translation by mourningmoor
Four days before departing for the U.S., as expected, Natalie Grace Gordon came looking for me. It seemed that Kim Chanyeong caught her loitering near the company.
Kim Chanyeong hid her in his house.
It wasn’t until nightfall that I could go meet her.
“Whoa!”
Surprised by my sudden appearance, Natalie Grace, who had been drinking water, flinched and dropped her cup.
“There’s a perfectly fine door, so why do you always…”
Then she shut her mouth tight.
Her expression said, ‘What’s the point in asking?’
Well, for me, it was convenient since I didn’t have to explain.
“Why did you come looking for me?”
I got straight to the point.
At the dorm, the members were too busy packing for the trip to the U.S.
I had only slipped out for a moment in the midst of the chaos, so I needed to hurry back.
“I’m busy, just get to the point and leave.”
At that, Natalie Grace frowned so deeply she almost looked fierce.
“You’re really going to act like this to someone who risked their life to come here?”
That wasn’t my concern.
The moment she had that magic circle engraved on her body, her life was no longer her own.
“If you’re going to throw a fit, just leave.”
Honestly, I already had a rough idea of why she came looking for me.
No, I was certain she would come. I had made sure of it.
“I’m not trying to throw a fit. Just… talk to me.”
Natalie Grace firmly grabbed me as I was about to turn away.
Her face was full of desperation.
Then, without hesitation, she got straight to the point.
She must hate unnecessary dramatics as much as I do. Or maybe the situation was just that urgent.
“The tracking magic disappeared.”
I didn’t show much reaction to her words. Seeing that, Natalie Grace furrowed her brows.
“You knew?”
She carefully studied my face before finally making a proper guess.
“No… you’re the one who did it, aren’t you? You erased the tracking magic.”
A strange excitement filled Natalie Grace’s eyes.
Even the ends of her voice trembled slightly.
“That day, when you touched the magic circle, you weren’t trying to kill me, but… don’t tell me…”
“So, do you like it, or do you not?”
At my question, Natalie Grace couldn’t immediately answer.
But I already knew her response.
That day, on the plane, I had partially erased Natalie Grace’s magic circle.
That magic circle contained a variety of complex spells, and I had erased a few of them.
Naturally, the first thing I erased was the tracking magic.
That so-called ‘Master’ seemed to have cast tracking magic on this woman to keep watch over her. That meant she was an important figure.
But it seemed Natalie Grace wasn’t exactly pleased about it.
Knowing that the tracking magic was gone, she didn’t go back.
Instead, she disappeared without a word for over a month.
So of course, Timothy Gordon is searching for her with fire in his eyes.
Then, out of nowhere, she threw a strange question at me.
“You… how far can you go?”
She was still filled with anxiety and curiosity, carefully watching my expression.
She looked like a frightened cat.
“What kind of contextless question is that? ‘How far can I go’? What do you even mean?”
“Don’t tease me. I really risked my life to be here. So just tell me. How far can you go?”
When I feigned ignorance and teased her slightly, Natalie Grace trembled instantly.
She really did seem desperate.
So I tested her a little.
“Then how far can your Master go?”
At my question, Natalie Grace made an awkward expression and started spouting empty words.
“He is a great person. How could I dare to speak of his abilities…”
“Then why aren’t you staying under that kid’s command instead of running away?”
I didn’t ask to hear praise. I needed information too.
But at my words, Natalie completely freaked out.
“K-kid?!”
As if someone might be eavesdropping, she quickly looked around and lowered her voice.
“What if someone hears you?”
“Who would dare eavesdrop? On my words?”
Scoffing, I made sure to remind Natalie Grace of reality.
“You must be mistaken, but the one who was trapped in a magic circle and controlled was you. Not me.”
And I kindly informed her just how far I could go.
“And now, that magic circle won’t be able to do its job anymore.”
“I-it won’t… do its job?”
This was the reason Natalie Grace had come to see me.
This was what she wanted to know the most.
“I tampered with it a little.”
A storm brewed in her pale blue-gray eyes.
“How?”
“They can’t find you anymore, can they? Do you know what that means?”
Natalie Grace swallowed dryly.
“What does it mean?”
“It means you can no longer send mana to them.”
While severing the tracking magic in the magic circle, I also disrupted the mana transmission algorithm.
If mana was still connected, they would have been able to find her location even if I erased the tracking magic.
But with both spells severed, the connection between Natalie Grace and that so-called Master was completely gone.
That bastard called Master must have been thrown into chaos after losing this woman, who had been supplying him with high-density mana all this time.
This was my way of sending him an invitation.
“Since the invitation seems to have been delivered properly, shall we hear your side of the story now?”
Since I couldn’t read her mind just yet, I had no choice but to ask kindly.
“Why didn’t you go back? If the magic circle was broken, shouldn’t you have run back to your Master to get it fixed?”
At that, Natalie Grace’s expression twisted into something complicated.
“Can’t you read my mind?”
“Not right now.”
Unlike her Master, I couldn’t read minds, which must have confused her when trying to gauge my strength.
“Not right now?”
