Even though he said that, if he could buy the trace of an Archdemon for ten million won, it was practically free. Even a catalyst for summoning a lesser demon cost over several tens of millions at market price. It was no different from taking money in name only.
If the other party hadn’t been Eunha, Ian would have tried to get the proper price out of her somehow.
No, he wouldn’t have made a one-on-one deal like this in the first place. It would have been easier and faster to just take it to the Cartel and sell it.
Even so, he was selling it to Eunha because she had personally helped him quite a bit. She had enchanted his bike without asking for anything in return, and when he had bought the materials for Amdusias’s contract, she had paid him extra on top of the agreed compensation. In her own way, she could be said to have done him favors.
So, ten million won.
No more, no less. He decided to sell it at a price that wouldn’t be a burden.
There was no special reason he wasn’t giving it away for free. It was because he would take what he ought to take.
No matter what, wouldn’t it feel a little wasteful to give it away for free? The human heart was truly a sly thing.
‘Still, among mages, I’d say my character is on the excellent side.’
Thinking that, Ian confirmed the ten million won that had been deposited. It was money that would vanish quickly once he started buying this and that, but it was still better than having none. He nodded and handed the bowl over to Eunha.
“Thank you for the smooth transaction. This is yours now, Ms. Eunha.”
“……You sound strangely like a salesperson.”
With a reluctant expression, Eunha placed her hand on the bowl. Then rough ripples rose over the dark red surface that had been still. As if it had come into contact with something it loathed beyond measure, it seemed to thrash about in a desperate attempt to get even a little farther away.
It wasn’t strange. Asmodeus seemed to hate Solomon, so if the owner of the Lemegeton suddenly touched it, it had no choice but to have a fit. To begin with, aside from a tiny handful, there were no demons who liked Solomon. Asmodeus’s reaction was perfectly normal.
“It’s full of vitality. It looks like it absorbed almost all of it.”
“Yes. A little spilled onto the pillow, but I collected the rest of the residue. The inquisitor took the pillow separately as well.”
“Mm…… If only a small amount spilled anyway, it would react with the ether in the air and evaporate on its own. It shouldn’t matter much if it’s missing.”
With a faint smile, Eunha placed the bowl in the magical goods storage. It was a place filled with quite a lot of oddly shaped items, and the scales they had used last time were also sitting alone in a corner. Ian stared at them for a moment, then left the room with Eunha.
With that, his business was done.
After chatting with Eunha about this and that a little longer, he dragged his tired body home.
Creak.
When he opened the familiar front door and stepped inside, Mariang came into view, sprawled across the sofa. Her arms had grown down to her wrists at some point, and she was watching TV while holding a glass of water and drinking from it. After a moment, sensing Ian’s presence, she turned her head.
“Ah, Master. Is your work all finished?”
“Yeah. More importantly, are you feeling all right?”
“Yes! I’m perfectly fine.”
Mariang smiled brightly and set the cup down. Ian took off his coat, changed into lighter clothes, then came back out to the living room.
Mariang’s clothes had also changed from when she had first come here.
The gothic lolita dress she had originally been wearing was neatly folded and placed in a corner of the living room. In its place, a white T-shirt and black shorts were now protecting her skin.
Both belonged to Ian. Ian had not grown attached enough to her to buy women’s clothes for someone who would only be staying for three days. He had no intention of treating her cruelly, but he also had no intention of truly treating her like a friend. Tossing her some clothes he didn’t really wear was, by Ian’s standards, the utmost consideration.
Whether she knew that or not, Mariang sank deep into the sofa with a peaceful expression.
“Haa…… I really like this sofa. The Cartel made it, right? It’s similar to the one at my house.”
“It was custom-made. It cost a bit, but personally, I’m satisfied with it.”
“Cartel products are usually worth the money, after all. Besides this, the bookshelf that organizes books by category on its own, and the bed that helps you sleep for at least eight hours no matter what, are pretty decent too.”
“I’ll consider them.”
Leaving her to chatter, Ian took out his phone.
He checked the messages that had piled up. He sent brief replies to the recent texts, then focused on looking through, one by one, the messages he had been debating what to do with.
“Hmm.”
First, a private message from a community user with the nickname “BugInYourEar.”
