Chapter 64 - The Great One (8)

Inside the van, I demanded an explanation.

"Tell me what you know."

The man sitting in the driver's seat spoke in a trembling voice, stammering between words.

"The, the chairman! A dinner gathering... he, he told me to bring her."

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

I had more or less expected it, but the man called Chairman Kim that Soo-ah had mentioned before had pulled this stunt to force her to attend his dinner gathering.

From what the man continued to say, I also learned that the dinner gathering wasn't a proper dinner at all.

It was a gathering where human corpses were cooked for a ritual, and the meat was eaten.

'The Table of the Great Ones, my ass... It's a human flesh party.'

Chairman Kim. I'd figured he wasn't a decent human being, but the man was completely out of his mind.

...And he was in the same line of work. A wizard.

Chairman Kim's subordinate hadn't directly called him a wizard, but everything he described pointed to it.

'Is he using magically extended lifespans as bait to recruit collaborators?'

A single thought flashed through my mind.

A grimoire that pursued immortality through cannibalism.

Kim Mi-ryeo, the cannibal wizard who had been devouring people while carrying a copy of <Cultes des Goules>.

Had Chairman Kim been her backer? Her mentor? Or family?

I turned my head and looked at the car window, where my face was faintly reflected in the darkness.

...Well, it didn't matter. The fact that Chairman Kim was a wizard didn't either.

It was good to know as information, but it wasn't what mattered.

After the [Sixth Pentacle of Mars] blocked the impact, I might have been cut by broken glass when Chairman Kim's lackeys handled me roughly while moving me. The wound on my forehead split open and blood trickled down.

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

Right, what mattered was that I was pissed off. That my life had been threatened.

I thought for a moment.

Whatever their reasons, they had tried to kill me, and failed.

If they found out I was alive during the cleanup afterwards, would they just let it go? Obviously not.

They'd try to kill me again to silence me. Using whatever power and capital they had at their disposal.

'And so....'

I took out a handkerchief and lightly pressed it against the wound on my forehead.

"Bone to bone, blood to blood, joint to joint."

I chanted the incantation.

"By the Lord's name, I command thee. Be joined."

When I removed the handkerchief, the bleeding had stopped.

It was a stopgap measure, and I'd need to properly apply medicine and treat it later.

Screeeech-.

The van stopped, and Chairman Kim's subordinate in the driver's seat spoke in a trembling voice.

"As you instructed... the, the dining venue... we, we've arrived."

Through the van's window, a disgustingly enormous building came into view.

Maybe it was because it was nighttime, or maybe it was the dark color scheme, but the building gave off an unpleasant feeling.

Through narrowed eyes, I gazed at the building where the laughably named gathering called "The Table of the Great Ones" was supposedly taking place.

'And so... while they still haven't noticed my existence.'

To protect my peaceful life, I would kill every last member of Chairman Kim's faction, conveniently gathered in one place.

And....

'Mister!'

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

...Right, I'd agreed to be her magic instructor for a week. I wasn't sure how well it would go, but if I could rescue Soo-ah, who'd been dragged away, I would. I'd taken the job, so I'd see it through.

As I placed my hand on the car door handle.

"N-now- p-please, sp-spare-."

Chairman Kim's subordinate spoke in a trembling voice.

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

I said nothing. I opened the van door and stepped out.

One cannot promise what one cannot deliver.

CRUNCH-! Splatter-.

"Gaaaaah...."

Grizzly snarled, grabbed Chairman Kim's subordinate by the head, crushed it, and followed its master.

Slither....

The two guards standing watch in front of the building frowned as they saw a man in a white coat stained with red... paint? step out of their own vehicle.

"...What the?"

"He's not on the guest list, is he?"

The two guards approaching to stop the uninvited guest-.

"Huh? Aaaaagh?"

-Were grabbed by the head by Grizzly just like that.

They stumbled backward, dragged into the building.

...Killing them outside would draw too much attention, after all.

CRUNCH-!

The moment I stepped into the building lobby, both guards' heads burst.

At the sight, other subordinates of Chairman Kim who had been sitting on the lobby sofa leapt to their feet in shock.

"...What?"

They were immediately killed as Grizzly's swinging arm separated their heads and upper bodies from the rest.

"Haaaaah...."

The once-luxurious lobby was instantly painted in blood and flesh by an invisible predator.

Well, it was a building where cannibalistic parties were held on a regular basis. A fitting renovation.

"Ah, aaaaah...."

The sole surviving subordinate collapsed to the floor right where he stood.

Thud- thud-.

I deliberately approached the one subordinate of Chairman Kim I'd left alive, looked down at him, and spoke.

"Where's the dining gathering?"

"W-well, you see...."

The subordinate, feeling greater terror than even the time he'd personally witnessed Chairman Kim devouring people in some monstrous form, opened his trembling mouth.

***

Soo-ah stared blankly into the past.

She didn't know exactly when or how her mother had died.

What she remembered was....

"Huff... huff...!"

