“His community nickname is UnicornLoverDog. His real name is Park Seokhyeon. He’s thirty-six years old, a magician who went to America when he was young and then returned to Korea. They say his parents were gone when he came back.”
An alleyway in Yongsan.
As soon as the two got out of the taxi, they moved to a deserted spot and began talking.
“They probably died. Vassago didn’t tell me that much, so I’m not sure either.”
“It doesn’t seem to be a particularly important matter, so I doubt it matters much.”
“That’s true.”
The Godmother said this as she took a sip of the Americano she had bought on the way.
Ian drank the same thing. The two of them had more similar tastes in food and drink than expected.
“The magic he uses is exactly as you said, Mr. Ian—a spell that handles the blood of the pure. He’s a ritual magician, and apparently blood from those who aren’t pure can’t be used in the spell.”
“No matter how I think about it, the condition is quite peculiar. Where on earth did he learn magic like that...?”
“Magic dealing with blood is usually passed down by high-ranking vampires. Park Seokhyeon is probably similar.”
A high-ranking vampire, huh.
Ian shook the plastic cup in his hand as he thought of the vampire hunt he had chosen as his next request.
The vampires Ian had encountered so far had all been closer to beasts, with almost no reason to speak of. Their arms and legs had been grotesquely long, and their skin, pale to the point of grayish white, resembled a corpse more than a living creature.
The vampire Albert had faced at least looked like it possessed something resembling intelligence, but even that had not been anything remarkable.
In contrast, high-ranking vampires—those commonly called vampire nobles—possessed intelligence similar to humans. Passing magic on to someone was not impossible for them.
However, if a vampire had taught him magic, did that mean all high-ranking vampires could use magic?
‘...No, probably not.’
If every vampire noble could use magic, Earth would have fallen into their hands long ago. So it was more reasonable to assume that there were a few individuals capable of using magic.
The vampire Ian intended to hunt was probably a being with a power closer to a supernatural ability than magic. Mind reading had long since been socially agreed upon as something to be called a psychic power. Vampires were no exception.
In any case.
The fact that he had learned magic from a vampire changed nothing. Ian roughly drained the last of his Americano into his mouth and tossed the cup into a nearby trash can.
“How are you going to kill him?”
Ian asked. Even though he had openly used the word kill, Eunha showed not the slightest sign of surprise as she spoke.
“If possible, we should aim for the moment he leaves his house. But if we do that, depending on where he goes, there might be witnesses, so it’ll be hard to catch the right timing. If we’re unlucky, we could miss him.”
“Then an assault would be better.”
“Right. But to assault him, we’ll have no choice but to enter his residence...”
“Even if he’s a ritual magician, he’s still a magician. The risk is fairly high once we go inside.”
Eunha nodded. Ian stared at the old house beginning to come into view in the distance and turned the matter over in his head.
Openly remodeling the house? It wasn’t difficult. The problem was that the aftermath would be hard to handle.
No matter how much support they received from the Bureau, if he openly used magic in the middle of the street, there would inevitably be a few humans who noticed the existence of magic. Ian had no desire for more eyes on him either.
Then should he go inside and activate magic there?
It wasn’t a bad strategy. If he could sense what was inside, avoid every spell that came pouring at him, and respond, there would be no plan better than that.
‘If only the Deep Sea Travelogue were functioning properly, I wouldn’t have to think this hard.’
Ian clicked his tongue, asked Eunha for permission, and put a cigarette in his mouth. Fortunately, she was a person of overwhelming character who fully understood the heart of a smoker. Feeling his favorability toward her rise rapidly, Ian lit the tip of the cigarette with a lighter.
The weakest creature in the Deep Sea Travelogue, the Messenger. It looked like a jellyfish, or perhaps just a mass of tentacles, and it was so cost-effective that three ghouls and one animal carcass were enough to fill its stomach. If he summoned it and released it inside the house, it would wander around on its own and devour not only Park Seokhyeon but also the blood and corpses.
But it was not a method he could use now. Other magic aside, summoning magic had still been dead ever since the Outer God’s main body appeared. Forget the Messenger—he couldn’t even drag out plankton.
‘If it was going to be like this, it should’ve just stayed out.’
Ian cursed the Lord of the Outer Sea inwardly and exhaled cigarette smoke. He felt the grimoire in his bag vibrate violently, but lightly ignored it. He had no leeway to indulge an Outer God’s tantrum right now.
“What will you do?”
