“Sound, you see, can simultaneously exist and not exist.”
“Hmm, how is that possible?”
“Ah, you don’t know? This is precisely why these primitive medieval folk…”
I said, shrugging my shoulders confidently.
‘Allow me to enlighten you on the marvels of modern civilization.’
‘This is what we call Noise Cancellation (TL Note: A shortened form of ‘noise cancellation’).’
‘It removes noise.’
“It’s quite simple, really. If you play a sound identical to the original at the same time, voilà! They interfere with each other, and the sound simply vanishes!”
Of course, I didn’t know the detailed principles either.
It was merely a plausible repackaging of knowledge I’d gleaned from YouTube and Shorts.
Yet, one doesn’t need intricate knowledge of electronics to skillfully operate a computer or a smartphone.
‘The outcome alone dictates reality.’
‘What good are theories, anyway?’
I could just make up any excuse about the principle.
‘Success is all that matters.’
After all, to this mad, ancient geezer, who likely knew nothing of physics, anything I said would be a novel revelation.
“Interesting…. Let’s try an experiment.”
The old man nodded, seemingly intrigued by my words. He lightly snapped his fingers.
A translucent face appeared in the air.
The ghost’s face began to hum.
Hoooom—.
It wasn’t a human sound.
A low, strange sound reverberated, echoing through the space.
The old man snapped his fingers once more.
Hoooom—.
This time, the same sound came from the opposite side.
Two sounds filled the space.
“It’s a spell used for multi-casting. I didn’t expect to use it for something like this.”
The old man added an explanation I hadn’t asked for.
However, the result was a failure.
The sound didn’t disappear. Instead, the two sounds overlapped, becoming a louder, more unpleasant resonance that echoed through the cave.
“…Hmm?”
The old man’s questioning gaze turned towards me.
Cold sweat ran down my spine.
‘Uh, is this not it?’
My mind went utterly blank, and my heart plummeted.
‘f*ck. What is it? What is it? I’m screwed.’
“What happened here?”
The old man’s nonchalant voice asked.
But I wasn’t reassured at all.
For I suspected that old man would, with utmost calm, snuff out my life.
My head declared an emergency.
A wrong answer here and now would surely not merely result in my arm being disintegrated as it had before.
Perhaps my entire body would be disintegrated, becoming one of the organ collections in a glass jar.
Desperately, I racked my brain, blurting out the first words that came to mind.
“Ah, ah! I believe I misspoke! What I meant was, you need to produce the *opposite* sound! The opposite!”
“The opposite sound, what is that?”
A faint wrinkle appeared between the old man’s brows.
“Well… that is to say… sound is a wave…? And waves can be inverted… right…?”
‘Damn it. I have no idea. I’m a humanities major, after all!’
The shallow knowledge I’d picked up from the internet had already run dry.
But the crazy old man was smarter than I thought.
He listened to my rambling, pondered for a moment, then abruptly slapped his knee.
“Hmm, I think I understand what you’re saying. You see sound as both a substance and energy, don’t you?”
“Yes? Yes…”
“The intriguing part lies here. You didn’t perceive the antithesis of ‘being’ (有) as ‘non-being’ (無).
For my entire life, I believed that all matter comprised only existence and non-existence.
What is, is; what isn’t, isn’t. Am I wrong?”
“…”
“But upon hearing your words, it seems I was mistaken. You posited that if matter exists, then antimatter (TL Note: 反物質, ‘banmuljil,’ meaning ‘antimatter’) must also exist… Fascinating, truly fascinating.”
The old man, quite arbitrarily, had convinced himself.
“So, the positive (正) and the negative (反) combine to revert to nothingness (無)… A novel theory. Excellent, I shall attempt it once more.”
The old man, who had been concentrating for a long time, snapped his finger once more.
A strange hum, different from before yet somehow similar, once again echoed through the space.
Then, what I had wanted happened.
The instant the two sounds met, they vanished as if by some impossible magic.
