The serial disappearance case.
Having listened to the stories flowing in from all directions, Hye-yoom knew at least the simple outline of the situation.
Something about stealing souls, wasn't it? Or maybe gathering those souls to summon something. Perhaps the work of a Ghost that devours souls. Or perhaps it was something orchestrated by a government-affiliated medical institution.
If the incident were clearly caused by an identifiable Ghost or Sorcery, the people in the Investigation Office building wouldn't be chatting so fervently about it. Instead, they flash their yellow eyes and show interest precisely because it's a case where the Sorcery used is indiscernible, and no one knows what will happen next.
Because they are people who seek the truth, they are paradoxically easily lured by such absurd stories. They must know that anything taken to an extreme becomes poison. Hye-yoom sat down at her desk and reopened the file Section Chief Jung had given her.
"Hmm?"
Unlike usual, the file contained a special type of paper designed to write Sorcery on. The report delivered to Hye-yoom does not get passed up to the Teacher. Despite this, Hye-yoom momentarily fell into thought, wondering if there was a reason for using the special paper.
"Should I wear the glasses?"
There are special glasses for people with Brown Eyes who cannot see Sorcery. Wearing the glasses would allow her to read the hidden contents, but Hye-yoom usually avoided them, thinking it foolish to wear glasses and risk her perfectly fine eyesight just to see Ghosts or Sorcery.
Some people might call this an inferiority complex, but Hye-yoom felt a strange sense of satisfaction in being the only one who couldn't see what others could. Changing her mind, Hye-yoom only read the text she could read.
"Hmm..."
Section Chief Jung's bluster certainly wasn't an exaggeration. She had never heard of a spell that "shaves off" a soul during her time working here.
While not as brutally aggressive as the Sorcery used in this case, the number of curses inflicted upon people is countless. Easy curses include stealing luck or one's saju (four pillars of destiny), or even Sorcery that transfers one's misfortune to another person, which cannot be used by a regular person. Even someone with thick Grade 3 Eyes requires considerable expertise to perform a curse-Sorcery on another person.
Beyond expertise, the preparation of materials alone can take several months.
Therefore, if this many souls were shaved off within such a short cycle, it would be impossible for anyone other than a Sorcerer comparable to the Teacher—or a fiercely diligent, naturally talented Sorcerer who had been preparing a single curse for a long period.
"President Yoon must have lost some face."
President Yoon, the Provincial Government Phenomenon Investigator, was a man who had maintained a high rank for a long time relative to his abilities, and he harbored great jealousy and envy toward the Teacher. Since he handed the case over to the Teacher, he must have been swallowing tears of blood. Hye-yoom regretted not having seen his infuriated expression as she turned the page.
This case harmed five or more unspecified individuals using Sorcery. According to the rank system set by the Teacher, this is a Hazard Level A. With the case designated as A-rank, the amount of work Hye-yoom had to do would be immense.
Hye-yoom first compiled a list of names of people she needed to meet immediately and sent it to Section Chief Jung.
While drafting the final report to submit to the Teacher, the Sorcery paper suddenly bothered Hye-yoom once again.
She prided herself on having better intuition and feel than those with yellow eyes, yet this was the most bothersome document among all those she had recently written. The case itself had many suspicious aspects, but she felt a strange, unnameable discomfort, like a nagging obstruction.
'Do I really need to check using the glasses?'
Hye-yoom possessed Sorcery Glasses gifted by the Teacher. Usually, she would just ignore Sorcery paper, but due to the unusually unsettling feeling, she opened the drawer to retrieve the glasses.
As she reached for the glasses case, the Teacher's expression flashed strongly across her mind.
With a chilling sensation, like her heart was being pulled out, Hye-yoom involuntarily straightened her back and looked around the office. She felt the Teacher's gaze, vaguely and faintly distinct.
Putting aside the creepy feeling of being watched, Hye-yoom closed the drawer and stood up to begin preparations for leaving work.
