Fairy Trap

Roa, who realized that he spoke too freely due to Yi-Gyeol’s sudden vigilance, showed a good-natured smile.

“As you may have heard, since it is a constructed body, we need to make sure that your soul has settled well. We have to figure out the flow of mana that constitutes the body, and if other things are mixed in, errors can also occur.”

“Ah….”

At that time, Yi-Gyeol’s stiff face loosened and he looked down at his body.

Through Sethian, he knew that his body was made of magic. There isn’t any difference from his original body, but seeing that he was able to move with a cane as he does now just because of Sethian’s ‘vitality’ is too unrealistic. Likewise, even being able to stay awake for more than two hours a day.

Thinking about it that way, Yi-Gyeol’s heart started to race.

But apart from that, it was true that he was a sore in the eyes. It was only recently that he was able to chew and digest something, so he didn’t gain much weight. Since he is still skinny, he was purposely wearing wide-sized clothes even now to hide it somehow.

When Yi-Gyeol looked at him with a troubled face, Roa comforted him and spoke kindly with a smiling face as ever.

“I’ve already seen everything there is to see when we made your body, so you don’t have to worry.”

Yi-Gyeol’s face immediately turned red as if it was on fire. The words he said to comfort him, on the contrary, made Yi-Gyeol even more embarrassed.

Soon, words that made the hesitant Yi-Gyeol move were heard.

“I know it’s inconvenient for you, but for Prince Sethian…, No, even just for the Crown Prince, please let me examine you. If something goes wrong later, the Crown Prince will be very concerned.”

Yi-Gyeol’s shoulders flinched. He doesn’t know about anything else, but what he’s sure of is that he had to avoid worrying Sethian and putting him in trouble. He’s already taking care of him too much because of his physical condition even at the present, but if more things to worry about occur, it might make him more concerned than now. He thought that he would be the biggest nuisance by then.

With his bright red face bowed, Yi-Gyeol had no choice but to slowly take off the clothes he was wearing while he sat down. Roa’s eyes glistened as he saw Yi-Gyeol’s body gradually revealed.

‘It’s perfect. It’s a different level from the previous bodies ever made.’

Looking at Yi-Gyeol’s reddened face that moderately colored his skinny body, Roa nodded his head involuntarily.

The current emperor was not very interested in soul magic, so he hardly ever used the golden arts. In particular, he just shook his head superfluously when he learned that the cost of maintaining the body was ‘vitality’. Therefore, the only ‘constructed body’ that Roa remembers was during the time of the former Emperor Heize. Compared to the bloodless and chaotic fake body he saw at that time, the current Yi-Gyeol was truly beyond words.

Yi-Gyeol, who had been receiving frantic admiration, turned his eyes and asked as he took off both his top and bottom.

“This…, Should I also take off all my…underclothes?”

“Definitely.”

As soon as Yi-Gyeol asked him, he saw Roa nodding his head broadly, and in the end, even took off his underwear himself. Now, the heat rose around his neck and even his ears were red.

Yi-Gyeol took off all his clothes and covered his bottom with both hands, then crouched his shoulders without raising his head. If only he could, he wanted to run away from this position because someone was watching his angular body scrutinizingly. But still, he was able to endure it somehow, thinking of not worrying Sethian.

Roa approached him with a gleaming face, put his knees on the floor, and reached out toward Yi-Gyeol’s chest.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Roa’s hand touched Yi-Gyeol’s left chest. It wasn’t a cold hand, but Yi-Gyeol’s body was slightly heated due to embarrassment, so it was somewhat chilly.

He felt his heart beating fast through his fingertips. As soon as Roa’s face tinged with interest again, a blue light began to glow from his fingertips. That light soon permeated into Yi-Gyeol’s body.

The mana that came in through Roa’s hand felt pretty good. Starting from the heart and slowly descending towards the dantian[1], it seemed to stroke like a warm feather, only enough so that it was not too itchy.

It stayed for a while as if stroking his dantian and soon went down to his left and right legs. When the feeling of sweeping the inside of the skin reached the tip of his toes, he felt so good that he unknowingly bent his toes.

‘Amazing.….’

He looked down at his chest blankly, feeling the sweeping sensation from his toes coming up again. Starting with the blue light on Roa’s hand, then the strange feeling of his whole body being stroked, it was all amazing. This may have been nothing much as it is a world that can even create bodies like his own, but it felt different seeing it right in front of his eyes.

“Are you perhaps a wizard?”

He asked, feeling the warm energy passing through his chest and reaching his neck. Roa gently bent his glistening eyes and met Yi-Gyeol’s dazed eyes.