“If I finish erasing that magic circle, I’ll be able to read it all I want. I won’t have to bother asking you one by one like this.”
The color was slowly draining from Natalie Grace’s face.
To her, erasing the magic circle was probably no different from performing a public execution.
“Should I erase it for you?”
At that, Natalie Grace covered the magic circle with her hand, hunched her shoulders, and stepped back.
“I told you last time, but once it’s erased, I won’t take responsibility for what happens next. You’re not Lim Jingyu. I have no obligation to keep you alive, and you have no value to me.”
At my words, Natalie Grace trembled violently.
Seeing her reaction, that so-called Master disgusted me all over again.
That bastard, who possessed power, had clearly been ruling through fear all this time.
“Then I’ll ask again. Why didn’t you go back?”
“Freedom.”
Natalie Grace withdrew her trembling fingertips from the magic circle and gave the expected answer.
The president of H-NET, Lim Jingyu, had said something similar.
“I want freedom.”
He had gained power, but after becoming a slave to the ring, he no longer had a life of his own. Under the Master’s control, even his interactions with his family had been restricted.
“I received power from the Master and was able to become the best actor. But I had to sacrifice everything else. I had to send high-density mana to the Master…”
“That’s the difference between your Master and me.”
Because of the incident with Lim Jingyu, it seemed like the mana transmitters were in chaos.
The execution had failed, and instead, Lim Jingyu had gained freedom. That must have cracked the foundation of the Master’s reign of terror.
Then I should widen that crack even more.
“What kind of magician can’t even draw mana on their own?”
Even if he was a 9th Circle mage, it wasn’t his own power.
He was just an ordinary human who couldn’t even control mana.
That was the biggest difference between him and me, the proof that I was greater.
It meant this was worth a try.
“So you’re saying you can draw in mana on your own?”
“Rather than drawing it in, mana is practically desperate to come to me.”
Natalie Grace’s face showed pure disbelief.
“The only reason your mana isn’t reacting right now is because it’s bound. If I let it go, it’ll come rushing at me in an instant.”
“T-then let it go.”
With that, she held out her magic circle to me.
“What if you catch fire?”
“You’ll save me.”
Natalie Grace, who couldn’t even meet my eyes before, was now looking straight at me.
“Me? I told you. I don’t save people who have harmed me.”
“That’s not true. You’re different.”
The way she said I was different carried a certain conviction.
“You always save people first, no matter what.”
“Who said that?”
“Your manager.”
Then, she subtly pointed behind me.
From behind, I heard Kim Chanyeong clear his throat.
That guy.
“So annoying.”
I shot a glare at both Natalie Grace and Kim Chanyeong before pulling out my phone. Then, I made a call.
After three rings, Yoo Noah answered.
“Yoo Noah sunbaenim.”
―Yes, hoobaenim.
“Where are you?”
―You’re being polite. That means something happened.
“If you already know, then get over here. I’ll send the address.”
* * *
“Wow. Just… wow.”
Here we go again.
“You. Seriously. Wow.”
Kim Chanyeong had been malfunctioning for days.
“You just casually… with Yoo Noah… I see you differently now.”
He’d been saying the same thing for four days straight.
Even when we arrived at the airport, Kim Chanyeong’s amazement didn’t stop.
Because Yoo Noah had shown up at the airport with his manager.
Of all things, we ended up on the same flight to New York.
This year, ARCHE was taking a sabbatical to focus on individual activities, and it seemed like Yoo Noah planned to fully enjoy his time off.
But New York?
“Hoobaenim.”
As I sat in the first-class lounge drinking coffee, Yoo Noah approached me.
“What’s your angle?”
If he really wanted to enjoy his sabbatical, he should’ve gone somewhere like Hawaii, not New York.
“Why ask when you already know?”
So he’s basically saying he’s going to follow me around.
“How could I let you go alone when things keep getting more dangerous?”
“How touching, I could cry.”
At that, Yoo Noah flashed a bright smile.
“I’d be grateful if you did.”
Then, chuckling to himself, he just had to add one more thing.
“Oh, I saw you crying in Hong Kong.”
“I wasn’t crying, okay?”
“Yeah, right. Those sparkling, pretty tears were perfectly captured in the photo.”
It was a picture posted on MadJuhee’s account.
One of my twenty-eight fans somehow managed to take it, and now this guy was using it to tease me.
I lifted my coffee cup, downed the hot liquid in one go, and stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“A favor for my mom. There’s a cosmetic brand only sold at Incheon Airport.”
At that, Yoo Noah started laughing.
“Jess. Are you really turning into Kang Ichan now? Running errands for your mom?”
I figured he’d find it funny.
“The Grand Mage of Armania, huh.”
The fact that a Grand Mage even had a family was ridiculous.
Family was a weakness.
That’s just how it was.
“Let’s go together. To run your mom’s errand.”
The Demon King, of all people, knew that better than anyone, which is why he gave me a straightforward warning.
“But don’t you think your mom needs a better safety measure than just some cosmetics?”
“I already took care of it.”
I went to Samcheok yesterday.
And I gave her a necklace, telling her never to take it off.
From this point on, everything that happened was my responsibility, so I had to do whatever it took.