Chapter 16
A new magic beast production method unlike the existing methods: Duality.
The method I came up with on the spot could be considered a stepping stone toward the next stage of magic beast alchemy.
Whereas conventional production methods are completed with a single magic beast, Duality stabilizes two unstable magic beasts by making them complement each other.
This will usher in a new wind in the world of magic beast production, which has been trapped in the design of single specimens until now.
Maximilian looked at the Duality blueprint, smiled with satisfaction, and shouted.
“Kwahahahaha!!! This is it!! This is technology and innovation!!!”
【 Magic Beast Pet Minor Gallery 】
- [ Free ] What's with Grandpa clapping his hands and getting so excited lololol
- [ Free ] Am I the only one seeing that finicky old man Maximilian looking like a fangirl enjoying a legendary performance by her favorite singer?
- [ Free ] Whatever it is, seeing him act like that, he must've made something fucking incredible…
- [ Free ] Sigh… I wish I could read blueprints, too ㅠ…
- [ Free ] From now on, the gallery's owner is Boss Yoo Hyun. I will accept no objections.
Not only Maximilian but the other magic beast alchemists also seemed extremely excited by the birth of this new production method.
“Once you understand the intent, you can see it… He deliberately skewed the abilities so extremely that the balance was destroyed… What a beautiful structure…!”
“Ahh… It completely shatters the rigid notion that securing ‘stability’ is the foundation of magic beast design… This can only be called innovation….”
With Duality as a turning point, alchemists would move beyond the boring, predictable world of stable designs and advance into a world of extreme, unstable possibilities.
Maximilian, who had been staring at the design, asked me curiously.
“Tell me, Yoo Hyun. How did you come up with something like this?”
“Hmm….”
As a fellow alchemist, Maximilian seemed curious about the process by which I had arrived at Duality. Where had I found my inspiration, and what had prompted me…?
Come to think of it, it wasn't anything special. It had started with my failure to make a pet for Baek Seol-ah.
On the day I conducted her consultation, I turned down her commission after deciding that I couldn't make a magic beast capable of helping Baek Seol-ah unless it was B-Rank or higher.
Ever since that day, it had been nagging at me, and I had spent some time wondering how I could make a magic beast that would help her while staying within the C-Rank magic beast level permitted to me…
Though Duality was a production method I had created on the spot, its foundation held all the concerns I had wrestled with while trapped by the constraint called a license.
I told Maximilian the anecdote without saying who the person was.
“Hmm, I see. To the point of creating a new production method for that person… They must be quite important to you.”
“They are.”
That person had considerable influence in Korea's Hunter world, so they were an extremely important customer to me.
*
It was between three and four in the afternoon in Germany, where the competition was in full swing.
In Korea, meanwhile, it was eleven at night.
Late at night, after finishing her day's work, Baek Seol-ah was watching the broadcast of the competition Yoo Hyun had entered, wondering whether he was doing well.
But contrary to her expectations, something utterly absurd was happening beyond simply doing well.
She had thought it would be enough if he merely placed and obtained his license, but what on earth was that man doing over there?
“W-What…? That's impossible….”
A new production method? A new frontier in magic beast alchemy?
Keywords that alone would send Yoo Hyun's value skyrocketing poured forth, and even the judges who had initially reacted cynically were lavishing him with praise.
The sight was electrifying even through the screen.
“Th-This… I really caught the last train, didn't I…!?”
Thump—Thump—
Baek Seol-ah's heart pounded like that of someone who had successfully bought an exceptionally valuable blue-chip stock at its absolute lowest point.
Just then, the broadcast showed a scene of Maximilian talking with Yoo Hyun…
“Huh…? Could this be…?”
She realized.
Who the person in Boss Yoo Hyun's anecdote was.
What had caused him to create that revolutionary technology.
“W-What…? F-For me?”
Whoosh—
At a moment that was a major event in the magic beast industry and might even mark a line in history, he had openly brought up an anecdote involving her… There had to be a better story to make himself look impressive…! What on earth was that man saying at such an important venue?
No, more importantly… Wasn't that basically a public confession!?
“D-Does someone normally go that far just to make a good impression? …Even so….”
Baek Seol-ah's face quickly turned red because of her translucent skin.
He had gone so far as to create a new production method… How much must he have thought about me to achieve something like that…
I couldn't even begin to imagine…
“I can't say I'm unhappy about it, ahem….”
Baek Seol-ah hugged her pillow and buried her face in it for a long while.
*
The competition hall remained feverish.
The Duality specimens I had designed possessed an instability such that if either one failed to perform its proper function, both would die.
“So, strictly speaking, they're symbiotic.”
“But thanks to that, they possess output beyond that of conventional specimens.”
That was exactly right. Duality made possible an output that a single specimen could never produce.
In that sense, it was quite revolutionary as a production method capable of creating synergy beyond simply doubling the output.
By refining this symbiotic-type magic beast technology, we would eventually be able to lay the foundation for creating fully fused magic beasts that went beyond symbiosis.
“Mr. Yoo, does Duality have a motif?”
“Hmm, if I had to name one, I suppose it would be the Eastern concept of ‘paired wings and joined branches.’”
Two unstable magic beasts live in symbiosis, each performing a role the other needs.
It was reminiscent of the mythical bird known as the Biyikjo.
A mythical creature in which the male and female each possessed only one eye and one wing, meaning they could fly only when together.
Duality's motif was close to that.
As I continued answering the judges' questions, the host cautiously opened his mouth.
[ Um… You really need to begin the judging soon…. ]
“Hey now—!! You were just getting to the good part!”
