Retire 309

309 Hunt (2)

“Urgh… kuh, kuhak!”

“This is quite a peculiar magic.”

Hong Seok-young tilted his head from side to side.

The magic was dark. Not in the sense of some ominous aura—no, it was physically dark. Seok-young looked up again at the dungeon’s sky, now shrouded in black. It seemed as though something like ink was blotting it out…

He raised his left hand. As he lifted it to eye level, a scrawny man was dragged up along with it. Brittle brown hair, pallid skin… The man thrashed, pounding at Seok-young’s hand clutching his neck, scratching with his nails, but Seok-young didn’t so much as blink.

“Kehak!”

“Hm…”

He had the man by the throat, but he wasn’t planning to kill him—at least, not yet. Still, he didn’t loosen his grip, just enough to let the man barely breathe, to make it clear he could end it at any moment.

In this state, not even the archmage’s grandfather could cast a spell. It was a useful fact, learned from long experience.

“Mmm…”

This was real. Not some illusion.

The mage was incapacitated, so it would have been nice if the spell would break, but the magic had definitely been cast. Even now, it was still active.

But was it truly a completed spell?

That, Seok-young couldn’t be sure of.

On the surface, it seemed calm, but he could feel the mana twisting in bizarre ways. Like the air, heavy and clammy before a typhoon. It clung to his skin, sticky and oppressive.

And the proof was in that twisted mana.

Unstable mana wavered. At times it stretched out sluggishly, then suddenly sped up. The flickering afterimages weren’t just something he sensed—they could be seen with the naked eye.

‘Really? You like me that much?’

A young woman’s voice pierced his ear.

It was a voice Seok-young knew. A voice he could never forget, not in dreams, not even in death.

‘A perfect groom, you are.’

“…Haa, l-let, go, kuh…”

‘Haven’t we met somewhere before?’

The face of his dead wife shimmered before him. With a crack, Seok-young heard the sound of bones shifting and snapped back to himself.

No, no.

Was it that illusion spell from before? He couldn’t let himself be shaken like this.

Whenever he was caught in an illusion spell, he saw his dead wife. How considerate. As if the world was making sure he never forgot Mimi’s face.

…Of course, he wasn’t truly grateful, and the mage couldn’t have known what he would see. This was just proof—proof of Seok-young’s lingering attachment. Proof that his life was still tethered to someone else.

‘Daddy!’

Even the little one.

He knew it was an illusion, yet for a moment he was transfixed. The inky black mana covered the child’s face. Her arms stretched like taffy, then shrank, running toward Seok-young, melting like water, only to repeat the same motion from across the way.

Consciously, Seok-young loosened his grip. If he wasn’t careful, he might kill the man he’d gone to such trouble to subdue. If he hadn’t caught him, that would be one thing, but to kill someone already in his grasp would be a waste. He’d get an earful for sure.

‘Do it right. Don’t dump your work on me.’

As soon as he recalled that sullen face, the voice echoed in his mind.

“…Ho.”

Seok-young smiled, as if he’d discovered something amusing. Yes. This wasn’t ordinary magic, but a unique spell. The archmage’s unique magic. It would be disappointing if it didn’t have such interesting features.

‘Mori! Mori, I heard you proposed to my sister!’

“…Eh?”

But then Seok-young let out a dazed sound.

‘Which dress suits me? Lizzy, look! Isn’t this so pretty?’

‘Patricia, Mother left this for you.’

‘How could you! Ryan, you can’t do that!! I said you can’t!!!’

‘You… you’re truly hopeless.’

A dizzying number of voices and figures flashed past.

He’d thought it was a spell that tampered with memories, but was it not?

Flustered, Seok-young soon picked out familiar names from among the voices. Mori, Lizzy, Patricia, Ryan…

All names belonging to members of the current raid party.

‘They’re caught up in the spell!’

From the scent of blood he’d picked up while dealing with the mage, he hadn’t expected any of them to be alive. The trap had been set for Seok-young, and even if the others were there, they’d only get in the way.

Not that it would do anything but stoke Seok-young’s wrath.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time. Some had even tried to use others as hostages to capture him. Whatever they thought of Seok-young—some benevolent, compassionate strongest of heroes?

Hardly.

He knew well enough he was nothing of the sort. He’d tried to remain a hero for his dead son… but becoming a hero always came at a price. Whether it was his own life, or someone else’s.

Still, knowing they were alive, he wasn’t so cold as to pretend ignorance. Seok-young’s face brightened. In the end, the raid party had been swept up in his affairs, so if he could save them, it would save his own face as well.

“Hey.”

“……”

“I know you’re not unconscious. Want me to really knock you out? No promise you’ll wake up again, though.”

Seok-young shook the mage by the throat. The mage flailed like a paper doll, twitching and struggling. He loosened his grip to let the man catch his breath, then tightened it again as soon as he saw him come to.

Still, this was making him uneasy.

Seok-young smacked his lips and looked the mage up and down with his spear.

Would it be better to break a few bones?

“Kuhak!”

The mage gasped for breath.

“If you dispel the magic, I’ll try to treat you as humanely as possible.”

“…Kek, pff, kuhihit.”

The man glared at Seok-young with bulging eyes, grinning. Even as he drooled and scratched at Seok-young’s forearm, trying desperately to pry him off, he still managed a mocking sneer. He wasn’t ordinary.

