Chapter 2244 – 2244. Rezo
I went up to the association’s rooftop with Lee Yeon-sook and the other suit-wearing people.
A fierce wind whipped around, hitting our bodies. There was no one here who would be swayed by a mere wind.
Mi-ryung approached the pile of mana stones. It was worth 200 billion won, but it didn’t seem like that much. Each one was a high-purity S-grade or higher mana stone. Expensive ones worth at least 100 million each.
The size wasn’t too large. Most were about 15cm in diameter. With S-grade or higher, purity matters more than size.
Mi-ryung began. Following her gestures, the piled mana stones began to emit a faint light. The light gathered around her.
Those lights were mana, and the mana became a single spell, concealing its form. It existed even though it couldn’t be seen. This was just a process for it to be reborn as a single spell.
Mi-ryung’s gestures continued for 30 minutes. On the surface, nothing much had changed. But the density of the rooftop space where she was had become unbelievably high. Association employees below B-grade couldn’t withstand it and had to go downstairs.
When I used Cheon-an, I could see the spells swirling around Mi-ryung. It was a sight too good to see alone, but there was no way to share it with others.
There were those who understood Mi-ryung’s spells in a different way than I did.
“Is she weaving hundreds of spells into a single barrier? It’s impossible to handle that much energy at once, so she must be doing it this way… That this is possible. I never knew there was such talent in the country…”
Kim Ji-hak, the director of the Mage Nation, was repeatedly expressing his admiration. He had been like this for the past 10 minutes. As a mage, he seemed to feel things differently.
“……”
Lee Yeon-sook didn’t react much. But she, who had been constantly smoking in the conference room, was now just holding a cigarette in her hand, watching Mi-ryung. She had been concentrating for 30 minutes straight.
They were both mages and barrier users, so they must be feeling what I couldn’t feel and understanding what I couldn’t understand.
‘One thing is for sure, Mi-ryung’s level is amazing. Well, that’s something I already knew.’
There would be no spellcaster in reality who could keep up with Mi-ryung. In the first place, Mi-ryung’s spells and the spells of reality seemed to be a bit different.
“Okay, I’ll start!”
Mi-ryung shouted, stretching out her arm and opening her palm. The spell she had created was built into a barrier, covering the entire city of Seoul.
The sight I saw through Cheon-an was like a shower of blue light falling on Seoul.
The barrier lasted for about 15 seconds. After that, it disappeared without a trace. It was a barrier for exploration, so it wasn’t particularly important.
“Mi-ryung-ssi. What were the results?”
Kim Ji-hak asked nervously. If it failed, it would be like throwing away 200 billion won, so it was natural for him to be nervous.
“It was a success. I’ll mark it on the floor.”
Mi-ryung waved her hand towards the floor. A map of Seoul was drawn on the concrete floor. Blue dots, orange dots, and red dots were marked on the map.
“Explain.”
Lee Yeon-sook said, looking at the map.
“I was going to do that anyway. As you can see here, most of the dots are blue, right? These are also curses. I’d say they’re ordinary curses that don’t threaten lives. There are about 30,000 people in Seoul who have these curses.”
“That’s different from what I know. Weren’t there only about 10,000 curse victims in Seoul?”
“…Only the confirmed victims are about 10,000. Light curses occur from environmental factors… Most people probably don’t even know they’re cursed.”
Kim Ji-hak said, as if making an excuse.
I knew a bit about curses because of what I learned in university. The light curses he was talking about were probably things like itchy skin or nightmares. Usually, these light curses disappear on their own. Even if they don’t, you can go to the hospital and get them cleaned up. Still, 30,000 people seemed like a lot.
“What are the orange dots?”
“Those are curses that threaten lives. They’ll probably die within three years because of the curse.”
There were about 500 orange dots. Most of them were gathered in one place. I knew that place was a hospital.
“Mi-ryung-ssi. Can I record this? If lives are at risk, it seems like we need to manage them separately.”
“Go ahead. The red dots are curses of a high level or higher. There are 24 in total. We need to check them directly.”
Lee Yeon-sook stared at the map and then tapped a few places.
“Exclude this side. I have an idea who it is.”
One of the red dots she excluded was in a familiar hospital.
It was the hospital where Park Soo-ho’s younger sister, Park Ga-in, was hospitalized. Park Ga-in was suffering from the Baektaek curse.
‘Maybe Mi-ryung can solve the Baektaek curse.’
There were a total of 8 unconfirmed red dots.
“Kim Ji-hak, I’ll check these four. Don’t approach them rashly, just pinpoint their locations. If they’re not living bombs, take them to a special hospital and isolate them. If you suspect they’re living bombs… Don’t try to make contact directly, lure them in indirectly. If you try to drag them, they’ll explode.”
“Yes. I’ll do as you say.”
Lee Yeon-sook also gave instructions to me and Mi-ryung.
