Exotic landscapes.
Hair blowing pleasantly in the breeze.
On the contrary, Yoon Soogyeomâs expression was serious.
In the end, Sung Hyunjoon couldnât bear it anymore and asked.
âSenior, are you on to something?â
Yoon Soogyeom had kept his mouth shut since the airplane.
Naturally, Senior Yoon had a soft spot in his heart.
If heâs looking at me so desperately, I canât help but answer.
Look.
âHyunjoon, only you know thisâ¦â¦.â
Warak.
It was a blonde woman who appeared out of nowhere and shut Yoon Soogyeomâs mouth.
It was a blonde woman hugged from behind.
Sung Hyun-oon was furiously surprised and shouted.
âWhat a monster!â
Every morning on his way to work, when he was squeezed into a crowded subway car, he would let his imagination run wild. What if a player with bad intentions kidnapped me and blackmailed me?
Why, isnât that a possibility?
Even though Arcana was just a game, the operators were the operators. This meant that his general knowledge of the continentâs history was probably higher than most players.
Sung Hyunjoon shouted eagerly.
âPo, Police Freeze!â
After all, it was only because Seoul was full of ranked players who came to the Magic Tower with insufficient CCTV that they were able to stay safe all this time. See, as soon as I went on a business trip to the U.S., something like this happened.
âHelp! Save! Help me!â
Of course, Sungâs illusion didnât last long.
âSurprise, Katrina.â
âWelcome home. Iâm so glad to see you.â
ââ¦â¦Eh?â
Katrina?
Katrina, the same Katrina from the AAU North America Branch with whom Iâve been in contact ever since â¦â¦? Yoon Soogyeom, who had adjusted his glasses, calmly introduced her to Sung Hyunjoon.
âHyunjoon, this is Katrina.â
âNice to meet you. Iâve heard a lot about you.â
âYou speak Korean better than I thought, donât you?â
âCome on, you taught me everything.â
ââ¦â
Why do I feel like weâre closer than I thought?
Sung looked at the two of them with a subtle gaze. It couldnât be helped. No matter how long itâs been, itâs like that. Arenât you too happy to see me, Katrina?
âJust looking at this, I can see that you two were not in a normal relationship.â
â¦!
Needless to say, Sung was sick to his stomach.
Some people are so nervous about traveling to America.
He couldnât even sleep on the plane.
âSenior, you are also picking mulberries while watching?â
âWhat? What did you just say?â
âNo, nothing. Hurry up.â
Unlike Yoon, I would act like a professional.
Sung immediately started talking about work.
Why else would we be flying across the Pacific to the United States?
âYou have more than one thing to worry about, the special conference.â
A special conference.
For once, something had come up that the AAU could do something about. The Magic Tower, the pillar of the Arcana Continent. Only if the pillars were strong could the Arcana continent stand upright.
âWeâll have to look through all the Magic Tower settings in the database.â
Katrina whispered in Yoon Soogyeomâs ear.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âItâs different from the story? Thereâs nothing cute about it at all.â
âThatâs right. I guess itâs because Iâm nervous.â
âWhat are you two talking about in secret?â
âWhat? Itâs nothing, Hyunjoon.â
Stumbling, Hyunjoon continued to act out of character.
Thankfully, the story didnât go off the rails.
âIt is said that the special society will lift the taboos and taboos that apply to the Magic Tower. Although we, AAU, were not aware of the existence of the Special Society in advance, we are still well aware of the Magic Towerâs hidden settings.â
They did.
The two men represented the Korean branch of AAU and went to the United States, where AAUâs headquarters used to be, to check the database on Magic Tower.
Yoon nodded in agreement.
âI see. The database is so vast that it would be much faster for us to move than to have the relevant materials sent to us⦠Well, there are some things that concern me.â
âOh, that internal enemy youâve been talking about?â
âKatrina, keep your voice down.â
âMm, okay.â
Paladin, Guyver.
He wasnât the only one who had a change of heart. The AAUâs support of Guyverâs rebellion was now plainly visible to the world, and the Magic Tower was located in Seoul.
If any information that could exploit the Magic Towerâs taboos and forbidden areas were to find its way to them.
âAnyway, it canât hurt to be careful, right?â
I get down to business in a way that would normally be unimaginable.
