Busan (7)
Busan (7)
Considering how blatantly they were targeting us in the parking lot, there was no telling when a battle might break out, so I wanted to leave Haeryeong behind if at all possible. But, as was only natural, Haeryeong had no intention of leaving my side.
So, for her minimal safety, I cast a few spells on her just before departing, along with a firm request to stick close to me.
This should be safe enough.
Now, all that was left was to check each surveillance target one by one.
And I had already thought of the method for that too.
'Assimilation.'
Before taking to the skies, I used a spell to conceal my form.
The figures of myself and Haeryeong on my back wavered and then became transparent.
It's merely a mid-level spell, but until I release the Assimilation, beings below a certain level won't be able to detect us.
'And that level is at least Linnea's level.'
In other words, it means there's no chance of being detected.
I flew up into the sky and headed towards the location of the Gaon Guild building I had already scouted.
The distant Gaon Guild building rapidly grew closer.
Centered around the high-rise building that served as the guild's headquarters, all the surrounding buildings were also used by the Gaon Guild.
Without descending from the sky, I used magic power from atop the high-rise building to detect the entire Gaon Guild.
'Total personnel within detection range: 2,398. Among them, personnel wearing the Gaon Guild mark: 751. And among those, personnel possessing magic power: 278.'
According to the information I received from Choi Soo-young, the Gaon Guild supposedly has a little over 300 Awakened members, so that's roughly accurate.
Some members might not be here, but with numbers like these, at least one should get caught.
Without delay, I immediately planted marks on the Awakened members belonging to the Gaon Guild.
They went about their usual business, unaware that a spell had been cast on them.
It was a low-level spell, but casting it on nearly 300 targets simultaneously consumed a massive amount of magic power.
An expenditure so large that an ordinary being would faint from magic power depletion, and that wouldn't be strange.
But as a Dragon, the moment my magic power was consumed, that enormous amount was replenished with just a few beats of my heart.
Once the task of planting the marks was finished, I immediately used the next spell.
"Kaleidoscope."
A massive amount of magic power, incomparable to merely planting marks, was consumed as the spell activated.
Then, the vision in one of my eyes split from one into two, two into four, four into eight, gradually dividing until it split into the 278 marks I had planted.
The 278 fields of vision allowed me to observe each marked Awakened as if watching them right from in front.
"That's it."
"Uncle Nidhogg. Your eye is weird."
Haeryeong, who had peeked her head out, pointed at the eye with the split vision.
Well, of course, since the pupil had split into 278 parts, making it look like frog eggs.
It's a sight that would probably give someone with even a mild phobia of circles a heart attack on the spot.
"It sure eats up a ridiculous amount of magic power."
"Uncle. Is it hard?"
"No. Not that much. In fact, using up the accumulated magic power makes my body feel a bit refreshed?"
"??"
Whether it was my imagination or not, consuming the built-up magic power and regenerating new magic power definitely made my body feel lighter.
To Haeryeong, who was still too young as a dragon to understand this feeling, I shook my head meaning it was nothing.
Now, all that's left is to wait until these guys do something suspicious.
It's annoying to keep watching like this anyway. If they're going to get caught, I wish they'd move quickly.
Then I could finish this quickly and go eat some delicious food with Haeryeong.
However, despite my wishes, no one showed any suspicious movements until sunset.
No, rather, their movements seemed to have shrunk back so much it made me wonder if this was normal?
It was suspicious that the guild members' external activities were too few for a large guild, but since I couldn't use 'too few external activities' as an excuse to interrogate them, I couldn't do anything.
"Sigh... It's suspicious."
"Uncle Nidhogg. I'm sleepy..."
"Hoo. I guess there's no choice. Is Haeryeong very sleepy?"
"Uh-huh. I wanna sleep."
"Okay. Then let's go back and sleep."
Haeryeong, who seemed very sleepy, kept nodding her head up and down.
Letting her sleep on my back like this would be uncomfortable for her, and I was worried she might drool or something, so I decided to return to the lodging.
The spell can be maintained even from a distance, so if they do anything strange overnight, I can catch them tomorrow morning.
Just as I was about to turn my body and fly towards the lodging, it happened.
One of the Awakened visible in a part of my vision began to act suspiciously.
It started with him leaving the building at quitting time.
He looked no different from any ordinary employee leaving work, so until this point, I hadn't suspected anything.
And the strange part came right after.
Up until the moment he left the building, the Awakened was heading outside with a happy face, as if pleased to be off work.
He looked so happy that another Awakened, who seemed to be a colleague, even spoke to him.
