I’ll Retire After Saving the World - Chapter 36

[ Chapter 36: Half-Baked Mage (3) ]

[Park Seo-hyun – S-Rank (Grand Mage)]

[Type – Shadow]

[Master – None]

[Disciple – None]

[Unique Magic – Lamp Sinking into the Swamp (?*Transformed)]

[Member of the one-person guild Lamp]

*Currently, five transformations have been identified.

A guild of the same name as her grandfather Grand Mage Park No-kyung’s guild.

[Park No-kyung – S-Rank (Grand Mage)]

[Type – Light]

[Unique Magic – Navigator for All of Us]

[Master of the Guild Lamp*]

[Died in 2013 during a battle with a drake]

*Disbanded in 2005

* * *

“Pixies are considered highly dangerous because they can fly and act in groups. However, each individual is not that strong. Above all, their bones are fragile and easily crushed by minor impacts….”

It felt like returning to the old days.

The old days were only a little over two months ago.

Up until just before the vacation, plans for raids were made and briefings were conducted as usual.

The plans were typically first checked by the head.

This time was no different.

“You’ve already finished it?”

It was an unnamed C-rank dungeon. It had even been culled once. A strategy plan for such a dungeon could be written with eyes closed.

Hong Seok-young looked up at me after flipping through only a few pages of the plan.

“…Well written.”

“Why? Is there a problem even if it’s well written?”

“No, it’s just so well written. Have you done this a lot?”

“Isn’t this something anyone can do?”

“If only it were something anyone could do.”

Hong Seok-young meticulously examined each page of the plan. After reading it all, he returned to the beginning.

“Our people should know how to do this too.”

“Writing plans?”

“There are many people who can write plans. But dungeon analysis is different, isn’t it? I thought the guide from Dasun was detailed, but seeing yours, it looks like they did a sloppy job.”

I had nothing to say, so I just shrugged.

I used to tell people that the head’s office was the secretary’s office for simplicity. Many times, I was actually treated that way. But this was my original job. The main task of the Comprehensive Dungeon Raid Control Room.

Once a dungeon’s danger level rises, it rarely goes back down. From level 2 danger, it becomes an immediate raid target, so even at level 3, a raid guide is prepared.

An investigation team is sent to confirm if there are any changes from the previous state, and if there is new information, it is incorporated.

Even if the danger level doesn’t change, the dungeon’s ecosystem can change at any time, so old dungeons are periodically re-investigated.

This should technically be managed by the head, but since he was busy, I systematized the work that was roughly managed by the staff.

Why did I work so hard?

Looking back now, I could have taken it easier without any problem.

What wealth or glory was I expecting? Everything ended up ruined anyway. Even my pension is gone.

Considering the report that the Ability Management Bureau wrote, what Hong Seok-young was reading was really nothing more than scribbles.

However, watching Hong Seok-young read even that so diligently…

‘…Shall I give you a briefing?’

‘Hm?’

I unconsciously said that.

It was just that his face, reading the report, resembled an old man’s so much.

‘Don’t worry about the kids.’

‘Didn’t you act like you would bully the kids as soon as you entered the dungeon?’

‘Well, I am bullying them even now.’

Hong Seok-young chuckled at my words.

He wasn’t the person I knew, but annoyingly, that familiar face was still there.

“You can handle it with your current skills.”

The first briefing since that day.

I am human too, so I could be a bit emotional. Hong Seok-young was there, and Park Seo-hyun and Oh Hyun-wook were also listening to me. Although Yoo Ji-eun wasn’t there, her sister Yoo Hye-eun was…. Knowing that, it was hard to believe I hadn’t recognized how similar the sisters were.

So, I just assumed it was Yoo Ji-eun.

I could pretend it was an ordinary briefing at the Ability Management Bureau.

Humans are such foolish creatures. It wasn’t my fault.

“That’s the general explanation…. After lunch, there will be individual interviews in the afternoon. Each of you should think about what you lack while dealing with your Pixie.”

But joking around like this had never happened before. Most of the Bureau hunters didn’t feel comfortable with me.

Today was the last day I would indulge in old memories. Anyway, preparing to take the kids into the dungeon would keep me too busy to feel melancholic.

Just for today. Just until today…

Or so I thought.

Exactly,

“I-I…. I want to quit school….”

Until Park Seo-hyun dropped a bombshell.

* * *

I had misjudged Park Seo-hyun.

I never imagined her mentality would be this fragile.

In hindsight, it was obvious. If Park Seo-hyun had boasted an iron-clad mentality from the start, she wouldn’t have been called a witch.

Though she sometimes muttered ominously like a witch, Park Seo-hyun generally got along well with her friends, even with her messy hair. She even helped Choi Jin-woo draw runes. That’s why I let my guard down.

…There’s no point in regretting what’s already done. I decided to try to console Park Seo-hyun first.

“I can’t even use magic properly! How can I be called a mage?”

Her response was truly absurd.

Once again, I realized that my thinking had been gravely mistaken.

Park Seo-hyun wasn’t just mentally weak. She was extremely fragile and had a peculiar way of thinking.

She seemed to have come to that conclusion after some serious, albeit skewed, logical reasoning…

From the start, her logic was flawed. It was wrong from the beginning.

Why did she turn out this way?

I didn’t know her well, as I had only seen her a few times due to Bureau work. Just look at the reports the staff circulated with warning labels plastered all over them. They also half left everything to Yoo Ji-eun.

