I’ll Retire After Saving the World

It’s a space that’s supposed to hold nothing. Not even a speck of light should enter. Yet there, flowers bloom.

Branches twist and tangle, supporting one another. Vines, intricately entwined, have grown into a large arch. The green leaves, brimming with vitality, shimmer, and amidst them are large flowers, endlessly dropping their petals. The red petals flutter like snow, yet the flowers never wither. The green leaves remain unchanged, and in this space where nothing should exist, even time has stopped around the towering rose arch,

Always,

In that place.

Kim Chae-min opened her eyes. The rose arch that had been vivid before her eyes vanished at once.

She blinked while lying in bed. Each blink caused the image of the rose arch to flicker, until finally, its lingering trace disappeared. Being a Mage is... quite troublesome indeed.

She was about to rub her dry eyes with the back of her hand but remembered the artificial tears she’d left on the table. Kim Chae-min reached for the artificial tears. In the process, her watch fell, but she didn’t seem inclined to pick it up again.

After applying the artificial tears, her eyes felt much better. Kim Chae-min closed her now-moistened eyes, briefly shaking off the drowsiness, and then slowly stretched as she got out of bed.

“Nngh.”

The moment her feet touched the floor, it tickled under her skin.

It\'s different from a simple physical tickling sensation. It was a more fundamental feeling of strangeness, coming from deep within.

She knew the cause. And she also knew there was nothing she could do about it right now.

Kim Chae-min twisted her body around. The sensation of discomfort didn’t fade easily.

A mage, by nature, is a territorial creature. Even a small space, just half a square meter, will do. As long as it’s enough for their body to fit into, it’s sufficient. They declare the space as their own territory and fill it with mana. Entering that territory without permission is akin to suicide.

Kim Chae-min thought of her own territory as she entered the bathroom.

The fresh smell of soil and the sweet scent of flowers. A place where green plants filled every line of sight.

She frowned as she filled the tub with hot water.

There’s no actual problem with not having a territory. It just makes a person a bit more sensitive and impatient. Especially for someone like Kim Chae-min, who has a rather mild disposition compared to other mages, she wasn’t particularly obsessive about her territory. Of course, it’s nice to have one. After all, it’s a space she has cultivated from beginning to end. It would be strange not to love it. Reading a book surrounded by the scent of grass feels like paradise on earth.

As the tub began to fill with water, Kim Chae-min immediately rolled up her pajama pants and dipped her feet in. Sitting on the edge of the tub, splashing her feet, she started to feel much better.

There’s a reason why Kim Chae-min, who usually isn’t attached to her territory, was affected to this extent.

This villa is Lee Mi-seon’s territory.

‘Since she’s not a mage, maybe it shouldn’t be called a territory.’

But this is, after all, Lee Mi-seon’s family villa. The instincts of a territorial creature like a mage were signaling that this was the dwelling of a different group. Mages truly are troublesome creatures.

Even though her rational mind considered this place safe, her instincts remained on alert, as she was in another’s territory. As a result, she hadn’t slept properly last night, and her whole body felt stiff.

Kim Chae-min thought of the two young mages she was teaching. They were progressing quickly but were still just beginning to take their first steps as mages. It would be a while before they learned about declaring a territory. Perhaps that’s a good thing. If they were to gain an understanding of territory within someone else’s domain… it could lead to some troublesome situations.

“……”

Kim Chae-min, who had been sitting with only her feet dipped in the tub for a while, checked the time. It was about time to get ready.

"Alright! Let\'s get energized!"

The more sluggish her body felt, the more she needed to keep moving. With renewed vigor, Kim Chae-min stood up and lifted her foot to step out of the tub.

Wobble.

“Huh?”

Even an Archmage can’t respond to every situation.

Splash!

“…Ah, seriously!”

Kim Chae-min blinked as she lay in the bathtub after falling in. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t hurt, but…

“Nothing’s going my way!”

The feeling of her damp pajamas was unpleasant. Struggling in the bathtub, Kim Chae-min eventually gave up.

“……”

What else could she do? She was the only one responsible for her own body.

If she just focused on work, maybe it would leave her with less time to think.

