Failed Possession Chapter-9

# Chapter 9

—

Contrary to his worries, the journey was extremely comfortable.

For travel, Haryeong handled the carriage herself. When it was mealtime, they either took preserved food out from the travel bag inside the carriage or ate whatever game Haryeong had hunted.

They slept outside.
Elena had said it would be fine to sleep inside the carriage, but Yuri simply couldn’t bring himself to do that.

In the end, Elena accepted Yuri’s stubbornness and let him use a large sleeping bag she took out from the travel bag. At a glance, the sleeping bag was far too big to have possibly fit inside that bag, so he assumed it must be enchanted with magic.

Haryeong, their escort, naturally slept outside as well. Before night deepened, she prepared various precautions around the carriage, then lay down on the driver’s seat and slept lightly.

Yuri spread his sleeping bag on the ground right beside the carriage.

The crackling campfire.
A sky crowded with stars.
The sounds of the forest that could never quite be called silent.

On the first night, too many things bothered him and he couldn’t sleep.
From the second night onward, he simply slept fine.

“I heard you two were childhood friends.”

Haryeong spoke suddenly on the third night.

Just like yesterday, she sat on the driver’s seat checking her dagger, then cast Yuri a sideways glance.

“You don’t look that close. Am I mistaken?”
“That’s correct.”

Even so, she wasn’t someone he could speak down to, so he used polite speech.

“We only exchanged letters for ten years. That’s all childhood friends really amounts to.”
“And yet you followed along quite obediently.”
“I said I didn’t want to go. She just didn’t listen.”
“Being stubborn is one of Lady Elena’s many flaws.”

With her mask lowered, Ha-ryeong’s face remained expressionless. She turned the sharp blade of her dagger back and forth as she continued.

“I heard you were with the Black Snake Faction.”
“It was like a trash can filled with neighborhood garbage.”
“Then that makes you trash as well, does it not?”
“Well… yeah.”

Yuri answered flatly.

“You roughly know my situation too, don’t you, Haryeong?”
“Of course I do. Lady Elena suddenly said she was going to Aldor. As her escort, I must properly understand the circumstances. If there’s a good reason to go, I follow. If not, I advise her to reconsider. That’s my position.”
“So you judged there was a reason worth going?”
“Yes.”

Haryeong set down her dagger and nodded.

“At most ten days, or a week if we’re quick. No real dangers along the way. And a childhood friend who barely survived begging because she was worried sick. That’s enough for me to say ‘Understood’ and accompany her.”
“Elena worried about me that much?”
“Ridiculously so.”

She said that, but there wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face.

“To be honest, it wasn’t entirely convincing. If she worried that much, she could have kept you by her side instead of merely exchanging letters.”
“…”
“But it seems she intends to keep you close now.”

Muttering that, Haryeong glanced at the carriage.

No sound came from inside. But she knew Elena wasn’t asleep—she was listening to the conversation outside.

“This is a question from an escort’s standpoint.”

Haryeong tilted her head slightly and stared at Yuri.

“What do you think of Lady Elena?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Lady Elena is more remarkable than you think. Becoming a 4th-Circle mage at twenty is fast even in the Magic Tower, where geniuses are everywhere. And as you heard yesterday, the Master of the Dercia Magic Tower has already marked her as one of his disciple candidates.”

Her talent was exceptional.

In the game, levels went up to 99.
But in this world, power wasn’t divided by levels—it was divided by *Circles*.

And that system had been established by the gods.

The sleeping Goddess of Order.
The God of Chaos who kidnapped possessors and scattered them across the world.
And other gods besides them.

They classified the ranks of lower beings bound by mortality into Circles.

They said that if someone reached the 10th Circle, the end of that system, they could cast off mortality and challenge godhood itself.

But no one had ever reached the 10th Circle.

Maybe someone existed. But Yuri didn’t know. The Yuri from the Black Snake Faction only knew basic common knowledge.

“Is the 4th Circle really that impressive?”
“That’s a foolish question.”

Haryeong shook her head.

“It’s about magic, but one must reach the 2nd Circle to be acknowledged as a proper mage. It takes an average person five years to reach the 2nd Circle, and about ten years to reach the 3rd.”
“Elena isn’t average.”
“Of course not. She reached the 2nd Circle almost immediately after entering the Magic Tower and properly learning magic, and climbed to the 4th in ten years. A genius is a genius.”

Yuri didn’t answer right away and simply stared at her.

