Retire 486
by Cristae486 Sinking Swamp (2)
The so-called safe and promising method that Gamble presented with such gravity was—
“Teacher!”
—astonishingly, a living being.
A human, standing on two feet, speaking, thinking, and even using magic.
“Teacher, are you going to stay at school now?”
Not just one, but two.
Park Seohyun and Choi Jinwoo rushed over, brimming with excitement.
It didn’t feel like I’d been away from school for long, yet they seemed to have grown so much in the meantime. Is this what people mean when they say kids grow up fast?
Park Seohyun twisted a lock of hair around her finger, her face bashful.
“We worked really hard on our project…”
“If we finish this, we can graduate, right?”
Graduate…?
I looked at Gamble standing behind the kids.
Gamble grinned slyly and shrugged.
I let out a sigh.
“Graduate, huh…”
It wasn’t a university, so could I really stop them from graduating?
But faced with those bright, eager eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to shatter their innocent hopes with the cruel truth.
“So, you two want to test the rune?”
Unlike other runes, we couldn’t announce this one through Dasun, at least not right now. Depending on what this rune turned out to be, there might never be a chance.
Still, the experience of working with a genius like Sandra Gamble wouldn’t fade easily. Who could say how it might shape these kids in the future?
I owed it to Gamble to make sure his joke didn’t go to waste.
“Yes! But first, there are a few things we need to check with you, Teacher.”
“We asked Doctor, but she said she couldn’t tell us and that we should ask you or Mr. Chaemin.”
Park Seohyun and Choi Jinwoo exchanged mischievous glances and giggled.
I didn’t know what they’d asked, but it was clear they already knew the answer, regardless of what Kim Chaemin or I might say.
It was probably the first time I’d seen Park Seohyun, of all people, acting so playful. She’d swept her bangs neatly aside, her face bright. It didn’t seem likely she’d ever grow up to be the gloomy archmage once called a witch… I couldn’t figure out why Gamble had brought these two in as the method for testing the rune.
I didn’t know much about the magic Choi Jinwoo was learning from Park Nogyeong, but as far as I knew, Park Seohyun’s magic had nothing to do with runes. Was this what Gamble meant when he said the kids had expanded their magic?
As a teacher, a student’s growth is always something to celebrate.
But when kids smiled like that, I couldn’t help but worry about what kind of trouble they might have gotten into while I wasn’t looking…
The way Gamble shifted responsibility to me and Kim Chaemin only made me more uneasy.
“So, what are you curious about?”
“It’s about our project topic.”
I expected Park Seohyun to speak up, but it was Choi Jinwoo who opened his mouth. Surprisingly, Park Seohyun stepped back behind him. Given what I’d seen of their relationship, it was unexpected.
Choi Jinwoo tried hard not to show it, but he couldn’t fool an adult’s eyes. He lacked confidence in his magic.
It was understandable. Choi Jinwoo had learned late that he was a mage at all. The only mage he’d seen in that state was Park Seohyun, who possessed overwhelming talent. And the other? The archmage Kim Chaemin…
Now I understood what Kim Chaemin had said about Choi Jinwoo. To stay at school and pursue magic between two archmages took a rare kind of stubbornness.
“Doctor said that rune was found in a dungeon, right?”
“…That’s right?”
Even when it came to his own magical achievements, he tended to let Park Seohyun speak for him. The more he learned about magic, the more pronounced this became.
It was good that he hadn’t lost his passion for magic despite being surrounded by such talented mages, but it wasn’t good for him to keep stepping back from things he needed to take on himself.
It wasn’t yet serious enough to warrant intervention, and he could answer when asked, so I’d left it alone… Fortunately, it seemed that while Kim Chaemin was away, he’d made some progress on that front.
There’s nothing more satisfying for a teacher than seeing a student grow on their own.
“But this is a resonance rune, isn’t it?”
But as soon as he gained confidence, Choi Jinwoo brought up the most troublesome topic.
……
I realized, belatedly, that things had gotten strange ever since the resonance rune appeared. Now I understood why Gamble had left this situation to me.
“Teacher, did this really come from a dungeon?”
……
“Whether it came from a dungeon or was drawn by a person changes the nature of the rune. Just like with magic. That’s why we have to know.”
Now I understood why they’d been grinning before they even started talking. There wasn’t much I could say in response. In fact, the answer was already decided.
I couldn’t very well tell them that the rune they’d been studying all year was one used by monsters. Even if it was true.
The kids knew that, too. They just wanted confirmation from an adult.
I was well aware that rumors about the school being the principal’s private detective agency or a secret organization fighting villains were rampant among the students…
Kim Chaemin sighed beside me.
“You two already know, don’t you?”
“You never know for sure!”
