With the shell now secured, I was fully prepared to depart.
Through the open window, I slipped outside.

— Gururuk!

The sky was as clear as one would expect with winter fast approaching.
.
.
.

Much later.
Around 10 a.m.

At this hour, most people in the prime of their youth were out and about.
With their departure, the apartment complex quickly fell into a deep silence.

Sitting idly, one could only hear the vague, nameless white noise filling the air.

— Vroom.
— Murmur, murmur...
— Beep, beep, screech.

And just as some unknown bird species chirped outside—
The body sitting inside the one-room apartment suddenly stirred.

"......."

This shell had no self-awareness.

Its eyes blinked at regular intervals.
It stood up from time to time to prevent stiffness.
It even opened the fridge to drink water.

But that was all.

Just like those robotic toy dogs sold by subway vendors—
Active, yet not truly alive.

A body named for diligence in skill— Giryǒ (勵).

It moved briefly, showcasing the precise orchestration of dozens of muscle strands executing the simple act of walking.
It wasn't creating instructions from a blank slate;
It was merely reenacting behaviors encoded within its muscles and brain.

And with its shell so efficiently safeguarded,
Its true mind was now free to devote itself to other pursuits.

— Kaaak! Kaaak!
— Oh, for the love of— I'm just trying to pass through! Why are these guys so territorial?

It meant that the Grand Mage was currently using a pigeon to explore the world.

Soon enough, the value of golemancy became evident.
The ancient arcane technology, refined over the long history of a certain planet, had many practical applications.
Just as the Alphaurians—the senior pioneers of biological emergence—had mastered their magic, so too could a mage from that world see even the most distant regions with clarity, provided they had enough mana.
The sensation of wind brushing against one's cheek was merely a bonus.

For reference, this kind of magic was also quite handy for exploring hazardous places like the deep sea.

— Get lost, you inferior crow bastards!
— Kaaak!
— Block my way again, and I'll body slam you.

The only issue was...
The Grand Mage was currently using such remarkable abilities for something rather trivial.

But then again—
Magic, like any other technology, was only as valuable as how one chose to use it.
What was frivolous to one might be essential to another.

Besides, there was no job interfering with this life anymore.
The Grand Mage simply embraced this rare vacation as it was.

— I think I've finally gotten the hang of flying.

And as a result, the key observation came naturally.
Despite already surpassing ten times the distance from the Six-Legged Hallway experiment, the spell continued to function flawlessly.

— (喜)

There was no better news than this.

Yet, for some reason...
The observer, deep in the trance of magic, found themselves drawn to something else.
Not to their own arcane accomplishments, but to the towering cityscapes built by the countless millions of this world.

Today, just for today—
That sight left a far greater impression than any personal achievement.

— Magnificent.

From the lofty heights above, the streets below stretched out in an endless sea of gray, as if bound by some unspoken law.

The native inhabitants of Earth often found such uniformity dull—monotonous, even.
But to an alien observer, the rigid, ruler-straight precision of the city's layout held a peculiar charm.

— I never had the time to fully appreciate this before, but encountering a whole new world is truly a moving experience.

A planet that, in a past life, had been little more than an obscure dot in the Solar System—
Now revealed itself to be a thriving, bustling realm of life, complete with its own fully developed civilization.

To the Grand Mage, every single building constructed by humankind felt like a supreme work of art.

— How many years did it take them to accumulate such knowledge and skill?

And beyond architecture, even the natural environment itself was starkly different from his home world.

— Since I've reincarnated on Earth, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to live like the locals—maybe even in a high-rise.

To an alien's eyes, the entirety of South Korea was content-rich beyond measure.
Thus, he carefully maneuvered his pigeon body, eagerly scouring every fascinating sight that entered his vision.

This continued until just before 10 a.m.

[ Ding-dong. ]

Then, at precisely 10:11 a.m.—
A sudden chime rang out, marking an abrupt shift in the atmosphere.

