-Orc Protesters
“The stairs are completely broken. How are we supposed to get up?”
Gil said, looking at the bullet lodged halfway up the stairs. Fragments of cement were scattered everywhere.
“We’ll have to fix them. Hmm. Since it’s come to this, I might as well keep the promise I made to X right away.”
“Promise?”
“Watch closely.”
First, I repaired the stairs X had smashed with his bullet.
It was simple work. I gathered the cement fragments scattered all around and filled the hole.
If I were doing it properly, I would have bought cement and patched it up physically, but for the time being, I used magic to fuse the pieces together.
I restored it enough that the elderly landlady, who was too frightened to even look outside for fear it was terrorism, wouldn’t worry when she came out later.
I couldn’t do anything about the section of the metal railing X had used as a cane and taken with him, but at least the stairs could be used well enough now.
“It’s been repaired like nothing ever happened.”
“Honestly, not quite like nothing ever happened. Still, it won’t be inconvenient right away.”
After that, I carried out the thing I had decided to do because of Gil’s brief disappearance, as well as the thing I had promised while threatening X.
I cast a magical barrier over the entire multifamily housing building, one that would remain in place continuously. Then I imprinted X’s DNA into the barrier.
Since X’s blood was splattered all over the ruined floor, obtaining his DNA wasn’t difficult.
Lastly, I placed one more spell on the barrier. Now, if X tried to break into the house, a fiery explosion would occur.
“Wow! That’s amazing. What you said to X earlier wasn’t an empty threat, was it?”
Gil, who had been watching me use magic, said in admiration.
“You don’t have to worry about X from now on. At least when you’re at home, you’ll be safe.”
“Thank you.”
“You clean up the rest of this mess.”
“Yes.”
When Gil bent down to pick up the broken pieces, I spoke again.
“No. Try doing it with magic.”
“With magic?”
“Create wind and gather the fragments in one place. Create water and wash away the bloodstains too.”
“But I don’t know how to use magic.”
“You have a sufficient amount of mana. Focus your mind and feel the waves of mana inside your body. Then gather those waves and extend them outward, manifesting the magic you want through your will.”
If he were to train properly, there would be many things I had to teach him, starting from how to form magic circuits to how to control waves. But magic began, first and foremost, with a mage moving their heart.
Gil did as I instructed.
In truth, considering his ability to extend concentric circles of mana waves and communicate with other living beings, Gil was already a mage who knew how to use magic well enough.
As expected, Gil succeeded easily.
He seemed to focus his mind, and before long, a suitable wind rose and swept the fragments into one place, while water flowed and washed away the bloodstains.
It was simple elemental magic. But for a first attempt, it was extremely impressive.
The fact that the strength of the wind and the amount of water were appropriate meant he had controlled the waves well.
“Well done.”
“It actually worked? I never even imagined I’d be able to use magic like this……”
“You awakened as a mage last time, when you faced that tentacle monster. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’re complete as a mage. If you want to use magic freely, you’ll need a lot of training from now on.”
“Yes.”
Gil’s face was flushed red.
For some reason, I felt proud myself.
Thanks to X showing up and causing a scene, I was unintentionally able to check the results of Gil’s training, and Gil got to use magic himself, even if only in a small way.
“Looks like we’re done, so let’s go up now.”
“Yes. Let’s hurry.”
We climbed the stairs and headed for the rooftop room.
As we went up, I glanced around. The neighborhood was peaceful, as if nothing had happened.
The fact that no one had looked outside while X and I were making such a commotion actually sent a chill through me.
‘Nothing happened in the meantime, did it?’
Yasin’s warning of a terrorist attack suddenly weighed on my mind. I was worried that something might have already happened while I’d been distracted elsewhere.
But the communication device Kang Yonghun had given me was silent. If there had been a terrorist attack, the alarm would have sounded by now.
As soon as I entered the house, I turned on the computer and checked the news.
There was no news of a terrorist attack. But as I looked around, one article caught my eye.
[Commotion at Incheon Airport Due to Orc Protesters Attempting to Enter the Country.]
Wondering what this was about, I read the article in detail.
It said that orc protesters who had come from abroad were holding a demonstration, demanding to be allowed entry into our country. It seemed quite a number of orcs had come from various countries.
‘Orc protesters? Why all of a sudden?’
I wanted to know the background.
There was an article explaining the reason for the protest, citing foreign media.
It said the protest was against the Korean government unjustly detaining orcs.
Apparently, some orcs had recently smuggled themselves into Korea, and word had gone out to foreign media that the Korean government had branded them abnormal orcs and secretly locked them away in a facility.
The orcs abroad who had seen that news were protesting, calling it racial oppression. As a form of protest, they were staging a struggle to enter the country.
“Did the news about those orcs from the Incheon Port explosion incident get out to foreign media?”
