He had grown up wanting for nothing: a sharp mind, handsome looks, a father who was a prosecutor-turned-congressman, and a mother whose family had amassed a fortune through vast real estate holdings.
From the moment he entered elementary school, the other parents, having heard rumors about him, were eager for their children to befriend him.
It was the same in middle and high school. From middle school onward, even the teachers bowed to him. When he got into a fight, they would unconditionally side with him.
Even if he unilaterally bullied or assaulted someone, the teachers would hush up the incident as a group, cautiously asking after his parents' well-being.
He didn't remember those times well, but he thought he had smiled.
Could life really be this easy?
As long as he put in the bare minimum effort to maintain decent grades, he didn't have to do anything else.
Friends? Romance?
His surroundings were always filled with idiots desperate to curry favor with him.
The girls were only interested in his looks and money, easily spreading their legs for him—airheads, all of them.
The school gang leaders, acting tough? He'd frame them, leave evidence, and send them to juvenile detention or use blackmail to control them.
When he was bored, he'd pick on some nerdy kid in class.
It started with rumors that the kid liked the girlfriend of a gang leader, then he secretly stole girls' gym uniforms and put them in the kid's locker.
The peak of his enjoyment came during the search for the culprit, when a mountain of gym uniforms was discovered in the guy's locker while the lockers of the male students in the class were being searched.
The sight of him crying and shouting that it wasn't him was almost enough to make him feel sorry, though he couldn't openly laugh.
However, the disappointment he felt when he heard that the kid had dropped out was indescribable. It was annoying when a toy you were playing with broke, but it was absurd when it ran away on its own.
Still, finding a new toy wasn't that difficult.
And it was the same in college.
The department he entered, thinking he would just fool around with dim-witted girls, had a few guys who didn't know their place.
He heard there hadn't been any guys among the freshmen last year, but why was this happening only when he arrived?
So, this time, he decided to go beyond simply playing with them, creating a situation where they would break down on their own and disappear.
Just like in high school, he looked for a nerdy and pliable guy who wouldn't squirm when stepped on.
Then, he gradually excluded him from the group while talking about him when he was with other guys. He stinks, his taste in women is disgusting, I saw him smiling while looking at weird pictures of girls on his phone the other day. Of course, it was all made up, but what did he care?
The truth isn't what matters to people.
What matters most is what seems plausible.
Men are just as easily fooled.
They'd wag their tails at him like dogs, spending a few bucks on meals and drinks, desperately hoping that they wouldn't be the target of bullying.
As most of the freshmen guys were doing this, hoping he would not target them, a strangely annoying guy appeared.
Kang Hyunwoo, a classmate who was only tall with an average face. No, he looked quite fierce when he frowned.
Actually, he hadn't planned to mess with Kang Hyunwoo from the beginning.
It wasn't like his first impression was bad. He'd even thought of keeping him around and using him to create some intimidation.
But he didn't like the way he constantly looked displeased or didn't attend the drinking parties he paid for, so he decided to make an example of him.
He didn't care who that jerk liked, but a nerd who had gone to a drinking party he hadn't attended told him who Kang Hyunwoo liked.
At that moment, a plan came to mind, and it was a success.
The guy's distorted face at the orientation made him laugh even now.
But he had been hit by that guy.
Who?
Him?
Smash!
A flowerpot hit the wall, scattering fragments everywhere.
"Damn it!"
Jeon Hye-seong vented his anger by smashing or throwing things around the house with a golf club.
"That orphan…!!! How dare he, how dare he…!!!"
Grind-
A voice filled with anger echoed throughout the house, coming from a neck with veins bulging.
No matter how much he smashed, he couldn't relieve his anger.
"…Kang Hyunwoo."
Jeon Hye-seong, staring somewhere with a menacing look, even showed a hint of madness.
For Jeon Hye-seong, who had always been above others, today's incident was a fatal humiliation that he could neither forget nor tolerate.
"Just you wait. From next semester, I'll bully you until you drop out."
First, he would find a suitable freshman girl and create a situation where she was alone with Kang Hyunwoo.
Then, no matter what, he would succeed in leaving Kang Hyunwoo's fingerprints on the girl's body and report him for sexual assault.
What kind of country is this?