Ian asked as he flicked ash into a portable ashtray. Eunha, standing some distance away from him, tapped her lips with a finger as if in thought.
After quite some time, she turned to Ian and asked cautiously.
“...There is one method. It’s a spell I’ve used in situations like this before...”
“Ah, is that so? Then let’s—”
“B-but when two people use it together, it looks a little strange.”
Eunha twirled her hair around her finger. Ian ground out his cigarette in the ashtray and furrowed his brow slightly.
“...What do you mean, it looks strange?”
“Well...”
“Don’t tell me we have to take off our clothes or something—”
“I-it’s not that!”
Eunha shouted, her face turning red. She hurriedly took out the black scarf she had packed in her bag and added an explanation.
“There’s a spell on this scarf that suppresses presence! B-but if it were just me, it wouldn’t matter. To share the effect, we have to, um...”
“...Wear it together?”
“Y-yes...”
Eunha fidgeted with her fingers and answered in a voice that seemed to shrink into itself. Ian put the cigarette butt into the ashtray, closed it, and let out a low hum.
Magic that suppressed presence and magic that moved one out of sight were clearly different. Both had their advantages and disadvantages, and each often showed effective performance in certain situations.
When assaulting a magician’s residence, magic that suppressed presence was more suitable between the two. Magic circles had no eyes, noses, or ears, but they often sensed the presence of intruders. Cases where the magician himself activated them manually were an exception, but in any case, remote magic could be lightly neutralized simply by erasing one’s presence.
Therefore, Eunha’s magic could be considered quite effective in the current situation.
As she said, wrapping the scarf around them together would look a bit strange, but rather than continuing to muddle along and waste time meaninglessly, it was far better to endure the embarrassment and deal with it quickly. Having made his decision, Ian looked back at Eunha and nodded.
“Let’s do it. There’s no other suitable method anyway.”
“...Mm. All right. Embarrassment is temporary anyway...”
After saying that, Eunha wound the scarf around her own neck. Then she looked up at Ian and beckoned.
“Please come closer.”
He did so.
Just in case he smelled of cigarettes, Ian flapped his coat a few times before going to stand beside Eunha. Eunha stared at his face so close to hers and swallowed hard. At the unfamiliar distance from a man—something she had never experienced in her life—her heart began pounding on its own.
‘N-no. This is work. The other party isn’t a man, he’s a magician. I mustn’t think of him as the opposite sex.’
While hypnotizing herself like that, she wrapped the scarf around Ian’s neck. Her exhaled breaths of huff, huff brushed past his lips and nose, but Ian pretended to be as calm as possible while adjusting the position of the scarf around his neck.
It was fairly long, so they did not have to move while pressed tightly together. Still, they were close enough that their shoulders inevitably touched.
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“...Phew, I’m fine.”
Since Eunha was about a head shorter than Ian, the scarf was wrapped around their necks at quite a slant.
But it did not particularly choke them. It seemed like it would come undone quickly if they moved violently or failed to match their strides, but as long as they were careful, there would likely be no issue. Ian nodded and looked back at Eunha.
“Let’s go at once. I’ll match your steps, so move carefully.”
“Y-yes.”
Eunha swallowed hard and slowly began to move her feet. Ian also followed her, slowly matching his stride to hers.
A strong scent of fabric softener rose from the scarf. Amid it, Eunha’s faint body scent seeped through. If he had to describe it, it was close to the scent of lime.
“...”
Even if he did not want to be conscious of it, they were so close that the scent inevitably drifted over. Ian first pretended as if nothing was wrong and tapped his thigh with his fingers. Eunha glanced sideways at him, covered the lower half of her face with the scarf, and breathed out with a soft huff.
‘...He doesn’t smell like cigarettes.’
Because he had been smoking just moments ago, she had thought there might be at least a slightly unpleasant smell, but the scent coming from him was not unpleasant at all. Rather, it was only sweet. Honestly, she felt it would not be a problem to keep smelling it.
“...!”
At the sudden thought that came to mind, Eunha worked her lips and lowered her head. Maybe it was because she had never dated anyone in her life, but she was far too unused to this kind of atmosphere...
“...Oh my, look over there. What are they doing clinging to each other like that in broad daylight?”
“Leave them be. If they like it, what can you do?”
The conversation of the middle-aged women on the street gently dug into Eunha’s ears. She blushed and pulled the scarf up until it was just beneath her eyes.
[How ridiculous.]
Solomon tossed out the words in a tone tinged with laughter. Eunha hammered the grimoire tucked inside her jacket with her fist.