Retire 250
by Cristae250 The Archmage’s Apprentice’s Apprentice (1)
……
……
Kim Chae-min slowly looked over the contract again.
……
Still, she said nothing.
I racked my brain, trying to figure out how to explain this without sounding like a delusional lunatic or a cultist, but there was no way. I should have worried about this back when we were wrestling over the contract.
‘I’m from the future.’
‘From nineteen years ahead.’
‘What happened in the future? Everything was ruined.’
Even if it’s not delusional, doesn’t it sound like the words of a radical pessimist? Or, you know, one of those “the world will end” prophecies that were popular at the end of the twentieth century.
As for Hong Seok-young, he’d spent enough time dealing with monsters that he believed me right away. Or rather, he’d been suspicious of me from the very start—that’s probably more accurate.
But Kim Chae-min?
How would she react to this?
In any case, the magic power clock could only be used by me, Hong Seok-young… and, I suspect, Yoo Ji-eun. So I showed it as proof that I was from the future. I even took out the magic pen and drew a rune.
The same Kim Chae-min who had once been so excited she grabbed Hong Seok-young by the collar after seeing the magic concealment rune, now sat there expressionless, even as I activated a rune without any help from a magician.
……
She didn’t say a word.
It was starting to get unnerving.
Even Hong Seok-young was watching her warily.
What should I do? Should I suggest a DNA test to prove we’re the same person? Would that even work? What if Kim Chae-min decides she can’t deal with these lunatics and just leaves?
But she was the one who asked to know. The ink on the contract wasn’t even dry. If she doesn’t like it, she can hand over her unique magic!
As both Hong Seok-young and I held our breath, Kim Chae-min finally spoke.
“Haa…”
A deep sigh.
“Um, Ms. Kim?”
“Should we change the contract, even now?”
“…Pardon?”
“Now I understand why you said what you did, Mr. Woo. Why didn’t you just ignore me, no matter what I said?”
“Sorry?”
“Why did you give in to my stubbornness?!”
Is she… mad at me? Why?
“If I’d known it was something like this, I wouldn’t have asked you to tell me.”
……
“Should we revise the contract, even now? I feel like we need stricter terms. A penalty clause, or…”
This was not the reaction I’d expected.
At most, I thought she’d get angry and tell me not to joke around with contracts and such. That was the mildest response I’d anticipated.
I never imagined she’d just accept it, without even pretending to be suspicious.
“…You believe me?”
Kim Chae-min’s eyes widened.
“Wow, that sounded like a real con artist. Or a cultist? Like those people on the street who ask if you know the way.”
“Do those still exist these days?”
“Surprisingly, you still see them sometimes. Once, I even followed one out of curiosity…”
“Ahem.”
Hong Seok-young cleared his throat loudly, as if to tell us to get a grip. For some reason, whenever I talked to Kim Chae-min, I ended up getting swept along.
I asked again, just to be sure.
“…So you believe me? Really?”
“Weren’t you telling me so I would believe you?”
Kim Chae-min asked in return.
“Well, yes, but… Honestly, even I don’t think it’s something that’s easy to believe.”
“That’s true, but…”
Kim Chae-min didn’t deny it.
“But it’s you saying it, Mr. Woo, isn’t it?”
When did I become someone Kim Chae-min trusted that much?
Instead, I just felt more bewildered.
“If you’d told me Mr. Hong was the boss of the Ark, and Noah Michel was his subordinate, maybe I’d have doubted you. Or maybe not? That actually sounds plausible, so I might believe it.”
She says such frightening things so casually.
“If you’d said you were a once-in-a-century genius magician and hunter, I’d have told you to stop talking nonsense.”
As she spoke, Kim Chae-min seemed to convince herself, nodding.
“But coming from the future? Why would anyone make up such a ridiculous lie? There are much more believable lies you could tell.”
……
“What would you have to gain?”
Kim Chae-min frowned.
“You’re not actually the boss of the Ark, are you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Okay, then.”
She answered so breezily that I found myself starting to doubt her instead.
Have I trusted Kim Chae-min too much? What if she has some connection I don’t know about?
Kim Chae-min is an archmage. Thanks to that, even with the limited information of this era, the magic clock recorded her actions in relatively good detail. Of course, you can’t really know a person from scraps of data… but at least it serves as a basic filter.
Kim Chae-min didn’t get along with the established magic societies. In the years before her death, she was said to have interacted with East Asian magicians. Supposedly, Asian magicians were trying to escape the influence of the old Europe-centered societies.
It would take at least another ten years for Noah Michel’s influence to reach Asia. He only became a household name among non-magician hunters because of the magic concealment rune.
…That rune really should be revealed here first. Whether or not Noah Michel already knows about it at this point, what does it matter? Hope might come under suspicion, but she’ll handle it.
……
With nothing to say, I just sat there, and Kim Chae-min started to fidget nervously.
……
There was no way to know what she was thinking.
It was too late to say I couldn’t trust her now… I had to trust her. Sometimes, baseless suspicion is what drives people over the edge.
“Um…”
“Yes?”
