Chapter 115 - Wizard May Cry (1)

Rikoriko's female manager took the business card I held out, a note of unease in her voice as she spoke.

"...I'm Seo Ye-eun. But do you really need to know a client's occupation just to perform an exorcism?"

A sharp reaction, but I understood.

For a VTuber, having their real self exposed was a hazard.

All the more so when the person inside Rikoriko was a man.

It was the kind of information that could hit their revenue directly, so it was only natural to be careful.

And the person inside Rikoriko, a man with a good-natured face, calmed Seo Ye-eun down.

"...I'm fine with it."

He greeted me with an awkward smile.

"Hello. I'm Jeong Si-u. Thank you for coming."

I accepted the greeting.

"I understand what you're worried about. It's just that in an Anomaly Incident, there's no telling how the Anomaly may have entangled itself, so the more I know about the client, the better."

Playing the expert, I explained to Ye-eun in a soothing voice.

"Don't worry about confidentiality. My job is exterminating Anomalies, not writing gossip pieces."

Seo Ye-eun still looked less than pleased. But she turned worried eyes toward Jeong Si-u.

"...All right."

Her voice mollified with acceptance, she withdrew from between Jeong Si-u and me.

I discreetly watched Seo Ye-eun's and Jeong Si-u's reactions, weighing my judgment.

'Hmmm....'

Truth be told, when I'd first heard the client was a VTuber, what came to mind was that classic content play of inviting a self-proclaimed exorcist over for a chat and mining it for stream material.

I'd even wondered if that was the angle here, but....

Nobody would risk exposing the gender of the person inside the VTuber just to manufacture one measly story.

And judging by Seo Ye-eun's reaction, they really had gotten tangled up with some kind of Anomaly.

To loosen the stiff tension in the room, and to fish for a little more information, I tried some light conversation with an easy smile.

"Actually, I watched a bit of your stream before coming here. It was fun. The viewers seemed to love it, too."

Jeong Si-u's face flushed slightly, pleased and embarrassed at once.

"You saw it? That's a little embarrassing."

"As for the voice, I take it you use a voice changer of some kind?"

"Ah... I do get some help from a voice changer, but... Ah- ah."

Jeong Si-u took a moment to clear his throat.

"Ah- Hello, everyone! Thanks for coming to Riko's stream again today!"

He spoke in the voice of Rikoriko, straight out of her high-energy, adorable streams.

"—!"

My mouth fell open a little at the changed voice. That was genuinely impressive.

Jeong Si-u let slip an embarrassed laugh and returned to his normal voice.

"...Haha. My natural voice runs a little high for a guy. Turns out with enough practice, it just works."

"You're a pro."

At any rate, I eased into the main topic.

"The reason I brought up the stream is that when I watched it earlier, I didn't see any particular Anomalous Phenomenon."

When I'd heard a streamer had gotten caught up in an Anomaly Incident, I'd assumed it was the usual sort of case, an evil spirit appearing mid-broadcast to disrupt things with static or poltergeist activity. But that wasn't it.

"Could you tell me in detail how you came to be caught up in this?"

".........."

Jeong Si-u and Seo Ye-eun looked at each other for a moment, and then, as if making up his mind, Jeong Si-u took off his shirt.

Once again, I was a little surprised.

Not because Jeong Si-u had suddenly stripped.

'What is this...?'

Across Jeong Si-u's bared torso, a black snake had been drawn.

'A snake tattoo? No.'

My eyes narrowed.

Perhaps because the clothes had come off and left it exposed, the snake woke and began to move.

Squirm... slither....

Flush against his skin, the black snake coiled around Jeong Si-u's body, squeezing as it crawled.

The pressure of its constriction was apparently all too physical; Jeong Si-u let out a strangled groan.

"Aaagh...."

This was unmistakably an Anomaly.

"When did this start?"

"I don't know exactly... but recently."

Jeong Si-u looked down at the black shadow snake clinging to his body as he spoke.

"...I ended stream like always, went to sleep, and when I woke up. There it was, on my body."

As he spoke, the shadow snake flicked its tongue at me in threat and tightened around Jeong Si-u's body.

"...Ngh!"

"It looks like it takes a toll. And yet you kept streaming."

