“Hyung!”
When he went to the dining hall, Sinhyeok had, as expected, arrived first.
“Look at that, your hyung has arrived! Aren’t you glad to see me, you lot?”
At his hearty shout, all the trainees welcomed him.
“Ha, these guys really have gone soft.”
Everyone burst out laughing at that.
“Uncle, you’ve had a rough time.”
Baek Arin properly greeted him only now that she saw him.
“Yeah, I’m not going on the next deployment. Ahh~ It was brutal. Absolutely brutal.”
Sinhyeok sat down, unfolded his tray, and began eating.
“This food really is the best.”
After finishing his meal in high spirits, Sinhyeok was, naturally, exempted from training.
“I can roll around enthusiastically too, Instructor~”
“Haha, trainee, rest quietly.”
After the senior instructor’s sharp threat, Sinhyeok spent his time rolling around in the barracks.
“Ah, I’m bored.”
Naturally, Blue was sitting beside the bed.
Blue climbed onto his chest and gazed intently at him.
“Oh dear, our Blue was lonely because you couldn’t see me, huh~”
Blue stuck out its tongue and licked him.
“Yeah, yeah, I missed you too since I couldn’t see you.”
He hugged Blue tightly.
“You should’ve come with me to see the dragons, too. You could’ve seen just how awful their personalities are.”
Only after rolling around for quite some time did Hong Ichan return, drenched in sweat.
“Wow, that was exhausting.”
“Oh my. Hi~ Why am I so happy to see you?”
“Ah, hyung. I’m seriously exhausted.”
Ichan collapsed onto the bed with particularly dark circles beneath his eyes and fatigue written across his face.
“Hey, eat before you sleep.”
“……”
There was no answer.
At the same time, faint dark mana began leaking from his entire body.
“Look at this kid. What’s wrong with him?”
In an instant, his disguise peeled away.
His true form emerged, and he tossed and turned.
“That’s strange.”
Sinhyeok turned him over, as he lay sprawled across the bed.
Once turned over, his eyes were open, but he showed no response.
His eyes were clear, yet they held countless things within them.
‘What is this?’
It was familiar, yet strange.
“What are you carrying inside you?”
A gloomy dark mana flowed from his entire body, enough to be dangerous.
Before long, Ichan began to writhe.
“Urgh… Mom.”
There was a point he could make an educated guess about.
“It seems like a curse. But it doesn’t look like someone placed it on him.”
If so, then it was something he had brought upon himself.
“Ichan, what on earth are you carrying inside you?”
What could he be carrying that had made a dark elf turn his back on his homeland and seek to become a soldier in this distant foreign land?
“You really are something.”
He watched Ichan twist and turn again, then simply covered him with a blanket.
After tossing and turning in his sleep for a long while, Ichan opened his eyes.
“Huh?”
Looking around, he realized that a great deal of time had passed and that it was night.
“I skipped evening roll call. Hee-hee.”
He frowned at his condition and at the cursed cries of the wraiths ringing inside his head.
“Urgh. Where’s the potion?”
Ichan rummaged through his locker, took the potion he had obtained before, and left.
“This could’ve been a disaster if I hadn’t had this.”
Back when Ichan, Arin, and Sinhyeok had first entered a gate together, they had obtained a purification potion containing the highest-grade divine power as a gate reward.
He had used it to suppress the backlash from what he carried within him.
After leaving the barracks, he hid in a corner of the bathroom and glanced around.
‘No one’s here.’
After confirming that the place was empty, he opened the potion bottle.
“Ah.”
But not a single drop remained.
‘What do I do?’
Ichan’s thoughts grew tangled as the wraiths he could no longer control gradually began to overwhelm him.
“I have to endure it. At least until I find a way.”
“You’re having a hard time.”
Ichan flinched.
He was startled by the strange voice coming from the stall beside him.
“What?”
“I said you’re having a hard time. Dark elf boy.”
Startled, Ichan hurried to leave the bathroom, but the man stopped him.
“You’re going to lose control soon.”
Ichan stopped and turned back.
Rusien emerged and brushed past him.
As he washed his hands, he said,
“Do you realize how precarious your condition is right now?”
Ichan answered with an awkward smile.
“M-Me?”
“That is correct, you.”
Ichan gave an awkward laugh.
“Isn’t everyone in a precarious position? That’s how soldiers are.”
At that foolish question and surprisingly apt answer, Parel covered his eyes with two fingers.
“That is not what I mean. How much longer can you endure that curse bearing the weight of an entire world?”
Ichan fell silent.
“I have heard the story. That in a world destroyed by demons, only a single young dark elf survived.”
Parel shook the water from his hands over the sink as he spoke.
“But I have also heard that the child carried the World Tree of Night within his body and bore the souls of the entire world.”
Ichan dispelled his illusion, revealing a dangerous look in his eyes.
Countless wraiths writhed within his moonlike pupils.
“They’re not curses. They’re wraiths spewing nothing but curses!”
“They are monsters, wise dark elf. Dead souls that retained mana and were filled with screams and resentment. What else would you call them?”
