I Installed a Dating App and These Otherworld Virgins Became Obsessed With Me. 14

## Chapter 14 – 14. The Magic Tower (2)

#14. The Magic Tower (2)

“Haa…”

Choi Young-ok, one of the tenured professors of the gray Magic Tower, had been racking her brains over research that had made little progress recently.

The flashes of inspiration she used to have, the certainty about her research, were no longer there.

It was a symptom known as mannerism.

It was common among those engaged in the arts, a state of losing interest, originality, and freshness in the repetition of meaningless daily life or work. But it was also common for wizards, who needed both mathematical knowledge and artistic talent.

The way to overcome mannerism is simple.

Escape the tedious routine and receive new stimulation.

But that wasn’t easy while stuck in the Magic Tower.

The Magic Tower was definitely a utopia for wizards. Apprentice wizards could listen to lectures from outstanding professors, and professors could freely conduct research with the support of the Magic Tower.

That was the problem.

Life in the Magic Tower was a series of largely unchanging days.

Prepare for lectures, give lectures, do research.

Aside from other minor things, she never deviated from those three major cycles.

Of course, seeing students with outstanding talent was enjoyable.

Even her granddaughter was a genius who had already reached the 3rd Circle.

But her mannerism still showed no signs of being resolved.

Why?

Was she hoping for more stimulation? Was she secretly hoping to see something more shocking?

Even though the repetitive worries continued for days, no suitable answer came.

“Hoo… Should I go get some air…?”

With another heavy sigh, Choi Young-ok left her workshop.

When something couldn’t be solved, nothing was better than a walk.

Even if it wasn’t a direct solution, the cold air would cool her complicated head.

However, even this walk could no longer ease her heavy heart or complicated mind. Her worries weren’t the kind that could be easily dismissed.

She was just walking down the quiet hallway with heavy steps.

Not even deciding whether to go to the rooftop or head downtown.

‘Is it because it’s vacation? There’s no one here.’

The Magic Tower also had vacations. Summer and winter vacations, during which all the students left the Magic Tower to return to their hometowns or travel to find new inspiration.

Of course, the entire Magic Tower wasn’t empty just because the students were gone.

There would be various wizards remaining, including tenured professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and teaching assistants.

But the hallway was still quiet. As expected of wizards who were like room-bound fairies? There was no way those guys who grudged even meal times and just ate in their workshops would be wandering around at this hour.

This silence might be helpful for contemplation, but it wasn’t helpful for her current state.

It would have been better if it were full of noisy students.

Was it because she had been worrying for too long? It seemed to be getting harder to prevent herself from being swept up in negative thoughts.

‘Get a grip, get a grip. This won’t do. Maybe I should go shopping for a while…’

“Hey, did you hear?”

Just as she was turning towards the elevator to go downstairs.

“The lobby just called, and some guy who’s not even a third-generation chaebol came to register as a wizard.”
“…Isn’t that a scammer?”
“Hey, why would someone try to scam at the Magic Tower when there are other places to scam?”
“I guess… But if he’s not a third-generation chaebol, what is he? Did someone teach him magic privately? If so, why is he registering now?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, I’m going to go see. Do you want to come?”
“Of course…”

Thud- The man turned around in horror at the hand that covered his shoulder.

“Could you tell me more about that?”

***

Following the female employee I met in the lobby, I arrived at what looked like a reception room.

The overall atmosphere screamed, “We spent a ton of money here!”

I didn’t show it, but this was actually the first time in my 21 years that I’d been to a place like this, so I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

Of course, regardless of how I felt, the female employee who guided me just told me to wait here for a moment and disappeared.

So cold, so cold.

With no other choice, I decided to enjoy a simple tea time with the refreshments and drinks on the table.

…But is it okay to eat this?

I hesitated for a moment, but surely they wouldn’t say anything if a guest ate some snacks? But am I even a guest?

“Wow… Why is this snack so delicious?”

The savory taste and subtle sweetness that clung to my tongue were like a meteor-level shock to me, who had only ever bought 1,500 won bags of potato chips.