……
Kim Chae-min pressed her lips together. Judging by the way she was mouthing words, she clearly had something to say.
It would have been easy to ask what was wrong, but I deliberately waited for her to speak first.
“Um, so…”
Fortunately or unfortunately, Kim Chae-min’s patience was short. Now she was even fidgeting in her seat.
…What’s with her?
“What’s wrong?”
“I, I have something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“There’s actually a lot I’m curious about.”
She hesitated at my words, then cautiously spoke.
“If I ask, will you really answer honestly?”
She fiddled with the contract as she spoke, her fingers hovering near a particular clause.
‘Woo Hee-jae must provide information related to the work requiring Kim Chae-min’s cooperation. This includes information on runes and magical theory.’
This was a new way for her to express herself.
Well, I’d have to answer. What else could I do?
“What are you curious about?”
“What’s the magical theory that the future archmage Park Seo-hyun supposedly taught you? Did she teach you everything? From start to finish? Or are you actually Seo-hyun’s apprentice, Mr. Woo? Or what?”
Kim Chae-min rattled it all off in a single breath, not even pausing.
……
……
“What?”
“Uh… impressive lung capacity.”
“It’s not that great… So what is it?!”
So after hearing that the world will end, the first thing she asks about is Park Seo-hyun? Maybe she was so fixated on that, she didn’t even hear the rest.
It seemed like a pretty plausible suspicion, but I didn’t say it aloud.
“You’re saying Seo-hyun becomes an archmage? No, that’s not strange. She really is talented. Even I can see it. Honestly, magic is hereditary, you know? It sounds terribly old-fashioned and discriminatory, but it’s true. In that sense, Jin-woo is really talented too. It’s partly thanks to Seo-hyun’s skill with light magic, but he’s keeping up well. Realizing your unique magic takes not just effort but luck, and Jin-woo seems to have found a clue. If he keeps it up… But really, Seo-hyun is the amazing one. Yes, if she becomes an archmage someday…”
Getting more and more excited, Kim Chae-min was muttering rapidly, then suddenly fell silent and looked at me with suspicion.
“Are you actually a magician, Mr. Woo?”
“I told you, I’m not.”
“…Then how do you know so much magical theory?”
“It’s a hobby.”
“A hobby?”
“Do you know how much fun it is to smash the heads of magicians who say, ‘You wouldn’t understand since you’re not a magician, but you can’t do it like this’?”
……
……
Kim Chae-min stared at me for a long time, as if at a loss for words.
I was confident. So I didn’t avoid her gaze. Kim Chae-min quietly looked away.
“…Still, if you know a lot of magical theory, that’s a good thing. But if you’re not even a magician, how did Seo-hyun end up teaching you theory?”
“No.”
I denied it. Oh Hyun-wook had looked after me at my father’s request, but not Park Seo-hyun.
When I was working at the Administration, Park Seo-hyun was mostly overseas. She only came back to Korea when my father or sister asked her to.
“She wouldn’t have taught magic to someone she wasn’t close to.”
“It was a favor for someone she was close to.”
I sighed.
“It was at Hunter Yoo Ji-eun’s request.”
“…Yoo Ji-eun? You mean that Ji-eun? Hye-eun’s younger sister?”
“Yes. And it wasn’t unique magic or anything. Even other magicians wouldn’t have understood that. But I do know a fair bit about shadow magic. I don’t know how helpful it’ll be to you, Ms. Kim, but remember it well and pass it on to Park Seo-hyun when you can. Since it’s something she accomplished in the future, it can only help, not hurt.”
“Of course it’ll help… Seo-hyun still struggles with her magic.”
I nodded.
I thought back to last year’s demonstration school, when the classrooms were just containers, not proper buildings. There was one student who shed bitter tears inside.
I’d promised to make her an archmage.
Do you know how rare it is to have the kind of talent that will become an archmage even if you do nothing but leave them alone?
And if it came to it, I could always find a way to help.
Back then, I’d thought she might become a valuable asset later. And honestly, I just wanted to comfort the crying kid.
“Oh! So are you planning to make Seo-hyun an archmage and have her help with your work?”
“What? No.”
“Really?”
What’s with this guy now?
I glared irritably at Hong Seok-young.
“Are you crazy? I wouldn’t put a kid in danger.”
“It’s just, you sounded so suspicious when you were comforting Seo-hyun, I thought that’s what you were planning.”
“What are you talking about…”
I frowned.
“I do think it’s better to strengthen our influence if we’re going up against Noah Michel. But getting her involved…”
I almost said “don’t even dream of it,” but stopped myself.
There’s no such thing as “never” in this world. I’d once sworn I’d never become a hunter, but ended up working for the Administration and entering dungeons. What else would you call that but a hunter?
My sister, who’d prepared to come to the past with me, was left behind in burning Seoul, unable to make the jump.
The two of them left me in ignorance. Am I grateful for that now?
I have no idea how things with the Ark will unfold, and as I told Hong Seok-young, the students at the training school could become their targets.
…Let’s at least draw a line.
“At the very least, after she’s an adult. If she wants to. Same goes for the other kids.”