Chapter 22
The Bureau building's first floor had all sorts of convenience facilities.
Of course there were basic lodging and dining rooms, as well as a game room, lounge, cafe, mental health counseling center, and more.
Various facilities for the mental health of Bureau employees had been established at the Bureau level. Given the nature of the Bureau's work, there were naturally many people who used them, and the facilities were always packed with employees.
Even so, the Response Division didn't make much use of them. Most of its members were usually out on external assignments.
Even now, four of the six teams in the Response Division were out working in the field.
Just the capital-area branch was like this. If you added the other branches too, there were probably at least a dozen teams roaming the country to smash anomalies.
The work was brutal, so naturally the pay was generous too. Since it paid better than Recon, the Bureau's most disposable division, the financial therapy was definitely solid.
After all, it was a salary that would all end up in the Bureau's hands once they died, but still.
Even just the amount in Kim I-seo's account was enough to make anyone gasp.
Of course, a big part of that was because she wasn't the type to enjoy extravagance.
Unlike other agents, she didn't buy things through the Cartel, and she didn't especially like luxury goods either. The only things she really spent money on were ordering the most expensive drink at a cafe or buying food for her juniors.
That was the case right now.
“Drink.”
On a day off.
At the cafe on the Bureau's first floor, Kim I-seo ordered the most expensive menu item and dessert, then slid them over to the junior across from her. Her junior, who looked like a puppy, received the drink with an awkward smile and a polite bow.
“T-thank you…….”
Blue coffee with steam rising from it.
It was a fatigue-recovery drink made with the Bureau's special recipe. It tasted similar to cola, but its effect was excellent. If you drank it, you could go about two days without needing sleep.
It was the perfect drink for Negotiation Division staff, who lived on overtime. It boasted an insane price tag of 30,000 won, but plenty of people still sought it out because of its effect. Park Min-a was one of this drink's fans as well.
But if the person buying it was a senior with five times her seniority, she couldn't help but sip it carefully. So she took the straw stuck in the coffee into her mouth and took a sip while watching Kim I-seo's reaction.
Kim I-seo simply stared out the window without bothering to look at her.
The Bureau building stood in the heart of the city. A veil had been placed so that outsiders couldn't see inside or enter, but from within it was possible to see everything outside clearly.
“…….”
Since it was around lunchtime, there were quite a lot of people on the streets. Office workers headed to restaurants in groups, and cars raced along the roads following the traffic lights.
It was an ordinary, peaceful daily life.
Kim I-seo had once been part of that everyday life too, but after her entire family was transported into a cruel fairy tale all at once, everything collapsed.
She was the only one who escaped the fairy tale. Her younger sibling was thrown into the witch's cauldron and became soup, and her parents were dissected alive. She alone survived.
And just like that, overnight, she became an orphan. After dropping out of school, she became a Bureau agent.
“……Haa.”
It was a common tragedy anywhere in the Bureau. It was laughable to be getting sentimental about it now.
Kim I-seo brushed away her stray thoughts and turned her head toward Park Min-a sitting across from her. She was nibbling on pancakes like a hamster.
“Is it good?”
Kim I-seo asked with a faint smile. Park Min-a awkwardly nodded and swallowed the pancake.
“Y-yes. It tastes even better because senior bought it for me……!”
“We’re not even in the same division, so there’s no need to flatter me so much. It’s not like Response and Negotiation ever run into each other that often anyway.”
“E-even so…….”
“More importantly, that guy. He wasn’t a wizard?”
Kim I-seo asked with a serious expression. Park Min-a swallowed and answered.
“Yes…… He was just someone with vaguely strong energy, and he only had an exorcism talisman on him. I couldn’t feel that distinct aura wizards have…….”
“……An exorcism talisman, huh. Did you check whether it really came from a real shaman?”
“He didn’t seem to know the true nature of the business card, so I didn’t check that far. Anyway, unless you’re personally certain you’ve directly faced a supernatural being, it’s impossible to see through a business card.”
“……True enough.”
If the man standing in the convenience store had directly faced the true form of the Eight-Foot Ghost, there was no way he could have seen through the information on the business card. Even seasoned agents couldn’t uncover the fake information on a business card—so how could an ordinary person possibly notice it?
The same went for a wizard. No, if anything, a wizard would be even more likely to react sensitively.
Wizards hated being entangled with the Bureau to an absurd degree. There were a few who cooperated, but even they were a tiny minority. The rest all lived while hiding their identities.
A wizard like that would never stay still after seeing the word Bureau. He would certainly have moved somehow.
