Chapter 60
[Wow, this place really looks like a ghost could pop out, the Lord of Chaos whispers in your ear.]
“Be quiet…!”
In the dim dawn, as Nari wandered between the silent temples after slipping through the bamboo grove, she hugged her shoulders.
There hadn’t been any presence that seed like an S-rank in the temple stay grounds, so climbing down the bamboo outside the window had gone smoothly.
But the temple, utterly deserted as if dead quiet, gave off the appearance that a ghost in white mourning clothes might appear at any mont.
Even though she was the number one ranked illusionist who feared nothing in the world, if she didn’t keep herself in check, Nari’s imagination often turned into raw reality.
[Nari! The scarier it gets, the more you should think of sothing fun, sothing fun! the Lord of Chaos said, breaking into a cute idol dance at your side.]
“Ugh! Don’t make think of sothing even worse!”
Rubbing her eyes hard as if they’d been dirtied, Nari suddenly froze. She had sensed sothing strange.
“…Huh?”
She stepped back, then slowly moved forward again. It felt like the dinsion had been minutely sliced open around one stone pagoda. Nari raised one eyebrow.
“This isn't an ordinary skill.”
[If it weren’t for your level of ability, you wouldn’t even have noticed, the Lord of Chaos nodded.]
Nari walked forward, tapped the stone pagoda with her fingertip, but nothing happened.
[So what are you going to do? The Lord of Chaos asks, staring at you.]
“What else? I’ll go in.”
After a brief pause to think, Nari rested her chin in her hand, then wrapped spirit energy around one palm. The black energy whirred, swirling around her right hand. Nari pressed her palm against the pagoda.
The black energy seeped quietly into the stone pagoda. Once it absorbed a certain level of energy, a dinsional gate began to form.
[Ooooh, Nari using a thod that isn’t violent? You’ve really grown, the Lord of Chaos applauds.]
“Ahem, cough…”
Receiving praise for her more restrained behavior, Nari felt a faint sense of pride and stepped forward. Beyond the dinsional gate stretched a corridor made of jade, with jade signs lining its sides. She read the inscription on the nearest one.
“morial? Is it for the first guild leader?”
Perplexed, Nari looked ahead. Fras hung all along the jade corridor.
She stopped in front of one fra to examine it. It showed the gentle figure of an elderly woman. A simple date was written beneath it.
As soon as she realized it was from eighteen years ago, the photograph in the fra began to move.
“…So, you’re worried about your son?”
“Good lord!” Nari shouted in surprise.
Though she hadn’t done anything, the person in the fra moved, and Nari jumped back, staring at it. The elderly woman in the picture sighed, gazing outside the fra.
‘Yes, he roams around so much I can’t help but worry. He’s grown old enough, but every day he’s still brawling with his fists.’
It felt as though soone’s gaze had been directly preserved inside the fra. Nari blinked. Again, a voice spoke.
‘Eh, that’s the kind of thing young people full of spirit always go through. He has wonderful parents. He’ll turn out fine soon. Don’t worry too much~’
The laughter of a woman, apparently the speaker, rang out. The grandmother sighed again.
‘…He’s five years older than you.’
‘Oh my. That must make it even more worrying…’
The woman’s tone quickly shifted into concern. A sound of exertion followed, and the perspective lifted, as if she had stood up. Her cheerful laugh ca again.
Nari reached toward the fra. The laugh and voice were familiar. She knew who this was.
‘Well… don’t worry. I’ll go tell him myself.’
‘You think it’ll work? He doesn’t even listen to his own mother…’
‘I hear he keeps picking fights, right? Then I’ll beat him myself. Maybe showing him the logic of strength will help. After all, who in Korea could be stronger than ?’
At her lighthearted words, the grandmother added a warning.
‘…Avoid his face please. That’s the only part of him that’s worth sothing.’
“Don’t worry. I know handso n are an endangered species~”
‘Thank you as always, Hana.’
With a sliding sound, the young woman opened a paper door with her small hand. At the sa ti, the fra reverted back to the original still image of the grandmother. Absent-mindedly, Nari touched the corner of the fra.
“…Mom.”
It was her mother’s morial. This place contained the records of her mother’s life. The world as seen through her mother’s eyes.
Spellbound, Nari turned. More fras stretched down the corridor. She said nothing as she stepped to the next one.
The date was about three weeks later than the first. This fra began with a hospital room. As Nari stopped in front of it, the image moved again.
‘How are you? Feeling a bit better?’
With a rustle, her mother drew open the curtains. At once, a man’s fierce glare shot across the room. With unkempt black hair and sharp black eyes, it was Nan, whom Nari had t the day before. He snapped irritably.
‘How dare you play with …! Can’t you see I’m bedridden and in pain?’
‘For soone like that, you’re recovering awfully well. Is this so new kind of tsundere?’