I dive into the remaining database.
Sung is frantically tapping away at his keyboard even as Joshua, the branch manager, greets him.
âWow, you guys are so enthusiastic. I guess itâs because youâre Mr. Parkâs employees.â
âHaha. Is that so? I wonder why heâs like that.â
âSenior!â
Sung Hyunjoon called out to Yoon Soogyeom whenever he tried to talk to someone. Why is it like that? It was the moment when Katrina stuck her tongue out next to Joshua.
âWait a minute.â
Yoon began to clean the lenses of his glasses.
Did he see something?
The two others quickly joined Sung and Yoon.
ââ¦â¦.â
âDid you find anything?â
âUh.â
âWhat is it, is it that bad?â
Sung glanced at Katrina, then answered instead.
âAmethyst Hall.â
âAmethyst Hall is â¦â¦. One of the forbidden areas?â
âYes, there was dummy data about it.â
âThat canât be possible. When we looked, it wasnât found?â
âThere was a separate link to access it.â
The AAU Korea branch is physically close to the Magic Tower.
Thanks to them, Sung has seen it time and time again.
Magic Tower mages walking around the city center of Seoul.
âAfter all, the Magic Tower is also a place where people live, right? So, rather than delving into the vast amount of information on the Magic Tower, we looked at the senior mages first. Thanks to this, we were able to discover the backgrounds of the senior mages currently existing in the Magic Tower.â
Sung nodded.
âMages who were removed from their positions.â
ââ¦â¦!!â
Joshua and Katrina responded immediately.
âSurely, Joshua? A senior mage must constantly prove the value of the magic they study at regular conferences to keep their position, right?â
âThatâs right because, in the Magic Tower, the ability is more important than anything else.â
âSo, the senior mages who were left out of the competition are â¦â¦. â
If they were disposable NPCs that never reappeared, they would have been swallowed by the Bad Omen. But the Magic Tower had an âAmethyst Hallâ that could serve as a substitute.
A cold sweat broke out on Joshuaâs forehead.
âThey must have been sharpening their knives in the Amethyst Hall.â
The boundary between the Amethyst Hall and the Magic Tower had been blurred, and the taboo of the Magic Tower had been lifted. Yoon Soogyeom was the first to recall the most famous taboo of the Magic Tower.
âIt is forbidden to manifest decisive magic inside the Magic Tower.â
âIf that taboo is liftedâ¦â¦.â
âThere might be a âcompetitionâ event in the Magic Tower.â
A contested event.
âHoly shit.â
As the words fell, a sense of urgency descended on the AAUâs North American branch, and rightly so. Every single one of the senior mages was an off-the-scale figure with more power than a nuclear bomb.
âConsidering the history of the Magic Tower, the number of senior mages who were bound to Amethyst Hall must be â¦â¦. unimaginable. Of course, the Magic Tower is no longer what it once was, but that doesnât apply to the mages in Amethyst Hall.â
Yoon Soogyeom nodded.
âThey are the ones who have been completely alienated from the winds of change.â
Sung shook his head in disbelief.
He had to get this information to Yusra General Manager Lee Hoyeol quickly. Heâs the only one who can be involved in the Magic Tower, and heâs the one who organized this special conference.
ââ¦â¦No, thereâs no way the General Manager doesnât know about this.â
A thought popped into my head.
How could the General Manager, who had organized the special conference on his own initiative, not know about the information they had discovered? The thought made Katrina stiffen.
Katrina opened her mouth cautiously.
âWhat if heâs looking at the big picture again?â
Joshua closed his eyes tightly and answered.
âIn that case, I guess the answer is to stay still.â
Sung also recited âHomenâ as if responding.
His faith never wavered, even as information poured in in real time. Even if players were reminded of a hidden quest involving Amethyst Hall.
âItâs about to unfold, Mr. General Manager big picture.â
*
Siraura Akins, Senior Mage of Spatial Magic.
âA special conference, what kind of luxury is this for the ghosts of the past?â
Amethyst Hall.
The Ghost of the Past rose from her chambers and looked around.
The décor of her office had long since gone out of style.
Siraura pursed her lips.
âI guess makeup methods have changed a lot, too.â
Seuseuseug.
