Chapter 13
Screeeech―
The bright red sports car Seo Ji-an was driving came to a smooth stop in front of the hotel entrance.
“All right, we’re here.”
Through the car door opening upward, a massive building came into view.
‘……Wow. It’s really huge.’
A top-class five-star hotel, one of the finest in downtown Seoul.
I’d spent ten years holed up in my room playing games, so a place like this was a first for me.
While I hesitated like that, Ji-an, who had gotten out from the driver’s seat, deftly handed the car key to a staff member in uniform.
“Thanks for your hard work~”
“Yes, have a good trip.”
She did it so naturally it was almost absurd.
“Let’s go, Mr. Dohyun.”
The moment I stepped inside, after turning through one panel of the revolving door.
“…….”
A gigantic chandelier filled the ceiling. A gentle classical melody drifted from somewhere. A massive abstract painting occupied an entire wall.
Staff in impeccably tailored suits bowed ninety degrees in greeting.
“Welcome.”
‘So this is a five-star hotel.’
I awkwardly nodded back at the greeting and went inside, glancing around stiffly.
When someone brushed past me, my hand instinctively went to the suppressor hidden inside my clothes.
Normal people were affected by spiritual power, weren’t they?
Still, this thing was perfectly concealing my spiritual power, so in everyone else’s eyes I’d just be an ordinary young man.
Just then, a man in a neat suit approached us from one side of the lobby.
"We’ve been waiting for you, Ms. Seo Ji-an."
"Hello. This is the artisan from the Cheonsan Sect I told you about, Master Do."
Ji-an introduced me, handing over a business card. The man was the executive director's personal secretary at TK Group.
He took the card and was about to bow to me, but hesitated for a split second.
‘Hm?’
The secretary’s pupils trembled faintly when he saw my face.
Apparently he was startled that I looked too young for such a grand title as "artisan."
But as expected of someone from a corporate office, he quickly erased his expression and bowed politely.
"Nice to meet you. I’ll guide you."
Following him, we headed deep into the hotel, to the kitchen of the private restaurant.
The kitchen we arrived at soon after.
“……Is it still not resolved?”
The secretary asked in a low voice toward the inside. The other attendant standing in front mumbled with a troubled face.
“Well…….”
The attendant looked away awkwardly and spoke.
“It’s been going on for weeks now, but we still can’t find the cause…….”
“I’m telling you, there’s nothing there.”
The one who cut in was someone completely unexpected.
When I turned my gaze, I saw a man in a black leather jacket and jeans.
He was leaning sideways against a chair, one leg crossed over the other, looking like some punk who’d come out to a club.
“I searched for three more days and still didn’t find anything. He’s probably just not sleeping well.”
The man snorted at the attendant.
“Cooks get that sort of thing a lot. They’re under so much stress they start seeing things. Anyway, I’m telling you there’s nothing here. I checked everything myself.”
‘……What’s with this atmosphere?’
The secretary stopped dealing with that thug-like man any further.
“……Sorry you had to see such an unsightly scene. This way, please.”
After briefly asking our pardon, he headed deeper into the kitchen.
The place he led us to had a woman standing there in a white chef’s coat.
“This is Kim Hye-yoon, our restaurant’s head chef. And this is Master Do, who will be making the knife for this commission.”
“……Hello.”
The woman bowed her head awkwardly.
‘……She looks really unwell.’
Her face was bloodless, and dark circles hung beneath her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept properly for days.
The way she kept clutching her own arm also looked oddly anxious.
For now, I gave a light nod and returned the greeting.
Right then, the secretary’s phone rang.
“Yes. They’ve arrived. Yes……. Yes, understood.”
After hanging up, he turned to Ji-an.
“Ms. Ji-an. Sorry, but could you come with me for a moment? The director would like to see you.”
“……Huh? Ah, yes.”
Ji-an said, looking at me.
“Mr. Dohyun, I’ll be back in a moment, so please talk freely.”
The door closed.
“……Then.”
“Ah, yes……!”
Chef Kim Hye-yoon swallowed nervously and neatly placed the knife case she was holding on the table.
She unlocked the leather case and slowly took out the chef’s knife inside.
“……I’d like to ask for something like this first.”
I took the knife she offered me.
‘It’s a Western-style chef’s knife.’
The blade was about eight inches long. The handle was G10 synthetic resin with a full tang structure. The balance was decent, but the blade was a little too thick.
For a small-framed chef to use for long periods, it would strain the wrist.
I glanced around the kitchen. So this was a Western restaurant.
“What do you mainly work on?”
“Ah…… mostly meat prep. I also do a lot of vegetable trimming.”
“Could you show me your cutting motion once?”
“L-like this?”
The chef placed a scallion on the cutting board and began slicing.
Tap, tap, tap―
‘……Hm.’
Her posture itself was clean.
As expected of someone from a prestigious Michelin-starred background, there was nothing to criticize in her wrist angle or knife-tip control.
The problem was elsewhere.
Each time the knife came down, the force in her shoulders wavered slightly. She didn’t seem to realize it herself, but her wrist was trembling faintly.
At that rate, she might be fine normally, but over longer use it could strain the ligaments.