When she left the office, she had plenty of time to catch the last subway train. As soon as she sat down in the Brown Eyes-Only Car, the back of her head tensed up, and she tilted her head back.
"My neck is getting stiff."
She rummaged through her bag, took out a nutritional supplement tablet given by Wall Ghost Master and swallowed it. Sure enough, perhaps because of the potent Sorcery used in it, the fatigue quickly dissipated, the stiffness in her neck lightened, and her mind cleared.
She checked the number of stations remaining until home. There was still quite a bit of time left.
Hoping to catch some news, she searched for the disappearance case on social media. Countless posts appeared, so many that there seemed to be no end no matter how far she scrolled through the page.
Among all these posts, no one seemed curious about which part of the soul was stolen. They should confirm whether the location of the soul lost by all the missing persons is the same, if different, what the reason is, and whether different Sorcery was used depending on the body part.
Everyone merely views the case as a means to show off their own abilities, and not even if you strain your eyes can you find any concern for the victims or the desire for the case to be resolved quickly.
'Idiotic Yellow Eyes. They're frantic just to boast about themselves, no matter what.'
The thought that she was the only one with a heavy sense of mission to catch the culprit and genuinely trying to solve the case made Hye-yoom's entire body stiffen up again, a feeling even the nutritional supplement couldn't alleviate.
When she first started working as a Phenomenon Investigator assistant, she gained decent physical strength and athletic ability through the Teacher's intense training, but now, her muscles had atrophied due to the increase in desk work.
Even today, after only sitting at the desk to organize documents and gather the key points of the case, all her muscles screamed as if she had completed intense exercise.
Hye-yoom, idly thinking about whether there was a pill that could increase stamina without exercise, recalled the face of the Wall Ghost Master, who would get angry and scold her if he heard this.
She first met the Wall Ghost Master when she stopped by the White Fox Shop under the Teacher's instruction.
The case they were working on then was also a disappearance. The client was the parents of the missing person, who ran a large business dealing with Sorcery-infused home appliances.
Since the client was well-known, they requested the case investigation be kept quiet. Perhaps for this reason, the Teacher instructed Hye-yoom, not his assistant, to check the Sorcery Trail, which is the trace of Sorcery. He even told her she might have to meet a Spirit since the incident might involve Ghosts or Specters.
The assistant's skill level would certainly allow them to investigate the case quietly without leaking information to the media. Despite this, the Teacher deliberately assigned the task to Hye-yoom. Though she didn't show it outwardly, Hye-yoom was indescribably happy that she was chosen instead of the assistant. Since he was not a person who acted without reason, Hye-yoom firmly believed that he had seen some hidden potential in her that she was not yet aware of.
She needed glasses to see a Spirit, so she was about to grab the pair she had owned since before starting work at the Investigation Office. However, the Teacher told her he had already sent word to the White Fox Shop, and she should go pick up a new pair of glasses and a few necessary tools there.
She remembers the weather was nice, too.
It wasn't cool, but she arrived at the White Fox Shop leisurely, enjoying the flowing wind and gazing at the forlorn sky and clouds.
Only the Wall Ghost Master was inside the shop; the Fox President was nowhere to be seen.
As she stepped forward, intending to sit and wait in a chair, the Wall Ghost Master blocked her path.
—Just a moment! It's dangerous for you to stay here in that state!
He questioned her persistently about what she was doing there, claiming that the Sorcery in the lenses she was wearing must have worn off, and asked if she knew what would happen if a person with Brown Eyes sat on that chair.
—Ah, yes. I know.
Hye-yoom was displeased by the prejudice that a person with Brown Eyes would naturally be wearing lenses. Moreover, there was no way she wouldn't know about the White Fox Shop, of all places.
—I have a pair of glasses I carry just in case. I'll lend them to you, so please take off your lenses. If you keep wearing lenses whose effect has ended, your eyesight might worsen. —...
Hye-yoom glared at the Wall Ghost Master, afraid that if he knew she wasn't wearing lenses, he would immediately start preaching and foaming at the mouth.
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