Family
Family
If someone were to ask me if I was a mage, I'd hesitate slightly before answering, "Maybe."
I can't confidently say "yes" because I haven't awakened my unique magic like everyone else supposedly has. Yet I can't say "no" either since everyone around me calls me a mage.
Truth be told, I wasn't even sure myself—I knew absolutely nothing about it.
That's why I couldn't determine my exact standing or whether I truly qualified as a mage. I could only see myself through others' evaluations.
At best, I could only think of myself as: A mage, but still a newbie who hasn't awakened his unique magic yet.
Not that it really mattered anyway. It wasn't like I was some obsessed weirdo desperate to become a mage. I just wanted to make money from this and find a cure for my sister. That was it.
But of course, nothing in life comes easy—and now I had to care.
Magic Performance Festival.
The name sounded absurdly out of place, like something straight out of a martial arts novel with "magic" slapped onto it. It felt mismatched, like calling something Sweet Life—two words that just didn't belong together.
Sweet Life was a phrase my friend Se-chan used to throw around all the time. Every time he bought something with his hard-earned money, he'd whisper it to me like some grand revelation.
"Ah, sweet life! So blissful!"
I could understand him kissing a broken glass cup and calling it a "cursed holy grail." But sweet life? That one lost me.
To me, life had always been bitter and harsh—so slapping sweet in front of it just felt wrong. It was one of my least favorite phrases.
I digress, but my point is: Magic Performance Festival sat at the very top of my "Mismatched Word Combinations That Make No Sense" tier list.
Who the hell even came up with that name?
"...Haah. Why am I even thinking about this?"
My thoughts kept drifting off track.
It was a form of escapism. My brain was redirecting focus to avoid confronting the stress of a complicated situation.
Humans needed that—too much stress would send anyone straight to the afterlife. But right now, it wasn't helpful. I needed to focus.
Slap slap!
I lightly smacked my cheeks and forced myself back to the problem at hand.
Magic Performance Festival.
To summarize what the Doctor had told me in three simple lines:
It sounded straightforward—almost too simple.
At face value, there was no issue. Not complicated, no reason to stress.
But there was one glaring problem.
The festival was only for mages who could use magic.
You might wonder: But you are a mage, so what's the issue?
Here's the catch—the definition of "mage" here meant someone who could actually cast spells. A clueless newbie like me, who hadn't even awakened his magic yet? No entry. That's what the Doctor said.
But where there's a will, there's a way. After pestering him relentlessly for a loophole, he finally caved and gave me an answer.
"If you haven't awakened it yet, just awaken it. Simple, right?"
Except the method had a slight problem.
"Eat a relative's heart?"
"Yeah, it's like an old folk remedy. Someone must've seen a gumiho devour a mage's heart to grow its tails and thought, 'Hey, let's try that!' Of course, not just any heart works—you need compatibility. But blood relatives usually match well. So if you've got any family members you don't like... could be a decent method."
"..."
"You're a mage, so it's no big deal, right? Just close your eyes and swallow. And since talent runs in bloodlines, your family's hearts would probably—Wait! Why are you looking at me like that?! Scary! Joke! It's a joke!"
After dropping the unfunny gag, the Doctor gave me a real alternative.
"Grr... Then why not visit one of the Families? Nobody knows more about magic than them. They might have a way to awaken it quickly."
"Families?"
"I heard the rumors—you killed Joo Gi-hyeok. And sealed an angel. Oh, don't ask how I know so fast. A lady's got her secrets."
"Wasn't going to."
"Ahem. Anyway, that means the Joo Family probably isn't too fond of you. Right?"
"My identity hasn't spread, has it?"
"Don't worry about that. Joo Gi-hyeok is dead, and the Grand Elder's missing. Almost nobody knows your face. Aside from your name, nothing's leaked. Nobody's tracking you down over that."
"Good."
"Still, better safe than sorry—avoid the Joo Family. The other two won't be a problem."
"The Three Great Families, right?"
"Shin, Gu, and Joo. The most influential magical families in the country. The minor ones aren't even worth mentioning."