‘……I should make the knife a bit lighter.’
If I shaved the blade thickness down by about 0.5 millimeters and shifted the balance point slightly toward the blade, the strain on her wrist would drop a lot.
But I couldn’t compromise on blade strength. Even if it was a kitchen knife, it was still something the head chef of a Western restaurant would be holding every day.
‘Use a high-carbon steel base……’
And if I mixed in a little alloy with good affinity for spiritual power…….
‘……Should be about right.’
The blueprint formed in my head all at once.
Her hands were small, so I’d make the handle one size smaller. Since she put extra force into her index finger, I’d hollow out that grip area slightly so her finger could hook in naturally.
After sorting that out, I lifted my head.
‘……Come to think of it.’
I turned my gaze back to the chef.
Extreme fatigue from lack of sleep. Because of that, her muscles were knotted and her balance was off.
If she kept gripping a heavy knife in that state, her wrist ligaments wouldn’t last.
And that guy from earlier outside too.
Suddenly remembering that man from earlier, I glanced toward him.
The man sitting with his legs crossed seemed to be glaring this way for some reason.
‘He was a sorcerer, right?’
He was hiding his spiritual power with a suppressor, but it didn’t seem to completely block spirit sight.
Either he hadn’t brought a suppressor at all, or he normally kept it off while working, because he wasn’t hiding his spiritual power.
One thing was certain: something was going on.
“You haven’t been sleeping well lately, have you?”
“Ah…… yes, haha. I guess it’s obvious. I’ve been having some nightmares lately…….”
Her hands clenching around her arms tightened.
Her eyes were bloodshot too. It didn’t seem like it was just nightmares…….
Then something alien caught my eye.
‘What is that.’
From above the chef’s shoulder, near the ceiling, something like a faint black haze was wavering.
It stretched in a thin line toward the large vent in the corner of the kitchen.
I was following it with my eyes when―
Seo Ji-an, who had gone outside, came back in hurried steps. Her face was stiff.
“Excuse me for a moment. Mr. Dohyun, could we talk for a second?”
“Ah, yes.”
I turned toward the chef and lightly asked for her understanding.
“I’ll step away for a moment.”
“Ah, yes. Take your time.”
I followed after her at a quick pace.
“Mr. Dohyun…… this is bad.”
"What is it?"
Seo Ji-an glanced around and lowered her voice as much as possible.
“The client is TK Group, but this request…… wasn’t just for a knife. They called you because of a cursed spirit.”
"What do you mean……."
“I just checked with my informant. TK Group apparently had a falling-out with a branch family of one of the Four Great Houses recently. They ignored all the sorcerers’ warnings over a redevelopment site and pushed the construction through.”
In summary, Ji-an’s explanation went like this.
Because of that, TK Group was firmly marked by that family and had become a pariah to the entire sorcery world, which feared retaliation from the major clans.
So even though this restaurant chef was being tormented by some unexplained sorcery, no proper sorcerer would set foot here.
“They said that since it was a VIP call, if possible they’d like exorcism handled too……. I think they called us because they knew we were from the sorcery world.”
She bit her lip with an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Dohyun. I should have done a more thorough background check beforehand……. You can just say no. They called you without giving you any advance notice, after all. I guess they were worried you wouldn’t come if they told the truth. Since you’re just starting out, it probably isn’t good to get tangled up with one of the Four Great Houses.”
‘……Hm.’
For now, I understood everything she was saying.
But honestly, it didn’t sound like that big a deal.
I’d even brought a few yellow talismans for self-defense just in case, so couldn’t I just get rid of those things and make a kitchen knife?
Besides.
That strange thing I’d just seen beyond the vent.
The chef’s bloodless face, the deep dark circles, her trembling fingers wrapped around her arms. Even her anxious expression.
If I hadn’t seen it, maybe. But after coming all the way here, leaving just like this would be a bit……
“Ms. Ji-an. Let me ask you one thing.”
“Yes.”
“I’m with the Cheonsan Sect right now. That means nobody can touch me, right?”
Wasn’t this identity made specifically so I wouldn’t have to worry about those clans in the first place?
In any case, if I kept doing this work, I’d be bound to get tangled up with clans sooner or later.
So there was no need to avoid this job in particular.
“Huh……? That’s true, but……”
Ji-an froze.
“I’ll just do it. It’s only making a knife, after all.”
“…….”
Honestly, I’d said it without thinking much.
I’d come all this way, so shouldn’t I at least get 500 out of it?
But for some reason, Ji-an’s expression stiffened strangely.
After staring up at my face for a long while, her expression soon brightened as cheerfully as ever.
“That’s right. Someone at your level, Mr. Dohyun……. There’s no way you’d be swayed by something like this. I was worrying for nothing.”
She gave a meaningful smile and shrugged.
‘……There she goes again.’
She seemed to have misunderstood something badly, but I was too lazy to correct her, so I just kept my mouth shut.
***
Meanwhile.
Jin Muyeong bit his lip irritably.
He was a sorcerer who had recently been promoted to Grade 3.
Grade 3 was a rank that could earn you the label of a battle-hardened veteran in this field.
