20 — Staying Over

“O-oh, come on in.”

Go Yu-jin welcomed me with a shy face.

The reason was simple. My house had burned down, and I had planned to take a few days off to read memories and track down the culprit.

I give back as much as I receive.

I had thought of burning them vigorously, turning everything from their extremities to their core into a pile of ashes.

However, Go Yu-jin had told me that if I had nowhere to stay for the time being, I should come to her house, which had many rooms, instead of bothering with a hotel.

It was awkward to visit a house where a woman lived alone so readily, but Go Yu-jin’s house was truly massive.

Furthermore, those Cultists of Ruin might target Go Yu-jin.

In An So-mi’s case, she didn’t live with us, so I had no reason to look after her, but since Go Yu-jin couldn’t even use general black magic properly, she required a lot of care in many ways.

I took another look around the house as I stepped inside and asked Go Yu-jin.

“Have you set up a private defense barrier?”

“Yes, I live alone as a woman, and I have quite a few grudges against me.”

How many black mages were there who didn’t have relationships involving favors or grudges?

Even if we didn’t cause direct harm, sparks would fly needlessly if the fact that we were black mages became known.

Moreover, Go Yu-jin was famous as a first-generation Awakener, and her house was quite well-known because many civilian filmings had taken place there.

In fact, protests petitioning against black mages occasionally took place in front of Go Yu-jin’s house.

Some local residents regarded Go Yu-jin as an eyesore, but since there were no experts as reliable as a black mage in disaster situations, and since Go Yu-jin lacked talent in black magic except for handling golems, the neighbors’ complaints were generally not that loud.

“Do protesters still come?”

“Now that more people know me as a Golem Meister rather than a black mage, they don’t look for me that much.”

Even within the field of black magic, Go Yu-jin was treated as an outlier.

‘If it weren’t for the fact that she’s ridiculously strong, the black magic schools might have tried to expel her.’

“I’ll be in your debt for a while.”

I then quickly released mana and examined the magic circles engraved on the mansion.

‘It’s clumsy, but it’s at a level that can withstand up to 5th Circle magic. However…’

Knowing that the person who targeted my house this time was at the level of a 6th Circle Master, I didn’t intend to just let it slide, and since I was staying here for the time being, I thought it was right to earn my keep.

I opened my sub-space and pulled out several high-grade Magic Stones.

“I’m thinking of reinforcing the magic circles, would that be alright?”

“Must you… at this late hour?”

“I don’t think the people who burned my house down will care whether it’s day or night. Besides, I have to track the culprit tomorrow, so I want to finish this quickly and rest.”

Go Yu-jin nodded awkwardly, and I immediately began pushing mana into the Magic Stones, engraving various patterns.

Defense magic circles were often categorized by ‘Tier.’

The higher the Tier, the more they can react and respond to higher-grade magic.

In the case of offensive magic, attributes can be mixed, or one can simply attack as if crushing the target with pure mana.

While higher grades tend to double the power, defensive magic can only provide a set amount of defense.

That was why ‘Tiers’ were established to allow for a kind of superiority.

‘To block magic of the 6th Circle or higher, it needs to be at least Tier 5.’

I wanted to create an engraving pattern to defend against at least 7th Circle magic.

While proceeding with the engraving work, I placed several of them throughout the mansion, then went to the basement where the Magic Core—the heart of the defensive magic—was located, and continued the work of linking the Magic Stones I had additionally placed while modifying the patterns engraved there.

“It’s amazing. I think I spent a full month working on this… can it be modified so simply?”

“It’s not like I’m building it from scratch. Adding, modifying, and linking them isn’t that difficult.”

Go Yu-jin tilted her head.

“Save your questions for later.”

“Ah, yes… but what about dinner?”

“I haven’t eaten. I stopped by a convenience store on the way and bought a lunch box, but this is more urgent.”

Go Yu-jin looked appalled after hearing my story.

“ I’ll make something, so finish up quickly and come to the dining room. Got it?”

“…I don’t know the layout of the house, though?”

Go Yu-jin laughed awkwardly. Then she asked me.

“How long will it take?”

“It should be done in about 30 minutes.”

“All right. I’ll come pick you up.”

Go Yu-jin then quickly left the basement.

I couldn’t understand why she lived alone in such a huge house, but since I knew she had lost her family during the Great Cataclysm, I focused on the task without thinking further about her personal circumstances.

And just as I was dusting off my hands after finishing the complicated work, Go Yu-jin came down to the basement, told me to follow her, and asked.

“There isn’t anything you particularly dislike or can’t eat, right?”

“No. I tend to eat whatever I’m given.”

“Let’s go.”

I felt a bit uneasy, but the dining room I followed her to was decorated with a quite luxurious interior, and three plates were placed on the table; I laughed lightly when I saw what was inside them.

“Did you only grill meat?”

“Meat was the only ingredient I had that I could cook right away.”

Pork was grilled on one plate, and another plate contained a light salad and some tofu.

Lastly, the final one felt like smoked salmon had been roughly torn and placed on it.

“Do you usually eat like this?”

