The scenery visible through the gap of the open elevator doors.
People were lined up along the long hallway.
As if some incident had occurred, they stood at the restaurant entrance, whispering amongst themselves.
"What's going on?"
"I heard someone died. In a room, in a horrible state."
"What? Is that true?"
It didn't sound like living people talking; it was a conversation like NPCs awkwardly exchanging lines in a game. He glanced at the various roles engraved above the chattering citizens' heads, then walked toward the restaurant with Lee Seo-a.
"Ah, it's Detective Sin Ian."
"Is he famous? He must be the best in the field. I heard he doesn't have any unsolved cases."
"Really? Next to him... that's a gambler, isn't it? An assistant?"
"Who knows. Maybe he got caught."
Ignoring the openly audible whispers, the two entered the restaurant with stiff expressions.
The restaurant was crowded with many people. The moment Ian tried to push through them toward the inside, someone tapped his shoulder.
Ian reflexively put his hand inside his coat and snapped his head around.
"Detective. I've been waiting for you."
The owner of the hand was a rather intimidating-looking middle-aged man. Seeing Ian's stiff expression, he smiled sheepishly, then took a step back and scratched his head.
"Ah. I didn't mean to startle you, sorry. Given the situation..."
"..."
"Ah, I'm a detective from the Violent Crimes Unit. My name is Bae Do-hyeon."
He slightly bowed his head in greeting. Instead of answering immediately, Ian sneakily checked the role floating above his head.
[Detective Bae Do-hyeon]
The words matched exactly the explanation that had just come out of his mouth. After confirming his words weren't a lie, Ian calmly chose his next words.
'In Korea, a detective's status isn't very high. There's no reason for a police detective to act so submissive.'
He didn't know how serious the mysterious being was about this role-play, but he could tell it lacked sufficient prior knowledge.
Well, these guys tended to zealously focus only on ways to kill humans and didn't care much about creating a well-structured framework. That was why loopholes existed, and why one could write up a strategy guide. If the mysterious being had been meticulous and highly intelligent, humanity would have already fallen into their hands.
Anyway.
Now that the other side had revealed such a loophole first, there was no reason not to exploit it.
The bizarre situation of a Violent Crimes Unit detective bowing his head first to a private investigator.
It had plenty of value to be used.
"What is it?"
Having finished his thought, Ian answered with a deliberately intellectual and calm expression. Lee Seo-a frowned for a moment at his suddenly changed attitude, but she quickly put on an arrogant expression as well.
"My, Detective. You do know how expensive our detective's time is, don't you? If you waste our time on something trivial, we'll be in a difficult position too."
"...Gambler, be quiet. I'm speaking to the detective."
Bae Do-hyeon muttered, grinding his teeth. Blatant hostility. However, Lee Seo-a only shrugged her shoulders without reacting much.
"Then hurry up and talk. I'm hungry."
"...What's with that attitude."
"Detective."
Ian cut off the detective's words as he began to show irritation.
"Please get to the point quickly."
"...Understood."
Bae Do-hyeon nodded slightly and led him outside the restaurant. Ian told Lee Seo-a to wait a moment in the restaurant, then followed him with one hand held out in the air so he could respond at any moment.
"It's a murder case."
Bae Do-hyeon said.
He had already known this from the chapter title "Murder on the Cruise," but Ian put on a grave expression and let out a low hum.
"...A murder case."
"Yes. A woman in her twenties died with a horrible appearance. The scene is being preserved. Would you care to take a look?"
"Please lead the way."
At Ian's answer without hesitation, the detective nodded and started walking down the hallway in the lead.
A short while later, having arrived in front of a small room on the third floor of the cruise ship, he turned to look at Ian.
"Here it is."
"There are no officers guarding the scene."
"Yes. It can't be helped. There's no way police could come all the way out here."
He was right. A murder had occurred on a cruise ship; how could the police seize and control the scene instantaneously?
If it had happened in Korean territorial waters, that would be one thing, but unfortunately, they were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It was impossible for Korean police to come rushing in.
"Shall we enter?"
Bae Do-hyeon said, grabbing the door handle. Ian put a cigarette in his mouth and nodded.
Creeeak.
An ominous sound. Through the opened door crack, a thick smell of blood and the sea's unique saltiness wafted out. Blood had pooled heavily on the floor, coming faintly into view.
"It's fucked up no matter when I see it."
Bae Do-hyeon whispered so and fully opened the door. Ian lit the end of his cigarette and stepped inside.
Click.
When he turned on the light, illumination filled the room. And the overall scenery of the room also came into view.
"..."
Red. That was the entirety of his first impression.
Without distinction between wall, floor, and ceiling, blood filled every direction. It was as if someone had coated everything in red paint.
The bloodstains on the ceiling had not yet lost their warmth and dripped down steadily, and the bits of flesh and organs strewn across the floor sagged limply not far from the corpse.
