Part 2 Chapter 117: Skill Test? / 841
TL: Hanguk
66th floor of the Black Tower.
Chairman’s Office of the Wizard’s Association.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Tell me about the three elements of lightning magic.”
“Yes! I will explain the three elements of lightning magic! The three elements of lightning magic are phase! Resistance! And humidity!”
In response to Iona’s magic, the lower-rank wizard Marcel answered confidently.
However,
“Kyoo- Wrong! It’s phase! Resistance! And temperature!”
It was an incorrect answer.
When Iona entered Level 1 of Kyoo of Rage,
Is my life going to blow away with the building...
“I-I’m sorry! Chairman, please spare me!”
Marcel, whose face had gone pale, immediately dropped to his knees with a face that looked like he was about to cry.
“Kyoo- Who said I’d kill you? Why are you kneeling! What if someone misunderstands... Go out immediately and hand-copy the basics of lightning magic ten times and submit it.”
Iona said to Marcel while glancing at Theo’s expression. Although Theo had already noticed, Iona was trying her best to cover it up.
“Puhuhut. Iona, you don’t need to hold back your temper, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, like Iona with a temper, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Ah, Theo-nim... Marcel, go on now.”
At Theo’s words, Iona sent Marcel out with a face full of happiness.
“Yes! Thank you!”
Marcel hurriedly left the Chairman’s office in case Iona might change her mind.
As Marcel left,
“Iona, isn’t this a bit much?”
Sejun, who had kept his mouth shut during the interview, finally spoke up.
And then,
“Puhuhut. That’s right, meow! Iona, you don’t need to go this hard, meow! Great hybrid Chairman Park is so lacking in the basics that almost any wizard can teach him, meow!”
“Vice Chairman Theo, what did you just say?! That I’m lacking in the basics?!”
“Sorry-chairman, I apologize-meow!”
Theo received Sejun's punishment.
Kkuroong.
Kkirorong.
Keooo.
For reference, Cuengi, Blackie, and Taecho had fallen asleep as if they had heard a lullaby as soon as the difficult magic theory came up earlier.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Since we came all the way to the Wizard’s Association, we can’t just let it go like this. I’ll find a magic teacher who can properly teach Sejun-nim!”
This is a matter of my pride!
Iona burned with passion.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Next.”
She immediately called in the next interviewee.
“Ah... Hello! I’m lower-rank wizard Pirua!”
A wizard entered with a very nervous expression.
***
In front of the Chairman’s office.
“Marcel, how did it go?”
“Haah. Basley-nim, I almost died just now. Iona-nim asked about the three elements of lightning magic... and I got it wrong... It was my first time seeing Iona-nim’s Level 1 Kyoo of Rage. But it’s really different from the rumors? She didn’t destroy the building.”
“Iona-nim’s personality has really softened lately. In the past... uugh.”
Basley, the senior wizard overseeing the waiting applicants, replied with a shiver.
“Did Iona-nim say anything else?”
“Ah. She told me to hand-copy the basics of lightning magic ten times and submit it....”
At Basley’s question, Marcel darkened.
“What?! The basics of lightning magic?! That thing is seriously thick....”
“It’s over 1000 pages. If you hand-copy it ten times without rest from morning till night, it’d still take a month....”
At Marcel’s words, the other waiting lower-rank wizards began murmuring.
“So you all better study while you wait too.”
“Yes.”
At Basley’s words, the wizards quickly took out their spellbooks and started reading diligently.
At that moment,
Click.
The door to the Chairman’s office opened, and Pirua came out with a vacant expression.
“Pirua, how did it go?”
Marcel asked Pirua.
“She told me to hand-copy the basics of wind magic twenty times and submit it....”
Basic spellbooks are usually over 1000 pages. That meant it would take over two months to hand-copy. "Hang in there."
"Stay strong."
The other lower-rank wizards offered their consolation.
"But I don't see Ute."
Basley, who was checking the interviewees, spoke up.
“Ute?”
"Do we need to call Ute too?"
“Old man Ute can only use entry-level magic. If we call him for no reason, he’ll just get scolded by Iona-nim.”
"Hehehe. That's true."
