The winter sun rises late. It was early morning, before the sky had even turned crimson, and the nameless mountain was steeped in darkness.
A half-moon lingering at the edge of the night sky scattered hazy moonlight, but it fell short of illuminating the mountain. The twinkling stars could serve as signposts at best, but they were no sun. The stars beyond the solar system did nothing to light the Earth—they merely revealed their own existence.
Thus, they raised their flashlights.
Lee Minsu and Kim Milyeo walked at the very front. The two of them trudged along, gripping large flashlights.
But the mountain, thick with fog, could not receive the light as it was. As if an invisible curtain hung before them, the light did not stretch far, illuminating only a few meters ahead.
"It's eerie."
Lee Minsu wiped the water droplets beaded on the back of his hand and spoke.
"These flashlights aren't ordinary items. Since they run on blood instead of batteries, their performance is certainly reliable, but even so... if we had brought ordinary flashlights, securing visibility would have been utterly impossible."
"Right. Could this fog also be some kind of strange phenomenon?"
Kim Milyeo stirred the fog with her hand. The formless mist scattered lightly at her gesture.
"Iseo, no entity readings yet?"
"No, nothing special."
Kim Iseo replied, looking down at the terminal in her hands.
A tracking device capable of detecting all manners of mysteries, including paranormal entities. All that registered on it were a few evil spirits and monsters running about the mountain. Common entities one might find in the mountains. Nothing particularly special.
However, there was one single, familiar reading that had been caught.
"But there is a Jangsanbeom."
"Ah, a Jangsanbeom. A mountain of this size—it's not strange to find one."
"Subjugating the Jangsanbeom is not our objective, so even if you hear a strange voice, ignore it for now. We should avoid getting separated as much as possible."
"Understood."
Lee Minsu answered and turned up the brightness of his flashlight. Ian followed behind them in silence.
"..."
As Kim Iseo had said, there was nothing particularly special to be seen. The gazes he had felt until now all belonged to ghosts.
However, the fact that they were covetously eyeing the lives of the living was clearly an anomalous phenomenon.
Ghosts were not inherently so bloodthirsty. No matter how powerful an evil spirit might be, their usual methods were limited to killing through curses or tormenting through possession.
Killing through physical force? That was something only an evil spirit commanded by magic could accomplish. Just as Lee Seoah cut something down through her guardian spirit.
'Then has a mage intervened?'
The thought suddenly struck him, and he looked up at a ghost hanging upside down from a tree. It seemed invisible to the others' eyes, but to Ian, the female ghost was clearly visible. Blood dripped steadily from her face, which looked as though it had been bludgeoned with a hammer.
A grotesque sight. Yet there were no signs that she was being controlled by someone.
At least, it didn't seem like she was being handled by a spirit medium like Lee Seoah. If so, there must be some other external factor.
'Is that the monkey's hand?'
He didn't know. That was why he was moving his feet—to find out.
Ian let out a low hum and tapped the cover of the grimoire in his hand with his fingers.
Chronicles of the Abyssal Deep. He couldn't use summoning magic, but he could still handle other magic without difficulty.
He had wanted to use alchemical items as well, but Kim Yul was the only one who knew Ian was an alchemist in this current situation. There was no need to let the Administration Bureau agents know he had two grimoires, so if he wanted to use alchemical items, he would have to wait for a moment when he was alone with her.
"Hehe. Why are you looking like that?"
The moment he was thinking, Kim Yul felt his gaze and turned her head to ask. Instead of answering her question, Ian smelled the fishy scent of water wafting from the ends of her hair. Looking closely, the tips of her hair had taken on a slight watery hue.
"Did you use magic?"
Ian asked casually. Kim Yul smiled and stepped up beside him to answer.
"No? This is just a phenomenon."
"A phenomenon?"
"When you learn Four Elements Magic, the traits of the element you've learned basically seep into your body. Didn't you know?"
"...There are so few mages to begin with. I've never seen it recorded."
"Mmm. You're right. I only found out after learning it myself."
The Administration Bureau agents pricked up their ears at the conversation between the two mages. But Kim Yul paid them no heed and continued.
"I control water. So waste doesn't accumulate in my body, and my body temperature is maintained in a cold state. Thanks to that, I never sweat."
"..."
"But there's also a lot of water in my body. Interesting, right?"
She opened her mouth wide and stuck out her tongue. Even though she had done nothing, pooled saliva dripped steadily down her tongue.
"Thish. I have tho much mana. Down there, too."
"...I really wasn't curious, but thanks for telling me."
"Hehe, you're welcomth."
Slurp.
Kim Yul slurped up the saliva that was about to drip and wiped her lips with the back of her hand.
"So I don't smell. How could I smell if waste isn't accumulating in my body? I must be completely odorless, right? Check."
She thrust her head toward Ian and spread her arms. Ian looked down at her with a reluctant expression, then let out a deep sigh and cautiously took a sniff.
