* * *
“I’m always sorry to you. I’m doing something awful, huh…?”
My Kobami is full of love.
It must be so hard, carrying hatred for your own master.
As he tracked Gaius Jung, Seohwa also had to figure out how to unbind his soul weapon.
“If I could just drop dead, that’d be so much easier.”
He had only made that oath in the first place because he expected to die.
He hadn’t expected to end up this way—unable to die.
With a deep sigh, Seohwa coiled Kobami around his hand.
“Let’s get to work. Time to end this.”
- Kkyeung!
Kobami transformed back into a wand.
Seohwa stored Yuje’s phone in his inventory and pulled out a mask in its place.
[Item: “There’s Probably a Mysterious Secret Here”
If you ever need to hide your face, this is the mask for you.
No skill can reveal your face unless physical force is applied.
Max usage time: 1 hour
Single-use item
Rank: C
Creator: Yoain_yoain. shop. com]
It was a cheap mask bought from a mass-produced item mall, costing only 50,000 won.
It covered his face from forehead to chin.
He considered using an A-rank item, but that might draw attention, so he went with this factory-made C-rank instead.
He didn’t care about features or duration—as long as it hid his face.
When he put it on, it stuck surprisingly well.
The eye holes were coated with dungeon byproducts, letting him see clearly.
He changed into a dark-colored martial arts uniform to match the jet-black mask.
[Skill activated: Magician’s Door]
Seohwa stepped through the preset portal, leaving the cozy home behind, and landed on a cold cement floor.
Above him was a glowing full moon. It looked unusually large—maybe because the sky was so black, or maybe because he was on the roof of a 900-meter-tall building.
“Ugh. It’s cold.”
Despite it being May, the wind was biting.
After closing the portal, Seohwa opened the rooftop’s iron door.
Clang, clang.
Naturally, it was locked.
His target was none other than the Danbaek Guild Headquarters.
Of course security would be tight at night.
A few days ago, he disguised himself as a tourist to set up Magician’s Door.
Even reaching the rooftop without getting caught had been difficult.
But Seohwa wasn’t a sloppy mage—he pulled it off.
If necessary, he’d planned to claim he was just exploring the outer garden and wandered onto the rooftop by accident.
Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.
His body blurred and shimmered.
In that semi-invisible state, he walked straight toward the locked door—passing through it like it wasn’t even there.
He knew there was a security camera in the corner of the ceiling just beyond.
He immediately blended into the shadows.
He was so fast that even the motion-sensitive ceiling lights didn’t react.
The top floor of Danbaek’s headquarters was an observation deck, so there was no need to look around.
Seohwa headed for the far-right emergency exit of the building and flew down the stairs like he was gliding.
Not a sound came from his clothes, not even a whisper, when he leapt or landed.
As he descended from the 170th to the 103rd floor, not a single motion sensor picked up a trace of him.
The emergency exit on the 103rd floor, marked “Authorized Personnel Only,” was locked with a key card.
He tried to phase through it with a penetration spell again, but something solid blocked his path.
That meant a thick object was barring the door from the inside.
If he approached too close to examine it, the motion sensors on the ceiling would detect him and summon the security team monitoring the area in real time.
‘It’s been a while since I used the box.’
With a flick of his wand, Seohwa summoned a small box in midair. Inside were countless magician’s tools—coins, clips, a deck of cards, cups, rope.
It was Gimmick, the tenth spell innate to those with the Mage trait.
Seohwa pulled out glue and a piece of paper.
Using only his thumb and index finger to minimize movement, he folded the paper into a butterfly shape and dabbed glue on its wings.
With a breath of magic, the butterfly fluttered up and stuck itself right onto the ceiling sensor.
From the security team’s perspective, the feed would now loop the last frame before the butterfly landed.
He repeated the process until all four sensors were neutralized. Time to open the door.
This time, he drew a card from his deck—a Joker with a juggling clown on it—and breathed magic into it.
Pop!
A tiny clown sprang to life.