I changed my strategy. Instead of trying to soothe her, I decided to gently provoke her. Since she hadn’t completely turned into a witch yet, her trembling hands and shoulders betrayed her unease.

“You said you weren’t qualified to be a mage. There must be a reason you think that.”

So I spoke even more indifferently than usual.

Even during her witch days, she was so stubborn that she didn’t listen to others. She ignored all the guides I painstakingly prepared for her. I can’t say that frustration didn’t stay with me…

“So, what’s your problem?”

Ah. Her shoulder twitched again. Her eyes were hidden by her hair, but her mouth was visible.

She didn’t seem to realize it, but her tightly clenched jaw was creaking.

Honestly?

It was funny.

No, it wasn’t that I found a child’s worries amusing.

“I have to become a Grand Mage.”

“A Grand Mage?”

“But I have neither the qualifications nor the talent to become a Grand Mage.”

The fact that this girl, who would become a Grand Mage in five years, was saying such things…

Park Seo-hyun, who would mercilessly slaughter monsters with her magic, also had a time like this.

So I gleefully pushed further. It seemed like just a little more would do it.

“Or are you saying basic magic isn’t real magic?”

“No! That’s not it!”

“What you’re saying now implies that.”

Park Seo-hyun glared straight at me. Just moments ago, she had been crying her eyes out.

“She hasn’t even been awakened for half a year, but I’ve been awakened for over ten years!”

If it weren’t for the incident in Myeong-dong, wouldn’t Park Seo-hyun have become that kind of witch?

But even now, it’s not exactly because of Myeong-dong.

“And I!!”

It seemed she had been agonizing over this for a long time, unrelated to Myeong-dong. Come on. Hurry up. Tell me what’s on your little mind.

“I even know Unique Magic!”

This was it.

The cause of Park Seo-hyun’s torment.

“I know the formulas, and I know everything! It’s not just knowing! I understand them!”

I know the future Park Seo-hyun. She is, in a way, an answer key.

Except for Oh Hyun-wook, Park Seo-hyun kept no one close. Yet, because she stood out so much, she drew a lot of attention.

To the Ability Management Bureau, she was an invaluable source of information, much of it unknown to the public.

As far as I know, Park Seo-hyun has no teacher.

The Unique Magic that Park Seo-hyun uses was developed by herself. At the young age of just twenty-three.

But she claimed to know the formulas?

“…I can’t do it. I’m not.”

That witch wouldn’t have claimed she created another person’s formulas.

“You know Unique Magic?”

“Y-yes?”

“How? How do you know it?”

“My grandfather… before he passed away, he taught me, along with other magics.”

“Your grandfather…”

I might not know much about the Kim Chae-min family, but I do know about Park Seo-hyun’s family. It’s quite dramatic, after all.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t turn into a warm fairy tale because the granddaughter, left behind after her grandfather’s early death, became a witch.

The Grand Mage grandfather who raised his son’s granddaughter.

When it became known that Park Seo-hyun used Unique Magic, many people naturally assumed she would follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and use light-based magic.

But surprisingly, Park Seo-hyun introduced entirely new magic. Magic that was completely opposite to her grandfather’s: shadow magic.

The magic of Park No-kyung, Park Seo-hyun’s grandfather, was famous enough to be talked about for a long time. His magic that directly guided people to the dungeon core had never existed before or since. When Park Seo-hyun was confirmed to use shadow magic, it was thought that his magic was lost…

And yet, Park Seo-hyun claimed to know it?

“Park Seo-hyun.”

It didn’t matter if Park Seo-hyun couldn’t use it. If she just knew the formulas, a talented light-based mage could be trained…!

“You can become a Grand Mage.”

Park Seo-hyun stopped fidgeting and looked straight at me.

She talked about lacking qualifications, lacking talent, dropping out, and giving up, but who could think that, looking into those eyes, she would quietly give up magic?

“You have talent.”

She understood formulas she could never use with her own magic power. Even I, not a mage, knew how incredible that was. Did Park Seo-hyun not understand?

Unique Magic refers to refining the release of magic power drawn from a mage’s own blood into a magical form. This is why most mages take family members as apprentices. There’s a high chance of inheriting the same magic if the same blood flows.

Of course, just having the same bloodline isn’t enough. Unique Magic is optimized for the individual. Even the same magic varies slightly depending on the caster, even if it has been passed down through three generations, like Kim Chae-min’s magic.

However, if the nature of the magic power is similar, it can be used by someone not of the bloodline. Conversely, it can’t be inherited if the nature of the magic power is completely different, even within the same bloodline. This was Park Seo-hyun’s case.

“I will make you a Grand Mage.”

Anyway, Park Seo-hyun was destined to become a Grand Mage on her own. If I just pointed her in the right direction and gave her some guidance, it would shorten the time.

It would be good for Park Seo-hyun too.

“T-teacher…?”

Park Seo-hyun asked with a doubtful face.

“But you’re not a mage….”

“Just because I’m not a mage doesn’t mean I know nothing about magic. Did you forget who’s been teaching you runes?”

“Uh…”

Park Seo-hyun mumbled.

“I’m not saying I’ll teach you magic. I’m saying I’ll show you the path to becoming a Grand Mage.”

“…”

“You are more than capable.”

I removed the hand that was supporting Park Seo-hyun’s chin. Still, she didn’t lower her head and continued to look at me.

“Anyway, I am your magic class homeroom teacher. It’s only natural for a teacher to guide their students…”

It’s easy.