Name: Sin Ian.
—Sir, sir, sir
The instant he realized he had picked up a grimoire that called itself the “Hand of Re-creation,” he immediately opened the gallery and left a comment on a post by a fixed user named “SeriousMagicAddict.”
SeriousMagicAddict.
“SMA” for short, responded to his reply right away.
-SeriousMagicAddict: What is it?
ㄴA book suddenly appeared in my house. No matter how I look at it, it’s a grimoire. Can you appraise it?
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: Take pictures of the book and send them to [email protected].
He did so.
A short while later, a response arrived.
-SeriousMagicAddict: Did you read the contents inside, by any chance?
ㄴJust the introduction.
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: You’re fucked.
It was a plain answer. Ian’s face twisted into a deep frown.
-Fucked?
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: If you saw the introduction, you should know too. That book is a grimoire written by an Outer God. And a grimoire written by a fairly high-ranking Outer God at that.
It spoke of the reconstruction of all things.
For no real reason, Ian shut the grimoire he had placed beside him in the bathroom and stared at his phone.
-SeriousMagicAddict: Since it’s a grimoire that’s never been discovered before, no one knows its contents, but records remain regarding its appearance, so identifying it isn’t difficult. Thanks to Nostradamus prophesying it to be a dangerous grimoire, it’s rather well-known as well.
ㄴNostradamus was a magician too?
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: A famous magician. The book of prophecies he wrote is, in itself, a grimoire.
That was new information. Ian let out a low groan and tapped at the keyboard.
-That’s not what matters. So what am I supposed to do now?
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: Now that you’ve become the owner of a grimoire, there’s no other way. All the more so if it’s a grimoire written by an Outer God.
ㄴNo, so what am I supposed to do?
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: It’s simple. You have to become a magician before the madness takes hold.
That was not simple at all. Ian swallowed hard as he looked down at the grimoire that had, at some point, teleported right beside him.
-What is this madness? I feel fine right now.
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: You don’t have any madness? Does your head hurt, or do you hear strange muttering, or feel like insects are crawling through your brain?
ㄴNope.
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: That’s strange. But don’t let your guard down. It wouldn’t be odd for the madness to flare up at any moment.
After saying that, SMA paused for a moment before continuing his reply.
-SeriousMagicAddict: First, become a proper magician. Once you can control the grimoire’s power that way, you should be able to control the madness too.
ㄴGot it for now. Is there a separate community for magicians or anything?
ㄴSeriousMagicAddict: Leave your email. I’ll send it to you. But getting in is your problem. I can’t help you with that.
Ian let out a long breath and left his email in the comments. No reply came after that. Instead, a URL arrived in his inbox.
With trembling hands, he clicked the link.
At the same time, he was connected to the site. Ian waited quietly until the site finished loading.
Ding-a-ling.
At last, the loading finished.
And the first thing that appeared, along with a rather cheerful sound, was a pure white question window.
[Q. Explain the three elements that constitute magic.]
A question he had no way of knowing from the very beginning came flying at him. Ian immediately tried to access the gallery again and leave a comment, but his account had already been blocked.
[31-day ban]
[Reason: Fraternization]
[Processed by: Head Mod]
“Fuck me.”
Ian cursed and flipped his phone shut.
‘Fraternization… I guess it was. We exchanged emails and shared a way to contact each other separately, after all.’
For a moment, his head grew hot, but he poured cold reason over it. Thanks to that, he was able to erase useless thoughts and consider his current situation.
‘Contacting him through the gallery is impossible. Asking him by email to tell me what the three elements are won’t work either. He said he couldn’t help me.’
In the end, he had no choice but to figure it out on his own. The method was probably written in this grimoire.
“Hoo…”
A grimoire had appeared, and he had suddenly been given the goal of becoming a magician, but perhaps because some time had passed, his mind was not as tangled as he had expected. His heart was still pounding, but the bewilderment and fear he had first felt had long since faded considerably.
He rubbed his face dry and stared at the grimoire that had come up beside him.
A pure white, splendid-looking grimoire.
In order to control that thing perfectly and avoid losing himself to insanity, he had to become a magician. And only by becoming a magician and realizing the three elements of magic could he join their community.
In the end, one way or another, becoming a magician was the top priority.
‘Fuck it, then. Let’s give it a shot.’
Ian washed his face once in the bathroom, sat on his bed, and carefully opened the grimoire.
The thick book opened without any resistance. It was not written in Korean, yet for some reason, Ian could understand the writing perfectly.
He let out a breath and began slowly reading the written words.
