Chapter 8
Translator: True Detective
I Became a Martial God (5)
The abandoned school night guard part-time job was a much better job than I thought.
Although I got swept up in the anomalous phenomenon called Yeongshin Elementary School from the very first day, it was still quite fine if you excluded that incident.
After all, if they let it slide without saying much when I was late to my shift because I was resolving the Monkey Dream, that says it all.
"If I had my way, I'd want this as my lifelong job, really."
The only flaw is that I have to take a bus to a remote place every day, but excluding that, there is nothing unsatisfying, from the work contents to the salary level.
'He said the salary would be paid in a lump sum as a monthly wage when the period ends, so it looks like I'll mainly be training bare-handed martial arts like Footwork and Fist Techniques rather than Swordsmanship for a while.'
Returning home after finishing my shift and watching the sunrise, I prepared a simple breakfast. It was about time to eat, and on top of that, my stamina had dropped somewhat because I was resolving the Monkey Dream before my shift.
The meal simply consisted of a glass of milk, scrambled eggs made by cracking three eggs, and lastly, two slices of bread pan-fried in oil.
If I had my way, I would have liked to toast the bread with butter, but unfortunately, butter was far too expensive in Korea, a country where the distribution structure is as complicatedly twisted as martial arts oral chants.
'Is this peaceful time awkward because I've rolled around a few times?'
I fell into thought while chewing on the bread and eggs, enjoying the quiet stillness of the morning. It was because even the time I used to spend without any thought until recently suddenly felt awkward.
My tasks for today are simple. Eat breakfast, spend my time freely, and then go to my study room part-time job. It's good to practice martial arts during my free time, and study for university sitting in a designated seat during my study room job.
There is no special daily routine, but strangely, this extremely ordinary everyday life felt awkward. It was even more so because I had been swept up in all sorts of anomalous phenomena over the past month.
It felt as if the world I lived in had changed. It was a feeling similar to when I first formed a Dantian and stepped into the world of martial arts.
'No, it must be true that it actually changed.'
There is a common saying that there is no benefit in knowing. There is also the phrase 'curse of knowledge.' The media and situations they each appear in are different, but at least the common context matches.
If you come to know this knowledge, you can no longer return to before you knew it. Whether voluntarily or involuntarily, just knowing it distances you from your life up to this point.
'Because I found out facts that an ordinary person would never know, nor could ever know in their lifetime.'
The Mystic Management Bureau and anomalous phenomena were exactly that kind of knowledge.
Supernatural beings that you don't know when, where, or how they will threaten your life, and a secret organization that conceals and manages such beings.
If I were just an ordinary human, I would merely tremble in fear or request help from the Bureau, but because I have trained in martial arts, I cannot hastily ask them for help either.
Thinking that way, a chuckle escaped me without my realizing it.
'Should I express this as having finally found my nest?'
Martial arts is absolutely not an ordinary power. It is a power that allows a human to surpass humanity, and its very essence is seeking transcendence with a human body.
Naturally, I, who have cultivated it to the Peak Realm, absolutely cannot be considered an ordinary human either.
'A special human and a special organization.'
The Mystic Management Bureau is the same. To manage anomalous phenomena that transcend human common sense, humans who transcend common sense to that extent would naturally be needed.
Perhaps if I visited the Bureau, it's not impossible that they might welcome me, saying 'New recruits are always welcome' like the iconic line from a famous FPS game.
'The problem is just that I can't be certain of that.'
When planning something in life, you must always make decisions with the worst-case scenario in mind, assuming a situation where things don't work out well.
It is a kind of truth I realized through my life experiences.
'Isn't there a way to make a living with martial arts?'
Honestly, if they let me be an oriental medicine doctor, I'm confident I could do a really good job. While training in martial arts and studying the human body and acupoints, you naturally become somewhat familiar with traditional medicine.
I don't know about prescribing medicine or things like that, but I can definitely pull off the kind of treatment that involves stabbing acupoints with acupuncture needles imbued with Inner Qi.
'If truly ghost-like beings roam around, playing the role of an exorcist might not be bad either.'
In truth, if I really operated like that, it feels like the Bureau would come biting at my tail again, but nonetheless, it was an imagination hard to easily shake off.
"Phew, forget it."
Continuing my thoughts alone like that, I let out a sigh as I cleared my empty plate.
'I haven't even seen a ghost so far, and even if I can really earn money with martial arts, I need to know what to do and how.'
Ultimately, the only thing I can do right now is part-time jobs. Or filling up my credits at university, graduating, and then aiming for employment at a decent company.
'Once my part-time salary comes in, I won't have to worry about money for a while, so let's just focus on what I can do right now.'
Scattering my thoughts that had been branching out here and there, I washed the cooking utensils and dishes I used to prepare and eat breakfast.
Because rather than letting chores pile up out of annoyance, it was better to finish them quickly whenever they arose.
This too was one of the small truths I realized while living.
—Vooom!
And, it was around the time I finished washing the dishes.
—Vooom!
"...What?"
Suddenly, the phone I had placed on the dining table vibrated twice in a row. Drying my hands and picking up the phone to check, a text sent by the police saying they were looking for missing persons had arrived.