[ Ding-dong. ]

The doorbell of temporary residence Room 405, where Kim Giryeo's body currently remained, had been pressed.

"......"

A visitor? At this hour?

There were only two common explanations for such an unannounced daytime visit:

First, religious solicitation.
Second, religious solicitation from a different sect.

Given that someone had scrawled the building's entrance code right on the wall next to the shared front door,
Frequent, unexpected guests were practically an inevitability.

Moreover, these days, city gas inspections usually send prior notifications.

— There's no need to open the door.

"Do not engage with the outside world unless there is a fire or other disasters."

The safety measure prepared by the Grand Mage activated.
Thanks to the predetermined rule, the "shell" inside the one-room apartment decided to ignore the doorbell.

***

"Gireo!"

But if a voice like this followed the ringing bell, wouldn't the situation change?

"Gireo!"

It was a voice that sounded very familiar.
A tone both high-pitched and filled with power—essentially, an 'audio fingerprint' that confirmed the speaker's identity.

— Esther, Guildmaster of the Korean Magic Tower.

She was standing right outside the door.

"Why aren't you answering your phone? It's not like you went out for a raid, yet you haven't responded to any of my messages!
I've been trying to reach you since yesterday at lunch!"

If someone from modern society had gone so far as to visit in person, it must mean the matter was urgent.

"Gireo, aside from worrying about you living alone,
I have something really important to tell you!"

As expected, the visitor began to raise her voice.

"I have something to say!
And why is it so eerily silent in there?
[Seeker] confirmed this was the right place..."

There was an undeniable sense of urgency in her tone.

***

But as this situation unfolded,
an abnormality suddenly occurred within the one-room apartment.

The magic protecting Kim Gireo's body abruptly initiated a new judgment process.

[Top Priority: Avoid any action that could cause harm to the body.]

As seen, this body had multiple rules that it was bound to follow.

[Memory-based assessment: But... doesn't angering a necromancer usually lead to getting hurt?]

At this point, even a mammalian brain would struggle with confusion.

His body contained memories left behind by its new resident.

— I mustn't defy that S-rank, Seo Esther... She holds grudges for a long time...

Despite recently regaining his strength and even considering lazy schemes like remote lectures,
unfortunately, the system hastily created by the Grand Mage hadn't escaped the hassle of updates.
Since the spell was built using broad strokes of memory,
the cautiousness he had maintained throughout his days as an F-rank had become the guiding principle.

[Provoking a necromancer = Someone gets hurt.]

Thus, the magic guarding the empty shell acted on a misaligned judgment.

Click.

The door unlocked with ridiculous ease.

"Huh?"
"..........."

And so, due to these circumstances,
two S-rank Hunters found themselves face-to-face.

***

Two minutes later.

Inside Kim Gireo's temporary one-room apartment.

"...So, what I wanted to say is, there's no need for you to personally teach me."

A different kind of voice echoed through the room.

"If the ongoing government negotiations go well, the [Codex of Annihilation] will end up in my hands."
"..........."
"Ha-seong said he'd rather not have any more Legendary items here, and you said you didn't need it either..."

At this point, the truth became clear—
the [Codex of Annihilation] was a genuine artifact worthy of being called a grimoire.
Simply put, it was like a walker that helped a mage move more like a mage.

"I was lucky to benefit from it."

And Seo Esther, standing before him, was on the verge of acquiring such a luxurious auxiliary artifact.

"Once I have the [Codex of Annihilation], I won't need to obsess over teaming up with other S-rank Hunters anymore."
"......."
"I'll barely have enough time to properly master the artifact as it is. How could I possibly fit in separate training sessions with you, Gireo? Isn't that right?"

In truth, the only reason the [Codex of Annihilation] hadn't been repatriated to its original country yet was largely due to the Grand Mage's influence.
Someone had literally dunked Andy Oliver into water, and that single event had triggered a domino effect of benefits.

"......."

But the one currently operating this body was nothing more than a bundle of magic that struggled even with basic speech formation.