[BugInYourEar: Hey, how did you catch Mariang? No, never mind. I guess you caught her because you’re that impressive. It’d be ridiculous for a mage who caught and beat Eddie down to go crawling in front of Mariang.]
[BugInYourEar: What I’m curious about is this. You aren’t, by any chance, carrying a grimoire of an Outer God, are you? Otherwise, your growth rate doesn’t make sense.]
[BugInYourEar: Ah, I’m not interrogating you, okay? I’m just asking because I’m curious. If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. I don’t want to needlessly provoke you and sour our relationship either. Whether you’re related to an Outer God or not, it’s certain you’re a capable mage. And seeing how you get along with the Godmother, your character seems fairly decent too.]
[BugInYourEar: That was a long digression. To get to the point, I’m saying we should meet once. You don’t have to reply. Come to Taehyeolyunsa Temple in Gyeongsang-do by 1 p.m. on April 8. The monk and I are planning to meet there.]
Taehyeolyunsa Temple.
From a quick look, it seemed like the name of a temple, but unlike ordinary temples with three-character names such as Bulguksa, Dabosa, or Yonggungsa, the name he had given had four characters. That alone was already unusual, and on top of that, the temple name even contained the character for “blood” (血).
A naming sense that seemed to openly deny the Buddhist doctrine forbidding killing. Ian narrowed his eyes and searched Taehyeolyunsa Temple on the Internet.
“……Nothing comes up.”
He searched across various platforms, but the answer was always consistent.
A phrase saying no search results could be found. Thanks to that, it became certain that it wasn’t a place exposed to the public. Most likely, its location had been hidden through a spell formation or something similar.
“…….”
Would it be better to go, or to ignore it?
To be honest, meeting him wouldn’t bring Ian any particular benefit. At most, they would become acquainted.
Until now, Ian meeting community users had never been an impulsive decision. Looking back, each meeting had a clear purpose.
Lee Seoah had been for the workshop. Han Yuna, for the theme park. Yu Eunha, for the bike.
Kim Yul hadn’t even been someone he met through the community in the first place. He had encountered her first through the Administration Bureau, so it was right to count her as an exception.
And this proposal, if one had to classify it, was also a kind of exception. Wasn’t it merely a call for the sake of socializing? Thinking about it coldly, it didn’t exactly have much merit.
But…… it was also true that he was personally curious.
‘Those who have remained in the community until now are all mages the Godmother has verified, aside from a very small number. Surely they wouldn’t openly try to deceive me through the community’s private message function.’
If that were the case, they would be no different from an idiot.
If someone used a one-person-run community where personal information was practically bound to be exposed, and believed that the contents of private messages would never be leaked, what else would they be but an idiot?
It was only because the Godmother had common sense that anonymity was maintained; if she put her mind to it, digging up someone’s personal information wouldn’t be difficult at all. If necessary, she could even use a demon.
And in a place like that, sending a blatant private message saying, “Please come here. If you come, I’ll kill you”? One would have to seriously suspect whether, instead of brain folds, a highway had been laid inside their skull. Could the usefulness of the Korea Expressway Corporation possibly go that far?
To begin with, with intelligence like that, they couldn’t have become a mage.
An overestimation? No, it was an exceedingly objective assessment. It wasn’t as if “mage” was the name of some mutt behind the neighbor’s house. Without intelligence, how could one deal with laws and spells and all that? There was a reason why mages’ main stat in RPG games was INT.
Of course, intelligence wasn’t everything for modern mages. There were plenty of parts that required brute force, and there were definitely areas where intelligence wasn’t necessary. But in the end, looking at the whole picture, speed of thought and the level of one’s reasoning ability were essential factors. If simply being able to draw a magic circle made someone a mage, then chimpanzees would be mages too.
“……Mm.”
In any case, to get to the point, it meant the possibility of this being a trap was extremely low. There was a high chance he had genuinely called Ian just to meet face-to-face.
For the sake of building some degree of acquaintance, going wouldn’t be bad, but no matter what, he couldn’t go happily without thinking. It seemed better to consider several more things first. Thinking that, Ian checked the other messages that followed.
[BugInYourEar: (Temple address) Come here.]
[BugInYourEar: This is a place built by the mage monk. You know him too, right? SweetGrandpa. That bastard lives here. There’s also one bald female disciple of his. Both are fairly trustworthy. I’ve been interacting with them for over five years too.]
