Episode 596. Special Week (2)

Exotic landscapes.

Hair blowing pleasantly in the breeze.

On the contrary, Yoon Soogyeom’s expression was serious.

In the end, Sung Hyunjoon couldn’t bear it anymore and asked.

“Senior, are you on to something?”

Yoon Soogyeom had kept his mouth shut since the airplane.

Naturally, Senior Yoon had a soft spot in his heart.

If he’s looking at me so desperately, I can’t help but answer.

Look.

“Hyunjoon, only you know this…….”

Warak.

It was a blonde woman who appeared out of nowhere and shut Yoon Soogyeom’s mouth.

It was a blonde woman hugged from behind.

Sung Hyun-oon was furiously surprised and shouted.

“What a monster!”

Every morning on his way to work, when he was squeezed into a crowded subway car, he would let his imagination run wild. What if a player with bad intentions kidnapped me and blackmailed me?

Why, isn’t that a possibility?

Even though Arcana was just a game, the operators were the operators. This meant that his general knowledge of the continent’s history was probably higher than most players.

Sung Hyunjoon shouted eagerly.

“Po, Police Freeze!”

After all, it was only because Seoul was full of ranked players who came to the Magic Tower with insufficient CCTV that they were able to stay safe all this time. See, as soon as I went on a business trip to the U.S., something like this happened.

“Help! Save! Help me!”

Of course, Sung’s illusion didn’t last long.

“Surprise, Katrina.”

“Welcome home. I’m so glad to see you.”

“……Eh?”

Katrina?

Katrina, the same Katrina from the AAU North America Branch with whom I’ve been in contact ever since ……? Yoon Soogyeom, who had adjusted his glasses, calmly introduced her to Sung Hyunjoon.

“Hyunjoon, this is Katrina.”

“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You speak Korean better than I thought, don’t you?”

“Come on, you taught me everything.”

“…”

Why do I feel like we’re closer than I thought?

Sung looked at the two of them with a subtle gaze. It couldn’t be helped. No matter how long it’s been, it’s like that. Aren’t you too happy to see me, Katrina?

‘Just looking at this, I can see that you two were not in a normal relationship.’

…!

Needless to say, Sung was sick to his stomach.

Some people are so nervous about traveling to America.

He couldn’t even sleep on the plane.

“Senior, you are also picking mulberries while watching?”

“What? What did you just say?”

“No, nothing. Hurry up.”

Unlike Yoon, I would act like a professional.

Sung immediately started talking about work.

Why else would we be flying across the Pacific to the United States?

“You have more than one thing to worry about, the special conference.”

A special conference.

For once, something had come up that the AAU could do something about. The Magic Tower, the pillar of the Arcana Continent. Only if the pillars were strong could the Arcana continent stand upright.

“We’ll have to look through all the Magic Tower settings in the database.”

Katrina whispered in Yoon Soogyeom’s ear.

“It’s different from the story? There’s nothing cute about it at all.”

“That’s right. I guess it’s because I’m nervous.”

“What are you two talking about in secret?”

“What? It’s nothing, Hyunjoon.”

Stumbling, Hyunjoon continued to act out of character.

Thankfully, the story didn’t go off the rails.

“It is said that the special society will lift the taboos and taboos that apply to the Magic Tower. Although we, AAU, were not aware of the existence of the Special Society in advance, we are still well aware of the Magic Tower’s hidden settings.”

They did.

The two men represented the Korean branch of AAU and went to the United States, where AAU’s headquarters used to be, to check the database on Magic Tower.

Yoon nodded in agreement.

“I see. The database is so vast that it would be much faster for us to move than to have the relevant materials sent to us… Well, there are some things that concern me.”

“Oh, that internal enemy you’ve been talking about?”

“Katrina, keep your voice down.”

“Mm, okay.”

Paladin, Guyver.

He wasn’t the only one who had a change of heart. The AAU’s support of Guyver’s rebellion was now plainly visible to the world, and the Magic Tower was located in Seoul.

If any information that could exploit the Magic Tower’s taboos and forbidden areas were to find its way to them.

“Anyway, it can’t hurt to be careful, right?”

