Flash!
We returned to Seoul through the portal gate.
Even though we were back in less than a day, seeing the towering buildings made me feel strangely nostalgic.
“Wow… why are there so many tall buildings…?”
Eun Seol-ah’s eyes sparkled as she looked out at the Seoul skyline.
She looked like a bumpkin straight out of a movie or drama, and her reaction was actually pretty cute.
“Looks like you’re amazed.”
At my question, Eun Seol-ah nodded.
“Yes. It feels like I took a time machine to the future. Especially with all the magi-tech systems plastered all over the buildings.”
She was much more talkative than yesterday, and she seemed a little excited too.
Honestly, I had the same reaction when I first fell into this world.
It was just a bit—or rather, a lot—different from the Seoul I had known in my reality.
“I still find it fascinating every time I see it.”
“Huh?”
Eun Seol-ah turned to look at me.
She seemed puzzled by the layered meaning in my words.
I shrugged.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? That humans can build something so tall.”
“Oh. That’s true.”
Eun Seol-ah nodded again.
“Shall we go?”
With that, we got in a taxi and headed toward Eun Miyeon’s registered address.
While we were on the move, Lee Seo-jun suddenly turned to Eun Seol-ah with a curious look.
“You’ve seemed fine since yesterday. Are you sure your illness isn’t acting up?”
“Yes, I’m okay right now. The symptoms come in cycles, where I get fevers and pain. It usually happens twice a month. Every fifteen days or so.”
“Really? That’s unusual. So how long until the next episode?”
“About a week.”
“A week, huh…”
Lee Seo-joon nodded.
“Oh, right.”
Eun Seol-ah suddenly turned to me.
“You said the cause of my illness might be a curse. If it really is caused by a curse, are you planning to find the one who cast it?”
“Of course.”
“What will you do if you find them?”
“I’m not sure. As far as I know, curses can’t be lifted unless the caster does it themselves.”
At my answer, Eun Seol-ah’s expression darkened.
Even though I said that, the truth was that we’d probably have to kill the caster.
That would be the simplest way to break the curse.
And considering who that caster might be, killing them might be inevitable anyway.
Time passed.
We arrived at our destination fairly quickly, since it wasn’t too far.
“This is it?”
The place we arrived at was an old, secluded villa.
There was something eerie about it—it didn’t feel like a place where people lived.
In fact, there were no signs of life or human presence in the area.
“This is the correct address.”
“This is… where my mom lived…”
Eun Seol-ah stared blankly at the villa. Now that her mother was no longer in this world, it seemed like many emotions were swirling inside her.
“Shall we go in?”
“Yes.”
We stepped into the building.
I’d heard the place was owned by the Eunwol family, but it looked like it had been abandoned for quite a while.
“Unit 203. This is it.”
Creak—
I opened the door and stepped inside.
A cozy space came into view.
A one-room apartment, roughly 15 pyeong (about 50 square meters).
We looked around, but there wasn’t anything that stood out as a clue about a curse.
“Just looks like a normal room.”
“Yeah.”
So was the MacGuffin really just a MacGuffin? *It means this part of the extra plot wasn’t very important.
As we kept looking, a photo on the wall caught my eye.
It was a picture of students in school uniforms, captured with the Mage Academy as the background.
Lee Seo-jun looked at it and asked Eun Seol-ah,
“Was your mom a student at the Mage Academy too?”
“Yes, that’s what I heard.”
Lee Seo-jun nodded as he studied the photo.
“…Huh?”
Then he suddenly looked surprised. Naturally, I walked up beside him to look as well.
There were familiar faces in the picture.
It included Jin Cheonwoo and other major figures from the past.
“So they were from the same generation.”
“Remember what the head of the Eunwol family said? That her daughter owed Jin Cheonwoo a debt.”
“Oh. That’s right.”
Lee Seo-jun nodded.
“…I’ve been wondering since yesterday—when you say Jin Cheonwoo, do you mean the former leader of Jaun?”
Eun Seol-ah chimed in.
