Retire 347

347 Reciprocity (2)

Hong Seokyeong returned to America.

We’d spent more time in the dungeon than expected. Hong Seokyeong ignored his phone as it rang incessantly, but in the end, he trudged off to the States.

He left without even seeing Woo Irok.

‘Was there any point in coming back at all?’

‘Stop complaining and just go.’

He left the cleanup to me.

But there wasn’t much for me to do. The traces of smuggling found in the collapsed warehouse would be handled by the local police, and if there were any crimes related to Awakened, Imi-seon would take care of it.

Analysis of the monsters from inside the dungeon?

That was Kim Chaemin’s job.

As for me, I just…

“Teacher! Is your business trip over?”

I looked at Lee Seungyeon, who sidled up to me with a secretive grin.

The kids behind her wore similar expressions, so I could guess what they were thinking.

“Did you bring us any souvenirs from your trip?”

“Well, let’s see how much you learned while I was gone.”

“Ugh. I have something to do, so I’ll be going!”

“What do you mean, something to do?”

I shook my head, watching the kids laugh and scatter.

They’d probably whisper that I’d been off chasing criminals again.

Not entirely wrong, I suppose. Not exactly right, either…

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was really okay to leave things as they were.

---

Just as I expected, once Hong Seokyeong left for America, the school became quiet. The news about the Busan warehouse collapse was broadcast just once that day and never mentioned again.

Still, according to what Imi-seon told me, evidence of illegal activity had been found at the warehouse and an investigation was underway.

But as I kept emphasizing, we weren’t the ones who brought down the warehouse. Whoever blew up the dungeon must have been prepared to take the warehouse with it. Even if they were investigating smuggling, who knew how much evidence would actually remain?

In any case, I still had nothing to take care of.

After supervising the kids’ classes and returning to the teachers’ office, I found Kim Chaemin waiting.

As I said, the work was for Kim Chaemin to handle. I didn’t have much to do for once, but that didn’t mean I could let my guard down. While I spent my time in this odd state of tension, Kim Chaemin was researching the mysterious things we’d seen in the dungeon and the magic of Noah Michel.

Honestly, I didn’t think of myself as a complete layman when it came to magic, but in that area, I really was clueless. Knowing the theory and being able to see mana is one thing; being a mage is another. Everyone knows theory and practice are different.

“I’ve been thinking,” Kim Chaemin began, and then said something that would make any hunter uneasy.

Still, compared to Hong Seokyeong, I could trust Kim Chaemin’s judgment.

“Runes are essential, right?”

“Runes?”

“For the future. They can’t completely replace magic, but there are things runes can do that magic can’t. Like the concealment rune.”

“Well…”

I nodded.

The teachers’ office was a place where anyone might drop in, so I couldn’t just throw around the word “future,” but a little speculation was fine.

“Magic always uses mana, so it’s hard to hide it.”

“Runes use mana too, but…”

“But it’s different from magic.”

“That’s true.”

“And mages can’t always be by a hunter’s side. Relying solely on magic isn’t a good idea.”

“Relying… I never thought of it that way, but I suppose you’re right.”

Kim Chaemin smiled, as if he’d just heard something interesting.

“Besides the concealment rune, what other runes do you think will become essential?”

“Well… I think the simple, basic ones will actually be the most useful.”

“Like what?”

“Waterproofing, for example.”

“Oh… right. That makes sense.”

Kim Chaemin pursed his lips in admiration. As I listed a few more commonly used runes, he nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

Then he asked,

“Shouldn’t you be practicing runes a lot, then, Teacher?”

He was asking if I’d practiced a lot.

“I can draw all those runes.”

“I’ve never seen you fail at drawing runes, that’s for sure.”

“How could I teach others what I can’t do myself?”

“…Were you a good student when you were a kid?”

“I wasn’t bad.”

“I see…”

Kim Chaemin’s tone trailed off, different from usual.

…What was that?

“Well, if nothing else, you’re an authority on runes, Teacher.”

“…No, that’s not true.”

I hesitated, denying it. I felt uneasy. What was wrong here?

“I can’t develop new runes…”

“Because you’re not a mage?”

“There are mana pens, but that’s not the point. Actually…”

I corrected myself.

“In the future, even non-mages will probably be able to make runes. Just like a mana engineer doesn’t have to be an Awakened.”

“But you’re good at teaching kids.”

“Teaching and creating are different. I have no talent for the latter. And no interest.”

Kim Chaemin nodded as if convinced. Was that it?

“Yeah. Everyone has different aptitudes. But you’re good at teaching.”

“I never really thought teaching was my calling…”

“Why not? You’re good at dungeon strategy, good at teaching runes. Even when the kids have trouble, you can pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. I can’t do that.”

“You have your own methods, Mr. Kim.”

“Ah, but that’s different! I can’t look at a rune and instantly correct what’s wrong like you do.”