“Quiet! Can't you hear that we're discussing something important? What kind of absurdity is this at a symposium!”
No… You idiots, this isn't a symposium. It's a competition…
The competition finally ended late that evening…
The result was, naturally, my victory by unanimous decision of the judges.
Quite apart from opening a new frontier with Duality, I had perfectly grasped the intent of Maximilian, the original designer of the magic beast design provided for the competition, and created the completed specimen he had dreamed of. I had achieved the best possible result in line with the competition's purpose.
*
The next day
Click—
When I stepped out of my hotel room, Hunters Kang Sujin and Seong Taesik from the Dongbaek Guild snapped into crisp ninety-degree bows. Behind them, Yoo Dusik and Lee Yujin could be seen grinning as they watched.
“Are you awake, Mr. Yoo Hyun! I will escort you to the restaurant.”
If they had previously been mere guards sent to work at the orders of their Guild Master, Baek Seol-ah, their eyes now held the reverence one might show a CEO of a major corporation.
Their sudden change in attitude made me uncomfortable in a different way. Their voices were so booming that they drew aggro, too…
“……Just act like you normally do.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
Not a chance.
“The Cultivation Division doesn't begin until Day 3, so it'd be all right if I looked around the expo for a bit, right?”
“Of course! Since you are already the winner of the competition, Mr. Yoo Hyun, you are free to do whatever you wish from here on, and you don't need to participate in the rest of the competition! Please enjoy the remainder of your schedule at your leisure!”
“I'm not skipping the competition. Since I'm doing it anyway, I plan to win the rest of the divisions, too.”
“……!!”
“Gasp.”
I'd already drawn plenty of aggro, so why hide anything else? If I was going to do this, I might as well take the triple crown and return home.
Thus, Yoo Hyun headed to the restaurant…
Kang Sujin and Seong Taesik of Dongbaek watched his back and thought,
‘Guild Master Baek Seol-ah's foresight was impeccable… We absolutely have to bring that man into our guild!!’
Hunters Lee Yujin and Yoo Dusik followed after Yoo Hyun and said,
“Seriously… Boss Yoo Hyun is a legend every time I see him… I really think he's going to win the rest of the competition, too….”
“Hahaha! We sure bought at rock bottom.”
*
While Yoo Hyun leisurely toured the Magitech Expo and took in the latest Hunter technologies, Korea was literally being turned upside down by the fallout from the Duality magic beast production method he had created.
As soon as morning came, all sorts of articles and news reports poured out.
[ Breaking ] ‘A New Frontier in Magic Beast Alchemy’… Korean magic beast alchemist decisively wins the magic beast production competition at Germany's Messe Frankfurt Expo!
[ Special ] Shaking conservative European magical academia… The world's first ‘Bipolar Complementary Structure (Duality)’ technology!
[ Issue ] “The history of magic beast alchemy was rewritten today”… Germany's notoriously exacting judging panel showers Korean alchemist with perfect scores
[ IT/Science ] Breaking through the limits of single specimens… Korean-developed ‘Duality production method’ to completely change the magic beast paradigm
[ Stock Market ] ‘Magic beast pet company stocks skyrocket’ after ‘Duality’ announcement… It's Korean technology, so why are there no Korean magic beast companies?
Crash—!!
Representative Kim Cheong-sik slammed his fist on the desk as he read the news articles sent by an aide.
“What… How did this happen…!!”
When that Jellykko or whatever incident had occurred not long ago, regulations had clearly been eased and things had barely quieted down…
And now something even bigger had blown up.
[ Exclusive ] Developer of ‘Duality,’ which shook the world, turns out to be the owner of a neighborhood ‘hole-in-the-wall pet shop’
[ Politics ] “Who blocked the national interest?”… The tragedy created by Representative Kim Cheong-sik's magic beast regulation bill
[ Stock Market ] ‘Duality,’ valued at trillions of won, while its owner in Korea was worried about having his business suspended… The farce of K-regulations
[ Issue ] “Like locking Einstein inside a neighborhood stationery store”… The absurd tragedy born from Korea's bad regulations
[ Interview ] “That neighborhood pet-shop bachelor who only made Jelly Dogs is the perfect-score winner of the German expo?!” Residents in shock!
……As the articles poured out, the entire nation heaped criticism on the government and the Korean Alchemists' Association.
People were truly enraged by the shocking fact that someone of this caliber was merely a small-scale pet-shop owner in Korea.
Representative Kim Cheong-sik.
The background behind his forcing through the magic beast regulations and solidifying his political position involved clear vested interests. He had tried to divide people and raise his approval rating through fearmongering that ‘magic beasts are uncontrollable, dangerous monsters’……
No. Wait. That sort of thing wasn't important right now.
“Fuck, I need to contain this… I need to contain this…!!!”
How the hell was he supposed to deal with this?
Even as he floundered, the articles continued to pour out.
[ Shocking ] The two faces of the politician who cried ‘national safety’… Existing magic core monopoly cartel and straw-name stock trading confirmed
[ Exclusive ] “Even sexual harassment of aides and guild personnel…” Documents exposing Representative Kim Cheong-sik's ugly hidden life obtained
[ Issue ] The two faces of Kim Cheong-sik, who ‘pretended to be righteous’… Public shocked by revelations of sex crimes, slush funds, and abuse of power
In a single day, as articles poured out as if the world were deliberately dogpiling him, Representative Kim Cheong-sik, a senior member of the ruling party and chairman of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Magic Beast Industry Regulation, could do nothing but curse.
“…I-I'm so fucking screwed.”