Dance with the Goblins
The search for the missing Keeper, Park Jaehyeok, seemed to be progressing smoothly.
His survival signal was still active, and the biggest obstacle — the goblin village — had already been cleared.
Once a village was wiped out, it took at least ten days to respawn. In that window, no strong monsters — nothing on the level of a Shaman — would appear. The lesser goblins were manageable enough for just a handful of Keepers.
The search team followed the survival signal. The farther they moved from the goblin village, the stronger it grew.
"Looks like spatial magic," Garam guessed.
"Then the odds of him still being alive just went up."
The signal led them west — past the base camp, all the way to the edge of the Gate.
Gates aren't infinite. At some point you hit a transparent wall. You can't go beyond it, and nothing comes in from the other side. The size varies from Gate to Gate. Some are no bigger than a single village; others are as large as Korea itself. There are even rumors of Gates whose edges no one has ever found. Are those the size of Earth itself?
Garam's Gate was about the size of a city — a rough rectangle, twenty kilometers east to west and ten north to south.
The search team spent a full day reaching the western edge. The signal stopped growing stronger, and the wall was impassable.
"Jaehyeok has to be somewhere around here. Let's fan out and look."
They spent another day combing the area. Under the big trees. Inside caves along the foothills. Beneath the flowing river. Nothing.
Two days into the search, they had run aground on a reef of pure dead ends.
"Sunbae, what are you doing?"
Soyeon barged straight into the tent. This was the tent Go Hangyeol and I shared. Walking into a two-man tent without so much as a knock — what was she thinking? Not that Hangyeol was here right now. It was just me.
"Meditating."
"Again?"
"Mages have to meditate every morning. No exceptions."
That wasn't actually true. What I was doing wasn't meditation — it was rune review. Ever since awakening as a Keeper, I'd been studying runes every morning, and I was still at it. Whether it was doing any good, though, I had no idea.
Normally when I studied runes, I returned the ability I'd borrowed from Keira first. That way I was starting from a blank slate. Right now, though, I still had Black Magic borrowed. When you borrow a magic, the runes come pre-mastered. Was it even right to focus on "runes" in that state? If the borrowed skill and my own proficiency tracked separately, fine — but if they were already mastered and nothing changed?
Still, I had no choice. Awakening mana was the top priority right now.
Why? Because once I awakened mana, Black Magic would hit harder. Stronger Black Magic meant stronger detection. Better detection meant even a slightly higher chance of finding Keeper Park Jaehyeok. Finding Jaehyeok meant getting out of the Gate early. Getting out early meant Keira wouldn't have to die.
That was it. Everything came down to Keira's life.
"Tch... I'm bored..."
Soyeon grumbled a little. I understood. It had already been five days since Park Jaehyeok went missing. Most people had basically given up. Even Garam was only still here out of principle, as far as I could tell. After the search hit that first wall, everyone was the same.
You couldn't call them cold. Keepers had been around for twenty-seven years. Things were safer than they used to be, but it was still a job where you put your life on the line. Keepers weren't sentimental enough to throw everything they had at the life or death of some Keeper they barely knew. Of course, the real problem was that there simply wasn't a method. If there had been a way, people wouldn't have given up like this.
"If you're bored, go hang out with Seonmi."
"Unnie's sleeping right now. She's on search duty again later."
The search was still going, at least. Even if nobody's heart was in it anymore.
"What about you? Shouldn't you be resting too?"
Irritation bled into my voice. I needed to concentrate right now — that was the only scrap of hope we had left. But Soyeon didn't back down.
"I came here to rest... Aren't you going to rest, sunbae? From where I'm standing, you're the one who really needs it."
She looked me straight in the eyes. What I saw there was worry and sincerity — and the reflection of my own haggard face.
Is that how I look...
Knowing Keira's life was on the line had made me frantic without even realizing it. For the three days since the search stalled, I'd barely slept. I'd thrown myself into the runes like a drowning man grabbing at straws. There was nothing else I could do.
Maybe I really did need to rest. If I was snapping at a little sister who was just worried about me — without even explaining the situation properly — then yeah. From Soyeon's perspective, it must have looked like I was ready to throw my life away for Keeper Park Jaehyeok. That wasn't it, but even if I told her about Keira, she'd probably react the same way. Jaehyeok and Keira were both strangers to her. To Soyeon, my life would always matter more.
"...Fine. I'll sleep a bit. Happy?"
"Yes. Just a little, okay? You're on search duty too, sunbae."
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't interrupt me while I'm sleeping."
"Of course not. Why would I interrupt someone sleeping? I'm going to sleep too."
"Huh?"
"Ah — slip of the tongue. Mistake, mistake. I'll just head out."
"Yeah, go ahead..."
The second I decided to sleep, I toppled backward like a felled tree. And then my consciousness cut out.
"Uh, sunbae..."
