The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 50

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 50.
If it hadn’t been for him.
I would have likely spent my entire life in that sterile, cold hospital room.
Unable to move my legs, ignorant of hope itself.
I would have cursed myself toward the ashen world visible beyond the window, eventually meeting a miserable end.
But a miracle occurred.
A hand extended by a benefactor whose face I didn’t know.
Kim Jung-seok.
Those three syllables completely transformed Park Ha-yan’s life.
She regained the ability to walk on two legs, and moreover, she gained the transcendent power to hear the voices of spirits.
All of it was thanks to the new life he had given her.
“….”
A musty alley where even sunlight barely penetrated.
Before the narrow staircase descending into the basement of an old villa.
Park Ha-yan clenched her fists tightly.
Still, doubt gnawed at her.
She had gathered her courage and come this far, trusting only an address written on a letter.
Would it be rude to visit suddenly without prior notice?
What if he found it burdensome?
She had hesitated dozens, hundreds of times.
She had even considered turning back.
But Park Ha-yan had one clear reason she had to come.
‘The letters stopped coming.’
It was precisely after her discharge from the hospital.
Until then, replies had arrived sporadically, but at some point they ceased entirely.
Park Ha-yan had even pressed her new address firmly onto a letter and sent it.
Afraid he might not receive her reply, afraid he might not find her.
But no reply came.
As if he had vanished from the world itself.
There was no word, no trace.
‘What could have happened to him?’
Her heart sank.
The world had become a kaleidoscope of chaos.
After the Great Cataclysm, accidents and incidents never ceased.
Every day, calamities erupted somewhere, the earth split open, and people died.
A mad hellscape where even Awakeners could not guarantee their survival.
What if he wasn’t an Awakener like her?
What if he was an ordinary person?
The possibility that he had been caught in an accident or faced something terrible could not be dismissed.
“Sigh.”
Park Ha-yan drew a deep breath.
She steadied her trembling heart.
She had to confirm it.
Whether he was safe, or simply too busy to reach out.
She felt she could only find peace by seeing him with her own eyes.
She carefully descended into the underground of the building.
Humid, cool air brushed against her skin.
Beep.
She pressed the worn doorbell.
A faint mechanical sound echoed from within.
“….”
But there was no response.
Not even a hint of human presence came from beyond the door.
Was no one home?
Had he gone out? Or was it truly….
A situation where she could neither move forward nor back.
It was as Park Ha-yan bit her lower lip, staring at the doorknob.
“Who are you?”
Abruptly.
Someone called out to her from behind, from the top of the stairs.
A low, rough voice—like the scrape of sandpaper.
“Eek!”
Startled, Park Ha-yan spun around in alarm.
A man standing atop the stairs, his shadow stretching long across the wall.
He wore a suit draped loosely over his frame.
His face was pallid, the color not yet fully returned.
Yet the gleam in his eyes beyond that pallor was fierce and menacing.
It was Park Ji-hoon, one who bore the qualities of a Demon King.
Park Ha-yan flinched momentarily at the man’s harsh appearance, but soon asked with a glimmer of hope.
“Um, are you… perhaps the owner of this house?”
Could this person be Kim Jung-seok?
The benefactor who saved me?
But at her question, Park Ji-hoon’s brow furrowed sharply.
Deep creases carved into his forehead.
He shook his head.
“No. Who are you?”
Park Ji-hoon’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Profound wariness.
He descended one step, his voice a low growl.
“Are you here looking for my brother?”
“…Your older brother?”
Park Ha-yan tilted her head in confusion.
An older brother?
If this menacing man called someone his older brother, what kind of person could that possibly be?
Park Ha-yan carefully opened her mouth again.
“Um, the homeowner’s name is… Kim Jung-seok, correct?”
The moment those three syllables left her lips.
Shing.
A bone-chilling metallic rasp.
Park Ji-hoon drew the longsword he’d been concealing behind his back.
The atmosphere reversed in an instant.
The thuggish neighborhood punk demeanor from moments before vanished without a trace.
The air itself froze.
His posture was restrained.
Yet the killing intent radiating from him was absolutely ferocious.
‘What is this?’
Park Ha-yan’s pupils trembled.
Murderous intent.
Not the killing aura of an ordinary Awakened.
An absolute sword energy that only one who had traversed countless battlefields and severed innumerable lives could emit.
It couldn’t be otherwise.
The 394th world that had fallen to ruin—Garcia.
The soul of the last hero and Sword Saint who had guarded that place had merged with Park Ji-hoon’s body.
