Tinker Bell and Raising Hyun

Every mage has their own vision magic. It doesn't matter how skilled they are. If you're a mage, there's always a spell you cherish, and cherishing it means spending more time on it. Eventually, that creates something slightly different from the original. There's a formal definition of vision magic as "an independent spell that deviates from the existing framework," but who cares about that? If it's a magic you hold dear, then it is vision magic. That's why you don't casually ask about someone else's vision magic, and they don't casually reveal it. It's deeply personal. It's a mage's own history.

"Shall I teach you?"

"What?!"

That was why the investigators and the viewers couldn't help but be stunned. She was offering to teach them a magic that could instantly identify what spells other people had learned? Just like that?

Why?

At first the investigators suspected her motives, but they soon fell into a spiral of self-doubt. The internal process went something like this: They felt ashamed for being unable to trust another person's kindness. But then they looked at Siren smiling so brightly and thought, Would someone this pretty really lie? No—if a beauty like her lied, wouldn't the world itself be doomed? And didn't pretty people usually grow up receiving so much goodwill that they developed good personalities? Ah, whatever. Let's just believe her.

The entire debate lasted roughly five seconds.

The investigator snapped into a perfect ninety-degree bow.

"Please, by all means, teach us!"

The mage viewers who had been watching from the sidelines, assuming it was just the usual trolling, hurriedly joined the queue.

"Oh, right. I forgot to turn the stream off."

Only then did I notice. And right at that moment, my phone rang. It was Yu Gang-hyeok.

"Everyone, that's all for today's broadcast."

And so the live stream ended late—

The message boards, of course, exploded.

The day after the black mage incident, we headed to the Association. Yu Gang-hyeok, dressed in a full suit and tie, along with several people who looked like mages, were waiting for us right at the entrance.

"We've been expecting you. This way, please."

In the same VIP room where we'd first met, Yu Gang-hyeok and the mages gave a long presentation complete with PowerPoint slides. To summarize: Siren is magnificent, her detection magic is divine, the Association has always been proud of you both, so please sign an exclusive contract with us, pretty please—

There were, of course, solid reasons why it had to be the Association rather than a mage tower or guild.

"If the detection magic is released as open source, it will cause massive chaos."

Siren's detection magic—nicknamed Hunting Dog—worked like x-ray goggles for mages. The moment it became open source, every corner of the industry would descend into paranoia. That guy was staring at me earlier. Don't tell me he learned Hunting Dog? Conflicts and accusations would be inevitable. Especially if it fell into a villain's hands, it could lead to horrific personal crimes. On the other hand, if the Association held exclusive rights, it would become a powerful tool for catching villains. They emphasized this point heavily.

"We will offer an annual royalty of five billion won."

Yu Gang-hyeok finished speaking. Siren thought for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a moment, then opened her mouth.

"All right. I'll sign the contract."

"! Thank you so much!"

"But I have one condition."

As expected…

Yu Gang-hyeok nodded heavily. He hadn't thought the negotiation would end easily. Would she demand more money? More convenience? A title, perhaps? But it didn't matter what she asked for. Everything was already prepared!

Bring it on.

Yu Gang-hyeok steeled himself inwardly.

"Hunting Dog doesn't suit a magical girl."

"?"

"I'll go with Tinker Bell. It gives off that slight feeling of a fairy whispering secrets!"

"Ah, yes. Understood."

While the Association that had snatched the next archmage's vision magic was busy getting cursed out, Siren and I were completely absorbed in preparing new content. That content was games.

After dungeon night streams, the most frequent collaboration requests had been for games. I hadn't been interested at first… but once I realized games were the medium that had originally connected me and Siren, she said she wanted to try, and we've been testing various titles.

In three days we tried a total of twenty games.

And we didn't clear a single one.

The archmage Siren was a complete noob.

"…Again."

"Pfft—"

"Don't laugh and sit properly. Again."

In the fighting game known as Iron Fist, she challenged me ten times and lost all ten. I'm not exactly pro myself, but… Siren was just that bad. Well, nobody can be good at everything, right? Since opportunities to tease her didn't come often, I went all out.

"High!"

"You said high!"

"Yeah, I lied. It's low."

"Ugh, stop lying!"

"Low!"

"Ack!"

"This time it really is low~"

"Why aren't you doing it like before!"

"Weren't you the one who told me not to lie?"

"Lee Hyun!"

After that she lost five more times in a row for a total of fifteen straight losses. Siren's fists were trembling. I put my arm around her shaking shoulders and spoke as if I understood perfectly.

"It's fine. It's okay to be bad at games."

