Chapter 42 - Master and Disciple (2)

Chapter 42: Master and Disciple (2)TL: SHW

“Master, is this how I should do it?”

Two days later.

“Uh, let me see… Good! You’re doing great! Now, let’s try it like this!”

Such a dramatic performance.

Wasn’t it just the other day they didn’t want to be master and disciple? Weren’t they talking about giving up magic?

Even Park Seo-hyun, who seemed like she wouldn’t, got caught up with Choi Jin-woo and her speech became strange. Her body was stiff and her speech awkward, but it’s hard to believe this was the same girl who was walking around with a face looking like she was about to die from depression just two days ago.

Really… they’re funny kids.

“Ah! This part… you should do it like this. Ah, do you understand?”

Still, seeing Park Seo-hyun, who used to be so listless, now playing around like this is heartwarming. Kids should be like this.

The problem is….

“Hah! I have beheaded you!”

“The one beheaded is you!”

“What nonsense! No amount of insisting will bring back your missing head!”

“That’s what I should be saying!”

Thanks to this, even the other kids started mimicking their way of speaking.

They are full of energy.

Noisy… so noisy.

Hong Seok-young, who had been watching the kids, had vanished before I knew it. No doubt, he went to the teachers’ office to sip on some instant coffee.

That guy can’t hide his age. Though he has plenty of stamina, dealing with kids who chatter non-stop is another matter.

“Teacher! Teacher Woo!”

Lee Seung-yeon yelled, calling for me.

“Who won between him and me?!”

I looked at Lee Seung-yeon and Seo Han-seong.

“Rock-paper-scissors.”

“What?!”

“The one who wins at rock-paper-scissors is the winner.”

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“It is here.”

“Ah, Teacher!”

I waved my hand to shoo them away. Finally, a peaceful time without a class assigned to me…. It cannot be disturbed.

Though it will be soon. A now-familiar sports car is approaching from afar. It’s Kim Chae-min’s bright yellow sports car.

“Hello, kids!”

“Hello!”

Kim Chae-min jumped out opening the car door. Today she is wearing a long dress that reaches her ankles. It’s bright green with big white and yellow flowers. I always wonder how she manages in those fancy clothes.

Kim Chae-min looked around.

“Where are Jin-woo and Seo-hyun?”

There was no need to look for them. The two mages, having noticed Kim Chae-min’s arrival, were already tidying up and walking over.

Kim Chae-min smiled brightly when she saw them, and pulled a brown envelope out of her bag slung over her shoulder. How did that fit in her tiny handbag… ah, a spatial pocket. It was a different bag last time. How many bags does she have with spatial pockets?

Anyway, that envelope is today’s main event.

Honestly, it’s something else that Hong Seok-young assigns an Archmage like Kim Chae-min to just deliver documents. And it’s something else that she willingly does it.

Since both seem content, it’s not my place to say anything….

“This was urgently brought by the teacher… it’s something the teacher wrote, so there may be parts that don’t suit you. Check carefully and let me know if there’s anything you want to fix. Got it?”

Kim Chae-min grew up in a relatively liberal household, she said. That’s probably one reason Hong Seok-young brought her as the kids’ magic teacher.

Of course, the main reason is that Kim Chae-min is also chasing Ark. Trusted mages are scarce.

But how did Kim Chae-min end up chasing Ark?

“Wow. Why is this so thick?”

“This is short. I heard recent contracts are even thicker.”

“Even more than this?”

Choi Jin-woo, who had reverted to his original speech pattern, was surprised as he looked at the document envelope Kim Chae-min was holding. It hadn’t been taken out yet, but it had an overwhelming presence. If it were a person, it might not be a lethal weapon, but it would definitely cause some damage.

“Do all mages do this?”

“Not all. Only between master and disciple.”

Kim Chae-min pulled out a stack of papers. It was a contract, a contract used by mages.

The so-called standard master-disciple contract.

