A World for My Seoya
After that, Ibin quickly devised a plan. She had to create the System while Seoya was locked away in that prison for thirty days. Time flowed differently between Toda and that other world. A month there would be about a single day on Toda.
"Taesa, pry a bit more out of the headquarters chief."
"Ah, that guy's self-praise is getting worse by the day. But the most infuriating part is that I'm the one flattering him right beside him!"
"Think of Seoya."
"...Yeah, that's the only thing I can do right now."
They just needed to convince the headquarters chief well enough to drop Seoya into that world. He'd think she was as good as dead, never to return. And in truth, she might as well be. Crossing from another world to this one without a magic amplifier was impossible. Nor could they directly hand her one. The 'gaps between worlds' visible through the magic amplifier didn't allow precise targeting or communication—just one-way drops.
Were they supposed to guess her coordinates and toss it in? No. But Ibin's System would make it all possible.
Ibin decided to seize control of that world with her own mana, turning it into a space she could manipulate at will. She allocated her mana meticulously, crafting a flawless System that would run without her constant interference.
On the first day, she tested connectivity by displaying a window: Hello, World!
On the second, she created 'dungeons'—zones dense with her mana. Seoya could communicate with her once inside one.
On the third, she spawned monsters, even injecting them into existing dungeons. They'd make the crisis feel natural to that world's people.
On the fourth, she awakened Hunters. She wanted that world's power holders on Seoya's side, but didn't know who they were. Then I'll just create new ones myself.
On the fifth, she added rankings. So Seoya could confirm she was the strongest there and feel secure. The Hunters were all borrowing fragments of Ibin's power anyway—their combined might couldn't touch Seoya.
On the sixth, rewards. Through them, she could deliver what Seoya needed for the magic amplifier. By now, authority over the world was starting to shift to Ibin.
On the seventh, parties. If Seoya added trustworthy people, she'd grant them skills to help her.
She kept adding more: new skills, achievements, dungeons, monsters...
And the most important thing of all...
What Seoya needed most was 'humans.'
Monsters and dungeons posed no threat to her. No technology from that world could harm her. But humans were different. Humans were always the ones scheming harm against other humans.
Seoya's a bit... thoughtless.
Ibin didn't care who the old power holders were. Through the HunterSystem, she'd forge new ones of her choosing.
And those power holders will have no choice but to side with Seoya.
The reason was simple.
Seoya is mana incarnate.
Hunters, fractionally empowered by Ibin's mana, would be drawn to her irresistibly. Humans are attracted to what they lack. The stronger the Hunter, the more instinctively friendly they'd be toward Seoya, mana itself.
By claiming the world's power holders, Seoya would claim the world.
For that month building the System, Ibin barely slept. Remaking an entire world in thirty days was grueling. Nosebleeds from overexertion, on the verge of collapse—but she endured.
The more intricate her mana network grew, the firmer her grip on the world.
Everything was proceeding as planned.
But...
-Taesa.
-Yeah?
-Stab her.
-This kid?!
The headquarters chief ordering Taesa to stab Seoya with a sword was completely unforeseen. Taesa's trembling hand pierced her abdomen. They confirmed her heart was unharmed.
It's okay, it's okay... Seoya will live... She'll survive and come back...
This wasn't the time for despair. Ibin had to save Seoya. Unlike Taesa, drowning in guilt and useless, Ibin returned to her work the instant Seoya was exiled—building the System, studying the world.
Seoya, by the time you arrive, everything will be ready. I'll prepare the justification and the stage. You just do whatever you want.
That world is beneath you. The power holders will all be on your side. Nothing there can threaten you.
Seize it freely. Put the power holders under your heel, leash them. Let no one dare harbor ill will toward you. Let no one dare challenge you.
It's okay to be a little violent there. Grab their leashes tight, my Seoya.
When the headquarters chief finally caught her siphoning magic stones and dragged her out, Ibin resisted to the bitter end. Until the moment she'd longed for arrived.
I can't communicate with Seoya directly, but...
At last, the moment Seoya entered a dungeon.
"Success."
The simple task she'd rehearsed hundreds of times worked. Only then did Ibin release her frayed mind and close her eyes.
It didn't matter if she was dragged away and killed. The System was built for after she was gone.
My Seoya, I promised I wouldn't break my word, didn't I?
As her consciousness faded, Ibin's lips curved into a smile—the first since Seoya left.
Within the blue mana web visible only to her, Seoya breathed slowly.
I need to... sort out the situation...
Maybe she really had lived too thoughtlessly. Seoya had always accepted what was in front of her at face value, never questioning hidden truths.
No more of that. For real this time.
So, Seoya decided.
I wasn't betrayed.
She'd never been abandoned.
This System was rigged in my favor.
Whatever Ibin's true intentions, one thing was clear: everything was for Seoya's sake. Letting weaker humans gauge their own places, providing what she needed, creating nothing that could harm her.
Ibin and Taesa had done everything possible from Toda to ensure her safe return.
I can go back to Toda.
Indescribable emotion surged; Seoya clutched the note to her heart for a long moment. Just paper, yet it felt like a warm embrace around her heart.
Then she unfolded it again and read.
Happy birthday, my Seoya.
I'll give you everything in that world.
But this world still needs you.
Reading it slowly, Seoya realized something.
"Just... just..."
Her eyes burned hot.
"You idiot..."
She didn't know Toda's current date, but...
I was thrown in prison a month and a day before my birthday on Toda.
Time flowed differently. If a month here was one day there, then...
Today's my birthday.
Ibin had decided to gift her the entire world.
"Sis, who gives a birthday present this extravagantly..."
But this world still needs you.
Reading it again, her chest tightened; Seoya closed her eyes.
You were worried I wouldn't come back.
Made everything advantageous so she'd thrive here, but feared she'd love Earth more than Toda and stay.
Sis, I thought you'd abandoned me.
Thought Ibin and Taesa—my family, my world—had cast me out.
But they hadn't.
If they still needed her...
Seoya lifted her head, staring into empty space, declaring firmly to herself.
"If the world needs me, I'll always be there."
A certain day before Seoya's exile to Earth.
"Ibin, is this really okay?"
Taesa muttered, watching Ibin design the System, clutching her bleeding nose.
"What."
"To build a System like that in another world, just to retrieve Seoya."
"Oh, that."
Ibin fixed Taesa with an inscrutable gaze.
"That world was doomed to perish anyway."
"What?"
"Better I impose a System. Whoever's already interfering will assume that's the cause and leave it alone."
"You mean... someone was trying to destroy the world we're sending Seoya to?"
"Yes. Just like Toda's on the path to ruin."
"Who the hell... Ah."
Ibin and Taesa met eyes, then looked up.