Magic Monopoly: Reborn as the Sole Magic Tower Master-Chapter 269: Episode
“Looks like you can see me now, huh? Haha.”
Na Daeyong scratched his head with that same loose grin.
Ha Yerin’s eyes sparkled as she rushed up to him.
“I-I’m a huge fan! I love your magic lecture videos!”
“Thank you. Are you hurt?”
“No!”
Thanks to meeting Na Daeyong, the terrifying experience she had just gone through seemed to have completely evaporated from her mind.
“I came because there was a monster here.”
Na Daeyong flicked a finger, and a thoroughly roasted monster floated up from the depths of the alley.
“S-So you’re the one who saved me, Tower Master?”
“Haha. I suppose you could say that.”
“This is insane! Insane! Aaaah!”
Ha Yerin grabbed both cheeks and shook her head wildly.
He was even more impressive in person. She finally understood how her friends felt about their favorite idols and hunters.
’Wait, was I really that big of a fan of the Tower Master?’
The question briefly crossed her mind, but only for a moment.
“Tower Master! I’m a mage too! I go to Kaim, the school sponsored by Arcane, and I’ve already formed up to the Third Circle!”
“The Third Circle? That’s impressive for a high schooler.”
“Someday I want to become a great mage and work at the Tower too!” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
At those words, Na Daeyong smiled in satisfaction.
“What’s your name?”
“Ha Yerin! My name is Ha Yerin!”
“That name sounds familiar. I think I heard it when I was talking with the principal of Kaim. Are you by any chance...”
As if trying to recall something, Na Daeyong closed his eyes, then smacked his knee.
“Ah, right! You’re that Child of Mana.”
“That’s me! How do you know about that?”
“It’s a new type of mage trait, so the principal reported it to me.”
A shiver ran through Ha Yerin. The Tower Master knew who she was. Unbelievable.
“Is being a Child of Mana really that amazing? Mister keeps going on about me being a Child of Mana this and that.”
“Mister?”
“Oh, yes! There’s a mage who personally teaches me magic.”
Na Daeyong’s eyes crinkled in a smile.
“How interesting. Who is he? What’s his name?”
She was about to say Kim Chunchu, but she stopped herself.
Na Daeyong’s attitude seemed to have changed all of a sudden. It felt like he was interrogating her.
“Uh, well... I don’t actually know his name.”
Feeling an inexplicable sense of unease, she decided to lie.
“You don’t know? Not even his name?”
“No. My mom just introduced him as a tutor she knows, that’s all.”
“Could you give me your mother’s contact information?”
The moment she registered that something was off, the pink haze of happiness clouding her mind vanished, replaced by a sharp surge of doubt.
The Tower Master was an amazing person, but honestly, she had never cared that much about him.
Being identified as the Child of Mana like this was scary.
And the way he was prying about Mister was strange.
Why did he want her mom’s number? Why did he look so anxious?
She fell silent.
As Yerin lowered her head and hesitated, Na Daeyong’s eyes narrowed for a split second before his expression vanished, replaced by a gentle smile.
“Sorry for asking so suddenly. The truth is, I’m looking for a mage who used to work at the Tower but retired.”
“A retired mage...?”
“Yes. He contributed greatly to our Tower, but he retired far too easily, so I want to persuade him to come back.”
Mister had said he was taking a break from hunter work for a while. The situation lined up.
However...
“I don’t think he’s the person you’re looking for, Tower Master. He’s from a hunter guild, not the Tower, and he’s still active.”
“Is that so? That’s a shame.”
Na Daeyong didn’t press further. Instead, he asked something else.
“Have you ever thought about joining Arcane?”
The word “Arcane” slammed into her suspicious mind.
“A-Arcane?”
“Yes. Even as the Tower Master, I can’t just bring you straight into the Tower. But if you’re willing, I’d like Arcane to train you directly. What do you think?”
Na Daeyong held out his hand.
“For the Tower—no, for the sake of the entire world of magic—would you be willing to work with us?”
It was an overwhelming temptation.
Arcane. The dream workplace that only the world’s elite mages could enter, and the surest shortcut to the Tower. And the Tower Master himself was offering to take her there.
For a wind-element mage with no clear prospects, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
She slowly reached out toward Na Daeyong’s outstretched palm.
Just before their hands met—
She gasped.
Ha Yerin flinched and jumped back several steps.
“What’s wrong?” Na Daeyong asked.
“...Tower Master.”
Her mind snapped back into focus, and everything fell into place. Ha Yerin spoke in an icy tone.
“You were about to electrocute me just now, weren’t you?”
Na Daeyong awkwardly withdrew his hand and scratched his head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just—”
“Don’t come any closer!” Ha Yerin shouted as she spread a magic circle. Na Daeyong stopped walking and looked at her.
“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding. I only—”
“I don’t care about Arcane or the Tower or any of that!” Ha Yerin yelled at the top of her lungs. “Just let me go! Please...!”
“Hm.”
Na Daeyong stroked his stubbly chin, then gave a cold smile.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
ZZZZZZZZT!
Fierce lightning coiled around his hand.
“Na Daeyong, officially rank 2. Demonkin prime suspect located. Proceeding to secure the target.”
“W-What are you...!”
Right then—
A ping-pong-sized ball flew between them.
Seeing it, Na Daeyong’s expression hardened and he stepped back.
The moment the ping-pong balls hit the ground and walls, huge arms erupted from them, slamming down toward Na Daeyong.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-THUD!
“Whoa!”
Ha Yerin stumbled backward. Thick smoke billowed up, turning the surroundings hazy.
