Fifty Sacrifices
The sensor lights flickered out, then blazed back on.
I timed my call to Nabi to that exact moment.
"Nabi, want to come out?"
[Yeah.]
The instant I called, the backpack slung over my shoulders settled down, and a familiar weight pressed onto my shoulder. When I lifted my head, I could see Nabi waving from atop my hair — a lazy little flutter of the hand.
I smiled softly. "Thank you."
The boy was staring up at Nabi like his eyeballs were about to pop clean out of his skull.
"Uh, uh... Huh? Uh... Huh? Eh?"
And once enough time had passed for the situation to actually register, he graduated to spouting bizarre alien gibberish. His blue eyes wandered this way and that beneath the sensor lights.
"...R-Really?"
He'd completely lost it! Huuah! Clapping a hand over his mouth, he staggered like a man about to crumple where he stood. I watched the whole performance and nodded in satisfaction.
Knew that would work.
Anyone who laid eyes on Nabi's true form would think demon — that had been my whole calculation. A colossal black hand crowned with a feast of unreadable script. The harder you tried to read them, the harder your head pounded and your stomach lurched. Really... didn't that suit the name "demon" perfectly?
Nabi gave its hand a little wave, then seized the hair of the boy — who had finally collapsed onto the floor — and yanked it straight upward.
Good. No more mistaking this for a hallucination.
I caught the forearm of the boy, who was tipping over backward with a face on the verge of losing consciousness.
"What's your name?"
There wasn't a trace of that sneer left on the boy's face.
"...A-Ahn Param."
"Ahn Param... Good. From this moment on, you're my follower. I'm the cult leader."
"..."
"You've got a baseball on you, don't you? Hand it over."
With trembling hands, Ahn Param fished a baseball out of his jersey pocket and passed it to me.
"Is it precious to you?"
"...I... picked it up."
I had Nabi hold the baseball. It settled carefully onto the black hand — and the moment Nabi closed its fist, the ball vanished from sight.
Crack.
What was that? I tapped the back of Nabi's hand again, and there on the black palm lay the baseball, split into ten neat pieces.
[Oh? It tore.]
"..."
Nabi's voice sounded distinctly sheepish. I stared at the remains of the baseball, then forced myself to face Ahn Param with all the composure I could scrape together.
Ahn Param was trembling, his gaze welded to the baseball.
I hadn't exactly planned on inspiring quite this much terror.
I was just going to hold onto the ball for a while and return it once we made it out of here safely... I'd only wanted my request — my little word of warning — to land with a bit of impact, that was all.
...Well, nothing for it now. Swallowing a sigh, I said, "Let's move quietly. Answer when you're asked, cooperate properly, and you'll be fine. If this demon friend of mine gets angry... even I'm not sure I could hold it back."
"..."
"Answer me."
The blue eyes churned like storm waves. Beside me, Nabi was gently lowering the tattered remains of the baseball to the floor.
Ahn Param swallowed hard, once, and answered.
"...Yes, Cult Leader...!"
Ahn Param trailed behind me, hands clasped together in perfect reverence. Yoo Jinchae, who'd been waiting for us to reemerge from the darkness, was watching us through narrowed eyes.
"Everything went smoothly. Let's get moving."
"...You were the one lecturing me about nonviolence and ethics. Don't tell me—"
"I didn't hit him. I talked him around."
"He didn't strike me as the type you could talk around."
"He's tamer than he looks."
Her expression still said she didn't buy a word of it, but she apparently judged that time was too short to press the matter, and nodded for now. I gestured toward Ahn Param, who was waiting quietly behind us.
"Param, would you guide us to the way out?"
"Of course!"
"...How on earth did you win that kid over?"
With impeccable politeness, Ahn Param stepped out between me and Yoo Jinchae and pointed ahead with both hands. "Keep going straight and there's another emergency staircase. We just go down there!"
And so the two of us found ourselves crossing the dark corridor at the fastest pace we could manage, under Ahn Param's guidance.
"So?"
Even at that brisk clip, Yoo Jinchae's voice didn't waver.
"I don't know! Really~ I don't! Today's my first time here, I swear! Some occult group people just called me and told me to come!"
Yoo Jinchae apparently intended to strip-mine every last detail about this place and Ahn Param's background while we walked, because the questions came without a single pause for breath. Ahn Param answered in the lowest whisper he could manage, but he sounded so aggrieved that his voice came out like poured iron.
"Does that even make sense? You got a death wish? If a run-of-the-mill occult group says they need an Awakener like you, you at least get suspicious!"
...Now that I thought about it, a baseball hanging in midair for five whole seconds had seemed a little off.
So he was an Awakener.
"Ow! Ajumma— ah, n-no, noona! Don't hit me...! All they said was that I was absolutely necessary for the summoning ritual of Astaroth, demon of hell!"
"Astaro... what? Fine, whatever — then why'd they kidnap us!"