"Seong-jun-ssi. Did something good happen?"
"No. It's just that I'm off work and have a drinking appointment with a friend."
"I see. Don't drink too much. We have Gate management the day after tomorrow, so take care of your condition."
"Ah, come on. I'm not some rookie Awakened. Don't worry."
After exchanging greetings with his colleagues, the moment he left the building, his face turned expressionless as if he had put on a stern mask, and he walked somewhere without a word.
The place the Awakened arrived at was the employee-only parking lot around the guild building.
Among them, the Awakened standing in front of a black van naturally got into the vehicle.
Due to the dark tint, the interior wasn't visible, but to me, who had planted a mark on the Awakened, the situation inside was very clear.
The Awakened's face turning expressionless upon leaving the building was bizarre enough, but the inside of the vehicle was even stranger.
Every seat in the vehicle was densely packed with people, all with the same expressionless faces as this Awakened, staring straight ahead.
"Whoa, shit."
"Mmm??"
"It's nothing. Go back to sleep."
For a moment, I thought I was watching a horror movie.
My body shuddered at the bizarre scene, and after soothing Haeryeong, who had reacted while dozing off, back to sleep, I continued observing what these bizarre things were doing.
Perhaps the Awakened I was watching was the last person, as once the seats were full, the black van left the parking lot.
Naturally, I stopped heading home and followed the vehicle.
Contrary to its appearance, the vehicle drove while obeying traffic laws and soon arrived at a deserted port.
Perhaps it was separately managed.
Inside the port, almost no people were visible.
The sun was almost set, and it was a port.
Just what did they come all the way here to do?
I considered stepping out and capturing them all right then, but decided to wait a bit longer.
The vehicle that arrived at the port parked in a suitable spot... and did nothing.
They looked like they were about to pull out suspicious drugs or weapons for a deal any second, but they genuinely did nothing.
These bastards. What the hell did they come all the way here for?
Still, I decided to wait, so I took out a part of Apophis's torso from the magic pouch around my neck and nibbled on it while waiting.
I spent quite some time like that.
Just as my patience was starting to wear thin from the drool drops falling from Haeryeong on my back,
A vibration was felt from the pouch of daily necessities hanging around my neck.
Opening the pouch and taking out the smartphone, Shin Su-ah's number was on the screen.
"Yeah. What's up?"
[The two surveillance targets have started moving en masse to a single location.]
A pattern I've seen somewhere before...
"Are they heading to the port by any chance?"
[I'm not sure exactly where they're going, but they are heading towards the sea.]
"Wait a moment."
I manipulated the smartphone and sent her the address of my current location.
"Is the direction they're going this way?"
[Um... yes. That seems to be correct.]
"Ha. I was wondering what these bastards were doing, but they were waiting."
[Nidhogg-nim?]
"Not talking to you. Some of the targets I was monitoring are at the address I just sent. You guys come here too. Contact me when you arrive nearby."
[Yes. I'll contact you immediately upon arrival.]
After hanging up and waiting a bit, familiar magic power approaching from afar was detected.
It was unmistakably Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon's magic power.
They arrived quickly, as the distance wasn't far, and before even exchanging greetings with them, I cast the same Assimilation spell on them as I was using.
"Huh? What is this?"
"It's the spell I mentioned last time. It conceals your form and presence, but be careful, as it can break if the target uses a lot of magic power."
"Then I guess there's no need to hide somewhere and watch."
Baek Yeon nodded, satisfied with the spell's effectiveness.
We climbed onto some nearby stacked containers and took up positions.
And not long after, the vehicles carrying the city council members that Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon were monitoring entered the port.
As if they had indeed been waiting for them, the Awakened and guild employees got out of the car upon the council members' arrival.
Despite meeting for the first time today, they walked directly towards the dock without any conversation.
As if waiting for this moment, a ship soon crossed the sea and entered the dock.
It was a mid-sized cruise ship, it seemed, large enough to carry everyone gathered here and then some.
A stairway that allowed people to board and disembark was lowered from the ship docked at the pier, and everyone boarded in order.
While people were boarding the ship, the three of us, with me carrying the other two, flew through the sky and landed on top of the cruise ship.
Then, I enhanced my vision with magic power and scanned the interior of the cruise ship at once.
Excluding the people who had just boarded, there were fewer than 10 people originally inside the cruise ship, so the scan ended quickly.
Having finished scanning the fewer than 10 people, I spoke in a voice that, unbeknownst to me, sounded like a low growl.
"Fiends again?"