Chapter 325
Chapter 325
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 326
Chapter Title: The Sealed Soul and the Encounter
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“……Jin Cheon-woo’s soul is sealed away?”
Kim Deok-hyeon’s words left Lee Seo-jun and Yoo Ara with shocked expressions.
Since I already knew this from the original story, I calmly observed their reactions.
Kim Deok-hyeon nodded and spoke again.
“Yeah. The association is keeping it top secret to avoid any chaos, but Aporia currently has Jin Cheon-woo’s soul sealed inside it. And just so you know, it’s not only his soul—other criminals’ souls are sealed there too.”
“Soul……”
Lee Seo-jun muttered with a grave expression, whispering so softly it was barely audible, as if realizing something.
“……So that’s why Jin Cheon-woo’s soul couldn’t be summoned?”
It seemed Lee Seo-jun was recalling the time he had used necromancy to meet his mother, Lee Yun-kyung, but failed to summon Jin Cheon-woo’s soul.
That was the hidden reason Jin Cheon-woo’s soul hadn’t been summonable.
Hearing Lee Seo-jun’s faint mutter, Kim Deok-hyeon said,
“I don’t know what you’re getting at, but Jaun has been aiming for Jin Cheon-woo’s resurrection for a long time. And for that resurrection, they need the soul of the deceased.”
“That’s why the association sealed Jin Cheon-woo’s soul in Aporia. So those Jaun bastards can’t summon it with necromancy.”
Lee Seo-jun pressed his lips together tightly at the revealed truth.
“What happens if Jin Cheon-woo’s soul falls into Jaun’s hands because of this incident?”
“It’s possible he could resurrect soon. Though reviving the dead requires more than just a soul, so it’ll take some time.”
Lee Seo-jun and Yoo Ara furrowed their brows.
“Of course, Aporia has the second-tightest security after the association itself. Even for Jaun, stealing a soul from there is next to impossible.”
Yoo Ara then cut in.
“Don’t you think Jaun has some plan since they’re targeting it? Wouldn’t it be better to move the sealed souls somewhere else in advance……”
“You can’t move souls.”
Kim Deok-hyeon stated firmly.
“Aporia can seal souls for long periods because of its unique magical phenomenon. It’s impossible anywhere else.”
Yoo Ara looked at a loss for words.
Kim Deok-hyeon crossed his arms, scanned Lee Seo-jun and Yoo Ara, and smirked.
“You all look pretty worried. Got your own stories with this, huh……”
Then he added one more thing.
“Anyway, that’s all the info I have for you. The practical training is coming up soon, so get your minds ready. I’ve got other business, so I’ll be off.”
With that, Kim Deok-hyeon vanished somewhere.
Yoo Ara and Lee Seo-jun stood there with serious faces, lost in deep thought.
“I never imagined Aporia was hiding a secret like that.”
“Yeah…… So Jaun’s ultimate goal was Jin Cheon-woo’s resurrection after all.”
Yoo Ara muttered. Then, with sharp, blazing eyes, she continued.
“I’m heading off to train.”
It seemed the prospect of facing Jaun soon had ignited her fighting spirit.
Seeing this, Lee Seo-jun nodded.
“I should train too. Since it’s come to this, let’s train together. What do you say, Sun-woo?”
Their gazes turned to me.
From the way they were talking, it sounded like they were gearing up for some special training.
“Sure. How about some sparring for old times’ sake?”
“Sparring……?”
Lee Seo-jun stared at me for a moment before nodding.
“Sparring sounds good. Great for honing real combat sense.”
“Let’s go then.”
And so, we turned our steps back toward the school’s training grounds.
Right then.
Buuuz.
A message alert rang from my smart student planner.
Wondering what it was, I checked and saw it was from Elin.
What’s up?
Did she hit a snag unbinding the rune restraint spell?
I stopped in my tracks, flustered after reading the message.
[Ren might come looking for you soon.]
……Ren?
Somewhere in England, a hidden small villa.
Several of Jaun’s followers, including Bert, had come to meet the artifact maker, Jermi.
“Jermi!”
At Ska’s cheerful shout, a middle-aged man with gray whiskers—Jermi—appeared with an annoyed expression.
“Ugh, what’s with the crowd? I said only Bert. What trouble are you idiots planning now……”
Then he spotted Baek Eun-seong touching a magic tool on the wall and bellowed.