"Oh, and Gireo, this is just between us."

As the blonde house owner remained silent, Esther continued chattering on her own.

"I-I swear I wasn't prying or anything! It's just that a lot of people at the hospital you stayed in happen to be close to my dad..."

Mixed within her lighthearted tone were some rather serious remarks.

"I happened to overhear that you... coughed up blood again during your last hospitalization."
".........."
"I already took care of the janitor who was spreading the rumors, so you don't need to worry about that."
".........."
"But when word gets out that a single-person household like yours suddenly goes silent... well, people start wondering if something happened. That's why I came."

The curly-haired woman displayed a variety of reactions.
For a moment, she seemed genuinely concerned.
Then, almost immediately, she switched to complaining about why he always chose to live in such tiny apartments.

"You act like you're planning to donate your entire fortune to society or something!"

With every rise and fall of her emotions, the necromancer's magical energy fluctuated.
But there was no real concern.

— Coo coo coo!

No matter how much of his focus was on the pigeons, the true source of his magic was still his body.
And now that Kim Gireo had surpassed the S-rank threshold, trivial things like this wouldn't even leave a scratch on his skin.

[Condition No. 8: If the body experiences a certain level of impact, remote control will immediately terminate (mental perspective returns, and the main body awakens).]

That was precisely why the alarm system was so flawed.

The mage possessing the pigeon's corpse had, in essence, activated a "Do Not Disturb" setting.
After all, his body was sturdy, and he always maintained protective wards around his apartment—why should he bother keeping his auditory channels open like some coward?

The Alphauri mage's reasoning was, for the most part, correct.
Except for one thing.
Among the countless possible scenarios, there was one he hadn't accounted for: a necromancer showing up and causing a conflict of commands.

".........."

At the very least, the likelihood of Kim Gireo's physical body sustaining injury had dropped significantly.
After all, his visitor was an Awakened ally.

"Hmm."

But as the silence stretched on—

"Gireo."

—the visitor began to sense that something was off.

"Wait... are you actually sick or something? You've been completely silent this whole time."

Swoosh.

With that concern, she took a simple action.
Placing a hand on his forehead.

There wasn't any deeper intent behind it.
Just a casual gesture to show that she cared about his well-being.

"Huh?"

But contrary to expectations, her palm immediately picked up on something shockingly unusual.

"It's... it's burning up."

Why would a body, practically in a death-like state, be radiating such high heat?

— The weather has changed lately, and human clothing alone isn't quite enough to keep warm.

In truth.
This was all the doing of the second-generation pilot occupying the corpse.

— But taking out winter clothes is too much of a hassle. I'll just raise the temperature myself.

Expecting common sense from such an alien creature was unreasonable.
To put it in Earthly terms, it was as if an Alphauri had turned on the heater on a cold day and then absentmindedly left the house.
That was why the main body was slightly warmer than usual.

"AAAAH! My god, you're burning up!"

The casually forgotten two-degree increase had become the spark that ignited the crisis.
The Guildmaster of Korea's Magic Tower immediately paled to a sickly blue and started making a fuss.

"This is a total emergency! You need medical attention right now!"

And she didn't stop there.
She mistakenly assumed that Kim Gireo's silence was due to fever-induced delirium.
So, in order to solve the issue, she used her considerable strength to support the sturdy 20-centimeter-taller resident.

In simple terms, she attempted to move his body.

[Do not leave the house unless a disaster such as a fire occurs.]

This directly contradicted the security system bound to the body.

[Priority Condition: Do not engage in actions that could result in bodily harm.]
VS
[But isn't making a necromancer angry usually dangerous?]

Once again, the security mechanism clashed.

"......"

After a brief moment of internal debate, the nameless corpse decided to surrender.
Like all fields of study built on failure, the magic had once again fallen into an error loop.

Scccrrraape.

And so, the blond man was soon dragged helplessly outside by the sheer strength of the necromancer.