◈ Episode 527. Hypocrisy (1)
Darkness in every direction.
Just why does everyone say it.
I think I now know why they all described Granbell as an endlessly deep darkness.
A comprehension of seventy percent, having long since surpassed half.
Perhaps because of that, the sensation was different from the [Blackening] of the past.
A feeling as if floating endlessly through Granbell’s past.
No, it wasn’t a simple metaphor.
I was truly certain that I was inside an endlessly deep darkness.
My hand twitched—I could move it, touch my face with it, even touch my hair. Though there was no mirror in this darkness where I couldn’t see an inch ahead…….
I could intuit it. ‘So this coarse stuff is my hair.’
I’m not sure, but it’s probably the effect of the Blackening.
Because Granbell’s personality has come completely to the fore.
Could it be that I’ve ended up inside Granbell’s inner world? ‘It’s only a guess, but.’
Thinking that, this scenery felt even more hopeless.
Do whatever you want, Granbell. There’s only thirty percent left anyway. I had thought I would uncover the secret you’re desperately hiding, by any means necessary, but…….
You’re truly something.
Don’t you think so too?
How can you be so black-hearted?
Of course, I was the one who imagined you into being.
I suppose my own heart back then wasn’t much different.
Anyway. ‘So maybe that’s why we connected.’
I took a step, treading into the darkness.
[Understanding of Darkness].
There was something I realized as that comprehension rose.
As comprehension rises, so too does the mastery of [Above Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am Honored].
Furthermore, it becomes even harder to control that kind of Granbell’s power.
That Granbell’s personality is gradually becoming clearer.
It seemed that such emotions of Granbell were being conveyed.
That this endless darkness, like your innermost self.
You don’t welcome me prying into it.
Even so, I have no choice but to advance.
The thirty percent I still don’t know.
What you are hiding.
Because I still can’t be certain.
However, I can promise one thing.
As I’ve said many times.
Even if the world can’t understand you.
I said I would understand you.
‘Why, as you said, everything has a give and take, doesn’t it?’
Just as you understood a dark history that even my flesh and blood couldn’t understand.
I too will understand a past that even your flesh and blood can’t understand.
But……. ‘……
You’re so damn stubborn even after I say all this.’
Why is nothing changing at all?
To the point where I wondered if I was even moving forward. I had thought that if my vision adapted to the darkness, I might see something, but as expected, there was nothing.
Swish.
I raised my hand with a hollow heart.
My energy had drained and my legs gave out.
Because I felt I needed to lean against a wall if there was one.
It was then. ‘!’
An afterimage of an instant.
It truly lasted but an instant.
Yet I clearly saw it.
Granbell, a memory of the past.
But.
It was unbelievable even having seen it.
What the hell was that……?
It was little Granbell. I saw young Granbell whom I’d encountered not long ago in the highest-level spacetime quest. That brat Granbell who had tried to run away from Claudi territory was smiling.
Another Claudi that I knew.
In Pride’s embrace.
Damn, that onion-like Claudi household. ‘What kind of situation is this……?’
I had been certain when facing the Shadow Mercenaries. That Pride, he had clearly been coveting Granbell’s life ever since Granbell was just a child.
But the remaining thirty percent.
There had been no sign of that from the Pride I witnessed in the fragments of Granbell’s inner world. Even me, I Hoyeol, exercising the tact I’d honed in my office worker days—attending all sorts of events without making enemies—couldn’t see it. ‘I’m going crazy, really.’
Granbell and Pride.
Why are you two so close?
Because I simply couldn’t understand.
I had no choice but to reach out my hand again.
‘There must definitely be a turning point that went wrong.’
Granbell and Pride.
For the two of you to have completely fallen out. I had wondered if that turning point was when Granbell was chosen as the next family head at age seven, but…….
‘No.’
Thanks to encountering little Granbell, I knew.
Our Granbell had been extraordinary since the age of five or six.
To the point that anyone could tell he was succession material.