“Hey! Don’t touch that!”
At Jermi’s shout, Baek Eun-seong, who had been fiddling with it, frowned.
“……Jeez, can’t a guy touch? It’s not gonna wear out. So uptight.”
“That’s because everything breaks when you touch it. Last time you ‘tested durability’ and wrecked three.”
“Hey! That was…… Ahem.”
Baek Eun-seong, about to retort, cleared his throat awkwardly, at a loss for words.
“So, is the key finished?”
Bert stepped forward as if to mediate and asked.
Jermi nodded and pulled a transparent orb of light from his pocket.
“Yeah, it’s done.”
“Ooh……”
Everyone’s eyes filled with admiration.
“This is the key to Aporia’s barrier.
The key that pierces the impregnable place no uninvited soul can enter has finally been completed.
With this, Jaun was one step closer to their ultimate goal.
Jermi handed the key to Bert and asked,
“When’s the plan to retrieve that lord’s soul? The association already seems to know and is on high alert.”
“The plan starts in three weeks. Security’s too tight right now, and we’re not fully prepared.”
“Three weeks, huh……”
Jermi nodded.
Right then.
Crash!
The sound of something shattering echoed from somewhere.
“Ugh! Who was that?!”
Turning, they saw a porcelain piece shattered on the floor.
Above it, Baek Eun-seong scratched his head with a flustered look.
“Uh…… Why’d it fall on its own? Ghost or something?”
“Baek Eun-seong, you idiot!”
At Jermi’s roar, Baek Eun-seong shrugged.
“Ah, how much could it be worth? I’ll buy you a new one.”
“It’s worth 3 billion, you moron!”
Baek Eun-seong frowned.
“3 billion? What porcelain’s worth 3 billion? Don’t lie.”
“It’s a relic. ‘The Celadon that Calls Fortune.’”
“……Wait, really?”
At the word “relic,” Baek Eun-seong looked crestfallen.
Even for Baek Eun-seong, who owned countless relics and holy artifacts, 3 billion was no small sum.
In the end, he settled it by giving Jermi one of his own relics.
“Oh, right. Did you guys see the news?”
Jermi said while inspecting the relic from Baek Eun-seong.
Ska asked,
“What news?”
“The Kim Chang-hyeon incident. Apparently related to that lord. Something about an experiment.”
The name Kim Chang-hyeon brought a heavy silence.
Bert broke it first.
“We’re investigating the truth.”
“What? You guys don’t know either?”
“That lord didn’t tell us everything.”
Even Bert, one of Jin Cheon-woo’s closest aides, didn’t know about the Seonhyeon family Kim Chang-hyeon belonged to.
Since he’d always said even in life, “I can’t tell you anything” about his preparations, there was no sense of betrayal.
Still, it was inevitable to feel a bit miffed knowing there were plans he wasn’t privy to.
“Hmm…… Things are getting weird.”
Jermi crossed his arms, pondered, then spoke.
“From the info that leaked, it does seem connected to that lord.”
“I think so too. I personally looked into the Seonhyeon family, and evidence linking to that lord came up. Kim Chang-hyeon’s probably connected too. Not sure if ally or enemy yet.”
Bert said, leaning on the table. Then Jermi spoke up as if remembering.
“Oh, right. But Kim Sun-woo. He’s tangled up in it again?”
“Kim Sun-woo?”
“The Kim Chang-hyeon thing. Word is he was there too.”
“……Yeah, he was.”
Kim Sun-woo.
He’s always entangled in matters related to ‘that lord’ in bizarre ways.
Even in the last full moon night incident.
At this point, it was hard not to suspect if it was coincidence or some inevitable connection.
“Then just grab Kim Sun-woo and ask what went down with Kim Chang-hyeon. Use him a bit and kill him off, no big deal.”
Jermi’s words chilled the room like a bucket of ice water.
No, it wasn’t just chilly—it felt downright gloomy.
“What? Why the sudden mood?”
“……Well.”
Baek Eun-seong scratched his head.
“Unfortunately, we can’t touch Kim Sun-woo.”
“What’s stopping you? What’re you scared of?”
Jermi asked with genuine curiosity.
In truth, Jaun feared no one except Kim Jin-cheol and Jin Cheon-woo.
Not even the Demon King.
“Well…… He’s got a hostage on us.”
“……Hostage? What hostage?”
