A run-down studio apartment with yellowed, stained wallpaper and nonexistent soundproofing.
Finally, I'm back.
"I never thought I'd be so glad to see this place."
Even though I planned to move soon, the week spent in the Gate and the three days in the hospital were enough to make me miss this dump.
The Gate was one thing, but the endless tests from morning till night and the IV needles constantly jabbing my arm shattered any expectations I had of a hotel-like stay.
The visit from Archmage Hanlael was especially shocking, vivid even now after my discharge.
-I want to study you, Mr. Hyunwoo.
Not only did she present me with a contract out of the blue, but she also brought eight bottles of that expensive holy water as a bribe, saying she wanted to study me. I don't know about anything else, but the Archmage was definitely eccentric.
Of course, considering that the holy water allowed me to shorten my hospital stay to three days, I was grateful for that.
The effects of the holy water, made by a priest of bishop-level, were beyond imagination.
With just one bottle, my physical condition recovered to better than normal, and even my tattered magic circuits were restored much stronger. I could feel that it had become much easier to control my magic.
Of course, thinking about how Choi Hyena glared at me with murderous intent because I was being discharged earlier than expected still made my stomach churn, but I had too much to do to lie in a hospital bed forever.
'Come to think of it, Choi Hyena also made me a strange proposal, saying she wanted to study me.'
I still couldn't forget that shocking first encounter.
-Let me study you. To be loved by mana? That's an area that's hard to dismiss as mere talent. I'll compensate you generously. Judging from a quick glance, you seem to be quite the pauper. How about 30 million won for each time you cooperate with the research?
"…Looking back, that's a bit stingy."
The Archmage had brought eight bottles of holy water, each probably worth well over 30 million won, as a bribe to propose research cooperation.
As far as I knew, the Archmage's family also came from a family of mages, but was Hanlael a pushover, or was Choi Hyena trying to take advantage of me?
'Considering Choi Hyena's personality at the time, it was probably the latter.'
It would be a lie to say I wasn't annoyed, but I'd grown fond of her in a strange way, so I didn't really think much about it anymore.
Besides, I had already accepted the Archmage's offer.
There was no reason to refuse, except for the strange look in her eyes when she looked at me. She even included a clause that she wouldn't hold me responsible if she didn't find anything through the research, and I even received an advance.
Moreover, being able to make contact with the Archmage in any way and maintain a continuous relationship was a huge benefit in itself.
[S Bank]
[Deposit 100,000,000 won]
"If I sell the magic stones I collected in the Gate this time, I'll have quite a bit saved up."
My stomach was full just looking at the C-grade and C+-grade magic stones of the magical beasts piled up in my inventory, but my head was still complicated.
While I was hospitalized, it wasn't just Choi Youngok, Choi Hyena, and Hanlael who came to see me.
-Nice to meet you. I'm Yoo Seongbin, team leader of Special Gate Team 1.
The man who came from the Hunter Association asked me various things about what happened inside the Gate.
He asked the usual questions from the perspective of someone investigating the incident, such as whether there were any premonitory symptoms when I was caught up in the isolated Gate, or whether I had noticed anything strange.
There was no problem up to that point, but the team leader Yoo Seongbin seemed to be suspicious of me throughout the conversation.
I didn't know what he was suspicious of, but it was strange that a man who was a team leader would act like that.
I even felt like I was being interrogated as a suspect, not investigated as a victim.
However, it wouldn't be good to be on bad terms with the Hunter Association, so I didn't show it or express any dissatisfaction.
"Tsk, if there's really a problem, they'll come back later."
Worrying too much in advance is just poison.
Now was the time for me to do what I had to do silently.
"I need to go to the department store first."
Besides, today was the day I was going to the orphanage where I had lived for nearly 15 years, so I wanted to think only good thoughts as much as possible.
***
The Mother Superior was kind and generous to others, but in a way, she didn't know how to be suspicious of others.
She had once been scammed, and the orphanage land was almost lost entirely.
Fortunately, the scammer was caught by the police, so the orphanage didn't disappear.
If she had been a formal nun in the church, she wouldn't have been scammed by trash like that.
I don't know how she ended up running an orphanage in this rundown neighborhood.
"It's been a while since I've been on this hill."
The road to the orphanage was much steeper than the road to my studio apartment.
It was so steep that I wondered if the car would roll backward if I drove up it, and the surrounding area was full of empty houses, so it was a place commonly called a shantytown.
When I was young, quite a few people lived there, but now I didn't see a single person, as if they had all left.
I wondered how it had become such a ghost town, and a corner of my heart ached for no reason.
"…I need to make money quickly and move the orphanage to a better place."
That wouldn't be enough to repay the love and grace I received from the Mother Superior when I was young.
She was like my second parent, who took care of countless children in a time when I couldn't even think about filling my meager conscience.
"…"
But what am I looking at right now?
The orphanage, which I hadn't visited in a long time, was so miserable that I couldn't bring myself to say anything.
[Scheduled for Forced Demolition]
The red letters written all over the gate and walls caught my eye.
Moreover, the half-open gate amplified my anxiety even further.
Crash!
-…!!
At that moment, the sound of someone's voice coming from inside made me kick open the gate and run inside.
The small playground that the nuns had made, the old-fashioned toilet, and the old graffiti that I had made.
There was an uninvited guest in this place that hadn't changed in any way.
"Damn it, I told you to get out if you got the money!!"
"You want us to leave with just that money? Where do you want us to go!"
"Ha, is that my business? Huh? Damn it, is that my business…cough?!"
Bang!!
I grabbed the temple of the man who was yelling at the Mother Superior and slammed him into the floor.
'I'm going to kill him.'