But the two people who had gone to his house came back unharmed, and they even brought back information. There was no sign of brainwashing…….
That meant it was practically proven that the man really was just an ordinary person who knew nothing.
Just an ordinary person who didn't even know the anomaly's identity because of his vaguely strong energy, and didn't even realize he himself had been caught up in the supernatural.
There was no need to wipe his memory or make a recruitment offer. You couldn't forcibly drag in someone who hadn't realized the world had a hidden side.
“For now…… got it. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Ah, no. It was nothing.”
Kim I-seo did not assume that Ian, if he was a wizard, had seen through the business card too.
If that were possible, it would mean his level was absurdly high, and such a wizard would never have missed the Eight-Foot Ghost right there on the spot.
Besides, a wizard of that caliber would already have his face and name known to the Bureau. But his face was not stored in the Bureau's wizard database.
So the man really was just an ordinary person. Kim I-seo sorted out her thoughts and stood up.
“Ah, you're leaving already?”
“Yeah. It's my day off today. I'll rest at the lodging, and then I'll go back to work.”
She answered while pulling her hood down low. Then, on a sudden thought, she turned back to Park Min-a.
“Once our operation in a few days is over, you guys will probably have to get busy too. It's the kind of incident that should leave a lot of survivors.”
“……Uh, did a large-scale erosion incident happen somewhere……?”
“No.”
Kim I-seo gave a bitter smile and took a small ticket from her pocket.
It was a ticket with a red design, stamped with a picture of two clowns blowing trumpets. Park Min-a checked the writing on the ticket and furrowed her brow hard.
[Fun Theme Park! For kids and adults alike! An amusement park for everyone's happiness!]
[Come to Magic Eden, our magical paradise full of things to enjoy!]
[If you have this ticket, you may enter for free. Come visit without hesitation!]
*
“……What is this?”
The day after the vampire uproar ended.
On his way back after buying a simple lunch at the convenience store, Ian frowned when he found a red ticket lying all by itself in front of his house.
After picking it up to check, he saw that it was an amusement park flyer. The design didn't make much sense, especially why they had colored it red, but in any case it didn't seem like anything dangerous. Ian set the ticket aside, tossed it carelessly onto the table, and put an instant meal in the microwave.
With a whirring sound, the microwave started up. Ian sat on the bed and launched the banking app while waiting for the set time to pass.
“8.5 million won, huh…….”
Adding the request reward to the money he already had brought the total to about that much. Ian smiled and lay back.
In an instant, he had quite a bit of breathing room. It wasn't enough to make him financially free, but it was true that a large sum had come in.
It seemed like he wouldn't have to scrape by for at least a few months. Even after paying rent and buying various daily necessities, a few hundred thousand won would still easily be left over.
But he couldn't just spend the leftover money however he wanted.
After all, Ian's immediate goal was to find a workshop. The right thing to do was buy only what he needed, save the rest, and then secure a workshop once the money piled up.
While he was thinking, the meal finished cooking. Ian took the lunch box out of the microwave, set it down, and looked over a new icon installed on his phone.
[Cartel]
A mysterious app that had been newly installed right after he handled their request.
At first Ian had been wary of it too, but after hearing Albert and Benjamin out, he had let his guard down.
-It's basically an authentication mark that the Cartel only implants in people they can trust. With it, you don't need to meet their contact in person or communicate by phone. You can use all of the Cartel's services with just that alone.
-In other words, you mean it's like a delivery app? You don't need to call the store separately, and everything can be ordered through just one app?
-……That's an extremely stupid analogy for a wizard, but yes. So there's no need to suspect it. Anyone who's done business with the Cartel more than once has this installed. Me too, and Benjamin as well.
Since the two of them had said that, Ian was able to relax too. So, in front of them, he had launched the app once and confirmed that there were no problems.
Thanks to that, he could run the app today with a comparatively easy mind.
He scooped up a spoonful of rice and entered the Cartel's main page.
[Welcome to the Cartel. Please enjoy the services you desire.]
[Currently the top 3 most popular recommended services]
[1. Request brokerage]
[2. Shop]
[3. Catalog]
Ian hesitated for a moment after looking at the three recommended items that had popped up, then clicked Shop.
The shop sold a tremendous variety of items.
Starting with basic swords and firearms, then alchemy ingredients, materials for magic, bizarre tools and weapons made from all kinds of anomalies, and more. The items were divided into very different categories depending on the user's profession.
But every single one of them was outrageously expensive. Swords and firearms could at least be bought for a few hundred thousand won, but supernatural items generally started in the millions.
Even the anomaly flesh Ian had personally obtained was over 1.5 million won at the cheapest.
