The Prophet, Elise Remiere
Elise slipped into the bathroom as if she'd been there a dozen times before. Left alone on the bed, I was wrapped in confusion.
Surprisingly, I sensed no malice or killing intent from her. If there had been any, I would've blasted her with magic without a second thought.
No, if she wanted me dead, she could've just shot me from a distance even in my current vulnerable state.
Why the hell had she come looking for me?
"Invisible Hand."
Swoosh—.
At my call, it appeared with a flick. After seeing the outer god's 'real finger' that erased my head, this thing suddenly looked downright cute.
"If your master loses his shit, just slap him across the face. I give you permission."
Pat pat.
It waved its palm as if to say it understood.
I never imagined reading the future could pack this much punch. It felt like being gripped in someone's fist and shaken around.
My predictions kept missing the mark, one shock after another.
How much does she know? Has she already figured out I'm a mage?
If she came out of the bathroom naked right now, what the hell would I do?
Creeeak.
The old hinges squeaked as Elise emerged.
"See? Disappointed I didn't strip?"
Shockingly, she was dressed in a full suit that covered her from head to toe. If not for her wet hair, no one would've guessed she'd just come from the bathroom—the outfit was that impeccably proper.
"Told you you're a perv."
She flashed a grin and tossed her discarded slip into the air, where space ripped open and swallowed it.
Not surprising at all.
An S-rank hunter was bound to have some inventory-type artifact.
"So, what do you want with me?"
Thanks to that, my head had cleared, and I asked directly. It was a relief the Invisible Hand wouldn't need to step in, but also a little disappointing.
"I came to apologize."
"For what?"
"Pressuring the Korean government to abandon Incheon. Blocking the A-rank hunters from helping. Denying the rescue request. And then, to top it off, sending Seo Ha-rin at the last minute just to piss you off—all of it."
Her languid tone was utterly shameless. Every word she spat hit me like a raw nerve.
"Why'd you do it?"
I snapped curtly. Elise dropped to her knees.
"I'm truly sorry."
She bowed her head all the way to the floor in a classic apology pose. Still seated, I replied coldly.
"Don't pull that fake-ass motion. I asked why."
"Aha, yeah, that doesn't work. Hang on."
Elise pulled a red book from thin air. A strange sense of déjà vu made me flinch.
No way it's a grimoire, right?
"This is the ability I awakened with."
Of course not. I'm the only mage on Earth.
"The power to peek into the diary my future self writes. Something like that—easy enough to grasp, right?"
An S-rank just laying all her cards on the table like that? Wasn't she worried about info leaks?
She flipped through a few pages and held out a blank white space to me.
"This diary cuts off from this day onward. March 17th—ring a bell?"
"Obviously."
Just two days ago. The day I took down Arakhan.
"Why beat around the bush with a blank page?"
"It means the world ended."
She dropped that bombshell out of nowhere.
"Hehe, fun, right?"
Her golden pupils—shining as brilliantly as her blonde hair—fixed on me.
"Everything written in the diary is about me. I've already confirmed it doesn't stop for your average natural disaster. People who know the future don't die easily, after all."
They'd evacuate before an earthquake hit.
They wouldn't be standing where lightning struck.
The one exception: if the Earth ended in an instant.
No place left to run.
That was how Elise Remiere pieced it together.
"So..."
"The first time I realized we'd face extinction was three years ago. From that day on, I started divining every possibility to change the future."
There's this thing called the butterfly effect. Even the smallest action can drastically alter the future.
"I gathered anomalies happening across countries and fixed them one by one."
I crossed my arms and listened silently.
From small things like reviving a hunter who'd died on a specific tower floor, to big ones like preventing mass casualties in major cities.
Dozens, hundreds of issues, all patched up.
With every example she gave, shock rippled through me.
Is this really something one person can pull off?
"You can even see the changed futures?"
"Wanna take a peek?"
Elise rummaged through the diary and shoved a familiar passage in my face.
"After finishing my shower, I put on a suit instead of the slip. I knew stripping would seduce this guy effectively, but I couldn't bear the embarrassment anymore."
"This is..."
"Yup. What happened just now."
Elise pulled out a pen, hesitated a moment, then added to the sentence.
"But this concerns a greater cause. In the middle of our conversation, I steeled myself against the shame and started undressing again."
As the words appeared, a faint light emanated from the book.
Blink—and when I opened my eyes again, Elise had actually taken off her suit.
This was how her trait worked. I fell silent.
