The Cursed Wizard: A Game Made Real

Leo took a sleeping pill with a glass of water and turned off the light, then went straight to bed. Although he had been too busy with his magical research to keep up with it lately, Leo was trying to maintain a regular sleep schedule whenever possible. 

I picked up my phone to kill time until the cheap sleeping pills took effect. 

When I lay down like this and looked at the display, it often felt like nothing had changed. 

Just like back then, when I would crawl under the covers without a care in the world and giggle while looking at my phone. 

If anything has changed, it's that I no longer look in the sports or entertainment columns. 

Scandals involving athletes and singers he knew nothing about no longer interested him. 

Leo, who was browsing the news section on the Internet, clicked on the [Breaking News] section that appeared at the top with a picture. 

[The delegation from the Philenom Autonomy has confirmed its visit to the Balkans. The scheduled date is two months later… . A response team will be called to discuss the specific schedule.] [The city government has maintained its stance of no compromise, but will this be an opportunity to change its stance?] [The Aronaite production process, despite the companies' promises, is still not progressing.] 

Autonomy… It's a word that seems familiar yet awkward. At least, it's not something you'd hear easily on Earth. 

The details are hard to come by, but judging by the tone of the news headlines, it looks like a major meeting will take place in the Balkans in two months. 

Was this news big enough to warrant Leo's attention? I wanted to think about it for a bit, but I was quickly overcome by drowsiness. 

He put his phone down and fell into a deep sleep. 

# 

A week has passed. 

Instead of accepting Jenny's requests right away, Leo postponed the hunt and went on a couple of bounty hunts. 

This was to separately check if there were any shooting assistance magic left that had not yet been utilized in actual combat. 

Except for [Bloody Chase], which is used when chasing down a criminal, I tried to actively use only shooting support magic instead of lightning magic, binding magic, or magic with strong destructive power. 

Now that I was so used to dealing with bounty hunters, it was possible to do so without having to rely too heavily on magic. 

The results were satisfactory. 

The moment they approached within striking distance, they could simply pull back both feet and shoot both thighs, leaving the perpetrators unable to do anything but crawl on the ground. 

With [Aiming Correction], it was not difficult to capture other criminals and hand them over to Jordan as long as the revolver's range allowed. 

If you add [Silence] magic to that, it is not difficult at all to subdue a target without anyone noticing. 

It was simple yet effective, and helped Leo earn an additional ten million cells in ten days. 

However, it is not without its drawbacks. 

The combination of a revolver and auxiliary magic upgrades the gun's specs by several levels, but there are clear limits to the shooting combos created this way. 

In the end, no matter how much shooting assistance magic you use, it will only end up making the gun shoot faster and more powerful. 

Because it is a magic that assists the act of shooting itself rather than giving some effect to the gun that is fired. 

The problem arises because the number of auxiliary magic that a firearm can handle is limited, and its effectiveness is concentrated in a narrow field. 

Considering these limitations, in order to maximize the effectiveness of the shooting combo magic, rather than increasing the gun's specs across all areas, it will be necessary to select and focus on specializing in one area. 

And that was a challenging task, at least with a simple revolver like this. 

Ultimately, to perform better than now, a new path was needed, whether it was a better gun or more powerful auxiliary magic. 

Even if you solve the problem of the gun itself by investing money, you will eventually need to obtain a unique magic system in order to obtain more powerful auxiliary magic. 

Even if it is a secondary magic series with relatively low value, is it possible to obtain unique magic using the money he has? 

And is it worth it? 

'…I need to look for related cases.' 

Leo walked down the street, lost in thought. 

In the magic system of WORLD, auxiliary magic related to shooting existed only within the common magic system. 

It was natural because the profession of the Musketeer itself could not learn its own magic. 

Therefore, Leo planned to obtain a more powerful auxiliary series of unique magic systems and then modify the shooting auxiliary magic of the common magic he knew within that system. 

But what if the auxiliary magic of this world is different from what he knew? What if there is no room left to even modify the shooting auxiliary magic? 

'I have to think about it as much as possible.' 

Nothing is certain, so we had to be more careful. 

It is important to have a good understanding of the power of shooting support magic, but that is why you should not become obsessed with it. 

