Part 1 Chapter 8 (4)

For me, this testing center was a place I had frequented countless times while playing the game.

It was a kind of level testing center.

Because it was the only place where the maximum growth potential of ability users, expressed as Affinity Rate, could be tested, I had to visit this testing center every single time a new comrade joined.

‘Later, a portable tester would be developed, though.’

For now, I had to endure the inconvenience. Of course, as a Spirit, Phoenix could gauge an opponent’s Affinity Rate just by making contact. I deliberately leaned back slightly.

“Ah.”

Just like now. Lee Seung-hyung caught my shoulder right behind me, preventing me from falling, and in that moment, I reconfirmed how much he could grow.

Fire attribute, 98. The mana of other attributes was all mediocre, but the fire attribute alone was exceptionally high.

“…….”

“Are you alright?”

“It’s nothing. Just a momentary dizzy spell.”

I waved my hand and stood up again. The Praetor was watching me with considerable concern, but the mental stress was greater than the physical fatigue.

‘What the hell is this bastard?’

Fire attribute 98. In terms of level, he was a man with the talent to reach a limit level one less than the max level.

‘……Such a kid didn’t even appear in the original story and died?’

There was only one possibility. Either he couldn’t become S-rank in the tragedy Cheon Gaeul experienced and was killed by Villains as an A-rank, or he remained a common A-rank who died long before the original story began.

However, he became S-rank by my flames, and with a little more growth, he possesses the power to reach SS-rank on his own.

‘……Should I really try to raise him?’

Although Cheon Gaeul weighs on my mind, a person of this caliber is certainly worth nurturing. If I subdue Nucleon later and let him gain the true insights of Fire Fist, Lee Seung-hyung will become a true joker card.

“……Excuse me.”

“Yes.”

“You have that illness, don’t you?”

“……It’s not really an illness, more like a curse.”

Lee Seung-hyung pouted and grumbled. The Fire Dragon’s curse that burns away mana whenever he goes to Seoul-that’s actually my doing.

“……Just a moment, your hand.”

I offered my hand to Lee Seung-hyung. Lee Seung-hyung, though embarrassed, took my hand.

“……Now, you won’t have any problems even if you go to Seoul.”

“Huh? ……? Nothing seems to have changed, though.”

“It has. You just can’t feel it.”

‘Because my mind has changed.’

I decided not to live swayed by heroines anymore. Because there’s only one person in my heart.

‘So don’t weigh the world against yourself, just help me out.’

I placed my hand on my chest and stepped onto the testing device. As I placed my hand on the lens protruding like a panel from the tester, the surrounding Heroes who had followed began to whisper.

– “Didn’t they get tested before?”

– “So they’re really EX-rank…. Awakening in a completely different direction from their original ability.”

– “Considering they awakened the Black Flame Dragon, I wonder if their fire attribute is truly amazing.”

Beep.

The test results appeared. The gazes of the Heroes who had rushed over upon hearing the news landed on the monitor screen at the top.

Fire 00

Water 00

Earth 00

Wind 00

Light 00

Dark 00

Illusion 00

“……Is there such a tragedy?!”

Yoo Young-ho exclaimed dramatically. The fruit of my deliberate effort to let Yoo Young-ho trap himself finally began to shine.

“To reduce one’s Affinity Rate to 0 by controlling monsters, what a travesty!”

‘That deluded guy, seriously.’

People were bewildered by my abysmal mana Affinity Rate, and influenced by Yoo Young-ho’s delusion, they began to pity me.

– “Oh no, it looks like all their mana was used up controlling the monsters.”

– “No, how can a person have no mana at all?”

Regardless of what people were chattering about, I instinctively nodded at the mana patterns of the Spirits, which perfectly matched my memories.

‘Of course, there wouldn’t be mana of other attributes besides one’s own.’

From my perspective, it was just the process of directly confirming in-game data, so there wasn’t much emotion, but I was simply grateful for the limitations of this old-fashioned tester.

‘What would I have done if it was a model that showed three digits?’

It would have shown Fire attribute 100. I swallowed my unspoken words and stepped back from the tester.

Click.

Light flowed from the lens, officially registering my mana pattern with the association.

