Several days had passed since he finished his schedule in Busan.
Mid-March. Weather that could now truly be called spring had settled over the streets of Seoul. The cherry trees were in full bloom, and flowers of every color had blossomed everywhere. Sunlight, not too hot, fell from the sky.
That said, spring did not come with only advantages. Pollen spread thickly among the scattering petals, and fine dust dyed his vision hazy. In the provinces it might have been different, but Seoul was hit directly by yellow dust as well, making it impossible to leave the windows open.
Of course, none of that had much of an effect on Ian. Ever since the day he obtained the grimoire, he had shut himself inside the workshop every day, so it was only natural. Even if air did come in, the workshop’s air purifier was running at full power, filtering out impurities, so there was no issue. The workshop’s environment was always maintained in optimal condition.
It was the same now.
In the workshop’s living room, where cool air circulated.
Ian sat in a chair and adjusted the position of his lensless glasses. With a clanking sound, the glasses shifted.
“Hmm.”
In his hands was the [Blue Shackles and Book of Contracts]. The blue grimoire, with chains dangling from it, vibrated as if delighted by Ian’s touch.
[Vmm, vmmm……! Vmmmm……!]
The Blue Shackles and Book of Contracts had slightly shorter intervals between vibrations than other grimoires. The length of each vibration, however, was almost the same. The problem was that it trembled in broken bursts each time it vibrated; aside from that, the time it took to speak was practically the same as other grimoires.
Well, it was not particularly important. It was enough to know that things were peaceful enough for him to notice the differences in vibration between grimoires.
“Contract magic, huh……”
Ian leaned back against the chair and quietly skimmed through the contract magic written in the grimoire. The contents were extremely complicated, but to summarize, they were as follows.
First, the target of the contract did not distinguish between organic and inorganic matter.
It was possible to grab any passing human and form a contract, and it was also possible to contract with an ordinary pencil. Naturally, the basic price required to cast the magic was greater for intelligent life-forms, but what mattered was that contracts were possible even with inorganic objects.
Second, the contracted target’s memories were manipulated.
It was exactly the ability commonly known as cognitive alteration. An inferior version of it would be a hypnosis app.
The target Ian wished to contract would undergo a simple reorganization of memory according to his wishes. If he wanted to implant affection, he could forcibly shove into their brain the memory that they had been lovers dating since a few days ago; if he wanted to implant resentment, he could force in the memory that he was the murderer who had killed their parents.
Whether it was true or false did not matter. The manipulation formed by magic dug into the mind at a speed impossible to perceive and adjusted the personality itself.
Hearing only this much, it sounded like an utterly absurd ability, and in truth, that was exactly what it was. Still, even memory manipulation had clear limits. It was impossible to implant complex memories, and impossible to implant two or more memories.
If even that had been possible, then it would not have been difficult to toy with people however he wanted.
It was a pity, but even so, this much was satisfactory. To begin with, if the magic’s power had been any greater, humans would not have been able to use it. Just like the Hand of Re-creation, this too was probably grinding down its own restrictions.
‘If the restrictions are lifted, I’ll probably be able to manipulate all kinds of memories, just like what happened at the school.’
What was there to hide?
The instinctive chill he had first felt at the school had all been caused by this grimoire. The school ghost story had not been particularly related. It had simply created a convenient place and background for manipulating memories; the rest had all been the result of the Blue Shackles and Book of Contracts running rampant on its own.
Well, he did not care much. People who went inside were subjected to memory manipulation because of a grimoire and became part of a ghost story?
That could happen.
That was how grimoires of Outer Gods originally were. It was also a newly born grimoire, so there was room for extenuating circumstances.
After all, what would a newborn know?
“Mm.”
Ian shook the clanking chains on the grimoire left and right as he skimmed the final contents of the contract.
The maximum number of contracts he could maintain was two in total. To go beyond that, he had to dispose of an existing contractor or unilaterally terminate the contract. If he terminated it, the other party would bear the entire burden of the contract.
The reason Hecate died at the end was entirely because of that burden. She had formed contracts over a long period of time and increased her power, so the backlash had been enormous as well. If he terminated a contract right after forming it, he suspected it might end at the level of losing an arm or a leg.
“It’s incredibly good magic.”
Ian took off his glasses, placed them roughly on the desk, and muttered.
“There’s no danger to me at all, and I don’t have to shoulder any risk even after the contract ends…… It’s literally an unfair contract, this.”
Of course, the conditions for using the magic were quite demanding.
The person he wished to contract had to be bleeding, he had to be in physical contact with them, and they had to have lost consciousness as well…… Unlike the Hand of Re-creation or the Abyssal Travelogue, which could be used simply, there were quite a few procedures to go through. It even required a sacrifice.
However, beings summoned through a grimoire were exceptions. Spirits or demons recorded in grimoires, certain mysteries inhabiting the cosmos, and so on. Such beings could be contracted without any conditions as long as it was done within ten minutes, after which he could wield them however he liked.
In other words, the moment ten minutes passed, contract or not, he would be in a situation where he had no choice but to suppress them by force. Unlike the contract magic, the summoning side seemed to carry its own risks.
‘Should I think of it as a balance patch?’
Ian closed the grimoire, stared into empty air, and let out a long breath.
The dim light of the fish tank seeped into the dark workshop interior. Fish wriggling and swimming near the surface of the water created tiny currents.
“……”
He glanced at his phone to check the time.