Ichan fell silent.
“Ghosts, banshees, evil spirits—they are all included. If you carry tens of millions, hundreds of millions of them within you, then no matter how much of the World Tree of Night you possess, you will die. No—you will go mad and lose control.”
Parel stared into Ichan’s eyes.
“Do you remember your name?”
Blood streamed from both of Ichan’s eyes.
When he opened his mouth, the resentment of countless wraiths poured forth.
‘Die!’
‘Spare me your ridiculous words!’
‘My name… What was my name!?’
‘You’re just like them. Die.’
‘This is revenge for our kind.’
Ichan forcibly shut his mouth and slammed his head against the floor.
Bang. Bang.
“Hong Ichan. My name is Hong Ichan now.”
Parel looked at the foolish dark elf struggling desperately and said,
“Do you realize how foolish this behavior is?”
“I do. So, mage, ignore me. I will protect my world to the very end.”
Trembling, Ichan sank to the floor.
Parel shook his head and took a bottle from inside his robe.
“Take this, at least.”
Ichan staggered to his feet and looked at the glass bottle Parel held out.
“It’s a purification potion. It seems you’ve run out. It should help.”
After hesitating, Ichan cautiously took it.
He carefully held it against his chest and nodded.
“Thank you.”
“I merely offer my condolences to one who has lost his world.”
Ichan hugged the potion tightly and headed toward his room.
Parel watched him leave and sighed.
“Foolish, but I can understand him.”
As he made his way to his assigned room, he glanced back.
“Someone will have to help him.”
Ichan slipped inside and confirmed that Sinhyeok was still asleep.
He cautiously poked Sinhyeok’s nostril with one finger to make sure.
‘He’s asleep.’
Watching secretly in the darkness, he saw that Sinhyeok was sleeping soundly.
‘He’s asleep.’
Ichan pulled down the blanket and carefully opened the cap of the purification potion.
Pop.
At the sudden sound, Ichan panicked and glanced around.
“Phew.”
Reverently kneeling beneath the moonlight, Ichan took off his necklace.
On its back, a tiny seed was embedded.
‘It’s heavily polluted.’
As soon as the necklace left his body, Ichan’s body began to tremble violently.
All kinds of screams and resentment pounded against his mind.
“Kh.”
His hand shaking violently, he opened the potion.
‘My child.’
As he removed the cap, he heard a voice he missed dearly. When he looked to the side, he saw an apparition.
A dark elf woman with pointed ears smiled and opened her arms.
‘Come here, my child.’
“Mom.”
Ichan tilted the potion in his hand and tried to rise.
‘Let Mommy hold you.’
“Mo—”
Clack.
Sinhyeok threw off his blanket and seized both the necklace Ichan had removed and the potion in his hand.
“Let go.”
Ichan spoke with his head twisted to the side.
But his voice was mixed with those of countless wraiths.
“Ichan, stop bothering your hyung.”
He forcibly seized Ichan’s resisting hand and twisted it.
“Ghk.”
“Drink it!”
As Ichan resisted, trying to pour the potion into his mouth, Sinhyeok forced his hand down and shoved it between his lips.
“Grrrgh, kyaak!”
As the glowing liquid trickled into his mouth, Ichan’s eyes gradually grew calm.
At that very moment, Sinhyeok put the necklace back around his neck.
“Ah… Hm?”
With his senses restored, Ichan found himself facing his hyung, who looked as though he was about to hit him.
“You’re giving me a workout in the middle of the night.”
“Hyung?”
“If you’re fine now, go to sleep.”
Sinhyeok crawled back into bed without asking anything.
Feeling awkward, Ichan headed toward his own bed.
Looking at his hyung, who had calmly closed his eyes, he spoke quietly.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah.”
Ichan quietly lay down on his bed and turned onto his side.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
“Hyung.”
For some reason, he felt as though Sinhyeok was not asleep.
“Just sleep.”
“Why didn’t you ask?”
“Because you didn’t seem to want to talk about it. I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.”
Seeing his hyung remain silent, Ichan cautiously spoke.
“It’s a curse. When the demons destroyed my entire world, all that remained were the people who had died and become wraiths, and a broken World Tree. I couldn’t leave them behind, so I carried them all with me.”
‘A core…?’
Sinhyeok could guess what he had carried inside him.
It seemed he had torn out the core and placed it within himself.
It was nothing short of madness.
‘I did carry one myself, though. Of course, it seems that so-called Ancient Dragon had taken certain measures.’
After carrying one himself, he understood.
He knew what would happen if one blindly carried a core—that which was called an origin.
Sinhyeok calmly answered Ichan’s quiet confession.
“You did the right thing. You have to look after your family.”
Ichan turned his head away, overcome with emotion.
“If you need more potions, tell me. I’ll make you another one.”
“T-Thank you, sob…”
Sinhyeok quietly turned to look at him.
Ichan had stuffed his fist into his mouth and was sobbing, hiccupping with grief.
‘Do the people here even know he’s a minor? He really is just a child.’
