Chapter 66
In the end, they moved.
If they delayed any longer, there was a high chance the lull would end before they even finished recovering the remains and clearing the corpses.
Even as Johanna brought Lee Hoin along, her expression showed she wasn’t sure if this was the right decision.
“Haah….”
And that reckless bastard… he really moved as if he knew something. He went straight to the pillars, cleared away the snow beneath them, and opened the bunker doors on the ground without hesitation.
At this point, it was too late to stop him.
All Johanna could do now was pray… pray that the man was alive, or at least, even if dead, that he hadn’t died in a horrific state.
And when they opened the bunker door at the pillar farthest from Orten L-5…
Along with the stench of blood, someone faintly came into view.
A person.
Someone drenched in blood, with a pale, drained face…
Still breathing.
***
The fact that I opened my eyes again was a miracle.
Even without anyone telling me, I thought so myself.
Waking up again was a miracle.
Because of that, even though I had all sorts of magical devices hanging off me, I couldn’t speak or move for two days after regaining consciousness.
“…Just how?”
Johanna asked that briefly.
Then, perhaps realizing it was an impolite question, she pressed her lips tightly together with a grim expression and simply told me to report once I recovered, before turning away.
Lee Hoin said nothing.
Without saying much, he came by whenever he had time to tend to me.
Shin Yerim came in a few times and, stuttering, explained my condition. It seemed she thought I should know my own state.
And I agreed, it was better for me to know, so whenever she came in, I listened carefully.
After two days had passed, when I could at least speak even if I couldn’t move, I gave my report.
Johanna looked even more incredulous after hearing it, but it was the truth.
“Hey, thanks to you, my Intuition level went up a lot. No stat doesn’t rise when I’m involved with you.”
Saying that, Lee Hoin left for training.
After the two of them left, Shin Yerim adjusted my position so I could sit and asked hesitantly:
“U-um… a-are you… n-not bored…?”
Not bored?
Of course, I was bored. I had nothing to do.
When I shrugged, she fidgeted and said:
“Th-then… m-maybe… something you could… e-enjoy…?”
It was a roundabout way of asking if I needed anything else.
So I answered:
“Could you bring me some basic books on introductory magic from the library?”
At that, Shin Yerim nodded quickly.
And the books were delivered to my room.
Normally, books on magic couldn’t be taken outside…
[Magic Basics Even a 3-Year-Old Can Learn!]
…But apparently titles like that made it acceptable.
“B-because… I th-thought… I should bring the e-easiest ones…”
“Yes. Thank you. This will be enough.”
Now then, it was time to compare the intelligence of a 3-year-old Hermadion resident with mine.
***
I admit it.
I’m dumber than a 3-year-old from Hermadion.
—
[Well, isn’t the environment different from birth?]
[Hermadion is a place rich in mana. It’s a place where parents pass down mana from birth. If a child cannot use mana, it’s no different from not being able to babble.]
[A difference in talent, you might say? Haha!]
—
What you’re born with is different.
That wasn’t wrong.
Then what was I supposed to do? Go find something like “Magic Basics Even a 1-Year-Old Can Learn” and read that?
Damn it.
I tapped my fingertips lightly as I retraced Sa Jaeheon’s past actions, digging through the parts where Do Jaehee had spoken.
Of course, there wasn’t much detail recorded.
For now…
‘Do Jaehee mentioned the trigger for manifesting magical talent…?’
They summarized it so damn annoyingly short.
What am I supposed to get from that?
In the end, I had to recall it myself, frowning.
That meant relying purely on my memory…
And like I’ve said many times, my memory isn’t great.
Should I just wander around different zones and look for familiar faces? If I level up, maybe the details will get clearer.
‘Though the bigger problem is whether I can even recognize them.’
It was like when I first saw Lee Hyun and just thought, “some buzz-cut cop.”
If someone were a major character or at least had distinct traits, I could recognize them.
But if they didn’t, it was hard.
I only recognized Shin Yerim immediately because she stood out so much.
There were probably plenty of characters I’d already passed by without realizing.
‘Remembering exactly who appears in which event…’
This isn’t that kind of novel.
It doesn’t narrate the life story of every passing extra.
There are countless characters.
So many that readers inevitably forget some as they follow the story.
Even the author probably forgot a few.
‘Do I seriously have to shout out every name I know whenever I see someone?’
What is this, twenty questions?
Anyway, I thought again about Do Jaehee.
If Ki Yehyun was born a dragon and became a dragon, then Do Jaehee was born a loach and became an Imugi.
Of course, in terms of outcome, Do Jaehee was below Ki Yehyun.
But in terms of the “talent of effort,” she far surpassed him.
A genius who understood the realm of mediocrity.
And… if I recall some of her lines…
“We’ve never used magic before, so it doesn’t come naturally to us… I won’t say something like ‘just feel it’ like some people do. Just draw it thousands of times until you can feel it. Think about it each time. What should come out when you draw this? What are you expecting?”
With the paper and pencil Shin Yerim gave me, I began sketching the simplest “light” magic that even a 3-year-old could learn.
What should come out?
According to the book, a small sphere of light.
“So think carefully. What shape is it? What color? Is it floating in the air, or attached somewhere? What temperature is it? Does it move? Or stay still? Imagine it as if you’re writing out every detail from one to ten.”
What shape? A sphere.
What kind of sphere? A perfect one.
What color? Probably, white light is usually white.
Floating in the air, slightly warm, moving with my fingertips…
“And if it fails? Then your imagined conditions are wrong. Change them. If you thought it was hot, imagine it cold. If you thought it was an oval, try a pentagon. There are many possibilities. But this is still the easier way.”
I quietly looked at the paper.
No change.
Just the crude shape I had drawn.
Wrong.
—
[If something meant to be done with talent doesn’t work, don’t strain yourself!]
[It’s simply because you lack talent!]
—
I tried again.
From sunrise to sunset, I kept sketching a single light.
Sharp shapes, red light, attached to my hand, hot…
I added every possible condition.
But nothing worked.
Even when I detailed everything from one to ten, or left some out, the paper didn’t react at all.
Still, I kept going.
I had to gain something from this.
Even if clumsy, opening the path to learning magic would help in acquiring other skills.
Especially since Lee Hoin was close-range, it’d be better for me to develop long-range abilities.
Right now, all I have is time.
And this was the only thing I could do.
I read it over and over.
Drew it over and over.
Until Lee Hoin came to visit and asked if I’d gone insane.
Even wasting paper felt like a loss, so I got an eraser, erased every symbol I had drawn so far, and focused again on the cleaned sheets.
“…Is this guy actually crazy?”
Lee Hoin muttered behind me.
Beside him, Shin Yerim fidgeted and said:
“Y-you sh-should r-rest… i-if you keep going like th-this for too long… i-it c-could be h-hard on your body…”
“Something like that can strain you? Just obsessing like a lunatic?”
“Y-your eyes get f-fatigued… a-and your w-wrists… a-and f-fingers too… st-staying in one position for too long isn’t g-good…”
My body was fine.
The problem was that I couldn’t remember what conditions I had set.
My brain was the weak link.
Physically, I was surprisingly okay.
Maybe because of the magical treatment. Or all the devices attached to me.
I waved my hand as if to say I was fine.
The two of them watched me with concern before eventually leaving to do their own tasks.
And after drawing thousands, tens of thousands of times…
Someone stood in front of my room.
“Tut, tut. What a foolish fellow. At this rate, when do you think you’ll learn it? Something even a three-year-old can grasp in no time.”
Correct.
This really is something meant for a three-year-old.
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