༺ Side Story – Familiar (3) ༻
I knew what the treasure was that Miss Sirin was looking for.
Mag ll, the Island of Treasures.
Originally, it was supposed to be a place of trials that you could only enter once after the death of Erin Danua. There, the player and the player party had to overco trials to obtain legendary treasures as reward.
An example was the Red Spear, Gae Derg, in my possession.
However, there was a way to enter Mag ll again, and that was by finding the Road to Mag ll.
Entering it twice, however, didn’t an you could obtain another treasure. If they had already gone through the trial at Mag ll, all the player could do was talk to the Danann NPCs.
[You really won.]
[Congratulations, hero.]
[…]
That was all there was to the conversation after the ending.
The only rit to this quest line of the treasure map, was that you could enter Mag ll and go through the trials earlier ahead of the scheduled main storyline to obtain a treasure, if you did happen to co across it in the earlier stages of the ga.
‘But for normal people, it would be a valuable experience and an opportunity to obtain unique treasures.’
Miss Sirin, Jaeger and Lark had all yet to experience the trials of Mag ll.
Even though it would be via a different entrance, entering Mag ll would still allow the three to take the trial, and they might be able to lay their hands on a treasure if lucky.
‘I guess I will just drop by and say hello.’
I wasn’t expecting to be able to see the Danann again though.
“Thanks, young lady. For the ice.”
“Don’t worry about it,” replied Miss Sirin to the old lady, as she laid a bag of ice on the forehead to ease the burning fever of a young child.
She then turned towards and asked with a smile.
“Is anything wrong?”
It appeared that I had been staring at her for too long.
“I was just thinking how you were very kind on top of everything.”
“This isn’t anything difficult though.”
Although we had only t for a short period of ti, Miss Sirin seed like a very good person. She was here to find a treasure, and yet was volunteering for the villagers for basically free after all.
There were so instances where it felt like she was oddly staring at with a chilly gaze but… it was probably a misunderstanding.
She was a nice person, so she needed a fitting reward.
“Shall we head off for the treasure now?”
“Sure. I heard Mr. Jaeger and Mr. Lark have also finished their preparations.”
While I was at it, I could also give my friends a treasure each to help them in their careers.
“…”
Hmm? I was getting that feeling again.
I could sense a strange gaze on . It was cold and chilly… and persistent…
“Miss Sirin?”
Wondering if there was a problem, I turned around and found her looking at with a bright smile.
“What is it?”
“Uhh… umm, nothing.”
I must be feeling things.
There was no way a person that kind would look at like that, right?
………
……
…
“He’s very sharp. I have to be careful.”
Sirin observed the changes to Korin as he perceived her gazes and twisted the corners of her lips.
As a mage, she didn’t know much about ‘martial arts’ and ‘karma’ and such. To be completely honest, Sirin wasn’t too sure about the ‘sixth sense’ either.
However, Korin had always survived thanks to those.
At the start, he was just a side character.
A third-rate, who couldn’t even be considered a minor character, let alone play a major role.
The only things he knew were the Three Palms and an average spearmanship that anyone could find in the library.
Despite only having that in his arsenal, Korin Lork had survived for over 2 years. He killed Fermack Daman and played a big part in defeating Eochaid Bres.
‘Even Tates Valtazar cared more about oppa than .’
To this day, Sirin still couldn’t understand it – she had no idea how she lost to him.
She took advantage of all his Precepts and overwheld Valtazar through sheer strength of her magic, and yet sohow, he still managed to reach her.
Logic alone couldn’t explain it, and her rationality didn’t let her understand him.
And Korin Lork was the sa kind of person as that Tates Valtazar.
‘I won’t drop my guard.’
That was why she had to be more perfect and thorough than ever before. Sirin was ticulous in her plans as she proceeded with the trap targeting Korin Lork, which she had begun setting up since the mont she ca over to this world.
[You will fail for sure.]
“Hmph.”
There was no possibility of failure in her plans.
****
Concealed in the mountain behind the village was a pathway leading to Mag ll, the Island of Treasures.
To be precise, it was closer to a dinsional crack that was connected to Mag ll.
In the long distant past, when the era of mythology was nearing its end and the Danann decided to leave this land after hiding the Paradise, there was one thing they didn’t know – a dinsional crack between reality and Mag ll that was created by sheer coincidence.
The description enclosed in the treasure map was that it led to a place where a group of thieves had hidden all their treasures. It appeared that the original creator of the map was quite skilled, and managed to pass a trial of the gods to obtain a treasure.
‘Although you could find so gold here…’
It only amounted to small pennies.
Well, it wasn’t so small that a normal person like could call it ‘pennies’ but…
‘I have Marie-sunbae with so money is never a problem.’
