Chapter 51
#51. The Discharge
A shabby studio apartment covered in old, yellowed wallpaper, with absolutely no soundproofing.
Finally, I'm back.
“I never thought I'd be so happy to see this place.”
Although I was planning to move soon, a week of life in the Gate and three days in the hospital had been so grueling that even this dump of an apartment had started to seem nostalgic.
The Gate itself was one thing, but the numerous tests conducted from morning until evening and the needles constantly stuck into my forearms were more than enough to shatter my expectations of living in a hotel.
In particular, my visit from Han Ra-el, the Tower Master, had been so shocking that it still came vividly to mind even now that I had been discharged.
-I want to study you, Hyeon-woo.
As if thrusting a contract at me out of nowhere weren't enough, she had said she wanted to study me and even brought eight bottles of that expensive holy water as a bribe. I didn't know about anything else, but the Tower Master was definitely a weirdo.
Of course, considering that the holy water had shortened my hospital stay to three days, I was grateful for it.
The holy water's effects, supposedly produced by a bishop-level priest, had been far beyond my imagination.
Just one bottle had restored my physical condition to better than normal and even repaired my mana circuit, which had supposedly been battered to pieces, making it far sturdier than before. I could actually feel that mana manipulation had become much easier.
Of course, I still shuddered whenever I remembered Choi Hye-na glaring at me murderously for being discharged ahead of schedule, but I couldn't stay in a hospital bed forever when I had a mountain of things to do.
‘Come to think of it, Choi Hye-na also made a strange proposal, saying she wanted to study me.’
I still couldn't forget that shocking first meeting.
-Let me study you. Being loved by mana? That's not something that can easily be dismissed as mere talent. I'll make it worth your while. From what I can tell, you're quite the pauper. How about 30 million won every time you cooperate with my research?
“...Now that I think about it, that was pretty cheap.”
The Tower Master had proposed research cooperation while bringing eight bottles of holy water that seemed to be worth well over 30 million won apiece.
As far as I knew, the Tower Master's family also came from a prestigious mage household, so I couldn't tell whether Han Ra-el was a pushover or Choi Hye-na had been trying to take advantage of me.
‘Considering Choi Hye-na's personality at the time, it was probably the latter.’
It would be a lie to say I wasn't annoyed, but perhaps I had grown attached to her despite myself, so I didn't really think much of it anymore.
In any case, I had accepted the Tower Master's proposal.
Aside from the slightly peculiar way she had looked at me from the beginning, there was no reason to refuse. The contract even included a clause stating that I wouldn't be held responsible if the research uncovered nothing, and I had received an advance payment too.
Moreover, simply establishing ties with the Tower Master and maintaining an ongoing relationship with her would be an enormous benefit in itself.
[S Bank]
[Deposit: 100,000,000 won]
“Once I sell the mana stones I collected in the Gate, I'll have quite a lot saved up.”
Just looking at the mana stones from the C-rank and C+-rank magical beasts piled up in my inventory was enough to make me feel full, yet I still had a lot on my mind.
It wasn't just Choi Yeong-ok, Choi Hye-na, and Han Ra-el who had come to see me while I was hospitalized.
-Nice to meet you. I'm Yoo Seong-bin, the team leader of Special Gates Team 1.
The man from the Hunter Association asked me various questions about what had happened inside the Gate.
He also asked the obvious questions that someone investigating the incident would ask, such as whether there had been any warning signs before we were caught up in the isolated Gate or whether I had noticed anything unusual.
There was no problem up to that point, but Team Leader Yoo Seong-bin himself seemed to suspect me throughout the conversation.
I had no idea what he suspected, but the attitude of someone as senior as a team leader was highly suspicious.
It even felt as though he were interrogating a suspect rather than questioning a victim.
Still, there was nothing to gain from making an enemy of the Hunter Association, so I neither let it show nor voiced any complaints.
“Tsk, if there really is a problem, he'll come back later.”
Worrying about things too far in advance would only poison my mind.
For now, this was a time to quietly do what I needed to do.
“I should go to the department store first.”
Besides, today was the day I would visit the orphanage where I had lived for nearly fifteen years, so I wanted to think as positively as possible.