Kim Chae-min barely pulled herself together. She’d wash up quickly and head out. She couldn’t afford to be late as a teacher.

She now had the mindset of a truly dedicated teacher.

* * *

“…What?”

Nothing was going her way.

“I said I’ll be teaching the class today.”

“Why?”

“…Am I not allowed?”

Woo Hwijae paused in his warm-up exercises to look at Kim Chae-min. Kim Chae-min, startled, shook her head vigorously.

“No, it’s not that…! What about Tae-woo? Weren’t you supposed to take care of Tae-woo?”

“I’m not planning on overseeing him permanently. Yoo Ji-eun’s here as well, so today, Teacher Hong will handle the two of them.”

Kim Chae-min looked skeptical.

“Teacher Hong? Are you trying to crush the kids’ spirits?”

“It’s to let them feel the wall of an active Hunter. He’ll also share some stories about dungeon raids…. Kang Tae-woo is still scared of Teacher Hong, isn’t he? They need to get used to him.”

“……”

There wasn’t much she could say in response to that. But still, Kim Chae-min didn’t give up.

“Then what are you planning to do with the mages? Teaching them a new rune?”

If it was rune-drawing, she could participate as well.

“What do you think?”

However, Woo Hwijae picked up a wooden sword.

"I need to beat them up. How fortunate that those two students don\'t have fire attributes. Even if they use magic, it won\'t cause much damage to the garden, right?"

Just then, the two teenage mages who were heading to the garden shivered, perhaps sensing what was in store for them.

In the end, Kim Chae-min spoke her mind honestly.

“Can’t I teach the class instead?”

“Why?”

“Am I not allowed?”

The same conversation repeated itself, only with their roles reversed.

“Well… if you’re that eager, you can take the afternoon class.”

"Ugh. Just the afternoon class?"

"I need to evaluate the kids\' progress too, don\'t I?"

Kim Chae-min glanced down at the wooden sword in Woo Hwijae’s hand.

“With that?”

“I may not look it, but I’m the homeroom teacher for the magic class.”

“…Is there a separate homeroom teacher for the close-combat class?”

“Would you like to take the position, Teacher Kim?”

“……”

In the end, Kim Chae-min backed off, and Woo Hwijae called over Park Seo-hyun and Choi Jin-woo.

And what happened was...

“I told you to only use magic!”

“How are we supposed to use only magic?!”

“You’re mages!”

Shouting erupted. It wasn’t exactly shouting, really. Woo Hwijae would insist he was merely advising them kindly, while the two students would say they were desperately fighting to survive.

Just because they were mages didn’t mean they could just sit still and cast spells. They needed to know how to use their bodies, even if not to the same extent as close-combat Hunters.

However, Woo Hwijae imposed a restriction on the two young mages. They could dodge attacks, but all their defense and offense had to be done purely through magic.

Thanks to extensive training with Hong Seok-young, both Park Seo-hyun and Choi Jin-woo were pretty fast with their fists, especially for mages. From what Kim Chae-min observed, Woo Hwijae was only pushing them to improve further, not easing up on them in the slightest. She watched with her own eyes as he treated them just as rigorously as he did the others, making no exceptions.

‘Well… better than not being able to fight at all, I guess.’

The garden flashed with magic. Sitting on the stone steps of the garden, Kim Chae-min watched Park Seo-hyun’s shadow magic and Choi Jin-woo’s light magic with interest. Forcing two mages with incompatible attributes to attack simultaneously… wasn’t that a bit too challenging?

Park Seo-hyun manipulated shadows to form a dome around Woo Hwijae. Choi Jin-woo created a small orb of light in his hand and rolled it toward Woo Hwijae like a bowling ball. Just before the dome closed completely, Kim Chae-min saw the light orb explode. The dome melted away… The tactic was decent.

“That was pretty good.”

Woo Hwijae must have thought so too, as he gave them a light compliment. However, Park Seo-hyun, seeing Woo Hwijae walk out unscathed, seemed to be struggling to contain her frustration.

There’s no way Woo Hwijae hadn’t noticed what Kim Chae-min did. Woo Hwijae curled up the corner of his mouth in a grin—a smile that made him look rather mean.