A country where the victim's tears are evidence. Fingerprints left on a woman's clothes and the victim's tears are enough evidence to deliver a guilty verdict.
With that, he could not only drop out, but also be expelled.
Of course, it didn't matter if he was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. False accusation? That was something for the girl to deal with, and he had nothing to do with it.
Even if Kang Hyunwoo safely returned to school, the rumor that he was a sexual assailant would have already spread throughout the school.
He wouldn't be able to continue attending school in that situation.
Thinking about that, his shitty mood seemed to improve a little.
"Who should I call today?"
He scrolled through countless DMs filled with contacts and contacted a junior he hadn't slept with yet.
Around this time, women would fall for a few pictures of expensive hotels so easily that it made you wonder if it was okay.
To him, women were nothing more than toys to play with.
Jeon Hye-seong was sure that it would continue to be that way.
Foolishly.
Bang, bang!
"What the hell?"
Jeon Hye-seong reflexively frowned at the sound of someone banging on the front door as if they were going to break it down.
Had someone come to complain about the noise he made earlier when he smashed things?
'Ha, there are so many people who don't know their place.'
He could either persuade them to leave or just beat them up with a golf club and send them away.
If they were the type to understand what he said, he could choose the former, but if not.
'The director will have a hard time today.'
As usual, he'd just give them some settlement money and hush it up.
But unlike his optimistic thoughts, things went far beyond Jeon Hye-seong's expectations.
Creak-
"Who the hell is banging on my door…"
Pow!
"Ugh!"
As soon as he opened the door, Jeon Hye-seong rolled around the shoe rack, looking pathetic, as a fist slammed into his face.
"Who, who are you… Father…?!"
The perpetrator who punched him was not the crazy neighbor he thought was eager to eat jail food, but his most feared father.
"Jeon Hye-seong!"
Assemblyman Jeon Jin-mook, who had stormed in with a red face, looked more menacing than ever.
Seeing that, Jeon Hye-seong could only stroke his cheeks, which were as red as a pubescent teenager, biting his teeth.
"What the hell are you doing outside?!"
"What…? What do you mean…"
He could only clench his teeth, grateful that his father didn't have a golf club in his hand.
Slap! Slap!
"Because of you! Things have gone to shit!"
"Ugh, cough, ugh…!"
Jeon Jin-mook slapped his son's cheeks mercilessly and familiarly.
"Do you think I give you monthly allowance, apartment deposit, and monthly rent so you can do this?!"
While hitting his son, Jeon Jin-mook recalled the call he had received from the Magic Tower during the day.
-M, Mage-nim, what are you talking about?! You're giving up cooperation now?!
-I'm sorry. It seems that there was an unsavory incident between one of our mages and your son. As you know, we do not engage in such things without considering the feelings of a mage in the Magic Tower. I have already received permission from the Tower Master.
-W, What?! My son?! That, that can't be!
-I have nothing more to say.
-I will resolve this! Please reconsider… Mage-nim?! Mage-nim!!
It was a cooperation that he had barely secured by sucking up to the Magic Tower for years.
Thanks to that, his re-election was almost certain, but the situation had changed drastically with the Magic Tower's sudden notice.
If things continued like this, his re-election would be out of the question.
'This won't do… I have to find a way…'
-Breaking news.
Jeon Jin-mook's gaze turned to the TV, which was on.
-Evidence of bribery, election fraud, and massive real estate speculation by former Congressman Jeon Jin-mook, who is running in this election, has been revealed, causing shock.
Beep, beep, beep-
Beep, beep-
The phone was ringing.
-It is believed to have originated from the maternal side of his wife, Lee Hyun-sook, and evidence of profits amounting to trillions of won has been additionally revealed, causing controversy.
-The evidence is so clear that even members of the same party are calling for a strict investigation.
Thud-
Jeon Jin-mook sat down on the spot and couldn't get up for a long time.
***
On the day he submitted his withdrawal application to the university, he bought a bunch of food and bottled water from the convenience store and returned home.
He had told Choi Youngok, and most of all, he would be reunited with Iris in a week.
He wanted to see her surprised expression.
He sat cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes.
What was important to him now was endless concentration.
He had to reach the root of the mana circle, which did not exist in reality, in the deepest part of his mind.
