By the time I finished work at the bank and returned home, the sun had already set.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Good work.”
After parting with Jeong Il-su in front of the apartment, I went inside.
My older brother wasn’t there, but the apartment was unchanged.
It seemed he had only taken his own belongings.
“First, I’ll order delivery….”
After choosing something expensive on the delivery app, I headed straight for the bathroom.
Stripping off my clothes and letting the water hit me, my tension melted away.
“Yeah, this is nice.”
Honestly, it wasn’t any different from washing with magic, but showering with an actual showerhead felt somehow different.
After properly showering for the first time in a while, I came out to the living room and summoned the spear that had been leaning by the door.
Thud.
I caught the spear mid-flight and checked the living room.
“Would this much space be enough?”
To my words, Soph replied.
[If we push the sofa aside, it should be enough. Still, if the distance is too far, it will be difficult to check.]
“Then there’s no helping it.”
After all, having sensed the Obsidian at the bank was already lucky.
I had been able to feel the Obsidian’s energy then because I hadn’t sensed any other dark energy besides my own.
It was only possible because this was Earth, devoid of energy; if it had been Trappist, I never would have been able to distinguish it.
However, even now, the trace was so faint that I couldn’t tell the direction or distance.
In the end, I had to ask for Soph’s help like this.
I pushed the sofa to one side and stood the spear upright in the center of the widened living room.
Even after I let go, the spear remained standing straight.
As I pressed against the wall, the Obsidian glowed.
Whirrr.
A magic circle began to be drawn on the living room floor.
It was certainly convenient having Soph around.
If Soph hadn’t been there, I would have had to diligently draw the magic circle myself.
Honestly, drawing it wouldn’t have been easy either.
I could copy a magic circle that Soph drew, but I didn’t know the theory behind it.
I had no idea what would happen if I drew a magic circle on the living room floor.
Shhhhhh.
A short while later, the magic circle was complete, and Soph chanted a spell.
[Reveal yourself. O power that remains alone.]
The moment the words ended, a small light rose above the magic circle.
That light was the Obsidian.
“It was still in Seoul.”
[Strange that it would stay in one place after stealing something.]
The current location of the Obsidian might be the final destination, but it didn’t seem likely.
“I have a rough idea…. Let’s ask directly.”
Thanks to seeing the magic circle, I could tell where the light was pointing.
“If it’s this direction, it must be Itaewon.”
I would have to check directly, but if it was Itaewon, my guess was likely correct.
Having confirmed the location, I now had to wait for the night to deepen.
Since I would probably have to use magic again, I needed to avoid human eyes.
“Since I have to go out every time, I wanted to buy a car.”
[If you travel by car, what do you plan to do about those surveillance devices called CCTV?]
“That’s why I gave up.”
In the end, I had to move at night, when I could avoid both human eyes and the eyes of electronic equipment.
We rested comfortably until deep into the night.
After eating the delivered food, Soph became immersed in the internet, and I watched movies and webtoons I hadn’t seen.
Peaceful time different from Trappist.
I had grown accustomed to it now, so it wasn’t hard even on Trappist, but still, living within modern civilization was more comfortable.
So, I decided.
This time, I would take the conveniences of civilization with me.
“If I put ten in each box, one should be left over, right?”
Ten electric kettles, ten washing machines, ten dryers, and ten generators—if I took ten of each, at least one of each would remain.
If I installed the remaining items in the underground city, they wouldn’t catch anyone else’s eye.
If I did that, I could establish something resembling modern civilization, if only simply.
[That is something possible with magic too.]
Soph, who had been looking at the internet on a tablet, nitpicked, but this time I decided to do as I thought.
“The feeling is different.”
[It’s not a bad idea. It might be good to bring videos and information on a PC too.]
Since Soph agreed, it was decided what to bring when we went back.
Weapons and food were important too, but this time, I decided to fill everything with household goods and electronics.
I left the house well after midnight.
Again, there were people guarding the house, so I couldn’t go out through the main gate.
There were Americans and Koreans.
Both were probably there to protect me, but having to slip out through the window every time was terribly annoying.
This time too, I went out the window and climbed up the apartment wall.
I didn’t even need to use magic.
Pulling myself up swiftly, I quickly reached the rooftop.
As I had seen before, the city was asleep.
There were still many places with lights on, but Seoul’s nightscape wasn’t as splendid as before the war.
Moreover, I couldn’t see far because of the yellow dust.
“Four kilometers southwest.”
If I passed Namsan, I would arrive right away.
As I gauged the distance and prepared to run across the rooftop, Soph asked.
[The distance is close too; couldn’t you just fly?]
“I’d like to, but if I fly, I’ll be detected.”
The yellow dust was severe too, and while I had heard that something human-sized wouldn’t show up on radar, I couldn’t take that risk.
Besides, I didn’t know if they were still running anti-air surveillance even after the war ended.
The probability was small, but I didn’t want to get caught in an air defense network and shot down while flying.
Checking the backpack on my back, I gripped the spear and stomped the ground.
Tatatatak.
The rooftop floor receded behind me.
The wall rapidly approached.
Seeing the wall approach, I called up an image in my mind.
The image of my body moving quickly.
Along with the image, formulas and magic circles unfolded in my head.
As the magic circle was drawn, I recited the spell.
