How to Live as a Mage in the Murim World

Chapter 12 – Episode 4: Lovesickness (1)

The pockmarked man, Mansu, grinned, waving his hand.

“Long time no see, Sleeping Dragon!”

“Likewise, Dumbass.”

Mansu’s face twitched.

“It’s ‘Phoenix Chick’, not ‘Dumbass’.”

“Sure, Dumbass.”

(TL Note: What Hyeonmong said is Ttolchu (똘추) which has the meaning of dumbass, while the other person’s self-styled name is Bongchu (봉추) which has the meaning of Phoenix Chick, a smart person, a valued person, or a chivalric hero.)

Mansu’s eyes narrowed.

His face quickly turned expressionless as he approached Zhuge Hyeonmong with menacing eyes, then suddenly started patting Hyeonmong’s back.

“Anyway, glad you made it back in one piece.”

“Though I feel slightly less whole now.”

Zhuge Hyeonmong and Mansu shared a chuckle.

Though Hyeonmong called him Dumbass, Mansu didn’t really mind it.

After all, while Zhuge Hyeonmong strained to maintain politeness with everyone else, he treated Mansu with unfiltered familiarity.

“So, what brings you here?”

“Nothing much. Just saw some money came into your account at the Golden Fortune Bank, so I used about half to pay off your debt. Figured I’d return some of the collateral items back to you.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

“You should be grateful. Where else would you find a creditor like me? I lend you money, charge no interest, find you a job, and even deliver the collateral back… You won’t find another like me in all of Central Plains.”

That was true.

If Zhuge Hyeonmong and Mansu weren’t schoolmates, and if Mansu didn’t consider Zhuge Hyeonmong a friend, he wouldn’t have acted this way.

“I heard you did quite well on your recent escort mission.”

“I was just lucky. I’m not skilled enough to claim any real merit.”

“Oh really?”

Mansu grinned.

“Then how about taking on another job, betting on that luck of yours?”

“A job?”

“Yeah. If it goes well, I can knock off two thousand taels from your debt.”

Two thousand taels.

Zhuge Hyeonmong looked at Mansu for a moment, then at his sleeve.

After a pause, he spoke.

“Is this one of those questions where I don’t have the right to refuse?”

“Of course not. It’s just a proposal, so don’t worry.”

“Then… I’ll pass for now.”

“Seriously? Two thousand taels is a pretty sweet deal.”

“As I said, I’m just a lucky fool.”

“Hmm.”

Mansu nodded at Zhuge Hyeonmong’s response.

“Well, if that’s how you feel. I’ve delivered your stuff and saw your face, so I’ll take my leave.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. Next time, drinks are on you. At a nice brothel, of course.”

“I’m broke.”

“It’s fine. What’s the difference between fifty thousand taels of debt and fifty thousand and ten taels?”

As Zhuge Hyeonmong’s brow twitched, Mansu turned away with a smirk.

As he walked away with his men, he noticed the disgruntled expression on one of his servant’s faces.

“What’s with the long face?”

“Nothing, sir. Just… that scholar disrespected you…”

“What, seeing him treat me casually makes you want to do the same?”

“N-no way! It’s a misunderstanding, sir!”

Though Mansu’s tone was playful, the servant—fully aware of his temper—immediately bowed his head deeply.

“It’s a joke, you can lift your head.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

“Besides, that guy’s not just any scholar.”

“Did something happen?”

Mansu nodded.

“We’ve been friends since childhood. Well, he was the type who stayed cooped up at home, while I was the neighborhood boss who often had life-and-death battles with kids from other towns. Street fights, you know. I was undefeated until one day when the neighboring town’s kids brought along a disciple from the Qingcheng Sect.”

“A disciple from the Qingcheng Sect?”

“Yeah, a damn Taoist. Anyway, that guy was pretty strong back then, no one could beat him. But Zhuge Hyeonmong took him down.”

“Whoa… with force?”

Mansu shook his head.

If that had been the case, he wouldn’t have maintained their friendship until now.

“He lured him into the alleyways to restrict the sword’s range. The Qingcheng Sect’s swordplay relies heavily on wide, sweeping strikes—restrict that, and you’ve crippled half their power. In the end, he won by forcing him into a confined space and overwhelmed him in one push.”

“Impressive.”

“And this time, he earned almost a thousand taels from the escort mission. That’s a huge cut of the profits, even for the Great Dragon Escort Agency. Think about it. Would you give that much money to someone just for completing an escort mission?”

Only then did the servant understand Mansu’s meaning and nodded.

“My apologies, sir, my thinking was shallow.”

“I don’t consider the money I lent him a debt. I think of it as an investment, buying priority right to his skills. Got it? Next time you see him, treat him with the same respect you’d show me.”

Mansu’s eyes gleamed as he spoke.

With the gleam characteristic of someone with ambition.

“Because he’s my Zhuge Liang who will make me the branch manager of the Hao Clan.”

(TL Note: Hao Clan a.k.a the Gathering of Low Lives. A clan filled mostly with thugs, prostitutes, or gangsters. Within the Wuxia genre, it’s usually served as the direct opposite of the Beggar Gang. If the Beggar Gang is one of the Orthodox a.k.a the Murim Alliance, then the Hao Clan is a part of the Unorthodox Faction. Do note that Unorthodox is not the same as the Demon Cult)

* * *

“Phew.”

