Chapter 142: The City Life (2)

༺ The City Life (2) ༻

1.

Summer in Gehenna was close to that of the Mediterranean countries.

Of course, not every place in Gehenna was like that, it was composed of different kinds of regions from various parts of the world, after all, but it was especially the case for the Lonomond Town, the place Siwoo used to live in.

In other words, after a summer filled with plenty of sunshine, there would be a period of hot and dry weather, better known as the ‘dry season.’

And that fact made Siwoo forget about a certain thing in particular.

How miserable summer in Korea was. Not only did he have to suffer through the excruciating heat, he also had to go through the suffocatingly high humidity.

“Afri-cola, please.”

“That’ll be 4500 won.”

Just like any other day, Siwoo bought his cigarettes and smoked in the dimly lit alleyway in front of the convenience store.

The heat rising from the asphalt beneath his feet made him feel like his spine was being burned. It was as if he was directly absorbing all the sun’s heat.

It even made the heat coming from the cigarette butt he was holding unbearable.

“So hot.”

‘Fuck, it’s so hot.’

‘It’s way too hot.’

‘Since my spiritual body can keep me from having to shit and piss, why can’t it keep me from sweating as well?’

While muttering his discontent under his breath, he flicked the cigarette butt into its case and trudged his way back to his home, a place blessed by the grace of AC.

“Phew...”

The sudden drop in temperature instantly relieved him of the stifling heat, sending him shivers down his spine.

But even the scientific blessing that could spare him from the torture of the summer nights couldn’t solve all his problems.

It had been about three months since he returned to Korea.

During this time, while he diligently completing the tasks he had previously left undone, he had immersed himself in magic research without slacking even a little.

At first, he found everything incredibly fun.

Sorting his self-essence magic, which had grown by leaps and bounds when he was unconscious, turning the parts he only knew by intuition into magic circles and so on. Those series of tasks filled him with a deep sense of accomplishment.

Not to mention that he could practice using magic while he was at it.

But lately, in the past month or so...

Things didn’t feel so pleasant anymore.

In Gehenna, there was the Trinity Academy, the treasure trove of magic knowledge.

Just stepping into the library allowed him to read countless books that could fill him with both inspiration and magical knowledge.

Whenever he faced a challenge or he was having a doubt about something, he could always turn to either Amelia or the twins for help.

But, he was in the modern world right now.

Magical books were just either something related to occultism nonsense or something fictional. There was also no one that was capable of offering him the guidance that he sought.

He understood that advancement in any field required a solid foundation of knowledge.

Even though he was building his own unique magical system, he still couldn’t create something out of thin air.

Without the required knowledge, he’d only end up circling around useless matters instead of making an advancement.

Ironically, it was through his extraordinary intuition in magic that made him realize he couldn’t tackle this problem by himself.

In any case, after he managed to identify that problem, he stopped all of his magic research.

Instead, he began to indulge himself in more frivolous activities, wasting both his time and money.

Inside that dimly lit room, he took out a can of beer while laying down on the couch. He planned to continue watching the movie he had started earlier.

The living room was a mess. It was filled with all sorts of junk from all of his online shopping.

“...”

While he was immersing himself in the movie.

He began pondering on how to overcome the current situation he found himself in.

While taking a brief break from his research to look for inspiration was a good idea...

He doubted that he could come up with something by doing this.

There were a total of twenty five formulas and arrangements that he couldn’t understand.

‘Can I even continue my research without knowing about those formulas?’

Siwoo kept on pondering, but in the end, all his thinking only further convinced him that his situation was hopeless. Realizing this, he let out a deep sigh.

2.

His fate had been severed.

Which meant, he had become a ghost.

An existence that didn’t belong in this world.

The more time went by, the more he felt the truth in those sentences.

Luckily for him, the phone that was registered under a fake name was still functional.

However, the points he had accumulated on the delivery apps he used vanished in a mere week.

He thought he could cool off his head by playing a game, so he ordered a computer to try out the newly released games. Nothing happened when he played the offline games, but when it came to online games, all of his accounts just disappeared shortly after he started playing.

This phenomenon created a void in his heart that he was unable to ignore. There was a lingering sense of emptiness that he could feel clearly.

