The Book of Magic (2)

Serina was startled and immediately stopped making noise, looking around in all directions. But even after waiting a while, a deathly silence lingered in the library. There was no sign of the Librarian nearby, only the scent of books filled the air.

‘What is it?’ Serina tilted her head, and just then, something caught her eye below. Looking down, she noticed a book that had fallen from the bookshelf. The book cover was black, but it was thin and small, not like a typical book, but more like a small prayer book that priests carry around.

Forcibly wiping her slightly reddened eyes, she bent her knees, reached out, and grabbed the book. She felt as if the leather binding was sticking to her fingertips.

‘It looks like quite a high-quality book…’

She dusted off the book, but there was no title on the thin binding. The leather surrounding the cover had faded, as if no one had taken care of it since it was first bound. Out of curiosity, she opened the book, but there were only blank pages, not a single word.

“Why is a book like this in the library?”

Feeling absurd, she opened the front endpaper, and there was a bookplate indicating that it was a book from the Rose Palace. Despite being a collection of blank pages without even a title, it meant that it was a ‘formally registered’ book. Turning over one endpaper with her index finger, there was only one line written.

art leading of sleep to

Serina was dumbfounded and stared blankly at the book for a moment. She had been so startled by the sound of the book falling that she didn’t even feel like crying anymore.

Looking up, she found the spot where the book had fallen from, an empty space on the second shelf from the bottom, where books that people usually don’t read were placed. Just as she was about to close the book to put it back in its place, a sentence in black slowly appeared below the title written on the first blank page.

― Reader! If you found this book while crying, and if you have read this sentence, I ask you to pause for a moment and continue reading.

Serina was startled and looked around again, but there was still no one around. Looking down again at the book spread out on the ground, after a moment, another sentence appeared.

― There are conditions required to read this book. First, you must cry near the book for more than 3 minutes, and you must stare at the title of this book for more than 10 seconds. The reason for specifying such difficult conditions is because this book is not meant to be read carelessly.

Serina discovered something she had never even imagined, and she was shocked as if someone had hit her hard on the back of the head with a hammer. Something that shouldn’t be here was right in front of her eyes.

‘A magic tome, could it be that the magic tome I’ve only heard about is in the corner of the library?’

A book made with magical methods rather than ordinary bookbinding, that was a magic tome. No matter how trivial it was, just the fact that it was a ‘magic tome’ made its value skyrocket. It was not something that a fallen noble like Serina could dare to hope for. With a surprised heart, she continued to look at the sentences, and more lines appeared one by one.

― Reader, if the place where you read this book is the Rose Palace library, it means that it has not been moved to another place since I first submitted it. I, Bingalsa, the Librarian of the Rose Palace, write this in the 232nd year of the founding of the nation.

‘The 232nd year of the founding of the nation… that’s 72 years ago from now?’

Serina counted the years in her head, and then, forgetting even that she had been crying, she was drawn into the contents of the text that appeared one line or one paragraph at a time. The book continued to display its contents on the paper.

― I attached a bookplate as if it were a formally registered book, worrying that a junior Librarian might accidentally discover this book and get rid of it. However, it is a false pretense to avoid the Librarian’s eyes, so I did not register it in the book list. If a diligent Librarian had discovered this book and processed it according to the regulations, it would not have been placed in the Rose Palace library.

― If this book is found in the Rose Palace, it is not officially in the library, so stealing it is not theft. Therefore, I hope you will hide this book and read it in a place where you can feel safe and read it to your heart’s content.

Serina hesitated, wondering whether to just put it back on the bookshelf and return, or to act crazy and hide the book in her clothes and take it out without permission as the book said.

The author of the book said, ‘Since it has never been registered, stealing it is not stealing,’ but the regulations might have changed over the past 70 years, or a clumsy, diligent Librarian might have roughly registered it. If it was registered in the book list, unauthorized removal of a magic tome would obviously be considered a serious crime.

If safety was the top priority, she shouldn’t take risks. But perhaps because she felt wronged, Serina acted crazy and hid the book in her clothes.

Because the book was small and thin and bound in leather, it fit very well into her inner pocket. The author of the book had deliberately made it that way so that it could be easily taken out without permission. Serina’s heart pounded as if she were taking on a small adventure.

Serina hid the book, straightened her clothes, composed her face, and left the bookshelf. Iblenos, the old Librarian who was the most boring and least likely to succeed in the Rose Palace, but the least likely to be harassed by superiors, was sitting at his desk, deeply engrossed in examining documents. He looked up and touched the lenses of his glasses made of carved crystal.

“If there’s only one person here, I wouldn’t mind if I heard a little noise, Maid-agassi.”

He was always a Librarian with a rigid expression like a rock, but this time he slightly moved his facial muscles to create a smile. There was so little to laugh about in the library that it looked awkward, but Serina smiled slightly at the small consideration he was showing.

****************

That night, Serina forcibly finished her work and entered her room in a corner of the Rose Palace. As the hinges creaked open, the humble sight of a small desk, a bed, and a wooden chest serving as a wardrobe came into view. Several uniforms worn as a maid were in the wooden chest on one side of the bed.

The cool, heavy texture of the thick stone walls coldly confined the small space given to Serina. Normally, she would have been tormented by a feeling of being heavily pressed down, but now, she wanted to read the mysterious book, and her heart was pounding, so she forgot even that feeling.