***
The Mother Superior was, to put it kindly, a kind and generous person, but in another sense, she was too trusting of others to suspect them.
She had once been the victim of a scam, and the orphanage's entire property had nearly been taken away.
Fortunately, the scammer was caught by the police, so the orphanage was not lost.
If she had served as a nun at a proper church instead, she would never have been scammed by trash like that.
I didn't really know how she had ended up running an orphanage in such a run-down neighborhood.
“It's been a long time since I've been on this hill too.”
The road to the orphanage was much steeper than the road to my apartment.
It was so steep that I wondered whether a car would simply roll backward if it tried to drive up, and the area was packed with empty houses—in other words, the kind of place people commonly called a hillside neighborhood.
There had been quite a few people living here when I was young, but perhaps everyone had left by now, because I still hadn't seen a single person.
I couldn't help feeling a dull ache in my chest at the thought of how this place had become a ghost town.
“...I need to start making money quickly and get the orphanage moved to a better place first.”
Even that wouldn't be enough to repay the love and kindness the nun had shown me when I was young.
She was like a second parent to me, having cared for countless children when I was too helpless even to think about repaying her kindness.
“...”
But what am I looking at right now?
The orphanage I had come to visit after so long was so miserable that I couldn't put it into words.
[Scheduled for Forced Demolition]
Red letters painted on the front gate and all over the walls caught my eye.
Worse, the gate was half-open, heightening my anxiety even further.
Crash!
-...!!
Hearing someone's voice from inside at that exact moment, I kicked open the gate and ran inside.
The small playground the nuns had built, the old-fashioned bathroom, and even the ancient graffiti I had drawn.
In this place where not a single thing had changed, there was an intruder.
“If you've been paid, get the hell out!!”
“You expect us to leave with that pittance? Where exactly are we supposed to go?”
“Ha, is that my problem? Huh? Fuck, why should I care... *sob?!”
Bang!!
I grabbed the temple of the man who had been shouting in the Mother Superior's face and slammed him straight into the floor.
‘I’ll kill him.’
The force would have killed an ordinary person long ago, but the bastard was tougher than I expected and was still alive, twitching on the ground.
“Aaaagh...!!”
Watching him suffer and spew blood was disgusting. I gathered mana to crush his head at that very moment.
“Hyeon-woo!”
After three seconds of deep thought, I lowered my hand at the familiar voice that struck me like a blow to the head.
Killing him would have been easy, but I didn't want to commit an irreversible atrocity in front of my mother.
Her face was lined with fine wrinkles, and both hands were covered in bandages from years of hardship. Even so, her eyes were still clear and deep.
It had really been a long time since I'd seen her.
“...I’m home.”
·
·
·
Although our reunion had begun with an unpleasant scene, fortunately, the Mother Superior didn't say much and took me to her office, where she served me warm green tea.
Apparently coffee was bad for the body or something. She really hadn't changed at all.
“Redevelopment?”
“At first, they politely asked us to move out, but after I refused several times, increasingly rough-looking people started showing up.”
“Then what about the red paint outside?”
“...”
The Mother Superior silently nodded.
Her utterly exhausted eyes made my brow furrow without my realizing it, and my emotions grew so heated that my fists trembled.
I summoned superhuman patience and stayed in my seat.
If I lost control even a little, I would go after the bastard who had been loaded into the ambulance earlier and kill him on the spot.
“Now, now, let's stop talking about such gloomy things. Why don't you tell me about yourself? You're a second-year university student now, aren't you? Are your classes manageable?”
There were many things I wanted to ask too.
Where had the other nuns gone, and why couldn't I see a single child?
But seeing the Mother Superior trying so hard to change the subject, I couldn't bring myself to ask.
“I dropped out of university.”
While I was wondering how on earth I could explain that I had become a mage during that brief period and was now waiting to enter a Mage Tower, the nun suddenly took my hand tightly.
“...Are you all right?”
“Huh?”
Her eyes were filled with concern when they met mine.
It was genuine concern I hadn't received even once after entering society, before I got the app.