There hadn't been a trace of strain in the Rikoriko avatar's voice on the stream I'd watched, so I hadn't imagined he was entangled this directly.

"The snake isn't always awake, and with painkillers I manage, somehow...."

Jeong Si-u winced against the pain, lowering his gaze as he spoke.

"To everyone else, I'm probably just a creepy babiniku... but when I stream, I do it with the mindset of a voice actor playing Rikoriko." [TL: babiniku refers to a man performing as a cute female avatar]

His voice trembled, but it held firm.

"...I love Rikoriko as much as anyone, so I want to keep things as bright and fun as I can for the viewers who tune in."

Now, I didn't know VTuber culture well enough to offer any comment on that.

But his professionalism seemed ironclad.

And as I'd said before, my job wasn't comfort and encouragement.

It was Anomaly extermination.

I studied the shadow snake for a moment, then spoke.

"Please give me just a moment."

With the Anomaly clinging this close to the client, I needed a rough idea of what it was before I could exterminate it safely.

I looked down at the Grimoire in my hand, <De Vermis Mysteriis>.

Normally the book would have fallen open and offered up the relevant information.

Vmmm? Vmm- vmm-!

Apparently drawing a blank, <De Vermis Mysteriis> just vibrated, as if to say it had no idea.

"Hmmm...."

So it wasn't a European, Middle Eastern, or Cthulhu-adjacent Anomaly.

In that case, time to bust out the old trick? It had been a while.

I turned slightly away, slipped out my phone where Jeong Si-u and Seo Ye-eun couldn't see, and ran a search.

'Help me, Google!'

And I hadn't expected much. But up came information on a yokai resembling this Anomaly.

The internet is amazing.

'A Sangsa Snake.'

A yokai recorded in Korea and China, born, true to its name, from someone who died of lovesickness. [TL: 'sangsa' means lovesickness]

If a person died while their heart still burned with longing for someone, they turned into a snake.

The records said the yokai then coiled around the body of the one it had loved in life, squeezing tight and lapping up that person's tears.

I stole a glance at Jeong Si-u.

".........."

...This might well be connected to his VTuber work as Rikoriko.

The reason he'd been entangled with the Anomaly, the crime of a VTuber avatar and voice that were far too cute!

Kidding.

In this case, rather than someone actually having died... it had likely overlapped with the Wild Hunt, the Anomalous Phenomenon that swells the power of Anomalies.

My guess was that the Living Spirit energy pooled from the hearts of the many viewers who adored Rikoriko had taken the shape of a Sangsa Snake.

After all, if someone had killed themselves over a VTuber, or died, it would've been written up in articles immediately and passed around everywhere.

There was no way I wouldn't have heard.

Anyway. Time to dig through the yokai folktales for an extermination method.

There were a few tales.

The Chinese one was a Tang dynasty story, in which a young man in love with a Tang princess died and became a Sangsa Snake.

The princess weakened day by day under the agony of the snake's coils, until a renowned monk appeared, chanted Buddhist scripture, and drove the snake away.

In some versions, the princess went to a temple instead, and the snake, unable to cross the temple gate, fell away.

And the Korean one was a Joseon-era story....

It featured Admiral Yi Sun-sin.

".........."

My eyes blinked all on their own.

No, I mean, for the man himself to suddenly show up here... that was disconcerting.

Anyway, per the tale.

There was a woman in the next village over who fell for Yi Sun-sin, back when he was still preparing for the military examination.

The woman took ill with lovesickness, and her father begged Yi Sun-sin to meet his daughter.

Yi Sun-sin promised to go see her the next day.

But a sudden downpour swelled the river past its banks, and there was no crossing to the next village.

In the end, embittered over the broken promise, the woman became a Sangsa Snake and coiled around Yi Sun-sin.

And Yi Sun-sin declared that downpour or no, the fault for breaking his word was his alone! Never once letting a flicker of distaste show.

However hard the snake squeezed, he shed not a single tear, telling it to carry on until its grudge was spent.

And the Sangsa Snake, whether from terror or from being moved, attained Buddhahood, so the story goes.

Shft-.

I snuck a glance at Jeong Si-u. The painkillers were evidently wearing off; he swayed with pain, propped up by Seo Ye-eun.

"Haah... haah...."

".........."

...Probably shouldn't tell him to overcome it with the spirit of Yi Sun-sin, right?

