chapter_0070

Chapter 68: Shut Up

“Seems like this isn’t a dream after all.”

The rich, savory smell of butter flowing from the kitchen, blending with the aroma of coffee and faint bacon.

Si-woo’s gaze shifted to the perfect breakfast spread laid out on the table.

His eyes landed on the doll, crafted to resemble Yu Ga-eun, which was placed not on a chair but directly on the table.

The doll, which didn’t emit the same life force or magical energy as before, appeared perfectly fine at first glance.

“If only this thing wasn’t alive and moving…”

He let out a deep sigh and placed the doll back where it had been.

It would have been better to receive a doll with a hidden camera or listening device as a gift.

Those kinds of items could be shredded into pieces, or incinerated until not even ashes remained.

No matter how they were made with magic, they couldn’t survive that.

“These cursed dolls strangely come back to life, though.”

Even during his host days, Si-woo had received cursed dolls a couple of times.

No matter what he did—throwing them into fire, sinking them deep into the sea, or burying them in a mountain—they would always return, intact.

The doll would prepare breakfast, sweep the dust off the floor, and even handle recycling on his behalf.

‘Now that I think about it, this is truly terrifying.’

It was like a scene from a horror movie.

The doll, after being burned, sunk, buried, or torn to pieces, would return to the house, completely unharmed, and continue performing household chores.

“At least if it came at me with a knife, it’d be less scary.”

If someone approached him with the intention to kill, he could just kill them back.

There’s a saying, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

If the person came to kill, it would be fine to kill them instead, waiting for the police or anyone else to come to help?

That wasn’t necessary, nor did he want to do that.

That’s why people coming at him with intent to kill weren’t scary.

Ghosts were the same.

With the concept of divine power appearing, and the actual exorcism ability in holy water, Si-woo thought that with the money he had saved up, he could fill his entire house with holy water and still have plenty left over.

If the person trying to kill him was weak, then they were no longer something to be feared.

It would be the same as killing a cockroach that had entered his house.

“Well, still… I can’t just leave it like this, can I?”

Due to the fact that Si-woo had lost his emotions, he could only feel irritated by Yu Ga-eun’s actions.

He couldn’t feel disgust or fear. While her actions were illegal, he had encountered so many women who stalked and trespassed that it didn’t even register as a problem in his mind.

It was no different from when Im So-yeon broke in.

‘The problem is, unlike Im So-yeon, she doesn’t listen when I say I don’t like it.’

“By the way, how the hell was this doll made?”

Si-woo picked up the doll that had been moving while speaking in Yu Ga-eun’s voice just a moment ago.

Even during his time as a host, he had been troubled by such dolls.

But in the end, he never figured out how they moved or how to destroy them.

“Even if I don’t know the principle behind it, I’d like to know how to get rid of it.”

The two cursed dolls he had received in the past disappeared after competing with each other.

No matter what Si-woo did, the cursed dolls would always come back, but they disappeared in a fight with the same cursed dolls.

It wasn’t that they were broken or destroyed—they literally just vanished.

He didn’t have the chance to be curious about why they disappeared or how.

He was just glad they were gone.

…Ah, now that I think about it, there was something.

He still couldn’t figure out what the doll was made of.

But it was clear that it wasn’t created with modern technology.

Drrrrrrr…

“Hello?”

“Are you busy right now?”

“No, I just woke up. Is something going on?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. There’s a moving cursed doll or magic doll that broke into the dorm, and I was wondering if you could help me figure it out when you have time…”

“Wait 1 minute! I’ll be there soon!!!”

Click

As soon as the call ended, Si-woo felt a surge of mana from a distance.

A storm of mana was coming from the direction of the female dorm.

Even without thinking too hard, he knew exactly who it belonged to.

“Uh, this isn’t good.”

It was a mistake to get straight to the point.

Realizing the situation a bit late, Si-woo picked up his phone.

He sent a message to Saria, explaining that it wasn’t such an urgent matter, that the doll wasn’t moving anymore, and that everything was fine for now.

However, the “read” receipt next to the message didn’t disappear.

Zzz- !!!.