I was curious about how expensive it was, so I searched it up on my phone. It wasn’t something I couldn’t afford, but it was quite expensive for a snack.

“…Ah, this price isn’t for a bag, it’s for a single individually wrapped piece?”

There were 12 pieces in the bag I opened… Oh, sh*t.

The Magic Tower is definitely full of crazy people.

Buying snacks with half a year’s rent?

No matter how much money they have, I couldn’t forgive them for indulging in such luxury.

I shoved the snacks into my mouth before anyone else came, thinking. It really is disgustingly delicious.

“What the hell did they put in this to make it so delicious?”

Did they put gold flakes in it?

“It’s made with magic pistachio powder from the Hwargal botanical garden in the D-grade gate.”
“?!”

I immediately turned my head at the voice I heard.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”

Yes, you startled the hell out of me.

The one who whispered sweet nothings into my ear was a middle-aged woman with a few wrinkles around her eyes. Her neatly braided red hair and eyes stood out.

Judging by the robe she was wearing, she was definitely a wizard.

“Nice to meet you. Kang Hyun-woo?”

She gave me a kind smile and met my eyes.

Well, it didn’t make my heart flutter.

Her atmosphere and appearance were definitely more than that of a well-maintained middle-aged actress, but from the moment I saw the wrinkles on her face, she was far outside my range.

“I’m Choi Young-ok. I’ve been assigned as Hyun-woo’s 담당자 (damdangja – person in charge) today.”

It didn’t matter how she knew my name.

I had filled out all my personal information at the counter earlier.

“Nice to meet you.”

I bowed lightly.

“Hehe, you said you came to register as a wizard?”
“Yes, if possible, I’d like to enroll in the Magic Tower. Is that possible?”

Enrolling in the Magic Tower was a title that was considered equivalent to or even better than winning the lottery with an extremely high probability in terms of social norms.

As I said before, the Magic Tower was overflowing with money, so the support for its members was amazing.

I could receive living expenses before entering the gate, or I could find something that would be helpful to Iris later.

“Of course. We welcome anyone with talent.”

Choi Young-ok treated Kang Hyun-woo with a rare, genuine, and kind smile.

From the moment she entered the reception room, she noticed that Kang Hyun-woo was unusual.

‘…This is really unbelievable.’

It was as if all the mana in the room was clinging to him, trying to court him.

High concentration is required to absorb mana that is dissolved in nature. The same goes for the self-hypnosis process.

But he seemed to be able to absorb mana while breathing and thinking as usual.

No, that must be the case.

It was clear that he was preventing excessive mana from being absorbed into his body unconsciously, so the mana wasn’t entering his body and was just hovering around it.

An overwhelming talent that cannot be explained.

His affinity for mana was incomparable to that of other wizards.

‘Where did such a genius… no, monster come from?’

Choi Young-ok was certain.

“Hyun-woo? Can I ask you something?”
“Yes? Well, I don’t mind.”

Just watching his growth would be enough to pull her out of her mannerism.

“Who did you learn magic from?”

In a way, this was the most important part.

Magic was a field of study that was almost impossible to learn on your own, no, it was something that deviated from the realm of study and reason. There must be someone who could be called a teacher.

From that point of view, it was also an incomprehensible point that he came to the Magic Tower.

For wizards, a disciple with outstanding talent was a great help in their own magical development.

Even while learning the same magic as them, they look at it and interpret it from a completely different perspective. They give them insights with creative ideas that they have never even imagined.

Wizards don’t just look at talent when choosing a disciple, but it’s an undeniable fact that they become greedy when they see someone with outstanding talent.

If it was a child with that much affinity for mana, it would be normal to keep them to themselves and raise them in a place where people couldn’t reach them.

“Uh…”

Kang Hyun-woo couldn’t answer Choi Young-ok’s question easily.

If I said, “The former Elf Queen in another world is my teacher!” I would be going to the white house on the hill, not the Magic Tower.

