161 Look at the Camera and Tell Me Your Name and Age

“Fuck.”

A tiny studio apartment. A man who had woken up in the late afternoon spat out a curse as he looked down at the blood that had flowed over his entire body.

He’d definitely given himself first aid, but maybe because he’d thrashed around in his sleep, the carefully stitched wound had torn open again. Since it was a wound inflicted by a magician, even after spraying on some cartel-made first-aid spray, the healing was painfully slow. Or maybe it was because that magician was one of those freaks who had implanted mystery into his own body.

Whatever the reason, he hated it all the same. The man clicked his tongue and grabbed the spray he’d left by the bedside, then carelessly sprayed it over the wound.

Ssssshh.

With a stinging pain, bubbles oozed out of the wound.

If he left it alone, the pain would soon become bad enough to make moving difficult. He bit down on and swallowed a painkiller he’d prepared in advance, then took out an insect trapped in a glass bottle and crushed it.

Crunch!

The dead insect scattered its shell all over the place, oozing white fluid. The man brought it to his mouth and gulped it down.

“...Ugh. That tastes disgustingly awful...”

The man muttered briefly, wiped the shell from his hands with tissue, and went into the bathroom to wash off the fluid. It was nice that the fluid had a painkilling effect, but if he left it on his skin, necrosis would set in, so he absolutely had to wash it away.

“Phew...”

The man dried the moisture on his hands with a towel and went out into the living room. “Living room” was a stretch, since it was just a studio apartment and not especially spacious, but he liked plain, modest homes and had no intention of moving. Besides, he had a separate workshop anyway, so there was no need to change residences.

He thumped his throbbing thigh with a fist and collapsed onto the small sofa. Then he stared up at the dark ceiling and muttered.

“That rotten bitch... I should’ve killed her there.”

Rotten bitch.

That was the term he used for Mariang.

What was there to hide?

The insect sorcerer who had fought Mariang on the hotel’s upper floors was none other than him.

David Koenig.

Born in Germany. The last scion of the fallen Koenig family. And a magician who had learned magic from the gravekeepers of Walpurgis, only to betray them and disappear.

The reason the Koenig family was wiped out was, in truth, nothing special. They had sided with the Nazis in World War II, lost, and were all executed.

The reason David was alive was because the Koenig family’s only illegitimate child had been lucky enough to flee to another country, get married, and have children. And that child had children, and then children again, until the present-day David was born.

So if you looked at it objectively, most of the blood running through his veins was ordinary human blood, and the rest could be called magician’s blood.

Fortunately, it was the magician’s blood that had exerted the greater influence. Thanks to that, he had talent for magic too.

About ten years ago, while collecting the insects clinging to a magician’s corpse, he caught the gravekeepers’ eye and, after ignoring their rules, came to Korea. It had been enough time to become Korean in spirit too.

But that didn’t mean he was clueless about criminal magicians. Naturally, he knew about Mariang too. That was why he recognized her identity the moment their eyes met.

So he attacked, and the fight ended without a decisive conclusion. All they managed was to inflict serious wounds on each other. He’d thought she’d gotten stronger and was ready to kill her without asking questions, but the result was disappointingly lacking.

Should he at least be glad she was still alive?

It had already been a day, but even thinking about it now only made him irritated. David sighed deeply and picked up the phone lying on the table.

“...Ah, I didn’t charge it. Damn it.”

The remaining battery was only about 20 percent. He swept back his long hair, plugged in the charger, and sank into the backrest. From there, he ordered food and checked the stock market again, which he’d been watching until last night.

Unfortunately, the stocks he’d invested in had tanked like crazy. They were down nearly 50 percent from when he first bought them.

“What the fuck. This could kill a person!”

Of course, David’s life wasn’t so tight that a stock drop alone would kill him. But there was no helping how fucked his mood was. He hadn’t been able to kill Mariang, his recovery was slow, and the stocks had dropped too, so he felt like screaming like some clown living in a sewer.

But he didn’t, because he had a magician’s dignity.

Of course. A magician was too elegant to be put on the same level as some clown bastard.

“Haa...”

David sighed, crossed his legs, took a long drag from his e-cigarette, and opened the community forum.

A magician community that didn’t exist overseas and was active only in Korea.

Commonly called the Magician Gallery. A playground and communication hub for magicians, created by the owner of Lemegeton using the power of a great demon.

Magician communities did exist overseas too, but those spaces were even deeper in the abyss. In the first place, exchange there wasn’t all that active to begin with.

Information sharing? Why the hell would I share information?

Cooperation? Fuck off. I’m far too great to need help from someone like you.

Friendship? You think someone like you can get chummy with me?

And so on.

