-Home Sweet Home
* * *
Home sweet home!
When I arrived home and stood before the stairs leading up to the rooftop room, my heart began to pound.
It was a shabby place, but the thought of stepping into my room, into a space that was mine alone, for the first time in ages made me indescribably happy.
Ah, the moment I get in, I’m going to sprawl out as much as I want.
“Then I’ll be going in now.”
Halfway up the stairs, Gil spoke in front of his own room.
At times like this, I felt especially grateful that Gil was so polite and spoke in such an old-fashioned way for his age.
“Yeah, sure. Go in and rest. Wash up, get some rest, and then let’s go out to eat together.”
“Yes. You rest well too, Mage.”
At long last, I had a rare moment to be alone. I liked that.
It wasn’t that I disliked spending time with Gil and Cheon Danbi, but sometimes a person needed time alone.
Besides, it wasn’t as if I’d been off enjoying a leisurely break all this time.
I’d only been away from home for a few days, but everywhere I went, I’d run into black mage terror attacks and spent every moment breathless.
As soon as I returned to Seoul, I headed straight to the scene again, and this time I’d even stood right in front of news cameras and put on something that wasn’t quite a show, but wasn’t far from one.
Now I wanted to set everything down and rest quietly by myself, if only for a while.
Cheon Danbi must have felt the same way, because the moment we left the scene, she said she had to go home first and departed without looking back.
I had declared war on the black mages, so the real war would begin from now on. But at any rate, there was no terrorist attack immediately before my eyes, and the calamity had not yet arrived.
It was precisely at moments like this that one had to reorganize.
I wanted to get into my magical space as soon as possible.
A space overflowing with mana, a space optimal for training, a space equipped with everything I needed.
No, it was more than that. It was a space that even contained things I hadn’t known I needed.
I had the feeling that the answers to every question I had yet to unravel were inside that magical space.
‘I need to hurry up and go into the magical space. Just resting inside recharges my mana, so if I’m going to sprawl out, I might as well sprawl out in there.’
I was thinking that as I finished climbing the stairs to the rooftop.
A sense of dismay ran hot down my spine.
‘…Damn it!’
There was something I’d forgotten.
Only when I stepped onto the last stair did I remember, and as if it had been waiting for me to do so, it was there.
On the table and chairs set out on the rooftop, three crows were looking at me with round black eyes.
I’d completely forgotten about the crows.
“You were home? When did you get to Seoul? Did you wait long? We went straight to the scene and just got back.”
I approached the crows with a very delighted expression.
At this point, they wouldn’t notice I’d forgotten about them, right?
[We know. We were coming from the scene too.]
[We came home earlier and you weren’t here, so we went there.]
[But did you not see us at the scene?]
[You must’ve been totally focused on being on TV.]
They were creatures that couldn’t take an express bus, so they’d said they would fly from Danyang to Seoul.
But apparently, all of them had incredibly sturdy wings and phenomenal stamina. They’d already arrived in Seoul and gone back and forth between the house and the scene.
Truthfully, I didn’t feel sorry toward the two real crows. Those guys always flew off and came back however they pleased.
But I did feel sorry toward the third crow—in other words, Ren.
Ren wasn’t a real crow. Staying transformed for so long must have been uncomfortable.
“Ren, I’m sorry. For making you wait so long.”
I hurriedly opened the front door and let Ren inside.
Once we entered the house, Ren soon returned to her original form. Then she answered me.
“What do you have to be sorry for, Mage? I’m the one who should apologize. You don’t need to worry about me so much.”
“It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? Being in the form of a crow. It must have been exhausting flying all the way here.”
“No. I’m used to it now, so it’s all right.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Hugin and Munin entered the room and lightly landed on the desk. They looked perfectly comfortable, as if it were their own home.
Of course, since they were Oudin’s crows, one could say it was their home.
Ren stood awkwardly and looked around the room.
There was only one chair in the room. But I couldn’t exactly tell her to sit on the floor.
I quickly went back out to the rooftop and brought in a chair.
As I did, I thought it over.
‘Wait. Where is Ren supposed to stay from now on?’
There was no way we could live together in my one-room apartment.
Of course, since the one-room had a vast magical space attached to it, I could live inside that and tell Ren to stay in the room. But I still hadn’t revealed the magical space to anyone.
I couldn’t get her a separate room like Gil and send her off, either. Ren was currently a fugitive.
And I couldn’t tell her to keep living as a crow…
“Sit there. You must be tired, so rest for a bit.”
I pointed to the chair in front of the desk as I spoke. Then I sat down on the chair I’d brought in from the rooftop.
“I’m fine. More importantly, there’s something I need to tell you, Mage.”
“What is it?”
“When we went to the scene earlier, I saw you prove that there was a black mage in Vanaheim using the lines of yellow fog.”
“I see.”
“I was very curious about a black mage in Vanaheim. So I flew to the Vanaheim building with Hugin and Munin.”
“What? Why would you do something so dangerous? Vanaheim is desperate to capture you.”
