.
The breached barrier was not that of Korea’s national defense forces.
[1NDC-4 is out of order]
[1NDC-38 is out of order]
[1NDC-24 is out of order]
…
[1NDC-50 is out of order]
[Model001: Completely destroyed]
It had happened just three hours after Na-me left the villa.