Could Pride, who had been close to Granbell, not have known that?
‘No way.’
……
So just once more.
Because it had been as brief as a passing flash.
I might have missed the reason.
It was the moment I carefully reached my hand toward the darkness.
‘?’
This time, my eyes itched.
In this endlessly deep darkness.
I saw a ray of light shining down.
……
What?
While thinking, that light began to cover my vision more intensely. And then, right then. A faint vibration felt in my palm.
[Missed Call: Big Sister (1)]
Bzzzt.
[Hoyeolㅠㅠ Sorryㅠㅠㅠ I didn’t know you calledㅠㅠㅠ]
I realized belatedly.
Why I had fallen into the [Blackening].
And belatedly witnessed.
“……!”
The scenery of Jeju Island.
The curse that had been floating in the sky, [Paimon’s Domain], was nowhere to be found. The flames that had blazed as if to burn all of Jeju Island had died down. Even the demons flowing out from the curse were trembling in fear.
But that wasn’t the end.
Senior of Pyromancy, Bency William, was severely injured and slammed to the ground.
Senior of Pure Magic, Bangrit Tom, had lost consciousness from mana exhaustion.
The former Shadow Mercenaries and now the new demon hunters of Akshan had collapsed on the ground.
Cryomancy, Curtain Reble.
Geomancy, Maia Dayan.
The two Senior mages’ circles were damaged to the extent that they could never again manifest magic.
That alone would have been enough.
I saw gazes directed toward me.
It was an emotion familiar to demon hunters.
Yes, their eyes looking at me were filled with terror.
I realized belatedly.
……
What have I done.
‘I actually knew, Granbell.’
That you aren’t as merciful as I think.
I knew that and still left it to you.
To Paimon.
Because I didn’t want to show even a shred of mercy.
But this was the aftermath.
Me, I Hoyeol.
It was the price for running rampant while overlooking the weight I carried.
I looked at the compatible mana surging around me.
Squirming.
An Avici-like space that even the elder mages of the Magic Tower with their immense mental strength couldn’t endure. A pitch-black canopy no different from such an Avici covered Jeju Island.
Swoosh.
But not anymore.
When I withdrew my gaze, the compatible mana disappeared.
The black canopy lifted, and sunlight shone through.
Just like Granbell’s inner world.
To me, who had been floundering in endlessly deep darkness.
As if a ray of light had shone down.
Perhaps thanks to that light.
I could face them all the more clearly.
The faces and emotions changing from moment to moment at this instant.
Fear into joy.
Worry turning into relief.
Yes.
I, I Hoyeol, had finally.
Faced it completely without turning away.
My sense of weight.
So I can’t just let it pass this time.
So understand, Granbell.
I opened my mouth lowly.
“I’ve shown an unsightly display unintentionally.”
*“……
Urk.”
Bangrit opened his eyes with difficulty.
Where is this……?
An unfamiliar ceiling.
But soon, a very familiar voice was heard.
“Bangrit, you’ve finally come to your senses!”
“Senior Bency……?”
If only the ceiling had been familiar.
He would have wondered if it was a dream.
But Bangrit slowly raised his body and threw off the blanket.
“……
How many days have passed since then?”
Bency answered with a stiff face.
“A month. Exactly one month.”
“A month? Such nonsense……!”
“That’s right. It’s a nonsensical joke. Hahaha!”
“……
What?”
A joke?
A joke in this situation?!
Bency added to Bangrit, who wore a dumbfounded expression.
“It hasn’t even been a day yet. And you’re remarkably fine considering that? I thought you’d be bedridden for several months even with Senior Beliere’s care.”
Not even a day……?
It sounded more like a joke.
It couldn’t be helped.
“It was definitely a serious injury…….”
Leaving aside Senior Bency, who had been blown away, Bangrit himself had released mana to the point of overloading an unopened circle. Bency smirked.
“What harmony could it be?”
“……
No way.”
“That’s right. They say the Chief visited while we were unconscious.”
