Chapter 175
Ian and the others entered near the back entrance on the art museum’s first floor.
It was basically an emergency exit, so luckily there weren’t that many paintings nearby. But it wasn’t as if there were none at all, so they still had to stay on guard.
[Kim I-seo: Left.]
Communication was carried out through the terminal. The earphone in their ear read the wearer’s thoughts, wrote them on the terminal, and a TTS voice read them aloud.
You could call it impressive scientific technology, but Ian wasn’t sure one could confidently say it was made of science alone. Since the Bureau was more proactive about using mysticism than anyone else, maybe some aberration’s blood was flowing through the inside of this earphone instead of electricity.
Well, as long as nothing went wrong right now, that was all that mattered. Ian followed Kim I-seo, who was walking in front, and looked around.
Paintings, paintings, Observers, paintings, paintings, Observers, Observers.
The bizarre beings scattered all around stared at the bizarre paintings, then glanced back at the group before returning their gaze to the paintings.
It was surveillance so blatant that even the dumbest person could tell. Their intent to kill anyone the moment they opened both eyes was conveyed clearly.
In other words, it was practically proof that as long as they kept one eye closed, the Observers couldn’t attack them.
Just as humans were imperfect creatures unable to overcome death, aberrations were not perfect either. They had flaws of their own, and vulnerabilities that forced them to obey the rules they themselves set. Just as the invincible Achilles would howl like a little girl and die if his heel were cut off, even mystics had at least one way to be countered.
The Observers were the same.
Their true bodies could essentially be considered their heads. More precisely, their eyeballs.
A giant eyeball that replaced where the head should have been.
If that huge eyeball, which fixed their bodies in place through optic nerves burrowing into their upper torsos, were broken, they would vanish without being able to do anything. Attacking their bodies was pointless, but as long as their weakness—the eye—was openly exposed, it wasn’t hard to target.
No, more accurately, it was difficult. Except for Ian.
“…….”
He took out the ring case he had tucked in his pocket and tapped Kim Yul on the shoulder. She turned to look at Ian, a cool smile frozen on her lips.
“......!”
The ring case came into clear view in her black eyes. Her face reddened, and her pupils trembled as if embarrassed.
[Kim Yul: Ah, um... Ian? Isn’t this a little too early? No, I’m not saying I dislike it or anything. Still....]
[Ian: Open it.]
[Kim Yul: U-uh, okay! Haa... A proposal in a place like this is pretty romantic. I don’t hate it....]
Click.
Kim Yul carefully opened the lid of the ring case. Inside, a human eyeball that had been carefully placed there came into view.
“……?”
Kim Yul’s face went blank. Ian paid it no mind and handed one eyeball to her, taking the other for himself.
[Ian: If you reflect your target’s image in the pupil, it damages them. If used well, you could even use it to assassinate them.]
[Kim Yul: It’s not a ring....]
[Ian: It’s an item I happened to get. I didn’t make it, and there are only a limited number of them. So use it carefully.]
[Kim Yul: It’s not a ring……. ]
Kim Yul grumbled while fiddling with the squishy eyeball in her grasp. Ian ignored her cleanly and reflected the two Observers on the second-floor railing in the eyeball.
Click.
A quiet sound echoed in his mind. Feeling his heart thumping inwardly, he softly crushed the eyeball in his hand.
The response was immediate. The bodies of the Observers draped over the railing jerked, and their pupils began to tremble.
[Kreeek……!]
[Keeee……!]
The optic nerves piercing their bodies convulsed, tearing the flesh open and bursting out. For a moment the group was flustered by the sudden turn of events, and at the same instant Ian burst the eyeball in his hand—their own eyeballs were crushed without resistance.
Thud.
The headless corpses collapsed onto the floor. The group stared, mouths hanging open, at the aberration’s body reduced to a lump of flesh. Then they swallowed hard as they looked at Ian, who was smiling in satisfaction.
Having heard Ian and Kim Yul’s conversation, they also knew whose handiwork that had just been.
The Bureau employees were stunned, and the mages were impressed.
[Kim I-seo: Magic like that from a distance... with no incantation or preparation...?]
[Venus: Isn’t that magic way too dangerous? If the Observers aren’t hostile toward us, it looks like they didn’t even realize they were attacked just now....]
