Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Magic Genius with Korean Patch
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Thanks to Connect handling everything swiftly and efficiently,
Jeon was able to head to Ralph's lab starting the very next day.
Of course, since he still didn't know the layout of the White Tower well, Tasha took on the role of guiding him to Ralph's lab.
"It's pretty quiet today."
As if the swarm of people from yesterday had been a lie,
not a single person approached them on the way to Ralph's lab from the moment they clocked in that morning.
"Word's already spread roughly inside the tower. That you're heading to Mr. Ralph's lab."
Going to the most promising genius in the tower right now—no one was going to object to that.
"Of course, this morning, requests started pouring in to send you to their labs after your dispatch to Mr. Ralph's ends."
That didn't mean everyone had given up, apparently.
People were still eyeing the next opportunity.
Jeon inwardly applauded their persistence.
Of course, that didn't mean he planned to go.
"Ah, here we are. This is it."
After a bit of chit-chat while walking, Jeon arrived in front of Ralph's lab.
"I'll head back then."
"Thanks for showing me the way."
"The path wasn't too hard, right? From the 7th-floor elevator, go straight right, turn at the second hallway, go straight again, and you end up here."
"Yeah. It was straightforward, so I memorized it all."
With that final recap of the route, Tasha finished her guiding duties and returned to the dispatch team office.
"Phew."
Once Tasha left and Jeon was alone, he took a deep breath and lightly knocked on the door to Ralph's lab.
Knock knock.
"Yes, who is it?"
"Uh... I'm Jeon, here for the dispatch today."
After the knock, a voice from inside asked, and Jeon stated his purpose and name.
Then...
"What? Who?"
"Someone's here?"
The inside grew a bit noisy, followed by clattering sounds as the lab door burst open.
The two who appeared were a boy who looked a bit older than Jeon and a young man in his mid-to-late twenties.
"Uh... h-hello?"
Facing the two staring at him in shock with the door flung wide, Jeon awkwardly greeted them first.
Snapping to their senses, the pair hurriedly returned the greeting.
"Wow... ah, hello!"
"Y-you're Jeon, right? The one coming today?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Come on in!"
Following their guidance into the lab, what Jeon saw was a sight completely new to him in this world.
'...A real lab, huh?'
Though they called them labs in the White Tower, Jeon had imagined something like a cleaner, more advanced office.
But Ralph's lab actually resembled the image of a scientific research lab from his previous life—quite closely, and on a grand scale at that.
Jeon's gaze naturally scanned the room.
"Ah, right. We didn't introduce ourselves! I'm Matthew!"
While Jeon was mildly surprised by the lab's setup,
the younger of the two who opened the door introduced himself first.
Not to be outdone, the older one followed suit.
"I'm Dayson."
"Ah, yeah. I'm Jeon."
"We'll take you straight to Mr. Ralph then! He said to let him know the moment you arrive."
After the quick introductions, they led him across the lab to where Ralph was.
But the younger one, Matthew, kept glancing curiously at Jeon, hemming and hawing as if he wanted to ask something.
"...Do you have something to say?"
It was so obvious that Jeon couldn't help but ask first.
"Ah, s-sorry. Was it that noticeable?"
"Feel free to ask. I'm just an apprentice on dispatch anyway."
"Th-then... um... is it true that you completely neutralized the distortion field during the qualification exam?"
So that's what he wanted to ask.
'Did they make the artifact that deploys the distortion field together?'
Everyone in the tower knew Jeon had aced the qualification exam.
But they'd only marveled at his overall performance.
No one had been curious about the details of the final test.
'...Dayson was involved too, I guess.'
As soon as Matthew asked, Dayson, who had been walking casually beside them, flinched slightly and subtly leaned toward Jeon.
He was probably curious too.
So Jeon decided to answer honestly.
"Yeah, it's true. Though it took me five tries to barely succeed."
"Whoa, it really happened."
"Whoa..."
Matthew's eyes sparkled with awe at Jeon's words, while Dayson looked a bit deflated.
"But I heard it's not a completed artifact yet. That's why Mr. Ralph hasn't named it."
"Ah... yeah, that's right. I thought it was pretty much done..."
"Honestly, same here. It seems like Mr. Ralph has something specific in mind, but I don't know if we can make anything better than this."
Seeing Dayson's slightly disheartened reaction, Jeon quickly added, but the responses only seemed more downcast.
"Of course, Mr. Ralph must have his reasons."
"His perspective is just different from ours. Nothing we can do but keep at it."
Though they quickly followed up with damage control, it couldn't fully hide their disappointment.
'Did Ralph not communicate what he wants properly?'
The distortion field artifact was already an incredible item as is.
It had flaws, sure, but it was perfectly usable in practice.