– , ‘Cheong Hwa’. Officially registered with the Hero Association. Welcome.
On this day, I registered the humanoid Phoenix as a Hero.
* * *
“So, should I call them Cheong Hwa now?”
“What are you talking about? Call them Phoenix.”
I corrected the title, chiding Yuseong Group’s President, Eun Yuha. After registering the ability user with the association, I brushed off the association’s higher-ups who asked if I’d like to have a meal together and came here for a date with the *real* higher-up.
“Client-nim. Aren’t you tired having to play two roles by yourself now? Being a Hero during the day and a Villain at night.”
“It’s the opposite. The monster controller will operate strictly nocturnally.”
“Then during the day?”
“They’ll become the monstrous human Phoenix.”
Unlike a phantom thief who only operates at night, Phoenix is a stronger entity during the day when the sun shines on the earth. They don’t weaken at night, but during the day, their versatility increases in many ways.
“Relatively, there are fewer annoying guys at night. During the day, there’s a lot of moving around.”
Mainly core poaching, core procurement, or monster elimination. Since the entire Korean Peninsula didn’t have enough power to cover it, I had to handle the pouring monsters alone until they grew.
“Well, if Client-nim works hard, I earn that much Core, so I’m grateful, but….”
“Indeed. It looks like I’ll have to go to China for a bit.”
Mao Zeping summoned the monster controller to China. Even if I didn’t explain it, Eun Yuha would surely have gathered information from various sources and fully grasped his intentions.
“Isn’t he trying to kidnap and imprison them, drug them, and force them to naturalize?”
“Correct. And he’s probably thinking this too.”
I felt unpleasant just thinking about it.
“That if he sows his seed in the monster controller and has children, another Hero will be born.”
“…Client-nim, can’t you really not go?”
“Why? Are you scared something might happen to me?”
“Yes.”
At Eun Yuha’s serious answer, I felt inexplicably embarrassed. Eun Yuha, also a little shy, closed her eyes and waited for me to say something.
“……Don’t worry. That will absolutely never happen.”
Because I was going to China precisely to prevent such a thing from happening. I conveyed my sincerity to Eun Yuha, even infusing it with mana, then shifted the gloomy conversation topic to one full of dreams and hope.
“So, this time, I’m planning to go to China and smash all the S-rank monsters.”
“Ah! Then will you poach all of those too?!”
“Yes. I’ll hand over everything except what I absolutely need to use.”
Eun Yuha immediately brightened. Eun Yuha was so delighted at the thought of distributing S-rank Cores that it was hard to tell if stars or gold were sparkling in her eyes.
“As expected, Client-nim. Thanks to you, Client-nim, life feels truly enjoyable these days, you know?”
“It seems you’ve had a lot more work because of it. You haven’t been sleeping properly, have you? Looks like you’ve only slept an hour or two.”
“……Did you plant a spy near me?”
“No. I saw your mana was disturbed.”
I reached out and took Eun Yuha’s hand, which was resting on the table. Eun Yuha’s pulse began to quicken slightly, and I infused my mana, boosting Eun Yuha’s vitality.
“Since it’s fire attribute mana, the efficiency might be low, but it should still relieve some of your fatigue.”
“……Ahem.”
Eun Yuha cleared her throat and picked up her glass. Perhaps because she was young, her shyness at such minor skinship was refreshing, unlike in the original story.
“Oh, right.”
Thanks to Eun Yuha showing a different side from the 25-year-old Doll Master I remembered, I recalled the topic I wanted to bring up with Eun Yuha.
“I have a favor to ask. It’s going to cost quite a bit of money….”
“What is it?”
As expected, Eun Yuha. As soon as the mention of money came up, the girl who had been fluttering disappeared, instantly transforming into a president calculating the practical benefits of investment. I handed Eun Yuha the profile of Architect, an executive of the Azure Syndicate whom I had specifically brought to New Seoul.
“A construction ability user?”
“With just one B-rank Core, they can erect a 10-story building in an hour.”
“…It’s like buying time with money, but isn’t one B-rank Core a bit wasteful?”
“We can just earn more Cores, can’t we? And what I want to build isn’t just any building.”
I took out a map and pointed to a large plot of land in the Dongjak area. Eun Yuha quickly realized the identity of the plot and caught on to my intention.
“Are you going to restore a university in Seoul?”
“No. What’s needed now isn’t a university, but an academy.”
“What’s the difference? …An academy? Surely, Client-nim…?”
“Miss Eun Yuha.”
I proposed a business venture that Eun Yuha would find quite tempting.
“Do you perhaps have any interest in creating an academy for training ability users?”
***
After the great battle with the Chinese Heroes, led by Unjang, at the Yalu River.
I realized a serious problem with the Azure Syndicate’s combat power.
The number of ability users available for combat power was absolutely insufficient.
The executives, with the exception of Jo Deokbae, whom I’m using as an insole, are all A-rank or higher, but globally, S-ranks and A-ranks are overflowing. Qualitatively, there was no deficiency, but quantitatively, it was lacking in many ways.
The number of Heroes in Korea is approximately 600. If Villains and unregistered ability users are included, it would exceed a thousand, but compared to China’s million Heroes right next door, it’s a woefully insufficient number.
‘That’s why I borrowed Seok Harang’s power to create 5,000 water-attribute ability users.’
Still, it’s woefully insufficient. Now, when even awakened abilities can only be used to the extent of washing one’s face, a specialized training institution for systematic Hero development was needed.
Right in Seoul.
I briefly explained my thoughts on that to Eun Yuha.

