“Cynthia.”

Blocking the flying debris with a curtain of water, Jaesang Lee surveyed his surroundings.

“They all look the same.”

He tried to distinguish one from the others by appearance, but it was impossible.

“Or maybe…”

Was there even one here?

Jaesang wasn’t sure.

“Is the one stalling for time not showing up?”

There was supposed to be one in the lab.

Jaesang moved with that assumption.

Even if there wasn’t one, the lab would still hold plenty of information.

“But not coming to the lab?”

Baran was up to something.

Which meant…

“The real one isn’t here.”

Once he reached that conclusion, there was no need to hesitate.

“Sorry, but I don’t have time for this.”

Jaesang raised a mana stone.

As mana filled the stone, a whirlwind surrounded him.

“Just take a nap.”

Mana spread out from him in a flash.

The cave glowed blue as if wrapped in a magical aura.

The women with the same face tried to flee.

“Too late.”

– Thud.

One by one, they began to collapse to the ground.

It was a spell combining dream and spatial themes.

[Impressive…]

Even Gemut, a top-tier spirit, had never seen such mastery of mana.

In his past life, Jaesang hadn’t had much mana.

And he rarely participated in battles directly.

He knew he was good with mana, but now?

He seemed almost inhuman.

– Thud.

As the last clone maintaining consciousness fell.

– Step. Step.

Jaesang headed back to the lab as if nothing had happened.

“The mana recovery speed is insane.”

The divine beast’s source had enhanced Jaesang’s entire mana circuit.

Not only the amount of mana but also the recovery speed had improved.

Mana that would have left him exhausted before was now replenished in an instant.

“Wait for me, Baran.”

He passed through the door into the lab.

In the green-lit space, Jaesang’s eyebrows furrowed.

The room was filled with incubators.

Inside, countless “Hanas” lay dormant.

“Contractor, this is…”

“Yeah. They’re all homunculi.”

Whether they were clones of Hana or…

“Or mass-produced from the start.”

Jaesang thought the latter was more likely.

The woman next to Min Haejin in his memory had looked just like Hana.

“Was Min Haejin’s cell the base?”

Disgust and irritation welled up inside him.

“Contractor, is one of them here?”

“Probably.”

“Then what do we do?”

Cynthia asked, her expression shocked.

“We can’t check them one by one.”

“I’ll check them all at once.”

Jaesang placed five mana stones on the floor.

“Is there a spell to find the real one?”

“Yes.”

Even if they looked the same…

“The memories will be different.”

From the humming mana stones, countless blue lines extended toward the incubators.

The lines connected to the heads of the many Hanas.

“Is this… all memory-themed?”

Cynthia was astonished.

Memory-themed magic had side effects.

Though he had solved the side effects for a single person…

“But this many…!”

– Drip.

Blood trickled from Jaesang’s nose.

“Contractor…!”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

He wiped the blood away and focused on the spell.

“This isn’t it.”

Reading the memories of over dozens of homunculi at once was quite taxing.

If the divine beast’s source hadn’t strengthened his mana circuit, he wouldn’t have dared to try.

“This isn’t it either.”

As Jaesang sifted through the memories one by one…

“…Here it is.”

He dashed toward one of the incubators among the dozens.

Simultaneously, the mana lines vanished.

“Can you operate it?”

Magic engineering wasn’t Jaesang’s specialty.

But with the help of a top-tier spirit…

Even if it was a machine he’d never seen before, understanding the mana flow meant he could handle it.

“So I just need to share the mana circuit?”

Jaesang nodded, and Cynthia placed her hand on the incubator.

“I’ll share it.”

In terms of handling flow, the water spirit was unmatched.

Cynthia, at the pinnacle, quickly grasped the internal structure of the incubator and shared it.

“Okay.”

Jaesang operated the incubator.

Even though pressing the wrong button could harm Hana, he didn’t hesitate.

– Whoosh…

The green liquid filling the incubator drained away.

The glass rose, and Hana’s body emerged, suspended by numerous unknown tubes.

Jaesang gently lifted her in his arms.

“She’s asleep. Came all this way to rescue her.”

