Retire 249
by Cristae249 Safety Device (5)
“Why?”
Park Seo-hyun, gnawing at the end of her pencil, lifted her head.
“Huh?”
“Is something bothering you?”
Choi Jin-woo pointed at the pencil, now covered in teeth marks.
“You always chew your pencil when you’re worried about something.”
“Ah. Uh, yeah… No, I’m not worried about anything.”
Seo-hyun blushed slightly and slipped the ruined pencil back into her case. For some reason, she felt embarrassed by the mess she’d made of it.
Since he hadn’t been trying to pry into his friend’s worries, Jin-woo didn’t push further. Instead, he focused on the magic power moving at his fingertips.
Mr. Kim could crystallize magic power with ease, even while doing something else, but Jin-woo was still far from that level. He struggled, coaxing the magic to move. For a moment, a faint shimmer—like fine sand glittering in sunlight—appeared and vanished.
“Ah! I just can’t get this right.”
“You’re still doing it really fast, though.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You haven’t been a magician for very long.”
“Hey, it’s been over a year now… That’s not exactly ‘not long’ anymore.”
Seo-hyun looked at Jin-woo with a curious expression.
A year as a magician? That’s barely enough time to hold your head up, let alone walk. It’s the stage where you’d be praised just for not toppling over.
But she didn’t say so, not wanting to dampen her student’s drive for improvement. What teacher would discourage a student who’s aware of their shortcomings and eager to move forward? Besides, even in Seo-hyun’s eyes, Jin-woo’s skills were improving by the day.
If Jin-woo had awakened at a younger age, like most magicians, by now…
“I want to be able to do it like you, soon!”
“…Our attributes are different.”
“Still, if I make the room dark, maybe I can imitate you a little?”
Jin-woo stopped moving his magic. He glared at his palm with a look of frustration.
“And you managed to succeed right after learning your attribute!”
“That’s because I’ve been practicing for a while…”
Seo-hyun pressed her lips together, then parted them slightly. Normally, you can’t perform magic with an opposing attribute just by concentrating. Back when she knew nothing, she’d managed it by sheer stubbornness. There was nothing to compare it to. But now that she knew her own attribute, Seo-hyun herself understood just how reckless that had been.
‘Mr. Woo and Ms. Chae-min both said that being able to handle the opposite attribute would be a big help someday…’
Seo-hyun didn’t want her grandfather’s teachings to be wasted, so despite the doubts that sometimes crept in, she forced herself to believe it.
She clenched and unclenched her fist. Her empty palm began to shimmer.
“Oh… ooh.”
Even though he’d seen it several times before, Jin-woo couldn’t help but react.
“Hey, aren’t you really good at light magic? You’re better than me.”
“This isn’t drawing from my magic power, it’s just magic…”
Seo-hyun turned her hand over so the back was facing up.
The sparkles on her palm formed a small sphere, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Seo-hyun gripped it tightly.
When she opened her hand again, the light was gone. Instead, thick, paint-like shadows dripped down. The shadows pooled on the desk, then gathered together to become Seo-hyun’s shadow. At first, it was shaped just like her hand. Seo-hyun moved her hands across the desk, her fingers dancing in the air like a pianist’s. The shadow on the desk followed her hands at first, then started to dance on its own. The shadows merged and merged again—her left hand’s shadow became that of a girl, and her right hand’s, a boy holding a lantern.
Jin-woo’s eyes widened.
“The shadows changed?”
“Yeah.”
Like a puppet show, the shadows began to move on their own, arms and legs performing a ballet-like dance. But as they moved, the shadows began to falter and soon lost their shape.
Once the form began to break, it collapsed quickly. The dancing girl and boy vanished, leaving only the original hand-shaped shadows.
“Ha…”
Jin-woo let out a sigh that was half admiration.
“When will I ever be able to do that like you?”
“…I keep telling you, it’s just because I’ve been at it longer. You’re the amazing one.”
“Even if you say that…”
“Ms. Chae-min told you too, right? Not to get too impatient.”
Jin-woo sighed and slumped over his desk.
“But we’re graduating this year. I don’t know what to do next.”
“Hmm…”
If that was the issue, Seo-hyun didn’t have any advice. Even if they were teacher and student, in the end, they were just friends the same age. It was hard to picture the future after graduation, especially when she didn’t even know what she wanted to do.
In that sense…
“I’m jealous of Lee Seung-yeon.”
……
Seo-hyun agreed with Jin-woo in silence.
Not just Lee Seung-yeon, but all their friends who had some sort of plan for after graduation seemed enviable.
“Seo-hyun, are you going to clear dungeons?”
“…Probably?”
“Should I try joining a society or something?”
“If you want to, you could.”
Compared to Jin-woo, who still found the world of magicians unfamiliar, Seo-hyun knew it relatively well.
Even though her grandfather had been an archmage, he’d passed away long ago, and Seo-hyun had grown up almost completely cut off from magical society. Jin-woo, who’d awakened late, wouldn’t be welcomed by the societies either. Even aside from that, since they’d enrolled in the principal’s school…
“Actually, it might be better to ask to join the principal’s guild instead.”
“Ah. Seung-yeon would say that’s a betrayal.”
“Didn’t she say she was going to college? It’ll be a while before she settles in anyway. I’m not planning on going to college. I’d rather spend that time practicing magic.”
“…Yeah. That’s probably better.”
Jin-woo stretched lazily.
