Chapter 134 - Grimoire Harem (5)

Namgung Soo-ah's family home.

There was still some time before the evening gathering, and Soo-ah had nothing in particular to do.

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

She lay on the bed in her large room, which was spotless and nicely decorated yet somehow a little bleak, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

'...I'm bored.'

Maybe it felt even worse because she'd been spending so much time at the Cathedral lately.

Soo-ah thought of Yo-han.

'Normally, I'd be going to find Mister around this time and keeping him company... Mister must be bored without me too, right?'

She entertained the thought with complete confidence.

Soo-ah rolled over, buried her face in the pillow, then turned her head slightly to look at the phone lying on the bed.

'...I hope so.'

Just then, her phone rang.

Bzzzz-!

The name on the screen was "Kim Yo-han". It was Mister.

"-Huh?"

Soo-ah's drowsy eyes flew wide open in surprise.

She sat up, leaned her back against the wall, drew up her knees, and curled up on the bed.

"A-Ahem~."

She cleared her sleep-roughened throat, tucked her black hair behind one ear, and answered the phone.

"Hello~ Mister? What's up?"

[I had something to ask you. Can you talk?]

Hearing Yo-han's calm voice through the phone, Soo-ah smiled mischievously.

"Hmm~ Didn't you actually call because you were bored and missed me?"

[Yeah, it has been quieter without you. Ellie said she wants to take all the kids to the zoo this weekend. Want to come?]

"The zoo?"

The Cathedral kids had probably said they wanted to see animals.

It was out of nowhere, but she didn't mind. She liked the idea.

"Sure. I'll go too. I have to see the elephants~."

[Elephants?]

"You don't know, Mister? When you think of a zoo, elephants are the obvious choice!"

At Yo-han's puzzled question, Soo-ah tilted her head against the phone and chattered cheerfully.

"Lions. Called the kings of beasts. Hippos. Called the demons of the lake."

Then she sharpened her gaze and put on an adorably serious expression.

"Elephants? They're just elephants."

She declared it with complete confidence.

"They don't need some other fancy title tacked onto them!"

[...Well, I guess that's true. And they're huge, so they're pretty impressive to look at.]

"Exactly~."

Yo-han's indifferent voice still gave her proper responses, with the faintest trace of amusement mixed in, and a soft smile crept onto Soo-ah's lips.

They weren't talking about anything particularly important.

She simply liked chatting about silly little things with Yo-han like this.

She liked this time.

Then, suddenly... the image of her father, Namgung Soo, with his back turned and refusing to look at her, surfaced in her mind.

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

Her eyelids lowered, her eyes closing slightly.

Soo-ah pulled her knees closer to her chest and wrapped one arm around them. Her toes curled inward.

"Mister... This is kind of out of nowhere, but, um... you don't know your dad, right?"

[Right. Honestly, I don't really know my mom either.]

It really must have sounded completely out of nowhere.

But Yo-han's voice remained calm through the phone, and the silence that followed told her he was waiting for her to continue, so Soo-ah carefully spoke again.

"...If you did have a dad, do you think you'd be able to get along with him?"

Soo-ah regretted it as soon as she said it.

She'd suddenly gotten sentimental and said something seriously weird.

[Hmm~ Who knows? I'm not sure.]

Then Yo-han's words rang in her ear.

[Personality isn't necessarily hereditary, but like father, like son, as they say.]

A faint chuckle came through.

[Seeing as I'm not exactly a decent human being, my old man probably wouldn't be one either.]

At the ridiculous remark, the tension left Soo-ah's stiff shoulders, and a laugh escaped her before she knew it.

"Puhaha~ What kind of logic is that?!"

In the end, it had turned into another silly conversation.

Soo-ah tilted her head and rested her cheek against the phone.

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

But she liked it.

Just as Soo-ah opened her mouth to keep talking, someone knocked on her bedroom door.

Knock- knock-.

"Miss, I believe it's time for you to start getting ready."

It was the voice of her new bodyguard, Yu Geom.

"Haa~."

Soo-ah sighed with a bored expression, then spoke into the phone.

"Mister, I have to go to the evening gathering now, so I'm hanging up."