He also knew well that this group had been firmly blacklisted by a major family.
But it didn’t matter. He himself had left his own family, almost as if he’d been driven out.
In fact, it seemed like a good chance. His family that had cast him out could go screw themselves.
He’d sniffed out the scent of money and slithered in, intending to take his cut and leave with a nice profit.
But.
Even after combing through the kitchen for three straight days, he couldn’t catch even the tail of a demon.
Naturally he thought the chef had some sort of curse on her, but no matter how closely he looked, he couldn’t find a single clue, let alone anything visible.
His pride was starting to take a hit, and irritation was rising.
At this point, it really seemed like there was nothing there.
'Damn it, I made a wasted trip.'
Just as he was about to pack up, he noticed some newcomer whispering with a broker in a corner of the kitchen.
‘Another new sorcerer?’
A fair number of sorcerers had passed through here by now. Because TK Group was marked by the sorcery world, the ones who came on their own were all empty shells.
They too had fled, saying they couldn’t find anything.
They clearly didn’t trust his word that nothing was there and had called in another sorcerer.
‘……How annoying.’
Who was he?
Wasn’t he a veteran sorcerer who had just reached Grade 3?
Grade 3 was not that common among freelancers. He wasn’t at the level where he should be treated this shabbily.
He quietly extended his energy to sense the newcomer.
‘…….’
Nothing could be read.
He could faintly sense spiritual power, but that was all.
‘What the hell. The guy doesn’t have a lick of spiritual power.’
He wasn’t completely lacking spiritual power, but people like that were common enough to trip over on the street. Just the type with a strong constitution or decent intuition.
A sneer crept onto his lips.
'Looks like some rookie broker dragged in an empty shell with no spiritual power and is trying to pull a scam.'
That was all he thought.
He turned away without any lingering attachment.
“Anyway, I’ve done all I can.”
He tossed the words at the attendant standing in front of him.
“The advance payment can’t be refunded under the rules, so keep that in mind.”
Just as he was about to leave.
“Ah…… so it was hiding here after all. Just a moment. This’ll be over soon.”
Muyeong turned around without thinking.
That scammer from earlier was quietly staring up at a corner of the ceiling.
Then he rummaged in his chest and pulled out a sheet of yellow paper.
It was yellow talisman paper.
'Well, well. He’s pulling out a talisman too?'
The sorcerer sneered inwardly.
How was he planning to catch a cursed spirit that didn’t even exist? He should at least keep the bluff within reason.
But something felt odd.
He hadn’t taken out a brush or any cinnabar ink.
What’s more, the yellow talisman paper in his hand was blank enough to see even from afar.
Did he not even know how a talisman was made?
Muyeong let out a dry laugh.
Well, anyway, he decided to watch for a bit.
Watching shameless impostors pretending to be sorcerers awkwardly act it out.
That was a spectacle in its own way.
The guy approached beneath the kitchen vent.
He stared blankly at something for a moment.
Then he raised his arm toward the air.
And sharply snapped his arm back.
Then.
Vwooom―!
The vent grate began shaking as if it would burst apart.
“Shit, what the hell.”
He had definitely thought it was a scammer.
Black smoke surged in.
There was no doubt.
This was spiritual force.
And a considerable amount of it.
[Kuaaaaaaaak-!!]
Immediately after, with a deafening roar, blackened cursed spirits began pouring out.
"……!!"
'Sh, shit, what the hell is going on?!'
Muyeong’s face turned deathly pale.
He hadn’t seen anything this whole time? After searching for three days?
Impossible. If that much spiritual energy had been trapped inside the vent, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed.
And it wasn’t just one or two.
At least dozens of cursed spirits were pouring out blackly, smashing through the vent grate.
Muyeong hurriedly reached for the ritual tool in his chest.
But.
'H-how am I supposed to deal with those……!'
They were already beyond the level he could handle.
At minimum…… Grade 2.
No, they were strong enough that even a Grade 2 sorcerer couldn’t be sure of victory.
Just as his mind went completely blank over whether to run or not.
The young man placed a bare fingertip on the yellow talisman paper in his hand, without even a brush.
But then.
Ssssh―
Faint smoke rose from the yellow talisman paper, and dark red patterns began engraving themselves on the once-blank paper of their own accord.
'……W-what is that?'
Something was being inscribed on the paper without a brush ever touching it.
The young man casually tossed the talisman engraved with a spell formula toward the pouring mass of cursed spirits.
The talisman touched near the vent.
In that moment.
Fwoooooooosh-!!
A blinding flash burst forth, as if the sun itself had been slammed into the room.
[Kiiieeeeeek-!]
Dozens of cursed spirits vanished in an instant, turned to ash before they could even scream properly.
"……."
'……What the hell is this guy?!!!'
***
'……Well, this should do.'
I looked up toward the vent once more.
The black haze had disappeared without a trace.
I dusted off my hands.
There had been more of them than I expected, but since it was handled with just one talisman, it still didn’t seem like a big deal.
I had worried it might not be enough.
Though the thug sorcerer behind me looked like he’d seen a ghost.
'……Whatever. Not my problem.'
I simply turned back toward the chef.
Now to make the knife now.