The sound of words being engraved on faded parchment can be heard. Judging by the endless crunching sound, the other ghosts seem to be quite excited as well.
âOf course, so am I.â
Magic Tower.
The passage of time has dulled the bad feelings. Being a ghost that never grew old or died, poring over spatial magic texts, it didnât feel like anything.
But there was one emotion that remained vivid in Sirauraâs mind. The face of the blue-eyed brat who had brought her to Amethyst Hall with her spatial magic was not forgotten.
Her lips quirked upward.
âDo you think you still hold that position, Senior Vangrit?â
The only thing allowed to the ghosts of Amethyst Hall is the magic they have clung to their entire lives.
There was no way to know about news from the outside world, and the ghosts didnât do anything about news from the outside world.
They only wish.
âFeiyan, youâre still as voracious as ever.â
âBensch William, I have not forgotten the humiliation.â
âIt would be nice if you could welcome me warmly, Miss Kiko.â
Dropped to the floor of the Amethyst Hall.
One by one, they slipped out of the office and made their way to the Magic Tower, leaving only the seat of the senior mage.
Siraura tilts her head.
âHmm?â
She can smell the scent of strangers mingling with the familiar scent of her own perfume. For some reason, the scent was not like the Magic Tower emitting from the Magic Tower. Something about it.
Itâs closer to a smell than a fragrance⦠I guess it feels frivolous in the first scent, and a strange coolness in the lingering scent? Well, I guess it didnât matter. Siraura confirmed her magic power.
âI donât know whose decision it was, but Iâm grateful for it.â
Now that the taboo had been lifted, she felt a little more free to cook Vangrit. Soon, a total of twenty ghosts appeared in the hallways of Amethyst Hall.
At the same time, the playersâ vision flickered.
[Hidden Quest: The Ghosts of the Magic Tower]
âSenior mages from the previous generation?â
âHey, isnât the quest message ominous â¦â¦?â
âIf itâs a senior, we wonât get caught up in this, so letâs get out of here!â
Hudadak.
Players find an open Amethyst Hall out of curiosity and head straight for it. Jesse Heinness, an adept mage and Archmage, was the only one left in Amethyst Hall.
âI never knew this was coming.â
Jesse bit her lip.
This was a variable.
A change that could shake the very foundations of the Magic Tower.
â â¦â¦ The Magic Tower you rebuilt.â
Jesseâs magic sparked as she spoke.
âWhat kind of smell is this again?â
A teleportation manifestation so fast it was almost imperceptible.
No, this wasnât a simple teleportation. It was as if space had been folded and moved, and the former Tower Masterâs warning was heard.
-Siraura Akins. Senior mage of spatial magic. For reference.
âMmm, that smells pretty good.â
-She flirted with me, too.
ââ¦â¦!â
Jesse was analyzing the magic traces when the cone hat caught her attention.
Jesse felt goosebumps all over her body.
Itâs not because of the cone hatâs words, which she couldnât tell if he was joking or serious.
It was because Siraura exuded danger.
âThese people are dangerous.â
More than the quest that came to mind.
Eyes with impure intentions.
Jesse took a step backward in judgment.
âOh, thatâs not fun.â
Sirauraâs voice trailed off.
Magic crackled in her body.
It was instantly recognizable.
âDecisive magic!â
An uncontrollable surge of magic power surged through the Magic Tower. Jesse reacted quickly. Violet twilight magic flickered. Siraura was intrigued, as if she had gotten a good look.
âViolet magic. You have an unusual talent, and Iâm guessing youâre not from the Arcana continent? Oh, that intrigues me even more, to the point where I want to lock you in my space and observe you.â
Of course, the confrontation didnât last long.
Ttogak.
The sound echoes through the Amethyst Hall.
âEveryone, clear out.â
Sirauraâs face went white at the sound of that voice.
ââ¦What is that monster?â
The Chief Mage, Lee Hoyeol, appears.
I apologize for not being nice, but I canât help it.
Because I was looking at the atmosphere.
Itâs not the kind of atmosphere where a nice word will get you out of the way.
âMore than that, why is Jesse here?â
Anyway, Iâm just going to go find that bible.
âI wonât tell you twice.â
ââ¦..?â
âLosers of the Magic Tower.â