Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Let's Not Do This, It'll Make Getting Off Work Late (3)
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* * *
“Understood. Please calm down. I was just asking to get a sense of the situation.”
Sernal pulled out a bracelet while soothing Maeve.
Even without knowing who the culprit was, if the goal had been to sow chaos in the hospital, it seemed they’d failed.
It exploited the dream demon’s natural perception—and even the demon herself hadn’t noticed.
“No, it’s not that I, uh, like, got arrogant or anything…”
“I know that’s not what you meant. I also sensed it was around this level normally. And I wasn’t pointing out that you didn’t notice, either. I just asked because I thought it might let me see the situation a bit deeper. Sorry if that offended you.”
Maeve clutched her hair with both hands as Sernal apologized politely.
That wasn’t it.
“…I mean…”
Maeve mumbled, then squeezed her eyes shut and forced the words out.
“Sorry for misunderstanding. I thought you were just suspecting me. But I still don’t get what it means that my mana changed!”
“It means someone tampered with your mana, twisting it so potions couldn’t block your charm power anymore.”
“…I mean…”
Only then did understanding dawn on Maeve, and she gripped her hair even tighter.
“So… that means I’ve been using my charm power this whole time?”
She had no idea when it had started spreading, but didn’t that make all the kindness people showed her a lie?
No wonder everyone seemed even friendlier than usual…
“Maeve.”
Sernal lightly tapped the desk and looked at her.
Seeing her dazed expression, he spoke again.
“Don’t think about anything. Don’t doubt anything. You didn’t choose this. Admit that fact and don’t blame yourself. Got it?”
Maeve bit her lip and nodded. That was her answer, but this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
With her charm power, she could never fully trust her relationships.
Was it genuine affection, or just the charm?
Unable to know for sure, Maeve still found this civil servant suspicious, honestly.
He felt even more alluring than before.
“Since eating something might feel off-putting right now, I figured a bracelet would be fine.”
Sernal cast a spell on the bracelet he’d taken out.
It was magic to straighten out Maeve’s disrupted mana.
“For the time being, don’t take potions to suppress your charm. It’ll only amplify it because your mana flow is altered. We need to stabilize the flow first.”
Maeve stared silently at the bracelet Sernal offered.
It looked like a cheap, ordinary bracelet, yet it sparkled unnaturally.
She still couldn’t accept the situation. She was the cause, hadn’t realized it, and had been cursing whoever was behind it.
Sernal tried to calm her as her expression twisted further.
“This must be terrifying, but trust me. We need to get back to normal life.”
“…Normal life?”
It didn’t sound affectionate, more like empty words, yet it brought Maeve an odd sense of peace.
“Yes. You can’t stay caught up in this discomfort forever.”
Sernal gave a slight smile, and Maeve leaned forward over the desk, slamming it with her palm.
Thud.
Sernal’s eyes widened, and Maeve stared straight into them.
“…You’re not caught in my charm too, are you, Mr. Sernal?”
“I’d say obviously not, but words alone don’t build trust, so curse me out if you want. Would you like that?”
Even at Sernal’s teasing remark, Maeve kept staring, then let out a deep breath and nodded.
It really wasn’t.
“No. Just… I was wondering. Glad you’re not.”
“Well, not to brag, but I hold up against most charm powers.”
Sernal glossed over it, then followed procedure by informing the victim of the facts.
“The secondary cause was magic installed in the air purifier. It blocked the measuring device.”
“Magic…? Who the hell would do that?”
Maeve’s gaze turned icy. Anger sharpened her round eyes, drawing dark lines near them like eyeliner.
“We’ll check the CCTV and catch them. Anyway, keep the bracelet on. I’ll come see you next…”
Sernal’s eyes shifted as he casually packed his bag and rose slowly from his seat.
Crash!
A stone flew through the broken window.
His innate magic, chains, surged from beneath his feet, blocking the flying stone and glass shards to protect Maeve.
Crunch!
“Found you, suspect.”
