Chapter 203
Descending the stairs leading underground, I found myself surrounded by floating, bare chunks of flesh, exposed in all their rawness.
It was a scene you could witness anywhere in this district. The only unexpected detail was that all of them were men.
Including both the visitors and the attendants.
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“…”
Why on earth did Mok Jinwoo choose a place like this as a disguised base?
Shaking off the sticky gazes behind me, I surveyed my surroundings. At the central bar, a skinhead who seemed to be the bartender was wiping a glass with a dry cloth.
His half-naked appearance, wearing only a garter belt, was unsettling… but the spade tattoo on his navel and the number “316” inscribed below it matched the description I had been given beforehand.
As I approached reluctantly, it was he who showed interest first.
“Oh my, what a surprise. To think I’d see such a cute guest.”
My eyes instinctively squeezed shut. Could he be a girl trapped in a man’s body? Otherwise, how could he act so nonchalantly…
“Good evening. I was referred here by the Big House Old Man. I heard there’s a new dancer this time.”
Suppressing the rising nausea as much as I could, I spoke, and the bartender brought a finger to his lips, chuckling.
“Hehe. Darling, saying it like that doesn’t tell me who you mean. There are too many dancers coming and going.”
“I was told it’s the one nominated as the thirteenth during Friday’s interlude. The one who danced Swan’s Wing…”
At that moment, a sharp glint flashed in the eyes of the man wearing the garter belt.
“…Go down the left passageway to the last room.”
It was only for a moment. With a slight chin gesture, the bartender pointed the way before returning to wiping the glass as if nothing had happened.
I quickly moved toward the place he had indicated.
As I opened the door to the guest room, where someone’s presence was already palpable, a familiar, cheerful man greeted me with a friendly wave.
“Chief.”
“You’re here? It’s been a while. Come in. Don’t just stand there.”
“Why did you call me to a place like this? Do you have some hidden preferences…?”
“Tsk! What nonsense are you spouting? I’m someone who loves women—loves them too much, even.”
No sooner had I spoken than Mok Jinwoo snapped angrily.
Considering his past behavior, it didn’t seem like a lie…
“And what’s wrong with this place? These people are legitimate citizens of the Republic. They’re also ones you, as a magician, are supposed to protect.”
He shrugged as he spoke.
“They might look a bit off, but they live diligently in their own way. It’s not like they’re dark sorcerers who feast on people’s internal organs, so what’s the problem? Am I wrong?”
“…That’s not what I meant. Still, for an Intelligence Bureau branch to be here… it feels a bit…”
“It’s precisely because it’s a place like this that it’s perfect. Who would suspect it? Everyone thinks like you do. Besides…”
He paused briefly, then smirked.
“Isn’t this better for you? Surely, it’s preferable to scantily clad women.”
“…”
He wasn’t wrong, but… why did it feel oddly irritating?
“If my sisters find out I came to a place like this, they’ll be out for your blood, Chief.”
At that, he waved his hand dismissively, as if the thought gave him a headache.
“Cut me some slack, will you? I made time for you despite being so busy. You know how relentless those women are…”
“You must’ve been very busy.”
“Busy? I barely got two hours of sleep this whole week…”
Mok Jinwoo pointed to his sunken eyes with his fingers.
“There’s been a flood of incidents lately. Both domestic and international situations are chaotic. It’s a nightmare, really…”
“…”
Suddenly, as I watched him grumble, a strange sense of unease crept in.
Complaining with a joking tone was indeed his habit. But this time, it felt more exaggerated and ridiculous than usual… yet his eyes still carried tension. What was going on?
He said he made time to meet me despite his busy schedule. Could there be another meaning behind that?
No matter how close we were, he wasn’t the type to prioritize satisfying someone’s curiosity over official duties.
‘Could it be…’
My curiosity, the recent events he mentioned.
Was it possible there was some connection between them? Or was I overthinking it?
Mok Jinwoo, who had been talking for a while, suddenly gulped down his drink as if parched.
“Phew… So, you must’ve been pretty desperate to come running as soon as Muyoung summoned you, huh?”
“Of course. Will you really answer all my questions this time? Every single one?”
“As long as it’s something I know.”
He nodded nonchalantly.
“If it’s something I don’t know, well, there’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Why now? You’ve been hiding it all this time. Why the sudden change?”
“You little… I’m offering to tell you, and you’re still complaining.”
Mok Jinwoo, who had been about to playfully smack me, sighed and sank into the sofa.
“Situations always change. I just think this is more beneficial now. For you, for me, and for this country.”
“What kind of situation…”
“Enough. We’ll get to that later. So, what’s been eating at you so much? Want me to draw up a list of the prettiest noble ladies in the capital?”
“You know what I’m curious about.”
I responded immediately to his words.
“The reason why I, a completely insensitive person, can now use magic. That power, which isn’t magic or divine authority. And the identity of the woman in the underground waterway who knew about divine authority.”
“…”
“…And whether all of these things are connected.”
“I figured you’d be curious about that.”
He spoke with a faintly resigned smile.
“That’s why I called you here.”
***
Beneath the large sofa in the guest room was a passageway leading underground.
We followed it. Even with enhanced physical abilities allowing us to move quickly, the path seemed endless.
“Where are we going?”
“The Republic’s Confidential Archive.”
“Confidential… Archive?”
I still couldn’t make sense of it. To think we’d have to go as far as that place to address my questions.
“Even if it’s you, Chief, is it really okay for me to enter such a place? I don’t even have Type B Secret Handling Qualification, let alone Type A…”
“Legally, there’s no issue. That place doesn’t exist within the current Information Handling System.”
Without even looking back, he answered as he led the way, relying on the faint light.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if you just told me there…”
“It’ll be easier to understand once you see it for yourself. Just wait a bit. You’ll know what I mean soon enough.”
