Chapter 51

Chapter 51

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

Episode 51: The Head Nun – Discharge

A dingy one-room apartment with old, yellowed wallpaper and no soundproofing.

Finally, I was back.

“I never thought I’d be this happy to see this place.”

Even though I planned to move out soon, a week in the gate and three days in the hospital made me miss this dump.

The gate was a given, but the constant tests from morning till night and the needles in my arm shattered my expectations of a hotel-like stay.

Especially the visit from Magic Tower Master Han Ra-el was shocking enough to stick with me even after being discharged.

-I want to study Hyeon-u.

Not only did she suddenly hand me a contract, but she also brought eight bottles of that expensive holy water as a bribe, saying she wanted to study me. I didn’t know about anything else, but the Magic Tower Master was definitely eccentric.

Of course, considering that the holy water shortened my hospital stay to three days, I was grateful.

The effects of the holy water, said to be made by a bishop-level priest, were beyond imagination.

With just one bottle, my condition recovered beyond normal, and my tattered mana circuits were restored much stronger. I could feel that mana manipulation had become much easier.

Of course, I still shuddered when I thought about Choi Hye-na’s murderous glare because I was discharged earlier than expected, but I had too much to do to stay in bed any longer.

‘Come to think of it, Choi Hye-na also made a strange offer, saying she wanted to study me.’

I still couldn’t forget that shocking first meeting.

-Let me study you. Being loved by mana? That’s beyond just talent. I’ll compensate you handsomely. You seem to be quite the pauper; how about 30 million won for each research collaboration?

“…Now that I think about it, that’s a bit cheap.”

The Magic Tower Master offered research collaboration with a bribe of eight bottles of holy water, each worth well over 30 million won.

As far as I knew, the Magic Tower Master’s family was also from a prestigious magic family, so I didn’t know if Han Ra-el is a pushover or if Choi Hye-na was trying to take advantage of me.

‘Considering Choi Hye-na’s personality back then, it’s probably the latter.’

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t resentful, but I guess I had grown fond of her over time, so I didn’t think much of it anymore.

Besides, I had already accepted the Magic Tower Master’s offer.

Aside from the slightly strange look in her eyes, there was no reason to refuse. The contract even included a clause stating that I wouldn’t be held responsible if the research yielded nothing, and I received an advance payment.

Moreover, just getting acquainted with the Magic Tower Master and maintaining a continuous relationship would be a huge advantage.

[S Bank]

[Deposit 100,000,000 won]

“If I sell the mana stones I collected from the gate this time, I’ll have quite a bit saved up.”

Just looking at the C-grade and C+-grade monster mana stones piled up in my inventory made me feel rich, but my head was still a mess.

While I was hospitalized, Choi Yeong-ok, Choi Hye-na, and Han Ra-el weren’t the only ones who visited me.

-Nice to meet you. I’m Yu Seong-bin, team leader of Special Gate Team 1.

The man from the Hunter Association asked me various questions about what happened inside the gate.

He asked the usual questions that a person investigating an incident would ask, such as whether there were any warning signs or strange things I noticed when I was trapped in the isolated gate.

That wasn’t a problem, but Yu Seong-bin, the team leader, seemed to be suspicious of me throughout the conversation.

I didn’t know what he was suspicious of, but it was suspicious that a team leader would act like that.

It didn’t feel like he was investigating a victim but interrogating a suspect.

However, since it wouldn’t be good to antagonize the Hunter Association, I didn’t show any reaction or express any dissatisfaction.

“Tch, if there’s really a problem, they’ll come back later.”

Worrying too much in advance is just poison.

Now is the time for me to do my job quietly.

“First, I need to go to the department store.”

Besides, today is the day I visit the orphanage where I lived for nearly 15 years, so I want to think only good thoughts.

The head nun, to put it nicely, was kind and generous, but in a way, she didn’t know how to doubt others.

She was once scammed, and the orphanage land almost disappeared.

Fortunately, the scammer was caught by the police, so the orphanage didn’t disappear.

I didn’t know how she ended up running an orphanage in this backward neighborhood when she could have worked as a formal nun at a church.

“This hill is really nostalgic.”

The road to the orphanage was much steeper than the road to my apartment.

It was so steep that I wondered if a car would roll backward if I drove up, and the surrounding area was full of empty houses, a typical slum.

When I was young, people used to live there, but now no one was around, and I didn’t see anyone.

I didn’t know how it became a ghost town, but my heart ached.

“…I need to make money quickly and move the orphanage to a better place.”

That was the least I could do to repay the nun’s love and grace that I received as a child.

She was like my second parent, who took care of countless children when I couldn’t even think of filling my meager conscience.

“…”

But what was I looking at right now?

The orphanage I visited after a long time was so miserable that I couldn’t even put it into words.

[Scheduled for Forced Demolition]

The red letters written on the gate and walls caught my eye.

Moreover, the half-open gate amplified my anxiety.

Crash!

-…!!

Just in time, someone’s voice came from inside, and my body was running inside, kicking down the gate.

The small playground that the nuns made for us, the old-fashioned toilet, and the old graffiti I made.

In this place where nothing had changed, there was an uninvited guest.

“Damn it, if you got the money, get out!”

“Get out with just that money? Where do you expect us to go?”

“Ha, is that my problem? Huh? Damn it, is that my problem?… Ugh?!”

Bang!!

I grabbed the temple of the man who was yelling at the head nun and slammed him to the floor.

‘I’ll kill him.’

It was enough force to kill an ordinary person, but he was still wriggling, perhaps because he was tougher than I thought.

