Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I Installed a Dating App and Girls from Another World Became Obsessed with Me.

Episode 14: Magic Tower (2).

“Haa…”

Choi Yeong-ok, one of the senior professors at the Gray Magic Tower, was recently suffering from research that was not progressing well.

The flashes of inspiration and the confidence in her research that she used to have were no longer coming to her.

It was a symptom called mannerism.

It was common for those engaged in art to lose interest, originality, and freshness in the repetition of meaningless daily life or work, but it was also common for mages who had to have both mathematical knowledge and artistic talent.

The way to overcome mannerism was simple.

To break away from the tedious daily life and receive new stimulation.

However, it was not easy while being stuck in the Magic Tower.

The Magic Tower was clearly a utopia for mages. Apprentice mages could attend lectures by excellent mages, and professors could freely conduct research with the support of the Magic Tower.

That was the problem.

Daily life at the Magic Tower was a repetition of days that were not much different.

Preparing lectures, giving lectures, and conducting research.

Excluding other minor things, she didn’t deviate from those three major cycles.

Of course, seeing students with outstanding talent was enjoyable.

Even her granddaughter was a genius who had already reached the 3rd circle.

However, her mannerism still showed no signs of being resolved.

Why?

Was she craving more stimulation? Was she subconsciously hoping to see something more shocking?

Even though the repetitive worries continued for several days like a repeat sign, there was no suitable answer.

“Hoo… should I go out for some air…?”

Leaving behind another heavy sigh, Choi Yeong-ok left the workshop.

When something couldn’t be resolved, there was nothing better than a walk.

Even if it wasn’t a direct solution, the cold air would cool down her complicated head.

However, even this walk could no longer comfort her heavy heart and complicated head. Her worries were not of a light kind.

She was just walking down the quiet hallway with heavy steps.

Not even deciding whether to go to the rooftop or head downtown.

‘Is it because it’s vacation? No one’s here.’

The Magic Tower also had vacations. Summer and winter vacations. During those times, all students left the Magic Tower and returned to their hometowns or went on trips to find new inspiration.

Of course, it wasn’t that the entire Magic Tower was empty just because there were no students.

There would be various mages left, including full professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and assistants.

However, the hallway was still quiet. As expected of mages who were like room fairies, they wouldn’t be loitering around at this time, saying that even mealtime was a waste.

This silence, while helpful for contemplation, was not helpful for her right now.

It would have been better if it was filled with noisy students.

Was it because her worries were prolonged? She seemed to be having trouble preventing herself from being swept away by negative thoughts.

‘Let’s get a grip. I can’t go on like this. Maybe I should go shopping for a while…’

“Hey, did you hear that?”

Just as she was turning towards the elevator to go downstairs.

“I just got a call from the lobby, and they said a guy who’s not a third-generation chaebol came to register as a mage.”

“…Isn’t he a scammer?”

“Hey, would he be scamming at the Magic Tower when there’s nowhere else to scam?”

“True… but if he’s not a third-generation chaebol, then what is he? Did someone personally teach him magic or something? If so, why is he registering now?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, I’m going to go see. Are you coming?”

“Of course…”

Thump- The man turned around in surprise at the hand that wrapped around his shoulder.

“Can you tell me more about that?”

The place I arrived at, following the female employee I met in the lobby, looked like a reception room.

The overall atmosphere seemed to blatantly boast that they had poured a lot of money into it.

I didn’t show it, but it was actually my first time in such a place in my 21 years of life, so I couldn’t help but be a little nervous.

Of course, regardless of that, the female employee who guided me disappeared, telling me to wait here for a while.

How heartless.

I had no choice but to enjoy a simple tea time with the refreshments and drinks on the desk.

…But it was okay to eat this, right?

I hesitated for a moment whether to eat it or not, but surely they wouldn’t say anything if a guest ate some snacks? But was I even a guest?

“Wow… why are these snacks so delicious?”

