Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Heart-Pounding Cruise Trip
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Hotel suite room.
Eddie took a sip of whiskey while gazing at the city nightscape sprawling out the window.
“…….”
Born in England, he had never once set foot in the backwater known as East Asia. There had been no need to venture beyond Europe, the mage's stronghold.
He had visited the Middle East a few times, but this was his first time coming to the small country called Korea.
‘Not exactly a great place to live.’
Clack.
He set the whiskey glass down on the table and thought.
Seoul's beautiful night view. Yet an inescapable stench of blood permeated it.
Korea was one of the strangest countries.
Thanks to its advanced internet, it endlessly collected ghost stories and information from around the world, resulting in an abnormally high number of anomalies being born.
And yet, it had unofficial mage organizations like some European countries, along with psychics and even shamans—exorcist priests by another name.
This tiny nation had everything. Even the Management Bureau's capabilities were superior to those of other countries, so it wasn't surprising that they somehow kept this blood-soaked city intact.
Probably right now, someone somewhere was dying and someone else surviving, leading to new recruits joining the Management Bureau.
Perhaps the Korean Management Bureau was so competent because of their lenient hiring policies. Most countries subjected anomaly encounters to endless tests and exams before even considering employment....
Korea, on the other hand, hired first and trained later—a completely different approach.
Of course, it had the side effect of letting in the incompetent, but they'd managed to gather talent smoothly so far, so it wasn't a failed policy.
‘A place that rubs shoulders with anomalies so often... If they openly release one, the locals might notice something's off and start tracking it.’
There was a difference between an anomaly controlled by magic and a natural one. At Eddie's level, he could hide the subtle gap, but a skilled psychic would detect it no matter what.
“No easy tasks anywhere……”
He sighed deeply and sank into the sofa.
Eddie's purpose in Korea was to find the mage who had recently acquired a new grimoire. The intel was reliable enough to warrant a visit, but things weren't starting off smoothly.
“If you're giving info, at least make it solid. Saying it's 'somewhere' around here—what the hell……”
Eddie clicked his tongue, picturing the face of the pure-blood mage who had provided the tip. He pulled a cigar from his pocket, clipped the end, lit it, and tilted his head back.
The silver lining was that no grimoires had surfaced in any other country.
Not that they were easy to find in the first place.
Even the geezers at the Clock Tower spent their lives searching in vain. Given their tastes, the one found in Korea was probably the only one around for now. There were rumors of Book of Moses 8 going missing, but they were too unreliable to take seriously.
‘I’m not certain the grimoire here belongs to an Outer God, but a grimoire’s a grimoire. Finding the owner, killing them, and taking it would be reward enough.’
With that thought, he exhaled a plume of smoke. Then he pulled a small hand from his pocket.
A furry animal paw.
Commonly known as the Monkey's Paw.
A mystery that granted wishes like a magic lamp—but in twisted, distorted ways.
He smeared a bit of blood on it and tossed it onto the table.
“Go to where it is. And show me the scenery there.”
At his words, the blood drawn on the Monkey's Paw glowed and vibrated. When the shaking stopped, the paw had vanished from the table.
He had used magic to teleport his tamed mystery to somewhere in this land.
It felt a bit risky under the Management Bureau's watch, but he couldn't just sit idle. He had to take the chance to gather intel.
And even if the Management Bureau came knocking, dealing with them wouldn't be hard.
Just kill them all and leave the country.
As long as he found the grimoire's owner first.
‘A mage's mysteries attract other mages. Hopefully, it'll lead me straight to the grimoire's owner……’
Eddie smirked faintly and bit down on his cigar.
*
A few days had passed since the Management Bureau sent someone.
Early February.
The season was still winter, and temperatures showed no sign of rising above freezing. Snowfall had decreased a bit, but the wind remained bitterly cold.
Still, winter was better than summer. Sweating buckets was worse than bundling up, and it wasn't sticky.
‘Being able to keep wearing a coat isn't so bad.’
A coat enchanted with magic.
Wearable in winter, spring, and fall, but it had to come off in summer.
Unless he could regulate his body temperature like a fantasy mage—which he couldn't. For some reason, a practical survival spell like that required top-tier materials.
Hot equatorial sands, Antarctic ice, and swamp leaves.
Not impossible to obtain, but not easy either. The Cartel sold them, but the prices were outrageous, so he'd given up.
‘In summer, I’ll just enchant some light shirts.’