Realizing there was nothing wrong with Hana’s body, a smile crept onto Jaesang’s lips.

“Ugh…”

Hana’s eyes slowly opened.

“…Teacher?”

Looking up from his embrace, she saw Jaesang smiling down at her.

“Oh.”

He came to save me.

Once again, I’m just a burden.

“Put me down, please.”

Hana spoke firmly.

“Go back, Teacher.”

Her voice, usually hard to hear in such a decisive tone, gave Jaesang a sense of unease.

“It can’t be that she’s not the real one.”

The memories he read from her contained the past two months.

“I… I…”

– Thud.

Hana sank to the floor, hugging her arms, and began to sob.

“Please, just go back…”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not human.”

The memories that had vanished until now flooded back when she saw the woman who looked like her.

She wasn’t human.

She was a created being.

A being that could be mass-produced.

“I don’t deserve to go back.”

She couldn’t be with Jaesang.

Because she wasn’t human.

She was just a tool for the dark wizards.

“Someone like me…”

A creation of the dark wizards.

Was it okay for someone like her to exist?

With that thought, she spoke with difficulty.

“I remember everything now.”

Her voice trembled.

“What I am. Why I could use portal magic.”

An experiment.

A product for creating magical tools with spatial themes.

She was just an object.

“I… I…”

Hana looked up at Jaesang with tear-filled eyes.

“Please dispose of me… here.”

It was painful.

It would have been better not to remember.

“But if I die by the teacher’s hand…”

She had been in this world for less than three years.

Most of her time was spent being abused in the lab, and Jaesang was the first warmth she had ever felt.

“Even if it was just for a moment, it was enjoyable.”

Thinking that, she looked up at Jaesang.

He simply looked down at her in silence.

“Teacher?”

Jaesang slowly reached out his hand.

Ah. I’m going to die.

“But it was enjoyable.”

If she could disappear cleanly here, she thought that would be good too.

But… really?

– Senior! I found a new cake shop! Let’s sneak out next time!

– Assistant teacher, don’t let Liz influence you.

– Haeryeong needs to loosen up a bit. Being so stiff, the teacher won’t like it.

– The teacher isn’t you. But well, a cake should be fine. Assistant teacher, let’s go this weekend.

Liz and Shin Haeryeong came to mind.

The first day at the dormitory.

They had thrown her a surprise party.

She hadn’t been to the cake shop yet.

“I guess I can’t keep my promise, Liz, Haeryeong.”

A tear fell from Hana’s closed eyes.

She felt the hand reaching out to her.

Now close enough to feel its warmth, the hand…

– Swoosh. Swoosh.

…gently patted her head.

Soon, she opened her eyes.

“Huh?”

“Puberty hit you hard, didn’t it, Hana?”

Jaesang raised one corner of his mouth in disbelief.

“You being a homunculus? I already knew.”

Hana’s eyes widened.

“Then why…?”

“Why, you ask.”

Jaesang grinned.

“How am I supposed to clean the lab without you? Just thinking about it is a hassle.”

“For such a trivial reason?”

“Trivial? I’m serious.”

– Smack!

“I, I am!”

Hana shouted passionately, knocking away the hand that was patting her head.

“I’m just a being that can be mass-produced. I’m a tool made by dark wizards…!”

“So what.”

Hana pointed to the incubators around her.

“What’s different between me and all these others? If I were mixed in with them, could you tell me apart?”

“Of course I can.”

“See, you can’t… What?”

She looked back at Jaesang.

“I can tell. I did just now.”

“How…?”

Jaesang reached out and ruffled Hana’s hair roughly.

“Ow…”

“Here. On your head. It’s something only you have.”

Hana’s eyes widened.

“They don’t know, do they? The taste of ramen, or sweet and sour pork, or udon. Talking about this makes me think of food. Anyway.”

Jaesang chuckled awkwardly.

“You’re the only one in the world, Hana.”

Hana.

The name Jaesang had given her.

A name none of the replicas here possessed.

My own…

“…Can I go back…?”

With her head hung low, Hana murmured.

“Can I go back?”

“Of course.”

A suit jacket was draped over her shoulders.

The jacket was worn and tattered in places.

