A quiet café near Magic Tower.
Because the café was located in an area with many companies, there were hardly any customers besides me, now that lunchtime was over.
'What kind of menu name is Dirty Matcha Truffle Chocolate Shake?'
Confusing, so confusing.
Still, the taste itself wasn't bad.
"Still, I didn't expect to be rejected so firmly."
It had already been an hour since I left Magic Tower, but Choi Youngok's response, which I hadn't anticipated at all, kept swirling in my head.
-I'm sorry, but the professors at Magic Tower can't personally teach students who don't belong to their own lab. Even more so during vacation.
Honestly, I thought she would readily help.
Compared to what happened with Jeon Hye-seong, I thought it was a request that would be easy to grant.
"It can't be helped."
I couldn't throw a tantrum there, and I was already indebted enough from when Jeon Hye-seong helped me last time.
Besides, if you asked if I got nothing at all, that wasn't the case.
-Oh, right. I almost forgot. Are you free two days from now?
-Two days from now? Yes, well… I don't have any specific plans.
-That's good. Then, would you like to meet my granddaughter that day?
Finally, the first meeting with my arranged date was coming up in two days.
Honestly, I'm damn nervous.
The photo Choi Youngok gave me showed a beautiful female mage who wouldn't be overshadowed even if Iris and Cheon Yeohwa were her competition.
"Suddenly, I'm overflowing with luck with women."
I don't know if it's good luck or trouble with women, but as someone who's never been on a blind date in my life, I couldn't help but feel disturbed. In a good or bad way.
I was nervous and excited.
*Ding-*
While sipping on the strangely named drink, a text message came to my phone.
[S Bank]
[Withdrawal of ₩200,000]
[Balance: ₩22,171,280]
"Ah, rent."
It's already rent day.
Thanks to selling the magic stones, I no longer had to struggle with rent, but my heart ached whenever I saw the remaining balance of only ₩20 million, after buying various survival supplies before meeting Cheon Yeohwa.
"…Should I go to a gate?"
Thanks to my mage registration, I could enter gates even without a hunter's license.
Besides, as a mage, even stronger parties would be eager to take me, so it would be good to be carried.
'In the underground dungeon, I acted like a warrior instead of a support job.'
Thinking about it now, it felt a bit unfair.
I'm a mage, a nobleman, not an untouchable warrior!
But why was I dodging the swords swung by monsters and becoming a hedgehog with arrows?
It was time to return to being a mage, one of the two pillars of nobility along with healers.
"Or maybe learning swordsmanship would be good."
To properly use the 'Imperial Army's Magic Sword' I bought last time, it was right to learn swordsmanship.
Not only that, but learning swordsmanship would also involve exercise, so it would be a good opportunity to improve my stamina and strength.
In fact, I felt my stamina lacking during this underground dungeon and mountain hike with Cheon Yeohwa.
Thankfully, I didn't collapse from exhaustion thanks to magic support, but I couldn't always rely on magic.
I realized that the more solid the foundation, the higher efficiency I could get with the same amount of magic.
"I wonder if there's a place near my house that teaches swordsmanship or something that uses the body."
Actually, learning proper swordsmanship costs a lot of money.
Some expensive places cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Of course, I had no intention of going to such places. I didn't have the money either. I just needed a place that could properly teach me the basic movements of slashing, stabbing, and swinging.
"…Oh? There is one near my house?"
I looked for a swordsmanship dojo near my house using the map app, and there really was one.
[Full Moon Swordsmanship Dojo]
I never thought there would be a dojo around that shantytown.
"Hmm… Should I go there first? If it's a good place, I'll register, if not, I'll have to look somewhere else."
After that, I was thinking of going to a gate to earn some money.
Why rest?
I had to make money.
To pay off the key money loan and buy a foreign car, I had to move diligently.
***
A 10-minute walk from home.
There really was a swordsmanship dojo there. However, due to the nature of the shantytown, most of the buildings looked severely deteriorated, so it looked really shabby.
It was strange that there was even a store operating in a place like this. Even convenience stores were closing down in a neighborhood with no people.
"I wonder if there are any people registering?"
I had a feeling that I might sign up for a year and it would close down two months later.
Still, it was a waste of time to go back like this. It would be right to look around inside before deciding.
I carefully went inside the building.
*Ting-*
When I opened the door to the dojo on the second floor, a fairly spacious and clean interior welcomed me.
Of course, along with a desolate landscape with not a single person.
"…Are they open?"
"Then would it be closed even though the lights are on?"
"?!"
I was startled and turned around at the presence I felt behind me.
There stood a woman who seemed to be two heads shorter than me.