It was a familiar nickname. He hadn’t seen it much recently, but in the past, it had still been fairly active.
‘He was a monk?’
Ian gave a small laugh, read all the remaining messages, then closed the community.
“Let’s think about this a bit more for now. There’s still time until April.”
April 8. Buddha’s Birthday, according to the lunar calendar.
There were still nearly three weeks left, so it would be fine to decide slowly. In the meantime, he could ask the Godmother about the two people’s character and check his other schedule.
If nothing urgent came up, and if there were no special incidents within two days before or after, it didn’t seem bad to go once. Of course, he would have to prepare thoroughly in case something unexpected happened.
“Moving on.”
That settled the first matter.
Now, the second and final one. And it was a fairly urgent matter.
[Kim Yiseo: Mr. Shin Ian, I am leaving this text because you did not answer the phone. To get straight to the point, I would like to ask for your support in an Administration Bureau operation. It is a place called the Five Senses Museum, and most of the personnel who returned from the recent operation there are either dead or missing. Only five returned in a severely injured state. In addition, a painting drawn by Irene, a mage affiliated with Laplace, was discovered there.]
[Kim Yiseo: At present, that museum is slowly devouring the very concept of “museum” across the country, so the situation requires swift handling. That is why I am requesting your assistance as well, Mr. Shin Ian.]
[Kim Yiseo: Please contact me when it is convenient. We do not intend to depart until we hear your definite answer, Mr. Shin Ian.]
It was definitely a text he had checked when he came out of “Owl,” so in real-world time, it must have arrived about two or three days ago. It hadn’t been intentional, but quite a long time had passed after he had left a message saying they would talk face-to-face later.
He couldn’t just leave her to be given false hope, so Ian immediately called Kim Yiseo. She picked up before the ringtone had sounded more than a few times.
[Yes, Mage-nim. I was waiting.]
“Sorry. I think I dragged it out too long.”
[Not at all. I’m sure you have your own schedule as well, Mage-nim. I’m simply grateful that you contacted me even now.]
Squelch!
A sound like something being cut seeped through her voice. Ian tilted his head back.
“Are you working?”
[Ah, yes. Recently, an alligator appeared in the sewers, you see. We’re in the middle of subjugation work.]
“An alligator…… An urban legend, then.”
[That’s right. Quite a famous one.]
Baaang!
The clear sound of a gunshot and the faint shouts of Administration Bureau employees running busily around could be heard.
It didn’t seem like a situation where they could leisurely chat on the phone, so Ian went straight to the point.
“I want to arrange a meeting regarding the museum. When would be good?”
[Hmm. Today is difficult. How about tomorrow? You can come to the Administration Bureau building at lunchtime. We will send a vehicle to your home.]
“No need. I don’t intend to tell you my address, so I’ll just go on my own. Does any time around lunch work?”
[Ah, it seems you’ve moved. As you said, the time does not matter.]
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow. And I’m asking just in case, but can I know who’s supposed to join the museum operation?”
[We have received definite answers from Mr. Namgung Minhyeok and Ms. Asakawa Mika, and Ms. Kim Yul said she would join if Mr. Shin Ian joins.]
Ian’s face twisted slightly.
“……If I participate, that means every mage is being deployed.”
[That’s correct.]
“……This is just me meddling, but can you control them?”
[……If we make an effort, we should be able to.]
Like hell they could.
Swallowing the words that surfaced in his mind, Ian let out a sigh.
“Well, handle it yourself. It’s not my jurisdiction anyway.”
[……Yes, sir.]
“Yeah, good luck. See you tomorrow.”
[Understood. I will see you tomorrow.]
Click.
Ian ended the call and put his phone in his pocket.
As he did, Mariang, who had been waiting for the call to end, seemed to remember something and opened her mouth.
“Ah, now that I think about it, yesterday was the day I was supposed to meet Irene. She must have already entered Korea by now.”
“……? What?”
She said it so calmly that Ian failed to understand her words for a moment. Tilting her head, Mariang answered.
“Irene entered Korea to look for a grimoire of an Outer God.”
“No, fuck. Why are you only telling me that now?”
“You didn’t ask where Irene was.”
“…….”
Ian sprang up from his seat and smacked the back of Mariang’s head.
“Ow!”