Retire 294
by Cristae294 Magic Lamp (3)
“So, that… monster. Magic lamp? People come up with the strangest nicknames. What did you do with it?”
“Huh?”
“If it’s useful, you wouldn’t clear the dungeon, you’d just leave it alone… There are plenty of dungeons like that. Actually, how many are there? Are there a lot?”
“Uh…”
“Were there other monsters in those dungeons?”
“In most cases, yes, there were other monsters…”
“What kind of monsters? New types you’d never seen before?”
“No, not really…”
“Then none of them ever got out? No dungeon breaks?”
“Well, not never, but…”
“Did any of them ever attack people? Like in Boston?”
“Well, that’s the thing…”
Han Taekyung was sweating as he answered the barrage of questions from me and Kim Chaemin.
He was always the type to hand in raid reports long past the deadline. Maybe if this were back in the days when lawsuits flew over every little incident with civilians, he’d be used to this kind of interrogation, but not now.
It didn’t take long before Han Taekyung visibly wilted. Like a weed shriveling in the midsummer sun, he had no escape from Kim Chaemin’s magic and could only answer as best he could.
“Give me a moment to answer! So, it’s not like there weren’t any monsters inside the dungeon, and there have been dungeon breaks before.”
“Did they attack humans?”
“The other monsters did. But the feathered one, even if it came out, just stayed put.”
“Did you capture it?”
Kim Chaemin pounced on the question.
“It didn’t attack, so it was hard to justify attacking it. They just kept an eye on it for a couple of days, and then it died on its own.”
“Hm.”
“What about the corpse? How did you dispose of it?”
“Uh…”
“The one on the field right now isn’t showing any signs of decay, and it’s still just as it was when it died.”
We’d experimented with a decay rune, not sure if it was the weather or the creature’s nature.
Even after a full twenty-four hours, the flesh hadn’t rotted.
It didn’t even scorch under normal fire. Only when Kim Chaemin forced a spell that barely worked did it finally burn to ash. If the only goal was to get rid of it, I could just use my sister’s sword… but still.
“Well, I don’t really know about that…”
“Is that Qatari hunter you mentioned still alive?”
“…What?”
“Do you still keep in touch?”
“Uh… yeah. We check in now and then.”
I gestured to Kim Chaemin, who shrugged and released her magic.
“Ow, I think that left a bruise. Can I get this covered by insurance?”
“Handle it yourself.”
I gripped Han Taekyung’s shoulder firmly.
Unfortunately, Sandra Gamble knew nothing about this creature. Hope, who might know, still hadn’t regained consciousness.
“Senior?”
If Hong Seok-young had known there were monsters called ‘magic lamps’ somewhere in the world, there’s no way he would have stayed quiet. Even if he’d hidden it from the regulatory agency’s Woo Hijae, he would have told me now.
But even Hong Seok-young had grumbled that the giant eyeball was something he’d never seen before. All monsters are strange, but this one was uniquely creepy.
I frowned deeply at Han Taekyung.
“Whatever you call it—magic lamp or whatever—gather every scrap of information you can about that monster and report back.”
“…Huh?”
“Ask that Qatari hunter, or anyone else you can.”
“But it’s classified…”
“It’s classified, but you know about it, don’t you?”
Han Taekyung stared at me blankly.
“Understood?”
“I’ll see what I can find out… but don’t get your hopes up.”
“Listen carefully, Teacher Han.”
I looked at him with pity.
“You’re supposed to say you’ll find out, no matter what.”
“…What?”
“No matter what, you have to find out.”
“……”
“As quickly as possible.”
“But still, this is…”
While Kim Chaemin looked at him with sympathy,
I invoked the magic word that would motivate Han Taekyung.
“Tell them Hong Seok-young wants to know.”
“…But the principal isn’t here right now?”
“Exactly.”
“……”
Even if Hong Seok-young were here, nothing would change. Han Taekyung opened his mouth, then closed it.
If it were really up to Hong Seok-young, he’d tell him to use his name to get the information. Whether Han Taekyung realized that or not, I couldn’t say.
Kim Chaemin chimed in from the side.
“If Teacher Hong’s name doesn’t work, you can use mine.”
“…Seriously…”
With the support of the great magician, he should feel invincible.
Han Taekyung, on the other hand, looked more and more distressed… but what did I care? It was Han Taekyung, after all.
‘But still, Teacher Han was always working under Teacher Hong, wasn’t he?’
After sending Han Taekyung away, Kim Chaemin tilted her head in puzzlement.
‘Could Teacher Han really have known nothing about the Ark?’
‘That’s…’
I frowned.
‘I don’t know. As far as I know, there’s nothing about Teacher Han that would connect him, but… he could have known. There’s no way to check now.’
‘But you trust him, don’t you, Teacher Woo?’
‘…Hmm.’
‘And in the past… in the future, Teacher Hong trusted him too?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then maybe Teacher Han did know. He was a teacher at Yangseong High, right? It would have been harder not to know. It’s not like we’re hiding things that carefully from the kids, either.’
