38. Heart-Stealing Constitution (2)
After the interschool tournament ended,
Eltman Eltwin followed Anella’s tip and personally tracked down a Stella Dome official by the name of Cabaren and interrogated him.
It was not, of course, by peaceful means.
“…Urgh.”
Drip, drip.
Blood soaked the floor. The scattered chunks of flesh lying across it had long since gone cold, and the pooled blood had already begun to dry.
And yet Cabaren did not die.
Because he was a Black Mage.
Eltman stared down at him with cold eyes.
To Eltman, killing a Black Mage was about the same as a human swatting a mosquito, so there was not the slightest trace of guilt in him.
“So there were more vermin hidden in the Stella Dome than I thought?”
“Ghk, khk… so please, let me li—”
Crunch!!
“Do not open your mouth without permission.”
“Kh…!!”
When Eltman lightly clenched his fist, Cabaren’s body twisted in a direction no normal body could possibly bend. His eyes bulged as though they might be torn free, and he could not even scream properly, only let out a mangled groan.
‘This is troublesome…’
The Black Mages’ technological development was advancing so quickly it could only be called grotesque.
Mages could no longer detect Black Mages who had hidden themselves within society, and because of that, they had rapidly begun establishing footholds throughout the magical world.
How very strange.
Those creatures who used to commit terrorist attacks dozens of times a day because they couldn’t restrain their urges for pleasure and desire had begun melting into society the moment they developed technology capable of concealing their identities.
‘Anyway, Anella, was it…’
There was much to be grateful for in that small exchange student girl.
Thanks to her tip, Eltman had been able to root out not only Cabaren, but several Black Mages hidden within Stella as well.
But.
‘That child is suspicious too.’
There was no hard evidence, but the certainty in his instincts was unmistakable.
Still, instincts were not proof. Unless he killed her outright, there was no way to expose someone as a Black Mage.
So for the time being, he had decided to leave her alone.
Even at a glance, Anella clearly seemed to harbor affection for Baek Yuseol, so it was unlikely she would do anything major for now.
Crunch!
Eltman clenched his fist harder, crushing the space itself, and Cabaren’s body warped and vanished without leaving even a trace behind.
Without a word, Eltman turned and left.
Now that he had dealt with the Black Mage who had orchestrated this incident, it was time to clean up the aftermath of the interschool tournament.
After the interschool tournament ended, there was one other person besides Baek Yuseol who drew widespread attention.
“Cadet Dok Cheolgwang. Could you tell us how you felt at the time in an interview?”
“Uh, judging by your arms, looks like you’ve hit the weights a bit. What’s your big-three total?”
“No, not that—please answer the interview…!”
Dok Cheolgwang of Stella’s second-year Class S.
Once it became known that he had held the Black Mages back for quite some time after the match ended, preventing almost any casualties, he too became a hot topic alongside Baek Yuseol.
An enormous number of reporters had gathered in Dok Cheolgwang’s private hospital room, and while he looked thoroughly annoyed by them, he had still let them in.
That was because, right before the interview, his Class S instructor had hammered it into his head to the point of leaving calluses on his ears:
“Recognition is extremely important for a magic warrior!”
“Could you perhaps tell us what protein you use?”
Of course, Dok Cheolgwang only kept giving bizarre answers, to the point that the reporters’ blood pressure was just about ready to burst.
After the interview finally ended, Ban Diyeon from second-year Class S, his partner, came to visit.
“Hey, you look pretty good.”
“Hup!”
Even though the nurse had clearly told him to stay still and rest for a while, Ban Diyeon stared in disbelief at Dok Cheolgwang doing bodyweight exercises right on the bare floor.
She casually pulled a pack of protein snacks from her pocket and tossed it at him. Without even turning around, he reflexively snatched it out of the air, tore it open, and stuffed it into his mouth.
“Hospital rooms are too suffocating.”
“Then maybe don’t get hurt?”
“This much heals if you exercise. No surgery, no medicine needed. Doctors only suffer with their brains because their bodies are weak.”
“…You’re talking complete nonsense.”