‘Wh-What nonsense are you… ah, mfgh…!’
‘I said moving would hurt. You’re to stay in isolation here for at least a month.’
Nan tried to spring up but clutched his right shoulder tightly, the sa spot he always fiddled with when talking to Nari.
‘Anyway, I’ll be staying here for a few weeks too.’
‘What? Don’t you usually stay for just a few hours?’
He blinked, staring at her mother. Without glasses, his sharp eyes were bare, yet they didn’t feel unpleasant.
‘Well~ my husband and kids don’t like it when I just pop in and out, so we all ca together this ti. Since the kids are on kindergarten break, we’ll stay.’
‘…I see.’
For so reason, he looked a little disappointed, sinking back into bed. Her mother chuckled and pulled out a few books from her inventory.
‘What? You don’t like kids?’
‘I do.’
‘Then why the disappointed face…?’
Muttering, she removed the book covers and set up a laptop. With a sliding sound, she pulled out the hospital desk, placed the laptop and books on it.
‘…What’s this?’
[Understanding Guild Managent] [Master Financial Statents in 30 Days]
Finishing the setup, she powered on the laptop. Dozens of purchased online lectures popped up.
‘You know the way things are now is dangerous, right? This isn’t a fight you can win with strength alone. I’ll connect you with people who know.’
‘You an you want to study this? At my age? ?’
‘Why not? My husband gave up his old work to be a househusband right after we married. Back then he even burned fried eggs, but now he prepares twelve side dishes for every al. Just a few days ago, he even won first place in a ho decorating contest. He’s so cute I could die….’
‘...’
Annoyed by her bragging, Nan sat up and started clicking at the laptop. The lecturer’s greeting began.
Seeing this, her mother turned toward the curtain, about to step out, when his voice called her back.
.…Miss Kang Hana..
He tore his eyes from the computer and looked at her, then glanced away. With a sigh, he brushed his hair aside and spoke softly.
‘Why are you doing all this for ?’
‘Because you were standing right in front of at that ti?’
‘Not a very convincing answer.’
Her low hum followed. A light tapping, as if with a fan, sounded against his nape. After a mont, she continued.
‘You didn’t fight for selfish reasons, did you? You ran into an unavoidable wall and lost what you had. That’s why I want to take the side of people like you.’
‘…If you wanted, you could take anything you want. You could monopolize these gates with the Hunters I’m fighting.’
‘Well, hearing that, I don’t have much to say. But I still think it’s ugly when wealthy people stretch their hands into gate items just to squeeze out more gain, when the people here rely on them to live.’
‘So it’s based on sympathy in the end. Understood.’
Nan frowned, brushing his bangs aside. Her cheerful laugh rang out again.
‘I just want the people I see to be happy. They say even a brush of sleeves is fate, right? Then surely keeping soone in your sight is fate too.’
At that, he looked at her directly. Her warm voice continued.
‘I saw you. I kept you in my eyes. That’s really all there is.’
The fra ended. Just as Nari moved toward the next one, a dark system ssage appeared.
[Nari, behind you! the Lord of Chaos snaps, on edge again.]
“What?! Ugh…!!”
With a crash, sothing shot down beside her. The corridor shook violently, jade fragnts tumbling from the ceiling.
“You ca here uninvited. Not just anyone may enter this place.”
In front of her stood an elderly woman with tightly bound hair, settling into a barehanded fighting stance. Nari recognized her. The sa woman she’d seen in the first fra. It was Nahan. Nari clenched her teeth and whispered.
“What the, I thought I couldn’t be detected…! I used Perception Interference….”
[She must have extrely sharp senses, the Lord of Chaos says tensely.]
Nari had concealed herself to nearly transparent levels, yet this woman still sensed the minute shifts in space.
Nahan released green spiritual power into the air and her green eyes glead.
“You think you can escape my gaze? That’s a grave mistake. You wield spirit energy, so your weakness must be wind.”
[Priest Exclusive High Tier Skill :: Attribute Conversion]
[Spiritual power shifts to Wind attribute!]
Bang! The energy she’d scattered detonated, transforming into green wind that coiled tightly around Nari. On the verge of being exposed, Nari spread out her energy, but at that mont, a condition activated.
[Status Effect :: Social Aversion is activating! All skill ranks are temporarily reduced! S -> B rank]
‘Damn it! Now of all tis!’
Her downgraded B-rank energy scattered uselessly, swept up in Nahan’s S-rank wind. Within the wind, Nahan’s voice pursued her.
“Mid 150cm in height. Female, mid-twenties. Uses spirit energy, and also…”
‘What do I do? No, I need to tear open a dinsional rift now…!’
As Nari struggled to think of a plan, Nahan suddenly stopped muttering her deductions. The wind restraining her slowly eased.
“You there. Could you be perhaps,”
Staring ahead, Nari heard her finish.
“Nari?”
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