[Filleting Station]
In front of a shabby station bearing such a sign, a man put a cigarette between his lips. He lit it with a lighter and slowly drew in the smoke, staring at the train standing at the platform.
“Aaaaaaagh!!! Aaaaaaaaaagh!!!”
Someone’s screams rang out from beyond the blood-soaked train window. Clumps of flesh and blood oozed out through the cracks of the doors, and the silhouette glimpsed through the window trembled intermittently before soon falling still.
“Dead, then.”
With this, one more sacrifice had been offered. The man flicked away the cigarette he had been smoking as he watched the tiny monkeys carrying sashimi knives move on elsewhere.
At that moment, someone walked up behind him.
“What are you doing here, Eddie?”
The man called Eddie turned his head toward the owner of the voice. The figure of a woman dressed all in pitch-black gothic lolita clothing was reflected in his eyes.
Eddie stared at her for a moment, then shifted his gaze back to the train.
“Watching.”
“Were cruel things to your taste? You should have said so. I could have made it even more fun for you.”
The woman wrapped her arms around Eddie’s body. Eddie gave a faint laugh and pushed her away.
“The number of humans sacrificed has already exceeded a thousand. Now this anomalous phenomenon will no longer be bound to dreams and will appear in reality as well.”
“It’s perfect for harvesting. Well, considering how diligently we raised it. It is about time to start devouring it.”
The more an anomaly coveted life, the higher its level became. Even among the same kind of entity, the difference between one that had eaten hundreds of people and one that had eaten only a few dozen was truly like heaven and earth.
Naturally, the one with greater magical value was the higher-level anomaly. Its quality went without saying, and since it contained the vitality of the humans it had indulged in, there was no better material to use in spells or rituals. Magicians did not go hunting anomalies for nothing.
But Eddie had no particular desire to go out and do such things himself.
How could an elegant magician possibly be expected to run around on his own two feet like those Bureau vermin, no better than slaves of the state?
Magicians were noble and beautiful beings. They were far superior to humans, and if they wished, they were a race capable of ruling the world.
The Bureau? The Holy See? The Cartel?
All of them were groups of ordinary men. How could beings with nothing more than human bodies and minds ever stand before magicians?
They might be holding their heads high now, but in the end, once time passed, they would be the first to kneel. When that time came, they would become the faithful servants of magicians and procure whatever items and materials were needed to their hearts’ content.
But… that could not be done yet.
Though irritation surged within him and it was unbearably repulsive, for now he still had to keep a low profile. He had to gather more power and lay the foundation for placing the world beneath his feet.
To do that, he needed higher-quality materials. But as stated before, Eddie was not particularly fond of the barbaric act of running around on his own two feet.
So this was what he had chosen.
“Aaaaaaaah!!! Sa-save me, save meeeeegh!!!”
Commonly known as the Monkey Dream.
It was an urban legend that had begun in Japan, but now it was an anomalous phenomenon that had taken on substance. An anomaly of dreams that appeared only in dreams and brutally murdered humans.
Since it did not exist in reality, even the Bureau had difficulty finding traces of it. There was no better anomaly to force-feed sacrifices, raise, then summon into reality and hunt.
It had chewed through no fewer than a thousand humans, so its quality was likely extremely high as well.
With a single hunt, he could obtain materials equivalent in level to dozens of anomalies.
That was more than enough value to close one eye and go hunting like a barbarian.
“Focus on the news coming in. If corpses appear in heaps on a train in a certain country, there’s the highest chance it has made that country its nest.”
“Mm. I don’t really like traveling overseas, though.”
The woman let out a deep sigh and opened her parasol.
Before they knew it, the train that had been stopped began moving forward again. The train passed through the red fog where nothing could be seen even an inch ahead, let out the cry of a monkey, and vanished without a trace.
“The most likely place is Japan after all, the birthplace of the urban legend, right? But the shrine maidens there are a little unpleasant.”
“It could be Japan, or it could be somewhere nearby. For now, it appears in places where that urban legend has spread.”
“Mm… Then what about Korea?”
The woman said.
“Maybe because the internet is so unusually developed there, practically all kinds of ghost stories and urban legends are alive and breathing in Korea.”
“It is a strange place. As a result, the Bureau’s level there is fairly high as well. But we can’t be certain it will appear in Korea. If it does… we’ll have to act faster than the Bureau moves.”
“How troublesome. I wish it would just appear somewhere in Africa.”
“Are you fine with dealing with voodoo practitioners?”
Eddie asked with a laugh. The woman folded her parasol.
“They’re inferior to necromancers. What’s so hard about killing them?”
Instead of answering her, Eddie pulled a knife from his pocket.
“We wait for news. It probably won’t take very long.”
“If the monkey doll at home starts moving, contact me right away. And keep an eye on the news from all over the world, just in case.”
After saying that, the woman brought her neck to the sharp tip of her parasol.
Then, with a wet thrust, she pierced her neck without hesitation. Eddie also cut off his own head with the knife he was holding.
