Chapter 95
Ian flopped onto the bed as soon as he got home.
He was hungry, but he had little appetite. The throbbing headache alone was enough to make him not want to eat.
“Still, I should eat something...”
He needed to get some food into his stomach, if only to keep his condition in check. If he kept stubbornly refusing to eat just because he had no appetite, it would only delay his recovery. It was only a headache, technically, but the headache was rather severe.
“I should've bought some medicine.”
Ian let out a groan and slowly sat up on the bed.
His coat and clothes had dried completely during the bike ride, but in exchange they had also given him a heavy chill. If he stayed like this, he'd end up catching a cold or something.
Now that he was a mage, he wouldn't easily fall ill, but he still could. And when the conditions lined up like this, a mystery pretending to be a disease could also latch on.
Even Spanish flu and the Black Death, for which vaccines had already been developed, were diseases that turned up fairly often in this line of work, so it never hurt to be careful.
‘Was the Black Death cure around 100 million at the cartel? I think I saw it somewhere...’
While continuing those thoughts, he used the phone he'd carelessly tossed aside to order something simple to eat. Then he went into the shower, quickly washed up, and came back out.
“Phew...”
For no real reason, he felt drowsy. He wanted nothing more than to lie down in bed and rest right away.
But since he'd already ordered food, he sat in a chair and waited for the delivery to arrive.
‘...I think it's about time to leave this house, too.’
He leaned back against the backrest and stared up at the ceiling.
Back when his bank account had been almost empty, this was a studio apartment he'd scraped together by pouring in everything he had. But now that he had enough money, there was no reason to stay here anymore. Maybe he'd better look for another room soon. He wasn't especially attached to the place anyway.
He shouldn't move into some huge house, since it'd be hard to maintain. At least two rooms, no more than three at most, would be about right. As for the location, it would probably be best to find somewhere near his officetel if possible.
Unlike the workshop, where there had been all sorts of things to consider, a home only needed to be a comfortable place to rest, so finding a room probably wouldn't take that long.
Ding-dong.
While he was thinking, the food he'd ordered arrived. Ian immediately picked up the bag and set everything on the table.
Since he'd only ordered a few sandwiches to meet the minimum amount, it wasn't exactly a feast, but it was enough to fill him up decently.
Ian tore open the sandwich wrapper and took a bite while scrolling through his phone. He was looking for a video he could watch while eating.
But there wasn't any video that really caught his interest. He did watch one video of some Indian guy he'd never seen before proclaiming, “I'll tell you about magic,” but the content was complete nonsense, so he lost interest quickly.
‘Magic is some kind of math theory. Pythagoras couldn't use magic either.’
In the end, Ian closed the app and logged into the community. At the same time, a bunch of utterly useless shitposts gave him a warm welcome.
[I'm the mage nerd who said I caught a reptilian last time. Here are the settlement results, yeah]
[CrazyMoonWorld]
(Photo of 200 million won deposited into the bank account)
Nice.
[Upvotes 3][Downvotes 3]
[Comments]
-Jealous of getting paid, so here's a Pandralchu.
ㄴCrazyMoonWorld: Gimme a burger?
ㄴ I'll rig the upvotes for you.
ㄴCrazyMoonWorld: You're rigging the downvotes too, you bastard.
-Fish: Did you sell everything, including organs and stuff? Or just the skin?
ㄴCrazyMoonWorld: Everything, yeah. I settled it after taking out a few parts I was going to use, so it didn't come out nearly as much as you'd think.
ㄴFish: Still, 200 million is something. Not bad.
-Come to think of it, I haven't been seeing many reptilians lately. Is somebody rounding them up?
ㄴTamingMaster: Word is another alien landed over in the Atlantic and they're fighting over territory.
ㄴHaha, this is our turf, you fuckers!
ㄴTamingMaster: (How is that yours, wizard meme)
“...Aliens, huh.”
A universe where incomprehensible beings known as Outer Gods lived and breathed. Of course, it wouldn't be strange if other lifeforms besides humans roamed that vast expanse. If anything, even the creatures of the Outer Sea were a kind of alien, weren't they?
