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Chapter 48 - Mephistopheles (5)
Chapter 48: Mephistopheles (5)
TL/ED – Enuma ID
It would cost money, but it would save time.
I took a taxi to the address where Kim Mi-ryeo’s secret workshop was located.
It was a secret workshop she’d built without her wizard family knowing.
Ẃ е̌b̌ ńо v̇ēl̄ En̂um̆ а
I was worried whether I’d actually be able to find it even if I went there in person.
But the building at the address itself was easy to spot right away.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
It was a typical empty two-story building with a “For Lease” sticker on it, sitting on a side street where people rarely passed.
It seemed too ordinary for a wizard’s workshop, but…
Maybe it was precisely because it was so ordinary and inconspicuous that it worked as a secret workshop?
I took a quick look around the area and approached the building entrance. The door was locked with a digital keypad.
Ê n u̇m a. і d
I entered what looked like a passcode from the information organized in the notebook.
Bee-dee-dik.
Creeeak, the door opened.
…So far, so smooth. It seemed this building really was the secret workshop after all.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
The inside of the building was the typical interior of a failed lease property.
A dusty concrete floor. Furniture that looked like leftovers from a half-finished cleanup, and random pieces of lumber with no clear purpose.
Е n ú m̌ а .і d̀
I looked around with my phone’s flashlight, but nothing seemed particularly special.
Fortunately, there was no one inside.
Personally, ghosts would be fine… but I’d rather not run into a squatter or some streamer exploring abandoned buildings.
Perhaps because the door had been locked, there were no signs that anyone had been living here.
…I’d checked the first floor well enough. The second floor, then?
I looked at the staircase inside the building leading up to the second floor.
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Seeing as there was nothing special down here, the first floor was probably just a decoy, and the second floor was the real deal.
I climbed the stairs. Once again, there was a steel door fitted with a digital keypad.
Once again, I entered a different passcode from the notebook. The door opened.
“Ha!”
And at the sight of the interior revealed before me, a laugh escaped my lips on its own.
An elegant white marble floor, lavish interior design.
Ẃ e b_n̈ô v ẽ l Е n ũ m̀ а
Compared to the decrepit outer shell of the building, the inside was truly well-appointed.
Since no one had maintained it after Kim Mi-ryeo’s death, a bit of dust had accumulated, but.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
It was my workshop now, so I took off my shoes at the entrance and went inside.
And I was genuinely impressed.
It was like a workshop, or rather a personal shelter, made by using the entire second floor as one space.
A living area with a sofa that looked like basic living quarters.
Ѐṅ_ŭmа
There were no windows, whether to guard against snipers or to maintain secrecy, but instead there were ventilation ducts in several places.
There was a room with a running generator and a monitor displaying CCTV footage surveilling the area around the building.
My eyes went wide with surprise when I reached the space that looked like a kitchen.
“…Is that an indoor kiln?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
It wasn’t a small household one either; it was a professional-grade setup.
She surely hadn’t set it up to make Italian pizza… well, she could have, but still.
Е̂ nǔm̌â
‘…Maybe I should try making some later?’
She’d probably kept it because she needed it for preparing magical reagents.
How did I know? Because when I was reading <De Vermis Mysteriis>, there were procedures that required a kiln.
Fantasy wizards just sit at desks studying or build up mana through meditation.
But occult wizards have to make pottery, pick herbs out in the fields, and know how to do all sorts of things.
When you think about it, it really is a hands-on profession.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Anyway, I’d felt this at the underground workshop too, but.
The secret workshop’s facilities were better than expected. The scale was impressive.
Did all wealthy wizards have one of these?
Having picked up a grimoire by chance and become a self-taught street wizard, I had no way of knowing.
Beyond that, there was a storage cabinet stocked with magical tools like beakers, flasks, and filters.
In any case, I’d looked around everything there was to see.
W е̂b ǹоv̂ e l_ Е̌ ñ ú m̄ а
Lastly, I turned my attention to the safe sitting in a corner of the living area, making its presence known.
Once again, I entered the passcode I’d learned through her soul. The door opened without issue.
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There were certain limitations, and the magic had cut out on its own partway through, which was frustrating, but…
Still, the performance of the First Pentacle of Saturn was undeniable.
