Black Tower, 81st floor.

“Follow me quickly!”

“Yes!”

Iona, bringing along her slave… no, the 8th Vice Chairman, Chad, arrived at the hideout of the faceless thief, Loon.

“Hmm. I can sense traces of high-level illusion magic here.”

Iona said as she looked at the core of the illusion magic circle that Cuengi had broken with force.

And then,

“Chad, do you know what’s installed here?”

Iona asked Chad as she approached the entrance of the building.

“What? Uh, yes! This is a teleportation magic circle registered with multiple coordinates.”

Chad, speaking nervously while watching Iona’s reaction. Fortunately, he wasn’t the 8th Vice Chairman for nothing, his skills were indeed impressive.

“That’s right. It’s a teleportation magic circle that sends one person at a time to five designated places in sequence.”

Though his explanation lacked a bit of detail.

“Cancel.”

Iona canceled the teleportation magic at the entrance and headed straight to the laboratory.

When she arrived at the laboratory,

“Kyoot!”

She was greatly surprised by the vast amount of research materials and the enormous amount of reagents in the laboratory.

What kind of research materials are these?

Swish.

Iona picked up one of the research paper that had fallen on the floor and quickly read through it.

“This is?!”

The research paper was about high-level transformation magic.

Swish.

Iona picked up a few more research papers to examine them.

Most of the content was about transformation magic, but there were also analyses and breakdowns of magic patterns here and there.

“Impressive.”

The understanding of magic by the one who wrote the research materials was very high.

Such a highly skilled individual!

If someone with such a high understanding of magic were to write reports for the Wizard Association…

“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot.”

Iona laughed as she indulged in pleasant imaginations.

But then,

“What is this?”

Her face turned sour as she saw Chad reading the research materials with a blank expression.

“Kyoo- Kyoo- You don’t even know this?!”

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

As Iona’s anger gauge rose, Chad immediately lowered his head in a bow.

“Kyoo-“

Looking at Chad, Iona decided that she had to make the faceless thief Loon work under her somehow.

I want to make him the 0th Vice Chairman!

Instead of sending him to prison, he would serve his sentence at the Wizard Association, and the compensation for the victims would be paid with his vice chairman’s salary from the association.

That way…

I can spend more time with Theo-nim!

Iona, imagining herself clinging to Theo’s tail and spending time with Theo, felt happy again.

“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Power of space, grant me a new space. Void Creation.”

She moved the entire laboratory into a new void space and transported it to the 75th floor of the tower.

It was to accurately determine the amount of Loon’s bounty to give to Theo, and to consult with other association chairmans to employ Loon herself afterward.

***

Sejun’s Void Storage.

“Hmm… What is it this time?”

Loon, regaining his consciousness, quietly assessed his physical condition.

While others would normally first try to figure out where they were,

“A blue-furred baboon, huh.”

For Loon, it was more important to assess his own physical state. He needed to know what creature he had transformed into to move without getting hurt.

A blue-furred baboon… strong, agile, and with powerful teeth… combat strength, mid to upper level.

Quickly recalling the traits of a blue-furred baboon, Loon stood up.

Clang.

A gold coin fell from Loon’s back. It was placed on his body, which had been transformed into a cicada, by Sejun to prevent him from escaping.

“Where is this place?”

Loon, standing up, looked around.

The area was filled with treasures from his own treasure trove and some agricultural products.

Crunch. Crunch.

Feeling hungry, Loon picked up a raw sweet potato and ate it hurriedly.

But then,

What is this? Why is it so delicious?

The thought of eating just one quickly turned into eating his fill.

“I should take a few more.”

Loon, not just satisfied with filling his stomach, stuffed sweet potatoes and other crops into his vest.

Only then did he look around to see if there was a way out.

“A void Storage?”

He realized he was trapped in a void space completely cut off from the outside world, a space he couldn’t escape unless the owner opened it.

“A void storage can be dealt with if I have the right equipment…”

Loon took out a cube-shaped magic device from his vest.

Loon couldn’t use magic. Whenever his body changed, he had to move his magic power differently, and by the time he adapted, his body would change again.

So, he created his own magic devices that he could use regardless of his body changes.

Click.

When Loon pressed the coin-shaped button in the center of the device,

Whirr.

The device began emitting a green light around him, scanning the void storage to find the magic pattern.

Space magic had foundational magic patterns, and breaking even a part of that pattern could create a gap big enough for a person to slip through.

Loon had learned all this by self-study.

He was a genius with a remarkable understanding of magic, recognized even by Iona. The problem was he used it for thievery.

Whirr.

The magic device scanned the void storage’s magic pattern for an hour.

“What’s going on?”

Loon was baffled. The magical device that should have found and deciphered the pattern in 10 minutes was still searching for the pattern.

No magic pattern? That can’t be…

For the first time in his life, Loon felt a insurmountable wall.

It was natural. Sejun’s void storage was completely newly created by Kaiser, Kellion, Ramter, and Tier working together.

Great dragons who wielded magic as easily as breathing. For them, there were no patterns like those used by wizards.

They implemented magic by will as needed.

After ten hours passed with no progress,

Clunk.

The door to the void storage opened.

This is my chance! I’ll overpower whoever comes through and escape!

Loon rushed forward to subdue the figure opening the door.

And then,

“Huh?! A monkey?”

Sejun, who opened the door to get an egg fruit for breakfast, saw Loon.

Luckily.

Loon, who didn’t want to harm anyone, felt relieved to see Sejun, someone he could easily knock out.

But then,

“Hak!”

Theo, clinging to Sejun’s knee, hissed,

Kueng?