"Huh? Kidnap? What are you talking about?"
"Does this kid know anything? Think, would you! You have no idea why they kidnapped us?"
"No, I literally just found out you guys got kidnapped! Argh! You expect way too much from a high schooler!"
"Hey!"
"What!"
I pressed a hand down firmly on Ahn Param's shoulder as he flared up, veins standing out on his neck.
"Let's keep it down. And you should be polite to your elders."
At that, Ahn Param glanced back at me, then nodded again, docile as a lamb. "Yes, Cult Leader."
"...Cult Leader? Teacher, did you found a religion?"
Yoo Jinchae asked, wearing an expression like she'd just bitten into a rock.
Found a religion, huh... When Ahn Param had suddenly declared he'd follow me as a devotee, I had ended up proclaiming myself a cult leader without really meaning to.
"It was founded rather hastily, but we have one follower, the cult leader is a kindergarten teacher, and the object of worship is a demon."
"Well, that's deeply unsatisfying. What's this demon's name, then? Don't tell me it's another weird pasta name, like that... arrabbiata thing?"
"Ah! Seriously! It's Astaroth!"
"Yeah, yeah, got it, kid."
Yoo Jinchae brushed off Ahn Param's correction without even pretending to listen.
"It's a demon who believes death is rest... one who goes by the name 'Nabi.'"
"Wow, that's almost cute... Fine. Then I'm joining the religion too. Make it two followers as of today."
"You really don't have to join."
"In a place like this, I think I'd feel better thinking of myself as a member of a religious organization than as a lone individual. Having someone on my side in this godawful situation is a comfort, too."
Was she serious? I found myself glancing at Yoo Jinchae — and caught her quietly chuckling to herself.
...Well, as long as you're amused, ma'am.
"But hearing 'Cult Leader' is pretty unpleasant for the person listening, so just call me Teacher. That goes for you too, Ahn Param."
Yoo Jinchae threw a thumbs-up, and Ahn Param looked back and nodded.
As we drew near the end of the corridor, Yoo Jinchae suddenly spoke up, as if something had just occurred to her.
"By the way, how'd you use your ability earlier? Mine still barely works... Wasn't there some kind of skill on this building that keeps abilities from working?"
"Oh, that? People were gossiping that they'd laid a skill over the whole building to suppress abilities, since there's some special ritual happening today."
"Then how did you use yours earlier?"
"It's not that you can't use them at all. Like I said, it's suppression, not nullification. I could still manage abilities at that level? It's just way harder and more draining than usual."
He looked so pleased with himself, like he'd made some monumental scientific discovery. Also, stop looking at me and look forward. Forward.
"Here we are."
At some point the three of us were standing before an old door. Unlike the one Ahn Param had come out of, it looked considerably worse for wear.
When Yoo Jinchae eyed the emergency exit dubiously, Ahn Param grabbed the handle and flung it open without a shred of hesitation.
"Have you people been getting fooled this whole time? The emergency exit I came through has people swarming back and forth preparing for the summoning. This one's... tucked away in some super out-of-the-way corner, so barely anyone uses it. Weren't you two escaping or something?"
After a quick exchange of glances with Yoo Jinchae, I nodded. I had no intention of using that elevator we'd passed on the way here anyway. And since people were supposedly traipsing through Ahn Param's exit at all hours...
This was effectively our only option.
Creeeak.
The door swung open to reveal a space caked in dust, oozing a creepy, abandoned air.
"What floor is this?"
"Top floor. The eighth."
Locking people up on the eighth floor — now that's a novel touch. Yoo Jinchae went through the open door first, followed in order by Ahn Param and me. I closed the door carefully behind us and looked around.
Dark in here, too.
Just as Ahn Param had said, this emergency staircase showed no sign of traffic. Just in case, we held our position in silence for a good five minutes, but there wasn't a whisper of anyone nearby.
"Let's go."
Feeling our way along the wall with our hands, we began to descend the stairs as carefully as we could.
I spoke while watching the back of Ahn Param's head, faintly visible ahead of me.
"So what's your ability?"
My voice echoed through the stairwell and came back to me. Ahn Param, walking ahead, flinched — I could see it — but a moment later he resumed his descent as if nothing had happened.
"Gravity manipulation."
Gravity manipulation? Never heard of that one.
"That's a rare ability."
Yoo Jinchae let out an admiring hum through her nose.
"...Doesn't matter. The rank's too low, so I can't even become a Hunter."
There was a strange heaviness in his voice. Instead of pressing him, I turned my question toward Yoo Jinchae, who was leading the way down.
"So what's the difference between telekinesis and gravity manipulation?"
Hearing about his ability had reminded me of hers, you see. From the names alone, I couldn't tell much of a difference.
"Telekinesis is still subject to gravity, so the weight doesn't change. Gravity manipulation temporarily adjusts the gravity surrounding a target, so the weight changes too. And of course, speed can be accelerated or decelerated as well."
