There was another 20-minute break before the semifinals would begin.
Kim Seo-jun leaned against the balcony in the waiting room, comfortably watching the draw for the matchups.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Just as before, when a female security officer near the drawing venue tried to manipulate the bracket using her Mystery, a group of men in black suddenly burst out.
They apprehended the security officer, cuffed her, and even arrested the professor from the First Hunter Academy who had been giving her instructions.
For a moment, chaos ensued, but as soon as an official stepped forward to explain the situation, the entire venue was filled with shouts condemning the First Academy.
“…We have evidence of manipulation in a total of five previous draws so far. Furthermore, there is proof that attempts were made to bribe a student named Adelheid Lorian, secretly revealing the weaknesses of her opponent and offering money in exchange.”
The Fair Match Administration Committee, accepting responsibility for their negligence, issued a public apology to everyone.
They pleaded for understanding, promising strict punishment for all involved so that such an incident would never occur again, but also explaining that it was impossible to reset the results of all matches played thus far.
In the end, the match results were recognized, and only the perpetrators were arrested, bringing the situation to a close.
Once the commotion was settled, the draw resumed.
As a result, Kim Seo-jun’s opponent in the semifinals was determined to be Leonard Bright.
On the massive electronic screen installed near the ceiling of the Hunter Dome, scenes appeared introducing the four semifinalists, analyzing their abilities, and discussing who was most likely to win.
Kim Seo-jun watched for a moment, then let out a small chuckle.
‘I promised myself I wouldn’t stand out, but here I am, in the semifinals.’
It would be ridiculous to surrender now just to avoid attention.
Having come this far, the right thing was to give his best and aim for the championship.
‘I’ve already drawn too much attention. What’s the point in hiding more now… Haa.’
With a self-deprecating sigh, Kim Seo-jun headed back inside the waiting room. Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?”
Kim Seo-jun tilted his head in curiosity and opened the door, revealing a man.
Park Dae-man.
The ace of the Underworld King Guild—what was he doing here all of a sudden?
Though puzzled, Kim Seo-jun invited him in.
“Sorry to drop by just before your match.”
“No, it’s fine. There’s no need to apologize. But I am more curious about why you’re here.”
Kim Seo-jun’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, and Park Dae-man laughed awkwardly.
“As you just saw, those who tried to manipulate the brackets were part of the conservative faction of the First Academy, specifically those who favor the US. They can’t stand seeing any other academy succeed. Apparently, they tried to rig the draw so that Kim Yura and Leonard would meet in the final—something the Fair Match Administration Committee caught on to.”
“The Committee’s actions are interesting. They sat back until now, and then suddenly, as if on cue, they nab the bracket manipulators?”
“Someone tipped them off. They even tried to bribe a contestant with money.”
Kim Seo-jun immediately thought of who the informant must be.
‘Adelheid?’
When he’d met her during the quarterfinals, she’d told him she’d been offered money to make sure he lost.
No one but her could have reported that information.
“It was Adel.”
“Adel? Ah, Adelheid? So you know her—seems she told you something.”
“Anyway, why are you looking for me, Hunter Park Dae-man? That’s what I’m more curious about.”
Park Dae-man had no affiliation with the academies, nor was he a committee official.
He was simply the Underworld King Guild’s ace, invited as a mentor to encourage the younger hunters.
“Leonard Bright is a rising star from the Hero Bright Family, one of the world’s top ten families. The Bright Family, as you know, values honor above all, and climbing to a high position means making your name known on the world stage. Their influence was all over this bracket manipulation.”
The sudden mention of the world’s top ten families left Kim Seo-jun baffled.
He had no idea why Park Dae-man was bringing this up.
“The Bright Family puts great weight on honor, and to rise in their ranks, their members have to make a name for themselves on the global stage. Their involvement in this bracket incident is all but confirmed.”
The conversation was taking an odd turn.
Was the illustrious Bright Family really involved in this scheme?
What did they stand to gain?
Park Dae-man seemed to sense Kim Seo-jun’s confusion and continued naturally.
“If Leonard wins this tournament, a special crime syndicate in Korea will join hands with the Bright Family. This tournament is a test to prove Leonard’s qualification.”
“Why would a crime syndicate be involved with the Bright Family?”
From what Kim Seo-jun knew, the Bright Family produced powerful hunters and was as wealthy as any major corporation.
Why would such a prestigious family collude with a mere crime syndicate?
“The Bright Family invests massively in business related to rifts, and they’re very interested in the surge of rift incidents in Korea. The syndicate is their way to obtain inside information about the rifts.”
Things were getting complicated.