The lower-rank wizards started chatting among themselves. Their words were full of contempt and disdain toward Ute.
“It’s Iona-nim’s order. Marcel, go bring Ute.”
“Huh? Understood.”
Marcel left at Basley's words.
“I don’t even have time to transcribe, so why do I have to go call that stupid wizard?”
Grumbling with a face full of annoyance, he left the Wizard’s Association building and headed to Ute’s lodging.
Since Ute had no space inside the Wizard’s Association, he had to find a place to live outside, and it took about twenty minutes on foot.
A little while later.
When Marcel arrived at Ute’s lodging,
"Hohoho. This time I'll show you a firebird. Fire."
An old turtle wearing a worn-out brown robe was in an empty lot, surrounded by neighborhood children, creating a bird using the entry-level spell Fire.
“Wow! It’s a bird made of real fire!”
“Grandpa Ute, does the firebird shoot fire too?”
"There's no reason it can't. Here."
As Ute moved his magic power.
Whoosh.
The firebird made of flames shrank a bit, and fire began to shoot from its beak.
““Wow!””
The children cheered.
Tch. What’s so great about those cheap tricks?
It’s just entry-level magic.
“Ice Missile.”
Hmph. You should be at least this good.
The ice arrow Marcel shot flew toward the firebird.
Boom!
The firebird created by Fire magic vanished pathetically.
And then.
“Ugh!”
Ute staggered with a groan. The magic was forcibly destroyed, causing him to suffer minor internal injuries.
To get hurt from something like this...
That’s why, if you don’t even have the skills, why do you keep hanging around the Association?
Marcel approached Ute with eyes full of contempt.
“Old man Ute, the Chairman is calling for you. Go to the Chairman’s office.”
“...Yes. Huff. Huff.”
Without even an apology, he delivered his message and disappeared toward the library.
“Grandpa, are you okay?!”
“Mean wizard! When I become a great wizard, I’ll teach him a lesson!”
The children, who had been frozen in fear while Marcel was there, rushed over to Ute.
“Hehehe. I’m fine. This much is... Oof. My back. Hehehe. When you’re old, there's nowhere that doesn't hurt."
Ute spoke in a way to not worry the children and got to his feet.
“We’ll stop here for today.”
He turned his body toward the main Wizard’s Association building where the Chairman’s office was located.
“Already?”
“But I wanted more....”
“Hehehe. You’ve seen me every day for a month. What's there to feel bad about?"
“Hehe. It’s still fun every day!”
“Yeah!”
As the kids chimed in.
“Marco! Come eat!”
“Michelle!”
Voices of parents calling their children rang out.
“Grandpa Ute, we’re going now!”
The children rushed off.
And then.
“In the thousand years since entering the Wizard’s Association, I’ve never been summoned. For the Chairman to be looking for this old man... what’s going on?”
Ute walked slowly toward the Chairman’s office.
***
Wizard’s Association Chairman’s Office.
Listening to Iona’s incomprehensible questions and the applicants’ incomprehensible answers, Sejun grew extremely bored.
“Can you turn this dough into chewy dough with Magic Missile?”
He joined the interview and started testing them.
"Puhuhut. Try grilling a delicious Grilled fish with fire magic, meow!"
Kueng!
[Using telekinesis magic, try opening the honey jar!]
(Pip-pip. Use wind magic to create vibrations!)
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Use magic to turn Great Blackie’s sweet potato into roasted and dried sweet potato!]
“Hehe. Use magic to make a cool breeze!”
The rest of the group also followed Sejun and began testing the wizards. They called it a test, but everyone just asked for what they wanted.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot.”
This is still a kind of magic control test.
Iona did not interfere and quietly watched the lower-rank wizards’ magic.
And the test results were disastrous.
“Gasp!”
“Meow!”
Theo blocked Sejun from getting hit in the face by a Magic Missile.
“Haaah! Unforgivable, meow! You dared try to strike the face of the great hybrid Chairman Park, meow! It’s already ugly, and if it gets worse, our Chairman Park might never get married, meow! Come here and get stamped.”
“Vice Chairman Theo, that’s a bit much. Calm down.”