Ian thought as he pulled the trigger.
Bang. The sound echoed only in Ian's mind.
He used Recreation magic to mash the corpse that had burst in a spray of blood, then stuffed it into his bag. He extinguished the Sound-Eating Flame, reloaded the now-empty revolver, and holstered it.
“That makes five.”
Bloodstains scattered around.
All from ghouls.
Ghouls had started rampaging lately. The Cartel had put out a massive bounty to cull their numbers.
Not out of some noble cause like upholding justice or protecting victims. Ghoul blood was commonly used in alchemy, so they wanted to stockpile it.
Typical of a money-obsessed group. They saw the ghoul surge as a simple bonanza.
Ian had no intention of blaming them. He was doing the same—hunting for cash and materials.
No reason to pass up a two-birds-one-stone opportunity. He collected the ghouls' blood in pre-prepared glass vials, bagged them, and headed to where he'd parked his bike.
‘They’re getting seriously numerous, though.’
He thought as he crunched through the thin snow.
‘Vampires must have flooded in pretty heavily.’
He didn't know their numbers from before, but they definitely weren't this bad.
He'd been ghoul-hunting for a week straight, and the requests kept coming, so there were way more than expected.
Not everyone—mages, psychics, hunters—was solely on ghouls, so he didn't expect a drastic drop.
Still, their abundance was undeniable. If not for their habit of hiding in dark, damp places, the urban damage would have been catastrophic.
‘The Management Bureau’s probably on it too.’
If the Cartel was posting bounties this aggressively, the news had spread. They were likely focusing on ghouls. Maybe that's why there'd been no contact about the contract.
It wasn't urgent, so no big deal. Ian brushed snow off the Hand of Recreation and pocketed it inside his coat.
“Ah, Wizard.”
As he kept walking, he spotted a black van parked next to his bike.
An Indemnity vehicle. The employee in the crow mask had arrived fast—bowing toward him from beside the van. Ian chuckled at the familiar face.
“See you again.”
“An honor. Shall we go right away?”
The crow placed a hand on the van's handle and asked. Ian shook his head.
“I have my own ride. Just settling the payout.”
“Ah…… Understood. First time I've seen this service type.”
“Bothering you?”
“Not at all. We provide any service for customer satisfaction. Speaking of, the request was ghoul hunting, right?”
Ian nodded at the crow's words and pulled three blood-filled vials from his bag. The crow took them, nodded at the red liquid.
“Ghoul blood, confirmed. This amount is three million won.”
“Transfer it.”
“Got it.”
Three million won.
Not a fortune, but decent pocket money.
His main goal was materials over cash anyway, so it was fine.
“Transfer complete. Indemnity fees…… Ah, free for now due to the account setup. Confirmed.”
“Not annoyed at working for free?”
“Heavens, no. We get salaries too, so this is nothing.”
The crow replied half-jokingly, half-seriously. Ian smiled back, mounted his parked bike, and kicked out the stand.
He pressed his finger to the biometric lock, powering it on. Donning gloves and helmet, he started the engine and glanced at the crow.
“Heading out. Till next time.”
“Yes. Safe travels.”
With the crow's send-off, Ian twisted the throttle. The bike smoothly accelerated from the empty mountain road into the city.
Ian left it mostly on autopilot as he headed to his workshop.
He could have gone home, but he planned to test some spells today. Needed to restock alchemy items too—might take a while.
No plans anyway, so whatever.
The bike sped along, reaching the officetel soon enough.
Ian parked, grabbed his helmet, and hit the elevator button.
At the same moment, a ghost in pure white mourning clothes greeted him. It saluted crisply, pressed the button for Ian's workshop floor, and vanished.
Ding.
The elevator arrived quickly. Through the slightly open doors, the security ghost appeared.
Holding a baton and flashlight, it glanced at Ian, nodded briefly, and resumed patrolling. Ian patted its shoulder and entered the workshop.
Then—
Bzzz.
His pocket phone vibrated briefly.
[Lee Seo-ah: Busy?]
A message from Lee Seo-ah. Ian set his helmet on a shelf, placed his bag on the table carefully, and replied.
[Me: Nah, what's up?]
[Lee Seo-ah: Wanna do a request together?]
[Me: Request? What kind?]
At Ian's question, Lee Seo-ah sent a screenshot of a Cartel request.
[Cruise Ship Disappearance Investigation]
The bold title stood out at the top of the photo.