The Terrorist
Among the holy magics, there is one called Receiving Oracle.
An oracle is something a god bestows when they wish to, so Receiving Oracle is, frankly, a strange combination of words.
But the magic does exist.
Because even gods receive oracles sometimes.
From whom do gods receive oracles?
From mana itself.
"Receiving Oracle is asking mana a question," Elena explained. "You can ask anything. The past, the present—even the future."
"Archenia has Receiving Oracle too," Keira added. "Anywhere mana exists, it can be used. It should work on Earth as well."
Listening to them, a natural question rose in my mind.
"Then why do we need Lu's power? If it's holy magic, can't Elena use it herself?"
"It's different from ordinary holy magic. You need a Holy stat of at least two. I can't use it right now either. Unless you're a Saintess, almost no one can cast it alone."
Until now, casting holy magic without the Holy stat only weakened its power. This one, apparently, was completely unusable without it.
Then again, just hearing the effect put it on another level entirely.
How could anyone know the future?
"Mana can do that much?" Garam asked the very thing I wanted to know. "For something that powerful, it seems like anyone can use it."
"The way holy magic uses mana is different from the ordinary method," Keira said. "That's why the Holy stat is required. In Earth terms, the Holy stat is a kind of clearance. Clearance to access the high-level information mana holds. The higher your Holy stat, the higher your clearance—and the more fundamental truths of the world you can reach. From there, you can even see the future. Though mages prefer the word fix over see."
Ah. I see.
I nodded as if I understood, though in truth I understood nothing at all.
Still, all I really needed to know was that Holy was required. That was enough.
"But when I collapsed—wasn't that because I couldn't bring the Holy over?"
Elena, as the Thirteenth Sword, borrowed a Holy stat of +4 from Lu. When that power tried to cross through the Gate, it nearly shattered the Gate itself—and I coughed up blood and went down.
"We'll need to test it to be sure, but a Holy of one should be fine."
"Can Elena receive just one?"
"No. Not receiving any power at all is possible, but receiving only one isn't. No matter what magic I cast, I'm locked into drawing a Holy of four."
"What? Then who's supposed to cast the holy magic?"
"You."
Keira said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, pointing a finger straight at me.
That was when I finally understood what the Otherworld Residence Contract could do.
I just had to borrow Elena's holy magic and cast it myself.
"Alright, then let's try it now. Elena, can I have your hand?"
Instead of offering her left hand, Elena hesitated. She glanced around at the others, clearly embarrassed.
She'd been fine charging mana in front of Nayeon noona this whole time, and now she was shy?
I snatched her left hand in one swift motion and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
A flush bloomed across Elena's face so hard it looked ready to burst.
Was that a little much? Garam hyung was right there, after all.
"Elena, what should I borrow? Will a common holy magic work?"
"Ah, no... Lu's power, please."
"Got it."
I took Lu's Power (A).
On my status window, it became Lu's Power — Degraded Version (B).
"Done. Now, about this—"
I turned to ask Elena something, only to find she had already vanished.
"...Where did she go?"
"She'll be back later. Everyone, just act like nothing happened."
Garam and Nayeon nodded, smiling.
Judging by the situation, she'd fled in a fluster of embarrassment.
"I can still use holy magic without Elena, right?"
"Of course."
When you borrow a power, you can use it at the lender's level of proficiency.
As the Thirteenth Sword, Elena was relatively skilled with holy magic as well.
Lu's Receiving Oracle.
Among Lu's Power, there was a spell by that name.
I tried to cast it—and found that a Holy of one wasn't enough.
"Gate Open."
A blue circle formed above my head.
A Gate connected to Keruon.
In that state, I used Lu's Receiving Oracle again.
The target was a person search—Elena, who was not currently here.
A low hum.
When I tried to cast the holy magic this time, the response was different from before.
First, I felt something approaching from beyond the Gate.
It was similar to the energy I'd felt just before collapsing—only, as Elena and Keira had predicted, far smaller.
Even so, the energy barely managed to cross the Gate.
I felt the Gate strain with a grinding protest.
The Goddess of Compassion and Love, Lu, bestows her blessing upon you.
Holy +1
It worked!
My Holy actually rose!
Next came using that Holy to access mana—mana of a higher dimension.
As I drew the Holy upward, the scenery around me looked slightly different.
Over people and objects, other versions of them seemed to overlay.
Those other selves felt like black lines on a white background.
Was this... the world of Holy?
With my mana, I could interfere with those overlaid forms.
With my current clearance, all I could do was erase a few minor wounds—but with higher clearance, higher Holy, I could erase them entirely.
I was starting to understand why gods were terrifying.
Anyway, right now I needed to receive an oracle.
I wove Holy, magic power, and mana together in the proper proportions and manifested the spell.
The target was someone not here—no. Someone who was, somehow, already back.
Elena must have felt the Holy and rushed back.
She dropped to her knees in the distinctive posture of Lu's servants.
I wondered if she might start treating me like a god at this rate.
Even with her present, if the magic manifested correctly, it would point to Elena.
This was, after all, asking every scrap of mana in the world for information.
