The Barren Inner World
The Inner World was a unique and original space that revealed the full personality of the individual dark mage who possessed it. Just as the world of Sawang Heokcheon was dyed in a jet-black sky even darker than pitch itself. Just as Intel’s Inner World, which had once wreaked havoc at Benedict Academy, had been plastered wall-to-wall with zeros and ones. In that sense, Professor Karlsen’s Inner World was an utterly barren space, devoid of any distinguishing features or character whatsoever.
“Tsk. Of all people, it had to be a special investigator.”
In a blind spot of that Inner World—beneath a blood-red sky the color of fresh-spilled blood, across a desolate plain where only gaunt, withered trees grew—Jealousy clicked his tongue softly. He watched from a hidden seam in space as Julia Evergreen arrested Raden. It seemed he had arrived one step too late. He had gone through the hassle of ripping open a 7-star dark mage’s Inner World and sneaking inside, only to find the situation already over.
I wanted to blow off some steam, damn it.
That worthless bastard. How dare some nobody who’d crawled out of nowhere set his sights on our lady without knowing his place? Jealousy had planned to grab him by the hair, drag him into some dark corner, and torture him to death with every method he could imagine. But then Karlsen had butted in, the Master lost interest, and the bastard got lucky in more ways than one.
The other side’s a bit annoying to mess with.
It was the same reason he had always hated entering the Ellemental Royal Palace. The Special Investigation Unit, which primarily handled underworld affairs, naturally possessed more information on the Seven Deadly Sins than any other organization in the Ellemental Kingdom. Leaving irregular traces on the spot that could fool that woman’s eyes while abducting the damn fool would be difficult even for Jealousy.
Besides, we have an alliance. I can’t just kill one of them on a whim.
If he killed a member of the Special Investigation Unit for such a trivial reason, Pride would call in a furious rage and curse him out until his ears bled. Or worse—Pride might report it, and the Master himself could call directly…
“Haa.”
A shiver ran down his spine as if an electric current had passed through him. He couldn’t help but tremble from head to toe. In the end, he had no choice but to give up. Still, the lady hadn’t been hurt, and the Master seemed content to let the matter slide. That was what mattered.
“Oh ho, this is quite fascinating.”
At that moment, a man slowly approached Jealousy from behind. Jealousy, however, showed no surprise whatsoever, as if he had known all along. He simply turned his head slightly. There stood Karlsen, the master of this world, smiling with clear interest.
“Truly impressive. You didn’t slice apart the mana composing the space like that Togun student. You slipped into my world without the slightest trace of presence.”
“That’s what I was going to say.”
For a mere 7-star to notice his stealth—something even an 8-star superhuman would struggle to detect—and track him down like this. Jealousy had already known the professor was skilled from observing academy life, but this exceeded his expectations.
Just where did this guy come from?
Seven-star dark mage Karlsen. Naturally, while infiltrating Benedict Academy, Jealousy had investigated his fellow new professor as well. The man had built a reputation through activities in the Dark Mage Association and even earned fame in the Mage Association with his papers on the differences between magic and dark magic. Then, somehow, he had been easily persuaded by Benedict Academy’s president, Hounds Mendelstone, and taken up a professorship with newfound dreams.
That was the publicly known information about Professor Karlsen. In addition, Jealousy knew one more fact that others did not: Karlsen had once operated in the underworld. The timing had been before the Master pacified that world. There were no clear records of how deeply he had been involved or what exactly he had done, but one thing was certain—he had indeed been active there.
Should I dig deeper?
Jealousy had only begun his full-scale activities in the underworld after Kain had already taken control. Because the man’s history was from an earlier period and extremely brief and shallow, Jealousy had casually brushed it aside as too bothersome to investigate thoroughly. He simply hadn’t felt like putting in serious effort for something that didn’t seem important.
“Were you also the one present in the Inner World during the Mana Up app incident?”
“Why the hell should I tell you that?”
Hiding his sudden surge of curiosity toward Karlsen, Jealousy arrogantly curled one corner of his mouth. At the same time, his body scattered like smoke and vanished from the air.
“……Saying it like that is practically the same as admitting it, isn’t it?”
The presence had disappeared in an instant. Sensing that it had completely vanished from this world as if the intruder had left the Inner World, Karlsen fell into brief thought.
Just who was that?
A technique that completely evaded the senses of a 7-star dark mage like himself. There were precious few people in this world capable of such an impossible feat. For example, Jealousy of the Seven Deadly Sins—one of the underworld’s highest executives.
Could that really have been Lord Jealousy?
If so, it was truly a shame. He had just missed a golden opportunity to receive an autograph from one of the Sawang’s closest aides.
If I meet him again next time, I swear…!
Even if it cost him his life, he would obtain Lord Jealousy’s autograph. Karlsen clenched both fists tightly and made that solemn vow.
“……Why am I suddenly getting goosebumps on my back?”
Meanwhile, completely unaware of the dark mage’s ironclad determination to secure his coworker’s autograph at the cost of his own life, Jealousy—having left the Inner World and once again wearing the mask of Professor Clara—tilted his head and muttered in confusion.
That night, the moonlight shone with unusual brilliance. It poured down so brightly that it filtered even through the dense trees on a sparsely populated mountainside.
That thing is a monster!