Kim Jung-seok had acquired it at the Secret Auction and granted it to Park Ji-hoon.
That eons-old fighting spirit was now concentrated at the tip of Park Ji-hoon’s blade.
“Who sent you.”
Park Ji-hoon’s voice scraped along the floor.
Someone who knew his older brother’s name.
An uninvited guest who had even tracked down this shabby hideout.
Recently, there had been many fools in the Underworld scheming to obtain his older brother’s relics.
Was this one of Chairman Shim’s plants? Or just another piece of trash?
If this fly dared to trouble his older brother, he would cut it down right here.
“Don’t answer, and I’ll split you in half.”
Park Ji-hoon raised his sword overhead.
But then.
Whoooosh!
An intense wave erupted around Park Ha-yan’s body.
Before she could even call out.
Brilliant, crystalline lights burst forth from empty air.
Wind howled and surged, and the earth’s essence rose up.
A spirit of light.
A spirit of wind.
The incarnations of nature who resonated with her were summoned all at once to protect her contractor.
In an instant, the narrow semi-basement corridor was flooded with the spirits’ magical power.
“…?!”
This time, Park Ji-hoon flinched and stopped in his tracks.
His tension was unmistakable.
‘A spirit summoner?’
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
A spirit summoner.
Though countless classes had emerged after the Great Cataclysm, spirit summoners were an extraordinarily rare class even when examined across the entire world.
Due to that demanding condition of needing to resonate with nature, he’d heard that most spirit summoners were scouted by the Government the moment they awakened.
Yet a spirit summoner had appeared in this narrow alley?
And a monster capable of handling such a vast number of spirits simultaneously at that?
‘Damn it, is she connected to the Government?’
Park Ji-hoon’s mind grew complicated.
He was born from the Underworld.
Getting entangled with Government or Association types would be troublesome.
It could even harm the organization Father had built.
Above all, it would cause trouble for my brother.
But he couldn’t retreat like this either.
He couldn’t simply let a little rat scurrying in front of my brother’s house go free.
“What business does the Government have coming all the way here?”
“The Government? I’m not sure what misunderstanding you have, but…!”
Park Ha-yan didn’t back down either.
The spirit of wind circled around her, creating sharp blades of cutting wind.
A sword spirit inheriting the momentum of the Sword Saint.
And a transcendent who had sprouted the seeds of a spirit lord.
With the narrow staircase between them, the auras of two monsters collided with tense force.
It seemed as though sword energy would fly forth at any moment and spirit magic would explode.
A hair-trigger tension so acute that neither could even breathe, pressing down upon the corridor.
That was when it happened.
“Both of you stop and come inside.”
Creeeeak.
The firmly shut old iron door of the semi-basement opened.
An indifferent, dry voice.
At those words alone.
Whoosh.
The murderous intent of the Sword Saint that Park Ji-hoon had been radiating melted away like snow.
Even the ferocious spirit magic that had circled around Park Ha-yan scattered like a lie.
A being who, with just their voice, had instantly suppressed the momentum of two monsters.
Through the crack of the open door stood a man in a hastily thrown-on hoodie.
A freshly opened can of beer in one hand.
“…Brother! Did you cough?!”
Park Ji-hoon bent at a ninety-degree angle like a dog wagging its tail, as if unaware of when he’d even drawn his sword.
He quickly hid the blade behind his back with a smooth smile.
“I thought you were out! You wouldn’t open the door, so I thought—!”
The man clicked his tongue sharply at Park Ji-hoon.
“Keep it down. You’re disturbing the neighbors.”
“Yes! I’ll stay completely silent!”
“….”
The man’s expression darkened.
Mmph!
Park Ji-hoon clamped both hands over his own mouth.
A determined resolve not to make even a single sound.
His crouching posture was quite ridiculous.
But Park Ha-yan couldn’t laugh.
Instead, her eyes widened in astonishment.
‘This person… is an incredibly powerful being.’
The spirits hovering around Park Ha-yan trembled violently.
They were instinctively wary.
Even when exploring dungeons with her Party, it had never been like this.
Even when facing high-grade monsters, the spirits had rarely shown such a sharp reaction.
And yet.
This terrifying man was wagging his tail like a dog before the shabby, unemployed-looking man.
-If you don’t answer, I’ll split you in half.
Just minutes ago.
That ferocious killing intent and tone he’d directed at her were completely absent now.
Even his manner of speech was entirely different.
He seemed like a completely different person.
