NOVEL FROG Chapter 25
The entrance ceremony and the subsequent banquet had ended, and the evening was already settling in with the sun dimming. I parted ways with Yena and headed towards my assigned dormitory.
“The forbidden areas are the old castle’s defense lines, and after midnight, please ensure that no light spills outside the windows. Allowing outsiders into the dormitory can lead to punishment, so please keep this in mind. Especially if you get caught bringing in a female student, you could be expelled. Ah, even with such warnings, there are always those who break the rules every year… heh…”
The elderly caretaker leading the way along the path recited the precautions softly. A halo of light magic floated beside him, illuminating the dark forest path.
“Here we are. This is the dormitory assigned to student Yoo Jin-hyun. Please use it comfortably, as if it were your own room. In case of an emergency, just press the call button. Well…”
After finishing the guidance, the caretaker nodded politely and turned back the way he came. I returned the gesture and turned to check out the dorm building.
The dorm was a stone building set on flat ground amidst tall trees. Though it was a temporary assignment, I seemed to have received a single room, perhaps because I was admitted through a recommendation.
It was somewhat removed from the adjacent dorms, providing a peaceful atmosphere. At a glance, it seemed there were dozens of such dormitories. Just how expansive was this land…?
However, according to the professor’s explanation earlier, accommodations could change based on the rankings received later on.
So it seemed, whether intentionally trying to get close to Yeon Minha or not, I needed to maintain a high ranking.
Right now, I was consciously suppressing the manifestation of power, but according to the commander, my power would leak out when I fell asleep. I wanted to avoid the annoying situation of being discovered by those around me just because I slept.
Using the key I received, I unlocked the door and stepped inside, greeted by a dark wood-paneled floor and antique furniture.
The bed was large enough for two people to fit comfortably. The room also had two spare rooms, allowing for various uses.
Just one of these bedrooms was already bigger than the quaint little house I lived in with my mom in the past. Not that I needed to mention the barracks at the northeastern base.
It felt rather odd to have such luxuries, but I had no choice but to adapt now…
I started to look around the room. As I had requested, I couldn’t find any mirrors. The thick blackout curtains arranged by the window looked like they could completely block out reflections of light.
–knock knock!
Just as I was satisfied that all my requests had been met and approached the window to draw the curtains, a soft tapping sound resonated from outside, echoing a solid something.
I opened the window cautiously, checking the source of the sound.
“…Ah.”
Sitting on the outside window frame was a familiar-looking crow. The white feathers on its head caught my attention.
It was the same crow I encountered in the silver moonlight of the capital. I recalled seeing it occasionally fluttering in and out of the commander’s office while in the military.
Instead of a note tied to its leg, the crow was holding a large document binder rolled up in its beak. As I opened the window, it leapt inside and landed on my desk, immediately spitting out the document binder onto the tabletop.
The freed crow looked at me and opened its beak. But instead of the sound of a bird chirping, the rough and rugged voice of Mok Jinwoo spilled forth.
“How have you been, kid? I sorted the materials related to the information you requested last time. One is a summary of the introduction to elemental studies, and the other is a copy of a diary kept in the Information Bureau. Elemental studies is a subject taught even in the cradle, so that shouldn’t concern you, but the diary is classified as top secret, so please dispose of it immediately upon reading. And rest assured, I haven’t informed Jae-hyuk as you asked, so feel free to come to me if you need anything. If you’re feeling lonely in a foreign land, I can have a girl sent your way…”
“…If you’ve given me what I needed, just go.”
–Caw!
The crow, like a recording device, kept spitting out Mok Jinwoo’s words continuously. However, I felt no need to listen any longer.
I tossed the crow out the window and quickly shut the curtains. The crow cawed a few times in protest but soon vanished beyond the darkened sky.
“…You don’t need to cultivate a long relationship like mine; even delivering short recorded messages is perfectly possible. Memorizing and mimicking human speech is an easy task for crows. They were clever creatures long before they became monsters. Especially since they have mutated under the influence of particles now, it’s even easier,”
I suddenly recalled what the principal had said back in the greenhouse. I couldn’t help but envy those other wizards who could tame crows. That was something impossible for me from the start.
They say taming monsters requires feeding on inherent particles for a long time, but I didn’t have any inherent particles at all.
