Retire 320

320 The Duty of a Younger Sibling (5)

The little doll moved.

Its appearance was nothing special. A wooden puppet with a comical face painted on it. There were black stains, as if it had been scorched by fire, and here and there were gouges and nicks, both large and small.

At most, it was the length of a handspan. Its size and looks were far too insignificant to attract the attention of the world’s most renowned magicians.

And yet, on the stage, there was only that shabby wooden puppet. No strings, nothing else, yet the puppet danced alone.

Its movements were slow and elegant. It moved only on the tips of its toes. Ballet. The music drifting from the record player was Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty.” The piece was originally meant for a princess to dance with four princes, but here, the puppet, dressed as the princess, danced alone. Even when greeting the princes, even when leaping high into the arms of a prince, it was alone; and in the part where the princess receives a flower from a prince, a red blossom appeared out of thin air.

The magicians, who ordinarily would have paid no attention to such a worn-out puppet, watched its ballet performance without so much as a twitch.

Why?

Because neither the puppet’s movements nor the red flower in its hand were mere sleight of hand.

This entire performance was made possible by the magic of the great magician from France, Noah Michel.

Noah Michel’s specialty was puppetry magic. Most doll magic, including puppetry, was not a spell often used. It was too inconvenient, requiring the magician to constantly infuse it with mana. True, this allowed for complex movements… but really, when would one ever need to make a doll perform such intricate tasks?

If one wanted to use something in a dungeon, it was much easier to command a golem—like those British magicians had devised, inspired by monsters. Even if golems couldn’t perform such complex actions as dolls, their range of movement was far greater, and they were sturdier.

So what was so special about Noah Michel’s magic that it warranted a demonstration here?

It wasn’t even a unique magic. Doll magic was simply Michel’s specialty, not his attribute.

As the music ended, the golden threads holding the puppet snapped and scattered. Noah Michel, who had been standing below the stage, now stepped up onto it.

“This is the magic I registered this time. The Association gave it a grandiose name, but… there’s a simpler term for it.”

Noah Michel snapped his fingers lightly. In an instant, the surrounding mana surged, shifting from blue to gold. Brilliant golden light, as radiant as Michel’s hair, shimmered in intricate patterns before seeping into the collapsed wooden puppet.

The puppet sprang up again and began to dance.

“Automaton. It’s an automatic doll magic, designed to perform pre-programmed movements.”

---

There are clear pros and cons to being able to see mana.

Being able to see what others cannot is certainly an advantage. And it’s not as if I’m seeing something random—it’s mana. For a hunter to see mana means having a tremendous edge over others. I can spot suspicious things in the dungeon ahead of time and deal with them… It’s also useful when dealing with hunters or magicians up to something odd behind my back.

But at the same time, it’s difficult precisely because I see what others cannot. I’m not talking about having to pretend not to see ghosts, like in a horror movie.

“…Hoo.”

The mana swirling before my eyes was enough to make me dizzy. To Kim Chaemin, it probably just looked like his own flower petals. But I was different. On top of Kim Chaemin’s petals and mana, there was the blue mana forming a shape, and the mana leaking from the core, all tangled together until I could barely see ahead.

Yes. That was the downside.

Some might call it a luxury problem, but to me, it was a serious inconvenience.

If my vision was blocked like this in a dungeon, where life and death are decided in tenths of a second…!

‘So what’s the problem?’

My father never sympathized with my concerns.

‘If you can’t see, then feel.’

He’d spout lines straight out of some old martial arts movie. Infuriating man.

With no other choice, I swept my spear through the air, pushing the mana aside.

Using Kim Chaemin’s petals as stepping stones, I landed on the ground. I looked up at the blue form, slowly collapsing.

The core had been destroyed.

There had been a sturdy barrier spell in place, but it had been broken with almost laughable ease.

If I had been alone, it would have taken a long time. Don’t misunderstand—it wasn’t impossible, just time-consuming.

But the all-purpose archmage Kim Chaemin had drastically shortened that time. The petals that shattered mana also tore the barrier spell around the core to shreds. And after that? Easy.

All I had to do was stab the core with all my strength.

And then…

Yes. That’s right.

Even if I wanted to pretend otherwise, I couldn’t—the blinding golden light that spilled out was impossible to ignore. The golden threads weaving between the blue grains of mana, which looked like sand, and the red petals were terrifyingly beautiful.

A pattern of mana, geometric and complex like a rune, yet possessing a certain aesthetic beauty, briefly appeared above the core of the spell and then dispersed.

“Mr. Woo!”

Kim Chaemin quickly dispersed the rose petals. One of the things blocking my vision was gone.

Without turning to look at Kim Chaemin, I carefully confirmed the collapse of the spell. The core was broken; even a genius archmage would have no way to intervene now. Still, safety first. There was no harm in double-checking.

Kim Chaemin quickly caught on to what I was waiting for. This sharp-eyed man moved his mana again to ease my worries.

“Ta-da. All done, right?”

The remaining petals forcibly pressed down the lingering mana. The mana clung flat to the field, writhing…

And then scattered.