The moment his severed head touched the floor, he woke from the dream.
The monkey doll holding a kitchen knife by his bedside was staring directly at him, its mouth split wide into a grin.
*
Ian took the KTX down to Busan in time for the train he had reserved. It was his first time riding the KTX, but it was less impressive than he had expected. Like any other train, the seat he sat in was uncomfortable, and the person sitting beside him was a stranger.
Still, it was a relief that it was fast. His overworked back could endure this much.
‘The time is… twelve in the afternoon.’
Normally, he would still be asleep at this hour, but since he had made an appointment, he had come down to Busan as quickly as possible.
He was not particularly tired. It was thanks to becoming a magician.
‘The workshop is near a subway station.’
Ian entered the address he had received in advance into his phone and moved along the shortest route.
The bag slung at his side contained materials to be used in alchemy and a grimoire. It was a grimoire he could summon whenever he wanted, but he had brought it because it seemed better to have it with him anyway.
The item he had already made, the knife that killed primates, was also inside the bag.
Ian thought it was a fairly well-made item, but he had no way of knowing how another magician would feel about it. Since the opportunity had come, it would not be bad to seek advice.
Beep.
He left the train station and immediately went down to take the subway.
Perhaps because it was the weekend, there were quite a lot of people in the station. It was not to the point where moving was difficult, but he figured he should give up on the idea of sitting on the subway.
Wondering if there might be an anomaly among them, Ian looked around, but there was nothing in particular that felt like a mystery.
With his mind somewhat more at ease, he bought some food sold in the subway station to make do for lunch, then bought a gift for Sim Majung.
Though calling it a gift made it sound grander than it was. It was simply one small diffuser.
Ian lived off part-time work alone. He had no idea how much money he would have to invest into alchemy right away, so he could not spend a fortune on a gift. A modest housewarming present was about the limit of what he could afford.
‘I really do need to figure out money somehow.’
Until now, he had never particularly felt pressed for cash, but that was no longer the case. Ever since becoming a magician, everything had started costing money.
Setting the workshop aside, even just the materials used in alchemy would surely empty his bank account if he kept buying them.
It was time to wrap up his part-time job and look for some other way to earn money.
‘I should ask Sim Majung if there’s anything decent.’
Thinking that, Ian quietly waited for the subway to arrive.
A short while later, the subway arrived. People poured off in a rush, and a similar number poured on. Ian slipped in among them.
As expected, there were no seats. He let out a deep sigh and, with his bag slung in front of him, held onto a strap and quietly waited until they reached his destination.
Fortunately, every time the subway stopped along the way, the number of passengers gradually decreased. Ian stood still for a while before sitting in a suitably empty seat and catching his breath.
[The next station is…]
Listening to the subway announcement, he counted the number of stations remaining.
‘Four more.’
There was not much left. Ian idly stroked the grimoire and knife he had placed deepest inside the bag as he waited to arrive.
Ten minutes passed like that.
There were still four stations remaining.
“……”
Even though ten minutes had passed, they had not reached the next station.
An obvious abnormal phenomenon.
Ian did not panic like a novice. He immediately tore off the bandage wrapped around the knife and gripped it tightly in one hand. With his other hand, he grabbed the grimoire.
“…Why aren’t we reaching the next station? Excuse me, sir. Did we pass the next station?”
“…No. I have to get off there too, but we haven’t arrived yet.”
“Haven’t we been going for quite a while now? Why isn’t it stopping…”
Listening to the voices around him, Ian narrowed his eyes sharply.
At that moment.
[We would like to inform you.]
The subway announcement rang out.
[The next station is Filleting. Filleting. All passengers, please take your seats.]
There was no time to react to the word Filleting. Suddenly, all the lights in the subway went out, and the standing passengers were forcibly flung toward the empty seats.
“Aaaaaah!”
“U-ugh!”
“What the fuck!”
With thuds, the passengers who had been thrown away screamed in bewilderment. But no one stood up again.
No, to be precise, no one could stand up.
Because from the moment they sat in the chairs, all strength drained from their bodies. Like people who had fainted, they sagged in their seats and stared blankly into empty space.
“……”
Ian did not. But he went along with the atmosphere, pretending that the strength had left his body as he leaned against the handle.
With his eyes half-closed, he looked around the silent subway.
Then, in one corner of his vision, he saw beings with brown fur walking over.
He moved his head in time with the jolt of the subway and confirmed what they were.
[Ook-ook.]
They were monkeys. Monkeys holding sashimi knives, kitchen knives, scalpels, and the like stopped precisely in front of a certain woman and began whispering among themselves.
Then.
[Ook!]
One monkey holding a sashimi knife suddenly flew into a rage and brought it down into the woman’s thigh.
Blood sprayed. Light returned to the pupils of the woman whose eyes had been blank, and she immediately screamed.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!! Save me! Save meeeeegh!”
The mouth from which she screamed split vertically along with her tongue.