# 38
Riyekan glanced at Legas, who was awkwardly trailing off, and suddenly asked as if something had just occurred to him.
“Ah, right. What happened with Master Senistry’s treasury?”
“I’m sorry, Master. It simply won’t open.”
The door that had suddenly opened and swallowed Jin-ha had, for some reason, firmly closed again after their escape. Even when they dispatched a mage with a talent for opening locked doors, it didn’t budge at all.
According to Jin-ha, a fairy had appeared and handed over a key, but there was no trace of the key to be found. In the end, they had sent a letter to the fairy realm asking for the identity of the fairy who had done this. However, both Legas and Riyekan knew it was better not to expect a reply.
Fairies were capricious beings who did nothing if they weren’t in the mood.
Legas even took Jin-ha to the locked door to see if it would open, just in case. Unfortunately, the door remained unchanged.
“I think there might be conditions related to timing…”
“…Allocate a special budget to recruit mages for research.”
“Understood, Master.”
Mages earned money through various activities to conduct research they wanted without budget concerns. Once word spread that the Master had ordered a special budget allocation, many tower-affiliated mages would swarm like bees.
“Have them report their research results regularly, and announce that rewards will be given if they find any clues that could track down Master Senistry.”
A certain longing lingered in Riyekan’s expression as his eyes quietly gleamed. It was very rare for him to show such an enthusiastic expression while separated from his object of obsession during a period when he had one.
“Should we look for other clues in the Abon Kingdom?”
Riyekan hesitated briefly. He had met Master Senistry when he was young. When they met, Master Senistry was leaving the tower, and Riyekan, who came to the tower afterward, respected her wishes and didn’t deliberately seek her out. But after visiting the treasury and seeing her inventions, the desire to meet her again strongly shook him.
“…Look into it discreetly. And make sure to gather books and materials about the Abon Kingdom separately.”
“Books, you say?”
“Yes. Jin-ha wanted them.”
“Ah. Yes, I’ll prepare them separately.”
“Anything else to report?”
At this question, Legas hesitated momentarily before carefully asking.
“Speaking of the Abon Kingdom, Master. Yesterday we received a letter from the Abon Kingdom expressing their intention to visit.”
“Refuse them.”
“Yes. I was going to refuse, of course, but it was too late.”
“Too late?”
“It wasn’t a letter asking if they could visit, but one saying they had already departed and requesting preparations.”
“…What?”
This was extraordinarily rude behavior. Magic towers, especially the Noon Moon Tower, did not receive guests in such a manner. The normal procedure was to first request permission via a letter stating the purpose of the visit, and only after the tower granted permission would they visit.
Sometimes visitors would come to a nearby village in advance and wait for an answer, but this was rarely done unless the purpose was particularly secretive. It was much faster to use the transportation portals operated by the tower.
Sending a letter announcing their arrival and heading toward the tower by carriage meant this visit had another purpose.
“The representative of this delegation is Jeidrus Ertolic.”
Riyekan’s expression, which had been irritated due to the rude letter, cooled ominously.
“Jeidrus Ertolic?”
* * *
Seo Ji-seop and the young mages weren’t as surprised as expected when they learned that Jin-ha had been subjected to a virtual imprisonment in the other world for several days due to Riyekan’s spite.
“That’s because we studied about portals to other countries before coming here.”
“We heard that at first, people lived worse than medieval vagrants, but we’re quite luxurious in comparison. Look, we’re even wearing these wonderful mage clothes!”
“If someone like the Deputy Director had been our officer, we might have been a bit anxious. But since it’s you, Officer, we can trust you!”
The young mages laughed brightly after saying this. As if trying to gloss over the fact that they had subtly mocked the Deputy Director. Jin-ha couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
“I’ll take good care of these kids, so don’t worry and go.”
With even Seo Ji-seop reassuring him so dependably, Jin-ha felt truly at ease. Fortunately, everyone had positive and bright personalities.
“Yes, I’ll leave them in your care then. I’ll be back within four days, so everyone study hard in the meantime. And you should continue writing your reports during this time. Now I’ll be…”
Jin-ha, who had been speaking, suddenly went “Ah!” as if remembering something and pulled out a piece of paper from the folder he was holding. It was the report Seo Ji-seop had written since the day he decided to learn magic.