7 p.m. Late, if one called it late; early, if one called it early.
Still, if it got any later, dinner would become awkward, so he put on his coat and left the workshop to buy something to eat.
The commercial district around the officetel was fairly developed, with many restaurants and convenience stores. Ian wondered where among them he should go, then simply entered a convenience store and bought triangle kimbap and ramen.
He had earned a lot of money, so there was no need to eat like this, but good was good, wasn’t it? It was not as though he was forcing himself to eat something tasteless, so he did not particularly care.
“Checkout, please.”
“Yes. That’ll be three thousand won. Ah, would you like cigarettes as well? You bought them every time you came in.”
As he brought over his purchases, the part-timer asked while scanning the barcodes. Ian shook his head without hesitation.
“I’m fine. I’m trying to quit.”
“Ah, I see. That’s a shame. You were our convenience store’s number one contributor to sales……”
The part-timer said that with a wink, then quietly handed him a chocolate milk as a freebie. Ian gave a bitter smile, thanked him, and left. He did not forget to fill the ramen with hot water.
Rattle.
He sat on a convenience store chair and tore open the packaging of the triangle kimbap. When he bit into it, he felt that distinctive texture, dry yet mushy. He had been a little worried because he had eaten a lot of expensive things recently, but it seemed his palate remained unchanged after all.
Unlike daytime, spring nights were rather chilly. His breath did not show, but the blowing wind slipped through his coat, giving him a slight chill.
It was a cold he could endure. Ian waited until the ramen was properly cooked, then tore open the chopsticks and stirred the noodles. His experience as someone who had lived alone had not gone anywhere; he had nailed the amount of water and the doneness of the noodles. Ian nodded in satisfaction, took out his phone, and began searching for a video to watch.
Then, suddenly remembering that the mage named Mika, whom he had met at the Bureau, was a VTuber, he searched her name online.
She was streaming live. The number of viewers was about three thousand. He did not know whether that was a lot or a little, but since the absolute number was high, it was probably on the high side. He was an outsider to this industry, so it was hard to be certain.
[Kyaaaaaak! Hnnng……! This game is so scary……!]
Mika was playing a horror game. It was a game with quite a few horror and gore elements, so an ordinary person might well feel fear, but she was a mage.
That meant she was thoroughly accustomed to fear. So that reaction was probably all acting. Most of all, there was no way a mage who had lived in Japan would be afraid of ghosts.
‘There’s no one you can trust.’
Ian shook his head and placed his phone on the table.
And so, while listening to Mika’s affected screams, he finished his meal.
After disposing of all the trash, he stayed there for a moment and accessed the community.
It would have been fine to go back right away, but since he had gone out anyway, he intended to get some air for a bit. Of course, that air was full of dust and mixed with pollen, so it was not exactly good to breathe, but taking a moment to catch his breath outside like this was far better for his thoughts than staying shut inside his room.
Ziiip.
He opened the chocolate milk he had received as a freebie, inserted the straw, and browsed through the community posts. Perhaps because he had not been active properly for several days, there were quite a few interesting topics.
[Newbie, please, if you see this post, leave a comment.]
[BugInYourFourEars]
(Screenshot with a hotel photo and address)
Is this the place where Eddie was killed? I came up from the provinces, and my hands and feet are seriously shaking.
[Comments]
-Why are you looking for where Eddie died?
ㄴBugInYourFourEars: Because strange insects inevitably gather where a mage has died.
ㄴCollecting?
ㄴBugInYourFourEars: Yep
That post had already been uploaded more than a week ago. It was too late to reply now, so Ian did not leave a comment and simply moved on.
[A mirror world has opened in the mirror at my house. But apparently I can’t go in alone.]
[★Godmother]
(Photo of a broken mirror)
I think there need to be at least two people. Please contact me if you’re interested.
[Comments]
-Can anyone go?
ㄴ★Godmother: No, this is only for people I’m close with.
ㄴThen why the fuck did you write the post like that?
ㄴ★Godmother: (mage dance emote)
ㄴArgh
ㄴStrawberryYogurtSmoothie: Aka
ㄴDeepSeaAnglerfish: Murasaki
ㄴWho the fuck are these bastards?
-ㅇㅇ: What’s a mirror world?
[I ask our vulgar mage-board losers with no dating experience.]
[StrawberryYogurtSmoothie]
What should you do if someone you definitely had no feelings for suddenly starts bothering you because something happened?
Ah, of course, I’m not talking about myself.
[Comments]
-lol
ㄴStrawberryYogurtSmoothie: Don’t laugh and answer me. What should I do?
ㄴlololololololol
ㄴStrawberryYogurtSmoothie: You fucking bastard.
-First off, you’ll probably get dumped because of your concept, yeah
ㄴStrawberryYogurtSmoothie: I said it’s not about me, are you actually dyslexic?
ㄴStrawberryYogurtSmoothie: ……But are you saying that seriously?
ㄴlolololololololololololololololololololololol
-ㅇㅇ: That can happen.
After reading all the posts written by familiar nicknames,
Ian left a few comments here and there, then got up to start heading back.
It was then.
A new post had just gone up on the board that had not updated. Ian skimmed only the title with indifferent eyes, then opened them wide.
[Um…… Is this the community used by mages? Someone named Dolores told me about it…… Ah, I’m someone who picked up a grimoire? a month ago. It’s called the Book of Moses…….]
“A real newbie……!”
Ian muttered unconsciously, the corners of his mouth trembling.