City of Witches

1.

It had been a week since Siwoo became a promotional ambassador for Gehenna’s first host club, the Rose Glass.

So far, he hadn’t stumbled into any special events.

The closest thing to a special event would be Sharon or the twins coming to hang out occasionally.

In other words, the business was doing well.

The fact that no problems had occurred so far meant that the shop was able to smoothly secure some regulars.

On the contrary, instead of problems, the club’s sales had been showing a gradual curve upwards, and there were plenty of witches that had left their business cards and promised to return.

“It’s still early for this kind of commotion...”

Currently, it was an hour before the opening time.

He was leaning on the sofa after wearing his suit and slicked his hair back.

Once upon a time, he found this kind of hairstyle comical, but nowadays he had grown accustomed to it.

In any case, he was in the middle of relaxing while smoking a cigarette.

Down there near the entrance, he could see a witch arguing with Paul, who was guarding the door.

The witch’s gray hair, which fell down to her waist, was tied at its end. Her raised chin showed a disgruntled expression on her face.

“An apprentice witch?”

It was easy for him to tell due to how young she looked.

Looking at her parasol, which price probably comparable to a decent sedan, it was obvious that she was an apprentice of a bigwig.

He couldn’t hear what they were talking about from where he was at, though.

After a while, Paul bowed his head and entered the host club.

Before long, the door to the lounge was opened.

“Siwoo hyung, please help me!”

Paul, who was drenched in cold sweat, immediately asked for his help the moment he entered the lounge.

“I already told her that we haven’t opened yet, but she kept telling me that she wants to meet you! Even when I explained that I can’t just let you meet her since your schedule is already booked, she still insisted! She said that since the club isn’t open yet, it’s no problem and that she’s willing to pay any amount…”

“Whose apprentice is she, though?”

“Um… She’s Diana Yesod, Countess Yesod’s apprentice…”

“Yesod?”

Woah, now that’s a real bigwig.

So that’s why he can’t just kick her away, huh?

Countess Yesod, one of the seven Countesses of Gehenna.

The Yesod’s name was enough to turn this apprentice into the most notable witch who had visited them so far.

Countless witches had come to visit the club, but there had been no grand witches or nobles yet.

He guessed that it was probably because they felt that it was beneath them to visit when there was still a promotion going around.

Well, either that or they just didn’t want to line up to meet up with someone for merely fifteen minutes in a place like this.

“What else can we do? Let her in.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure, sure. What differences will it make if I add one more person to serve anyway?”

“Alright! Thank you!”

After hearing his words, Paul ran downstairs with a bright smile.

Siwoo tidied up his clothes one last time before going down to sit at his table.

Of course, he didn’t do this out of kindness of his heart, this was all a well-calculated move.

He had been learning something from this business. It was that ‘serving witches’ was merely a start to a greater thing.

That greater thing was connections.

As he served those witches and made them happy, he’d be able to secure connections with those witches, which were more valuable than gold coins.

With those connections, one would be able to generate profits from an unexpected angle, such as selling information that was only circulating among a group of witches.

In that sense, even though she was merely an apprentice, Diana was perfect as a customer.

If Siwoo were to succeed in securing her as a regular, she’d definitely become a great help to Takasho.

“There’s also another thing...”

The more important thing here was that she was an apprentice of ‘Yesod’.

If there was one thing that Siwoo knew about Yesod, it was that their self-essence magic utilized barriers.

In fact, most of the study materials that Siwoo had read in the library were papers that were written by Countess Yesod herself.

He figured that if he could use this opportunity to get to know the apprentice witch, she’d be a great help for him to figure out how to control the Red Branch.

In other words, he was doing this partly out of his self-interest.

If things were to go well, he’d be able to receive guidance from the most proficient witches in the field of barrier magic.

“Welcome, thank you for visiting us! My name is Shin Siwoo, and I’m the one who will serve you, Ms. Diana Yesod.”

