A Gothic-style café.
Seong Yuram sat there, giving up even her lunch break to meet someone.
After she had taken a few sips of the bitter Americano, someone who immediately drew everyone's attention entered the café.
Black hair that fell just past her shoulders, striking features, and even a sand-colored trench coat.
The woman briefly looked around the café, met Seong Yuram's eyes, and beamed.
“Hyunwoo's mother~! How have you been?”
“Yes. You've been well too, Deputy Guild Master?”
“Of course~! But what's this......?”
A cup of coffee had been placed in front of the empty seat.
Seong Yuram spoke casually, as though it were nothing.
“I got here early and ordered it for you. I didn't know what you liked, so I just ordered something sweet...... Is that okay?”
“Ah~! Of course! I've got a child's palate, so I love sweet things! This is great. Hehe.”
Son Euna, the Deputy Guild Master of the Golden Heart Guild and the person who had arranged today's meeting, sat down without losing the smile on her face.
But Seong Yuram wasn't swept along by the mood.
Expressionless, she spoke to Son Euna in a voice so dry that it was almost cold.
“You contacted me several times saying you absolutely wanted to meet and talk to me...... so I came. But I don't have much time. I have about twenty minutes left of my lunch break.”
“Ah. It must be very difficult. You have children, and you have to work too......”
“No. It's fine. But I don't have much time, so I'd like to get straight to the point.”
Seong Yuram's attitude was stiffer than she had expected.
Son Euna was taken aback, but she didn't show it on her face.
She merely smiled and slowly explained the purpose of today's meeting.
“I heard something unfortunate happened. Your husband...... suffered an accident in a dungeon.”
“......Yes.”
“Since it was an unofficial dungeon raid that wasn't recognized by the government, it wasn't acknowledged as an industrial accident, and I even heard that Leviathan...... ahem. Had Hero Lee Jisang take early retirement.”
“It wasn't retirement. They just threw him away.”
“Ah...... Yes.”
The smile rapidly vanished from Son Euna's face.
Seong Yuram remained expressionless, but beneath that calm exterior was a deep anger toward Leviathan.
“No matter how much a guild pursues profit, I believe Leviathan committed a serious moral wrong.”
Seong Yuram silently listened to Son Euna's sweet words.
And at the end of those words, the proposal from the Deputy Guild Master of the number one guild was clear.
“We'll pay your husband's hospital bills for you.”
“......Haha.”
Seong Yuram let out a hollow laugh.
She knew guilds weren't organizations that would willingly take a loss simply because they pitied someone.
This was an era where even a Hero who had worked for Leviathan for years could be discarded like a worn-out shoe.
Something so romantic wouldn't happen.
That was what Seong Yuram thought.
So she asked for the real reason.
The real reason they were showing this much sincerity.
“What are you after? My son and daughter?”
Seong Yuram's eyes burned fiercely.
Her expression, in contrast, was as cold as ice.
Even though Son Euna knew perfectly well that Seong Yuram was an ordinary civilian with no abilities whatsoever, a chill still ran down her spine.
Son Euna's lips parted and closed a few times before she picked up the sweet café mocha and gulped it down.
Then she nodded.
“Yes. That's right. Hyunwoo and Yeowoo. Our guild is interested in those children, and that's why we're approaching you like this.”
“Then there's no reason for me to hear any more. My answer is ‘No.’”
Seong Yuram began gathering the documents she had brought for work.
Son Euna silently watched her for a moment before letting out a sigh.
“Haa......”
“......”
Seong Yuram's only reaction was to glance at her once.
Then she went back to gathering the stack of documents.
“Hyunwoo's mother. No, Yuram. Neither of us has time to spare, so I'll be blunt.”
“......Yes?”
“I'm building up good karma right now. I'm the Deputy Guild Master of South Korea's number one guild, and I'm an extremely busy person.”
Seong Yuram frowned at Son Euna's bold attitude.
Her eyes clearly said,
So what?
“I'm not asking you to hand your children over to us as hostages. I'm simply acting out of goodwill in the hope of earning an opportunity. You don't have to accept our goodwill, but you seemed to be misunderstanding us.”
Son Euna sighed once again and gulped down the café mocha.
“Ugh. Sweet.”
Her eyebrows flattened into straight lines as she wrapped her hands around her arms.
“......Then explain it more clearly. Leviathan threw my husband out because they didn't want to pay his hospital bills, but the Golden Heart Guild will pay them just for the chance you're asking for? All the way until he's discharged?”
“We're different from a guild that operates like some corner shop. At the very least, we understand basic decency, and we know which lines should be respected and which ones must never be crossed.”
“......”
Son Euna's hand, which had been gathering the stack of documents, stopped.
Then she placed the stack back on the table.
It meant she wanted her to keep talking.
Son Euna roughly understood the meaning behind the gesture and grinned before continuing.
“Whether Hyunwoo and Yeowoo choose our guild or not is something for the future. Right now, we couldn't sign a contract with them in the first place. Ah, maybe you don't know?”
The government has actually ordered the guilds not to approach them. Unofficially.
Son Euna whispered quietly.
Seong Yuram asked with a puzzled expression,
“Then what you're doing right now......”
“It isn't an official order. Even if the government notices, they'll probably turn a blind eye to something like this.”