“……!”
Only then did Bangrit let out a sigh of relief.
The last thing he had seen the moment he lost consciousness.
Was that cold gaze of the Chief.
“It was unprecedented. Who would have thought the Chief under heaven would acknowledge his own fault. Ah, I absolutely don’t mean that our Chief is a shameless person who doesn’t know his own mistakes?!”
Bency hurriedly waved his hands.
“Because the Chief is someone who doesn’t commit faults in the first place……. In that sense, he could have easily let this pass as well.”
From the perspective of a Senior mage of the Magic Tower.
It was something Bency could say, especially as one who wielded the vision magic of the William family, which came with a price. Bency spoke in an uncharacteristically calm voice.
“I dare say no one could have stopped him. Even if it wasn’t Paimon, from the original Satan that is the First Legion Commander. Can’t you tell just from seeing what happened to Seniors Curtain and Maia?”
Curtain Reble and Maia Dayan.
They were old-timers who had long protected the Magic Tower as Senior mages.
Especially Senior Maia, another genius whose achievements as a geomancer were evaluated as second only to Elder Yugwid.
But even those two Seniors had poured all their strength into facing the Fourth Legion Commander and collapsed from exhaustion.
On one side of the private room.
The two who were still unconscious.
Bency, watching them, continued.
“But Paimon wasn’t all. An unidentified ‘grip’ had appeared that crushed even such a Paimon lightly.”
“……
That’s right.”
“Clearly, the Chief had foreseen even that.”
Therefore.
“He must have judged that he himself was in a situation where he had no choice but to use power he couldn’t fully control. Who would dare criticize that choice?”
Bangrit nodded.
“If you know what kind of person the Chief is…….”
“That’s why I’m saying this, Bangrit.”
“Yes?”
“I am ashamed to say, I was glad.”
“About what……?”
Bency smiled without a wrinkle.
“That the Chief, who doesn’t need to ask for understanding, acknowledged his fault. I was glad because I thought the Chief I knew, who hid nothing, had finally returned.”
“If that’s the case……. I feel the same.”
“Really? That’s a relief. Honestly, I was worried. That I might have looked at the Chief with suspicious eyes out of needless concern.”
Bangrit flinched inwardly.
Could it be that Senior Bency has a sharp side?
Bency, unaware, continued.
“I dare say those who know the Chief’s personality would have shaken off such worries by now. But it would be too much to expect everyone to do so.”
“……
Has it spread?”
“Wouldn’t it? Isn’t everything so fast? This world.”
This too was thanks to the pursuit of the arcane.
Bency and Bangrit had grown familiar with SNS and breaking news transmitted through radio waves.
Not to mention, the uneasy atmosphere of the Magic Tower alone was enough to guess.
Bency spoke meaningfully.
“A great wind will likely blow in this world.”
A barrier that had never wavered.
It was only natural, since the Chief had wavered.
Bangrit too answered meaningfully.
“We must prepare so as not to be swayed by the wind.”
“Senior Bangrit. That’s a reassuring thing to hear?”
“Hearing that from Senior Bency is a bit…….”
“What? You mean I’m not reliable?”
“Honestly, that side of you is hard to deny…….”
“Hah?”
“Why, just look at your tower withdrawal application…….”
“Really, would you poke at such a sore spot?!”
Both of you are so childish.
And to cause a commotion in the recovery room.
Even if you are Senior mages……!
The Healing School’s skilled mage, Klea, worked up the courage to cough.
“Ahem……!”
At that, Bangrit regained his composure first.
Perhaps thanks to that.
He thought of it belatedly.
“By the way, where is the Chief now?”
As always, if a great wind blew.
It would be the Chief who faced it first.
Bangrit thought.
Even so, if it were the Magic Tower…….
It should be able to serve as a sturdy refuge from any wind.
But the Chief always showed moves beyond imagination.
“What? He went back to Jeju Island?!”
Why to that island where the wind never ceases……?!
...『Reversal Magic』