Her father's ragged breathing as he held her tight and ran. A house burning in the darkness, reflected in her young eyes.

"AAAAAAAAGH!"

...The scream of a woman she believed to be her mother, ringing in her ears.

Some time later, the back of Namgung Soo as he turned away, and the shout of 'It's because of you.'

After that, her father... Namgung Soo never looked at Soo-ah again.

All she ever saw was his back.

'It's my fault again.'

Soo-ah's eyes sank into darkness.

Yo-han... the mister had been hit by a car, and her head was in a fog.

'He didn't have to get involved. ...He died because of me.'

The Table of the Great Ones.

The dinner gathering with its absurd name was already underway.

As if trying to imitate a medieval noble banquet, the room had been darkened and lit only dimly by candlelight.

Attendees wearing masks that concealed the upper half of their faces, like a masquerade ball, smiled as they watched Soo-ah being dragged in.

"Huhu...."

"Haha...."

Men dressed as waiters forced Soo-ah into a seat at a white-clothed table with a nameplate reading [Namgung Soo-ah].

Soo-ah's sunken eyes trembled.

".........!"

...She immediately felt revulsion at the sight before her.

A woman in a dress, holding a severed woman's head, drinking the blood dripping from the cross-section.

People in expensive clothing, gathered around a corpse with its belly sliced open, faces buried inside it like animals, devouring whatever was within.

"Urgh-."

A waiter set a steak of unknown origin in front of Soo-ah. Every unsettling gaze in the room turned to her, as if urging her to eat.

...But Soo-ah clenched her teeth.

She was scared, she was terrified, but she would not eat. She would rather die than be part of this.

"........."

Besides, she didn't particularly want to go on living anyway. She didn't want to be a burden to anyone anymore.

And then, suddenly.

Creeeak-.

At the sound of a door opening, Soo-ah reflexively lifted her head.

"...Ah?"

Seeing the person who had entered the room, her eyes widened and a dazed voice escaped her.

"Mi, mister? ...How?"

A man wearing a white coat with red stains scattered across it walked in, utterly unbothered by the grotesque atmosphere of the room, and strode forward calmly.

Thud- thud-.

The attendees, who had been exuding an air of leisure until now, were thrown off by the appearance of this unexpected intruder.

***

I arrived in front of the table where Soo-ah was seated. I looked at the steak on the table.

Soo-ah was flustered.

"Mister?!"

I picked up the utensils, cut off a suitable piece, and put it in my mouth to chew.

Chomp chomp-.

Then I spat the half-chewed meat into the waiter's face.

"Ptoo."

It tasted absolutely vile. I rinsed my mouth with water from a cup and spoke.

"The gamey smell is way too strong."

Well, it was only natural when one thought about it.

The animals that humans typically enjoy eating, chickens, cows, pigs, and such, are herbivores.

It varies by species, but the more carnivorous an animal, the tougher and gamier its meat supposedly is.

And humans, who consume every foul thing under the sun, couldn't possibly taste good as a baseline.

Even so....

"At least use a lot of sauce, like when you're masking the gaminess of lamb."

I looked at the masked attendees.

These people were exactly what I thought. They weren't eating food.

They were feeding on some worthless sense of superiority that came from eating other humans, a feeling whose origin was beyond my comprehension.

Of course, some of them might have been eating for the magical effects.

In any case.

"We kept quiet thinking this was an event Chairman Kim had prepared, but what is this?"

"Get him out of here!"

I ignored the attendees who were beginning to come to their senses and looked at Soo-ah.

"If you still want to be my assistant, close your eyes."

"Huh? Oh, okay."

She was bewildered, but Soo-ah promptly closed her eyes without another word.

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

I'd noticed it before, but she was surprisingly perceptive.

Well, to be honest, it made no real difference whether her eyes were open or closed... it was literally a token gesture and nothing more.

The door closed again.

THOOM-.

"Gaaaaah...."

Grizzly growled low and began killing and devouring the attendees, who had now become the meal themselves.

"Huh? Ah, AAAAAAAAGH-!"

The food's screams echoed through the room as the feast began.

CRACK- SHLASH-! CRUNCH!

I watched the slaughter and the flying scraps of flesh, and thought:

For now, I'd killed all of Chairman Kim's collaborators gathered here, but....

The problem was that I still hadn't found Chairman Kim himself, and I needed to kill everyone in the building who was on Chairman Kim's side to keep them silent.

Hunting them down one by one with Grizzly would take time.

And since I'd caused this much chaos, Chairman Kim's armed subordinates would be showing up soon.

...And just as I was thinking this.

<The Lesser Key of Solomon> materialized in my hand on its own.

Fwish-.

It flipped open to a specific page. A page about Solomon's 72 demons.

A sigh escaped me involuntarily.

"Haah...."

I had sworn never to summon one... but this was a situation where I had no choice.

I examined the scattered corpses adorned with what looked like expensive rings, watches, and jewelry.

Blood and flesh, along with precious metals and such.

All the summoning materials were already here.