The savory taste that stuck to my tongue and the subtle sweetness were like a meteor-level shock to me, who had only been buying potato chips that cost 1,500 won a bag.

I was curious how expensive they were, so I searched on my phone, and it turned out they were quite expensive for snacks, although not unaffordable.

“…Oh, it’s not this price for a bag, but this price for individual packaging?”

There were 12 bags when I opened it… oh shit.

The Magic Tower people were definitely crazy.

Buying snacks with half a year’s worth of my rent?

No matter how much money they had, I couldn’t forgive them for indulging in such luxury.

I thought while shoving the snacks into my mouth before someone else came. They were damn delicious, though.

“What did they put in this to make it so delicious?”

Did they put gold flakes in it?

“It’s mixed with magic pistachio powder from the Hwargal botanical garden, a D-grade gate?”

“?!”

I immediately turned my head at the voice I heard in my ear.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”

Yes, you did.

The one who put sweet candy in my ear was a middle-aged woman with slightly visible nasolabial folds. Her neatly braided red hair and eyes stood out.

Judging from the robe she was wearing, she was clearly a mage.

“Nice to meet you. Kang Hyeon-u?”

She smiled kindly and met my eyes.

It wasn’t that my heart was fluttering.

Her atmosphere and appearance were definitely more than that of a well-maintained middle-aged actress, but the wrinkles on her face were far beyond my range of defense.

“I’m Choi Yeong-ok. I’ve been assigned as your examiner today, Mr. Hyeon-u.”

It didn’t matter how she knew my name.

I had filled out all my personal details at the window earlier.

“Nice to meet you.”

I bowed lightly.

“Hehe, you said you came to register as a mage, right?”

“Yes, if possible, I’d like to enroll in the Magic Tower. Is that possible?”

Enrolling in the Magic Tower was a title considered as good as, or even better than, winning a lottery with an extremely high probability in social norms.

As mentioned earlier, the Magic Tower, where money overflows, provides generous support to its members.

I could receive living expenses until I entered the gate, or I could find something that would be helpful to Iris later.

“Of course. We welcome anyone with talent at any time.”

Choi Yeong-ok treated Kang Hyeon-u with a rare, genuine smile full of goodwill.

She couldn’t help it. She had noticed that Kang Hyeon-u was unusual from the moment he entered the reception room.

‘…This is really unbelievable.’

It was as if all the mana in the room was clinging to him, asking for his favor.

High concentration is required to absorb mana that is melted into nature. The same goes for the self-magnetization process.

However, he seemed to be able to absorb mana while breathing and thinking as usual.

No, that was probably the case.

It was clear that he was preventing excessive mana from being absorbed into his body unconsciously, so the mana was not entering his body but hovering around it.

An overwhelming talent that cannot be explained in any way.

His affinity for mana was incomparable to that of other mages.

‘Where did this genius… no, monster come from?’

Choi Yeong-ok was convinced.

“Mr. Hyeon-u, can I ask you something?”

“Yes? Well, it doesn’t matter.”

She was convinced that just by watching his growth, she could escape from mannerism.

“Who did you learn magic from?”

In a way, this was the most important part.

Magic was a subject that was almost impossible to learn on one’s own, no, it was a subject that deviated from academic discipline and reason. There must be someone who could be called a teacher.

From that point of view, his visit to the Magic Tower was also an incomprehensible point.

For mages, a disciple with outstanding talent was a great help in their own magic development.

Even while learning the same magic as themselves, they looked at and interpreted it from a completely different perspective. They sometimes give them enlightenment with original ideas that they had never even imagined.

It was not that mages only look at talent when choosing disciples, but it was undeniable that they were greedy for someone with outstanding talent.

It was normal for someone with that much affinity for mana to keep them to themselves and raise them in a place where no one could reach them.

“Uh…”

Kang Hyeon-u couldn’t readily answer Choi Yeong-ok’s question.

If he said, “The former elven queen in another world is my teacher!” he would end up in a white house on a hill, not the Magic Tower.