[Do not be alarmed that you do not fall into madness. That is not because you are strange, but because everyone other than you is strange. If compatibility with this grimoire reaches 100 percent, this grimoire will cause its owner neither madness nor harm.]
For some reason, it sounded like an explanation. Ian wondered whether he could trust this sentence or not as he turned the page.
[It is the truth.]
The moment he turned the page, enormous letters filled both pages. Ian coughed in surprise and turned the page once more.
[All contents written in this grimoire are true, and the owner of the grimoire, the great “Reconstruction of All Things,” holds extremely friendly feelings and profound interest toward the human whose compatibility has finally reached 100 percent. Furthermore, as she abhors lies and mockery more than anyone, she hereby clearly emphasizes that she herself does not speak falsehoods.]
…She?
Apparently, even Outer Gods unexpectedly had a concept of gender.
And judging by the way it spat out sentences related to what he was thinking in real time, it seemed the grimoire itself had an ego.
Perhaps the Outer God, the author and original owner, was borrowing the form of a book to speak to him.
To know for certain, he would have to read more of the book.
Ian wet his throat once, turned past the page that was no different from a greeting, and finally entered the preface.
[There are a total of three kinds of magic written in this grimoire.]
[First, alchemy.]
[Second, various convenient spells.]
[Third, re-creation.]
[In order to use these magics, one must first enter the path of magic. The initiation into magic is written on page 785 of this grimoire. If the owner of this book is still “human,” it is recommended that they quickly enter the path of magic and become a magician.]
“It recommends becoming a magician…”
That, too, was unexpected. Ian let out a low groan and slowly turned the pages.
According to the information he had heard so far, one had to become a magician in order to be free from the grimoire’s madness.
If that was the truth, then what benefited the grimoire would be for its owner not to become a magician, but to remain an ordinary person forever.
Then it could dominate its owner through madness and manipulate him however it wanted, yet this grimoire was instead urging him even more strongly to become a magician.
‘Did SMA give me wrong information? Or is everything written in this grimoire true?’
No, perhaps both that magician and this grimoire were telling the truth. Maybe, blinded by suspicion, he was the one at fault for being unable to trust either side.
“This is difficult…”
Ian let out a deep sigh and opened to page 785.
[0. Initiation into Magic.]
He checked the words written at the very top of the page, then read down through what was written below.
[In order to enter the path of magic and become a magician, one must first understand the components of magic more deeply than anything else.]
[Most important are the four elements that make up this world. One must accumulate bodily experience of the elements, which are earth, air, water, and fire.]
[Each stage is as follows.]
[1. For one week, eat only earth for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You must not accept any other food whatsoever. By doing so, over the course of a week, a framework capable of using magic will be established.]
[2. For one week, continue meditating every morning and evening while being struck by the wind. Through this, feel “Merlin’s flesh,” hereafter referred to as ether, which is the principle of all things existing in the world and the most important resource of magic.]
[3. For one week, drink only water for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Through this, remove the waste remaining in the body, learn flow, and become able to handle ether directly.]
[4. For one week, every day at noon, light a fire and meditate before it. By doing so, heat will be applied to the completed body, and at last, you will shed the shell of humanity and obtain the body of a magician.]
“…Except for the last stage, all of them are difficult.”
A sigh escaped him on its own, but there was nothing he could do.
From the moment he had picked up the grimoire, his peaceful daily life was over. In order to endure the abnormal and survive somehow, he had no choice but to become a magician.
Ian smiled bitterly, put the grimoire into his bag, left the house, and bought a heap of soil from a nearby flower shop.
Then, as soon as he returned home, he scooped up a handful and dumped it into his mouth.
“Urk!”
A horrible taste spread through his mouth, but Ian endured the urge to vomit with extreme mental strength. The existence of parasites, all sorts of bacteria, and microorganisms came to mind, but he soon pushed them aside and shoveled down the soil.
They were all things that would not be a major problem once he became a magician.
Surely the grimoire would not have told him to shovel down soil without taking into account the microorganisms and various germs living in it.
Holding back his tears, Ian rammed roughly one bowl of rice’s worth of soil into his stomach. He gagged, but somehow endured it.
After finishing his meal, Ian rinsed his mouth with water and collapsed onto his bed.
‘I have to do this for a whole week?’
Just imagining it made him dizzy, but Ian exhaled a breath that smelled of soil and slapped his cheeks hard.
Once he had made up his mind to do it, there was no turning back. At the very least, he had to see it through to the end.
Ian brainwashed himself that way and shoveled down soil for lunch and for dinner as well.
And when exactly one week had passed like that.
“…Oh?”
Ian could sense the change that had occurred in his body.