Chapter 64
The hotel suite.
Looking out at the city lights spread out beyond the window, Eddie took a sip of whisky.
“......”
Born and raised in England, he had never once set foot in a remote place called East Asia. There had been no need to go beyond Europe, the stronghold of mages.
He had visited the Middle East a few times, but this was his first time coming to the small country called Korea.
‘Not exactly a great place to live.’
Clack.
He set the whisky glass on the table and thought.
The beautiful nightscape of Seoul. Within it, an inerasable stench of blood hung thick in the air.
Korea was one of the most unusual countries.
An abnormal nation that endlessly collected ghost stories and information from all over the world through its advanced internet, and as a result had an absurdly high number of anomalies born within it.
On top of that, it had unofficial mage organizations like some European countries, and not only psychics but even exorcist priests called shamans.
It had everything a small country needed. Even the Bureau's abilities were fairly strong compared to other nations, so keeping this bloodstained city running was nothing strange.
Even now, somewhere, someone was probably dying, surviving, and new recruits were being hired into the Bureau.
Perhaps the reason Korea's Bureau was so competent lay in its lenient hiring standards. In most countries, even if you encountered the supernatural, they wouldn't hire you on the spot—instead they'd make you go through all kinds of tests and exams......
It was a completely different approach from Korea, where they hired you first and trained you afterward.
Of course, there was the downside that underqualified people could get in, but as far as talent collection went, it had worked smoothly so far, so it wasn't a failed policy at least.
‘This place comes into contact with the supernatural so often that if I blatantly let it loose, they might notice something's off and start tracking it.’
There is a difference between supernatural objects controlled by magic and those left to their own devices. At Eddie's level, hiding that tiny gap wasn't impossible, but a psychic of sufficient caliber could detect it no matter how well it was concealed.
“Nothing is easy......”
He let out a deep sigh and sank into the sofa.
Eddie had come to Korea to find the wizard who had recently acquired a grimoire. The information itself seemed reliable, so he'd started with Korea, the one certain lead. But things were not easy from the start.
“If you're going to give me information, make it solid. What am I supposed to do with a vague 'it's there,' you bastard......”
Eddie clicked his tongue as he pictured the face of the mage who handled pure blood. He took a cigar from his breast pocket, clipped the end, and lit it, tilting his head back.
The only fortunate thing was that no grimoires had been discovered in any country other than Korea.
Come to think of it, a grimoire wasn't exactly something easy to find.
Grimoires were things even the old monsters of the Clock Tower could spend their whole lives searching for and never find. Their tastes weren't simple, either, so for now the grimoires discovered in Korea were probably all there were. There was a rumor that the Eighth Book of Moses had gone missing, but it was so unreliable that he ignored it.
‘I can't be sure the grimoire here belongs to an Outer God, but a grimoire is still a grimoire. Even just finding the owner, killing him, and taking it would be a decent haul.’
He thought that and blew out a long stream of smoke. Then he pulled a tiny hand out of his pocket.
A furry beast's hand.
It was a thing known as the Monkey's Hand.
It was a supernatural object that granted wishes like a magic lamp, but fulfilled every wish in a somewhat twisted way.
He smeared a little blood on it and tossed it carelessly onto the table.
“Go where you belong. And show me the scenery there.”
The moment he spoke, the blood drawn on the Monkey's Hand glowed and vibrated. When the trembling finally stopped, the Monkey's Hand had vanished from the table.
It was a spell that transferred a tamed supernatural object somewhere on this landmass.
It was a little unsettling to fall under the Bureau's gaze, but that didn't mean he could do nothing here. He had to get information, even if it meant taking the risk.
And besides, even if the Bureau came looking for him, dealing with them wouldn't be difficult.
He'd just kill them all and leave the country.
All that mattered was finding the grimoire's owner before that.
‘Supernatural objects controlled by mages attract other mages. If possible, I'd like to find the grimoire's owner......’
Eddie gave a faint smile and bit down hard on his cigar.
*
Several days had passed since the Bureau sent someone.
Early February.
It was still winter, and the temperature showed no sign of rising above freezing. The snowfall may have lessened a bit, but the wind was still bitterly cold.
Still, winter was better than summer. It was easier to throw on extra layers than to sweat buckets, and it didn't feel as gross, either.
‘Being able to keep wearing a coat isn't half bad, either.’
A coat enchanted with magic.
He could wear it in winter and during spring and fall, but when summer came, he'd have no choice but to take it off.
That would be one thing if he could freely control his body temperature like a fantasy wizard. But since this was basically survival magic, the materials needed for real temperature-control magic were top-tier in themselves.
Hot, fine equatorial sand, Antarctic glacier ice, and marsh leaves.
They weren't impossible materials to obtain, but they weren't easy either. They did sell them to the cartel, but the price was ridiculous, so he had cleanly given up on the idea.
‘In summer, it'd be better to just enchant a summer shirt and wear that.’
Ian thought that as he pulled the trigger.
A bang echoed only inside Ian's head.
He used reconstructive magic to gather up the corpse on the floor, bursting with blood, then stuffed it into his bag. He snuffed out the sound-eating flames, reloaded the empty revolver, and put it back in the gun holster.
