-Collaborators
* * *
The rooftop at midnight was cool.
A breeze blew in, lightly brushing past my forehead.
After sending Yu Jaeseon off, I had come up to the rooftop to get some air.
I swept my gaze over Seoul’s nightscape.
Nearby was the brightly lit Hall of Magic; farther off, Neo Forest lay sunk in deep darkness; and in the distance, the city’s night view glittered.
Seen like this, everything looked peaceful. As if it knew nothing of the black mages’ movements.
Suddenly, I thought that I had to protect this scenery.
I wanted to protect the life of this city that had developed under the blessing of the World Tree, the everyday lives people led without worry.
‘I have to stop it. I have to stop the calamity, no matter what.’
I cast my gaze across the Han River.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where, but over there, at the Samseong Station intersection that boasted the most splendid skyline, the Magic Tower was hidden.
Within this nightscape that seemed peaceful on the surface, black mages were hiding, seeking to bring about calamity in pursuit of their wicked desires, and mages who had joined hands with them for their own advancement were also working in the shadows.
I turned my gaze back to the Hall of Magic.
Inside that hall, decked out in laughable splendor, were those who enjoyed more power than anyone and, still not satisfied, busied themselves lining their own pockets.
‘Pathetic fools. Blinded by the profit right in front of them, without realizing that in the end they’re only cutting off their own feet.’
On the other hand, somewhere out there, there was also a divine mage opposing the black mages while hiding their existence for reasons unknown.
Were they in Seoul? Or somewhere else?
Even Yu Jaeseon, who was well-versed in information about mages, said he knew nothing about the divine mage.
No one mentioned Bruno.
Outside of Oudin’s memories, Bruno’s existence had not surfaced anywhere.
Perhaps even back when he was teaching the young Oudin magic, Bruno had already been living in hiding, concealed from the world.
‘Why?’
And yet, for whatever reason he had been hiding, why was someone like that now letting traces of his existence slip while helping to stop the black mages?
It felt as though he was sending me a message.
But rather than Bruno existing as a message, I wanted him to appear as a living person, as a tangible presence.
When I told Yu Jaeseon about the incident that had taken place in Danyang, he showed deep interest.
‘That is a very intriguing incident. There are many questions as well.’
He wasn’t talking about the fact that the Magic Tower’s laboratory and factory had been in the mountains.
Of course, that information would have been useful from the Bureau’s perspective, but the part Yu Jaeseon was interested in was that after a black mage had personally destroyed the place, a divine mage had appeared and transformed the site into a magical forest.
‘Why would they do that?’
I was curious about that as well. But I didn’t know the answer.
What had Bruno been trying to do?
What message had he wanted to convey to me?
I had to find the answer myself.
Even if I couldn’t meet Bruno in person and ask him, I could still come closer to the answer by understanding him better.
Suddenly, I turned and went back inside.
The place where I could look for traces of Bruno was close by. None other than inside my own home, inside the magical space.
Bruno’s belongings, the diary he had written, and even unfamiliar objects whose era I could not identify.
There were things inside that might help me understand Bruno.
Earlier in the day, when I entered the magical space, learning that the divine mage who gave off pure white light was Bruno had acted like a blessing and aided my magic training.
At the time, the progress of my magic had been so astonishing that I had focused solely on training.
But if searching for traces of Bruno was a path toward understanding him, then that, too, would surely help me.
‘Let’s go in right away.’
Starting tomorrow, I would have to move even busier.
I had to meet people and rally them together, and I also had to be prepared to set out on an assault at any time.
Tonight, I would enjoy time that was entirely my own. I would make use of the time I would have spent sleeping.
Inside the magical space, which was filled with mana, time flowed the same as outside, but the quality of that time was different.
There was enough time to investigate.
I hurried into the magical space.
* * *
It was the middle of the night. Or perhaps it was dawn.
Kim Seonho, who had been asleep, snapped awake at the shrill ringing of a bell.
It was the emergency bell. Yesterday, before returning to his room, he had told his bodyguard to ring the emergency bell without hesitation if anything happened.
When he checked the clock, it was past two in the morning.
Kim Seonho immediately picked up the intercom.
“What is it?”
“They say government mages have taken Researcher An Seokju.”
The bodyguard answered in an urgent voice from beyond the intercom.
“What? Taken him? No, how?”
It wasn’t a question asking how they could have taken him.
No matter how much An Seokju was a black mage, if several mages attacked him at once, he would have no choice but to be overwhelmed.
To be honest, An Seokju wasn’t even an outstanding black mage.
He was not to Kim Seonho’s satisfaction, either.
After Yashin left Vanaheim, Kim Seonho had wanted a black mage he could keep under him and use as he pleased. That was why he had raised An Seokju.
He had tried to maintain friendly relations with the Magic Tower as much as possible, but he knew very well that a cooperative relationship could fall apart at the slightest misstep.
Sure enough, when Yashin grew greedy, things became complicated.
He was also furious at the man for turning his mansion into a complete mess before leaving.
So when the Hall requested cooperation, he had tried using An Seokju.
