Chapter 24 – Memory (1)

When Sun-woo finished the mission and arrived at his personal training ground, a new sign was blocking him.

[No Entry]

At the entrance to the mountain clearing, a sign he had never seen before was prominently planted, and the entrance was blocked with rope to prevent entry.

However, Sun-woo glanced at the sign, stomped his foot, and jumped over the blocking rope to enter the clearing.

After all, that no-entry sign was there because of Sun-woo.

Due to the training and tests Sun-woo had conducted in the clearing, ominous rumors began circulating among people who visited this mountain, and because of the terrain that had changed several times due to his sorcery, people became frightened and put up the no-entry sign.

Even government officials and experts had visited, but they all gave up since they couldn’t figure out the cause.

For Sun-woo, it was actually welcome news. Thanks to his martial arts and sorcery sensing abilities, he could detect approaching people and avoid being caught, but the occasional people approaching had been quite bothersome.

It was unfortunate for the surrounding residents whose property values dropped due to rumors of the mountain’s owner and ghosts appearing, but for Sun-woo, it meant having a comfortable training ground.

Still, Sun-woo habitually circulated his sorcery and qigong to confirm no one was around, then took out his phone from his tracksuit pocket to check the skill window.

<Three Talents Qigong. 6 Star> Grade increase: 400p

<Three Talents Sword Method. 5 Star> Grade increase: 200p

<Spirit of the Earth. 5th Class> Grade increase: 200p

<Illusion Art. 3rd Class> Grade increase: 100p

<War Wheel Divine Demon Art. 1 Star> Grade increase: 500p

War Wheel Divine Demon Art. It was definitely an excellent qigong incomparable to Three Talents Qigong. The moment Sun-woo learned War Wheel Divine Demon Art, he felt like he was seeing a new world of martial arts.

But Sun-woo couldn’t help but sigh looking at the points written next to War Wheel Divine Demon Art. As an excellent martial art, the required points were no joke.

Sun-woo used points with a gloomy expression to raise War Wheel Divine Demon Art to 2 stars.

Remaining points: 340 points.

Sun-woo used the remaining points to raise Spirit of the Earth to 6th class and Illusion Art to 4th class. Now only 40 points remained.

“Getting stronger is good, but at this rate, it’ll be hard to escape from my studio apartment.”

It seemed he would need to either convert a lot to money after the next mission or find another method.

Sun-woo, who had been immersed in gloom for a moment, shook his head to blow away bad thoughts and went to a large rock on one side of the clearing. It was time to test his newly acquired martial art.

He began drawing up the energy flowing through his body.

Rumble rumble.

It felt like a torrent was flowing inside his body. Unlike the gentle flow of Three Talents Qigong, a violent flow of energy started from his abdomen, passed through his chest, went through his arms, and reached his fists.

[War Wheel Energy Cannon]

“Haaa!”

Sun-woo unconsciously let out a battle cry at the energy’s explosion and struck the rock before his eyes with his fist.

Thud!

A tremendous sound as if the rock would shatter spread outside the clearing.

Sun-woo flinched in surprise at the unexpected sound. He had probably added another ghost story.

“Amazing.”

The rock had cracks over quite a wide area centered on Sun-woo’s fist. Sun-woo whistled low and pulled his fist from the rock.

When the fist that had been buried up to the wrist came out of the rock, bizarre sounds continued from the entire rock.

“It won’t collapse, will it?”

It was a rock embedded in the mountain that was 4 meters tall. It didn’t seem like it would shatter from one punch.

Anyway, the power of the new qigong was tremendous. Sun-woo wore a satisfied smile and drew his sword from his phone.

The black sword called ‘War Wheel Divine Sword’ was entirely black. The blade that emerged from the scabbard received the dawn sun and scattered subtle light, seeming to rejoice at the outside air it met after a long time.

“In martial arts novels, they usually give it a name… Since it’s bothersome, let’s call it War Sword.”

After finishing the naming that would make martial artists bewildered, he stood in the clearing and began swinging his sword.

From top to bottom, left to right, and diagonally. The basics of Three Talents Sword Method unfolded in his hands.

