Uninvited Guests
There were almost no women who could resist Colt, with his smart looks, perfect manners, and silver tongue polished to a shine.
As expected. Colt’s a success again today!
At Colt’s lead, two young, beautiful women took their seats.
“James. These are Kim and Choi, all the way from South Korea. Say hello.”
He clocked that they were Korean in an instant?
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Su-ji.”
“I’m Choi Ho-jung.”
“I’m James Kane.”
“......”
“......”
At James’s introduction, the two women glanced at each other. They had assumed he was Asian just from his appearance, and his English name had caught them off guard.
“I’m Korean too, actually, but I was adopted when I was young, so I don’t speak the language.”
“Ah...”
“We thought you’d come along to interpret for him.”
James thought that in Korea, too, he could easily be mistaken for Colt’s interpreter.
Maybe I shouldn’t have come along after all?
“How old were you when you came to the United States?”
“I was six, maybe?”
“So not that young. You’ll probably pick up Korean pretty quickly.”
“Probably.”
I was already planning to do exactly that.
The moment he heard they were Korean, James had started casting the spell he’d prepared.
Limited Drain...
Below the table, where they could not see, James’s fingers moved with impossible speed, like a performer splitting into afterimages. It was a limited language-acquisition spell designed to extract the language they used.
Pshshk.
Damn it. Again!
James sometimes failed at magic, though it was rare.
I didn’t even have a reason to use this spell before now.
He knew how to do it, but because he had never actually used it, he was not fully accustomed to it.
“......”
While Colt handled the two women, James managed to complete the spell on his second try.
Limited Drain. Active Mark... Except point check.
Carefully regulating his mana, James defined the range of the language they used. If he made the slightest mistake, he might end up copying and pasting the entirety of their life memories.
Copy and paste... Action.
The mana that extended from James’s hand began working within their minds, then returned to him a moment later.
“!”
Korean... like they said, it’s familiar.
It felt as though the Korean he had learned as a child had come back to life. It was so natural, so intimate, like the English he had always used as his native tongue.
“......”
“Su-ji, this guy’s really slick. Hohoho.”
“He is. He kind of clings too much, doesn’t he? Hoho. I’m giving the Asian guy a little more credit.”
“......”
Listening to them speak in Korean, James could tell Colt’s banter was less polished than he had expected.
“Colt, you need to step it up.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
James feigned innocence under their suspicious looks.
“If I jump in, I’ll probably steal you away from the lovely princesses’ attention.”
“What? Hah. That’s ridiculous...”
James pulled out a deck of cards where Colt could see it.
“Hey. Hey. That’s cheating.”
Card magic was basically a cheat code for winning women over.
“Kk.”
The women were clearly interested in the cards James had produced.
“Why did you bring those out?”
“Card tricks? Right?”
James nodded and began shuffling. Cards shot from his right hand and landed precisely in his left, then arched outward in a dazzling dance from side to side.
“Wow. You look like a pro.”
“Kk.”
If James were not a professional, then no one deserved the title at all. But the magic he was about to show them was not magic at all.
“Well now. Have either of you been to Las Vegas?”
At Colt’s question, the two women nodded.
“We were planning to go after the semester ended, but we missed our chance. We have to head back to Korea soon.”
“We were thinking of going together later.”
“Colt, I guess I’m not as famous as I thought.”
“Where on earth are your fans hiding?”
“It’s only a big deal online. I’ve almost never run into them in person.”
“That’s because you’re so different onstage and off.”
Over the years, James had acquired what one might generously call a fan club. They had even built a website to share his magic performances. There were videos there analyzing his tricks, claiming that special wires and precision machinery James had never even used were what made them possible. James and Colt had both watched those videos, but they had never bothered posting a rebuttal. If the fans wanted to understand it as magic, there was no need to correct them by telling them it was actually magic.
As the two continued talking, Su-ji tilted her head and asked, “Were you famous?”
James answered by lifting a single card between his fingers.
“Just an amateur magician you girls haven’t heard of.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“That sounded a little insulting, didn’t it?”
“......”
“Should I look him up?”
“I’ll do it.”
The two quickly typed the name they had just heard into the search bar and were immediately able to see James’s face. The results were full of YouTube videos as well.
“!”
“!”
The two women looked up from their phones and confirmed James’s face with a jolt.
“The telekinetic card magician?”
“...The real James Kane?”
“Whoa. Isn’t it amazing that he performs in Las Vegas?”
“He’s performed for Cirque du Soleil, too. That means he’s top-tier on a global scale.”
“...Heh.”
At James’s small smile, Colt shrugged and said, “Chances to see James Kane’s magic don’t come around often. If you see him perform here, there’s no need to go all the way to Las Vegas.”
The two women, who had turned toward Colt, looked back down at their phones.
“Huh. This older guy shows up in a lot of the videos.”
“Colt Evans... wow.”
When Colt’s name appeared, he waved a hand through the air and bowed his head in a slight greeting. It was graceful, polished, and so gentlemanly it looked like he was greeting an audience from a stage.
“...So you really are famous.”
“Wow.”
After that, Colt and James were able to continue the meeting in a much warmer atmosphere than before. Of course, James’s card magic had played a huge part in that.
“Whoa! How did you know?”
Just then, James had correctly guessed the card Su-ji had chosen and hidden away.
“Wouldn’t it have a mark on the back?”
James turned around completely as he spoke.
