WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 132: Communication 2
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The sound of someone swallowing. It was only that, but it was the first sign of agitation that man had shown since the communication began.
‘He is excessively cautious whenever the topic is Transmigrators.’
Lacey stood with one hand tucked into the pocket of her white gown, lightly furrowing her brows.
More than three years had passed since she came to this world. She had probed him, wondering if he might have let his guard down by now, but she had failed again.
She had told him countless times that she already knew he was a Transmigrator, yet he still reacted like that. By this point, Lacey had become stubborn about it.
No matter what it took, she wanted Yuri, that man, to admit that he was a Transmigrator.
‘The only reaction that man has shown so far was to Chuk-sin-doo’s Heavenly Downpour...’
What if she suddenly shouted Heavenly Downpour right now? Would that draw a reaction from him? He was already shaken after hearing Elena’s name.
Then the caution he had shown earlier must have naturally weakened. Maybe now she could break through that man’s thick defenses...
Or should she use news of Elena as leverage to make him admit he was a Transmigrator?
That would be a smarter move than babbling about Heavenly Downpour, something no sane person would do.
“Ahem.”
She decided against it.
She did not want to try either approach on him now. As stubborn as she was, she wanted to face him head-on. Besides, she did not want to use Elena’s situation for something like this.
Even if they had grown rather distant over the past year, Lacey still considered Elena a junior she cared about.
“I delivered the letter you asked me to.”
Even after she cleared her throat first, there was no particular response. The man on the other end remained silent enough that she could not even hear him breathing.
“I’m not sure whether it’s my place to ask, but I’m curious, so I’ll ask anyway. Did Elena send a reply?”
“No.”
Yuri answered after a brief silence, and Lacey’s brows drew together further.
“That’s honestly surprising. I thought Elena would reply straight away.”
“Why did you think that?”
“Hmm, the reason is... a little hard to explain.”
The day she returned from Alderan a year ago.
The strange feeling she had sensed throughout her conversation with Elena. The way Elena had roughly snatched the letter away as though taking it from her. The look in her eyes that seemed to say she wanted Lacey gone quickly so she could tear it open at once.
“It was the atmosphere, I suppose. Anyway, I’m surprised that she didn’t send a reply.”
“How has Elena been?”
“She seems to be doing better than before she received your letter, Yuri... And she’s doing quite well for herself.”
The hand that had repeatedly clenched and opened inside her pocket emerged. Lacey twisted her purple hair with a troubled expression.
“It hasn’t been announced yet, but Elena has already been designated as the next Mage Tower Master.”
Being the Mage Tower Master’s disciple did not automatically make someone the next Mage Tower Master. That position ultimately went to the most outstanding mage in the tower.
“Do you know what that means?”
“Not really.”
“There are several seniors who have devoted decades to the Dersia Mage Tower.”
Such senior mages were called Mage Tower Elders. They were at least tier 6, and since they did not disclose their tiers, there was a fair chance some were tier 7.
“Most of them have no desire for the Mage Tower Master’s position. They research magic for the Dersia Mage Tower’s aspirations and their own. That’s why they’re especially strict when selecting the next Mage Tower Master.”
“They acknowledged Elena as the next Mage Tower Master?”
“Yes.”
Lacey answered with a bitter smile.
Reaching tier 5 at twenty-two was unprecedented across all Mage Towers.
But Lacey had reached tier 6 at twenty-nine. That was fast enough to be called genius as well.
Moreover, the Elders knew that Lacey understood magic beyond her tier and loved and yearned for magic wholeheartedly.
That was why, until a year ago, more Elders had supported Lacey as the next Mage Tower Master.
The assessment had been overturned in a single year. Now, the Elders of the Dersia Mage Tower no longer supported Lacey. Elena’s growth over the past year had been that unparalleled.
“What about you, Lacey?”
“Well, I support Elena as the next Mage Tower Master too. So don’t misunderstand.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“I’m not complaining to you because Elena surpassed me.”
“I never misunderstood that.”
At that utterly matter-of-fact answer, Lacey blinked several times.
Her face grew a little hot when she realised she had jumped to the wrong conclusion. It was fortunate that this was not a video call.
“Ahem... Elena hardly stays at the Mage Tower or the estate where she used to live these days.”
“Then where does she stay?”
“I don’t know the exact reason, but... she’s staying at the Ascard Family estate. It’s been over a month since I last saw her.”
They saw each other, met eyes, and exchanged greetings.
That was all. Lacey had tried several times to steer the conversation beyond greetings, but Elena always smiled sweetly and gave the same answer.
‘I’m sorry, Senior. Right now, I don’t want to talk to anyone but magic.’
It was the same every time. At first, Lacey wondered whether she had misheard. She did not want to speak with anyone but magic? Did that mean she spoke with magic?
