As soon as Ian returned home, he immediately lay down on his bed.
He was hungry, but he had little appetite. With his head already throbbing, the very thought of eating something didn’t even occur to him.
“Still, I should eat something……”
If only to manage his condition, he needed to put food in his stomach. Holding out just because he had no appetite would only slow his recovery. It was only a headache, but the problem was that the headache was rather severe.
“I should’ve at least bought some medicine.”
Ian groaned and slowly raised himself from the bed.
His soaked coat and clothes had all dried while he was riding his bike, but in exchange they had gifted him a tremendous chill. If he stayed still like this, he would end up catching a cold or something.
Now that he had become a mage, he wouldn’t fall ill easily, but he still could. And if the conditions lined up this neatly, a Mystery pretending to be an illness might latch onto him.
Even the Spanish flu and the Black Death, for which vaccines had already been developed, were diseases one could still see often enough in this line of work, so there was no harm in being careful.
‘Was Black Death medicine around a hundred million in the cartel? I think I saw it in passing……’
Continuing his idle thoughts, he used the phone he had tossed aside to order something simple to eat. Then he went into the shower, quickly washed himself, and came back out.
“Phew……”
He felt listlessly weary for no particular reason. He wanted nothing more than to lie down on the bed and rest right away.
But since he had ordered food, he sat in a chair and waited for the delivery to arrive.
‘……It feels like it’s about time to leave this place too.’
He leaned back against the chair and stared up at the ceiling.
Back when there had barely been anything in his bank account. This was the studio room he had scraped together every last coin to get, but now that he had enough money, there was no longer any reason to stay here. He thought it might be best to look for another place sooner rather than later. It wasn’t as if he was particularly attached to this place.
He shouldn’t move into a house that was too large, since it would be hard to manage. At minimum, two rooms; at most, around three bedrooms would be appropriate. As for the location, if possible, it would be good to find somewhere near the officetel.
Unlike the workshop, where there had been many things to consider, a home only needed to be comfortable enough to rest in, so it probably wouldn’t take very long to find a room.
Ding-dong.
While he was thinking, the food he had ordered arrived. Ian immediately brought in the bag of food and set it out on the table.
Since he had only ordered a few sandwiches to meet the minimum order amount, it wasn’t particularly lavish, but this much was enough to fill his stomach decently.
Ian peeled open the sandwich wrapper, took a bite, and scrolled through his phone. He was looking for a video worth watching while he ate.
But there wasn’t any video he particularly felt like watching. He did watch one video where an Indian man he had never seen before declared, “I’ll teach you about magic,” and started rambling, but the contents were complete nonsense, so his interest quickly waned.
‘Since when was magic some kind of mathematical theory? Even Pythagoras couldn’t use magic.’
In the end, Ian closed the app and accessed the community. At the same time, a bunch of worthless shitposts warmly greeted him.
[I’m the magefag who said I caught a reptilian last time. Telling you the settlement results lol]
[MadMoonWorld]
(A photo of 200 million won deposited into a bank account)
Sweet as hell.
[Recommend 3][Dislike 3]
[Comments]
-I’m jealous you got paid, so here’s a spite rec.
ㄴMadMoonWorld: Want a burger?
ㄴ Wait, I’ll rig the recs for you.
ㄴMadMoonWorld: You’re rigging the dislikes too, you bastard.
-Fish: Did you sell everything including the organs and stuff? Or just the hide?
ㄴMadMoonWorld: Everything lol. I settled it after taking out a few parts I was going to use, so it didn’t come out to as much as I thought.
ㄴFish: Still, 200 million is 200 million. Not bad.
-Come to think of it, I haven’t seen many reptilians lately. Is someone rounding them all up?
ㄴTamingMaster: From what I heard, some other aliens descended around the Atlantic, and they’re fighting over territory.
ㄴlol This is our land, you fuckers!
ㄴTamingMaster: (Why is this yours? mage emote)
“……Aliens, huh.”
A universe where incomprehensible beings called Outer Gods lived and breathed. Naturally, it wouldn’t be strange if life-forms other than humans were roaming that vast expanse. If one wanted to be precise, weren’t the creatures of the Outer Sea a kind of alien too?
Thinking that such beings had landed on this pale blue planet riding saucers called UFOs gave him a strange feeling. He was personally curious about what they looked like, and he also wondered what they thought when they saw humanity.