“You two, really…”
Choi Jinwoo’s eyes sparkled. So did Park Seohyun’s. I’d never seen her look so animated before, not even when she was enthusiastically teaching her friends how to make candles during hobby time.
I sighed as well. There was no need to go into detail; just saying it was a rune used by criminals would be enough. That wasn’t a lie, after all.
Whether those two would be satisfied with such a meager explanation was another matter.
But no matter how clever they thought themselves, kids were still kids. I knew the magic words that would captivate a conspiracy-minded teenager.
“Park Seohyun, Choi Jinwoo.”
“Yes!”
“You must never tell anyone else about this. Not even your friends.”
I lowered my voice as seriously as I could.
“This is classified.”
After calming the kids, who were practically bouncing at the word “classified,”
We gathered around the conference table in the lab.
When I first set up the lab, the table was so small only three or four people could sit at it, but after so many meetings here, it had been replaced by a much larger one.
Park Seohyun placed her hands on the table and spoke calmly. Her fingers twitched.
“I became a mage when I was so young I can barely remember. I suppose that’s true for most mages.”
“Well… most mages awaken when they’re young. Jinwoo, you’re the exception. Not in a bad way.”
“If my grandfather had been there when I awakened, he would have known my attribute right away.”
“It’s not something you can see with your eyes. Even you, Seohyun, would have taken longer to figure it out without Mr. Woo’s help.”
“Yes. But no, that’s not it.”
Park Seohyun looked at Kim Chaemin. Her gaze was steady. The eyes of a mage.
She lifted her hand slightly, casting a shadow over the table.
“Usually, that’s how it goes. My father used light magic, so everyone assumed I had the same attribute. Since you’re a mage, you know how other mage families train, right? When a child awakens…”
“…They create an environment similar to the family’s attribute. I played in the dirt a lot when I was little.”
Kim Chaemin added, half-joking, half-serious.
Park Seohyun smiled faintly.
“I did, too. Our house was always bright. It was a beautiful home, full of sunlight. If I’d been able to use light like my grandfather, it would have been the perfect environment.”
……
“No, it really was the perfect environment for me.”
She spoke with quiet conviction.
“It’s a simple principle. The stronger the light, the deeper the shadow.”
The efforts of a grandfather for his granddaughter bore fruit in a way he hadn’t intended.
I still didn’t think Park Nogyeong was a good grandfather. He must have loved his granddaughter, and his regret over his son’s death was surely real. But he also placed a burden on Park Seohyun.
But I kept my thoughts to myself. I didn’t know how Park Seohyun felt about her grandfather, but her love for him was genuine. She probably didn’t think of Park Nogyeong as flawless, either.
Family is always complicated.
There’s nothing more pointless than resentment toward the dead.
Park Seohyun seemed to have decided to carry only good memories of her grandfather.
“And shadows never disappear. From the moment I was born, maybe even when I was still in my mother’s womb.”
Her hand hovered in the air, unmoving, but the shadow moved of its own accord. It danced across the table, graceful as a pianist’s hands.
“My magic has never left my side.”
From that shadow, a thick mist spread. Black—no, so dark it seemed almost blue.
It was Park Seohyun’s mana. I had never seen such a deep indigo from this young witch-in-training.
I looked at Park Seohyun again. Messy hair, lips biting at her nails in anxiety, a pale face and trembling body. No trace of the “witch”—instead, cheeks flushed with life and eyes shining like stars. A smile of self-assurance remained.
“For a mage, magic follows like a shadow.”
The young mage had become a true mage.
“I’m still not… perfect, but…”
She still wavered, betraying her inexperience.
“I can handle a rune, at least.”
She had taken a step closer to what people called an archmage.
“S-sinking swamp…”
Her mana filled the lab, thick enough to take one’s breath away. The density, the color, all were deep.
The dark mana, just as she declared, was like a swamp. It clung to your ankles, pulled you down.
But it wasn’t heavy.
The shadow of the witch Park Seohyun I knew had never been like this.
That one was truly sticky, unpleasant, black as deadly poison, suffocating if you breathed it in wrong.
But Park Seohyun’s mana was different.
Still black, still calm, still dense—but also boundless, light, and clear.
Like the night sky.
“J-Jinwoo.”
Park Seohyun reached into the darkness, her voice trembling like a lost child.
“…Your starlight is my lantern.”
Choi Jinwoo whispered in reply.
Amid the dark mana, a faint sparkle like powdered jewels appeared.
Starlight.
Night sky and starlight.
It wasn’t a swamp.
It was a lake.
A perfectly clear, tranquil lake that reflected the stars of the night sky.
Park Seohyun, standing on that starlit lake, swallowed hard.
“H-here, I can control the damage!”
“…What?”
Half-forgetting the original topic, I was caught off guard by the unexpected turn.
Park Seohyun pointed to Choi Jinwoo.
“Jinwoo will draw the rune!”