◈ Episode 74. It’s Nothing but Needless Worry (1)─The Weight of the Chief Seat (Repetition)▲●Proceed with verification in the Topaz Hall. (Success)●Successfully conduct the regular academic conference. (In progress)…….
An event of the Magic Tower.
The regular academic conference would soon begin.
I didn’t know how it would be for the other players, but—
For me, the regular academic conference was bound to be an event of paramount importance.
“Has so much time already passed?”
Why don’t we recall the previous regular academic conference?
Even back when I knew absolutely nothing, I had acquired useful magic simply by participating in the conference, including Marcelo’s advanced magic, [『Strangeness』].
That was precisely what made the Magic Tower’s regular academic conference—
A large-scale event through which I could improve my magical level……!
“New knowledge always stimulates one’s interest.”
Yes, this time, at least, I could sympathize with that boastful attitude.
More than anything, I now had a concrete justification for raiding Rifts.
In other words, I had to plunge into Rifts more actively.
And not just any Rifts, but ones boasting a considerably high recommended level.
‘If I lack levels, I have to make up for it elsewhere.’
That was why I couldn’t help but look forward to it.
‘In that sense, this is good news.’
Of course, unlike during the first regular academic conference, my circumstances had changed.
As stated in the quest—
As Marcelo’s co-researcher—
I had come to bear the weight of the chief seat.
“I must show an attitude befitting it.”
That was Grandfell, who was accustomed to both weight and position.
Thanks to him, the moment my arduous physical training ended—
Without even taking a proper rest, I went straight to my desk.
I reached for the magic books neatly stacked upon it.
Yes, these heavy magic books were precisely—
The weight I had to bear.
“It means I need a broader understanding.”
The research presented at the regular academic conference.
Every spell would be something new and advanced, having undergone verification.
Since I had a weight to bear, unlike in the past, I couldn’t afford to watch any of it carelessly.
Simply put, the lofty pride had no intention of taking the presenters’ efforts lightly.
Rustle─……
In the end, I was the one suffering again.
Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember the last time I had visited my studio apartment.
Magic Tower laboratory.
↓ Frost.
↓ Yusra Kingdom office.
↓ Magic Tower laboratory again…….
It wasn’t just my imagination. Those were genuinely the only three places I went back and forth between.
At this rate, it would be better to move altogether.
I had only just swallowed my sigh when—
“Enough with the distractions.”
Flip─
I opened a magic book.
Despite my grumbling, I concentrated with frightening intensity.
The book I was examining so intently was none other than one about ‘elixir herbs.’
The preliminary verification conducted in the Topaz Hall.
Among the few studies I had approved—
One of them was research on cultivating elixir herbs.
“I see. This is new.”
The Magic Tower had called it an unfamiliar field.
Naturally, it was unfamiliar to me as well.
But who was Grandfell?
He was not the kind of person who would put a subject unfamiliar even to himself before the regular academic conference.
In the end, I was responsible for having approved that research.
Which meant I had to shoulder the weight of the books as well.
‘Why is there so much related material?’
Healing studies, pharmacology, manufacturing…….
How many things was I supposed to memorize?
Without Grandfell’s talent, I would have quit ages ago. Seriously.
But everything depends on one’s mindset.
‘If I can’t avoid it—’
That’s right. I might as well enjoy it.
Let’s dream of a happy future.
The cultivation of elixir herbs.
That research would one day produce valuable elixirs and potions.
Might as well get ahead of myself.
Of course, unlike my mind, which had only just resigned itself to the task, my body was already enjoying it.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Rustle─
Naturally, the only sound in the laboratory was that of turning pages.
*Beep─*
She changed the channel.
—Alongside the Gaon Guild, Player Lee Hoyeol’s value is frankly impossible even to measure……
Beep─
—Debate continues over the message that appeared in the Kurnberg Machine Tower Rift. The one holding the key to its resolution is, once again, Player Lee Hoye……
Beep─
—The skill he demonstrated here, freely manipulating the mechanical device. We searched through all manner of players and classes, but we couldn’t find a player possessing a skill like that……
No matter how many times she changed the channel, the topic was still Lee Hoyeol.
“Good grief.”
Madam Choi Ganghui let out a sigh deep enough to make the floor cave in.
At this rate, she couldn’t even make an excuse.
“Why does his face show up every time I turn on the TV?”
To be honest, she felt as though she saw her son’s face more often than that of the man she lived with.
Whether he knew they were talking about him or not—
Snip─
The man of the house, Lee Junuk, was concentrating on cutting something out.
“Are you cutting newspaper clippings again?”
“Huh? It’s nothing.”
“Nothing, my foot. Whenever Lee Hoyeol’s name appears in the paper, you take out those scissors.”
“Ha-ha. I told you it’s nothing.”