For a nineteen-year-old, a year still feels like a long time. Who knows what might happen in the meantime.
“Or…”
Jin-woo, focusing again to gather magic in his hands, suddenly looked up.
“Couldn’t Ms. Chae-min start a society? Aren’t there small societies like that? Like a guild?”
“Uh…”
Seo-hyun nodded with a reluctant expression.
“There are some societies run by families.”
“A Training School Society. That sounds good.”
“If it’s called that, I’m out.”
“Just as a club… Didn’t we talk about this once before?”
“We did, but…”
Seo-hyun shook her head, her face uncertain.
“I don’t think Ms. Chae-min would do it.”
“Really? Well, teaching us now is basically unpaid labor for her anyway.”
“That’s part of it, but…”
Seo-hyun almost mentioned the time she’d secretly eavesdropped on the teachers’ conversation, but caught herself and closed her mouth.
She’d managed to avoid being caught by using her shadow magic. Just being able to fool the teachers’ senses, even for a moment, was impressive. At least, she thought she’d fooled them. Kim Chae-min had caught on quickly, though.
Still, she was sure she’d heard the important part.
Instead of chewing her pencil, Seo-hyun bit her lip.
‘Ms. Chae-min is going to be Mr. Woo’s apprentice?’
What on earth was happening, that an archmage would want to become a hunter’s apprentice?
“Seo-hyun? Park Seo-hyun?”
Jin-woo, noticing his friend had trailed off, waved a hand in front of her face.
Seo-hyun shook her head.
“No, it’s nothing. Ms. Chae-min only decided to work here because of the runes.”
“That’s right. The runes.”
“She’s not working completely for free… Maybe the teachers have some kind of arrangement?”
“Maybe?”
“Ms. Chae-min didn’t become an archmage for nothing.”
If only she hadn’t overheard, she wouldn’t be so curious now.
All her efforts to distract herself with magic practice had been for nothing.
Seo-hyun absentmindedly brushed her bangs aside and looked out the window.
“Come to think of it.”
“Yes?”
“When I said I wanted to become your apprentice, Mr. Woo.”
“…Yes.”
Kim Chae-min carefully wrote her name on the contract. She didn’t scrawl it or embellish it with flourishes. It was written so neatly, it was as if she was worried someone might not recognize it.
‘Kim Chae-min’
After writing her name, she examined the contract, now notarized by the lawyer, with a satisfied expression, then handed the contract and pen to me.
I looked at the contract with a heavy heart.
So I really have to do this.
Well, I’d been sent back to the past overnight, found out my father and sister were plotting behind my back, and even had to raise my younger self—what’s an archmage apprentice on top of all that?
It could happen. In fact, this feels more plausible than some of the rest.
“Seo-hyun overheard our conversation, you know?”
Wooh…
My pen slipped a little. I frowned at the unusually long stroke of the “h.”
“…Seo-hyun, Park Seo-hyun?”
“Yes. Her application skills are impressive, aren’t they? She’s only known her attribute for less than a year, and she’s already that good. Mr. Hong, did you notice?”
“That was Seo-hyun? I saw Ms. Kim letting it go, so I just left it alone too.”
“I almost missed it, you know? I only realized because I’ve gotten used to her magic while watching her. If even we only just noticed, no one else would have a clue.”
Kim Chae-min clicked her tongue in admiration.
“I pulled her away as soon as I noticed, but it seems she still heard that part.”
“…Which part?”
“Director. Hurry up and finish signing.”
Kim Chae-min smiled sweetly.
…Hee-jae.
Since her name was written so neatly, I couldn’t bring myself to scrawl mine. I wrote it out clearly beneath hers.
“That I said I wanted to become your apprentice.”
Snap.
The pen broke.
“Haha, what does it matter?”
“No, really…”
I could only stare at my ink-stained hand.
“Please tell me about things like this right away.”
“It’s cute, isn’t it?”
“…That’s all she heard, right? Nothing else?”
“Yes. I only sensed her presence that once.”
I was familiar with Park Seo-hyun’s magic, too. Maybe too familiar, which is why I missed it.
From the start, Park Seo-hyun’s magic and mine weren’t compatible. Because of the nature of shadow magic, I couldn’t see the movement of her magic power. Unless you’re as hypersensitive as Hong Seok-young, it’s hard to notice.
But… on the other hand, it also means Park Seo-hyun has become that much more attuned to her own magic.
Hong Seok-young signed the contract as a witness. Kim Chae-min and I each took a copy, and I quickly tried to organize my thoughts.
Where should I begin?
Should I start with Park Seo-hyun?
Yes. Since her name had come up, I might as well start there.
“No one’s listening in right now, right?”
“No!”
Kim Chae-min couldn’t hide her excitement at finally being able to hear the story.
Who knows how long that smile will last.
As I wiped the ink from my hand with a tissue, I tried to sound as casual as possible, masking my nerves.
Park Seo-hyun was important, the Ark was important, but I had to start with this.
“Twenty years from now.”
“Yes?”
“Since the year has changed, nineteen years from now.”
“The world ends.”
Kim Chae-min blinked blankly.
“I’m from the future…”
……
“I came from the future… to prevent the apocalypse.”
……
“…Somehow, I ended up coming from the future.”
……
“I traveled to the past…”
……
“Ah, I can’t do this. Do I really have to keep going? I sound completely insane.”
I have no right to call the Ark a cult.
This is something no sane person could do, in any sense of the word.