Vol 2 Chapter 37

The man in the screen seemed surprised and stood still for a moment, but soon began to use magic that looked like teleportation again to avoid the monster that was charging at him with its last strength. It seemed he still had some mana left even after using such powerful magic. However, it was clear that he could no longer use magic powerful enough to finish off the monster completely.

After fleeing for a while, the monster finally came within arm's reach of the man in a moment when he lost his timing. Just as it seemed he would die without being able to do anything in this critical moment, balls of light flew in from somewhere, pummeling the monster, and the man safely escaped. With that, the screen flickered and went dark.

"..."

Even after the video ended, Yoon Seok-ho didn't say anything. Mugeon silently waited for his response. After a long while, Yoon Seok-ho finally spoke as he removed the storage device.

"Did you film this yourself?"

"Yes. I filmed it while observing the HR-02 user as per my mission. I also took care of the aftermath before other GMs could discover it."

"Hmm... So that's why I didn't receive any reports."

"But as far as I know, magic can't manifest in such a mixed way. Isn't that right?"

In response to Nam Mugeon's question, Yoon Seok-ho smiled and placed his interlocked hands on his knee.

"Why do you think so?"

"If all magic in MIST could mix and change form like that, wouldn't there be no need to create and organize magic names in the first place?"

Yoon Seok-ho gently curved his eyes as he watched Mugeon mutter, 'If I were in the development department, I would have cried seeing that scene.'

"Certainly, that could be the case. But you don't need to worry about that because you'll rarely see such a scene from anyone else in the future."

"Pardon?"

"This is related to the principle of how magic is implemented in MIST. Like how everything you want comes true in dreams, magic works by borrowing the power of imagination that the human brain can do. But if that were the case, wouldn't it be troublesome if magic of unimaginable range or intensity could be created? That's absolutely not the case. Because there's a limit to how much the human brain can be activated, that is, how much it can imagine."

"Ah..."

Mugeon looked surprised. Regardless of his reaction, Yoon Seok-ho was absorbed in his explanation.

"Ordinary people who die without properly using even 5 percent of their brain throughout their lives can't make completely realistic 'precise' imaginations even when they decide to use magic in MIST. In fact, when we dream, our brain unknowingly perfectly implements the size, mass, weight, intensity, and even the feeling of everything that appears in the dream, but MIST is a game played in a hypnagogic state. Our awake reason interferes with that, so at best, we can only vaguely imagine images. The range of imagination is similarly constrained by reason and reality, and we control that through the system."

"I don't quite understand."

"Let me give you an example. Can a person familiar with the shape of ordinary flames that already exist in reality, or have been seen in media, perfectly imagine a triangular or star-shaped fireball without wavering?"

Nam Mugeon shook his head.

"That would be difficult."

"Right. When you do something unfamiliar, it puts a strain on your brain and increases instability. MIST was able to have game rules by understanding and controlling this."

Nam Mugeon was completely overwhelmed.

"That's amazing."

"Of course. Who do you think came up with this control method? Actually, we use other methods too, but this is the easiest to explain. Unlike swords, magic requires controlling users' imagination, so it took an enormous amount of time just to think of the method."

'Are you happy getting praised while pretending you didn't think of it yourself?'

Mugeon inwardly grumbled, rolling his eyes at Yoon Seok-ho who was lost in self-praise, then nodded.

"Then what happened to that HR-02 user?"

"He's living proof that the control system isn't perfect."

Yoon Seok-ho slightly turned his eyes to the empty space again, focusing as if looking at the man in the video.

"The magic he just performed is like instantly twisting even his existing perception completely into a new form. It can be seen as a power that escapes the system's control, which is set to the average. Who else could do such a thing so easily?"

With those words, he smoothly ran his hand through his slicked-back hair once more.

"Actually, I had expected it to some extent... but I didn't think it would be this fast..."

"Pardon?"

Mugeon's eyes widened as if he had heard the quietly muttered voice, but Yoon Seok-ho smiled and shook his head.

"Just talking to myself. Ah, can I keep this video for reference?"

"Ah, yes."

Since he had brought it to give to him in the first place, Nam Mugeon immediately nodded. Yoon Seok-ho stood up and spoke.

"Then keep your eyes on that user from now on. Report immediately if anything happens."

"Understood. But where are you going?"

As Yoon Seok-ho walked towards him with the sound of his dress shoes clicking, Mugeon asked, and Yoon Seok-ho shrugged and pointed outside. Mugeon inwardly cursed, acutely feeling that even such a brief action becomes a pictorial when done by a handsome man.

"It's time for the VT meeting now."

"Ah, yes. Have a good meeting."

Yoon Seok-ho nodded and then turned to walk away. His back exuded an undisguisable joy.

"Kap!"

When Kapros came out of the room and went downstairs after talking more with Kion-hyung, the first one to run up and hug his neck tightly was, as expected, Kran.

"..."

And Yu-wan, glaring fiercely at Kran.

"Kar. Then I'll go see that Pal-deung guy with that in mind, so try to log out here if possible. Got it?"

Kion-hyung threateningly widened his eyes, which didn't look very benevolent, towards Yu-wan and Kran, then smiled brightly at Kapros and waved his hand.

"Yeah."