Chapter 37 - Yohan's Bizarre Vacation (5)

A wanted magician. A necromancer. The culprit behind this entire disaster.

Edward Coffin burst into maniacal laughter at the sight of <The Lesser Key of Solomon>, which he had finally found through his zombies.

"Hahahahaha! O Lemegeton! At last, you have come to me!"

It was in someone else's hands, but that hardly mattered. This land had no proper school of magic. Given how long Lemegeton had been in Korea, its owner was obviously either an ordinary person who had lucked into finding a grimoire or a fledgling magician who hadn't yet grasped what magic truly was.

They were surely trembling in fear by now.

The intruders who might arrive from outside were the ones he really needed to watch out for.

... Still, since Lemegeton had chosen this person as its master, however briefly, he ought to take some precautions.

He took a blue-skinned corpse from its coffin, embalmed to keep it from rotting. It was a false body he had prepared to protect himself against an opponent's magic or curses.

Transferring his consciousness into it, Edward headed for the hall with an army of zombies he had specially enhanced, rather than mere animated corpses.

To Edward, any master of <Lemegeton> other than himself was nothing more than a treasure chest holding his prize.

* * *

Yohan thought as he chewed the bread thoroughly and swallowed it quickly.

Now that I knew a deranged magician was after my grimoire, I needed a new plan.

First, Plan A: ride Grizzly out of here, to hell with the survivors and the crazy magician.

'I'm flying~ Flying~!'

'Graaawr~!'

Aside from the risk of falling off a running Grizzly with no safety harness, it seemed like the quickest and most enjoyable way to escape.

And, naturally, it was complete bullshit.

I'd attracted a psychopath whose thought processes were beyond me, someone who filled a campground with zombies and killed people just to find a grimoire.

This wasn't something I could brush off with, "Your average magician..."

Logic and rational thought had completely collapsed. The man wasn't sane.

... The absurd part was that his insane method had actually caught me.

It was practically a cow catching a rat by stepping backward.

Anyway, a psychopath who did something like this wasn't going to give up just because I ran.

I recalled what the zombies had shouted.

["Found it..."]

Their movements had clearly changed upon discovering <The Lesser Key of Solomon>. They had probably sent a signal once they found what he wanted, prompting him to switch from automated hunting to direct control.

"..."

Normally, I wouldn't have cared much what that lunatic did, whether the Special Response Section caught him or he escaped. I just had to survive and get out.

I'd thought that would be the end of it. But things had changed.

What he wanted was the grimoire I possessed: <The Lesser Key of Solomon>.

My gaze darkened, my eyes narrowing.

... He knew about me now.

If he'd watched through the zombies, he must have seen my face. Even if I escaped, he would keep searching for me, keep coming after me to get the grimoire.

I absolutely refused to live trembling in fear, never knowing when I might be attacked.

... So I wasn't running. I couldn't leave him alive.

'For my own safety, I'll make sure I kill him here.'

Once the decision was made, hesitation was a waste of time.

I stepped forward and stood in the middle of the hall. The other survivors gave me wary looks, probably because I'd shown them the gun earlier.

"First, I apologize for being somewhat heavy-handed, though it was to bring order to a chaotic situation," I said calmly.

"It took me a little while to assess the situation. There's something I need to tell you all.

"I'm not merely a Ghostbuster."

Ellie's blue eyes wavered at that.

"What? You're not a G-Ghostbuster?"

"Ellie, be quiet."

Sua stared at her in disbelief, and ... I sighed inwardly.

Fine. What the hell, let's do this.

"My name is Kim Yohan. In addition to being a Ghostbuster, I'm a member of the Special Response Section, a government organization established to respond to anomalous phenomena."

I laughed inwardly as I spoke, recalling how Sion had reassured people at the farm.

"... You can think of me as an agent."

Great. Now I could add impersonating a public official to my list of crimes.

It wasn't as though I was padding my résumé... Yet the list kept growing.

At this rate, should I aim for it? The Napoleon of crime?