However, separate from that curiosity, he didn’t particularly want to run into them.
After all, dealing with the Mysteries of Earth was more than enough.
“……”
Ian continued his thoughts as he ate half of the sandwich. Then, at a fact that suddenly came to mind, he wiped the grease off his hands and wrote a post.
[Question about something I’m curious about.]
[Yeah]
Laplace? What kind of organization are they? I heard they’re terrorists.
Perhaps because there were a lot of unemployed mages with nothing to do, replies immediately poured in.
-A place where only the worst of the worst gather. A criminal organization where rejects from the Clock Tower, or mages who gain power through cannibalism, serial murder, and the like, end up.
ㄴThat’s putting it mildly. Just think of it as a place where only lunatics who treat human lives like flies go lol.
Grisly stories began appearing from the very start. Ian narrowed his eyes and continued checking the comments that followed.
-SevereMagicAddict: They’re hedonists. It’s best not to get involved with them.
-TamingMaster: Mages basically aren’t the type to care all that much about human ethics, but Laplace mages take it too far. No matter how much of a mage you are, you don’t capture civilians and use them as materials or offer them up as sacrifices, but those guys do that shit without batting an eye.
-BugInYourEar: The Clock Tower, the Vatican, the Bureau, and so on. They’re hated by almost every organization. And although people call them a mage organization, it’s not like they only have mages. They have some psychics too.
-★Godmother: I’m asking just in case, but you’re not trying to join them, are you?
With Godmother’s comment as the last one, no more additional answers were posted. Since it looked as if they were waiting for his response, Ian folded up the sandwich wrapper and immediately tapped on his phone keyboard.
ㄴYeah: No;; I handled a request today, and it feels like I somehow got involved with them.
ㄴ★Godmother: Ah. That’s something of a relief, at least, but it still isn’t good news.
ㄴ★Godmother: Did you perhaps encounter a mage directly?
ㄴYeah: No, I just saw a magic circle. Actually, I’m not even sure it was a Laplace mage. Still, it’s certain they used Mystery to cause a terror attack, so I asked just in case.
ㄴ★Godmother: Is that so? Hmm…… There are about two well-known Laplace mages who use Mystery.
ㄴDolores: Ohohoho, you mean that reject Eddie and Marian, who follows him around! Those two, right, Godmother? This young lady knows everything!
A user with the unfamiliar nickname Dolores suddenly butted into the conversation.
It was a name he remembered. Surely, when he first met Kim Yul, hadn’t Dolores been one of the names she blurted out while trying to guess his nickname?
-Dolores: In celebration of my block being lifted, newbie you, whom I’ve been secretly watching all this time! This young lady shall specially inform you about Eddie and Marian!
……He hadn’t known back then, but seeing it now, she was a thoroughly insane mental patient. A roleplayer so hardcore that even Han Yuna would concede defeat. At that level of severity, he wondered if the boundary between reality and the community had already vanished for her.
Still, well, if she said she would tell him, there was no need to refuse. Ian took a sip of water and replied to Dolores’s comment, which was badgering him, saying, “Answer quickly!”
ㄴYeah: I ask that you tell me, I do.
He fought roleplay with roleplay. There was no need to show off a mage-like intellect when conversing with a lunatic for no reason. It was the way of the world to counter poison with poison.
-Dolores: Ohohoho! So you were a mage overflowing with refinement! Elegance flows from your manner of speech!
Fortunately, Dolores seemed to like it as well.
ㄴYeah: The young lady is also impressive, she is. So what kind of fellows are this Eddie and Marian, they are?
ㄴDolores: Mm! Both are mages belonging to Laplace, vermin who killed their master and fellow disciples in the Clock Tower before fleeing!
Dolores continued writing replies in a row.
ㄴDolores: They’re still wanted to this day, but they haven’t been caught yet. The magic they use is the same for both of them: spells that handle Mystery.
ㄴDolores: Marian’s current location is presumed to be South America, but I don’t know about Eddie. However, if the incident the newbie experienced was truly Laplace’s doing, then there’s a high chance Eddie is in Korea, right?
ㄴYeah: Strong?
ㄴDolores: ?
ㄴYeah: Hawawa, I’m asking whether that mage named Eddie is strong, I am?