“Actually, I like the salmon, but for the others, I’m on a diet…”

She laughed awkwardly. So, I thought of some wine to accompany the meal, opened my sub-space, and pulled one out.

Go Yu-jin looked puzzled at the sight.

“Should I get you a glass?”

“I’m going to have a light drink today. Watching my house burn down wasn’t very pleasant.”

“That… it’s upsetting, isn’t it?”

“It is upsetting, but I just have to take revenge. I plan to burn them down the same way.”

“Do you think it’s the Cultists of Ruin?”

“There were traces of high-level magic being used, so it’s certain.”

In fact, even if my house wasn’t large, the defense magic had been designed to withstand 6th Circle magic.

Since I had seen it burning vigorously, the answer was obvious.

‘The culprit must be one of the mages, and if I track the mana traces, I’ll be able to find them easily.’

Furthermore, since it was no different from a declaration of war, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to me even if I ransacked the Magic Tower.

In reality, they currently perceived me—who was no different from having mastered the 7th Circle—as a disaster the Magic Tower cannot handle.

This was because black magic was usually rated one Circle higher than regular magic.

Therefore, to face a 7th Circle Master, a mage who was at least an 8th Circle user must appear, but in Korea, there were only 8th Circle beginners, and no 8th Circle users.

This was because several 8th Circle users had passed away while overexerting themselves against Chinese and Japanese Awakeners during the Northeast Asian War.

As a result, the only person who could be counted as the most powerful magic user in Korea today was the former master of the Magic Tower, who had gone into hiding long ago.

“Why would they target your house with magic specifically?”

“I’m thinking of two possibilities.”

I continued to explain calmly to the puzzled Go Yu-jin.

“The first is that they used a magic scroll to make me believe the traces were left by a mage, inducing conflict with the Magic Tower.”

“Then it would be a failure. Since you can track mana, Seong-chan.”

“That’s why I said there are two possibilities. If the opponent dismissed me as a mere black mage and did it thinking I couldn’t track mana traces, I just have to find and deal with that person, but conversely, it could be that the Magic Tower is actually targeting me.”

“…There’s no reason for the Magic Tower to suddenly target you, is there?”

I had no choice but to delay answering Go Yu-jin’s words.

It was because my relationship with the Magic Tower was beyond bad, bordering on being enemies.

But if they thought they could prank me by burning my house down, the Magic Tower had made a grave mistake; otherwise, it was the possibility that a third party—the Cultists of Ruin—was involved.

For all I knew, the Cultist of Ruin could be a mage.

In any case, if I track the magic, I’ll be able to reach the answer quickly.

Afterward, I began to eat along with a light drink, and under Go Yu-jin’s burdensome gaze as she just stared at me, I somehow managed to finish the meal.

Then, I was guided to the room where I would sleep, which appeared to be the room next to Go Yu-jin’s; it felt well-maintained, as she said it was the room she used to guide guests to.

“Thank you for the kind hospitality.”

“You’ll know where the bathroom and shower are, and you’ll find out the rest as you go.”

After I thanked her repeatedly, she left the room, and I clicked my tongue as I looked around the room I was left alone in.

‘This room alone is a third of the size of my house. Wouldn’t living in such a big house make one feel even more lonely?’

There were many things to think about, but since it was the place where I would stay for a while anyway, all that was left was to get attached to it.

---

‘Phew, Seong-chan is in the room next to mine… ugh, this is crazy. There are plenty of guest rooms, aren’t there?’

Go Yu-jin, who had returned to her room after finishing the guidance, could not control her racing heart.

Actually, she didn’t think her feelings for him had gone this far. However, having spent a day together and given her body to him, her heart felt like it was leaning toward him, leaving her in a quite restless state lately.

In the case of Geum Seong-chan, as a user of the Necronomicon, he had paid a price, and since she had heard that the price was his ‘emotions,’ she thought it might be difficult to expect ‘love’ from him.

But her heart was thumping even more because he didn’t push her away and didn’t seem to have any ill will or negative thoughts toward her specifically.

When Geum Seong-chan first came to the company saying he would join, she was so surprised that her heart almost dropped.

This was because Geum Seong-chan was an existence treated as nothing short of an urban legend in the black magic industry.

A possessor of nonsensical black magic that made even the strongest among the second-generation Awakeners—those counted on one’s fingers—take a step back; that was Geum Seong-chan, and he was a person who was highly evaluated to the point that even the first generation would defer to him.

In fact, there were even those who still suffered from trauma related to him on the battlefields where he was active, but Go Yu-jin had actually only encountered Geum Seong-chan exactly three times.

The first time was when he was first deployed to the battlefield, when she had fought a battle in the same unit as him as a fellow black mage.

‘He said it was his first battlefield, that he had only faced monsters every time, and that it was his first time fighting a war against people…’

At that time, Geum Seong-chan was not the expressionless man he was now.

He was a man who could cheer with joy along with everyone else at even small situations and victories.

However, his performance at the time was so great that he was ordered a special promotion, and one day, three months after they had inevitably parted, she was able to see him again on another battlefield.

A Geum Seong-chan who was losing his expression as if he had gradually become numb…