-A Cave Not Open to the Public
As soon as I finished speaking, the substation chief turned around and began issuing orders.
“We’re taking that sedan up ahead and this truck back to the substation. One thing to keep in mind: there are mana life-forms loaded in the truck, so under no circumstances is anyone to open the cargo bed! Don’t even get curious about what’s inside!”
I had already told him the life-forms had lost their mana, and all that remained was to drive the vehicles back to the substation, but the chief’s expression as he gave the order was nothing short of solemn.
“Yes, understood!”
The officers who answered were the same. The shoulders of the policeman approaching the truck were stiff with tension.
Watching them, laughter almost escaped me, but I bit my lip and held it in.
The firefighters and reservists were still gathered around, murmuring among themselves.
“Two patrolmen stay here and wrap things up. Uh, the fire is out and the situation’s over, so firefighters and reservists, you can all head back now.”
As soon as the chief finished speaking, one of the reservists shot his hand into the air and opened his mouth.
“It’d be a shame to just leave, so let’s give our Mage Oudin a rousing cheer! Thanks to the mage, the black mage has been driven off and our area is safe.”
Then he was the first to start cheering. The people gathered there immediately joined in.
“Waaaah!”
“Mage, thank you!”
“Mage Oudin is the best!”
“You’re the hero of the Republic of Korea!”
For some reason, my face grew hot. It felt like a signal telling me to hurry up and leave.
I quickly waved back in response, then said to the chief,
“I’ll be going now, then. I have urgent business.”
“Yes, yes. You should hurry along. Thank you so much for taking down the black mage in our area!”
Leaving the chief’s salute behind, I hurried toward our car.
When I was about to get in, I saw Cheon Danbi sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Get in the back. I’ll drive.”
In my urgency, I climbed into the back seat first. I was grateful she was driving. I was drained in every way, and it seemed I needed to conserve even my physical strength.
“Sit there quietly and do some mana training. You’re exhausted.”
Cheon Danbi spoke as if she had read my mind.
My mana was already recovering, but I still needed much more.
After causing this much of a commotion here, there was no telling when another black mage might appear. Yasin was also hunting me.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Where should we go?”
“First, we need to get out of here.”
Looking ahead, I saw that the police were already moving Na Sanhaegyeong’s car to the shoulder.
“Start the car. Let’s get going.”
“Okay.”
Cheon Danbi immediately set the car in motion.
When I looked back, the reservists were still cheering and vigorously waving both hands.
They hadn’t done anything in particular after being mobilized, nor had there been anything for them to do, but since they had cheered us on, they seemed to feel they had played their part well enough.
I waved to them one last time, then turned back around and let out a sigh.
“Gil, sprinkle that now.”
Just as we left the scene, Cheon Danbi gave Gil some kind of instruction.
“Yes. It’s ready.”
Gil opened a small pouch and thrust his arm out the car window. The contents inside scattered backward on the wind.
It was a fine, transparent powder, nearly invisible to the naked eye.
“What’s that?”
When I asked, Cheon Danbi answered.
“Purification powder that erases traces of mana waves. It’s not exactly great to leave the mage’s magic circuits at the scene, is it? Another black mage could come and analyze them.”
“Oh. There’s stuff like that too?”
“There’s nothing our herb shop doesn’t have. I’m a pretty outstanding druid, you know.”
Cheon Danbi bragged, then laughed lightly. Then she added,
“There should be some jelly in that bag. It boosts mana, so eat it.”
“You really brought a lot of things.”
“I told you I brought enough to be a peddler. Right now, I’m a moving herb shop.”
They were small things, but seeing how meticulously she had prepared this and that made me feel reassured.
Erasing the traces of magic circuits left at the scene was something that hadn’t occurred to me at all, and I hadn’t known there was a purifying substance that made it possible.
I looked anew at Cheon Danbi and Gil.
When we first formed the team, I hadn’t expected it, but both of them possessed outstanding abilities.
In the earlier battle, Cheon Danbi had helped by sending purification water at just the right moment.
Gil had absorbed the mana from the life-forms, neutralized them, and even restored the scene all by himself.
They truly were teammates who had come to me like a stroke of luck.
‘They really are reliable.’
Feeling satisfied, I crunched down on the mana-enhancing jelly and got to work.
First, I sent a message to Yu Jaeseon.
I briefly reported on the battle with Na Sanhaegyeong and asked him to send mages to the Jecheon Central Substation to recover the life-forms inside the truck.
If I told him that much, the Bureau would handle the aftermath on its own.
Of course, I didn’t tell even Yu Jaeseon that we were transporting Na Sanhaegyeong in the trunk.
‘Huh? What on earth is this made of?’
The mana-enhancing jelly Cheon Danbi had given me was incredibly effective. My mana rose rapidly in no time.
It was so fascinating that I wanted to test a spell immediately.
As it happened, there was something I needed to do right away. I had to reinforce the barrier covering the car and us.
The barrier had been partially damaged in the battle with Na Sanhaegyeong, and right now, we were carrying Na Sanhaegyeong in the trunk.
