Chapter 172

A message flew to Yoonseul’s phone.

[I’m coming. Gangnam-gu, Seolleung-ro 221, 21x-dong, 13xx-ho.]

It was more suspicious because it was from an unknown number.

It wasn’t a voice phishing or a prank from an acquaintance.

Doubt soon turned into fear.

[(photo).jpg]

[Hello.]

It was a photo of the entrance door right in front of Yoonseul’s house.

Her heart sank, and she immediately jumped out of the capsule and rushed to the living room.

Bang-!

A man was pounding on the metal door with all his might, his fists filled with rage.

“These bastards… That bastard…”

Bang-!

“Ahhhhhh!”

Yoonseul, who was inside, trembled at the memory of previous nightmares.

Bang-!

It was not a door that could be easily broken by human strength.

However, the seams were gradually widening, and the cold air from outside was brushing against Yoonseul’s thigh, making her fear feel almost tangible.

“Do you know why I’m doing this?”

A sharp voice that sounded like chalk scraping against a blackboard pierced Yoonseul’s ears. The voice carried an aura, perhaps even emotion.

She managed to answer through her near-sob.

“Ugh… I… I don’t know! Why are you doing this! Huhuhuh…”

That answer was certainly not what the man wanted. Reflecting his heightened rage, the door creaked even louder.

“How can you not know! Especially you!”

Bang!

“Ahhhhhhh! Call the police… report it…”

Thud!

The sound was different.

The door had completely shattered.

Yoonseul, having made eye contact with the man, dropped her phone and quickly fled to her room.

Locking the door multiple times, she leaned against it and collapsed.

“Huh… Huh… Please, who are you… Please don’t do this… Please…”

“Open this door. Open it, you xxx!”

“This… this is a room mana door…! So go! Please just go! Hwaaaahhh…”

Once, during a peak of paranoia, she had treated the walls and door with room mana, never imagining it would help in this way.

Feeling a momentary sense of relief, she broke down in tears again.

The malice she faced here was on a completely different level from what she encountered on the internet.

This was someone who had come to her home, determined to harm her and had even found out her address.

The aura he exuded felt like a pain that could burn her body.

“Rika.”

The man’s muttering startled Yoonseul.

“White, Rani, Yuju, and Chae Na.”

The man’s chant included the names of members from the girl group NV.

And the first name was one that hadn’t even existed in the group.

“Rika is you, Kariri.”

“No…”

“How could!”

The man shouted loudly.

Yoonseul reflexively lowered her head at the loud voice coming from outside the door.

A slight tremor continued in her hands that were covering her head.

“How could… Chae Na be dead… and you’re not affected? Is life fun?”

He spoke nonsensically.

Yoonseul felt the air around her heating up.

“Because of you, Chae Na is dead. And you went off to play in Desireland? Mocking Chae Na? Is that funny…? Is it funny???”

“Ahhhhhhh! Get away! Please just go away! What… what does that even have to do with me now!”

“Chae Na’s next schedule was Desireland, wasn’t it? You knew that. So how could you as a fan…?”

“I… I didn’t know that! I really don’t know!! Huhuhhh…”

Yoonseul didn’t understand even half of what the man was saying.

How would she have known about the next schedule or anything like that?

It was true that she idolized Chae Na, but it had been over four years since the person had stopped replying to her messages.

“Ouch!”

Burning pain jolted Yoonseul, startling her into getting up.

The door was gradually heating up to a bright red. The hot air was intense.

It wasn’t a mere illusion; she could feel the air actually getting hot.

“How is this…?”

“It’s better that you open the door while I’m still being nice. Did you think I couldn’t break through?”

“If… if I open it, what will you do? Are you going to hurt me? Are you going to kill me?”

“Kill? Sure, let’s kill everyone today!”

[3- Circle Casting: Controlling Coefficient of Linear Expansion]

With the magic the man used, the door hinge creaked and broke off.

The space between the door and the wall was shrinking, and cracks began to appear in the wall.

Whether the door broke first or the wall broke, it was clear that the mysterious man would come inside.

If she had known this would happen, she should have called for help first, or at least not lost her phone, or perhaps told her teammates to assist before the room mana system activated.

“I’m an idiot… I’m really an idiot…”

Yoonseul hated how powerless she had become.

“Ugh… Ughh… Please save me… I’m really sorry…”

“Open the door, you murderer!”

Mana seeped through the unsealed seams where room mana had not been applied.

Ultimately, Yoonseul, having lost her rationality, screamed.

“Stop it right now! If you keep this up, I’ll jump out of here… Huh? I’ll jump!”

“Go ahead, coward!”

“Ughh… You think I can’t do it…!”

Yoonseul’s gaze turned towards the balcony.

With her eyes shut tightly, she opened the window.

The cold wind rushed into the room, as if trying to dissuade her.

“Huh… Why… Why… I don’t want to die… Someone, please save me… Please…”

* * *

“It’s Gangnam-gu, Seolleung-ro 221, 21x-dong, 13xx-ho. Yes. It’s an emergency, please come quickly!”

After hanging up with the police, she also contacted Professor Cheon just in case.

