◈ Episode 533. I Will Fall into Hell (2)
First, I need to prepare.‘That wench still hasn’t returned.’Upon hearing the news that I was staying at the family home, my older sister, Yerim, seemed to be hurrying back. Unable to completely ignore it, I checked my smartphone that had been buzzing for a while…….
\-I Hoyeol, you just wait
\-Try running away first like last time? - -
\-Because I have a mountain of questions to ask this timeIt wasn’t that I couldn’t understand that kind of reaction.
I still didn’t know what and how he had proven to make everything quiet down like this, but. Until Matisse proved it, the world must have been in an uproar with stories about me.
“I have no excuse.”
Even so.
There’s no need to be so submissive, Granfel? Mom, Dad, and even my eldest and second sisters might not know, but that Yerim is probably rushing over with impure intentions?‘That’s why I have to find it quickly……!’If by any chance my dark history notebook is discovered……
Given Granfel’s personality, who cherishes his blood relatives so dearly.
If that wench asks to see it, I’ll have no choice but to show it to her obediently.
When I think of what happens next, it feels like goosebumps are rising all over my body.‘……
Over my dead body!’Let’s search.
Having made up my mind, I hurriedly rummaged through my room.
But it was strange. Why can’t I find it……? Because it was a notebook that faithfully reflected the tastes of my stormy adolescence. It was so black in appearance that if it were stuck in a bookshelf, it would catch the eye at once.‘Could Mom have thrown it away?’It’s already been several years since I lived on my own.
The possibility that she threw it away while cleaning the empty room?
Honestly, it might very well be possible.‘……
Should I consider this fortunate?’By common sense, a notebook thrown away as recycling wouldn’t be intact, but. The passages written inside being what they are, it was true that I couldn’t completely shake off my worry.‘Should I try tracking it with magic somehow?’I, I Hoyeol.
Seriously.
It was the moment I was about to try doing something absurd with mana of a different caliber.
\*Beep beep beep beep\*.
Movement was felt at the front door.
I gulped, swallowing dry saliva.‘So you’ve come, wench.’As if answering my resolve, a booming voice rang out.
“Hey, I Hoyeol! Don’t you have anything to say to this Noona?!”...
10:10 PM.
It seemed that habits couldn’t be ignored after all. Even though there was no need to open the dumpling shop from tomorrow, Mom and Dad had gone to the master bedroom early to sleep.
Thanks to that, Yerim was face-to-face with Hoyeol, just the two of them.
“So there’s nothing to worry about now?”
She interrogated, holding a beer glass.
“That is correct.”
Only then did she feel relieved.
“You have to be able to believe the news in this world. What can you do, Hoyeol? That’s the fate of a superstar. You too. Don’t be too disheartened. Of course, seeing your still-upright posture, you seem fine but…….”
Yerim smirked.‘……
Hoyeol, you know what Noona wants to say.’Magic, whatever. Skills, whatever. Effects, whatever.‘Honestly, I wouldn’t understand even if you told me.’No matter how much she tried to study, these were difficult concepts for Yerim, who had been far removed from the history of the Arcana Continent. But with just one thing, her heart was put at ease.
“Well, if you’re okay, then it’s okay.”
That Hoyeol was his usual self, just that one thing.
Of course, she still hadn’t gotten used to that overly respectful speech.
Still, she felt good.
“In that sense, shall I pour just one more……?”
\*Fssst!\*
“Here, cheers. Hic!”
To the point of making him drink 10 cans of beer…….
Of course, would our Lord Granfel, who had to fall into hell tomorrow, dare put alcohol to his lips? I looked at the wench sprawled over the dining table and swallowed a sigh.‘What made her so happy that.’She drinks to excess beyond overindulgence?‘It’s amazing she doesn’t gain weight compared to how much she eats and drinks.’I wanted to just pretend I didn’t know. But would Granfel-nim, who cherishes his blood relatives so dearly, let his sister sleep on a cold dining table?