The firelight burned bright, the moon was round in the sky.
Yet Haryeong, sitting on the driver’s seat, was strangely hard to see—like she was wrapped in the darkness itself.

“I am Lady Elena’s escort. An escort doesn’t only protect against mortal danger. We protect against danger itself.”
“You’re quite loyal. Are all Salho Gate members like that?”
“Once we accept payment and sign a contract, we offer unconditional loyalty until the term ends. That is Salho Gate.”
“So what you’re saying is that I’m a danger to Elena?”
“Physical danger, not really. But in terms of dignity… perhaps. And Lady Elena gave up something greater than you think to come here.”
“Gave up?”
“I cannot disclose a client’s personal matters. And she doesn’t seem to want it known.”

Yuri frowned.

He didn’t know what Elena had given up, but Haryeong’s meaning was obvious.

In short, she didn’t want someone like Yuri beside Elena.

‘Ugh.’

He swallowed the irritation.

‘You bitch.’

He swallowed the curse too.

‘Did I beg to be taken along? I said I was dragged here—why are you taking it out on me?’

He kept swallowing it down.

Even if he snapped, he couldn’t do anything. If she belonged to Salho Gate and was Elena’s escort, even ten Yurís couldn’t beat her.

“I think so too.”

Yuri replied indifferently.

“That’s why I told her not to send letters and tried to keep my distance. But Elena didn’t want that. So here I am, dragged along.”

Haryeong silently stared at him.

“So I’ll try to behave from now on.”
“Behave?”

She tilted her head.

“Yes. She takes care of me just because I’m her ‘childhood friend.’ If I keep acting like trash, I’ll only be a burden to her. I’ll only cause her trouble.”
“Hmm…”
“I won’t drag her name through the mud.”

At least until he could stand on his own, that was the plan.

“If you say so.”

Haryeong stopped pressing further.

“Please don’t take offense.”
“I’m not offended.”
“Then here’s something amusing in return. Right now, Lady Elena has her ear pressed to the door, eavesdropping on us.”

Bang!

The carriage door flew open.

Unlike the white dress from the first day, Elena wore a comfortable robe and shouted,

“Who’s eavesdropping?!”
“You were.”
“I just happened to hear it…!”
“From my standards, Yuri’s answer wasn’t excellent. I’d give it sixty points. If he had said he was close to you, you would’ve been satisfied.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”

Sparks of electricity crackled around Elena.

Haryeong shook her head.

“Displaying your emotions so openly is a bad habit.”
“I agree,” Yuri added.

Elena trembled, exhaled sharply, then sat on the carriage step.

“If we’re not sleeping, why not just keep moving?”
“Even Yang-restoring pill has its limits. The horses ran all day; they need to rest.”
“…Tch.”

Watching the cold, prickly Elena get pushed around by Haryeong was oddly amusing.

Yuri chuckled.

“What’s funny?”
“Just… nice night.”

He brushed it off.

“What did you give up?”

He couldn’t stop thinking about it.

But Elena answered calmly, without even flinching.

“I didn’t give up anything.”

And that was the end of the conversation.

—

—

They passed several villages and cities afterward, but only once did they use proper lodging instead of camping—and that was only because a village happened to be nearby at night.

His biggest worry had been spending all day in the same carriage with Elena for at least a week.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t bad.

Elena didn’t talk much and spent most of her time reading.

“You should read too.”

Since he couldn’t practice breathing exercises, he’d been restless, but Elena kept handing him books, which made it bearable.

<Basics of Magic>

Unlike the book Yuri owned, this was a proper magic text.

“Just because you’re becoming a martial artist doesn’t mean you can’t use magic. Read it for the future.”
“I’m not confident doing even one thing properly, and you want me to do both?”
“You might change your mind later.”

He didn’t refuse her persistence.

‘Oh…’

This was far easier to read than those vague, fluffy books.

True to its title, it didn’t teach spells themselves. It taught the foundation for using magic—understanding mana, handling it, and guiding it through the body.

Yuri instinctively understood mana and already had the **Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique**, so he felt his basic knowledge was lacking. A book like this was welcome.

‘Can’t test it, though.’

Even with the Veil of Deception, practicing breathing exercises in front of Elena would be insane.

So he reread <Basics of Magic> again and again.

Even their occasional conversations were more enjoyable than expected.

“How many mages in the Dercia Magic Tower outrank you?”
“A lot. But I’m the only one who’s 4th Circle at twenty.”
“And the other disciple candidates competing with you?”
“One 5th Circle, one 4th Circle. Both older than me. The 4th Circle is a senior named Arist—he’s twenty-three. He reached 4th Circle at twenty-one.”
“So you’re a year faster.”

