Episode 67

Johanna, Johanna Roswell.

I ruminated on my memories of her. What kind of person she was before returning.

For once, at least she was far from a villain. Johanna looked more like a scholar or researcher than a hunter.

[Boffs selection, Top 5 most intelligent people of the present age]

[Maze Johanna updates Niges paper publication record!]

[We live in Johanna’s time.]

The first things that came to my mind were articles related to conferences and papers, so I said that.

She pulled out the results of various studies such as dungeons, magic, and monster knowledge. Perhaps the Hunter job was a means to secure research funding.

Thanks to that, I didn’t have much contact with me, who was active as Iron Judgment. Rather, she contributed a lot to the world.

[Hunter Association, technical agreement signed with Veritas Guild.]

[Johanna, ‘Barrier’ creation formula released for free!]

[‘Are you going to patent the sun as well?’, Jonas Soak of the magic world appears!]

Thanks to her research, the Society has made crisis response easier, and many lives have been saved.

But now that I think about it, I don’t think I did the research with that intention. She was a founding member of the Ubermensch, and I wonder if she continued her research alone after the Ubermensch changed.

That kind of Johanna is now in front of me, in the academy’s counseling room. She lightly drew a magic circle on the wall with her finger.

Soon, smoke gushed out from the magic circle like dry ice and filled the area.

“Well, I made sure to do the soundproofing magic.”

Johanna smiled and took up her pipe.

“Shall we talk comfortably?”

* * *

Johanna smiled and took a seat across from Kang Tae-min. Her silver eyes swept down from his head.

“Once, I became a nuisance to the other teachers, so I followed them, but it’s a story that I can’t understand at all.”

“Uhm, are you going to come out without knowing?”

Johanna clenched her fists on her chin and set her pipe down on the table.

“Kang Tae-min. No, this can be a bit unpleasant, so I call you Teacher Kang, just like Geomju or Changhwang.”

“I see.”

“Yes, Mr. Kang. Let me tell you something interesting.”

Johanna smiled and pointed to my eyes.

“This mana is what you mean. In fact, they all look alike, but to my eyes they are clearly distinct.”

“… division?”

“yes. Well, in reality, there are cases where even the same aura has a different color, right? Since you are a teacher, you must have seen it.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Yes, like that, I can distinguish the characteristics of mana. It’s like looking at a spectrum of light.”

Johanna said that and leaned forward. Her silvery eyes widened like a lantern.

“But Mr. Kang has two colors?”

Taemin Kang did not answer.

Maybe it was because Taemin Kang, the teacher, and Taemin Kang, the Iron Judgment, were mixed together.

“When I first saw you, did you think I was going crazy from holding back what I wanted to ask?”

“… Don’t you ever think that the distinction is wrong?”

“Hmm, I think you are too wary. I didn’t come here to do something with Mr. Kang.”

Yohanna looked at Kang Tae-min’s expression and pulled herself back. And then I rolled my eyes for a moment.

“Well, if you don’t believe me even if I say that, I have to tell you first.”

“story?”

“yes. In fact… I’m in the same situation as Mr. Kang.”

didn’t you know this?

Johanna’s expression seemed to say that. Kang Tae-min faced that expression with calm eyes.

However, the inside was quite complicated.

‘Could it be that Johanna also returned?’

Did he return to the past from the future like that? Or a double awakener with two superimposed abilities?

“You’re not thinking of something like double awakening, are you?”

As if reading his mind, Johanna smiled and asked.

“The phenomenon of double awakening cannot happen.”

“So what do you mean?”

“… We talked this far, but are you going to reveal it?”

She furrowed her brow slightly. But then he sighed and shook his head.

“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter who says it first.”

Still, Johanna crossed her arms, probably feeling a bit annoyed.

“You’re from ‘the other side’ too, aren’t you?”

“… there?”

At those words, Kang Tae-min was convinced.

‘It’s not a regression.’

At the same time as the judgment, his course of action was decided.

“… That’s what it meant.”

“yes! Now you can be a little more honest.”

It was decided to get the information by matching the words in moderation. A smile bloomed on Yohanna’s face, as if she thought that Kang Tae-min had acknowledged it.

“I never thought there would be another person like me.”

“Ha, that’s right. So what did you do over there?”

“… I didn’t do anything special enough to say otherwise.”

“No, I’m still curious. Actually, I want to know how you got here.”

“If you tell me first, I will tell you.”

“Would you like to come out like that?”

Johanna laughed, but she shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, I’m not proud of it, but I was called the Archmage.”

“… Archmage?”

“To put it in this term, it was no different than a recluse. Because I lived in seclusion to find the truth.”

Johanna’s eyes grew dim. It was like reminiscing about the past.

“I miss it sometimes. Still, I can’t go back now. You know that?”

Kang Tae-min pondered the question for a while, then shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

It was better to be ignorant than pretending to know and then getting the story twisted. Johanna gave a small sigh at the answer.

“ah… Did he die before then? Well, then you might not know the whole story.”

“The whole story?”

“yes. I saw the end of the world.”

At those words, Kang Tae-min quickly reassembled the information.

‘There, the end, return… ? no way?’

There was only one possibility that came to mind with him.

‘Have you come from another world?’

It means that Johanna came from ‘the other side’, beyond the dungeon, not from here. Kang Tae-min’s expression became serious.

Is such a thing possible? However, it was rather unreasonable to discuss the impossible in the yard of experiencing regression.

“Oh yeah… That would be shocking. Because my hometown is gone.”

She interpreted the look differently. However, it was a remark that changed Kang Tae-min’s speculation to certainty.

“that’s… .”

“You want to hear what happened.”

Johanna described the end of the other world with a serious face.

“At first I thought it was the work of the devil.”

