A white envelope containing 220,000 won for a day’s work.
The rightful wages I earned working as a night guard.
After receiving it and coming home to wash up, the sunlight was blazing bright.
This is summer’s downside.
The sun rises too early.
Without any blackout curtains, I had no choice but to lie in bed amidst the blinding sunlight.
Maybe that’s why I kept tossing and turning, half-asleep and half-awake.
“…I can’t sleep!”
Honestly, my mind was fully alert.
Because of what happened at dawn.
A suspicious basement.
Escape.
An encounter with the men in black!
It was as stimulating as if my brain were being fried.
So much happened, but right now, the only thing on my mind was the man I met earlier.
A man in a suit wearing glasses.
He never revealed who he was or where he was from.
Could you be a mage, by any chance?
He laughed at my question.
And without another word, he whisked away and left.
Maybe he was busy dealing with Nikon, Jang Geunbeom, Miyeong, and the others trapped in the basement.
Perhaps he rescued them like a rescue team.
Could it be that the rulebook didn’t have an exact escape method because ‘rescue’ from the outside was intended during survival?
That’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Anyway, the gist of that encounter is as follows.
There’s someone who goes around solving anomalies!
He’s not an individual, since he makes things like ‘suspicious medicine.’
“…Probably an organization?”
An organization that never reveals itself in everyday life.
Secret maneuvering. The underworld. A foundation. A regulatory bureau.
Those concepts flashed through my mind and disappeared.
“…Men in Black.”
Humans who go around erasing the memories of people who’ve had bizarre experiences like alien encounters.
Could people like that actually exist?
“This medicine is the proof.”
I examined the white medicine box labeled 「Neuron Clear」 from every angle.
No ingredients or effects were listed at all.
Just the name, sitting there alone.
“So if I take this medicine, I go back to the time when I couldn’t see ghosts and stuff, right?”
Would I stop seeing Boribori too?
Grrrrrrooooowl.
At that moment, Boribori’s stomach, curled up in the corner, rumbled.
Right, come to think of it, it’s morning.
I pulled out a few bills from the 220,000 won I earned today.
“Boribori, today it’s delivery food.”
Honestly, I nearly died several times today too.
If I died, this money would rot away like crap.
Who knows if I’ll face more things like that going forward.
Honestly, rather than desperately saving and hoarding, eating what I want and spending when I want seems better for my mental health.
Yeah.
Things like today could happen plenty more in the future.
Because I have no intention of taking this ‘medicine.’
Because it’s magic, right?
It means I can become a mage, right?
No, I already am one!
I’ve become able to be that special.
I finally got a chance to be different from everyone else—it’d be a waste not to grab it.
“It’s also a bit much to just gulp down a suspicious medicine.”
Just as I was about to search more about the medicine called 「Neuron Clear」, jajangmyeon and jjamppong arrived for delivery.
I set the black and red dishes on the table and said.
“Boribori, which one do you want?”
The pitch-black jajangmyeon like night?
Or the crimson jjamppong like hell’s sulfur?
Swoosh.
Boribori pulled the red jjamppong, with squid floating in it, toward herself.
Does she like red because it matches her hair?
Or is she drawn to blood-red colors because she’s a demon?
Slurp, slurp.
Boribori was now pretty good with chopsticks too.
I said to Boribori, the little demon of jjamppong.
“You helped me in the basement earlier, right? As thanks, I ordered tangsuyuk too, so eat up. Whether it’s good or bad, I always repay what I receive—that’s my family motto and my iron rule.”
“…Mheuheu.”
“Huh? Did you laugh?”
I heard Boribori laugh.
Curious, I stopped my chopsticks mid-bite of jajangmyeon and glanced at her, but she was busy wolfing down the jjamppong and tangsuyuk with a blank expression, looking slightly aloof, as if she’d never laughed.
…Was it my imagination?
I was sure she laughed.
Anyway, today I learned Boribori prefers jjamppong over jajangmyeon.
She likes tangsuyuk even more, and it’s sauce-on-the-side style.
The mysterious demon Boribori, visible only to me.
Boribori, who was afraid of the bespectacled man from earlier.
Why was she scared of him?
He didn’t seem to see Boribori.
Whatever the case, this was the moment my life’s guiding principle and direction were set.
‘I’d better avoid getting entangled with those men in black as much as possible.’
What if they found out about ‘Boribori,’ who’s visible only to my eyes?
Maybe they’d say, “Ha Yuseong! You are a new light to me! Your eyes are my spares!” and try to rip my eyes out.
Therefore, it’s best to keep Boribori’s and my business a secret as much as possible.
That would change if I clearly learned those men in black were trustworthy people.
As I was thinking about all that, my jajangmyeon bowl was completely empty.
Delicious.
Just as I was about to search again and dug into the internet—
「Name: Five-Clan Eliminator」
「Title: Buying Neuron Clear.」
「Price Negotiable」
A post on a secondhand trading site caught my eye.
Someone saying they’d buy the medicine I had.
Could this person be someone who knows a lot about this ‘medicine’ and this bizarre, mysterious industry?
At least they’d know more than me.
So I contacted them as the post instructed.
#
“H-h-hello. I’m ‘Five-Clan Eliminator.'”
He was a man with pimples on his face and a patchy beard.
It wasn’t intentionally grown—more like he hadn’t had time to shave.
