I’d never gone fishing in my life, and I didn’t know how.
But I did know how to catch more fish.
Bait.
That was what we needed. Scatter hints about a major announcement far and wide, then draw as much attention as possible from as many fish—or rather, people—as we could.
Of course, we’d need to do a little persuading along the way.
Team Leader Choi and I weren’t trying to fill a bucket. We wanted a boat so full the catch spilled over the sides. And for that, we needed a good crew. The first person Team Leader Choi called was President Baek Hanseong.
“Pardon?”
He had gone through every kind of hardship before entering the Blue House at the age of just over forty. His eyes widened at the words Mana Cultivation Method, and when the name of one particular person followed, he spilled his coffee.
“I-Is that true? Did he really…?”
“Yes. My maternal grandfather created it himself. He wanted to share this Mana Cultivation Method with everyone.”
“I-I can’t believe it.”
Who was Cheon Taemin?
A living savior. A hero who had accomplished something no one else in human history ever had.
He was the Slayer who had defeated the Demon King Asmodeus and brought the Great Cataclysm to an end. Everyone respected his name.
“But why is the Mana Cultivation Method called Smiling…?”
“……I took out the wrong one. Please forget what you just saw.”
Honestly, if people knew I’d created it, I wouldn’t care whether it was called The Smiling Mana Cultivation Method or As-Salamu Alaykum1.
But with Cheon Taemin’s name attached, Team Leader Choi and I agreed that The Smiling Mana Cultivation Method was a problem.
“This is the Mana Cultivation Method my maternal grandfather created.”
Team Leader Choi placed a neatly bound booklet on the table. A new name was printed on the cover.
“Heaven and Earth Cultivation Technique…”
“The Heaven and Earth Cultivation Technique is versatile enough for even the lowest-ranking Hunter to learn, and exceptionally safe. It won’t produce tremendous results the moment someone learns it, but it will undoubtedly be a great help to Hunters.”
Of course it would. That was what I’d made it for.
The name had changed for grown-up reasons, but I’d come up with the new one too. Feeling a little proud, I added, “In short, it’s a fucking incredible Mana Cultivation Method.”
Team Leader Choi gave me a pointed cough, but President Baek Hanseong didn’t pay any attention. He didn’t seem to have any attention to spare.
He stared as though possessed at the booklet containing the principles of the Heaven and Earth Cultivation Technique. Only after a long while did he finally come to his senses.
“But why bring something this important to me…?”
“We need an ally.”
President Baek hadn’t bought the presidential chair secondhand on Oi Market. He understood at once why Team Leader Choi and I had come.
“You want a breakwater.”
“We hope we can support each other.”
“But no matter how large a Guild steps forward, it will be difficult as long as he is still here.”
A sound assessment.
If it were true.
Unfortunately, it isn’t.
We needed to avoid outside opposition as much as possible. That was why we were planning to reveal the Smiling—or rather, the Heaven and Earth Cultivation Technique while borrowing the name of the unconscious Cheon Taemin. Team Leader Choi had no intention of telling the truth even to President Baek Hanseong, who had always shown us a very favorable attitude.
He was a politician, after all.
“Neither I nor my maternal grandfather want any conflict or controversy. To prevent that, we need the government’s cooperation.”
“Does that mean the Blue House can announce the existence of this Mana Cultivation Method itself?”
Team Leader Choi shook his head.
“It should be enough to say we’ve been working together and that there’ll be a major announcement in two days. That alone will get the public’s attention.”
“So you want me to drum up interest…”
“This Mana Cultivation Method’s release will be announced as a sort of national project. If that happens, Korea’s standing will rise as well.”
“Hmm.”
The first public release of a Mana Cultivation Method in history. Korea’s name would forever be tied to it—and so would the President’s achievement.
A faint smile appeared around President Baek Hanseong’s lips.
“The Korean flag looks especially fine today.”
Someone once said the most powerful drug in the world was a patriotic high.
Flap—
Cheon Taemin. The public release of the Mana Cultivation Method. A national project.
Those three phrases brought everything to a boil like a cauldron over charcoal. The fire was lit in Korea.
“My beloved and respected fellow citizens. I stand before you today to make an important announcement…”
President Baek made good on his promise to cooperate by calling an emergency press conference at the Blue House.
He spoke passionately before a crowd of reporters and cameras, including the foreign press. The conference went out live on television, spread across the world, and caused an uproar.
Mana Cultivation Method to Be Made Public—A Historic First!
Savior of Humanity Saves the World Once Again!
Will the Living Legend Finally Show Himself?
Cheon Taemin’s name alone was newsworthy after he’d stayed out of sight for so long. Now the Mana Cultivation Method he’d created was going to be released to the entire world.
The response was explosive.
No—the media had already exploded.
“Hey! Reporter Park! The Peace Guild! Call the Peace Guild!”
“I-I already did. I can’t get a thing out of them.”
“What about Ares? Don’t you have a contact there? We’ve gotten tips from them before!”