A missing person alert text. It wasn't very special content. It's a text you receive at least once in your life, and the intent is good, so you don't feel bad receiving it like a spam text.
However, checking the text, I slightly furrowed my brow.
'Why are there so many coming these days?'
Timing-wise, was it around the time I wiped out Yeongshin Elementary School? For about the past week, alert texts looking for missing persons flew in strangely often.
It was so bad that the number of missing person alert texts that flew in over the past week was practically more than all the missing person alert texts I had received prior to that.
'Has a new type of criminal organization appeared and started running rampant? There've been a lot of grim rumors about organ trafficking and whatnot going around lately, too.'
Furthermore, the information on the missing persons was also somewhat strange.
Usually, a missing person alert text comes with a brief description of the missing person's personal information. It provides everything from the area they went missing, their height, age, and weight, to the clothes they were wearing at the time.
Moreover, most of the missing persons in the alert texts I had received up until now were either young or old. It meant that among the missing, children or the elderly formed the absolute majority.
However, the missing persons introduced in the alert texts that poured in over the past week were different.
'...They are young.'
Regardless of men or women, almost all the missing persons were young. The oldest missing person was only 34 years old.
'These kinds of people suddenly went missing?'
They were people who, even when examining all their information like height and weight, had no major issues. Perfectly fine, sturdy young adults had suddenly started disappearing.
'The police must be busy, too.'
I don't know exactly what kind of case it is, but if it's an incident of this magnitude, there was a high probability that the police would also act actively.
Because it would also receive a lot of national attention. Whether to build their performance record or to implement justice, they would surely step up actively.
Putting down my phone, I inwardly prayed that the missing persons would be safe, and furthermore, that the police would resolve the case as soon as possible.
'I can't rule out the possibility that some anomalous phenomenon is running rampant, like the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path or Yeongshin Elementary School, but...'
Unless I or someone around me gets swept up in it, there is no reason to actively go out looking for it.
Because even if it's not me, there is an organization in this country that professionally resolves such matters anyway.
If it's a crime between humans, it's a problem for the police to resolve, and if it's an incident between an anomalous phenomenon and humans, it's a problem for the Mystic Management Bureau to handle.
'The timing is awkward. I don't have quite enough time to practice other things, so I should just go to the study room.'
Even though I fought and traded blows with monkeys in a dream, I still slept anyway. Rather, thanks to the anomalous phenomenon, I slept longer than usual, so I didn't particularly have any mental fatigue left from lack of sleep.
'Clothes... well, I guess I don't need to change. The abandoned school night guard job isn't the kind of work where smells seep in.'
I shoved my phone and wallet deep into my pants pocket. The weather outside was still chilly, but I left the house without specifically putting on a separate coat or anything.
Because since reaching the Peak Realm, my body has become well-enduring against cold or heat. This is the reason my attire is no longer greatly affected by the seasons.
'Come to think of it, the contract period for my study room part-time job is almost ending, too.'
Since it's a part-time job I contracted to do for about a year starting last year, I need to start looking for a new part-time job once the study room contract ends.
'It was a cushy job, where will I find a part-time job as good as this again?'
Separate from the missing person alert text, at this rate, an alert was going to ring in my life as well.
A certain raw fish restaurant in Busan. The lights turned off at the raw fish restaurant, which had a slightly old building and sign that gave off the feeling of weathering the storms of time.
—Splash, splat, splat, splat.
From inside the raw fish restaurant, which had turned pitch black and appeared as if it were not operating, the sound of water pouring.
—Thwack, thwack, thwack!
Furthermore, the sound of bringing down a knife on raw fish to sever bones flowed out.
"Ugh, no. This isn't it."
Around the time the sound stopped, the lights flicked on and a man muttered in the kitchen. Bloodstains covered his mouth and body, and his surroundings were drenched in spilled blood.
Even though a sickening bloody stench filled the kitchen, the man acted as nonchalantly as if he couldn't smell it. He simply clicked his tongue with a dissatisfied expression and kicked away the 'leftovers' rolling around his feet.
"Mystery, there is a lack of mystery."
The kitchen had already long since become an environment full of blood where cooking something was impossible. And that amount of blood could never have come from prepping ordinary fish.
It was only natural. Because what the man had prepped and eaten was not fish.
"There is a clear limit to the level of mystery that can be obtained from the corpse of an ordinary human, even if steeped in curses and melted in agony."
The man, whose hands trembled like someone addicted to drugs, reached out. His hand approached a cutting board with a human arm resting on it, and a single book placed next to it.
That book was also the only item maintaining a clean appearance in the kitchen full of blood in all directions, including the man himself.
"Tell me. Tell me. Ancient Being, Immortal Spirit. Bestow upon me the wisdom of eternal life."
A book that drinks blood and swallows corpses. A forbidden book that deserves to be cursed.
"Teach me the magic to uncover more powerful mysteries, and thus the magic to allow me to swallow them."
On the cover of the book the man fumbled with while muttering madly, these letters were written.
[Cultes des Goules]
A grimoire called the Cults of the Ghouls in the East.
"Ah, aaah...! I found it. I found it! The eyes to see mystery! The eyes of a ghoul! With this, I can covet even greater mysteries!"
It was also the whole story behind the missing person cases occurring in Busan.