City of Witches Chapter 141

It had already been two weeks since I returned to the Mortal Realm.

To summarize Siwoo's life during that time, it went roughly like this:

He ordered food until the table legs nearly broke, as if he had become the Emperor of China.

And that, five meals a day.

Since he had a body that didn't need sleep and an environment where he could eat as much as he wanted without worrying about digestion or health, he would order food again as soon as the feeling of fullness faded.

It was fortunate he was a Spirit Body; if he had been human, the toilet would have clogged several times over.

"Today's sustenance was also fulfilling."

After eating until he could barely move, he would sluggishly get up and head to his bedroom, which also served as his study.

He had called an interior designer to renovate one wall with corkboard, another with a whiteboard, and the last with built-in shelves for stacking document binders.

Just like the lab he used to work in before.

Siwoo stood before the whiteboard, holding a water-based marker.

"Shall we play again today?"

What he was so diligently preparing for was none other than Magic Research.

To be honest, he hadn't initially planned to dive straight into magic research.

He had intended to revisit complex analysis, his major and research field, particularly the essential singularities that had earned him a master's degree at a young age.

Since the thesis he had worked so hard on had vanished, he thought it would be a good way to kill time.

But then, Siwoo couldn't help but feel bewildered.

He couldn't make any progress at all.

He could roughly grasp what the symbols meant, the direction of the equations, and which formulas were important, but the most crucial "flow" was missing.

It wasn't a slump or a decline in talent from taking a five-year break.

It was as if his brain outright refused to think in that direction, with thoughts cutting off abruptly—a bizarre phenomenon.

And the possibility Siwoo considered:

At one point, Siwoo had suffered severe brain damage.

Even though he felt almost perfectly recovered, it wouldn't be strange if he had lost something in the process.

But Siwoo didn't give up and found another path.

The fact that he picked up a pen again in less than half a day after panicking might have been thanks to his mental training over the years.

While pondering the extent of his limitations, Siwoo recalled that he had no issues when applying mathematics to use magic.

It was strange.

This made it seem as though his brain had been restructured specifically for magic research.

"Hmm... Does it work like this here? No, this seems too outdated."

Siwoo muttered, resting his chin on his hand as he filled the whiteboard.

A massive Magic Formula was already drawn there, and Siwoo was filling in the spaces between Circuits with Rune Characters and equations, organizing new formulas like a fill-in-the-blanks quiz.

He was extracting the magic he had reestablished while unconscious and organizing it in a way that was easy to understand.

"Just how many are mixed in here?"

Siwoo furrowed his left eyebrow, the one without the eyepatch, and stepped back to look at the Magic Formula he had roughly designed over the course of a week.

Just looking at the Magic Formula with his newly acquired left eye transformed it into a three-dimensional structure, as if he were connected to an Ain.

Although it picked up even the minutest flows of magical power, making daily life exhausting and forcing him to cover it, it was quite convenient in situations like this.

Anyway, as far as Siwoo could guess, his Brand contained a total of five magics intricately intertwined as if they were one.

The Dimensional Teleportation magic he had been researching.

The Law of Shadows obtained from Gnosis's Egg after killing the Homunculus.

"I can understand up to this point..."

But there were three more Magic Formulas whose identities he couldn't grasp at all.

Even without trying to recall them, they surfaced in his mind as if he had known them for a very long time.

Not knowing when he had acquired them was truly perplexing.

"...I guess I have to try it out myself."

There's a limit to designing something without testing it directly.

Even genius composers press keys one by one or play instruments while composing, don't they?

The only problem was that it wouldn't be good for Siwoo if it became known that he could use magic.

"Hmm..."

Siwoo pulled out the music box from his pocket, which was turning silently without making a sound.

The three mechanisms attached beside the winding key.

Since Odil had explained the usage in detail, he roughly knew the role of each gear.

"Is this how it's done?"

He had heard that if you slightly pull and release the second lever-like thing while the winding key is fully wound, it perfectly disguises the Wavelength of Magical Power generated inside.

However, it consumes a significant amount of magical power, requiring the winding key to be rewound every hour, which is bothersome, but what other choice was there?

"Bloom."

After visually confirming that the concealment field had properly formed, Siwoo extended his hand and amplified his magical power.

He didn't need too much.

Just enough to activate the Magic Formula of unknown identity.

The magical power accumulated layer by layer in his Brand flowed into Siwoo's hand, shimmering with a brilliant golden light.

Visualizing the Magic Formula, whose form was roughly defined but whose manifestation method was unknown, he slowly closed his eyes.

The flow of magical power circulating through the magic circuits spread across his entire body.

Without resisting it, he slowly distributed it to where it wanted to flow.

One synthesis, three transformations, and three more deployments.

During the synthesis process, the sluggishly gathered magical power took on a physical form like thin threads.

Next, through the transformation process, the threads of magical power aligned vertically in a long row.

Finally, other threads intricately entangled with the aligned threads, taking the form of a long ribbon.

"What the fuck is this?"

Siwoo intuitively realized its identity.

This was the Magnetic Magic of Ea Sadalmelik, whom he had once clashed with.

That vicious ribbon that had mercilessly torn apart Siwoo when he was at full Combat Power.

"Why do I have this?"

When he opened his eyes again, a single ribbon, enough to trigger his trauma at the mere sight of it, was swaying languidly right in front of his nose.