"...Oh."
An easy explanation to follow. In terms of applications, then, gravity manipulation had a far broader spectrum than telekinesis.
I was about to give an appropriately acknowledging response when... a palm suddenly clamped over my mouth.
"...?"
Creeeeeeak.
The sound of an emergency exit door opening one floor below.
All three of us went rigid, rolling our eyes toward the direction of the sound. Bright light briefly washed over the stair landing, then vanished along with a set of light footsteps.
But before long, the voices of roughly three men — some high, some low — began drifting up and down the stairwell.
"But is it really okay to use people like that as sacrifices? I know we do everything they tell us to, but..."
"What can you do? They received a revelation. A revelation. You follow the word of the one paying you. Right, Jaehong?"
Jaehong? The older guy Ahn Param had mentioned?
"Of course. All you have to do is capture and manage the sacrifices. After that, you can watch at your leisure, collect your day's pay, and head home."
"Look, I'm only going along with this because it's the first time we've used Awakeners as sacrifices! Greedy as we are, if this gets out, the whole country will curse our names!"
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Everything happens for a reason. Besides, Jaehong even found us a replacement for the Awakener we were originally supposed to bring in, and he's paying us on top of that — how great is that? Wait, didn't you say that Awakener was a high schooler? What happens after we use him? That's going to be hard to keep quiet."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. He seems pure enough that a little intimidation would probably turn him into a follower. He bought everything because only occult people come here, apparently. And if worst comes to worst... I don't think it'd be bad to use him as an additional sacrifice."
Yoo Jinchae and I turned to look at Ahn Param at the exact same moment.
"Right, right, that's not a bad idea either. The kid's needed for the Cult Leader's performance during the summoning, was it?"
"Yes. Apparently they have to think about how things look to the ordinary followers, too."
"If we get caught, don't look at me! The second it comes out that we kidnapped those people, we're finished!"
"What is with you today, seriously? We've handed over more than fifty sacrifices already. We were finished the moment we started this, my friend. As far as they're concerned, we're family now."
What? Fifty sacrifices?
Pressing my back hard against the wall, I swallowed.
Judging from the conversation, those bastards down the stairs were definitely the kidnappers. And their purpose wasn't human trafficking or organ harvesting — it was really... because they were needed for some insane demon summoning ritual?
And they'd been planning to use me and Moon Chaeyoung as the sacrifices.
What a group that begs demons for help and hires kidnappers intends to do with the people it takes as sacrifices required no imagination whatsoever.
Even a B-grade American horror movie doesn't run this big.
Beside me, I could hear Yoo Jinchae grinding her teeth.
But the bastards below still seemed to have plenty left to say, too busy chattering away.
"I don't even want to watch the summoning. After the last one, my stomach turned so bad I didn't want to eat anything for days!"
"I know, I know. How do you even do this job with a stomach that weak?"
"What kind of revelation says the sacrifice has to be the most famous and prestigious person as of the day the summoning takes place?"
"And that's why we get paid so well~ Sure, we had to sink money into useless equipment, but this is a pure-profit business."
So that was the criteria for choosing sacrifices?
Moon Chaeyoung, who'd become a hero through the recent EX-rank dungeon incident. And me, who got tangled up in that same dungeon and very nearly became a mass-media sensation.
Fate somehow sent Yoo Jinchae instead of Moon Chaeyoung, but...
Either way, as of last week the most-discussed search term on the internet had been articles titled "The Hidden Heroes of the EX-Rank Dungeon Crisis."
Well, well. I can't exactly say their sacrifice selection was wrong.
Still, there were things I just couldn't wrap my head around. I didn't know what kind of demon it was, but it sounded like one with thoroughly vile tastes.
"Well then, rest up a bit before you come down. I need to head down now to help with the summoning."
With those words, the man called Jaehong opened the emergency exit door and left.
"You've got to be kidding..."
The instant Ahn Param blurted that out — his nerves, it seemed, had simply given out — I thrust my hand out in desperation.
I could feel a faint trembling beneath my palm.
So he really didn't know anything.
I pulled Yoo Jinchae's palm away from my mouth with my other hand and looked at Ahn Param. He looked ready to scream on the spot.
No. If we're discovered here, it's over.
I gave Ahn Param's shoulder a small shake and studied him with eyes adjusted to the darkness. Whether from confusion, he was gasping for breath — but I could feel him calming down, very, very slowly.
I waited until his breathing steadied, then tapped his shoulder twice and let go.
Just like this — please, just like this — stay frozen until those bastards leave, then we move again...
And no sooner had that complacent thought crossed my mind than, in the darkness, my eyes met someone else's.
"By the way, you know..."
Vertical, serpent-slit pupils gleamed murderously in the dark.
"Feels like someone's up there."
We'd been made.