But if he made up a virtual teacher and lied, such a lie wouldn’t last long among the mages, who make up less than 1% of the world’s population.

“…It’s a secret.”

So he had no choice but to use the “screw it!” strategy.

“Ah… then, how long have you been learning magic…?”

She wanted to know who had taken such a child as a disciple, but it was not polite to pry into something he didn’t want to talk about at the first meeting.

“One day…?”

“……Yes?”

He didn’t lie about this. Lying was bad. Rather, he humbly increased it from half a day to a day.

Choi Yeong-ok seemed to be out of her mind at the unbelievable answer.

But only for a moment. As a veteran mage, she decided to focus on the truth rather than being embarrassed.

By raising her magic power, which had become sensitive to changes in the situation, she looked at Kang Hyeon-u again.

Changes in the body, such as pupillary reflex, gaze processing, sweat, pulse, breathing rate and speed, and blood pressure, are excellent evidence of whether the other person is lying or not.

‘It doesn’t seem like he’s lying…’

Of course, it wasn’t 100% accurate. Trained professionals could skillfully hide such things.

But on the surface, Kang Hyeon-u was very unlikely to be such a professional. In the first place, no agency would try to infiltrate an agent like this.

‘So, he really created a mana circle in just one day of learning magic?’

Even if it was a novel, it would be criticized for lacking coherence if it was written like this.

Only a very small number of children with proven talent at the age of 10 enroll in the Magic Tower. Of course, even those children who were gathered went through a re-filtering process.

The average time it took for those children to create a mana circle was 8 to 9 years. Quite a few spent more time, and some were kicked out of the Magic Tower.

Choi Yeong-ok’s granddaughter, who shortened that process to 6 years, was also praised as a genius, and even the master of the Gray Magic Tower took 3 years.

Of course, the world was wide and there are many geniuses.

Looking at history, there were records that were better than the master of the Magic Tower’s record, and there was a high possibility that such a genius would appear in the future.

But one day?

“Heu, heu, heu…”

Choi Yeong-ok couldn’t help but laugh.

And she came up with the best offer to give him calmly.

“Mr. Hyeon-u?”

She held his hand tightly with a more friendly smile than ever.

“Would you like to meet my granddaughter?”

One of the important items in investment was low-point buying.

If Kang Hyeon-u’s overwhelming talent and the Choi family’s blood met, it was not impossible for her family to be considered the best magical family in Korea, or even the world.

“Uh…”

Of course, Kang Hyeon-u was in a situation where he thought, “What the hell is this?”

Granddaughter?

She had a granddaughter with that face?

Was she a grandmother, not an aunt?

‘Wow, her magic power is good.’

More important than the fact that she had a granddaughter was that the granddaughter was old enough to be matched with a 21-year-old man.

If it was a newborn baby, he would have just thought, “She must have taken the highway a bit.” But if her granddaughter was over 20, her age was roughly…

There was no need to think more. Magic power was God.

He felt the greatness of magic power again, and his head became complicated.

He would have prepared for the wedding right away, but now, when he heard the word “blind date,” Iris’s face came to his mind first.

Was it really advisable to go on a blind date, leaving Iris, who was still waiting for him in that dark place?

‘…But isn’t the time in that world stopped too?’

Just as the time on Earth almost stopped when I was in that world, it was reasonable to assume that the time in that world also stopped while I was on Earth.

Thinking like that, I felt a little less guilty…?

‘What do you mean, you feel less guilty, you crazy bastard? Are you abandoning Iris?’

Absolutely, never.

Kang Hyeon-u, a man, had as much loyalty as Iris’s overflowing maternal love.

Now, he had no intention of being distracted by blind dates…

“This is a picture of our granddaughter. Would you like to take a look?”

On the screen of Choi Yeong-ok’s cell phone, which suddenly approached him in a friendly manner, was a sexy red-haired beautiful mage.

“Can I call you grandmother?”

“Hehe, then I can call you grandson-in-law.”