Ian climbed the stairs of a shabby motel where Anastasia was staying, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
“........”
Corpses were strewn around the staircase. Corpses riddled with stab wounds from knives and axes. No matter how poor the security was in this area, this was a bit excessive. He could see a few bodies that appeared to have been left out for quite some time.
Well, he didn’t pay it much mind. A turf war among themselves was all the same to Ian—a welcome development, even. He lit his cigarette and moved toward the door to Anastasia’s room, which he had scoped out in advance.
Thankfully, he didn’t run into anyone along the way. The security was such complete trash that not even the CCTV cameras common in Korea were present. He had planned to shoot and smash every one on sight, then barge into the counter and destroy the computers and monitors too. But it didn’t look like he’d need to bother.
Thud.
When he stopped before the door and exhaled smoke, a pained groan came from inside. It was only natural—blinding someone didn’t kill them. Ian clamped the cigarette between his teeth and ignited the ‘Sound-Devouring Flame.’
With a sizzle, the noise of the world vanished. It was the optimal environment for Ian.
*They’ve already lost their sight, and now I’ve erased their hearing too. They’ve practically lost all cognitive ability.*
Sight and hearing were the most important of the five senses in combat. With both destroyed, it was laughable to even call it a fight. He just had to walk in and pull the trigger.
He didn’t know why Anastasia had come to Korea or why she had killed her employer. But it wasn’t something he particularly needed to know. To Ian, this was merely a test of alchemy; her circumstances were none of his concern.
“.......”
A bang echoed only inside Ian’s head. He roughly tore off the broken doorknob and forced the closed door open.
The room’s interior was gruesome. Three figures with empty eye sockets crawled across the floor like insects, while on the bed, Anastasia convulsed with foam at her mouth. Without hesitation, Ian planted a bullet between Anastasia’s eyebrows.
Anastasia, who had been dying with blood trickling from her nose and ears, expired on the spot. Just to be sure, Ian checked her pulse to confirm death, then turned his head toward the three others.
Of the three, two men had been hit with human eyeballs, and one woman with fish eyes. Ian first shot them in the joints to prevent them from thrashing, then gagged them with the duct tape he had brought. The struggling of mercenaries who couldn’t even muster proper strength in their limbs was something Ian could easily suppress.
*For now, keep the lighter on…*
After placing the lighter—little more than Eddy’s spoils—on the table, he knelt down and carefully examined their mangled eyeballs. The mercenaries’ bodies trembled like aspen leaves from inexplicable terror, but it didn’t hinder his observation.
Ian started by examining the woman’s eye socket, the one hit by the fish eye. Even for him, this was the first time he had observed the result of an offensive spell from such close range.
“…….”
By nature, a human eyeball exists beneath the eyelid. But in this mercenary’s eye, there was no eye. Not in a metaphorical sense—literally, the eyeball was gone. Only red, bloody fluid pooled and sloshed about.
Traces of the eyeball floated atop that fluid. Fragments of the optic nerve, iris, pupil, sclera… Honestly, it wasn’t a pleasant sight, but he could confirm that the eye had burst crudely, scattering traces in every direction.
In contrast, the eye sockets of the two hit by human eyeballs showed no such traces. They, too, had pooled blood, but that was all. Not a single piece of evidence remained in those hollow holes that an eyeball had ever existed there.
This meant only one thing.
*The better the quality of the material, the more delicate and precise the destruction becomes.*
Simply put, it was the difference between a 5,000-won saw from a hardware store and a shredder. Both could ultimately break something apart, but a saw inevitably sprayed debris and made the cutting process a mess. A shredder, on the other hand, could grind something to nothing without a trace the moment you turned it on.
Well, that was the analogy, if one had to be made. In short, the better the materials used, the cleaner and more effective the result.
*If possible, I’d like to examine the cerebral cortex too, but that’s probably difficult to check here. Let’s wrap it up for now.*
The information obtained as a result was that the item made using human eyes had superior effects, and that two images could be contained within the pupil at once. Expanding the range from limited to a single target to one person—well, it wasn’t a bad development.
“Huu….”
With that, the brief experiment concluded. Ian drilled bullets side by side into the heads of the thrashing mercenaries, then transported the bodies via the Cartel service. A deer head, which he hadn’t seen in a while, checked the faces of Anastasia and the rest of the group, then nodded.
“Confirmed. Would you like to collect the reward right here?”
“Yeah, deposit it. My account info should be on file with the Cartel.”
“Yes. We’ll deposit it immediately.”
Ian sat inside the Indemnis vehicle, gazing out the window. Before long, the money—minus the Indemnis usage fee—was deposited. It wasn’t a very large amount. Well, he had known that from the start, so he didn’t particularly care.
