Chapter 12

There was something on my mind.

The people on Monkey Gallery called themselves “Magicians.”

└Mages don’t exist in this world lol

Mages don’t exist?

I felt a dizzying sensation creep up the back of my head, wondering what kind of story this was.

Soon, a few more comments were added.

└Ganadara Magician: If you don’t know, then memorize this. Magicians = people who do things that humans can eventually accomplish through sheer, insane effort, but through shady, unorthodox methods (= magic tricks).

└Ganadara Magician: Mages = bastards who do things that remain impossible no matter how much time, effort, money, and devotion you pour into them, got it? But those kinds of bastards don’t actually exist in this world.

└Ganadara Magician: For example, imagine someone shoots a fireball from their palm and burns down a building. Honestly, monkeys who can’t do magic tricks could do the same thing with oil and a lighter. So that’s not magic, that’s a magic trick.

└yea(54.21) This bastard just burned his entire daily comment quota on a low-tier troll lol
└yea(99.121) Guess he couldn’t help himself lol

It was only a few sentences of explanation.

Even so, I felt like I could vaguely understand.

For instance, let’s say I could use the technique “Magic Bullet,” which fires a pebble at bullet speed.

Let’s assume its power is enough to pierce through a frying pan.

That alone would be a remarkable technique.

But honestly, you could do it more easily just by shooting a gun.

Therefore, “Magic Bullet” is not magic, but a magic trick.

The people who use it are called “Magicians,” not “Mages.”

Suddenly, I thought of the Sealing and Opening Magic Circles I had acquired.

The Sealing Magic Circle could be replaced with a padlock, and the Opening Magic Circle could be replaced with bolt cutters.

If that’s the case… was what I was doing also just a magic trick?

Was I a Magician, not a Mage?

“Oh, is that why that black-suited man…”

I had asked him if he was a Mage.

But he just scoffed at me, as if he’d heard some vulgar joke.

Because there are no such things as Mages in this world─.

At least, that’s what these senior Magicians claim.

But is that really true?

Boribori definitely called me ‘Mecha Chef.’

That word clearly meant Mage in ancient Aramaic.

Also, I can see the demon Boribori, something no one else can see.

Is it possible for an ordinary human to see a demon, even if they pour in money, time, and devotion?

Is it possible to order jjamppong for a demon and feed it tiramisu cake?

No! That doesn’t seem possible.

Maybe I’m the first Mage in this gallery’s history!

That thought got me a little excited.

But at the same time, I felt the need to be careful.

What if they find out I’m a Mage?

The Men in Black, dressed in black, might storm into my house without warning.

And they might dissect my head, stick it in formaldehyde, and run experiments on it.

“…I hope it’s just my overthinking.”

For now, let’s hide the fact that I might be a ‘Mage’ as much as possible.

Also, investigating the ‘demon Boribori’ should be done as discreetly as possible, at a level where others wouldn’t find it strange.

In that sense, I’m glad I didn’t post a thread titled “Hey guys, you know any invisible demons?” as my first post on this gallery.

Either way.

‘Monkey Gallery’ gave me more useful information than I expected.

Like how to make Holy Water and protective clothing.

#

====

Author: Oh Seonjok

Title: Ingredients needed to make Holy Water

Solar sea salt, green onions, 100g of frankincense, 200ml of pure water

First, roast the solar sea salt for about 10 minutes, then lightly char the frankincense and mix it with the salt.

For the salt, solar sea salt is best, and for frankincense, Hojari frankincense is top-tier. Anything below that is honestly worse than nothing.

Mix the salt and frankincense finely for about 10 minutes, then pour in the clean water.

For the water, you can just use purified water, or if you don’t have a purifier, bottled water from the convenience store works too.

Anyway, once you’ve added the bottled water, stir it like crazy with a green onion stalk.

Originally, hyssop or basil is more traditional in Catholicism, but in Korea, green onions seem to work better due to shamanic influences.

Stir for a while and all the frankincense and salt grains will dissolve, creating a weird-smelling liquid. That’s your Holy Water.

Honestly, it’s not as holy as the name suggests.

But regardless of the principles or the name, it’s effective against Anomalies.

====

“It’s just like a cooking recipe.”

For someone who’d handled all sorts of odd jobs and recipes at a 2-star restaurant, this was a simple procedure.

“But green onions are so expensive these days…”

Not to mention, Hojari frankincense costs 50,000 won for 100g.

Where would I get that kind of money when I can barely afford my utility bills?

What if I just substitute the green onion with the onion in my fridge?

In cooking, green onions and onions are basically interchangeable anyway.

As for the frankincense… maybe I’ll just add some cheap perfume I bought and stashed away a while back?

“Heh heh, cooking is all about improvisation.”

And so, the cooking began.

I roasted the refined salt and mixed it with the perfume. No lie, it smelled absolutely disgusting.

Then I poured in water and stirred it with my onion-clenching fist, and it got worse and worse.

“Cough, my nose is burning.”

I then transferred the completed liquid from the pot into a 500ml water bottle.

But… I wasn’t sure if this was really Holy Water.

Isn’t this just weird-smelling water?

I guess the ingredients really do matter.

“……!!!”

But suddenly, Boribori flinched and scrunched up her face.

Then she covered her nose and scurried off to the bathroom and shower room.

“Oh?”

A liquid potent enough to drive away the demon Boribori with just its smell.

This might not be Holy Water, but isn’t it still something?

“Ugh, but the smell is giving me a headache.”

