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Chapter 63
After sending Iba ahead to Castro’s villa, Lai quickly headed back into the forest and made his way toward the lakeside.
Fortunately, Medi and Mainy were still there, working together to erase the magical circle.
“Medi.”
“Lai-nim?”
“It’s Master Bear!”
“Did he leave something behind? I didn’t see anything dropped.”
“No, I came to ask you something.”
Medi nervously swallowed, wondering if Lai had come because Iba’s condition had worsened.
“What is it?”
Lai didn’t answer immediately and instead looked at Mainy.
It seemed like a signal to send her off first, so he met his younger sister’s eyes.
“Mainy, take this and head home first. It’s close, so it should be fine.”
Medi handed over a lantern with a protective magical circle drawn on it.
Mainy, who had been about to pout and complain, nodded slightly in the serious atmosphere.
“Ora-boni, will you come back quickly?”
“Yes, I’ll follow right after.”
After Mainy left, the remaining two continued their conversation.
“What is it you’re curious about?”
“I recently experienced something strange. I want to know if it has anything to do with magic.”
He wanted to ask about the wolves he had seen in the forest and Julian’s suspicious behavior.
“What kind of experience did you have?”
“Someone who was in pain showed an unbelievable amount of power.”
“Hmm.”
“And their blue eyes grew a bit clouded, and it felt like three voices were speaking at once. Could that be a form of magic?”
Lai explained the situation as accurately as he could.
“Based on that alone, it’s hard to be certain it’s magic.”
“…I see.”
“Yes. Humans can exhibit tremendous power in dangerous situations, and voices can echo, making it feel like multiple people are speaking at once.”
“Then what about wolves being captured by shadows?”
“Huh? Shadows?”
Medi made a face as if she had never heard of such a thing.
“So you don’t know either.”
“Yes, I don’t have deep knowledge of magic… Perhaps you misremembered?”
At first, he had thought the same. Maybe it wasn’t Julian acting strangely, maybe his own memory had been distorted. Perhaps the shadows just looked denser in the forest at night.
But when he saw the shadows explode before his eyes, he couldn’t help but think it was magic.
Lai, who had never believed in magic, was quite unsettled.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help.”
“It’s okay. Hearing that it isn’t magic actually makes me feel relieved.”
Although far from relieved, he pretended nothing was wrong for the sake of young Medi.
Then his gaze fell on the magical circle.
The siblings were diligently covering it with soil, but since it had been drawn so large, half of it remained visible.
“So Iba confirmed something here.”
Medi stayed silent, pretending not to hear, as she had promised Iba not to talk about magic.
What could Iba have discovered? Why was she avoiding him after learning something?
Lai stared at the magical circle and stepped forward decisively.
“L-Lai-nim?”
Medi looked on in panic, unable to stop him.
He stepped into the half-erased, ineffective magical circle, hoping to learn Iba’s secret even this way.
“There’s… nothing.”
There was no reaction at all. He was simply standing on the soil.
Muttering to himself in disappointment:
“…What exactly did you see?”
Medi held her breath, worried the circle might react, but fortunately, nothing happened. She sighed in relief.
Then Lai noticed Iba’s footprints in the center of the circle—small, delicate footprints matching her fragile frame.
Even seeing just her small trace made his heart tremble.
He walked toward the footprints as if approaching Iba and aligned his feet on top of them.
“…No way!”
The moment his foot matched hers, the magical circle reacted violently.
Soil scattered like a mini-earthquake, and light burst from the half-erased circle.
If it had been blue when Iba checked, around Lai it flared a vivid red.
“Th-That’s…”
Medi was so shocked she covered her mouth and stared at his chest with wide, trembling eyes. It was clear enough that she didn’t even need to put her hands over her eyes.
Her gaze was filled with terror and dread. Feeling the ominous stare, Lai looked down at his own chest.
“W-What… the… hell….”
A black light poured from his heart, wrapping around his entire body. Not a single part of him was untouched by it.
It was as if his body was filled with black ash—the darkness engulfed him completely.