[All right.]

Click-.

And with that, the call ended.

Soo-ah looked around the silent room for a moment, then got out of bed.

Then a peculiar smile suddenly appeared on her face.

"Hmm~."

'Maybe I should just go straight to the Cathedral after the party?'

Having Mister come pick her up wouldn't be a bad idea either.

She didn't know whether he'd actually come, though.

Soo-ah picked up her phone and sent Yo-han a message with the address of the evening gathering attached.

[Come if you want something good to eat!]

***

A hallway in the Bureau for Abnormal Phenomena Countermeasures.

Lee Hye-eun, an agent on Special Operations Division Team 3 under Si-on, had been furrowing her brow as she pondered something deeply.

"Hmmm~."

Then she asked Team Leader Park beside her.

"Do you think that rumor about our Director beating up his dad is true?"

"Cough- Kgh!"

Caught completely off guard, Team Leader Park coughed and answered.

"Where the hell did that come from?"

"No, I was just thinking about our angelic Team Leader Si-on, and that made me think about the Director too, since he's Team Leader Si-on's dad."

Hye-eun spoke with genuine curiosity.

"So I was just wondering."

Team Leader Park sighed with a weary expression.

"Haa...."

There were rumors about him killing a hundred yokai by himself and all sorts of things like that.

So why, of all things, had the rumor about him beating up his dad spread?

...Well, it wasn't actually a rumor. It was true.

Still, aside from being Do-ryong's subordinate, Team Leader Park had known Director Shin Do-ryong for a long time, so he gave a vague answer.

"I don't really know either. Ask him yourself if you're that curious."

And this damn audacious rookie actually went to ask him.

"Okay. Director~!"

"Huh?"

Hye-eun pattered over to Shin Do-ryong, who happened to be walking down the hallway with Shin Se-hee, and called out to him.

"Director, is that rumor about you beating up your dad true?"

Shin Do-ryong stopped walking for a moment and readily satisfied his subordinate's curiosity.

"Yep. I beat him up."

"Gasp!?"

His matter-of-fact attitude startled Hye-eun even more, making her eyes go round and her mouth fall open.

"Director! Don't you know you're not supposed to hit your parents?"

"I know."

But Shin Do-ryong merely shrugged.

"Parents hit their kids and call it 'tough love', don't they? I just gave that man a punch of love."

Shin Do-ryong shamelessly put on a sorrowful expression and raised his fist to gaze at it.

"My heart hurt more from having no choice but to hit my old man than my old man hurt from getting hit by me."

"Woooow...."

Hye-eun's expression went blank.

"...How did someone as cute and kind as Team Leader Si-on come from you, Director?"

"She takes after her mom."

"Ahh~."

Hye-eun nodded in understanding and asked.

"Then if Team Leader Si-on punches you someday, you'll just accept it?"

"...Well, if Si-on ever gets angry enough to raise a fist at me, I probably did something wrong."

Then again, he'd beaten up his own father because he wanted to marry Si-on's mother.

Shin Do-ryong applied his own situation to the idea and ran a simulation in his head.

Inside Shin Do-ryong's imagination~ Poof, poof~.

Si-on clung close to Yo-han with her arm linked through his and declared firmly.

'I'm going to marry this man! So don't get in our way, Dad! Si-on Punch!'

'Gwaaaah~.'

Shin Do-ryong's sharp eyes drooped dejectedly.

Do-ryoooong....

At this ridiculous scene, Shin Se-hee pressed a hand to her temple and sighed.

"Haa... Why do you say things that disgrace your own reputation so casually?!"

Shin Se-hee furrowed her elegant brows, grabbed Shin Do-ryong by the arm, and started walking forward.

"You said you wanted to discuss the growing yokai problem in Seoul. Hurry up and get to the Director's office!"

And so they moved farther away.

Step- step-.

The sound of Shin Do-ryong and Shin Se-hee's footsteps echoed through the quiet hallway, where no one else was around.

As they walked side by side toward the Director's office, Shin Se-hee neatly clasped both hands in front of herself.

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

She stole a sideways glance at Shin Do-ryong.

