006 - What Magicians Do # 3
006 - What Magicians Do # 3
006 - What Magicians Do # 3
"Ha, fucking bastard doing security work on a Friday night at his age—"
After being blocked from entering the basement of the abandoned building, Jang Geunbeom spewed curses as if throwing up his guts.
Even so, his rage from being humiliated didn't cool down.
"Ah, what the hell. I dressed up pretty today thinking we were shooting a video."
"Ah, seriously, all because of one loser bastard—"
The women were also hurling curses at the security guard right along with Jang Geunbeom.
But if it ended like this, they would talk shit about Jang Geunbeom behind his back too.
That couldn't be allowed to happen.
So Geunbeom went to his rental car and pulled out the thing he had stashed in the trunk.
"Ta-da."
"Oppa, what's that?"
"What else? Bolt cutters. I already checked the location of the basement earlier."
"Oh, look at that preparation."
"As expected of a 100k MeTuber!"
"Silence! Lower your voices, wenches."
Escorting the squealing women, Geunbeom headed toward the iron lid in the bushes.
But a problem arose.
Kkang! Kkang-kkang—!
"Ah, fuck. Why isn't it cutting?"
The industrial bolt cutters, capable of biting through rebar in a single snap, bounced off without even breaking the old iron chain, let alone the padlock.
In fact, it was the bolt cutters that got chipped instead.
The gazes of the women looking at Geunbeom instantly turned ice-cold.
"Oppa, what are you doing? Put some muscle into it."
"Wow, fucking weakling. Acting all tough earlier."
Eudeuk—. Eudeuk—.
Geunbeom gnashed his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.
At that moment, An Miyeong of 'Miyeong TV' pointed into the bushes.
"Oppa, isn't there a hole over there?"
A hole?
At her words, Geunbeom turned his head.
Hidden among the bushes, a hole spacious enough for a person to easily fit through was wide open in the ground.
Go-o-o-o—.
Beyond the hole was nothing but pitch-black darkness, making it look almost like someone's wide-open throat.
'...What is this? It wasn't here when I looked earlier.'
A suspicious feeling hit him hard, but it was currently 2 AM.
According to what he had looked up, it would soon be patrol time for the abandoned building's security guard.
It would be better to enter through the hole before that annoying guard showed up to hassle them.
A normal person would feel uneasy about heading into the basement of an abandoned building where who knows what might be waiting.
But Jang Geunbeom was a MeTuber.
He was so thirsty for provocative content that it almost pained him.
To him, this abandoned building was a gold mine that could revive his MeTube channel, whose growth and revenue had begun to slow down.
And the reason for that lay in a certain 'video' he had watched a while ago.
「Hello! This is Nikon from Ghost Story Unicorn! Today, I'm going to be a daily night guard at the building famous for being haunted in Sanmun-dong!」
It was a live stream video of a MeTuber Geunbeom benchmarked.
That day, too, Geunbeom was monitoring Nikon's content to steal ideas, and around the one-hour mark, goosebumps swept over him.
During patrol time, Nikon had headed into the basement of the abandoned building, and the moment he shone his lantern inside the dark basement, he ended the stream with a loud scream.
Staged? Isn't he overacting too much—
Geunbeom had thought so at first, but seeing 'Nikon' not hold any live streams for days changed his mind.
'Did he actually go missing?'
'What if I go to the basement and find that bastard Nikon? Or find some clues?'
'Even if Nikon staged it, I can pivot to a fake video exposure stream, so anything works.'
Just the thought made the corners of his mouth stretch from ear to ear.
Tat, tak—.
Stepping inside like that, he landed in the basement.
The height wasn't that high.
About 2 meters from the hole to the ground.
For Geunbeom, who worked out his muscles just to show off in front of women, it was a piece of cake.
The women hooked up the strings and ropes they had prepared in advance and lowered themselves to the ground.
"Woah shit, Oppa, I can't see a single thing."
"The atmosphere is crazy. Isn't it a bit chilly?"
The women chimed in one by one.