[Are you trying to attack?]

Seeing Cuengi standing in front of Sejun with his front paws raised high and making himself look bigger, Loon’s face froze.

He remembered Theo and Cuengi who had plucked his tail feathers and grabbed his collar when he had transformed into a Blue Phoenix, and

Plop.

Loon naturally knelt in front of Cuengi as if that was his original intention all along.

Kking?! Kking!

[Hey! Are you trying to fight?! The great Blackie will punish you!]

Of course, Blackie also barked hard at Loon to protect Sejun, but his presence was weak.

Moments later,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park’s tuna churu is delicious, meow!”

Kuehehehe. Kueng!

[Hehehe. Delicious!]

Kkihit. Kking!

[Hehe. Tasty!]

Theo, Cuengi, and Blackie were happily eating the breakfast Sejun had made.

And today, there was one more person sitting at the table.

“Is it good?”

“Huh? Yes! It’s very delicious!”

Loon, who was hurriedly eating scrambled eggs with ketchup and potato soup, answered brightly to Sejun’s question.

Not to mention the taste of the food, it had been so long since he ate with someone in such a happy and comfortable atmosphere…

Since everyone avoided him like a monster because of his changing appearance, Loon didn’t have a single friend to eat with.

This is so happy.

“There’s plenty, so eat a lot.”

“Yes!”

“Oh, by the way, if you want to eat a lot, you need to eat quickly.”

Sejun spoke as he looked at Cuengi. The food in front of Cuengi was quickly disappearing.

“Ah, yes!”

Understanding Sejun’s words, Loon hurriedly ate the food and, fortunately, was able to get seconds.

After the breakfast was over,

[You have fed a Blue-furred Baboon to fullness.]

[Due to the effect of <Title: Saint of Feeding>, all stats increase by 0.2.]

A message appeared before Sejun.

‘He’s finished eating.’

Confirming that Loon had eaten enough, Sejun asked,

“Loon, you said you can’t control your transformation ability, right?”

He asked Loon. Sejun had briefly heard about Loon’s situation before breakfast.

“Yes…”

Loon answered in a depressed voice to Sejun’s question.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to worry anymore. I know an incredible expert.”

“Puhuhut. That’s right, meow! Just trust Chairman Park, meow! Loon, you don’t have to worry anymore, meow!”

Kueng!

[If Dad says it can be resolved, then it’s resolved!]

Theo and Cuengi, agreeing with Sejun’s words, clung to Sejun’s knee and side.

Kking…

[The… ]

Kkirorong.

Blackie, unable to overcome his food coma, fell asleep. Ah, so comfortable.

“But Vice Chairman Theo, aren’t you going to work today?”

“…I’m not going, meow! I’m taking a day off today, meow!”

Theo refused to go to work, rubbing his forehead against Sejun’s knee.

“Alright.”

Knowing how Theo’s pride had been hurt by yesterday’s no-bid auction, Sejun patted Theo’s head.

“Puhuhut.”

After sufficiently petting Theo,

“Follow me.”

Sejun took Loon to the fountain where the dragons were having a drinking party.

However,

-Sejun, that would be difficult.

Even the dragons couldn’t cure Loon’s condition.

“What? Why?!”

There’s something the great dragons can’t do?!

Seeing Sejun’s disappointed eyes, the dragons wanted to say,

There’s a lot! We can’t farm, we can’t cook! That’s why we’re buying drinks from you!

But they couldn’t say that because of their great dragon pride.

-Ahem. Sejun, this is a side effect of trying to transform into a very high-level entity.

-To put it simply, it’s like a cherry tomato trying to transform into a watermelon.

-Right. For a cherry tomato to become a watermelon, it has to reduce its density as much as possible to increase its volume, right?

-Then the cherry tomato would lose its own properties. It’s similar to that.

104.28.193.250

They explained to Sejun in detail why they couldn’t treat it.

In short, Loon’s soul lost its true form trying to transform into a high-level entity.

But,

“Ah, so why can’t you treat it?”

Sejun still didn’t fully understand.

-If his soul doesn’t remember his original body, we can’t help him find his original form.

-Yes. If we forcibly use magic to find his original form here, it will only cause more side effects.

-First, his soul needs to remember his original form.

“Ah, I see…”

Only after the dragons explained once more in detail did Sejun understand.

“Sorry, I got your hopes up for nothing.”

Sejun apologized to Loon as they walked away from the fountain.

However,

“Ah… what did you say?”

Loon wasn’t in a state to answer properly.

Even if he weren’t in his true forms, he had just faced four great dragon leaders, so it would be strange if his mind was clear.

Honestly, he didn’t remember a word the dragons had just said.

Sejun and his party descended back to the ground.

“This leaves us with the last resort. Vice Chairman Theo, find something you’re drawn to!”

With a hopeful heart, Sejun grabbed both of Theo’s front paws and pressed one against Loon’s body, shouting,

“Meow? Meow! Chairman Park, there’s a pull, meow!”

“Oh! Really?! Where?”

As expected of Vice Chairman Theo!

“Here, meow!”

Theo confidently pointed to the bag he was carrying.

“Huh? Vice Chairman Theo’s bag?”

“That’s right, meow!”

“Since when are you feeling the pull?”

“Since we met Loon, meow!”

But why didn’t you say anything?

While Sejun looked at Theo in astonishment,

“Puhuhut. Didn’t I tell you everything would be fine if you just trusted Chairman Park, meow?!”

Theo boasted loudly, sending Loon a look that said ‘Isn’t our Chairman Park amazing, meow?’ feeling proud.

What’s going on?

*****