But just before the magic completed, something went wrong.
"Ugh."
Pain like my skull was splitting open.
I couldn't hold my focus, and the magic canceled on its own.
The Gate had already been forced shut before that.
"Jungmin-nim? Jungmin-nim?"
Elena's expression was terribly dark.
She was watching the same scene for the second time.
I hoped it wouldn't leave a trauma.
"Ugh... I'm fine. This is bearable."
My head hurt, but no blood came up.
I wasn't going to collapse.
Still, I was unsteady enough to stagger.
Elena supported me and sat me down on the sofa.
"You're short on both magic power and mana."
Keira's diagnosis.
I'd felt the same.
This magic wasn't something my pitiful scrap of mana could handle.
"Then what do we do? Do we need to find another method?"
Garam asked, and Keira answered.
"Don't worry, Garam. It's well within the range training can cover."
Keira looked at me and smiled.
My premonition, as always, was right on the mark.
A road of suffering had just opened before me.
I'd finally thought I was done with mana charging—and now I had to do magic power training?
Haha. All I could manage was a hollow laugh.
One week later.
The magic power training was every bit as hard as I'd expected.
For one thing, the method was brutally crude.
Run mana until your magic power hit rock bottom.
Gather mana until your tongue went dry and sweet, then store it in your heart.
For the past week, there hadn't been a single day without a headache.
Without Keira's unyielding whip and Elena's devoted nursing, I never would have lasted.
If the first week of physical training had been Hell Week, the second week of magic power training was... well, Hell Korea.
And having survived Hell Korea, I reaped astonishing results.
My stats had risen by five, and my potential by one.
An unbelievable growth rate.
But looked at another way, I was still only twenty.
A D-class Keeper, in other words.
I was grinding my lifespan into training, and I was still barely D-class.
My garbage potential, ladies and gentlemen.
Without Keira and Elena, I would have failed as a Keeper entirely.
I owed them my gratitude all over again.
"Hyung, what kind of facility is this, even underground?"
"Enemies always exist."
Garam answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
We were currently down in the basement of the crew house.
And not just any basement—the tenth underground floor.
The floors narrowed as we went deeper, but ten floors was a depth no ordinary building could even imagine.
And on the tenth floor sat a prison of iron bars, plain as day.
At this point, I had to start questioning what GGC really was.
Some kind of national secret agency, maybe?
There were five cells in total, and all but one were empty.
In that one, a man hung suspended in midair by iron chains.
"That man is the Sniper."
At Garam's voice, the hanging Sniper opened his eyes.
He confirmed it was Garam and started thrashing, trying to get as far from him as the chains would allow.
"Ugh, I'm sorry, I was wrong. I was wrong, so please..."
Aside from hanging there, he looked fine on the outside. What on earth had happened to him?
"If you were wrong, then shut up."
"..."
The Sniper closed his mouth at once.
Even with his mind broken by terror, he could still be controlled that completely?
At this point, I had to start questioning Garam's identity too.
Maybe he was some kind of agent for Korea's Keeper Management Bureau?
"Hyung... what exactly did you do to him?"
"Trade secret."
Garam grinned, and a chill ran down my own spine.
We opened the cell door and stepped inside.
"Well then. Let's begin."
Keira closed both eyes and began chanting an incantation—runes.
We'd come here to extract the culprit's memory from the Sniper's mind.
Only then could we use Receiving Oracle based on that memory.
If you ask why an oracle needs a memory on top of everything else, I'd like to answer: because I am not a god.
There are limits to what humans can do.
The world is not so easy that a mere Holy of two lets you find whoever you want with a snap of your fingers.
A short while later, Keira opened her eyes.
For Keira, she'd chanted for quite a long time.
Extracting a memory must have been difficult work.
"Done. Garam, give the Sniper an order. And Jungmin—come here."
Garam pressed the Sniper.
"Hey. Hurry up and picture your accomplice."
"I don't know. I don't know anything more."
"Quit the excuses and just picture him. That's all you need to do."
"Yes, sir! I'll picture him!"
The Sniper was drilled to absolute obedience.
Keira placed her right hand over the Sniper and her left hand over my head.
"...This is it. Jungmin, can you see him?"
At first I didn't know what she meant.
Whatever I was looking at, Keira would be seeing the same thing—namely, the Sniper himself.
But in the very next moment, a man rose in my mind.
A powerfully built man in a black suit.
His face was ordinary, but his eyes were sharp, and the impression he left was intense.
"I see him. Do I find him with this?"
"Yes. You have to find him while I maintain the link. Hurry."
Then let's move fast.
The tests upstairs were already finished.
With my current magic power and mana, I could receive an oracle without trouble.
A flare of light.
A Gate opened above my head, and Holy crossed through it.
Recalling the runes for the holy magic, I received Lu's oracle.
A single image rose in my mind.
"A map. Quick, give me a map."
Garam held out a tablet in front of me.
A map of Korea.
I zoomed in on Gangwon Province, then on Cheorwon, then on Sageum-ri.
The image was marking one spot in Sageum-ri with a red pin.
I pressed my finger to it.
"Here."
All that remained was to catch him.