-Mercenary Work
According to what the crows told me, Oudin was not from a family of mages with an inherited tradition, but a newly emerged mage.
In other words, he was a mage who had appeared independently in the modern era.
Oudin had entered the Hall of Magic at the age of twelve, trained at the academy, and lived as a mage affiliated with the Hall before leaving it of his own accord a few months ago.
“Why did he do that? Why did he leave the Hall?”
I casually asked the crows why Oudin had left the Hall. But they only stared blankly at me.
[How would we know? He never told us what was in his heart.]
[It was strange, though. It wasn’t as if anything special happened at the Hall, but he suddenly ran out.]
The crows’ pitch-black eyes were asking me instead.
‘Why are you asking us that? You’re the one who chose to do it, and you don’t even remember that?’
I thought it would be best to end the questions there. Interrogating the crows even about Oudin would hardly look good.
I looked at the clock and said,
“It’s already this late? I should get some rest now. You must be tired too, so go rest.”
[We’re not tired.]
[Let’s go out again.]
The crows looked at me with oddly sullen faces, then flapped out the window.
I had no idea why, but it wasn’t as if I could stop them when they said they were going out again.
Left alone, I slowly looked around the room. I thought that by examining it, I might learn something about Oudin.
The modest room, where the mattress and desk were the entirety of the furniture and there wasn’t even a separate kitchen, only a sink and small refrigerator in the corner, was no different from my room in the previous world.
‘This is a bit disappointing. They said mages in this world are an elite privileged class, but the way he lives isn’t any different from how I used to.’
I could understand what the people from the Hall who had come earlier had said. They had told him to look at the state of his home, saying it was strange that he wouldn’t be swayed by money.
Exactly. Why was his living situation like this? Was it because he had left the Hall?
Curious about Oudin’s financial situation, I searched the room thoroughly.
In the end, my disappointment only deepened. I found a wallet in the desk drawer, but it had only a few bills inside.
There was no bankbook, and no cash or gold hidden away separately.
“Hmm… Is this really everything?”
It wasn’t only his financial situation that was pathetic. I searched the whole room, but nothing came out that might help me understand the person called Oudin better.
I even turned on the laptop and looked through it, but it was empty. There were no traces at all, as if he had been living while deliberately erasing his presence.
In a way, I supposed that was rather like me. I had lived like that in my previous world too.
However, if there was one thing that made this room feel distinctly different from my old one, it was the grimoire lying on the desk.
But even when I opened it, I couldn’t read it, so the book was useless to me for now.
A world where computers and grimoires coexisted.
A world where humans and other races coexisted.
It felt strange. But in any case, this was the world I had to live in from now on.
Still, the sense of alienation wasn’t as deep as I had expected. Only a few hours had passed, but I felt as though I was adapting to this world rather well.
‘Let’s do this properly. This much isn’t the worst situation, is it?’
Once my mind had relaxed somewhat, I suddenly grew hungry. I walked over to the refrigerator and looked inside.
It was empty. I rummaged through the shelves above the sink too, but there was nothing. I had expected at least a few packets of instant noodles to be rolling around.
What on earth had he been eating to survive? At this rate, Oudin seemed to have been living an even more pathetic life than I had.
Of course, it wasn’t the worst situation, but he certainly seemed poor.
I sighed and was about to turn away when a black bottle placed in the corner beside the refrigerator caught my eye.
It was whiskey. The label read “Oakwood Single Malt Whiskey.” I didn’t know whether Oakwood was a place name or simply a brand, but either way, it was welcome.
“So he was at least able to drink single malt whiskey?”
I chuckled and poured an appropriate amount of whiskey into a glass.
When I took a sip, a bitter yet fairly fragrant flavor lingered. The oak aroma had seeped in nicely.
It seemed I had been thirsty. The whiskey slid smoothly down my rough throat. I felt a pleasant burning sensation.
The first day in a new world was drawing to a close. The single malt whiskey became a fine companion suited to the unfamiliar night. I toasted alone and slowly drank the whiskey.
* * *
The loud ringing of a phone caught my attention. It was a ringtone I wasn’t used to.
It seemed to be coming from a neighbor’s house.
‘Who’s leaving their phone like that?’
Cursing the rooftop room where soundproofing was a luxury I could not expect, I pulled the blanket up over my head.
The ringtone did not stop. It kept ringing persistently. In the end, I lost. My consciousness slowly awoke.
I lifted my heavy eyelids and searched for the source of the sound.
The ringing was coming from the gap between the mattress and the wall. When I reached into the gap and groped around, my hand caught a phone.
I pulled it out and saw that it was an unfamiliar phone. At that moment, I woke up properly and remembered the situation I was in.
‘Ah! Right. I was transferred to a parallel world. This phone must be Oudin’s.’
After wondering what to do, I first pressed the call button to stop the persistent ringing.
“Hello.”
A hoarse voice came out of my mouth. My mouth was completely dry. My throat burned.
[You up now? Hurry and open the door.]
Of course, I didn’t know who the caller was, but from his two sentences, I could tell that he was close enough to Oudin to speak casually to him, and that he was currently in front of the house.
