Jamie thought he heard it wrong.

So he asked again.

“What?”

“Please! T-take me as your disciple…”

He looked Venna in the eyes.

Her expression was tense, but she didn’t avoid his gaze.

To think that she, who was trying to escape a moment ago, was now courageously speaking her true feelings.

However, Jamie had no intention of listening to her.

He turned around to leave.

“Wa-wait up! Please!!”

Venna grabbed his leg.

Jamie tried to push her away, but she held onto his leg and started to speak in haste.

“I lost my parents in an accident 10 years ago. I was led by the headmaster and forcibly turned into a dark magician. Every single day was hell. The life-sacrificing experiments corroded my mind, and the colleagues always harassed me. I couldn’t even escape and was imprisoned here for 10 years. Still, I want to stop… I really… want to quit.”

“What does that have to do with you being my disciple? I am a dark magician too.”

“The black mana you just showed me. It was different from what I am dealing with. It wasn’t created by sacrificing life. Right?”

It wasn’t about sacrificing life.

At that, Jamie smiled.

Just because she felt it, doesn’t mean it was the answer.

Sometimes, there is even a pure ‘darkness’ in it.

“Wrong.”

“… Huh?”

“Above all, I don’t want to.”

“P-please make me your disciple!”

As Venna kept insisting, Jamie touched her head.

And she fell unconscious.

After a while, Venna opened her eyes.

She stared into the sky and then began to fiddle with her face.

Tears began to flow as she leaned against the wall while hugging her legs.

“How…”

It felt like she had confessed everything buried deep within her heart.

Jamie watched Venna from afar.

“Disciple.”

There was nothing called a disciple.

Before the creation of black magic, when he was a great magician, he had several disciples.

All of them were talented.

He thought that if he raised them well, they would take his side one day and stand against God.

“Tch!”

At the painful old memory, Jamie held his forehead.

Those who followed him by calling him, Master.

In the end, the only thing he could remember was black figures.

Bitter past.

Jamie stopped and looked at Venna with watery eyes.

“Well. It isn’t because of that.”

Venna’s talent. And sincerity.

Not everything had to be sacrificed for his future.

And she shouldn’t hold onto someone’s leg.

He had no intention of taking someone like her as his disciple.

“Take care and do something with yourself.”

According to the information he collected from Venna, the black magic school in Nessman was the Gav School.

They taught Curse magic.

The number of its dark magicians was around 20.

The headmaster of the school, Gav, was a high-level one.

Venna considered him an absolute existence.

“He must be talented.”

It was terrible that 20 dark magicians were living in the shadows instead of joining a regular school of magicians.

Having seen Nessman’s Lord, Count Peol, it didn’t feel like he would compromise with evil.

Trusting his magician intuition, Jamie believed the man.

Above all, Nessman is the gateway city to the north.

As it was the closest to the capital, darkness would normally be dealt with.

However, there is darkness right under the lamp, too, after all.

There was a high probability that the dark magicians were hiding well.

“Should I check up on how things have turned out?”

Jamie got up.

He wanted to see with his own eyes how much the dark magicians had developed.

If the disappointment is going to be greater than the expectations-

Tonight will be long.

“Damn it. how do I always lose?”

A warlock groaned and walked out of the warp passage leading to the Gav School lab.

He was on his way after buying alcohol.

He had lost a bet with his mates with whom he was sharing the lab.

And he had already lost 3 times in a row.

He wasn’t sure if it was due to his lack of talent or because the others were cheating.

“Bastards! One day I will turn them into frogs and throw them to the snakes.”

He wasn’t sure when he’d be able to do that, but he was looking forward to it.

“Anyways, why is it so hot today?”

It was midsummer, so nights were hot. However, the reason he felt hot was because of the anger boiling inside of him.

“When I go back, I need to have a late-night snack. Kuk!”

It was then.

“But, why is it so far away…!”

Just as he was passing the alley, something reached out from the darkness and dragged him inside.

“!!!”

His screams couldn’t leave his throat.

—-

After a while.

“Hm.”

The same dark magician walked out as if nothing had happened. And patted his face awkwardly.

“He’s filthy greasy.”

Jamie, who covered his face with the dark magician’s skin, ruffled his robe and looked annoyed.

“Still, this is enough.”

The idea that Jamie came with was.

He would wait till a dark magician appeared, and then he would steal his face and infiltrate the lab.

He thought that it would take a while, but it happened sooner than expected.

“Prepare thoroughly.”

He even looked into the dark magician’s recent memories so that he would have something to say if he met someone.

“Let’s go.”

Jamie erased his excited expression and went inside.

The scene that greeted him was nothing but a pure white hall.

Cold air blew and cooled his hot skin.

