The place Ian's group had entered was near the back door on the first floor of the art museum.
It was something akin to an emergency exit, so fortunately, there weren't that many paintings nearby. But since there weren't none at all, it was still a situation requiring vigilance.
[Kim Iseo: To the left.]
Communication was conducted through terminals. The earpiece inserted into the ear read the wearer's thoughts, transcribed them into the terminal, and a TTS machine voice recited them.
One could see it as amazing scientific technology, yet it was hard to say for certain that this was accomplished by science alone. Since it was the Management Bureau, more zealous than anyone in the use of mystery, perhaps the blood of an aberration flowed through the earpiece in place of electricity.
Well, as long as no problems arose immediately, it was all for the best. Walking behind Kim Iseo, who was at the front, Ian looked around their surroundings.
Paintings, paintings, Watchers, paintings, paintings, Watchers, Watchers.
The bizarre entities strewn all around stared at the bizarre paintings, glanced at the group, then turned back to the paintings.
It was blatant surveillance, obvious enough that even the greatest fool could tell. The intent to kill the moment both eyes opened was clearly conveyed.
In other words, it was virtually proven that as long as one eye was kept closed, one would not be attacked.
Just as humans were imperfect creatures unable to overcome death, aberrations were not perfect either. They had weaknesses, vulnerabilities that forced them to follow the rules they themselves had established. Just as the invincible Achilles, when his heel was cut, would die bawling like a little girl, there was always at least one method to defeat mysteries.
The Watchers were no different.
Their core could effectively be considered their head. More precisely, their eyeball.
A giant pupil that had replaced where the head should be.
If that giant eyeball, which anchored the body through optic nerves burrowed into the upper torso, were shattered, they would be unable to do anything and would perish. Attacking the body was meaningless, but with its weakness—the eye—openly exposed, targeting it was not difficult.
No, to be exact, it was difficult. For everyone except Ian.
"……."
He took out the ring case he had kept in his bosom and tapped Kim Yul on the shoulder. She, who had been wearing a chilly smile, turned to look at Ian.
"……!"
The ring case was clearly reflected in her black pupils. Her face flushed bright red, and her pupils trembled as if embarrassed.
[Kim Yul: Ah, um… Ian? Isn't this a bit soon? No, it's not that I don't like it. Still…….]
[Sin Ian: Open it.]
[Kim Yul: O-okay! Haah… A proposal in a place like this is pretty romantic. I don't hate it…….]
Click.
Kim Yul carefully opened the lid of the ring case. A human eyeball, preserved inside, was revealed.
"……?"
Kim Yul's face went blank. Regardless. Ian placed one eyeball into her hand and kept the other for himself.
[Sin Ian: It's an object that harms the target when you reflect their appearance in the pupil. If used well, it can be used to assassinate them.]
[Kim Yul: It's… not a ring.]
[Sin Ian: It's an artifact I obtained by luck. Since I didn't make it, the quantity is limited. So use it carefully.]
[Kim Yul: It's not a ring…….]
Kim Yul grumbled, fiddling with the squishy eyeball in her grip. Ian cleanly ignored her and captured the forms of the two Watchers staring down at the group from the second-floor railing in the eyeball.
Click.
A silent sound echoed through his head. Feeling his heart pound inwardly, he gently squeezed the eyeball in his hand.
The reaction was immediate. The bodies of the Watchers perched on the railing twitched, and their pupils began to tremble.
[Screech……!]
[Kreee……!]
The optic nerves piercing through their bodies convulsed, tearing through skin and bursting outward. In the brief moment the group panicked at the sudden situation, the instant Ian crushed the eyeball in his hand, their eyeballs too were effortlessly pulverized.
Thud.
The headless corpses collapsed onto the floor. The group stared at the aberration bodies that had been reduced to lumps of meat, mouths agape. Then, looking at Ian, who was smiling in satisfaction, they gulped.
Because they had been listening to Ian and Kim Yul's conversation, they knew who was responsible for the act just now.
The Management Bureau employees were aghast, and the mages were in admiration.
[Kim Iseo: To use such magic from long range… without any incantation or preparation…?]
[Venus: Isn't this too dangerous a magic? Seeing as the Watchers aren't hostile to us, it seems they didn't even perceive the attack just now…….]
