Night of the Mask (6)
"…"
I blinked my eyes open.
Slowly, the blur drained from my vision and the world came back into focus. What I was looking at was the ceiling of my room—the same ceiling I'd stared at a thousand times in this cramped studio apartment.
"Why am I…"
I clung to my hazy consciousness and tried to piece the memories back together.
Right. I had definitely…
Knock knock knock.
"Oppa~ I'm heading over to my friend's place~"
"…Yeah. Have fun."
"Huh? Oppa, are you sick? Your voice sounds kind of rough. Did you catch a cold or something?"
My little sister and her damn sharp instincts…
But that was as far as it went. She didn't seem interested in pressing any further. A moment later came the sound of a suitcase being dragged across the floor, the front door opening, and then the presence in the apartment simply vanished.
And in the now-empty living room, another presence took shape.
I didn't need to think hard about who it was.
"Gretchen, you there?"
"Yes, Doyun-nim."
The door opened, and Gretchen appeared. A beauty with black hair and blue eyes that called the moon to mind. She came over slowly and sat down beside me.
Worry and unease flickered in the way she looked at me.
"I passed out again…"
"!"
At my self-deprecating mutter, Gretchen's eyes went wide.
"N-no, it isn't—it's because of me. I couldn't protect you properly…"
"Does it really have to be your fault…"
She'd probably piled healing magic on me the same way she had last time. Even so, my mind was still fogged over.
I remembered getting beaten half to death by the contractor with the gauntlets… and after that, nothing. Had Gretchen handled the rest?
"What happened to those witches?"
"…They withdrew."
"Withdrew? …Why?"
Had there been a reason for them to back off?
If I dug through what I could remember, we'd been outnumbered from the start. I'd been cornered by the contractors, and Gretchen had been…
"Professor Park Seongtae intervened. I still don't know who his contracted witch is, but Nox and Malefica pulled back just in case he attacked them."
"I see. Professor Park Seongtae… How did he even find us?"
"That… I don't really know either."
Gretchen shook her head. I watched her for a moment, then closed my eyes.
"Still… I should go thank him."
"Are you sure you're all right? It might be better if you rested a little longer…"
"I'm fine. Thanks to you, my body's in perfect shape. Your recovery magic never misses."
"Mm…"
At the compliment, Gretchen flushed faintly and looked away, embarrassed. But only for a moment. The worry settled back over her face as she turned to me again.
"We already got attacked by other witches once…"
"I told you, I'm fine. Besides, no one can start anything during the day anyway."
"That's…"
"More importantly, are you okay? After Ceres last time, you completely ran out of mana afterward. You're not forcing yourself through it again, are you?"
Last time, just like this one, she'd restored my body after a brutal fight and then burned through the rest of her mana putting up a presence-concealing barrier so the other witches couldn't track us. Which had led to a rather… undignified method of replenishing her mana.
Gretchen must have remembered it too. An awkward look crossed her face.
"I'm still all right. If I rest properly, I won't be a burden to you, Doyun-nim."
"Yeah? That's a relief, then. Anyway, I'm going to go see Professor Park Seongtae."
"But…"
"Don't worry. If he'd wanted to take us down, he would've done it right then, while we were weak. The fact that he didn't… means he at least has no intention of hurting us, right?"
Unable to find a counterargument, Gretchen closed her mouth. And at last, as if giving up, she said,
"Even so, I'll watch over you from a distance."
"Yeah. Thanks."
I stepped outside.
The sky was bright, a blazing white sun pouring light over the earth. Looking around, everything was calm. Peaceful.
"…This is where I got my ass kicked."
By day, this street was a street of peace. By night, a street of murder.
Walking down a thoroughly ordinary road, I felt that gulf between day and night settle over me, and I headed for the university.
It was a day off, so there weren't many students around—just a handful heading to the library. Having already visited three times, I made my way to Professor Park Seongtae's office without needing directions.
Knock knock knock.
"It's me. Han Doyun."
"Come in."
I opened the door. As usual, Professor Park Seongtae was at his desk, working through a stack of papers.