Serina took off her maid’s uniform from her tired body, changed her clothes, and threw herself onto the bed. A fragrant and savory smell of dried straw and herbs mixed together wafted up. Lighting an oil lamp and relying on the dim light at a distance where the straw wouldn’t burn, Serina continued to read.

― I want to hide my real name, because if things go wrong, I might be dismembered after death. However, I lived as a poor magician all my life and became a Librarian to make a living, so I call myself ‘Bingalsa (貧竭師)’ meaning ‘poor magician.’

“Bingalsa? If it’s Bingalsa, it’s not just ‘poor magician,’ is it?”

Bin-geol (貧竭) is an appropriate word to describe poverty so severe that spiders would spin webs in one’s throat. Serina tilted her head. Magicians are important talents then and now, so how could they be so poor? But the book didn’t seem to care what Serina said.

― I was a magician, but my skills were insignificant. While other magicians created illusions and delayed the advance of enemies, I was not even as good as a street clown, unable to earn a proper living, and belatedly became a Librarian. The salary was not great, but when a stable way to make a living opened up, I gathered my pain and obsession to create my own magic.

The tone of the book was calm, but you could feel the inferiority and resentment shimmering in black between the lines. A maid who was a noble but not treated as a noble was reading a book by someone who was a magician but could not live as a magician, so it didn’t feel like someone else’s story at all. Serina’s heart ached a little at the pain that must have filled the magician who called himself ‘Bingalsa’ to the bone.

― In the obsession of desire and agony, after suffering from the pain of my marrow burning and ripening, I created my own magic that penetrates the gap between the human mind and body. The appearance of someone affected by this magic looks like they are sleeping at first glance, so I named this magic ‘Hypnosis (催眠),’ meaning ‘leading to sleep.’

“Hypnosis… you say? It sounds like a name that people who can’t sleep and toss and turn on long nights would look for.”

The image of lovers ‘unable to sleep and restless with the passion of love’ suddenly came to Serina’s mind, but she erased her distracting thoughts and turned her eyes back to the book.

― Unfortunately, hypnosis has clear limitations. Perhaps most people will regard it as a trivial skill that only patients suffering from insomnia would seek. However, depending on how it is used, it can lead to absurd results, so a trivial human who was ignored as a trivial magician all his life and eventually made a living in a profession other than magic dares to call it a ‘dangerous masterpiece.’

― At worst, you will be sentenced to death or trapped in a distant swamp and rot for the rest of your life. If used moderately, you will become a famous doctor who cures those suffering from insomnia and nightmares. But if used to the fullest, you will become a powerful figure behind the scenes. Even if you learn how to handle a sword in the same way, some become knights, some become mercenaries, and some become murderers. After learning my magic, whether you become a death row inmate, a medical student (醫生), or a powerful figure, it is up to you how you use it.

― Reader who has read this far, if you do not want to learn my magic, close this book here and return it to the place where it was. I will wait until someone with a connection reads this book again. But if you want to learn my magic, put your hand on this chapter and swear slowly three times, “I sincerely want to learn Bingalsa’s dangerous masterpiece.” Then the method will appear.

The tone of the book was as serious as it could be. Did Bingalsa really want someone to learn his magic? What kind of magic is it that makes it like this? Serina couldn’t confide in anyone, so she was suffering like a mute eating hot potatoes.

‘Should I stop here? It says I could be sentenced to death at worst.’

This book continued to demand choices. When she first obtained the book, she was asked to choose whether to take it out without permission, and now she was asked to choose whether to learn magic. She didn’t like this point very much, but on the other hand, she was also curious about what it was that made it warn and demand choices like this.

‘Even if I learn it, I don’t have to use it if it’s really dangerous. There’s nothing to lose by learning it first.’

Serina raised her right hand and placed it on the paper of the book as the book had requested. As the lamplight flickered, the shadows of Serina and the book also swayed. As if the deep darkness of the night was trying to extinguish the faint light, a dark chill seemed to embrace Serina. Serina trembled with a chill.

“I sincerely want to learn Bingalsa’s dangerous masterpiece.”

The moment she repeated the same words three times as instructed, a sentence appeared again in the book.

― It is wicked, it is wicked, it is wicked.

Serina flinched and feared for a moment at the sentence that appeared for the first time after uttering the lines that Bingalsa had requested.

― The name hypnosis is a disguise that obscures the essence. The human mind is influenced by the body, and the human body is influenced by the mind. Also, the human mind has parts that are visible and parts that are not. The power of hypnosis magic is insignificant and has many limitations, but it tries to penetrate the gap connecting the two parts of the human mind and influence the mind, and further, the body. Therefore, it is wicked.

― I leave behind hypnosis and convey methods that can be misused. Just as fertilizing rough land makes the land fertile and allows you to farm and harvest abundantly, if you are truly good, you will find a good path in the magic I have left behind and benefit people. But if you are evil, you will absorb it like a dry cloth absorbs water, and the evil path is easier than the good path. Therefore, it is wicked.

― Hypnosis magic is nothing in itself. Learning hypnosis does not in itself cause side effects or flaws in the body or mind. With the same water, some quench the thirst of the thirsty, some earn money, and some use it as a tool for murder. Water is just water. But those who lack self-control use even water as a tool for crime. I leave this book behind without knowing who will receive my magic. Therefore, it is wicked.

Serina read the continuously appearing text with a feeling of holding her breath. The night was drawn into a deep darkness.