Sernal peered down through the window, ignoring the shattered stone on his chain.
He smirked at the sight of someone fleeing hard.
The smile was so chilling that Maeve’s startled wings shriveled.
“You can get back to work now. Time to clock out.”
His face lit up brighter than ever at the mention of quitting time.
It was a word that brought instant happiness.
“But… I’m on duty today…”
“Too bad. I might end up working late too. Feels like we’re in the same boat.”
Maeve freaked out as Sernal leaped nonchalantly from the third floor.
“Aaah! H-Help! Police! No, a doctor first…!”
She flung open the door and yelled, then realized something.
“I-I-I’m the doctor?”
She was the doctor.
And she had her phone.
Maeve frantically pulled out her cellphone and called it in.
“H-Hello!”
* * *
Tap.
Before his feet hit the ground, wind billowed from Sernal’s toes.
His ponytail whipped in the gust, and the earring on one ear swung wildly.
Sernal shot forward along the sidewalk in one burst.
‘Throwing a stone? That pisses me off.’
Even a frog dies from a casual toss, so wouldn’t a pissed-off mage suddenly embroiled in a bigger incident die from one too?
Especially with his stomach already aching.
One step.
Two steps.
Each stride, empowered by wind in his legs, was huge, letting him weave through people and close in on the bastard instantly.
Seeing the annoying tail swishing behind, Sernal was finally certain.
‘Definitely a lizardman.’
He’d spotted the lizard tail when it smashed the window and threw the stone.
It was so quick he’d doubted, but it poked out from the clothes.
When the guy veered left at the fork ahead, Sernal prepared to grab him.
The moment he reached for magic to yank him in, Sernal halted.
Gone.
People streamed past him.
It vanished in that instant, like it evaporated.
‘…Making this annoying, huh?’
Sernal’s face hardened.
How could it just disappear? He scanned the hospital building with his eyes and walked slowly.
[Search.]
Red light flared in one of Sernal’s eyes as he cast the spell.
Some lizardmen could blend in like chameleons, turning invisible.
Not all, but of course it had to be now.
‘Let’s not do this. Quitting time’s getting late.’
Fatigue washed over him.
He knew scenes always had unpredictables.
Cases branching into more were common too.
But this was never what Sernal wanted.
He caught flickering mana and traced it upward.
The hospital building. Invisible, but mana crept sideways cautiously.
“Gotcha.”
Then a drowsy voice floated down, and Sernal barely stifled a sigh.
A slime clung cheerfully to the wall, round like a cushion, covered in floral patterns.
“Slimes have to maintain a form, or it’s big trouble. It’s legally required, so please take shape quickly.”
Catching the fugitive lizardman came second; his civil servant instincts kicked in first.
Slimes had no fixed form, but post-war, they’d agreed with other races to default to humanoid shapes without overlapping.
As a civil servant, he couldn’t ignore this.
‘…Another task piling up mid-job.’
Dizzying.
Sernal rubbed his sore stomach briefly.
“It’s fiiiine. No one comes hereee.”
The slime wiggled, extending something that became a hand, then a finger.
“But that guy, I hate himmm.”
The floral patterns on the slime’s body reddened like it was angry.
“Sat next to me outta nowhereee? This is my spottt. Take him awaaay. There. There.”
The slime’s finger jabbed precisely at something.
The wall rippled.
Sernal, who’d already spotted the lizardman there via magic, found it a bit funny.
“Seeeed ittt?”
The slime flapped happily, making the wall writhe more.
“You damn slime!”
Unable to hold back, the wall turned to scaly lizard hide, a hairless head gleaming.
The lizardman lunged at the slime with sharp claws, but Sernal didn’t stand idle.
[Appear, Wall.]
A magical wall shimmered into existence between the slime and lizardman.
Ting!
The lizardman’s swing bounced off the soft wall, momentum carrying his arm back and collapsing his balance, flinging him loose to crash down.
Thud!
“Urk!”
Sernal strolled casually toward the fallen lizardman amid the cry.