For someone claiming it was nothing, the corners of his mouth were practically hooked up to his ears.
Collecting newspaper clippings.
As Choi Ganghui had said, it was Lee Junuk’s newfound hobby.
Someone might ask out of curiosity:
What was so strange about the youngest son of a family full of daughters cutting out and preserving newspaper articles featuring his son?
Of course, Choi Ganghui had plenty to say about it.
“Do you know you’ve collected enough articles to fill more than one box? No, forget the box. Newspaper keeps popping out from wherever I look in this house……!”
“Oh, come on. It’ll all become memories later…….”
“In this day and age, when you can read the news on your phone. Yerim even taught you how to capture newspaper articles last time, didn’t she? You insist on cutting out and collecting paper newspapers. And you don’t even organize them properly. You’re just being stubborn.”
That was true.
It wasn’t a matter of one or two days.
Nor was it just one or two lines from the newspaper!
Lee Hoyeol.
Articles featuring her son’s name?
If you bought a single daily newspaper, then with only a slight exaggeration, you could see Hoyeol’s name in one article out of every two.
Politics, economics, even entertainment and sports newspapers.
They were practically plastered with articles about Hoyeol.
“Yaaawn─ What’s this? Are you two fighting again?”
“Who’s fighting? Not on such a fine day.”
“Look at him. He won’t let go of those scissors until the very end.”
A familiar sight to Number Three, Lee Yerim.
The moment she opened the door, the sight of her younger brother’s face on the TV also felt completely familiar. But wait, what was this?
Lee Yerim smacked her lips.
“Mom, your birthday is the day after tomorrow. Hoyeol hasn’t contacted you?”
“He’s busy. How would he have the time to contact me?”
“Even if he’s busy, what kind of son forgets his mother’s birthday?”
No matter how successful he became—
A younger brother was still a younger brother.
A son was still a son.
Lee Yerim cleared her throat.
“As your heavenly older sister, I think I need to say something.”
Of course, that was merely an excuse.
Lee Yerim’s true intentions were dark.
She was simply filled with the desire to tease her younger brother.
“You know, I’ve been looking into this since he was still living in that studio apartment.”
Why, from chicken breasts to salad ingredients.
The older sisters might have been fooled by Lee Hoyeol, but she hadn’t been.
That’s right, Lee Yerim had never given up from that moment onward.
What caught Lee Yerim’s attention was none other than an article about Hoyeol in an entertainment newspaper.
Lee Yerim inserted herself between the middle-aged couple, who were in the midst of a cold war.
“Mom! What do you think about having a foreign daughter-in-law?”
The foreign daughter-in-law in question was Jessie Hynes.
The incident in which Jessie had left even her own guild behind to join Hoyeol had caused quite a stir for many reasons. Naturally, it had also piqued Lee Yerim’s intuition, as could be seen.
“You little brat. You’re trying to say something useless again, aren’t you?”
“……”
Damn it. How boring.
“Then, Dad!”
“Huh?”
“What do you think about having a daughter-in-law from a chaebol family?”
The chaebol family daughter-in-law in question was Baek Yiseol, master of the Shinhwa Guild.
That Baek Yiseol who had been turned away at Hoyeol’s doorstep several times.
Things had quieted down now, but back then, it had been shocking.
Baek Yiseol, a femme fatale who had quietly gained popularity among women.
To think she had suffered such humiliation at the hands of her own younger brother, Hoyeol.
‘The older sisters were making quite a fuss back then, too.’
They had wondered whether Hoyeol perhaps possessed some sort of irresistible charm that even they didn’t know about.
However, Lee Yerim’s delusions did not last long.
Bonk!
“Ow! Mom, why did you hit me on the head?!”
“You little brat. Whenever something happens, you try to make fun of Hoyeol.”
“I’m not making fun of him. I’m telling you, there’s definitely something going on! Does Mom even understand that complicated, subtle relationship between men and women?! Who knows whether they’re flirting or not!”
Snip─
Lee Junuk, who had been quietly cutting out newspaper articles, spoke in a low voice.
“I do understand. I’m practically an encyclopedia on the subject. That’s how I managed to have you kids.”
And not just one, but four siblings born one year apart…….
Of course, he couldn’t finish that sentence.
Madam Choi Ganghui exploded.
“Everyone, quiet!!”
Both of them had fanned the flames of her already troubled heart.
Even if her son’s face appeared on TV every day—
A mother’s heart couldn’t be helped.
Besides, Hoyeol was a player.
Up until now, he had done so well that it seemed strange to worry about him at all.
But…….
They didn’t say that a parent’s worries for their child were endless for nothing.
“……
I wonder if he’s eating properly.”
If he stopped by every now and then, she could at least make him a proper meal.
But she knew how busy Hoyeol was.
That made it difficult for her to bring herself to call him.
