TRPM 305

chapter 305

Woo Ji-min’s possession of my doll didn’t result in it being destroyed.

Chairwoman Shin Han-ji, furious as she was, did indeed unleash magic at the doll, but I blocked it.

“Please calm down, Chairwoman.”
“Haa… haa….”

My palms sting.

Even for me, taking the full brunt of magic cast with her full strength isn’t something I can stop without consequence.

… Still, I only ended up with a bit of skin scraped off my palm.

‘Should I be more impressed that Shin Han-ji’s magic pierced through my Protective Energy Barrier… or that my body withstood it with only a scraped palm after her magic actually got through?’

Anyway.

“Uh… uhh…”

Woo Ji-min seemed unable to shut her mouth, clearly shocked at the power of the spell that had just been directed at her.

“… Chairwoman.”
“Haa… what is it, Student Geon-woo?”
“When did you become an Archmage?”
“Well… I don’t quite remember, but perhaps around a hundred years ago?”

So that’s how it is.

That means the Shin Han-ji still in Woo Ji-min’s memories wouldn’t have been so powerful.

Back then, after all, awakened beings had only recently appeared, and most of them were still weak.

So it makes sense she couldn’t have imagined just how strong the chairwoman is now.

“In any case, no matter how angry you were, I think it was wrong of you to use such magic in a place like this.”
“You’re right. I lost my temper and caused trouble for everyone.”

Shin Han-ji then turned and apologized to the people in the fast food restaurant who were still staring blankly at us.

“I’m sorry, everyone. As an apology, I’ll cover the meals of everyone here today.”
“Uh… okay…”
“Th-thank you…”

Even so, people were clearly intimidated by her.

Of course they were.

Whether they were awakened or ordinary civilians, they could all sense her overwhelming mana.

‘Just now, she either lost control completely… or she deliberately let loose, expecting I would stop her. Either way, she didn’t hold back at all.’

If I hadn’t intervened, it would have been a disaster.

“Well then… shall we sit down and have an honest talk, Ji-min?”

While I was thinking that, Shin Han-ji forcibly sat Woo Ji-min down in a chair—the very person who had provoked her into losing control in the first place.

“Ji-min. No matter how close you are, there are things you just don’t say to people.”
“Urgh…”

… She’s pressing down on the doll with mana now.

Normally, my doll, made of Eternal Cold-Iron and branches of the World Tree, has a high resistance to magic. But against the mana of an Archmage, that resistance is meaningless.

“Ah, looks like our burgers are ready. Could you two bring them over?”
“… Sure.”
“Yes…”

We’ll take our time.

The shaman and I went to the counter, deliberately slowly, and brought back the trays of burgers.

So slowly, in fact, that what should have taken mere seconds stretched into nearly five minutes.

“Oh my, you’re back already?”
“Ugh…”

But it seemed five minutes had been enough for Shin Han-ji to vent her anger somewhat.

‘Good.’

Relieved, the shaman and I sat back down and picked up our burgers.

“Ji-min? You should calm down and eat too.”
“Ugh… fine…”

What on earth happened in those five minutes to make her tremble at every word Shin Han-ji spoke?

I was still thinking that as I bit into my burger when—

“… Huh?!”

My doll’s eyes flew wide open.

Then, unlike the cowed demeanor from moments earlier, it suddenly devoured the burger with desperate speed.

“… Han-ji. Can I have another one?”
“Go ahead.”

At her permission, the doll shot toward the counter like a bullet.

Hard to believe this was the same doll that had struggled to move at all earlier, still awkward in an unfamiliar body.

“Uh… I’ll take, uh, this whole section of the menu, from here to here!”
“… Excuse me?”

And she really did order like that.

Well… even if she ordered one of everything, fast food isn’t that expensive, so it wasn’t exactly a problem.

“Haa…”

Shin Han-ji sighed as the doll inconvenienced the staff.

And she wasn’t the only one sighing.

“Haa…”

Stop doing things like that with my face.

After finishing our meal, we headed straight to the Academy’s chairwoman’s office.

“Hmhm~ hmhm~.”

Of course, the doll hadn’t managed to eat all the burgers she ordered.

Instead, we had them wrapped to take with us, and now the doll carried bags brimming with burgers in both hands, looking very pleased with herself.

“Haa… really…”

The chairwoman sighed again, watching her.

“You know, acting like that with Student Geon-woo’s face is a huge nuisance for him.”
“Huh? Face?”

At her words, the doll tilted her head.