Lizardmen were tough; a six-story drop wouldn’t faze them. Two stories was just a bump.
“Oh dear, you okay?”
A mocking laugh escaped. The kind that instantly annoyed people.
“I wondered what lunatic throws stones at the third floor. Didn’t expect someone so fine and dapper. You like baseball? Hospital’s not a ballpark, though.”
“…What the fuck are you saying?”
“Just human talk.”
Sernal answered promptly, lizardman growling or not.
His occupational hazard.
“Let me say it again. Hospital’s not a ballpark. No throwing stones. Understand?”
“Fuck off!”
The lizardman bared his sturdy, sharp teeth like he’d bite.
‘From a lying position…’
Wondering what it planned lying down, Sernal smirked—then the lizardman’s upper body snapped up.
‘…Crazy core.’
Sernal was floored.
About to flick its forehead hard, he caught a pine needle scent.
‘Pine needles mean…’
Knowing who was nearby, Sernal just watched the lizardman leisurely.
A sheet of paper flew in, wrapping the lizardman’s mouth.
Sernal stepped back; the lizardman headbutted air with sealed jaws before flopping limply to the ground.
Bzzz.
His phone buzzed. Sernal turned away and answered.
[You okay, Mr. Sernal?]
It was Yirang.
She must’ve seen him en route to the scene.
Even across the street, her shocked face was clear.
[Looked dangerous, so I helped. Hope I didn’t butt in?]
“No. Thank you.”
Yirang’s fingers traced a star in the air at his thanks. Sernal turned back to the lizardman.
As the paper peeled from its mouth, it instantly bound his whole body.
“…What the hell is this? What?!”
“Goblin tribe sorcery.”
Sernal answered the lizardman’s shout kindly.
Similar to magic, but needed a medium. Usually hanji paper or ink—unique.
‘Hanji’s tough stuff.’
[Sorcery’ll wear off in ten minutes or so. That enough?]
“Plenty.”
[…Mr. Sernal. Wishing you a quick clock-out.]
It felt like the first sincere words in their talk.
Why did it spark camaraderie today?
“Yes. Hope you clock out quick too.”
Sernal echoed the wish and hung up.
Pushing down his glasses toward the lizardman, one eye still burned red.
‘No wonder it was weirdly violent.’
Sernal snorted.
No matter how he looked, the power enveloping the lizardman screamed charm.
Of all things.
Maeve’s? Or another?
Maeve’s current charm was twisted and amplified suddenly, her mana flow unstable. So the power on the lizardman wasn’t necessarily hers.
Whatever it was, Sernal stated the status per regs.
“You’re under charm power right now. Head to the hospital for treatment.”
“What bullshit?”
“Yes. Bullshitting’s classic for charm victims.”
“You fucker!”
“Right. Charm turns everyone into fuckers. Woof.”
Sernal mocked relentlessly in bullshit mode.
“Just being a fucker wouldn’t make everyone wary. But turning into a crazy fucker? That’s the problem. No sense of right or wrong. No clue what you shouldn’t do.”
Before Sernal finished, the lizardman’s tail swept the ground toward his legs.
But Sernal hopped lightly like jumping rope, enchanted his legs, and landed swift.
[Gravity 2x.]
He stomped the tail with gravity-weighted legs.
Crunch!
“Gaaaah!”
The lizardman screamed. Tough as it was, just a slight bend.
‣Highest magic resistance among heteromorphs.
Innate resistance meant this much was fair.
“Endless confidence, charging blindly without thinking of the opponent. Using power indiscriminately.”
Crackle.
Sernal spread lightning, hacking nearby CCTV including his bodycam, phones filming him.
The prior attack was self-defense, but not now.
Bosses who never showed up spouted nonsense about calmly handling charm victims, so no choice.
Bodycam and CCTV would loop the previous scene; phones powered off briefly.
Sernal raised his leg again.
Aimed right between the lizardman’s legs. It freaked.
“N-No! Stop! Stooop…!”
Sernal wordlessly brought his leg down.
Boom!