Chapter 174

Chapter 174

As my aura erupted, he let out a guttural "hic!" and stepped back.

"What the hell......Eugene Han?"

His face paled as he finally recognized me.

"Yeah, why are you here?"

"You applied for investment money this time and already forgot?"

"Aaah! That's right! So what happened? Research grants. Are you giving it to me?"

His eyes sparkle at the mention of money.

"I was going to do it, but I didn't think I'd get slapped down on the wrist."

His mouth drops open, and he waves a hand urgently, as if he finally realizes what a mistake he's made.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

What was on the table didn't look like an important experiment to me......but it seemed to be quite interesting to Choi Yeon, who had been quiet until now.

"An......important experiment?"

"Yes. An important experiment! Are you...... eh, Choi, Choi Yeon?"

"Yes. Hi."

This time, he recognized Choi Yeon and jumped back in surprise.

The only difference was that it was a reaction of sheer bewilderment, not the shock and fear he had when he saw me.

"Why is Choi Yeon here, ah, you said that she recently joined a club, did she also joined your club──"

"In the first place, I didn't come to you today to ask you to join a club, but to get assurances about my investment."

As I said that, I looked at the gemstone on his desk, which had already turned black.

"Is this the experiment you sent me?"

The reason he had closed the door and blocked the change as much as possible was probably to get solid data amidst the uncertainty.

"That's right, I'm still not getting good data due to the poor environment, but......what's certain is that I'm getting good results little by little. Previously, I couldn't even observe it no matter how much I stimulated it!"

As he says, this experiment is quite remarkable for a single student.

In terms of difficulty, it was more like building a machine from scratch in the wilderness.

"Well, it's certainly fast if you can already observe the reaction without any support."

"Right, so──"

"──But it's still too slow."

At this rate, he's decades away from reaching the level of progress I need and that's not what I wanted for him.

"If you've seen the reports, you know it's not that easy!"

He predictably went berserk at my words.

The words of how great this experiment is, and how difficult it is, pour out of his mouth like a waterfall, but I smile as I let them fall from one ear to the other.

There's no reason I would have gone all the way out here if I just wanted it to end here so I replied.

"You would have if you were alone, which is why I brought her."

Who would solve this conundrum in a heartbeat.

"Choi Yeon."

"......?"

"Can you help me for a second?"

"Me?"

Then why else would I have brought you here.

I took out one of the magic stones I kept in the cube, not knowing when I would use it, and held it out to Choi Yeon.

"This one, can you cut it in half?"

"......?"

"Now, wait a minute, cutting a magic stone in half, do you want to recreate the hell map from the freshman welcome party?!"

Magic stones change depending on how you apply force to them.

It's basic common sense in this world that if you apply a weak force to a magic stone over and over again, the energy within it will diminish and it will become an ordinary stone, but if you apply a strong force for a short period of time, it will become a dungeon.

"But what's even funnier is that the one who knows this is experimenting with shocking the magic stones."

"I was taking my time and paying attention! This experiment doesn't just work by applying a lot of force!"

You're a newbie, you don't know what you're talking about.

There's one more thing.

"It's not force. It's ultra-clean energy."

"......what?"

"You'd better watch this. It might help you."

With that, I glance over at Choi Yeon, who is still holding the magic stone in a daze.

She held the magic stone in one hand as she stood there, dumbfounded, and looked up at me.

"Are you sure you want me to cut this?"

I nod, and she slowly, unsuspectingly, brings her hand covered in aura to the gemstone.

"Hic, I can't watch, I can't watch!"

There is no hesitation in her movements, even as he cowers behind me in terror.

It's as if she's confident that no harm will come to her because I told her to.

-Giggles── giggles── giggles───

The aura, pure and unadulterated, begins to dig into the magic stone and in response, the stone emits an increasingly intense glow.

"No, no, no!"

The man on the ground screams, clutching his head, but Choi Yeon's expression is serene, just like her aura, which is now rising from her hand.

-Poof.

What was once one stone has split into exactly two without any explosions or anomalies.

"Did it work?"

She tilts her head, not realizing what a feat she just pulled off.

"That was quicker than I expected, huh?"

"Yeah. It wasn't that hard."

She hands me the two magic stones in her hand.

