Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 220

Translator: Pai_

Badal officially revealed himself on Earth for the first time five years ago.

As Kim Woong had testified in the past, he appeared in Central Park, USA, flew through the sky, collapsed buildings with magic, interrogated passersby, and looted a few items from shops.

The smartphone the young man handed over perfectly showed his actions that day in the form of a video.

Even the moment when the police, who had arrived on the scene after seeing Badal exiting a store with goods in hand, aimed their guns at him.

[Police! Stop right there!]

[Damn it, what is this, a superhero movie or something...]

[Quit talking and shoot, Danny!]

Bang. With a sharp gunshot, a short gun that seemed to be what police in this world used fired repeatedly, but of course, Badal acted like it was nothing.

Even Turan and Meisa could easily deflect ordinary bullets without any magic power with their bare bodies, so this was only natural.

The video ended at the moment Badal, looking annoyed, reached out his hand toward the approaching police officers.

There was no need to imagine what happened after that.

Turan, who had been watching alongside, quietly asked the young man who owned the phone.

“This was five years ago.”

“Yes.”

“A year has 365 days... By the way, what year is it now?”

“It’s March 11th, 2034.”

Turan nodded at the man’s response, recalling something he hadn’t deeply considered until now.

It was the time difference between this place and the world he originally lived in.

‘On Earth, they count the years based on the birth of a being who was revered like a god, if I remember correctly.’

As far as he knew, the calendar systems of their world and Earth were exactly the same.

That was basically because the players had directly introduced the system familiar to them to the primitive humans.

The problem was, according to the young man, strangely little time had passed in this world.

‘The fall of the Preah God Tribe and the collapse of the Old Empire is commonly said to have occurred around three thousand years ago.’

A chaotic time when even the fallen gods tried to survive by possessing the bodies of random wizards.

Records from that era are not very clear, but it was certain that it was around three thousand years ago.

And the one who explained the existence of Jesus had said that they crossed over a bit more than two thousand years after his death, which made the math not add up.

If time flowed together in both worlds, then by calendar reckoning, this place should be at least around five thousand years forward.

‘Could it be that a day here equals several years over there?’

But that idea was contradicted by the fact that Badal first crossed over as far back as five years ago.

In the video, his appearance was aged just as when they last saw him, no different.

As Turan was lost in deep thought over why this time discrepancy had occurred, the young man was enthusiastically explaining Badal’s actions to Meisa.

“After this wizard appeared, there's still a big craze for superpowers all over the world. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I also visited a few similar groups in the past, and they all turned out to be fakes...”

“I see.”

Perhaps not forgetting the earlier lesson, Meisa responded with a polite tone in her own way.

Thanks to that, they were able to learn quite a bit.

Things like how Badal had appeared in various conflict zones at intervals of months or years after his first appearance in Central Park, or that he shot down fighter jets dispatched to capture him.

And how he would vanish like a phantom after showing up like that?

Because of this, people called him all sorts of names like Thor or villain, but recently, there was a trend toward standardizing the term to wizard.

Apparently, since he was the only superpowered being who had made a public appearance, there was no reason to identify him with any other title.

Hearing this, Turan furrowed his brows.

For someone who supposedly just wanted to return home, his actions seemed excessively cruel and flamboyant.

At the very least, it didn’t align with what they had claimed earlier, that Earthlings, unlike the people of their world, were “real”, and thus their lives were more precious.

Could this also be intentional?

At that moment, the young man who had been eagerly explaining things looked at the two of them with a hesitant expression, then asked a question.

“Um, I know this question probably sounds really dumb... but, are you two also wizards? From the same world as that wizard?”

“What made you think that?”

Meisa flinched at the spot-on remark, while Turan calmly asked back.

Then, the young man explained the reason with a somewhat fearful yet confident tone.

“Well, for one thing, you don’t seem to know stuff that even foreigners should obviously know, and although you’re dressed well, your shoes are clearly the kind of leather footwear that people in the Middle Ages would wear... Most of all, you keep covering your mouth when you speak.”

He said there were testimonies that when the only wizard had interrogated people in Central Park, his mouth movements didn’t match the words coming out at all.

That must also be some sort of magical ability, he claimed.

Turan had no choice but to admit that in his excitement at finally acquiring information, he had revealed too much.

If he had to make an excuse, it was probably because six people before this one hadn’t even spoken a word to him, so he was too eager this time.

‘What should I do...’

If they just let him go, it would mean openly exposing their existence to this world. But that didn’t mean he wanted to kill him either.

After all, the young man had provided information about this world out of goodwill.

If only he could erase his memories with magic, but life-control magic didn’t work like that.