Moreover, its form was somewhat different from the ribbons Ea had wielded.

Since it wasn't made from ordinary threads of magical power but from the shadow particles he originally possessed, its color was dark and black.What was even more chilling was that despite being an entirely unfamiliar form of Magic, the Ribbon was already moving as freely as if it were Siwoo's own limb.

It felt like having a new arm sprout from his body.

It moved with such intricate detail that he felt he could even masturbate with it.

Of course, he wouldn't.

He had no idea what had happened while he was unconscious.

Even after mobilizing all the magical knowledge Siwoo possessed, no answer came to mind.

"...I'll think about this later."

For now, checking everything he had one by one was the priority.

First, after storing the Ribbon, Siwoo slowly examined his other Magic.

The identity of the other one was relatively easy to discover.

The moment he concentrated his magic power into that Magic Formula, the space that revealed itself was one Siwoo already knew.

When Siwoo had regained his memories earlier, he had entered Ain.

There, Siwoo had faced countless staircases and Gates within a black space.

This seemed to be Magic governing 'memories.'

Unfortunately, despite spending ample time, he ultimately failed to uncover the identity of the last one.

It wasn't due to a lack of magic power or diminished concentration; he simply couldn't specify the form of the Formula.

It seemed he would only know for sure after more meticulously subdividing and organizing the Magic that was clumped together as one.

-Beep beep beep beep beep

After standing in front of the whiteboard for quite a while longer, scribbling away, Siwoo heard his phone notification and put down the marker.

"Time to eat."

Once every four hours.

Siwoo had made a promise to himself.

No matter what, he would eat five meals a day.

Including the time it took for food to be prepared, he needed to start getting ready around now to keep that promise.

Perhaps from using his head too much, it felt quite warm.

Getting a bit of cool breeze might be nice.

Siwoo roughly threw on a windbreaker, placed a huge delivery order via an app, and then headed out onto the street.

Indeed, likely because there were many universities and single-room accommodations nearby, all sorts of famous eateries were gathered here.

Of course, that also meant there were plenty of landmines disguised as famous eateries.

"Let's go to the famous street today."

Based on Siwoo's place, the famous street opposite the single-room accommodation village was truly a treasure trove of entertainment and great food.

Since he was heading out anyway, he rummaged inside his clothes, intending to smoke a cigarette too, but only found an empty cigarette pack.

"Guess I need to buy one on the way."

This was a convenient aspect of officetels in residential-commercial complexes.

There were various convenience facilities, including a cafe, on the second floor, and a convenience store on the first floor, so there was no need to go far.

"One Africa Rolla, please. Ah, and a lighter too."

Heading straight to the checkout counter, Siwoo glanced at the part-time worker.

Siwoo wasn't particularly the type to be fond of women like Takasho, but honestly, seeing this part-time worker, anyone, regardless of gender, would find their eyes drawn.

Perhaps because it was Sinchon, even the part-time worker had a proper sense of style.

Long, straight hair without bangs.

A two-tone dye job where a slightly deep mint color was blended like a gradient over a dark khaki base.

Even the androgynic ready-to-wear clothes looked natural and stylish, almost like custom-made attire.

Honestly, if it were just this, he would have passed it off as a female college student who likes to dress up.

But this part-time worker was just too pretty.

It wasn't due to personal bias or any particular feeling; objectively, both her appearance and figure were exceptionally outstanding.

Eyes glowing a deep jade green beneath pronounced double eyelids, a high nose bridge, and a full chest that lifted the convenience store vest.

Despite her exotic looks, there was a strangely familiar and approachable impression, suggesting she was probably mixed-race, and she wouldn't be out of place even compared to the Witches roaming Gehenna.

If she went to become a model, she'd probably have lines forming everywhere, so he wondered why she was working a job like this here.

"That'll be 5,000 won."

But, as they say, pretty girls can be aloof.

This part-time worker wasn't very enthusiastic about her work.

Not only was she always holding her phone, but even when customers came, she wouldn't even look at their faces, just tapping her phone with one hand and bluntly handling the transaction.

"She doesn't get fired even working like that because she's pretty."

With the same thought as always, Siwoo returned and lit a cigarette.

As Siwoo walked, he drew a mental mind map of which famous eatery to visit today.

After climbing the steep single-room accommodation village, built almost like on a mountainside, his original destination came into view.

"Huh?"

Siwoo squinted his eyes.

At first, because he was only using one eye, he thought he was seeing things wrong.

And understandably so, because far in the distance, something dark seemed to be crawling around, clinging to the department store's electronic display board as if hanging from it.

It was too far away to make out its exact form, but if it was visible from here, it was definitely not small.

Siwoo quickened his pace.

He wanted to see with his own eyes what that was.

When Siwoo, who had practically run with fast steps to the front of the department store, looked at the display board again.

Only ordinary cellphone advertisements were flowing.

The people filling the sidewalk went about their way or chatted as if nothing had ever happened.

Siwoo's eyes narrowed.

"...I didn't see wrong."

He had seen it clearly, distinctly.

A chill ran down his spine for no reason.

He took out the music box from inside his clothes, raised the cloaking value to maximum, and put it back in.

In the end, not wanting to wander around pointlessly due to a bad feeling, he just bought about thirty king crabs to-go and returned home.

Author's Note (Author's Afterword)

Whether I can write one more chapter by 12 o'clock is the greatest challenge lol (nervous laughter).