A man sprinted desperately between the trees bathed in that moonlight. Sweat drenched his entire body. His pupils refused to stop shaking, unable to calm down even for a second. Within the quiet, gloomy silence of the mountain, the only sound was his own ragged breathing. Despite professional training, he had no composure left to regulate it. His stamina had long since hit rock bottom, yet his legs kept moving without pause. Even as his muscles tore and the blood pouring from them left perfect footprint-shaped trails that traced his desperate path, he did not stop.
“…….”
Aside from the constant buzzing of insects, no other sound could be heard. At the same time, no matter how widely he expanded his senses, he detected no presence behind him. It was as if he were simply fleeing alone in terror. Yet the man knew the truth: the entity pursuing him was following at a distance from which it could seize him at any moment.
Damn it!
The transmission had been severed by the opponent long ago. Even if it hadn’t been, he had no leisure to make a calm phone call and deliver a report. Still, he had to get the information out somehow. He needed to warn them that a monster from the Fan Empire had invaded this country.
That guy isn’t even the real problem!
The information sent from the underworld had been accurate. At the same time, it had been completely wrong. Because it had lacked any data on one specific existence.
Thud.
While running with everything he had, the man’s body suddenly pitched forward. Questioning, he looked down at his leg. Then terror swallowed him whole as he saw that his leg had been severed. Had his sensory organs already failed? There was no pain at all despite the amputation. Yet the reason for his fear was simple: beyond the cleanly severed leg, a man was slowly walking toward him.
That man was like a single blade. Cold. As if he could cut anything at the slightest touch. His tightly sealed, expressionless mouth. His fiercely narrowed eyes. The chilling aura that surrounded him. His very existence was a perfectly honed, razor-sharp sword. He raised his blade with perfect naturalness and slowly swung it toward the man.
“Ah.”
Watching the beautiful arc of the sword descend like moonlight pouring from the heavens, all the man could manage was a single, sigh-like gasp.
The swing had been so natural that the phenomenon itself completely missed the movement. Only after the man sheathed his sword did the victim’s body finally split into two clean halves, left and right. Even the sight of the corpse collapsing in both directions appeared unbearably slow in the swordsman’s eyes. As the blood quietly soaked the ground, the man coldly gazed down at the body and walked straight through its center.
To think something like this was an agent of the Royal Investigation Bureau. The Ellemental Kingdom’s standards have fallen.
Had it grown too accustomed to peace? What the absolute ruler of the Ellemental Kingdom, Majoan, pursued was overall upward equalization so that no one would live in poverty. It sounded good on the surface, but every idea had its drawbacks. While the total number of strong individuals had increased, the number of overwhelmingly powerful ones had decreased by the same margin. The man attributed the cause to a lack of desperation.
Yes. The Ellemental Kingdom had grown complacent with peace. Unlike other nations, its people could maintain a minimum standard of living without having to fight tooth and nail for survival. People felt relieved by that baseline and had forgotten how to strive with everything they had. The investigation agent just now was the same. Had he been from the Fan Empire, he would not have shown such a pathetic display.
“…….”
The man’s gaze turned forward. Even in death, the agent had still been somewhat competent. Far in the distance, the figure of a mountain bird flying urgently caught his eye. A faint residual trace of mana. It was a type of familiar magic that artificially manipulated an animal’s mind to deliver commands. Had the agent done that while fleeing? It seemed he had scattered quite a few birds, not just one, and it was already too late to chase them all down. Not that the man had any intention of doing so.
I need to hurry.
His mind grew slightly impatient. He had to finish everything before the royal family, upon receiving the report, could dispatch reinforcements. The moment that thought crossed his mind, the man turned toward the heavy presence he felt from behind and dropped to one knee.
“You missed him. In the end.”
A voice emerged from the darkness. It carried the languid weight of boredom, yet within it lingered a faint spark of interest.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. This is your task to complete anyway.”
He was merely moving because he had been asked. He held no particular interest in whether the man before him succeeded or failed. To him, this was nothing more than a way to kill time.
“Still, don’t disappoint me too greatly after going so far as to ask me for a favor.”
“Of course.”
The man answered with his head still bowed toward the voice coming from the darkness.
“I will definitely create the chaos you desire with my own hands.”
The existence lurking in the shadows had always craved one thing: endless mortal combat. A war in which they could kill each other for all eternity. That was why the man moved—to fulfill the wishes of the being before him. To witness that being draw his sword. To burn the trajectory that had so captivated him into his eyes again and again.
“Do as you wish. I’m not expecting much, though.”
The existence lurking in the darkness smirked, casually brushing off the man’s loyal vow.
It’s been a while, Sawang.
What interested him was not the ambition the man before him had declared, but the long-awaited reunion with his old rival. Sensing that presence fade back into the darkness, the man—Eun Ma-hyun—slowly lifted his head. He straightened his knees and rose to his feet. Even though he had received none of the interest or expectations from the man he admired and served, Eun Ma-hyun’s face showed no change in expression. He had already known. That the other held no interest in them whatsoever.
I simply need to change that from now on.
And to do so, he first had to eliminate the current obstacle. That was why he had moved personally. That was why he had made a direct request to that person.
Failure will not be tolerated.
The man began to walk slowly. The place his steps led toward was Vivaldi, the city of the arts.
From now on, the hunt for the Seven Deadly Sins begins.
I’ll make you regret being the first to pick this fight.
In the pitch-black darkness illuminated only by moonlight, Eun Ma-hyun’s eyes, fixed straight ahead, flashed with a chilling, blade-like sharpness.