The Bed and the Tooth
“I can see it in the wall and the bed.”
“…….”
“Should I start with the wall?”
“Yes.”
“The person using the room next door is Miss White… right?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“Miss White has a rather sneaky side to her.”
I was already beginning to guess what she meant.
From the very start of the tutorial, I’d watched Jung Hayan use illusion magic to make walls appear out of nowhere.
Even so, the fact that I hadn’t noticed an entire wall had been changed was humiliating.
Half-expecting some trick, I ran my hand over the surface, but what stood before me was a real wall, not magic at all.
So it wasn’t completely changed?
It was definitely an ordinary wall. When I looked at Hwang Jeongyeon with a faintly puzzled expression, she spoke up in a delighted voice.
“It wasn’t the whole wall that was changed. There’s just a small hole.”
“A hole?”
“If you put your finger in here, you’ll understand what I mean.”
She guided my hand slowly, as if trying to maintain a safe distance on my behalf.
I slipped a finger into the spot she indicated, and the sight of it passing straight through the wall made me deeply uneasy.
It was absurd that I’d lived here all this time without knowing that hole existed. Only after touching it myself could I confirm the presence of mana.
“How could I not notice…?”
“Because the mana is incredibly faint. And this room is already surrounded by mana, so it’s not strange that you didn’t catch it. You don’t seem especially sensitive to mana yourself, Kiyoung... and more than anything, this hole looks pretty new.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Yes. It doesn’t seem to be more than a month old... As for why Miss White wanted to peek into your room, I can’t say for sure, but I can make a pretty good guess. Heehee.”
“Ah... yes.”
If anything, I should probably count myself lucky.
I didn’t remember doing anything indecent in this room, but the thought that Jung Hayan had seen every side of me still left me with a sour feeling.
I had even stepped out of the shower naked at times, only to collapse onto the bed just like that.
It was embarrassing, sure, but if she was willing to understand it that way, then I suppose it was something I could accept.
It’s my fault to begin with.
I never imagined things would go this far, but in the end, I was the one who’d drawn Jung Hayan in.
This was something I’d have to bear.
At this point, it almost felt like it was a relief that it had only gone this far. The moment I nodded to myself, another voice immediately stabbed its way into my ears.
“Honestly, the truly amazing thing is this bed.”
“The bed?”
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this a new revolution in magical studies.”
“Ah….”
Seeing her enjoy herself at someone else’s expense made me feel oddly bitter.
Still, the fact that she was looking at it with genuine amazement meant there had to be something hidden in this bed that I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
When I glanced at her again, Hwang Jeongyeon seemed to have been waiting for that and opened her mouth with a grin.
“It’s a fatigue recovery spell.”
“I see.”
“That’s not all. There are all kinds of spells on it, enough to check your condition as well. There are so many I couldn’t possibly explain them one by one. Everything from vitality-enhancing magic to spells that accelerate brain function and blood circulation. On top of anti-burglary wards, it even has protective magic built in to shield you if something happens, Kiyoung. Even if a large-scale spell were dropped on this guild house, you’d probably be fine. The spells layered on this bed are the kind that would have you sleeping like the dead. I doubt you’ve ever woken up feeling tired after sleeping here... am I right?”
“Yes... I think so. I do remember feeling a little refreshed.”
“Well, if you slept in a bed like this, it’s only natural that your fatigue would disappear completely. How romantic….”
Just a little, my chest warmed for no good reason.
I’d assumed there would be some kind of magic on it, but I never imagined it would be of this type.
What surprised me even more was that the spell Jung Hayan had used was an enchantment.
“So you’re saying the bed itself has been enchanted? That’s….”
“Yes. Impossible. Even if it were possible, the efficiency would be terrible. Forcing a spell onto something that isn’t human, like an object, is already something many schools of magic have given up on.”
“Yes. Most items with item effects are, at best, finished products that came out of this continent. I’ve personally investigated a few things like that myself.”
“That’s why I called it revolutionary. If the concealment technique used on the location-tracking spell on you can be described as dissertation-level work, then the magic on this bed has the potential not only to shake the magical academic world but to create an entirely new school of thought. It’s the kind of thing a grandmaster could do, yet some newbie who hasn’t even been here a full year pulled it off. As someone who studies magic alongside others, I’m practically ashamed of myself.”
“…….”
“Of course, it isn’t without limitations.”
I figured as much.
No matter how exceptional Jung Hayan was, there was no way she’d fully commercialized an enchantment technique.
This was research every mage here had once attempted and then given up on.
“This magic only activates for you, Kiyoung.”
“I understand.”
“Yes. I’m guessing she used a catalyst for this spell too. She probably used a part of your body as the catalyst, compressed the magic, and compressed it again, and again, until she built a spell that only activates for you personally. If she tried to make it work for everyone, there’s no way she could have packed this much magic into it. The efficiency would be awful. In other words, this is a bed made entirely for you.”
“I see. Even so….”
“It’d be easier to understand if I said this spell works because the genetic information you carry and the genetic information in the catalyst match.”
That made at least some sense.
“The second thing is that it has to be recharged.”
“Yes.”
“At least once a month, the person who cast the spell has to infuse it with mana. The fact that it’s still active means you’ve probably spent a lot of time together in this bed. Heehee.”
“…….”
“And one more thing.”
“Please tell me.”