Apparently satisfied with his warm-up, Dok Cheolgwang rolled his shoulders with a crack and swung his arms around. A cramped space like this clearly made him itch all over.
Ban Diyeon silently watched him.
He was definitely an idiot with muscles all the way up to his brain, the kind of guy people would call dense and crude without hesitation…
And yet, if in a critical moment he could face a Black Mage head-on without ever turning his back, then wasn’t that already enough to make him an excellent magic warrior?
That was the thought that had crossed her mind.
‘What am I thinking…’
Getting emotional all of a sudden didn’t suit her personality at all.
“By the way, is that little shrimp outside a friend of yours?”
“Hm?”
“She’s been hesitating in front of your room for ages, trying to decide whether to come in or not.”
At Ban Diyeon’s words, the presence outside the room became even more obvious. They could even hear someone nervously shuffling their feet.
“Who? Another reporter? What a pain…”
Scratching the back of his head, Dok Cheolgwang poked his head out into the hall.
There was no one out th—
No, there was.
A very short girl was standing there, fidgeting awkwardly.
“What are you doing here?”
“Huh? Y-yes? Yes? Um, uh… th-that…”
The moment Dok Cheolgwang spoke to her, the girl’s pupils shook violently in panic. Then she lowered her head and stammered her words out.
“D-do you maybe… remember me… from the Survival…?”
“No.”
Dok Cheolgwang answered without a single thought, and the girl’s face instantly crumpled as though wounded. But after squeezing her eyes shut, she forced herself to continue.
“Y-you… saved me back then…”
“Ah. So that was you.”
Dok Cheolgwang spoke as though it were nothing, casually picking at his ear, but apparently it had not been nothing to the girl.
“M-my name is Ban Yurin… Th-this! Please take it!”
Her face bright red, she shoved a gift box with a pink letter tucked into it against Dok Cheolgwang’s chest, bowed deeply, then turned and ran away at full speed.
“What was that?”
Dok Cheolgwang genuinely could not understand what that girl’s actions meant at all, but Ban Diyeon, who had watched the whole thing from behind him, smacked him across the back.
“You little punk! Even a hopeless guy like you finally has spring coming.”
“It’s already summer.”
“You unbelievably dense bastard. How are you ever supposed to date like this?”
“My girlfriends are the barbell and protein. I’ve got two of them, no less.”
“Ugh…”
Ban Diyeon could only stare at him in speechless disbelief.
“You really should just live like that forever…”
And once she actually said it out loud, a sudden fear struck her that he truly might.
[Read only on MugenCodex]
The day Oranha regained consciousness came about a week after the incident.
The Cradle of the Celestial Spirit Tree, Sari Flower Hospital.
Because it was saturated with the energy of the World Tree to the point that it could induce an addictive effect almost like narcotics, ordinary elves were forbidden from entering. Only High Elves who could control that energy themselves were permitted inside.
“…What did you just say?”
Oranha, having awakened after an entire week, trembled at the High Elf doctor’s words.
“What… did you say to me…?”
“…All of the mana within your body has been removed. It was an unavoidable choice made in order to save your life, so please…”
“By whose authority! By whose authority did you touch my mana?!”
Oranha sprang upright and seized the doctor by the collar.
But after a full week without moving his body, his muscles cramped at once and all strength deserted him.
The doctor lowered his head with a deeply sorrowful expression.
There was, in truth, almost nothing he could do for the patient, and that only made the guilt come surging in.
“Was it you? You?! I’ll kill you… How dare you touch my mana…!”
Crash!
“Aaaah!!”
Mages who lost their mana often showed similar reactions.
Some became enraged and lashed out.
Some fell into despair and fainted.
And if not that…
there were not a few cases where they made the extreme choice to kill themselves on the spot.
For a mage, magic was life itself.
Oranha may have learned magic for Kkotseorin’s sake, but that only meant it had long since become part of him.
My arms and legs.
Or my eyes, my nose, my mouth.
And then you wake up after being unconscious, only to find all of them cut away in great chunks.
Now all I have left…
is a mind that can still think.
Even if you try to move your arms.
