Reader Mage 108-You’re A Kid. Act Like One

rlin kept himself busy as he waited, hopefully and impatiently, for Guildmaster Hyeonki’s call. Thankfully, he was able to occupy himself with two other things, pulling his mind away from reminiscing on what had occurred in the Consortium Guild and the absurdity of it all.

One was taking care of Blue and practicing-slash-leveling his Intelligence with the mischievous little dragon. While the second was his private investigations on what exactly the drug which had ssed up Nikolai’s mind was, and how he could get it off the streets.

He was currently on that front.

“I’m going to be honest with you, kid,” said Sunny from the other side of rlin’s phone. “You should stop.”

“Do you think if I stake out the club at night, I’ll be able to see sothing?” asked rlin as his fingers drumd quickly on the keyboard of his laptop. He was searching through the net trying to dig up any news on Mages—or, more likely, Enkindled—losing their minds like Nikolai had. It was sothing he had begun to do for a couple of weeks now, and was yet to find any success. But failure had never stopped him before; now wouldn’t be any different.

Sunny sighed audibly. “You’re not listening to , are you?”

“I think I’ll try staking out,” said rlin. “The net’s pretty useless. At least my VPN’s working; they haven’t traced yet, so that’s saying sothing.”

“Or they just don’t care about a kid that’s way in over his head,” criticized Sunny. “I’m tired of spending my nights warning you to stop endangering yourself. I’m going to ignore your calls now.”

rlin clicked his tongue.

Besides Sunny, he had told no one of what he was doing. Nora would eat him alive for even thinking about it, and the headmaster would obviously not want him sticking his nose in what was supposedly ‘adult’s business’.

Professor Jung was even out of the question.

Just before the end of his first term at Prestige Academy, rlin had noticed that Professor Jung not arriving in ti to handle Nikolai herself had been eating into her. There was no way she would let another student of hers endanger himself.

He also didn’t want to involve Chima and Hakyun. He couldn’t bring himself to, not after considering just how dangerous it could be.

As for Janeth, things had beco awkward between them ever since their date. Whenever they were around each other, their conversations would be composed of re pleasantries and silence and throat-clearing. They barely said anything to each other—well, Janeth barely said anything; it wasn’t like rlin had ever been talkative.

Regardless, he hoped that the whole charade would stop soon. Janeth’s distance from him wasn’t making him like her any less; it was just making him even more frustrated, and he already had enough frustrating situations on his plate.

All in all, Sunny was the only person rlin could share his thoughts with. He was rational, smart, and had, well, connections—whoever those were.

However, that rationality of Sunny’s was biting rlin in the ass now.

“Co on, Sunny,” rlin groaned. “I told you what happened. If you had seen it, you wouldn’t be telling to stop.”

Sunny scoffed. “I’m pretty sure I would,” he said. “Look, rlin, I like you. And I understand you as well. Your friend, technically, beca an addict, went beast mode, and almost killed your friends; you saw the ugly side of the world of Mages. I get you, truly. And that is why I haven’t told your sister about what you’re getting yourself involved in. But, let be honest with you, this is illogical of you. Your whole vigilante-esque sense of justice, I an. If even your headmaster couldn’t get any information on them, apparently, how exactly do you expect to?”

rlin clenched his jaw. “I’ll think of a way.”

“You’ll get yourself killed, you idiot,” Sunny retorted. “You should stop now. That’s why I’ve been engaging your calls, to set you on the right path. But if you insist on going off the rails, I’m gonna let you be. Not like you’re my kid anyway.”

Sunny was right. He had no obligations to engage him, rlin realized that. But he couldn’t stop. Whenever he closed his eyes, he kept having the sa dream over and over again of Nikolai rampaging. And because of that, he couldn’t help but think…

“If I stop, then who’s going to help the other possible victims?” rlin asked. “Stop them from doing what they’ll regret?” Sunny remained silent. “The headmaster hasn’t even said anything about Nikolai, and it's been months. It’s like he just disappeared from the trace of the Earth. I’m worried, Sunny, and I can’t just sit around and go on with my life like nothing happened. What if soone close to is next? Huh? I’m not sure I’d be able to live with myself.”

“Get on with your life, rlin,” Sunny said. “Focus on your studies, train, and beco the Mage you always wanted to be. You’re on that path now. I know how much you wanted this. Don’t ruin it.”

rlin shifted away from his desk, leaning backwards into his chair as he stared up at his ceiling.