[Namgung Minhyuk: That’s insane. What is that thing? It’s definitely a magically crafted item, but it’s too effective to have been made by ordinary craftsmanship. Who made it?]
[Mika: Whatever the mechanism, I’m pretty sure I should not get on your bad side, oppa.]
The mechanical TTS voice flowed out one after another through the earphones. Ian gave a snort of laughter and brushed off the flesh clinging to his hand.
He didn’t think their reactions were exaggerated. It felt like they were gilding his face for no reason, so he didn’t like it much, but it was still a reasonable reaction.
No advance preparation, no incantation, no magic circle. A weapon that could incapacitate an opponent simply by crushing an eyeball.
Its danger and brilliance were obvious enough; trying to explain them would be a waste of breath. In the magic business, items related to instant activation were highly valuable.
The Bureau was no different.
[Kim I-seo: By any chance, can you tell us who made that eyeball? Is it something sold through the Cartel?]
Kim I-seo asked. Keeping an eye on the Observers staring fixedly at the group, she voiced her thoughts.
[Kim I-seo: If possible, please let us know. If that’s difficult, then at the very least, please convey to the maker that the Bureau would welcome cooperation.]
[Park Min-a: Please.]
Kim I-seo agreed with Park Min-a. Ian shifted only his eyes and looked at them.
Their reaction was appropriate both as Bureau personnel and as agents who worked directly in the field.
For living creatures, the most important sense is sight. There is no room to dispute that. The only exceptions are creatures without vision or without eyes, but those beings are few and far between anyway. The stranger an aberration looks, the more important “field of vision” becomes.
It was an item that could crush that field of vision without any conditions. It had to be valuable both as merchandise and as a tool. It was only natural for the Bureau to covet it.
But Ian already knew what he would say.
[Ian: That person only makes things for their own amusement. They hate supplying others, so even if you contact them, they won’t answer.]
A clear refusal. Kim I-seo let out a sigh that plainly showed her disappointment and furrowed her brow.
[Kim I-seo: I see.... Even so, please at least pass the message along.]
[Ian: I’ll try.]
Ian brushed it off and casually tossed the empty ring case onto the floor. Unlike the library, this place didn’t seem to have rules enforced with such meticulous precision, so throwing away trash didn’t suddenly make the Observers rush them or bring any penalties.
Even if such a rule did exist, they wouldn’t be caught thanks to magic anyway.
[Ian: That’s enough talking. Move.]
[Kim I-seo: Yes. We’ll enter the second-floor central hall first.]
That disappointment was quickly tucked away, and cold composure replaced it.
The group immediately went up to the second floor via the stairs next to the back entrance.
Near the second-floor railing, two headless corpses were strewn about.
One man wearing workout clothes and one woman wearing pajamas.
Inside the gaping throat, not even a neck bone, esophagus, thyroid, or lungs could be seen. The organs had long since vanished. Perhaps because no blood was circulating, not even blood flowed from the severed stump where the heads had been cut off.
‘Is it eating the internal organs? Or does the eyeball—the true body—take over the role of every organ?’
Either way, it was still living by parasitizing its victims and feeding on their flesh. But it didn’t seem like it would starve to death even after parasitizing for quite a while... so he didn’t really know what it was parasitizing human bodies for.
Perhaps it was simply for the sake of obtaining a body.
“…….”
According to the note, if someone is hit by an Observer’s attack, an eyeball blooms from that spot and slowly crawls up to the head. And the moment it reaches the head, the self disappears, the “head” is erased, and an eyeball is generated in its place.
Isn’t that practically a parasitic trait?
Ordinary parasitic organisms eventually dry up and die if they don’t parasitize something. If the Observers shared a similar trait, then they would eventually vanish on their own as long as no host existed. Their continual abductions of people might just be a struggle to obtain bodies and survive.
If that was the case, then as long as the Observers’ true bodies existed, the museum would keep abducting people.
To stop that, they would have to find not only the Observers’ true bodies, but also the place where those bastards were born....
“Hmm, I was secretly pleased that so many guests had come.”
Just as he was thinking that.
A woman’s voice he had never heard before came from the hallway.
“……!”
The group froze, then looked at one another’s mouths with trembling eyes.
But no one in the group had opened their mouth.