‘Then… could this person be?’
Park Ha-yan’s gaze turned toward Kim Jung-seok.
Disheveled hair.
A stretched-out hoodie.
An ordinary appearance you could see anywhere.
“Um….”
Park Ha-yan swallowed dryly and carefully opened her mouth.
Her voice trembled slightly.
“Could you be… the homeowner, Kim Jung-seok?”
Kim Jung-seok took a sip of his beer.
He swept his gaze over Park Ha-yan with an impassive expression.
And then.
He gave a light shrug of his shoulders.
An ambiguous gesture—neither affirmation nor denial.
He turned around.
Thud, thud.
Without a word, he stepped through the open entrance door and disappeared inside.
“Uh, um….”
Park Ha-yan hesitated, caught off guard.
Should she follow him in, or should she wait?
Just then, Park Ji-hoon—who had been holding his mouth shut—suddenly whipped his head around.
‘Why aren’t you coming in already?’
He jerked his chin forward, signaling her urgently with his eyes to come inside.
The fact that his older brother had left the door open meant he was granting permission to enter.
* * *
Worn-out flooring.
Moldy wallpaper.
The distinctive musty stench of a semi-basement.
Three people gathered in a cramped living room that was shabby beyond measure.
Park Ha-yan sat perched on the edge of an old sofa, her buttocks barely touching the cushion.
She held both hands demurely folded in her lap.
Her tension was palpable.
Kim Jung-seok dropped heavily into a plastic chair across from her.
Clink.
He set down an empty beer can onto the table.
“Why are you making such a fuss?”
His question was dry and cutting.
His gaze was fixed on Park Ji-hoon.
Park Ji-hoon jumped up as if wronged.
“Hyung! It’s not my fault!”
He pointed accusingly at Park Ha-yan.
“This girl suddenly showed up and was loitering in front of the door!”
“So you drew your sword.”
“She’s definitely a Government dog!”
Park Ji-hoon protested vehemently, his face flushed.
“She even commands spirits. The Government is definitely scheming to target you, hyung!”
The paranoia of an Underworld successor.
Yet by the nature of that world, it wasn’t entirely unfounded.
Thanks to me providing Chairman Park with countless artifacts, he had been able to gain wings.
He had cultivated powerful individuals and established himself as the de facto leader of the Underworld.
Of course, many people were curious about the origin of the artifact.
The Government was desperately concealing it, but they may have already tracked down Kim Jung-seok.
Yet Park Ha-yan felt wronged.
“Me, a lapdog of the Government? How absurd!”
She bristled and rose from her seat.
“I’m not that kind of person.”
Park Ha-yan looked urgently at Kim Jung-seok.
She was terrified his gaze might turn glacial.
“I simply came to find my benefactor.”
Her voice grew smaller.
This was the gratitude she had rehearsed hundreds, thousands of times.
But her mind had gone blank.
She had no idea where to even begin.
How could she explain that she was the sole survivor of that passenger airplane crash?
Or was she even certain this was the right person?
“Um, I….”
Park Ha-yan’s lips trembled as she spoke.
“Sit.”
Kim Jung-seok gestured with his chin.
Park Ha-yan flinched and carefully settled back onto the sofa.
Kim Jung-seok’s gaze lowered.
His indifferent eyes lingered on Park Ha-yan’s legs.
Beneath her jeans, two legs unmarred by a single scar—perfectly intact.
Gone was the image of her clinging to a wheelchair in despair.
She stood firm, rooted to the earth, radiating healthy vitality.
….
Kim Jung-seok nodded quietly.
“The surgery went well, it seems.”
A matter-of-fact remark.
As casual as asking about the weather.
“That’s fortunate.”
Yet within those brief words lay a warmth.
Park Ha-yan’s body trembled.
Her heart sank.
Yes.
It’s him.
The one who pulled me back from the edge of the abyss.
The one who gave me the ability to walk again, to live again.
My benefactor, whom I had drawn in my dreams every night.
“Ah….”
Park Ha-yan quickly lowered her head.
Her vision blurred in an instant.
She tried to hold back.
She wanted to smile, to speak her gratitude with confidence and composure.
But then—
A thick tear rolled down onto her pants.
“Hic….”
Once the tears broke free, they would not stop.
Her shoulders trembled.
She buried her face in both hands, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Countless nights spent huddled alone in the hospital room, weeping in the darkness, flooded back to her.
And this man before her—the one who had finally shattered that darkness and shown her the light.
“Th-thank you… truly….”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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