"Gu or Shin. Which one should I go to?"
The Doctor pondered for a moment before answering.
"Avoid the Shin Family."
And so, the plan was set.
Visit the Gu Family and learn how to awaken my unique magic.
I was worried they'd be as unpleasant as the Joo Family, but the Doctor assured me—"The Joo Family's just especially bad. The others are tolerable."
So I decided to trust her and head there blindly. We were all mages—surely they'd help somehow.
But one massive problem remained.
"Where the hell is it?"
I had no idea where to go.
That was the biggest headache.
Do you know the most comforting, relaxing place in the world?
Home. My home.
After bidding farewell to Ye-rim, who had escorted me out of the Management Bureau building, I returned to the coziest place on earth and collapsed onto the sofa.
"Let's check this."
I plugged in my dead phone, turned it on, and scrolled through the backlog of notifications.
[Deposit: ₩1,500,000,000]
"Oh..."
The first thing that caught my eye was the reward—higher than the original contract.
The request had listed ₩500 million, but ₩1.5 billion had been deposited. Honestly, it made sense. The difficulty had skyrocketed mid-mission. I'd captured the necromancer alive despite the risks and even obliterated an angel.
Tripling the reward wasn't unreasonable.
"Huh?"
But my account balance looked... off.
[Balance: ₩3,551,000,420]
₩3.55 billion.
Only ₩1.5 billion should've been deposited—so where did the extra ₩2 billion come from?
I scrolled down to check previous transactions.
[Deposit: ₩1,000,000,000]
[Deposit: ₩1,000,000,000]
Two separate deposits of ₩1 billion each. From where? I couldn't think of...
"Wait."
I checked my messages.
There was one from broker Kim Yu-jin.
[Kim Yu-jin: Mage-nim! The request's rating was adjusted—the necromancer elimination request was upgraded from 5th Class to 7th Class! And I was waiting at the request location the whole time! Trust me!]
So the reward increased with the difficulty.
I sent him a thumbs-up emoji and exited the chat.
Back to the banking app. The numbers were real.
₩3.55 billion. Sitting in my account. Tax won't be an issue, right?
I imagined what I could do with this.
First, move to a better place. A proper house—one with enough rooms so nobody has to sleep on the sofa anymore.
"And I'll make my sister quit her job."
The sun had long set. Normal people would be getting ready for bed by now. Yet my sister still wasn't home.
"Need to have a serious talk with her next time."
This wasn't retire-for-life money, but if managed well, it could last generations. Still, I had no plans to stop. My sister's illness wasn't cured yet, and money was something you could never have enough of.
I tapped an app in the corner of my screen.
[Seoul Wizard Community]
Time to search for information.
"Gu... Family... search."
[No results found.]
I tried removing "Family" and searching again.
"...Gu... search."
[Search results: 2]
[LMAO these Gu Family brats are hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Joo vs Gu—who wins?]
Only two relevant posts.
I clicked the first one.
[LMAO these Gu Family brats are hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
Posted by: Heo-te - 4th Class
They just brought in some branch family kid and made him the heir? ㅋㅋㅋ
This family's a joke ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Could happen.
STFU you newbie trash. When has the Family EVER brought a branch member into the main house? Don't speak if you don't know shit.
No newbie hate pls. You'll get killed like that.
Did he hit the jackpot on unique magic gacha? ㅋㅋㅋ RIP when the Family finds out.
Nah, becoming heir = winning at life.
Purebloods accepting a mutt? He's dead within a month.
[Joo vs Gu—who wins?]
Posted by: Anonymous - 1st Class
Joo obv.
1st Class trash doing gallery patrol? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Go graduate from the academy first.
No info on the Gu Family's location.
"No choice, then."
I'd wanted to avoid this, but sometimes you have to sacrifice pride for results. With solemn resolve, I typed out a post.
[Anyone know the Gu Family's location?]
Posted by: Si-woo - 10th Class
Need to know ASAP.
Within a minute, hundreds of replies flooded in.