༺ S0. Tour of Modern Civilization – 1 ༻
As you opened your eyes, a sight you had never seen before captivated you.
Skyscrapers soared into the sky and colorful LEDs obscured the stars in the moonlit night. Countless people wandered around in unfamiliar attire. Four-wheeled carriages without horses passed by.
It was an impression of complexity and noise. Yet, amidst the chaos, there was also order.
An impeccably clean black road, made of an indiscernible material, was solely traversed by four-wheeled carriages. The only exception was the white lines drawn on that black road, over which people walked.
When the red light of the uniquely shaped street lamps lit up, they would stop. When it turned green, they walked. It was an intuitive signal that seemed to say Move / Do Not Move.
Under the assumption that all your conjectures were correct……
You needed to move now. It was because you were standing in the middle of a black road intersection. And the red light was glowing ominously.
HONK──! HONKKKKK──!
A loud noise ensued. Music was a universal language, and to you, this noise sounded like a threat or a warning. Observing the expressions of the people in the four-wheeled carriages, it seemed like it was indeed a warning.
Then where should you go?
After all, you had unexpectedly landed in this strange, unfamiliar world.
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“Are you a foreigner? Ugh, I mean, geez…….Even foreigners know about red and green lights. R e d l i g h t. G r e e n l i g h t. R i g h t? Why are you just standing there in the middle of the……Taesik, what was your TOEIC1an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native speakers. It is intentionally designed to measure the everyday English skills of people working in an international environment. score again?”
“Ah shit! I’m not good at speaking!”
“Then who else here can speak English? You said you passed the TOEIC, you brat! Ugh, whatever. I don’t know anymore. Try talking somehow.”
“Ugh, shit………Seriously? H e y, a r e y o u o k a y? U m, h e r e i s p o l i c e o f f i c e. A n d y o u a r e c r i m i n a l. B e c a u s e y o u, y o u d o n t m o v e a t Beep Beep Honk Honk………..”
“Hey, the fuck is up with Beep Beep Honk Honk, you dumbass!”
“Agh, then you do it, Team Leader!”
Fatty and Skinny were arguing with each other. Actually, on closer inspection, it didn’t really seem like a fight. There was no malice in their eyes and it was more like rough communication among close friends.
The two people were trying to shift the burden of dealing with a sudden problem onto each other.
And you were that very ‘problem’.
Your keen intellect guessed that they were some sort of……‘security force’. Skinny, seemingly of lower rank than Fatty, handed you a paper and pen.
“What’s your name? W h a t s y o u r n a m e?”
What is your name? This question was the foundation of all human relationships. This was the moment of your first monumental communication with this world.
The paper seemed to expand. It felt like it was filling your vision. And on it, there was a black square. This seemed to be where you write your name.
Thus, you picked up the pen and wrote your name.
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“I see, Tower Master. So that was your name, huh?”
When Yuna, the Purple Magic Tower Master, suddenly heard a familiar voice in her ear, she was not surprised. To put it nicely, she was used to the Magic Tower’s resident troublemaker, and to put it harshly, she was utterly worn out by him.
After all, he had played numerous pranks under the guise of observing humans, or so he said. Since he seemed curious about her lengthy name, she explained in more detail.
“Mhm. I was an illegitimate child of the Yurensto County. In truth, I was essentially estranged but not removed from the family register. After all, my father dislikes Yuna Yurensto, but wants to keep the Purple Magic Tower Master as his daughter.”
“What about Violetiris?”
“That’s the surname given to me by the Royal Family when I was recognized as a Tower Master. It takes precedence over the household surname, so I should be called ‘Miss Violetiris’ instead of ‘Miss Yurensto’.”
“It’s long.”
“I still have a good pronoun like Tower Master2FYI: in korean, Magic Tower Master is actually only three characters. So it’s considered a lot SHORTER than Violetiris. Obviously this is not the case here., though, right?”
“It’s been about 8 years since we’ve known each other, but I only just learned your name, you know? So, I wanted to use it.”
“……Do as you please.”
Yuna replied cursorily, turning her head. As she was not adept at conversation, especially of this kind, she didn’t know what to say.
How could she respond with words such as, ‘You can call me by my name as much as you like’? How embarrassing.
The world was reflected in the eyes of the small Tower Master. It was a mysterious world created by a strange genius.
This realistic world must be Illusion Magic. Even as Yuna experienced it herself, she couldn’t believe it. Sounds, smells, the feeling of the chair under her butt, and the otherworld security guards chatting away in front.
If she hadn’t seen the steps taken to accumulate his Illusion Magic before, she might have thought that an insane wizard had finally developed Dimensional Shift Magic. How could this world possibly be an illusion?
It was nothing short of terrifying talent.
When she paid more attention, she realized even the language used was different. The conversation among the otherworld security guards was unlike any she had heard on the continent. Yet, the meaning was understood as if it were hammered into her head.