* * *
The next day, Sinhyeok went to see Parel before Ichan did.
“Yaaawn. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the sun has only just risen?”
“That’s probably right. I came straight here after roll call, too.”
Parel, his face haggard, ushered him into the instructor’s office.
“Come in for now.”
Once inside, Sinhyeok got straight to the point.
“The potion you gave Ichan yesterday. What’s the recipe?”
Parel, who had been brewing coffee with sleepy eyes, suddenly opened them wide.
“You saw?”
“He tried to drink it secretly at night and choked, so I helped him.”
At that, Parel narrowed his eyes and looked at Sinhyeok.
“How much did you see?”
“I know everything. I saw that he was a dark elf last time, and I don’t know whether the reason he can control hundreds of wraiths is a curse or something else, but…”
Parel sighed.
“It is not technically a curse. He is simply enduring the resentment and killing intent of tens of millions of souls.”
“Isn’t that the same thing in the end?”
Parel took out a cup, filled it with coffee, and handed it to Sinhyeok.
“Yes. In the end, it is the same thing.”
Sinhyeok cautiously took a sip.
‘Ugh, it’s really bitter.’
It did not suit his palate, so he set it down beside him.
“That is the only thing I gave him. It is not a type of potion I can make.”
Sinhyeok looked surprised.
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Haha, I appreciate the high opinion, but everyone has their own field of expertise.”
“Really nothing?”
“It is possible, technically.”
He took a mana stone from his subspace and showed it to Sinhyeok.
“Do you remember the catalyst I mentioned before?”
“Oh? Yes, vaguely.”
Rusien explained, bringing up the catalyst.
“My research concerns the removal of catalysts and the materialization of magic. I am studying a way to refine things without catalysts.”
At that, Sinhyeok understood why he had wanted to study him.
“Ah, so that’s why you wanted to study me?”
“That is correct. You are a perfect specimen.”
Rusien looked at Sinhyeok with conviction.
“I am researching a way to materialize magic while eliminating catalysts and drastically reducing its cost.”
Sinhyeok was, naturally, the perfect match for all of it.
“That’s exactly me.”
Rusien smiled and nodded.
“Amusingly enough, you are both the result and the completed form of my research.”
“Then can you make purification potions with that?”
He nodded.
“In truth, half of the research has already been completed. I succeeded in crystallizing formless mana and magic, much like your constitution.”
Parel took a box made of mana stones from his subspace.
He touched the transparent glass box, its sides embedded with mana stones.
“Wind.”
He cast a basic spell.
The magic continued to swirl within the glass box.
But with mana stones sealing it on every side, it began to harden as it circled within.
‘This can be done artificially?’
“Of course, there are many steps to go through. You must not exceed the amount of mana contained in the magic stone, and when you extract it, half of it breaks while the other half remains. On top of that, magic stones are expensive.”
Farrell took a pale green crystal, hardened into a vortex-like shape, from the glass case.
“The problem comes next. How do we melt this down and contain it?”
The wind crystal in his hand remained unchanged.
“Can’t you simply melt it?”
“Hahaha, I knew you would say that.”
Farrell spoke as he gazed at the hardened crystal.
“To melt mana that has hardened to this degree, one must be an archmage or a dragon.”
At those words, Sinhyeok tilted his head.
‘I do know a dragon. Though I can’t exactly go to him.’
“What about mana potions? They proved effective in breaking down hardened mana.”
Lucien spoke firmly.
“No. Their effects are entirely different. Magic herbs act on the human body. They are not the kind that directly act on mana.”
Farrell held the crystal out to Sinhyeok.
Sinhyeok took it and concentrated, just as he had yesterday. The crystal then melted into a soft, flowing mass.
Trickle.
When he poured it in, the light of the magic stone slowly spread along the wind.
“Isn’t it astonishing? You don’t even need a magic stone to contain it. Just imagine the changes this technique could bring. Any kind of magic could be stored at a low cost.”
Sinhyeok could guess what sort of change Farrell was leading him toward.
“Storing and mass-producing magic?”
“Hahaha! I knew you would realize it!”
Farrell spoke delightedly.
“Creating scrolls with magic stones is expensive! Once this technology is realized, we can squeeze magic out of mages and stockpile it! We could simply mix it into any material we wanted, or, if necessary, mix it with magic herbs and turn it into potions!”
Sinhyeok realized what Farrell wanted.
‘War…’
“Is this a technology that could turn the tide of war?”
Farrell grinned and placed the glowing magic stone in Sinhyeok’s hand.
“Of course, it could be used in many other ways as well. But it will truly shine in war. If that comes to pass, wouldn’t we be able to wipe out those detestable fiends and demons?”
There was madness and bloodlust in his eyes as he reveled in the thought.
“Well? Does it tempt you?”
Sinhyeok gave a short laugh and replied,
“It tempts me greatly. But is it really possible?”
At that, Farrell’s expression turned hollow.
“Whew. I don’t really know. So cooperate with me as much as you can. Help me get something out of this, at least.”
“For now, I think we should use this to save that Hong Ichan fellow first.”