“That makes five.”
Bloodstains were scattered around.
They all belonged to the ghouls.
Ghouls had recently started running rampant. The cartel was trying to bring their numbers down by posting a large-scale request for dealing with them.
It wasn't out of any lofty purpose like doing the right thing or reducing casualties. Ghoul blood was also often used as medicinal material, so they were simply stocking up while they had the chance.
As expected of a money-crazed bunch. Treating the rising number of ghouls like some kind of bonus event was pure Cartel.
Well, he had no intention of blaming them. Even he himself was taking on requests to make money and gather materials, wasn't he?
There was no need to let a two-for-one opportunity slip away. Thinking that, Ian poured the ghouls' blood into the glass bottles he had brought, then put them in his bag and headed for where he'd parked the bike.
‘There are a bit too many of them—enough to be concerning.’
He thought as he stepped through the thickly piled snow.
‘It looks like quite a few vampires have been entering the country.’
He didn't know how many ghouls there used to be, but he at least knew there hadn't been nearly this many.
He'd been hunting ghouls for a full week, and the fact that the requests still hadn't disappeared and kept coming suggested there were far more of them than he'd expected.
Of course, not every mage, psychic, or hunter would be hunting ghouls only, so expecting a dramatic drop in their numbers would be laughable.
Even so, the fact remained that there were a lot of them. Fortunately, ghouls tended to hide and live in dark, damp places; if they'd crawled their way into the city, the damage would have been no joke.
‘The Bureau is probably moving too.’
If the cartel had put out such a large-scale request, it meant the information had already spread. So the Bureau was likely focusing on ghoul hunting too. Maybe that's why he still hadn't been contacted about the contract.
It wasn't urgent, so it didn't matter much. Ian brushed the snow off the Hand of Re-creation and tucked it into his coat's inner pocket.
“Ah, wizard.”
As he kept walking, he saw a black van parked beside the bike.
It was Indemnis's vehicle. Not long after he called, one employee wearing a crow mask was already standing beside the van and bowing to him. Ian snorted a laugh at the familiar face.
“We meet again.”
“I consider it an honor. More importantly, will you be getting in right away?”
The crow asked, placing a hand on the van's steering wheel. Ian shook his head.
“I've got my own ride. I'm just here to collect the payment.”
“Ah... I understand. That's a first for us—a new kind of service request.”
“Am I being a nuisance?”
“Not at all. We never refuse any service in the name of customer satisfaction. More importantly, as for the request, that's ghoul hunting, right?”
At the crow's words, Ian nodded and took three glass bottles filled with blood from his bag. The crow accepted the bottles full of red liquid and nodded.
“Ghoul blood, confirmed. For this amount, that's 3 million won.”
“Bank transfer, please.”
“Understood.”
3 million won.
It wasn't a huge amount, but as pocket money, it wasn't bad pay.
His original goal was focused more on obtaining materials than on money, so this was good enough.
“The transfer is complete. As for the Indemnis usage fee... ah, because you've opened an account, you're free of charge for the time being. Confirmed.”
“You don't mind our using you for free, do you?”
“Not at all. We get paid a salary too, so something like this doesn't bother us in the slightest.”
The crow answered in a half-joking, half-serious tone. Ian smiled back, mounted his parked bike, and raised the kickstand.
As he pressed his finger to the fingerprint scanner, the bike powered on. Ian put on his gloves and helmet, started the engine, and looked back at the crow.
“I'm off. I'll be counting on you again next time.”
“Yes. Please head back safely.”
With the crow seeing him off, Ian twisted the bike's throttle. The bike started smoothly, leaving the empty mountain road behind and heading into the city.
Ian headed to his workshop, leaving nearly half the ride to the bike's autonomous driving.
He could have gone home, but today he was planning to test a few spells. He also needed to restock alchemy supplies, so it would probably take some time.
Either way, he had nothing else to do, so it didn't matter.
Even as he thought, the bike raced down the road toward the officetel.
Before long, he reached the officetel. Ian parked the bike in the lot and pressed the elevator button with his helmet in hand.
At the same time, a ghost in pure white mourning garb came to greet him. The ghost saluted neatly, pressed the button for the floor where Ian's workshop was, and disappeared.
Ding.
The swiftly moving elevator arrived at its destination, and beyond the slightly open door, he could see the guard ghost.
He gave Ian a quick glance, baton and flashlight in hand, then merely gave a nod and resumed patrolling the building. Ian gave his shoulder a light tap and went into the workshop.
Just then.
Bzzt.
The cell phone in his pocket vibrated briefly.
[Lee Seoa: Busy?]
Checking it, he found a message from Lee Seoa. Ian casually set his helmet on a shelf, gently placed his bag on the table, and replied.
[Me: No, why?]
[Lee Seoa: Then want to take on a request together?]
[Me: A request? What kind of request?]
At the abrupt suggestion, Ian asked back, and Lee Seoa quickly sent him a photo. It was a screenshot of a cartel request.
[Cruise Ship Disappearance Investigation]
The clearly printed letters were stamped at the very top of the photo.