Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 018
Chapter Title: Ghostbuster (2)
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Kim Yohan stepped out of the bathroom after a quick rinse, slipping into a soft bathrobe.
The soda that had splashed onto his hair was washed away, leaving him feeling refreshed.
A hotel famous in the reviews for its milk bath service.
Not that he'd booked it specifically to indulge.
Splash- splash-!
He watched Grizzly splashing around in the oversized bathtub, curled up and playing in the water.
"Grizzly, you like it?"
"Gya! Gyagyagyagyagya!"
He seemed to be enjoying it immensely.
"Just be careful not to break the tub."
Sure, Grizzly sometimes opened and closed the fridge door on his own whim, but he'd been on his best behavior at Smith's mansion. This was his reward.
They'd worked together. Time to splurge as a team.
Basking in the warm sunlight filtering into the hotel room, he gazed out at the scenery.
Doing this while everyone else was at work made him feel like a big shot.
...Well, reality was a leave-of-absence student who'd quit his part-time gig, scraping by as a freelancer with irregular pay.
Ghostbuster or not.
Thirty million won from exorcising the Boogeyman.
It was a hefty sum, but when he thought about future expenses, booking a hotel like this to kick back was pure luxury. Still, splurge while you had the cash. You couldn't exactly do it when you were broke.
He'd earned it. Time to relax at his own pace.
...Though in the end, he couldn't quite zone out completely.
He sat down in a chair, narrowing his eyes.
"........."
His gaze settled on the two grimoires sitting on the table.
A book with a dark iron cover and one with worn leather binding.
Mysteries of Insects,
Lesser Key of Solomon,
Somehow, he'd ended up with two grimoires.
'The orphan kid with no folks turns out to be a total heartthrob for grimoires-!?'
All they needed now was to transform into the city's top busty, beautiful virgins.
"-Hah!"
Joking aside, who knew why.
Either way, they must like him—enough to splash soda in his face and force themselves on him.
...And looking on the bright side, he had needed a new grimoire.
He reached out, picked up Mysteries of Insects, and flipped it open.
He stared at the pages covered in incomprehensible script.
He hadn't even mastered all the readable sections yet.
It only revealed the tools needed to learn magic and some basic beginner spells—the rest felt locked away for now.
How did you unlock the rest?
"........."
This stuff usually unlocked by getting stronger. Or maybe...
He glanced toward the bathroom, where Grizzly was still splashing in the tub.
Did he need to bond more with Grizzly, who was linked to the grimoire? ...What was this, some Gash Bell ripoff?
'Grizzly! It's a new spell! Baoo Grizzly!'
'Gyaah! Gyagyagyagya gyaah!'
A ridiculously childish fantasy flashed through his mind for a split second.
He shook it off fast.
Either way, with Mysteries of Insects stumping him, studying magic from the new Lesser Key of Solomon seemed like a solid plan.
He set down Mysteries of Insects.
The iron cover vibrated with obvious dissatisfaction—uung-uung—but he ignored it.
He opened Lesser Key of Solomon and read.
As the book advised, he had zero plans to mess with demon summoning, so he flipped the page.
He didn't fancy himself some super clever schemer who could outwit demons in a battle of wits.
...If he were that sly, he wouldn't have majored in philosophy.
So, no demon summoning, period.
Best to dodge risks entirely if possible.
Still, countermeasures were worth knowing for later.
But this wasn't what he was after right now.
At his current level, Solomon's 72 demons—those subculture staples—were way out of his league.
What he wanted was...
As if reading his thoughts, the page turned on its own.
...There it was.
Pentagram. Also known as a pentacle.
A ritual aid: magic circles pre-drawn on metal medallions or parchment.
The pentagram—a five-pointed star—was a key element in magic.
Mysteries of Insects had content on it too.
But that only covered basic, universal pentacles etched with standard spells.
Lesser Key of Solomon proved its title wasn't clickbait.
It listed Solomon's 44 pentacles.
Pentacles that drew power from the seven planets.
Well, technically the sun was a star and the moon a satellite, but let's lump them in as planets for convenience.
Saturn's 1st Pentacle. Saturn's 2nd Pentacle...
Each of the seven planets had its assigned pentacles.
"Let's see the crafting method..."
Pentacles could be made from metal or parchment.
For metal versions, you needed metals matching each planet's attributes.
Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Sun.
Moon: silver. Mars: iron. Mercury: mercury alloy. Jupiter: tin. Venus: copper. Saturn: lead. Sun: gold... gold?
He closed his eyes, massaged the bridge of his nose for a moment, then opened them again.
No change. Sun was gold.
And the moon wasn't innocent either, just overshadowed.
...No, the moon and sun?
Major planets or not, wasn't this overkill?
What, did the other five have no pride—no precious metals?
Have some pity on a mage's wallet...
"Sigh..."
He knew it was pointless griping.
Of course Solomon—a prince turned king—threw expensive materials around like confetti when casting spells.
Not summoning his 72 demon lords on a whim? Whatever... these materials were so pricey he couldn't summon anyway.
His gaze drifted slyly to the grimoire with the cold iron cover.
Mysteries of Insects.
Maybe the book by that street-crusader author was more beginner-friendly after all.
He closed Lesser Key of Solomon, picked up Mysteries of Insects, and read the pentacle instructions.
This one detailed parchment production.
This sounded exactly like the pottery instructions he'd seen...
Make the parchment himself?
An old medieval method, but the steps were laid out.
"........."
No... make his own pottery bowls and parchment?
Was he a mage? Or some production-class grunt?
He rested his chin in his hand, pondering.
...Do I really need pentacles?
Couldn't he just pull mana from the air like in fantasy novels?
Basic fantasy 1-circle spells: ball up mana and hurl it.
Not even Magic Missile in these junky, commoner grimoires. He casually scooped them up and tossed them aside.
Clang- thump-
The two grimoires rolled pathetically across the hotel table.
And at that very moment, in Finland.
The owner of Book of Raziel the Angel.
A beautiful girl with silver-white hair.
Elsi, the saintess of the Order of the Holy Maiden, was searching the internet about Korea.
"Hehe~ Raziel, watch over me. I'll dig into Korea and track down where this Yohan guy's hiding."
"Finland to... Korea... Huh? What's this?"
Elsi's sky-blue eyes blinked.
"Hwan-guk VS Finland Extreme Super War... Hwan-Fin War?"
She'd stumbled upon a mysterious past war for Earth's hegemony.
"Allies... Tyrannosaurus... Space Marine Chapter joins?"
A weary voice echoed from Book of Raziel the Angel.