Chapter 17
Ian sized up the two visitors and poured water into a cup.
‘I don't see any firearms, at least.’
Around the waist, thighs, and chest.
There was nowhere to hide a pistol in any of those places. There were no unnaturally bulging spots either. It was safe to say they had no visible weapons.
But nobody knew what might be inside the bags they had brought. They could suddenly pull out a gun or knife from inside. They probably wouldn't do that without cause, but if they felt certain of something during the conversation, they'd change their attitude in an instant.
By then, talking would no longer mean anything. Summoning the grimoire and responding would come first.
“…….”
He had no experience killing people, but if necessary, he wouldn't hesitate. He'd already run the simulation in his head many times. It wasn't normal thinking, but once you'd stepped into the supernatural, you couldn't survive with a normal mind.
If you don't want to die, then kill them.
That applied to monsters and to other humans alike. Exceptions were a luxury.
Of course, that didn't mean he'd kill without question.
He had no intention of becoming a murderer. First he would subdue them, then interrogate them, and afterward decide how to deal with them based on the facts.
If possible, Ian wanted to avoid killing anyone too. Unless the other side bared its teeth first, murder was the last resort.
“…….”
After sorting out his thoughts, he dipped a green tea bag into the water he had prepared. Ian set the cup on a plate and approached the two people sitting around the table.
“Here’s some green tea. Sorry, this is all I have to offer.”
“Ah, no, it’s fine. We’re the ones who came here out of the blue. We should be grateful for whatever you give us.”
Kim Min-soo smiled brightly and sipped his tea. Then he glanced at the talisman peeking out of Ian's pocket and tilted his head.
“A talisman, huh? Are you Buddhist, by any chance?”
“Ah. No, I’m not. I just recently went to a shaman’s place with a friend, and they told me something was going to happen soon, so I bought one on a whim. It wasn't very expensive either.”
“I see. Do you believe in shamanism?”
“Half and half. Honestly, there are plenty of people spouting nonsense, aren't there?”
“Haha, true.”
He laughed once and folded both hands on the table. The woman said nothing, simply clutching her bag to her chest.
Ian remained wary of every movement they made. He didn't show it, but he had already prepared himself to pull out the grimoire and respond at any moment.
Kim Min-soo spoke to him like that.
“Hmm. As I said, I’ll just ask a few short questions and be on my way.”
“Yes.”
“The convenience store manager said that Shin Ian told him the person who wrecked the store was a drunk. Is that true?”
“Ah, yes. She was a somewhat unusual-looking woman.”
“Hmm.”
As if prompting him to continue, he leaned his upper body slightly forward. Ian recounted the story he had already composed in his head without hesitation.
“Her hair was a bit long, and she was of average height. But she was staggering around, so it was obvious she was drunk. It was also the middle of the night.”
“Yes.”
“She came into the convenience store and didn’t even bother choosing anything; she just stood there and stared at me. It was like looking at a ghost. So I was a little scared, but then she suddenly waved her arm and smashed the display shelves.”
“Hmm.”
“I panicked and rushed out from behind the counter, telling her she couldn't do that. But when I got a closer look, the display shelves were completely smashed to pieces. For one woman on her own, it was a bit too badly destroyed.”
Kim Min-soo fell silent. The woman's expression didn't change at all. She didn't even move.
Still okay for now, Ian thought to himself and continued.
“It suddenly occurred to me—what if this was a ghost? You know, something like that. A common thing, isn’t it? A ghost suddenly shows up at a convenience store where someone’s alone.”
“That kind of story shows up on TV a lot.”
“Yes. I thought it might be something like that, so I was scared for a moment, but I still worked up my courage and approached her. But as soon as I did, she suddenly went berserk, smashed the convenience store door, and ran out.”
“Bare-handed?”
“Yes. I’m not sure how that was possible, but… anyway, that’s the end of the story.”
Ian said all that and took a sip of green tea.
“But wouldn’t you be able to figure all this out by checking the CCTV? There really wouldn’t be a reason to come all the way to me and ask…….”
“The CCTV broke at that exact moment. So we couldn't get any footage.”
“Ah… could it be because it was really a ghost…….”
“Well, it could be. Still, what’s certain is that the drunk was the repeat offender we were chasing. She probably hasn't left the area yet.”
Kim Min-soo said that and drained the rest of his green tea. Then he sprang up from his seat and bowed to Ian.
“Thank you for your cooperation. I’m sure you’ve had a rough time because of that unpleasant incident, and yet you even treated us. I’ll be sure to contact you once we catch the culprit.”
“Ah, yes. I’m glad I could help. I don't think I really told you anything major.”
“We have to pay attention to even the small things. Anyway, we’ll be going now. I hope you have a good day.”
He shot the woman a glance.
The woman nodded back and stood up, bowing slightly to Ian.
The two of them offered Ian a light farewell, then walked to the front door and put on the shoes they'd left by the entrance.