My dilated pupils bored into the red book. This went beyond astonishing.
This was straight-up godly territory.
My brain started spinning wildly again, just like when I'd stolen Seo Ha-rin's ability.
"────!"
But midway, a skull-splitting headache shattered it all.
A realm I wasn't permitted to touch yet. This woman outclassed Seo Ha-rin.
By a huge margin.
"I believe you. Get that thing out of my sight."
Groaning with my head in my hands, I finally managed to speak. Elise, now baring her chest again, continued her explanation.
"It doesn't affect everyone. The only subject I can manipulate is 'me.' I tried everything I could, but extinction never budged."
Her conclusion, born of exhaustion: give up.
"In the end, I let it all go. Tore apart the pieces I'd painstakingly glued together and waited for the world to roll on its own."
And surprisingly, the next page started filling in.
Now I was starting to get the picture.
"Events that should've happened all backfired into catastrophic damage for humanity. But here in Korea—incheon alone—it was different."
A disaster blocked by dispatching affiliated A-rank hunters.
A mere city-level threat compared to world-ending doom—positively trivial.
"The body count was similar, but the cause changed. In the altered future, Incheon's destruction came from a rampaging hunter."
"Me?"
Elise nodded. I pressed on.
"I stopped the end of the world? Without even knowing it?"
"Yes."
I'd pretty much figured it out already. I just couldn't believe it, so I was denying it.
There was only one change in the past.
The country abandoning Incheon forced me to contract the grimoire.
And after that, the Earth's doom vanished. Two utterly incompatible sentences remained.
If the government had stepped in to protect us, the grimoire would've stayed dormant in my closet. I'd have evacuated like a good citizen.
The bizarre pieces started clicking into place.
Looking back, all her meddling was to avoid stunting my growth.
Seo Ha-rin really was just there to save some villagers from dying by my hand.
It left a sour taste.
What the hell am I, anyway?
My mouth tasted filthy.
Why'd the scale suddenly blow up like this?
I'd only been thinking of myself.
Just a regular guy doing his best to survive one more day.
I had no comeback for a truth straight out of some massive American political conspiracy flick.
"It's okay."
Elise smiled benevolently, as if she knew that too.
"I'll handle all the annoying stuff from now on. I just wanted you not to hate this country or its people. Blame it all on me—the bad guy."
"That won't work."
"Huh?"
"You did your job. How's that bad? I'd have done the same if the world was ending. Cheap price if one person can fix it."
As far as I could tell, this woman had no real sin. Pretty, big tits too.
Above all, the Republic of Korea government had been my enemy ever since they stole my parents' Gangnam apartment.
"Don't just apologize with words—leave me something useful. Like lotto numbers. Then I'll call it all even."
"Shall I?"
Elise opened the book again and pondered deeply. In her suit with her mouth shut, she actually gave off a mystical prophet vibe.
Chest aside.
Sorry for thinking she was some scheming whore at first.
Peeking into her thoughts showed it wasn't like that. She'd tried her best to cater to my tastes.
"Soon, you'll screw up a job. When success—everything everyone wanted—is right there, you'll hesitate on whether to flip it or not."
Snap. Elise closed her diary.
"When that happens, just do whatever the hell you want. That's the only way you'll be satisfied anyway."
What the—treating me like some psycho troll? I'm perfectly normal.
"No, I said lotto numbers!"
"There's a separate realm for sharing with others. They call it causality."
Sounds like some old wizard bullshit. 100% a flimsy excuse.
Bet she thinks I'll never climb the Tower if I get rich.
As I mulled over the prophecy, Elise handed me her business card.
"Call anytime you need my help. I can even connect you with Seo Ha-rin. Well then, I'll be off."
Grab.
I caught her as she rose.
"I get this time was unavoidable. But never try controlling me from the shadows again. No more nudging me your way."
I meant every word.
"Do it again, and you'll die by my hand."
I was certain of it. Even if I didn't, my fingers would move on their own.
"That's why I came to confess my sins. I don't want to die. I'll keep it in mind from now on."
Elise's voice trembled slightly against my ear.
Click.
She left just like that.
Alone again, I stared blankly, wondering what the hell had been happening to me these past few days.
"This is insane."
Become a mage, quit my civil servant job.
Save Incheon, kill some criminals, make the news—and now S-rank hunters were showing up at my door.
Is it really over now?
I wanted to believe I could finally rest. Please, just let me live normally!
At least until I got strong enough.
All those hopes shattered the moment I first stepped into the Tower the next day.