Chapter 88
Monkey's Hand.
The short story written by British author William Wymark Jacobs was quite well known around the world because of its bizarre content. The work itself was also quite accomplished. It wasn't chosen as a masterpiece of modern literature for nothing.
But because the novel was in the horror genre, and because society during William's lifetime was still influenced by mysticism, his story went beyond fiction and became reality. It was a case of a typical tale gaining power.
[The Monkey's Hand resembles the description and appearance from the original. It's just a little more grotesque. That's because several versions of the story have been mixed together.]
Kim Iseo said.
[First, it has six fingers. Teeth are attached to the back of the hand, and at night it imitates the cry of a monkey. It's also covered in black fur.]
“……”
[Just from that, it'll seem like a grotesque thing you should absolutely never touch. Yes, in reality that's exactly what it is. But things that look vicious often cause mental confusion.]
“Are you saying it uses mind control, or something like hypnosis?”
[Exactly. The Monkey's Hand casts a hypnosis on witnesses that makes them feel compelled to make a wish. If their mental barrier is sturdy enough, they can ignore it, but that doesn't apply to the residents of a mountain village.]
As grandiose as the name mental barrier sounded, it played a rather important role in the fight against mysticism. No matter how strong one's physical power was and no matter how easily one could cut down aberrations alone, if the mind was weak, one wouldn't last long and would die.
That was only natural. Mysticism always wanted to drive a knife into a human throat, whenever and wherever it could. The method might be to knead the mind until the self was destroyed, or to drive someone mad until they slit their own throat.
Most of the people who immersed themselves in mysticism, including the majority of Bureau agents, hated nothing more than dying with their minds broken in this way.
So the Bureau also actively operated mental counseling centers and trauma treatment centers. The Cartel would also perform a bizarre procedure called trauma cleansing if you paid them enough.
Even people who had immersed themselves in mysticism kept up this kind of mental defense continuously, so what about the residents of a small village who had never been entangled with mysticism even once in their lives?
[Of course they were bewitched.]
It was an obvious story.
[The child who made the wish is an elementary school student who has just turned nine. However, since this village isn't ordinary, he wasn't going to school.]
“……? They didn't even go to elementary school? Isn't that compulsory education?”
Ian frowned and asked. With the rustling sound of papers being flipped through, Kim Iseo answered.
[You're right. It's compulsory education. But this child—no, every minor in this village—wasn't even registered at birth. Let alone school, they hadn't received any education at all.]
“……That's a ghost story in its own right. Is that even possible in this day and age?”
[If religion has power behind it, yes.]
Kim Iseo let out a long sigh and continued.
[This village is a cult.]
“……What?”
[They were worshipping an aberration called the Laughing Buddha. We only found out after sending out scouts and personnel.]
The Laughing Buddha. Just hearing the name made it clear it was far removed from ordinary Buddhism. After a moment of silence, Ian took out a cigarette and spoke.
“You didn't know that until now? Isn't that a bit too incompetent?”
[……I have plenty of excuses, but in any case, we didn't notice it. The mage's words aren't wrong.]
“So? You went out to deal with the Monkey's Hand, and this became an incident entangled with that Laughing Buddha bastard too, so you need my help?”
[That's right. At present, five scouts and personnel are missing. Three are dead. The hastily deployed Response Team 1 has gone missing as a whole.]
“Hmm...”
Ian let out a low murmur and went up to the officetel rooftop.
At first glance it seemed incompetent, but he could still understand it to some degree. Since they still hadn't accurately identified the mysteries involved, and they were short on information, they probably had no choice but to keep throwing people at it.
If they kept headbutting it like that, then if they got lucky the incident might be solved. But if it were that easy, they wouldn't be asking for cooperation like this. They would have tried to solve it on their own.
The Bureau wasn't capable of creating homunculi either, so their manpower was limited. Even if they weren't the type to fear death much, once they all died off there would be nothing left. Replenishing them quickly was difficult.
[Please cooperate with us, mage.]
So he could understand why they were being so deferential despite having decided to cooperate not long before.
Still, that was one thing, and Ian had no reason to accept their proposal outright.
“Do you remember the contract we made?”
He said with a cigarette between his lips.
“I said I was the one who decided which jobs involving the Bureau I'd take.”
[I remember.]
“Then you know I can turn down this request.”
[……]
Kim Iseo was silent. Rather than urging her for an answer, Ian lit the tip of his cigarette.
That didn't mean he was deliberately acting this way. And if someone asked whether he disliked the Bureau, that wasn't it either. Why would he have any reason to hate and despise them on his own when they hadn't even shown their teeth first?
He simply had a schedule already set.
“I'm planning to go hunt a high-ranking vampire. I know you're in a hurry, but I have a lot to do too.”
