Chapter 15
The day after heading down to Busan.
After trying several more things in Seoa’s workshop, Ian headed to the station in time for his train.
Fortunately, he didn’t run into any aberrations on the way. It seemed Seoa’s evil spirit had done its job properly, and the Bureau hadn’t put a trace on him either. He was truly grateful.
“I’m going. Thanks for helping me out in so many ways.”
Just before they parted ways.
Ian readjusted his bag and waved to Seoa. She waved back as if it were nothing.
“It’s fine. Contact me again if you need anything. Any time is fine.”
They had already exchanged numbers. From now on, there was no need to go out of his way to send messages through the community every time something came up. A call or a text would be enough.
Ian welcomed expanding his network of mage acquaintances as well. If the other party had been evil, he might have had to think it over, but he didn’t need to worry about a mage who’d lent him a workshop and even shaken off a trace for him.
He checked the contact labeled Seoa on his phone once, then sat down on a nearby empty bench. Seoa carefully took the seat beside him.
“I’ll tell you about the Cartel by text.”
“Wouldn’t the Bureau notice?”
“You joined the community, and the Witch Mother’s magic was put on your phone, right? Then they can’t trace it from there.”
This was something new.
He knew the mage community wasn’t ordinary, but he never expected it could even tamper with phones. The mage called the Witch Mother seemed far more impressive than he’d thought.
As he marveled inwardly, a sudden thought made Ian frown.
“...Wait. Then couldn’t the Witch Mother eavesdrop on my phone too?”
“No. If she could, mages would’ve gone to find her and kill her ages ago. I’d have figured out who she was and sliced her up myself.”
Fortunately, Seoa answered at once.
“...Well, that’s true enough.”
“It’s true the Witch Mother has a pretty high-grade grimoire, but that doesn’t mean she can eavesdrop on or monitor people however she wants. More than anything, mages tend to be sensitive to surveillance made of mystery, right? If you can’t even notice that, you might as well quit being a mage.”
She said it rather forcefully, but everything Seoa said was true.
Mages were basically highly individualistic. There were oddballs who weren’t, but most put themselves before others and tried to deal with anything that threatened their own safety. It made no sense to just sit back if they noticed surveillance or eavesdropping tied to mystery.
So it was safe to assume the Witch Mother probably hadn’t been up to any tricks.
Ian himself knew that something magical had been placed on his phone once, but he hadn’t felt anything unsettling about it.
So it’d be best to drop the unnecessary suspicion.
‘I don’t know how long the community has been around, but the fact that it’s still going means the admin is that capable. If there were any problems, they would’ve come up long ago.’
Since there had been no particular change in administrators along the way, the mage called the Witch Mother clearly had admirable character and ability. Even if not, she was handling the moderator’s duties without any trouble.
In that case, there was no need to worry about it.
While Ian was thinking that, the KTX began pulling into the station. He stared at the train appearing in the distance, then turned to Seoa.
“If you ever need to come up this way, call me. I’ll help.”
“Mm. Get home safely. I’ll head out first.”
“Yeah.”
Seoa lightly tapped Ian’s arm as she replied. She stood there until the train departed, then left the station the moment it pulled away. After that, she went straight back to the workshop.
Creak, clack.
The workshop door opened and shut. She tossed the padded jacket she was wearing onto a chair, lay down on the bed set up in the corner, and pulled out her phone.
...
She swiped past the lock screen photo she’d taken in front of her teacher’s memorial portrait, then went into her contacts to check the saved number.
A name was now clearly written in the contacts that had originally had no numbers saved.
[Shin Ian]
A rather unusual name in Korea. A weirdo who became a mage after picking up a grimoire written by a foreign god, yet remained perfectly sane instead of going mad.
Seoa stared blankly at his number, then set her phone down with a silly grin.
“My first friend in life...”
Ian didn’t know it, but Seoa felt a rather deep sense of closeness toward him.
A person she’d been aware of since before he became a mage, who had become one following her advice, and even joined the community.
It was a structure that made inner closeness inevitable. So she invited him to the workshop and wrung out the little social charm she had to get as close as possible.
And this was the result.
An actual exchange of numbers. A friend he had never once had in his life had finally appeared today.
Though their ages and genders were different, did that really matter? What mattered was that they were both mages and that they got along well, wasn’t it?
That had to be it. Absolutely. No doubt about it.
Surely Merlin and Solomon up there in heaven, along with her biological parents, were nodding in agreement too.
“Heehee.”
She hugged her phone and laughed as she rolled around on the bed.
The guardian spirit standing quietly beside Seoa shed tears of emotion and shot up a thumbs-up.
*
[Title: No mod around? I’m posting.]
[Anon]
(Photo of a ghoul wearing a bikini and lying on a bed)
Ghoul lol
[Comments]
-(Mod! emote)
Early morning.
The woman checked the community the moment she opened her eyes, let out a long sigh, and deleted the newly posted thread. After checking every post that had gone up while she was asleep, she dealt with the ones that needed handling and sat up in bed.
[Are you awake.]
As she blinked her sleepy eyes, a deep voice came from the desk. The woman nodded, downed the glass of water she’d left by the bed, and replied.
“Good morning, Solomon.”
