The Ultimate Mantra That Did Nothing
Harmful words have been blocked.
I was winning. I was sure of it.
Everything had been going smoothly. So why had it come to this?
"KRAAAAAAH!"
My side burst open.
That insane bastard had actually pulled the trigger.
Why?
"Kahaaack... kraaah...!"
Why had I been shot?
I was human. Those things were monsters. Why fire on a fellow human being?
The situation defied all understanding. My hands and mouth moved first — chanting a mantra, forming a mudra.
I had to live. I could not die like some pathetic fool from a single bullet. I had a mission. The power the Tower's Constellations had lent me — with that power, I was meant to illuminate the world. To protect myself and our land from those grotesque things that preyed on humanity.
"Khrrrk... Om chirim...! Hum batak savaha!"
"What the hell?! He's using healing magic too?!"
A clean through-and-through. That was a mercy, at least. Better than shrapnel left inside. Through-wounds were easier to mend.
I finished the mantra and sealed the mudra. My wound closed as if it were being erased, and the bleeding stopped.
"You little—!"
"Ugh! He's back up!"
The yokai weren't the problem. That tall one and the masked one — I could subdue them whenever I wished. The human with the gun was almost certainly under some thrall. Break the spell, and the situation would turn.
The real problem was that thing.
A girl who could not be sorted into human or anomaly. An error that belonged to neither this world nor the next. Something that stood at the boundary of underground and surface, and smiled.
What in the world is that?
I had never seen anything like it in my life. The unknown always bred fear — but if fear took hold, you could no longer fight. I hauled my will back up by the roots.
Better to die alongside those monsters than let something like that roam the land where my family, my friends, my lover walked. Even if it cost my life, I would end this here.
The resolve of a man prepared to die.
"Om sammaya ginihari hum batak!"
My Bogeuksu Jinon — fired at the cost of a permanent drop in mental power. A finishing blow that poured out nearly every scrap of strength the Constellation had given me.
What? Why... why...
She was fine?
The resolve I had staked my life on had been stopped. Effortlessly. A technique that had wagered an entire human life scattered and vanished into nothing.
"Hm? Oh — was that a skill just now? Aimed at me?"
"....How. What kind of trick..."
"Eh, whatever. Didn't feel like much."
How could something like this be possible?
Thought itself refused to continue. Even after taking a technique into which I had poured everything I was, that thing stood completely unharmed. My will buckled. I could no longer believe I might win.
"Anyway, bald monk mister — how are you still alive after taking a bullet? You're not even bleeding. So you can use healing magic. That means you could get shot all day and not die, right? Just heal it. Yeah? Am I wrong?"
"...Kh..."
Impossible to oppose. Impossible to understand. Impossible... to flee.
"Bald monk mister, where do you keep trying to run off to?"
"W-Wait..! You vile thing! Stay away from me!"
An appearance that beguiled people. A build that advertised harmlessness. A scent that won unconditional favor, and gestures that pried open the doors of the heart. That thing wore the archetype of a "little girl" like a skin.
"Still full of energy, huh. Hey, Gu Gitae."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
"Keep that gun pointed right at the bald monk's forehead. If he tries to run, shoot. Understood?"
"Ah. Understood, Manager."
That uncanny thing ordered the armed man around like a subordinate, then fixed me with a single look.
A frog before a snake. Prey that had met its natural predator. Cold sweat poured down like rain. My legs shook; my fingertips trembled.
Could there truly exist an anomaly against which the power granted by the One Who Weaves Prayer — against which my own mantra arts — simply did not work?
What am I fighting right now?
Only then did I begin to understand the situation I was facing.
Indiscriminate gunfire aimed at a problem customer. A ruptured side. Blood pouring out!
The Mental Filter has activated.
Filter kicking in at exactly the right moment — very nice. Whew. Bright red blood is kind of gross to look at. Glad it got toned down to a nice gray.
"KRAAAAAAH!"
The bald monk was screaming at us like he couldn't believe we'd actually shot him.
Uh, funny guy? Why are you the one yelling at us? Shouldn't we be the ones who are mad? You attacked first! You throw the opening punch and then play the victim?! You mess with Popo, who was just standing there minding her own business, and you should have expected to get hit!
"Uh? M-Manager! That bastard's getting back up!"
"What the hell?! He's using healing magic too!"
What kind of stubborn life force was this? If he could take a bullet and stand back up, we were kind of out of options!
"Om sammaya ginihari hum batak!"
"Uegh..!"
The Mental Filter has blocked harmful words.
"....Huh?"
What? That's it? No, seriously?
That expression, that body language — the bald monk had clearly just scraped up every last scrap of stored power and thrown his ultimate at me. And it didn't work?
The Mental Filter had shut it down clean. What kind of performance specs does this Mental Filter even have?
"Miss..!!!! Are you all right!?"
"Boss..! You can't die!!!!"
Uh, I'm fine, though. So fine I could probably do three aerial flips in this condition. No wait — I'm a little girl right now, so three might be pushing it. One flip, maybe?
"Ahem. Wasn't much."
"Miss...!"
"Boss? Wow, as expected.. as expected of our Boss!"
I genuinely hadn't taken a single point of damage. But somehow, with Popo and Kuku reacting like that, I ended up pretending I'd tanked it on purpose... which might look a little pathetic.
No, but what? What just happened? What skill did that bald monk even use? Why is everyone staring at me like I'm some kind of object of awe..!