This must be what it’s like on a packed subway during rush hour, when an old lady and old man, both drenched in strong perfume, crush against each other’s bodies as if trying to suffocate each other.

Before my stomach turned any further, I sealed the bottle cap tightly.

But the smell still seemed to seep through, so I drew the Sealing symbol on the cap as well.

I didn’t forget to open the windows wide to air out the house.

For the record, Boribori didn’t come out of the bathroom until well after dinner time.

Boribori, who looked upset about the smell, only started wagging her tail after she devoured two bowls of the curry I made for dinner.

“Mmhmm.”

#

When you make food, you want to taste it yourself or feed it to someone else.

The same went for the Holy Water.

My body itched to test its performance right away.

‘Should I go back to the Dori Building basement?’

I pictured the place in my head, then shook my head.

That place wasn’t somewhere I could go right now.

According to the national haunted house ranking on Monkey Gallery, it was classified as a ‘Harmony Tier’ danger zone.

From what I’d learned while lurking on the gallery, the danger levels of Mysteries and Anomalies were roughly divided into three tiers.

The first was Twilight-Tier.

The lowest tier, on par with a dark shadow, with only one or two disappearances a year.

The second was Harmony Tier.

A level where one person disappears a week, like being dragged off by a tiger in the old days.

The difficulty was just as dangerous as a starving tiger, apparently.

And the third and final tier was Ghost-Demon Tier.

From here on, the variables were too great; if you were unlucky, the whole neighborhood could be wiped out in a mass disappearance incident.

The tiers of Magicians who dealt with Anomalies followed the same standard.

Handle a Twilight-Tier Anomaly, you’re a Twilight-Tier Magician.

Clear out a Harmony-Tier, you’re called a Harmony-Tier Magician.

“Come to think of it…”

The Dori Building was judged Twilight-Tier because there were no casualties, for now.

Those Men in Black must have made that judgment.

That ‘Twilight-Tier‘ text I saw on the contract when I was applying for the night guard job at that building was probably written by them too.

But the people on the gallery said the entity in that basement was hard to pin down, so they’d classified it as a provisional Harmony-Tier.

In other words, it wasn’t a difficulty level for a transfer student who’d just learned to stir some salt water to poke their head into.

I do want to test what I can do and how far I can go.

But I don’t want to die.

Honestly, scary things are scary, now as always.

So what should I do?

Eager to show off my skills, I started digging through internet posts.

Then I found one post.

I immediately made a phone call.

“Hello? You’re the one asking for help, right?”

Time passed, and the next morning arrived.

I opened my eyes to a faint tickling sensation at the tip of my nose.

Shashik-.

Whenever I opened my eyes, Boribori was just curled up on her cushion, as if nothing had happened.

It had already been a few days since Boribori started waking me up.

Suddenly, I got curious.

“Boribori, do you not sleep?”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen her sleep.

“……”

Still no answer.

After taking care of breakfast with chicken breast and protein powder, I headed to Cheongdo-dong, the neighborhood right next to mine.

About a 30-minute walk.

Spi-o, spi-o.

Ee-o-sip, ee-o-sip-.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-.

The weather was sweltering, and the cicadas were screaming.

Honestly, at this point, it felt more accurate to say the cicadas were ‘barking’ rather than ‘singing.’

In that kind of summer heat, wearing a tracksuit jacket lined with cooking foil on the inside made sweat trickle down my forehead.

Cooking Foil Armor.

I made it because the gallery said it was effective against Anomaly attacks, but I have no idea if it actually works.

What’s bothering me right now is…

‘…Maybe I should have brought the Cooking Foil Hat after all.’

…But still! When I put on the Cooking Foil Hat, Boribori growled at me!

It wasn’t a look of wariness or fear, but a look of contempt, like “Look at this weirdo doing weird things!”

Making excuses to myself, I arrived at my destination.

“Wow…”

I was slightly overwhelmed.

I didn’t know there was a house with a garden this big right in the neighborhood next to mine.

‘…The garden even has a fountain!?’

I’d experienced demons and ghosts, but a house with a fountain in its garden felt more surreal in a way.

The tiled roof made it look like a grand nobleman’s estate.

My confidence was deflating.

‘Get a grip. You brought the 「Secret Weapon」 this time.’

Slap slap-.

I slapped both my cheeks to snap out of it and pressed the doorbell at the front gate.

Then I spoke into the intercom.

“I’m ‘Meteor,’ the one who called you yesterday.”

Meteor is my Magician activity name.

It’s because my name is Yuseong, and it also carries my aspiration to one day become a Mage who can drop a meteor from the sky.

Soon, a voice came through the intercom.

━Come in quickly.

I passed through the wide-open gate and stepped into the spacious house, where unfamiliar people were either sitting on sofas or leaning against marble pillars.

The house had a staircase going up to the second floor, and it seemed there was also a staircase leading down to the basement.

As I was looking around, amazed by such a large house for the first time, I heard a snicker directed at me.

“…What, a transfer student?”

“The homeowner scraped together a bunch of riffraff, huh.”

At that moment, I realized.

Those people.

─They’re Magicians.

And at the same time, a loud roar came from the basement stairs.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhletmeooouuutttgetthatthingouttahereeeeeeerightnowwww━─!!!”

A scream so piercing it felt like it would tear through the air.

In my entire life, I’d never heard a scream like that, and in an instant, reality seemed to warp into the unreal.

Something is about to begin.

No, perhaps it had already been underway for a while.