Kim Chaemin gave a sheepish smile.
‘Honestly, I bet even the kids have half figured it out. Maybe not Tae-woo, but definitely Hye-eun.’
Listening to her, I realized just how much things had changed from the original timeline.
Not the Myeongdong Dungeon incident…
Back then, my father was busy. He was always busy, but even more so then—tracking the research institute, setting up the regulatory agency, running the academy.
He personally looked after the first class of students, but… I doubt he could have shown up at school as regularly as he does now.
So, the first graduating class of the academy—Park Seo-hyun and Oh Hyun-wook—wouldn’t have known about the Ark, or the criminal organization Hong Seok-young was tracking. Nor would Han Taekyung, who was left in charge of the school.
‘You mean Teacher Han was left in charge of the school?’
‘…The academy was a very different environment from Yangseong High.’
‘Still…’
‘Maybe someone like Teacher Han was exactly what the academy needed at the time. Especially—’
Especially for Park Seo-hyun and Oh Hyun-wook.
Even with Han Taekyung watching over them for a year, Park Seo-hyun turned into a gloomy witch, and Oh Hyun-wook became an alcoholic pig. If that was an improvement…
Whenever Park Seo-hyun and Oh Hyun-wook visited the regulatory agency, they’d always talk to Han Taekyung, so I guess they weren’t on bad terms.
Not wanting to dwell on the gloomy futures that would never come for Park Seo-hyun and Oh Hyun-wook, I trailed off, and Kim Chaemin let it go. She could probably guess, since I’d already told her about the Myeongdong incident.
Whatever the case with Han Taekyung, as Kim Chaemin said, even the kids probably think of this place as some kind of… command center. I mean, with everyone from the infirmary nurse to the cafeteria cook being Daseon staff, it would be strange not to.
There was the attack at the pension, the Boston dungeon break monster that landed on the field, and now there was a mysterious patient in the infirmary. I’d find it strange, too.
Which is why, right now—
“This is what you asked for, right?”
Sandra Gamble, for once, had come out of her lab and all the way to the staff room to find me.
She set a box down in front of me. I looked at her.
She still looked exhausted from lack of sleep.
“You finished it quickly.”
“Once you make one, it’s easy to replicate the rest. I used commercial models as a reference, and someone gave me the key data for the mana pattern recognition.”
“So it’s really functional?”
“You gave it to me without knowing?”
“I’m not an engineer—I wouldn’t know even if I looked.”
Gamble sighed and pulled up a chair. I opened the box to check the contents.
“I kept the watch design because it seemed convenient. You can use it as a real watch, too.”
“Nice work.”
“Well… it was fun. I didn’t have to think about anything else.”
Inside the box was a chunky wristwatch, similar in design to the one I wore.
Gamble picked one up and began explaining its functions.
“You’ll have to test how it works inside a gate. I simplified it, since building it exactly to the blueprint would have been too much work.”
“…You modified the blueprint?”
“Why? Is that a problem?”
“No, it’s not that… I’m just surprised you managed it in such a short time.”
Gamble gave a tired but proud smile.
“Test it before you give it to the kids. In theory, you’ll need to resynchronize it every time you pass through a gate. The mana pattern will get scrambled.”
“Hmm.”
“And re-register the mana pattern… If anything happens to the kids’ vital signs, you’ll get an alert. I wanted to add some kind of communication feature, but that would take too long… and honestly, with current tech, it’s probably impossible.”
“Yeah, well…”
“If something happens during a raid, or even outside the dungeon, it can send an emergency signal. I tested that part.”
“That’s enough. You know, this place was attacked by the Ark once.”
“I remember.”
She’d have to, since that’s when we first talked.
Gamble waved her hand as if to say that was enough.
“Thank you. Phones are fine, but you never know in an emergency.”
“…As long as mana isn’t completely blocked, it should be fine.”
“I don’t expect another attack, but…”
“Better to be prepared. And since it works inside dungeons, it’s perfect for the kids.”
I looked at the watch-slash-emergency signaler.
I’d had a reason for asking for this design. I’d told Gamble it needed to look ordinary so it wouldn’t draw suspicion in an emergency.
“…Can we announce this under your name later?”
“No need. I couldn’t have done it alone anyway. I used the blueprint you gave me, so if you must announce it, do it under the guild’s name.”
What I’d given Gamble was the initial emergency signaler blueprint used by the regulatory agency. It was designed to recognize mana patterns and assess injuries when a raid team was separated inside a dungeon.
Even if it couldn’t detect every injury, it would help if others could tell when someone was dead or gravely wounded.
“Oh, and one more thing.”
There was a reason Gamble had come to find me herself.
She rubbed her eyes tiredly.
“Can I take some time off?”
“Time off?”
“I want to go to Australia.”
Australia—
“I need to attend a funeral.”
“…A funeral?”
“Yes. Alex’s funeral.”