“Ugh…!!”

It was disgusting to see him spitting blood and writhing in pain. I raised my mana to crush his head as it was.

“Hyeon-u!”

At the familiar voice that seemed to hit my head, I lowered my hand after three seconds of deep thought.

Killing him was easy, but I didn’t want to commit an irreversible atrocity in front of my mother.

Wrinkled and calloused hands with bandages, and clear, deep eyes in the midst of hardship.

It had been a long time.

“…I’m back.”

Although I showed a bad figure from the first moment of reunion, fortunately, the head nun took me to the head’s office without saying anything and served me warm green tea.

She said coffee was bad for the body, or something, she was really consistent.

“Redevelopment?”

“At first, they politely asked us to move out, but after refusing several times, rough people started coming.”

“Then the red paint written outside?”

“…”

The head nun nodded without saying a word.

Her eyes were so tired that my eyebrows furrowed involuntarily, and my emotions became so intense that my fists trembled.

I didn’t get up from my seat, displaying superhuman patience.

If I lost control of my emotions even a little, I would have chased after the guy who was taken away in the ambulance and killed him.

“Well, well, let’s stop talking about such gloomy things and tell me about you, Hyeon-u. I think you’re a sophomore in college now. Are the classes bearable?”

There were many things I wanted to ask too.

Where did the other nuns go, and why were there no children to be seen?

But looking at the nun trying so hard to change the subject, I couldn’t dare to ask.

“I dropped out of college.”

And while I was wondering how to explain that I became a wizard during that short period and was now waiting to enter the Magic Tower, the nun suddenly grabbed my hand tightly.

“…Are you okay?”

“Yes?”

The nun’s eyes were full of worry.

It was a sincere worry that I had never received since I went out into society and before I got the app.

Seeing that, I couldn’t dare to raise my head, feeling guilty for not visiting here for the past few years and thinking about the nun who had been suffering from those guys for several months.

“Oh my…”

Perhaps she misunderstood my appearance, the nun hugged me in a hurry, and I made a vow in my heart.

I will find all the guys who made the nun suffer and make them pay the price.

It didn’t matter if it was the president or anyone else.

“You don’t have to worry too much because you can make a living without going to college…”

“Nun.”

I took out what I had prepared from my pocket and put it on the table.

“I became a wizard.”

It was a wizard registration card issued by the state and 50 million won in cash that I had just withdrawn.

“…A wizard?”

“That’s how it happened.”

It took a long time to explain to calm down the nun, who was startled after looking at the wizard registration card with a blank stare.

I explained as coherently as possible that magic, which I started studying by myself, suited me better than I thought, and that I was lucky enough to become a wizard and was now waiting to enter the Magic Tower.

Of course, I excluded the part where I was trapped in the gate. I didn’t want to worry the nun with unnecessary words.

“Oh my, what’s going on?! Hyeon-u is a wizard?!”

Fortunately, the nun congratulated me on becoming a wizard without any suspicion.

Rather, seeing the nun, who was full of exhaustion, smile at my news, I felt better too.

We spent some time talking about various things.

We mainly talked about my childhood.

It was hard and I was hungry at that time, but I wasn’t lonely.

Even if I hadn’t gotten this other world dating app, I would still be spending time alone in that one-room apartment and going to college alone.

I wouldn’t have met Iris and Cheon Yeo-hwa either.

‘I should go see Iris as soon as I’m done with my business.’

The thought of wanting to bring Iris to Earth if possible someday flashed through my mind for a moment.

While I was thinking about something else for a while, the head nun quietly pushed the envelope I gave her back to me.

“Take this money back.”

“Nun?”

“Even if you’re a wizard, it’s still hard to make this much money. Besides, I couldn’t even give you anything when you left the orphanage, so I don’t deserve to receive this.”

The nun shook her head.

“No, why don’t you deserve it, nun?”

It still comes to my mind vividly.

“I still remember. You picked me up from the market floor on a cold winter day. You were the only one who helped me while everyone else turned away. If you weren’t there, I would have died a long time ago. Who would receive this money if you didn’t, nun?”

I forced the envelope into the nun’s arms.

“You’ll need quite a bit of money to run the orphanage in the future, whether you like it or not, so I hope you don’t refuse. If you’re uncomfortable, please think of it as helping me pay off a little bit of my debt.”

“Hyeon-u…”

“And you don’t have to worry because I’ll make sure those hooligans don’t come near here again.”

I hugged the nun, who was tearing up, and then left the orphanage, leaving the nun, who was seeing me off, behind.

‘I should ask Choi Hye-na to help with the orphanage problem.’

Of course, I could have asked Grandma Choi Yeong-ok for help. She said she would do anything.

It would be appropriate to receive it as compensation for saving Choi Hye-na to deploy guards to stop the hooligans, find an orphanage building with better facilities, and find out who is leading this redevelopment.

Of course, I would have to give up asking for magical equipment.

“…Oh, right. My equipment.”

Come to think of it, I haven’t gotten back my equipment that I told Choi Hye-na to use in the gate.

‘She told me to visit her family, so I can go then, right?’

It wasn’t urgent, so I decided to ignore it.

I had another place to go before going to find it right now, so the next place to go was the Boreumdal Swordsmanship Dojo.

The gate incident made me realize that my fate was not peaceful enough to just shoot magic from behind and freeload.

No matter how much of a wizard I was, I might die someday if I kept insisting on magic.

“So you came running in a suit?”

“I didn’t come running.”

The wolf beastwoman I met after a long time was still small.

“I can see what you’re thinking, you bastard.”

Smack!