“Hey! Don’t just stand there!”
A voice shouted, and a hand suddenly grabbed her from behind.
“Move it if you want to live!”
The hand yanked her along. Before she knew it, she was running back into the darkness she had tried to escape, this time fleeing from Na Daeyong.
It was too dark to see who was holding onto her.
“W-What are you doing? That hurts!”
“Shut up and follow me!”
It was a girl’s voice.
As she dragged Yerin along, the girl kept dropping those ping-pong-like balls on the ground. Behind them, massive bolts of electricity flashed and roared.
’Aaaah! What the hell did I get dragged into?’
The two of them burst out of the alley and kept running. Under the streetlights, Yerin finally got a look at the person holding her hand.
Her grip was crushing Yerin’s fingers, so she’d assumed her rescuer was huge, but it was a girl who looked to be about her own age.
“Keep running! Don’t stop!”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
A car was waiting in the alley they were sprinting down. A man stuck his head out of the driver’s seat and waved frantically.
“He’s going to catch up! Hurry!”
“Shut it! I’m hurrying!” the girl snapped back, practically biting his head off.
When they reached the car, she yanked the back door open, grabbed Yerin by the collar, and hauled her inside.
“Get in!”
“Eek!”
Ha Yerin was stuffed into the back seat like a sack of laundry. The girl dove in beside her and slammed the door shut.
“Floor it!”
With a vicious roar, the car shot forward.
On a residential street, the speedometer shot past 60 in an instant.
They weaved through the cars ahead in an S-pattern, racing like maniacs while angry horns blared from all directions.
“Gah!”
Every time the car swerved, Yerin’s body swung like a paper doll as she clung to the grab handle. There weren’t even any seat belts.
“Hng... Please, someone help me... I didn’t do anything wrong...”
“God, you whine so damn much!” the girl barked, lifting one of those ping-pong balls as if to shove it into Yerin’s mouth. “If you start bawling again, I’m shoving this in your mouth and popping it. Got it?”
She clamped her mouth shut.
Ha Yerin shook her head rapidly a couple of times to show she would shut up.
For a moment, the world turned white.
There was a brutal impact and a deafening boom, and the car screeched and lurched.
“He’s coming from above!”
Yerin whipped her head around and looked back.
Na Daeyong flew through the air, hurling lightning bolts at them. He rained down magic without any regard for the civilian cars all around them.
“Mommyyyyy!”
Every time the lightning flashed, Yerin let out a wail.
The girl clicked her tongue, then leaned forward toward the driver’s seat.
“Faster! More! More! More!”
“Whatever happens now, I’m not taking responsibility.”
The driver grinned and pressed his foot harder on the accelerator.
The whole car vibrated as the engine roared, and the speedometer needle climbed past 120.
“Over there! That’s the shortest route!”
“Got it.”
The driver jerked the steering wheel.
With almost supernatural cornering, the car snapped around at a right angle, cut across the lane, and shot onto the adjacent road.
When the lightning stopped, Yerin cautiously opened her eyes.
Out the driver’s side window, she saw another car coming straight at them.
“W-We’re going the wrong way?! Aaaaaaaaah!”
She flailed her arms in panic, but the driver twisted the wheel with a flourish, slipping past the oncoming cars.
Horns blared from all sides, but he didn’t slow down.
They turned again, cutting onto the next road and finally returning to the correct lane. Yerin let out a sigh of relief.
’M-My heart is going to explode...’
She forced herself to look back. Na Daeyong was nowhere in sight.
They were safe.
She still had no idea which side were the bad guys, but as long as Na Daeyong was gone, at least she wouldn’t get struck by lightning or end up doing insane wrong-way stunts to avoid it—
The world turned white again, and the car shook violently.
Yerin squeezed her eyes shut in terror, then opened them again to find that the vehicle had left the road entirely and was now spinning in midair.
The car was flying. Far below, she could see countless buildings and cars.
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
Wreathed in smoke from the lightning strike, the car began to plummet toward the ground.
The girl let out a long sigh.
“Guess there’s no helping it.”
She slapped her palm against the car’s ceiling. From the point of contact, glowing wires crackled into existence, spreading throughout the vehicle.
“If you don’t want to get thrown out, hang on tight.”
“...H-Huh?”
Out of nowhere, the car folded in half, the front and back seats splitting apart completely.
“Urk?!”
Parts of the car shot out, the doors flew open, and missile pods rose up from inside.
The wheels broke apart, unfolding into legs as the engine dropped into the front section. The roof over the back seat vanished, and they were lifted into the sky.
“Aaaaaaah!”
High above the ground, the wind whipped past them as Yerin screamed. At some point, arms and legs had sprouted from the vehicle.
The front half of the car folded over Yerin’s body like a cockpit shell, and a moment later, a robot’s head popped up on top.
“A r-r-r-robot?!”
The robot spun once in midair, then planted both feet on the ground and landed.
It scraped across the pavement for several yards before finally grinding to a halt.
Before she knew it, Yerin and the girl were seated in the robot’s chest.
The girl deftly pulled on the control levers and flicked a few switches, then glanced sideways with a look of exasperation.
Yerin was hanging upside down, legs spread wide.
“Ugh, gross. What the hell are you doing?”
The girl in the next seat grimaced and yanked down Yerin’s skirt.
“Are you going to get up or what?”
“Sob, please, just let me live...”
“Idiot.”
The girl turned her head forward.
Na Daeyong descended from the sky, trailing crackling lightning, and landed on the ground.
“How long are you planning to keep getting in my way?” the man smiled as he spoke. “Sol.”