Anyway, now that I'd started, I had to push ahead.

"Since it's a secret government organization, I don't have an official ID. Still, how many professions in South Korea allow someone to carry a firearm?"

A moment's thought would reveal how strange that was. Which was exactly why I gave them no time to ask questions.

Besides, after being attacked by zombies, they probably weren't thinking straight.

"This is an anomalous incident caused by a criminal with malicious intentions."

I didn't bother mentioning that the criminal was after me. That would only cause noise and confusion.

As I'd told Ellie, the lunatic who suddenly charged at someone with a knife was the one at fault. Surely owning something nice and shiny didn't make a person the bad guy?

"The attacks have paused for now, but the zombies will soon swarm this hall.

"If we're going to survive, we all need to work together."

When I finished, people exchanged uncertain looks. Still, I'd dealt with a zombie and demonstrated what I could do, so they didn't dismiss me outright.

Or perhaps, whether the gun was real or fake, they thought it unwise to mock the person holding it when we were all trapped together.

Ellie and Sua cautiously approached and whispered to me.

"Yohan, what can we do to help?"

"Mister, what's this Special Response Section? Are you really a government employee?"

I answered quickly and quietly.

"Of course not. Just help me get paint, rope, and a pole from storage."

Yes, that was why I'd bothered stepping forward and making such a long speech. I needed help. Manpower, to be precise.

Taking <The Lesser Key of Solomon> from my bag, I told Ellie, "We're going to draw a huge magic circle."

"What?"

Step one in drawing a magic circle: draw a circle. Of course, I wasn't an art major, so I couldn't draw a nice round circle freehand.

Instead, we placed a pole in the center of the hall and held it steady. Connecting the pole to the handle of a paintbrush with rope made a makeshift compass.

I went around the hall to complete the outer circle, then repeated the process to make another circle inside it.

Next came the magical designs and lettering between the two circles. This was the most important part.

In Hebrew letters, I wrote the Tetragrammaton—

[YHWH], [AHIH], [ALIVE], [ALH]

—in the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast.

Then I inscribed the sacred names of the gods at the four cardinal points:

[AL], [IH], [ADNI], [AGLA]

With that done, step two was to add the smaller symbols and patterns that would perfect the magic circle.

And I had people to do that for me.

I watched them crouch in their assigned sections, completing the circle while referring to the designs and symbols I'd drawn in a notebook.

Now I understood why fantasy magicians established guilds and took apprentices. It was convenient.

Of course, the workmanship might suffer a little, but that was fine. The magic circle was only an aid. The actual magic would be performed by the pentacles I'd prepared beforehand—and the magical power of the planets.

I checked the parchment inscribed with pentacles in my bag.

I gazed at the magic circle drawn in red paint.

In a sense, this was my first magical battle against another living magician.

I gripped <The Lesser Key of Solomon>. Since I'd kept <Mysteries of the Worm> and Grizzly hidden, and my opponent hadn't noticed them, I would keep it that way.

As long as I had no idea what cards he held, I needed a hidden card of my own.

While inspecting the magic circle, I approached Sua and frowned.

"This bit's crooked."

"Ellie made mistakes too. Why are you only picking on me?"

Beside her, Ellie flinched.

"I-I'm sorry."

Even I wasn't cruel enough to scold someone who'd saved my life and shared half her red-bean bun with me.

Maybe I could see why rom-com heroines went all lovey-dovey over protagonists whose only redeeming quality was being nice.

'H-Hmph... It's not like I'm treating you nicely because you helped me! ... That sort of bullshit.'

I corrected Ellie's mistakes.

"It's fine. We can fix it."

"Why aren't you scolding Ellie?" Sua asked, blinking.

I answered casually, "She gave me half a red-bean bun."

"... If I'd known, I'd have given you half instead of a quarter."

Muttering, Sua went back to drawing magical symbols. They were quite good.

"That's enough from you too. Good job. I'll do the rest."

Sua stood and looked down at the magic circle, then abruptly said, "Doesn't this look kind of like the magic circle that keeps sea bears away in SpongeBob?"

