Chapter 15: The Bait and the Hunter

“Lee Cheongshin.”

“You’re here?”

San Eunha, who had been hiding around the house the entire time, finally revealed himself.

Eunha’s expression turned conflicted as he observed Lee Cheongshin, who seemed to be in high spirits. He quickly composed himself, realizing such an expression was disrespectful to his superior.

“Yes.”

“I’ve already told you, Eunha, that if it’s your usual business, I’ll handle it myself. You don’t have to bother.”

Though Lee Cheongshin was smiling, Eunha knew better than anyone that it wasn’t his true sentiment. He shook his head from side to side.

“There’s someone investigating you recently, Lee Cheongshin. We haven’t identified them yet, but please be cautious.”

“It’s probably just another stalker. And it doesn’t matter, anyway. The information that’s been recorded doesn’t need to be controlled.”

“I know. However, I have a premonition that you might get entangled in something troublesome, and it worries me.”

“Hmm, well, at present, there’s only one person who could truly trouble me.”

Eunha knew exactly who Lee Cheongshin was referring to. It was Seo Doyoo, the academy senior who had just left Lee Cheongshin’s house.

Though he had been ordered not to investigate Seo Doyoo, Eunha found something unsettling about him and instinctively disliked him.

It wasn’t merely because Seo Doyoo was someone Lee Cheongshin, who intensely disliked and felt uncomfortable with others entering his personal space, had allowed into his home.

There was an inherent incongruity about Seo Doyoo.

On the few occasions Eunha had seen him, Doyoo appeared to be a timid student, hunching his body as if nervous and unable to meet gazes directly.

Yet, the physique visible beneath his perpetually oversized plaid shirt clearly belonged to someone well-trained.

Eunha harbored even greater doubts about Doyoo after the tragedy in the park. From a distance, he had observed Lee Cheongshin and Doyoo, witnessing Doyoo calmly assessing the situation amidst the panicking crowd.

He yearned to investigate every aspect of Seo Doyoo, starting immediately. However, knowing Lee Cheongshin would likely wring his neck for it, he held back.

“What time is it now?”

“It’s eight o’clock.”

“Oh dear. They’ll be closing. I should go now.”

Lee Cheongshin chuckled softly, seemingly amused by something, then told Eunha, ‘See you next time,’ before departing from the house.

Though Lee Cheongshin felt Eunha bow his head behind him, he didn’t turn back. Instead, he leisurely began walking the path Seo Doyoo had taken earlier.

Lee Cheongshin arrived at a large bookstore located at the Seokyeong Station intersection, about twenty minutes from his home. He didn’t touch the door, instead using magic to push it open and step inside.

Despite the door opening, none of the staff standing nearby seemed to notice Lee Cheongshin. They simply continued with their duties as if he weren’t there.

It wasn’t just the staff. No one else in the bookstore made eye contact with Lee Cheongshin or even seemed to see him, as if he were nothing but empty space.

This was one of his magical abilities: a permeation spell that rendered his presence imperceptible to the naked eye and prevented CCTV cameras from capturing his image.

Whenever he wasn’t with Doyoo, Lee Cheongshin used this magic to shield himself from people’s gazes. It was almost an instinctive action.

He moved without hesitation, his purposeful steps leading him to the bookshelf in the ‘client-designated’ corner.

Lee Cheongshin pulled out a book. Feigning a casual glance, he slipped a thin piece of paper, taken from his sleeve, into it like a bookmark.

“Please take the bait, Senior,”

he murmured. He then returned the book to its original spot and quietly exited the bookstore.

How long had it been since Lee Cheongshin departed?

A young man, glancing around nervously, moved through the aisles, stopping before the bookshelf. His anxious eyes scanned the titles.

Eventually, with trembling hands, the man picked up a book and flipped through it as if browsing.

His hand paused at a particular spot. The man looked around furtively, then slipped something tucked within the book into his pocket and hastily fled the premises.

The bookshelf stood empty once more, the man having vanished.

After a brief moment, Seo Doyoo appeared. He lingered in front of the shelf, trying to gauge where Lee Cheongshin might have stopped, then moved closer.

“It was definitely around here.”

Doyoo had followed Lee Cheongshin after seeing him emerge onto the main road and had been tailing him ever since.

He had witnessed Lee Cheongshin entering this very bookstore and heading towards this specific corner. However, he had momentarily lost sight of him when he spotted a distressed child who had lost their parents and briefly helped a staff member take them away.

No matter how he considered the time Lee Cheongshin was seen leaving the bookstore or the length of his stride, it was clear he had been standing at this particular shelf. Yet, to the naked eye, the densely packed books offered nothing out of the ordinary.