[I keep telling you, I am not Solomon. I’m merely a thought residue he left behind in this grimoire.]
The grimoire titled ‘The Lesser Key of Solomon’ hummed softly. Smiling gently, the woman went into the kitchen and brought back a cup of coffee to start the morning.
“That doesn’t mean I can call you by some other name. You get annoyed if I call you Goetia, too.”
[Don’t you have a better name?]
“Um... Sorry. I’m not very good at naming things.”
[Tsk. Nothing to be done. Just keep calling me Solomon.]
“Yes.”
The woman answered that way, opened the curtains, set a chair by the window, and began reading a book. It was the sort of book that served as nourishment for the mind, written by a famous psychologist.
She always started her day like this, with one book and one cup of coffee. It was a habit she’d had since she was little. Back then it had been cocoa, not coffee, but her tastes had changed a bit now.
“...Mm.”
After finishing the book, she rinsed out the coffee cup and studied the recorded contents in the grimoire. No matter how many times she read it, there was never enough information about the 72 demons, so she always took Solomon’s help and hammered the knowledge into her head.
[Amdusias is a demon who controls trees and plants with music. If summoned, he grants you a talent for music. But when he appears in the form of a unicorn, if the summoner is not a virgin, he uses music to kill the summoner.]
“It’s okay. I’ve never even held a man’s hand before.”
[I know. So there’s no need to hesitate to summon him. The offerings are one horse, ivory, and a virgin’s blood.]
“Yes.”
[The important thing to watch out for is that if you say something that gets under his skin when he’s in a bad mood, he might kill you in return. So in that case, rather than making a deal, you need to calm him down first by singing or playing an instrument.]
“What kinds of things are okay to offer in a deal?”
[Knowledge. Knowledge of plants and trees, and knowledge of music. It would be good to learn them. He’ll also teach you about mystical plants and music.]
“Mm. Understood.”
She wrote down what she’d learned with a quill pen.
After about three hours of studying like that, free time would finally come.
During her free time, she usually kept the community open on her phone and played a yoga video on the TV for light exercise. She replaced meals with sandwiches she made herself.
During breaks in her workout, she quickly checked the posts in the community and deleted the ones that needed deleting. On funny or absurd posts, she secretly held down the recommend button.
And then back to exercise.
“Hngh...!”
After repeating the tightening and relaxing of her muscles several times like that, her day’s exercise was finally over. She immediately stripped off her sweat-soaked clothes, finished showering, and lay down on the bed.
With that, all her set routines were done. From here on, it really didn’t matter what she did.
But what she did at this hour was always the same.
She set her phone in its stand, played a collection of Mozart symphonies through a Bluetooth speaker, and then logged into the community.
[Title: Today.Too.Fun.Aberration.Mukbang.Time.]
[Sweet Grandpa]
(Photo of some creature’s limbs on the grill)
Tasty, food. If I had just one woman to eat it with,,,,,,,that’d be nice.
[Upvotes 0][Downvotes 0]
[Comments]
-BugInYourEar: Grandpa, aren’t there any bugs near the temple there? I need to restock the bug monsters.
ㄴSweet Grandpa: No bugs! Ate them all!
-BugInYourEar: Fuck.
[Title: Looks like the Witch Mother’s around, since the post got deleted.]
[Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie]
(Photo of a cat pressing its face close to the camera)
Please lift the comment block already. Why block comments but not posting?
And I don’t even swear much.
The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Do you seriously want to fucking die?
[Upvotes 0][Downvotes 1]
[Comments]
-★Witch Mother: Should I block posting too?
ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: I’m sorry.
“This person really is... not a bad person, though...”
The moment she let out a long sigh and muttered that, the grimoire spoke to her.
[More importantly, Eunha. How long are you going to keep just managing the community from home? It’s about time you got out of the house, hunted some mysteries, and tested your magic. And now that you’re getting older, you should date a little too. When do you plan on having a child? Does it make sense for your nickname to be Witch Mother when you don’t even have one child?]
“...I’m still young. I’m only in my early twenties. And the outside is scary. You never know when I might run into some aberration. It’s safer to just stay home.”
[You just don’t like going out when there are lots of people around, do you? I saw you go for walks at dawn, when it’s the most dangerous.]
At that petty, mean-spirited fact, Eunha said nothing and scrolled down the community feed.
Then one post caught her eye.
[Title: Magebro Caught a Reptilian for the First Time Today.]
[Crazy Moon World]
(Photo of a reptilian in a suit)
I was pretending to be a Bureau agent, so I quietly followed it, but no matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem human, so I just went for it.
But after killing it, it turned out to be a reptilian, fuck lololol.
The Cartel buys these for a crazy high price, though. Am I set for life now?
I’m feeling good, so I’m handing out burgers.
Get in line!
[Upvotes 4][Downvotes 2]
[Comments]
-In line.
-BugInYourEar: In line.
-SeriousMagicAddict: In line.
-TamingMaster: In line.
The Witch Mother glanced over the post and the comments, then quietly tapped at the keyboard.
-★Witch Mother: I’m in line.
Even for a mod, free hamburgers were a serious matter.
[Sigh...]
She casually ignored the grimoire’s sigh.