Retire 564

564 (Extra Story 31) Stars That Shine Together_3

Park Seohyun will become a great mage.

Woo Huijae had declared it—not as a hope based on her potential, but with certainty.

‘She will become a great mage.’

Woo Huijae was not a mage. Sandra had once wondered how he could be so sure, especially since Kim Chaemin was standing beside him when he said it. Sandra had glanced at her suspiciously, but Chaemin had only smiled.

Sandra herself was not a mage, so she’d thought it was something only time would tell—whether Park Seohyun truly had the talent to become a great mage. Maybe it would take ten years or so, given how confident Woo Huijae and Kim Chaemin were.

That was a mistake.

Even to Sandra’s eyes, Park Seohyun was exceptional. Even with only Choi Jinwoo as a point of comparison, it was clear. That child would one day become a remarkable mage. Whether or not she became a great mage didn’t matter; her talent would shine regardless.

Only after thoroughly investigating Woo Huijae’s mana watch did Sandra realize where that certainty had come from.

Park Seohyun is a great mage.

In countless documents left by future Korean civil servants—faces and names unknown—they feared Park Seohyun.

What? Don’t say certain words in front of Park Seohyun, and if you want something done, call Yu Jieun or Oh Hyunwook instead. And so on, and so forth.

The warnings sounded like cheap internet ghost stories—hardly the sort of thing civil servants would write. But in another light, their desperation made sense. No matter how frightening she was, for years, Park Seohyun was the only great mage who helped the Bureau without demanding much in return.

That’s not something you do just because you have a unique motivation, or because of a dead friend’s sibling, or a teacher’s request. Especially not for someone like Park Seohyun, who never escaped the grief of losing her friends.

The great mage depicted in those strange documents was nothing like the bright-eyed young genius before Sandra now.

It made sense that Woo Huijae had told Hong Seokyoung not to mention what he found in the mana watch. Hong Seokyoung probably knew, but even if it was all in the past and would never happen again, confirming that it really could have happened was another matter.

“It’s the same here.”

“Grandpa keeps mentioning it, so it must be one of the factors that influences magic. There are even notes suggesting he created it artificially if necessary.”

Park Seohyun exchanged glances with Choi Jinwoo.

To be honest, Choi Jinwoo was not a genius who would shine wherever he went, like Park Seohyun.

Reality is harsh, no matter how much Kim Chaemin said Jinwoo would become a good mage.

But Sandra valued Choi Jinwoo highly.

She had seen many geniuses, and many who fell just short—some of whom destroyed themselves trying to chase that brilliance.

Just as Woo Huijae had declared Park Seohyun would become a great mage, he’d said nothing about Choi Jinwoo.

Maybe he wasn’t sure about Jinwoo’s talent, or maybe he simply never saw Jinwoo’s potential because, in the original timeline, Jinwoo had died.

That must have worried Woo Huijae, too. With such dazzling talent right beside him, could an ordinary Jinwoo really endure?

Well. He wasn’t ordinary. Choi Jinwoo was not a genius like Park Seohyun, but neither was he one of the countless mediocrities who faded away with unremarkable talent.

Even if Woo Huijae and Kim Chaemin helped along the way, Jinwoo managed to keep up with Seohyun. He might not catch up, but he never fell so far behind as to lose sight of her. Sometimes he was a step behind, sometimes ten, but he never gave up.

Of course Kim Chaemin said Jinwoo had enough talent to be a mage.

Sandra was curious to see how these two young mages would grow. When she first assigned them rune analysis, she’d never expected to have such high hopes for them.

The better those two grew, the closer Sandra felt she was to her own goals.

After all, no one can do everything alone.

Sandra’s research was no different.

If they could find a way to close dungeons remotely, without having to raid them…

“When Grandpa taught me magic, there was a lot I didn’t understand. I was young, and magic isn’t something you can master just by memorizing.”

Oblivious to Sandra’s thoughts, Park Seohyun frowned slightly and murmured.

It was clear she was completely absorbed in her grandfather’s magic. Even if it was a spell she couldn’t use herself, she was captivated by its possibilities.

And it suited her nature, this research. That’s how mages are.

“Looking back, I think it was because my affinity was so different from his.”

“Right?”

“But there are still some similarities with my current magic…”

“Hm. So you’re looking for these… conditions? To use in your own magic?”

“It would help, but… no, that’s not really it.”

“We’re considering all options. We wondered if we could amplify Grandpa’s magic to map out dungeons. If we could pinpoint the core’s location from the gate without moving around…”

“At the very least, it would help with dungeon raids right now. And if we can make the magic easier to use, maybe other mages could use it too. To make Grandpa’s magic more universal, we need to control the variables.”

“Universalize it?”