When I muttered that, Gil asked from beside me.
“Is something going on?”
“It looks like orcs from overseas are protesting at Incheon Airport.”
“Orcs at Incheon Airport? Then did they come by plane?”
“I suppose so.”
After answering, a question occurred to me. How had the orcs boarded planes bound for Korea? They shouldn’t have been able to get visas.
Our country was never an orc immigration nation in the first place, and it tended to strictly control the entry of orcs.
But if numerous orcs had flown to Incheon Airport, it would have been impossible without organized assistance.
“Why did the orcs come to Korea? Why are they protesting?”
When Gil asked, I showed him the news article.
After practically burying his nose in the computer and reading several articles, Gil asked again.
“Did orcs really smuggle themselves into our country? And did the Korean government lock them up?”
I turned to look at Gil. His eyes were wide.
A few days ago, when the broadcast had briefly mentioned orc smuggling, Gil had been beside me.
But it seemed that, at the time, he had only been paying attention to the zombie news and had let it pass.
“They really were abnormal orcs. They couldn’t speak, and they looked as though not a shred of reason remained in them. They didn’t smuggle themselves in—a black mage brought them in. During the Incheon Port explosion incident.”
“Ah…… During the Incheon Port explosion incident. So that’s what this was about.”
“Yeah. Since the government didn’t make an official announcement and it only circulated as rumors before getting aired, it looks like the orcs living abroad think it’s racial oppression and are protesting.”
“It’s gotten complicated.”
The news didn’t show the orcs protesting directly. Since they were on the far side of immigration, the orcs had not yet entered the country.
The news only explained the situation through the words of the airport security unit.
“Entry into Korea is impossible. All of the protesters will be sent back to their home countries. We are still investigating how they boarded planes to Korea without visas.
There has been some confusion inside Incheon Airport, but since the protest has not escalated into violence, the airport is still operating.”
In any case, it wasn’t news of terrorism.
It was an incident that could become a major issue, but fortunately, it was not an act of violence or terrorism. That seemed to be why the Hall hadn’t contacted me separately.
However, I focused on the complex nature of this incident.
Racial issues were sensitive matters both domestically and internationally. They were a good topic for causing social chaos.
As it was, the issue of nonhuman races had already begun to surface in our country due to the virus zombie commotion.
‘Could this be the chaos Yasin said he would gift us?’
For now, there was no way to know.
But there were plenty of circumstances that made it reasonable to suspect someone was behind the incident.
At any rate, it didn’t seem like a situation where mages needed to be dispatched to Incheon Airport right away. I turned off the computer and said to Gil,
“You’re hungry, right? Let’s eat first.”
“Yes?”
Gil turned to look at me with a blank expression. Maybe talking about food out of nowhere after watching the news so seriously felt abrupt.
“I’m saying we should grill some meat and eat properly. There’s a lot to do. You have to move, you have to train, and before Yasin causes another terrorist attack, we need to take care of daily life and prepare while we still have even a little breathing room.”
“Ah……! Understood.”
We went out to the rooftop and grilled pork belly. I made Gil eat plenty of meat. To train in magic, one needed the stamina to support it.
After we each drank a cup of coffee, we prepared for Gil’s move.
“What will you need……?”
It was called moving, but Gil had no luggage to pack. I didn’t know if he had possessed things while living on the streets, but in any case, he was empty-handed now.
I went into my room and gathered whatever I could—blankets, clothes, shampoo, soap, and the like.
“Use these for now, and later we’ll go to the supermarket together and buy whatever else you need.”
“Yes. Thank you, Mage.”
“You don’t have to thank me every single time. We’re a team now.”
At my words, Gil smiled brightly. He seemed to like the word team.
“Take these downstairs, set up your room, and rest. I have something to do for a bit. I’ll see you later at dinner.”
“Yes.”
Perhaps he was happy to have a room of his own, because Gil answered with a face that couldn’t hide his smile, then picked up his things and left the room.
‘In the end, Gil ended up living in this house too. Good.’
I stretched my arms out wide.
Many incidents were happening in rapid succession. It felt like a trial that didn’t grant even a moment of leisure.
Was there someone up above constantly sending down trials, saying they would watch whether I could achieve my goal?
To begin with, I had thought I would die, so what exactly was this new life, where I had transferred into a mage in a parallel world and was living on?
How had I come to this world?
My idle thoughts ended in the brief time it took me to stretch.
‘This isn’t the time to relax. Disaster isn’t far off.’
Even if nothing was happening right this instant, there were things I had to do. Whenever I had even a little free time, I had to refine my magic further.
Yasin was no easy opponent. I hadn’t even found Samir yet.
Considering the things Samir had done in the previous world, the Samir of this world was surely a black mage of great evil.
I had to train my magic in preparation for the moment I finally came face-to-face with him.
Quietly, I opened my magic space and stepped inside.