“Then what exactly do you want? Please explain more clearly what you mean when you say you want that ‘opportunity.’”
“It's simple. I'd like to meet Hyunwoo and Yeowoo often. I'd like you to arrange meetings too, and turn a blind eye if I occasionally go see them on my own. Something along those lines?”
“......What? So you mean...... introduce you to them and let you meet them often?”
“Yes. Exactly!”
Son Euna nodded with a broad smile.
Seong Yuram, on the other hand, looked confused.
She was saying they would continue paying astronomical hospital bills for something so simple......
Seong Yuram wondered if Son Euna had some other ulterior motive, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't see how she would lose anything.
She cautiously nodded.
“If that's all...... fine. I'll introduce the children to you, Euna.”
“Then we have a deal. Those were very gentlemanly terms, weren't they?”
Son Euna held out her hand.
Seong Yuram took it with a reluctant expression.
***
This was the principal's office at the Academy.
The principal had a bear-like build, and he treated me warmly with a kindly smile.
“So, Hyunwoo. How are you finding life at the Academy? It's already been almost a month since you enrolled.”
He'd suddenly called me here, only to ask such a strange question.
I wondered what he was getting at, then decided to simply answer honestly.
“I like it. The food's good, the school is really big...... and everyone's nice.”
Back when I was still in kindergarten, I'd once visited the elementary school Yeowoo attended.
Compared to that place, the Academy was on an entirely different level.
The elementary school I had almost ended up attending was smaller than several of the unidentified Academy buildings I passed by every day.
So I was very, very satisfied with this place.
They taught everything I would've learned at a normal educational institution, and I could also do plenty of active things like magic and swordsmanship.
I had no complaints.
“Haha. I see. I'm very glad to hear that you're satisfied with the Academy, Hyunwoo.”
“Yees......”
“Now, don't sit there so awkwardly. Try some of these.”
The principal offered me a pile of biscuits.
I reluctantly picked up one piece and crunched into it.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't delicious enough that I'd want to keep eating it, so I ate as slowly as possible.
If I finished too quickly, he might offer me another one.
“Is it good?”
“......Yees. It's really delicious!”
I spouted words I didn't mean while suppressing a sigh rising all the way from my dantian.
I wanted to get out of this suffocating principal's office as soon as possible.
The old-fashioned, stodgy interior of the office.
Being here made me feel as though I'd stepped into some building from my previous life, which left me with a strange feeling.
Hurry.
Hurry up and get to the point so I can leave.
“I've heard you've had various troubles with Professor Kim Namwoo. Is that true?”
So that's what this is about.
I shook my head from side to side.
“No. Professor Kim and I are on good terms. He even gave me advice last time so I could form a Circle.”
“Hohoho. Is that so?”
“Yes!”
“People don't seem to think sooo~?”
Ah.
What's with him....
Why is a man this old trying to act cute?
It's disgusting.
I answered with a completely serious expression.
“It's a misunderstanding.”
“Hmm...... I see.”
Apparently flustered by my deadpan response, the principal cleared his throat.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Then he finally began getting to the real point.
“But Professor Kim told me that you engraved your Circle in a very unusual place.”
“An unusual place......?”
What's he talking about now?
I merely blinked at the principal's face.
It was my way of telling him to continue.
“He said you engraved your Circle at your navel. Didn't you know that Circles are supposed to be engraved around the heart?”
“......What? The heart?”
“Haha. You didn't know?”
Unlike his laughter, the principal's complexion rapidly darkened.
I, on the other hand, was stunned.
Engraving Circles on the heart was a practice that had been abandoned thousands of years ago after its harmful effects became known.
Don't tell me mages on Earth actually engrave their Circles on their hearts?
Surprise, bewilderment, and shock appeared across my face one after another, making the principal hastily wave his hands.
“I'm not saying you did anything wrong. I was only asking to make sure because you engraved your Circle in such an unusual place.”
“......Yes. I engraved it at my navel.”
“Could I ask why?”
“It's just...... the easiest place.”
In my previous world, Circles were engraved at the navel or, at the very highest, directly above it.
Some eccentric Mage Towers occasionally engraved them on the backs of their hands or wrists, but those were experimental attempts rather than the norm.
But the heart......
Engraving a Circle on the heart was like shackling a child's foot.
As the child's foot grew, the shackle would tighten around it, either preventing further growth or causing the foot to rot away......
“Hmm. I see. Because it was easier......”
The principal tried to put on a bright expression, but his complexion was still dark.
Even a child could tell at a glance.
This old man is really terrible at controlling his expression.
No, more importantly, I need to find this out first.
Do mages on Earth really engrave their Circles on their hearts as the standard practice?
“But Principal, is it normal to engrave Circles on the heart?”
“Hmm...... Usually, yes, the heart is where Circles are engraved. But that doesn't mean you've done anything wrong, Hyunwoo. Just because most people are right-handed doesn't mean being left-handed is bad......”
I nodded halfheartedly at the principal's words, still reeling from the shock.
Even this highly advanced global civilization on Earth had an understanding of magic that bordered on barbarism.
Even the world's only Seventh Circle mage might be far more pathetic than I'd imagined.
My goodness.
My goodness......
I remained too stunned to recover even after the principal finished his placating words, merely nodding over and over with a blank expression.