WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

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◈ Damned Transmigration

Chapter 7

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Elena (2)

There was no persuading Elena. It was as simple as that.

She had come here with the firm decision to take Yuri back with her, and he currently had no valid reason to refuse.

He couldn't speak of any duties he had to perform or any goals he wanted to achieve. He had no grand vision for his future.

The Black Snake Gang was hardly a proper job, but he had lost that connection anyway, a process that had almost cost him his life.

Objectively speaking, Elena had already achieved a successful life and was on a path of flying much higher.

In this world of Seronis, a Mage Tower represented the very forefront of magic, and while not every great mage came from one, every Tower Master was themselves a great mage.

He vividly recalled from the game that characters with the title of Tower Master were infamous bosses who were nearly impossible to defeat.

One of these legendary figures had seen potential in Elena.

More than that, her last letter revealed that the master of the Dersia Mage Tower, Heavenly Thunder Orca Dersia, was personally arranging missions to expand her worldview.

This was undeniable proof of how much she was valued.

Now this very same Elena had come here herself, insisting he join her under her protection; turning her down just because he was a jerk felt like a terribly weak excuse.

'Just insisting I don't want to...'

That line of thinking was a dead end.

Elena was fully determined to take Yuri with her, and she would use force if she had to.

His position was a checkmate.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

'But maybe this is for the better,' he considered.

His life here was hardly ideal, since living in the rural city of Oldor had presented endless inconveniences.

Of course, the plan came with its own risks.

A decade was a long time, so he could probably pass off a shift in personality. He would have to be careful to avoid topics about the orphanage, however.

While he had access to Yuri’s memories, he completely lacked the feelings that went with them.

'On top of that, I have to hide all the traits that mark me as a transmigrator.'

If he lacked the Veil of Deception, he might have been forced to run the moment they met. Perhaps he would have had to punch her squarely in the solar plexus or desperately invent some unbelievable lie.

'Thankfully, since I have the Veil of Deception, there's no way my internal energy will be discovered.'

Just as the game was different from reality, so were the item's effects.

It would have been helpful if it came with an instruction manual, but neither the Sect of Order nor Lorelia possessed that kind of thoughtfulness.

It was alright.

He had taken the time to inspect the Veil after it settled into his neck, so he understood how to use it in this new reality.

It functioned like a mental switch. While not a physical thing, he could control the Veil by concentrating on the idea of it.

It did not stop him from using internal energy or mana at all. It simply concealed them from outside perception.

That was the default setting, but focusing on the switch allowed him to adjust its output, making him appear as an ordinary person, a raw beginner, or whoever else.

That power of deception was the item's greatest strength.

'It would be great if I could get a mana training manual or a heart technique through Elena by some luck.'

He had his Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, but he would need a cover story to explain any power he developed.

'Alright.'

His mind was made up after weighing his options.

He would follow Elena and finally leave the countryside of Oldor. And during the process, he might as well get some benefits from his successful childhood friend.

"Are you almost done?"

Elena's question broke his concentration. She stood watching him from the corner, her arms crossed.

While his mind was still processing the monumental decision he had just made, his body had thankfully kept moving. He couldn't just walk out with nothing, after all.

He had to pack.

"You can sit in the chair instead of just standing there," he said over his shoulder.

"I don't want to, it's filthy."

‘Filthy?’

Yuri's brow furrowed until his gaze fell to her attire.

She wore a pure white dress, an item so pristine it felt completely alien to this rural city. Clothes like that would probably gather dust just from the air.

"...Why are you dressed like that?"

"What?"

"Your clothes," he clarified.

"Surely you remember what this city is like."

You could wander the streets of Oldor all day and never find another person dressed so immaculately. Her outfit clearly marked her as an outsider.

"...What I choose to wear is my own business," she retorted, her brows knitting together. Annoyance was clear in her voice.

Did he say something wrong?

'Aha.'

He realised it must be a deliberate display, a way of declaring that even though she came from here, she no longer belonged.

That fit the personality he had pieced together from her letters.

He remembered a younger girl who used to trail after him constantly, always calling his name.