[A high-ranking vampire hunt... you say? By any chance, when are you planning to go?]
“Why do you ask?”
[Because I think we may be able to help.]
Kim Iseo said in a slightly brighter voice. Ian narrowed his eyes and blew out a stream of smoke.
“Help?”
[Yes. If you cooperate with this mission, we'll naturally pay the standard compensation, and the Bureau will also provide personnel support for the vampire hunt.]
It was, in its own way, a surprisingly bold offer. Ian asked with a slightly surprised expression.
“You'd provide personnel? Is that all right?”
[There shouldn't be any problem. We can't send that many people, but we can at least provide enough support to meet your needs.]
“And the compensation?”
[We won't take any.]
“Ha.”
Ian burst out laughing.
“The conditions are so good I actually don't trust them.”
[If it's trust you're after, I can give you as much as you want. It's even possible to draft a contract that kills you the moment you break it. If you'd like, I'll write one up right now and send it over.]
“No, there's no need to go that far.”
His sincerity was conveyed well enough. Apparently, the Bureau had judged the matter related to the Monkey's Hand to be a very important issue. So that must be why they were acting like this.
Ian didn't know why they were so fixated on the Monkey's Hand. Maybe they wanted to destroy it. Maybe they wanted to capture and contain it. Maybe they wanted to study it and use it.
Whatever it was, it wasn't an important issue for Ian.
What mattered was that they would join the vampire hunt without pay, and the compensation he could get from the Bureau's resources.
The more people, the better. Once Bureau agents came in, Yuna would have no choice but to sit this one out, but even so, if veteran agents joined them, there'd be no major loss. If necessary, he could ask for support from just the mage and have Yuna move along too.
Either way, Ian wouldn't lose anything in particular.
“……”
If he got the chance, intercepting the Monkey's Hand along the way didn't seem bad. He wouldn't use it because of the danger, but it would be pretty good for keeping around and researching. If nothing else, he could use it as material.
There were quite a few alchemical items that needed a primate's hand or arm. Checking once to see whether an aberration derived from a story fell into that category would probably help in the future.
After finishing his thoughts, Ian ground the cigarette out in a portable ashtray. Then he looked down at the cityscape and answered.
“I'll meet you there. Just send the address and departure date by message.”
[Ah, thank you. Then I'll see you that day. Please spend the rest of your holiday comfortably.]
With that, the call ended. A little later, a message came in on his phone.
[Kim Iseo: Site address and rendezvous time.]
He checked it.
The address was the entrance to a mountain in Gyeongsang Province. The time was tomorrow morning.
As soon as the holiday ended, he had work to do. From what he'd heard, they had even been burning through people during the holiday, so the Bureau's welfare seemed to be far worse than most companies'. Ian came down from the rooftop with a bitter smile.
Since he had work starting first thing tomorrow morning, there was no time to dawdle. He went home, packed his things in advance, got some sleep until evening, then rode his bike down to the province.
Even though he ate while traveling, he still wasn't late for the appointed time.
The damp air of dawn settled over the mountain entrance. Between trees blooming with snow flowers, the cold mist scattered a chill and blocked his view. The faint cries of birds added to the eerie atmosphere.
“……”
Ian leaned against his bike, smoking, and stared at the evil spirit darting through the trees.
A ballerina ghost, cheerfully skipping around with a carving knife in hand. Beneath the ribbons tied around her ankles, human heads hung like fruit.
They were the heads of living humans, not those of some other ghost.
Ghosts in the mountains were basically strong, yes, but cases of them slaughtering people on that scale weren't common. Apparently, the yin energy of this mountain itself was quite strong.
[Heeheehee.]
While he was thinking, the ballerina and Ian met eyes. The ballerina smiled with a chill, then skipped lightly along the branches and planted a foot on top of his head.
As she seemed about to do something from there, he immediately opened the grimoire and turned her into excellent material. The ballerina couldn't resist at all and became a blue sphere, dropping straight to the ground.
Thud-thud.
With the exorcism, the heads hanging from her ankles also fell to the ground.
One perfectly normal man and dozens of bloodied heads.
No matter how he looked at it, it was an absurd sight, and Ian let out a deep sigh, casually pushing the heads away with his foot.
“Mage.”
Then a voice came from behind him. Ian roughly pinned the head he'd been rolling around like a ball under a tree with his foot and turned around.
“You were here early. Sorry. The road was a bit jammed, so I came up separately... huh.”
Kim Iseo, walking over with her pink hair fluttering, spotted Ian, the heads strewn around him, and the head he was stomping on, and her mouth fell open.
“……Mm.”
In a situation anyone would obviously misunderstand, Ian scratched his head.