"... What?"

Before I could say anything, Ellie clapped her hands in agreement.

"Oh! I know that episode!"

... I knew it too.

I tried to object to Solomon's magic circle being instantly reduced to the same level as that magic circle, but...

"..."

The underlying principles and effects were similar, so I had nothing to say.

'Damn it... Why do you know SpongeBob but not John Constantine?'

Still, I supposed it couldn't be helped.

Sorry, John Constantine, but ... SpongeBob was world-class.

Anyway, I finished the magic circle and heard the cries of zombies gathering outside the hall.

"Aaaah...!"

Apparently, the other side had finished preparing too.

'... Made it, just barely.'

Normally, I could have drawn it smaller, but making it large enough to fit twenty people, even huddled close together, had taken time.

I gathered everyone inside the magic circle and prepared the ritual.

BANG! BANG! BAAANG!

The door shook under the fierce pounding, cracks appearing in the adjoining wall.

Ellie tended to the children, who were on the verge of tears. Watching the door about to give way, Sua spoke to me.

BAAANG!

"Mister, do you have a favorite band or singer?"

BAAANG!

"Huh? Why ask now? I like Green Day."

"That's a shame. If it were Kurt Cobain, you could meet him."

After thinking for a moment, I raised one eyebrow slightly.

"... Kurt Cobain's dead, isn't he?"

Sua laughed, her voice trembling.

"Exactly."

"Ha!"

BAAANG!

It was so ridiculous I had to laugh. Still, that was very much my kind of joke.

I glanced at Sua's trembling shoulders. Was that her way of trying to ease her nerves?

Well, fear was only natural in this situation.

But if you asked whether I was frightened, I wasn't. Not because I was particularly brave or extraordinary.

As I'd said before, being able to handle a threat made it less frightening.

The uncanny no longer inspired fear in me.

"Stay behind me."

Gripping the grimoire, I stepped forward. I held <The Lesser Key of Solomon> in one hand and unfolded the parchment with the other.

The magic was ready.

BAAANG!

With a tremendous crash, the door shattered and zombies poured in.

"Aaaah—!"

A pale-skinned old man had broken through the door at the head of huge, modified zombies.

"Ahahahaha! O Lemegeton! O mighty grimoire! I have—"

Before Edward could finish with "—arrived," Yohan's voice rang out.

"Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might."

At those words, the zombies stopped moving.

"Aaaah...!"

"Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth."

With whose permission do you walk?

"God is my helper; the Lord is the one who sustains my life."

Whose words do you obey? Obey mine alone.

Light flared!

Heaven and earth connected through Yohan, and light rose from the crudely painted magic circle.

His voice was calm, yet the hall shook as his words resounded.

"He will repay my enemies with evil; in your faithfulness, destroy them."

The magic circle was complete.

Standing upon the glowing circle, I looked at the menacing zombies.

I'd only come to this campground for a little weekend work. Zombies had made it the worst camping trip imaginable, but it wasn't an utter disaster.

After all, today was Saturday. Saturn's day.

Saturn symbolized production, labor, property—and ruin and death.

He'd picked the wrong target. That was what he got for ruining my weekend vacation.

The parchment fluttered in the power rising from the magic circle.

[The Second Pentacle of Saturn]

Saturn's magic circle, painted in black, was revealed.

"O king riding a dragon, O old woman leaning upon a servant, O pig, dragon, and owl."

The effect of Saturn's second magic was to destroy obstacles barring the way.

"O spirit of Saturn, answer my call."

Light burst from the pentacle parchment and poured over the zombies.

"Ah..."

As the light touched them, their bodies crumbled to dust and scattered.

I proclaim: die.

Now that I knew my opponent was after me, there was no need for some half-assed conversation.

Straight to the finishing move.

Before Edward could do anything, his false body collapsed in utterly unexpected agony.

"Huh? Aaaah—"

A tortured scream rang out as his soul was ground apart.

"AAAAAAAAARGH!"