"Your injuries—are they all right?"
"Yes. Thanks to your concern, I'm fine."
"Have a seat first. You came because you had something to say, didn't you?"
"Yes, sir."
I sat in the chair set out for me. Professor Park finished organizing his work and took the seat across from me.
"It seems that with the one who'd been running wild hunting witches and contractors gone, the other witches and contractors have started acting up. One of those groups paid you a visit, I take it."
"Haha…"
Ceres and Kang Seonghun. With those two gone, this was what happened. They'd been threats, sure—but maybe they'd also been a kind of deterrent.
"You don't look well. Are you certain last night's injuries weren't more serious than you're letting on?"
"I'm truly fine."
"Well, that's good to hear… So then, what do you plan to do going forward? I happened to find you this time and you made it out safely, but it's hard to believe the same thing will happen again."
He was right. The ones who'd attacked us this time had been an alliance of two. One team at a time we might have managed—but facing two teams at once would end exactly the way it had last night.
"…We're planning to leave."
"I see. Not a bad choice."
I told him the plan I hadn't mentioned last time. He'd helped us, so I figured I owed him that much in return—but Professor Park didn't press any further. Maybe because I'd shown my wariness before. Instead, he simply nodded as if he understood.
"So that's why you turned down my alliance proposal last time."
"Yes. Something like that."
"It's not a bad decision. The problem is… finding the right place, and whether or not a dangerous witch already occupies it. That about cover it?"
"…We're thinking of going to Gangwon Province."
At my answer, Professor Park's eyebrows lifted slightly. Then he stroked his chin and smiled faintly at our plan.
"An excellent choice."
"I-is it?"
"According to my contracted witch, this world has mana as well. But that mana is incompatible with witches. So they filter it through a contractor and use it to cast magic."
"Ah—I've heard about that too."
Gretchen had mentioned something similar when she was explaining contractors.
"Apparently there are spots on Earth where this mana gathers. One of them, it seems, is mountains. I take it you're headed for Mount Taebaek."
"Ah… You figured it out."
I hadn't expected him to pin down our destination from a clue that thin. Feeling awkward, I scratched the back of my head. Professor Park laughed heartily at the sight of me.
"I am your senior, after all."
"…Come to think of it, Professor—how long have you been part of this festival?"
"Ah, that? I first set foot in this festival of madness half a year ago."
"H-half a year ago?"
So this festival had been going on for at least six months. Did that mean Gretchen had been wandering around without a contractor for half a year at minimum?
Or else…
Did she have another contractor… before me?
Whether Gretchen had had a contractor before me wasn't particularly important. Even so, it nagged at me a little.
"So will you be leaving right away? Given that you've already been attacked, it would probably be best to go as soon as possible."
"Ah—my little sister is home right now, so I can't leave immediately. We're planning to go in two days."
"I see."
Professor Park gave a light nod.
"Ah, I've gotten off track. Honestly, I only came to thank you for helping us this time."
"What? Haha, think nothing of it. As an educator, protecting one's students is only natural."
Creak. Click.
Han Doyun left.
Professor Park Seongtae watched the door for a moment after Doyun had gone, then rose from his seat and walked to the window. He drew a cigarette from his coat, set it between his lips,
Tap tap. Fsssh.
lit it, and gazed out through the glass.
A short while later, he spotted Doyun heading toward the university's main gate.
"Two days from now…"
After murmuring that to himself, Professor Park Seongtae gave his own shadow a couple of light taps.
"Marion."
The shadow writhed.
"The hunt is tonight. Tell the others."
Having said that, Professor Park Seongtae took out his smartphone and placed a call. After a few rings, the other end picked up.
"Ah, it's you. Yes. I've got a job for you."
Something came back over the line. And at the end of it—
"Yes, good. I'll leave it to you."
He hung up, then closed his eyes.
P-please, spare us… Professor! You said we were allies!!…
Th-then why!…
"…To think there were this many student contractors around me."
The corner of his mouth curled upward.
Not the calm, peaceful, earnest smile of an educator—but the chilling smile of a killer.