But if I made up a fictional teacher and lied, such a lie wouldn’t last long among the wizards, who make up less than 1% of the world’s population.

“…It’s a secret.”

So I had no choice but to use the “screw it, I don’t care!” tactic.

“Ah… Then how long have you been practicing magic…?”

I wanted to know who had taken such a child as a disciple, but it wasn’t polite to keep asking about something he didn’t want to talk about.

“A day…?”
“……Pardon?”

I didn’t lie about this. Lying is bad. Rather, I modestly increased it from half a day to a day.

Choi Young-ok seemed to be out of her mind at the unbelievable answer.

But only for a moment, as an experienced wizard, she decided to focus on the truth rather than being flustered.

By raising her magic power, which made her sensitive to changes in the situation, she looked at Kang Hyun-woo once again.

Changes in the body, such as pupillary reflexes, eye movements, sweat, pulse, breathing rate and speed, and blood pressure, are excellent evidence of whether or not someone is lying.

‘It doesn’t seem like a lie…’

Of course, it wasn’t 100% accurate. Trained professionals could skillfully hide such things.

But on the surface, it was highly unlikely that Kang Hyun-woo was such a professional. In the first place, no organization would try to infiltrate an agent in this way.

‘So, he really created a mana circle in just one day of learning magic?’

Even if I wrote a novel like this, I would be criticized for lacking plausibility.

Only a very small number of children with proven talent at the age of 10 are admitted to the Magic Tower. Of course, even those children go through a process of being filtered out again.

The average time it takes for those children to create a mana circle is 8 to 9 years. Quite a few spend even more time, and some are kicked out of the Magic Tower.

Choi Young-ok’s granddaughter, who shortened the process to 6 years, was also praised as a genius, and even the Magic Tower Lord of the Gray Magic Tower took 3 years.

Of course, the world is wide and there are many geniuses.

Looking back on history, there were records that were better than the Magic Tower Lord’s record, and there was a high possibility that such a genius would appear in the future.

But a day?

“Heh, heh heh…”

Choi Young-ok couldn’t help but laugh.

And she calmly thought of the best offer she could make to him.

“Hyun-woo?”

She held his hand tightly with a smile that was more friendly than ever.

“Would you like to meet my granddaughter?”

One of the important items in investing is buying low.

If Kang Hyun-woo’s overwhelming talent and the Choi family’s blood met, it wouldn’t be impossible for her family to be recognized as the best magical family in Korea, or even the world.

“Uh…”

Of course, from Kang Hyun-woo’s point of view, this was a “what the hell are you talking about?” situation.

Granddaughter?

She has a granddaughter with that face?

She’s not an auntie, she’s a grandma??

‘Wow, her magic power is good.’

More important than the fact that she has a granddaughter was that her granddaughter was old enough to be matched with a 21-year-old man.

If she was a baby, I would have just assumed she had a lot of work done, but if her granddaughter was over 20 years old, then her age was roughly…

There was no need to think about it any further, magic power is god.

At the same time as I felt the greatness of magic power again, my head became complicated.

If it were the old me, I would have been preparing for the wedding right away, but now Iris’s face came to mind first at the word “blind date.”

Would it really be right to go on a blind date while leaving Iris, who is waiting for me endlessly in that dark place?

‘…But isn’t time stopped in that world too?’

Just like how time on Earth was almost stopped when I was in that world, it was reasonable to assume that time in that world was also stopped while I was on Earth.

Thinking about it that way, I felt a little less guilty…?

‘What do you mean less guilty, you crazy bastard? Are you going to abandon Iris?’

Absolutely, never.

Kang Hyun-woo, a man of overflowing loyalty, as much as Iris’s overflowing maternal love.

I have no intention of being distracted by a blind date now…

“This is a picture of my granddaughter. How about taking a look?”

On the screen of Choi Young-ok’s cell phone, which suddenly approached me in a friendly manner, was a sexy, red-haired beauty wizard.

“…Should I call you 할머님 (halmeonim – grandmother)?”
“Hehe, then you can call me 손서 (sonseo – father-in-law).”