Lee Seo-jun paused in thought, then nodded.
“Yeah.”
Eun Seol-ah looked a little shocked.
“…I never imagined my mother was connected to someone like that.”
We continued examining the interior of the building. Honestly, there was nothing that could really be considered a clue to the curse.
Just as everyone was starting to get tired, I discovered a locked drawer.
It radiated a faint magical energy—it had a protective enchantment on it.
Since it was a kind of barrier, I was confident I could undo it with ease.
I immediately began channeling my mana.
As I activated my magic, both Lee Seo-jun and Eun Seol-ah turned toward me.
“Kim Sunwoo?”
“Shh. I’m dispelling a protection spell.”
At my words, Lee Seo-joon fell silent.
About eight seconds passed.
Click.
I successfully broke the protection spell.
“There. Got it.”
“Wow. That didn’t even take ten seconds…”
Eun Seol-ah whispered in amazement. Lee Seo-jun gave a small chuckle.
“Looks like you were really impressed. It is pretty amazing the first time you see it.”
“I’ve never seen a barrier lifted that fast in my life. Not even Grandma could do it that quickly…”
At Eun Seol-ah’s murmured comment, I just shrugged.
I’ve seen this kind of reaction plenty of times, so I’m used to it by now.
“Well, let’s open it.”
Creak.
I pulled the drawer open.
Inside was a small book.
“Looks like a diary.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
I opened to the first page. It was a diary from her school days.
The texts were more ordinary than expected—stuff about what she did with friends, what classes she took, and just everyday life.
“Pretty normal, actually.”
Then, as I flipped through the pages—
I came across a distinct page, very different from the rest.
[Today, I joined a secret club at the Mage Academy. It’s called the ‘Mystic Research Society,’ a group founded by Senior Jin Cheonwoo.]
The one who reacted most strongly to that phrase was Lee Seo-jun.
“…Mystic Research Society?”
He then fell into deep thought and flipped through the next page of the diary on his own.
At that moment, I found another photograph beneath the drawer.
It was a picture of someone who looked like Eun Seol-ah’s mother, standing with a black-haired woman.
But the black-haired woman’s face looked familiar.
It was a face I had seen in news reports before the regression.
Seong-hye.
She was the one who had cast the curse on Eun Seol-ah.
Eun Seol-ah also saw the photo of Seong-hye and murmured,
“She must have been my mother’s friend. It says her name is Seong-hye.”
“Seems like it.”
For reference, Seong-hye is not an ordinary human. She is a demon.
Even decades ago, demons lived hidden among humans.
It was then—
“Ugh!”
Eun Seol-ah groaned in pain and clutched her head.
“You okay?!”
I rushed over to her.
She still looked to be in pain, gripping her head in agony.
I laid her down on the floor and placed my hand on her forehead. It was burning hot.
The Mystic Fever had begun.
But I felt something was off.
Why had the fever suddenly triggered? She had said there was still about a week left before the next onset.
“…No way.”
I shouted at Lee Seo-jun.
“Watch her for a moment!”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Leaving Eun Seol-ah in his care, I looked out the window.
As she had said, the Mystic Fever normally appeared in 15-day intervals.
But there was another condition under which it could manifest.
That was when the cursed individual came into close proximity with the caster.
Looking out the window, I saw someone walking down the street, just as I suspected.
A black-haired woman.
She had the same face as the curse-caster from the diary.
I didn’t expect to encounter the caster so soon.
I quickly ran outside.
“Kim Sunwoo! Where are you going?!”
“Wait there!”
As soon as I exited the building, I sprinted in the direction where the woman had been.
Sensing my presence, the woman turned around.
She looked at me with a questioning gaze.
“…Did you just come out of that building?”
She asked.
Judging by her words, she knew this building had been used by Eun Seol-ah’s mother.
Maybe she had been lingering around here on purpose.
“You look pretty young…”
“You’re the caster of the Mystic Fever curse, aren’t you?”
At my words, the woman looked at me with startled eyes.
“…What are you talking about?”
She tried to feign ignorance, eyeing me warily.