Then it was an outsider.
And not just any outsider, but one who could openly speak in a place full of Observers without issue.
In other words, someone connected to the art museum.
“A rare, distinguished guest had mixed in among the guests.”
Click-clack.
The distinctive sound of high heels came from the hallway, along with the voice, as the corridor was gradually being dyed red by the lighting.
The group instinctively turned their heads toward the source of the sound and took the voice’s owner into view.
“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you sooner, you who are favored by them.”
A black dress trailing along the floor. A red brooch. A necklace. Straps.
A spiked halo is fixed behind the already decayed human head.
It wasn’t floating in the air. It was stuck into the back of her head like a spike.
The blood flowing from it reversed course, becoming red roses, and those roses filled the decayed scalp where hair should have been. The fluttering petals turned back into blood and fell to the floor.
“My name is ‘Lairie.’ I am the administrator of this art museum, the sole creator’s confidant, the one who suffers, the assistant, and the flower bed, the flower, the vase, and the one without water. The spreader of beauty and survivor of the flooded city. One who receives his grace. A puppet. A doll.”
“…….”
“And I am the kind of woman who loves someone like you more than anyone else.”
Lairie.
She grasped her skirt with both hands and bowed, as if greeting them.
“A thick hyacinth fragrance. The briny smell of the sea of death. And the screams lamenting the absurdity of the contract, along with the sound of chains.”
“…….”
“Those who are gods, yet not gods. Those fickle beings who are crueler than anyone, yet affectionate toward their own possessions. I too offer my respect to you, who are both their believer and their proxy.”
“……Ha.”
“Please speak. I will allow it. Please let me hear your voice as well.”
Lairie bowed even deeper at the waist. Ian, glancing at his companions, carefully opened his mouth.
“...Kim I-seo, that’s a monster I didn’t hear about in the briefing.”
[Kim I-seo: We’ve never seen an aberration like this—]
The moment Kim I-seo’s reply came through the earphones.
“I don’t recall granting you permission to speak.”
Szzzt!
At the same time Lairie’s voice rang out quietly, the earphone sparked and broke. The terminal in her pocket filled with water and crumbled into red petals.
“……!”
Their only means of communication had been destroyed in an instant. The group’s faces twisted, and Kim I-seo hurriedly raised her shotgun.
Pssst.
At the same time, a flower bloomed over the back of her hand. A red rose rapidly absorbed the moisture from her skin and grew larger.
“……!”
A terrible pain raced along her nerves and scorched her brain.
Her judgment was swift. Kim I-seo braced the shotgun with her foot, brought her hand to the muzzle, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
At the same time, her hand exploded.
A bodily loss accompanied by pain. Yet Kim I-seo threw the shotgun away without hesitation and took a hemostatic agent from her pocket, chewing and swallowing it.
All the while, she didn’t let out a sound. It was enough to show just how formidable her mental fortitude was.
But once the sound had already been made, it was too late. The Observers’ pupils all turned toward her at once, and blood vessels rose in their whites.
Because she hadn’t directly spoken it herself, eyeballs didn’t bloom from her body, but it was over the moment she was observed. The Observers would all rush in to eliminate her.
“Damn it....!”
Ian spat out a curse as he stared at the Observers slowly closing the distance.
Then Lairie opened her mouth in a voice tinged with laughter.
“Ah, what a beautiful tone. So you really are someone favored by them. Your voice is filled with all kinds of fragrance.”
“You son of a bitch....!”
Ian spread open his grimoire and glared at Lairie. Lairie casually brushed off that gaze and pulled out a rose embedded in her head.
Crack!
Blood burst out with a horrible sound and streamed down her decayed face. It turned into flowers again, blooming roses on her cheeks and temples.
“This is not a suitable place for conversation.”
“What the hell are you talking about—”
“Let us move.”
Lairie cut Ian off and severed the rose’s stem.
The next moment.
She and Ian were sitting inside a reception room filled with artworks.
It was teleportation carried out so quickly there wasn’t even time to register it. Ian’s face went rigid, and Lairie tilted her massive frame—nearly three meters tall—while still seated, cocking her head at an angle.
“Then shall we have a conversation, one favored by the god?”
She smiled.
A faint sound of water mingled with her laughter.