“Well, I guess it’s already too late, huh?”

Instead, something else happened.

A crack appeared in the empty air.

Even teleportation magic usually takes 3-5 minutes to cast.

How could Saria, not even a martial artist Hunter, reach the male dorm, which would take her at least 10 minutes on foot, in just one minute?

“Did she also learn this magic from Kang Hong-yeon Hunter?”

One of the most famous spells, alongside teleportation magic, was portal magic.

It quickly expanded, the crack growing larger as it unfolded.

‘I guess turning off the security alarms beforehand was the right call, just in case.’

The landscape beyond the crack became visible.

The deep sea was evoked as the bluish wind of magical energy swirled around.

From the other side of the portal, Saria’s crimson eyes gleamed brightly.

Just like Si-woo had noticed Saria, she noticed him too.

“Saria….”

Crack-

“Hey…?”

Si-woo, who had been saying it was no big deal, fell silent.

Even though the portal magic wasn’t fully complete, Saria reached through, her hand sliding into the space.

Wood-creak!

No, it’s not that she simply reached through…?

Wasn’t she physically tearing through the space itself?

Saria’s crimson eyes shone with intense light.

Determined to reach Si-woo’s location as quickly as possible, she forced the incomplete portal magic to finish, despite it not being fully stabilized.

The problem was, of course, inevitable.

The hastily created magic circle, Saria’s lack of knowledge, and finally, the forced activation of the incomplete magic circle.

A portal spell that was forced into completion would never be able to unfold properly.

Even if it did unfold by some stroke of luck, it would never grow to a size large enough for even a single person to pass through.

Thud! Crack!

But Saria’s engraving made the impossible possible.

To be more precise, it made the problem seem nonexistent.

In the process of hastily creating the portal magic, she layered illusion magic over the issues.

Normally, the formula wouldn’t work.

With the answer and calculations all wrong, she forcefully filled in the missing parts with illusion magic to stabilize the magic circle.

The space magic she had learned later on didn’t have the knowledge to fill in the gaps.

But illusion magic did.

The knowledge and talent embedded in Saria’s engraving brought her stubbornness into reality, making the impossible possible.

By using illusion magic, she could manipulate and create illusions, weaving those illusions finely into reality.

She used the essence of illusion magic to achieve even the impossible interference with space.

Since it wasn’t a normal method, the caster had to bear a significant burden, and the pressure on the magic circle itself increased, making it impossible to guarantee safety even one second later.

However, illusion magic altered the magic circle to ensure the safety of the future, even just one second ahead.

The magic circle, which was not a living entity capable of perceiving abnormalities, was simply a formula, after all.

“Si-woo!!”

Saria’s shout, having crossed the space, echoed through the living room.

Just as she had said over the phone, Saria arrived at the male dorm in less than a minute, panting.

The consumption of mana, combined with portal magic, illusion magic, and physical enhancement to tear through space, was unimaginable.

“Are you alright?! What did that doll do to you?”

But Saria was more worried about Si-woo’s safety than her own.

There was no need to go this far.

Si-woo, who had been thinking the same, nodded his head.

Only after seeing that did Saria seem to finally relax, letting out a deep sigh of relief as she placed a hand on her chest.

“Ha, thank goodness…”

Thud!

“You can come visit when you have time.”

“Of course, if I received a message saying you were in danger, I’d act just like you did.”

“That’s only natural, but right now, there wasn’t really any danger.”

“Of course. I’m here, after all.”

Just a moment ago, the doll that had been sitting on the table lifted itself up.

The doll, which had no expression or life, now wore a vibrant, lively expression, as if it had been given a soul.

“So you…”

Before the sentence could finish, Saria’s engraving began to glow.

While Saria often referred to her specialty as “curses,” the true specialty of her engraving wasn’t curses at all.

“Shut up.”

A magic circle unfolded in the air.

Having already poured most of her mana into the portal magic, this was magic Saria should never have been able to cast.

But it unfolded anyway.

She had already turned the impossible into the possible.

She believed it was possible.

She manifested an illusion in her mind and made it a reality.

And just like that, it was complete.

“Stop flapping your mouth.”