“Accelerate.”
The Obsidian glowed dimly, and the spell was cast.
Pow!
The world slowed, and my body shot forward.
The moment the wall blocked my path, I threw my body forward with all my might.
Whoooosh!
I jumped dozens of meters as if flying through the sky.
Thud.
I landed on the rooftop of the adjacent apartment.
After landing well past the rooftop railing, I ran out again.
I had said I wouldn’t fly, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t use magic.
There was plenty of magic I could use besides flying.
Magic like this Acceleration was a great help for running and jumping too.
Now I didn’t even need to descend to the ground.
I could jump over buildings lining the main roads easily enough.
After leaping across apartment and building rooftops like that, I ran across Namsan.
Crossing through dense forest on a dark night laden with yellow dust was dangerous.
However, thanks to my senses informing me of every tree’s location, I could pass through without difficulty.
Once past Namsan, Itaewon was right there.
The location the light indicated for the Obsidian was a small commercial building at the edge of Namsan.
As I approached to some degree, I could feel the Obsidian with my senses as well.
The Obsidian was inside the building.
An old three-story building with all the lights out.
Looking from the rooftop of the adjacent building, there was someone watching outside through a darkened second-floor window.
[Not Korean. Was that your prediction too?]
As Soph said, the man keeping watch outside was a blond foreigner.
“Yes. I thought as much. When I came here before, I had already dealt with the Koreans likely to cause problems. So if there were anyone left to pick a fight with the Korean government, it would have to be foreigners.”
[Can you tell which country they’re from?]
“I’ll have to check.”
A guess was possible.
If you excluded the Korean government, which had the Obsidian stolen from them, and the US and China, who had no need to steal it, and then excluded countries cooperating with the US, not many nations remained.
Among them, if it was a country with power and many white people, only one came to mind.
As expected, there was no CCTV visible around the building.
No matter which country they were from, they were people who had snuck into this nation.
There wouldn’t be surveillance cameras near lawbreakers.
They might have installed their own, but that wouldn’t be a problem.
[Spread! Thunderbolt!]
Along with Soph’s chant, electric current spread from beneath the spear.
Pop! Pop!
Streetlights went out one by one, and black boxes in cars parked by the roadside all broke down.
The same went for the electronics in this building and in the adjacent building where the foreigners were.
Now there was no need to worry about surveillance.
Spear in hand, I flung my body toward the adjacent building.
I hadn’t used Acceleration, so the distance was shorter, but jumping across an alley was not difficult.
Thud.
Where I landed was an ordinary rooftop with trash rolling about.
As expected, the rooftop door was locked.
Checking with my senses, there was some kind of device on the other side of the door.
These people were no amateurs after all.
It didn’t matter.
This was Earth, and the people in this building were ordinary people without dark energy.
There was no need to struggle to quietly open a door with a device attached.
Instead of opening the door, I gripped the spear and stood in the center of the rooftop.
“Please.”
[Understood. I just need to put them all to sleep, correct?]
“Yes.”
Along with my answer, the Obsidian glowed again.
Dark energy flowed from the Obsidian.
A considerable amount flowed out this time, but the Obsidian showed no change.
The Obsidian of the newly acquired control object was vastly different from other Obsidians.
Though it wouldn’t recharge since we were on Earth, with this much, I felt I could use magic to my heart’s content without worry.
A magic circle spread across the rooftop floor, and Soph chanted a spell.
[Slumber, all of you. Sleep.]
As the spell was cast, I could feel energy flowing into the entire building.
Thud. Thud.
Along with small sounds, I could feel people collapsing.
No one had withstood the magic.
All seven people in this building had fallen asleep.
Seeing that, Soph clicked his tongue.
[Earthlings are too vulnerable to magic. Even the kingdom’s people who weren’t mages could endure this kind of sleep magic.]
Soph’s comparison was wrong.
The people of that planet were descendants of mages who had gone to that planet, even if they weren’t mages themselves.
They couldn’t be compared to Earthlings living in a place without magic.
[Why do you say they can’t be compared? Their ancestors are the same anyway. Don’t Earthlings become mages too?]
‘The same ancestors?’
It was a statement that raised new questions, but now was not the time to resolve them.
I forcibly opened the rooftop door.
Crunch.
A loud noise rang out, but I wasn’t worried.
When I opened the door, a broken electronic device was attached.
I went down the stairs.
The third floor was empty, and on the second floor, two foreigners were asleep.
One was the man who had been keeping watch outside the window, and the other seemed to have been sitting and drinking.
Looking at the alcohol on the table, I could tell which country they were from.
The alcohol on the table was strong vodka.
“Drinking while working—I really don’t understand the people of this country.”
The Russian soldiers I had seen during the war had been strange too, and the agents were no different.
Still, aside from the drinking, both were quite agent-like.
With trained bodies, both were carrying pistols, and they had multiple passports.
‘I shouldn’t kill them immediately, right?’
It would have been simpler to kill them and bury them, but this time, it seemed I shouldn’t handle it so easily.
I collected the guns and passports, roughly broke their legs and arms, and tied them up with loose ropes lying around.
I handled the two people on the first floor the same way.
Three people remained.
All three were underground.
And, as expected, I found them in the basement.
The female college student who came with me was tied up and asleep alongside the Russians.
Rescue (2)