“… Do you have a mirror?”

… Don’t tell me.

“… Here.”

Realizing something, Shin Han-ji handed her the mirror that stood in a corner of the office.

The doll went to check her reflection.

“… That’s not my face?!”

… So she really had no idea what she looked like until now.

“This doll was made in Geon-woo’s image. Of course it isn’t yours.”
“Wait… don’t tell me—”

Hearing that, the doll set down the bags she was carrying.

Then, with both hands free, she reached for her pants.

“Stop right there.”
“Kyaa?!”

Using my usual control over the doll, I sent internal energy through it to halt her movement.

“What exactly were you about to do in front of everyone?”
“Uh… well, when I was alive I was a woman, so I just wanted to check if I’m a man now…”
“Are you insane?”
“… Sorry…”

At least she realized how wrong it was and apologized sincerely.

“Still… thinking that a woman like me has become a man, it feels strange…”
“… A doll doesn’t have a gender.”

Yes, when making a simulacrum through sympathetic magic, it is theoretically best to make it resemble the original as closely as possible.

But there was no need to implement details like that.

“No gender at all… that somehow feels even stranger.”

What am I supposed to say to that?

I glared at the doll—

“Ahem…!”

The shaman, face flushed, cleared her throat loudly, drawing our attention.

“Anyway, since the ritual is complete and the Seer has been successfully revived, may I check a few things and then be on my way?”

She added quickly, “I need to pack for my return to Japan tomorrow.”

‘… A lie.’

When we were fixing the magic circle together yesterday, she said nothing of the sort.

Clearly, she just didn’t want to get swept up in this absurd atmosphere any longer.

Both Shin Han-ji and I could see right through her excuse, but neither of us pointed it out.

At this rate, Woo Ji-min’s antics would derail the whole conversation anyway.

“What do you want to check?”
“First, whether your soul has any problems since entering the doll. And more importantly, how you ended up sealed inside that book in the first place.”

Exactly.

That was what we most wanted to know—how Woo Ji-min’s soul came to be bound inside that book.

“Hmm… you see, I’ve been thinking about that ever since we were eating…”

Apparently, she hadn’t been entirely lost in hamburgers. She had been reflecting on it after all.

“The last person I remember seeing—there was someone. Probably a foreigner. They wore strange clothing that covered almost all their skin, but what little was visible was dark brown. And they spoke a language that wasn’t Korean or English—something completely unfamiliar.”

… A dark-skinned foreigner.

And since they sealed her soul into a book—clearly, a shaman.

‘… One particular person comes to mind.’

And not just me—Shin Han-ji and the shaman both wore grave expressions.

Because there is indeed a very famous shaman, born in Africa long ago, still alive to this day, who was active even back then.

“The Grand Shaman…”
“Huh? Grand Shaman?”

Two hundred years ago, he wouldn’t have been called that.

He wasn’t so renowned yet.

So of course Woo Ji-min didn’t recognize the title.

But if the one who sealed her soul truly was the Grand Shaman…

‘Then it even makes sense why he didn’t take the book after going to the trouble of sealing her inside it.’

The Grand Shaman’s actions can never be predicted.

Everything he does begins with shamanism and ends with shamanism.

If sealing her soul was just another rite, then perhaps leaving the book behind in Korea was also just part of the rite.

‘Still, I thought that in those days, the Grand Shaman wasn’t a bad person.’

Only recently has he begun opposing humanity, acting alongside the Oracle.

Before then, though obsessed with his arts, he never crossed certain lines.

… Unless, of course, the “benevolence” he showed awakened beings around the world was just a façade, and in truth he was a monster committing horrors behind the scenes.

‘But if that were the case, people like Shin Han-ji or Richard, the World Awakened Association’s president, would surely have noticed.’

… I don’t know.

There’s still a good chance it wasn’t him.

After all, not every shaman of that era became famous.

What matters now is simply this: Woo Ji-min was sealed by some shaman.

“… Well. Even knowing that much is something.”

Two centuries have passed. There’s no catching or punishing the culprit now.

Shin Han-ji seemed to set aside the speculation.

“Unlike before, you can move freely now. And your soul shows no issues.”

The shaman deliberately shifted the subject.

She clearly intended to pretend she hadn’t heard the earlier talk.

For a shaman, the Grand Shaman would be an even more overwhelming figure than Shin Han-ji.

Exposing the truth about someone like that must be terrifying.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

With that, as though her business were done, she quickly left the chairwoman’s office.