By the way, I wondered if the commander and my sister had arrived in the East by now. Just thinking about the commander, who never divulged mission details, made me feel a bit annoyed.
If I had my own crow, communicating with them would have been much smoother.
“…”
I shook off the disappointment and redirected my gaze to the document binder that the crow had left on my desk.
Since it looked like I wouldn’t be getting to bed early tonight, I intended to check the information Mok Jinwoo had sent.
Lying on the bed would just lead to me tossing and turning in gloomy thoughts all night. To be honest, I was curious about what “the curse of the elemental wizard” really was.
I pulled out the chair and sat down at the desk. Then I unlocked the mask and placed it within reach.
Although I was indoors, taking off the mask felt like fresh air was seeping in.
The document binder Mok Jinwoo sent contained two parts. First up, I decided to check out the summary of the introduction to elemental studies. Perhaps this was included to provide a basic understanding of elemental studies.
With the help of the dim indoor light, I began reading the text written on high-quality paper.
–…Although the precise origin of elements has yet to be uncovered, the prevailing hypothesis is that they are an alien species that integrated into the Earth’s ecosystem alongside the particles known as Vessels on the day of the Falling Star. Their peculiar forms, which cannot be identified by existing biological mechanisms, support this hypothesis. Additionally, their extreme sensitivity to particles, described as living while swimming among particles, is another crucial piece of evidence…
I had to take some time to understand the unfamiliar terms erupting one after another.
Falling Star. If I remembered correctly from school, it referred to the day a massive meteor shower struck the Earth over a hundred years ago.
The impact of that day resulted in the sudden disappearance of over 150 nations worldwide, with our country losing control over significant territories.
Moreover, it was on this day that the Vessel particles embedded in the meteorites began to seep down to Earth, leading to the emergence of humans who became wizards, mutated by the particles’ influence.
Not only humans but also some native organisms underwent mutations due to the particles’ effects, and these were identified as the origins of the monsters we now know.
To be honest, I knew almost nothing about elements, but the revelation that they weren’t natives of Earth but rather came from beyond the stars was a bit surprising.
–…In a sense, elements can be regarded as beings that share the historical trajectory of magic. Over dozens of types of elements have been documented in academia, with new species continually discovered at regular intervals. As previously mentioned, elements are invisible and have no tangible forms. Even if they enter our bodies, they have no effect. This is because they inhabit the ecological niche between the material world and the void. However, a select few wizards can perceive elements and even cast powerful elemental magic by utilizing them. Wizards with such talents are collectively referred to as elemental wizards…
The description of elements was now transitioning into the definition of elemental wizards.
–…The reason why elemental wizards can perceive elements is that the pathways to the outside, typically closed in normal people, are open in them due to the specific functions of their brains. Additionally, the brains of elemental wizards continuously emit waveforms of a unique bandwidth through this pathway, and the elements nearby instinctively gather to the source they perceive. After gathering, those elements are tamed, and using them as a medium, magic formulas are created—this is the basic principle of elemental magic…
I finally gained a clear understanding of the elemental wizards I had only vaguely known about until now.
–…Elemental magic has several advantages over modern magic in general. It can be said that elemental wizards experience no risk of particle depletion during practical application. Aside from the very small amount consumed as food for the elements, inherent particles are hardly ever exhausted. Moreover, while the power of casting magic decreases as the distance to the target increases, elemental magic retains its power regardless of distance thanks to the elements acting as a medium. Additionally, elemental wizards are directly connected through their pathways to the elements they tame, allowing them to cast spells much faster than ordinary wizards. This remains true even with the invention and widespread use of particle array devices…
–…Of course, one cannot say that elemental magic has no drawbacks at all. Due to the vast and complex structure of elemental magic, it cannot be implanted into particle array devices, which means elemental wizards must necessarily utilize their brains for calculations. As elemental magic consumes most of the brain’s resources during this process, it’s common for elemental wizards to be unable to use other types of magic or to perform poorly in them. Additionally, if the number or type of elements being tamed is large, they may suffer slight mental strain, leading to mild nightmares or hallucinations. However, in comparison to the many benefits that elemental magic offers, these downsides are truly minor…
In summary, elements are alien life forms that emerged on Earth from beyond the stars, and they are neither visible nor tangible. Therefore, not just ordinary people but even most wizards are entirely unaware of their existence.