[Acquisition rate of all knowledge related to basic magic +1000%]
[Mana sensitivity increase +1000%]
[Mana assimilation speed increase +10000%]
These were the buffs from the app he was currently receiving.
Knowledge acquisition rate was not necessary now.
What he needed now was a mana sensitivity and assimilation speed increase buff, thanks to which he was, so to speak, constantly loved by mana.
Of course, he usually blocked mana from being absorbed into his body.
Just as an appropriate amount of blood transfusion is a treatment, but if it exceeds a certain level, it can cause complications.
Similarly, if he tried to absorb more mana than he could handle, his circle would collapse and he could die.
Nevertheless, he opened his whole body and absorbed the vast mana of nature.
'Ugh…'
It felt like blood was flowing backward as the mana rushed in, shouting, "Here I come!" as soon as the door opened.
If he lost his mind here, he would be at least half crippled.
In tremendous pain, he forcibly held on to his sanity and guided the flow of mana.
Hands, feet, neck, legs. It didn't matter where the mana came in. He made it all flow to his heart.
Of course, receiving all of this mana was as good as suicide.
Just before reaching his heart, he filtered out a certain amount.
If he were a mage who had reached a high level, he wouldn't have to go through this troublesome process. He could have filtered out the mana in advance when it was absorbed into his body.
But unfortunately, he was inexperienced.
So, he was just using his survival instinct to filter it out near one of the most important vital points in his body, his heart.
'Hey, if you don't want to die, filter out the mana yourself?'
'…? What kind of crazy guy is this? This is your body!'
'Do I care?'
He compressed the mana he had collected by filtering it out.
As if pressing a car with a press to create a thin 1cm thick steel plate.
He knew it was crazy.
That's how difficult it was to increase the mana circle.
A normal mage wouldn't be doing this.
The process of raising the level of normal mages that Iris had told him about was that the mana accumulated in the body for years would be replaced by the role of a press with enlightenment gained at some point.
So, what about him?
There was no enlightenment. He was just forcibly compressing it with a skill to handle mana.
Of course, this was a shortcut, and it was probably a method that wouldn't work as he reached higher levels.
There was no need to mention the risk of losing his life.
Nevertheless, the only reason he was forcing it was.
'…It's manageable.'
The extremely compressed mana took the form of an infinitely rotating ring.
And it takes its place in the heart where the mana circles of mages gather.
"Hoo…"
When he opened his eyes again, it was a week later.
Damn it, I said I'd make it in three days, so I lied.
Sure enough, his phone was full of missed calls from Choi Youngok.
He felt sorry, but her priority was not her now.
[Name: Iris Lemeria Bayart Peledia
Age: 524 years old
Race: High Elf
Affiliation: EB-17
Job: Great Mage
Disposition: Wise Ruler, Non-Killing, Devotion, Vegetarian······]
[Do you want to rematch?]
[Y/N]
"Of course."
It was a week that passed in the blink of an eye, but he missed Iris.
"…Ah, just a moment."
Before going to see Iris, he quickly remembered something he had to take care of, so he went here and there.
Was it because his body was overflowing with mana as he became a 2-circle mage? The speed at which he ran seemed to be 30km per hour. And he wasn't even running at full power.
Who said mages were rear-line jobs?
Anyway, after finishing his errands, he returned home, stuffed them into his inventory, and turned on the app again.
[Do you want to rematch with Iris Lemeria Bayart Peledia?]
[Y/N]
[Y]
As soon as he accepted, a streak of white light wrapped around him like last time.
He kept his eyes closed, and when he felt the flow of air change and opened his eyes again.
"Instead, next time, I'll g, g… all the way…!"
Iris, who was red as if she was about to explode, was standing there.
"Ms. Iris."
"I'll d…!! Huh? Hyeonwoo-ssi?"
Iris, who was muttering with her eyes closed as if she was talking to herself, raised her head in surprise at his voice, which she heard right in front of her.
Did she think he wouldn't hear her?
In front of the stammering Iris, he opened his inventory.
And he took out the magic red box he had bought at the convenience store before coming here.
"I'm back, so we're going all the way this time, right?"
It was a 0.001mm condom made with magic engineering.