Theo was furious and tried to stamp him, but Sejun stopped him and he calmed down. Of course, although the stamp wasn't applied, the lower-rank wizard was still punished by Iona with 100 apology letters and copying the basic magic textbook 100 times.
“Kyoo- What a mess.”
Even afterward, the tests by the lower-rank wizards were a complete disaster.
“Meow?! Why did you burn that, meow?! You ruined Vice Chairman Theo’s fish, meow! Come here and get stamped, meow!”
One lower-rank wizard burned Theo’s grilled fish and received a stamp, then was punished by Iona with 200 apology letters and 200 hand-copies of the fire magic theory book.
Kueng! Kueng!
[You broke the precious honey jar! The honey is ruined!]
“Puhuhut. Come get stamped, meow!”
Another lower-rank wizard, trying to open the honey jar with telekinesis magic, broke the jar and spilled the honey, enraging Cuengi. He was stamped by Theo and punished with 100 apology letters and 100 hand-copies of the telekinesis magic theory book.
Kihihihi!
(Pip-pip! That’s not vibration, that’s a ghost wail!)
A lower-rank wizard who tried to create vibration with wind magic but ended up producing a ghostly wail was punished with 50 apology letters and 50 hand-copies of the wind magic theory book.
Grrr! Kking?! Kking!
[Grr! How dare you burn Great Blackie’s sweet potato?! Headbutt!]
“Puhuhut. Come get stamped, meow!”
A lower-rank wizard who used fire magic and turned Blackie’s sweet potato into burnt sweet potato instead of roasted sweet potato received mental punishment from Blackie and couldn’t recover from the aftereffects. That didn’t mean Iona skipped punishment.
“Achoo!”
“Puhuhut. Come get stamped, meow!”
Lastly, a lower-rank wizard who created an ice wind and made Taecho catch a cold was punished with Theo’s stamp, 500 apology letters, and 250 hand-copies each of the ice magic and wind magic theory books.
Thus, the lower-rank wizards, like defeated soldiers, left the Chairman’s office one after another with gloomy faces.
“Kyung. I’m sorry. There’s no proper wizard who can teach Sejun-nim....”
Iona apologized to Sejun.
Although one wizard was still left to be interviewed.
[Ute Galeon]
-Joined the Wizard’s Association 1000 years ago, but still hasn’t learned basic magic.
Looking at the documents, it was hard to expect anything.
In fact, Ute should be classified as an entry-level wizard, not lower-rank. However, since the entry-level usually didn’t last more than a month, the association abolished that rank and merged it with the lower-rank wizard category.
“No, it’s fine. This isn’t your fault, Iona.”
Kihihit. Kking! Kking! Kking!
[Hehe. Right! This isn’t sister-in-law’s fault! It’s because butler has no talent!]
Seeing an opportunity to mock Sejun, Blackie wasted no time throwing shade. He didn’t think of the consequences.
“Hehehe. Park. BLA. CKIE.”
Kking!
[Run away!]
As soon as Sejun called him by full name, sensing danger, Blackie tried to flee, but this was inside the Chairman’s office, a sealed room.
And,
“Hehe. Dad, Taecho caught Blackie oppa!”
There was no one on Blackie's side.
Kking!
[Park Taecho, you traitor!]
“What do you mean traitor! Blackie, how dare you insult me? You ungrateful Park Blackie!”
Squeeze.
When Sejun grabbed both of Blackie’s cheeks and dangled him,
Kkiiing...!
[Butlyer, I'mb sowwy...!]
Only then did Blackie beg for forgiveness.
“Hehehe. Too late.”
Having gained a valid reason to touch Blackie’s squishy cheeks, Sejun didn’t miss the chance and enjoyed the squishiness to the fullest.
While Sejun was healing himself by playing with Blackie’s cheeks.
Knock knock knock.
Someone knocked, and the door to the Chairman’s office opened.
Then.
“Chairman-nim, hello. Hehehe. I’m Ute.”
Ute entered the Chairman’s office and greeted them.
This was the first meeting with Ute, the Archwizard of Precision, who would later be recognized by the great dragons for his achievements in teaching Sejun magic and be called the Turtle Dragon.