When he saw her approaching him, Siwoo threw his business smile at her.

Now that he was able to see her closely, he noticed that the girl possessed a very unique aura.

She was wearing all white.

From her dress down to her frills, her gloves, shoes, and even thighs that reached up her knees, all of them were clad in white.

Her long gray hair glowed beautifully instead of giving a dull impression.

This pure white attire of hers accentuated her scarlet eyes, making them look more impactful than they should.

But her appearance had no influence on the unique aura she exuded.

Though her scarlet eyes came off as strong, it looked drowsy, as if she was about to go to sleep at any moment.

She had an air of laziness that didn’t suit the image of an apprentice witch at all.

Unlike the twins, who had the insatiable curiosity about literally everything they set their eyes on, she looked like she was bored of everything.

“Nice to meet you.”

Diana sat down, ignoring the hand that Siwoo offered.

Since this wasn’t the first time his hand was rejected by someone, he didn’t make any fuss about it.

However, since the other party was an apprentice witch, unlike usual, he sat across her instead of right beside her.

“It’s an honor to meet the esteemed apprentice witch of the Yesod Family. May I know what brings you to this humble place?”

Up until this point, he didn’t think that handling Diana would be difficult.

Even though the only apprentice witch he had ever interacted with so far were the twins.

No matter how stubborn Diana would get, at the end of the day, she was still an immature apprentice witch.

Besides, Siwoo wasn’t a slave anymore, so he didn’t need to bow his head to hear.

That was why he thought that serving her would be easy enough, but…

“I heard you know how to use magic?”

The moment those familiar words left her pretty lips, Siwoo stopped looking down on her.

There were also her eyes, scanning him thoroughly, from top to bottom, as if scrutinizing him.

The kind of eyes that made it hard for him to relax, as she was clearly showing her doubt and suspicions of his existence.

“If I may brag about it, yes, I do.”

“I see. Well, a procedure is a procedure, so I’ll order something to drink first. Please bring me the most expensive drink here.”

The most expensive drink…?

Rose Glass was unlike a usual bar.

Since there was a bunch of high-quality alcohol prepared for the witches, the most expensive drink in Rose Glass was so eye-poppingly expensive that even witches would wonder if it was worth spending that much for a drink.

“In our host club, we have a variety of drinks to suit everyone’s tastes. Why don’t you look through our catalog and pick the one that catches your eye, Miss?”

This was one way to tell a customer, ‘Our most expensive drink is REALLY expensive, can you even pay them?’ without being rude to them.

Even though she was an apprentice witch, the other person was Countess Yesod’s apprentice.

He would be a fool if he were to go out of his way to scratch her pride.

“No need to. I’ll take the most expensive drink here. I already promised the guy at the door that.”

As she said so, Diana took out a metal card and placed it on the table.

It was a credit card, similar to what Siwoo had.

All he needed to do was to show her the most expensive drink, state the price and the deal would be made.

“Ahem, if you say so, alright.”

“Alright.”

Of course, he didn’t offer her the most expensive drink just like that.

Although the Yesod were comparable to the Gemini in regards to their wealth, the most expensive drink in Rose Glass was still in the range of billions.

Instead, he gave her the most expensive drink among the more average high-quality drinks.

He didn’t want rumors of Rose Glass cheating an unsuspecting apprentice witch for money to circulate in Gehenna after all.

As she saw the amount of money she had to pay, Diana wondered if this was too expensive for a drink, but she only nodded her head outwardly.

“This drink in particular comes with a champagne tower, so if you could please wait…”

“No need to. I’m only here because I want to talk with you. Sit here.”

“If you say so.”

She stated her intention so clearly.

‘A male witch? Preposterous! I’m here to see with my own eyes to verify your existence!’ once in a while, some of Siwoo’s customers would say something like that to his face.

He had dealt with more than enough witches like that, so he could roughly predict what her next words would be.

“So far, there were a total of three frauds in Gehenna that tried to claim they had developed a self-essence magic.”