He had obtained a new qigong called War Wheel Divine Demon Art, but the only sword method he knew was Three Talents Sword Method. It was regrettable that he couldn’t learn better sword techniques, but first he needed to make the new qigong and sword method harmonize.

His sword gradually became faster and Sun-woo’s consciousness gradually sank down.

Shortly after, Sun-woo fell into a state of selflessness, and his sword began sweeping around at invisible speed.

The sword’s movements gradually changed. The sword that had maintained the basics of Three Talents Sword Method was changing form following the flow of War Wheel Divine Demon Art.

And at some point, the sword began to glow and lines began to be drawn on the ground. Sword energy had burst forth.

Sun-woo, who had been making a mess of the clearing for quite a while like this, was able to emerge from the state of selflessness as time passed.

Sun-woo was bewildered seeing the messed-up clearing, but this wasn’t the end.

[Three Talents Sword Method has evolved into a new sword method.]

[Three Talents Qigong has been absorbed into War Wheel Divine Demon Art. War Wheel Divine Demon Art’s grade has increased.]

The familiar voice reached Sun-woo’s ears. Sun-woo immediately opened his phone’s skill window.

<Spirit of the Earth. 6th Class> Grade increase: 400p

<Illusion Art. 4th Class> Grade increase: 100p

<War Wheel Divine Demon Art. 3 Star> Grade increase: 700p

<* Sword Method. 1 Star> Grade increase: 200p

-* Please give it a name.

Three Talents Qigong and Three Talents Sword Method had disappeared from the skill window list. Instead, War Wheel Divine Demon Art had risen to 3 stars, and a new sword method had appeared prominently.

It seemed Three Talents Sword Method had been transformed under the influence of War Wheel Divine Demon Art.

“The name is naturally ‘War Wheel Sword Method.'”

This time too, Sun-woo thoughtlessly gave it a name.

“But it’s disappointing. I couldn’t reach the peak level.”

He had succeeded in even drawing out sword energy, but unfortunately that was largely thanks to War Sword’s help. It seemed reaching the peak level was difficult with points alone.

“Do I need some kind of trigger like in martial arts novels?”

Sun-woo pondered for a moment, but thinking about it now wouldn’t produce any solutions. He could ask Nan-seol next time he met her. Right now, he should just be happy about reaching the highest first-class level.

It was about time for office workers to commute. Sun-woo called the number Caroline had given him before.

He needed to contact her about the medicine discovered in this mission.

He wanted to hear about the association from Michael, but since he didn’t know when they would do missions together, he couldn’t keep waiting.

The phone was answered by an American woman, but when he mentioned Caroline’s name, Caroline’s voice came through shortly after.

“Wow! You contacted me first!”

“I contacted you because something came up that we need to meet about.”

“That worked out well. I’ll give you the Korean branch address. I’m at the branch now too.”

“Understood. Please also prepare the compensation you mentioned before.”

“Tch, what a waste. You didn’t forget. Alright, I’ll prepare it.”

After hearing the address, Sun-woo looked at the clearing and sighed.

The ground cracked in all directions, the rock with cracks and deep fist marks carved into it – the clearing looked like war had swept through.

“I need to clean this up anyway.”

Sun-woo began spreading sorcery throughout the clearing using his fully raised qigong.

Boom boom boom!

“Ahhh!”

Contrary to expectations, due to the strengthened qigong and sorcery, all the earth in the clearing shot up to the sky, and that day a landslide evacuation order was issued for the residential areas around the mountain.

***

The address Caroline gave pointed to a 20-story state-of-the-art building on the outskirts of Songdo International City.

After traveling by public transportation and taxi for quite a while, in front of the building he arrived at was written the name of a multinational corporation in English and Korean.

[Clean Earth]

According to internet research, it was a company that did various work from consultants to private military companies for dispute resolution.

“The company name makes it obvious.”

‘Clean the Earth.’ It was indeed fitting for a summoner association that eliminates contamination sources.

Sun-woo, who entered the glittering lobby, gave Caroline’s name to the woman at the information desk.

“Ah, are you referring to the director who came from headquarters?”

