Chapter 337: The Lazy Witch (2)

Chapter 337: The Lazy Witch (2)1.

It had been a week since Siwoo became a promotional ambassador for Gehenna’s first host club, the Rose Glass.

So far, he hadn’t stumbled into any special events.

The closest thing to a special event would be Sharon or the twins coming to hang out occasionally.

In other words, the business was doing well.

The fact that no problems had occurred so far meant that the shop was able to smoothly secure some regulars.

On the contrary, instead of problems, the club’s sales had been showing a gradual curve upwards, and there were plenty of witches that had left their business cards and promised to return.

“It’s still early for this kind of commotion...”

Currently, it was an hour before the opening time.

He was leaning on the sofa after wearing his suit and slicked his hair back.

Once upon a time, he found this kind of hairstyle comical, but nowadays he had grown accustomed to it.

In any case, he was in the middle of relaxing while smoking a cigarette.

Down there near the entrance, he could see a witch arguing with Paul, who was guarding the door.

The witch’s gray hair, which fell down to her waist, was tied at its end. Her raised chin showed a disgruntled expression on her face.

“An apprentice witch?”

It was easy for him to tell due to how young she looked.

Looking at her parasol, which price probably comparable to a decent sedan, it was obvious that she was an apprentice of a bigwig.

He couldn’t hear what they were talking about from where he was at, though.

After a while, Paul bowed his head and entered the host club.

Before long, the door to the lounge was opened.

“Siwoo hyung, please help me!”

Paul, who was drenched in cold sweat, immediately asked for his help the moment he entered the lounge.

“I already told her that we haven’t opened yet, but she kept telling me that she wants to meet you! Even when I explained that I can’t just let you meet her since your schedule is already booked, she still insisted! She said that since the club isn’t open yet, it’s no problem and that she’s willing to pay any amount...”

“Whose apprentice is she, though?”

“Um... She’s Diana Yesod, Countess Yesod’s apprentice...”

“Yesod?”

Woah, now that’s a real bigwig.

So that’s why he can’t just kick her away, huh?

Countess Yesod, one of the seven Countesses of Gehenna.

The Yesod’s name was enough to turn this apprentice into the most notable witch who had visited them so far.

Countless witches had come to visit the club, but there had been no grand witches or nobles yet.

He guessed that it was probably because they felt that it was beneath them to visit when there was still a promotion going around.

Well, either that or they just didn’t want to line up to meet up with someone for merely fifteen minutes in a place like this.

“What else can we do? Let her in.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure, sure. What differences will it make if I add one more person to serve anyway?”

“Alright! Thank you!”

After hearing his words, Paul ran downstairs with a bright smile.

Siwoo tidied up his clothes one last time before going down to sit at his table.

Of course, he didn’t do this out of kindness of his heart, this was all a well-calculated move.

He had been learning something from this business. It was that ‘serving witches’ was merely a start to a greater thing.

That greater thing was connections.

As he served those witches and made them happy, he’d be able to secure connections with those witches, which were more valuable than gold coins.

With those connections, one would be able to generate profits from an unexpected angle, such as selling information that was only circulating among a group of witches.

In that sense, even though she was merely an apprentice, Diana was perfect as a customer.

If Siwoo were to succeed in securing her as a regular, she’d definitely become a great help to Takasho.

“There’s also another thing...”

The more important thing here was that she was an apprentice of ‘Yesod’.

If there was one thing that Siwoo knew about Yesod, it was that their self-essence magic utilized barriers.

In fact, most of the study materials that Siwoo had read in the library were papers that were written by Countess Yesod herself.

He figured that if he could use this opportunity to get to know the apprentice witch, she’d be a great help for him to figure out how to control the Red Branch.

In other words, he was doing this partly out of his self-interest.

If things were to go well, he’d be able to receive guidance from the most proficient witches in the field of barrier magic.

“Welcome, thank you for visiting us! My name is Shin Siwoo, and I’m the one who will serve you, Ms. Diana Yesod.”

When he saw her approaching him, Siwoo threw his business smile at her.

Now that he was able to see her closely, he noticed that the girl possessed a very unique aura.

Her words and gestures were overbearing, but they also held grace and elegance.

From that alone, Siwoo could already say that Countess Yesod had educated her daughter well.

Even though she was merely an apprentice witch, she bore the dignity of a real witch.

But, no matter how much poise she tried to show off, Siwoo’s business smile never left his face.

Though he let out a bitter smile inwardly, it didn’t stop him from raising a black shadow in his hand, the thing that he always did whenever a witch asked him to cast his spell.

“Bloom.”

Fluttering black particles appeared.

They were so dark that it made them look like they absorbed all the light around them.

Perhaps it was because of her double eyelids, or her cute, slightly droopy corners of her eyes...

Even though Diana opened her eyes widely, it still didn’t drop the sleepy impression that she gave off.

“...”

“You can take a closer look.”

The Law of Shadow was the most basic among the magic Siwoo had.

His armors, weapons, and even ribbons were conjured using these shadows.

The reason why he could show it off without any worry in front of all these witches was because he had improved his control upon them.

Whenever he made his armors or weapons, he’d inject them with elemental magic that he had learned from Sharon.

Whereas with his ribbons, he injected them with another self-essence magic, the Maiden’s Loom, and weaved the shadow into the ribbons’ threads.

Meanwhile, the one he showcased was just the Law of Shadow without any enhancements whatsoever. It was clear that the magic wasn’t at a very high level.

But, most witches would be surprised by it anyway, since none of them expected that a man would be able to use magic at all.

“...”

Diana carefully looked at the fluttering shadow in his hand.

Clearly, it was different from that of common magic.

Which meant that his words were true, it was a self-essence magic.

It was the first time she had ever heard that this kind of magic existed, let alone seeing it.

But still...

The magic was so shabby that she could blow it away without even trying.

-Swoosh!

Diana then conjured up a barrier with her hand.

It was a thin disk-shaped barrier that served as a touchstone for observing various types of magic.

She grabbed the shadow and spread them on her fingertips to see what was up with them.

Only then could she see their hook-shaped structures...

Their special characteristics to stick into other’s magic and disrupt them...

And their weakness; Their inability to resist an overwhelming difference in power.

She managed to find out about all that in an instant.

If it’s just this much...

Diana felt bittersweet disappointment crept up in her heart.

Disappointment over the fact that the self-essence magic she went out of her way to check out was merely a poor one that she was able to imitate just with a little practice.

While it felt a little exhilarating to know that the male witch indeed existed, she still felt disappointed that his magic was this bad.

This means my assumption was correct then?

“Does it catch your interest? Though its level isn’t high, It is still a self-essence magic.”

However, even though he displayed such poor magic, the man still smiled proudly.

At that moment, she realized that relatively speaking, what he had accomplished was indeed something big as it was an accomplishment worth a single generation of research.

And that she had been downplaying that achievement greatly, which definitely was not a good thing to do.

Maybe I’ve become more and more of an elitist because I’ve been spending my time outside...

Diana opened her mouth, trying to come up with a praise in her own ways.

“I can’t accurately gauge the level of your magic just from this.”

“Then, you can ask me to do whatever you want, Ms. Diana. I am yours for the next forty minutes, after all.”

Yeah, forty minutes should be enough.

Even though she wasn’t a full-fledged witch yet, Diana was confident that she could take on a male witch who had just come out of thin air.

Of course, she wasn’t going to challenge him to a magic battle or anything unsophisticated like that.

Because that was more of an annoyance to her than anything.

Instead, she had a better way to tell which among the two of them possessed the superior aptitude for magic.

“Do you have a Witch Board here?”

It was none other than a game of magic.