'Since when…?'
Until this woman answered, I had no idea or notice that someone was behind me.
I've fought monsters and killed bandits in the underground dungeon, so the first thought that came to mind was that if this were a real battle, my neck would have been cut off without a struggle.
"Scared now?"
Besides, when I looked closely, she wasn't human.
Wolf ears on her head and a wolf tail attached to her tailbone, she was a beastman, the race with the second largest population after humans.
"So, human, what brings you here?"
"Isn't this a swordsmanship dojo? Of course, I came to look around and decide whether to register or not."
The beastman woman looked at me with strange eyes.
By the way, silver hair and golden eyes, even though the appearance of other races is more unique than humans, this was almost the first time I've seen such a colorful one.
"Are you a hunter?"
"No."
I was a little annoyed that she had been talking down to me since earlier, but that's the personality of most wolf beastmen.
They don't care at all about whether you're older than them or if you're meeting them for the first time.
The only time they respect you is if you're stronger than them, and that's the tendency of most carnivorous beastmen.
Anyway, they're also known for having terrible personalities, often getting into fights on the street, and they even beat their opponents to a pulp because their physical abilities are so outstanding.
There's a saying that if you want to hear the sound of a wolf crying, you should walk past the police station.
"1 million won per month."
"…Huh?"
"If you sign up for a year, I'll give it to you for 11 million won."
Is this woman really crazy?
Even if it's a swordsmanship dojo, how can they charge 1 million won a month for membership in this old dojo with no students??
"Do you not want to do business?"
I didn't realize that what I was thinking was coming out of my mouth.
"You have money anyway, right? If you go somewhere else to learn, it's at least 10 million won a month."
"Even so, paying 1 million won every month for membership is…"
Honestly, I was leaning towards registering, but 1 million won a month was too expensive.
"Does that sound come out even after seeing this?"
*Woo-woo-woo-*
What shattered my worries was none other than the clear blue energy emanating from the fingertips of the wolf beastman woman.
It wasn't sword energy, which is known to be usable only by skilled people above B-rank hunters, but sword qi, which is known to be used only by a very small number of monsters called A-rank hunters.
"How about it?"
That day, I paid 11 million won in a lump sum and greeted my teacher.
***
Unlike returning home after successfully registering at the dojo, my head was complicated with unresolved questions.
"Why is someone like that in a swordsmanship dojo in this shantytown?"
I thought about asking why, but I held back because it didn't seem like it was my place to interfere.
What if our teacher got upset and offered to refund me?
Learning from an A-rank hunter for only 10 million won a year?
It was clear that even paying 10 million won for a daily fee would be far from enough.
Isn't this just a donation of talent?
"Full Moon Swordsmanship Dojo… I can't find it even if I search."
It was really only on the map, and there wasn't a single article on blogs or cafes.
Of course, there was no article about the wolf beastman, who was the director.
If someone with that much skill existed, they would have been rumored, whether they liked it or not.
There was a slight feeling of unease, but I decided to just think about the fact that an A-rank hunter was teaching me directly.
There was no way to find an answer by worrying about things I didn't know.
It wouldn't be too late to think about it later if problems arose. I have the Otherworld Dating App and the Seongbuk Choi Group, so I had connections.
"Should I look for a suitable gate now? It's still daytime, so there might be posts looking for parties."
After obtaining my mage registration, I was able to use the Hunter-only app run by the World Hunter Association.
With this, I could find a suitable party without worrying about phishing posts, and I could also see the list of gates that were currently available to enter.
"D-rank party…"
Unfortunately, the only party that seemed suitable to enter right now was a D-rank party.
Actually, I wanted to ride the bus as a mage, but a D-rank party was a bit much.
If I were to compare my current skills to hunter ranks, it would be roughly D+. The guys I dealt with in the underground dungeon were also D-rank or D+ rank.
But if I joined a D-rank party, it wouldn't be a bus ride, it would be me becoming the bus driver.
"Well, there's nothing suitab…"
*Tri-li-li-*
While I was looking at party recruitment posts, a phone call came from an unknown number.
Was it a voice phishing scam?
"Hello?"
-Hello.
I heard a strange woman's voice over the phone. It was also a slightly low-toned, sexy voice.
-Are you Kang Hyunwoo?
"Yes, but who is this?"
Among the women I knew, there wasn't anyone who could get 5 million subscribers just by doing ASMR.
No, in the first place, I didn't know any women.
-My name is Choi Hyena, did you hear about me from my grandmother?
"Ah."
I realized it was my arranged date.
-I suddenly have something to do in two days, so can we meet tonight instead?