Medi hesitated and stepped back, witnessing the horrifying curse of dark magic for the first time.
“T-This… was the start of the dark magic, Lai-nim. You passed it on to Iba-nim.”
Terrified, Medi muttered to herself.
Sensing danger, Lai tried to step out of the circle, but the soil beneath him turned into a swamp, as if trying to swallow him whole.
“Ugh!”
Instinctively sensing the danger, Lai rolled forward with all his strength, escaping the magical circle during a brief pause in the shifting soil.
Push—
As he emerged, the half-erased circle went out, leaving behind black traces, as if it had been completely burned.
“Medi, what was that just now?”
“Th-That is…”
When Lai asked, the frightened Medi stepped further back.
The black light had been a perfect dark magic capable of consuming anything.
“Medi, calm down. I won’t come near you.”
Lai spoke in as calm a voice as possible.
“Did Iba see the same thing as me?”
Had Iba experienced the same? Had she seen the black light and distanced herself?
Even if she didn’t know much about magic, something felt wrong immediately. The black light engulfing his body looked dangerous to anyone.
His concern for her outweighed concern for himself.
Shaking off her fear slightly, Medi shook her head.
“No, she did not see the same thing.”
Innocent Medi prioritized her promise to Iba and told a small white lie to keep the secret.
“That’s a relief.”
Lai, unaware of the truth, exhaled in great relief.
“Then explain what I just saw.”
After ensuring Iba’s safety, Lai finally asked about the black light that had filled his body.
“So, the black magic in my body… we don’t know who cast it?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Lai kept some distance from Medi as he asked. His mind, however, was a mess. When had he been cursed with dark magic, and why hadn’t he noticed?
His questions weren’t resolved—they only tangled further.
“What kind of dark magic? Is it trying to kill me?”
“No. Neither type threatens your life directly.”
“Two types? I have two different dark magics?”
He had just realized he had been cursed, and now there were two types? He furrowed his brow in confusion.
“Yes. The two types of magic are intertwined.”
Medi, recalling the structure of the dark magic she had only stared at in shock, explained slowly.
“One is magic that reverses time.”
The same magic Iba had experienced.
One of the dark magics in Lai’s body had flowed into Iba and settled in her heart.
“Reversing time? To when?”
Iba understood immediately, knowing she had regressed in time, but to Lai, it was absurd.
“That… I don’t know. Probably the one who cast the dark magic is controlling your time, Lai-nim.”
He blamed himself for not noticing that he was being manipulated.
“…And the other one?”
“Dark magic that controls emotions.”
“Emotions?”
“Yes. It’s a curse that makes you hate someone you love and love someone you hated.”
“What? So… my emotions right now…”
Of course, his thoughts went immediately to Iba.
“I’m not a fool who doesn’t know my own feelings. I know exactly how I feel.”
Lai said firmly, causing Medi to flinch slightly.
“B-Before the time reversal, you must have hated someone.”
“I never did. I don’t believe unless I experience it myself…”
Normally, he wouldn’t believe it. Reversing time and controlling emotions? Who could believe that?
But Lai had seen the wolves controlled by shadows in the forest, and Julian’s changes. The black light that had filled his body was still vivid in his mind.
Seeing all that, he couldn’t deny it. But he refused to believe that his feelings for Iba were fake.
…It was frightening.
The fact that this deep longing for her could all be magic was terrifying.
Recalling the days he had endured thinking of her, only to have it all invalidated, made his heart ache.
Yet he couldn’t be sure whether these feelings were his own or the curse of dark magic—and that uncertainty felt wrong.
Moments ago, he told Medi he wasn’t a fool who couldn’t distinguish emotions—but now, he felt like one.
“…Iba.”
He touched his chest and called her name softly.
His heart thumped violently—a definite, precise response. The thrill of thinking of the one he loved.
Lai closed his eyes deeply, then opened them. His brown eyes sparkled vividly.
Looking at Medi with certainty, he said:
“I know my own heart best. I love her.”