I had no idea what was going on, but everyone was praising me, so I decided to just soak it up for now. More than anything, the bald monk's face was a masterpiece. He looked like he'd lost the entire world — pure, absolute despair.
Serves you right for spinning that garbage logic and trying to grind down our precious field employee Popo. Looking good, you bald-headed monk bastard.
"....How. What kind of trick..."
"Eh, whatever. Didn't feel like much."
"...No. This can't be.. I was prepared for permanent disability.. My effort.. my training.. the path I've walked.. was there no greater cause in my actions at all.. O Buddha. Have I failed to walk the proper path..."
"Ugh. What is he even saying."
I had no idea what he was muttering to himself about. He seemed completely broken mentally, so I figured I'd tidy up the situation first. Leave the bald monk with Gitae to keep an eye on him — and save our puppy, who was dying right now!
"Puppy! Are you okay?!"
Our puppy — what do we do? The body was so cold... dying...!
"Kuku! Get the box from the car trunk!"
"Yes, Boss!"
"A box?"
"You wouldn't know, Popo. Watch carefully. See what I brought."
Before long, Kuku came back into the abandoned motel's basement storeroom carrying a wooden crate. And inside that crate...
"This is...!"
"Twenty-four bottles of Almond Water."
A full twenty-four years' worth of rations. Any starving entity would be drooling and singing my praises on the spot.
"Kuku, you said Almond Water has healing effects on entities too, right?"
"Yes, Boss. Entities only need Almond Water sprinkled on a wound to heal!"
"Good. Popo, grab that basin over there."
"Yes, Miss... Wow. Twenty-four bottles.. waaah.."
There happened to be a basin of just the right size. I scooped up the three-eyed puppy and set it inside.
"All right, then. Let's get started."
"I-Is it really all right to use something this precious so freely?"
"I'll make sure you all get to drink plenty from now on, so let's save the one who's dying first."
"Yes! Understood, Boss!"
"Miss is truly.. such a compassionate person."
Glug-glug-glug-glug—!
Popo, Kuku, and I cracked open the Almond Water bottles and poured them into the basin. A rich, nutty scent. Ivory liquid flooded in until the injured puppy was fully submerged — and soon the three-eyed dog whimpered and opened its eyes.
"Mrrf..!"
"You're awake, Mokgu. Feeling a little more with it?"
"Mrrf...?"
"Hey! We told you clearly! The Manager was here!"
"Woof..!"
The Mental Filter has activated.
The three-eyed dog was cute, too. So its name was Mokgu.
"It's Sammokgu. Three eyes, so Three-Eyed Mokgu."
"Mokgu's fine, right?"
"Yes, Miss. Call it whatever is comfortable for you. Or you could give it a new name, if you like."
"Nah, I'll just call it Mokgu."
Mokgu staggered upright in the basin and sniffed my hand. The way it lapped at me with its tail wagging was way too cute. Baby dogs — the best.
"Keening."
[Manager. Real Manager?]
"What is this."
"No need to be startled. Mokgu can hold conversations, Miss."
"Boss! Mokgu communicates through mental waves via its third eye!"
A dog that could talk? Wasn't that every dog owner's ultimate dream dog?!
"Yeah. I'm the Manager. Basement Manager. From now on, our Mokgu won't go hungry — I'll make sure you're fed properly, got it?"
"Woof!"
[Real Manager... C-Can I go with the Manager?]
"Of course. Of course you're coming with me. Your dog life just got easy, you little guy. Welcome back to the basement."
Come on in. Into my basement.
"Woof! Woof!"
[Good! Manager good! Real Manager!]
The Almond Water had swept away even the shadows hanging over Mokgu's heart. Even the severed ear and tail had grown back. So Almond Water wasn't just some ordinary survival supply.
Put simply, it was the entities' "soul food." The way I couldn't live without hangover soup, pork cutlets, and spicy pork — for entities, Almond Water was life itself. Everything.
"M-Manager! This bastard is about to do something suspicious!"
"N-No! It's not suspicious! I-I was just... praying.."
This bald monk bastard couldn't even sit still for a second before trying something?! As if I wouldn't see through him trying to pray and power up! One look and you could tell he was running some faith-related skill, and the chants reeked of Buddhism. And a guy like that suddenly wants to pray?
"Mister. You want to die?"
"Khrrrk..."
"Keep scheming and I'll peel the scalp right off that shiny bald head."
"W-Wait..! Hic..."
"Scary, right? Terrifying, huh?"
How scared did a full-grown man have to be to start crying like that? He'd probably just realized his entire life had gone spectacularly off the rails.
I still didn't know exactly what he was, but he'd neutralized our field employee Popo — the same Popo who'd twisted the wrists of hunters who played around on the fiftieth floor like they were children. And yet, looking at how bottom-tier his people skills were, he seemed to be some specialized class built for entities.
I figured we needed to keep him alive and interrogate him.
"M-Manager. This bastard just pissed himself."
"...Oh, for— Gross!"
Looks like I scared him a little too hard. I did not expect the scalp-peeling threat to make him wet himself...
"Ahem. Bald monk mister. If you want to walk out of here alive, you spill everything about yourself."
"A-About me...?"
"Yeah. Real name, age, address, family relations — and your class and skills. All of it."
"B-But... class-related information is under a seal, so..."
"A seal?"
"Yes... B-Because of the contract with my Constellation.. I can't disclose it. If I'm forced to speak.. I die immediately."
"....What?"
No. What kind of insane contract is that. Just talking about it and your life is gone?
What even are Constellations.
These bastards are pure evil, aren't they?