Every time he responded casually like that, the slight twitch of Elena’s lips was oddly fun to watch.

“Honestly, I don’t even see Senior Arist as a rival. His personality’s bad, and… well, to be honest, there’s not much difference between us right now.”
“And the other senior?”
“Senior Lacy? That one… is worthy of respect. Which means I have to be even more wary. Reaching 5th Circle at twenty-seven is faster than even the Tower Master. It doesn’t make sense.”

After saying that, Elena glanced toward the driver’s seat where Haryeong sat.

“You may speak freely. Surely you don’t think I’d spread Lady Elena’s private chatter outside.”
“Mm…”

Elena gave a small cough, then leaned her head closer to Yuri.

“Maybe… Senior Lacy might be a possessor.”

Oh shit, that startled me.

An alarm bell rang in his head, but Yuri only frowned slightly.

“A possessor?”
“Yeah. Think about it—5th Circle at twenty-seven!”
“You’re 4th Circle at twenty.”
“That’s…”
“Maybe this Senior Lacy is just as much of a genius as you.”

He didn’t want to dig into this topic any further.

‘As much as me…’

Elena mulled over the words, then quickly composed her expression and sat upright.

“Well… probably. It’s not like possessors are common.”

“What Circle is the Tower Master?”
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“How would I know unless someone tells me?”
“To be honest, I don’t know exactly either. At higher Circles, rank itself becomes a matter of status, so people rarely reveal it openly. But I do know this—the minimum requirement to become Tower Master is reaching the 7th Circle.”

If thirty years had passed, perhaps Thunderbolt Orca had already reached the 8th Circle.

‘In the game, his level was 81.’

The minimum spec to challenge the hidden boss, the Evil God, was level 99.
Simply overpowering it with levels didn’t work—you needed to build properly on top of that level foundation.

Then would level 99 correspond to the 10th Circle?

‘No.’

Guessing like that was dangerous.

Lorellia had warned him not to blindly apply game knowledge to reality. To begin with, the God of Chaos—who appeared as the hidden boss in the game—didn’t even have a level.

“Shouldn’t you be more curious about martial artists instead of mages?” Elena asked.
“I know the Heavenly Demon of the Demonic Cult is 8th Circle.”
“Probably higher than that, no? Haryeong, what do you think?”
“I also believe the Heavenly Demon is above the 8th Circle.”

Haryeong answered from the driver’s seat.

“The Demonic Cult is a group of lunatics united by the goal of having humans ascend to godhood through demonic power. Among those lunatics, the strongest calls himself the Heavenly Demon, claiming to be the closest to divinity. That’s why they call themselves the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”

“Isn’t Salho Gate part of the Black Dragon Association?”
“The Black Path and the Demonic Path are different. Not ‘similar but slightly different’—just different. In the Black Path, there aren’t any madmen openly declaring themselves cult leaders and demanding worship because they’ll become gods someday.”

When it came to the Heavenly Demon, Yuri—Lee Su-hyeok—knew well enough.

In the game, the final boss was the Heavenly Demon.
Level 95.

A bastard who dropped nothing no matter how many times you killed him, instantly triggered GAME OVER, and kicked you straight back to the title screen.

“Don’t get involved with the Demonic Path. That’s the unwritten rule of the Black Dragon Association. The Orthodox Heaven Alliance also shouts about exterminating the Demonic Path, yet they never even go near the Demonic Cult’s headquarters, the Subduing Demon Hall.”

“But the Ludella Magic Tower is in the Subduing Demon Hall,” Elena said.

“Lady Elena, comparing martial artists and mages like that is one of your many flaws. So would you actually associate with Ludella Magic Tower mages? I doubt you’d even sit in the same restaurant.”

Haryeong won that argument too.

Elena just pouted without answering, and Haryeong continued as if she’d expected that.

“I also prefer not to get involved with Ludella Magic Tower. Unless a request comes in, of course.”
“Salho Gate accepts requests from them too?”
“If they have the money and the qualifications, we accept. That is Salho Gate’s principle. Though Ludella Magic Tower probably wouldn’t hire us. They can just use demonic practitioners from the Demonic Cult—why would they hire us?”

While they were talking like that, the carriage stopped.

“We’ve arrived.”

Their week-long journey had ended.

A great city that couldn’t even be compared to Aldor—

Lutran.

They had finally arrived at the city Elena had described several times in her earlier letters.