‘A lie…….’
That single sentence was all there was, written by itself without another word of explanation.
‘Is it related to Caroline? Or to why the world was destroyed?’
Perhaps this book held the answer.
A statue that looked exactly like the Caroline Kang Hyeon-woo had known. A transaction involving a Core Stream Reactor ordered by Empress Caroline’s child.
‘I’ll have to find two people.’
Madam Grace, who was said to be the organization’s representative, and City Lord Jino. If he spoke with those two, he should be able to obtain some information.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Ahahaha! This is so much fun!”
SKREEEEEE—!
THUD. THUD.
Lena was taking care of the monsters by hurling Fire Balls.
The Ice Lizardmen were too busy dodging the Fire Balls.
Every so often, they attacked Lena, but their attacks were blocked by the shield and had no effect.
“Lena, it’s time to go back.”
“Already? Ah, but this is fun…….”
Lena pouted and trudged toward the altar.
SKREEEEEE—!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Ice Lizardmen attacked Lena with even greater frenzy.
‘Classification.’
‘Explosion.’
KABOOOOOM—!
The moment Kang Hyeon-woo cast the spell, all the Ice Lizardmen exploded.
GRRRRRR—!
THUD. THUD.
The last remaining Ice Golem slowly advanced toward Kang Hyeon-woo and Lena.
“Why doesn’t that big one explode?”
“It’s immune to magic.”
“Eek? Then what do we do? It’d be easy if Mr. Bear were here……!”
“Right. It was.”
Kang Hyeon-woo, the Mage who controlled Mana to its absolute limit, and Park Seong-jun, the tank who possessed physical power at its absolute limit.
When the two of them went through Dungeons together, there had been nothing to fear.
‘Telekinesis.’
Chunks of stone from the pillar Lena had smashed and the broken floor rose into the air.
“Wow……!”
The sight of dozens of boulder-sized stones floating in the air at once was spectacular.
Kang Hyeon-woo lightly moved his hand.
The floating stones tore through the air at terrifying speed and hurtled toward the Golem.
KABOOOOOOOM—!
With an earth-shaking roar, the Ice Golem shattered into chunks of ice and collapsed.
GRRRRRRR—!
RUMBLE—!
In an instant, the Golem was completely dismantled, its pieces scattered across the floor.
Kang Hyeon-woo took Lena and descended from the altar.
He used Telekinesis to lift several remaining stones and sent them flying toward the altar.
KABOOOM—!
The altar shattered, and a portal of light appeared.
“What about the men floating outside?”
‘Dispel.’
“Aaaagh—!”
THUD. THUD.
Faint screams and dull impacts came from far away.
“They’ll find their own way out. We’re moving.”
“Okay!”
Having gotten plenty of magic practice, Lena nodded with a broad smile.
Kang Hyeon-woo turned and looked around the ruined Great Hall.
‘Caroline…….’
It was an old story.
More than a hundred years old.
Kang Hyeon-woo slowly raised a hand.
SNAP—!
After snapping his fingers, Kang Hyeon-woo turned around.
Seeing what Kang Hyeon-woo had done, Lena waved toward the empty Great Hall.
“Take care!”
Kang Hyeon-woo and Lena disappeared through the portal. Some time later, the staggering organization members also entered the portal one by one.
***
The first floor of Jino’s building in Castle Gaudium.
“I apologize. The City Lord is currently away.”
“Away……? He was the one who gave me the request.”
“He was unexpectedly summoned by headquarters and had to leave. I apologize.”
“Hmm…….”
Kang Hyeon-woo tilted his head.
Given Jino’s personality, there was no way he would leave at a time like this.
‘Has he changed a little after a hundred years?’
“Ah, speaking of the request, are you perhaps SIN?”
“That’s right.”
“He left this behind and instructed us to give it to you when you visited.”
The attendant held out a small bag.
“I can’t believe I’m seeing one of these. Do you know what this is?”
“This is my first time seeing such an object. I apologize.”
“I thought so.”
What the attendant handed him was a laptop.
It was more than a hundred years old, an object that had been commonplace back when Kang Hyeon-woo and the people who lived before the world’s destruction were still around.
Jino had left it for Kang Hyeon-woo.
The attendant brought up their hologram and turned it toward Kang Hyeon-woo.
“And he instructed me to formally conclude a request contract between you and Castle Gaudium, then leave a star rating and review.”
[Mercenary Contract]
[Contractor Information]
[Codename : SIN]
[Type : Mage]
[Grade : ???]
[Affiliation : Shinhwa Company]
[Contract Details : Anomaly Handling (Party)]
[Contract sent.]
[Contract concluded.]
[Contractor “SIN” has requested completion of contract fulfillment.]
