-Fallen
* * *
“Huh? So you’re saying you’re Mage Odin?”
The police officer blocking our path asked again, his eyes wide.
It seemed he couldn’t see well in the dark.
I lifted a magic flame to illuminate my face.
“That’s correct. See.”
“Mage Odin himself?”
“That’s what I’ve been saying.”
“Ah, then this… what are we supposed to do? Hey, Sergeant Kim! Contact the Daejeon Management Bureau right away.”
“Yes, sir!”
The one repeatedly asking if I was really Odin was an inspector.
He stole glances at me and muttered.
“Why are the mages so late, anyway…?”
He seemed to be waiting for the local mages; the inspector appeared to be the chief of the nearby police substation tasked with holding this cordon and monitoring the area until they arrived.
But his attitude toward me was very ambiguous.
He was using respectful honorifics, yet I could feel in my bones that he was not well-disposed toward me.
No, it even felt almost hostile. In a way, he also seemed afraid.
In any case, it was quite different from the attitudes of the police I’d met at Chungju Lake and Jecheon. Back then, they had treated me like some kind of hero, to the point it was painfully awkward.
‘Why is he like this? Does he not like me?’
We had just made our way down the mountain path to where it met the local road. The police had established a cordon there and were waiting.
The officers who spotted us immediately raised their batons and pistols, shouting at us to identify ourselves.
So when I revealed my identity, the inspector stepped forward and pressed me on whether I was truly Odin, only to become flustered about what to do.
It was a situation I simply couldn’t understand.
“Is there a problem?”
I asked the inspector.
“Ah, no. We were ordered to guard this path… We were told not to let anyone pass until the mages arrived.”
The inspector answered, flustered but unable to hide his hostility.
“So I am a mage. Why are you keeping watch over me? You know who I am, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes. I know. Of course I know. It’s just a confirmation.”
The inspector brushed it off like that and turned to look at Sergeant Kim. His expression demanded an answer immediately.
Sergeant Kim was still on the phone.
“What on earth is with them? Why are they treating us like criminals? Do they not recognize the great Mage Odin?”
Cheon Danbi grumbled beside me.
She spoke as if to herself, but her voice was intentionally loud enough for the police to hear. She was making it very obvious that she was offended.
“They probably don’t think we’re criminals. Let’s just wait a moment. They’re contacting the Daejeon Management Bureau now, so they’ll let us through soon.”
I soothed Cheon Danbi.
The officers beyond the cordon no longer held their batons and pistols raised, but their wary gazes remained as sharp as ever.
They didn’t take their eyes off us as they whispered among themselves.
I grew curious about what they were saying.
Wondering if listening in might help me understand the situation, I secretly enhanced my hearing with magic and eavesdropped on them.
“So then, are you saying that guy Odin over there is the one who caused the earthquake and kicked up all that fuss earlier?”
“Must be. Who else is there? Those people are the only ones who showed up while we’ve been guarding this place.”
“Wow, facing him in person is actually scary.”
“His magic skills are amazing, but that doesn’t mean he’s someone to be scared of. He’s just an attention seeker who enjoys playing hero.”
“No way. There’s even a rumor that he’s a real black mage. How else could he pull off a terror attack like that?”
The more I listened, the more absurd it became.
I was exasperated at how my reputation had come to this.
They were saying I caused an earthquake and a terror attack? I wondered why they thought that.
The officers’ whispers continued.
“They say there might not even be a separate black mage. Odin supposedly did everything himself and then played the media by saying he stopped a black mage’s terror attack, all to raise his own value.”
“Right. He’s a completely fallen mage. He probably did it to seize power at the World Mage Tournament, right?”
“So there is no real black mage? And Odin isn’t a black mage either?”
“Who knows. To regular people like us, a mage and a black mage are basically the same thing, aren’t they? We can’t even tell the difference.”
“Want me to teach you how to tell them apart? It’s simple. If they’re on our side, they’re a mage. If they’re the enemy, they’re a black mage.”
The officers dipped their heads and laughed lowly. The last remark seemed to be their idea of humor.
Now they were even calling me a fallen mage while denying the existence of an actual black mage.
This was serious. If this was how ordinary people perceived things, they could underestimate the danger of black mage terrorism.
I thought I knew where this reputation had originated.
The rumor Thor had told me about. It seemed it hadn’t spread only among mages.
It had disseminated widely among the populace, to the point that even rural police officers had heard it.
As I was debating whether I should correct their misconceptions, the officer who had finished his call with the Daejeon Management Bureau went to the inspector and whispered something. The inspector glanced at me a few times and then approached.
He cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Mage Odin and your companions, you may go now.”
There was no explanation before or after, merely those words.
But those were exactly the words we needed right now.
Regardless of the officers’ mistaken perceptions, I decided to leave this place immediately.
No matter how much I insisted here that black mages truly existed and that I was not a fallen mage who had fabricated a terror attack to raise his own value, who would buy it?
A bad reputation isn’t shed so easily.
“Let’s go.”
I spoke to Cheon Danbi and Gil, then took the lead in stepping across the cordon.
The two quickly followed after me.
We came out onto the local road, but we had no choice but to walk again. Not a single passing car was in sight.
Well, there had been a commotion, and it seemed unlikely a taxi would come down this secluded road at night.
Once we had put some distance between us and the police, Cheon Danbi spoke up.
“What on earth was with them? Did we do something wrong?”
“Right? The police attitude was very strange. That man who seemed to be in charge looked like he wanted to arrest us on the spot.”
Gil chimed in with Cheon Danbi’s complaints.
“It seems very bad rumors about me are spreading. They even seem to suspect I caused the seismic activity around here.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
At my words, Cheon Danbi and Gil turned to me with their mouths agape.
I wondered what expressions they would make if I told them the officers had called me a fallen mage and a black mage.
“It must be a rumor that started at the Hall, but it spread all the way here already? There was someone among the Hall’s mages who slandered me.”
“Why?”
“Who? Are they jealous of you, Mage-nim?”
“I don’t know either. I haven’t been keeping up with the news from Seoul. Let’s find somewhere to settle down first and investigate.”
We kept walking.
Still, I felt that the unlimited authority of the special commission Yu Jaeseon had given me remained intact.
So rumors were just rumors after all?
In any case, it was a positive sign that my free pass was still guaranteed for now.
On the other hand, it felt all the more remarkable that Yu Jaeseon had granted me such authority even as my reputation had worsened like this.
How much did he know about the collusion between the Hall and the government?
I would have to meet Yu Jaeseon in person before long.
“Anyway, I’m furious! Stopping black mage terrorism and saving people, and this is our reward—ridiculous groundless rumors.”
“That’s right. Times like this make me think the world is truly strange. It seems like it can’t stand to see good people do well.”
Cheon Danbi and Gil continued to vent.
The thought that I had such staunch allies on my side made me break into a smile unconsciously.
As we walked, the lights of the city finally came into view.
By the time we reached the town, we were all exhausted. We had walked quite a distance.
Seeing cars traveling on the road made me feel as delighted as if we had been reunited with civilization.
“Wow! Taxis! We don’t have to walk anymore!”
Cheon Danbi burst into a cheer.
We immediately flagged down a taxi. It was practically a reflex.
We hadn’t even decided on a destination; I only realized that after the driver asked where we were going.
“What’s the best resort in Danyang?”
I asked the driver.
“Best or not, there’s only one resort in Danyang. There are several hotels, but a resort is better for a family staying together, don’t you think?”
The driver said, looking at us through the rearview mirror.
“Yes. Then please take us there.”
In the back seat, Gil and Cheon Danbi whispered and giggled.
It was probably because the driver had called us a family.
Whatever was so funny about that, the two kept whispering and laughing until we arrived at the resort.
Watching them like that, they really did look like siblings.
The resort was unexpectedly large, sparkling, and luxurious. It looked as though it had been built recently.
The lobby was so clean and splendid that I wondered if we, who had been wandering in the mountains until now, even belonged here.
Fortunately, it wasn’t as if we had rolled in dirt or been covered in mud, so we didn’t look too out of place.
But we were undoubtedly tired and drenched in sweat from the long walk.
“Wow! This is nice? There was a place like this in Danyang?”
“It looks really expensive.”
“So now we’re pretending to be tourists again?”
“Right. Family tourists, at that.”
Cheon Danbi and Gil giggled again.
They were truly innocent souls. Being bright and positive no matter when or where was a strength of theirs. Above all, they seemed to generate that energy because they got along so well.
Luckily, the largest room available—what could be called a suite—was still vacant.
It had three bedrooms and a living room, so I chose it thinking we could all use it comfortably together.
As soon as we entered the room, we all plopped down on the sofa.
“Ah, this is the life! Civilization is the best.”
“What happened in the mountains earlier feels like a dream.”
I wanted to sink into the sofa and rest for a long while, but I immediately got up again.
I had to erect a barrier first. There were no pursuers behind us, but this place was no different from a black mage stronghold. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.
While I was in the process of erecting a barrier over the entire resort, I heard a tapping at the window. The crows had arrived.
I opened the window wide so the crows could come in.