If their instincts had been a bit sharper, they would have noticed that white mist puffed from their mouths every time they spoke.
Just then, Miyeong turned on her phone's flashlight to illuminate the surroundings.
"It just looks kind of desolate?"
As the light shone, a scenery like an ordinary abandoned basement was revealed.
Things like waste materials were left abandoned, with a thick layer of dust settled over them.
Uuk—.
Right then, someone gagged.
It was Kim Iryeong, the woman active under the concept of 'College Student Shaman'.
"Ugh, what is this place? I think there's a weird smell too."
As Kim Iryeong pinched her nose, ttogaak— the sound of something breaking was heard.
Geunbeom had stepped on something lying on the floor.
Degururu—.
It was a doll.
An old Japanese-style doll.
Seeing the doll remnants rolling on the floor, Miyeong cackled.
"Oppa is gonna be cursed now!"
"Bullshit, curse my ass."
The moment Geunbeom twisted the corners of his mouth upward in defiance.
From far away, Ahhhhhhh—! a loud scream rang out.
Then something ran toward them rapidly. As the women shrieked in shock, "Eek!" "Ahhh!", an unidentified someone started yelling wildly at Geunbeom.
"Ahhh! A person! A person! It worked! It worked, damn it!"
It was a stark-naked man.
He lunged at Geunbeom as if attacking, clinging to him and groping him all over.
"R...Didn't you bring the rules sheet? The rules sheet! Ahhh...! These m...monkeys! You monkey bastards! Ahhhhh!"
"What the fuck? What is he saying?!"
Thinking he might be some homeless guy staying here, Geunbeom wondered if he should throw a punch, but he quickly recognized that filthy face.
"Huh? Nikon?"
The MeTuber Nikon, presumed missing.
Finding him instantly lifted Geunbeom's mood.
Jackpot—
However, that joy was short-lived as Nikon tore wildly at his hair, throwing a fit.
"L...Let me out! Let me out now! I d...did everything according to the rules! Where is it! Where! Ahhhhh! What the fuck more do I have to do?!"
"What the hell is this guy talking about?"
Geunbeom snickered.
As he prepared his camera—
The smile wiped right off the college student Iryeong's face.
Because she, having relatively good instincts, was the only one who noticed the anomaly.
"...Wait, where did the hole we came in through go?"
"What?"
【Wagi-jagi.】
At that moment, it appeared.
As if it had been there from the very beginning.
Nikon pissed himself, unable to hold it in any longer.
"Ahhhhh, K...Komori! Komori!"
# # #
Something I learned while living with Boribori over the past few days.
Although Boribori is presumed to be a 'devil'? He's surprisingly tame.
He didn't try to cause any trouble, just watching the world from a corner with eyes full of vigilance.
As for food, he wasn't picky at all and ate whatever I gave him.
Is it a relief that he doesn't demand goats, sheep, or living sacrifices?
Pat-!
That Boribori suddenly bristled his tail.
And then, staring at the floor, he made an intimidating growl like an angry beast, Grrrr—.
"...Wagi-jagi!"
It was an unfamiliar word.
But my mind, which had started getting pretty smart lately, immediately recalled where and when I had seen something similar.
It was the 「Dori Building Security Rules」.
4. Survival tips upon encountering Wagijagi-nim in the basement
Remove everything with your name written on it.
If you make eye contact, you must say "Komori."
Upon encountering body parts such as legs or arms, offer the clothing worn on that respective body part.
They were strange~ rules for a simple security job.
Honestly, I had been concerned about them.
Who knew the word 'Wagijagi' would come out of Boribori's mouth.
Ppi-bi-bik—.
Right then, the alarm rang.
Before I knew it, it was 3 AM.
It was patrol time.
I grabbed my lantern once again and left the office.
Boribori tagged along behind me with pitter-pattering steps, pat-pat-pat.
"Basement entrance still has no issues!"
Deolkeong-deolkeong—.
Looking at the basement lid where I had drawn the magic circle of sealing, I felt relieved.
Because I was worried Jang Geunbeom, whom I met earlier, might bring something like bolt cutters to break the chain and padlock to get in.