‘Huh? So suddenly?’

Her question puzzled him, but he still gave her an answer.

“It’s been three months, I think.”

“I see! I had no idea! Strange, huh? Anyway, I live next door, apartment number four. On the same floor!”

After muttering to herself in a soft voice, the woman suddenly revealed her address.

Not sure what she was getting at, Siwoo once again got caught off guard when she threw another random question at him.

“Is that like an accessory or something? It looks cool!”

“This? Ah, yes, it is.”

She asked, while pointing at Siwoo’s eyepatch.

Thanks to the cool eyepatch, she was distracted from asking about her previous concern any further.

The eyepatch he was wearing was a classic black eyepatch made of luxurious weather. It wasn’t some cheap junk one could get from a hospital for an eye disease. Naturally, the expensive looking eyepatch would gather a lot of attention.

“Anyway, thanks for keeping the noise down...”

“Oh no, you don’t need to. Rather, I should apologize since this all happened because of my carelessness.”

Just as he was about to finally close the door, the woman hurriedly raised another question.

“Do you happen to go to the university nearby?”

“No, I’m unemployed.”

“Ah, I see... Well, next time we meet in the elevator, let’s greet each other often, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, then... Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

When she first came to his doorstep, she looked so angry to the point that he wouldn’t be surprised if she were to rip his door out of its hinges. But when she was about to leave, she somehow turned docile. She even bid him goodbye politely like a cute little lamb.

“What was that?”

‘And I thought I’ve seen all sorts of strange women.’

He closed the door, turned on the music box and cranked his speaker volume up again.

All while pondering over the previous encounter.

‘Greeting each other if we happen to meet in the elevator, huh...?’

‘Well, it’s not like she’ll remember about this encounter.’

“Anyway, I wonder what the twins are up to.”

Before he realized it, his mind wandered to the people closest to him, the Gemini Household’s apprentice witches, Odile and Odette.

The witches from Gehenna rarely sent their apprentice witches to the mortal realm. Siwoo reckoned that they were probably studying hard so that they could come and visit him as soon as possible.

Assuming that it wouldn’t happen for at least five more years, it meant he had to continue living like this for around that long.

“Hmm... I should probably go on a trip somewhere...”

He remembered that alongside the counterfeit passports Albireo gave him, there was a business card tucked in.

She said that it was a way for him to contact the VIP service of the airline that the Geminis owned.

Apparently, he could rent a private plane if he were to contact that number. Not only that, they’ll also make a reservation at a hotel for him.

He was basically living a life of luxury and indulgence with someone else’s money.

Back when he was still a slave, this was the kind of luxurious life he couldn’t dare to dream of. Yet, he still felt uncertain about this whole matter.

‘You know, maybe I should go on a world tour? That doesn’t sound too bad.’

He muttered under his breath as he looked down at the card.

“Anyway, how rich are those guys exactly?”

From an airline to a whole credit card company.

Siwoo had only enjoyed the benefits that those two companies provided, but it seemed like the Geminis owned more companies than those two.

When he looked up the related parent company, he found out that they also involved themselves in other profitable industries such as steel, petroleum, insurance, finance and a bunch of other things.

They even branched into aerospace, automaton and chemicals.

When he found out that their net worth was as high as 505 trillion won, ranked 12th in the whole world, his jaw fell into the floor.

He thought that their wealth was only limited to Gehenna, but it turned out that they were also extremely wealthy in the modern world as well.

While he was aware that they shouldn’t be the only one owning that massive company, this discovery still shocked him.

“Anyway...”

In any case, he no longer had to struggle.

No matter how hard he tried to study math (which for some reason, didn’t seem to work out), he wouldn’t get any recognition. Working was also pointless because his money wasn’t lacking.

While he could try to continue his magic research, he knew more than anyone that it wouldn’t get anywhere.

He felt like he was just sucking honey out of the Geminis’ nipples without exerting any effort.

‘Well, it isn’t like I don’t like this kind of life, but it’s just... How do I say it...?’

‘...Boring, I guess?’

“You know what, I should eat and cool my head down.”

He shook his head.

‘Eating something tasty might help ease my worries.’

That day, he went to a nearby restaurant and ordered a whole live fish to turn into sashimi.