Perfect silence.
Only my ragged breathing remained in the cave.
“…It opened.”
I didn’t know how it worked, but it succeeded anyway.
The box opened silently, without a sound.
The old man looked at me with eyes gleaming with madness.
“You, you are truly remarkable. Your conceptualization is extraordinary. To reclassify all existence into positive and negative?
This is a concept entirely new to me. It certainly warrants further study….”
Despite his lavish praise, I forced myself to maintain a facade of nonchalance, for I hadn’t the faintest clue what he was raving about.
“Thanks to you, the paradox has been resolved. Born from sound, yet culminating in nothingness (無).
It has become possible to perfectly manifest nothingness. How did you conceive of such a notion?”
“Just… by instinct.”
I vaguely brushed him off.
In truth, I had no other answer.
But that answer seemed to greatly satisfy the old man.
The old man burst into hearty laughter.
“Hahahaha! Instinct! Excellent, truly excellent! A most pleasing answer….
Magic, by its very nature, belongs not to the realm of reason and logic, but to that of sensation and intuition. Yet, those dullards only ever obsess over formulas….
Indeed, it has been quite some time since I encountered a wild genius such as yourself. This is truly delightful.”
The old man, seemingly amused, pulled an item from inside the box and tossed it to me.
I reflexively caught it. A heavy sensation in my palm.
‘It’s a skillbook?’
What landed in my hand was the golden-glowing Golden Skillbook, which Magic is Firepower had called a hidden piece.
‘Finally, my reward appeared.’
Though I had endured hellish trials, this single skillbook would more than suffice to compensate for every ounce of pain.
‘But why is that old man still standing there idly?’
‘He should just leave after giving the reward.’
As if he had read my thoughts, the old man’s words followed immediately.
“You did not merely provide me with an answer….
Instead, you posed a question I had never once contemplated in my entire existence.
This is a form of enlightenment that cannot be recompensed with a simple reward.”
The old man took a step closer and spoke.
“Therefore, I shall also give you a gift. I will teach you any magic you desire. Speak your wish.”
It seemed a legendary event had occurred.
I quickly nodded.
‘To be able to choose any magic I want!’
‘Doesn’t that mean I could get a Rainbow-grade skill?’
‘No. Perhaps the magic this person teaches isn’t of that caliber.’
I had a strong intuition that he might teach me magic beyond the Tower’s rules, outside its very framework.
“May I take a moment to consider?”
“Of course. But it seems your time is not infinite.”
Startled by his words, I looked at the timer.
[Time Remaining: 1 minute 30 seconds]
‘Damn it, there wasn’t much time.’
I quickly organized my thoughts.
‘Which magic would be most important?’
The first thing that came to mind was something simple and powerful.
‘Could such magic even exist?’
“Instant-death cheat. Is there no magic that allows me to instantly kill an opponent the moment I see them?”
“Indeed, there is. I can confidently state that with such magic, even Demigods could be slain.
However, the cost is your very lifespan. You would age ten years with each use. Do you still wish to learn it?”
I recoiled in horror, vigorously shaking my head. ‘Ten years? Was he jesting?’
But there was a gain.
As far as I knew, such magic was absolutely not on any skillbook list.
This person could truly give ‘any magic’.
[Time Remaining: 1 minute]
No time. I began to speak of the things I had always dreamed of.
“What about immortality?”
“If you desire a curse that prevents you from ever dying, no matter what injury you suffer or what pain you endure, then it is entirely possible.”
The old man’s black eyes gleamed ominously.
His voice was so sinister that I immediately refused.
[Time Remaining: 45 seconds]
“What about magic that duplicates money?”
“Instead, everyone in the world will know your existence and location.”
“f*ck, if every option comes with such a catch, there’s nothing to choose! Is this a joke?”
No matter what powerful magic I mentioned, the old man always recited the terrible risks that came with it.
Consequently, I found myself unable to make a choice.
[Time Remaining: 30 seconds]
The old man looked at me and said softly.