Even if you struggle to walk forward.
Even if you try to look ahead, to smell, to taste.
You can do nothing.
That was exactly what it felt like for a mage who had lost all their mana.
“Who… who gave permission…!”
“I’m sorry, Oranha.”
At that moment, a voice rang out.
When Oranha looked toward the hospital room door…
Kkotseorin stood there, wrapped from head to toe in a black dress.
At once, Oranha’s mood rose sharply.
It was Kkotseorin who had come to see him in person.
The man who had been raging and smashing everything in the room only moments ago vanished as though he had never existed, and Oranha welcomed Kkotseorin with a face full of rapture.
“Ah… Your Majesty. Please, come in.”
Seeing him like that only deepened Kkotseorin’s sorrow.
It was already severe.
Bewitched by the power of the Heart-Stealing Constitution, Oranha had let even his fury over losing mana be instantly smothered beneath this false love.
Was this truly the right treatment?
If Kkotseorin did not return that emotion in the future, then eventually he would sink into lovesickness, waste away, and die.
But it was too late to hesitate now.
Oranha had already lost all his mana.
And he had come to love Kkotseorin.
…Yet Kkotseorin could return neither mana nor love.
Kkotseorin squeezed their eyes shut and forced out the words one by one as evenly as possible.
“Aide Oranha.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“…Regarding what was done to your body, I am truly sorry.”
“No, Your Majesty. What fault could possibly be yours? Even in this body, I am confident I can serve Your Majesty for the rest of my life!”
The more proudly he spoke, the more Kkotseorin’s heart twisted. But what had to be said needed to be said directly. That was the proper thing to do.
“No. This is my fault.”
“…What?”
Something about Kkotseorin’s demeanor was strange.
Oranha had stayed by Kkotseorin’s side for a long time, and so by this point he clearly sensed something was wrong.
And then came the devastating words from Kkotseorin’s lips.
“I was the one who ordered your mana to be stripped away.”
“Ah.”
What… had he just heard?
Oranha stared in utter confusion, unable to understand, and Kkotseorin’s sorrowful expression only deepened further.
At times like this, Kkotseorin thought it was fortunate to be wearing a mask.
Their ability to manage facial expressions was almost on the level of a small child.
“Oranha… as you know, I am afflicted by a terrible curse. Ordinary people who see my face die before long, and high-level mages lose their mental balance and rampage.”
“Th-that… I know, but…”
“When you encountered me that day… you suffered a mana rampage. I had no choice but to decide. I did not want you to die.”
“Ah…”
Oranha bit down hard on his lip. His blank expression was filled to the brim with the sense of loss of someone who had lost everything.
“E-even so… it’s alright.”
With great effort, he lifted his trembling head and met Kkotseorin’s eyes.
“Even without mana like this, I am confident I can serve Your Majesty for the rest of my life.”
His expression looked resolute, as if he had steeled himself for something.
But unfortunately, it was impossible.
That proud and self-assured bearing would only last for a moment. The instant Kkotseorin disappeared from sight, the hysteria sleeping inside him would explode once more.
The despair and rage of a mage who had lost mana did not settle so easily. Kkotseorin knew that all too well, and so they could not keep him on as an aide any longer.
They believed the only way to give him any peace at all was to let him spend the rest of his life in comfort.
“Oranha…”
“W-wait, Your Majesty. I still—”
“Please… retire.”
Ah.
The very words Oranha had desperately hoped would never be spoken finally fell.
The focus left his eyes.
“You could live the rest of your life with the finest villas and estates, surrounded by countless servants. If there is anything you want to do, or anything you wish to have… just say the word. If it is your request, I will grant you anything.”
Oranha remained silent, and Kkotseorin waited.
There was no way Kkotseorin could dare imagine what it felt like for him to sort through the chaos in his head while selecting only the words that truly needed to be said.
Then, after a long time,
he finally opened his mouth.
“…I need none of it.”
“I don’t care about money, honor, power—or even magic!”
With blazing eyes, Oranha shouted at Kkotseorin.