It bowed elegantly to Seohwa and, without needing any orders, floated toward the keypad.
Puffy, multicolored clouds began to bloom like bubbles.
[Warning! Mana rapidly depleting!
Mana: 7600↓ (9999)]
‘Draining fast, huh.’
Still, 7600 was plenty to finish the job.
The clown finished its task quickly and returned to the Joker card.
Seohwa pressed the brightly decorated card to the keypad, and the door opened.
Instead of cracking the code or disabling the original keypad—which might alert security—he had simply replaced it with another one.
It was a one-time-use device that left no trace and reverted to the original after use.
Past the dark hallway and several locked doors, he finally reached his destination.
Dongbaek Team H — Team Leader Go Junyoung
‘Junyoung hyung must be really busy.’
The office was a mess. Papers and electronics were piled high on the desk.
After disabling the sensors and cameras, Seohwa sat in the chair.
Behind him was a black wall where a window should have been—sealed off since Dongbaek Team handled classified information.
Not that Seohwa came for the view from Go Junyoung’s seat anyway.
‘Five electronic devices: desktop, laptop, and more…’
In this situation, the best skill was clearly this one.
[Activating skill Puppet.
Who would you like to summon?
Saved list (40 entries) — Expand
Search: _____]
‘Serien Ezeya.’
[Time remaining for ‘Serien Ezeya’: 1 hour 26 minutes.
Summon?]
‘Summon.’
A woman with long hair tied back appeared.
Wearing a blank expression, she awaited orders.
She was the Serien Ezeya Seohwa had met in the first timeline—alive and well, probably still operating somewhere in Greece.
[Serien Ezeya is using skill Replica.
Select the items to be replicated.
Note: living organisms cannot be copied.]
Seohwa selected all the papers and electronic devices.
As with his mana, his soul energy began to drain.
[Using skill Replica.
Replication progress: ■□□□□□□□□□]
‘Might take about 10 minutes.’
Replica was a skill that copied objects, and any changes to the original would also appear in the replicas—whether from across the world or even inside a dungeon.
A downside was that the soul energy kept draining while updates were synced, but Seohwa had more than enough to handle it.
He leaned back in the chair, casually looking around the office.
Behind the stack of papers was a small framed photo: a solo shot of Go Junyoung at the summit of Hallasan.
Behind the photo, Seohwa spotted another piece of paper and opened the frame.
It was a photo of Guild Leader Simjin smiling with some puppies.
‘Still the same, huh.’
No matter the timeline, Go Junyoung always loved Simjin.
A pure, unrequited love Simjin never knew about. Seohwa reassembled the frame carefully.
It was fascinating how some people loved the same person in every timeline.
Go Junyoung.
Choi Jihyung.
And Kang Yigeon.
What exactly is love, anyway?
There’s no such thing as eternal love, yet people act like they’ll love forever…
“……!”
A strange ripple stirred through time and space.
He knew exactly what it meant from experience.
Teleportation skill Teleport>
Go Junyoung was supposed to be on the other side of the planet today for an overseas event with Danbaek Guild.
But he had a teleportation skill.
The kind that lets you cross the world in three seconds.
That ripple was the aftershock of his arrival.
[Using skill Replica.
Replication progress: ■■■■■■■■■□]
‘Shame to stop at 90%, but no choice.’
He canceled the spell and stored the replicated electronics in his inventory.
Just as he summoned the Magician’s Door, he sensed two presences outside the office.
“Team Leader, why didn’t you go home first?”
“Why else come to the office? I came to work.”
“You really are a workaholic.”
“Kidding. Just came to grab something. Once I get my laptop, I’ll take you home.”
“Yes, sir.”
It was Go Junyoung and a subordinate.
Seohwa hurriedly retrieved the butterflies from the sensors and slipped through the door.
The office door opened.
Just as it was closing, he heard Go Junyoung’s satisfied voice.
“Come to think of it, I wonder how Vice Guild Leader Kang Yigeon’s date with his fiancé went today.”
* * *
