At my words, Han Se-yeon continued driving without answering.
The car moved forward smoothly.
It wasn’t until we entered and exited an underpass and a red traffic light appeared that the car came to a stop.
With her hands on the steering wheel, Han Se-yeon turned her gaze to me.
“How did you know the Hanseong family possesses the Mystery of Prophecy?”
“I guessed it based on some of the miracles Chairman Han Dae-hyeon performed in the past, and a few incidents. Besides, there have been rumors about it for a long time.”
In fact, jokes about the Hanseong family possessing the Mystery of Prophecy often circulate among ordinary people.
Just like how, in the world I originally lived in, rumors swirled that a certain company had imprisoned aliens.
Some broadcasting stations even aired programs under themes like, Does the Hanseong family really possess the Mystery of Prophecy?
That’s how many mysteries surrounded the Hanseong family’s rise to power.
“…It didn’t sound like a simple guess, though. How should I put it… it was your voice—there was a certain conviction unique to you.”
“Did it sound that way?”
The red light changed back to green.
The stopped car began moving again.
“You seem to know everything already, so I’ll be honest with you. The Mystery of Prophecy—it’s true that the Hanseong family possesses it.”
Surprisingly, she admitted it without hesitation.
“But even if I wanted to help you, I can’t. My father and older brother are the ones managing it, and they’ve set it up so that no one outside the Hanseong family can use it.”
That was news to me. Only members of the Hanseong family could use it?
She had no reason to lie to me, so this was probably the truth.
A shame, but… I guess it can’t be helped?
“But why are you trying to use the Mystery of Prophecy in the first place?”
Why…
The reason I wanted to use it was because I was curious about the moment Lee Seo-joon died in my previous life.
I thought that if I could use the power of prophecy to see that day, I might be able to unravel some of the mystery surrounding his death.
And I was also curious about how the Mystery of Prophecy actually worked.
“Because every human being wants to know the future, right?”
“For someone saying that, you sure act like you already know the future.”
That stung a little, and I let out a faint chuckle.
But of course, I couldn’t be honest about actually knowing the future, so I feigned ignorance.
“How could I possibly know the future?”
“You might. There were even stories about humans with prophetic powers in ancient times, right?”
“Still, those are just stories.”
“You’re more conservative than I expected, Jinwoo. It’s not good to dismiss human potential so easily.”
I smiled slightly at the mention of human potential.
“To be honest, I’m not that interested in knowing the future itself. I’m more curious about the process of discovering it.”
“The process?”
She looked at me with a surprised expression.
“Aren’t you curious? About how the Mystery reveals the future. Or how far into the future it can actually see.”
Han Se-yeon fell into thought for a moment. Then she opened her mouth.
“You shouldn’t expect too much.”
Her sudden remark made me glance at her.
She briefly met my eyes before turning her gaze back to the front.
“My brother says it’s extremely unkind. And the future it shows is very limited.”
10:30 PM, at Han Se-yeon’s house.
Under a dim light, Han Se-yeon sat at a table, preparing an elixir using some kind of blue seaweed.
Not wanting to interrupt her concentration, I quietly sat across from her.
“Don’t mind me. You can just relax.”
She said that while gently handling the seaweed with care.
“No, I can’t sit comfortably while you’re working because of me.”
She paused in her potion-making and looked at me.
“There’s some alcohol inside. Would you like a drink?”
“Alcohol?”
“Yeah, I have a pretty expensive one. A magician from Britain’s Magic Tower made it using a Mystery.”
The way she put it made it sound tempting. I do love rare drinks—enough to lose my senses.
Still…
It felt wrong to drink alone while she was working.
“I’m good. I’d feel bad drinking by myself.”
“Come on, nothing to feel bad about.”
She smiled gently at me, then turned back to her work.
I watched her for a moment, then stood up. I had already looked around her place before, but sitting face-to-face like this made me feel awkward again, so I decided to wander a bit more.
As I walked slowly around the living room, I noticed some documents on the table.
At a glance, they seemed to involve mana stone trading and a list of mages who specialized in mining them.
These days, mana stones were in such short supply that they were probably trying to source them on their own.
Flipping through the pages, my eyes stopped on a particular entry.
[JWK]
JWK—that’s my company.
Curious, I skimmed through the contents.
It said that JWK had released a supply of mana stones for about three days before suddenly stopping.
The truth was, I’d been hoarding them in hopes their value would continue to rise.
I quietly glanced at Han Se-yeon, still absorbed in her potion-making.
I wanted to tell her that JWK was my company and offer to supply mana stones, but… the timing wasn’t right yet.
Eventually, she would find out.
As I scanned through the papers again, I suddenly remembered the mana stone Gretel had given me.
I pulled it out and held it in my hand.
At first glance, it just looked like a big mana stone. Not particularly pretty or anything.
But why had Gretel given it to me all of a sudden? You could find plenty this size in dungeons.
Just in case, I activated the Outsider’s Privilege.
━━
[Mana Stone (???)]
Category: Mana Stone
▶ ???
There is hidden power. It can be unlocked using a Mystery.
━━
…What the? hidden power?
“Jinwoo!”
Just as I was stunned by the hidden effect, Han Se-yeon called out loudly.
I quickly stored the mana stone.
“Yes?”
“I’ve finished the potion.”
“Already?”
I walked over to her.
On the table was a potion infused with the mana of the blue seaweed.
━━
[Refined Blue Seaweed Potion (S)]
Category: Elixir
Description: Upon consumption, increases mana by 5%.
Increases mana recovery speed by 50%.
It is in a fresh state. Effectiveness will decrease after 3 days.
━━
“Oh.”
The effects were impressive.
Especially the mana increase—that alone made it highly valuable.
“I used holy grass to amplify the effect. It should significantly boost your mana.”