Upon hearing Caroline’s name, the receptionist’s head immediately bent 90 degrees. Caroline’s position seemed higher than expected.

Caroline came down immediately. Her appearance in a suit was like a Hollywood movie star or a wonderful model.

“Mister Min! Welcome! I’ve been waiting!”

Caroline hugged Sun-woo with a bright smile, and people passing through the lobby stared at them with wide eyes.

Sun-woo gave an awkward smile at her behavior. A handshake would have been sufficient, but it was definitely an intentional action.

She immediately gave Sun-woo a visitor’s pass, linked arms with him, and guided him to the elevator.

“The Korean branch manager is waiting.”

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

“Just good? I finished the last mission so I got rewards plus a hefty bonus from the company. Moreover, since Sun-woo came to visit, I’d be happy if every day was like these days.”

It seemed there was some additional benefit she gained from bringing Sun-woo to the association.

The elevator stopped at the 20th floor at the very top, and the two entered the branch manager’s office through the secretary’s office.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Do Il-yeong.”

The branch manager was a Korean man in his 40s with a stern face.

Sun-woo also shook hands and introduced himself, and they sat facing each other on the sofa in the center of the room.

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Director Caroline.”

Sun-woo glanced at Caroline sitting beside him.

“I have some questions and things to inform you about, so I visited.”

“Ah, aren’t you thinking of joining our company?”

“I don’t know anything about the association, so I can’t decide immediately.”

“That’s true… But you’re certainly unique. Others would have had different reactions. Then I’ll explain as much as possible.”

It seemed they had used the phone number to find out all of Sun-woo’s information. Without worrying about security, the branch manager began telling Sun-woo about the association.

“I don’t know how much you know, so I’ll start with the basics. We don’t know when contamination sources or summoners first appeared. In other dimensions, we think they’ve probably existed since ancient times.”

But contamination sources hadn’t been appearing for very long in this modern Earth.

“About 100 years? Contamination sources started appearing around then, and we know there were summoners one or two at a time from then. And the association that started as a small gathering after World War II grew into a fairly large multinational corporation form with the development of communication networks, supporting summoners.”

At his words, Sun-woo tilted his head.

“You say points can be exchanged for money, but is such a large corporation possible? Summoners who joined the association can’t pay all the costs, so are there an incredible number of summoners?”

“All summoners who join are registered as association directors and receive salaries and bonuses, not paying money. Instead…”

As it turned out, the association was close to a kind of service company.

Originally, the time summoners spent performing missions wasn’t much of the total time.

When association members weren’t doing missions, the association was doing work to help countries and companies solve difficulties by utilizing summoners’ abilities.

If they used summoners’ abilities like superpowers, they would definitely be tremendous power whether for bright or dark purposes.

“Well, still, the priority is supporting association members’ missions.”

At the mention of missions, Sun-woo took out a white pill from his pocket.

To the two people looking bewildered, Sun-woo immediately explained what had happened in the previous mission.

At Sun-woo’s words, Caroline carefully picked up the pill and examined it from various angles.

“It seems Sun-woo’s words are correct. The shape is different, but other parts are almost similar. Moreover, this is definitely made using our world’s manufacturing method.”

With Caroline’s confirmation, the branch manager’s expression hardened.

“Then could it be they can move objects from this world to other dimensions?”

Other summoners besides Sun-woo couldn’t move to dimensions with anything other than the weapons and clothing they were holding. Moreover, even if they died in other dimensions, all objects they possessed were summoned by the Summoners and sent back to the original world.

“Still, that’s fortunate. The tracking teams seem to have almost followed to their main body now.”

“It’s all thanks to me. If I hadn’t confirmed the contamination source, the mission wouldn’t have been completed and the Summoners wouldn’t have noticed either.”

According to the branch manager, Caroline’s contamination source confirmation had resulted in a new mission being given to the association, and they were tracking the drug’s source globally. And they seemed to have succeeded in confirming the distribution network to some extent.

That’s when Sun-woo heard a voice.

[This is an emergency mission. The manufacturing facility for contamination spread agents has been identified. Help the Summoner Association destroy the manufacturing facility.]

At the same time, Caroline and the branch manager’s phones began ringing.