- The Great Journey
I had to answer Kim Seonho’s desperate call somehow. After all, it was an undeniable fact that I was in charge of security.
I spoke calmly.
“I’m in Daejeon at the moment. Even if I rushed there right away, the situation would probably be over by the time I arrived.”
Even to my own ears, it sounded somewhat irresponsible. But it was the truth, so what could I do?
[What? You’re in Daejeon right now? Then what are we supposed to do here? Who’s going to watch the specimens?]
Kim Seonho was in quite a panic. I was almost tempted to send him a calming mental spell.
“You don’t need to worry about the specimens. As I said, even Yashin won’t be able to break through the underground cavern. I’ve also placed a sturdy barrier around the annex. Yashin may come here and cause a scene, but there are mages guarding the mansion, aren’t there?”
[Of course there are mages. There are elves too. I’ve notified the Hall, so the Hall’s mages will probably come as well. But Yashin is right outside my house! Mage Oudin, you’re in charge of security! Come here right now.]
The more I listened, the more irritated I became. I had agreed to handle security, not to become his servant.
Still, I suppressed my temper and answered calmly.
“Get yourself away from there first, Mr. Chairman. The cavern and the specimens are safe, so don’t worry about them. Trust me.”
In truth, I wasn’t particularly concerned about Kim Seonho’s safety. There was a good chance that the world would benefit more if he simply disappeared from it. But I couldn’t exactly order my client to go and get himself killed.
[Are you sure? They’re really safe?]
The safety of the specimens was the most important thing to both Kim Seonho and me. On the point that they must not fall into Yashin’s hands, our opinions were perfectly aligned.
“No one but me can undo the magical seal. And let’s try one more thing. I’ll provoke Yashin and lure him into chasing me here.”
It was an idea I had come up with on the spot.
There was no doubt that Yashin wouldn’t be able to take the sealed specimens away, but it seemed better to keep him from staying at the mansion for too long.
I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that he might somehow break through the magical seal.
[Ah! You’re going to lure Yashin over there? That’s a good idea. Then I’ll trust you, Mage. Ahh! It looks like Yashin is about to enter. I’d better get away quickly.]
Kim Seonho hung up in a frantic panic.
When I raised my head and looked around, not only Gil, but also Cheon Danbi and Jang Jeyoung, who were standing a little ways off, were looking at me.
I had lowered my voice as much as I could, but the surroundings were so quiet that they must have heard some of it. More than anything, they seemed to have reacted to the name Yashin.
I strode over to Jang Jeyoung and asked,
“Mage, did you happen to take any pictures that included me earlier?”
Perhaps thinking I was about to blame him, Jang Jeyoung answered timidly.
“I did take some, but why do you ask? If they make you uncomfortable, should I delete them?”
“No. Don’t delete them. Upload those pictures to the internet, along with a rough explanation of what happened here.”
“Upload them to the internet?”
“Yes. In addition to reporting it to the Mage Kingdom, post them on social media. So people can see them and spread the word.”
“Ah… Spread the word.”
Jang Jeyoung tilted his head. Apparently unable to understand, he eventually asked me,
“But why? Why are you telling me to spread pictures of you, Mage…?”
“They say Yashin has appeared in a residential district in Seoul. A terrorist attack is expected. I’m going to let him know that I’m here and lure him this way.”
There was no need to provoke Yashin in any special way. All I had to do was let him know where I was.
If Yashin went down into the underground cavern, he would quickly realize that I was the one who had sealed the entire place.
Just as I knew the fingerprint of his magic circuit, he would know the fingerprint of mine. We had fought before, after all.
If he failed to break through the magical seal, Yashin’s anger would soar, and he would try to come after me immediately.
“What? You’re going to lure Yashin here? To Daejeon?”
Jang Jeyoung asked again, his eyes wide.
“Exactly. That’s the point. To make him leave Seoul.”
“But then what about Daejeon? That’s too much. There are plenty of Hall mages in Seoul, aren’t there? As you know, there aren’t many mages in Daejeon…”
“I’m here, aren’t I? I’ll deal with Yashin.”
“Ah, well, that’s true, but…”
As Jang Jeyoung hesitated, Cheon Danbi poked him repeatedly in the side.
“What, you don’t trust Mage Oudin? Even after seeing this? Stop wasting time and upload the pictures. Make sure Mage Oudin’s face is clearly visible. Then Yashin will chase only Mage Oudin, so don’t worry.”
“All right. Then I’ll trust Mage Oudin and upload the pictures. You really have to take responsibility for this.”
Only then did Jang Jeyoung take out his phone.
His hands trembled as he operated it. He already looked like a drowned and singed rat, and seeing him so utterly terrified was almost pitiful.
I was practically tempted to go find the swaggering figure who had strutted around like one of society’s leading figures.
“If you’re that worried, write this at the end of the post: that I’m leaving Daejeon now and heading toward Chungcheongbuk-do.”
“Chungcheongbuk-do? Where are you going?”
Jang Jeyoung abruptly raised his head and asked.
“I shouldn’t give the exact location, should I? If I did, wouldn’t the mages there worry for no reason?”
“Ah! I see.”
Jang Jeyoung looked a little confused, but nodded nonetheless. Then he buried his nose in his phone and uploaded the pictures and text.