“Thank you. Do I just drink it like this?”
“Yes, it’s best to take it now. The longer you wait, the weaker it becomes.”
I tucked the potion away. Han Se-yeon gave me a puzzled look.
“You’re not going to drink it now?”
“I was planning to drink it at home. If I drink it now, I might lose consciousness from the potion’s effects, and that would be a nuisance.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
There was no way I wouldn’t worry.
And who knew what might happen if I suddenly lost consciousness here?
For example, Jinwoo’s disguise might get exposed.
“It’s because I’m worried. Besides, it’ll stay fresh for about three days anyway, right?”
“Mm. That’s true.”
I smiled and took a seat across from her.
“Instead of that, let’s have a glass of that rare alcohol you mentioned earlier.”
I left Han Se-yeon’s house after a perfectly wholesome drinking session.
After returning home in a good mood, I drank the elixir.
As expected, a surge of powerful mana stirred violently within me, and I lost consciousness right away.
The next day, when I opened my eyes, my mana level had risen to 68.
On the first day after regression, it had been at 21—now I was almost at 70.
It felt good, but before enjoying that, I had something else to do: investigate the mana stone Gretel had given me.
However, I couldn’t figure out how to unlock the hidden power within the stone, so I decided to put it off.
The instructions said I just needed to use a mystery, so I should be able to find a way soon enough.
And so, two days passed.
I met up with Lee Seo-jun again.
[You have achieved the ‘Mini Stage Clear’ achievement.]
[You have received 3,000 points as a reward.]
“Phew. Finally done.”
“This must be the reward room.”
Today, Seo-jun and I cleared a massive dungeon located in the Chungnam region.
A massive dungeon refers to a type where multiple hidden stages exist, allowing many people to clear parts of it simultaneously.
It’s similar in concept to a kind of “tower.”
Clearing the mini stage of such a dungeon wasn’t that hard, so Seo-jun and I completed it without major trouble.
Not to mention, we had already teamed up numerous times before, so our synergy was outstanding.
“Please let it be a Spirit’s Tear…”
Seo-jun pressed his hands together in front of the reward chest, praying.
The Spirit’s Tear is a rare reward that occasionally appears in certain dungeons. It’s a material used to enhance equipment or potions.
It also happens to be a material used in necromancy.
“…Tch. I told you we should just buy it. Why are we grinding like this?”
What we were doing now was essentially grinding.
It was like endlessly farming a dungeon in a game, trying to get a rare drop with less than a 1% rate.
“A Spirit’s Tear costs 300 million won. Where are you going to get that money?”
“I have some money, you know.”
When I got a little annoyed, Seo-jun shot me a glare.
“I just don’t want to owe you anything.”
“…Sheesh. Fine. Let’s just open the chest. If it’s not in there, I’ll just buy one myself. Okay?”
“…Nope.”
Ignoring me, Seo-jun opened the reward chest.
Creeeak…
The chest opened with a deep sound, and a brilliant light burst forth.
My vision was momentarily blinded by the dazzling glow. Then, a moment later, the reward appeared.
“…What the hell.”
The moment I saw the reward, a curse slipped out without me realizing.
━━
[Spirit’s Tear (B)]
Type: Material
Description: Enhances the effects of mana-infused tools.
━━
“…This actually dropped? On the first try?”
“Whoa. Jackpot! See? I told you we’d get it.”
The timid Seo-jun, who had been shrinking under my teasing during the entire dungeon run, was now beaming with confidence.
I stared at the Spirit’s Tear in disbelief.
It didn’t make sense.
No—actually, it did make sense. In the original story, Seo-jun also beat absurd odds and got the Spirit’s Tear.
But the future had changed, and the timing and location of this dungeon run were different, so I figured the reward would be different too.
“…Huh.”
Was this really just a coincidence?
No—now I wasn’t so sure.
Seo-jun held the Spirit’s Tear in his hand, grinning as he turned to me.
“With this, there are only a few left to go.”
“…Yeah. You’re right.”
“Next week we have to use the training room. Guess we’ll have to pause the search for Mysteries for now. Or… we’ve still got time—want to look for another one today?”
I hesitated for a moment.
We’d gotten the Spirit’s Tear faster than expected. We had spare time, so maybe…
“Let’s go outside first.”
So Seo-jun and I stepped out of the dungeon.
Outside, the area was nearly empty. That was expected—the average reward grade of this massive dungeon was low.
Still, the reason Seo-jun and I had chosen to clear this dungeon was because we were minors.
Without a pro mage license, dungeon access was prohibited.
Of course, there were still a lot of students who secretly tackled low-profile dungeons like this one.
“So? Are we looking for another Mystery now?”
“Well…”
Just as I was about to answer, I felt a vibration from the phone in my pocket.
I used the Outsider’s Privilege to check what it was.
It wasn’t a message.
It was an email. When I opened it, a long message filled the screen.
The moment I saw it, I clenched my fists with a sense of anticipation—Finally.
“Nah, something came up. I can’t today.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Let’s search for the remaining Mysteries after we use the training room.”
“…Alright. Let’s do that.”
“See you.”
After a short goodbye, I left Seo-jun and headed somewhere I could rest alone.
Soon, I found a bench in a quiet park and sat down.
There, I activated the Outsider’s Privilege again to recheck the email.
[Hello. This is ‘Jeogam.’ The results of the request made by ‘SW’ are ready.]
The intelligence guild Jeogam (Red Rock).
Along with the Hanseong family’s guild, they were said to possess the most information in the world.
Their services were a bit expensive, but their work was known to be rock-solid.
At the start of winter break, I had submitted an anonymous request to the guild.
And now, the results were in.
[Name: Kim Chang-hyun]
The request I had made—was for information about Kim Chang-hyun.
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