***
“And you’ll bring the trained ability users into the Azure Syndicate?”
“Some of them. I can’t just let promising talents I’ve painstakingly nurtured be dogs for the association.”
“I agree. Ability users are national power, after all. There’s nothing bad about it. …Ah, that’s also why you brought Architect, isn’t it? To form a team here in New Seoul and design something plausible.”
“Exactly. If I leave everything to Architect, Hanyang will be resurrected, not Seoul.”
Architect, James Lee, is a being who, despite looking purely American, insists on things more traditional than any head of a noble family. Since I couldn’t directly supervise him, I had to prevent a situation where Architect would drink a bowl of makgeolli and turn all of Seoul into tiled-roof houses.
“So, Yuseong, please help out a bit. You already know his abilities, so make sure the buildings are built to suit modern times.”
“Client-nim, don’t you do some designing too?”
Eun Yuha pointed behind herself. There, Machine Dolls-X-roids-wearing all sorts of clothing were displayed, and every single one of them perfectly resembled Eun Yuha.
“I went to all that trouble to give them as gifts, and you’re dressing dolls in them.”
“It’d be a waste, wouldn’t it?”
Eun Yuha, who had received various types of clothing I wove from mana as gifts, was using them for doll play. The dolls, dressed in them, resembled Eun Yuha, but they lacked vitality.
“The designs of those clothes are…. No, I’m busy.”
Anyway, they were merely implementations of DLC skins from a game company, and I wasn’t the actual designer, so what more needed to be said? I made a suitable excuse and redirected the topic back to the training facility.
“I have to go to China, you see. I’m asking for this because I want the academy to at least have its buildings up by the time I return from China. Since I won’t be in Korea.”
“How long do you plan to stay?”
“……Three weeks?”
Although I set it a bit loosely, it genuinely felt like it would take that long. Even if the immediate plan went perfectly, it would be a tight two weeks, and I’d never seen a plan actually go smoothly.
“Hmm. Then, Client-nim. I’ll go with you too.”
“What?”
“I’ll send that doll with you. Even if it’s not my main body, a doll is fine, right?”
“No. There’s already someone here who’s going with me.”
I took off my shoe and pointed to the insole I had placed under my foot. Eun Yuha looked slightly disgusted by the rock-like texture, which was different from rubber.
“……Client-nim?”
“I’ll turn them back to normal once we leave New Seoul. I can’t just throw a Flame Giant into the middle of New Seoul, can I?”
“Haa. Really…”
Regarding the long journey in China, I absolutely couldn’t show all of it to the heroines. Still, since I’d be bored, I needed someone to talk to, but bringing a monstrous human to New Seoul was out of the question.
“Alright. Then I’ll prepare Jo Deokbae-ssi’s place as planned. …Place? Client-nim. Then who will you appoint as the representative for the training facility? Should we just put some figurehead in charge?”
“There’s a good-for-nothing in Busan who’s addicted to alcohol and women, isn’t there?”
“……Ah.”
Eun Yuha openly frowned. She had put her all into acquiring it, but then the former owner appeared, claimed ownership, and took it away.
“What’s he doing not going to Russia? The person he calls his wife looks almost like a Russian princess.”
“Sex.”
“Pfft, cough! Kh-h-h.”
Eun Yuha covered her mouth with her hand as if the tea she was drinking had gone down the wrong pipe. I took a sip of the strawberry latte in front of me and continued speaking.
“He said he had to catch up on 20 years of backlog, so he wouldn’t even return to his home country. There’s also the worry about flies buzzing around their daughter.”
“Client-nim.”
Eun Yuha wiped the coffee from her lips with a handkerchief and said.
“Client-nim, you’re the boss of those flies, aren’t you? Harang’s ex-husband? Go on, say something if you have a mouth.”
“…….”
“Honestly, going to China, you’re going to find your ex-wife, aren’t you?”
I couldn’t say anything.
Because it wasn’t wrong.