[Namgung Minhyeok: That's insane. What is that thing? It's definitely an object imbued with magic, but its effects are too excellent to have been made by ordinary craftwork. Who made it?]
[Mika: Whatever the principle is, I'm convinced I shouldn't get on oppa's bad side.]
Mechanical TTS voices flowed one after another through the earpiece. Ian chuckled and shook off the bits of flesh stuck to his hand.
He didn't think their reactions were overreactions. It felt like needless flattery, so he wasn't all that pleased, but it was a fairly reasonable response.
A weapon capable of neutralizing an opponent simply by crushing an eyeball, without any prior preparation, incantation, or magic circle.
There was no need to explain its danger and greatness; it would only be a waste of breath. Even in the magic industry, items related to instantaneous casting held considerable value.
The Management Bureau was no different.
[Kim Iseo: Do you happen to know who made that eyeball? Is it something the Cartel sells?]
Kim Iseo asked. She kept her guard up against the Watchers staring intently at the group as she spoke her thoughts.
[Kim Iseo: If possible, please tell me. If that is difficult, I earnestly ask that you at least relay to the creator that the Management Bureau wishes to cooperate.]
[Park Mina: I'm asking too.]
Park Mina agreed with Kim Iseo's words. Ian glanced at them, moving only his pupils.
Their reactions were fitting both for the Management Bureau and as field agents.
The most important sense for a living being is sight. There was no room for argument. Exceptions existed for creatures without vision or eyes, but such beings were few in number anyway. The more bizarre an aberration, the more important its 'field of vision' became.
An object capable of destroying that sight without any conditions. It was bound to hold considerable value as both a product and a tool. It was only natural for the Management Bureau to court it.
However, Ian already had a set response.
[Sin Ian: That person creates artifacts solely for their own interest. They detest supplying others, so even if you contact them, they won't answer.]
A clear intention to refuse. Kim Iseo let out a sigh, openly furrowing her brow in disappointment.
[Kim Iseo: Is that so… Still, please at least try to pass on the message.]
[Sin Ian: I'll try.]
Ian brushed it off vaguely and roughly tossed the empty ring case onto the floor. Unlike the library, this place didn't seem to operate on such detailed rules; the Watchers didn't suddenly rush at him or impose a penalty for littering.
Even if there were such a rule, he wouldn't be caught thanks to magic anyway.
[Sin Ian: Enough talk. Let's move.]
[Kim Iseo: Yes. We will enter from the central hall on the second floor first.]
Disappointment was quickly tidied away, and cold rationality took its place.
The group immediately climbed the stairs attached next to the back door to the second floor.
Near the second-floor railing, two headless corpses were sprawled out.
A man in sportswear and a woman in pajamas.
Inside the wide-open throats, one could see no trachea, esophagus, thyroid, lungs, or anything of the sort. The organs had perished long ago. Perhaps because blood no longer flowed, not even blood trickled from the severed section where the head had been cut off.
'Did they eat the internal organs? Or does the eye, the core, take over all the organs' functions?'
Either way, it was the same as parasitizing the victim and feeding on their flesh. But since they didn't seem to starve to death even after parasitizing for quite some time… he couldn't tell what purpose human bodies served them.
Perhaps they simply did it to obtain a physical body.
"……."
According to the note, if one was attacked by a Watcher, a pupil would sprout from that area and slowly crawl up to the head. And the moment it reached the head, the ego would vanish, the 'head' would be erased, and an eyeball would be created in its place.
Wasn't that a characteristic akin to a parasite?
Ordinary parasitic creatures eventually wither and die if they do not parasitize. If the Watchers shared a similar trait, they would eventually perish on their own without a host. Their continuous abduction of people might also be a kind of struggle to survive by obtaining bodies.
If that were the case, as long as the core of the Watchers existed, the art museum would continue to abduct people.
To stop this, they would have to find not only the core of the Watchers but also the place where they were born….
"Hmm, I was secretly delighted that so many guests had come."
The moment he was thinking.
A woman's voice, one he was hearing for the first time, came from down the corridor.
"……!"
The group's movements froze with a jolt. They checked each other's mouths, and their eyes trembled.
However, no one among the group had opened their mouth.