Thinking of such beings landing on this pale blue planet aboard discs called UFOs felt oddly surreal. He was personally curious about what they looked like, and what they'd think when they saw humanity.
Still, separate from that curiosity, he didn't really want to meet them.
After all, the mysteries of Earth were more than enough to deal with.
“......”
Ian kept thinking as he ate half the sandwich. Then, remembering something, he wiped the grease from his hands and wrote a post.
[Got one question.]
[Yeah]
Laplace? What kind of group is that? They say they're terrorists, but...
There must've been a lot of idle, unemployed mages with nothing better to do, because replies started piling in immediately.
-A place packed with the worst of the worst. A criminal organization that the Clock Tower's dregs, or mages who gain power through cannibalism, serial murder, and the like, belong to.
ㄴThis is mild. Just think of it as a place where only lunatics who treat human lives like flies are allowed in, yeah.
The comments got vicious from the very start. Ian narrowed his eyes and checked the ones that kept coming in.
-SeriousMagicAddict: They're hedonists. Better not get involved.
-TamingMaster: Mages generally aren't the type to care all that much about ethics, but Laplace's mages take it too far. No matter how much of a mage you are, you don't normally drag civilians off to use them as ingredients or sacrifices—but those guys do it without batting an eye.
-BugInYourEar: The Clock Tower, the Vatican, the Bureau, and so on. It's hated by almost every organization out there. And although it's called a mage organization, it isn't only mages; there are some espers too.
-★Godmother: Just in case, you're not planning to join, are you?
With the Godmother's comment as the last one, no further replies were posted. It looked almost as if they were waiting for his answer, so Ian folded up the sandwich wrapper and immediately tapped away on his phone keyboard.
ㄴㅇㅇ: No;; I handled a request today, but it feels like I got tangled up in something.
ㄴ★Godmother: Ah. That's at least a relief, but it's still not good news.
ㄴ★Godmother: Did you happen to come face to face with a mage?
ㄴㅇㅇ: No, I just saw a magic circle. Actually, I'm not even sure it was a Laplace mage. But it definitely used mysteries to carry out terrorism, so I asked just in case.
ㄴ★Godmother: Is that so? Hmm... there are about two famous Laplace mages who use mysteries.
ㄴDolores: Ohohoho, you mean that Eddie runt and Mariang who follows him around! Those two, right, Godmother? This young lady knows everything!
A user with the unfamiliar nickname Dolores suddenly jumped into the conversation.
It was a name he remembered. If he recalled correctly, Dolores was one of the names Kim Yul had blurted out when she first met him, claiming she'd guess his nickname.
-Dolores: In celebration of the block being lifted, you newbie who's been spying this whole time! This young lady will specially tell you about Eddie and Mariang!
......He hadn't known it then, but looking at it now, she was a completely deranged lunatic. A roleplayer so hardcore even Han Yu-na would have to bow out. At that level of severity, the line between reality and the community might already have vanished.
Still, well, there was no need to refuse when she was offering to tell him. Ian took a sip of water and replied to Dolores's comment, which was nagging him with “Answer quickly!”
ㄴㅇㅇ: I would like to be told, that is.
You counter a gimmick with a gimmick. There was no need to show off mage-like intelligence while talking to a lunatic for no reason. The world's logic was to fight poison with poison.
-Dolores: Ohohoho! What a very cultured mage! Refinement just pours out of your manner of speech!
Fortunately, Dolores seemed to like it too.
ㄴㅇㅇ: You're amazing too, young lady. So what kind of guys are Eddie and Mariang, that is?
ㄴDolores: Hmm! They're both mages belonging to Laplace, trash who killed their master and fellow students at the Clock Tower and fled!
Dolores kept writing replies one after another.
ㄴDolores: They're still wanted, but haven't been caught yet. The magic they both use is the same—spells that manipulate mysteries.
ㄴDolores: Mariang is currently believed to be in South America, but I don't know about Eddie. Still, if the incident the newbie experienced was really Laplace's doing, then Eddie is probably in Korea, right?
ㄴㅇㅇ: Strong?
ㄴDolores: ?
ㄴㅇㅇ: Hawawa, is the mage named Eddie strong, that is?