An incomparably disgusting space. However, instead of panicking, Ian calmly surveyed the scene.
"Is the cause of death excessive bleeding?"
He asked. Bae Do-hyeon nodded.
"For now, that's what I'm thinking. There's too much blood."
"Hmm."
Instead of answering, Ian walked to the side of the corpse and carefully checked her condition.
There were no signs of stripping. No particular signs of beating either. Looking at her empty eye sockets, it seemed her eyeballs had been extracted, but there were no signs of resistance whatsoever.
[Discovered Clue 1. Missing Eyeballs]
The moment he thought so, a status window message popped up. Ian scrunched his brow and pushed the status window away.
There was a small hole in the corpse's abdomen. The organs that had spilled from within stretched out all the way to the entrance, and beyond the hole, the torn outlines of internal organs were faintly visible.
'Internal injury.'
Ruptured organs despite the complete absence of external beating marks.
At least, it clearly wasn't the work of a human. Ian straightened his bent body, stared at the severed tongue inside the corpse's gaping mouth, and moved his lips.
"What is the captain doing right now?"
"He's trying to dock the ship at the nearest port. However, he said it would take some time since we're still in the middle of the ocean."
"Did you speak with him directly?"
"Yes. It was only for a moment, though."
Ian nodded as if he understood and exited the room. Bae Do-hyeon followed behind him.
"So, Detective. Have you figured anything out?"
Instead of answering the question immediately, Ian exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke.
Figure anything out? No, he didn't have a clue.
He wasn't even a real detective in the first place; how could he find the answer just by looking at the scene?
But he didn't show it. Ian leaned quietly against the wall and looked up at the ceiling as if he were deducing something. Perhaps because the atmosphere seemed convincing, the detective stepped back a little without interrupting him.
That was fortunate for Ian. He caressed the cover of the grimoire tucked in his bosom and organized his thoughts.
'There's no need to follow the scenario laid out by the mysterious being.'
Ian was not an agent of the Management Bureau. He had absolutely no reason to investigate the mysterious being's characteristics and figure out a strategy guide. What he had to do had been clear from the start.
Find it and kill it.
It was what mages did best, and the best solution.
He didn't know what the mysterious being's true body was, or what had caused this phenomenon, but now that the mysterious being was actively operating, finding it was only a matter of time. If he searched the entire cruise ship, he could find some trace.
Above all, that woman he had seen the moment he woke up in the morning.
Her legs torn into three branches, with tentacles wriggling between the flesh—visually speaking, it had far too many problems to appear in an ordinary murder mystery game on a ship.
Could a mystery game still function as a mystery game if a monster appeared? That was just a monster-avoidance game.
Therefore, it was right to believe there was something more. Thinking so, Ian roughly stubbed out his finished cigarette against the wall and tossed it.
"Ah, the cigarette butt..."
"Is now the time to worry about something like that?"
He roughly ignored the detective's scolding and swept his hair back.
"I need to talk with Lee Seo-a. Detective, please gather everyone aboard the cruise ship and send them to the theater."
"Everyone... did you say? By myself?"
He asked with an incredulous expression.
Ian tapped his shoulder twice as a sign of affirmation, then headed toward the restaurant where Lee Seo-a was waiting.
When he boarded the elevator, he saw the newlywed couple still kissing violently.
Blood trickled from their swollen, burst lips, yet they showed no sign of pain, incessantly biting or sucking on each other's lower lips.
It didn't seem like they would die if left alone, so Ian ignored them and pressed the elevator button.
Shortly after, the elevator arrived at its destination.
Ian walked past the murmuring citizens toward the seat where Lee Seo-a was sitting. Having not touched any food, she spotted Ian and moved her lips.
"How was it?"
"Not good. I think she was killed by the mysterious being."
Screech.
Ian pulled out a chair and sat down.
"The room was covered in blood, and her tongue was missing. Her eyes had been gouged out too, and her organs had ruptured, spilling outside."
"...It killed her pretty brutally. Still, it's fortunate it didn't hide the evidence. A tongue, of all things. That's too big a clue."
Lee Seo-a said, leaning her body against the backrest. Ian gazed at the dark sea spreading beyond the window and asked.
"Do you have a guess?"
"Roughly. It's probably the work of something like the 'Cult of the Bloody Tongue' or whatever."
"The Cult of the what?"
Ian furrowed his brow at the name of a religion he had never heard of. As if it was no big deal, Lee Seo-a rested her chin on her hand and took out a bottle of bone powder.
"The Cult of the Bloody Tongue. It's a religion that appears in the Cthulhu Mythos, but it exists in reality too. They're known for cruelly killing people through human sacrifice and cutting out their tongues to take them. There were some famous historical figures who belonged to it too. Most notably Hitler and Goebbels, and the rest of the Nazi officers?"
At the appearance of a bigger shot than expected, Ian was left speechless.