More puzzling was how Park Dae-man knew all this, and why he was telling Kim Seo-jun—someone supposedly unrelated to these affairs.
Kim Seo-jun narrowed his eyes and stared intently at Park Dae-man. The man laughed awkwardly and spoke.
“I need your help. If Leonard is to reach the final, your cooperation is absolutely essential.”
Kim Seo-jun was dumbfounded.
“You want me to let Leonard go to the final? Are you telling me to lose on purpose?”
“If you were just an ordinary student, I wouldn’t have to ask. You wouldn’t be able to beat Leonard anyway. But I know you’re strong enough to win if you wanted to.”
Kim Seo-jun was taken aback.
Even though he’d shown a lot at this tournament, there was no reason for Park Dae-man to be so certain of his true strength.
Only one person was aware of Kim Seo-jun’s real power—Detective Choi Kyung-moon of the Jaeger.
Kim Seo-jun’s mind raced.
‘Even if Park Dae-man is close to Detective Choi, he wouldn’t share that information lightly. Which means…’
It was highly likely Park Dae-man was also a Jaeger.
That would explain his access to information from Choi Kyung-moon.
Kim Seo-jun stared straight at him.
“You’re with the Jaeger, aren’t you?”
Park Dae-man flinched.
He was caught off guard.
He started to deny it, but then let out a sigh, resigning himself.
“You really do have sharp instincts. You’re right—I’m Jaeger. So I know a few of your secrets.”
Now, everything made sense.
Park Dae-man had judged that Kim Seo-jun could be trusted, and was laying everything out truthfully.
And, as a Jaeger candidate, he likely hoped Kim Seo-jun would help with this mission.
“If you explain everything clearly, I’ll help you get Leonard into the final. But if you try to hide even a little, I’ll crush him in the semifinals and make sure my name disappears from the Jaeger candidate list.”
At Kim Seo-jun’s firm words, Park Dae-man nodded and began to lay everything out honestly.
“In truth, I’m on an active operation as a Jaeger right now…”
Summing up what Park Dae-man explained, it was as follows.
The Bright Family was always among the foremost of the world’s top ten families, with immense global influence.
Thus, it was highly likely they were involved with various criminal organizations, both large and small.
But recently, Korea’s strongest secret group, the Jaeger, received shocking intelligence.
It was this: the Bright Family’s magical power was “Demonic Power.”
Magical power is divided into three main types.
The first is ordinary magic, which 90% of hunters have. These hunters emit blue magic.
The second is dark magic, which corrupts with malice and turns its user into a villain, emitting black.
The third is white magic.
Hunters with white magic, which is pure white, are immune to malice and are natural enemies of villains wielding dark magic.
And now, a new force had appeared—Demonic Power.
Park Dae-man explained that there are, in fact, five types of magic: ordinary, dark, white, Demonic Power, and Ultra Power, with the last two being exceedingly rare.
Demonic Power is the source of evil, emitting a red glow.
Hunters with Demonic Power can control villains with dark magic like underlings, and can even corrupt those with ordinary magic into dark magic.
Ultra Power, the golden glow, is the antithesis to Demonic Power and can suppress dark magic, even returning corrupted hunters to their original state.
In other words, according to Park Dae-man, the Bright Family bloodline is the very source of this Demonic Power.
But there are only two ways to determine the origin of one’s magic.
One is using an ultra-precise magic scanner, measuring everything about a person’s magic. The other is to get help from someone with a Mystery that can see the source.
But both methods had issues.
Using a magic scanner required the person to enter the device willingly—if they refused, there was no way to measure them.
Forcibly putting someone into the scanner would be a violation of the International Hunter Ethics Act, except in cases of criminal arrest.
There are also very few hunters with Mysteries that allow them to see the source of magic.
And those who do possess such Mysteries tend to hide them, as villains constantly threaten their lives.
With so few of these hunters, and most of them concealing their powers, getting their help to find those with dark or Demonic Power was nearly impossible.
“So then, how did you find out the Bright Family bloodline carries Demonic Power?”
This was news to Kim Seo-jun, so he was very interested.
“We received an anonymous tip and secretly examined the remains of a Bright Family ancestor. The tests confirmed Demonic Power in the ancestor’s remains.”
“Even if an ancestor had Demonic Power, can you really be sure all their descendants have it too?”
“That’s why we need Leonard. The Bright Family awards a special ring to descendants who bring honor to the family. That ring is an artifact that blocks even the most advanced scanners from identifying magic origins. Now that Leonard has reached the semifinals, he’s due to receive the ring soon. After that, there’ll be no way to verify the nature of his magic.”