However, there are some wizards with an open “pathway” in specific regions of their brains, allowing them to see elements and wield them through magic. These individuals are called elemental wizards.
“…”
However, based on what I read so far, there didn’t seem to be anything grandly labeled as “the curse of the elemental wizard.”
While there was mention of experiencing mild nightmares or hallucinations, it seemed far-fetched for people to label such minor side effects as a curse…
Moreover, it seemed the term “curse of the elemental wizard” was specific to the Yeon family lineage.
I turned my gaze to the material that Mok Jinwoo had sent. Perhaps the answers I sought lay within it.
I soon opened the diary and began reading its contents.
The previous owner of the diary was Yeon Ja-yoo, the second head of the Jeokhwa Yeon family. Based on the recorded dates, it seemed like this person lived several decades ago.
The diary contained research findings and questions from when elemental magic was first being established. I could see now why Mok Jinwoo asked to burn it immediately after confirming its contents. No one would be surprised if such precious materials fell into external hands, leading to immediate chaos.
The early part of the diary had content mostly echoing the introduction to elemental studies I had just read. It seemed that the theoretical concepts of elemental magic had remained consistent since that time.
–…While we refer to it as the ‘pathway’ or the ‘spiritual eye,’ strictly defining it could categorize it as a mental disorder in a brain’s specific part. Moreover, one could say elements are like parasites in a radical sense. They expertly latch onto humans whose pathways are open and siphon off their inherent particles. Worse, one cannot control this process. If an elemental wizard is like a magnet, then elements are like iron filings that adhere to them, which happens against their will. Elemental magic is merely the form of magic that allows for commanding these already-clinging elements; as of now, there’s no means to drive them away or summon them…
The description felt rather radical for a head of a distinguished elemental magic family. Parasites? Does that mean an elemental wizard is a wizard controlling parasites…?
–…Of course, elements are very tiny life forms, and even though they may consume some inherent particles, the physical body doesn’t suffer much. The problematic aspect resides in the mental realm…
As I flipped through a few more pages, I finally stumbled upon meaningful content that wasn’t mentioned in the introduction to elemental studies.
–…Communication between elemental wizards and elements occurs through Vessel particles as the medium. Furthermore, this is not a one-way channel but rather a bidirectional one. Just as we utilize the pathways to command elements, those elements also employ the pathways to plunder our particles. They do not stop there but even relay the visions they’ve perceived from beyond the universe…
–…For elemental wizards who have relatively few elements clinging to them, these visions may not penetrate their unconscious defense mechanisms; thus, they only occasionally experience mild nightmares or very faint hallucinations. However, the more talented an elemental wizard is, having a wider wave bandwidth and higher Rubins values, the more likely they are to exceed those defense limitations, allowing more elements to cling to them…
–…If that happens, the defense mechanism can no longer cope and collapses, leading to a flood of countless elemental visions pouring into one’s consciousness. The most significant issues we face originate from this…
–…Our Yeon lineage was able to ascend to prominence due to the keen sensitivity of our spiritual senses, allowing us to develop elemental magic, but as a trade-off, we endure such side effects that ordinary elemental wizards do not experience…
–…Aside from a slight precognition, there is not a single advantage. The ultimate goal of our family is to inhibit the breakdown of our defense mechanisms…
–…When the defense mechanism is breached by the elements, it can no longer fulfill its function, leaving us utterly exposed to danger. We are burdened not only by the bizarre landscapes sent by the elements but also by things that should not be seen from other worlds. This is the fundamental reason we suffer from hallucinations, illusions, and nightmares…
–…I too feel that the nightmares and hallucinations are becoming increasingly severe. Recently, I began having dreams where I am chased by a woman standing upside down, holding a sword in her mouth, her eyes wide open, and as she gets closer, the distance between us shrinks…
Yeon Ja-yoo’s diary concluded with a calm account of the nightmares she had experienced.
The additional materials provided by Mok Jinwoo contained a summary of the ages and causes of death of past direct descendants of the Jeokhwa Yeon family.
Dying in their thirties or forties was common, and hardly anyone survived past fifty.