Seeing her like that, I couldn't understand why I hadn't visited this place over the past few years. Thinking of how many months she must have been tormented by those bastards, my chest ached so much that I couldn't bring myself to raise my head.
“Oh dear...”
Perhaps she had misunderstood something, because she hurriedly embraced me, and I made a silent vow.
I would find every person involved in making the Mother Superior suffer and make them pay for their crimes.
It didn't matter whether it was the president or anyone else.
“Even if you didn't graduate from university, it wouldn't affect your ability to make a living, so you don't need to worry too much...”
“Mother Superior.”
I took out what I'd prepared and placed it on the table.
“I’ve become a mage.”
It was the mage registration card issued by the government and the 50 million won in cash I had just withdrawn.
“...A mage?”
“That’s what happened.”
I had to spend quite a while explaining things to calm the Mother Superior, who had stared blankly at the mage registration card before suddenly jumping in surprise.
I explained as coherently as possible that the magic I had begun studying on my own suited me better than expected, that I had become a mage through good fortune, and that I was now waiting to enter a Mage Tower.
Of course, I left out the part about being trapped in the Gate. I didn't want to worry her with unnecessary details.
“Oh my goodness, what on earth happened?! Hyeon-woo is a mage!!”
Fortunately, the Mother Superior sincerely congratulated me on becoming a mage without a hint of suspicion.
If anything, seeing the exhausted-looking Mother Superior smile after hearing my news made me feel happy too.
We spent some time talking about all sorts of things.
We mostly talked about my childhood.
Back then, I had been hungry and things had been difficult, but I had never been lonely.
If I hadn't obtained the otherworldly dating app, I probably would still have spent my days alone in that studio apartment and gone through university alone.
I wouldn't have met Iris or Cheon Yeo-hwa either.
‘Once I’m done here, I should go see Iris first.’
The thought of bringing Iris to Earth someday, if possible, briefly crossed my mind as well.
While I was lost in thought, the Mother Superior slowly pushed the envelope I had given her back toward me.
“Take this money back.”
“Mother Superior?”
“Even though you're a mage, it must still be difficult for you to earn this much money. Besides, I couldn't do a thing for you when you left the orphanage, so I have no right to accept something like this.”
The Mother Superior shook her head.
“Why don't you have the right, Mother Superior?”
It still comes vividly to mind.
“I still remember. You picked me up off a market floor on a cold winter day when I was dying. While everyone else turned away, you were the only one who helped me. If it weren't for you, I would have died long ago. If you don't accept this money, then who should?”
I forcibly pressed the envelope into the Mother Superior's hands.
To keep running the orphanage, you'll need quite a bit of money whether you like it or not, so I hope you won't refuse. If it makes you uncomfortable, please think of it as helping me lessen the debt in my heart, even a little.
“Hyeon-woo...”
“And from now on, I’ll make sure those thuggish bastards from today can't even come near this place, so don't worry.”
I gave the tearful nun a tight embrace, then left the orphanage, leaving her behind as she saw me off.
‘I’ll have to ask Choi Hye-na to help with the orphanage problem.’
Of course, I could ask Grandmother Choi Yeong-ok too. She had said she would do anything for me.
Hiring guards to keep the thugs at bay, finding an orphanage building with somewhat better facilities, and finding out who was spearheading the redevelopment would all be reasonable compensation for saving Choi Hye-na.
Of course, I would have to give up asking for magic equipment.
“...Oh, right. My equipment.”
Come to think of it, I still hadn't gotten back the equipment I had given Choi Hye-na to use in the Gate.
‘She asked me to visit her family, so I can get it when I go there, right?’
Since it wasn't urgent, I decided not to worry about it.
I had somewhere else to stop first, so my next destination was the Full Moon Swordsmanship Dojo.
This Gate incident had made me realize that my life wasn't peaceful enough for me to coast through everything by sitting comfortably in the back and firing only magic.
Even if I was a mage, I didn't know when I might die if I insisted on relying only on magic.
“So you came rushing here in a suit?”
“I didn’t come running breathlessly, though.”
The wolf beastwoman I met again after so long was still short.
“I can see exactly what you're thinking, you bastard.”
Smack!