Chapter 227

Sensitivity Bureau head office, one of the meeting rooms.

"How did the Fox Den matter proceed?"

At the words of a woman whose hair was coiled up and held with a traditional pin, a man bowed his head respectfully.

"He was placed without incident. Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, assigned exclusively to the 'Fox Den.'"

"Quick."

"I processed it as a manpower shortage."

"A good pretext."

The Director-General, who had the appearance of a middle-aged woman, nodded.

"I heard as well how many martial officers died in that district this summer."

"The report is that their side was pressed enough not to look into it deeply."

"Is he usable?"

"Detection System."

"Aha."

"His marks are not bad."

The man — the Section Chief — added,

"He is one we raised separately on our side."

"Assigning a dedicated Labyrinth to a four-month man already; the marks must be worth trusting."

"I understand he is the type with hypersensitive Five Senses. There would be few better suited to watching the 'Fox Den.'"

"Korea is a very small country."

The Director-General lifted her teacup. It was a traditional set.

"Small as it was, the Foundation did not stir up all that many places, but the aftermath was large. The 'Fox Den' was one of them. Only, by now the roots are too big and too deep to close that door, so no one has dared put a hand to it…."

"That bastard keeps more than one or two villages penned in its arms. Try to tear it away and every one of those villages would have died. I think a careful approach is the better one."

"Yes. But even so, that is no reason for underhanded people to go turning the place over."

She spoke while breathing in the scent of the tea.

"I do not know what type of human beings these bastards are who have lately been rummaging about in there in an organized way, but if they are rummaging where the Foundation once stayed, would they not be looking for the Foundation's legacy?"

The Director-General swallowed a mouthful of tea without a sound, then asked,

"And if that side really does get hold of it first, what then."

"The world will turn ugly again."

"You saw what those people made in the old days too, did you not, Section Chief Seo?"

"Yes, Director-General."

"Foundation bastards or Gaps vermin, better we take hold of it first than let it fall into hands like theirs. At the very least the Sensitivity Bureau will not use it to line its own pockets."

"I…."

The Section Chief hesitated, then went on.

"I am not certain this is the right thing to do, but even so."

"It is not right."

"Ah, sorry?"

"It is not right. But it is necessary."

"Ah…."

"If a person of the Sensitivity Bureau confuses those two, a greater sacrifice breaks out. We are the people who exist to stop that. Right and wrong come after the calamity has passed."

There was no deceit whatsoever in that tone. Rather than bungle it and leave more people to die, cut the sprout of danger early. Or else manage it.

That was the Director-General's idea of justice.

"Dan-cheong — I have read the report that person filed as well. But how is one to trust a Labyrinth? It is because we cannot trust it that we think of planting a person. We have no choice but to do it that way."

"You are quite right."

"I have also heard the story that the 'Fox Den' is being influenced by 'Our Hotel.' Is that not a coincidence. That a Labyrinth born of the death throes of the Foundation's head office should be friendly with a Labyrinth that is a trace of the Foundation."

"Whether they are friendly is still…."

"That is what we shall have to find out now."

When the Director-General set down her empty cup, it turned to ash and vanished. Bracing her fingertips on the meeting room table, she rose without a sound.

"That friend they put into the 'Fox Den' this time is brave. With hypersensitive Five Senses it would be hard to take a Labyrinth investigator's post. If the results this time are decent, look after him well."

"Yes, Director-General."

"We are not a place that runs by rule of thumb, like the Gangwon Province Bureau."

"Please go safely."

And so the door closed.

"……."

The man, who had sat perfectly still for a long while, took a mobile phone from his coat.

"…It is me."

―Ah, Section Chief Seo.

"Yes."

―Good to hear your voice. It's been far too long~

"Did we not speak only recently?"

―That and this are different things.

The sound of the other party laughing shamelessly came through the phone.

―What is it, about this month's?

"Th-that is not it."

―Aigo, is that so? And here I thought the blank in our ledger was finally getting filled in. Still, I trust you, Section Chief Seo. End of this month. You remember?

"I remember."

The Section Chief spoke with his teeth grinding.

"And the part about reducing it if this job ends well."

―I don't know why our guests at the Land get such good memories the moment it's their own money~

"I passed it along exactly as you said."

―Oh my, what can you suddenly mean. What is it I'm supposed to have said?

"……."

―Ah, that's right, that's right. I passed you along a rumor. So I did.

As he dragged a hand down his face, the shameless voice came again.

―So, how did it turn out?

"One person went in."

―Diligent of you~ A model to others, truly.

"Then this month's…."

―That?

Tap, tap.

The sound of a finger drumming came through the phone.

―Never mind, this month's.

"……."

―Between us, that much is fine.

The Section Chief swallowed and asked,

"If this becomes a problem later…."

―All I did was pass on a tip. What problem? Do I really have to be consulted about that?

"…No."

―Go safely, and come play at our Land again. It's great fun there these days.

"……."

―You like dice games, don't you.

Click.

The call cut off.

"…Thug bastard…."

Only the Section Chief's groan filled the meeting room, faintly.

***

"Pathfinder."

The senior investigator asked, looking at a puddle,

"Did you not say there are no water-related traditions here?"

"There are none, so far as I recall."

"There has been no rain, and yet there is a puddle."

"That's the fellow we saw earlier as well."

"It's following us."

The new investigator hesitated, then asked,

"Then that too is a… Water Wraith? A Water Ghost?"

"As I see it."

"Rather quiet, for a Water Wraith living on a mountain."

"That's the part I wonder about too."

Even the Pathfinder, the one most likely to know, shook his head.

"It's true that the Fox Den has no water-related traditions. This is no place for a Water Wraith to stay. As you will know, Water Ghost bastards need somewhere dark or damp, or a river or sea nearby, before they can live there."