It was difficult to reconcile that memory with the prickly, cold woman before him now.

"It's pretty," Yuri murmured, turning back to his bag.

He had been intentionally rude earlier to push her away, but now that he was going with her, a small change in attitude was necessary to smooth things over.

"What... did you say?"

He had said it just loud enough for her to hear. It would have stung a little if she had ignored him.

"I said, it's pretty."

"..."

"Did I say something strange?"

"No. Um, right, thank you."

The chill in her voice thawed slightly, and he heard a faint cough from behind him.

Yuri pretended not to notice and returned his attention to his work. In truth, there wasn't much to pack.

A change of clothes for the journey, the emergency money he had painstakingly saved, a diary smeared with self-loathing.

And…

"That," Elena said, her voice quiet.

She had moved from her spot in the corner and now stood near him, nervously fiddling with her fingers as she stared at the item in his hand.

"Is that... my letter?"

The letters were stacked neatly in the bottom drawer.

Yuri, who was carefully placing them one by one into his travel bag, looked up at Elena as she came to stand beside him.

"Yeah."

"You... you didn't throw them away? You kept them?"

"Why would I throw these away?"

At his simple question, Elena's eyes trembled faintly.

She had honestly thought he would have discarded them long ago. She got that distinct feeling from his replies, which were always so distant.

They were letters where he barely wrote about himself, communications that felt like they were sent from mere obligation rather than any real desire.

No matter what she wrote, his responses always lacked any true connection or empathy.

As her life at the Mage Tower grew busier and his attitude continued to worsen, she had gradually stopped putting much effort into her own letters as well.

Their relationship as childhood friends felt like a fragile thing, barely held together by shallow memories of a distant past.

It was a connection that could have been severed at any moment, yet she never wanted to be the one to cut it.

She felt that she shouldn't.

"You kept them..." Elena murmured, glancing at the remaining pile in the drawer.

She noticed the seals on most of them were loose.

She couldn't be certain, but it looked as if he might have opened them again just recently. The thought sparked in her mind that perhaps he had even read them over and over.

"...Are you going to take them with you?"

The question was unnecessary.

He was already putting the letters carefully into his bag.

Even now that they had finally met in person, he was packing these tangible records of their decade-long distance, treating them like treasures.

"Yeah."

‘Why would I throw these away?’ Yuri thought to himself.

‘I must never throw them away. They contain a decade's worth of information on her.’

"Did you throw mine away?" he asked, turning the question back on her.

"Ah. No, of course I wouldn't throw them away," she answered quickly.

"That's a relief."

"What's a relief?"

"Well, it would be weird if I was the only one who kept them, wouldn't it?"

If possible, he wanted to read the letters old Yuri had sent to her.

The personality of 'Yuri' that he had constructed from memories and the diary still lacked crucial details.

Besides, the memories were hazy, not clear enough to recall the exact contents of his past replies.

Based on what he could piece together, Yuri probably had not written anything deep, but reading them would still be helpful.

‘Mm, isn’t it weird to ask to see the letters you sent to someone else?' he wondered.

As he was contemplating this while packing the last of the letters, Elena hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

"Can I read them later?"

"...The letters you sent?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Why...?"

"It's just, I was thinking about the letters I sent a long time ago. I'm worried I might have written some... strange things."

So it wasn't such a strange request after all.

"They're letters I've been sending since I was ten," she continued, a bit flustered.

"I, uh, was young, so I don't remember them very well..."

"We can just trade and read them," he said, jumping on the opportunity she had unknowingly provided.

"I'm the same way. I don't really remember what I wrote back then either."

"Alright."

An awkward smile appeared on Elena's lips, which Yuri simply matched it with one of his own.

With the letters secured, he turned his attention to the desk drawer and opened it.

Four books whose titles practically reeked of fraud lay inside.

He had already judged them to be completely worthless, but he deliberately took them out, making sure Elena could see.

"What are these?"

Just as he'd planned, her interest was piqued.

She quickly came to his side and picked up <Basic Introduction to Mana> first.