The cuts are incredibly smooth, as if they were made with a laser cutter.

"See."

"......Does this make sense now?"

The guy, who had been lying on his stomach, stood up and looked at the magic stones in my hands.

"A magic stone......cut by a human? And so neatly?"

He must have been surprised.

It's common knowledge that magic stones can't be processed at this point, so most of them are used as batteries in their original form but now, right in front of his eyes, that common sense was destroyed.

"Only pure aura and mana can cut magic stones. If you try to do it with impurities, you'll end up in a dungeon like you said, but as you just saw, it's possible with pure power. Though it's not easy."

The point is using pure power with similar output at the level of the magic stone.

"Pure power...... transparency...... impurities......."

He jumps to his feet as if mesmerized by my words, then sits back down and starts scribbling furiously.

"Okay, then we should go."

"Huh? Like this?"

Choi Yeon says, as if she didn't expect me to say that.

"This is enough, he'll know the rest."

I wasn't a scientist, just a guy who knew how to do things.

Mechanisms? Scientific principles? I don't know.

The details would be made by the monster who sits there and formulates new theories just by seeing the phenomena.

"We just have to swallow the results."

Because that's what this visit was for in the first place.

* * *

When I got home, I was greeted by a familiar face.

"So, how have you been?"

My father had finally returned from his work in Russia and his beard was a little bushier than usual.

"You had a hard time. I heard you had a lot going on abroad."

"Heh heh heh. The hard work was done by Consigliere and you, who took over while I was away. Yes, I heard about it. You absorbed an organization in Bucheon?"

He's been back at the mansion for a while now, and he knows what happened while he was away.

"Yes. While working on an assignment for the Academy, I discovered an organization that was trafficking people and selling drugs so I immediately disposed of it according to the organization's code and reorganized the place of business."

Cards and Rabbits had long since been transformed into a new club, now in the hands of me and Consigliere, a place dedicated to legitimate business, not drugs.

It was inevitable that the police would come calling because of what was going on inside, but Consigliere had a trick up his sleeve for when that happened.

'Take what you need to take and give what you need to give away.'

If they manage to do this, they'll be able to trade a list of their drug customers as part of the deal, naturally covering up the club's tracks.

Of course, this was only possible because we are Corleone, and it was the Consigliere who negotiated the deal.

'I suppose the police figured it was better to leave it to Corleone who wanted to go the legitimate route, rather than have a new criminal organization take over the place.'

More places under my control is a bonus.

"Excellent, I've already been briefed, but......you're doing a great job."

Chuckling, he stands up and pats me on the shoulder.

"Here, I thought the gift I brought you would be enough, but I need to give you something more."

With that, he pulls out a box from under his desk and holds it out to me as if he'd prepared it in advance.

"I hope you like it."

The heavy box was placed in my hand.

It was wrapped in a very soft ribbon, as if it was a gift, and the box felt different to the touch, as if it was not made of ordinary materials.

"What are you doing? Open it."

I thought it was impolite to open a gift as soon as I received it, so I just held it quietly, and my father smiled at me.

It was as if he was curious about my reaction to the gift.

If he's going to say that, I have no choice but to...... check it out, right?

I set the box down on the table and tugged on the end of the ribbon to untie the knot.

Picking up the lid of the box with careful, almost ritualistic movements, I slowly lifted it.

"Is this......?"

A chunk of metal, surrounded by cushioning in a box.

It wasn't anything fancy but rather clunky and yet I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

Slowly, I brought my hand to the hilt of the gun, and new information flashed before my eyes.

[Name: Tulsky Tokarev of the Old Republic Spy]

[Class: Artifact]

[Type: Firearm]

[Description: The pistol of a legendary spy, feared by every powerful man in the world during the Cold War. This pistol with his epic story will be used as a secret weapon to pierce the heart of your enemies in any location]

[Skills]

[1. Global Artifact: The original owner of this artifact is a global celebrity. It grants three effects.

[2. Silence: You can fire a total of 9 bullets per day without making any sound]

[3. Spy-only: A spy's weapon is harder to detect and more unpredictable than anything else. It can be used in both visible and invisible modes and is undetectable by any means]

"What do you think, I saw you collecting only artifact weapons. So......do you like it?"