[Contract fulfillment confirmed.]
[By mutual agreement, the Anomaly Handling (Party) contract has been completed.]
Flinch.
Having learned who Kang Hyeon-woo was through the contract, the attendant broke into a cold sweat and forced a smile.
“Th-thank you.”
“Star rating. Review.”
“The star rating and review…… As far as I know, those are normally left after the other party to the contract has departed…….”
Instead of answering, Kang Hyeon-woo simply stared at the attendant’s face.
“……It seems I was mistaken. I will take care of it immediately.”
The attendant wrote the review in an instant and showed Kang Hyeon-woo their screen.
[Contractor “SIN” has been awarded ★★★★★ (10 points).]
[Would you like to write a contract review?]
[(Anonymous) : He’s impressive in many ways.]
[(Anonymous) : Thank you very much. This person is…… great.]
[(Anonymous) : Thank you for helping Castle Gaudium. Highly recommended.]
“A perfect score…… People from headquarters really are different. Haha…….”
Gulp.
The flustered attendant broke into a stream of cold sweat.
After checking the reviews, Kang Hyeon-woo turned away.
As Lena followed him out, she waved toward the empty lobby.
“Take care! Huh? Mister, why aren’t you doing it?”
“It’s not something you do every time.”
“Hmmm?”
“Not your concern.”
Kang Hyeon-woo and Lena headed to their lodging.
***
The laptop was fully charged.
As soon as he turned it on, the desktop appeared along with a familiar logo.
“Wow. That’s amazing.”
“Go practice gravity magic.”
“How do I do it?”
‘Phase Intervention.’
THUD.
A small hemispherical barrier spread through the hotel room.
‘Reverse Gravity.’
“Aaaah!”
The sofa, vase, various other objects, and Lena all floated into the air.
“Use the Mana deployment currently spread around you as a reference for the basic principle. Get yourself down.”
After saying that, Kang Hyeon-woo took the laptop and went into his room.
There was a single video file on the laptop’s desktop. For the first time in a very long while, Kang Hyeon-woo used a trackpad to open the video.
[Haha. Senior, I apologize. I suppose this is how I am greeting you.]
The person who appeared in the video with a laugh was Jino.
His words were accompanied by laughter, but his voice was dry and his face was stiff.
Kang Hyeon-woo instinctively sensed that something had gone wrong.
[It seems headquarters has caught on to something. I tried to handle it quietly somehow, but that has become difficult. By the time you see this video…… well. I wonder whether I will still be alive? Haha.]
Of course, he would survive.
He was a top-tier assassin and information broker.
[I am leaving this recording deliberately because there is a risk of being tracked. To give you the conclusion first…… the statue you saw really was Senior Caroline.]
‘……!’
[Senior Caroline traveled from place to place investigating immediately after the Energy Storm, then disappeared. As you probably saw for yourself, we believe she went into a world inside a Dungeon.]
For some reason, Caroline apparently never returned to Earth and instead spent a long time in a world inside a Dungeon.
Then, several decades later, Caroline disappeared from the world inside the Dungeon as well.
[……After analyzing information obtained through various channels, I have determined that Senior Caroline is on Earth. Most likely somewhere in former Russian territory.]
‘Russia…….’
Former Russian territory was filled with Shinhwa Company’s secret experimental facilities and bases.
[And…… Beast, Park Seong-jun. He…….]
Jino stopped speaking and lightly bit his lip.
[He went looking for Senior Caroline and discovered something. I do not know what it was. However, his last known location was former Busan.]
‘Busan…….’
Park Seong-jun was from Busan.
Kang Hyeon-woo, who was from Seoul, and Park Seong-jun had always teased each other about how strange the other’s way of speaking sounded.
[Lastly, Senior. The Energy Storm was not an accident. It was an artificially caused event. The reason you were caught in the Energy Storm was probably…….]
BANG! BANG! BANG—!
The door behind Jino shook as though it were about to break apart.
Jino furrowed his brow for a moment, then hurriedly turned back toward the laptop and continued speaking rapidly.
[Senior. Keep the Core Reactor blueprints. Look for clues in the worlds inside Special Dungeons. Everything you knew was fake. Trust no one. Not even me when you see me again.]
BANG! BANG! BANG—!
Jino hurriedly closed the laptop, and the video ended.
‘Fake.’
It was the same thing Park Seong-jun had written in the book.
Kang Hyeon-woo was about to close the laptop and put it into the bag when he opened the inner zipper and stopped.
Inside were five Old-Model Cores.
Kang Hyeon-woo set the Cores aside and put the laptop into his own bag.
“Wow! Ahahaha! This is the best!”
Lena’s laughter rang out.
Kang Hyeon-woo stepped outside and slightly furrowed his brow.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m practicing!”