Sensing her feelings, Lee Yerim said,
“This is why raising sons is completely pointless…….”
But before she could get smacked on the back—
Tap tap─
“……
What’s that sound?”
Something was tapping against the window.
Lee Junuk headed toward the window where the sound had come from and recoiled in horror.
“Eek! W-What is that?”
Something was making its way through the open window.
It was a bundle of paper with wings.
More precisely, it was a letter in which 『Magic』 had manifested.
Flap flap─
The fluttering letter landed precisely in Madam Choi Ganghui’s arms.
A letter that moved on its own.
Until recently, they would have wondered what kind of movie-like situation this was.
But now, they could make a rough guess.
“……
It’s from our Hoyeol, right?”
It was.
In fact, they could tell just by looking at its appearance.
Rolled into a neat cylinder—
The letter, sealed with candle wax, exuded an air of elegance.
Lee Yerim asked slyly,
“Couldn’t he have just sent a text? Why go this far? Right, Mom?”
“I know. He must be terribly busy right now…….”
“Oh, please. You don’t mean that at all!”
Good job, little brother.
No matter how busy he was, he should remember his mother’s birthday.
Lee Yerim’s mood brightened along with Choi Ganghui’s face.
But then……
“Mom, he’s seriously insane!”
What emerged when they broke the wax seal—
How many words was this?
It was a lengthy letter that must have taken hours just to write.
“……
Did you know Hoyeol could say things like this?”
The lines of writing exuded formality in every single word.
Of course, it wasn’t just a letter.
Madam Choi Ganghui discovered something inside the rolled-up paper.
She didn’t even need to look closely.
Its appearance was far too familiar.
Lee Yerim flinched.
“Is that a tea bag? Green tea? What is it?”
Among the densely packed lines of the letter—
Madam Choi Ganghui finally found the postscript about it.
“……
Elixir herbs? It says it’s tea made from elixir herbs? Hoyeol made this?”
*He didn’t need an owl like in the movies to send the letter.*
All he needed was a little mana.
The moment the window was opened, the letter began to fly.
No matter how busy I was—
I could not disregard proper formality.
“I am ashamed that I cannot attend.”
My mother, Choi Ganghui, would celebrate her birthday the day after tomorrow.
If not for the regular academic conference, I would have attended that family gathering.
In that sense, I could not help but be grateful to the regular academic conference.
Why, the letter alone was several hundred lines long.
Imagine having to say all of that aloud.
‘In front of my sisters, no less?’
……
It was horrifying just to imagine. Truly.
In any case, I hadn’t forgotten to enclose tea made from elixir herbs.
Both of them were at an age when they needed to take care of their health.
In that sense, tea made from elixir herbs would help.
Were elixir herbs not materials used to make potions and elixirs?
Naturally, a brewed tea made from them would have similar effects.
‘All that time spent looking through the books paid off.’
Naturally, this was only possible because I possessed knowledge of elixir herbs.
While poring over all kinds of magic books ahead of the regular academic conference, I had managed to gain at least a rough understanding of how elixir herbs could be used.
“However, I still have a long way to go.”
Of course, I had gained an understanding.
That didn’t mean I had attained enlightenment.
Above all, knowledge of elixir herbs wasn’t something one could comprehend simply by looking at it like magic.
In short, it was a subject that had to be memorized.
Besides, elixir herbs were plants that grew on the Arcana Continent.
The vast Arcana Continent.
They said there were hundreds, even tens of millions of varieties of elixir herbs growing there.
To build up knowledge of all those elixir herbs…….
Was such a thing even possible?
I had begun with doubt.
But as I said, everything depended on how one looked at it.
‘It also means the possibilities are endless.’
Rustle─
Which meant that, as someone lacking—
As someone lacking levels, I had no choice but to dig my own well.
I looked through the books on elixir herbs once more.
However, my reading did not last long.
──────Elixir herbs are a classification of plants that grow on the Arcana Continent…….
──────
“……!”
Suddenly, those words reminded me of something.
The Demon King, Dekaravia.
Information about him.
That’s right, Dekaravia used birds as familiars—
And possessed knowledge of all minerals and ‘plants.’
All plants.
That meant it included knowledge of elixir herbs as well.
Yes, I possessed a trophy left behind by Dekaravia.
[Pentagram of Impure Knowledge]
[Grade: Epic]
[Restriction: None]
[Effect: Sealed]
[Description: Its effects have been sealed by a demon’s curse. It must be purified to learn its true effects.]
And it was a trophy whose name and grade alone were far from ordinary……!
‘……
Wait, does “impure knowledge” mean this?’
However, I knew that the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
Besides, there was also Grandfell’s personality, which never rose and fell with every little development.
Therefore—
I merely spoke without emotion.
“Every hypothesis requires verification.”