“Allow me to assist you.”
“Hehe. What, your hair tickles.”
“I apologize.”
What is there to apologize for, Granfel.
Rather, I’m making a mustache with your hair right now.
Are you enduring even that?‘He endures this.’It’s not that I’m denying the heart that cherishes blood relatives. I’m not so different from you. It’s just, while I can overlook it with other family members. With just one person, only Yerim, it’s still hard to express my true feelings!‘Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just throw her onto the bed with magic, hmm?’I hate even my skin touching hers.
But my complaint was meaningless.
I supported the wench and opened the wench’s door.
“Pardon me for a moment.”
I told you there’s no need for such greetings, seriously…….
It was the moment I stepped into the wench’s room, grumbling.
Yerim spoke with a twisted tongue.
“Don’t go away without a word. Got it?”
“…….”
At those words, I couldn’t give any answer.
Because I realized how the wench thinks of me, her inner feelings, from that sudden drunken outburst? Unfortunately, I had no leisure to guess the wench’s innermost thoughts right now.‘……
Crazy.’Yerim’s desk, nearly a mess strewn with knickknacks. As I internally criticized whether she lived without organizing, that nothing had changed since old times, a jet-black notebook entered my sight.‘Wait, that’s mine?!’It was.
My dark history notebook.
Neatly spread out on Yerim’s desk……!!
Instantly, all sorts of thoughts ran through my head.
Why is my dark history notebook in Yerim’s room.
Could it be, did she open it.
If she opened it, could she say nothing to me……
Given Yerim’s personality?
Yes, such a thing is impossible.‘She still doesn’t know anything, this wench.’I could dare to be certain.
It was Yerim, not my eldest sister or my second sister. If she had opened my dark history notebook, she would have called you Granfel by your full name without a second thought?! Now, let’s simulate it in my head.‘She came into my room because she just needed a notebook…….’Discovered the most eye-catching dark history notebook. Brought it to her room and left it on the desk, and time passed. Clothes piled on top of it, bags piled up, anyway lots of things piled up on it.‘So if that’s why it looks like that, I can understand……’\*Rustle\*.
I laid Yerim on the bed and properly covered her with a blanket, and only then did I approach my dark history notebook. I wanted to reach out and retrieve it immediately.‘……
Are you really doing this, body? Move!’Damn, it was because of that damned propriety again.
Yes, for a noble’s dignity, putting my hands around carelessly in a sleeping sister’s room.
Would be unacceptable.‘No, it was Yerim who put her hands on it first?!’But I was not Lord Granfel, one to possess so petty a vessel as I Hoyeol. In the end, I had no choice but to quietly close the door and escape from the wench’s room. I muttered under my breath.
“One must not disturb a peaceful slumber.”……
I knew it would say that. I’m going to lie awake every night worrying that the wench will open my dark history notebook in the future……! You don’t worry about me at all, do you, Granfel?\*The Magic Tower.
The Tower Lord, Marcelo, opened his mouth.
“This Chief-nim spoke, did he not. That there should be no more secrets in the Magic Tower that had been closed off. That closure brings corruption. After that declaration, the Round Table Conference of the Magic Tower was held not at the highest floor, but at the Crystal Hall.”
The highest floor.
The era when the five elder mages reigned supreme. The highest floor was a space even Chief Mage Marcelo could not easily set foot in. Because of the special nature that space possessed.
\*Whish.\*
The moment Marcelo raised his mana, only traces remained as mana particles. Following Marcelo’s gaze, the seniors’ gazes also swept over the panoramic view of the highest floor.
“Why was the Round Table Conference held at the highest floor? It is an independent space that cannot be free from mana. Because it is a special space just like the underground Uninterrupted (無間) of the Magic Tower.”
That was the truth of the highest floor permitted only to the Tower Lord.
“I-I see.”
The seniors listened to Marcelo’s words, wondering if they should be hearing such secrets. Because he was not someone who spoke unnecessary words. Matisse, senior of Black Magic, counted the personnel.