Standing behind my back was Marie Dunareff, the wealthiest person of this continent. Speaking of wealth, there was also Estelle, Miru, and even Lunia who was also quite rich.
“Un?” A sudden thought popped up in my mind.
“What is it, Korin-oppa?”
“No… Wait…”
Now that I think about it…
“I will have basically no properties if I don’t marry Marie or Estelle, right?”
“…”
Crack!
I heard the sound of sothing breaking from Miss Sirin’s hands. She appeared to be the type of person who couldn’t control her grip power.
“Did you just realize that?”
Lark looked at as if he was looking at soone stupid.
“Don’t tell this bastard was thinking of marrying soone else and asking Marie or the Saintess for money,” Jaeger pointed out.
“Dude! If you put it like that, I sound like a piece of trash!”
“Uhh… Korin?” Lark comnted. “Aren’t you… uhh… exactly that?”
“Lark! You’re being too harsh!”
“Hello? Mr. Ko? A normal person wouldn’t worry over who to go out with among seven girls, okay?”
Jaeger and Lark were beating up together. These guys… they always beca super an whenever it was about relationships.
“Right? Miss Sirin?”
Jaeger was even asking Miss Sirin to join in on the hate, who replied with her cold eyes on .
“Yes. A man who has a complicated relationship with a lot of won is terrible.”
“Uhk… There is a good reason for this…” I tried to explain myself but Miss Sirin continued.
“Flirting with a bunch of won without even being aware, and having tens of girls around him and saying he helped them because they’re ‘friends’? How ridiculous do you think it feels to hear that from the side?”
“That’s exactly what we’re saying!”
“You sure do know so stuff, Miss Sirin!”
Her cold voice didn’t stop there.
“Going inside the houses of girls that live alone for a al, visiting fancy restaurants left and right, each ti being with a different woman. Going to the sa cafe with tens of girls, and speaking nonsense that they’re all friends and that he’s not dating anyone.”
“Ohh… There’s soone else exactly like Korin.”
“This sounds like it’s from experience…”
Miss Sirin… was very explicit with her descriptions.
“Is this… about soone?” I asked.
“The oppa that was living in my hotown was exactly like that. He was the playboy of the century. Every three days, there was a new girl’s na added to his list of acquaintances, and that freaking piece of trash would brag about it to …”
She gritted her teeth as if she couldn’t sit still. This person…
“You sound like you liked him.”
“…”
Hearing that, her eyes widened into circles. Her face contained the most energy and life that I had ever seen until now.
And…
“I would rather not hear that from you, Korin-oppa.”
She replied with a look of despondency.
What did I do? Wasn’t she complaining because the person she liked never noticed her feelings and continued going out with other girls?
Miss Sirin didn’t say anything for a long ti after that. She simply stared at from ti to ti with a cold look in her eyes.
****
This treasure hunt had a few quests and the original thod of playthrough was to analyze so of the clues that were given at the end of those quests, but since I knew the answer already, I quickly ‘analyzed’ the map and we arrived at a cave.
“It looks like it’s here.”
“Wow. You’re right.”
“I thought you were only good at playing with won, Korin, but it seems that you’re good at treasure hunting as well.”
“You really didn’t need to say the first part.”
All we had to do in this cave was switch a lever which would open up a small room, which contained the dinsional crack leading to Mag ll.
I would probably simply be seeing the Danann instead of going through the trials, but still, it was a good chance to say hello.
– Creak! Creak!
“Ohh! It’s opening up!”
“Treasures! Treasures!”
The cave opened up like the entrance to a safe that you would see in fantasy movies. Inside—
“Hoh~ You actually brought him. I’ve been waiting for it.”
– Diring~
A beautiful, blonde-haired young man was waiting for us while playing his harp.
“Oengus?”
I wasn’t expecting to be greeted by Oengus. Maybe he had a lot of free ti.
“Young girl.”
Girl?
There was only one girl here… Wait, how did Oengus know her?
Sothing wasn’t right.
My heart sank as my instincts… my senses started ringing alarms.
“Miss Siri—?”
That was when a gigantic amount of mana fluctuated behind .
Each and every one of these spells… were ‘his’ forte. These grand spells were the original magic spells created by Park Sihu that could separate a whole dinsion from this world.
It was the exact sa set of spells that swallowed up when I realized the truth about him and was condemning him…
“Hold the fuck up?!”
The world turned in the midst of my utter confusion.
****
“Ah…”
The 99th Player of , Park Sihu.
Her real na, Park Sirin.
She, a student of a renowned university majoring in Mathematics, had spent three years in another world.
There, she t her first love, betrayed him, and at last was defeated by the final boss.
[Sub-player, Korin Lork, will thus begin succeeding the role of the player.]
She was forced back to the real world.
Her first love didn’t make it back, however, even though she was back to Earth after dying there.
For three years, he had been her entire world.
