-All Together
Cheon Danbi, who had looked utterly exhausted, suddenly sprang up as if strength had returned to her and tried to run toward where Gil was.
I caught her by the arm and said quietly,
“It’s concealment magic. Gil is still right there. I only hid him with a barrier and concealment magic.”
Only then did Cheon Danbi let out a sigh of relief and slump again.
“Phew…… So that’s what it was. I thought Gil had gone somewhere……”
Cheon Danbi had always cared deeply for Gil, but right now her worry was different from usual.
They knew that Gil was in the middle of a rampage.
That aside, even if they had suffered from sound magic, it was strange that Cheon Danbi and Ren looked far more exhausted than everyone else.
“Tell me what happened. Why are you two so drained?”
When I asked, Cheon Danbi lowered her voice and spoke as if whispering.
“When Gil saw the counter-protesters using violence against the zombies, something in his eyes just flipped. He suddenly gave off this strange aura, like he couldn’t see anything anymore, and then he used magic.”
“At first, he was just trying to stop them. We shouted too and tried to persuade people. But they just kept pushing through, no matter what. They really beat and pressured them like they were going to kill them all.”
Ren added from beside her.
Part of it was probably to convey the situation, but I could also read in him the desire to insist that Gil had only run wild because there had been no other choice.
“But I think Gil crossed a line. It was bad enough that he used magic against people, but it looked like he couldn’t control the intensity either.”
“What? Still, he didn’t use magic strongly enough to hurt people, did he?”
I had thought that was at least fortunate. That he had not used magic to the point that people were killed or injured.
But it seemed that was not the case.
“We stopped him.”
Cheon Danbi let out a shallow sigh and continued.
“The two of us wrapped Gil in life force with everything we had. So the concentric waves of mana wouldn’t spread out as harmful energy. Wow, it was seriously exhausting. The roar’s echo felt like it would tear our ears apart, and Gil still wouldn’t come to his senses……”
“Still, maybe that’s why he asked us to come with him.”
“Right. It was a relief we were beside him, at least.”
Cheon Danbi glanced toward where Gil was.
Even though she should not have been able to see him because of the barrier and concealment magic, she seemed reassured just knowing he was there.
Ren followed Cheon Danbi’s gaze and looked that way as well.
I was inwardly surprised.
Cheon Danbi and Ren had been that exhausted because they had been holding back Gil’s rampage.
They had not stopped it completely, but at the very least, they had controlled it.
Once again, I felt grateful that the two of them had been there.
But I was shocked by the fact that Gil had lost himself and run wild to that extent.
A chill ran down my spine at the thought that, if Cheon Danbi and Ren had not been there, countless people might have been killed or injured.
Just then, a police announcement rang out.
“Disperse! Everyone, return home! Leave this place immediately! Anyone remaining will be arrested. This is an order from the Bureau.”
The police, who had either stood by until now or had suffered under the sound magic like everyone else and been unable to control the situation, seemed to have finally come to their senses and begun to respond.
Most of all, an order had come down from the Bureau.
Perhaps because they were dispersing people from the outside in, the pressure of the crowd that had been packed tight into the square was fortunately beginning to ease little by little.
When I cast my gaze into the distance, I saw the counter-protesters slipping away quickly.
The ones who had used violence recklessly against the zombies were running with their tails between their legs once they had been struck by a mage and the Bureau had stepped in.
In the end, was violence something that could only be pressed down by another force?
No, rather, they were submitting to authority.
“All zombies, disperse at once as well! Today’s protest ends here. Anyone who continues to remain will be arrested!”
The police announcement continued, and as the humans who had surrounded them left, the zombies also began to scatter like an ebbing tide.
With this, the incident seemed like it would come to an end.
But that did not mean the investigation into who the mage was who had activated sound magic in the middle of the city would also end here.
Since they knew I had come to the scene, the Bureau would ask me.
What on earth should I tell them? What should I do about Gil?
At that moment, a tingling sensation suddenly passed through the air, as if an electric current had flowed.
I quickly turned toward where Gil was.
As expected, Gil was the problem.
The barrier I had put up was cracking.
It had not been completely broken yet, but the gaps were widening as if it would shatter at any moment.
Inside the barrier, Gil was sending out concentric circles of extremely powerful mana waves.
Crackle. Crackle.
An ominous wave leaked out.
Gil, still unable to escape his trance state, was focused on only one objective. Releasing mana.
I was deeply worried.
It was not that I was worried the barrier would break right away. What unsettled me was that blind energy from Gil as he rampaged.
“Ren! Cheon Danbi! Over here! We need to get Gil out of here now.”
“Huh? Yeah, let’s go!”
“Hurry.”
The two moved quickly as I led them.
I pushed them through the gap in the barrier and followed in after them. Then I hurriedly sealed the barrier.
“Aaah! Gil is doing it again……!”
