Talismans from the Sky
The talismans unfurled across the sky morphed into distinct shapes. One became a small blade, another a blazing fireball, and yet another a jagged chunk of ice. They plummeted in a straight line toward the three male hunters who had ambushed me.
“Argh!”
“Gaaah!”
“Uwaaagh!”
Not a single one missed. The men screamed as their shoulders were pierced, flames erupted on their bodies, or their sides were torn open.
“Are you okay?”
Stepping out from the car door was Kang A-jin. I had no idea where her house was, but she'd arrived far faster than I'd expected.
“Get in!”
At her words, I hopped into the passenger seat. “If you follow us, you're dead!” she declared with majestic authority to the three hunters writhing on the ground. Her face was cute, her build petite, but her voice carried undeniable power. Even I felt chills ripple across my skin. Maybe it was some kind of sorcery at play.
After berating the three lackeys sent by Park Hyun-jun, Kang A-jin returned to the driver's seat.
“Ahh!”
She gazed at my wound with a pained expression, then placed her hand over it. Unfamiliar characters floated around her palm before seeping into the injury. Just like that, the pain vanished, and my body felt at ease.
“Thank you.”
In response to my gratitude, Kang A-jin said, “Are you really okay?”
“Yes.”
I'd harbored some wariness toward her before meeting, given all the events leading up to this. But after receiving such major help, those doubts had largely faded.
“You should've been more careful. The obsessions of S-rank hunters are no joke.”
She already seemed to know who had sent the attackers.
“This won't be the end of it. But I'll stay cautious. Think of it as buying some time.”
“I'm sorry.”
I knew Kang A-jin rarely showed her face to the outside world. And I understood that meddling in others' affairs wouldn't sit well with her line of work.
“Haaa...”
With a sigh, Kang A-jin looked at me and smiled. “It's fine. As long as Sung-gi isn't hurt, that's what matters.”
Seeing that pure expression melted away the last traces of any lingering unease toward her. How many times had she helped me now? Regardless of anything else, that much was undeniable.
# Kang A-jin's house was much farther than I'd imagined. But how had she gotten from her home to the destination so quickly? The secret revealed itself during the drive.
When her car veered onto an empty road, a massive ring materialized ahead. Complex characters and patterns hovered around it, with heat haze shimmering in the center. As the car passed through the middle, the scenery shifted entirely. Tall trees now surrounded us, and a mountain loomed nearby. It felt like somewhere far out—at least the outskirts of Seoul or Gyeonggi Province.
“We're here.”
Kang A-jin said it casually. I followed her out of the car. The area was barren. There was a wide plot of land spacious enough for a large building, but nothing stood on it.
Kang A-jin spread her arms and chanted something. A phenomenon similar to what had happened on the road earlier unfolded, and like magic, a massive house appeared. It was a modern structure that clashed with the surroundings—bigger even than Kim Seol-bi's home.
She turned back and beckoned. The car smoothly glided forward on its own, and the garage door opened. It drove itself inside.
I can't get used to this.
Being around Kang A-jin felt like stepping straight into a fantasy world.
“Come inside.”
I entered the house with her. It was as enormous as it looked from outside. Most furnishings were modern, but the interior design was unique. The walls and furniture were predominantly dark, and the frames and decorations evoked totems from some unfamiliar foreign land.
“Have you eaten?”
For some reason, I suspected she'd been watching me, Kim Seol-bi, and Kim Eun-bi even back at the restaurant, but she asked anyway.
“Yes, I'm not hungry.”
“Then...”
“Let's get started right away. That's why I came here today—to learn sorcery.”
Sensing she might be trying to stall, I spoke up quickly. It felt a bit rude after all her help, but I'd lied to Kim Seol-bi and Kim Eun-bi to come here. I couldn't afford too much delay—their obsession levels weren't low, after all.
“Shall we...?”
Kang A-jin sounded slightly disappointed.
“Follow me.”
I trailed her down to the basement. Given the building's size, an underground level was no surprise. She pressed a button on one wall—an elevator inside the house. Not too unfamiliar; Kim Seol-bi's place had one too. The buttons went down to basement level 3. Even accounting for parking, it was huge for a single woman living alone. And there didn't seem to be any staff maintaining it. From what she'd shown so far, she probably handled cleaning and cooking with sorcery.
We headed to basement level 2. The vibe there was worlds apart from ordinary. Unlike the relatively normal living room upstairs (save for some decor), this place screamed cultish. It was like a witch's lab from a fantasy or horror flick. Bookshelves lined the walls with countless paper tomes, and antique furniture filled the space. With a snap of her fingers, candles scattered around ignited.
“Hm...”
Is this really okay? I wondered. Kang A-jin didn't seem bad, and she'd helped me, but had I been too hasty coming to her house? She had quirks—like peering into spaces and such—that set her apart from normal people.
Still, it's worth learning.
The more I learned about sorcery, the more I craved it. And no one in Korea could teach it better than Kang A-jin. It was a lesson money couldn't buy—a privilege countless aspiring sorcerers nationwide could only dream of.
“Have a seat.”
She gestured to the table. I sat in a chair with an antique yet elegant design. With a few flicks of her fingers in the air, several thick books floated from the shelves and toward us. They opened to specific pages and settled on the table.
The text inside wasn't completely alien—not English, probably Latin. Why show me this? How was I supposed to read it?
Kang A-jin sat across from me. As she began explaining, I understood why she'd chosen an unreadable book. Tracing a line with her finger translated it into Korean. Some sections even projected holographic images—fascinating and easier to grasp. Receiving such a premium lesson from a top-tier sorceress felt almost undeserved.
But after about ten minutes, both of us sensed something off. It was a classic mistake of novice teachers: pitching the material too high. She wasn't trying to make it hard, but the baseline was way over my head. I couldn't imagine myself pulling it off.
This stemmed from a fundamental issue: I was D-rank. The sorcery level I could wield was severely limited. From my personal research, most who awakened as sorcerers were A-rank or higher. They often started as hunters, got ranked, then switched paths—never below B-rank from what I'd seen. Even the simplest spells required that baseline mana.
A D-rank hunter suddenly comprehending sorcery? Probably unprecedented.
“Hm...”
Kang A-jin seemed to realize the core problem too. She closed the book, pondered briefly, then flicked her finger. It shut and returned to the shelf. Another book flew over—this one different up close. When the cover opened, it revealed bundles of talismans inside.