“It seems she’s working with the Ascard Family and receiving instruction from Orca. Mages tend to lock themselves in their laboratories for days once they become absorbed in something, but Elena has lived like that for years on end... I’m a little worried. You wouldn’t know this, but Elena didn’t even eat properly.”
“Is that... so?”
“Yes. Even when meals were brought to her at the Mage Tower, she wouldn’t touch them. She only ate energy bars as meal replacements. The only time she ate anything resembling a proper meal was when Orca or I forced her to.”
Even that was from a year ago. Lacey continued with a quiet laugh.
“Still, she seems much better than before since receiving your letter, Yuri.”
There was an odd... eerie atmosphere about her.
But judging only by appearances, she was certainly better than before receiving the letter.
“For the two years after Yuri left Rutlan, Ms Haryeong looked after her every day, so she was fine. But after even that woman left, she really looked awful. Her hair was always a mess, she drank every day, and she walked around with her robe hood pulled low.”
“Is she... better now?”
“Yes. Like I said, I don’t see Elena often either, but the Elena I run into occasionally has returned to how she was when people called her Marigold. Though I wish she’d cut her hair a little.”
“Her hair?”
“As far as I know, she hasn’t cut it once in three years. It’s long enough to touch the floor. She could just cut it, but instead, she uses magic to keep only the ends hovering slightly above the ground.”
Lacey lifted the hair she had been playing with before her eyes. Her own hair was fairly long too, but it was nothing compared to Elena’s.
“A year ago, she treated that pretty face of hers terribly. Now she wears clothes besides hooded robes. She wears hairpins too.”
“...Hairpins?”
“Yes. She never had any interest in that sort of thing before, but since receiving your letter, she always wears the same hairpin. It’s blue, with a flower design. Anyway, I didn’t request communication with you to tell you how Elena has been doing. It only turned into this because you said you hadn’t received a reply.”
“Is there another reason?”
“I wanted to thank you.”
Lacey paused, then composed her voice.
“There’s no doubt that Elena brightened up because of your letter. Before, she was truly precarious, as if she might destroy herself. Now she doesn’t drink, she seems to eat well, and she’s focusing completely on magic.”
That did not mean she no longer seemed precarious. Lacey still sensed an odd, eerie atmosphere around Elena.
But that was only Lacey’s subjective impression, so she could not tell anyone else.
‘It might just make me look jealous.’
She did not want to seem like some petty, ugly woman digging up flaws that did not exist just to talk badly about Elena.
“When she was on edge before, she didn’t fit in at the Mage Tower. Now that has improved too. Her younger juniors admire Elena, and even the seniors who didn’t care for her have no choice but to acknowledge her talent and genius now.”
They might once have been able to envy her, but now they could not even manage that. Such a gap had driven many mages in the tower to despair.
Arist Benharman, who had once been mentioned alongside Elena and Lacey as a candidate to become the Mage Tower Master’s disciple, had been unable to overcome the despair and sense of loss. She had returned to her family estate.
“This isn’t something I should be thanked for.”
After a brief silence, the voice that returned sounded brighter than when she had first heard it. That meticulous man was showing this much emotion. Lacey smiled mischievously.
“Hou?”
“What are you suddenly saying?”
There was not a hint of laughter in his reply. Lacey had expected that, so she laughed briefly.
“I’ve said everything I wanted to say, so I’ll hang up now. Let me say this in advance. Don’t ask me to pass along anything you want to tell Elena.”
“I have no intention of doing that.”
She heard a faint snicker.
* * *
“Thank you for contacting me.”
With those final words, Yuri set the receiver down.
When he first learned that Lacey had requested communication, and when she began probing him as soon as the call started, he had considered hanging up on her.
But now that the call was over, not even a speck of that earlier irritation remained.
“Ha ha...”
Yuri gave a short laugh as he rubbed at his tight chest. When he first wrote the letter and asked Lacey to deliver it... he had been filled with every kind of worry and thought.
He had kept his emotions out of it as much as possible because he did not want to appeal to Elena. Once it was finished, it was a letter that seemed to contain nothing but personal circumstances that sounded like excuses.
He could not honestly say that he had not hoped Elena would understand.
In the end, he wanted her to understand.
They could not return to how things had been before, when they lived in the same estate in Rutlan... But he had hoped that she would not hate him unconditionally just because he was a Transmigrator.
According to Lacey, Elena was doing well.
She had escaped her ruined appearance and miserable lifestyle. She was immersing herself in magic deeply enough to be designated as the next Mage Tower Master, earning the admiration, recognition, and support of those around her.
‘The hairpin.’
Of everything Lacey had told him, the part that moved Yuri most was the hairpin. The hairpin he had given Elena as a gift in Logos three years ago.
‘Does using the gift I gave her after receiving my letter mean... she has forgiven me?’
But no reply had come. Could Elena have sent one, only for some mistake to prevent it from arriving? What if it had been lost along the way?