He could buy it if he wanted to, but it was also true that it would be a burden for him right now.
The thing most tempting to him was a gun.
A firearm that could make up for magic's lack of firepower.
Buying one wouldn't be a huge burden. If you included bullets, a holster, and the like, it would go over a million won, but once bought, he could keep using it, so it wasn't a major issue. It was far more efficient than consumable materials.
'Still, I don't know what kind of delivery method they use. It's the Cartel doing business, so I'm sure they'll handle it properly…….'
Had he grown up in a country where gun possession was illegal for life? Just thinking about buying a gun made him a little uneasy.
Still, if he wanted to keep living in a world full of the abnormal, a gun was essential. At least until he got used to magic and learned offensive spells too, relying on a gun didn't seem like a bad idea.
“Might as well spend the money and think of it as an investment.”
Ian muttered that and added the necessary items to his cart.
The suppressor, which looked like something straight out of a movie and whose performance he checked just in case, naturally cost several million. Ian cleanly abandoned the idea and finished ordering only the necessary items.
Since Dea had said the Cartel's shop wouldn't get him tracked after a purchase, he had no hesitation about paying.
Ding.
[Purchase confirmed: 1 revolver, 70 rounds of ammunition, gun maintenance kit, gun holster. Total payment confirmed: 1.45 million won.]
[Thank you for your purchase.]
The reason he bought a revolver was to keep costs as low as possible. It didn't need a separate magazine, and while the number of bullets in the cylinder was small, its firepower was strong.
It was the perfect item for temporary use.
[Delivery is expected to be completed within about 12 hours from the payment date.]
[By default, the delivery destination is the location of your mobile phone.]
[Error detected. Lemegeton interference has been identified. Destination setup is unavailable.]
[If you enter your desired delivery address directly, we will deliver it there.]
Lemegeton's interference.
'So it's because of the godmother's magic.'
The spell granted to evade the Bureau's tracking also seemed to apply to the Cartel.
More importantly, an address…….
Even if it’s the Cartel, is it really okay to just send them my home address?
[Please have it sent to your residence.]
Just as he thought that, an alert rang on his phone.
[To prevent the leakage of your information, headquarters continuously administers a day's worth of memory-erasure medication to our delivery drivers. Please rest assured.]
[Also, the delivery address you set will not be registered in headquarters' database.]
[Headquarters seeks a happy relationship with its customers. Trust is the foundation of any transaction. Please trust us and continue to use our services.]
It was a notification that seemed to be explaining things. Ian thought for a moment, then entered his home address as instructed.
If anything went wrong, he could always meet a Cartel employee and interrogate them somehow.
The Cartel employee he had met in person seemed more serious about business than he'd expected.
That strange attitude, as if nothing else mattered at all. If anything, it made him trust them more.
If they employed such a machine-like person even for an employee in a simple transport service, then the Cartel itself could be rated quite highly in terms of reliability.
Above all, it was a place recommended by Lee Se-ah, so for now he decided to trust it.
[Destination confirmed.]
[Some of this message is delivered only to customers using our shop for the first time.]
[If these messages are all displayed even though this is not your first use, please stop the transaction immediately and contact customer service.]
[Delivering]
After the long-winded instruction message ended, an image of a truck seeming to move was displayed.
Delivery had begun. Ian cleared away what he'd eaten, sat on the bed, and this time entered the request brokerage section.
'I bought the revolver because I needed it, but since I spent money anyway, I might as well make it back.'
He wasn't planning to start taking requests right away. For now, he intended to rest for a few days and take requests when he was feeling good.
Right now, this was advance reconnaissance.
“Hmm.”
Among the countless requests, he listed the ones bearing the Cartel's authentication mark and issued from their side.
He clicked the topmost one.
[Anomaly incident. Collect the manager's heart at the theme park, Magic Eden]
(Magic Eden ticket illustration)
[This request is limited to those who possess the corresponding ticket. Tickets are randomly distributed in Magic Eden; if you do not have one, we regret it.]
[Warning: If you discover this ticket and do not visit the theme park for more than a week, you will be forcibly transferred. This was learned through our employee. So if you have the ticket, please complete the request and receive your reward before you're transferred.]
[Reward: 15 million won.]
A request with an eight-digit reward.
But what really caught his eye was something else.
“……This.”
A single ticket was stuck right in the center of the request notice.
He stared at the picture for a moment, then turned to look at the red ticket he'd thrown onto the table.
Then he let out a dry laugh.
“Exactly the same.”
There was no room for doubt.
Apparently, the next request he would handle had already been decided.