I get down to business in a way that would normally be unimaginable.

I dive into the remaining database.

Sung is frantically tapping away at his keyboard even as Joshua, the branch manager, greets him.

“Wow, you guys are so enthusiastic. I guess it’s because you’re Mr. Park’s employees.”

“Haha. Is that so? I wonder why he’s like that.”

“Senior!”

Sung Hyunjoon called out to Yoon Soogyeom whenever he tried to talk to someone. Why is it like that? It was the moment when Katrina stuck her tongue out next to Joshua.

“Wait a minute.”

Yoon began to clean the lenses of his glasses.

Did he see something?

The two others quickly joined Sung and Yoon.

“…….”

“Did you find anything?”

“Uh.”

“What is it, is it that bad?”

Sung glanced at Katrina, then answered instead.

“Amethyst Hall.”

“Amethyst Hall is ……. One of the forbidden areas?”

“Yes, there was dummy data about it.”

“That can’t be possible. When we looked, it wasn’t found?”

“There was a separate link to access it.”

The AAU Korea branch is physically close to the Magic Tower.

Thanks to them, Sung has seen it time and time again.

Magic Tower mages walking around the city center of Seoul.

“After all, the Magic Tower is also a place where people live, right? So, rather than delving into the vast amount of information on the Magic Tower, we looked at the senior mages first. Thanks to this, we were able to discover the backgrounds of the senior mages currently existing in the Magic Tower.”

Sung nodded.

“Mages who were removed from their positions.”

“……!!”

Joshua and Katrina responded immediately.

“Surely, Joshua? A senior mage must constantly prove the value of the magic they study at regular conferences to keep their position, right?”

“That’s right because, in the Magic Tower, the ability is more important than anything else.”

“So, the senior mages who were left out of the competition are ……. ”

If they were disposable NPCs that never reappeared, they would have been swallowed by the Bad Omen. But the Magic Tower had an ‘Amethyst Hall’ that could serve as a substitute.

A cold sweat broke out on Joshua’s forehead.

“They must have been sharpening their knives in the Amethyst Hall.”

The boundary between the Amethyst Hall and the Magic Tower had been blurred, and the taboo of the Magic Tower had been lifted. Yoon Soogyeom was the first to recall the most famous taboo of the Magic Tower.

“It is forbidden to manifest decisive magic inside the Magic Tower.”

“If that taboo is lifted…….”

“There might be a ‘competition’ event in the Magic Tower.”

A contested event.

“Holy shit.”

As the words fell, a sense of urgency descended on the AAU’s North American branch, and rightly so. Every single one of the senior mages was an off-the-scale figure with more power than a nuclear bomb.

“Considering the history of the Magic Tower, the number of senior mages who were bound to Amethyst Hall must be ……. unimaginable. Of course, the Magic Tower is no longer what it once was, but that doesn’t apply to the mages in Amethyst Hall.”

Yoon Soogyeom nodded.

“They are the ones who have been completely alienated from the winds of change.”

Sung shook his head in disbelief.

He had to get this information to Yusra General Manager Lee Hoyeol quickly. He’s the only one who can be involved in the Magic Tower, and he’s the one who organized this special conference.

“……No, there’s no way the General Manager doesn’t know about this.”

A thought popped into my head.

How could the General Manager, who had organized the special conference on his own initiative, not know about the information they had discovered? The thought made Katrina stiffen.

Katrina opened her mouth cautiously.

“What if he’s looking at the big picture again?”

Joshua closed his eyes tightly and answered.

“In that case, I guess the answer is to stay still.”

Sung also recited ‘Homen’ as if responding.

His faith never wavered, even as information poured in in real time. Even if players were reminded of a hidden quest involving Amethyst Hall.

“It’s about to unfold, Mr. General Manager big picture.”

*

Siraura Akins, Senior Mage of Spatial Magic.

“A special conference, what kind of luxury is this for the ghosts of the past?”

Amethyst Hall.

The Ghost of the Past rose from her chambers and looked around.

The décor of her office had long since gone out of style.

Siraura pursed her lips.

“I guess makeup methods have changed a lot, too.”

Seuseuseug.

