After spending some time with Cecilia at the PC café, Ian saw her off in person.
“Thanks for helping me today. Get home safely.”
“Yeah.”
Vroooom.
On the dark road in the early dawn, Cecilia started the car as she answered. It was a luxury SUV wholly unsuited to her tiny stature. An imported one, at that. Though, for her, it would technically be a domestic car.
Ian tilted his head as he watched Cecilia adjust the seat position with practiced familiarity.
“I’ve been wondering for a while—where did you get that car? Is it a rental?”
“The Association provided it. It’s legal, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Lawfulness aside… can your feet even reach the brake?”
“…How rude.”
Cecilia frowned as she shifted gears. Ian snickered and waved his hand.
“I’ll contact you when I set out for the request. It shouldn’t take too long.”
“…Yeah. See you next time.”
“Sure.”
Cecilia smiled gently and took her foot off the brake. The vehicle soon moved forward, merged onto the road, and sped away. Ian watched until her car disappeared around the corner, then turned and walked toward the bike parked on the shoulder.
Press.
As he pulled down the helmet hanging from the handlebars, a voice came through the Bluetooth device linked to the bike.
[Welcome, Ian Shin. Where shall I take you today?]
“To the workshop.”
Ian lowered the visor and mounted the bike.
“I’ll drive myself.”
*
As soon as Ian arrived at the workshop, he took Eddie’s head out of the refrigerator. Its skull had been crushed and its brain pulled out, leaving the head hanging limply in Ian’s hand without so much as a twitch.
Fortunately, decomposition had not yet begun. There was no rotten smell, nor any blackened patches. Its freshness still appeared to be perfectly preserved. That was possible only because it was a wizard’s corpse.
But a corpse would rot in the end. Without blood circulating through the body or air moving through it, the flesh would become garbage, leaving behind nothing but shabby bones. At that point, even a wizard’s corpse would lose its magical value. There would be no reason to keep it anymore.
So, before that happened, he needed to attempt as much alchemy as possible. That was the sole reason he had rushed to the workshop despite the early hour.
As it happened, today was Thursday. Thursday was the day of Jupiter, and also the day of wood. Jupiter, meanwhile, was a fluid planet composed entirely of gas.
The power of the stars held tremendous importance in magic. Four-element magic could display greater power on the day corresponding to each element, while astrology could only be used by following the flow of the stars. Magic that utilized pentagrams could only be crafted in accordance with the day of each planet.
Of course, the magic of the Outer Gods paid no attention to things like stars. Planetary days? Jupiter? Venus? None of that mattered in the slightest.
Even so, there was such a thing as atmosphere. In celebration of the day of Jupiter, Ian decided to try using alchemy involving ears.
If someone asked what ears had to do with Jupiter, he would answer that Jupiter was made of gas, while ears could hear voices traveling through gas.
‘Well, it’s just a forced connection.’
Ian gave a quiet snort of laughter and cut off both of Eddie’s ears.
Slice.
The smoothly severed ears fell onto the table. Blood flowed, and the head that had lost its ears toppled sideways like a doll. Ian picked up the fallen ears, wiped them clean, then sat in a chair and flipped through the grimoire. The Touch of Re-creation clinging to his hand vibrated as if it were enjoying itself.
“Dying Hearing, Dying Hearing… Ah, here it is.”
He found the section he wanted and tapped the cover with his finger.
[Dying Hearing]
[Whisper the target’s name into the ear and tear it. The target’s ears will burst, causing them to lose their hearing. The eardrums, as well as the auditory cortex, will suffer permanent damage, making recovery impossible.]
[Materials: One pair of human ears pickled in salt, pepper, insect corpses, 50 ml of the wizard’s (caster’s) blood, a small amount of hair, a knife.]
The materials were simple yet complicated. Still, everything listed was immediately obtainable. There was no problem with casting the spell.
Ian got to work at once. He arranged the materials neatly on the table, then briefly left the workshop to give an order to the security-guard ghost.
“Catch a few bugs from the officetel and bring them here.”
The security-guard ghost, delighted to receive an order for the first time in a while, did an aerial somersault and began racing around the officetel. Ian left it to its task and filled a bowl with salt. Then he placed Eddie’s ears inside.
“Is that all the preparation…?”
Large objects—hands, arms, legs, and the like—required a full week of salting. But for a part as small as an ear, half a day was enough. Even if he waited from now, Thursday would not yet be over.
Besides, there was nothing else to do but wait. Ian sprawled out on the sofa he had installed for resting and browsed the community.
“They’re still making a fuss.”
The purge of the traitor had taken place about a week ago. The Godmother had posted the incident directly in the community announcements without any filtering, and the wizards had collectively torn into Park Seokhyeon after learning that someone had been selling off their information until now.
[I knew that bastard was up to no good.]
[Bug in Your Ear]
(A platypus photo)
I had a bad feeling about him ever since he started going on about being a pure human and whatnot. Good thing they dealt with him quickly. There would’ve been a lot more victims otherwise, seriously.
[Comments]
—I knew you’d say you knew he was like that.
ㄴBug in Your Ear: I knew you’d say you knew I’d say you knew he was like that.
ㄴI anticipated long ago that you’d say you knew he’d say you knew he was like that.
ㄴBug in Your Ear: I knew you’d know I knew you’d say you knew he was like that.