As extermination methods went, that ranked right up there with Heracles clubbing the monster to death.

Besides, if people could solve it alone, why call an Exorcist?

They need one precisely because they can't.

Jeong Si-u spoke up, warily gauging my expression.

"...Is the solution difficult, by any chance?"

"No, it's fine."

With that reassurance, I stepped toward Jeong Si-u.

Either way, I'd found my solution.

The Tang tale said Buddhist scripture drove it off, so a Catholic prayer ought to do the job too.

"...Only, the snake may thrash around a little."

"What?"

Before the manager, Seo Ye-eun, could cut in, I began the incantation.

"God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us."

Fwrrrip-.

In my hand, the black iron-bound Grimoire <De Vermis Mysteriis> flew open on its own.

"That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations."

Shaaaaaaa-!

"A-aagh! Aaaaaagh-!?"

The Sangsa Snake convulsed violently in resistance, squeezing tighter, and Jeong Si-u screamed in agony.

At the sight, Seo Ye-eun shouted in a panic.

"S-stop it right now!"

I didn't stop. This much was within acceptable limits.

Ignoring the thrashing snake and Seo Ye-eun's shouting alike, I chanted on.

"Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee."

"Shaaaaa!"

At last, with a savage shriek, the Sangsa Snake unwound from his skin and burst free.

"Shaaa...."

Fully detached from Jeong Si-u's body, the huge shadow snake glared at the interloper and bared its fangs.

Thoom-.

And at its master's call, the Invisible Vampire looked down upon the snake.

"Grraaa...."

At the oppressive presence flooding the room, the Sangsa Snake sensed Grizzly on pure instinct.

"—!?"

It slithered swiftly across the floor.

Crash!

It smashed through the door and fled.

"I-it got away! Is that all right!?"

Seo Ye-eun cried out in alarm even as she tended to Jeong Si-u, and I answered calmly.

"It's fine. I stationed someone outside for exactly this."

That's right, to set up this very situation I'd deliberately had Grizzly leak killing intent.

Driving the Anomaly to flee into the hallway.

Because today's objectives were Anomaly extermination and a field test of the Grimoire <The King in Yellow>.

I followed it out into the hallway.

"Shaaa...!"

Se-geon stood in the fleeing Sangsa Snake's path.

<The King in Yellow> gripped in one hand, his face taut with nerves, he thrust out the other.

And that was that.

Whoom-.

<The King in Yellow> fluttered, and a wind swept through the hallway.

Hwooo-!

"—!?"

The shadow snake was ripped to shreds by the wind Elementals, its form dissolving and scattering.

From behind me, I heard Lee Mun-ryong, who'd been leaning against the corridor wall enjoying the show, speak in a triumphant voice.

"Well? Can you see how his movements have changed?"

I gave Lee Mun-ryong a dumbfounded look.

"What movements? He just took it out with straight-up wind Elemental magic."

Lee Mun-ryong's eyes drooped.

Shrivel... sulk....

"But I taught him so diligently...."

I ignored him.

I turned my head back to Se-geon and the translucent little Elementals drifting around him, each shaped like a tiny, lovely girl.

The wind Elementals chattered away in high spirits.

"Hehe~ what a nice, cool breeze that was."

"We did well, didn't we? Praise us~."

The nymphs of Greek mythology, fae embodying nature.

And among them, those embodying the wind.

They were the Sylphs, established as the Elemental of air among Paracelsus's four elemental spirits.

Thanks to the wind-wielding power of <The King in Yellow>, the contract had apparently come easily.

Well, nymphs were said to have a taste for handsome men and pretty boys.

Maybe Se-geon's looks were simply their type.

But there was something that bothered me more than any of that....

I narrowed my eyes at the Sylphs.

Why aren't they putting 'sylph' at the end of their sentences?

'Hehe~ what a pleasant breeze is blowing, sylph~.'

'We did well, didn't we? Praise us, syl-sylph~.'

...Why don't they talk like that?

I let my gaze slide down to the Gnome summoned at my feet.

The Gnome blinked up at me.

"Master, what's wrong, gnome?"

Apparently, tacking 'gnome' onto the end of every sentence was just the gnomes' own verbal tic.

'...So it wasn't how Elementals talk after all.'