“Deposit complete. Have you confirmed it?”
“Yeah.”
“Understood. Where shall we set the destination?”
“Just take me to a nearby restaurant. One with decent reviews.”
“Yes.”
Deer operated the navigation and set out to find the best restaurant nearby. Fortunately, it was a fairly decent place.
*
Four days later, Ian arrived at the Management Bureau meeting room an hour before the scheduled time. Inside, Bureau agents assigned to the mission were seated. Some faces were familiar; others were not. Ian briefly met the gazes fixed on him, then stuck his hands in his coat pockets and sat in an empty seat.
“Mr. Sin Ian.”
As he sat there, Kim Iseo, who had been preparing the briefing, approached him. Beside her stood another woman with short bobbed hair. He was pretty sure her last name was Park… or something. He barely interacted with her, so he couldn’t quite remember.
What he vaguely recalled was that she mainly handled analysis rather than combat. If she was being deployed on an important operation, her usefulness was as good as proven. Ian gave her a brief nod before turning to Kim Iseo.
“I didn’t have much to do, so I came an hour early. Was that a nuisance?”
“Not at all. It’s just that most mages tend to arrive exactly on time or a little late. I was a bit surprised.”
“Is that so?”
Ian snickered and leaned back against his chair.
The Bureau agents were conversing among themselves and checking their respective armaments. Ian watched them and opened his mouth.
“If you’re planning to discuss something outsiders shouldn’t hear, I can step out for a moment.”
“There’s nothing like that, so don’t worry. To begin with, Mr. Sin Ian, you aren’t an outsider. Ah, have you eaten? There’s something of a tradition where we share lunchboxes before a major operation briefing. I was hoping you could join us, if possible.”
“A ritual to pray for a safe return?”
“Something like that. We never know when we’ll be able to gather and eat together again.”
Kim Iseo waved at a Bureau staff member who appeared carrying lunchboxes. They approached her.
“Someone is going to die. We don’t even wish for fairy tales where everyone returns unharmed. So, it’s a last meal before death. That’s what this is.”
“…The Management Bureau has it rough, too.”
“I won’t deny it.”
At Kim Iseo’s refreshingly candid admission, Ian let out a bitter smile. He accepted the lunchbox she handed him and began breakfast alongside the other agents. The agents were conscious of his presence, but none of them went out of their way to show him disgust or anger.
“…….”
The meal continued in silence. The Bureau agents stared at one another with stiff expressions, moving their chopsticks. Ian, meanwhile, ate with a listless expression, eyes on his phone. Honestly, it didn’t taste like much.
*Don’t they need to hire a new chef?*
The thought crossed his mind, but Ian didn’t voice it, merely letting out a deep sigh. Still, out of courtesy for the gesture, he finished everything.
After the meal, he lay on the sofa and rested until the briefing. As he did, someone climbed on top of him. At the heavy weight, Ian, who had been resting with his eyes closed, frowned and opened his eyes.
“Hi?”
Their eyes met. Dark, sunken pupils framed by dark circles, with hair like seaweed soaked in water. A black T-shirt clinging tight to her body and a short white tennis skirt.
Ian looked at her strangely flushed cheeks and let out a deep sigh.
“……Kim Yul.”
“Long time no see. How have you been?”
She grinned. Then she bent down and hugged him tightly. Ian panicked.
“Ah, you smell! Get off!”
“I don’t smell! Smell me! Smell me!”
“You crazy bitch!”
“Arf arf arf!”
“Ah, don’t bite my nape…! Ugh, why are you so strong…!”
“Maybe you’re just weak?”
Kim Yul giggled and ran her finger across Ian’s lips. Ian pushed her face away with an annoyed expression.
Just then, the meeting room door burst open, and a blood-soaked man entered.
It wasn’t his own blood. A mage drenched in yokai blood—not human. The blood-red grimoire in his hand voraciously devoured the blood, cleaning the man’s face.
“Phew… I was late because I was educating some yokai for the first time in a while. Looks like I made it just in time, thankfully.”
Namgung Minhyeok. The master of the grimoire [Shanhaijing] and a mage who commanded yokai.
As he shook the blood from his hair and entered the room, Mika, standing behind him, kicked him in the back.
“Hurry up and get inside. Don’t block the way with your reeking, bloody body.”
“Tch, use your words.”
“I don’t want to.”
Mika stuck her tongue out at Namgung Minhyeok, then spotted Ian and Kim Yul tangled together on the sofa and opened her eyes wide.
“Wow… riding him right in front of everyone. You two are bold. Did you just put it in?”
“Shut up.”
“Yes~.”
Mika shrugged.
With this, everyone who was supposed to gather had arrived.