For these and various other forms of individualism, overseas communities used by magicians were basically closed off. The only ones actively using them were weak rookie magicians, so no information could be shared, and there were plenty of cases where someone acted up and got killed without a trace.

By contrast, Korea had simply copied over a fairly large community, so its vibe was completely different from theirs.

David personally was more than satisfied using it. In fact, he made a point of logging in at least three times a day.

Today was no different. The moment he logged into the community, he quickly read through the best posts.

After a bit, he found one post with unusually high views and recommendations. His eyes widened when he checked the title.

[Guys, I caught a magician named Mariang? Is this a good thing? ㅠㅠ]

Mariang.

At the appearance of a name he absolutely couldn’t just let slide, David’s mouth fell open and he clicked the post.

[Guys, I caught a magician named Mariang? Is this a good thing? ㅠㅠ]

[Yep (a psychopath who thinks he’s a newbie)]

(A photo of Mariang, limbs blown off, dozing on a sofa)

I ran into her on the way, so I blew off her limbs and caught her, but she wouldn’t go into a Monster Ball ㅠㅠㅠ

This is bad, right?

[Upvotes 113][Downvotes 0]

[Comments]

-? Mariang? That Mariang?

ㄴㅇㅇ: Yes…… is it famous? Sorry, I’m still early on, but I got out pretty quickly ㅠㅠㅠ Should I reroll???

ㄴWhat the fuck, you crazy bastard. Mariang? Mariang? Eddie wasn’t enough, now Mariang?

-★Godmother: To post something like this as soon as you get home... As expected, I think it’d be best not to hang around Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie...

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: What are you even talking about? It’s obviously because you hang around the Godmother that I’m like this lol

ㄴ★Godmother: Blocked.

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: ?

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: (This comment was deleted by the moderator.)

ㄴ★Godmother: (Magician V-con)

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: (This comment was deleted by the moderator.)

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: (This comment was deleted by the moderator.)

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: (This comment was deleted by the moderator.)

-TamingMaster: Are you spraying some kind of pheromone that lures magicians? How long has it been since you met Eddie, and now you’ve met Mariang too? And this time you even captured her alive.

ㄴHeatwave: Look at him catching her alive just because she’s a woman. Such an obvious bastard lol

ㄴㅇㅇ: That’s not it, you fucker

-Deep-Sea Angler: Newbie, are you having a hard time lately? No matter what, you shouldn’t do it with something like that. Come talk to me instead.

ㄴㅇㅇ: I said it’s not that, fuck! I just blew off her arms and legs so she couldn’t run away!

ㄴDeep-Sea Angler: Mhm, I see. I’ve never tried it either, but it’ll probably feel good.

ㄴㅇㅇ: Fuck, you really don’t believe me.

-But is it okay to post that you caught Mariang so openly? Won’t someone just suck up the information like a mosquito and sell it off again like last time?

-Dolores: There’s no way to contact Laplace! Most information shops won’t even accept anything related to Laplace! If you have it, the Clock Tower will swoop in and wipe it out!

ㄴㅇㅎ But there could still be someone affiliated with Laplace here.

ㄴ★Godmother: Only Korean IPs can enter our community. And before anyone logs in for the first time, I also use a scanning spell to detect the distinctive corpse smell of Laplace members and block them on the spot. So there are no Laplace members here.

ㄴ? I thought you only looked at our character.

ㄴ★Godmother: Baal can even perceive the things hidden inside that character.

ㄴNerf that bullshit Lemegeton.

ㄴPeak Lemegeton Cup.

ㄴCome to think of it, if they could sell info to Laplace, there should’ve been some action the moment they posted that they killed Eddie. It’s too quiet.

-These guys are fucking nice. Nobody leaked Eddie’s info? I’m starting to like you all.

ㄴWhy would we hoard already nonexistent information on Korean magicians? Even if I’m someone who likes corpses, hates civilians, and dives in headfirst when gathering materials, we still have to protect our mage bros...

ㄴThat too, but not long ago the traitor bastard was pinned to the announcement board with no mosaic blur at all, showing exactly how he died. Of course, Eddie died before that bastard, but if you’ve got your head on straight, you’d play it safe lol

ㄴTrue. The notice literally says, ‘From now on, we’ll use automatic detection on anyone selling information, and if you get caught, we’ll come find you and kill you.’ Who the hell would sell it after reading that?

Just a post that had gone up moments ago, yet it already had a ridiculous number of comments. Even now, comments were still appearing in real time. David stared blankly at the post’s contents before, as if possessed, leaving a comment.

-BugsInYourEars: How the hell did you do that, you fucking bitch.

+

A swimsuit photo of Kim Yul saved on Ian’s phone