“Benche William, Curtain Revle, Maia Dayan, and Bangrit Tom undergoing healing. All senior mages except four have assembled, Tower Lord Marcelo.”
Marcelo nodded.
“Then I shall get straight to the main point.”
What he pulled out from the magic [Subspace Pocket], which mimics a player’s inventory, was none other than a single red flower. Upon seeing that flower, only Kiko bit her lip.
“This Chief-nim has hidden his whereabouts from the Magic Tower.”
“Wh-what?! What do you mean……?”
“Are you saying he left his post without a word even to the Tower Lord?”
“That is correct.”
“…….”
As Marcelo nodded, an unusual atmosphere settled over the highest floor. But the more serious talk was yet to come. As Marcelo nodded toward Kiko, Kiko opened her mouth.
“This Chief-nim left me a message. That he would stop by the Garnet Hall soon. I should have noticed the signs a little earlier……. This Chief-nim, of all people, said ‘soon’……!”
They are the seniors of the Magic Tower.
As much as their outstanding knowledge.
It meant their situational judgment was also swift.
“Then does that mean this flower is the only clue left, Tower Lord?”
“Yes, because it was neatly placed on this Chief-nim’s desk.”
“Oh dear.”
A flower for mourning?
A flower to provoke the Magic Tower?
If neither of those.
A message left by this Chief-nim to the Magic Tower?‘……
Whatever it is, it’s the worst.’It was when no one could be certain.
Dorothy, senior of Light Magic, presented an opinion.
“By any chance, was this Chief-nim’s mana trace captured?”
Marcelo nodded.
“That is a good question, Senior Dorothy. That is precisely why I summoned all of you to the highest floor of the Magic Tower. As you just saw, the highest floor is entangled with complex interference processes. It would not be wrong to say the roots of the Magic Tower’s mysteries, including the Crystal Hall, are concentrated here on the highest floor.”……
Nods.‘So that’s why the Tower Lord’s mana scattered.’Due to the influence of the complexly rampant interference, mana must have lost its way and scattered as is. Since it is natural that high-level magic cannot manifest in such a place. That is why the Round Table Conference, from which secrets must not leak, was held here.
To the nodding seniors, Marcelo added.
“But this Chief-nim manifested a portal at this highest floor. It would not be surprising if it were a simple portal. Because this Chief-nim is great. But the coordinates of that portal were the Arcana Continent.”
“……
The Arcana Continent, you say?”
“That is correct. To the extent of manifesting not magic but a miracle under such adverse conditions. It means this Chief-nim’s mana has risen to a class several tiers different in rank.”
Marcelo shrugged his shoulders.
“It was impossible for me to dare search for such Chief-nim’s mana traces. And that is another reason I summoned you to the highest floor.”
“……?”
“As I said, it is because on this highest floor, we need not worry about information leaking. Unlike the Crystal Hall or the Floating Garden.”
“……!!!”
Marcelo had not even spoken the words yet.
Matisse muttered.
“It seems my proof was insufficient.”
At those words, the other seniors caught on one by one.
That’s right.
The situation was that the whereabouts of none other than this Chief-nim had become unknown.
Marcelo declared as Tower Lord.
“Until this Chief-nim returns, I shall temporarily regress.”
Regression.
It meant going back.
The Magic Tower to the Magic Tower of the past.
“The goal is to secure this Chief-nim’s person by any means necessary. In that process, we may teach them as much as we like. What happens if one dares touch the Chief of the Magic Tower. Especially the ‘Anonymous Ranker’.”
Anonymous Ranker.
Before Matisse proved it.
The incident that occurred in Jeju Island.
This Chief-nim’s actions.
Referring to the player who blabbed to the world.
Marcelo, accustomed to the exploration of miracles, had not overlooked it.
Marcelo’s eyes flashed ominously.
“Let us identify his identity.”