◈ Episode 533. I’ll Go to Hell (2)
First of all, preparation is needed.
‘Wensu hasn’t come back yet.’
When Lee Yerim, my older sister, heard that I was staying in the main house, she was rushing home. I can’t ignore it, so I check my phone, which has been vibrating since earlier…….
-Lee Hoyeol, I’m waiting for you.
-Why don’t you just bounce first like last time? ㅡㅡ
-This time, I have a lot of questions for you.
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand her reaction.
I still don’t know what I proved and how I got away with it, because I’m sure the world would have been talking about me until Matisse proved it.
“It’s disgraceful.”
Even if it is.
You don’t have to go out so low, Grandfell. I don’t know about Mom and Dad and the oldest sister and the second sister, but I’m pretty sure that Lee Yerim thing is coming to get you with impure intentions.
That’s why we need to find ……!
Just in case my dark history notes are discovered.
It’s in Grandfell’s personality that he can’t help but think of his blood relatives in a terrible way.
If he asks to see it, I’ll have no choice but to show it to him.
Goosebumps break out all over my body as I recall what happened next.
‘……I can’t even die!’
Let’s take a look.
I promise myself, and hurry to search my room.
But it’s weird. I don’t see it……? It’s a notebook that reflects my eccentric tastes, and from the looks of it, the Sikeomeseoneun
(someone who hide their intentions which are usually bad or ill) would be right at home on my bookshelf.
‘Did my mom throw it away?’
I’ve been living on my own for a few years now.
Could she have thrown it away while clearing out her spare room?
Any number of things, actually.
‘…… Should I be thankful for this?’
Common sense tells me that a notebook thrown in the recycling is unlikely to be intact, but I can’t shake the feeling that the words written in it are just that, words.
‘How can I trace it with magic?’
Me, Lee Hoyeol.
Seriously.
I was about to try something stupid with a different level of magic.
Beep, beep, beep.
There was a tapping at the front door.
I swallowed hard, dryly.
‘You’re home, Wensu.’
A booming voice rang out in response to my determination.
“Hey, Lee Hoyeol, don’t you have anything to say to this sister?!”
.
.
.
10:10 PM.
Apparently, habits are hard to ignore. Mom and Dad went into the master bedroom to sleep early, since they wouldn’t have to open the dumpling shop tomorrow.
This allowed Lee Yerim to face Hoyeol alone.
“So there’s nothing to worry about now?”
She asked, raising her beer glass.
“Yes.”
Lee Yerim was relieved.
“The world needs to believe the news, but what can you do, Hoyeol? That’s the fate of superstars, and you, too. Don’t let it get to you. Of course, judging from the way you’re still standing up straight, you seem to be fine…….”
Lee Yerim laughed bloodily.
‘……Hoyeol, my brother.’
No matter the magic, no matter the skill, no matter the effect.
‘Actually, I don’t know even if you tell me, that kind of thing.’
These were difficult concepts for Lee Yerim, who was far from familiar with the Arcana continent’s biography, no matter how hard she tried to study. But only one thing reassured her.
“Well, if you’re okay with it, then it’s okay.”
Only one thing: Hoyeol was not his usual self.
Of course, I still haven’t gotten used to that stern respect.
Still, it felt good.
“In that sense, how about one more……?”
Clink!
“Here, cheers. Cheers!”
It was enough to make me down ten cans of beer.
.
.
.
Of course, the last thing our Grandfell, who’s going to hell in a handbasket tomorrow, needs is alcohol in his mouth. I looked at Wensu sprawled on the table and swallowed a sigh.
‘What’s so nice about that.’
Do you drink too much and binge?
‘You know, I’m surprised you’re not gaining weight considering how much you eat.’
A part of me wanted to pretend I didn’t know, so that Mr. Grandfell, who had a horrible taste in blood, could put his sister to sleep on a cold table.
“I’ll take care of you.”
“Hehe. What is it, your hair tickles.”
“I apologize.”
There’s nothing to be sorry about, Grandfell.
More than that, she’s making a mustache out of your hair.
Are you going to put up with something like that?
‘I’m holding on to this.’
I’m not trying to deny that I feel terrible for my blood relative. I’m no different than you, except that I can get past the rest of my family. There’s only one person I can’t get over, and that’s Yerim!
‘Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just throw her on the bed with magic, huh?’
I don’t even want to touch her skin.
But my complaints were pointless.
I opened the door to Wensu’s room with Wensu at my side.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
You don’t have to say that, right…….
I stumbled into Wensu’s room with a shuffle.
Le Yerim said with a twisted tongue.
“You, don’t leave without saying anything. Do you understand?”
“…….”
I didn’t say anything in response.
I’m sorry, but I don’t have the luxury of guessing what Wensu thinks of me, or what Wenxu’s true feelings are right now.
‘……Crazy.’
Lee Yerim’s desk is a mess of clutter. A black notebook came into my line of sight, as I was criticizing her for not being organized and for not changing anything from the past.
‘Wait, isn’t that mine?!’
It was.
My dark history notebook.
It was lying on Lee Yerim’s desk……!!!
Instantly, fifty thousand thoughts popped into my head.
Why are my dark history notes in her room?
No way, did she open it?
How can you open it and not say anything to me?
…… in Lee Yerim’s personality?
Yes, that can’t be.
‘You don’t know anything yet, you fool.’
I dared to be convinced.
It wasn’t the eldest sister, it wasn’t the second sister, it was Lee Yerim. If she opened my dark history notebook, she would have called me by my full name, Grandfell! Now, let’s play it out in my head.
