Chapter 12

Despite Sisala’s modest means, she had previously offered Do-Jin a spellbook. It was a bribe, of course, but only a Tier 1 item.

For someone who had spoken with Sion Grace, received a gift from her own hands, and stepped through a portal into the Library of All Truths, a Tier 1 spellbook might as well have been worthless.

After calming down and cooling her head, Sisala came to a realization. Not only was a second meeting unlikely, she had also given up even the faint hope that he might acknowledge her if they happened to cross paths again someday. Hope? What hope? Every time she recalled the bewildered expression he’d worn when she had recklessly lost her composure and clung to him, she couldn’t help but kick her blanket in embarrassment.

Yet here he was, coming to see her in person less than a month later.

“Why is he looking for me?"

Sisala couldn’t fathom why Do-Jin would come to her. It couldn’t possibly be for magical assistance or some kind of favor. And the idea that he had been smitten by her beauty was even more ridiculous.

“Oh...”

While Sisala was overworking her sluggish brain to somehow guess the reason, she suddenly realized that the station building was now right in front of her. She swallowed dryly. The overwhelming fatigue and drowsiness that had plagued her earlier were long gone.

Behind the door stood someone who might have some kind of connection to the Black Rank of Elthomagia. Just the thought made her mind go completely blank. Like a broken doll, Sisala creaked as she opened the door, then shuffled inside the station with equally stiff steps.

“

Eek

!” She let out a sound somewhere between an exhale and a gasp.

Her eyes had locked with Do-Jin’s, who was leaning casually against the wall, his gaze fixed on the entrance. Maybe his connection to Sion Grace was tinting her perception, but he looked far more striking than when they first met. His slightly slouched posture and sharp gaze seemed unnervingly extraordinary. She couldn’t fathom how she’d managed to be so forward with him back then. The thought left her astonished at her own audacity.

While Sisala stood frozen, Do-Jin exchanged a few words with the gentle-looking mage seated at the counter. Then, he approached her with steady strides.

“It would be better to move to another location. This doesn’t seem like the right place for a proper conversation,” he said smoothly.

“Huh? Oh, yes. That’s true,” she replied a beat too late and followed behind Do-Jin. Sisala trailed after him as he navigated the labyrinthine alleys with practiced ease.

They eventually arrived at a quaint café called Curtained Serenity. It was a place Do-Jin had occasionally visited in his previous life. True to its name, each table was separated by dividers and curtains, and soundproof magic enveloped the space, making it an ideal spot for quiet conversations. Without asking, Do-Jin ordered drinks for both of them, naturally opting for the cheapest option on the menu.

Sisala, however, couldn’t have cared less whether the liquid placed before her was water or even dishwater. The only thing that mattered to her was what Do-Jin was going to say. She was curious, desperately so. But Do-Jin didn’t speak. He simply stirred his drink, sipped it and nodded to himself as if he was completely at ease.

Her patience thinning with each second, Sisala gripped the edge of her robe, willing herself to wait. Do-Jin, watching this unfold, continued his silent performance, savoring his drink with theatrical calm.

She finally cracked. “Um... What brings you here today? No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure out why you’d need to find me...”

Only then did Do-Jin finally turn his gaze to her.

He was well aware of Sisala Omen’s interest in him. Of course, most of it likely stemmed from his connection to Sion Grace, but that wasn’t important. What mattered was that her interest could be leveraged. If he played his cards right, gaining her cooperation would be effortless.

All he had to do was ask, but doing so would shift the dynamic. He’d appear as the one in need, even if that was technically true.

This isn’t the kind of deal where I need to position myself as the weaker party,

he thought, observing Sisala while pretending to savor his drink.

Looks like she's reaching her limit...

Just as he had to choose the right words, his silence was a calculated move meant to set the tone for what came next. Satisfied that things were proceeding as planned, Do-Jin let a faint smile creep onto his face.