Causes of death included suicide, suicide, unexplained death, heart attack, suicide, accidental fall, heart attack, unexplained death…
Yeon Ja-yoo had also passed away from a heart attack in her early forties, and the date recorded was the day after she wrote the last diary entry.
Naturally, such side effects would rarely be leaked to the outside world, which led me to believe that those unaware of the reasons behind the Yeon family’s circumstances labeled it “the curse of the elemental wizard.”
When powerful elemental wizard families’ members showed abnormal behaviors and died at a young age, it would seem entirely reasonable to claim it was a curse.
Moreover, since this symptom didn’t manifest in all elemental wizards but only in those from the Yeon lineage with remarkable talents, it would indeed appear even stranger.
On some level, I also realized why the broken character of the direct lineage of the Yeon family was famous.
If one suffered from hallucinations and illusions all day, how could they find peace of mind in any place?
Of course, that arrogant and stubborn personality seemed like another issue entirely…
Regardless, I had wrapped up my verification, so I decided to dispose of the materials by burning them as Mok Jinwoo suggested.
–Crackle…
As I watched the papers burn away, a sudden thought crossed my mind.
Why is it that even elemental wizards with lesser abilities experience mild nightmares, while members of renowned elemental wizard families like the Yeon family experience far more severe side effects?
The diary’s author, Yeon Ja-yoo, endured severe hallucinations, illusions, and nightmares despite having lived many decades ago.
And now the heir of the Yeon family, Yeon Minha, was said to be renowned for being the most powerful elemental wizard among them.
It seemed that the concentrated bloodline and talent had blossomed into fruition in her generation.
But if Yeon Minha possessed such a powerful gift as an elemental wizard…
What could she possibly be witnessing at this moment?
*
“Ugh…uh…”
In the softly moonlit dawn, faint groans escaped from someone in the bed by the window.
“Hah! Hah…!”
After tossing and turning for some time, the girl’s eyes suddenly snapped wide open. Her sheets were soaked with the cold sweat she’d shed.
“Hah…hah…”
Lifting her upper body, the girl repeatedly splashed her face with water to calm her racing heart. Yeon Minha had not gotten a proper night’s sleep for quite some time. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had a dreamless night.
Her nightmares were always filled with bizarre and incomprehensible landscapes. She had seen a gigantic pair of eyes floating in the sky glaring at her and witnessed something beckoning from the abyss that swallowed stars. There were nights when she walked endlessly in a desolate alien desert with two suns and two moons.
“…”
Yeon Minha lowered her hands, which had covered her face, and turned her gaze to the innermost part of the room. At that moment, the sinister laughter echoing from the shadows abruptly ceased. Yeon Minha looked down at the floor. Among the many shadows, her own shadow appeared particularly elongated, as though it was hiding something within it.
The nightmares now seeped into her reality. Even the finest antipsychotic drugs made by the top pharmaceutical company had ceased to be effective for her long ago. The frequency of hallucinations and illusions was ever-shortening. Yeon Minha’s inherent talent as an elemental wizard had returned as a curse, tightening its grip around her like a noose, just as it had with her ancestors.
However, the recent dream felt significantly unnatural. It was too ambiguous to even be called a nightmare. Yeon Minha recalled the dream vividly, where everything felt as real as her current reality.
She found herself alone in a primeval forest filled with mist. Her body was covered in blood, and the combat gear she wore was tattered and long ceased to serve any purpose. She was surrounded by wicked, crimson shadows, and any escape route was nowhere to be found.
In front of Yeon Minha stood a man who was just as bloodied. His entire body was broken, and there was not a single uninjured spot on him.
Yet the man’s spirit remained steadfast. Facing away from her, he continued to cut down countless red shadows. The white wildflowers became stained crimson, and sticky blood flowed like rivers on the ground.
“…Are you scared? The elements…?”
Yeon Minha murmured softly. Upon recalling the man’s back, she felt the fear that the elements clinging to her send racing through her body. It was an unprecedented sensation of anxiety that she’d never experienced before.
“Who exactly are you…?”
Yeon Minha was thrown into confusion by that unfamiliar response. She desperately tried to remember the man’s identity, grappling with the fading memories of her dream.
She could not see the man’s face.