Inside the safe were miscellaneous documents, an ID card, a bankbook, and a card.
Naturally, the name on the ID and bankbook wasn’t Kim Mi-ryeo.
E̊n u m̊ а̂..і̂ d
“A ghost account, then.”
She must have made it using the identity of someone she’d killed in the underground workshop.
I checked the balance recorded in the bankbook. My body froze for a moment, and my eyes went wide.
…It was one hundred million won.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
I’d need to check the balance on the card to know the exact total, but given that she’d kept it locked in a safe.
And treated it like emergency funds, there was a high chance the amount was still intact.
Ě ň u.m̃ а̊.i d
“…………”
It wasn’t like my hands were trembling with joy or anything.
Well, I was happy, but… how should I put it? It was surreal.
I’d gotten my hands on an amount of money I’d never once possessed in my life, by killing a single wizard.
Technically it was a wizard plus dozens of her underlings, but… let’s not sweat the small stuff. If they were kidnapping and killing people on a wizard’s orders, they were basically familiars anyway.
In any case, this was money Kim Mi-ryeo had prepared as emergency funds behind her wizard family’s back.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
One hundred million won that had been cleaned and was safe to use.
The spoils of war from killing a wizard.
A shadowy black market site for selling magical goods, an incredible secret base, and a bankbook with one hundred million won in it.
“…………”
…This was dangerous.
I was starting to see other wizards as treasure goblins.
Ёn̄ u m̊а
I calmed myself down for a moment.
Right. Money was great, and wanting things was fine. But being ruled by greed was not.
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My number one priority was always my safety. Not wealth.
I couldn’t let the cart come before the horse.
…A few days ago, I’d thought about my goals.
Back then, nothing came to mind, so I’d settled on studying foreign languages, exercising, and getting a driver’s license.
W̊ е b́ n̆ o.v̊ e l̀ Е ňûm ӓ_
But my ultimate goal was always one thing.
My safety, and a peaceful, stable life.
The more money the better, sure, but it still wasn’t reason enough to risk my precious life.
I just needed enough so Grizzly wouldn’t go hungry… enough to get by comfortably.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
A nice house would be great too, but if it was too big, cleaning would be a pain, so it just needed to be decent.
Cool air conditioning when it was hot, good heating when it was cold. That was enough.
Ẇeb̌n̆ о̆ v́ ē ľ Е̄ n̂ u m̃ӓ.
Oh, a bathtub would be nice too. My current place didn’t have one.
I liked eating good food, but it wasn’t like I wanted shark fin soup and steak for every meal.
I should eat healthy.
And I had no particular interest in luxury brands, cars, or watches.
The peak of happiness… I wasn’t exactly sure what the peak of happiness was. I didn’t dislike the idea.
I thought it would be nice to have. But still.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The small joys in life were just as important.
Eating something delicious, watching a fun comic, novel, or movie.
Taking a lazy nap under warm sunlight.
Enjoying a favorite hobby. Things like that.
So… I wouldn’t go picking fights with wizards of my own accord.
I would only kill them decisively, to protect my peaceful, stable life.
Ē nu̇ m ӑ
I looked down at the bankbook and card.
…Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to take them.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Yahoo~ One hundred million won!
I needed money to feed Grizzly and acquire magical reagents, after all.
Good things were good things. It put me in a great mood.
I pulled out the swivel chair from the desk near the safe, sat on it, and spun around once.
Е̊n̆u̇ m а̌ . і d̈
“I’m rich.”
I declared in a low voice. I considered spinning one more time, but…
One hundred million was definitely a lot of money.
But shouting “I’m rich” and spinning twice over one hundred million won in present-day Seoul was a bit laughable, so I decided to stick with one spin.
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I got up from the chair.
Getting my hands on the secret workshop was great, but.
W̃ е́ b́n̊ o v е̃ l̇ Е̄n ú m̃а
Having just become a civilian cooperator for the Special Operations Division, it would be suspicious to move residences right away.
Changing my registered address to here was out of the question.
So I’d treat this place as a hideout and only stop by when needed.
My business here was done.
I decided to head home and look into Mephisto Market in more detail.
…However.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Yo-han, currently overjoyed at having obtained one hundred million won, did not know.
