Chapter 105
Fortunately, the only witnesses, the middle-aged women, had been whispering among themselves before leaving. As soon as the onlookers were gone, Eunha and Ian went straight to the outer wall of Park Seok-hyeon's house and checked whether there were any CCTV cameras nearby.
“Looks like there aren't any, right?”
“Yes. This is the outskirts. A perfect blind spot.”
Usually, places like this, lined with old houses, had CCTV cameras mounted on utility poles. But there didn't seem to be any cameras around Park Seok-hyeon's house.
He'd probably chosen this place on purpose and settled here.
There was no better place to avoid other people's eyes. There's a saying that you hide a tree in a forest and a person in a city, but if you want to commit the perfect crime, a sparsely populated area is best of all. Why else would people bury corpses in the mountains?
This was one of the shantytowns well known even within Yongsan.
Of course, Yongsan itself had more villa complexes and shantytowns like this than the downtown area. You might call it a place where old and new buildings coexisted. The infrastructure was a wreck, but as a hideout for one mage, it was more than enough—in fact, perfect.
“There's dried blood on the wall.”
At Eunha's voice, Ian snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head.
The gray outer wall was mostly covered in cracks. On the lower part, a bloodstain that had dried long ago left a faint mark. At a glance it might look like paint splatter, but in a mage's eyes there was no mistaking it for blood.
Eunha spoke as she scraped at the bloodstain with the tip of her shoe.
“Seeing how the blood is only on the lower part, he probably dragged a corpse or a living person up from below.”
“Hmm.”
“But the fact that a blood mage left behind a bloodstain is ironic in itself. Seems he isn't very skilled at precise control.”
It was a fairly reasonable deduction. Ian nodded and reached into the inside of his coat.
“That's good news for us.”
“Yes. Then let's go inside before we waste any more time.”
Eunha walked toward the house's front door. Thanks to the bloodstain, her embarrassment had been greatly dulled.
Ian matched her stride.
The tightly shut iron gate was frosted over. The lock was engaged from the inside, making it almost impossible to open from the outside. But Ian didn't hesitate and placed his hand on the gate.
“Be reborn.”
He immediately cast the spell, shrinking the gate's locking mechanism down to the size of a cotton swab. As the length of the bar caught in the latch shortened in an instant, the tightly shut gate opened on its own.
The sound wasn't all that loud. There were no eyes watching. Park Seok-hyeon's house was isolated even within the shantytown, so it wasn't easy for neighbors to peek at it.
That was good for Park Seok-hyeon, and likewise good for Ian. Matching Eunha's pace, he carefully stepped through the front entrance.
As soon as they passed the entryway, a tiny yard greeted them.
In the yard there was a chair you could sit and rest on, as well as a jar. But they didn't bother sitting on the chair or opening the jar. He had no intention of doing something stupid and creating variables himself.
“This way.”
Ian led Eunha as they slowly moved toward the rear of the house.
Every window they passed along the way had curtains drawn. No sign of anyone inside.
The back wall of the house was caked with insect corpses and white bird droppings. Ian looked back at Eunha and nodded, and Eunha nodded back just as he did before taking out her grimoire and gripping it. Ian, too, fully revealed Touch of Re-Creation and placed his bare hand on the comparatively clean section of the wall.
“Be reborn.”
He activated the magic as-is, punching a hole in the wall large enough for a person to pass through. For a spell cast without any magic circle, it was surprisingly powerful, and Eunha's eyes widened in surprise.
“......The effect is incredibly good for a ritual spell. To smash through a wall like that with no conditions at all......”
“Ma'am.”
“Ah, yes. Sorry. This isn't the time to be impressed.”
At Ian's call, Eunha immediately came to her senses and moved toward the opening in the wall. Ian followed just behind her and used Re-Creation to restore it.
Crack.
With a rather ferocious sound, the wall was restored to its original state.
Of course, it didn't look exactly the same as before. It was slightly warped, and there were lumpy, dented spots here and there. But for now, this was more than enough. He turned his gaze away from the wall and took in the pitch-black corridor.
As expected of an old house, the interior was extremely narrow. Aside from the hallway connected to the entryway, the entire first floor consisted of only the living room and the bathroom. From the bathroom, a strong stench of blood drifted out.
“......”
“......”
From the moment they entered the house, the two of them did not speak. Instead, they exchanged opinions with only their eyes. Eunha's mint-colored eyes, still bright even in the dark, and Ian's black eyes met several times, and each of them took up their weapons before slowly advancing toward the living room.
'There's nothing here.'
The narrow living room held only a TV, a dining table, and a few jars.
A magic circle drawn in what looked like blood was etched on the ceiling, but thanks to the scarf, it hadn't activated. Even if they loitered nearby, the magic circle didn't react at all.
