Chapter 28: Another Choice, Another Path, and Another Name (3)

* * *The early morning market was bustling with plenty of eyewitnesses—Merchants were moving busily, restaurants prepared for the day’s business, and traders transported their goods...

Seti and Dung Beetle took a roundabout trip through the market, avoiding eye contact with those people before heading to Jang Man’s bar.

Thanks to that, it was closer to morning than dawn by the time the two arrived at the bar.

“You’re late.”

A stranger was standing at the entrance of the bar.

The man had short hair and was wearing a neatly fitted, old-fashioned military uniform, with a pistol strapped to his waist. He looked unmistakably like a soldier.

“Do you even know how late you are? It’s not just an hour; an entire day—one whole day! Do you have no concept of time in your head?”

As if already familiar with Seti, he directed his gaze at her.

Feeling the blatant threat, Dung Beetle grasped the dagger hidden in his pocket, but Seti stopped him. She didn’t even flinch as she replied in a deep voice.

“So what?”

“...What?”

“Did I ask you to wait? You’re the one who said that you’d be waiting, remember?”

Unlike when talking to Dung Beetle, Seti’s voice was fierce.

“If you’re unhappy, then draw your gun.”

“...”

“You got nothing more to say, right? Then stop blocking the door and move aside.”

The man glared alternately at Seti and Dung Beetle. After a moment of silence, he clicked his tongue before stepping aside from the door.

“...It better be worth the time you wasted.”

“That’s for Grandmother to decide.”

Leaving behind the man in the military uniform who kept complaining until the end, the two of them entered the bar.

Glancing around, Dung Beetle could see that the interior of the bar hadn’t changed much since he left. The sunken floor and the broken ceiling were still there. But, fortunately, there were a few chairs and a table this time round.

“You’ve come?”

At the table were Jang Man and a thin, elderly white lady, both with their drinks. However, upon closer inspection, the old lady wasn’t sitting on a chair…

Dung Beetle frowned slightly. It was a wheelchair without a speck of dust on its wheels.

As he relaxed his expression and looked up, he made eye contact with the old lady in the wheelchair.

With a face covered in age spots, protruding cheekbones, and a long, hooked nose, the old lady looked more like a witch from a fairy tale.

“Seti, is this the person you were talking about?”

“Yes, this is him. What do you think, Grandmother?”

“...Interesting. His mana is as pure as an elf’s.”

The old lady’s snake-like, cold gaze scanned Dung Beetle’s body.

“How can a human body be like this? It’s extraordinary. I would have regretted not seeing him in person.”

After saying that, the old lady pulled out some papers and a case of glasses from beside the wheelchair. seaʀᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Don’t just stand there, come and sit.”

Without waiting for another word, Dung Beetle pulled up a chair and sat at the table. Seti also stood behind him quickly.

“So then, shall we start with the business discussion?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“Alright, then first...”

The old lady with the hooked nose, now wearing glasses, unfolded some documents and spoke up.

“Let’s start with the name. Do you have a pseudonym in mind?”

Dung Beetle glanced at Seti’s expression before turning back to the old lady and responding.

“Yeomyeong. I plan on using the pseudonym ‘Yeomyeong’ if we were to change my identity.”

“...Yeomyeong? Not a bad name. Then what about the surname?”

This time, the answer to this question came from beside Dung Beetle.

“Cheon. If we’re giving this brat a surname, ‘Cheon’ would be the best choice. Cheon Yeomyeong. It has a nice ring to it as well.”

They all turned towards Jang Man, who was sipping on his drink.

After a moment of silence, the old lady with the hooked nose glanced at Dung Beetle, as if asking, ‘Do you agree with this?’

Dung Beetle nodded instead of saying anything. There was no way he would disagree with that suggestion because Cheon was none other than... the Foreman’s surname.

“Cheon Yeomyeong, not bad. I don’t know much about fortune-telling1, but I can tell it’s a much better name than what Dung Beetle currently has.”

“...”

…

Dung Beetle tried to think of a counter argument but remained silent when he remembered that everyone who had heard his name recently had a similar reaction.

“Shall we get on to the next point then? Yeomyeong, what do you plan to do with this fake identity?”

“Do I have to tell you that too?”

“Of course. Because I will be your guarantor.”

Guarantor? Hearing this newly brought topic, Dung Beetle stared at Seti with a puzzled look on his face.

However, Seti’s expression was no different.

“...Grandmother? What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? Just as I said, I will be the guarantor for this child. The government won’t dare to investigate him if that happens.”

“Wait a minute. That’s...!”

“Seti.”

The air between the two grew cold. The old lady with the hooked nose raised her eyes and looked at Seti.