The living room had been completely turned upside down.
Everything that should have been on the floor was hanging from the ceiling in exactly the opposite position.
Lena floated among them, handling the Mana as though gently caressing it.
‘A half android using magic…….’
Though she was not exactly half.
She was the culmination of science encompassing both biotechnology and mechanical engineering. Kang Hyeon-woo did not know why she had been created, or why she had specifically been given the appearance of a child, but Shinhwa had truly created something absurd.
“We’re leaving. Put everything back the way it was.”
“But I was having so much fun……!”
Lena grumbled as she lowered everything back to the floor.
Before leaving the room, Kang Hyeon-woo looked back over the hotel room.
SNAP—!
“Take care!”
Not to be outdone, Lena waved toward the empty room.
.
.
.
“Checkout. And I’m looking for someone called Madam Grace.”
“……Pardon?”
“Do you know her?”
The hotel receptionist looked back and forth between Kang Hyeon-woo and Lena with a flustered expression.
Kang Hyeon-woo stared silently at the receptionist, his face expressionless.
“W-well…… If you mean Madam Grace, I believe you are referring to the head of Merpa Casino…….”
“Casino.”
Merpa Casino advertised throughout the entire city and was universally acknowledged as Castle Gaudium’s premier establishment.
Kang Hyeon-woo found it somewhat absurd that a criminal organization was openly operating a business in broad daylight.
‘Jino, what the hell have you been doing……?’
Most City Lords managed the criminal organizations in their cities’ underworlds only to the extent necessary for governing the city.
Jino appeared to have gone far beyond that level.
“Your checkout is complete. Thank you. Please visit us again.”
The receptionist bowed politely.
As they left the lobby, Lena tilted her head.
“Mister, you eat Cores because you don’t have enough energy to control the Stream, right?”
“More or less.”
“But your account has unlimited Cores. Can’t you just buy as many as you want with that?”
Apparently, Lena had seen Kang Hyeon-woo’s profile and balance information displayed at the reception desk.
“The Cores Shinhwa sells now have a lower concentration of energy. There’s a limit to how many Cores I can fit in my bag and storage belt.”
“Aha……!”
There was another reason he had not told Lena.
At some point, impurities had begun to appear in the pure Mana condensate within the Cores sold by Shinhwa.
Their properties were difficult to identify even for Kang Hyeon-woo, who had been called the Archmage.
His instincts warned him that he should not continue consuming those Cores.
Kang Hyeon-woo kept that part to himself and headed toward Merpa Casino.
***
“U-uh……!”
Thump.
The moment Kang Hyeon-woo entered the casino, the first person he encountered in the lobby collapsed to the floor at the sight of him.
“Good to see you. Do you remember me?”
He was one of the criminal organization members Kang Hyeon-woo had encountered in the Special Dungeon.
“U-uhhh……!”
The organization member sat trembling on the floor, staring at Kang Hyeon-woo in terror and pointing at him with a shaking hand, able to utter only groan-like sounds.
“Take me to Madam Grace.”
“Uh…… uhh……!”
“If you make me say it twice, this casino will disappear from the map today.”
“Eek……! Th-this way!”
The organization member quickly scrambled to his feet and guided Kang Hyeon-woo and Lena.
DING—!
Kang Hyeon-woo’s group took the elevator to the top floor.
It was a spacious office with a clean, minimalist interior.
“I thought I told you not to let anyone in?”
A woman who had been leaning against a massive desk while reading something shouted in a sharp voice.
She was a Westerner dressed in a black suit and glasses, with long blond hair tied back.
“Ah, well……! Madam. Th-this is the person I reported earlier…….”
“Oh…… So the very person who wrecked our deal has come to see me?”
“Are you Madam Grace?”
“And if I am?”
“I want two things. First, how you came to establish trade with the world inside a Special Anomaly, why you’re trading the Core Stream Reactor, and information about the statue that was there.”
“……? I think you just asked me three things.”
Grace raised the corner of her mouth in a slight sneer.
The organization member who had brought Kang Hyeon-woo there went pale with fear and hurried over to Grace.
“M-Madam! Don’t make him say it twice! We’ll all die!”
“……? What are you babbling about?”
Kang Hyeon-woo slowly walked toward Grace and cast a spell.
‘Phase Intervention.’
THUD.
A hemispherical barrier spread outward and covered the office.
“Aaaaaagh! Aaaaagh! Aaaagh!”
The organization member collapsed to the floor and screamed.
‘Silence.’
The face of the organization member afflicted by Silence turned deathly pale.
Kang Hyeon-woo turned his gaze back to Grace.
“More than anything else, there’s one thing I’m most curious about. What’s your relationship with Jino, the master of this criminal organization?”