“That’s because I can see the flow of mana… And you haven’t been working with runes for long. Once you get used to it, you’ll—”

A chill ran down my spine as I looked at Kim Chaemin. He was smiling. That gentle smile was the one I always saw.

“Of course.”

But his bright eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“I just thought of something, listening to you, Hunter.”

I swallowed hard.

“If you can spot rune errors at a glance, why didn’t you notice when Seohyun drew a rune wrong in Myeong-dong?”

Ah.

“What?”

“……”

“There must be a reason, right?”

I couldn’t have explained myself even if I had ten mouths.

If it were anyone else, I might have tried to make excuses, or smoothed things over with some glib words.

But that wouldn’t work on Kim Chaemin. I didn’t want to lie to someone who had chosen to trust and help me—and Hong Seokyeong.

More than anything, it was my fault.

“I’m sorry.”

“What? No, you don’t need to apologize to me.”

“…That’s true.”

Kim Chaemin smiled again. The tense atmosphere dissipated.

“I just wanted to see if you’d admit it, Teacher.”

“…I’m not trying to make excuses, but at the time, I really needed to make a connection somehow.”

“A connection? Ah, Hunter. So that’s why it was Seungyeon.”

“It’s hard to get by in Korea as a stateless person…”

“I figured as much.”

Kim Chaemin smiled lightly again.

“If I’d woken up in the middle of a dungeon break, I’d have wondered what was going on, too. In the end, you saved the kids and worked hard to clean up after, so I won’t say anything more.”

“Th-thank you?”

“Seohyun probably found failure a bitter experience, but overcoming it was probably necessary. With her attributes and talent, a fragile personality with too much responsibility is poison.”

Kim Chaemin spoke coldly.

“She’s brighter now… Ah! I don’t mean everything’s okay just because the outcome was good! Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“I know.”

“But still—live kindly.”

“Yes…”

Kim Chaemin studied my face for a moment, then nodded as if satisfied, though I had no idea what he’d decided. Anyway… since the mood was back to normal, maybe it was fine?

Still, just in case, I asked Kim Chaemin,

“…What would you have done if I’d denied it?”

Kim Chaemin’s eyes widened.

“That would have been the end of it.”

“What?”

“If you said it wasn’t you, why would I argue?”

“……”

“I’d just accept it and quietly revise my opinion of Woo Heejae in my mind.”

“That’s even scarier.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

Kim Chaemin shrugged as if it were nothing. That’s exactly why it was so unnerving.

After a moment’s hesitation, I added quietly,

“…From now on, I won’t involve the kids in anything.”

“Okay.”

“Really.”

“I know.”

Kim Chaemin added,

“I’ll do the same.”

The teachers’ office fell silent. Kim Chaemin turned his attention from me to his tablet PC. I thought he was reading, but it was a paper on magic.

Since Hong Seokyeong left for America, Kim Chaemin had left all the classes to me and focused on reviewing data.

He’d tell me if he discovered anything, but after that conversation, the silence felt awkward, so I asked,

“So, have you found anything?”

“Hmm?”

“About Michel’s magic.”

I referred to the materials I’d given him as soon as we got back to school.

It was the information on Noah Michel stored in the mana watch.

The mana watch contained all the data from the Administration. But to avoid disputes, foreign data was excluded. It was still a prototype, and we figured we could transfer the rest later through negotiation.

Honestly, seeing how things turned out, maybe I should have just transferred everything in advance. Who cares what outsiders say, if you’re in the past?

…Did my father or sister ever really plan to come back to the past? Or was it just an emergency backup, never meant to be used?

“I’d like to tell you everything once I’m done,” Kim Chaemin said, after a moment’s thought.

“But it’s probably better if you know at least some of it now.”

His words snapped me out of my thoughts.

Among the internal documents, there were evaluations of external hunters. Noah Michel was no exception.

Some mages were affiliated with the Administration. There weren’t any great archmages like Park Seohyun, but there were some promising talents. Naturally, they were all Academy graduates. Park Seohyun was a frequent visitor to the Administration herself.

So there were some analyses of Noah Michel. Calling them analyses was a bit much—they were more like study notes by mages in the Administration, probably.

Academy graduates without family support often analyzed magic this way. It was their way of surviving. The Academy taught basic magic, but attribute magic was always a personal struggle. You learned from watching others, used that as a foundation.

Kim Chaemin reviewed those documents and analyzed them again.

“Noah Michel’s attributes… I think we need to look at them separately.”

“Separately?”

“The automaton isn’t Michel’s attribute magic. And we know something else, too.”

“Something else…?”

“Mr. Han’s eyes?”

Why was that coming up now?

“You can’t affect the inside of a dungeon from the outside, but you can observe it.”

“…Dr. Gamble did say that could be a clue for interference.”

“Right. But since Michel hasn’t figured out how to do that yet, let’s set it aside for now…”

Kim Chaemin licked his lips.

“Let’s separate things. Michel worked on the automaton for something else.”

“Something else…”

“What about affecting the inside of the dungeon from within, rather than from outside?”