Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Humanity's First Mage (5)
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“So, you believe me?”
“I believed you from the moment you first told me! Ah, seriously…….”
Her head suddenly started throbbing. Choi Ji-eun massaged her temples with a groan. Suhyun grabbed her shoulder and asked if she was okay. The gesture was so natural that Choi Ji-eun was once again surprised. How long had she spent with her future self alongside him for him to act like that without thinking?
‘He’s definitely my type on the outside…!’
Choi Ji-eun eyed Suhyun up and down anew. She had taken an interest and reviewed the records when she first heard he was humanity’s first mage, but she never imagined she’d get tangled up with him like this.
“Hands off.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“No, you don’t need to apologize for that……. So!”
Come to think of it, Suhyun hadn’t done anything wrong. Hadn’t she herself been the one close to him in the future? Suddenly feeling apologetic, Choi Ji-eun hurriedly changed the subject.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because I need your help, obviously.”
“…….”
“And we had a promise.”
“…Ugh.”
Choi Ji-eun felt embarrassed all over again for no reason.
“You said I was betrayed……. Can I really be trusted? You don’t even know who betrayed you.”
“Ah, you’re definitely not the one.”
Choi Ji-eun was slightly startled inside by Suhyun’s voice, which carried not a shred of doubt. From what she’d heard so far, he seemed like a very cautious person—did he trust her that much?
“You died too.”
“What?!”
“It was ruled an accident, but it was deliberate. I think the one who stabbed me in the back took you out at the same time. You would’ve helped me no matter what if you were alive.”
“…….”
Choi Ji-eun twirled a lock of her long hair, lost in thought. It was hard to accept, but she had no choice but to.
“Fine. I’ll help. But let’s set some ground rules.”
“What?”
“The future me might be different, but right now, I’m not your, uh, girlfriend. So don’t get all chummy like before. Got it?”
“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And one more thing……. In exchange for me helping you, you take responsibility for my safety.”
The fact that she’d been killed in an “accident” in the future felt horrifying, even if it was distant. Suhyun nodded calmly.
“I was planning to do that anyway, even without you saying it.”
“Stop that!”
“What? What did I…….”
Suhyun protested innocently. That wasn’t treating her like a girlfriend, was it?
“Anyway, back to what we were saying. Any guesses on who betrayed you?”
“Suspects? Too many to count. The planet management department handlers, higher up you’ve got military generals, private companies on top of that……. China’s forces are definitely in on it. No way they passed it up. They’re with the Black Vanguard for sure.”
“How do you plan to find them? There won’t be a shred of evidence.”
“It’s fine. I don’t need evidence.”
“?”
“If I just kill all the suspects, one of them has to be the culprit.”
“…!”
It sounded like a joke, but it didn’t feel like one at all.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Who knows?”
“…That’s your business. I’ll just give whatever help I can. First, before we talk future plans, I have one question.”
“Ask away.”
“Has anything felt off to you about coming back to the past?”
“?”
Suhyun didn’t catch her meaning right away.
“I mean, is there anything that sticks out about how you returned to the past?”
“Well…….”
Now that he thought about it, he’d never really pondered the reason since coming back. He’d always been focused on what lay ahead, so there’d been no reason to question why he’d returned to the past.
“Did you have anything special on you before you came back?”
“You mean an artifact? No. Nothing like that.”
“You sure? You might’ve overlooked it.”
“I’m sure. I wouldn’t miss something like that.”
Suhyun wasn’t the type to overlook an artifact. As he answered firmly, Choi Ji-eun slowly nodded and spoke.
“Then there’s only one answer.”
“What do you mean?”
“You definitely turned back time yourself.”
* * *
It took Suhyun a moment to process what Choi Ji-eun had said. He’d turned back time himself? He asked in disbelief.
“I turned back time?”
“Honestly, I don’t fully believe it either. But there’s no other explanation……. When you’ve eliminated all impossible explanations, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
“Even so, turning back time? Is that even possible…….”
“Let’s go through it step by step.”
Choi Ji-eun counted off on her pale, slender fingers.
“Has anything changed since you came back?”
“…!”
There had been. The enhancement of his telekinesis.
“Your existing superpower got stronger.”
“…And you didn’t suspect anything?”
“I had too much to do. Even focusing only on what needed doing, time wasn’t enough—why would I question a free upgrade?”
“If you awakened as a mage before returning and gained the power to turn back time, using it to return at the same time……. That would explain the telekinesis boost too. What do you think?”
As Suhyun listened to Choi Ji-eun, something clicked. Lubenfelt the Great Mage’s magic book. The voice inside had clearly said:
-First, I tested your aptitude. If you lacked innate talent, you wouldn’t have reached this point.
Suhyun hadn’t considered himself a mage, so he’d thought the innate talent referred to his superpower. But what if it meant mage potential?
Now that he thought about it, awakening a superpower by consuming something was odd in itself. Even under the same conditions, only those with the aptitude awakened, while others didn’t.
If viewed through the lens of mages? Unless you were already a mage, it seemed dubious now that a superpower user would gain magic just by meeting certain conditions. No matter how exceptional Lubenfelt’s abilities were.
“I was already a mage?”
“Not certain, but that’s what I think. Otherwise, how do you explain returning to the past?”