Choi Jin-woo tilted his head at Kim Chae-min’s words.

“I heard that masters and disciples are usually like family…?”

“Yeah, I learned from my dad too.”

“Do you use a contract like this between family members?”

To an ordinary citizen, it might seem too high a barrier. Anyone would feel that way if handed a 300-page contract all of a sudden.

Kim Chae-min smiled brightly, unaware of Choi Jin-woo’s confusion.

“Because it was my dad, I kept it simple.”

“…This is simple? Teacher Woo, is it just me who doesn’t get it?”

Poor guy.

But this is the realm of mages. To become a true mage, you have to overcome such trials.

“Lawsuits often happen between masters and disciples.”

Kim Chae-min nodded seriously at my words.

“It’s fortunate if it’s just a lawsuit. I heard recently that a disciple stabbed their master…”

“Stabbed?”

“Ah, but in that case, the master deserved it. The disciple was a fifth cousin or something, and the master made them do housework. They exploited them for about ten years using magic as leverage.”

“How was that possible through a contract?”

“Of course, it was a breach of contract.”

Kim Chae-min answered nonchalantly.

“So, the cousin will probably be acquitted.”

“…Are mages that scary?”

Choi Jin-woo asked with a sullen face. Perhaps he regretted becoming a mage. But looking at Park Seo-hyun, who was skimming through the contract brought by Kim Chae-min, it was clear that backing out wasn’t an option.

Park Seo-hyun glanced up and advised Choi Jin-woo.

“If you ever have complaints about me, tell me before stabbing. I’ll fix it as much as I can.”

“I won’t stab you!”

Park Seo-hyun giggled, her eyes crinkling as she watched Choi Jin-woo recoil.

Realizing that Park Seo-hyun’s words were a joke, Choi Jin-woo scratched his head. Embarrassed, he stared at the 300-page contract.

He pretended to read it.

“But still, isn’t this too much? I don’t understand any of it.”

Mages also use lawyers. There are even lawyers specialized in master-disciple contracts.

Not all mages use contracts, but with so many gruesome incidents happening, most tend to use them.

To prevent masters from exploiting disciples like slaves using magic as leverage, and vice versa. There have even been cases where the weaknesses of a mage were used to forcibly extract their formulas.

“Seo-hyun, do you understand this?”

“Hmm. To be honest, not really.”

“But you look like you’re reading it so well?”

“It’s fascinating. My grandfather taught me without any of this.”

Park Seo-hyun flipped through a few more pages and then closed the contract.

She then looked at Kim Chae-min with a somewhat apologetic face.

“If I had known the teacher went to get this, I would have said it’s okay…. I feel like I caused unnecessary trouble.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay. But aren’t you going to use the contract? Even if you’re friends, these things should be clear. In fact, because you’re friends, it should be even clearer.”

“We’re going to use one, but not this complicated.”

“You are?!”

Ignoring Choi Jin-woo’s reaction, Park Seo-hyun took out a clean sheet of paper.

Instead of the pencil she usually used for drawing runes, she started writing with a pen this time.

1. Park Seo-hyun will teach Choi Jin-woo all the magical formulas (including the unique magic ‘Navigator of Us All’) of her grandfather, Park No-kyung.

2. Park Seo-hyun acknowledges Choi Jin-woo’s ownership of the magic in item 1.

3. However, Choi Jin-woo cannot decide on a new successor alone when needed. The same applies to Park Seo-hyun, and a new successor can only be chosen if both agree.

4. If Park Seo-hyun dies, Choi Jin-woo can choose a new successor at his sole discretion.

5. If Choi Jin-woo dies, Park Seo-hyun can choose a new successor at her sole discretion.

“…….”

Park Seo-hyun wrote her name and resident registration number at the bottom and signed it.

After thinking for a moment, Park Seo-hyun disassembled the pen she was holding and took out the cartridge. Curious about what she was doing, I watched as she snapped the cartridge and smeared the ink on her thumb… then stamped her fingerprint. Up until this point, everything flowed smoothly.