He thought it’d be a dark basement, but this was nice.

It was when Jamie looked around.

“Pika! Have you brought them?”

“Pika is here?”

A skinny man and an oversized one walked out.

Pika, Jamie’s disguise, was a dark magician.

The skinny one was Nalson, who looked at Jamie’s empty hands.

“Drinks?”

“Ah, that.”

He didn’t think he was going to meet people right away.

Were these people waiting at the entrance until the one called Pika bought them drinks?

“What happened?”

The fat dark magician rubbed his belly with an irritated face.

Jamie pondered about what to do and then came up with something from Pika’s memories.

“Nalson. Did you know?”

“What is it?”

“Ball drank the 33-year-old whisky you saved.”

“What?!”

“Pika! W-what are you talking about!”

“Uh! Ball! Is that true!?”

Nelson was angry.

He waved his hand at Ball. And then looked at Jamie.

Jamie grinned and said to Ball.

“Ball. Did you know?”

“…?”

“Last time, when you had 20 mice for testing.”

“Yes?”

“Nalson stole two of them. And then he told me to never mention it to you. He also said you were dull as a pig.”

“… Is that true, Nalson?”

“Ba-Ball! Why would I?”

“Uh. If it is you, it is possible!”

Ball pushed the man, and the weak Nalson fell back.

“This bastard! I will kill you!”

“I never liked you!”

“Same here you pig!”

“Don’t even think about making it out alive!”

“You too!”

Hearing the noise, the dark magicians who were in close-by labs came out.

Jamie smiled and hid between them.

The size of the place was large.

Considering that it had only 20 people, the school seemed quite large.

Besides, it had a white marble floor and clean walls.

From Venna and Pika’s memories, the school was around 15 years old.

Despite not having a long history, it was thanks to the research that the school grew.

In black magic, the ‘Curse’ was a power used to make the opponents suffer.

It had a biological side and needed some medical components.

So, the Gav school developed medical supplies and exported them.

Thanks to that, the school became wealthy.

Jamie kept walking.

While passing by the labs, he could see what was happening inside.

All their research was based on curse magic, and the experiments were terrible.

Most horrible of them was.

“Uhhh…”

“Ehhh…”

Two men and women were hung on the wall with their tongues out.

Their eyes were out of focus.

Their stomachs were split open as the dark magicians kept checking the condition of the organs under the curse.

“Amazing! Look at the lungs! They are moving!”

“Such crazy reaction! It’s sick! Kukuek!”

“This is good, yah. They look like they are taking a dump?”

The dark magicians giggled amongst themselves.

There was no sincerity.

The experiments were nothing but mere entertainment for them.

Jamie looked at that and stepped back.

And as he kept walking, the intensity of experiments grew.

In a certain lab, a corpse was hung on a hook from its head, but its eyes seemed to blink as if it was alive.

‘…’

He walked away.

The size of the lab grew.

There were bloodstains everywhere, which showed how terrifying the experiments were.

All dark magicians were laughing.

Jamie, who kept walking, stopped near an empty lab.

As he entered inside, it looked neatly organized.

As he entered, there was a door.

He opened the door, but no one was inside, and there was an organized document on the desk.

Experiment results.

1. When A was administered, the mice died of a seizure. Since mice have a simple immune system, I tried administering A to human subjects. The subject struggled in agony and died right away. It lasted for about 3 minutes longer than mince.
2. There isn’t enough research on A. after the convulsions, one goes blank and turns into a living doll, but the subjects die. I think the concentration should be lowered a little.
3. The concentration was lowered, and A was administered to other human subjects. Subject had a seizure and lost consciousness. I thought it was dead, but when I checked it, the eyes lost it. It looked blank. Finally succeeded.
4. B was administered to the subject who went blank. Subject remained still and looked at me with lively eyes, but as the mouth opened to speak, the subject struggled and died in great pain. The efficacy of A has been proven, so the experiment is successful.

Jamie opened the drawer. Two small bottles were in there and had letters A and B on them.

Holding them, Jamie thought.

What was black magic created for?

For that reason only.

He chose to forsake humanity and became everyone’s enemy.

For the sake of victory, black magic was evolved.

He had carried the sins on his shoulders. Even if it felt too heavy, he never forgot.

Even when he turned into an emotionless monster, he still remembered it.

How did the black magic that he passed down end up like?

Through books and stories.

What modern dark magicians were like.

He just didn’t want to believe it.

That was when he felt someone outside.

“Who is inside!”

The sound of footsteps.

The door swung open, and a bald man came in.

He frowned as he kept looking around.

“… Did I make a mistake? I thought someone was here?”

The dark magician tilted his head and stared at the empty room.