Then she cautiously brought up Shin Do-ho, her half-brother and Shin Do-ryong's father, the former Clan Head of the Shin Clan.

"...Do you resent Do-ho oraboni?"

"Huh? Not really."

Shin Do-ryong turned his head and glanced at Shin Se-hee before answering with his usual calm expression.

"He's already dead, and that man and I were Clan Head and successor before we were anything else. We weren't a normal father and son."

"...I suppose not."

Shin Se-hee lowered her eyes.

Her feelings toward Shin Do-ho were complicated.

Shin Se-hee had first met Shin Do-ho when she was five years old. Her mother had already died, and while she was being raised by maids, a large adult man came to see her for the first time.

He looked like Shin Se-hee's father, Shin Do-hwang, the Clan Head two generations before, whom she had only ever heard about.

Five-year-old Shin Se-hee looked up at Shin Do-ho and spoke in a trembling voice.

"D-Daddy... N-No, I mean, are you my father?"

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

Shin Do-ho had personally killed countless half-siblings and even his own full siblings while fighting for the position of Clan Head.

After unifying the Shin Clan, he looked down at his half-sister, who was younger than his own children, and let out a pitying sigh.

"Haa... I'm not your father. I'm your older brother."

Shin Se-hee simply hadn't known that her father, Shin Do-hwang, was already dead as well.

The succession struggle had already ended, and Shin Se-hee was too young to pose any threat, so in accordance with their father Shin Do-hwang's dying wishes, Shin Do-ho raised her as a young lady of the main family.

Shin Do-ho was generous and fair toward those he judged to be no threat to himself, as well as toward his subordinates.

Though perhaps he had simply been uninterested in them....

He had been a strong and capable Clan Head who reunified the Shin Clan when internal conflict had nearly destroyed it.

But he had never been a good father.

Shin Do-ho himself had been the son of a concubine and had constantly been forced to prove his worth before ascending to the position of Clan Head.

That was why he had been equally strict with his sons, the candidates to succeed him as Clan Head.

He judged them solely by talent and ability.

Shin Do-ryong's mother had died giving birth to him, so Shin Do-ho had considered him inauspicious and neglected him.

But when Shin Do-ryong began to display exceptional talent, Shin Do-ho took an interest in him and subjected him to training that bordered on abuse.

To Shin Se-hee, Shin Do-ho had been both the benefactor who allowed her to remain within the Shin Clan and the man who abused Shin Do-ryong, whom she loved.

'...Though the same could be said of me.'

Shin Se-hee's eyes darkened gloomily.

She hadn't actively stopped Shin Do-ryong from being abused.

All she'd done was watch, then treat his wounds and take care of him after his training was over.

And.

Shin Do-ryong narrowed one eye slightly as he looked at Shin Se-hee's gloomy expression.

'There she goes again, digging herself into a hole.'

Shin Se-hee occasionally brought up Shin Do-ho like this, even though Shin Do-ryong himself no longer cared.

She was the one who still agonized over it.

So Shin Do-ryong reached out and gently took Shin Se-hee's hand.

"Huh? W-What are you doing!?"

Startled, Shin Se-hee looked around, but Shin Do-ryong answered casually.

"What's the big deal? No one's around. We're only holding hands."

"Even so...."

"You used to hold my hand like this whenever I was feeling down. I've been feeling kind of low lately, so hold it for me."

At his calm yet sly tone, Shin Se-hee's face turned red.

'...H-How did he grow up into this kind of man?'

But she didn't let go of his hand.

A relationship that betrayed one's master and defiled one's ancestors.

Shin Do-ryong himself wasn't thinking anything of the sort. He only did it because he loved Shin Se-hee.

But if it counted as revenge against the clan, then revenge it was.

***

After my call with Soo-ah ended, I went to the hotel near Ellie's Cathedral where Lee Mun-ryong and Se-geon were staying.

I wasn't going there for any particular reason. It was just a routine check-in.

It was a residence-style hotel, spacious and laid out like a home with separate rooms.

When I opened the door and stepped inside, my eyes met Se-geon's as he rose from the living room sofa.

"Ah... you're here."

Se-geon spoke a little awkwardly.

"Um... about what happened at that abandoned building...."