“You two go to the designated place and wait. We need to backtrack.”
I nodded and replied.
“Okay.”
• • •
The place Lee Yeon-sook designated was a small village a bit away from Seoul. It was a village close to Seoul, but it had no infrastructure and no people. But the roads and houses were neatly maintained, which made it feel strange. At the end of the village, there was a large tree. The tree looked down on the village.
“Hmm. It’s a very shamanistic place. Is that tree a guardian tree?”
Mi-ryung, who had been looking around, smiled with interest.
“A guardian tree? What are you talking about? I don’t feel any particularly unique mana.”
“It’s not a spell that has a direct effect. It’s closer to the origin, I’d say. Now, look at this village. Looking at the location of the houses and the shape of the roads, doesn’t anything come to mind?”
“What would come to mind?”
“Look closely. Closely.”
I narrowed my eyes and looked down at the village. After looking for a while, I suddenly realized.
“…The Korean peninsula? The houses are the regions and cities. The roads are the rivers. The reservoir over there is Jeju Island?”
“Yes. That’s right. As I said before, it doesn’t have a direct effect, but… it does block some of the evil energy heading towards Korea, I guess? Well, more than that, it’s a suitable place to use spells. It’ll be easy to backtrack here.”
I didn’t know there was a place like this in Korea. I had never paid attention, so it was my first time learning about it.
Magic and shamanism had existed for thousands of years, so it might not be that surprising. Awakened people increased dramatically when gates appeared. In terms of time, it had only been a few decades.
After some time, several cars entered the village entrance. The cars stopped without entering the village, even though there was plenty of space. Lee Yeon-sook, Kim Ji-hak, and other suit-wearing people got out of the cars. Association employees dragged a restrained person with them.
“There were five living bombs. The common thing is that they’re all curse users who learned from someone. That someone is probably Rezo. They all remember different faces, so we couldn’t track him. Backtracking through curses. Is it possible?”
Lee Yeon-sook had a cigarette in her mouth. Mi-ryung stared at the restrained people.
“You’ve sealed the living bomb curses?”
“It would be a problem if they exploded in the middle. Do we need to release the seal?”
Mi-ryung shook her head at Kim Ji-hak’s question.
“You did well. Just because they’re sealed doesn’t mean the curse itself disappears. It’s easier to backtrack this way. I’ll start. We don’t really need the lightning-struck jujube tree.”
Swoosh.
The guardian tree behind Mi-ryung swayed without any wind. I was watching in surprise when Mi-ryung said.
“He’s in an unnamed mountain in Yeoju. I’ll mark the exact location on the map. Is he living like a hermit in the mountains?”
“When we found him in Europe, he was also in the mountains. It’s not that surprising.”
Lee Yeon-sook pulled out a map of Yeoju on her smartphone. Mi-ryung pointed to one spot with her finger, and then she gave instructions to the others.
“Kim Ji-hak. Cooperate with the police to seal off the area. Move carefully so you don’t get caught. I’ll deal with Rezo myself.”
“…Shouldn’t we ask for cooperation from other S-grade hunters?”
“The subjugation of Rezo in Europe ended anticlimactically. Rezo’s power was the lowest among the S-grades. Europe overreacted because they were scared of Rezo’s terrorist acts.”
“That’s understandable. South Korea is also on the verge of panic right now. Especially since South Korea has no tolerance for terrorism… I’ll do as you say.”
Lee Yeon-sook turned to us.
“What are you two going to do? You’ve done enough, so you can leave now. The reward will be paid according to Sung Yu-jin’s performance, as you wish. I’ll also give you a bonus. It won’t be much though.”
Mi-ryung looked at me. She was passing the choice to me.
Going back and enjoying a night date with Mi-ryung wouldn’t be bad.
“Can we follow you?”
“I can’t protect you. Don’t blame me if you follow and die. Did you get insurance, by any chance?”
“We’ll follow you. We’ll take care of ourselves.”
It was an opportunity to see a battle between S-grades. How could I just pass up this opportunity? There’s also a saying that watching a fight is the most fun after watching a fire.
“We’re moving now.”
• • •
We arrived at our destination. The blockade had already begun. At this point, Rezo would have realized that his location had been exposed.
Lee Yeon-sook had a cigarette in her mouth and calmly walked into the mountain. Even though this was a mountain, she had no qualms about smoking.
I could feel a strong presence from the center of the mountain. It was definitely Rezo, the S-grade criminal. He wasn’t hiding and was waiting for us.
“Ah, this mountain itself is stained with curses. This is a big problem.”
Mi-ryung suddenly said, as if sighing.
“What’s the big problem?”
“Well, this mountain has become a curse bomb… and it’s going to explode.”
“When?”
“…3.”
“3 minutes?”
“2. 1.”
KWA-AAAAAANG!