If that were the case, Elena might be wondering why he had not replied.
‘Should I send another letter?’
No.
What if Elena had deliberately chosen not to send a letter? Then a new letter would become an ugly demand for a reply.
That thought left Yuri conflicted.
Brrring.
Brrring.
The phone rang while he was lost in thought. It was unlikely that Lacey would call again. That meant this call was from... that Grade 5 Adventurer Yuben.
Brrring.
He thought about it again, but Yuben still brought nothing to mind. Yuri steadied himself and picked up the receiver.
Unlike Lacey, the person on the other end did not speak first. Yuri waited briefly for their voice, then spoke.
“Yuben?”
“...Ha ha...”
Laughter mixed with static.
“Do you know what that name means?”
It was a voice he had never heard before. Yuri could not make sense of the question, so he furrowed his brow and tilted his head.
“You would know, Yuri. No.”
The voice changed midway through.
“UrMumSpammer.”
“...!”
Yuri jerked the receiver away from his ear in shock.
The voice had changed completely. He knew it. It was a voice difficult to forget even if he wanted to, not because it was unusual, but because the things it had said had been so shocking that they were deeply etched into his mind.
“Who are you?”
Yuri quickly composed his expression and emotions before asking.
“Is our big bro still playing for Juventus?”
The other person answered his question with a question.
“How many Ballon d’Ors has he won?”
“...”
“What about the FIFA World Player of the Year award? The Champions League? How many Big Ears has he lifted?”
“I don’t really understand what you’re saying...”
“Enough of the act, UrMumSpammer. Your big bro knows who you are.”
Yuri swallowed hard at that answer. This was different from Lacey, who knew he was a Transmigrator but was not certain he was UrMumSpammer.
Chuk-sin-doo was certain Yuri was UrMumSpammer.
“You don’t need to put on an act with your big bro. I’m not your enemy. If anything, I’m someone who has been desperately waiting for you.”
“...”
Yuri thought hard, but could not think of an excuse. He was completely cornered.
“What the hell is Yuben?”
“Are you still going to keep acting?”
“No, I’m not acting. I’m asking because I genuinely don’t know.”
“Yuben is Juve, from Juventus!”
Chuk-sin-doo shouted.
“The Italian club in Serie A!”
‘What the fuck is that...?’
Yuri, Lee Su-hyeok, did not know much about football. He had barely watched Korean football matches, so how would he know overseas football?
What was Serie A, and what was an Italian club? To Lee Su-hyeok, a club was some mysterious place in Hongdae or Gangnam that he had only heard stories about online and never visited himself.
“I can’t believe you didn’t immediately think of Juventus when you heard the name Yuben...”
“I can’t believe your mind works that way.”
Yuri muttered in disbelief, and Chuk-sin-doo burst out laughing on the other end.
“Honestly, I would’ve liked to use a name other than Yuben. Manchester, Real, something like that... But this name has many meanings for me. It’s a miraculous name I’m grateful for. It was the club that made our big bro’s second visit to Korea, a friendly match, happen!”
“...”
“If I hadn’t reached number one in this fucking garbage game, I could’ve seen our big bro playing on Korean soil with my own eyes...!”
What was he supposed to say? Yuri hesitated briefly before opening his mouth.
“Did you contact me just to talk about... that?”
“There are more than enough things I want to talk with you about!”
Chuk-sin-doo shouted with a cackle.
“UrMumSpammer, you bastard! Why did you pretend not to know me when you saw me in Rutlan?!”
“...”
“Don’t try to feed me the bullshit excuse that you didn’t recognise me! Why did you pretend not to know me?”
“Why the fuck would I act familiar with you when I don’t know whether I can trust you?”
Yuri asked incredulously.
“I suddenly got dragged into this world, and they told me not to trust other Transmigrators!”
“Still, you should trust me, your big bro! Are we strangers? We’re friends, fellow Koreans! Do you know how long I’ve waited for you?”
“Why were you waiting for me?”
“Well...”
Chuk-sin-doo hesitated, unable to finish.
“It’s because I prepared a lot, believing that one day you would cross over too. And there are things I want to ask.”
“What do you want to ask? That Ballon whatever you asked about earlier?”
“No! You don’t have to tell me that. I believe in our big bro. Our big bro must have achieved the record for the most Ballon d’Or wins, conquered all four of Europe’s major leagues, won the Player of the Year award, and lifted the Big Ear.”
Maybe it was Yuri’s imagination, but Chuk-sin-doo’s voice seemed to tremble slightly. Still, Yuri had no idea what the bastard was talking about.
All Yuri knew about football was which country had won the most recent World Cup.
Footnotes:
Yuben is based on “Juve,” a common nickname for Juventus. Chuk-sin-doo’s questions concern football awards and Juventus. Lacey’s “Hou?” echoes Heavenly Downpour and a football allusion.
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