Startled, I spoke as if scolding her.
“You don’t have to worry. I came back perfectly fine, didn’t I?”
Ren replied calmly.
Now that I heard it, she was right, and I felt embarrassed.
Ren had returned safely, and nothing worth worrying about had happened. There was no need to scold her.
“That’s true. Nothing happened, right?”
“Yes. Nothing happened. I didn’t go inside the building. There was a protective barrier around it, but I kept a suitable distance and watched, so there was no problem.”
“So did you see the black mage?”
I asked, my ears perking up.
The mages from the Hall who had rushed there had said they missed the black mage.
Since the crows had flown there, they must have been faster.
“Yes. I saw him. Once you caught him, he immediately withdrew his magic. Then he was busy erasing the traces. He was on the roof of the building. He was there with the chairman, and then both of them quickly went inside the company.”
“Did you see his face?”
“It was a face I knew.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He’s a researcher named An Seokju. So I suppose he’s a black mage who was pretending to be a researcher. He’s the researcher who performed the golden apple experiment on me.”
“Ah! The one who performed the golden apple experiment on you? Then he may actually be from a researcher background.”
“That’s right. He was someone who knew a lot about the experiments too. I never imagined he’d be a black mage.”
“Researcher An Seokju, you said. Understood.”
My heart began to race. This was an unexpected gain.
I hadn’t thought we would uncover the identity of Vanaheim’s black mage this quickly.
I figured it would take time even if the Bureau launched an investigation, since Kim Seonho wouldn’t readily talk.
But thanks to Ren’s bold actions, his identity had been revealed right away.
This was exactly the kind of benefit gained from having more allies.
I could fight a winning battle without running here and there all by myself. We could gather information, divide roles, and fight together.
Today was a day when I’d received help from allies in many ways. I had carried out an operation in cooperation with Yu Jaeseon, and Ren had moved on her own and brought back information.
“It was worth the risk you took, Ren. You did well. Thank you.”
Once again, I thought that Ren was an important person.
She was someone we had to protect, but she was also someone with extraordinary abilities who could help us.
In particular, Ren was a victim, an eyewitness, and a witness essential to exposing the disastrous experiments Vanaheim was conducting.
“I did it because I wanted to find out. I wanted to see clearly who the black mage was. I knew the black mages were working with Vanaheim, but I didn’t know there would be a black mage actually inside Vanaheim.”
I had felt the same.
I’d thought Vanaheim had merely hired black mages to conduct clinical trials or procure test subjects.
But to think the researcher himself was a black mage.
Vanaheim seemed to be far more deeply involved with black magic than I had thought.
Perhaps their relationship with the Magic Tower was one of competition rather than coexistence.
“I didn’t know Vanaheim had a black mage out in the open like that either.”
“Will finding out that the black mage is Researcher An Seokju be of help to you, Mage?”
“Of course. It will be a great help. Vanaheim will definitely deny it. They’ll say something like the black mage used the building without their knowledge and had absolutely nothing to do with them. But if we reveal his identity from our side, they won’t be able to slip away.”
“That’s good.”
Ren smiled brightly. Her cheeks were flushed; she looked proud.
What Ren needed right now wasn’t to expose Vanaheim’s suspicious experiments, but to keep them from finding her.
The company had even put out a bounty and was chasing after Ren.
Living as a fugitive was a rather difficult and painful thing.
Even so, Ren was throwing herself into exposing Vanaheim’s corruption rather than prioritizing her own safety.
The more I saw of her, the braver she seemed. She looked quiet and fragile, but she had quite a lot of backbone.
“Because of this incident, the Bureau will investigate Vanaheim. If it’s revealed that they were directly employing a black mage, all of the company’s businesses will likely come under investigation as well. They’ll dig through everything. If that happens, the company probably won’t be able to keep trying to capture you, Ren. So please endure and wait just a little longer.”
I said this to encourage her, but in truth, considering there were people within the Hall and the government who had joined hands with the black mages, I was skeptical as to whether the Bureau would really be able to dig into Vanaheim quickly.
“It would be nice if that happened. But you don’t have to worry too much about me. I’m confident when it comes to avoiding people now.”
“Even so, you can’t keep living as a fugitive forever.”
“Thank you for thinking of me.”
I was thinking of her, yes, but what Ren needed right now wasn’t pleasant words—it was a place to stay immediately.
“Rest comfortably. I’ll go out and buy some food. I’m hungry.”
“Ah, yes. Please be careful.”
Going out to eat was completely out of the question now. There was a bounty on Ren’s face. But I didn’t want to tell her to transform into someone else and come eat with me either.
I’d rather just go out and get takeout myself.
My wish to rest quietly by myself in my home sweet home had gone awry, but that wasn’t a serious problem.
It was right to resolve the immediate issue first.
I was walking down the hill when my phone rang.
When I checked the caller, it was Cheon Danbi.
She’d gone straight home without looking back, so I thought she wanted to rest thoroughly. Why was she already contacting me?