Chapter 215

Jinseong began sending replies, starting with Anastasia.

He texted Iarin that he would return soon, sent a message to Iserin urging her to hurry as she needed to fit his clothes, and responded to Ella with a reply as polite as the message she sent.

“It’s for the coming-of-age ceremony.”

The coming-of-age ceremony. It wasn’t the magical kind, but rather the legal one, which didn’t have much of a connection to Jinseong.

He had participated in the adult ceremony before his regression but hadn’t truly belonged there, making a half-hearted appearance before making excuses to leave immediately. After returning, he went through the effort to use the hard-won magic related to adulthood, and when its effects started to really kick in, he left home to become a mercenary.

After becoming a mercenary, he began roaming the world, gathering various forms of magic…

“This time, participating properly wouldn’t be so bad.”

Jinseong had no intention of following the same routine again.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to become independent. The contract between the two organizations was to provide him with food and shelter until he became an adult. There was no obligation for Lee Yang-hoon to feed Jinseong for life, especially since he was not related by blood.

Even if there were such an obligation, Jinseong had no intention of staying under that roof any longer.

Independence was a duty of adulthood, and an essential aspect to reinforce the symbolism of being an adult.

If one couldn’t establish their own dwelling, it couldn’t be considered true independence. It was being dependent on someone else.

Of course, perspectives on this differed depending on cultural spheres, but from the point of view of Jinseong’s “primitive coming-of-age ceremony,” independence was the essential condition of adulthood.

And more than just its magical significance, independence was crucial for achieving his goals.

Physical enhancement to make the cost of magic infinitely lighter.

And a select few wealthy and powerful individuals who had information about that enhancement.

To approach them, he had to become his own brand, stepping out from under someone else’s shadow to gain that information.

“If I stay in someone else’s shadow, the one who casts the shadow is the master, and I become the servant. So even if an opportunity comes, it will go to the master, and it’s clear that the servant won’t even get a hint about it. I must become the master myself.”

Even during the Third World War, this was information Jinseong could not approach properly.

This meant the information was thoroughly guarded.

Those without “qualification” wouldn’t have access to it at all, and even if they did gain access, there was a high possibility they had some means to prevent them from divulging that information.

So even if Lee Yang-hoon obtained information, the chances of it reaching Jinseong were slim.

What they built was a formidable fortress, a “privilege” given only to those who qualified.

No matter how powerful or useful one might be, one must not bestow anything upon the “servant.”

For that reason, Jinseong absolutely had to become independent.

And he had to walk a different path from before.

“A path different from that of a mercenary.”

Being a mercenary wasn’t a bad profession.

It had minor drawbacks such as being dangerous, messy, and difficult to preserve one’s life, but it was unparalleled for roaming the world and collecting various types of magic. Besides, due to the rarity of the shaman occupation itself, Jinseong was respected among mercenaries, who were usually sensitive to superstitions.

He even managed to build connections with the world’s power holders and wealthy individuals, receiving many offers to become their clan’s official shaman or to serve as an executive in their companies and carry out magical rituals.

Considering this, returning to mercenary work wouldn’t be such a terrible option…

“Except that without connections, there’s no major merit.”

While he could build up useful connections worldwide, that was all.

He could neither amass astronomical wealth nor stand above countless people as a leader, and no matter how famous he became, he would inevitably descend into being the dog or the sword of someone else, always bound by fate.

A sword bought with money.

A dog that could be commanded with money.

A life that could be utilized for money.

That was what being a mercenary entailed.

At the very bottom, a servant who could be bought with money.

No matter how successful he was as a mercenary, he could draw only respect born of force, and no matter how much power accumulated through being a mercenary was wielded, it would be nothing but fear, never awe.

“Moreover, such connections are likely to be quite insignificant.”

Connections formed from working as a mercenary were hardly impressive as well.

Connections built through being hired as a mercenary? How substantial could they be?

Real power holders did not hire mercenaries.

They built their dominions like fortresses, leading their own armies that completely obeyed their commands.

Under the names of bodyguards, security personnel, private security forces, facility protection teams, and the national military.

They first created hunting dogs and loyal servants who would gladly lay down their lives for their commands, naming them according to their own powers. When they needed force, they would put forth a multitude of excuses and false pretenses to send them out front, sometimes secretly sending their hunting dogs on missions to achieve what they desired.