An Seokju, who had been a researcher assisting Yashin in his work, had learned several black magic techniques from him. After that, he said he had developed his magic through training on his own.
Kim Seonho had spared no support for An Seokju. But even as time passed, An Seokju never became as great a black mage as Yashin.
Of course, it couldn’t have been easy to train alone within the company while exchanges with other black mages were restricted, but even so, An Seokju’s accomplishments were unsatisfactory.
So he wasn’t wondering how the government mages had been able to take An Seokju.
It was both a question of how on earth they had known it was An Seokju and arrested him, and a lament over why the collaborators on the government side had allowed things to come to this.
‘What is this? They said the only way to find Ren was to keep putting pressure on the dwarves, and asked me to create an incident, so I used the Amoeba test subjects to make one for them. And now the gentlemen who were supposed to handle the aftermath let them take our black mage?’
He couldn’t shake the impression that the people called collaborators, whether on the Hall’s side or the government’s side, were utterly powerless.
Even after putting up a bounty, they still couldn’t find Ren, and coordination with the Magic Tower was unsatisfactory, doing nothing but creaking along.
And wasn’t even the “terrorist dwarf narrative” they had gone to such trouble to create being shattered yesterday because of Oudin?
At this rate, there was no reason to allot them any Golden Apples.
‘It’s not as if I’m doing this only for our company. That’s not it. How much has Vanaheim done for this country all this time? And for the Hall, too!’
Until yesterday evening, there had been no problem.
The Hall mages who had come running to catch a black mage returned empty-handed, and although the Bureau had come to question Kim Seonho, there was naturally no way they had gained anything either.
It had been under control. The collaborators had said they would block the aftermath.
Still, he hadn’t felt completely at ease, so Kim Seonho had stayed at the company penthouse instead of returning to his mansion.
For the sake of his peace of mind, it was better to stay at the company than go to the mansion that Yashin’s rampage had left in shambles.
Oudin had sealed the experimental subjects at the mansion as he pleased, but the more important new test subjects were well preserved here.
‘I need to release the Golden Apple as soon as possible…….’
Suddenly, he thought this was no time to be doing this.
On the other side of the intercom, the bodyguard was still struggling to explain something.
This was no time to be lost in thought.
Kim Seonho quickly set down the intercom and began changing clothes.
That was what getting old was like. His body didn’t move as quickly, and his mind didn’t turn as sharply as it used to, so there were times when he stupidly sat there in a daze.
‘This is why I have to hurry the completion of the Golden Apple. Thanks to that special half-blood called Ren, we were on the verge of a groundbreaking advancement……. See? I’m working this hard for the future of all humanity.’
After changing clothes, he hurriedly opened the bedroom door and went out.
“Chairman.”
The bodyguard quickly approached.
“What on earth happened? What happened to the company’s security that they were able to take Researcher An Seokju?”
“It wasn’t at the company, sir. It was at his residence. Researcher An Seokju went home yesterday. He said there was nothing to worry about……”
“What? I told him to stay at the company precisely because I was worried about this. I even told them to assign bodyguards.”
“Yes. But the researcher said he didn’t need bodyguards either and refused them, then went home.”
In the end, it meant An Seokju had acted as he pleased and gotten himself caught.
Kim Seonho let out a deep sigh.
It was frustrating enough that An Seokju’s poor abilities had allowed Oudin to catch his tail, but now he had ignored the chairman’s words, moved on his own, and been taken away.
He didn’t feel even the slightest desire to rescue him.
But he couldn’t leave it at that.
If he allowed the Bureau to take An Seokju away, it would be admitting that there had been a black mage in Vanaheim.
Reputation was the problem.
A corporation like Vanaheim had no choice but to be sensitive to reputation.
It was neither a government organization, nor an organization of mages, nor the Magic Tower, which was an organization of black mages.
It was a company that made its living selling products to ordinary people.
Not only that, Kim Seonho had dreams beyond corporate management.
He had made more than enough money.
Nor was he lacking in fame. As a researcher and as an entrepreneur, he had built a reputation more than splendid enough.
But he could not be satisfied with that much.
Kim Seonho wanted his name to be remembered forever as the one who saved humanity.
The launch of the Golden Apple was now just around the corner.
The Golden Apple was truly a product that would realize everyone’s dream.
Maintaining youth and health, living eternal life. What dream could be greater than that?
As the one who had realized that very dream, the three syllables of Kim Seonho’s name would be spoken far and wide, forever.
“……They say government mages launched a surprise attack. A battle broke out, but Researcher An Seokju was soon subdued. It seems he has now been taken to the Bureau……”
Damn it. He was doing it again.
While the bodyguard was explaining the whole story, Kim Seonho had once again sunk into his thoughts.
“Tell the chief secretary and the head of the Strategic Research Office to come at once!”
Kim Seonho ordered the bodyguard.
“Yes, sir!”
The bodyguard could only tell him the general outline of the incident as he had heard it.
To learn how things were unfolding, he would have to ask around here and there and prod his collaborators.
When the bodyguard stepped away to make the calls, Kim Seonho went to the living room sofa and dropped heavily into it.
His head throbbed.