The Enraged Mage
As the cold air filled his lungs, Seoun's eyes opened, his energy having been gathered and stilled.
He began approaching the mansion as slowly as possible, careful not to break the concealment spell of darkness.
'Map!'
Fortunately, the next shrinking safe zone included the mansion.
Swallowing nervously as he stared at the brightly lit house through countless windows, Seoun thought to himself:
'You can't judge whether a house is empty just by whether the lantern's on anymore.'
Of course. It was already day 20 of the game. Any player who had survived this long would naturally be capable of psychological tricks, such as deliberately leaving a lantern on inside.
He carefully climbed over the mansion's tall iron gate. Rather than enter right away, he tried to sense any presence inside.
'If it were me, I wouldn't make a sound either.'
Sensing nothing within, Seoun eventually circled the mansion and tried opening the windows with thin curtains.
Most were locked, but one unusually large window gave way to his touch without resistance.
Drawing his concealed weapons into both hands, Seoun stepped onto the window frame and dove inside without hesitation.
-thud.
He made every effort to stay silent, standing on tiptoe, but to his tense ears, even that tiny sound rang loudly.
Crouched low, he scanned the area. The grand dining room, with its long table and bright chandelier, was empty.
Then his eyes landed on a wooden box sitting on the elegant, old-fashioned table—something straight out of a movie. As if hypnotized, Seoun walked toward it and reached out.
Was it the subtle scent the box seemed to give off? Or was it his intuition telling him it was an item, since its crude design clashed with the luxurious surroundings?
As his hand touched the box, a pleasant chime echoed.
[Ding! You've acquired the Cheongun Pill. Increases the user's inner power when consumed.]
"Hah!"
Was it because he had finally obtained the elixir he had so desperately desired? Without meaning to, Seoun let out a breathy exclamation.
He quickly covered his mouth with his hand, but he couldn't stop his lips from curling into a smile.
Staring at the box with momentary excitement, Seoun came back to his senses, his expression turning serious.
'If an item of this level is just lying around, it must really be an empty house…'
He wasn't sure whether to continue looting or to move to a safer location and consume the elixir.
Had he not found the elixir in this dining room, he would've definitely searched the entire mansion top to bottom. But now that he had something valuable, fear crept in.
The image of a mage who had acquired a Circle Stone only to die before ever using it flashed in his mind, making it hard to decide.
Holding the wooden box in his hand, Seoun brought up the detailed info window.
[An elixir that boosts the inner strength of martial artists. A flawed version made by someone who crudely stole Cheongsim Sect's alchemy technique. Cooldown time: 3 hours.]
'Knew it. The cooldown is long. Three hours… I can't use it in this mansion.'
The mansion was too unpredictable—he never knew when another player might barge in, eyes blazing.
Even someone like him, who played with extreme caution, was nearly blinded by greed just being in this enormous place. For other players, it would be even worse.
'Well, I've come this far.'
Having tucked the elixir into his subspace inventory, Seoun made up his mind. He shut the window and moved to the large door, pushing it open with all his strength.
And in that moment, the sight before him made his eyes widen in astonishment.
'Wha…'
Back on Earth, he had seen many magnificent buildings.
But never did he imagine that the ceiling of a mansion in such a primitive world could be so high and grand.
For a brief moment, he wasn't sure whether he had entered a house—or a castle.
The enormous fireplace, unlike anything he'd ever seen even in movies, and the weapons and armor decorating every corner of the house captured his gaze.
Especially imposing were the suits of armor that looked as if living humans might be inside them — they radiated such a threatening aura that it felt like they might lunge at him at any moment.
He approached one of the many suits of armor, this one jet-black, and placed a hand on it.
[Ding! This decorative armor comes with restrictions and is not currently suitable for the user.]
As expected, the system warned Seoun that there were limitations, likely due to its considerable weight.
After taking a moment to admire the vast living room, Seoun quickly began searching for items, scanning his surroundings.
The place was so wide and packed with furniture and decorations that, compared to the cramped cabin, looting was slow. Still, Seoun took his time, thoroughly enjoying the search as he meticulously combed through the living room.
After searching for a while, he spotted a secret manual (비급) inside a display case filled with vintage liquor bottles.
He immediately opened the display case and grabbed the manual.
His urgency was evident — one of the bottles tipped and fell — but Seoun didn't pay it any mind.
The moment he grasped the manual—
[Ding… Would you like to learn it?]
—CRASH!
Almost simultaneously, the sound of a window shattering rang out.
Startled, Seoun pressed the O button without even knowing what the manual was and bolted to the window, flinging it open and leaping outside.
With the bright lights of the mansion at his back, Seoun ran as fast as he could, loading a bolt into his crossbow, too scared to even glance back.
After who knows how long, he threw himself flat on the ground and stifled his heavy breathing, trying to calm down.
'Was I discovered?'
