Neo-Joseon Cyberpunk

Chapter 101: Clan Induction (3)

“……So you really weren’t an ordinary guy after all.”

Tae-oh Barosi, having grasped what kind of stunt Diesel had pulled, shouted with a beaming smile.

“I can see it, I can see the spark! Hahahaha!”

Pajijijijik……!

A one-stage-enhanced Leigong.

Its power was, quite literally, something that could be called the might of a lightning god.

But if there was one enormous drawback—

‘The recoil…….’

Even the original Leigong had only been barely usable after undergoing modifications to reduce its power.

This one had gone so far as to be enhanced, so there was no way the body could endure it.

In the end, Diesel couldn’t maintain Leigong and had no choice but to release its form.

“Huff……. Huff…….”

“Don’t be too disappointed. It’s a power that, by nature, cannot be properly used with a mortal body.”

There were only a handful of beings in the world capable of enduring this tremendous Lightning-type enhancement art.

Only those born with blessed bodies, like dragons or eastern dragons.

‘Kaztikan had just been a special case.’

Information I learned later revealed that Kaztikan, whom Diesel had faced in the past, was an Awakener with the ability called ‘Dividing Body.’

‘An ability that not only created clones, but also granted absurd regenerative power.’

That was why he had been able to use the magic called Leigong with nothing more than a mortal body.

But Diesel had neither the innate body of a dragon nor the awakened ability Kaztikan possessed.

‘Still, it’s not like there’s absolutely no way…….’

Several methods came to mind in Diesel’s head.

The easiest among them was to coat his entire body in ultra-high-grade cyberware.

Agents operated by companies ranked in the TOP 3 Megacorporations.

Among them, the ultra-high-output cyberware said to be used only by high-ranking elites.

If every muscle in the body were replaced with close-combat ‘Dragon’ artificial muscles, and the skeleton were fully remodeled with the mythical-era relic ‘Adamantium,’ it might be possible to use Leigong without any restrictions…….

But there was one very big problem with that.

‘Dragon muscles are infamous for being finicky, requiring direct implantation by a Tech Dragon, and Adamantium is a strategic resource used in constructing corporate fleet warships.’

Both were things that were utterly impossible to obtain no matter how much money one had, making them unrealistic goals.

Perhaps he knew all that.

Tae-oh Barosi looked at Diesel and said,

“Do you want it?”

“…….”

“The power of the true Leigong you just witnessed.”

His tone sounded as if there were a method.

At that, Diesel gazed steadily at Tae-oh Barosi, then suddenly realized something.

‘Wait…….’

The man standing before my eyes right now.

Tae-oh, Betty’s older brother, was a Half-dragon with mixed blood of elves and dragons, just like his younger sister.

That also meant he did not possess a perfect dragon’s body.

‘Then how can he use an enhanced Leigong?’

Diesel carefully observed once more the glow of Leigong radiating from Tae-oh.

That was clearly not an ordinary Leigong, but an enhanced Leigong combined with the Sphere of the Brain Dragon.

So Diesel didn’t beat around the bush and asked bluntly.

“What do you want?”

A skilled individual belonging to the Brain Dragon Magic Tower, going so far as to try to join a newly formed clan.

As Betty had said, he might have come to take his younger sister back, but by Diesel’s instincts, it felt like there was some other scheme at play.

“Oh? You’re quite straightforward.”

Tae-oh Barosi raised one eyebrow and sheathed his sword.

“Good. Dragging out idle chatter isn’t something a man should do.”

“…….”

“If you accept me into the clan, I’ll personally teach you how to use true Leigong.”

“And what do you want in return?”

There was no way he would give it away for free.

With that thought, Diesel asked, and Tae-oh grinned as he replied,

“You’re pretty sharp.”

“Say it.”

“It’s not such a difficult matter.”

The Half-dragon looked at Diesel for a moment.

Then, his face grew uncharacteristically serious as he continued,

“Form an engagement with my younger sister.”