Just as they were about to open the door and step outside, Kim Min-soo turned back to Ian and said abruptly,
“That talisman. It’s a good one, so keep it. Looks like it saved your life once.”
“……Huh?”
“Haha.”
Rather than answer Ian's question, he left the studio apartment. Ian stood for a moment by the front door, then snickered and placed the talisman on the table.
‘A good one, huh.’
It was something he'd paid a few tens of thousands of won for at a ramshackle shaman’s place. How good could it possibly be?
Still, it had let him slip past the Bureau’s notice once, so it wasn't exactly a useless expense.
Ian stretched and returned to his room, where he summoned the grimoire.
‘With this, the matter involving Palcheok is over. All that's left is the monkey.’
Unlike Palcheok, who had produced a direct witness, the monkey dream still hadn't revealed anything. The Bureau was focused only on Israel and the Christian grimoire, so for the time being, it didn't seem like there was anything to worry about.
For Ian, that was something to welcome with open arms.
For now, it seemed best to relax a little and wait until Seo-a handed over information about the cartel. He didn't have much money saved up, but it was enough to lie low for a few days.
“Let’s eat.”
He put the grimoire in his bag, bought some food from a nearby mart, and started cooking a simple meal.
The homemade meal he ate after so long tasted better than he had expected.
*
“Senior. Is this okay?”
Inside the sedan on the way back to the Bureau.
The woman at the wheel asked Kim Min-soo. He tore his gaze away from the window he had been blankly staring at and looked back at her.
“What is it?”
“I mean, letting it go so easily like this. I wasn’t sure if it was the right call to just come back after hearing the story without even erasing his memory.”
“Ah, I thought it was something serious.”
Kim Min-soo chuckled and slurped his coffee, which he had bought at a nearby café.
“There wasn't anything wrong with what he said. A person with energy that's awkwardly strong—someone who can't perceive the supernatural's exact form the way people with weak or strong energy can. They're not common, but they do exist. There are one or two like that in our Bureau too.”
“……Really?”
“Yeah. And the reason Palcheok probably took damage and ran off from there was that talisman he had on him. Even a quick look told me it was an exorcism talisman, so it should be able to hurt Palcheok. If it had been some stray spirit, it probably would have died on the spot.”
“……What about Agent Kim I-seo’s request that we check whether he might be a magician?”
The Response Division’s Team 3 agent who had personally taken down the Palcheok ghost. She was also the one who had directly witnessed the bleeding that began at the convenience store.
Kim Min-soo thought of her face and burst out laughing.
“Do you have any idea what a headache of a request that is?”
“…….”
“If that woman was telling the truth, and Shin Ian—say that guy really was a magician. Then we would've walked straight into a magician's home and asked, ‘Are you a magician?’ We'd both be dead. If we'd shown even a hint of suspicion, we'd have been killed on the spot.”
“……Still.”
“Does that sound like a lie?”
The woman shut her mouth. Kim Min-soo let out a long sigh and tucked the coffee into the cup holder.
“Park Min-a, we need to know our place. We survived the monsters without any powers and made it into the Bureau, so we can't go risking our lives just because of one agent's word, can we? I still don't want to die.”
“……I don't either.”
“Right? If we were dying in pursuit of the noble ideal of protecting humanity, that would be one thing. If we'd died there, it'd have just been a pointless death. The Negotiations Division is already short-handed these days, so we can't go dying too.”
“That’s true…… work's been downright murderous lately.”
Park Min-a shivered as she thought of the piles of paperwork stacked up at the Bureau.
Kim Min-soo leaned his chair back and muttered, staring at the car's ceiling.
“And anyway, the odds of him being a magician are probably low. We checked his business card, remember? He knew me as a detective.”
“……Right? A magician wouldn't be able to figure that out either.”
“That business card is one of the byproducts of a sealed anomaly, too. If you realize you've come face-to-face with the supernatural, you'll know it's a Bureau business card. But if not, it just looks like any ordinary business card.”
Kim Min-soo turned his head toward the window and continued.
“If you notice that trick and still bluff, that means the magician is outrageously skilled—and then we'd already be dead.”
Magicians who were proficient in magic didn't pay much mind to the Bureau. They didn't feel any need to, and even if they attracted attention, they were confident they could get away.
In fact, all the magicians currently under investigation were out wandering the world without caring about the Bureau’s attention. They were a bunch of lunatics, sure, but the problem was that they had the power to back it up.
‘If Shin Ian had been one of those magicians, Min-a and I would’ve had our heads separated from our bodies by now.’
Kim Min-soo thought that and slurped his coffee.
“Anyway, there’s no need to suspect him of being a magician. That guy is just an ordinary person. The kind who doesn't even know what he ran into.”
“That's a relief. I'll make a separate report to Agent Kim I-seo.”
“Do that. Having a capable junior makes things pretty easy.”
“You’re capable too, Senior.”
“Right? Our pair is pretty capable, isn't it? Hahaha.”
“Hehe.”
Laughter bloomed in the car heading back to the Bureau.