After running for what felt like hours, we finally emerged from the passageway. Before us stood a building that resembled an old, abandoned laboratory.
There wasn’t a single sign of life or even a light in the vicinity, suggesting it was in a rather remote location.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here. Almost ten years, I think…”
Calmly approaching, he aligned a pattern on the lock and infused particles into it. Soon, the heavy iron door creaked open with a metallic sound.
“…Follow me.”
Standing at the door, Mok Jinwoo gestured. Inside, there wasn’t a single light, only scattered documents and layers of dust.
The interior revealed a sprawling research building. The deeper we went, the more the stench of chemical smell stung our noses.
“Phew… Do you remember when you asked me for information about spirits a while back? It was around the time you had just entered the Cradle.”
Dusting off his hands with exaggerated motions as he walked ahead, he suddenly posed a question.
“You said it was to win over the Young Lady of Jeokhwa.”
“I never said that.”
“That’s what you meant, though. And didn’t it actually happen?”
He shrugged as he spoke.
“…”
“Anyway… do you still remember the knowledge about spirits you received back then?”
“To some extent.”
I couldn’t understand the sudden shift in topic. Was he trying to ease the tension? That didn’t seem to be the case…
“Among the magical beasts that entered Earth with the Falling Star… spirits are the only alien creatures. They allow magicians to use spirit magic by resonating with their wavelength…”
“You remember well. Yes, that’s the publicly known information about spirits.”
Mok Jinwoo nodded in satisfaction at the words that seemed to be piecing together memories.
“By publicly known… does that mean there’s other information that hasn’t been revealed?”
“Correct.”
He continued speaking without stopping his steps. The increasingly strong smell of chemicals made it nearly impossible to breathe properly.
“There’s one more alien species that fell with the Falling Star besides spirits. And it’s extremely dangerous.”
“…?”
His words were hard to grasp. I had pored over the Monster Studies Dictionary countless times. No matter how much I recalled, I couldn’t remember anything about what Mok Jinwoo was talking about.
If it were such an extremely dangerous magical beast, shouldn’t it have been prominently featured instead…?
Lost in such questions, we soon found ourselves in a research lab filled with liquid immersion specimens of magical beasts.
Various magical beasts, large and small, floated in transparent tanks filled with liquid. It seemed the sharp, piercing smell was emanating from this place.
At the center stood an unusually large and elongated tank.
I found myself captivated, unable to look away from the thing floating inside.
Roughly estimating its length at 3 meters, its body had no exoskeleton and was incredibly flexible. Dozens of thin, slender tentacles extended outward—or rather, it felt as if its entire body was made of tentacles.
A bizarre form I had never seen before. Its distinctly unearthly appearance seemed to awaken an instinctive disgust and a deep-seated fear.
For a moment, I forgot the purpose of our visit here, wholly focused on imprinting the sight of this existence in my mind.
“There’s no need to be so tense. As terrifying as it looks, it’s definitely dead.”
Mok Jinwoo, noticing me swallowing hard, spoke as if to calm me down.
“What is this…? Could this be the magical beast you mentioned…?”
“…Yes.”
He nodded heavily.
“Though I’m not even sure if it’s appropriate to call this a magical beast…”
“I’ve never seen a creature like this before.”
“Neither have we. Just as we can’t trace the origin of spirits, there’s no way to determine the origin of this thing either.”
He placed his hand on the tank containing the monster as he spoke.
“Does it have an identification name?”
“Well, the people I know call it whatever they want. God-given Punishment, Apocalypse from Outer Space, Our Natural Enemy, Silicon-based Lifeform, Heteromorphic Species, and so on… You’ve probably heard at least one of those names before.”
“This is my first time seeing the creature itself…”
Just then.
Along with Mok Jinwoo’s calm voice, a resonance brushed past my ears—something I had definitely heard before.
“Witch.”
***
“Wow…!”
Seeing the newly constructed buildings and the wide garden spread between them, Yeon Minha let out an instinctive exclamation of delight.
The Jeokhwa mansion, which she was seeing again after several weeks, bore no trace of the fierce battle that had taken place there.
As she stepped out of the vehicle, a servant ran up to her and bowed deeply.
“Welcome back to your residence, Young Lady.”
“Good work. What’s the progress status?”
“As mentioned in the letter, about 90% of the work is in its final stages. In particular, the bedroom has been expanded and made even more luxurious…”
Even as she walked briskly, she attentively listened to the butler’s explanation. Since this place would eventually become her marital home, there could be no flaws.
Upon reaching the main building and inspecting various things, the butler brought out a small box from somewhere and handed it to her.
“What is this?”
“It’s something that was discovered during the repairs to the main building. A worker found it in a secret space beneath the previous family head’s bedroom. We thought it appropriate for you to see it yourself…”
“…”
For a moment, painful memories from that time surfaced. Yeon Minha unconsciously bit her lip but soon shook her head to dispel them.
She no longer wanted to remain trapped in the past. What Yeon Minha desired was only a brightly shining future.
“Hmm…”
Taking the box, Yeon Minha examined it. At a glance, she could tell it was a safe that could only be opened by aligning a unique locking pattern.
“…Alright. You may go now. I’ll call if I need anything else.”
After dismissing the butler and the servants, she placed her fingers on the box.
Thanks to the successor education she had received early on, she quickly figured out the unique pattern. The box opened with ease, as if it had always belonged to her.
Upon seeing its contents, Yeon Minha tilted her head in confusion.
“…A journal?”
She had expected valuables or a family treasure, so the outcome felt somewhat anticlimactic.
She picked up her father’s journal. After a moment of hesitation and deliberation, she finally set it down on the table.
Then, cautiously, she began to read through it.