Kim Seo-jun tilted his head.
If Leonard was due to receive the family ring after the semifinals, did that mean there was still a way to confirm his magic now?
“If Leonard reaches the final, is there a way to check if he has Demonic Power?”
“That’s right. The student who faces him in the final has the ability to confirm it.”
Kim Seo-jun immediately guessed who that student would be.
“Kim Yura…? Don’t tell me, she’s a Jaeger too?”
Instead of replying, Park Dae-man nodded.
“But Kim Yura’s Mystery is ‘Authority Insight,’ isn’t it?”
If her Mystery was Authority Insight, how could she determine the source of magic?
“If she uses Authority Insight to maintain contact with an opponent’s magic for more than five minutes, she can discern its origin.”
At last, the situation became clear.
Kim Yura was a third-year student.
She, too, must have received a Jaeger recruitment offer in her first year, and must have already accepted, becoming a full member.
However, since she had not yet graduated, she couldn’t participate in full operations and so was assisting the Jaeger indirectly.
Her Authority Insight could be used to identify the origins of magic. For the Jaeger, her cooperation was essential to expose Leonard’s Demonic Power.
Thus, Kim Yura had to face Leonard in this tournament. But thanks to the bracket manipulation by the conservative First Academy professor, the two had not yet met.
Now, only the final remained.
With the bracket split at the semifinals, if Leonard didn’t reach the final, he and Kim Yura would never face off.
“We’ll compensate you well. If you want, you can transfer to the First Academy. For stepping back in the semifinals, we’ll pay you 300 million won. We’ll also award you bonus points for your academic record, and help you with Jaeger candidate training.”
Park Dae-man’s proposal was certainly tempting.
Yet, Kim Seo-jun felt a strange unease at the offer.
“So this is how Adelheid must have felt.”
“…Hm?”
Park Dae-man looked puzzled.
“It doesn’t feel good to be asked directly to lose in exchange for favors. How is this any different from those manipulating the bracket?”
Park Dae-man’s face reddened instantly.
He, too, knew he couldn’t be proud of what he was asking.
“…It’s different. If we prove the Bright Family bloodline carries Demonic Power, we can expose countless conspiracies they’ve spun across the globe. This will save countless lives.”
“If that’s the case, why didn’t the Jaeger just manipulate the draw themselves? Ensure Kim Yura and Leonard meet once. That would’ve been much cleaner…”
“No matter how important the mission, how could we rig the sacred academy tournament? That’s out of the question.”
Kim Seo-jun was dumbfounded at his reply.
“So bracket manipulation is forbidden, but match-fixing is allowed? How does that make sense?”
“I…won’t force you. I only hope you’ll consider my proposal for the greater good.”
Park Dae-man was asking for voluntary cooperation, not issuing orders.
That softened Kim Seo-jun’s heart.
‘You haven’t changed a bit since the old days, Dae-man hyung—still willing to bend the rules for what you believe is right.’
He could see traces of his old comrade in Park Dae-man’s face.
So righteous, so uncompromising against evil.
That righteousness hadn’t changed at all.
“I’ll…think about it.”
In the end, Kim Seo-jun couldn’t refuse.
But he didn’t promise to accept, either.
“If you’ll even consider it, I’m grateful. I hope you’ll decide for the best.”
With those words, Park Dae-man left the waiting room.
Left alone, Kim Seo-jun spent a long time contemplating what would be best.
If he put his all into the match, Leonard would have no chance at the final. But if he lost on purpose, he’d be taking part in match-fixing, which didn’t sit well with him.
‘If I hadn’t met Adelheid, I probably would have just thrown the match.’
Adelheid’s words had been a wake-up call to his complacency.
Kim Seo-jun let out a short sigh.
As the announcement for the semifinals echoed out at last, Kim Seo-jun got up from the sofa, preparing to head to the balcony. Suddenly—
Thump!
A great ripple surged through Kim Seo-jun’s mind, and a wave of refreshing energy filled his body.
‘No way… is this it?’
The sensation was just like when his mastery of the Solar Divine Arts reached 20%.
A surge of euphoria washed over him, like waves.
A refreshing vitality filled his entire being.
Kim Seo-jun savored the feeling for a moment before checking his stats.
[Kim Seo-jun]
-Magic Power: 123(+6) / Internal Energy: 112(+6) / Control: 109(+5)
-Mysteries: Absolute Force Manifestation (20%) / Solar Divine Arts (21%) / Telekinetic Barrier (5%) / Asura Lightning Slash (3%) / Insightful Mind (3%)
Amazingly, Absolute Force Manifestation had reached 20% mastery.