He recited the first line of the script he had carefully crafted in his head, “What does magic mean to you?”

“What?”

Sisala’s expression showed she hadn’t anticipated the question. She hadn’t even considered such a line of thought.

Do-Jin pressed on. “I’ll ask again. What does magic mean to you?”

Faced with the same question twice, Sisala fell silent, her brow furrowing as she mulled over her answer. When she finally spoke, her expression was deadly serious. “Magic is... everything I have left.”

Her voice carried the weight of someone who had nothing—no family, no friends, no lover—but had clung to magic as the first and only thing that was truly hers.

The sincerity in her words was heavier than Do-Jin had anticipated, and he felt a spark of satisfaction. Her honest answer was a sign that the walls she’d built around herself were beginning to crumble.

Careful not to make her clam up again, Do-Jin softened his tone and chose his words deliberately. “The first time we met, you gave me some advice. You said I’d be better off trying the academy instead of Elthomagia.”

At that, Sisala’s head dropped as if she wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. Her pale skin, likely from a lack of sunlight, turned a shade of pink.

“I’m so sorry about that. I had no business giving advice to someone like you... I was just sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.”

“No, I appreciated it,” Do-Jin replied calmly.

“What?”

“I knew it wasn’t out of malice. You genuinely thought the academy would be a better fit for me, and it was good advice. Honestly, if it were anyone else in my shoes, the academy would probably have been the smarter choice.”

"I... suppose that's true." Sisala muttered in a voice so faint it was almost swallowed up. Then, she raised her drink to her lips to quench her dry throat.

“But that’s why I didn’t feel offended even when you gave me that spellbook, which was obviously meant as a bribe. It just made me think, Wow, this person is really passionate about magic.”

She didn’t get far with her drink. The word bribe hit her like a lightning bolt, and in her shock, the liquid went down the wrong pipe, spilling into her mouth and nose. She managed to avoid spewing it everywhere out of sheer willpower but was powerless against the violent coughing that followed.

Even after her coughing fit subsided, she slumped forward, her head against the table, motionless and miserable. But Do-Jin wasn’t about to let her off that easily. He pressed on, his words chipping away at her composure.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Any mage would’ve lost their mind in that situation. A novice mage suddenly ends up talking to a great mage? And not just talking, but watching that great mage hand over a ring? Honestly, more than half of them would’ve tortured me or killed me outright to steal it.”

Compared to that, handing over a lowly Tier 1 spellbook as a bribe was practically adorable.

Do-Jin’s additional comment made Sisala groan like she was begging for mercy. “Please... just stop. I know I’m guilty of a terrible crime, so let’s leave it at that.”

“Sisala,” he said firmly, causing her to freeze. “I’m not saying this to embarrass you or mock you. You were kind enough to offer me advice when I was just starting out as a mage, and your passion for magic is something I genuinely admire.”

“Stop, stop.” Sisala trembled like praise was more painful than anything else.

However, Do-Jin wasn’t finished. “That’s why it’s not strange that when I had the chance to ask for help from another mage, you were the first person who came to mind. After all, you’re the best mage I know.”

Sisala, who had been writhing in discomfort, froze. She latched onto the word “help.” She hesitantly raised her head, and in her eyes, there was a flicker of desperation.

Do-Jin pretended not to notice her expression, instead speaking as if it was no big deal. “It’s nothing too impressive. I just happened to acquire the final will and research journal of a certain mage, along with the location of their workshop. From what I can tell, they were researching magic to connect our world to the demon realm.”

Even though Do-Jin spoke casually, his words weren’t something one could take lightly.

Sisala, startled by the weight of what he had just said, jumped in. “Wait a minute. Did you just say magic to connect Lostania with another world?”

“Yes. It seems they didn’t succeed, but that’s what they were trying to do.”