Due to losing her real body and being forced into the body of a man, she couldn’t confess her feelings to him until the very end in the worst way possible.
He didn’t co back.
The first month was that of despair and agony. Locking herself up in his house where he used to live alone, she buried herself in his scent.
Oppa was nowhere in this world. He was still locked inside that accursed world.
Sub-player… She knew what this stupid ga was trying to do.
Because she failed, it was trying to make oppa do it instead.
And being too good of a person, he would probably try his best.
“Fucking idiot. Just die. Die. Please just die…”
If he died in that world as well… he would co back here, right? Right?
What did he like so much about that fake world, and why was he trying so hard to save these bits of data?
Stupid idiot. Stop self-imrsing so much.
Her cries echoed in the room in vain.
Two months went by.
In those two months, everything around Sirin fell apart.
She didn’t go to university, and worried about their daughter who wasn’t picking up the phone, her parents called the police and she was declared missing.
Occasionally, the police entered Korin’s room, but they couldn’t perceive Sirin wrapping herself with Korin’s blanket due to the barrier and went back.
Only after spending several months without eating anything did Sirin realize that she was still alive.
“…”
Her body, and her mana… was still allowing her to survive.
She beca a perfect organism that didn’t even need to consu food. Her body changed the air that ca through her lungs into mana, and automatically used that mana to turn into nutrients that were essential for her survival.
Only when she realized that she couldn’t die unless she were to kill herself, did Sirin perceive that there was still mana inside her body.
Right— she, Park Sirin, still contained the power, magic and knowledge she had gained inside
Her mind cleared up after perceiving all that.
What if…
What if it wasn’t a ga that she had entered… and was instead forced into another dinsion in the na of a ‘player’…?
“Nothing can stop from going back over to the other side.”
She didn’t need any reason or evidence to back up her hypothesis, because she herself was the living proof. Even though it was only a sliver of a possibility, she still gave it a try.
Nothing was impossible. She quickly ford a plan and started her experints.
And one thing that couldn’t be denied… was that Park Sirin was a genius.
Forced into another world with completely different standards and laws, in just two years of researching magic, she understood magic inside and out and even managed to create an original spell without the assistance of the system…
[Hereby I declare—!!]
As the player, she took advantage of her knowledge to monopolize all the hidden pieces, but that wasn’t what earned her the title of a great mage. It was her ingenious understanding of mathematics and magic that she earned her title.
[—I vow to abide by it!]
God of Magic.
By her abilities alone, she had been called a god.
[It’s a success! We have successfully created an inter-dinsional gate!]
[Congratulations! President…!]
[Long live the Magic Empire of Korea…!]
[Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!]
[Long live President Park Sirin!]
15 years.
Her endless obsession finally bore its fruit, and she threw away all her possessions and authority to cross back over to this world.
[Are you okay, Sihu?]
[Mages should fall back. I’ll protect you.]
[Well done. Are you hurt anywhere?]
Tracing back her vague mories that she could only faintly rember, while longing to go back to those days… she searched for the gods.
[You’re… What a surprise that you managed to co here in the body of a human.]
[You do not belong here. Go back to your own world.]
The Danann refused to accept Park Sirin, but there was one Danann.
[I like it, young girl! I am the Danann of Love, Oengus! I have been greatly fascinated by the obsession of your love!]
Oengus, the Danann of Love.
With his assistance, she started executing the plan.
– Clink clink!
Hearing the sound of leftover plates from last night being washed, Sirin opened her eyes.
“Did I wake you up?”
In the kitchen across the living room was a man with long bluish-black hair.
“…Why didn’t you wake up earlier?”
“I thought you might need so rest. You were pushing yourself too hard last night.”
“Who do you think is to bla… Uhk…”
She had trouble moving due to her sore muscles crying out in pain.
He was just too strong.
Sirin stayed on the bed squirming left and right when Korin walked up and handed her a glass of water.
“Here.”
“…Thanks, oppa.”
She wanted to chug the entire glass of water but refrained from it. Glancing sideways at Korin, she elegantly sipped on the water.
Although she hated wasting ti and was always quick to do everything, she still wanted to appear like a modest and calm lady before her loved one.
“Well then…”
Korin took the empty cup from her, placed it back on the dining table, before coming around and hugging Sirin from behind.
“Htt…! You f… I told you not to touch there out of the blue.”
“Why not~. You like it as well, don’t you? Don’t you rember last night?”
Whispering in a sly voice, Korin fondled them like rice cakes.
“Fucking hell. It hurts if you touch like that all of a sudden.”
“You don’t like it? Do you want to stop?”
“…Give a kiss first.”
At last, she achieved her love.
After a long obsession nearing the borders of madness, her love crossed worlds and bore fruit.
But with it ca a tid bomb that would definitely go off.
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