In this process, there was no room for mercenaries.

The secrets they kept were weightier than the money that could interfere, and it was always more valuable to give their hunting dogs real combat experience than to hire mercenaries who could be easily used and discarded.

Because of this, mercenaries rarely got hired by true power holders and could only encounter “suitable” power holders positioned just below them.

The ones Jinseong met were precisely those holding such “suitable” power.

Of course, surviving the Third World War while maintaining wealth and power was quite an achievement, yet that didn’t bridge the gap in status.

The true elites could indulge in luxury during the turmoil of the Third World War just as they had before.

“To achieve my goals, I must connect with those real power holders.”

And it wasn’t hard to approach those real power holders.

It was quite simple.

Just like the offers power holders had made when he was a mercenary, he needed to use his magic for their benefit. Jinseong’s magical abilities were extraordinary, and his knowledge vast, filled with things that were hard to see; once the door opened, like a spider’s web, he could quickly build up a wide network of connections.

Amidst those interconnected relationships, there would surely be a couple of genuine power holders.

All Jinseong needed to do was approach them to obtain information about physical enhancement procedures.

“It’s not hard to get that door open.”

In Korea, it could easily branch out.

Jinseong had a significant relationship with Lee Yang-hoon, the chairman of the Gwangyang Group, making it easier for him to connect with local entrepreneurs and power holders. Also, his complex life intertwined with the National Defense Council and the Patriotic Association could serve as resources to approach them, and he could reuse the title of “shaman,” which had appeared after a long time in a land nearly devoid of magic like Korea.

Japan?

With people obsessed with pulling each other down instead of drug trades, it might be even easier to forge connections than in Korea. The unfortunate part was that, due to the devastation at the onset of the Third World War, it was presumed there wouldn’t be any power holders associated with procedures.

But the world is unpredictable; if luck smiled upon him, he might still achieve something from them.

Russia was similar.

He had made ties with the future president of Russia, Viktor, known as “Nuclear Shower Viktor.”

The current Viktor already possessed immense power, which would be a great help, and once he became president, there would be no one in Russia Jinseong couldn’t meet.

“Most are worthless, so it might take quite an effort to reach useful people, but…”

Jinseong smiled, recalling the power holders who had once feigned grandeur and holed up in their own spheres.

Those who spouted that might was the basest form of power while their wealth and authority were the best options flooded in. Once the war broke out, many who had been appointed life-long presidents and those who rose as kings and emperors in the chaos weren’t different from dictators wielding their military like a sword.

The entrepreneurs who had dominated the world for a long time were just as they were, as were media moguls.

Yet such power only thrived in peace.

When war broke out and asymmetrical capable individuals could produce powers at the level of entire battalions, their wealth and influence would come crashing down.

Madmen, bent on annihilating the world, roamed throughout America, stirring chaos as they tried to turn the dollar into scraps of paper, and groups formed by capable individuals revealed terrifying powers that surpassed those of military chaos.

World-dominating entrepreneurs?

Could their influence hold up to crazy capable beings burning down farmland worldwide to “purify” the world?

A power holder who could command tens of thousands with a flick of a finger?

Could such tremendous power fend off the sword of a psychopath anarchist warrior whose blade could slice space from hundreds of meters away?

“The world was filled with all sorts of lunatics.”

Life and strength could not be bought with money.

If such might could protect them from mad beings wielding overwhelming powers, then even more so.

Thus, power holders unable to adapt to the madness of the world fell one after another, while only a select few who didn’t overlook such might were able to maintain or grow their wealth and power.

Or they themselves possessed power.

“I wonder how much help the Great Witch will be in spreading connections throughout Europe.”

The Great Witch, Odilia A Reich.

She too had been a power holder with a certain level of influence during the Third World War.

Though she fell far short of being called a true elite, her connections were pretty substantial, and until she had fallen into the hands of a bizarre cult and lost her entire fortune, she had been regarded well enough.

Inevitably, she would meet a disastrous end, being tortured and killed after cheating mercenaries out of their pay due to her twisted personality and lack of funds caused by that strange cult…

“Perhaps she might have connections with individuals who will rise significantly in the future.”

But that was all pre-regression.

Now, with Jinseong at hand, such things wouldn’t come to pass.

The space that should have been claimed by the cultist was now forcefully occupied by him.