I’ll Retire After Saving the World

Chapter 13: Witch Park Seo-hyun (2)

TL: SHW

Runes were the exclusive domain of mages.

It was only natural since only mages could draw runes.

However, mages themselves had long neglected runes. Anything that could be done with runes could also be done with magic, and it was usually simpler to do it with magic.

A rune is drawn by concentrating mana into the fingers and tracing a path through which the mana can flow… I don’t know the details since I’m not a mage. Anyway, runes weren’t worth the effort compared to the results they produced. Moreover, they were so easy to erase.

But with the advent of the Mana Concealment Rune, runes were reevaluated. Its impact was so significant that it overshadowed all previous shortcomings. There was now a reason to use runes despite their disadvantages.

Then, the Mana Pen was created. It became an era where even non-mages could draw runes. Naturally, the value of runes increased further.

Modern dungeon raids were divided into before and after the reevaluation of runes.

This is the content of the first class in Rune Theory, a mandatory subject for first-year students at Hunter Academy.

“So.”

I looked at the two mages sitting in the room that doubled as a classroom.

Choi Jin-woo, who was sitting up straight and full of enthusiasm, and Park Seo-hyun, who was biting the end of her pencil and mumbling incomprehensible words.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if Park Seo-hyun was even in a state to listen to my words, let alone attend the class.

I turned my gaze to the back of the classroom.

“Why did you stop talking? Don’t mind me and continue.”

When our eyes met, Hong Seok-young waved his hand and laughed.

“We’ll stay quiet too!”

Next to him were the remaining students. There wasn’t much time. They came to attend a rune class they couldn’t even use.

Among those faces, the only one I still knew twenty years later was Oh Hyun-wook. In fact, even Oh Hyun-wook seemed unfamiliar. Instead of a pig buried in fat, he was a skinny male student. How time changes things…

Except for Oh Hyun-wook, Park Seo-hyun, and Lee Seung-yeon, the rest were from so long ago that I couldn’t find any information about them even with the Mana Watch. Since it was before the Ability Management Agency was established, I didn’t have high hopes while searching.

I hoped that at least one of them had talent on par with Oh Hyun-wook or Park Seo-hyun.

I looked at the two mages who were originally supposed to attend this class.

Let’s start by checking the mages first.

“Let’s see what level you guys are at.”

“Level?”

“There’s no need to be nervous. You know how to draw runes, right?”

Choi Jin-woo blinked and replied in an absurd voice.

“We drew runes in Myeong-dong.”

Crack.

At the same time, there was an ominous sound from Park Seo-hyun.

“Ugh….”

Park Seo-hyun lowered her head deeply.

Park Seo-hyun, whose shoulders were trembling, raised her head a little later. The broken pencil dropped from her mouth.

“…….”

“…….”

Although I knew that mages were much sturdier than civilians, I still asked.

“Is there a problem?”

“…….”

“Park Seo-hyun? Right?”

Park Seo-hyun answered after a long time.

“…………I’m fine.”

Her voice was so small that I would have missed it if I wasn’t paying attention.

She didn’t look fine at all.

I wondered if I was the only one who found Park Seo-hyun’s state alarming, so I looked around.

Choi Jin-woo glanced at her when he heard the pencil chewing sound, but that was all. He didn’t seem to be very concerned.

Hong Seok-young was naturally like that, but shouldn’t the rest find it strange? Their peer turned into such a state overnight.

Is this actually normal and I’m the strange one?

This is why mental evaluations are necessary when obtaining a Hunter license. Skill is important, but mental issues cannot be ignored.

Every year, there are dropouts from Hunter Academy who can’t withstand this atmosphere. In a way, it makes me wonder if those who can’t endure this could withstand a dungeon raid.

I don’t know.

I gave up thinking and drew a rune on the blackboard. It was the Mana Concealment Rune used in Myeong-dong.

“You’ve drawn this many times, right?”