Did he use the Illusion Magic Technique, 『Blurring』, to make this strange situation feel not so strange? Or perhaps he used a clever 『Cognitive Deceleration』 to prevent her thoughts from suspecting……..
Then, could she escape from it?
The battlefield of Illusion Magic was already predetermined; it was whether the Casted could escape the magic or not. Even a trivial illusion was considered good Illusion Magic if it was hard to escape from, and a beautiful, dazzling illusion would be bad if it was easy to escape from.
The Illusion Magic behind this world was already at a level where it should be written and glorified in the annals of history. Now it was just the question of whether comments such as -However, this magic had these insufficient aspects- would be attached or not.
Tower Master Yuna mobilized her mana.
As she did so, she felt drowsy. She couldn’t quite remember how to move her mana and it seemed like there was no such thing as magic in this world to begin with. She couldn’t even feel her meticulously constructed mana heart.
It must be the effect of the Illusion Magic. She judged that 『Hypnosis』 was applied with content like [In this world, there is no magic and you, too, do not know how to use magic.].
Hypnosis could make one feel like something didn’t exist, but it couldn’t actually eliminate it.
Even though I can’t feel it, the mana heart exists. Even though it doesn’t come to mind, I am a wizard. Even if the only basis for believing I am a wizard is faith, that alone is enough.
Because I believe that the effort I have spent all this time is not worthless.
A soap bubble arose from her fingertip.
Inside the bubble, images flashed by, such as a dragon flying, a hologram named Heart seducing a man, and the butler corps ruthlessly violating the Purple Magic Tower.
Like paint mixing on a palette, the images sluggishly swirled and blended together. The shiny, transparent bubble seemed to slowly fill with a black liquid.
Its full name, 『Violetiris’s Concentrated Memory Mana Crystal Explosion』, may be aesthetic, but it didn’t aptly describe the essence of the magic.
When she showed this technique to the Tower’s resident troublemaker, he called it an 『Information Bomb』.
Crunch.
A crack appeared on the surface of the soap bubble. Once the internal pressure exceeded the threshold, the bubble would explode. And once it did, the indiscriminately concentrated information would tear apart this magnificent world built by Illusion Magic.
If the world withstood it, Yuna would have to humbly pass on the position of Tower Master.
“ERELELRLELRLERLELRLERLERE.”
“Oh mYKIYA──AHHHHHHH!!”
The Tower’s troublemaker mercilessly licked Tower Master Yuna’s ear. Her concentration shattered and the bubble disappeared without a trace, as if rubbed away by an eraser.
Yuna rolled on the ground, protecting the area where she was fatally ambushed. And then, she screamed again at the slimy liquid oozing from her fingertips.
“W-W-What, what whAT WHAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING──!!”
“Why are you trying to tear apart something I did my best to make? If that exploded, it would have been destroyed.”
“T-Then, u-use your w-words!”
“It was a bit embarrassing to say it.”
“WHAT YOU! What you just did was what was actually embarrassingggGGG!!”
“Let’s test the magic later. What I wanted to show you today wasn’t the magic itself, but this world…….my hometown.”
“Hometown?”
“Didn’t I tell you I’m from another world?”
“YOU DIDN’T!!”
“Well, it’s not that important, so…….Anyway, I’ll treat you to a full course, so let’s go. Earth has developed in various ways, but its culinary culture is especially amazing.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
Purple Magic Tower Master Yuna’s high-functioning brain concluded it was reasonable to have meaningful expectations about the otherworld’s cuisine and commanded the salivary glands to operate. Thus, Yuna swallowed down her saliva.
“L-Let’s go.”
“Yep.”
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Not even ten minutes had passed since the grand opening before I almost got fucked. If that tiny soap bubble had burst, my Illusion Magic would have been ripped apart on the spot.
It felt like watching a full-swing baseball bat whirl right over my display case of figurines! Do you even know how many fucking reagents and advanced preparation went into showing this……..!
The Purple Magic Tower Master was…….I mean, Purple Magic Tower Master Yuna Violet whatever, was occasionally very aggressive. When passing by an ongoing Illusion Magic demonstration, she would sometimes poke it, wondering, ‘Will it break if I kick it?’
There were about three such pitiful victims of obliterated magic per week.
I was sweating bullets, trying to figure out how to stop it. It was impossible to block the spell with technical skill in magic. No matter how much of a magic genius, being scouted by all the Magic Towers, I was, Tower Masters were also geniuses that had just grown up.
To defeat the strong as the weak, one must strike unexpectedly.
The optimal solution my neurons came up with was that very ERELRELERE. I deduced that it would work on the Tower Master, who had almost zero immunity to men.
Now that the danger was resolved, it was time to enjoy myself; kimchi, samgyupsal3KBBQ pork belly, kalguksu4korean style noodle soup, and the like.
It was time to introduce 『Korean Cuisine』 as a token of gratitude to the Tower Master, who had supported the funding of its research up to this point…….