“You want to land a hit on me? You’re at least ten years too early for that.”

The shadow beneath him was crushed. Under Woo Hwijae’s foot, the shadow wriggled as if it were alive.

"Using shadows not just to hide but to extend them is a decent strategy. But you need to calculate well. If they\'re in completely random places, it\'s too obvious."

Woo Hwijae’s words flowed smoothly.

“If you’re going to use this method, Choi Jin-woo, you need to increase the light sources. If you make it twinkle like Christmas lights, Park Seo-hyun’s shadow could stay hidden. It’d work even better indoors. But here outside, you can’t do much with the light sources we have.”

Woo Hwijae pointed up at the sky with his hand.

“Hmm….”

He offered a few more strategic tips beyond that.

Watching him silently, Kim Chae-min got up from her spot. Since the other kids were busy with the Hunters from Daseon, there wasn’t much room for her to get involved. She might as well go inside and grab something to eat. She hadn’t had breakfast since she had no appetite earlier, but now that her mind was clear, she was feeling hungry.

Kim Chae-min opened the front door of the villa and stepped inside. Daseon probably had some food prepared…

"Eek!"

“Ouch! Oh my, Teacher Kim. Are you alright?”

She had bumped right into Lee Mi-seon as soon as she opened the door.

It was understandable for her, considering she wasn’t in great condition. But what had Lee Mi-seon been doing that she hadn’t noticed her approach?

Kim Chae-min rubbed her shoulder where they’d collided and looked up.

“…Hunter Lee. Is something wrong?”

Although Lee Mi-seon was dressed casually here, she was still put together—never sloppy.

But now, how did she look? Two buttons of her blouse were undone, and her carefully arranged hair was disheveled. Worried that she might have received bad news, Kim Chae-min studied her face, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to be the case.

Lee Mi-seon was clutching a file in one hand, almost crumpling it.

“Is there an emergency?”

“Huh? Yes! It’s urgent, but it’s good news!”

“Good news?”

Lee Mi-seon beamed brightly. It was the first time Kim Chae-min had seen her smile like that.

Lee Mi-seon opened the file she was holding.

“We found Teacher Woo’s younger brother!!”

* * *

Silky black hair that cascaded smoothly. A deeply furrowed brow. Eyes slightly lowered. Rosy cheeks and a sharp, well-defined nose. Pouting lips.

“The moment I saw him, I knew.”

Lee Mi-seon laid out the photo, grinning triumphantly.

“I scrapped everything else I’d been investigating these past few days. There’s no way this kid isn’t Teacher Woo’s brother!”

And she was right.

The instant Kim Chae-min looked at the photo, she was convinced. It was practically a miniature version of Woo Hwijae; who could doubt it?

“What’s his name?”

“Park Jung-min. Age eleven. Both the name and age are different. I told them to look for kids around the same age just in case, but imagine if we’d overlooked it!”

“Wow, he’s a spitting image.”

Hong Seok-young held up the photo, comparing it to Woo Hwijae. Even the scowling expression was identical.

“So, where is he?”

“In Daejeon.”

“That’s pretty close, isn’t it?”

Hong Seok-young’s eyes widened.

“Forget everything else and bring Teacher Woo’s brother over right away.”

“…Uh, well. That, uh… The orphanage he’s at- is that alright? It’s probably connected to Ark. What about the other kids?”

“You’re worried about the other kids too? We were already planning to protect them, since Alex Hope might be targeting them. Hunter Lee was preparing for that… But if we make any obvious moves, it might attract attention, so we’re holding off for now.”

“…Holding off?”

“Today, we’re just going to quietly take your brother out. You could call it a little… kidnapping, if you like.”

“What?”

“Come on, let’s go!”

Hong Seok-young grabbed Woo Hwijae and dragged him out, practically pulling him along.

“…Hunter Hong seems more excited about this than anyone else.”

“……”

“Teacher Kim? Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just…”

Kim Chae-min tilted her head slightly, then shook it. Despite the news about his brother, Woo Hwijae didn’t seem particularly thrilled.

Maybe it was just her imagination.