“That person is in the detention center right now. You know, because he got caught up in the Go Jun incident a while back……”
“You’re killing me. What about Choi Minwoo?”
“Oh, don’t even ask. Getting a line into them is practically impossible, and you couldn’t get a single drop of blood out of them even if you poked them.”
“Then Jin Taekyung?”
“…I’m the one who’d bleed if I tried him, Chief. Do you want to watch me get beaten to death?”
Sources of unknown origin were leaking out everywhere, but unless they made contact first, there was no way to learn more.
The media, at their wits’ end, could only churn out clickbait. Online, things were even worse.
Three-Line Summary of the Current Situation
Cheon Taemin made a Mana Cultivation Method.
His grandson and a fucking awesome junior are pushing to make it public. The government’s jumping on the bandwagon.
Some Hunters probably didn’t even know what a Mana Cultivation Method was, but the one Cheon Taemin made is so versatile even the lowest-ranking Hunters can learn it.
Wow! Let’s all level up!
- That wasn’t three lines.
└ Author: What the fuck are you talking about? I laid it out neatly.
└ It’s not three lines in the KakaoPage2 viewer.
└ Author: You crazy bastard.
The Mana Cultivation Method is going public?!
└ Written by Cheon Taemin?!
└ Compiled by Jin Taekyung?!?!
└ Wasn’t it compiled by Kim Gyeongsik?
└ ? Who’s Kim Gyeongsik?
└ Earthquake over here too, lol.
└ An earthquake is totally justified this time. Everyone in our Guild lost their shit watching the official Blue House press conference.
I’m a civilian, so I don’t really know, but what exactly is a Mana Cultivation Method?
└ To put it simply, it’s a secret technique that only a tiny number of people can learn. Like the Zaha Divine Technique or the Fire Gate Divine Technique from wuxia3 novels. Those things are normally kept within their own circles, but this guy is saying screw that and making it available to everyone, yeah.
└ I don’t read wuxia3 novels, so I don’t know.
└ Okay, then think of it like a food recipe. Restaurants with Michelin stars all have their own recipes for the food they sell, right?
└ What’s Michelin?
└ LOL…… Then think of it as the sort of cooking secret every mother has.
└ My mom is a terrible cook. I think she only knows the secret to making food taste bad.
└ Hey. How old are you?
└ Nine.
└ Fuck, now I can’t even properly swear at you.
└ Fact: Curses very refreshingly at a nine-year-old.
└ Fuck off.
└ I’m an avid wuxia3 reader, but what’s the Fire Gate Divine Technique? I know the Zaha Divine Technique.
└ ? You don’t read Login Murim?
└ Zerobic, welcome.
└ He took a break over the harvest festival last year. Not Zerobic—Bastardbic.
Netizens could usually find two sides to anything and argue about it without end. But beneath articles about the Mana Cultivation Method’s release, they were united in praise.
Someone was giving away a secret technique of the kind others fought to keep hidden, with no restrictions at all.
Simply because they wanted to help everyone.
And the release wouldn’t benefit only Hunters. Stronger Hunters could deal more quickly with the disturbing incidents that had been occurring one after another. Ordinary people would be safer too.
Of course, some people were disappointed for an entirely different reason.
“Hmm.”
“It would have been nice if you had given us some advance notice.”
Ares Guild.
Choi Minwoo dipped his head at the cautious complaints from executives who had survived the upheaval within the Guild.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you beforehand. But I thought it best to act quickly, before the information leaked.”
The executives exchanged glances at the young, capable new Vice Guild Master’s apology.
He’d admitted fault first. That gave them grounds to press him—just enough to make sure he never acted on his own again.
But the problem was the terrifying legitimacy possessed by that Vice Guild Master who was young—no, barely more than a boy.
He stepped forward personally.
I’ve never even seen his face.
Does he care about his grandson that much?
Cheon Taemin hadn’t appeared before them in a very long time.
Some executives recruited from outside had never even encountered their Guild Master after joining Ares Guild, while even executives with considerable seniority had begun harboring vague suspicions after Lee Jungryong’s funeral.
Something’s happened to the Guild Master.
It was a reasonable suspicion.
Cheon Taemin hadn’t appeared at the funeral of Lee Jungryong, a man who had been practically his sworn brother. Nor had he intervened when Lee Jungryong sent his grandson from one overseas branch to another, all but exiling him.
But…things were different now.
Even if doubts still lingered, showing them would be incredibly foolish. Cheon Taemin’s name still commanded their deepest respect. And his grandfather wasn’t the young Vice Guild Master’s only winning card.
“You’re all awfully quiet.”
A low voice broke the silence. Jin Taekyung, who had been watching a webtoon on his smartphone, continued:
“When someone apologizes to you, aren’t you supposed to say something in response?”
“…!”
“Isn’t that right?”
Dozens of pairs of eyes trembled, and throats bobbed nervously.
The executives exchanged glances, then bowed their heads with forced smiles.
That was when it happened.
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