The more safety measures, the less risk there would be.

It was only a 5 to 10-minute drive to Kariri’s house.

She immediately flagged down a taxi and headed to Yoonseul’s apartment.

It was a good thing she remembered the address that Kariri had jokingly slipped to her.

Thank goodness, but it was too soon to relax.

As soon as she got out of the car, she wrapped her aura around her ears and took in all the surrounding sounds.

First, she headed directly to the apartment right at the main entrance.

‘Where’s the entrance.’

Just as she looked around.

“%$^%$ ^&*%^&$^&!”

Screams were coming from the children’s playground.

She hurried her steps and headed straight there.

A few children were looking up with wide eyes.

Following their gaze, a girl was precariously hanging onto the railing, swaying in the wind.

“Seol Yoonseul…!”

There was no time to wonder how she got there.

Each time the strong winds blew, Yoonseul’s delicate body shook violently.

[Casting: Reinforced Interference]

“Seol Yoonseul! Can you hold on?!”

No answer came.

More importantly, it felt like there was another person in the house.

Along with her screams, there was a man’s voice mixed in.

Could it be that a real stalker had entered her home?

If so, the situation just got much more serious.

Rather than hoping Seol Yoonseul could hold on, she needed to find a way to rescue her right now.

“Ah!”

Had she slipped? Now she was only holding on with her arms.

Think.

Since the ground was asphalt, the elasticity coefficient magic wouldn’t mean much anyway.

Moreover, if she fell from over 30 meters, she would hit the ground at a speed of 90 km/h.

No ordinary magic could ensure safety at that height, and it wouldn’t be good either to set up a defensive magic around Yoonseul without a proper coordinate fix.

If only there were a net… if only there were something like a net.

“Ahhh!”

Hearing Seol Yoonseul’s scream, I had no choice but to cast my magic to the utmost.

The fact that the terminal velocity of her fall would be 90 km/h meant that she would hit the ground in less than 3 seconds.

I stretched out my arms, focusing on the calculations.

[Creation: Leydemaister Transformation]

With my left hand, I drew the creation formation that would determine the shape of the net.

While declaring the three runes simultaneously, I quickly completed the magic circle with my other hand.

[Sutra (4), Psyche (7), Bestial (14)]

The arabesque knot used to bind sinners or monsters.

Among them, the ‘gold’ magic was primarily aimed at those that moved quickly.

Golden threads began to cover the sky like millions of strands, weaving together to form a dense net.

Rather than broad and sparse, it would be tight and thick. The size could be manipulated by forcibly enlarging it through general casting.

I slightly turned my left wrist outward to increase the number of intersections in the net compared to before.

At the same time, I moved my right arm to prepare the net just below Yoonseul’s point of descent.

[General Casting: Arabesque Knot – Gold (金)]

“Seol Yoonseul! It’s okay, jump down!”

As soon as I spoke, flames erupted right above the railing where she had been standing.

An explosion? No, based on the flow of mana, that was clearly fire magic.

As her hand holding the railing slipped, her body began to fall toward the ground at a terrifying speed.

“AHHHHHHH!”

The scene of a person falling doesn’t look like a slow-motion film.

Before her scream could even finish, my magic net surrounded her body.

In the blink of an eye, I reached the ground with Yoonseul and released the arabesque knot.

“Yoonseul! Seol Yoonseul, are you okay? Wake up!”

Yoonseul seemed to have exhausted her energy and her body went limp.

No matter how many times I slapped her cheeks, she showed no signs of waking up. Even trying to infuse her with aura yielded no result.

There were burn marks on the palms of my hands, and some of her hair had been scorched black from the flames.

[Simple Casting: Diagnosis]

Time was of the essence, so I used a simplified diagnostic magic, but there didn’t seem to be any major visible injuries.

Yoonseul’s eyes gradually opened, revealing her dark irises.

“Are you conscious? Are you okay now? Is there anywhere you hurt?”

If she had an injury, I needed to treat that area as quickly as possible.

“Whew… Wh-who… No Name…?”

“Quickly. There’s no time, Seol Yoonseul.”

The perpetrator was still likely inside the apartment.

Entering someone else’s home during the day, not to mention using fire magic, could be considered attempted murder.

He could possibly flee at any moment.

“Ugh… Huh… Hwaaaahhh…”

“Seol Yoonseul, hurry… if it hurts anywhere—”

“What… What is it… why are your hands so small…? Are you… Hihk… Unspecified? Is it really unspecified…?”

“For now, let’s just say you’re okay. Who’s in the house with you right now? Is it a stalker? Or someone you know?”

Yoonseul shook her head vigorously, tears obscuring her vision.

Yes, she was right; it was a stalker.

I called over the children who were just standing there watching.

“Hey kids. Yeah, all of you. Come here quickly.”

It was hesitant at first, but as one child came over, the others followed suit, mostly young elementary school boys.

“Take good care of this noona until the police uncle arrives, okay?”

Where are the police?

I left Yoonseul in the care of the kids and entered the apartment.

I needed to see the face of the bastard responsible for this madness.