Cheon Danbi screamed.
The moment we entered the barrier, I felt a powerful mana wave.
Gil had activated sound magic once again.
I hurriedly cast sound barriers around Cheon Danbi and Ren.
“Gil! Stop. Come to your senses! It’s over now. Come back now.”
As soon as she was free from the pain of the sound magic, Cheon Danbi moved close to Gil and shouted.
But Gil still stood upright, his deep black eyes wide open, not even turning to look at us.
There was no time to delay. The deeper he fell, the harder it would be to bring him back.
I opened a teleportation portal inside the barrier. Then I shouted to Cheon Danbi and Ren as I grabbed Gil around the side.
“Let’s get out of here! Into the portal!”
“Got it!”
“Yes!”
We jumped into the teleportation portal one after another.
Around Gil’s body, concentric circles of powerful mana waves flowed as if a magnetic field had unfolded.
The arm I had around his side tingled from it.
But there was no time to activate cancellation magic. Even if I did, I could not be sure it would be possible to collect all of Gil’s mana waves.
The only answer was to cross over quickly.
I set the destination of the teleportation portal as the magical space in my room.
The safest place. A place where Gil could be safe as well, without affecting anyone else.
Considering Gil’s current state, no matter where else we went, the repercussions would be unavoidable.
Only this place was safe.
We crossed the portal and emerged all together into my magical space.
“Mm……? Where is this?”
“Where did we come to? In any case, it’s quiet and there’s no one here, so I feel like I can finally breathe.”
Cheon Danbi and Ren spoke while cautiously looking around.
Before answering their questions, I first watched Gil.
While we crossed through the portal, the sound magic had naturally been offset, and the concentric circles of mana waves were curling inward as if they had nowhere to go.
Gil’s eyes were trembling uneasily. It seemed he was slowly waking up.
But when I let go of the side I had been holding, Gil collapsed right there.
It did not look as though he had lost consciousness; rather, the strength had simply gone out of his body.
His eyes were open, though unsteadily.
“Gil! Are you all right?”
“He must be lacking life force!”
Cheon Danbi and Ren were startled and sank down beside Gil. Then they immediately began gathering the surrounding life force and infusing it into him.
Soon the two of them grew even more surprised and looked around wildly.
“Wow! Where is this place, seriously?”
“It’s filled with life force and mana. I’ve never had it be this easy to move life force before!”
Gil slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, and he too began looking around.
His eyes were still trembling, but the parts that had expanded into a deep black had returned to normal.
“Where are we?”
When Gil asked, Cheon Danbi let out a scream-like cheer and threw her arms around him.
“Gil! You’re back to your senses, aren’t you? It’s all right now!”
“Sister Danbi……”
Gil had come to his senses.
Only then did I feel ready to tell them where this place was.
I had thought that someday I would bring all the team members in here, but I had never imagined it would happen like this.
In any case, it was fine, since we had all come together.
“This is a magical space. It’s attached to my rooftop room.”
“What? A magical space attached to your rooftop room? There was a place like this? Why didn’t we know about it until now?”
“A magical space? Ah, so that’s why it’s so full of life force and mana.”
Cheon Danbi and Ren looked around the mansion anew.
They were probably curious about the antique yet splendid space. I had been the same when I first came in.
“You must be curious, so go ahead and look around. It’s a much larger space than you might think.”
“Oh! We can look around?”
“Then we’ll take a quick look.”
Cheon Danbi and Ren sprang to their feet with excited faces like young girls, then went off together to explore the house.
In truth, they were probably giving us space so I could talk to Gil alone.
“Get up. Let’s go over there and sit.”
I helped Gil to his feet and led him to where the sofa was. Gil followed quietly and obediently.
“Do you remember what you did?”
“I’m sorry. You told me to stay home, Mage, but I was worried about the zombies, so I went to Gwanghwamun. I asked Sister Danbi and Ren to come with me too, and we met there. But……”
Gil stopped speaking for a moment and looked around again.
“How did I end up here? Did we come home together? I’m sorry. I don’t remember very well.”
“I opened a teleportation portal at Gwanghwamun.”
“Did I…… rampage again? Did I use magic on people?”
Gil’s eyes trembled uneasily again.
But without paying any mind to that, I looked straight at Gil and asked,
“Do you not remember? Or do you wish you didn’t remember?”
“I remember vaguely. But it feels distant, like I’m remembering something that happened to someone else, not something I experienced. Sound magic…… That is, did I activate sound magic?”
“I wasn’t at the scene then. I heard about it from Cheon Danbi and Ren afterward. Yes. You activated sound magic targeting humans.”
“Ah…… So I did. But those people were truly awful. They beat the zombies recklessly and pushed them so hard they made them get crushed to death.”
“Another excuse?”
At my voice, cold as ice, Gil shut his mouth.
For a moment, silence flowed between the two of us.