It was a force that would have killed an ordinary person, but he was still alive and wriggling, as if he was tougher than I thought.
"Ugh…!!"
It was disgusting to see him spitting blood and suffering. At that moment, I was about to raise my magic to crush his head.
"Hyunwoo!"
After a deep thought for three seconds at the familiar voice that seemed to hit my head, I lowered my hand.
Killing him was simple, but I didn't want to commit an irreversible atrocity in front of my mother.
Wrinkled, calloused hands covered in bandages, yet with clear and deep eyes.
It's been a long time.
"…I'm back."
·
·
·
I didn't show a good look from the first moment of reunion, but fortunately, the Mother Superior took me to the head nun's office without saying anything and served me warm green tea.
She said coffee was bad for my health, so it wasn't allowed, and she was really consistent.
"Redevelopment?"
"At first, they politely requested that we leave, but when I refused several times, rough people started coming."
"Then the red paint written outside is also?"
"…"
The Mother Superior nodded without saying a word.
My brow furrowed and my emotions became so intense that my fists trembled as I looked at her exhausted eyes.
I used superhuman patience and didn't get up from my seat.
If I failed to control my emotions even a little, I would go after the guy who was taken away in the ambulance earlier and kill him.
"Okay, okay, let's stop talking about such depressing things and tell me about you, Hyunwoo. I think you're a sophomore in college now, so are the classes worth taking?"
I had a lot of things I wanted to ask.
Where did the other nuns go, and why weren't there any children?
But looking at the Mother Superior trying to change the subject, I couldn't dare to ask.
"I dropped out of college."
And I wondered how I could explain that I had become a mage in that short period of time and was now waiting to enter the Magic Tower, when the Mother Superior suddenly grabbed my hand tightly.
"…Are you okay?"
"Yes?"
The Mother Superior's eyes were full of concern.
It was a sincere concern that I had never received even once until I got the app and went out into the world.
The thought of the Mother Superior, who had been suffering from those guys for months, made my heart ache, and I couldn't lift my head easily.
"Oh my…"
Seeing me like that, the Mother Superior, who seemed to have misunderstood something, quickly wrapped her arms around me, and I made a vow inside.
I'm going to find all the guys who are related to making the Mother Superior suffer and make them pay for their sins.
It didn't matter if it was the president or anyone else.
"You don't need to worry too much because you can make a living even if you don't go to college…"
"Mother Superior."
I took out what I had prepared from my pocket and put it on the table.
"I became a mage."
It was a mage registration card issued by the state and 50 million won in cash that I had just withdrawn.
"…A mage?"
"That's right."
I had to explain for a long time to calm down the Mother Superior, who was startled after looking at the mage registration card with a blank look.
I explained as logically as possible that the magic I started learning on my own suited me better than I thought, and that I was lucky enough to become a mage and was now waiting to enter the Magic Tower.
Of course, I left out the part about being trapped in the Gate. I didn't want to worry the Mother Superior with unnecessary words.
"Oh my, what's going on?! Hyunwoo is a mage!!"
Fortunately, the Mother Superior congratulated me purely on becoming a mage without any suspicion.
Rather, the Mother Superior, who had been full of exhaustion, smiled after hearing my news, and I felt better.
So we spent some time talking about various things.
We mainly talked about my childhood.
I was hungry and tired, but I wasn't lonely.
Even if I hadn't gotten the other world dating app, I would still be spending time alone in that studio apartment and going to college alone.
I wouldn't have met Iris and Cheon Yeohwa either.
'I need to go see Iris as soon as I'm done with my business.'
The thought of bringing Iris to Earth someday briefly crossed my mind.
While I was distracted by other thoughts, the head nun quietly pushed the envelope I had given her back to me.
"Take this money back."
"Mother Superior?"
"Even if you're a mage, it's still hard to make such a large sum of money. Besides, I couldn't do anything for you when you left the orphanage, so I don't deserve to receive something like this."
The Mother Superior shook her head.
"No, why don't you deserve it?"
I still remember it vividly.
"I still remember it. You picked me up from the market on a cold winter day when I was dying. You were the only one who helped me while everyone else was turning away. If you hadn't been there, I would have died a long time ago. Who would receive this money if you didn't?"
I forcibly put the envelope in the Mother Superior's arms.
"You'll need quite a bit of money to run the orphanage in the future, so I hope you won't refuse. If you're uncomfortable, please think of it as helping me to reduce my debt of gratitude even a little bit."
"Hyunwoo…"
"And I'll make sure that those punks won't be able to come near this place again, so you don't have to worry."
I hugged the Mother Superior, who was tearing up, and left the orphanage, leaving the Mother Superior, who was seeing me off, behind.
'I need to ask Choi Hyena to help with the orphanage problem.'
Of course, I could ask Choi Youngok's grandmother for help. She said she would do anything for me.
It would be appropriate to receive the arrangement of bodyguards to stop the thugs, the search for an orphanage building with better facilities, and finding out who is leading this redevelopment as compensation for saving Choi Hyena.
Of course, I'd have to give up on asking for magical equipment.
"…Oh, right. My equipment."
Come to think of it, I haven't gotten back my equipment that I gave Choi Hyena to use in the Gate yet.
'She told me to visit her family, so I'll go there then, right?'
It wasn't an urgent matter, so I decided to ignore it.
I had another place to go right now, so the next place I was going was the Full Moon Swordsmanship Dojo.
I realized that my fate wasn't peaceful enough for me to just sit back and freeload by shooting magic from behind, starting with this Gate incident.
No matter how much of a mage I am, I might die someday if I keep insisting on magic.
"So you came running here in a suit?"
"I never came running."
The wolf beastman I met after a long time was still small.
"I can see everything you're thinking, you bastard."
Whack!