'Solid performance.'
Ian nodded to himself and moved to the bathroom this time. Peeking through the open door, he saw a woman's corpse in the bathtub.
She didn't look very old. Judging by the fact that much time hadn't passed since her death, there were no traces of decay. Several layers of electrical tape had been wrapped around her mouth, and her upper and lower body were secured inside the water-filled bathtub so she couldn't escape.
But her head was above the water. He'd probably deliberately wounded her, submerged her, and let her bleed out slowly.
“......”
There were far too many unnecessary steps for it to be just about drawing blood. It might have been necessary for the magic, but to Ian's eyes it looked like nothing more than murder for amusement.
'Crazy bastard.'
Ian cursed Park Seok-hyeon inwardly and left the bathroom. Eunha's expression wasn't much better.
[Shall we go to the second floor?]
She wrote the words on Ian's palm with a cold expression. Ian was about to nod to say yes, but then he noticed an awkward bulge in the center of the living room and furrowed his brow. Eunha also followed his gaze.
[Basement?]
She asked. Ian nodded.
[Let's check.]
The two of them headed back into the living room. Then they cut away the awkwardly bulging vinyl covering with a knife.
Riiip.
As they tore it off, a door leading to the basement was revealed. Ian let out a snort of laughter and compressed the doorknob into a small cube before casually tossing it away. Thanks to that, the door made no sound when it opened.
The way down to the basement was built as stairs. It wasn't very deep, but the smell of blood coming from inside grew even stronger. Now it was enough to smell blood even without trying. Through it, the faint stench of decaying corpses drifted out.
[Let's go.]
Ian asked. Eunha nodded and stepped toward the stairs first.
The stone stairs didn't creak at all. The two descended into the basement in silence.
With every step downward, the stench of blood grew thicker. Eunha's face twisted, and Ian gripped a pistol in his free hand while checking the surroundings with cold eyes.
After a while, the two of them set foot on the basement floor.
Magic circles were clearly etched everywhere in the dark basement. He didn't even seem to be trying to hide them. If they had charged in without the scarf, a pretty vicious attack would probably have come raining down.
“......”
In one corner, living humans were hanging upside down. Blindfolded and with duct tape wrapped tightly around their mouths, they trembled as blood poured out of them. Blood from the shallow and deep wounds etched all over their bodies dripped into the buckets beneath them.
'Are these the victims?'
He'd probably captured them and turned them into blood bags.
They were pitiful, but he couldn't rescue them right now. If he did and exposed his identity, it would become quite troublesome. At the very least, they had to be left like that until he finished the situation and called in the cartel or the Bureau. That was better for them and for him.
As Ian was thinking that, Eunha tapped his shoulder with her finger and pointed toward a sofa in the basement. Ian followed the direction of her finger with his eyes.
A basement soaked in blood.
On the black sofa alone in the center lay a man with a thick, bushy beard.
His eyes were closed. His evenly rising chest made it clear he was asleep.
“......He's asleep?”
Eunha murmured in a small voice. Ian gave a dry laugh and nodded at the unexpected situation.
“......There are a lot of spells set up here. If an intruder comes in, the magic will handle it on its own, so I can understand sleeping this calmly. And anyway, it's his own house—taking a nap in it isn't strange.”
“That's true. But, hmm...... it doesn't really suit the place.”
Ian agreed with that.
Captured people were hanging upside down, bleeding their guts out, and buckets, flasks, bowls, baskets, and the like were all filled to the brim with blood. It was a place where a normal person would have trouble even standing, let alone sleeping.
“......Kheh-heuk.”
Yet the man slept and snored as if nothing were wrong. No matter how you looked at it, he was not normal.
Well, he was the one who made this space. Ian didn't think much of it and turned to Eunha.
“What would you like to do? Just kill him?”
“Hmm...... That wouldn't be bad, but just in case, let's dig out a little more information. He may have sold off other users' information as well.”
“Understood. Then shall we start with this?”
Ian asked as he lifted a thick iron stake lying nearby. Eunha nodded and stepped back.
“Let's avoid anything unnecessary. If this drags on too long, the people hanging over there might die.”
“Yes. Then I'll get started right away.”
Ian tightened his grip on the stake in his hand and, without hesitation, slammed it into Park Seok-hyeon's thigh.
“......!? Kraaah—mmph?!”
He jerked awake and screamed at the sudden pain. But as the muzzle of a gun was shoved into his mouth, he could no longer scream and just thrashed about. Ian pressed the gun hard against him and removed the scarf wrapped around his neck.
“Release every spell in this basement right now. Unless you want a highway laid across the back of your head.”
“Kehk!”
His eyes trembled violently.