Episode 04
The Archmage Who Uses Magic
“Magic… I can use magic!”
He didn’t know why.
But somehow—
The spell he had cast didn’t just stop at forming a magic circle.
It activated.
Six beams of energy burst forth like pillars of light.
And their power—
Was exactly as his master had always described.
They tore through the ceiling of Lotte World…
And blasted a hole clean through the colossal monster, so wide that the sky beyond could be seen.
If I can really use magic…
If this had happened during training, he would have stopped everything to analyze it.
But now—
People were dying.
What mattered wasn’t the reason.
What mattered was this:
He now had the power to fight back.
“…Let’s do this.”
He cast his next spell without hesitation.
The monsters, momentarily stunned by the counterattack, charged toward him again at terrifying speed.
This time, his spells were faster.
More efficient.
Designed to kill.
“Haaah!!”
The moment his hand shot forward—
The ground split open.
Eight barbed tendrils erupted upward, writhing violently as they bound several monsters.
Then—
They shredded them.
“Kreeeeeeeek!!!”
Without pause, Seongjun’s other hand moved.
A storm of translucent silver blades appeared—
Spinning like a cyclone.
They carved through six monsters in an instant.
Double Casting.
A technique so advanced that even trained mages struggled with it.
Casting multiple spells simultaneously with both hands.
And yet—
Seongjun used it effortlessly.
Well… it’s not like I had anything else to practice.
Even without mana, he had practiced endlessly.
Finger movements.
Casting motions.
Left hand. Right hand.
Then both—different spells at once.
Now—
What had once been meaningless practice…
Had turned him into something else entirely.
“Kreeeeeeeek!!!”
Another monster was pierced and incinerated.
And slowly—
The people inside Lotte World began to realize something.
“An Awakened! There’s an Awakened!”
“Everyone, get behind him!”
The crowd, once scattering in panic, now began to gather behind Seongjun.
But that only made things worse.
The monsters grew more violent.
More desperate.
And Seongjun—
Now had to defend both himself…
And everyone else.
This might be a bit much alone…
An ordinary Awakened would think of reinforcements.
But Seongjun was different.
Because he had been taught one thing above all else:
A mage is a one-man army.
“Rise—servants of nature, rooted in the earth!”
He stomped the ground.
Golden ripples spread outward in a perfect circle.
The waves reached the massive trees scattered across the park—
And were absorbed.
Then—
The impossible happened.
The ground cracked.
The trees…
Moved.
Gigantic tree-like giants tore themselves free from the earth.
And despite their size—
They moved as fast as the monsters.
Blocking attacks.
Crushing enemies.
Trees… good. Next… that one.
Seongjun picked up a chunk of concrete.
Pouring mana into it with one hand—
While his other hand continued casting spell after spell.
Soon—
The stone glowed blue.
He hurled it.
BOOOOOOM!!
It struck the chest of a massive structure.
And then—
Something began to move.
A giant.
Far larger than the tree constructs.
A ten-meter-tall figure—
With a deceptively cute appearance.
But the aura it gave off—
Was terrifying.
“What the hell is that?!”
“It’s Lotte! Lotte is moving!”
The park’s mascot statue—
Had become a golem.
Seongjun floated upward with levitation magic.
Landing on its shoulder—
He shouted.
“Let’s go, Lotte! Show them the wrath of Lotte World!”
***
Later—
“So… you’re saying a man in a mascot costume rode a giant Lotte statue and fought a colossal monster?”
The agent looked utterly unconvinced.
The injured civilian frowned.
“How many times do I have to tell you? That’s exactly what happened!”
The agent glanced at the shattered remains nearby.
Barely recognizable.
“You’re saying… that was moving?”
“Ask anyone. They’ll tell you the same.”
He didn’t bother asking others.
This was already the third identical testimony.
With a sigh, he walked over to his superior.
A woman in her mid-twenties stood there, clad in special operations gear.
Her gaze was fixed on the corpse of the giant monster.
“Ma’am…”
Before he could continue—
A brilliant white bow appeared in her hand.
Without hesitation—
She fired.
SHWAAAAAANG!!!
The impact exploded like an anti-tank missile.
When the smoke cleared—
She examined the wound.
Comparing it…
To another one nearby.
The one left by Seongjun.
I couldn’t pierce it…
Whoever that masked man was—
He had done something she couldn’t.
Witness reports echoed in her mind:
- “The trees started moving when he waved his hand!”
- “A barrier bounced monsters away!”
- “Monsters exploded just by looking at him!”
- “He disappeared and reappeared somewhere else!”
One word stood out.
“Like… magic…”
She shook her head.
“Impossible. No Awakened can use magic.”
Then she gave her order.
“Request full government cooperation. Use every resource available. Find him.”
“You believe the civilians? An unregistered Awakened defeating all those monsters alone—and vanishing?”
“I don’t know. But if it’s true…”
Her gaze returned to the corpse.
Six massive holes pierced through it.
“Then aside from the six Pioneers… no one else should be capable of this.”
“If we secure him… Korea will take control of the global Awakened scene.”
“We could even recover the losses from that fraud six years ago.”
At that moment—
Another agent rushed in.
“Message from the Blue House!”
“What is it? The Lotte World incident is already resolved.”
What he said next—
Shattered everything she knew.
“A new entity has appeared over Seoul.”
“Another one? Size?”
“It’s… it’s…”
“No matter how big it is, it won’t be larger than this one.”
But the agent hesitated.
Then spoke.
“They say… it’s the size of Yeouido.”
Silence fell.
Because for anyone who knew Seoul—
That meant only one thing.
Something the size of an entire island… had appeared in the sky.