Kim Chae-min was the first to come to her senses. After confirming the text, signature, and fingerprint Park Seo-hyun had written, she realized what this was.

“Is this the contract? This is all?”

“Yes. This much is enough for me… Ah, Jin-woo, do you have anything to add?”

“Um… I’m not really sure about this stuff. Is a successor the same as a disciple?”

“Yeah. It just means you need to inform me if you take on a disciple. I have to tell you too if I want to teach someone else the light magic.”

“That’s fine… Anyway, it’s your grandfather’s magic. You don’t need to ask me. If someone more talented comes along, just go ahead and teach them.”

Park Seo-hyun didn’t respond but simply smiled at Choi Jin-woo’s words. It was clear from his words how little he knew about being a mage.

Choi Jin-woo took out a pen and wrote his name and resident registration number below Park Seo-hyun’s.

As he was about to ink his finger to make a fingerprint stamp like Park Seo-hyun did, Kim Chae-min grabbed his wrist.

“Hey, hey. Hold on a second… You know this has legal effect, right?”

“Yes. Teacher, you said so yourself, didn’t you? If a contract that thick didn’t have legal effect, that’d be scary in its own way.”

“But you only have one page! This can hardly even be called a master-disciple contract…!”

Park Seo-hyun, who was more mage-like than Choi Jin-woo, frowned as she looked at the contract she wrote.

“So it would be good if you, as an Archmage, could notarize it. If you notarize it, there won’t be any legal issues.”

“That may be true! But I’m saying, wouldn’t it be better to write detailed clauses rather than this simplified version?”

At this point, my opinion didn’t seem to matter. Honestly, it didn’t look like Park Seo-hyun or Choi Jin-woo would listen to Kim Chae-min. Look at how decisive Park Seo-hyun was, stamping the contract right away. What more would she ponder?

Choi Jin-woo nodded at Kim Chae-min’s words, but he was just pretending to listen.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

In the end, Choi Jin-woo stamped his fingerprint too.

“Oh, really…”

Even the pouting Kim Chae-min couldn’t win and wrote her name as a witness below. She didn’t seem happy about it, but there wasn’t much she could do. If one of them ended up betraying the other, they’d have to chalk it up to life experience. We can’t live their lives for them.

“Teacher, you too.”

“…Me?”

“It’s good to have three witnesses. We’ll get the principal’s signature too.”

“Where do you even hear these things from… Never mind.”

With both Kim Chae-min and Hong Seok-young’s signatures, no one would dare ignore this contract written in such round handwriting.

I wrote my name below Kim Chae-min’s, hesitating while writing my resident registration number. It shouldn’t start with a 1. The number on the ID Hong Seok-young gave me was… 92, right? I exaggerated the strokes. Luckily, the number I altered wasn’t noticeable.

I double-checked to ensure I wrote it correctly. These numbers still felt unfamiliar.

“Okay, teachers, stamp your fingerprints too.”

“…Even fingerprints? A signature should be enough.”

“Handwriting can be forged!”

What are kids watching these days?

Kim Chae-min, who had been displeased with the contract, found the act of stamping the fingerprint amusing and burst into laughter. It became troublesome because Kim Chae-min complied so easily.

“Teacher Kim did it too!”

Park Seo-hyun pouted as she handed over the broken pen cartridge. At least bring proper ink…

“Teacher Kim is Teacher Kim… I’m not stamping anything.”

“Teacher Kim is an Archmage.”

Choi Jin-woo chimed in.

“Teacher… what are you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just weird if only you don’t do it! Since we’re doing it, let’s make it thorough!”

“…….”

Surely, Hong Seok-young wouldn’t refuse either…. If I kept resisting, I’d just end up looking odd.

Damn.

Reluctantly, I smeared ink on my finger.

The old man always said not to lend out your name carelessly. These kids have no idea whose notarization they’re getting.