“Where do you plan on sending this boy? The Academy? The Special Management Bureau? Neither, right?”

“...”

“At most, you’re thinking of making him a mercenary or a hunter, aren’t you? Am I wrong?”

Her words seemed to hit a nerve, as Seti’s expression twisted visibly.

“...So what if it is?”

“Because that’s pathetic. Pathetic!”

“Do you even know what my plan is?”

“There’s no need to even hear it. Knowing you, it’s bound to be crude and dangerous.”

With that statement, a grim silence filled the space.

Unable to endure the atmosphere, Jang Man quickly grabbed his drink and left the table.

Left alone with the two women, Dung Beetle—or rather, Yeomyeong—found himself suddenly caught in the middle. He subtly pulled his chair back to create some distance and then glanced at both of them simultaneously.

“May I ask a question?”

As Yeomyeong spoke, both pairs of eyes turned towards him.

“What exactly are the two of you discussing?”

“It’s nothing important—Grandmother is just being meddlesome.”

“Meddlesome?”

“Grandmother is quite impressive. She’s so influential that if she makes you a guarantee, that some governments might show interest and try to recruit you.”

“So that means...”

“You want to take Dung... I mean, Yeomyeong-ssi, under your command, right? What else could it be?”

The old lady with the hooked nose remained silent and just listened to Seti.

Only after Seti finished speaking did she slowly open her mouth.

“Yeomyeong, I don’t know what promises that silly girl has made, but it would be better if you did not follow her.”

“...”

“This is my sincere advice. You should walk on a brighter path. You will only waste your talents if you follow that child.”

It was a declaration filled with conviction. Seti glared at the old lady with an expression of disbelief. As Yeomyeong watched everything unfold, he thought of Seti’s past and asked.

“...Are you two really blood-related grandmother2 and granddaughter?”

“We are connected by blood. That's why I don’t stop her from calling me grandmother."

The old woman's voice was laced with a deep contempt that made it hard to believe that she was speaking to a blood relative.

“...Connected by blood.”

Yeomyeong recalled Seti’s evaluation of her parents. The phrase ‘connected by blood’ felt like it had an entirely different meaning.

Seeing him remain silent, the old lady spoke again.

“Yeomyeong. Do you know that this child is a meat puppet created by the Korean government?”

“...Meat puppet?”

“Grandmother!!”

Seti shouted, but the old lady paid no heed and maintained her somewhat fishy smile.

“She is not a product of love, but was born in a laboratory, so she’s nothing more than a chunk of meat. And with the ban placed on her, she is no different from a mere puppet who can’t even rebel against the government.”

“...”

“So, is there any reason for you to entrust your future to a girl like her? Your youth and talent will be wasted.”

The old lady stretched her hand towards Yeomyeong. As if feeling a sense of kinship, mana similar to the Surging Wave technique rippled from her hand.

“Take my hand. I will guide you down a brighter path.”

Yeomyeong stared at the old lady’s hand blankly. After glancing at Seti’s trembling face, he looked back at the old lady’s hand.

“How should I address you, Ma’am?”

“People call me Siri.”

“...Siri.”

Yeomyeong hesitated for a moment before taking Siri’s hand.

“As expected, you know how to make the right choi—”

And the next moment, he pulled out the dagger from his pocket and swung it.

He intended to slit the old lady’s throat with the attack, but he only managed to graze her neck. It was because he was unfamiliar with wielding the dagger with his left hand.

Blue powder instead of blood flowed from her neck. It was a powder made of mana.

“...Didn’t you say that you knew nothing about magic?”

— Seti blinked as she watched Siri's physical form dissipate into nothingness.

“It's true that I do not.”

“Then how did you notice that was illusion magic?”

Yeomyeong pondered how to answer as he looked at her face.

Something felt off the moment Seti started talking with the soldier at the entrance.

And the wheels of the old lady’s wheelchair were also as clean as new.

Above all, the mana he could feel from the old lady’s body was strange… But, instead of explaining it all in detail, he simply summarized it in one word.

“Intuition.”

The next moment, the bar door burst open, and the soldier walked in.

“Intuition? INTUITION? You sensed my magic through intuition?!”

The soldier stared at Yeomyeong with an expression not that different from Seti’s.

He strode over to Yeomyeong and grabbed his wrist.

The soldier tried channeling his mana into Yeomyeong’s wrist, but Yeomyeong’s superhuman body rejected the external mana, pushing it away.

It was something only the body of a Superhuman could do. The soldier’s expression twisted.

“...So, you’re really not a Mage!”

“...”

“Unnie3, what the hell is with this person? Is his case similar to ours?”

“...Unnie?”

As soon as Yeomyeong asked that, the soldier’s body began to dissipate.

***

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