“Do you know the reason I want so badly to beco a Mage?” he started. “It’s because I want to be able to protect people, to help those in need. And you’re telling to stop?”

“And will you be able to protect anyone if you get yourself killed?” Sunny asked. “From all you’ve told , these people are dangerous.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Sunny cut in. “Because if you did, you would have closed that laptop of yours a long ti ago.”

“I do. I just think I have more to lose than gain by turning a blind eye,” rlin argued, his heart pounding intensely now. He was getting a bit too frustrated at himself—at everything. “It’s fine if you don’t want to help , I’ll do it myself. And you can tell Nora, if you want. It’s not like she can stop anyway.”

“Darn stubborn brat,” Sunny clicked his tongue. “What exactly is your plan, anyway? Let hear it.”

rlin debated the point of saying anything more, but decided to engage regardless. After all, it would eat him from inside out if he had no one to talk to.

He sat upright.

“The whole reason why no action has been taken against the club is due to the lack of evidence, right?” rlin began. “Well, it’s simple really. I’ll find the evidence that’s needed, and then the Consortium can finally take action.”

“You think I didn’t know that?” Sunny sounded disappointed. “My question was for how exactly you intended to find the evidence that even Police-Mages couldn’t?”

A bitter taste laced rlin’s tongue.

“That’s why I asked you if staking the club will produce a good result,” he said sheepishly.

“So you don’t have a viable plan?” Sunny hamred the nail in.

“I do.”

“And that is?”

“The club itself,” rlin explained. “If I can get in, I’ll be able to find sothing out.”

“How?”

rlin hesitated to say this, but he forced it out. “I’m a Deficient Mage,” he said. “I’m thinking about acting like I’m there to buy one, just like Nikolai did. Of course, I’m not planning on using it. I’m simply going to catch them in a trap.

Sunny was silent for a few seconds.

“What the hell are you thinking?” he roared, rlin flinched. “Who do you think you are, Batman? What’s going to happen when your plan fails? Punch your way out of the club?”

“I’ll be fine,” argued rlin. “I understand your point of view, I really do, but I cannot just go on with my life, Sunny. I need to do sothing. I need to make sure none of those I love get hurt in the future. Can’t you see things from my lenses?”

Sunny sighed deeply. “You know what? Fine.”

“Fine?” rlin cocked his head, an incredulous look on his face.

“Yeah,” Sunny continued. “I can see now that there’s nothing I can say to talk you out of this madness. But there’s no way I’m going to let you walk straight to your death.”

rlin blinked, unsure where the conversation was headed.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I’ll get the evidence for you,” Sunny said. “In return, I want you to stay the hell away from that club. Do you understand ?”

rlin drew a sharp breath. Sunny was not a Mage, or ever really cared for the world of magic. How would he go about getting the evidence? And, worse, what if he got in trouble? There was no way he would be able to fend for himself as a normal human.

A lot of questions sprung up in rlin’s mind, each one crashing against the walls of his skull, sending his head into disarray. But one stood out amongst the multitude…

“How?” he asked.

“I have my ways,” said Sunny. “I’ll keep in touch with you and tell you all about what I find. What I want you to do is return to the Academy next week as your classes resu, and stay in the Academy. If you sneak out, I’ll have nothing to do with you anymore. Again, do you understand ?”

rlin swallowed dryly. He wanted to argue, ask that he be involved more than through just a few phone calls. But when Sunny said things like that to him, he couldn’t help but feel lightheaded. Sunny was dependable and could take care of himself, surely. rlin nodded. Maybe he could really transfer so of the load he was bearing on his shoulders to soone else and focus on sothing else.

rlin turned slightly to his side where Blue was lying on a small pillow pouch rlin had made for the dragon as his bed.

“All right,” he said. “But if you’re ever in trouble, don’t hesitate to run.”

Sunny snorted. “Who’s the adult here?”

“I turn eighteen soon, so, technically, I’m one foot into adulthood,” rlin answered with a roll of his eyes.

Sunny chuckled. “Enjoy your youth, rlin. Don’t be burdened by responsibilities that aren’t yours to bear. You’re a kid. Act like one.”

rlin closed his eyes and sighed. “I understand.”