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338 The Almighty Magician (2)

‘Come to think of it.’

There was a time when Woo Hee-jae had asked a question.

‘Ms. Kim, you’re different from the magicians I know.’

When was it? It was before she knew Woo Hee-jae’s true identity—back when she’d been lured by the rune he showed her and decided to work at the experimental high school, or rather, the pilot school.

It was during the period when she was pushing Woo Hee-jae hard to learn various runes and had begun to grow attached to the students at the pilot school.

‘Me?’

Kim Chae-min had scoffed at the remark.

‘I find the kind of magician you’re talking about much more peculiar, Mr. Woo.’

‘…Do you?’

‘What kind of magician just gives away all their research results like that?’

‘Well.’

‘Even if I’m being generous, would anyone really teach that to someone who isn’t even a magician? That’s absurd.’

‘Why not? It probably makes more sense than sharing it with another magician.’

‘…Now that you mention it, I suppose that’s true.’

‘What would you do, Ms. Kim?’

‘Pardon?’

‘If you discovered or invented something amazing, but it was at risk of being buried forever?’

‘Well…’

Kim Chae-min had answered without much thought.

‘If I die, all my research and assets go to my mother anyway. She’ll take care of it.’

‘…Your mother?’

‘Yes. She’s neither a magician nor an Awakened, so I don’t know how much she’ll understand. That’s what makes it interesting, isn’t it?’

‘Interesting?’

‘Whether she reveals it to the world, sells it, or destroys it—whatever she chooses, it sounds fun. I’d only regret not being there to see it myself.’

She couldn’t remember what kind of expression Woo Hee-jae had made then. At the time, she’d thought of him as little more than a vending machine that spat out runes.

This is why you never know how things will turn out in life. Even magicians, being human, can’t know everything.

It was the same on the day Kim Chae-min became a magician.

Unfortunately, neither her magician grandfather nor her magician father was there. But her grandmother, who had a magician for a son, immediately recognized her granddaughter’s condition.

‘Oh my!’

Her grandmother didn’t congratulate her.

‘So it’s not enough that it took my son, now it’s come for my granddaughter, too!’

Young Kim Chae-min, newly awakened as a magician, couldn’t understand her grandmother’s words.

It was only much later that she understood why her grandmother had dreaded her granddaughter’s awakening.

‘Grandma!’

‘My little Chae-min. You’re wearing such a pretty dress today.’

‘You made this dress for me, Grandma!’

‘That’s why it’s so pretty.’

Eight-year-old Kim Chae-min twirled in her flower-embroidered skirt and hugged her grandmother.

Her grandmother hadn’t wanted her to become a magician, but that didn’t mean she loved her any less. She made clothes for her by hand and cared for her as always.

‘Chae-min, you must always listen carefully to what I say, all right?’

‘Hm?’

And whenever she had the chance, she would remind her:

‘Just because you can do things others can’t doesn’t mean you can trample over them.’

‘Of course not, Grandma!’

‘Never become a beast, Chae-min.’

Her grandmother had struck at the very heart of what it meant to be a magician.

A beast.

Magicians might bristle at the word, but Kim Chae-min agreed. So, at sixteen, the great magician Kim Chae-min had held her grandmother’s hand tightly and answered,

‘Don’t worry, Grandma. I’ll do well.’

Those were her grandmother’s last words.

Kim Chae-min, raised between a great magician grandfather, a great magician father, and a grandmother and mother who weren’t even Awakened, was considered a heretic among magicians.

If not for her reputation as a great magician spanning three generations, her life might have been much harder. But, well. Kim Chae-min was a great magician. In the world of beasts, there was only one rule.

Survival of the fittest.

Kim Chae-min was a hunter. She had never been hunted.

And so, she became not a heretic, but a solitary ruler.

But that didn’t mean that non-magicians, non-Awakened, or even other Awakened or Hunters treated her warmly. In their eyes, she was still a magician—a beast that reigned above others.

A magician who belonged nowhere was lonely because she could not become a beast. Yes, she was lonely. But her grandmother’s teachings always remained in her heart.

‘This grandmother wants you to always be among people, Chae-min. All right?’

Because even a magician was still human.

‘Look at your grandfather. Not a single friend—he’s a total loner.’

‘Hey, why are you picking on me again!’

‘Don’t be like your grandfather. Your father’s the same, honestly. If you’re going to take after someone, take after your mother. Got it? Oh, how did someone like that end up marrying your father…’

‘Mother!!’

‘Don’t trust someone just because they look respectable… Look at him. Don’t be fooled just because he’s your father, Chae-min.’

‘Mom!!!’

And so, the great magician Kim Chae-min grew up as a person.

---

There was a salty tang in the wind.

Kim Chae-min watched the people bustling about. Laughing, chatting, sometimes shouting, sometimes angry, sometimes annoyed.

When she closed her eyes, a different world unfolded—a world of stillness, where no sound could be heard. Yet, at the same time, it was more dynamic than anywhere else.