“Then I won’t look, so choose whatever you want. One each.”
“......”
“......”
Seeing that James truly would not turn around, the two quickly grabbed cards and hid them behind their backs. They even covered the remaining cards with a plate.
“You really won’t know this time.”
“Right. There’s no way you can guess now.”
James answered without turning back at all.
“Su-ji has the ♥K, and Ho-jung has the ♣3.”
“!”
“!”
“And......”
James turned back and looked at Ho-jung.
“Ho-jung took the ◆8 too? I said to take just one card.”
“Wow! He got all of them again.”
Ho-jung had secretly taken an extra card, but she had not escaped James’s eyes.
“Since I won, you have to drink, right?”
“Tch.”
The two knocked back the strong whiskey in one go and challenged him again.
“This time, we’ll try to guess the card you’re thinking of.”
“Right. There’s no way you can get this one.”
“Fine.”
Cards were spread across the table in a row.
“Pick one each and remember it well in your head.”
“Okay. I picked mine.”
“Me too.”
James gathered the cards, pretended to inspect them one by one, and focused on the flow of mana.
Eyes always leave tiny traces in mana.
When James’s fingers brushed the ♠Q, Su-ji’s gaze reacted. When he brushed the ♣10, Ho-jung reacted.
Too easy. Way too easy.
“Su-ji has the ♠Q, and Ho-jung has the ♣10.”
“Whoa!”
“Mine was the ♣J!”
“Oh? So that’s how it is?”
“Drink up!”
“Hahaha. Fine. I can make mistakes too.”
James let them believe they had fooled him, even though he had known all along.
“Heh. Now I’ll show you a real card trick.”
“Finally?”
It was the card magic that had once earned James his nickname.
Flap.
A single card appeared in his left hand. And when everyone’s eyes shifted to his empty right hand, they followed it there all at once.
“......”
But nothing changed. The card in his left hand remained the same, and there was nothing in his right hand, just as before.
“...Kk.”
Only Colt burst out laughing.
“What? Why?”
“Uh... he says he doesn’t want to go?”
James was looking at the ♥A in his left hand as he said it.
“What?”
“Hey. Stop rebelling and get over there. Yeah?”
James scolded the card as though it were alive, and at some point it vanished from sight.
Whoosh!
“Phew. There it goes.”
The group’s attention snapped to his right hand, where they could now see the moved card. It had become three cards, adding the ♣A and ◆A to the original ♥A.
“Huh? Why are there three?”
“Tell them he brought his friends because he was lonely.”
“What?”
“Haha.”
“Then why isn’t there a ♠A?”
In his empty left hand, the ♠A appeared.
“This one’s a lonely outsider, so he doesn’t have any friends.”
“Pfft.”
Colt knew most of the story James had designed for the performance onstage, so he could already guess where things were headed.
“The lonely ♠A has subordinates instead of friends, right?”
“Ahem, Colt. No spoilers.”
James flicked the ♠A upward with a finger, and a shower of cards burst up from his palm after it.
Cha-rarararak.
“The ♠A was actually the king of the Trump Kingdom.”
“Wow.”
James liked giving even the shortest trick a story so it had meaning.
The ♠A, descending from midair, followed James’s guiding hand toward the table, and the card that should have fallen over stood straight up instead.
“Oh!”
Then the other cards lined up neatly on the table as if shielding the ♠A. The rest of the cards, too, remained standing upright rather than lying flat.
“King ♠A of the Trump Kingdom appears! All subjects, bow before your king!”
As James set down the remaining ace cards in his right hand, the three cards bent their bodies in greeting.
“Whoa.”
“The detail is insane. It feels like watching the smallest performance in the world.”
On the table, the army of the Trump Kingdom had formed ranks and was standing in review.
“...I feel like Alice in Wonderland.”
“Then should I shrink Su-ji and Ho-jung too?”
James waved a hand through the air, and Colt grabbed his arm in alarm.
“A-are you insane? You’re drunk!”
“Pfft, Colt. Why are you so surprised?”
“Easy, easy. James, calm down.”
“......”
James had no real intention of shrinking the two women.
As if I could actually do that...
“You’ve already shown us plenty. No more...”
“...Colt. Colt.”
In the first place, there was no such spell among the magic James had learned. Still, he had considered making them think it was an illusion.
I guess I really am drunk.
“You’re perfectly fine, so why are you pretending to be drunk?”
“Heh heh. Well then, that’s enough card magic for now. If you want to see more, come to Las Vegas and buy a ticket... ”
James had started to tell them to come watch a performance, but he cut himself off, since he didn’t even know whether he would still be performing in Las Vegas in the future. In any case, he didn’t think they would actually come.
“What a shame. I wanted to see more...”
“How did you do that trick just now?”
“Ahem. A magician’s secret is not something to be shown casually.”
They couldn’t keep doing card tricks forever at a drinking table, so after that it became nothing but drinks and conversation.
“We’re studying abroad for a short while, but we’ll be going back to Korea soon.”
“Oh? We’re planning to travel to another country before heading to Korea.”
“Where are you traveling?”
There was no reason not to answer.
“We’re planning to stop by England for a bit.”
“Ohhh.”
“Contact us when you come to Korea.”
“Right. We should be able to interpret for you.”
James was about to reach into his pocket and hand over his phone number when several men approached their table.
“...Su-ji. Ho-jung.”
They were uninvited guests James and Colt had not asked for.