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He did not understand what was happening. Having exited Kim Jonghyun’s room, Sungmin stood there blankly while scratching his ears. The moment Kim Jonghyun was about to say something… something had happened. He did not know what had happened, but the sense of unfamiliarity he felt back then was definitely real.
‘Just what was that?’
Sungmin pressed on his ears while feeling very messy inside. He heard that Kim Jonghyun would die if he spoke about it. What kind of nonsense was that? In that room, Kim Jonghyun and Sungmin were the only ones there. There was no way Sungmin would try to kill him, then who else would kill him?
‘Wait.’
Think. What happened back in the Mount of Msh. The words that Msh said to be talking to ‘himself’. At the end of those words, he warned someone other than Sungmin.
‘Stop. This is my domain. If you do not want to die a mutual death, then you should stop your actions.’
(T/N: May have been translated differently before)
At that time, he did not listen to those words very well. At that time… who was Msh warning? He felt a chill, and scraped the back of his neck. The chill he felt back then, was engraved very deeply into him.
“Hm?”
Just as Sungmin was organizing his thoughts without leaving the door of Kim Jonghyun’s room, someone approached him with big steps. Reacting to the presence, Sungmin looked behind him.
“You….”
The woman with her eyes wide open spoke up. Sungmin tilted his head while looking at the face of the woman who looked at him. Looking at Sungmin’s face for a while, the woman frowned.
“Aren’t you that idiot from back then?”
“…Eh?”
Sungmin widened his eyes at those sudden words. You are – spoke she. The woman spoke again while staring at him.
“You don’t recognize me?”
“…Who might you be?”
“Wow, you’re so….”
At Sungmin’s question, the woman pounded on her chest as though feeling stuffy. The red eyes and the red hair. Something flashed by Sungmin’s mind the next moment. He spoke.
“Miss Scarlett?”
“You finally recognize me?”
(T/N: I’ll add two t’s at the end to differentiate from the color)
At Sungmin’s question, Scarlett shouted in anger. Sungmin was surprised by the sudden loud voice and took a couple steps back.
Scarlett Lecir. The woman he met back in Mount Msh when he was training. She had been training for a year longer than Sungmin, and had left the mountain after ending her training along with the Sword Demon Dok Bijoon.
“Why is Miss Scarlett here?”
“That’s what I want to ask.”
The reason why he didn’t remember her was quite simple. Although there was the three year gap, it had more to do with Lee Sungmin’s memories of her, wearing tattered rags and dirty as she had not washed for a very long time.
But what of her now? She had clean clothes on, and her hair as well as her face was very clean. Seeing that, Sungmin realized that Scarlett was a remarkable beauty.
“This is the mage guild. Didn’t you learn martial arts? Why, did you change your lane and want to become a mage now?”
“No, that’s not what I…”
“Then what? You want to learn both martial arts and magic? Ayy, don’t do something so stupid and focus on what you are doing right…”
“Didn’t I say I’m not? I did not come here to learn magic.”
Sungmin sighed and interrupted her words. Seeing his attitude, Scarlett pouted.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because of business.”
“Business?”
Scarlett raised her gaze and looked at the red door behind Sungmin. After looking at that door, she frowned.
“Does your business, perhaps, have anything to do with that lunatic Kim Jonghyun?”
“Do you know him?”
“Then would I not? He’s a damn lunatic.”
Scarlett grumbled and scratched the back of her head. In the mountain, white dandruff always fell off her hair whenever she scratched her hair, but there was no ‘snow’ this time. It seemed as though scratching the back of her head was a habit of hers.
“It’s nice to see you after such a long time. I want to have a talk with you, and I’m quite free now too. How about it? Wanna come over to my room?”
“Your room?”
“Hey, hey, you horny kid. Don’t think strange things. I’m just bored, so I just want someone to talk to.”
“I don’t remember doing anything for you to call me horny.”
“How old are you again?”
“…18.”
“Boys at that age are always horny. All they can think of is lewd things.”
“What the hell is that….”
Sungmin grumbled, but Scarlett didn’t seem to have any intentions on retracting her statement. Scarlett lead Sungmin to her room. Unlike Kim Jonghyun’s room which were filled with levitating ogre limbs and guts, her room didn’t have any of those grotesque things. However, it was quite dirty.
“Sit wherever you fancy.”
Saying that, she also sat down on a pile of books. Sungmin looked around the room and muttered.
“So you are the dirty kind, Miss Scarlet.”
“Hey, can you not be so rude? Most mages live like this anyway. And how am I dirty? Do you know how many times I shower every day after I left that damned mountain?”
Grumbled Scarlett and crossed her legs.
“So? Why are you here?”
At that question, Sungmin explained to her the circumstances behind his visit. This was nothing to hide anyway. When his story ended, Scarlett muttered while frowning.