‘Is it right to meet someone when I don’t even know who he is?’
But avoiding things wasn’t the answer. Since I had entered Oudin’s life, I had no choice but to face things and resolve them as they came.
I got up and headed for the entrance. My head throbbed. It seemed I had a hangover from drinking whiskey on an empty stomach last night and falling asleep.
‘What time is it?’
I opened the phone and checked the time. It was seven in the morning. Since I had only slept for three or four hours, it made sense that I had a hangover.
I also checked the recent call history. The name of the person who had just called was saved as “Director Pil, Jang Pildu.”
After roughly sweeping my hair back with my fingers, I opened the front door.
A burly man was standing outside. He had a rough-looking face, but incongruously, he wore a gentle smile.
“You had a bit to drink last night, didn’t you?”
“Uh, well…”
I answered awkwardly because I didn’t know what kind of relationship he had with Jang Pildu.
“I figured as much, so I brought this. Drink it.”
Jang Pildu handed me a hangover cure drink. He seemed to be someone who knew Oudin’s usual lifestyle well.
I accepted the drink and drank it while waiting for Jang Pildu to state his business. But whether there had been an appointment already or not, he suddenly said,
“Hurry and get ready. We’re leaving right away.”
To figure out what was going on, I frowned slightly and pretended not to remember clearly.
“Was there something today?”
“You agreed to handle the Incheon Port job. Standing guard while they transfer cargo at the harbor. Are you still half asleep?”
“Did I?”
“Master Mage, please get yourself together. I’m telling you, we have to leave right now. The other mercenaries have already set out.”
From what I heard, it seemed to be mercenary work. In other words, Jang Pildu appeared to be the director of a mercenary office.
Just as the people from the Hall had said yesterday, it seemed Oudin really had been doing mercenary work lately.
Then again, looking at his financial situation, he probably had to do anything he could just to put food in his mouth.
“Got it. I’ll get ready right away.”
“Good. I’ll be waiting in the car, so come down.”
I hurriedly washed my face, changed my clothes, and went down the stairs.
I didn’t know what mercenary work would be like, but since it was something Oudin had agreed to do, I figured I should try it anyway. It wasn’t as if I could just sit around inside the house.
When I went down the stairs and looked around, an arm shot out from a car parked at the entrance of the alley and beckoned.
“Over here, over here!”
As soon as I got in, Jang Pildu started the car.
“There’s coffee, drinks, and sandwiches there, so help yourself. Sorry the treatment for a mage isn’t much.”
Unlike his burly appearance, Jang Pildu was quite attentive. Since Incheon was fairly far away, it seemed he had prepared various things for me to eat in the car.
“It’s fine. I’m not hungry. More importantly, tell me again about what we’re doing today. What exactly do I need to do?”
For me, filling myself with information was more urgent than filling my stomach.
Even if it was mercenary work, Oudin must have been hired as a mage.
Now that I thought about it, I became a little worried that I might have rashly followed along while still not being used to magic.
“It’s just like I said. It’s a very simple job. You only need to stand guard while they transfer cargo at the harbor. The ship should already be in port,
and the Hanta Office mercenaries will handle transferring the cargo from the ship to the trucks. We’re in charge of watching the perimeter.”
“It’s just a simple guard job, so why do they need a mage?”
I asked to gauge what I would need to do.
“It’s just for appearances, really. I told you, this job originally came in to the Hanta Office. They were short on people, so they contacted our office, but Hanta said they were bringing in one mage. So I thought we should match that, at least, and called you.”
Jang Pildu answered casually.
But it felt suspicious to me. Even the fact that we were sharing a job that had come in to another mercenary office somehow didn’t sit well with me.
“I’m telling you, it’s really nothing. Master Mage, you won’t have anything in particular to do. Just keep an eye on the situation, and if anything happens, handle it then.”
Perhaps sensing my suspicion, Jang Pildu emphasized it repeatedly and tried to reassure me.
“What’s the mage on Hanta’s side tasked with?”
“Not sure. I don’t know the details, but I think they need him to unload the cargo.”
“Where did you say the request came from?”
“I don’t know that either. They said it was an anonymous client.”
At Jang Pildu’s words, I tilted my head. Was mercenary work normally like this? Taking on a job without even knowing who the client was?
“You don’t know the client? Is that all right? Isn’t this suspicious?”
“What’s suspicious about it? Mercenary work is all like that. As long as they pay properly, what does it matter who the client is? Besides, the pay is good. Yeah, the cargo is probably something dangerous. But we don’t need to care about that. We just stand guard and come back.”
Jang Pildu still spoke casually.
By my standards, it was a job so suspicious it was beyond belief, but from the perspective of a mercenary office director, it seemed to be everyday business.
Whether in this world or that world, the work mercenaries did was probably always on the border between legal and illegal.
“I’ll make sure to pay you a proper mage premium, so I’m counting on you.”
Jang Pildu looked back at me and grinned.
Hearing that reminded me that there was something else I needed to worry about.
The problem wasn’t who the client was. The problem was whether I could use magic.
‘There might be a situation where I have to use magic, so I need to prepare. But how am I supposed to prepare?’