“……So, what did my brother say?”

After finishing his conversation with Tae-oh Barosi, Diesel was walking down the corridor.

Behind him, Betty stubbornly followed along, firing off questions.

“That dragon-headed guy’s personality is kind of weird to begin with. You talked with him for a bit too, so you know what I mean, right? Right?”

“…….”

“I don’t think we should let him into our clan. But since you said you accepted his induction, well, fine. I won’t say anything else. You’re the Clan Leader, after all. So I guess I have to follow your judgment.”

“…….”

“But there’s no way that guy would’ve joined quietly. He definitely said some weird nonsense to you. Right?”

Weird nonsense.

At that phrase, Diesel suddenly came to a halt.

When he turned around, he saw Betty’s face, filled with anxiety.

“Yeah. He did make one strange proposal.”

“I, I knew it! What did he say? Huh?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Ah, whyyy……! I’m his younger sister! There’s absolutely no problem telling me…….”

“I rejected it anyway.”

“…….”

For some reason, Betty’s face showed a visibly disappointed expression at Diesel’s answer.

Then she lowered her head and muttered,

“……You said he joined, though?”

“Yeah. Tae-oh Barosi didn’t join officially—he came in on a probationary basis.”

“Ah……. But why…… did you reject the proposal……?”

“Why? Because it was something I couldn’t possibly accept.”

How could I accept that?

Out of the blue, he told me to marry his younger sister.

‘No matter how badly I want to use Leigong properly, I can’t accept something that absurd.’

And the other party wasn’t some ordinary Ghostcatcher, but a dragon’s daughter, no less.

A Brain Dragon who placed immense importance on familial bonds.

‘I don’t know why Betty is being ostracized by that Brain Dragon group…….’

Even so, if I stepped forward claiming I’d marry her, the situation might suddenly take a drastic turn.

‘And if I keep hanging around with Tae-oh Barosi, I might end up finding a way on my own, too?’

For some reason, Tae-oh Barosi volunteered to join even though Diesel had rejected his proposal.

Under the ‘probationary’ status that he himself had suggested first.

If we kept butting heads together going forward, I might be able to get something out of him.

After all, I had a perceptive gaze that saw through everything.

While I was organizing my thoughts like that—

“So that’s how it is…….”

“……?”

Suddenly, a large teardrop rolled down from Betty’s eyes.

“So it’s something you can’t accept.”

“Wh, what’s wrong with you?”

“Yeah……. It really was something you couldn’t accept.”

When I became flustered by the unexpected situation, Betty squeezed her eyes shut and brushed away her tears.

“No. What was I even thinking……. Sorry……! If anything, that’s only natural……!”

“…….”

Then she nodded to herself and continued speaking.

“Yeah, that’s only natural. You did really well rejecting it! Now that I think about it, I would’ve hated it even more if you’d just accepted it on the spot! So you did really well!”

“……Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? Yeah! I’m okay! No! Not just okay! I’m doing great! I’m the best!”

Muttering “I’m the best! I’m the best!” to herself like that, Betty disappeared down the corridor.

“……What on earth was that about?”

Some time after that.

The new members who had joined the Aguiggun Clan were the type who didn’t really need time to adjust.

First, Kali, who was friendly with anyone without reserve, stuck close to the existing members and chattered away nonstop.

“Seriously, think about it. It’s Black Ice, for crying out loud! Black Ice, which is top-tier even among Cold-type attribute awakenings! You got that, and then you just wiped your mouth like it was nothing—isn’t that a bit much?”

“U-umm…… is that sooo…….”

“…….”

“……Well, I guess that could be the case.”

“But why did Urmus give Diesel something that incredible? He only gave me some lousy money! I even bought cola to try to get on that old bear’s good side!”

“C-cola……! Herja likes cola toooo……! Hehe.”

With that kind of personality, Herja was flustered but clearly having a lot of fun, while Kang Da-hee clicked her tongue as if her energy were being drained.