“Yes, that’s right. Is this your first time seeing a wizard?”

“It’s the first time. From where I was….”

Yi-Gyeol, who had opened his mouth, stopped talking. Come to think of it, Sethian was the only one who knew that he was a soul from another world. He said it wouldn’t happen, but if someone asked him where he came from, he remembered Sethian’s words to say that he was from a minority ethnic group on the other side of the continent. As such, it seemed that the appearance of an Asian like himself was rare.

“It’s worth seeing for the first time. All wizards from any country are bound to belong to the Magic Tower. There are many places where there are barriers to nullify magic, so most of them keep researching to death inside the magic tower that is free from it.”

“But isn’t this magic? I think I heard that there’s that kind of barrier here as well….”

“It’s hard to say it’s magic, but if I have to express it, you can think of it as mana management. It’s not an embodiment of magic, so it’s not subject to barriers.”

Roa continued considerately as if teaching a child.

“You can think of mana as an inherent energy contained in the body, and depending on how you use it, you can implement magic or check the state of your body. What I’m doing right now is checking whether the mana on Joo Yi-Gyeol-nim’s body is flowing smoothly. your body is different from normal humans, so I’m also looking at whether the mana that makes it up is too much or not enough.”

“Uum…, It’s difficult.”

He doesn’t know what mana is, and he’s unfamiliar with magic. In addition, Roa’s explanation is completely incomprehensible. Roa smiled a little, saying that it is only natural for ordinary people to find it difficult, and added that there was nothing to think deeply about.

As the strange sensation reached his head, the pleasant sensation doubled. It feels like someone is gently touching his head and is giving him a gentle massage. Without realizing it, Yi-Gyeol thought of Sethian’s rough yet soft petting, putting a smile on his face.

“Joo Yi-Gyeol-nim looks much better when he smiles.”

When Roa smiled and spoke, Yi-Gyeol had a momentarily surprised expression on his face and lowered his eyes.

He has smiled a lot until now. Since there was nothing else he could do in order not to worry anyone, and in order not to collapse, he forced himself to smile. But at some point, his family became less happy with his smiles, and even told him not to do it.

If he even removed the forced smile as they wished, the air in the house would definitely sink deeper. People who used to be dazzlingly bright and cheery have hardened and become as sharp as thorns without a single smile because of themselves over the years. If he changed himself like that, he felt that something that had been barely maintained among his family would sever.

The smile that he has been forced to put on like that came out so comfortably here. Not only in front of Sethian who saved his life, but also in front of strangers like this.

‘It’s probably a good…thing, right?’

He was relieved to know that he no longer had to intentionally, calculate, and forcefully smile, but bitterness still came over him nonetheless. As he remembered the faces of his family members who he had deliberately tried to forget more and continue living, he quickly felt depressed.

Knowing that Yi-Gyeol’s mood had become strange, Roa did not speak to him readily after that. As he knew little about Yi-Gyeol, he didn’t know how his words had affected him, and he kept his mouth shut because he didn’t know what kind of words might have an adverse effect on him.

A few minutes later, Roa’s hand on Yi-Gyeol’s left chest fell off.

“It is done.”

Roa stood up from the floor with a happy face and grinned.

“Your body is in very good condition. I can’t even honestly believe it’s a constructed body.”

Yi-Gyeol covered his chest and bottom with the clothes he had taken off as if he had waited and asked carefully.

“Am I… Healthy? Sometimes when I move, my whole body feels numb….”

“It’s because you’re still lacking in vitality. That wouldn’t happen once you’ve had enough vitality, but don’t move for as long as possible unless you’re able to run around. How are you taking it?”

“…Do I really have to say it?”

When Yi-Gyeol couldn’t find a place to put his eyes and just rolled them around, Roa blinked with interest.

“Of course…!”

Knock, knock-

A knock was heard as if to cut off Roa’s words. Usually, other people outside would have told them what was going on, but since the person who came was the owner of the room, the door just suddenly slammed open without any of that.

Sethian entered the room and looked at Roa who was bent towards him, and then his eyes twitched. He hurriedly approached with long strides and pushed Roa away as if throwing some kind of baggage, then looked down at Yi-Gyeol’s body. A little startled, Yi-Gyeol could only blink his eyes without saying a word and was still only covering his chest and important parts with clothes.
 

TL Notes:

Dantian – traditionally translated as “Cinnabar Field” or “Elixir Field,” is a core energy centre of our body; According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Dantians are three powerful energy centers where energy is gathered, stored, and transformed into life energy in the body. In this context, the dantian JYG is referring is the one in the lower abdomen.