At most, it could control physical functions like involuntary heartbeats or manipulate emotions by disturbing hormones, but that was its limit.

When Turan looked at Meisa with a conflicted expression, the young man hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Um, if you want, I’ll keep it a secret! I don’t know the reason, but you can’t let others find out, right? I’m really good at keeping secrets. I swear.”

Even in a world where spirit forms didn’t manifest, inner symbolic combinations were still possible, and thanks to that, Turan could tell the other was telling the truth.

At least, the young man genuinely believed himself to be someone who could keep a secret.

“Alright. I’ll trust you. Your name?”

“I’m Kim Soo-ho. And you two are...”

“I’m Turan. This is Meisa.”

It was obvious who the wizard coming to this side would be anyway.

As long as they didn’t get caught by Monarch in this world, using their real names wouldn’t matter. And if they did get caught, using fake names wouldn’t change anything, they’d be found out quickly.

He’d tried using aliases before and found them quite inconvenient.

Once they exchanged names, the young man, Soo-ho, looked much more at ease.

“Thank you for trusting me, Turan, Meisa. But... are you two Earthlings? Or aliens? I mean, there’s been a lot of debate about it. Some say the wizard was hiding somewhere on Earth like Harry Potter, others say he came from an entirely different place.”

“Aliens. This is our first time on Earth.”

“Wow.”

Since it wasn’t really a secret worth hiding, Turan answered honestly.

Now that they’d decided to be open, it was better to satisfy the other’s curiosity and get satisfying answers in return.

Now, Soo-ho looked at Turan with a face full of yearning, as if Meisa’s beauty no longer mattered.

Apparently, his desire to know the wizard’s secrets was far greater than expected.

“Come to think of it, is it okay to be talking about this stuff out in the open like this...?”

“I’ve been blocking sound from earlier. Still, we’re drawing attention, so I’d rather talk in a more secluded space. Is there a good place nearby?”

***

After calming Soo-ho, who got excited again upon hearing that the sound was blocked, the three of them headed to a tall building nearby.

He invited them to his home, saying it would be a good place to talk since he lived alone.

“Wait, you’re saying that building is your house?”

Turan and Meisa looked at Soo-ho in surprise once again.

Since his outfit seemed rather plain for an Earthling, they hadn’t expected much, but to think he owned a massive building with dozens of floors and hundreds of rooms...

At their gaze, Soo-ho looked slightly embarrassed and shook his head.

“No, there are several residences in that building. I just rent one of them on a long-term lease...”

Clearing up that small misunderstanding, Turan and Meisa entered the building, gawking all around like country bumpkins.

From the building with dozens of floors, to the doors that opened automatically, the elevator, and the electronic locks, there were simply too many things that amazed them.

As Soo-ho opened the door and stepped in first, he glanced inside and grimaced.

“Should’ve tidied up a bit... I’m sorry. If I’d known guests were coming, I would’ve at least sprayed something.”

“It’s fine. After all, we’re the uninvited ones here.”

Though he lived alone, there were still a few chairs prepared for guests, so the three of them were able to sit facing each other across a desk.

Once seated, Soo-ho cleared his throat lightly and spoke in a somewhat embarrassed tone.

“Um, I know it's kind of rude to ask this after being the one to notice and even invite you over... but could you maybe show me a bit of magic? If it's difficult because of some rules, that's totally fine-”

Before he could finish, Turan casually created a small fireball above the table.

The round sphere settled on the desk and transformed into the shape of a fox, then into a flower, a butterfly, a human figure, and finally vanished.

“Would this be sufficient to be considered magic?”

“...Yes, absolutely. More than enough.”

With his eyes widened in shock, Soo-ho shook his head in disbelief and said,

“Seriously, I feel like a Muggle who just stumbled into a world of magic... Then, can I ask why you two came to Earth? As long as you’re not here to do harm to Earthlings, I’ll help however I can. I mean, I’ve become the first Earthling to interact with aliens, so it’s the least I can do.”

Thanks to the Eye of Truth, Turan knew it was a sincere offer. When Meisa glanced at him, asking silently whether they should tell him, he nodded and calmly began explaining.

“To put it simply, we came to this world to check whether traces of wizards still remain here.”

Turan gave Soo-ho a mildly packaged version of the truth.

He explained that several “evil wizards”, including Badal, had managed to cross over to this side, and they had followed to confirm that fact. Now, they were tracking the traces those wizards had left behind.

“So you two are basically like... magic police!”

“That’s a reasonable way to put it.”

Calling two Family Heads from a Great Noble House “police” would be absurd no, lamentable back in their own world.