"…That's right. My specialty is magic, after all."

"But if we're going to make games our content, shouldn't you be good at them?"

"…What? What do you want me to do about it!"

Thump, thump— Siren pounded my chest.

"Hahaha, hit me harder. It's just the flailing of the defeated."

"…"

"Actually it feels pretty nice—ow. Iren, wait. Urk."

Her fists turned out to be surprisingly spicy. So our Iren was physically strong too. I didn't particularly want to learn that fact this way.

"Block it like you would in the game!"

"Kuhk. You hit me in the solar plexus."

I had to pay the price for all that teasing. Afterward I recommended a different game to the real Siren. Since modern games were balanced for the average high-level player, I picked an older title for her. A game that balanced physical and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mental skill—With your brilliant mind, I'm sure you can do it—encouraged by my cheer, Siren sat down at the computer again. After giving her a quick rundown of the controls, I left the house to buy snacks.

Right as I stepped out the front door—

BANG—!!!

"Whoa."

The sound of something shattering rang out.

"This is supposed to be the beginner zone!"

"Yikes."

Before any sparks could fly my way, I hurriedly sprinted to the convenience store. For reference, the game I had recommended to Siren was the folk game of Korean middle-aged men: StarCraft.

My ears weren't working properly. There was a clogged, damp feeling… probably blood flowing from my eardrums… or not.

"Mmmph mmmph."

"…Iren. I'm sorry. Can we stop now?"

"Therve you right!"

Siren was clinging to my back like a cicada, biting my ear. It was probably revenge for making her play a game full of ancient fossils, but I had no idea why she chose to gnaw on my ear specifically. Anyway.

After finally prying the cicada-like Siren off me, I fell into deep thought.

"Let's switch to mobile games."

Since Siren had such terrible hands, computer games were a lost cause.

"Fine. I hate computer games anyway."

"Still, you can't just break the computer."

"Those people kept doing cheap worker rushes!"

Well, there was a sad backstory there about Siren getting rushed in the early game, but anyway.

Siren tried all kinds of mobile games—subculture, defense, open world, turn-based, the works. They were better than computer games, but her terrible hands remained unchanged.

Hmm. It was clear. Siren had zero talent for games.

I suggested she lean into the "game illiterate" concept, but—

"No way!"

She shook her head furiously in total rejection.

So I recommended the final bastion of the game-illiterate: idle games.

Idle game streams actually had decent demand. Viewers got a lot of vicarious satisfaction from watching characters grow ridiculously strong after massive cash injections.

However.

"What's the point of a game that hunts and grows on its own!"

It seemed Siren had already developed the sour attitude of a game snob. Iren, Iren, are you really denying your own roots? Only people with terrible hands usually looked down on idle games, and here you were doing the same.

"Just try it once."

"No!"

"I'll let you sleep in my arms."

"…Just once."

There was a bit of back-and-forth, but she eventually picked up the smartphone again. And her reaction after trying the current top-grossing idle game was—

"This is fun!"

Out of every game she'd tried so far, this was the one she liked the most.

"See? Your roots don't lie."

"What?"

"Nothing."

The sacred genre where spending money made you stronger. Thanks to the generous payment from the Association, Siren had a very healthy bank account. She nibbled away at roughly one percent of it, and her character quickly claimed the number one spot on the server.

"More… I need more growth…!"

As expected, the dopamine crystal that elite university graduates had designed to open players' wallets worked just as well on an archmage. The moment our content was decided, Siren spoke the next day.

"I just had a great idea."

"What is it?"

"I came up with it while raising my character."

"So what is it?"

"It's called Raising Hyun!"

"?"

"We'll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠make content out of you learning magic and growing stronger!"

"??"

"The name is Raising Hyun!"

Iren, what on earth are you suddenly talking about?

Association President Yu Gang-hyeok had been in an exceptionally good mood lately.

"Heh heh heh. Hahaha."

He kept laughing at random moments. It was all thanks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the incredible lucky charm that had rolled into his lap—Siren. Subjugating the black mage, the exclusive contract for her detection magic now called Tinker Bell, and the promise to help with the Bukhan Mountain gate. Thanks to her, the voices calling to separate dungeon loot trading rights from the Association had gone silent. High-ranking officials were bowing their heads, eager to build connections with her.

And Siren wasn't abusing her power either… so Gang-hyeok wanted to maintain this relationship at least until his term ended. He would absolutely not let something like what happened with Lee Seon occur!

"How can I look even better in her eyes…"

Should he form a dedicated team to handle all her schedules? Or give her an entire floor of the Association building? He was pondering these things when—