“As long as I have… Your Majesty, none of that matters! Please… do not cast me aside…”
For a moment, Kkotseorin nearly wavered at the desperate plea.
But they had already sworn they would not.
What he wanted was not simply to remain by Kkotseorin’s side.
He wanted Kkotseorin’s heart.
But that…
was utterly impossible.
Oranha had spent many long years by Kkotseorin’s side, but he had only ever been a friend. There was no way Kkotseorin could return to him an emotion called love.
Keeping Oranha close would itself only cause him greater pain.
Love would swell like a balloon on the hope that perhaps one day he would receive Kkotseorin’s affection—and then, in the end, it would burst.
“…I’m sorry, Oranha. I cannot give you my heart.”
And so Kkotseorin drew the line firmly.
Thud.
The strength drained completely from Oranha’s body, and he collapsed to the floor.
Kkotseorin had seen straight through his true feelings and severed even that final sliver of hope.
That was the end of it.
“Please… rest now.”
Unable to muster the courage to face Oranha’s despairing expression any longer, Kkotseorin hurried out of the hospital.
“Haa…”
After running all the way to the garden, Kkotseorin finally sank down against a tree, trying to steady their rising breath.
Tiny beads of sweat formed on their forehead and cheeks, but they could not even remove the mask for fear someone might see.
Rustle.
“Did it go well?”
At that moment, Baek Yuseol emerged from the brush nearby, pushing through the grass.
Startled for an instant, Kkotseorin calmed their racing heart and let out a breath of relief.
“You startled me…”
He looked around once, then gave a rough nod.
“No one’s nearby. You can take off the mask.”
“…Yes. The spirits are telling me that as well.”
Kkotseorin could hear the voices of spirits and fairies, so they had already known there was no one around.
Even so—
“But taking the mask off…”
They were still afraid.
Because through their own carelessness, they had lost yet another bond once again.
Baek Yuseol said nothing more.
Right now, Kkotseorin was surely burdened with overwhelming guilt over Oranha.
But that wouldn’t last long either.
Now that Oranha had lost all of his mana, he would eventually reveal his true nature, start a riot in the hospital, and lay bare the ugliness buried inside him.
Kkotseorin would be wounded by it, but the guilt would fade.
Not bad.
To begin with, Oranha had always been far too dangerous a person to keep at Kkotseorin’s side.
“So, did it go alright?”
“…More or less.”
Kkotseorin fiddled with the hem of their dress as they spoke.
After all, the one who had advised Kkotseorin to draw a clear line with Oranha in the first place had been Baek Yuseol.
‘Don’t feel guilty. He was told not to come, but he kept forcing his way in and got exposed to the curse. That bas— ahem! That gentleman is the one at fault.’
Baek Yuseol did not possess the dazzling eloquence Flame had, the sort that could make men and women of all ages fall under her spell.
He couldn’t wrap a single sentence in warm emotion.
Nor was he especially skilled at sincerely empathizing with someone.
So he gave practical advice instead.
‘Anyway, it’s that guy’s fault.’
Those many words, all meant to lighten Kkotseorin’s guilt as much as possible.
“I’m glad it worked out more or less.”
“Yes…”
“It would be nice if nothing like this ever happened again from now on, wouldn’t it?”
At those words, Kkotseorin raised their head and looked at him.
He was a young boy who had not even lived half the days Kkotseorin had, and yet for some reason he always felt wiser, more mature, and more grown than Kkotseorin did.
And in truth, he had already accomplished more than Kkotseorin ever had.
He had suffered the same curse and yet overcome it. Even with the worst possible talent, he had entered the school where the greatest geniuses in the world gathered and was writing a new history for himself.
Meanwhile, Kkotseorin had been born with the blessing of a High Elf and judged to possess the potential to become a great mage, yet had failed to overcome even a single curse and had hidden away in a corner…
That was the feeling.
As though Baek Yuseol stood somewhere impossibly high and distant.
And so, more than ever, Kkotseorin wanted to stop him and ask.
How was one supposed to become like that?
Could Kkotseorin too, someday, remove the mask and stand proudly before the world?