“Huh?”

“After escaping from Myeong-dong, you haven’t drawn it even once?”

This rune?

Choi Jin-woo hesitated, gauging my reaction before answering.

“…I’ve drawn it.”

“You must have practiced a lot.”

He probably thought I’d get mad for using it without permission. But I didn’t mind.

“I taught it to you so you could use it. Feel free to use it.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. So go ahead and draw it. Let me see how well you can draw it.”

* * *

Hong Seok-young narrowed his eyes.

“No, you messed up that part again.”

“I heard that a rune can still be activated with this level of error….”

“It can be activated, sure.”

Woo Hwijae took the rune Choi Jin-woo had drawn and stuck it to his own forehead. Then, realizing his mistake, he quickly took it off and placed it on Choi Jin-woo’s forehead.

“Try activating it.”

Since he had a Mana Controller on his ankle, Woo Hwijae couldn’t activate the rune himself.

Only Hong Seok-young knew this detail. Choi Jin-woo activated the rune without any suspicion. The young mage’s mana, which had been drifting around, disappeared.

It was a scene I had seen several times. I had made the kids confirm it many times. But every time I saw it, I was amazed. A rune that could conceal mana?

How many of the dungeons deemed unraidable could be tackled using this rune? Off the top of my head, at least a dozen. Including overseas dungeons, the number was even higher.

That’s why he had forcibly brought him to the pilot school, ignoring opposing voices. If he knew other runes besides the Mana Concealment Rune, it would be helpful.

“Let’s assume you’re raiding a dungeon.”

Woo Hwijae began explaining leisurely. His mannerisms were quite practiced. Had he taught someone before?

“In what situation do you think this rune would be used?”

Hong Seok-young stroked his chin.

* * *

“In what situation do you think this rune would be used?”

“Uh… when running away from monsters?”

Since that’s how they used it in Myeongdong, that’s how he would answer.

“And?”

“And? Umm… during a sneak attack?”

I nodded.

“Have you ever been in a dungeon?”

“What? Well, no… I awakened last year. I got my Hunter license this year.”

“Really?”

What was Choi Jin-woo’s Shield Casting speed again? 4.2 seconds?

Considering he hadn’t been awakened for even a year, it was not just good—it was excellent.

Choi Jin-woo’s answers weren’t wrong. The Mana Concealment Rune was typically used for those purposes.

But some dungeons had particularly nasty quirks. Dungeons full of old-fashioned traps or special mechanisms that required specific conditions to be met to open paths.

These kinds of dungeons often consumed more Hunters than those with merely high danger levels.

If he hadn’t experienced dungeon raids yet… he might be going into a nearby dungeon soon.

I glanced at Hong Seok-young. When it came to dungeon raid theory, I was better. The question is how much I’m allowed to teach…

“This time, all you had to do was run. There wasn’t a problem when you were in the lead, right?”

“Yeah… there weren’t many monsters.”

Of course, there wouldn’t be any since I cleared them all out.

“But what if an actual battle took place? Would that be possible?”

“Uh….”

“Why haven’t runes been used until now?”

“…Because magic is more convenient?”

“Why is magic more convenient?”

This might have been a difficult question for Choi Jin-woo, who had only recently awakened.

I looked at Park Seo-hyun.

“…….”

Crunch.

The broken pencil disappeared back into Park Seo-hyun’s mouth.

…Should I ask? Would she even answer?

I mustered up the courage. Hadn’t Hong Seok-young dismissed her disheveled appearance as just a change in style? It could be true. Girls at that age are all like that, aren’t they?

“Uh… Park Seo-hyun?”

“……………Yes?”

“Why haven’t runes been used until now?”

“…….”

Park Seo-hyun mumbled something and hesitated for a moment.

Ptooey.

Thud.

A piece of pencil fell from her mouth.

Why on earth did she…? Could that be considered a style? She’s probably lost her mind.