“May I leave the cleanup here to you, Mage Jang Jeyoung? I think we should leave immediately.”
At my words, Jang Jeyoung nodded vigorously once more.
“Please do. The Daejeon Mage Kingdom will take care of everything here. Don’t worry and hurry on.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
I gestured to Cheon Danbi and Gil, urging them to leave.
Looking around, I began to see people slowly regaining consciousness. I had no idea what sort of situation would unfold once everyone woke up.
It was uncertain whether those who had awakened would naturally accept the reality that they had lost their magic again.
Finishing things at the scene might prove more troublesome than expected.
We left the place at a brisk pace. Cheon Danbi and Gil followed silently behind me.
* * *
Yashin, on his way to Kim Seonho’s mansion, was full of energy.
At last, he had finished recovering from his injuries.
“Now I can continue my great journey!”
After being brutally hurled away in Neo Forest, he had hidden himself in a hermitage on Suraksan Mountain and focused solely on recovering.
He had lost count of how many potions he had consumed—potions he had made himself.
To quickly restore his strength and replenish the magic he had lost, he had even used the old monk of the hermitage as a sacrifice and drawn in the energy of the demon realm.
‘That monk. I thought there would be a monk devoted solely to cultivation in a hermitage perched on such a remote cliff, but he turned out to be an unexpectedly wicked man, swollen with greed.’
Yashin smiled as he recalled the old monk he had killed and used as a sacrifice.
He had been a grateful monk.
As it turned out, he had spent his life committing every evil deed imaginable, making him a perfect offering to the demon realm.
It had also been extremely fortunate that he had accumulated all the greed he had indulged in during his life throughout the hermitage.
From the outside, the hermitage looked like nothing more than a shabby hut, but once he entered the inner quarters, he found that the monk had been living amid piles of all sorts of things.
Thanks to that, Yashin had been able to eat well and rest comfortably while recovering from his injuries.
‘But who was that holy mage?’
The question he had continued pondering since his injury once again rose to the forefront of his mind.
The mage who had interfered with Yashin’s work in Neo Forest and even injured him was undoubtedly a holy mage.
Of course, he had never seen the mage’s face directly, but after examining the nature of the magic he had used, there was no doubt that he was a holy mage.
Yashin had known that holy mages still existed. He had simply thought they were found only in other countries. He had never imagined there would be one in Korea.
‘Well, the dark mages hid themselves for a long time, too. It wasn’t impossible for the holy mages to have done the same.’
In any case, that holy mage had been extraordinarily skilled.
He might even have been a mage on the level of Samir.
Just recalling him made Yashin’s body tremble anew. The magic the holy mage had unleashed had been terrifying. It had inflicted such severe internal injuries that his insides had nearly melted away.
To accomplish his great work, Yashin needed soil steeped in the decay of World Tree leaves.
But the moment Yashin secretly entered the forest to take some soil, an explosion occurred, and then a pure white light swept across the area, completely crushing him.
‘Lord Samir did warn me. He said I would be injured if I went into the forest. And yet I ignored him. Wait. Does that mean Lord Samir already knew there was a holy mage in Neo Forest?’
He had done it to earn Samir’s trust, but in the end, he had merely disobeyed Samir’s words. He had ruined everything.
He had already been scolded for broadcasting a terrorist threat without permission. He kept losing Samir’s trust.
Now, the only thing left was to take the specimens from Kim Seonho’s house and accomplish his great work.
‘Only then can I obtain the soldiers needed to forge the path to Lord Samir’s immortality. Especially through the children who will follow me and me alone.’
As he imagined the future that lay ahead, a smile naturally formed at the corners of his mouth.
It would be immensely satisfying. To watch new life-forms spread throughout a world in chaos—created through his experiments, born from his own hands.
“Shall we go?”
Before he knew it, Yashin had arrived near Kim Seonho’s mansion.
After getting out of the stolen car, he detected the mansion from a distance using his magic.
He had a rough idea of where the specimens were being kept. Beneath the annex, most likely. Having spent so much time close to Kim Seonho, he knew the man’s nature inside and out.
He would never keep his most valuable possessions at the company. He would have dug a deep cavern inside his home and hidden them there.
‘Hmm?’
Something was strange. No matter how far he extended his detection, he couldn’t sense any magical life-forms at all.
“So you’ve surrounded them with quite a sturdy barrier, have you?”
He laughed. He was practically itching to smash everything to pieces.
Yashin was both creator and destroyer. To complete his divinity, he needed to possess both qualities.
But creation and destruction had to be entertaining. Enjoyment was important.
‘Lord Samir doesn’t understand that. What good is immortality if you can’t enjoy it?’
Yashin revered Samir, a dark mage who had reached an unfathomable realm, but he disliked that one aspect of him.
Samir didn’t know how to enjoy himself.
He was nothing but immense evil. Pitch-black evil itself. Looking at Samir was enough to make Yashin shudder.
Yashin was different. That was why he sometimes wanted to do things in his own way. He wanted to play as many pranks as he pleased.
“Seonho, where are you? I’m here.”
Chuckling, Yashin released toward the mansion the enormous snake he had raised and brought out of the hermitage on Suraksan Mountain.