ㄴDolores: Ohohoho! He's not weak. Mystery users are judged by how many Mysteries they can handle at once, and that man can handle up to four simultaneously! But if this young lady gets her hands on him, he'll die without even leaving bones behind, ohohoho!
Her way of speaking was pretty dizzying, but anyway, he'd gotten the information he needed, so that was fine. Ian let out a groan, tossed the phone carelessly onto the bed, and lay down.
He'd also gotten a rough picture of the organization called Laplace.
Ian didn't really know what their goal was, what they had united for, or what sort of cause they held, but honestly, he couldn't care less. What mattered was that they were a criminal organization.
Even if Ian didn't have any hero complex or anything like that, acts like kidnapping or killing passersby were bound to make him frown. There was a reason such unwritten rules existed.
If he ended up getting involved with them, it would be best to deal with them first without hesitation. An offer to join? He didn't even think about accepting such nonsense. There was no reason to throw away all the connections he'd already made and deliberately belong to a criminal organization.
“......Hoo...”
Ian slowly closed his eyes, letting out a long breath into the air.
He had a lot to think about, but his condition wasn't exactly great right now. For now, he should rest a bit and come up with a plan again once the headache subsided somewhat.
Thinking that, he rested quietly on the bed. After a while, his breathing evened out.
*
Ian woke up when it was almost dawn.
Cold wind seeped in through the slightly open window, and his eyes, now adjusted to the dark, began taking in the room's overall shape.
“...Mm.”
He stirred with half-open eyes, picked up his phone, and checked the current time.
4:00 AM.
He'd gone to sleep around 3 p.m., so he seemed to have slept straight through for nearly 13 hours. Because of that, his throat was quite dry.
“Ugh...”
Ian slowly pushed himself up from the bed and turned on the light in the living room.
The living room was now brightly lit.
He picked up the water cup he'd left by the bed, walked over to the purifier, and quietly filled it with cold water.
As he drank it all down in one go, it felt like his dazed mind was waking up somewhat. His headache was also definitely better than before he slept. The pain was nearly gone now. At most, it was only a common migraine.
His condition... was pretty decent, perhaps thanks to sleeping for half a day. At this level, he'd have more than enough left to use magic. Ian nodded in satisfaction and plopped down in a chair with the water cup.
It was still dark outside the window. He'd have to wait a few more hours before the sun came up.
Sleeping again like this wouldn't be bad, but the sleepiness had already mostly gone. There was no reason to force himself to sleep.
Well, 13 hours was plenty of sleep already. It would be fine to be active from early morning today.
Thinking that, Ian set the cup on the table, put on the coat he'd hung up, and left the house.
He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette pack. He opened the cover, took one cigarette in hand, and slipped it between his lips.
Just as he was rummaging for his lighter and about to head up to the rooftop.
“Need a light?”
An unfamiliar voice echoed through the villa's corridor.
Ian's movement came to a sudden halt.
“As a fellow smoker, I can lend you a light at least.”
At the far end of the dark corridor.
A crimson light flared up briefly, then faded. Gray smoke slowly rose from the spot where that light had been floating.
“Take it.”
Ssshhk.
Along with the voice, a silver Zippo lighter rolled across the floor, scraping against it. Ian was silent for a moment, then picked up the lighter and tucked it inside his inner pocket.
“Smoking is prohibited in the building except on the rooftop. Didn't you learn that?”
“...Ha. Well then. You're a stickler for the rules, huh?”
The owner of the voice walked down the corridor, exhaling cigarette smoke.
Moonlight slanted in through the gaps in the corridor windows. Only then could Ian see his face clearly.
“I don't much like sticklers for the rules, you know.”
A middle-aged man with snow-white hair and a snow-white beard. Wearing a gray suit and overcoat, he flicked the cigarette between his fingers and glared at Ian with an expressionless face.
No further conversation followed.
He didn't reveal why he'd come here to see Ian.
He didn't ask what intent he had, or why he'd come.
That sort of thing didn't matter.
“......”
“......”
Eddie stared at Ian with a murderous gaze.
Ian stared back at Eddie with eyes cold as ice.
And then.
“Summon.”
“Before the Codex, prove your innocence.”
The two of them each summoned their own magical medium.