Soyeon was saying something, but I couldn't make it out. I really must have been exhausted.
"Acting all stubborn when you end up like this..."
Soyeon shook her head looking at Jungmin, who had passed out cold. He must have been desperate — he'd collapsed without even using a pillow.
"That can't be comfortable..."
She glanced around. The two-person tent was empty. Go Hangyeol had made himself scarce, telling her to take her time, so he wouldn't be back until she left.
"Just for a little while, then..."
Soyeon moved to Jungmin's side and knelt down. She carefully lifted his head and settled it onto her thigh.
This... honestly looks even less comfortable.
That was her honest take. A lap pillow sounded romantic, but in practice it looked incredibly awkward. At least her suit was tight like tights, so nothing snagged. Jungmin's head rested snugly against her smooth thigh.
At least I can see his face clearly. His eyelashes are long.
When she leaned down, his face was right there — longer lashes than she'd expected, a sharp bridge of the nose, and lips that were a little dry, which somehow only made them more maternal-instinct-inducing.
Lips?
Soyeon's head began to lower, slowly. Was she trying to recreate a scene straight out of some movie?
But just before it could happen, she had no choice but to stop. Her chest hit his head before her lips could.
She jerked upright in surprise.
"Ahem. Ahem."
She cleared her throat and looked around. Still no one in the tent.
No. Not now.
Soyeon shook her head hard, trying to cool the flush rising in her cheeks. And so, for a full hour — until search time — she kept her thigh under Jungmin's head.
When I woke up, my head was clear. I felt incredibly soft and fluffy and fragrant. I didn't know what that feeling was, but my condition was good. There was a vague sense that I'd lost something, though.
"Alright, time for the search?"
Soyeon cleared her throat and turned her head away. Her ears looked red. Why? And why was she still here?
I had questions, but I had to get to the search immediately.
The search was four to a team, same as before. There was no real method — just poking around here and there. Honestly, it was pointless. Under that tree, the cave in those foothills, that puddle over there — all of it had already been searched. Some spots by other teams, some by ours. The frustrating part was that there simply wasn't any other option.
Search.
As always, I pretended to scour the area while casting the spell. Nothing turned up this time either. Search only caught what was already visible — trees, rocks, dirt.
But then I got an unexpected windfall.
Through repeated use of techniques requiring mana, the stat 'Magic Power' has been unlocked.
Magic Power stat has increased by 1
"Whoa!"
The exclamation slipped out before I could stop it. An unexpected jackpot. I'd known that using skills could unlock mana eventually — but from what I'd heard, the fastest was six months, and usually it took about a year. I'd gotten the Magic Power stat in barely a month. Even with casting nonstop for days, that speed made no sense. The magic training had to have helped. There was no other explanation.
"Sunbae? What's going on? Did you find something?"
Soyeon, searching nearby, came over.
"Maybe. Give me a second."
I cast Search again. Mana spread out in every direction, feeding me information about everything around me. The range was definitely wider. More precise, too. I'd thought there was nothing underground but dirt and rock — but now I could sense air.
A cave?
With mana unlocked, spellcasting felt freer. Originally, Search detected a five-to-ten-meter radius centered on me. Now I could push the range farther in a direction of my choosing. I extended it underground — about fifteen meters. The landscape beneath the earth painted itself in my mind. There was a passage down there.
Keeping Search active, I followed the tunnel.
"Sunbae?"
Soyeon's voice didn't register. I walked about twenty meters as if in a trance. And then I found it.
"...I found him!"
"What?"
"I found him!"
Halfway down the passage, I felt the presence of a living being. I didn't know what condition he was in, but he was definitely alive.
Hang on, Jaehyeok. I'm coming to get you.
And Keira too!
"Right here."
"Here? Where exactly did you hear this sound from..."
Garam looked at me with a puzzled expression. I'd told him I'd heard a person's groans from underground and dragged him over. He was skeptical, but I'd insisted hard enough that he'd come this far.
"Right here..."
I pressed my ear to the spot I'd found through Search. Of course no sound came through.
"..."
Garam's expression grew stranger. Go Hangyeol and Lee Seonmi were staring at me the same way. Only Soyeon, who knew I was a mage, watched me with worried eyes.
"I can hear it, though... Could we at least check if the signal's stronger at this spot?"
"...Fine."
Garam pulled out the receiver. He checked the signal once at the spot where I'd put my ear, then again a short distance away. Then he shook his head.
Damn it. That receiver was absolute garbage.
"You sure you actually heard something?"
"I really did..."
Garam fixed me with a sharp look. He clearly didn't believe a word. What now? Bluffing had gotten me this far, but from here on I needed to show something. Actual proof.
There was probably only one way. If I revealed I was a mage, everything would be solved. Or I could drop an even bigger bombshell and claim I'd awakened two abilities. And if I didn't — Keira would die.
Caught between a rock and a hard place. Checkmate.