Zhuge Hyeonmong let out a long sigh once Mansu was gone.

Though he also considered Mansu a friend, there were some uncomfortable aspects.

He always drags me into troublesome schemes.’

He was a good friend overall, but he had a strange tendency to overestimate Hyeonmong.

Even though things had just worked out luckily and he hadn’t particularly planned anything, Mansu acted as if Hyeonmong was some great strategist like Zhuge Liang.

‘Two thousand taels, huh.’

Though it was a tempting offer, he shook his head.

That much money wouldn’t come without considerable hardship.

‘Let’s check this out.’

Zhuge Hyeonmong shook his head and examined the items Mansu’s servants had brought.

They were his father’s, Zhuge Ziyi’s (諸葛孜義), belongings.

These were sacrificial offerings (祭具) passed down through generations of the family.

With his father’s death anniversary approaching, he could understand Mansu’s intention to return them for the memorial service.

As he examined each object, his hand suddenly froze.

“…”

It was an incense burner.

An ordinary, somewhat worn incense burner.

From it, he felt a very faint remnant of magical power.

The remnant was so faint that even Zhuge Hyeonmong thought it might be his imagination at first.

‘It’s broken.’

Once he detected the remnant, it wasn’t difficult to trace it and understand its current state.

The flow of magical power, which should have served some purpose originally, was disrupted and fragmented, making it difficult even for Zhuge Hyeonmong to grasp its original form.

Just in case, he checked the other items and found the same thing.

Though varying in size, they all had paths of mana engraved in them.

From the surface patterns to the materials and forms.

Everything was imbued with magic.

At this point, it couldn’t be a coincidence.

And as he examined the traces, he discovered something.

Click.

‘It can be disassembled?’

Though it appeared to be cast as a single piece from the outside, with the proper application of mana, it had a structure that could be taken apart.

However, due to its age, it couldn’t be easily disassembled, making it seem like it was one solid piece.

Zhuge Hyeonmong looked at the incense burner for a moment, then began taking it apart piece by piece without much hesitation.

It was quite a difficult task.

‘It’s stuck tight. The structure itself is interlocked with zero tolerance.’

Not just assembling it, but even disassembling it required precise order and force. Moreover, delicate mana control was also necessary.

Even with the correct method, the slightest deviation in the flow of mana would prevent the disassembly.

‘Typical of the Zhuge Family.’

They had this habit of making things unnecessarily difficult and complex when they could have been made simple and easy.

It seemed their ancestors were no different.

‘But it’s fascinating.’

Despite his irritation, Zhuge Hyeonmong was also a Zhuge, so he got absorbed in it.

But it didn’t last long.

This disassembly process was surprisingly mentally demanding, requiring both mental power and mana.

While he had enough mental energy, he lacked mana in his current state.

‘My current mana recovery rate is too slow.’

He had used a considerable amount of mana in the recent battle.

Though he had used it efficiently, the constant casting had taken its toll, and recovering that mana was not easy.

It was a frustrating situation of having many things he wanted to do but lacking resources.

‘Well, there’s no need to rush.’

From that day on, he devoted his free time to studying magic and disassembling the incense burner.

Though he occasionally had to work at the escort agency, it was mostly miscellaneous tasks, nothing like the escort mission from before, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

Especially since his reputation had soared after the last trip, affording him more leeway.

At home, he would disassemble the incense burner, and in his spare time, he would organize and refine his magical theories and spells.

He deconstructed and reconstructed the spells he knew, seeking more efficient methods.

Some work could only be done mentally since his mana capacity is still lacking for now.

Strangely, he never felt blocked. Even when testing his theories, progress flowed naturally.

A month later, he finally finished disassembling the incense burner. It took longer than expected, but he had to be careful. The thing was so old that even the slightest mistake could have ruined it completely.

He now understood why it was broken.

The component that accumulated mana inside was worn and damaged.

‘So that’s why it was designed this way.’

The person who originally made this probably knew that continuous exposure to mana would degrade the material, so they made it modular for easy replacement.

Fortunately, the other parts were intact. Replacing the damaged component should restore its functionality.

However, there was an issue.

Since it was the core mechanism where all mana gathered, it required extremely precise work.

The material also didn’t seem like it could be ordinary metal.

Naturally, with all these requirements piling up, it would cost a considerable amount of money.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve saved up quite a bit.’

Zhuge Hyeonmong stepped outside.

There are many blacksmiths in the capital. Among them, he headed to the blacksmith shop that Great Dragon Escort Agency frequently dealt with.

He recalled Im Chung and other escorts mentioning in passing that the blacksmith’s skills were excellent.

And as he approached the blacksmith shop, he heard agitated voices.

“No, this isn’t it!”

“But I did exactly as you asked!”

“Yes, you did! But this is wrong! It’s not right!”

Someone was speaking like a madman.

That someone was Im Jun-gyu.

‘Nope.’

Zhuge Hyeonmong backtracked without hesitation.