“A superpower that turns back time. I never even imagined it.”
“Like how using a powerful superpower comes with a heavy price, maybe the same applies. But since you return to the past, the price vanishes, letting you survive. I don’t know much either. No time-related superpowers have ever been reported. How it activates, what the price is……. If you’re not aware of it, it’s impossible to measure.”
Turning back time. This went beyond human superpowers. He’d once discussed time reversal with Choi Ji-eun in the future, but he’d never imagined he possessed such a power.
Suhyun clenched and unclenched his fist. A power to turn back time. Of course, it was a weapon beyond imagination. Even Lubenfelt’s magic book had no such spell. But rather than pride, worry surged ahead. Because this wasn’t a power he could control at will.
‘Thanks to it, I did return to the past, but this is really…….’
Practically a time bomb. A superpower he didn’t know how to trigger.
“I’d love to tell you to practice controlling it ASAP, but since it’s so different from your existing powers, I hesitate. If it goes wrong and you get lost in space-time, that’d be disastrous.”
“Yeah.”
Suhyun nodded. Still, knowing was better than not. He’d already gained a lot from this talk with Choi Ji-eun. Opening up to her had definitely been the right call.
“Let’s wrap up the superpower talk. About future plans—what’re you going to do?”
“Truth is, I’ve already accomplished about half. At this position, no one can touch me carelessly like before.”
A shadowy, secretive identity was easy to discard. Knowing that, Suhyun had built as public a presence as possible this time around. And now, he was absolutely not someone they could throw away.
“Now I just track down the rest, bolster my forces, and take out the suspects one by one.”
“The rest?”
“My old subordinates from before. The others I don’t care about, but Mun Sa-yeon, Kwak Hyun-tae, and Koo Jung-cheol—these three I’m bringing in. They stuck with me from the start. Can’t let someone else benefit.”
“You know where they are?”
“Not sure about Koo Jung-cheol, but Kwak Hyun-tae and Mun Sa-yeon are probably still in the military. They’ll get pulled for special forces when those units form.”
“Mun Sa-yeon’s a woman?”
“What, jealous?”
“I said don’t treat me like your girlfriend.”
“Ah, sorry. Keeps slipping into old habits. Muscle memory.”
Choi Ji-eun asked slyly.
“…Was future me the jealous type?”
“Nah. Not super jealous, but once when Sa-yeon got drunk and clung to me, you tried to shoot her.”
‘That’s jealous!’
Choi Ji-eun screamed internally. She hadn’t even done it, yet her face heated with embarrassment. Sadder still, she couldn’t deny it. She probably would’ve.
Suhyun spoke of the chilling memory as if it were mere nostalgia.
“You got your body enhancement surgery here, so plenty of reason to visit periodically. For now, don’t act too friendly with me in public. That’s the safest way.”
“Got it.”
“Thanks for hearing me out today. Nice seeing your face after so long.”
Choi Ji-eun bit back the urge to tell him not to act like her boyfriend. She knew he didn’t mean it that way.
“…I’ll keep monitoring your superpowers continuously. Bring it if you notice anything. And the time-reversal power…….”
“Got it. I’ll be extra careful. Won’t even joke about wanting to turn back time.”
“That’s part of it, but what I’m getting at is different.”
“?”
“Even with fire-based superpowers, some have fixed forms, others don’t. Sometimes they evolve and grow.”
“Right.”
Suhyun’s telekinesis was like that. Unrestricted telekinesis like his was rare. Most had fixed manifestations.
“Yours might not be turning back time specifically, but manipulating time itself. So for practice, try stopping time consciously. If you can control time itself, it’ll be safer.”
“Stop time…?”
“You’ve already turned back time once—why act shocked? Just try it. Nothing to lose.”
“Fair enough.”
Suhyun chuckled and nodded. That was when Lee Sun-hwa entered.
“What, you gave him the full tour?”
“Yes, thanks to you, Choi Ji-eun, we didn’t waste time.”
“Good to hear. I was worried she’d mess it up.”
“…It’s not that hard.”
The moment Lee Sun-hwa entered, Suhyun switched attitudes. From friendly to professional. Choi Ji-eun was surprised to feel a twinge of disappointment at that.
“All done? Come on out then. Just a quick check, and we’ll wrap for today.”
“Yes.”
It was several days later before Suhyun left the lab. In the meantime, with Choi Ji-eun’s help, he threw himself into superpower training disguised as rehab. Lee Sun-hwa even joked they were glued together.
No progress on time manipulation, but his talk with Choi Ji-eun had given him direction.
* * *
“Team Leader!”
“How’ve you all been?”
“You didn’t get arrested or something, right?”
“What’re you talking about?”
“That bastard Kim Chang-sik kept saying it was fishy you went to the lab alone…….”
“…Guess you got bored without me.”
They hadn’t needed to stick around during the procedure, so he’d sent them off early—yet they’d spun wild theories. Kim Chang-sik yelped beside him. When Suhyun said stuff like that, brutal training usually followed.
“How was the surgery?”
“The top expert handled it—what could go wrong?”
“Um…….”
Seo Kang-seok trailed off, hesitating. Rare for him. Suhyun stopped and turned.
“What? Something happen?”
* * *