ㄴDid these idiots suddenly lose their minds? Are they using Infinite Regeneration?
[Honestly, Dolores? I’m not worried about her. That crazy woman is famous enough already. But what about the newbie?]
[Rose]
Our newbie’s really okay, right? Should this mother go find them?
[Comments]
—Newbie / 3 months in / Killed Eddie
ㄴRose: What are you talking about? Eddie was killed? By the newbie?
ㄴDid you take a break from the community for several days? That topic’s been circulating for ages;;
ㄴRose: Is this for real?
[But it’s nice seeing the Godmother act like her old self again for once……]
[Taming Master]
Back when the community was a veritable hellscape of nonhumans, people used to post proof that they’d beaten someone to death every single day without fail. I miss those days……
[Comments]
—★Godmother: Why do you miss that? Looking back, all it does is irritate me.
ㄴTaming Master: I liked it. I mean, the materials came rolling in all by themselves, you know?
ㄴ★Godmother: I don’t use people as materials for magic.
ㄴTaming Master: (Who gives a damn about wizards? meme)
ㄴ★Godmother: (Wizard blocked meme)
ㄴTaming Master: Don’t! Fuck!
—Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie: You old farts going on about the good old days, lol. You seriously reek of red ginseng candy. We ought to send every last one of you to be buried alive.
ㄴTaming Master: I’m still in my twenties, you bastard.
ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: At least make your lies believable, lol.
[Oh ho ho ho ho! This young lady is perfectly fine! Those Mexicans who suddenly came after us—I killed every single one of them!]
[Dolores]
(A lower-face selfie taken while smiling brightly in front of a pile of corpses)
This young lady is the strongest!
[Comments]
—Crazy gorilla bitch.
ㄴDolores: How rude! My butler will come and kill you!
—Ugh.
ㄴDolores: Why “Ugh”? Explain yourself! Ugh, ugh!
—★Godmother: Lady Dolores, your cleavage is showing in the picture.
ㄴDolores: Ah!
ㄴDolores: I fixed it! Thank you!
ㄴFrom today onward, the Godmother is my enemy. You son of a bitch, you absolute bastard, you filthy wizard.
ㄴ★Godmother: (Wizard thumbs-up meme)
After Dolores’s post, Ian placed his phone on his stomach and closed his eyes.
It was a relief that the atmosphere was not as serious as he had expected. The community was fairly noisy over the topic that had surfaced after such a long time, and there were quite a lot of instinctive denunciations of Park Seokhyeon, but a truly grave mood had not formed.
‘Do they all have such confidence in themselves that they don’t care whether their information gets sold?’
Well, what kind of wizard would one be without a strong ego?
Thinking that, Ian half-opened his eyes and checked the clock.
3:30 a.m.
It was too late to go to bed, but too early to stay up all night. So Ian decided to sleep while the ears pickled.
He had no particular schedule tomorrow anyway. He did not intend to take on any more requests until Deep-Sea Chronicle had fully recovered, so he had time to spare. Sleeping in for a day would not cause any problems.
“Hmm.”
Ian closed his eyes again and relaxed his entire body. A moment later, his breathing became even.
*
Ian woke around lunchtime, made himself a simple meal, then returned to the workshop with the insect corpses left in front of the door. He waited in that state until three o’clock, then, the moment the time arrived, took out the ears and arranged the table.
He inscribed a magic circle on a sheet of paper and stacked the materials neatly over it. He poured pepper and blood onto the ears in the center, then dumped the insect corpses into the corners. The hair and knife were placed at the top and bottom, respectively.
Ian nodded, spread out the Touch of Re-creation, and recited the incantation.
“God has not permitted His voice to reach you, apostate. Rot alone within eternal silence. Thus, recite the atonement of your entire life.”
The instant the incantation ended, the magic circle began to glow. Every material except the ears burned to ash, and the ashes slowly crept into the ear canals.
At last, when all the ash had disappeared, the magic circle faded away, leaving only a pair of apricot-colored ears behind. Ian picked them up and examined their condition.
‘No visible changes.’
Just like the Dying Eyeball, the ears had not changed in appearance. But the alchemy itself had been successfully imbued.
“……”
Ian considered testing one, then stopped. The materials used were too precious to waste on a mere experiment. It would be better to use them during the vampire hunt that was coming up soon.
‘The tongue and nose… don’t seem like they’d be particularly useful in combat. Better to make those later.’
With that thought, Ian wrapped the ears in cloth, placed them in a glasses case, and stored them in his bag.
That concluded what he had to do at the workshop today. He packed up the things he needed, mounted his bike, and set off for the house he had moved into.
Then the clear moon hanging in the sky caught his eye. It was a large, bright moon, like a full moon. The Earth’s satellite, tinted slightly blue rather than pale, was moving alongside the sun and illuminating the sky.
“……”
There was nothing strange about seeing the moon in the afternoon rather than at night. It was not a common sight, but the moon could occasionally be observed hanging in the blue sky.
However, Ian had never seen a moon so large, or so bright that it resembled a full moon, in his entire life.
If it had been nighttime, he would not have paid much attention. But it was daytime, and sunset was still a long way off.
“…This makes me uneasy.”
Feeling an unease he could not explain, Ian twisted the throttle hard.
And from the car running alongside him came the faint sound of singing.
[Twinkle, twinkle, little star—]
[How I wonder what you are—]