There was an untimely eclipse.

The moon that covered the sun was larger than usual, and the world was plunged into darkness.

And never saw the sunlight again.

“Only the moonlight was full. Only the pale and cold white moonlight.”

“If it’s moonlight… .”

“Yes, Lunatic money.”

Johanna chewed and said.

All sentient beings exposed to the moonlight were eroded by madness. The madness inherent in them broke the shell of reason and jumped out into reality.

Even those who barely held onto their reason saw them and were stained with madness.

“A world where reason disappears and only madness remains. I was the last reason there.”

The reason she was able to endure until the end was because of her inquisitive mind as a mage.

But I couldn’t live there just by holding on.

“I had to escape somehow. But madness overflowed everywhere. So I thought I should go to another dimension.”

“Dimension shift magic?”

“It was unstable, but it was implemented. The body was left behind and only the soul came over.”

Only then did Kang Taemin understand.

‘So the name in the karma log… .’

He looked at Johanna’s karma log again.

[Karma Log]

[Name – ■■■ ■■■ (■■■)]

The name was erased, but it was marked with parentheses.

‘Is this the name used in the other world?’

Johanna grinned, perhaps taking that gaze differently.

“Well, I’m still satisfied with my new body. I can’t say it with my own mouth, but it’s quite worth seeing, isn’t it?”

“… What happened to the original owner of the body?”

“yes? Ah, I didn’t steal the body. I have a soul, how can I squeeze into it? I was born here.”

After replying, Johanna wrinkled her nose with a tired expression.

“But I couldn’t believe that the bad luck would follow me all the way here. The Lunatic Dawn are the seeds that believe that madness is true peace. Trash seeking ignorance. No, it would be rude to say that garbage can be recycled at least.”

She poured out her words with all her heart. It was an expression of contempt and hatred.

“What, in the meantime, a person from the same town appeared, so I’m not surprised? No, but how did you get over it?”

As soon as Johanna finished talking about herself, she asked a question. Kang Tae-min couldn’t answer that it was a misunderstanding now.

Fortunately, Johanna didn’t know much about dimension shifting either.

Kang Tae-min decided to use the method that criminals often used in court.

“I honestly don’t know. My memory is hazy too. I died and woke up in this state.”

I don’t remember.

I don’t remember, so I can’t judge. The truth was mixed with it, and even the attitude was natural.

“The only thing left is the desire to become a wizard. Unfortunately, I was reborn with a body that couldn’t do that… .”

Taemin Kang added a bit of flattery to it. Goodwill is sometimes a good smokescreen to hide the truth.

At his answer, Johanna smiled lightly.

“yes? Certainly, if it had been a wizard, it would have been better. Umm… Maybe there was a dimensional gap before then. It’s not like I was protected by magic, so some of my soul might have been lost in the process… .”

As a seeker, she began to deduce the answer herself. Then, with a sorry face, he grabbed a pipe.

“Oh, what… Rather, it could be that I didn’t remember it well.”

“Yes, I’d rather think so.”

“Yes, yes. Well, I thought there might be other possibilities, but at least as far as I know, the only two traits are when the soul and body are born differently.”

Johanna shrugged and smiled brightly.

“Anyway, since we are comrades with the same enemy, let’s cooperate. Talk to me anytime if you need help.”

“thank you. I would be more than happy to ask for your help.”

Kang Tae-min lightly held her outstretched hand.

* * *

Vacation started and a few days passed. However, Yoo Hwa-rin did not step out of the house.

‘… What am I?’

The Crown Island avalanche plagued her.

The image of herself unable to do anything because of the spirits trembling in fear, and the situation of being just a small and diminutive girl without the spirits did not leave her mind.

‘Is it really because of the spirits… ?’

I asked myself so much, but I already knew the answer. It wasn’t just the spirits that were afraid. Rather, it was revealed that he wanted to run away by riding on the spirit.

‘I could have fought to fight… .’

When Song Dae-beom fought with the association staff to save his mother, he wanted to help. In response to that feeling, the spirit was summoned.

But before that, she didn’t come out when trying to save people who had nothing to do with her.

‘If the teacher hadn’t come back then… .’

What would have happened if Kang Tae-min had not come?

She remembered Joo Da-hyun. A friend who took action without hesitation and looked completely different from himself.

Compared to that, how do you see yourself? If there is no spirit, what is oneself?

‘Do you really think of me as a friend?’

Aren’t friends equal? But is he, without a spirit, equal to his friends?

If not, wouldn’t it be the spirits, not her, that are of value to her friends?

Negative thoughts brought on by helplessness bit their tail after tail.

Yuhwarin wanted to cry. But I couldn’t help but cry. If you cry, it’s like admitting that your thoughts are right.

Just then the doorbell rang.

“ah.”

As if waking from hypnosis, she jumped up in amazement. There is no one to come, so who is it?

Perhaps Dahyun or Soyul came over to play? She hurriedly tidied up her clothes and headed for the door.

“uh?”

She checked the intercom and opened the door right away. Taemin Kang was standing behind the door.

“Hwarin-ah, did you rest well?”

“Teacher? And… .”

Standing behind Kang Tae-min was Song Dae-beom. I was wondering what the heck is this?

“It’s a make-up for vacation.”

The place where Kang Tae-min arrived with the two as if kidnapped.

[VERITAS]

It was the private property of Veritas, a guild run by Johanna. Unlike Spiral, it was a mixture of a university campus and a research complex.

Soon after, get out of the car.

“Are these guys?”

“Yes.”

Johanna was waiting for them. It was because Kang Tae-min asked for help right away.

She had already heard of the two, and had already decided what to teach.

“Using magic properties and contracting with higher spirits would be enough.”

Contrary to what he said lightly, it was a class that could not be exchanged for gold.

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