“We can’t always have a great mage or a light-affinity mage on standby. It’d be good if more people could use it. Seohyun suggested it first.”

“Grandpa was never a fan of hoarding magic for himself. He even made his guide magic public.”

“So…”

“…Doctor?”

Woo Huijae would occasionally say to Hong Seokyoung:

Where do you find kids like these?

Hong Seokyoung’s answer was always different. Sometimes he’d say they rolled in on a pumpkin vine, sometimes they fell from the sky, sometimes they sprang up from the ground, or a stork brought them.

He’d say it as a joke, but just once, he’d said, If these carefully chosen rough stones don’t shine, that’s the real problem. To Sandra, that was the closest to the truth. The more she got to know him, the more formidable he seemed.

In any case, Sandra agreed with Woo Huijae. She didn’t know much about the other students, but these two young mages were enough. To Sandra, Park Seohyun and Choi Jinwoo were like the kind and crazy fairy godmothers who made pumpkin carriages in those old jokes she used to tell with her grad school friends.

And they weren’t even crazy. Maybe the future great mage Park Seohyun would be a little unhinged, but the Seohyun of today was just… kind, smart, and a kid who loved chatting with friends.

Their pure curiosity and constant attention to magic was probably thanks to studying at a school where they could be protected and isolated from the outside world. Thanks to learning how to live with others among the rough stones Hong Seokyoung had selected.

Sandra had once considered staying in academia. Money aside, it was the easiest way to build a reputation.

But ironically, it was people who made her give up that path.

As she’d said, Sandra had met many people at university. There were brilliant geniuses like Park Seohyun—good, altruistic, people who wanted to use their gifts for others because they knew how exceptional they were.

But she’d seen far more who weren’t like that. Take Noah Michel, so idolized—look at what she did with that angelic face. Alex still seemed to have some inexplicable lingering feelings for Michel, but Sandra did not.

If anything, Noah Michel only reinforced Sandra’s prejudices. It was something she’d realized early on, using Alex as a cautionary example.

Humans can never live alone.

No matter how exceptional, no one can do everything by themselves.

That was why Sandra had forced Alex to interact with others, and why Woo Huijae sometimes dragged the mages out of the lab to help with dungeon raids.

They were good kids.

Regardless of environment, it was because they were like that that they could think the way they did.

Kids who knew they couldn’t live alone, whose standards weren’t just “me.”

Watching these hopelessly naive, kind, and rational kids shine, Sandra couldn’t help but feel a sense of responsibility.

It was all Alex’s fault. He always looked at her with those eyes—eyes you just couldn’t say no to.

“You two little mages.”

“We’re not little.”

“There’s not that much of an age gap between us and you, Doctor.”

“Hey. I’m closer in age to your teacher than to you, so no backtalk.”

Park Seohyun and Choi Jinwoo giggled quietly.

Sandra looked down at her mug. Listening to the kids, she’d sipped away until her coffee was gone.

“I want to respect and support your big dreams.”

She meant it.

But Sandra didn’t see the world through such pure, hopeful eyes. She stood on more practical ground.

“Doctor, you’re starting to sound like the teachers.”

“Who do you think taught me Korean? Either them or dramas.”

“The teachers are better.”

“You brats.”

Sandra snorted.

Just as she had her own dreams, those kids would have their wishes too. Whether it was universalizing guide magic or something else, it wasn’t for Sandra to worry about—as long as it wasn’t something like forcibly opening dungeons, like Noah Michel.

But for now, reality had to come before dreams and hopes. The threats hadn’t disappeared.

“You’re going about this the wrong way.”

“Huh?”

“If that’s your goal… You have talent. But you can’t leap ten floors at once.”

“…….”

Park Seohyun frowned. She definitely had more of a temper.

It was Choi Jinwoo who found his composure—the talent of a mage.

Sandra thought both attitudes were good.

“Hmm. It’s not that your direction is completely off, but your first step isn’t that.”

“Then what is?”

“If I can’t do it well myself, I can’t teach anyone else.”

“…….”

“It’s more important for a single mage to be able to use guide magic properly than for hundreds of mediocre mages to struggle with it.”

Sandra looked over the materials Seohyun and Jinwoo had worked so hard to organize.

“Don’t look for a way everyone can use it—find a way you can use it effectively. That comes first.”

Sandra walked to the kitchenette to make more coffee, smiling as she went. She picked up some lemon candies from among the snacks by the coffee machine and tossed them to the two.

Park Seohyun and Choi Jinwoo caught the candies in surprise.

“I’ll help you, so let’s start with baby steps, all right?”

She’d managed to raise Alex to be human, after all.

Raising two mages? That was nothing. At least these two could talk, were polite, and walked on two legs.

Sandra popped a lemon candy into her mouth and smiled.

Time to get to work.