Chapter 13 · 10 min

Chapter 13

That, it's convenient

Seo I-hyeon is dull, but that's limited to mana, not that other senses are dull too.

Rather other senses were much more sensitive and his eye for detail was also good.

So as soon as he stood in front of the one-room entrance door he immediately noticed the sense of incongruity.

The smell was different from usual.

Unfamiliar guys had been here.

Seo I-hyeon confirmed the space where the smell lingered, and grasped that they had entered his one-room. No, he was certain.

Would guys who entered an ownerless house without permission really have come for a good purpose?

'No way. How do I handle these guys?'

Guys who didn't come for a good purpose won't stay quietly inside there.

They probably entered without even taking off their shoes.

Suddenly irritation surged.

How bothersome cleaning is.

Suddenly the thought of making Black clean came but went down right away. Black is too tall. If taken out inside there he probably won't even be able to stand straight.

Still it was a bit regrettable since he put the hands in together when making so he could do fairly delicate work too.

'There was hardly any occasion to use it, this turned out well.'

Thinking he should try using it this opportunity he pressed the keypad.

Beep beep beep beep. Beep.

As soon as Seo I-hyeon opened the door he immediately closed it.

Bang.

And walked toward the stairs.

First he has to change position.

Seo I-hyeon's aim hit exactly. The door burst open again and people poured out from inside in a rush.

'As expected they were wearing shoes.'

If not they wouldn't have been able to come out that fast, all at once. Not one or two but a full five.

Seo I-hyeon increased the speed a bit more. He didn't take the elevator. Going by stairs makes it easier to lure. There's also no risk of being isolated.

Just before arriving at the stairs he glanced back, confirming the guys chasing.

They were five men, and none of them even thought of covering their faces. It was an appearance of not even considering failure or such at all.

Everyone's attire was ordinary. And they were wearing swords at their waists. Including the handle it was a sword of length slightly over 1 meter.

Shoes were all combat boots, and there were tattoos on the neck.

It was a tattoo of a pentagram with a sword stuck in it.

'A peculiar tattoo.'

Seeing that everyone has the same tattoo, it must be something like the symbol of an organization. So some organization moved.

'An organization that moved to catch me...'

The dark web he heard from Jeong Sang-cheol today came to mind. Maybe it's an organization active on the dark web.

'This turned out well.'

A slight smile formed on Seo I-hyeon's mouth corners.

He had many things he was curious about anyway, so he can ask them.

Seo I-hyeon regulated the speed and quickly went down the stairs. The five men diligently chased such Seo I-hyeon.

Chasing without saying a word, if Seo I-hyeon had been an ordinary person it would have been really scary.

Seo I-hyeon came out of the one-room building. The place to handle them was already in his head.

Bringing them there didn't seem like it would be a particular problem. Since they're chasing so diligently.

He entered the alley between the one-room building and one-room building. Following this path straight a small mountain comes out. It's a place where a walking trail is well established, and at this time there will be no people at all.

There's a small open space touching the mountain, and that was Seo I-hyeon's destination.

If a disturbance happens it's troublesome, but that can be blocked. No, maybe they will block it themselves.

Seo I-hyeon ran increasing the speed a bit. Because they also started running.

Slightly confirming, they were also chasing without a sign of fatigue as if they weren't ordinary people.

Since the interval was gradually decreasing he increased the speed a bit more. The distance widened sharply again. Their speed became faster.

Now the expressions look a bit hard. So he maintained the speed.

Running like that, before he knew it he arrived at the destination.

As expected there were no people at all. Of course there were no gazes either. Of course excluding the gazes of the chasing guys.

Standing in the middle of the open space and turning around, only then the five men were entering the open space.

Seo I-hyeon calmly waited for them.

The five men who arrived caught their breath for a moment and glared at Seo I-hyeon.

"Why so fast? I almost died from being out of breath."

The man standing at the very front said mockingly and took a big step forward. While drawing the sword worn at his waist.

It was a black sword. Even the blade was dark.

Since it's a dark night it wasn't even visible well. It seems they made it that way on purpose.

'If Black holds it it will suit well.'

Since Black is also black that black sword will suit well. Of course since Black is so big it won't look like that shape but like a short dagger.

"The running is all done, right? Then come with us a bit. The stabbing... we'll only do one each. Since we're five you just need to be stabbed five times. It's nothing, right?"

While he said that and slowly approached, the remaining four largely circled and formed a formation as if surrounding Seo I-hyeon.

Behind Seo I-hyeon is the mountain, but since it's a steep part climbing up isn't easy.

So if only blocking the way to pop out front or side it was no different from a rat in a jar.

Seo I-hyeon glanced around all that scenery with indifferent eyes.

"What if I scream? Even though here is a secluded place if it's noisy someone might report to the police?"

At Seo I-hyeon's calm words the man approaching from the front chuckled.

"Ah, right. Thanks for telling. But no need to worry. There won't be an occasion for the sound to go outside."

The man who said that approached three more steps then took out something from his bosom.

Seo I-hyeon's eyes flashed seeing that.

It was a box of size about two palms overlapped side by side. Thickness about 10 centimeters. Patterns similar to a magic circle were engraved on the surface, and when turning on the switch light entered the magic circle.

The man put it down on the floor. And looking at Seo I-hyeon grinned.