Apparently things were still awkward after we'd argued when Glasya-Labolas's Contractor, Ha-eun, got away at the abandoned building last time.

...Though calling it an argument was generous, considering I was the only one who'd done any talking.

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

I spoke first.

"I said everything I had to say back then. I'm not going to bring it up again."

But there was one thing I needed to make absolutely clear.

"Just don't hesitate when things get dangerous."

"Yeah... I understand."

Se-geon nodded.

Apparently he'd done some thinking of his own.

Maybe it was because he was handsome, but the moment he put on even the slightest serious expression, he somehow looked like he had hidden depths.

Anyway, I looked around the living room and asked Se-geon.

"Where's the old man?"

"Ah, he's resting in his room right now."

Se-geon put on his coat as he spoke.

"I was about to go buy something. Need anything?"

"No. Watch out for mercenaries while you're out."

That somehow didn't sound like the kind of conversation people had in Korea.

Se-geon left the room, and I considered calling for Lee Mun-ryong.

"...Hm?"

Then I noticed a yellow-covered book lying all by itself on the sofa.

The grimoire <The King in Yellow>.

Apparently Se-geon had been reading it on the sofa and left it behind.

He could summon it back instantly whenever he felt like it, but still....

I sat down beside <The King in Yellow> and sighed.

"...Careless bastard."

<The King in Yellow> also fluttered its pages indignantly at its owner's behavior in leaving it behind.

Yellow! Yellow-yellow!

Watching it, I felt a mischievous urge.

'Should I pick up where I left off and try seducing it again?'

"Hmm~."

I draped one arm over the back of the sofa and looked down at <The King in Yellow>.

"...If it were me, I wouldn't leave an adorable grimoire like you all alone."

I gave it a faint, gentle smile.

At that smile, <The King in Yellow> froze for a moment, then trembled violently.

Y-Yellooooow-!?

'I-I'm the one in danger!?'

<The King in Yellow> flusteredly flew into a rage.

Yellow! Yellow-yellow-yellow! Yellow-!!

It couldn't take him openly making eyes at it when he already had so many other grimoires!

I watched <The King in Yellow> bounce around on the sofa.

Honestly, I had no idea what it was saying....

But it was probably complaining about the fact that I owned several grimoires.

So what?

"I do have other grimoires...."

Since I'd already started, I shamelessly decided to act like the kind of romance-fantasy male lead grimoires would go for.

"But what am I supposed to do?"

I pressed one hand against the side of <The King in Yellow> and leaned closer.

"Right now, you're the only one I can see."

Y-Yelloooooow....

I had no idea what "greedy eyes filled with melancholy" were supposed to look like, but I tried making them anyway.

"And you-."

I whispered in a low voice.

"I want you to feel the same."

Then.

Whooosh-.

A gust of wind blew, and <The King in Yellow> vanished.

Apparently Se-geon had realized he'd left his grimoire behind and summoned it back.

'Whatever. I had fun.'

Satisfied, I leaned back against the sofa.

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

Then my eyes narrowed at the blatant presence I could feel outside the hotel.

‧

‧

‧

When I stepped outside the hotel, a foreign man in a black suit and coat was standing there.

The man looked at me and spoke in a languid yet welcoming voice.

"Thank you for coming out to meet me."

I stared incredulously at the vortex of ghosts swirling through the air.

"You were spraying mana all over the place to announce you were here. Of course I had to come out."

"Haha~ My apologies if I offended you."

Despite being the one who'd acted rudely, the man wore a politely mannered smile as he spoke.

"Since I've come to Seoul, I thought it would only be proper to greet Korea's greatest wizard."

A leather-bound grimoire rested in the foreign man Pierre's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Pierre."

<Heptameron> was summoned.

"In the wizarding world, I'm known as the Ghost Merchant, the Fairy Hunter, the Monster Collector, the One Who Walks in Winter, and several other names. Please call me whichever you prefer."

After Pierre's torrent of introductions, I figured that since this was our first meeting, I should introduce myself too.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you."

I summoned the steel-bound grimoire <De Vermis Mysteriis> and took it in hand.

"I'm just Kim Yo-han."