A Week Since Lee Sera and Kang Seo-hee Started Visiting the Tower
A week had passed since Lee Sera and Kang Seo-hee first showed up at the tower. Today, as always, I let out a sigh at Kang Seo-hee's visit.
Ever since I'd turned down her offer to join the tower, she came by every single day.
"No, that's…."
"Hey, get inside quick. Leave the cleaning to me."
Kang Seo-hee had barged in confidently before I knew it, tying on an apron as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the two boys.
"What are you two doing? Start cleaning already."
"……."
"……."
The black-and-white duo boys shot me pitiful looks, but I rolled my eyes and looked away.
"Aaaah! This is too much, Mayor! We did a full deep clean yesterday!"
I am a great holy relic…!
The black-haired Jang-gil was hoisted into the air by Kang Seo-hee with one hand.
"Whoa… she lifted that guy with one hand…."
Let me go, you outdated mage!
"Want to try getting broken by this outdated hag, or start on the laundry?"
I'll do the laundry….
And just like that, Jang-gil vanished, hauling blankets and piles of clothes.
"Don't you think washing that often is overkill…?"
"No way. Blankets every two weeks! Pillowcases every week—that's how you stay healthy."
"……."
Kang Seo-hee slithered closer, her tentacles wriggling.
"So, what do you feel like eating today? Japanese? Western? Korean?"
"K-Korean…."
I shot her a miserable look. The ten-year age gap excuses and polite speech were long gone; now she just stared at me with those intense eyes.
"You can stop now. I get that you want to join the tower, and I'm grateful for what you did for my father."
At my words, Kang Seo-hee snatched up a spatula and glared.
"Absolutely not. Do you know how shocked I was on my first day here?"
"Ah…."
Me, Jang-gil, and Shasha—we all lived by a "just wing it" vibe, so yeah, the place had been pretty messy when she first arrived.
"H-Hey, but we don't live like that every day. Really. We clean pretty often…."
Kang Seo-hee shook her head at my excuse.
"I was horrified seeing that lobby turned into a trash heap! Who treats a fancy tower like that?!"
"……."
"It's those two brats, right?"
"Uh, y-yeah…."
Shasha gave me a deadpan stare at my admission.
"Mayor, the cake cases and banana peels were all…."
No! The snack wrappers were that Lee Ha-ryeong or whoever's fault!
"We were the ones cleaning up after them!"
"Ahem! Even then, it wasn't that dirty…."
Kang Seo-hee narrowed her eyes and fixed me with a stare.
"Anyway, as long as I'm here, no way am I letting that happen. Got it?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am…."
I sighed and stood up.
"Alright, then. I'm off to the training hall."
At my words, Jang-gil hurriedly shifted into his staff form.
Ah, then I'll go with you as your guide….
"Ah! M-Me too, sh-should I tr-train a bit?"
At their words, Kang Seo-hee wrapped her tentacles around them both.
"You two do cleaning first, okay?"
"Eek!"
Ah, that's cheating….
The two slumped over as if falling asleep at the touch of her purple tentacles.
"Have a safe trip, Eunha. Don't worry about the house."
I bowed slightly to her beaming smile, polite speech slipping out from the awkwardness.
"Th-Thank you. I'll be back, Seo-hee…."
"Sure thing~ Take care~"
*
Arriving at the training hall, I gazed at the massive space and thought of Monica.
She'd overseen its construction, after all.
'The American mages' top-secret training ground was built to these specs.'
I smiled bitterly, recalling Monica's hard work in building the tower.
'I need to go pick her up soon….'
With the ranking matches over, it might really be time to go find her.
'Screw it, push the 2nd Army games back….'
Lost in thoughts of Monica, I stepped out of the elevator—and spotted two girls gathered in the training hall.
Eun-byeol and Lee Sera.
"Ah, Eunha. You're here?"
"Tower Lord!"
"Lee Sera, you're here again today, huh…."
Lee Sera shoved past the troubled Eun-byeol and threw her arms around me.
"Have you been well? I missed you~"
"…We saw each other yesterday."
"But that's a whole night apart~"
"U-Um, Eunha, you promised to train with me today…."
"Just one more day~ I wanna train with Eunha one more day. That a no?"
"Ah, n-no, but this isn't even your tower…."
"You gonna kick out a homeless mage like me~?"
"Th-That's not…."
Eun-byeol faltered, glancing at me, while Lee Sera's eyes sparkled as she hugged me tighter.
"Hehe~ What're we training today? I'm joining, right?"
"L-Lee Sera, t-today's my tu-turn."
"Yup yup~ I know~"
"Ah, n-no one’s even li-listening to me…."
I nodded at the dejected Eun-byeol and excited Lee Sera.
"I see. So this is the problem…."
Since I hadn't accepted them into the tower, both were trying to camp out here permanently.
'Yeah, mages are stubborn like that.'
I stared blankly at the ceiling.
'Might be easier to just accept them… More cards against Spectrum.'
Lowering my gaze, I saw Eun-byeol and Lee Sera again.
Eun-byeol needed to learn reversal flow, and Lee Sera needed my help rebuilding her ether reserves.
Kang Seo-hee had sharp eyes too—prime candidate for reversal training.
'But….'
No time to teach all three reversal flow.
'No good slave around here who's good at tower management….'
As I scanned the hall idly, my eyes met Lee Ha-ryeong's in the corner, munching snacks as usual—dressed in nothing but an oversized boxy tee.
"Ah."
Lee Ha-ryeong's eyes flashed with unease the moment our gazes locked.
"Wh-What, kid? Why're you staring at me?"
"Hmm… You'd be perfect for tower management. Former Mage Association chair, so paperwork's no issue…."