Fortunately, the catastrophe of a foul stench burrowing up his nasal cavity did not occur. What wafted to him was only the fishy scent of water and the scent of flesh he had smelled earlier.
"...It certainly doesn't smell that bad."
"Right?"
"But the fact that you smell like fishy water means impurities are mixed in, doesn't it...?"
"It's probably just dust or something stuck to me. Either way, it's not a smell coming from me. I have no problem not washing."
She replied impishly and grinned broadly.
"Anyway, since I wield the power of the elements, my skills are pretty much guaranteed. I won't hold you back. Just trust your noona and follow, newbie."
"..."
"Do you know how many spells I can use, hmm? I can attack, I can defend, and I can even do this?"
Kim Yul turned to Lee Minsu and Kim Milyeo, then cupped her hands together.
"O Water, for I have become one with thee, obey my command. Pool before thy light and illuminate my path."
As she finished chanting, she opened her cupped hands. Moisture trapped in the mud rose in the form of droplets and clung to the flashlight lenses.
Fwoosh!
The transparent water droplets scattered the light. Rainbow-hued radiance spread in all directions, brightly illuminating the path ahead.
Lee Minsu and Kim Milyeo, already familiar with her magic, were not surprised, but Ian's mouth fell open in admiration.
"It can even be used for something like this."
"The elemental power is mostly based on the user's imagination. The downside is that you have to construct the magic formula yourself and imbue the incantation with power for a year to complete it, but the effect is good."
Kim Yul shook the droplets from her palm and spun around.
"Let's keep going. We can see the path ahead well now."
The magic she had used was not brilliant enough to light up the dark mountain, but it was enough to illuminate their way. The group, who had been hesitating, resumed their steps and advanced toward their destination.
Not long after, they discovered a small stream. It was neither wide nor deep. The group tried to detour around it, but upon spotting footprints pressed into the mud, they stopped in their tracks for a moment.
"These were just made."
Lee Minsu pointed at the footprints clearly pressed into the mud.
"They're still wet."
"Someone stepped here five minutes ago. Look, the water particles are still disturbed. It hasn't had time to settle again."
"...I don't know about all that, but it's certain someone was here just now. Let's track them."
So they did.
After Kim Yul collected the stream water into a flask she had brought along, the group followed the long trail of footprints deep into the mountain. In the meantime, the sun slowly began to rise. The horizon beyond turned crimson, and sunlight began to seep through the leaves.
Shadows replaced the retreating darkness, and at the end of it, the footprints led into a small village.
Because of the trees, the village's overall panorama was not visible. The thick fog was also partly to blame.
"We'll start with gathering information. Let's avoid attempting a forceful clash right away."
Kim Iseo spoke. She tucked a knife into a hidden knife case inside her pants and concealed a pistol at her belt. Kim Yul pouted her lips at the sight.
"Wouldn't it be more comfortable to just kill them all?"
"I will consider it."
"I mean let's do that from the start."
"The Administration Bureau is not a gang of thugs. Nor are we a ruthless band of murderers."
"So inefficient~."
Kim Yul crossed her arms and spat on the ground. Before entering the village in earnest, Ian turned to Kim Iseo and held out his hand.
"If you have a spare pistol, I'd like one. Do you happen to have one?"
"Didn't you use a revolver?"
"I had to get rid of it due to circumstances. I don't have it now."
"Ah. Then I'll give you one. Do you have a holster?"
"I brought one. Give me some magazines too."
"Understood. Here."
Swish.
Kim Iseo produced one pistol and three magazines from a gun case. Ian slipped the pistol into a hidden holster inside his coat and stuffed the magazines into places where he could easily retrieve them.
"If the preparations are finished, let's go in."
Ian nodded. The group slowly plunged into the village, whose outline was beginning to emerge.
An isolated village in the heart of a nameless mountain. Perhaps in the past, but it was a reclusive neighborhood rarely seen in modern times, into which they slowly set foot. A fleeting sensation of heavy air pressing down on their entire bodies brushed through their minds.
"..."
There was not a single streetlight in the village. No marts, no cars, no utility poles. The only dwellings were a few shipping containers, a few hanoks, and some tents.
With no electricity, the village at dawn was still submerged in darkness. Though the sun had risen, its light had not yet reached this place. Heavy silence lay thick alongside the fog.
"...The footprints lead toward that container."
Small footprints embedded in the mud. Barefoot impressions, rather than shoes, stretched straight toward a container in the corner of the village. Lee Minsu exhaled a long breath and glared intently at the container.
Then he furrowed his brow and pinched his nose shut with his fingers.
"...A strong smell of blood is coming from inside. I believe there are at least five, possibly more than ten corpses in there."
"..."
No one bothered to ask how he knew. He probably possessed a superhuman ability related to the sense of smell. It wasn't particularly surprising.
What mattered was that there were corpses inside the village. It seemed they hadn't even tried to hide them.
"Are we really going to investigate?"
Kim Yul asked with a bright smile.
"Wouldn't it be better to just kill them all after all?"
Though he did not answer, Ian inwardly agreed with her.