Still, if that explanation helped, it was fine. Soo-ho now looked visibly more at ease.

Turan had the Eye of Truth, so he had confirmation, but this person seemed to trust others a bit too easily.

That said, it did make conversations smoother.

“You came to Earth to catch bad wizards, but you don’t really know much about Earth.”

“I thought I knew enough, but reality turned out to be a little different.”

Turan smiled bitterly and confessed his honest thoughts.

He had heard a lot about Earth and assumed that once he crossed over, it wouldn’t be too difficult to gather information.

But once he actually arrived, he realized that this world was far more foreign than he had expected.

The saying ‘seeing is believing’ wasn't just a cliché after all.

“By the way, have you ever heard of any other wizard, aside from that man, leaving traces or exerting influence in this world?”

“Not as far as I know. At least not officially.”

Soo-ho firmly denied Turan’s question.

He said that since the wizard, Badal, was a globally recognized figure, if there had been anyone else like him, it would’ve drawn attention as well.

“But what I know is only what the general public knows. I have no idea about what’s going on behind the scenes. For example, he could be secretly making deals with powerful figures in the US, Europe, Russia, or China…”

It was true, if he were secretly working among the powerful, a commoner like Soo-ho wouldn’t know anything about it.

Should they try to find an insider among the powerful?

Turan briefly considered it but soon shook his head.

If Monarch really was working secretly among powerful figures, revealing his own identity would be a risky move.

Besides, they still had no idea how time was flowing between Earth and their world.

Turan was planning to return by this evening if possible, but contacting powerful figures and building trust would take far more time than that.

“Then let’s set that aside for now. I’d like to take a closer look at that wizard’s actions.”

“I’ll show you. Just a moment. Uh, but... you can read Hangul, right?”

“Yes.”

Writing them, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be possible.

Soo-ho used a computer with three monitors to display various kinds of information for the two of them.

From news articles to editorials, academic papers, and video footage, there was more than enough material.

He even brought up videos that hadn’t been posted on official sites, those censored for being harmful, such as those showing people being hurt with magic.

Clearly, if they’d tried to find and understand all this without help, they wouldn’t have finished in a single day.

After dozens of minutes of going through the materials, Meisa spoke to Turan.

“It definitely feels... like he’s trying to show off.”

“Yeah. It’s like he’s desperate to reveal that he’s a wizard.”

In the videos and other materials, Badal made no attempt to even pretend to hide his identity.

If he really wanted to interrogate someone, he could have just used a life-control spell, dragged them into an alley, extracted the information, and killed them.

If he wanted to steal something, he could’ve done it secretly using telekinesis magic.

But he was flying through conflict zones, massacring military forces, and even shooting down fighter jets with lightning spells.

There was nothing more to say at that point.

There had to be some kind of meaning behind all these actions.

‘Could it be...?’

What Turan suddenly recalled was the moment in the past when he fused four bloodlines.

One of the reasons he had been able to successfully create the Shepherd symbol was because the emotions people held toward him played a role in defining him.

What if Badal, similarly, was trying to make Earthlings hold certain emotions toward him?

After briefly explaining this hypothesis to Meisa, she nodded as well.

“In other words, something like a form of faith. But I didn’t feel anything like that at all. I wonder why.”

“Maybe it has something to do with my existence. Unlike you, I wasn’t created in such a systematic way.”

If Meisa was a mechanical construct meticulously designed for high performance, Turan was something more like a lump of metal that had been haphazardly forged and just happened to turn out powerful.

After discussing this topic in depth for a while, the two concluded that they wouldn’t be able to find any more leads in this direction.

Most of what Badal had done on Earth was centered around flaunting his immense power, and there was no indication he had contacted any governments or carried out work on their behalf.

“Soo-ho ssi.”

“Yes?”

“Could you look up just one more thing for us?”

“Just say the word.”

"Song of the Sun, Moon, and Stars."

At Turan’s question, Soo-ho’s eyes widened.

He spoke in a trembling voice.

“H-how do you even know about that? I thought you said you didn’t know much about Earth.”

“As I said before, I don’t know nothing. I’ve heard bits and pieces here and there. So, can you search it?”

“Of course, it’s not difficult. That much is easy. I just don’t get why you suddenly want to look that up...”

Despite his confused expression, Soo-ho immediately began typing on the keyboard.

After all, the person making the request was supposedly here to catch a wizard, an evil one who had committed all sorts of acts of terror.

It wasn’t even a hard request.

Still, no matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn’t understand.

Why would a wizard from another world want to search for an old game that was never even very popular... and whose service had already ended?

*****

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