A gentle breeze stirred, and the mana drifted through the air as usual. The mana concentration on the field might be a bit higher for a while, but in two days, it would return to normal.

I was genuinely impressed.

“…That’s convenient.”

“Couldn’t you call it amazing?”

“It’s amazing.”

“I feel like I’m forcing you to praise me.”

Kim Chaemin shook his head.

“For all that sinister mana, it ended up rather anticlimactic.”

“That’s because I’m amazing.”

“…”

“Why? I don’t mind getting forced praise, so just agree quickly.”

“Yes, you’re really, a, ma, zing.”

I smiled faintly.

Even if I didn’t explain further, Kim Chaemin would know better than anyone. He excelled at both offense and defense, but if there was one thing he lacked, it was damage. The shock needed to finish off an opponent. The core of Kim Chaemin’s magic was, after all, plants—rose vines. He could trip a minotaur by the ankle with his vines, but he couldn’t sever its neck. He couldn’t strangle it, either. With a minotaur’s strength, it could snap the vines easily.

Kim Chaemin glared at me with a dissatisfied look, then turned away. I shrugged.

“Still, I confirmed it.”

“Huh?”

“The mana pattern.”

Kim Chaemin whipped around to look at me, so fast it made a sound.

“What?”

“The mana pattern. I saw it when I broke the core.”

“How… did you do that?”

“There’s a way.”

“…Don’t tell me, Mr. Woo, you…”

Kim Chaemin narrowed his eyes and scanned me up and down.

“Did you swap out your eyes like Mr. Han?”

“My eyes are my own.”

“…”

Kim Chaemin couldn’t easily shake off his suspicion.

“Do you remember what Hope said before?”

“…When?”

“When she talked about the lab. The experiments that happened inside.”

“Oh…”

Kim Chaemin pressed his lips together. His troubled expression suggested he realized what I was about to say.

“That’s the result. Eyes sensitive to mana.”

“…”

“You’ve seen me training Kang Taewoo separately, haven’t you? He’s sensitive to mana, too.”

“That’s why Irok called you right away.”

“Yes. It was a little faster than I expected, but he became sensitive to mana as he awakened. The timing was good. He was able to avoid Noah Michel.”

“…Was that really Michel’s mana pattern?”

“I’ve seen it in person. It’s hard not to recognize such an impressive mana.”

I withdrew my spear. A single petal clinging to the blade fluttered to the ground.

I watched it quietly, then spoke.

“But thanks to that, Noah Michel is now certain.”

“…Ah.”

“She thought the experiment was a failure and ordered it to be disposed of, but now she knows it succeeded.”

Now, Woo Irok’s safety was once again entering a new phase.

Did Noah Michel know about Woo Irok from the start? I didn’t think so. If she had, she would have acted sooner.

She was probably thinking something like this:

‘It looks like Lehman is holding onto Hong Seokyoung. If I want to investigate Hong Seokyoung’s base, now’s the perfect time.’

If Noah Michel had intended to target Woo Irok directly, it would have been better for my own identity to be exposed. After all, Michel had reasonable grounds to suspect there was someone from the future on our side. I thought I’d diverted that suspicion to Kim Chaemin with the rune.

…Maybe she simply wanted to exploit Hong Seokyoung’s weakness. Judging by how she ran the Ark, it was hard to believe Michel was all that meticulous.

If it were me, I could handle anything, no matter who attacked.

But not Woo Irok. What could I do with a kid who’d just awakened? I couldn’t keep him locked inside like when I first brought him in…

“Can I lower the spell now?”

“I don’t sense anything, so it should be fine.”

Kim Chaemin studied my face, then slowly withdrew the mana that had been spread throughout the school. Unlike the blue form created by Noah Michel, which had been forcibly erased, traces of Kim Chaemin’s magic still lingered faintly.

Of course, the school was already protected by his defensive magic, so it was only natural.

First, I needed to check on Woo Irok. Confirming he was unharmed would help me organize my thoughts.

“Hyung!!!”

But before I could even enter the building, Woo Irok came running out. Behind him, a flustered Hunter Dasun was trying to catch him. I grimaced.

“You should listen to the hunter! Why did you come out? You’re supposed to stay inside—!”

“It’s over, isn’t it?”

Woo Irok didn’t even pretend to listen. I had no idea who he took after, honestly.

He glanced behind me, eyes sparkling. Eyes that saw exactly what I did. The fresh green grass, the rose petals scattered upon it. The blue and red mana twinkling like fireflies.

“Hyung.”

Woo Irok called me, eyes still shining.

Whatever else, Woo Irok was the same at his core as I was. I knew exactly when I’d worn that expression myself—when I was about to pester someone for something I knew they wouldn’t like.

…Unfortunately for Woo Irok, I was not our father. I wasn’t the kind of father who let him do anything, but a brother who could be strict.

“I want to be a hunter.”

“No.”

“Why not!!”

And Woo Irok performed his role as a younger sibling admirably.

“I want to!!!”

He grabbed the hem of my clothes and began to whine.

Kim Chaemin watched us both in turn and burst out laughing.