At my words, Lee Ha-ryeong shot up from the sofa.
"I joined as an advisor, remember? And lately I've even been coming down here to help with training!"
"Hmmm…."
"Don't even dream of making me tower lord…."
I approached and shoved the tower lord keycard into her hand.
"Even if not tower lord, you can handle some work, right…?"
"Argh! I retired!"
I sighed and played my trump card.
"Know who automatically becomes tower lord if I bail from this place…?"
"……."
Lee Ha-ryeong narrowed her eyes, then clapped as realization dawned.
"Aaaah! Monica's not here right now!"
"Correct. If I step down, she's next in line."
"……."
"Imagine the corruption scandals if she became tower lord…."
"Eek!"
Lee Ha-ryeong sniffled and took the keycard.
"Approval paperwork's all sorted…."
"Thaaaanks…. I knew it'd come to this eventually. Just one month. Only one month of rest…."
I nodded as she trudged toward the elevator.
"Good. Workload lightened. Time to onboard those two."
"Huh?"
Lee Sera's eyes widened.
"Handed tower duties to Lee Ha-ryeong the mage, so now I can commit to your training."
"Ah…."
"Then! You're accepting me too~?"
"Yeah."
"Let's go. I'll focus on you both till the season starts."
And so, Lee Sera and Kang Seo-hee were added to Iolde Tower's mage roster.
*
The subway tunnel leading to Gangnam was dark and damp. The drainage pumps hadn't run in ages, leaving filthy water up to their ankles.
"Stinks~"
Yoo Yeon muttered, conjuring a flame over her hand for light.
"Dark, damp, and smelly~ Total nightmare~"
Lee Ju-hyeok replied coldly to her griping.
"Hate it? Leave. Though that'll mean more deaths."
"Hmph. As if~ Wonder if anyone's left to mourn us anyway~"
Lee Ju-hyeok sighed and added,
"You're active 1st Army, aren't you? Die on duty, you'll get a state funeral."
"Oh~ You mean that funeral tent in some Gwanghwamun corner? Like anyone would notice?"
"……."
Lee Ju-hyeok silently drew his dagger.
"Whoa~ Pull a knife just 'cause I said that? Not ready to die yet~"
He swatted away a dagger flying from the darkness and said calmly,
"Enemy attack."
"…Ugh, jinxed it into a near-death experience~"
Yoo Yeon stepped forward, slotting two ether cartridges into her staff, and shouted.
7th Level Projection Magic
Gehenna Fall
"That spell here…!"
Lee Ju-hyeok hurriedly donned a gas mask.
A blaze of green and yellow flames erupted massively ahead, turning the subway tunnel into a sea of fire as poison gas began to fill the space above.
Yoo Yeon shook out her messy beige hair, gripping her large staff.
"Hehe~ How's that? One whiff and it's hell~"
"…You gonna warn the team before using it?"
"Oops, sorry~"
"You did that on purpose and now 'sorry'?"
A sharp whistle cut through the air right after her words.
Lee Ju-hyeok stepped forward and extended his hand, creating a translucent blue barrier.
5th Level Survival Magic
Force Field
The moment the translucent space formed inside the tunnel, gunfire rang out.
Tat-tat-tat— Tat-tat-tat—
"Whoa, g-guns? Are we at war or something?!"
"Military's fallen too, huh…."
Lee Ju-hyeok clicked his tongue, recalling Yoo Eunha's words.
'How high up do you think Spectrum's infiltrated? Mage Association? Tower Union? National Intelligence? Nah….'
'They've already swallowed key parts of the state.'
Just as the kid predicted—some military units had gone over to Spectrum.
"What a mess. We're short-handed just blocking the Abyss…."
Lee Ju-hyeok redirected the bullets trapped in his force field back the way they came.
Tat-tat-tat— Tat-tat-tat—
Screams echoed from afar as soldiers took hits.
"Aaaagh!"
"Argh!"
"……."
Yoo Yeon blinked wide-eyed at the screams.
"Whoa, real soldiers after all~ So, Captain, you just committed murder~?"
Lee Ju-hyeok grimaced at her words and pressed forward.
Moving toward the gunfire, they found soldiers collapsed on the ground.
He bitterly checked their conditions.
Their bodies were twisted beyond human recognition.
"Ah."
Yoo Yeon caught up, cursed at the sight.
"Fuck, they really were human…."
She picked up the dog tag from a dissipating soldier corpse.
[25-73003271]
[Kim Young-chae]
The subway tunnel crawled with abyssal entities in military uniforms, reeking of blood and purple abyssal fluids.
Yoo Yeon dangled the jingling dog tag and said to Lee Ju-hyeok,
"Say, if that kid Yoo Eunha's right and they can turn people into abyssal entities…."
"……."
"If this happens smack in the middle of Yongsan…."
Lee Ju-hyeok tsked and sheathed his dagger.
"It'd be over. For Korea too."
"Haa. Gonna be crazy busy for a while."
They stared at the dog tag soaked in purple fluid, complex emotions swirling.
Lee Ju-hyeok suddenly spoke up, gazing at it.
"…Well, the silver lining is we've got someone who can help with this mess."
"Ooh~ Gonna use that kid, huh? Devilish, you fiend~"
"Want to run twice as much instead?"
"Shall we go pick her up now?"
Lee Ju-hyeok pulled ether cartridges from his pocket and tossed them around.
"2nd Army's on break anyway. Let's grab her."
"Yesss~ Can't leave me doing all the work~"
6th Level Survival Magic
Teleport
With a brilliant flash of light, Lee Ju-hyeok and Yoo Yeon vanished—and the dark tunnel began collapsing in a massive explosion.