“Everyone, please take a look at this.”
“Jin-ha, why are you showing that to the kids…”
The expressions of the young mages who checked the report as instructed were colored with shock and astonishment.
“Please teach the guild master about the Anomaly Management Agency’s report format while I’m gone. This is… too much of a mess.”
“A mess? Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
Seo Ji-seop grumpily voiced his complaint, but it was quickly drowned out by the young mages’ protests.
“It’s a mess!”
“How can you write a report like this?”
“Is this a diary or a report?”
“They say if you write reports like this at the agency, you’ll be called to the conference room and scolded!”
“Even if you have to write it by hand, you should still follow the required sections!”
Seo Ji-seop, who wasn’t a civil servant to begin with, turned to Jin-ha with a very aggrieved expression. In truth, it wasn’t strange for Seo Ji-seop to be poor at writing reports. He was the leader of an S-class guild, and moreover, a capable S-class Hunter who demonstrated his abilities on the front lines.
Since the administrative work would be handled by employees within the guild, there was no reason for Seo Ji-seop to be familiar with document formatting programs and templates.
But having decided to learn magic, proper reports were essential. Jin-ha smiled faintly watching Seo Ji-seop being dragged away by the kids, then turned to leave.
* * *
Upon returning to Earth through the portal, Jin-ha was immediately kidnapped by Dr. Jo Sung-hyun and dragged to his laboratory. Jo Sung-hyun, wearing a terrifying expression, came by helicopter from the World Gate Information Association and snatched Jin-ha away so abruptly that even the Anomaly Management Agency couldn’t stop him.
The result was the current situation.
Jin-ha was sitting on a hospital bed with sensors stuck all over his body. When he slipped his finger into the gap of the tightly fastened brainwave measurement band, a lightning-fast scolding flew his way.
“Jin-ha! Hands off. You’re messing up the data.”
He really couldn’t understand why collapsing required all of this. Being unconscious for a week might seem serious, but that was probably due to his magical power stabilizing, and there were no other abnormalities in his body.
It had already been four hours. After being led by Section Chief Nam to this place, the Interdimensional Biology Research Institute, Jin-ha had undergone over a dozen tests from Jo Sung-hyun.
“When will this end?”
“Almost done. Just be patient a little longer.”
“You said the same thing an hour ago.”
“Did I?”
Jo Sung-hyun replied half-heartedly while looking at the hologram monitor. He was clearly so focused on the data that he wasn’t properly hearing what Jin-ha was saying.
“I could have gone to a regular hospital, so why am I getting my examination from a busy doctor like you…”
“Because among all the hospitals and centers in the country, my research institute has the best facilities. And I have the best skills.”
“That may be true, but…”
Beep—
As soon as the data collection completion sound was heard, Jin-ha took off the brainwave measurement band and placed it on the bed. As he also detached the sensors stuck to his body, Jo Sung-hyun shook his head as if there was nothing he could do.
Jin-ha approached Jo Sung-hyun while putting on the shirt he had taken off. Jo Sung-hyun enlarged the monitor so Jin-ha could see the data as well.
Jin-ha, who had activated his Information Eye to check if there was any readable information, turned it off again in disappointment. Most of it was low-quality information.
Many people mistakenly believed that Jin-ha’s Information Eye was omnipotent, but that wasn’t the case. Although he could read a lot of information with the Information Eye, the information read wasn’t always kindly explained. Understanding or not understanding information described in complex and difficult language was a matter of Jin-ha’s capability.
That’s why Jin-ha shared gate-related information worldwide while steadily reading papers published by others. The more he knew, the more he could understand.
“So what are the results?”
“Hmm…”
Jo Sung-hyun, who had been going through the data while groaning, frowned.
“That’s strange.”
“That can’t be. My physical condition is fine, and there’s nothing unusual written on my status window.”
“Yes, your health isn’t a problem. But the state of your hormones and the movement of your cells are a bit strange. Could it be a side effect of staying in the other world? It’s not serious enough to be a problem, but…”
If it was that kind of issue, there was something that came to mind. Jin-ha said while putting on his suit jacket:
“The people there seem to have pheromones.”
“Humans?”
Jo Sung-hyun, an authority on interdimensional biology, sparkled his eyes as if he had heard something extremely interesting.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