There was a lot to do. Right now, Leo is struggling to maintain a precarious balance in his life. 

If your ankle was caught somewhere, it wouldn't have been strange for you to fall without being able to resist. 

When he entered the bar, Jenny was waiting for him, smoking a cigarette. 

When I first met him, he didn't put anything in his mouth, but now he lives with smoke in his mouth. 

It seems that he had been holding back until he had become somewhat acquainted with Leo. 

Jenny met his eyes and slowly rose from the bar where she had been leaning. 

"You're finally here. Did you enjoy your vacation?" 

As she said that, she held out her hand as if asking for something. 

"Isn't that Amnak Pharmaceuticals? I don't have much time, so give it to me quickly." 

"How did you know?" 

Jenny smiled as Leo took the papers out of his arms and handed them over to her. 

"That's the only request that has a deadline left until this day. And you, Ban, are strangely interested in medicine, so I had a feeling that would happen." 

"hmm…." 

Leo nodded obediently, thinking that it wasn't a wrong statement. 

"Anyway, please contact him. Do we need to make a separate appointment, or is it possible to brief him here?" 

As I asked, sitting down on an empty chair at the bar, Jenny immediately picked up the phone. 

"Just wait a moment. Someone will probably come this way." 

"Is it that urgent?" 

Even though Leo muttered like that, Jenny already seemed busy talking to someone on the other end of the line. 

As he was having no choice but to open a bottle of whiskey sitting on the counter, someone sitting across from him spoke to Leo. 

"So that's the new customer Jenny was talking about." 

A dignified gentleman in a suit. He looks younger than Jordan, but has a weighty face that seems quite experienced. 

Leo asked, staring blankly at the man who was tilting his glass while straightening his back. 

"Do you know me?" 

"I know you well. Isn't that the famous lightning wizard? There's already a lot of talk about him in this area. He's a really bad bounty hunter who's crazy about bounties and chases down petty criminals." 

"… … .." 

Of course, I have been repeatedly making money by chasing down and catching criminals, so I have nothing to say even if they call me that. 

Compared to the many abilities that Leo could perform, catching a criminal was considerably easier and not too tedious, and best of all, he had the advantage of being able to choose his opponents himself. 

As I was trying to avoid getting involved with large organizations and chasing after guys with a relatively satisfactory bounty, it seems that rumours about this had spread. 

"I don't mean it in a bad way. In the first place, the bounties in this city are mostly for two types of people." 

"Two types?" 

"Pyramids that no one would care if they disappeared at any time. Or big shots that no one would care if someone came after their necks." 

"… It's very extreme." 

"That's right. People in between try to live while maintaining a certain level of line. It's the same here in District 49. Murders and robberies happen every day, and there's not a day without gunshots, but everyone still tries to keep a certain line. Am I wrong?" 

Certainly, there are some unwritten rules here that can be felt without being spoken. 

Complete indifference, the existence of freelancers who work for a fee, and various commissions carried out through brokers. 

The man's words were light-hearted enough to be taken lightly, but their content was serious enough to make one think about it at least once. 

"So Who are you?" 

"You ask so quickly." 

He smiled faintly, took out a business card from his bosom, and flicked it with his fingers. 

Leo absentmindedly raised a finger to receive it, then hesitated. 

The business card the man had flicked was floating very slowly in the air. 

Superpower 

A transfer that clearly defied the laws of physics. However, Leo's keen senses were not affected by any magic. 

The man clasped his hands together as he watched Leo holding the business card with two fingers. 

"Please call me Sebastian. I do similar work to Jenny." 

If it's something similar to Jenny's, it means that she also runs a business that connects clients and freelancers in this field and receives a commission in return. 

Strictly speaking, he was her business partner and competitor. 

But Leo was more focused on what had just happened. 

There are quite a few powers that can be used without magic, but only a limited number of powers work in the way Sebastian just demonstrated. 

Intuitive and visible results. A transfer without any special signs. Considering that it doesn't seem to have any special cost, it's probably the type that consumes mental power. 

The answer was set. 

"… ..You were a superpowered person." 

That's also a fairly popular type that exercises telekinesis. 

At Leo's words, the man burst into laughter with a cheerful expression. 

"Hahahaha!! You showed it so blatantly in front of my eyes, isn't that obvious?" 