"You don't know what this is, right? No need to know. Just know that from now on the sound made here doesn't go outside. How is it? Killing?"

Seo I-hyeon asked looking at the box placed on the floor with a curious expression.

"Does that operate with electricity? Putting in a battery?"

The man made a hollow laugh.

"Ha, electricity? Hey you, would that be possible? The battery is right. Since an ether battery goes in. Extremely small though."

At the word ether battery Seo I-hyeon's curiosity deepened more.

He heard that word when going to Etherix too. And wasn't E coin also called ether coin.

'In this world they seem to call mana ether.'

Or maybe ether is separate and mana is also separate.

Anyway that box, he wanted to have it. Since if he has it there will be quite a few occasions to use it.

"That, it's convenient."

Seo I-hyeon muttered like that and glanced around.

The five men were slowly narrowing the encirclement. It seemed they were moving slowly on purpose. To stimulate fear.

The remaining four also drew their swords. All identically shaped swords. Black swords.

All were to his liking. And somehow they didn't seem like ordinary swords. It seemed like swords made with materials that went through some special refining process, or made through a special process.

That can be confirmed directly later.

Seo I-hyeon sent a signal to Black waiting in the shadow. And said to the man in front.

"Are you the leader?"

The man's mouth corners slightly rose. And the remaining four people frowned at the same time.

"Who's the leader the leader! We're equal!"

Of course Seo I-hyeon didn't believe it. No, they might sincerely believe it, but in Seo I-hyeon's view the guy in front of his eyes was the leader.

That is, it means that guy knows the most.

Behind that guy Black rose without sound.

Since there was not even a bit of sound or presence, and even the color was black no one knew that Black appeared.

Of course that was only for an instant, and soon the remaining four people discovered Black and their eyes widened. But before they could even open their mouths and say something Black moved.

Crack!

Two low kicks of a picture-like posture almost simultaneously hit the man's thigh and calf.

With those two hits the thigh bone and calf bone broke.

The man collapsed as is.

"Gyaaaagh!"

A scream rang, and Black holding the sword the man missed disappeared again as if seeping into the floor.

The night open space was no different from all shadow.

This time Black rose behind the man who was narrowing the encirclement from Seo I-hyeon's right.

Earlier it was a low kick, but this time it was a sword.

Swish swish swish!

The black sword mercilessly stabbed the man's both thighs and calves. This time also four sword strikes were done almost simultaneously, and the man collapsed as is.

"Gyaaaagh!"

Fear settled on the open space. And Black entered the shadow again.

The remaining guys are three. Their pupils lost composure and shook. They couldn't decide the next action quickly and hesitated. Because a completely unexpected situation burst.

The price of hesitation was harsh.

Another guy's thigh and calf were ravaged.

He fell with a scream, and the remaining two stepped back hesitantly.

Black rose at a place a bit away behind them. As if blocking the retreat.

Black was holding two swords in both hands.

And Seo I-hyeon leisurely walked toward the guy who fell last.

A sword had fallen next to the guy wriggling on the floor. Seo I-hyeon picked up that sword. And also untied and brought the scabbard hanging at the man's waist.

While Seo I-hyeon was examining the sword turning it this way and that, Black moved big strides and approached the fourth target.

"Don't come! Fuck! What is that!"

"Isn't it a skeleton? He was a civilian! Don't tell me we got worked on?"

"I don't know either! Do something somehow!"

While exchanging conversation close to an argument among themselves Black charged at one of them.

It was really fast. Even entered an off-beat breathing so they couldn't cope at all.

Swish swish swish!

The sword stuck deeply into the thigh and shin.

Black after neutralizing one guy like that immediately charged at the remaining guy.

Crunch!

Black gripped that guy's neck.

"Kehek!"

The sword that was in Black's hand was stuck in the nearby floor before he knew it.

He can freely use the shadow, but to store something there Seo I-hyeon has to do it.

Seo I-hyeon recovered all the swords while going around. Suddenly five good swords appeared.

Unfortunately since they weren't swords made with materials that came from Seo I-hyeon's body they couldn't be stored long in the shadow. Still for temporary storage the shadow is the best.

There's no capacity limit, no size limit, no number limit either.

Seo I-hyeon glanced around the fallen ones and looked at Black.

"Gather them this way."

At Seo I-hyeon's command Black kicked both legs of the guy he was gripping in his grasp.

Crack! Crack!

Both leg bones broke and dangled. He seemed to want to scream but since the neck was gripped he couldn't make a proper sound.

Black held that guy dangling and threw him in front of Seo I-hyeon.

Following the man who rolled on the floor and sprawled in front of Seo I-hyeon the remaining guys were also thrown by Black and became similar shapes.

Black lastly held the box placed in the middle of the open space and approached Seo I-hyeon.

Seo I-hyeon received the box Black handed and examined it this way and that. As expected he doesn't know.

"Does this operate just by turning on the switch?"

Click. Click.

Seo I-hyeon confirmed while repeating turning the switch off and on. Well, since his senses are so dull he didn't know what changes.

Anyway Seo I-hyeon turned on the switch and put the box down on the floor.

As expected it's good that sound doesn't go out. He felt good because he could resolve it with a click without needing to use magic himself.

Anyway since blood as material goes into Seo I-hyeon's magic.

"Alright, now shall we resolve the curious things?"