“Strictly speaking, this isn’t a spell cast on the bed itself. Like I said, it uses a catalyst. Hmm. Could you flip the mattress over? Or there should definitely be some space somewhere….”
“Of course.”
If what she said was true, then there had to be a device inside this bed maintaining the mana.
Sure enough, after a little digging, I spotted something white embedded inside the mattress.
A tooth?
“I thought it would be something like that... and it was. Is that your tooth, Kiyoung?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“If you think of the information stored in that catalyst as what keeps the magic active for you, does that make sense?”
“Of course. It’s... similar.”
“Ah. You’re an expert in this kind of thing, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
This method is undeniably similar to alchemy.
This couldn’t be dismissed as mere magic.
Even if it was just an artifact that sustained itself for my benefit alone, it wasn’t something that could be done by matching mana wavelengths.
It was a spell that could activate only because the total information carried by Lee Kiyoung as a person matched the information carried by that tooth used as the catalyst.
I couldn’t even imagine how much effort had gone into discovering a method like this.
Huh….
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this method perfectly matched the direction I wanted to grow in.
Mixing all sorts of magic into a catalyst and using genetic information too—everything about it was right in line with my interests.
Homunculus research, chimera research, even magical potion research.
Whichever way I went, this was the perfect textbook.
This is huge….
Of course, my approach would be different.
Jung Hayan had reached this point through magic, while I would have to approach it through alchemy.
Still, when it came to catalyst use and genetic blending, I knew far more than she did.
In other words, the road ahead was the same, but I now had a completely different direction in which to research it.
The thought that all of this might have been arranged by Jung Hayan for me even crossed my mind.
This works.
It definitely works.
I wasn’t just headbutting a blank wall.
The result of countless experiments and endless effort was already right before my eyes.
Even if I focused entirely on research, this was a nearly perfect textbook that might have taken years to create.
It would have been strange not to feel excited.
“I knew you’d be happy. My, my.”
“Ah... yes. Honestly, I do feel pretty good….”
“It’s too soon to be happy just yet. There’s another incredible function hidden in this bed.”
“There is?”
“Yes. It’s a spell called Reverse.”
“Ah.”
“It contains a debuff that flips all these buffs around. The target, of course….”
“…….”
“...is human beings other than you, Kiyoung. It’ll probably trigger when someone gets close to the bed or lies down on it. Of course, for others, the catalyst and the information value won’t match, so the effect won’t be all that amazing—but even a low-grade curse is still a curse. I nearly made a terrible mistake by sitting on it myself. If you were to study the magic on this bed for, say, ten years and develop it further... maybe the moment a woman other than you lies down on it, she’d be struck by a high-grade curse and die instantly.”
“So that’s why you asked me to lift the bed.”
“Yes. Isn’t it Miss White’s adorable way of saying that no other woman is allowed to come near this bed? How romantic.”
It wasn’t romantic at all.
No, it was a little frightening.
“Is that everything?”
“Yes. That’s about all I could find with my own eyes. If you were to seriously research it yourself, the results might differ, but I can confidently say there’s almost no magical knowledge beyond what I’ve told you. I may look like this, but I’m a fairly capable mage.”
“Thank you.”
It had been a strange and rather absurd little detour, but the harvest was not bad.
More than the fact that Jung Hayan had prepared all sorts of things for me here, I was simply glad that a path for growth had opened up.
Of course, I did need to deal with this matter as soon as possible, but right now, growing stronger was far more urgent.
At this point, my room looked less like a bedroom and more like a dungeon or a hidden ruin concealing some grand truth.
The magic on my body and the bed itself were both priceless research materials.
I felt, just a little, happy that I could research in a place this perfect.
It might not be the most fitting comparison, but Jung Hayan’s gift to me was much like handing a thirsty man a cup filled with water.
The cup might be a little complicated and cramped in shape, so it wouldn’t be easy to drink from, but once that problem was solved, all that would remain was to drink.
Smiling contentedly as I stared at the bed, the tooth embedded in one corner somehow looked almost lovable.
A tooth?
It was right then that a question suddenly surfaced in my head.
“Um, if I may.”
“Yes.”
“If my location is being transmitted to Hayan right now, does that mean she’s got some part of my body?”
“Yes.”
What the hell….
I had assumed, without a doubt, that she was holding the missing tooth.
If it wasn’t that, then it was hard to imagine what Jung Hayan had taken from me.
My hair was still on my head, and I had no memory of blood being drawn.
No—more than that, it was only natural that Jung Hayan would never have injured my body.
It wasn’t like she’d taken a chunk of flesh from somewhere, and she hadn’t stolen another tooth either.
Then what is it?
For monsters, the parts used as catalysts can be incredibly varied.
Teeth and clumps of hair, of course, but also mana-filled blood or even eyeballs.
Hearts were the most effective, and bones or organs could help as well.
In some monsters, saliva could be used too, and for males only, even the fluid produced by the body could be effective, but I couldn’t even begin to guess what Jung Hayan had taken.
I could think of a few possibilities that were highly likely, but I really didn’t want to imagine them.
They weren’t the sort of pictures I wanted in my head.
Surely... not that, right?
I wanted to know what part of my body she was using as a catalyst, but naturally there was no way for me to find out.
Whatever it was, one thing wouldn’t change: it was unsettling.
It’s not that….