"… … .." 

"It seems that the rumours about you coming to the city after training in a foreign land are true. Usually, it's not that many people would be surprised to see someone with superpowers. In terms of rarity, a young wizard like you is much rarer than an old man like me." 

In WORLD, superpowers had the advantage of being extremely intuitive, but to be honest, they weren't very applicable or easy to delve into. 

Because of this, there were few players who chose superpowers as their main skill… . Here, superpowers are abilities that are only innate, so it was natural that such common sense would not apply. 

"Sebastian, when are you coming back to harass my clients again?" 

In the meantime, Jenny, who had just finished talking on the phone, came over with brisk strides and raised her voice. 

Her sharp, upturned eyes were fierce, but he sat back and waved his hand leisurely. 

"We just chatted for a bit. Don't get so excited." 

"I thought I hadn't seen you for a while, but I knew it wouldn't be fun if you came out like this." 

"Of course I gave my business card to that wizard friend, but I also came here to give something to our dashing young lady." 

Sebastian brushed Jenny's words aside in a nonchalant manner, took out a file from the briefcase he was carrying, and handed it to her. 

As soon as Jenny received it, she opened it up and started reading it all over. It was typical of her. 

It didn't take long for a look of bewilderment to appear on her face as she read through the documents inside. 

"A summons? Why is this coming out now of all times?" 

"This is proof that the city government is in trouble. Haven't you seen the news?" 

Jenny responded annoyed at Sebastian's words. 

"There are still more than two months left until the delegation from the Philenom Dominion visits. They haven't even formed a proper response team yet, so how can they give such an order already?" 

"It's definitely not common." 

He leaned slightly into the bar and spoke in a deep voice. 

"I've heard rumours that one of the city council members is pushing this agenda very hard." 

"… ..You guys didn't have enough money to feed them?" 

"That's unlikely. Aren't they just friends who are comrades who hold each other's weaknesses? Rather than that, there are many speculations that they want something else." 

Leo listened to the conversation between the two men while tilting his glass. 

The two of them had no intention of hiding anything from Leo, and were just talking to him while keeping him nearby. 

Listening to what he was saying, it seemed like the city government had issued a separate summons to individual business owners due to the visit of the Philenom Autonomy delegation, which was the news he had seen yesterday. 

Judging from the fact that Sebastian, who does similar work to Jenny, had brought this news, it seemed that he had specifically called out the brokers in this area, and judging from the expressions on their faces, it didn't seem like it was a light matter. 

Although his expression was serious, the conversation ended quickly. 

They both know that no matter how much they argue here, there will be no immediate conclusion. 

Sebastian downed the rest of his drink, then stood up and shook Leo's hand. 

"Then I'll go. If you want to do something different from what Jenny arranges, contact me anytime. I can do it in a unique way and with different rewards." 

After saying that, he picked up his briefcase with his telekinesis and disappeared out of the bar. 

Jenny, who had been crossing her arms, grumbled as she watched his back. 

"Anyway, I said he's a dark-hearted person." 

"Have you known him for a long time?" 

"Sebastian? You've been around here before me. You are pretending to run a company in District 45, and all your customers are the same. It is so embarrassing." 

Judging from the way they spoke, it seemed like they were not just acquaintances, but Jenny continued to grumble as if she was displeased. 

Leo pretended to drink and listened to her conversation. As time went on, she kept talking nonsense more. 

"Well, I guess you can admit that he is good at talking to rich people and businessmen. If you want to try taking on a personal request, it would not be a bad idea to try him." 

However, Leo was slightly surprised by Jenny's words that seemed to acknowledge Sebastian. 

If they were competing for the same freelancer, it would not be strange to stop him from going, but Jenny did not seem to be too obsessed with that fact. 

When Leo asked her that, she shrugged. 

"If a merchant tells a customer not to go, will the customer not leave? I just do what I can." 

"I see…." 

If Jenny were going to say something like that, it would not be a bad idea to ask Sebastian for a job once in a while. 

The requests she received from companies or other organizations were impeccable, but to be honest, the requests she received from individuals were often disappointing. 

If Sebastian could produce terms that would tickle Leo's ears in that regard, Leo could look for work with an open mind. 

"Enough about that story, how did the request go?"