“Naturally. Assistant. Because of your unauthorized leave, work has piled up.”

“Really…?”

“If you want to stay here, you can.”

Jaesang gave her a thumbs-up.

“But you know the only thing to eat here is… Brit bread, right?”

Hana’s head lowered again.

“My own thing.”

The cake she secretly shared with Liz was sweet.

Shin Haeryeong’s interest was a bit intimidating, yet warm.

The name Lee Jaesang gave me was something only I had in the world.

Memories with people were what made her feel special.

“What do you want to do?”

At Lee Jaesang’s question, Hana pulled the jacket tighter around her shoulders and replied.

“…I’m done with that bread.”

“Yeah, it really is awful.”

“Honestly, it’s not fit for human consumption…”

“Right, for humans.”

Lee Jaesang chuckled warmly as he stood up.

“I trust you, teacher. So…”

Hana blushed as she spoke.

“Can you buy me a bowl of ramen when we get back?”

“How about some dumplings too?”

“Yes!”

She answered bravely, despite being a tear-streaked mess.

“…”

Then, suddenly, Hana’s gaze dropped.

She was inside a cultivation chamber.

You don’t wear clothes in a cultivation chamber.

“…Oh no…”

As Hana’s cheeks turned a deep red, Cynthia approached her.

“Honestly, you’re such a mess.”

Mana flowed from the spirit’s fingertips, forming into the shape of a dress.

It was a deep blue, like the ocean depths.

“There you go. Our contractor may be clumsy, but be careful. Hana is pretty.”

“Who’s clumsy…?”

He muttered gruffly, but a smile lingered on his face.

He had saved Hana.

Easier than expected.

Now, they just needed to regroup with Jin Siwoo and head back.

Fighting in Baran’s territory was…

“A beautiful scene, isn’t it?”

But unease always crept in at the most pleasant moments.

“Giving a name to the first sacrifice.”

Red eyes glinted menacingly.

“I thought you were too old for playing house, brother.”

“Baran…”

Lee Jaesang quickly moved to shield Hana behind him.

“Brother, it’s been a while. I wanted to meet you sooner, but adjusting this body took time.”

‘So that’s why he stalled.’

His body was a homunculus.

He must have made some adjustments.

“Can’t you just let us go?”

“That’s a given.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

Baran’s lips curled into a smirk.

“Did you know?”

Black mana flickered above his raised hand.

“There’s always a full moon here.”

Which meant Lee Jaesang couldn’t defeat him.

Baran’s face was full of confidence.

“There’s nothing you can do, brother. I no longer intend to persuade you.”

The black sphere hummed ominously.

“Yeah, true. Non-verbal magic is tricky.”

Lee Jaesang grinned.

“But you know, if you just disable the isolation field, it breaks, right?”

“That’s true. But this time, your protégés aren’t outside, are they?”

“Right, they’re not. But.”

Lee Jaesang loosened his hand and tossed a mana stone from his pocket.

“Who said it can only be disabled from outside?”

The mana stones rolled across the floor, drawn to Lee Jaesang as if by some unseen force.

“Watch closely.”

With a snap of his fingers, the mana stones began to glow.

“This is the result of my research.”

“Tricks…”

Baran attempted to launch the black sphere at Lee Jaesang.

But.

“What are you trying to shoot?”

The black sphere in his hand dissipated, reverting to mana.

“…What is this!”

Suddenly, the non-verbal magic was undone.

There was only one meaning to that.

“You disabled the isolation field… from the inside?”

Impossible.

Disabling the isolation field from within…!

“I’ve thought a lot about fighting you.”

Just as Baran had thought about Lee Jaesang.

Lee Jaesang had been thinking about Baran too.

“Who said you can’t disable the isolation field from the inside?”

Lee Jaesang grinned.

“Who said it can’t be done?”

In the last three months before his death, he had elevated his research to a usable level in just two weeks.

He had succeeded in the Dark Cult’s laboratory, no less.

And with the non-verbal magic gone, the outcome of the magical battle would be determined by the number of spells prepared.

“Have you prepared enough magic?”

Lee Jaesang’s lips curled into a smile as he tossed a dozen mana stones into the air.