Surprisingly, this was a fact that he had already heard from other witches before.

“I see. In other words, you want to confirm the rumors about the male witch with your own eyes?”

“Exactly, as I don’t believe anything unless I’ve seen it myself.”

“I assume you’d like me to demonstrate my magic?”

“Yes.”

Her words and gestures were overbearing, but they also held grace and elegance.

From that alone, Siwoo could already say that Countess Yesod had educated her daughter well.

Even though she was merely an apprentice witch, she bore the dignity of a real witch.

But, no matter how much poise she tried to show off, Siwoo’s business smile never left his face.

Though he let out a bitter smile inwardly, it didn’t stop him from raising a black shadow in his hand, the thing that he always did whenever a witch asked him to cast his spell.

“Bloom.”

Fluttering black particles appeared.

They were so dark that it made them look like they absorbed all the light around them.

Perhaps it was because of her double eyelids, or her cute, slightly droopy corners of her eyes…

Even though Diana opened her eyes widely, it still didn’t drop the sleepy impression that she gave off.

“...”

“You can take a closer look.”

The Law of Shadow was the most basic among the magic Siwoo had.

His armors, weapons, and even ribbons were conjured using these shadows.

The reason why he could show it off without any worry in front of all these witches was because he had improved his control upon them.

Whenever he made his armors or weapons, he’d inject them with elemental magic that he had learned from Sharon.

Whereas with his ribbons, he injected them with another self-essence magic, the Maiden’s Loom, and weaved the shadow into the ribbons’ threads.

Meanwhile, the one he showcased was just the Law of Shadow without any enhancements whatsoever. It was clear that the magic wasn’t at a very high level.

But, most witches would be surprised by it anyway, since none of them expected that a man would be able to use magic at all.

“...”

Diana carefully looked at the fluttering shadow in his hand.

Clearly, it was different from that of common magic.

Which meant that his words were true, it was a self-essence magic.

It was the first time she had ever heard that this kind of magic existed, let alone seeing it.

But still…

The magic was so shabby that she could blow it away without even trying.

-Swoosh!

Diana then conjured up a barrier with her hand.

It was a thin disk-shaped barrier that served as a touchstone for observing various types of magic.

She grabbed the shadow and spread them on her fingertips to see what was up with them.

Only then could she see their hook-shaped structures…

Their special characteristics to stick into other’s magic and disrupt them…

And their weakness; Their inability to resist an overwhelming difference in power.

She managed to find out about all that in an instant.

If it’s just this much…

Diana felt bittersweet disappointment crept up in her heart.

Disappointment over the fact that the self-essence magic she went out of her way to check out was merely a poor one that she was able to imitate just with a little practice.

While it felt a little exhilarating to know that the male witch indeed existed, she still felt disappointed that his magic was this bad.

This means my assumption was correct then?

“Does it catch your interest? Though its level isn’t high, It is still a self-essence magic.”

However, even though he displayed such poor magic, the man still smiled proudly.

At that moment, she realized that relatively speaking, what he had accomplished was indeed something big as it was an accomplishment worth a single generation of research.

And that she had been downplaying that achievement greatly, which definitely was not a good thing to do.

Maybe I’ve become more and more of an elitist because I’ve been spending my time outside…

Diana opened her mouth, trying to come up with a praise in her own ways.

“I can’t accurately gauge the level of your magic just from this.”

“Then, you can ask me to do whatever you want, Ms. Diana. I am yours for the next forty minutes, after all.”

Yeah, forty minutes should be enough.

Even though she wasn’t a full-fledged witch yet, Diana was confident that she could take on a male witch who had just come out of thin air.

Of course, she wasn’t going to challenge him to a magic battle or anything unsophisticated like that.

Because that was more of an annoyance to her than anything.

Instead, she had a better way to tell which among the two of them possessed the superior aptitude for magic.

“Do you have a Witch Board here?”

It was none other than a game of magic.