I needed to strengthen the barrier so her mana wouldn’t leak outside, and also so that even if Na Sanhaegyeong woke up, she wouldn’t be able to struggle in the trunk.
I also rechecked the binding chains and blocking barrier I had placed around Na Sanhaegyeong.
“Are you strengthening the barrier?”
Gil noticed what I was doing and asked.
“Yeah. I’m reinforcing the barrier, and I’m going to put invisibility magic on it altogether.”
“Invisibility magic?”
“We don’t know when another black mage might appear. But for now, I need to recover a little, and right now, rather than taking down more black mages, I want to go somewhere and interrogate that black mage, Na Sanhaegyeong.”
“Ah, yes. But how do you do invisibility magic?”
Gil asked, showing his curiosity.
Gil still hadn’t learned or experienced many kinds of magic. But even though I had only tossed him a single grimoire, the speed at which he was teaching himself was extremely fast.
In particular, when it came to magic related to his own traits, his ability to understand and develop it on his own was remarkable.
“I’ll cast it, so watch carefully. Try to see if you can analyze the magic circuit.”
After saying that, I slowly extended mana waves.
The invisibility magic I cast was not magic that changed the properties of matter, but belonged to mental magic.
It was mental magic that disrupted the vision of those looking, making the target appear invisible.
“Ah…! It’s in the mental magic category, isn’t it? It disrupts sight?”
Gil, who had been watching closely, said.
I didn’t know whether he had analyzed every detail of the magic circuit, but he had at least seen through its essence.
“That’s right. You figured it out well.”
“No. I’m not sure I really did. The magic circuit is incredibly complicated. Haha.”
Gil gave a shy laugh as he spoke.
In truth, invisibility magic was on the easier side among mental spells.
It didn’t infiltrate a living being’s mind to control them or alter their memories or thoughts; it merely disrupted the optic nerves.
Of course, mental magic itself required a high level of magical ability, so while I understood why Gil said it was complicated, I was also a little surprised.
“You extend concentric circles of mana waves and commune with other life-forms, don’t you? That’s much more complicated and difficult.”
“That’s easier for me. I just need to resonate my mana waves and read another life-form’s mind. But with invisibility magic, you have to set a trap of disruption in advance when there isn’t even a target yet, so you have to construct the magic circuit perfectly. And on top of that, you have to keep it running.”
Hearing it, I understood how Gil felt. But that didn’t mean other mages would feel the same way he did.
Gil was unique. There was no way resonance and communion should be easier.
It struck me anew as mysterious that each mage possessed different traits, and depending on those traits, the difficulty of magic felt different to each of them.
“Right. You have your own traits. Every mage casts magic by choosing their own path based on their own individual traits.”
“I see.”
Gil nodded quietly.
Inwardly, I found myself looking forward to how Gil’s magic would develop in the future.
There was definitely something unique about Gil’s magic. The restoration magic he had used earlier would not have been easy for other mages.
Most would think restoration magic had to be approached through time magic. Because of that, they wouldn’t even dare attempt it. Time magic required an extremely high level of magical ability.
But Gil had approached restoration like the regeneration of a living being. He restored the cracked road and the burn marks by healing and regenerating them.
Perhaps because he had spent so long with zombies possessing innate regenerative abilities, Gil seemed to understand regeneration well. He naturally performed magic that regenerated through mana waves.
Perhaps it was similar to the methods of druids or holy mages.
“Hold on. Magic training is fine, but first tell me where we’re going. Where should I head? Where are you going to interrogate the black mage?”
Cheon Danbi, holding the steering wheel, cut into our conversation.
She was right. I did want to talk more deeply with Gil about magic, but now wasn’t the time.
“For now, keep going toward Danyang. As for a place where we can interrogate a black mage, just anywhere won’t do… Right, a cave would be good. If we go toward Sobaeksan, there are a few caves, and among them are caves not open to the public.”
I answered absentmindedly with whatever came to mind. At that, Cheon Danbi glanced at the rearview mirror and asked,
“A cave not open to the public? But weren’t you from Seoul, Mage? How do you know this area so well? That’s interesting.”
Cheon Danbi had said it casually, without much thought, but hearing those words made me startle inwardly at myself.
A cave at the foot of Sobaeksan! To think I had spoken about that place so casually.
I was shocked that, while focusing only on finding a place to interrogate the black mage, I had completely forgotten the bad memories tied to that place and spoken without a second thought.
“Uh, I just know. The Danyang area has Paleozoic terrain, so there are lots of caves.”
I gave a vague answer.
Cheon Danbi didn’t press any further.
“Okay! Then we’ll head toward Danyang, Sobaeksan. I don’t know where the cave is, so guide me once we get there.”
“Yeah. I will.”
So, in the end, I was going there.
A cave located at the foot of Sobaeksan in Danyang.
That place was where my life—no, where the life of O Ujin from the parallel world—had begun, and it was also a place where days of utmost suffering were concentrated.