Do-Jin’s nonchalant reply only deepened Sisala’s astonishment. This wasn’t some trivial demon-summoning spell. It was the research of a high-ranking mage attempting to forge a connection between dimensions. Such knowledge, coupled with the location of their workshop, was something any mage would drool over. Yet here was Do-Jin, talking about it like it was nothing.

There’s definitely something unusual about him.

The suspicion she had harbored ever since Sion Grace appeared was now solidifying into certainty. As the conviction grew, so did her curiosity. It felt wrong to ask, and even if the question came out, a straight answer seemed unlikely. But despite knowing better, the need to know was unbearable.

In the end, Sisala gave in to her curiosity, as any mage would. "Um, about that time... when Sion Grace herself appeared in person... may I ask what your connection to her is?"

She had no idea this was the very question Do-Jin had been waiting for. Just as his earlier silence had been calculated, his complete lack of mention of Sion Grace had also been a deliberate omission. Humans are naturally drawn to what is left unsaid, to mysteries dangled just out of reach.

As soon as Sisala asked the question he’d been anticipating, Do-Jin responded with the answer he had prepared. “I don’t really have any sort of relationship with her. That whole event was just a series of coincidences that happened to align perfectly, a stroke of pure luck. I’m just an ordinary outsider.”

Of course, there was no way Sisala would believe that bare-bones truth. The idea that the famously aloof and imperious Sion Grace would appear by sheer chance, bestow a ring upon a complete stranger, and grant him access to the legendary Library of All Truths without so much as an affiliation to Elthomagia? Even the most naïve fool wouldn’t buy such a tale.

She’ll find it hard to accept my answer. She’ll keep obsessing over what kind of relationship Sion Grace and I might have, spinning theories in her mind. In the end, she’ll settle on the most plausible explanation her imagination can come up with and convince herself it’s true.

A quick glance confirmed his suspicion. Without telling a single lie, Do-Jin had created the perfect conditions to continue benefiting from Sion Grace’s halo effect.

Just as I expected, she doesn’t believe me.

Sisala’s expression made it abundantly clear that she didn’t trust his explanation. Her eyes were cast downward and she nodded as if she was in agreement, but her face was filled with doubt and the certainty that he was hiding something.

“So, it was just a coincidence that you were there,” she said.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Although her tone was neutral, her gaze essentially conveyed,

I’ll let you off the hook for now.

This guy definitely has something going on.

With that, he had successfully planted a larger-than-life image of himself in her mind. Whether she realized it or not, the Do-Jin she now pictured was likely a hundred times more impressive than reality. Now, it was time to use that illusion to bring things to a close.

“If you don’t have any other questions, let’s get back to the matter at hand. Sisala, if you’re willing, I’d like to share this opportunity with you.”

“Why, though? Gaining insight into the workshop of a mage far beyond your own level is an opportunity worth its weight in gold. Why would you share that with someone like me, who has no real talent and is just a nobody?”

The truth was simple. He didn’t want to split the rewards with another player. And he knew she wouldn’t betray him, not with the looming fear of Sion Grace hanging over her. There were other reasons, of course, but none that Sisala would want to hear. People are drawn to those who say what they want to hear.

So, Do-Jin chose the truth Sisala most wanted to believe, a truth tailored to what he knew about her future self.

“I think you have plenty of talent. You’re just a little lost right now. Once you find the path you’re meant to walk, you’ll become a truly remarkable mage one day. At least, that’s what I believe.”

For a Tier 1 Mage to talk about talent might have sounded ridiculous, but to Sisala, Do-Jin wasn’t just that. The illusion she had created of him in her mind made him seem far more extraordinary. People believe what they want to believe. And Do-Jin’s words were exactly what a mage, weighed down by lost confidence and self-doubt, wanted to hear.

“Thank you,” Sisala whispered.

[Relationship established!]

[Sisala Omen, mage of Elthomagia, has taken a liking to you.]

[Sisala Omen’s favorability has increased by 10 points, reaching a total of 10.]

And with that, the roles of master and subordinate were set.