༺ Crisis ༻

“What’s going on?”

After we made it to Seo-ah’s hospital bed, I noticed something off.

‘Why can I feel magi?’

I could feel black magi emanating from Seo-ah’s body despite it obviously not being her own.

To be exact, it could be felt where Seo-ah had gotten hurt.

“She’s been receiving treatment with the healing artifacts but they aren’t working at all. Her condition improved slightly when they first started treating her, but it’s been worsening ever since.”

“The artifacts aren’t working at all?”

“Yeah.”

Among the various healing artifacts I had brought, several of them had a high rank.

I had even checked if the artifacts were fake, so that likely wasn’t the problem.

Was the cause of her worsening condition the magi in her wound?

「Magi Manipulation」

I activated my skill, knowing if the magi was the problem, I had to get rid of it.

For that reason, I attempted to pull out any residual magi within her body, but it failed.

[This magi belongs to a Ruler. Controlling it is impossible.]

The magi surrounding her wound seemed to justify the system message and refused to budge.

“Hey, Lee Hyun-a.”

“Just call me Lee Hyun, please.”

“Whatever. You should be able to absorb the magi in Seo-ah’s body, so do it.”

Ignoring Ha-eun’s shocked face, I ordered Lee Hyun-a to get rid of the magi in Seo-ah’s wound.

Although the girl didn’t explain to me how it worked, she had the ability to absorb magi into her own body.

When we had fought Mane, I wasn’t able to control her magi, yet Hyun-a was able to absorb it. For that reason, I asked her to do what I couldn’t.

As Hyun-a approached Seo-ah, the residual magi began to gather toward her, but something was wrong.

“Haaa…!!”

Seo-ah began to writhe in pain.

Magi was being absorbed into Hyun-a’s body, but at the same time, wounds began to appear all over Seo-ah’s body.

The wounds that appeared were minor at first, but as time passed, increasingly worse wounds appeared, forcing Hyun-a to retreat.

“Fuck, what is going on?”

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding, especially since I had already seen the consequences of magi in a human being.

‘For example, Professor Park Ki-yeol.’

He had been driven mad. It was just a theory, but I thought he had likely turned strange due to the influence of magi on his body.

The probability that Seo-ah would end up like him was low, but I couldn’t help but worry.

“I guess I have to go find Mane, huh?”

Was this the reason she said it wouldn’t be long until we met again?

Because she already had a way of forcing me to talk to her?

‘But how?’

How could I find Mane? I didn’t even have a clue as to where she might be.“Ah.”

Suddenly realizing something in the midst of my thoughts, I looked at Hyun-a.

“Hey, Hyun.”

I stared at the girl, who had turned back into a boy, and smiled.

“Do you want to save Seo-ah?”

“Of course. Do you think I’m that heartless?”

“Then tell me everything you know about your father. If you tell me that, we might be able to save Seo-ah.”

“…?”

“Your father is the chairman, right?”

“How did you know?”

I had originally suspected Seo-ah or Ha-eun to be the chairman’s daughter, but because Hyun-a was confirmed to be a girl and not a boy, I was certain that Lee Hyun-a must be the chairman’s daughter.

‘If Seo-ah was his daughter, she wouldn’t be in this situation, and it’s strange to think of Ha-eun as his daughter.”

If Seo-ah were the chairman’s daughter, he wouldn’t neglect her in her current condition.

It also didn’t make sense that Ha-eun was the chairman’s daughter. She didn’t have any talent for lying to people, and I had made sure of it during our coin toss bet.

When we

“More than anything, you resemble him.”

They didn’t really look alike, but my level of dislike for both of them was eerily similar.

Such a thing would normally not be enough to draw a conclusion, but her expression was certainly telling.

“Tell me everything you know about the chairman now, or Seo-ah will die.”

“What does that have to do with anythin-”

“It matters a lot. You don’t know what happens after you die, do you?

The only person who had seen the being that possessed the chairman firsthand was me.

Therefore, there was a good chance Hyun-a didn’t know about it.

“After you died, your father was also killed by some demonic-looking being.”

“Are you talking about a demon?”

“I’m not sure if he really was a demon or not, but it felt similar. You should’ve felt something similar recently.”

“…”

Mane was quite different from that bastard, but they were also similar in some ways.

“I have no way to talk to Mane right now, so I need information about that bastard, since his powers are similar to hers. If you know anything at all, tell me.”

In order to gain information about Mane, I also needed to learn more about that bastard.

Because the two of them possessed similar abilities, receiving information regarding him might give me a way to save Seo-ah.

Worrying that she might not help me if she heard what evils the chairman had committed, I elected to omit those details.

However, it seemed that it was for naught.

“I can’t tell you.”

“What?”

I received a completely unexpected response. What on earth did she mean by that?

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

“I do.”

“How can you say that? It’s not like I’m asking about the chairman’s personal life. I just need to know anything you might have heard about the bastard that possessed your father.”“That’s why I can’t tell you.”

“Even if Seo-ah might die?”

“I’m sorry.”

‘What’s going on? I was sure she would tell me anything she knows.’

What I had asked for was anything she might know about that bastard. Naturally, I thought there was a chance that she wouldn’t know anything, especially when I was the only person who noticed the chairman was being possessed.

‘She didn’t say she didn’t know, but that she couldn’t tell me.’

She had specifically made that distinction, proving that she did know something.

“I don’t understand you at all. Do you understand that he killed your father? Don’t you want to save him?”

I wasn’t sure if I could even save the chairman, but in order to convince Hyun-a, I rambled on.

“I’ve never considered that scum my father.”

“Then why?

“…”

‘Fuck.’magic

I couldn’t help but curse at her behavior.

Watching her remain silent was driving me insane. Couldn’t she tell me something?

‘It looks like I’ll have to find a different way.’

My [Magi Manipulation] wasn’t working, and Hyun-a’s absorption would only bring Seo-ah further harm. In addition, she refused to say anything about that bastard, who was similar to Mane.

Is there another way?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find a solution.

‘I don’t have much time.’

Because I didn’t even know how much time Seo-ah had left, I had to hurry, lest something terrible happen to her.

‘Do I really have to go barging into the chairman’s office?’

If I wanted information about that bastard, confronting the chairman directly might be the best method. I might even be able to get some information about Mane.

“Fine.”

Turning away from Hyun-a, I began walking toward the chairman’s office, intent on speaking to him myself.

I needed to get information by any means necessary if I wanted to save Seo-ah.

As I began walking away…

-BOOM!

Along with a loud noise, a gigantic explosion engulfed me.

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