That there was a bounty of one million dollars on the head of Necromancer Edward Coffin, the one he’d tossed to Grizzly as food.
Roughly 1.3 billion won in Korean currency.
And that currently, on his own head, or more precisely, on the head of the owner of the grimoire <De Vermis Mysteriis>,
there was a bounty of three billion won.
***
Wё b̆ n o̊ vĕ l̆ Ê n̆ um̌ ã
The room of Chairman Kim, owner of the grimoire <Cultes des Goules>.
The blond vampire who had arrived in Korea, Yoannis, was looking at a new post by an unfamiliar wizard on Mephisto Market.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
[Gyges – Hello. I’m a newbie, first time here. Posting a question. Are there any cool attack spells like a fireball?]
Yoannis raised one eyebrow and muttered to himself.
“Hmm~ A young wizard who still has some innocence. I like the username Gyges, too.
It’s the story of Gyges from Greek mythology in Plato’s Republic. I happen to be fond of Plato.”
Е̇ num а̇ . і̀ ď
After casually replying to the question post, Yoannis continued.
“In the Battle of Potidaea, when the Athenian army was ambushed, Socrates risked his life to save his student Alcibiades, cutting down enemies who were eyeing the ornate decorations on his student’s armor.
…And then he had to watch Alcibiades, the one he’d saved, brutally massacre the surrendered prisoners.”
Yoannis’s blue eyes curved as though he found it delightful.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“When I imagine the well-bred young Plato tending to his war-weary, broken master after he returned from battle… I can’t get it down.”
Chairman Kim looked at Yoannis with an utterly exhausted expression.
Е n̊um̈ а̊ . і̇ d̊_
“…Yoannis, enough with the nonsense. What the hell is this?”
Chairman Kim thrust forward a post about a new wanted individual from a site that served as both a community for unverified lower-ranking wizards and a hangout for self-proclaimed wizard hunters who went after the bounties on wizards’ heads and their magical items.
The information on the wanted individual was utterly simple.
[Name: Unknown, Age: Unknown, Sex: Unknown]
The only details were that the target was the new owner of the grimoire <De Vermis Mysteriis> who had appeared in Korea, and the bounty was three billion won.
Yoannis shrugged and said dismissively.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“My disciple who only covets the meat in front of him, act like the monster with capital that you are. It’s not like you can’t afford it.”
“That’s exactly the problem, the meat is attracting flies!”
Yoannis laughed at the sight of the enraged Chairman Kim.
“Meat, huh…”
His disciple still viewed the opponent as meat that could be devoured at any time.
Unchecked greed turns the wise into fools and makes even elephants look like ants.
W ѐb̀ń o v̂е̌ l̇ _Е̇ n̂ um ӑ
“From the moment <De Vermis Mysteriis> chose him as its owner, he’s neither meat nor some weak beast that flies could bring down. He’s a dangerous predator.”
Yoannis drank the wine poured into his glass.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“I don’t actually expect those hunters to catch him.”
The reason he’d posted the bounty was literally to have the hunters make the first move, draw out the target’s information, and wear him down.
“You unleash the hounds first to exhaust the prey. That’s the basics of hunting.”
The vampire’s blue eyes gleamed as they settled on Chairman Kim, who had pressed his lips together in displeasure.
Е n̆ um̊_а̂
“When he’s exhausted, we either negotiate or kill him. …It’s a dragnet.” [TL: 천라지망 (天羅地網) is a Chinese idiom meaning “an inescapable net,” referring to a trap that covers heaven and earth.]
A look of disbelief appeared on Chairman Kim’s face.
“You read martial arts novels too?”
“I have a lot of time on my hands.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Yoannis smiled and sipped his wine.
***
W̃ eb̀ nо̃v е̊ l Е̌ň u_ṁа̌.
Yo-han’s small studio apartment.
I looked at the question I’d posted on Mephisto Market.
[Gyges – Hello. I’m a newbie, first time here. Posting a question. Are there any cool attack spells like a fireball?]
Somehow, only someone with a weird username had bothered to reply.
[ILovePrettyBoys – Magic is diverse, so I can’t say there aren’t any, but… a gun is more effective than some half-baked attack spell. Just carry a gun.]
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