"The sound of a brook one hears now and then, perhaps…."

"That is a cry the Fox Den makes to bewitch outsiders, not an actual brook. It is common enough for a Water Wraith to follow the living about, but this is absolutely not an environment fit for that common Water Ghost to live in…."

The new investigator slipped in.

"I did hear that Water Wraiths are strongly affected by their environment."

"So does this look to you like an environment fit for a Water Ghost?"

"But we've already passed more than ten fingers' worth of those bastards since a while ago, haven't we?"

"Even granting that some rain fell on the Fox Den before, this, on ground that is not even damp, is strange."

The puddle was still. Merely watching, it seemed. Gazing steadily at it, the senior investigator spoke.

"A Water Ghost carries the nature of water strongly, so if you meet one in an environment this wrong, it is one of two things. Either the water that Water Wraith holds is large… or the environment has become one a Water Wraith can live in."

At those words the Pathfinder shifted the pack on his shoulder.

"In this case it's the latter. They aren't strong bastards, those. Something drew them here."

"And what is there in the 'Fox Den' for a Water Ghost to be drawn to…?"

"Now and then a tremendously strong Water Wraith swallows a whole region. Then, so as not to dry out and die in an arid place, Water Wraiths that had been living quiet as mice in such places sometimes gather to it."

"In that case…."

His face sour, the new investigator asked,

"Are you saying a Water Wraith lives here? And a tremendously strong one at that?"

"Which is why I say it's strange. To influence the Fox Den, we're talking about a bastard the size of an enormous lake at minimum, or larger…."

The senior investigator picked up the Pathfinder's thread.

"And there isn't a bastard of that sort that isn't aggressive."

"Correct. And yet we aren't being attacked."

"It appears that isn't the only thing, however."

The senior investigator looked at the new one.

"You said you've felt it since yesterday."

"Ah, yes."

He nodded.

"I felt a presence."

The new investigator looked up and scanned around without meaning to.

"The nape of my neck goes cold, and it feels as though something is in the sky, but when I look up there is nothing. I did see one branch pressed down under some weight, but I could not get a fix on exactly what it was…."

"Even though you're the hypersensitive type?"

"Hearing, smell, sight — none of them catch it."

"If they can evade the senses of a naturally sensitive Detection System, they are fairly skilled fellows. Pathfinder, have you nothing to guess at on this either?"

Having listened in silence to the investigators' exchange, the Pathfinder opened his mouth.

"At the least, it isn't something from inside the Fox Den. Those Offered to the Fox Den cannot influence the Fox Den. So it came from outside — and, well… it does look light of body."

"Aren't we under surveillance?"

The senior investigator ran his eyes over the darkly shadowed spaces between the leaves. With a small clink, he had at some point drawn out his 'name,' a tasselled ornament hanging from it. It was in the form of an axe.

"I have seen several white birds."

Albino birds, bent at grotesque angles.

"They also looked rather like a type of Familiar…."

"Those bastards have an owner."

"That owner doesn't appear to be human, at least."

"That's troublesome."

The Pathfinder spoke as he passed the puddle.

"The Fox Den's in the middle of a change. And it looks as though the wrong sorts of things have come in through the gaps that leaves. A Water Wraith is one thing, but then white birds, and then a presence sitting on a branch…."

"It was a different thing from the white birds' presence."

The new investigator added it while stepping around a tree root.

"They are each different. At minimum three kinds of enormous things have influenced the Fox Den."

"That makes it worse. It means either that they're stronger than the Fox Den, or that the Fox Den yielded ground of its own accord. Submission at minimum, symbiosis at maximum."

"No, wait a moment…."

Flustered, the newcomer asked,

"The 'Fox Den' is an ordinary Labyrinth, isn't it? Without a self — I mean, I understood it wasn't a Dokkaebi."

"The Fox Den Pathfinders have been saying among ourselves that it'd be soon."

The Pathfinder walked ahead, finding the way. It was easier to find a 'safe path' than before, and to people of the Pathfinder's trade a change like that was closer still to a terrifying accident.

"They say the Fox Den's grown a great deal shrewder of late. That there are times you can feel it working something out. But I never thought there would be a trigger big enough to change it this abruptly."

"Is there… a trigger, would you say?"

Gazing at a white bird made unusually distinct by overlapping with the shadow up in the tree, the senior investigator asked,

"For instance, that the owner has changed."

"Entirely possible."

"……."

The senior investigator was calling to mind a name registered in the archives. It was a Labyrinth by the name of 'Our Hotel.' Said to have been born of the final death throes of the Foundation's head office….

About then, the newcomer's head snapped around in surprise.

"Uh…?"

"What is it. If there's a problem, say so at once."

"I hear children's voices."

"How many times do I have to tell you that is an illu—"

"No."

His face had gone white.

"There's no way this is an illusion."

The new investigator moved his feet without hesitation.

***

"You…."

Lee Yeon-ho, lying propped against the bed, looked steadily at Lee Yeon-woo.

"You're back again."

"Do you mean this?"

Black irises with yellow pupils.

Lee Yeon-woo tapped the corner of his own eye with a finger.

"Both of them are me."

"Let's say that's so."

"I came to ask you one thing."

"I am listening."

"Would you like to go home?"

"……."

Lee Yeon-ho looked up at Lee Yeon-woo once more. That young Dokkaebi was bent at the waist, smiling.

"Because I would like us to get along."

"Hoh…?"

He really was a most peculiar Dokkaebi.

***

In the end, Lee Yeon-ho did not leave the hotel.

"Please contract with the hotel and become Mr. Lee Yeon-woo's executioner."

"Those damned mad tarot bastards."

Hyeon Si-gyeong had put up an active defense.