Even in his rush to escape, he hadn't forgotten to close the window — only now did he finally turn his gaze back toward the mansion, now some distance away.
He didn't sense anyone following him, but Seoun couldn't trust his own senses.
He had already experienced how impossible it was for his current self to detect the presence of a master, so all he could do was desperately hope that the enemy hadn't noticed him.
Once he was a bit more composed, Seoun began to replay the previous situation in his mind.
'Was it magic?'
It was suspiciously timed — just as he grabbed the manual, the crash happened. He thought he might have felt a subtle twist in the flow of mana at that moment.
He'd fought with a mage twice before, and after using the Circle Stone, he'd felt the disturbance in mana when a mage destroyed the cabin door with a spell.
Thinking back to that moment, it was likely a mage this time too.
He now prayed that the one who smashed the window and entered had indeed been a mage.
—Namsagwang!!!!
Just then, a chilling scream rang out near the mansion, sending shivers down his spine.
Bathed in the glow spilling from the mansion, a long shadow stretched out — and the source of the scream was revealed.
A man in a robe, holding a staff — clearly a mage.
And not just any mage. This one was on a whole different level from the ones Seoun had encountered so far — a real mage, unmistakably powerful.
Just the storm clouds and fireballs orbiting the crystal at the top of his staff were enough to warn that approaching him recklessly would mean getting fried to a crisp. The image of the frail mage Seoun had in his head was completely shattered.
'He's got a story, that one.'
Given how he was screaming the name Namsagwang like that, it was clear that some serious grudges had been built up during the short gameplay period.
Seoun kept his eyes locked on the man, not even blinking, lying perfectly still.
After yelling a few more times, the man, still fuming, raised his staff toward the sky.
—BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
What happened next made Seoun's eyes widen in shock as he flinched.
In a terrifying display of lightning, the enormous mansion was reduced to ruins in an instant.
It was like a rain of lightning — thousands of bolts simultaneously illuminated the area and tore the mansion apart. Just witnessing it was enough to make his legs go weak.
"Oh my god…"
Seoun had been subconsciously looking down on wizards.
For someone like him, who had only imagined wizards and martial artists through novels, wizards always seemed to have clear physical limitations—beings who, apart from a single powerful spell, were no different from ordinary people.
Even the wizards he had fought here didn't greatly defy that perception. That image had only become more solidified in his mind, but the moment he saw that scene, it was shattered in an instant.
"It doesn't matter whether you're a wizard or a martial artist. What matters is how strong the individual is."
He had never imagined that someone could summon not just a single bolt of lightning, but a rain of lightning and reduce a massive mansion to ruins in an instant. He remained frozen, unable to move, only swallowing hard as he watched the dust and smoke rising through the moonlight of the black night.
"If I could learn that kind of large-scale magic, I'd have a huge advantage in the next game…"
Sure enough, human greed knows no end. Even after witnessing such a terrifying scene, he still coveted the power behind it.
It was a moment when something inside Seoun seemed to come loose—different from anything he'd felt before.
Rather than being gripped by fear that his corpse could've been buried in that wreckage, his desire to possess such powerful magic grew stronger. He stared for a long time at the place where the enraged wizard had stood before slowly coming back to his senses.
"Mujeolgwon."
A new piece of knowledge that had pushed its way into his mind and taken root.
As he quietly recalled the term, a detailed information window appeared before Seoun's eyes.
[Mujeolgwon]
A martial art created in the twilight years of a man known by the nickname Manpaeja (Ten Thousand Defeats). Based on a lifetime of martial duels, he poured his soul into creating an unbeatable fighting technique. He fought 1,429 duels and lost 1,429 times. People mocked the martial art he created late in life, and no successor ever carried it on, leaving it a discontinued technique.
"Sigh…"
A sigh escaped Seoun's lips without him realizing it.
He felt a wave of self-pity—of all the things he could've learned, why did it have to be this?
Of course, it was better than learning nothing at all, but it didn't seem to be the peerless martial art he had dreamed of.
Seoun thought that in order to understand how Mujeolgwon interacted with his inner energy technique, he'd have to practice it enough to get used to it.
The problem was, he had no idea where he could find a place to train safely in this dangerous area.
He lay face-down for a while, unable to move, turning things over in his mind. Then suddenly, his face brightened.
"Maybe…!"
Cautiously standing up, Seoun walked toward the place where the mansion had been reduced to rubble.
"Hoo. There must've been a mountain of loot I didn't get to collect… Tch."
Looking over the scorched remains, Seoun muttered regretfully.
But only for a moment. He then started rummaging through the debris, looking for something.
"This was the dining room… and this was the living room…"
After rummaging for a while, the corners of Seoun's mouth curled into a smile.
"I knew it!"
Beneath the blackened remains he had cleared away, a steel door stood intact and proud.
"Even if the building collapsed, the basement should be fine!"
It had been a half-hearted hope that maybe something was there—but luckily, he had found the entrance to an underground space.
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