Ignoring her for the moment, I used Character Insight on her.
━━
Name: Seong-hye
Age: 45
Race: Demon
Status: Alert
Mana Grade: A-
Interest Level: 0
━━
Seong-hye.
As expected, she was the demon who had cast the curse.
And her mana grade was A-.
But mana grade is just a number—it’s not everything.
In this world, what’s more important than a mage’s grade is their experience.
And as noted, she was 45 years old.
She likely had an extensive history of combat.
That was when Seong-hye began gathering mana.
I immediately fired a spell at her.
Since she was a demon, I wanted to use a light attribute spell, but to avoid suspicion from Lee Seo-jun, I attacked with a non-elemental projectile instead.
Fwoosh—!
A flash burst from my fingertips, and the spell shot toward her.
She immediately emitted black energy and raised a dark barrier.
Caught off guard by the sudden ambush, she had no choice but to reveal her demon powers.
I spoke to her as if I had just discovered it.
“So, you’re a demon.”
“…Tch. You brat. I’ll kill you!”
Just as Seong-hye began to gather more demonic energy, someone ran over from the villa.
“Kim Sunwoo!”
It was Lee Seo-jun, supporting Eun Seol-ah.
Seong-hye looked surprised when she saw Eun Seol-ah.
The same was true for Eun Seol-ah, who had just seen this woman’s face in a photo.
“Y-you’re…”
“That silver hair… Are you Eun Miyeon’s daughter?”
At the mention of Eun Miyeon’s name, Eun Seol-ah’s face stiffened.
“So you were the one who cursed my mother.”
“Heh. Yeah, that’s right. I don’t know how you figured out it was a curse, but I’m the one who did it.”
Seong-hye admitted it surprisingly easily.
“Why did you do it to my mother?”
“There wasn’t really a reason.”
At her response, Eun Seol-ah frowned.
“No reason?”
“Yeah. She was better than me. I was jealous. Of course, to my teenage self, that was a huge reason.”
“How could you…!”
Despite being in pain from the Mystic Fever, Eun Seol-ah glared at Seong-hye with venom in her eyes.
“Well, I also needed someone to test my newly gained power on. Though the conditions were strict, so I had to earn her trust first.”
At that moment, Lee Seo-jun laid Eun Seol-ah down and drew his sword.
His eyes were full of fury.
“You piece of trash.”
Seong-hye’s face stiffened slightly as she looked at him. She must have recognized him.
Her superior had infiltrated the Mage Academy under the alias “Teacher Chris,” after all.
“…No wonder you looked familiar. You’re Lee Seo-jun, aren’t you?”
Lee Seo-jun didn’t answer.
He just swung his light-elemental sword aura at her.
Seong-hye narrowly dodged the attack and muttered,
“…Fighting here isn’t a good idea.”
But Lee Seo-jun wasn’t about to let her get away.
He continued attacking her relentlessly, and in the end, Seong-hye pulled out a small orb from her pocket.
“I didn’t want to use this!”
She infused mana into the orb, and it shattered with a sharp crack.
From the floor beneath Lee Seo-jun, powerful magic surged and swallowed him in darkness.
In an instant, Lee Seo-jun’s body disappeared.
I recognized the magic.
It was a artifact used only by demons, containing mysterious energy—Dark Binding.
It was a higher-level technique, similar in concept to the magical tattoo circles used by Elin.
Its downside was that it could only be used once.
“Tch. I can’t believe I used something so valuable.”
Seong-hye clenched her teeth and glared at me and Eun Seol-ah.
“But Jung Hyun told me to run immediately if I ever encountered Lee Seo-jun, so I guess I have no choice. As much as I want to rip you two apart right now… the Association might detect the demonic energy, so I’ll spare you. Feel lucky.”
With that, she turned her back.
Even though I was right behind her, watching clearly.
Just as Seong-hye tried to flee—
I fired a spell directly at her back.
Boom!
“Gaaaah!”
Seong-hye screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground.
“You’re underestimating me way too much.”
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