Or maybe he was just insane.

Honestly, he’d rather face a monster from the future. At least those had clear motives—to kill Seok-young and fulfill their revenge.

But humans? In all his years as a hunter, Seok-young never understood most criminals’ motives.

Money? Power? What would you even do with those?

Hm.

If he said that, Hee-jae, that brat, would surely say…

‘You only say that because you already have them.’

…just like that.

“……?”

“Kkhik.”

Seok-young glanced between the vanished voice and the wheezing mage.

Was it a coincidence?

…Anyway, he’d lived without much and had times when he coveted what others had, but he’d never gone so far as to commit such vile acts out of greed. What was wrong with these people?

Noah Michel was the same. Why do something like this…?

‘Don’t try to understand someone who’s out of their mind. It’s normal for sane people not to get it.’

…Right. He’d never understand, not in a lifetime. Nor did he want to.

Seok-young looked at the staggering black silhouette with a strange gaze. It was still obscured as if drenched in ink, but he couldn’t possibly mistake whose voice it was.

He’d wondered if it was a spell similar to Park Seo-hyun’s, but clearly not. That one didn’t react to memories and emotions like this. This was more like…

Seok-young frowned.

It wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. He must have heard of it somewhere before.

“I—I can’t, can’t dispel it either.”

The mage managed to speak in a ragged, broken voice.

“You, b-because of you, kuh, I—I lost, lost control.”

“…I’ve heard of unstable magic, but never of someone failing to control it altogether.”

If it were some other spell, maybe, but a unique magic?

Wasn’t this the kind of instinctual magic etched into one’s blood?

Seok-young looked at the mage with a dissatisfied expression. The mage began to laugh again, making bizarre noises, his pallid face twisted with fear.

‘Completely useless.’

At that moment, an old man’s figure rose up right beside him.

The mage’s laughter stopped.

‘Fool. Can’t even manage that one thing… tsk.’

“AAAAAAAH!!!!!!”

The mage screamed and writhed, twisting his whole body. Seok-young almost lost his grip, surprised by the sudden surge of strength. He quickly steadied himself, holding the man tight. He was more worried now that he might accidentally snap the man’s neck.

Mana gathered around the mage. Even now, he was trying to cast a spell. He’d already said he couldn’t control it—maybe it would be better to just kill him if it came to that, the thought crept in.

The mana scattered with a hiss.

“……?”

“AAAAAAGH!!! AAAH!!! AAAAAAAH!!!!!!”

‘And you call yourself a mage?’

Seok-young loosened his grip slightly. The mage didn’t notice. He was only focused on gathering mana, desperately trying to cast a spell.

But the mana dispersed again into the air. Whether it was because of this unstable magic, or because the mage was still caught in Seok-young’s grasp, he couldn’t say.

But to the mage himself, the only thing that mattered was that his spell had failed.

The old man, his face smeared with black, kept whispering to the mage.

‘Pathetic.’

With every word, the ink covering the old man’s face dripped away, revealing his features.

To Seok-young’s surprise, it was a face he recognized.

‘Don’t go around telling people you’re my disciple.’

“AAAAAAAH!!! Don’t look! Shut up, shut up!!!!!”

‘Erve.’

---

“Aigoo. With a mind this weak…”

Seok-young clicked his tongue.

“No wonder you ended up like this.”

“……”

“Or is it that you’re weak-minded because you’re in this state?”

Seok-young shrugged and shook the mage.

What was he supposed to do if the man’s own magic turned on him like this? That cocky, triumphant air from the beginning seemed like a lie now.

Honestly, it had been more satisfying to catch him back then. If he could collapse so easily, he never should have set foot in this world.

This is why pampered mages never make it.

Either way, that once-proud figure had become half-ruined, and it was all so anticlimactic.

‘I told you. Don’t get cocky.’

And as soon as he thought it, a shadowy figure sprang up and whispered.

“…Ah, if you’d shown up in front of me, I’d have killed you for real.”

Seok-young glanced at the swiftly vanishing blob of ink, sounding almost regretful.

“I know without you saying it.”

His son, who seemed to find nothing more entertaining than teasing his father, had said it every time.

Sparks began to fly around Seok-young. The magic, now out of control, was starting to run wild in earnest.

“So I broke all this guy’s limbs, but…”

In the end, what doesn’t work, doesn’t work.

Seok-young set the troublesome mage down for a moment and sharpened his senses. The man was unconscious anyway, so he wouldn’t attack. Right now, escaping this spell as soon as possible was the priority. If he dawdled, his identification tag alone might not be enough to get him out of trouble.

He gripped his spear tightly. Mana surged forth. Like dry ice, a thin mist of mana enveloped Seok-young’s entire body.

There were still survivors inside the dungeon, so he had to be careful…

The spear moved.

Slow, yet swift. It seemed motionless, yet so much changed at once. The spear cut across the dungeon, reaching its farthest end.

No, the spear was merely the cornerstone. From its tip, mana shot out like a cannon, piercing through the dungeon. The enclosing magic was shredded from within like an awl, tearing apart the space as it went…

Changkang!

“…As expected, this takes far too much out of me.”

He had destroyed the core at the very heart of the dungeon.

“I can’t use this twice.”

Seok-young shook his head as he looked up at the crumbling dungeon sky.