"Yuri, you... want to become a mage?"

"I was just looking at it to kill time," he told a lie so obvious he fully intended for her to see through it.

Elena gave him a strange look before opening the book.

She read the first few pages with a surprisingly serious expression, but her focus soon gave way to speed as she quickly flicked through the rest.

"You didn't actually pay money for this thing, did you?"

He didn't know for sure, but it didn't seem like something the old Yuri would have stolen, so he figured he bought it.

"This is second-hand."

That much he knew.

The book was a used copy that had passed through at least three other sets of hands.

He briefly wondered if any of the poor souls who had left notes in its margins ever actually became mages.

"Well... is there a problem?"

Of course he knew the answer, but he couldn't let on. He asked the question with a carefully crafted look of disgruntled confusion.

Elena just let out a hollow laugh and flicked her finger.

A small flame erupted in her hand, and the <Basic Introduction to Mana> burned away into nothing.

"This is trash," Elena pronounced, delivering the cruel truth to Yuri, who was busy arranging his face into an expression of utter shock.

"To someone who doesn't know magic, it might look plausible, but it's simply a fake. Pure nonsense. Why do you even have a book like this?"

"Because it was the best I could get."

And it was the truth.

In the first place, there were no proper magic manuals in this rural city. Even if there had been, the old Yuri would not have been able to obtain them.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Elena asked, her brow furrowing in frustration.

"You had a mage from the Dersia Mage Tower right here next to you. If you had just sent me a letter saying you wanted to learn magic, I..."

"I didn't want to do that."

She was right. Asking her would have been the fastest and most correct path. But Yuri hadn't done that.

Why?

He didn't know the exact answer, since the one person who could say for sure had bled to death in the Black Snake Gang's office.

Still, he could guess the reason.

The old Yuri was similar to him, Lee Su-hyeok, and in that situation, there was only one possible reason for not sending that letter.

Pride.

It was because of stupid, pathetic pride.

Elena was his childhood friend, yet she had soared so far ahead that every letter from her was a painful reminder of his own inferiority.

He would have been too proud to show weakness or ask for such a favour.

The entire miserable and petty story did not need to be explained.

The simple phrase, "I didn't want to do that," was enough. It was a statement designed to clearly express his desire to say nothing more on the subject.

"..."

Elena was no fool.

The woman standing before him now also possessed more consideration than he had ever sensed from her letters.

She looked at his face for a long moment, and the frustration in her own expression softened into a quiet sigh as she nodded.

"I understand."

Black ash, the last remains of the incinerated manual, drifted to the floorboards. The silence that settled in its wake was heavy.

After a moment, Elena broke it, her gaze shifting to the other books left in the desk drawer.

"Did you... want to learn martial arts too?"

"I didn't think magic was a good fit for me."

"Can I take a look?"

"Do as you please. They're probably not worth looking at."

Elena glanced at Yuri’s cold, hardened face, and a flicker of regret crossed her own.

She picked up <Wind Origin Heart Technique>and <Three Calamities Sword Style>, confirming they were just as worthless as the first book.

This time, however, she did not laugh or summon another flame. She simply placed them quietly back on the desk.

That left only one: <Anyone Can Become a Mage>.

Elena stared at the title, not needing to read the contents.

She knew exactly what kind of book it was, one of cheap comfort for those who dreamed of the Mage Tower but were denied by the limits of their talent.

She, who had been blessed with immense talent from birth, would normally have sneered at such a thing. She would have called it pathetic and told them to spend less time reading and more time training.

But she couldn't do that to Yuri.

"I'm glad I came to see you," Elena murmured, turning from the discarded books.

Her expression became serious as she met his gaze.

"And I'm glad I found out about this, even if it's only now."

Yuri remained silent, watching her.

"I promise you this, Yuri," she said, her voice hardening with an unshakable conviction.

She took a short, sharp breath, looking him straight in the eye.

"A day will come when you realise that me coming to get you today was the greatest luck of your life."

Her declaration settled in the quiet room.

His few belongings were now packed. His bag was closed.

It was time to leave Oldor for good.

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