“Uh… um.”

Park Seo-hyun smiled faintly.

“Runes… are easily erased….”

“Right. Runes are easily erased.”

This was one of the decisive reasons why runes hadn’t been used.

I picked up the broken piece of pencil from Park Seo-hyun’s desk.

There’s no need to use mana. Just rubbing it with your hand or drawing a single line with a pencil can easily ruin it. In dungeons where the ambient mana frequently gets tangled, they naturally wouldn’t hold up.

“That’s why it’s important to draw runes accurately.”

“Even if drawn accurately, it won’t increase durability…”

“Of course.”

The kind Archmage from France who developed the Mana Concealment Rune also improved these shortcomings of runes. Vive la France!

“Let me say upfront, I’m not a mage. I don’t know the principles even if you ask.”

Just in case, to block questions from the start.

“On top of an accurately drawn rune…”

I drew over the Mana Concealment Rune on the blackboard.

It wasn’t just one rune. At least five runes were combined. Durability, correction, waterproofing, amplification… what was the last one? Ah, resonance.

The effect is simple. It helps prevent the rune from being easily erased.

Geometric shapes interwoven to form a complex pattern that is hard to recognize. The original Mana Concealment Rune was almost unrecognizable.

“If you draw this over it, it won’t be easily erased.”

Choi Jin-woo’s eyes followed the rune and eventually lost focus.

“Can you draw it?”

“Uh… um, teacher…?”

Park Seo-hyun put down the pencil she had in her mouth and carefully called out to me.

“What?”

“Why… why didn’t you teach us this?”

“What?”

Park Seo-hyun closed her open mouth. I waited, thinking she had something to ask, but she just started biting her lips.

After a long while, she finally spoke again.

“In… Myeong-dong….”

Oh.

Hmm.

No way.

As I was trying to find the words, realizing what crossed my mind, Park Seo-hyun suddenly flinched and shook her head.

“N-no… I drew the rune wrong in the first place… even if I knew… it wouldn’t have… mattered….”

“…….”

“I’m sorry for interrupting…”

Park Seo-hyun quietly mumbled and put the rolling pencil back in her mouth. Seriously, why the pencil… never mind.

“Um, Student Park Seo-hyun?”

I called out to her.

“……Yes?”

So, this kid….

“…Teacher?”

No way.

It can’t be.

“Oh, um… nothing. Yeah. I’ll continue explaining. Where was I?”

“You said we need to draw runes accurately.”

“Oh, right, Jin-woo. This is also a combination of runes, so if there’s a problem with the initial rune, it won’t activate properly. If the rune is even slightly off, it won’t have any effect. So you always have to draw it accurately.”

“A combination of runes? How?”

“I can’t differentiate. But the person who made it said so, so just memorize it whole.”

I kept running my hand through my hair to hide my confusion.

…Is this real? Is it really like that?

So.

So…

Could it be that Park Seo-hyun is sitting there like that because of what happened in Myeong-dong?

Twenty years later, I could understand if it was because of the classmates who died during the Myeong-dong incident. I expected that. But now?

Is it because Lee Seung-yeon’s rune, which she drew, didn’t work?

“It looks too complicated….”

“You need to practice.”

So….

“……Teacher!”

Is she saying it’s my fault?

No, no, no. No matter how weak her mentality is, this is too much. She could be shocked, but everything turned out fine, right? No one died?

Isn’t that enough?

Park Seo-hyun and Choi Jin-woo started to follow the rune I had drawn. It was such a complex rune that it couldn’t be mastered just by drawing it a few times like the Mana Concealment Rune.

But Park Seo-hyun handed me her paper. The rune was drawn with heavy pencil strokes.

For someone drawing a rune for the first time, it was quite well done.

“…Is it correct? Did I draw it correctly? It’s right, isn’t it? This will activate, right?”

Park Seo-hyun asked me with a desperate look on her face.