“Kim Jonghyun. I’ve known that that damn kid was playing around with chimera. Though, never did I imagine it to be you who caught it.”
“…What kind of person is he?”
Thinking back, Sungmin didn’t know what kind of person Kim Jonghyun actually was. All he knew that he was from Earth – a different one from his – and from Korea. Hearing his question, Scarlett shrugged her shoulders.
“He’s a lunatic. He’s a little, no , a lot out of his mind. But, his skills are the real deal. I’m not sure about other things, but there is no one that tops him in terms of knowledge regarding black magic and chimera, at least here in the mage guild of Behengerr.”
Sungmin had to agree that Kim Jonghyun was a ‘lunatic’. Making body parts of the chimera ogre float in his lab was definitely something very far from an ordinary person.
“Why are you here then, Miss Scarlett?”
“Because I’m a mage.”
Scarlett replied nonchalantly.
“It’s not so strange for a mage to belong to the mage guild, is it? The mage guild is quite comfortable. As long as you have the skills and bring out research results, then they support you with a lot of funds. That’s why I’m here – this is the closest one from Msh’s mountain.”
Scarlett Lecir. Sungmin had only heard about her name through rumors in his previous life. He did not know that she was in Behengerr.
‘No, wait. This is before she became an archmage.’
Looking at the series of events, She would compile her foundation here in Behengerr and later leave to become an archmage.
“The body is comfortable, but the mind isn’t. My research isn’t showing much progress nowadays.”
Grumbled Scarlett. Sungmin could only laugh at those words. Even though she may not have any progress right now, the fact that she would later found a new faction and become an archmage was a guaranteed future. Unlike Sungmin, Scarlett would later become an archmage.
“It’ll go well.”
“You don’t even know how it goes. Rather than that, Baek Sogo… you didn’t leave with her?”
“Yes. senior has left the mountain a year before me.”
“She’s quite vicious, you know that? She was there for almost three years! You too. I left because I felt like I’ll go insane if I stayed there for a few more days.”
“You have parted ways with sir Dok Bijoon?”
“I left that guy as soon as we arrived at Behengerr. He asked me if I wanted to come with him for travelling, so I told him to go alone.”
Saying that, Scarlett laughed again.
“But well. It’s nice to see someone I know after all this time. Recently, I haven’t been talking to people thank to research. Not like anyone would talk to me with my personality.”
Again.
“Come find me again next time when you have the time. I’ll give you tea at least.”
Again.
Leaving the Mage guild, Sungmin felt very complex inside. To treat her words like it was due to friendship, Nevel’s words tugged on his mind. That yet again jumbled up with what Kim Jonghyun said to him.
‘Just what is this?’
Your life may not be yours anymore – these words that he did not know the meaning of kept echoing in his mind. What kind of bullshit was this? This was none other than his own life. If it was not his, then whose is it?
He visited the mercenary guild to report to Bern about what he spoke about with Kim Jonghyun before coming back to his house. He was planning to practice the spear again, but he couldn’t focus due to his complex mind. Eventually, he put down the spear and sat down in a meditative position.
He circulated the purple cloud divine art to shake off the complex feeling, but it didn’t work so well. The words that Kim Jonghyun said, the words that Msh said. Those mysterious words kept alternating in his head. He was told that there was a reason for him coming back in time. He was told that there was no such thing as coincidences. His strangely good luck. If it was not a coincidence, then what of that? What of his meeting with others? This life – the life that belonged to the entity capable of thought and reason, named Lee Sungmin – whose was it?
When he barely shook off those thoughts, it was already evening. Having woken up, Sungmin sighed and pressed on his forehead.
“…I don’t need it.”
Muttering that, he dragged his steps out of the house. He stood in the garden full of weed and picked up the spear that he had thrown before.
He did not want to care. Thinking about such things and being suspicious about it will not lead him to an answer, and no one would tell him the answer either. In the end, this was all meaningless doubt and worry. He decided to give up thinking about it.
He ignored it.
Martial arts was different. Martial arts was; the spear was; showing him a clear answer unlike those vague questions. He felt very comfortable inside. He swung the spear for quite a long time. The three basic moves, The Nine Skies Infinity Spear. No one told him the answer for this either, but Sungmin intuitively knew that he spear was close to the answer.
However, it was not a complete answer. What Sungmin pursued was that. He wished to save Baek Sogo, surpass Wiji Hoyeon, etc. He had an objective he had to fulfill before he could do that.
When he put down the spear, it was already morning. Drenched in sweat, Sungmin felt refreshed rather than tired. Realizing that he still hadn’t had any meals, Sungmin made a bitter smile.
“No wonder I don’t grow.”
Grumbling, Sungmin entered back to his house.