'Or maybe Ralph's goals are just too high.'
But Ralph wanted to infuse it with the insights he'd gained—even at his level as a 5th Circle mage.
Those insights would sound like pie-in-the-sky fantasies to lesser mages, hard to grasp even if explained.
"Ah, here we are. This is it."
In the midst of their brief conversation, Jeon was led to a room at one end of the lab.
"Here...?"
"Yes. Knock, and he'll probably answer."
"We'll leave you to it then."
Matthew and Dayson bowed politely to Jeon and stepped back.
"Ah, yeah. Thanks."
Returning the bow and seeing them off, Jeon moved to lightly knock on the door.
But before he could, as if waiting, the door opened.
"You've arrived?"
"Ah, hello?"
"Better to chat greetings inside."
"Sure, why not?"
"Sit wherever."
Ralph welcomed Jeon in casually, as if visiting a friend's house rather than a lab or office, told him to sit comfortably, and walked off somewhere with heavy steps.
'This feels like... home?'
Unlike the sleek lab outside,
Ralph's personal space as the lab head felt full of lived-in coziness.
The desk piled with papers aside, the guest area was quite cramped.
Instead, one side had a bed where Ralph apparently slept, plus wardrobes and drawers for his belongings.
"You live here full-time?"
"Yep. Don't like going far for research."
Even so, having a full living space inside the lab.
'I hear tower salaries are insane.'
As the dream job for mages, the White Tower paid handsomely.
Ralph, being executive level, could've easily afforded a house, yet he showed no interest in one.
Anyway.
After a quick look around Ralph's room, Jeon settled lightly onto the single guest sofa.
Ralph, who seemed to be tinkering with something, came back with two cups and sat across from him.
"Hope it suits your taste."
What he offered was black liquid with ice floating in it—iced Americano.
"Whoa, you prepared this?"
"Not big on much else, but I love coffee. Keeps my taste buds happy without going out. Not pro-cafe level, of course."
Jeon had never thought to stock it himself, but Ralph kept it on hand like a staple.
He must really love iced Americanos.
'Nothing beats this for office workers, huh.'
Seeing shades of a K-office drone in the genius Ralph, Jeon took the cup and sipped.
Ralph mirrored him with a sip, then handed over some documents tucked under his arm.
"Thanks for responding to my request. Was dying to hear your thoughts."
"Uh... this is?"
"Tweaked the magic formula for the distortion field generator artifact. Marked the changes on the blueprint. Care to take a look?"
Straight to artifact talk upon arrival.
'He's dead serious about magic.'
Thinking it was some consent form at first, Jeon took the papers and inwardly whistled.
But he meticulously reviewed the blueprint.
'This is... on another level.'
The blueprint Ralph handed over was over 30 pages thick, and with each page Jeon turned, his inner admiration grew.
'Definitely different from something like a manastone.'
For mana storage artifacts Jeon could make,
the answers were all in his spellbooks—completed designs, not too hard for him to attempt solo.
But Ralph's distortion field generator,
not just storing mana but generating a spell, involved insanely complex magic language and formulas, plus materials, ratios, and processes.
The complexity and difficulty were worlds apart.
'Worthy of the tower.'
Without the tower's facilities and funding, even attempting it would be impossible. Jeon marveled more with every page.
"What do you think?"
As Jeon finished the last page,
Ralph, who'd been watching eagerly, immediately asked for his opinion.
"Hmm..."
Jeon paused, facing Ralph's expectant, gleaming eyes.
'Honestly, it's way too complex.'
Even with Korean Patch,
grasping the full blueprint in one read was near impossible.
Especially manufacturing processes—zero knowledge there, so he barely understood half.
But focusing purely on the magic parts changed things.
He knew spells, magic language, and formulas well.
"Looking at the changes, I see clear differences from before. You've put more focus on holding the mana in place."
"Oh, you spotted it."
"But that might hinder the core mana flow of the distortion field, which worries me."
"Exactly my thoughts. That's why I showed you the blueprint—to see if you had ideas on that."
The distortion field generator had tons of interconnected formulas.
Tweaking one affected others—a headache for balance.
Ralph seemed deeply troubled by it,
and it was a tough problem even for Jeon—no easy fix came to mind.
"So, the biggest issue right now is balancing mana flow and density in the deployed distortion field space, right?"
"Yes."
"In that case, I've got one idea."
"...Really?"
Ralph's eyes widened at Jeon's offhand remark.
"Yeah. If my thinking's right, we can implement it in the form you want."
Jeon nodded confidently at the follow-up.
Of course, it wasn't a conventional solution.
'No normal answer? Use an abnormal one.'
Jeon's knowledge just wasn't conventional.