ㄴDolores: Ohohoho! He isn’t weak. Mystery practitioners are judged by the number of Mysteries they can handle at once, and that man can handle up to four simultaneously! But if this young lady catches him, he will die without even being able to lift a finger, he wiiiiill!
Her manner of speech was extremely disorienting, but in any case, he had obtained information, so that was enough. Ian let out a low hum, tossed his phone roughly onto the bed, and lay down quietly.
He had also gotten a rough outline of the organization called Laplace.
Ian didn’t really know what their goal was, why they had gathered, or what kind of cause they had, but honestly, he couldn’t care less about that crap. What mattered was that they were a criminal organization.
No matter how little of a hero complex Ian had, acts such as kidnapping or killing passing civilians were bound to make him frown. There was a reason unwritten rules existed.
If he ended up getting involved with them, he thought it would be better to deal with them first without hesitation. A recruitment offer? He had no intention of even entertaining such a thing. There was no reason to throw away all the connections he had already made just to belong to a criminal organization.
“……Phew.”
Ian exhaled long into the air and slowly closed his eyes.
There was much to think about, but his physical condition wasn’t all that good right now. For now, he would rest a bit, and once the headache subsided to some extent, he could come up with countermeasures then.
Thinking that, he quietly rested on the bed. A short while later, his breathing evened out.
*
By the time Ian opened his eyes, it was nearly the late hours before dawn.
Cold wind seeped in through the slightly open window, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the dim view began to take in the overall shape of the room.
“……Mm.”
He tossed and turned with half-open eyes, picked up his phone, and checked the time.
4 a.m.
He had fallen asleep at around 3 p.m., so it seemed he had slept for almost thirteen hours straight. Perhaps because of that, his throat was rather dry.
“Urgh……”
Ian sluggishly raised himself from the bed and turned on the living room light.
The living room brightened.
He picked up the cup he had left by his bedside, walked over to the water purifier, and quietly filled it with cold water.
When he drank it down in one go, he felt as if his hazy mind had cleared to some degree. The headache was also clearly better than before he had fallen asleep. Now there was almost no pain. At most, it was no more than an ordinary migraine.
His condition was…… thanks to having slept for half a day, rather not bad. At this level, he could use magic and still have room to spare. Ian nodded in satisfaction, took his cup, and flopped down into the chair.
Outside the window was still dark. He would have to wait a few more hours before the sun rose.
It wouldn’t be bad to go back to sleep like this, but his drowsiness had already almost completely fled. There was no reason to force himself to sleep.
Well, thirteen hours was more than enough sleep anyway. It should be fine to be active from early in the morning, at least for today.
Thinking so, Ian set the cup down on the table, put on the coat he had hung up, and left the house.
He rummaged through his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes. Opening the cover, he took one cigarette in his hand and placed it between his lips.
Just as he was searching for his lighter and about to head up to the rooftop.
“Need a light?”
An unfamiliar voice rang through the hallway of the villa.
Ian’s movements came to an abrupt halt.
“As a fellow smoker, I can lend you that much.”
At the far end of the dark hallway.
An orange light briefly flared and then faded. Gray smoke slowly rose from the place where that light had hung in the air.
“Take it.”
Clink.
Along with the voice, a silver Zippo lighter scraped across the floor and rolled over. Ian was silent for a moment, then picked up the lighter and slipped it into his coat.
“Smoking is prohibited anywhere in the building except the rooftop. Didn’t you learn that?”
“……Ha. Well, now. So you were a stickler for rules?”
The owner of the voice walked down the hallway, exhaling cigarette smoke.
Moonlight slanted in through the gaps in the windows along the corridor. Only then was Ian able to see his face clearly.
“I don’t much care for sticklers.”
A middle-aged man with pure white hair and a pure white beard. Wearing a gray suit and coat, he flicked the cigarette between his fingers and glared at Ian with an expressionless face.
No further conversation passed between them.
He did not announce his reason for coming here, for seeking Ian out.
Ian did not ask with what intention, or why, he had come.
None of that mattered.
“……”
“……”
Eddie stared at Ian with a gaze full of murderous intent.
Ian stared at Eddie with eyes gone cold.
And then.
“Summon.”
“Prove your innocence before the Code.”
The two each summoned their magical mediums.