But it seemed he hadn't.
Or maybe he tried to and failed—?
Hwio-o-o-o—.
Right then, wind blew from somewhere.
Wondering what it was, I looked and heard the sound of wind like a powerful air conditioner blast, hwio-o-o-o—, coming from the thick bushes beside the basement lid.
As I approached closer, there was something strange.
"What's this? A hole?"
A hole big enough for a person to fit into with room to spare.
The shape gapping open in the ground was pitch-black like the open mouth of a giant fish.
I unfolded the security rules sheet I brought with me.
3. Entering the basement strictly prohibited
After 22:00, fully lock down all basement entrances and increase patrols. If the basement entrance door is open, offer a sacrifice to the altar underground.
Item number 3 was bothering me.
If the basement entrance door is open, offer a sacrifice to the altar underground.
"Boribori, should we consider this an entrance door being open?"
It's a hole drilled down to the basement.
Can that be called an entrance door?
In the first place, what defines an entrance door?
If it's a boundary through which one can exit and enter, can it be called an entrance door?
Under such a broad concept, this hole would technically be included as an entrance door.
'What would happen if I ignore this rule...?'
I glanced subtly at the devil Boribori.
I also recalled Ming-ssi, who had been a vampire.
In a world where evil spirits and devils actually exist, what are the odds of things resolving smoothly with a ~nothing happened~ vibe if you don't follow an 'unidentified rule'?
"...Ah, shit, I don't want to go in."
Normally, I would never put my body into a mysterious hole like this.
But after meeting Boribori, and getting attacked by Ming-ssi—
I came to realize that there were things in this world that 'I didn't know about.'
Just because pheasants startled by gunshot bury their heads in the dirt doesn't mean the hunter disappears.
Just because I turn a blind eye, those things won't go away.
Maybe ignoring it might even bring about greater misfortune.
"Alright, I'm a magician, after all."
Maybe I can discover a new magic spell or something under that hole that I didn't know before.
Steeling my resolve like that, I extended my foot toward the hole.
Since a climbing rope was hooked up, likely set up by someone, going down seems surprisingly easy.
Tat.
Landing in the damp, cold basement like that, the first thing I saw was—
Doors with crimson pillars.
Such structures sprouted wildly, crisscrossing left and right, and upside down from the high tops of the gates hung objects like black umbrellas, which upon closer inspection were extremely massive bats.
"Uwah shit, what is this?"
"Torii—."
Boribori, who followed me down into the basement, spoke.
I wondered what that meant, but I checked the rules sheet first.
「Dori Building Security Rules」
3-1. Sacrifice Management Guidelines
Sacrifices are stocked in generous quantities within the storage box inside the basement
It definitely said to offer a sacrifice to the altar—.
Wondering where the sacrifice storage was, I turned my head and saw something like a display case set up against the wall between the crimson gates.
Inside it was a doll wearing fluttering cloth clothes with black hair.
At a glance, it was a filthy doll.
Its appearance was somewhat creepy too.
......Don't tell me that's the sacrifice storage?
I approached and tried to take out the doll.
Deolkeong-deolkeong—.
However, iron bars were guarding the doll extremely firmly.
Perhaps because it was abandoned for a long time and rusted, it was so stiff that no matter how much force I applied, it wouldn't open.
"How do I get this open?"
Should I ask Boribori for help?
Boribori was just gaping wide yawns behind me.
It seems we aren't that close yet.
So after contemplating for a long while—a good idea suddenly flashed in my head.
The magic circle of 'Sealing', drawn as a circle with a triangle inside it.
What if I drew it in reverse?
Drawing the triangle on the outermost side and a circle in its center.
I imagined that it might have the opposite effect of 'Sealing'.
Deciding to try it immediately, the moment I drew a small magic circle on the iron bars with a water-based pen—
Cheolkeodeok-!
"Woah shit, this actually works?"
The opposite of sealing is opening.
The magic circle of Opening!
At this point, I think I can proudly call myself a real 'magician'!
"Doll, you're mine!"