The sound of words being engraved on faded parchment can be heard. Judging by the endless crunching sound, the other ghosts seem to be quite excited as well.

“Of course, so am I.”

Magic Tower.

The passage of time has dulled the bad feelings. Being a ghost that never grew old or died, poring over spatial magic texts, it didn’t feel like anything.

But there was one emotion that remained vivid in Siraura’s mind. The face of the blue-eyed brat who had brought her to Amethyst Hall with her spatial magic was not forgotten.

Her lips quirked upward.

“Do you think you still hold that position, Senior Vangrit?”

The only thing allowed to the ghosts of Amethyst Hall is the magic they have clung to their entire lives.

There was no way to know about news from the outside world, and the ghosts didn’t do anything about news from the outside world.

They only wish.

“Feiyan, you’re still as voracious as ever.”

“Bensch William, I have not forgotten the humiliation.”

“It would be nice if you could welcome me warmly, Miss Kiko.”

Dropped to the floor of the Amethyst Hall.

One by one, they slipped out of the office and made their way to the Magic Tower, leaving only the seat of the senior mage.

Siraura tilts her head.

“Hmm?”

She can smell the scent of strangers mingling with the familiar scent of her own perfume. For some reason, the scent was not like the Magic Tower emitting from the Magic Tower. Something about it.

It’s closer to a smell than a fragrance… I guess it feels frivolous in the first scent, and a strange coolness in the lingering scent? Well, I guess it didn’t matter. Siraura confirmed her magic power.

“I don’t know whose decision it was, but I’m grateful for it.”

Now that the taboo had been lifted, she felt a little more free to cook Vangrit. Soon, a total of twenty ghosts appeared in the hallways of Amethyst Hall.

At the same time, the players’ vision flickered.

[Hidden Quest: The Ghosts of the Magic Tower]

“Senior mages from the previous generation?”

“Hey, isn’t the quest message ominous ……?”

“If it’s a senior, we won’t get caught up in this, so let’s get out of here!”

Hudadak.

Players find an open Amethyst Hall out of curiosity and head straight for it. Jesse Heinness, an adept mage and Archmage, was the only one left in Amethyst Hall.

“I never knew this was coming.”

Jesse bit her lip.

This was a variable.

A change that could shake the very foundations of the Magic Tower.

“ …… The Magic Tower you rebuilt.”

Jesse’s magic sparked as she spoke.

“What kind of smell is this again?”

A teleportation manifestation so fast it was almost imperceptible.

No, this wasn’t a simple teleportation. It was as if space had been folded and moved, and the former Tower Master’s warning was heard.

-Siraura Akins. Senior mage of spatial magic. For reference.

“Mmm, that smells pretty good.”

-She flirted with me, too.

“……!”

Jesse was analyzing the magic traces when the cone hat caught her attention.

Jesse felt goosebumps all over her body.

It’s not because of the cone hat’s words, which she couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious.

It was because Siraura exuded danger.

“These people are dangerous.”

More than the quest that came to mind.

Eyes with impure intentions.

Jesse took a step backward in judgment.

“Oh, that’s not fun.”

Siraura’s voice trailed off.

Magic crackled in her body.

It was instantly recognizable.

‘Decisive magic!’

An uncontrollable surge of magic power surged through the Magic Tower. Jesse reacted quickly. Violet twilight magic flickered. Siraura was intrigued, as if she had gotten a good look.

“Violet magic. You have an unusual talent, and I’m guessing you’re not from the Arcana continent? Oh, that intrigues me even more, to the point where I want to lock you in my space and observe you.”

Of course, the confrontation didn’t last long.

Ttogak.

The sound echoes through the Amethyst Hall.

“Everyone, clear out.”

Siraura’s face went white at the sound of that voice.

“…What is that monster?”

The Chief Mage, Lee Hoyeol, appears.

I apologize for not being nice, but I can’t help it.

Because I was looking at the atmosphere.

It’s not the kind of atmosphere where a nice word will get you out of the way.

‘More than that, why is Jesse here?’

Anyway, I’m just going to go find that bible.

“I won’t tell you twice.”

“…..?”

“Losers of the Magic Tower.”
–