“You must choose what you genuinely desire, what you truly need. Simply striving for powerful magic is futile.
Potent magic invariably demands a heavy toll; such is a fundamental truth of this world. And you, I sense, are not yet prepared to pay that price.
Select a magic befitting your station. Choose a power you can truly wield.”
At the old man’s words, I fell into thought again.
‘What I wanted to do right now. What I needed most right now.’
Surely, it wouldn’t be power or wealth.
‘Those are tools.’
‘But tools for what?’
‘Why was I climbing the Tower again?’
‘Why did I become a wizard?’
Suddenly, a scene flashed through my mind.
A fleeting image of myself, phone clutched in hand all day, letting out silly giggles. My simple joy. My tranquil days.
“…Right, I started all this simply because I wanted to get a popular post (TL Note: ‘Gaenyeom-geul,’ a post that receives many upvotes/comments and becomes popular on a Korean online forum, similar to a ‘trending post’).”
In that moment, I realized everything.
‘Why I was living.’
‘Why I existed.’
At this moment, my mind leaped to a higher plane.
All the fundamental truths of the world became self-evident.
[Time Remaining: 15 seconds]
‘Yes. Forum browsing (TL Note: ‘Gaelljil,’ a slang term referring to browsing or actively participating in a ‘gallery’ or online forum, often associated with DC Inside, a popular Korean imageboard/forum site). Unrestricted forum browsing.’
‘How many days had it been since I last posted anything with a clear conscience, constantly fearing the National Intelligence Service (NIS) would track me, or that Demigod would somehow find me?’
Anonymity was needed. Perfect anonymity.
‘The ability to comfortably browse forums without being tracked by anyone!’
‘That was precisely the magic I truly needed.’
I raised my head and looked at the old man.
“Elder, by any chance… do you know what an IP is?”
****
The old man didn’t understand my question. It was natural.
But he seemed to have interpreted my request in his own way, fantastically.
“Hmm. So you wish to erase your very existence from all causal laws of this world.
Indeed, you possess a remarkable talent for conjuring intriguing concepts.
To become a specter, free from the pursuit of destiny?”
He looked at me with curious eyes for a moment, then snapped his fingers.
Particles of black light enveloped my body.
It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation.
Only a sense of strangeness, as if a thin membrane had formed between the world and me, was felt.
“It is done. You are now untethered from causality.
You may evade the pursuit of destiny.
Regrettably, it is a magic even I have never tested, so its resilience may prove… lacking.”
“Um… there are no side effects, right?”
“Hmm, that, I suppose, is a matter of perspective. All things possess two faces, like a coin, existing in tandem.”
The old man gave an inscrutable answer and turned his body.
His form gradually began to fade with a halo of light.
The walls and ceiling of the hidden cave were also disappearing.
“Somehow, I feel we will meet again soon.”
With those final words, the old man and the bizarre laboratory vanished completely.
[Time Remaining: 0 seconds]
[Congratulations on clearing Tower 5F (EXTREME)!]
[First Clear Bonus applied!]
[Rank 1 Bonus applied!]
[All Stats +10]
[Magic Stone 800g]
Familiar clear messages appeared before my eyes.
It seemed I hadn’t leveled up, as there was no skillbook.
But I didn’t care.
After all, I had already acquired a Golden Skillbook as a hidden piece, and more importantly, I had gained something far more valuable than any skillbook.
As soon as I exited the Tower, I immediately rushed home.
Then, without hesitation, I turned on my computer.
My heart pounded wildly.
‘How would this magic actually work?’
I logged onto the Hunter Gallery (TL Note: A section of a Korean online forum, like a subreddit or imageboard) and, as usual, began to write a post with a provocative title.
[Title: Hunter-bro’s Little Sister (17) Got Pregnant, What Do I Do?]
[(A picture of a cat looking pathetic)]
[Hunter-bro… what did you expect?]
And then, something unimaginable happened.