Kim Chae-min closed her eyes and spread her mana like a net.

Fortunately, the area she needed to search was set. If she’d had to scour the entire district, it would have taken much longer. She double-checked the address Lee Mi-seon had given her and continued her work. One by one, things began to get caught in her net of mana. Kim Chae-min frowned, her fingers moving restlessly with impatience.

People often misunderstood Kim Chae-min. More precisely, they misunderstood the magician Kim Chae-min.

But it was inevitable. That misunderstanding had begun fifty years ago, with her grandfather, Kim Young-heon.

The concept of modern magic had originated in the West and spread to Asia. There had been magicians in Asia, but most of the major magical societies were in Europe, so even now, the heartland of magic was seen as Britain, France, and Western Europe.

Thus, the attributes of magic were rooted in Western myths and legends. Elements like water or fire were easy enough to understand, but there were also vaguer attributes. Honestly, not many people even knew what “druid” meant, which was Kim Chae-min’s own attribute.

Especially in the old days, when magicians named and changed their attributes as they pleased, the confusion was even worse.

Back then, the druid line encompassed many meanings. Those who worked with plants called themselves druids, as did those who worked with animals. Sometimes, even healers—who weren’t yet classified separately—called themselves druids.

So, when an international standard for attributes was established, the great magician Kim Young-heon, by virtue of his status, quickly claimed the name “druid.”

And so, druid magicians were defined as those who nurtured plants.

‘Cunning old man. Maybe that’s how he managed to marry Grandma.’

A rather cold assessment for one’s own grandfather.

The things imbued with Kim Chae-min’s mana began to move. They became her eyes and nose, relaying information back to her. It had been a while since she’d used this, but it was a magic she’d known instinctively how to use from the moment she awakened her powers. She wasn’t about to be limited by something so trivial.

She organized the information she sensed and waited until sunset. She waited until the sun went down and the people working late in the factories and warehouses trickled away, and then waited even longer—until finally, not a soul remained on the street.

Kim Chae-min stretched her stiff body. Even at this hour, the street was bright under the streetlights. She crossed the road without hesitation. She didn’t worry about being seen. If she used magic, hiding her presence was easy.

She spent nearly half a day scouring the area around the warehouse in question.

Nurturing plants? With three generations of druid magicians producing spectacular blooms, of course people would think so. And it wasn’t wrong.

But because all three generations were great magicians, their family had conducted more research into attributes than any other magical lineage.

Her grandfather wasn’t the first druid magician. A magician from the early 1900s, who called himself the father of modern druids, had claimed he could speak to plants and animals.

‘I wonder if that magic still exists. Last I checked five years ago, it was still depleted.’

And the same was true for Kim Young-heon, the druid of Asia.

Even if it wasn’t a plant she had grown herself, she could read the information it contained. It was even easier with animals. She couldn’t know everything from one to ten, but she could narrow things down—like knowing the number she was looking for was between two and five.

Especially if she was sure of what she was searching for.

A rat scurried past her feet. Kim Chae-min released the mana binding it. The rat spun in circles as if disoriented, then disappeared into a sewer.

Kim Chae-min snorted.

“Interesting.”

She carefully entered the warehouse. There was no magical alarm. She could walk in with her eyes closed.

A physically locked window was nothing to a great magician. A few gestures—barely even magic—undid the lock with ease. Even if her footsteps echoed, the sound wouldn’t carry. Even if someone passed by, they wouldn’t see her standing right in front of them.

A magician could do many things. People just didn’t realize it, blinded by the arrogance of thinking themselves different.

If nothing unusual had happened, Kim Chae-min wouldn’t have shown off what she could do, either.

‘What do you know. I can do some fun things after all.’

If she hadn’t met that man, grinning like a child who’d found a new toy.

‘You must get bored playing at being a magician, don’t you?’

‘…I’m not sure what you mean by that.’

‘Would you like to catch some bad guys with me?’

Her initial motivation had been boredom. When the Hunter hailed as Korea’s strongest personally scouted her, she’d been curious.

Her grandmother’s words had echoed in her mind, too.

“Ah, but this is…”

Kim Chae-min moved aside a pile of boxes and descended into the basement. She could feel the tangled mana, as if they’d hired any random magician to build the passage. It felt unstable—she didn’t want to go in, but…

Even if not for the disappearance of Hong Seok-young and Woo Hee-jae, she would have had to check.

Because—

“…It’s real.”

She wasn’t surprised, having already accepted the information. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t unsettled.

Kim Chae-min stared quietly at the blue light swirling and distorting the space.

A scene so familiar it was almost irritating.

It was a dungeon gate.

‘Or maybe it’s fine to just play the magician for a while.’

Kim Chae-min recalled the Hunter who used to wink at her playfully.

For the record, she’d refused his offer to catch bad guys together.

‘Excuse me, Hunter Hong.’

‘Hm?’

‘Is that offer still open?’

At least, until some bastard came and wrecked her domain.

Without hesitation, Kim Chae-min stepped into the gate.