Despite the hot weather, he had a gray hoodie pulled over his head, sweating profusely, and it was painful just to watch.
“You’re ‘Meteor’ who contacted me, right?”
“Yes.”
For reference, Meteor is my nickname.
Because my name is Ha Yuseong (流星, shooting star).
Meteor.
“So, you… you have the meds, right?”
Downtown.
A mid-20s hoodie guy trembling as he asked for medicine.
The kind of scene that’d make people whisper if they overheard.
Tsk, I feel like some kind of drug broker.
I looked around to avoid people’s attention and pointed to a quiet café.
“Let’s talk inside.”
“I d-don’t have time though.”
“I’m buying.”
“Then I-I’ll have a Setbacks Reserve Café Mocha Venti. Triple shot, extra whipped cream, extra chocolate drizzle, add java chips, and in a personal tumbler—.”
…Wait, this guy?
An unnecessarily big expense just appeared.
The man and I sat down in a corner seat of the café.
Tsk—the man clicked his tongue.
“Two g-guys coming to a café together feels kinda gay.”
“Ha, Five-Clan, you don’t have friends, do you?”
“I-I do! A few registered users I comment with daily and some passersby who reply…!”
Gah, damn it! I should just stop talking.
If I nagged him too much, this guy wouldn’t cooperate.
So I took out the medicine and placed it on the table with a thud.
“The medicine is right here. Want to check it?”
“It’s genuine. With my experience, I can tell at a glance. Then I’ll give you the prepared price…”
The man fumbled for his phone.
I didn’t miss that opening and quickly asked.
If there was a chance, it was now.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Huh?”
“Why do you want to take this medicine?”
“B-because I don’t want to see them.”
“You don’t want to see them?”
“G-ghosts or monsters and stuff. My pineal gland opened up, so I see those things without any filter. And when I see them, they see me too. Ah… it doesn’t seem like there are any here, though.”
The man looked around and trembled.
What had him so deflated was probably the ‘monsters’ or ‘ghosts.’
Since I’d gone through the Dori Building’s basement parking lot incident with Ming too, I could sympathize with what he feared.
On the other hand, it was a bit funny.
There’s a demon right next to you.
Eyeing the tiramisu cake on the table, that is.
But I couldn’t say that out loud, so I asked a reasonable follow-up instead.
“What’s a pineal gland?”
Guessing from the name, is it some kind of fruit like fig or passionfruit?
I’d never heard that name in the restaurant supply closet where I worked.
My question must have been amusing, because the man twisted his lips with a smirk.
“Ah… you’re a t-transfer student, right? Looks like you don’t know. The p-pineal gland is an organ in the brain… when it’s open, the sixth sense develops or the third eye… awakens…”
The third eye. The sixth sense.
Ahhh!!! I think I get it.
When I first saw Boribori, it felt like some part of my brain burst open.
Could my pineal gland be open too?
“So taking this medicine closes that pineal gland, right?”
“Y-yes. But this medicine is almost monopolized by certain people, so it’s hard to get. Also, once you reach a certain level of mastery, the medicine becomes useless too…”
“Sorry to keep asking, but what’s a transfer student?”
“A transfer… ah. You really don’t know anything, do you. It refers to people like you and me. If you’re born a magician, you’re an original. If your eyes open through a special experience later in life, you’re a transfer student.”
So there are people born as natural-born magicians.
Is that what the bespectacled man was?
If so, it makes sense to call those who entered this world late transfer students.
“Transfer students have their limits. Those Five-Clan bastards… ah, the originals are kids who received gifted education as magicians from birth, so we can’t catch up. I… didn’t want to admit it, though.”
The man freely volunteered information I hadn’t even asked about.
Given the interest and amusement plastered on his gloomy face, he was clearly enjoying imparting his knowledge to me, who knew nothing.
Works for me.
I decided to press further while I had the chance.
“Is the gap between transfer students and originals really that big?”
“Yes. Think of Santa Claus. At our age, if someone told you to believe Santa is real, would you? But originals grew up seeing Santa for real since they were little.”
“Hmm…“
“The quality and d-depth of magic are different. In this world, those deeply entangled with mystery and anomalies get respect. Guys like me max out as ‘juice magicians.'”
Juice magician.
Where have I seen that?
Ah, I think there was a posting saying ‘juice magician wanted’ when I was looking for security work.
I was about to ask what that was when the man grinned slyly.
“J-juice magicians… you’re better off not knowing. They’re the worst of the worst. Better off k-killing yourself than becoming one. Anyway, this conversation is over.”
He snatched the medicine box from my hand with a slap.
Then he fiddled with his phone and pinged me some kind of gift card.
My eyes narrowed immediately.
“What is this? Seems weird for a payment.”
“This is something not just anyone can get. It’s called the 「Monkey’s Paw Site」. It’s a Q-QR code to access it. It’s a r-reward you can only get by being a Monkey Gallery blue tag for a whole year…”
「Monkey’s Paw Site」
I pressed the link attached with the QR code on my phone.
After a few moments, a simply designed site greeted me.
A site with nothing but a single search bar.
「Monkey’s Paw Site」
「Enter your wish: 」
“What the hell is this—.”
I lifted my head.
But the man who would answer my question was already gone.
Instead, Boribori sat in that spot, starting to eat the tiramisu cake.
“…Mheuheu.”