Then it was an outsider.
Moreover, a being who could speak openly in a place where Watchers were present without issue.
In other words, an official of the art museum.
"It seems a most rare and precious person is mixed among the guests."
Click-clack, click-clack.
The distinctive sound of high heels came from the corridor, which was gradually being dyed in red light, together with the voice.
The group involuntarily turned their heads toward the sound and took the owner of the voice into their sights.
"Forgive me for not recognizing you sooner, beloved of them."
A black dress dragging on the floor. A red brooch. A necklace. Straps.
Behind the already rotted human head, a spiky halo was fixed.
It was not floating in the air. It was embedded like thorns into the back of the head.
The blood flowing from there refluxed and became red roses, which filled the rotted scalp in place of the vanished hair. The scattering petals turned back into blood and fell to the floor.
"My name is 'Lairie.' Administrator of this art museum, and the sole creator's empathizer. Penitent. Assistant. And a flowerbed and a flower, a vase yet one without water. A propagator of beauty and a survivor of the flooded city. One who receives their grace. A marionette. A doll."
"……."
"And I am a woman who loves a person such as yourself more than anyone else."
Lairie.
She grabbed her skirt with both hands and bent at the waist as if greeting them.
"The thick fragrance of hyacinth. The fishy stench of the sea of death. And the screams and the sound of chains resenting the absurdity of the contract."
"……."
"Those who are gods yet not gods. Fickle ones more cruel than anyone, yet who give affection to what is theirs. To you, their believer and proxy, I too offer my respect."
"…Ha."
"Please open your mouth. I shall grant permission. Pray, let your voice reach me too."
Lairie bent her waist even deeper. Ian watched the group's reactions and cautiously opened his mouth.
"…Kim Iseo, that's a monster I've never heard of in the briefing."
[Kim Iseo: It's an aberration we've never seen eith—]
The moment Kim Iseo's answer came through the earpiece.
"I have no memory of granting you permission to speak."
Screech!
As Lairie's voice echoed quietly, the earpiece sparked and broke. The terminal in his pocket filled with water, crumbling into red petals.
"……!"
Their only means of communication was destroyed in an instant. The group's faces twisted, and Kim Iseo hurriedly raised her shotgun.
Fwoosh.
At the same time, a flower bloomed on the back of her hand. A red rose rapidly absorbed the moisture from her skin and grew larger.
"……!"
A horrific pain traveled along her nerves, heating her brain.
Her judgment was swift. Kim Iseo quickly anchored the shotgun with her foot, placed her hand over the muzzle, and pulled the trigger.
Taang!
With a deafening roar, her hand blew apart.
A physical loss accompanied by pain. Yet without hesitation, Kim Iseo tossed the shotgun aside, took a hemostatic agent from her bosom, and chewed it down.
Throughout this, she did not utter a sound. It was a testament to how tremendous her mental fortitude was.
But she had already made a sound. The pupils of the Watchers all turned toward her, and veins bulged on the whites of their eyes.
Since she had not spoken directly with her own voice, a pupil did not sprout from her body. But the moment she was observed, it was over. The Watchers would all rush to eliminate her.
"Damn it……!"
Ian cursed, staring at the Watchers slowly closing the distance.
Then Lairie opened her mouth with a voice tinged with laughter.
"Aah, what a beautiful timbre. As expected of one beloved by them. Your voice is filled with all manner of fragrances."
"You son of a bitch……!"
Ian glared at Lairie, unfolding his grimoire. Lairie lightly disregarded his gaze and plucked a rose embedded in her head.
Crunch!
With a horrifying sound, gushing blood flowed down her rotted face. It again became flowers, blooming roses on her cheeks and temples.
"This place is not suitable for conversation."
"What kind of bullshit are you—"
"Let us move."
Lairie cut Ian off and snipped the rose's stem.
The next moment.
She and Ian were sitting inside a reception room filled with works of art.
Teleportation accomplished without a moment to perceive. Ian's face, now sitting on a sofa, hardened stiffly. Lairie, her massive body reaching 3 meters, tilted her seated form and twisted her head diagonally.
"Now then, shall we have a conversation, beloved of the gods?"
She smiled.
A faint sound of water mingled with her laughter.