Realizing his search was fruitless, Doyoo trudged out of the bookstore.

One week later, a floor occupied by a trade company was suddenly engulfed in flames. The incident resulted in the deaths of eighty employees and the CEO.

The cause was identified as fire-element magic: a spell that conjured an unquenchable fire, persisting until all life within its range ceased activity.

Only one man survived the incident, having resigned that very morning.

Analysis of the magic residue at the scene revealed it to be the work of a criminal’s magic.

Seo Doyoo, having heard about the incident from Seong Heeyu, requested to personally interrogate the sole survivor. Unable to bear the guilt and fear, the man finally confessed during the interrogation.

“I got it from the bookstore, Central Bookstore! The biggest one at the intersection!”

“Central Bookstore, you mean the one near Seokyeong Station?”

“Yes, yes! I really just used it without thinking! I had no idea everyone would die! It’s not my fault! I didn’t do it!”

“Please explain in detail how you acquired it.”

The man went on to describe the circumstances under which he obtained the criminal’s magic.

He had wished for the death of his tormenting colleagues at work, posting his desire on a website called ‘Wish Tree’.

In response, he received a secret reply stating that a ‘talisman’ would appear in a book on shelf C of the bookstore, at that exact time, one week prior.

Out of curiosity, the man went to the designated location at the specified date and time, only to find the ‘talisman’ exactly as the reply had described.

The talisman, which the man produced with trembling hands, was a torn piece of paper. Even for an ordinary person, it was simple to use, as it formed a complete magic circle that activated instantly upon being torn.

Doyoo left the man and exited the interrogation room. Using the power of Cardan, he reviewed the CCTV footage from the bookstore on that day.

He then made a crucial discovery: though not captured by the cameras, the ‘density’ of magic recorded by the equipment had changed in the area of that specific bookshelf.

This occurred precisely at the moment Doyoo had lost track of Lee Cheongshin while following him, before the man appeared.

“That means he used permeation magic to erase his own appearance,” Seong Heeyu remarked, watching the CCTV with Doyoo. Doyoo bit his lip, staring at the part of the bookshelf where the magic density had uniquely shifted.

He couldn’t help but know, having observed the CCTV footage and carefully watched Lee Cheongshin in the past week as he inscribed magic onto the artifacts Doyoo created.

Doyoo’s voice was suppressed as he spoke.

“Team Leader, Lee Cheongshin appears to be a criminal.”

“Can you take responsibility for that claim?”

“Yes. I have brought evidence that he could indeed be a criminal.”

That morning, before being summoned to headquarters, he had merely taken the precaution of packing the materials he had diligently organized. He hadn’t expected to submit them so immediately.

Recalling Lee Cheongshin’s affectionate behavior, still clinging to him and acting cute, as if asking to be adored when they parted ways at the lab after finishing the day’s work, it was still hard to believe he was a criminal.

However, Doyoo coolly stood his ground.

Even if this action proved to be a mistake, it was preferable to allowing non-magic users, ordinary civilians, to fear magic and become victims due to a criminal’s actions.

Seong Heeyu gazed intently at Doyoo for a moment. Though Doyoo had the youthful face of a child, his orange eyes, looking up, held an immeasurable depth, like those of someone who had lived for a very long time.

Doyoo did not avert his gaze. Heeyu meticulously examined the documents Doyoo had submitted for a long while before finally speaking.

“The evidence you’ve presented, Doyoo, gives us sufficient reason to act. Very well. I’ll report it to the higher-ups.”

“Can’t we raid him today? I believe it’s entirely possible with the authority of the Special Division.”

“You’re right, Doyoo. Our Special Division’s First Team is the only department permitted to act first and report later. But you’re remarkably proactive today, Doyoo.”

“Now that it’s clear Lee Cheongshin is a criminal, we cannot simply wait for more victims to appear.”

“Hmm, what to do.”

A troubled expression, utterly unsuited to his childlike appearance, flitted across Seong Heeyu’s face. However, it soon transformed into a playful smile.

“Shall I be frank with you, Doyoo?”

“About what?”

“Your true reason for rushing.”

‘It’s typical of someone who already knows to ask,’ Doyoo thought. Yet, as only he and Seong Heeyu were in the room, he candidly admitted it.

“Lee Yongsoo. He’s going to be executed, isn’t he?”

That was the name of the man Doyoo had interrogated. Like the many ‘victims’ who had received and used magic from criminals, causing numerous casualties, the man would soon face execution.

Regardless of the fact that criminals had bestowed magic upon ordinary people, the ‘victims’ who used it, knowing it would cause deaths, were clearly guilty. Their fate was nothing short of execution.