At least Betty chimed in now and then, but lately she seemed like her mind was elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Tae-oh Barosi really was the type who did only exactly what he needed to do.

However, when he heard that Kali was teaching Diesel Melee Mage techniques, he volunteered to oversee swordsmanship training as well.

“At a glance, your swordsmanship looks perfect. But if you examine it closely, it’s nothing more than an empty shell that’s merely imitating something plausible. In other words, you didn’t digest these forms through arduous training—you pressed a button and downloaded them. Be honest. Where exactly did you steal this knowledge from?”

It was a world where even an ordinary person could become a master of all kinds of professional skills, as long as they had money.

The advancement of such science and technology had made it possible to solve even the time needed to learn martial arts with money.

‘But…… this Half-dragon’s sword is different.’

No matter how much money you poured in to easily reach a certain level, Tae-oh Barosi’s swordsmanship carried some indescribable presence.

‘Are magic tower mages just built differently?’

Those who had stepped away from the world and chosen isolation for themselves.

Their stubborn insistence on an unmodified, pure body and harsh training didn’t seem entirely meaningless.

“Soles of your feet, pelvic direction, weight balance, line of sight, sword trajectory……. Everything about you is perfect. But you’re missing the most important thing.”

“What is it?”

“‘Enlightenment.’”

“……What am I supposed to be enlightened about?”

“Does forcibly stuffing knowledge into your head make it yours? That is not the proper way of learning. To truly master something, you must push it into the realm of ‘embodiment’ through tens of thousands of repetitions. To gain that kind of enlightenment, it’s not enough to stop at downloading swordsmanship—you have no choice but to move your body yourself and train.”

I couldn’t fully understand Tae-oh Barosi’s explanation, but I could clearly grasp what he was trying to say.

‘In the end, he’s just telling me to practice.’

Tae-oh Barosi was a man who had devoted his entire life to the weapon called the sword.

While training with him for some time, I discovered one interesting fact.

“Lee Hamin?”

“That’s right. The name of the great hero I respect the most in this world.”

“…….”

“Do you know just how incredible that person was? The sword techniques known to have been used by him alone number at least several dozen, and the sword techniques he personally created as well…….”

It turned out that Tae-oh Barosi was a hardcore fan of Lee Hamin.

“To think the world is forgetting such an incredible person. It’s truly lamentable! This is clearly the tyranny of those Megacorporation bastards! They find it an eyesore that a hero of a national institution is revered, so they deliberately hide his traces! However, Inspector Lee Hamin did not overlook that fact—he left government service himself and created an entirely new profession called ‘Ghostcatcher.’”

After that, my schedule was packed to the brim with magic lessons, swordsmanship training, and personal training.

Between the various existing class schedules, training sessions with Kali and Tae-oh Barosi were newly inserted.

On top of that, there was also the personal work of practicing Mana Meditation techniques and organizing the memories I had extracted from the Arc Blade.

‘Whew…….’

The days passed in a blur of nonstop busyness.

Then, one day, quite some time after I had returned to Seoul—

[Diesel.]

At last, I received a message from Little Sister.

[That job I mentioned last time. It came in.]

A job that I had to succeed at no matter what in order to receive investment from the Underground Great Hall.

The first step in making the Aguiggun Clan known to the world.

If that was the case, I would probably need all the clan members.

Thinking that, I asked.

[Other than me, who else do you need?]

[No one.]

[……?]

[This is a solo job I’m entrusting to you alone.]

[What?]

A solo job.

Feeling puzzled, I asked again.

[Wasn’t this a job to assess our clan’s overall strength?]

[Yes. That’s right.]

[Then why am I doing it alone…….]

[Why do you think?]

At Sis’s counter-question, I made a few guesses.

‘Hmm…….’

And Little Sister’s next reply matched my thoughts exactly.

[This wasn’t proof of the Aguiggun Clan, but proof about you, Diesel.]