“Basically, our lives are hostages via a blood oath. On the condition we don’t touch him.”
“……What the hell?”
Saturday morning.
To prepare for the Aporia crisis, I headed into downtown Seoul for various supplies.
My first stop was ‘Words of Wisdom,’ a ritual shop near the association.
Ding ring—
“Welcome.”
A ritual shop sells rituals, plain and simple.
From summoning circle contract arrays to all sorts of trap rituals, even unsolved ones unearthed from ruins—
They offered a wide variety.
“Hmm.”
I activated Outsider’s Benefit and examined the rituals displayed on the wall.
I’d come for trap rituals, but spotting intriguing new types, I ended up browsing like it was a museum.
“……Aren’t you Kim Sun-woo?”
While I was checking them out, a woman’s voice called from beside me.
A middle-aged woman in her forties looked at me in wonder.
“You’re Kim Sun-woo, right? Ah! I’m Jeong Mi-yeon, owner of ‘Words of Wisdom.’”
Jeong Mi-yeon.
I didn’t know her face, but I knew the name.
A 1st-grade ritual maker title isn’t handed out lightly.
“You’re pretty famous in the ritual world, Sun-woo. So I recognized you right away.”
“Ah, yeah.”
I wasn’t surprised to hear I was famous. I’d known to some extent.
“But are you looking for a specific ritual?”
“I need trap-related ones.”
“Traps? Hm, follow me.”
Jeong Mi-yeon guided me somewhere.
Following her, we arrived in the trap ritual section.
“Whoa…… So many. And some really unique ones.”
As I marveled and looked around, Jeong Mi-yeon smiled.
“I heard you’re exceptional at ritual interpretation. You can tell at a glance.”
“Well, yeah.”
I browsed and picked out a few promising ones.
Even without the Aporia incident, I figured they’d come in handy later.
I filled my basket with rituals and headed to the counter.
She looked baffled as I set it down.
“What is this……”
Then she started counting them.
Twenty-six in total.
“……Heading off to war or something?”
It felt good to finally spend some real money after so long.
This must be what they call flexing.
Today alone, I’d blown past twenty million won, probably.
After finishing shopping for rituals and more, the sun had set and evening arrived.
Having completed today’s plans, I took a gate back near the magic academy.
“Yawn.”
Wanted to head straight to the dorm and crash.
Right as I started walking.
Swoosh—
I sensed an alien aura directed at me from somewhere.
Killing intent…… wasn’t quite it, but something similar.
No intent to kill, but definitely targeting me.
Who could it be?
Plenty of candidates, given my long list of ‘sins.’
Right then.
Flash!
Intense mana surged, and something charged at me.
Its movement was faster and sharper than anyone I’d faced before.
Caught off guard by the speed, I panicked briefly.
“……Tch.”
In the end, I used Instant Acceleration.
Time around me slowed perceptibly, the scenery crawling.
But.
The thing charging me moved so fast it was hard to believe it had slowed at all.
I quickly leaned back. A hand gripping a dagger whistled past my nose tip through empty air.
A razor-thin escape.
A split second later, and it would’ve been disastrous.
Flash!
Then it spun a full turn in midair and lashed out with a kick.
I parried in sync with its motion, seeking an opening to counter.
But no opening appeared.
I’d faced countless S-rank wizards under Instant Acceleration, but this was a first.
What the hell is this.
A name flashed in my mind.
Only one wizard in this world could move like this.
Then its form vanished.
It had pulled back first, as if gauging me.
And my three-second Instant Acceleration ended.
Looking up, a white-haired man smiled down at me.
“……As expected, you use that technique. Impressive up close.”
The man said, eyeing me.
I glared steadily at the foe before me.
Elin had warned me, so I’d half-expected something like this, but this was too soon.
“……Sato Ren.”
At my call, Ren smirked.
“You recognized me right away. The recent news, maybe.”
Muttering, Ren straightened and declared confidently.
“That’s right. I’m the 15th successor of the Nakiri Style. Sato Ren. The ‘Instant Acceleration’ you used is our school’s secret technique.”
……Nakiri Style? What’s that.
Some setting I’d never heard of.
“For reference, the Nakiri Style is passed down one-to-one, so I’m the only one who can use it now. So I’ll ask.”
Ren stared straight into my eyes.
“What’s your connection to our missing grandmaster, Genya?”