‘I just needed my notebook, so I walked in from my room and went to…….’
I find the most striking dark history notebook. You bring it back into your room, and it sits on your desk, and time passes, and clothes pile up on top of it, and bags pile up on top of it, and stuff piles up on top of it.
‘So, if it looks like that, it’s understandable…….’
Sreuk.
I tucked her into bed and made sure she was properly tucked in before I reached for my dark history notebook. Part of me wanted to reach out and take it back.
‘…… Are you serious, body? Move!’
Damn it, it’s his formality again.
Yes, it’s unbecoming of a nobleman to barge into his sister’s room while she sleeps.
It’s unacceptable.
‘No, it was Lee Yerim who did it first!’
But Grandfell, he’s not the one with the shameless bowl like Lee Hoyeol. In the end, I had no choice but to quietly close the door and leave Wensu’s room. the snout muttered.
“You can’t disturb a good night’s sleep.”
……I knew he would say that. I’m going to be sleepless every night for fear that Wensu will open my dark history notebooks……! You’re not worried about me at all, are you, Grandfell?
*
Magic Tower.
Master Marcelo opens his mouth.
“Chief Lee said that there should be no more secrets in the closed Magic Tower. Since that declaration, the Round Table of the Magic Tower has been held in the Crystal Hall, not on the top floor.”
The top floor.
Where the Five Elder Mages ruled, the top floor was a place not even the Chief Wizard, Marcelo, could easily set foot in, due to its special nature.
Passs.
Particles of magic that left only a trace, too frightening for Marcelo to draw upon. The seniors’ gazes followed Marcelo’s as they scanned the top floor.
“Why was the roundtable held on the top floor? The top floor is an isolated space that cannot be free of magic. It’s a special space, much like the underground void of a Magic Tower.
That was the truth of the top floor, granted only to the Tower Master.
“I see.”
The seniors listened to Marcelo, wondering if they should be privy to such secrets, but they listened nonetheless, for he was not one to speak unnecessarily. Matisse, the senior Black Mage, took a head count.
“Bensch William, Kotein Revel, Maia Deian, and Vangrit Tom, in healing. All but four senior mages are assembled. Master Marcelo.”
Marcelo nodded.
“Then let’s get right down to business.”
He pulled out a single red flower from his Subspace Pouch, a magic that mimicked the player’s inventory, and only Kiko bit her lip at the sight of it.
“Chief Lee has disappeared from the Magic Tower.”
“What, what?! What does that mean……?”
“You mean, he left without telling the Tower Master?”
“That’s right.”
“…….”
Marcelo nodded, and a strange air current settled over the top floor. But the worst was yet to come. Marcelo nodded toward Kiko, and she opened her mouth.
“Chief Lee left me a note, saying he’d be stopping by Garnet Hall soon. I should have gotten the hint a little earlier……. Chief Lee, and no one else, said ‘soon’……!”
The seniors of Magic Tower.
Their knowledge is extraordinary.
It also means that they are quick to assess the situation.
“Does that mean that the flower is the only clue left, Tower Master?”
“Yes, because it was lying on Chief Lee’s desk.”
“Oh.”
Flowers for mourning.
Is this a flower meant to provoke the Magic Tower?
If not that.
A message from Chief Lee to Magic Tower.
‘…… is the worst of everything.’
No one was quite sure.
Senior Mage of Light Magic.
Dorothy chimed in.
“Has Chief Lee’s magical power traces been captured?”
Marcelo nodded.
Marcelo nodded.
“That’s a good question, Senior Dorothy. That’s why I bothered to summon you to the top floor of the Magic Tower. As you’ve seen, the top floor is a tangled web of interference. It is safe to say that the source of the Crystal Hall and other ineffable mysteries of the Magic Tower are concentrated here on the top floor.”
…… nod.
‘So that’s why the Tower Master’s magic power is scattered.’
Under the influence of the complex interference, the magic power was scattered without a clear path. It’s natural that advanced magic cannot be manifested in such a place, and this must be where the roundtable was held, where secrets must not leak out.
At the nodding elders, Marcelo added.
“However, Chief Lee manifested a portal on this top floor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a simple portal, because Chief Lee is amazing, but the coordinates of the portal were the Arcana continent.”
“……The Arcana Continent?”
“That’s right. To the extent that he manifests miracles that are not magic under these adverse conditions. Chief Lee’s magical power is several levels above the rank of the others.”
Marcelo shrugged.
“It would be impossible for me to navigate his magic trail, and that’s another reason I’ve summoned you to the top floor.”
“……?”
“Because, as I said, on this top floor, we don’t have to worry about information leaking out, unlike in the Crystal Hall or the Floating Garden.”
“……!!!”
Marcelo hadn’t even spoken yet.
Matisse snapped.
“As if my proof weren’t enough.”
One by one, the other seniors realized.
Yes, it was.
No one else was missing but Chief Lee.
Marcelo declared as the leader.
“Until Chief Lee returns, we will turn back for a while.”
Turn back.
He meant to go back.
To the old Magic Tower.
“The goal is to secure Chief Lee’s recruits by any means necessary, and you may teach them as much as you wish along the way about what happens to those who dare to cross the Magic Tower. Especially you, ‘Anonymous Ranker’.”
The Anonymous Ranker.
Before Matisse proved it.
What happened on Jeju Island.
Chief Lee’s actions.
The player everyone was talking about.
Marcelo, who had grown accustomed to Anomaly’s quest, did not overlook it.
Marcelo’s eyes glowed eerily.
“Let us identify its identity.”