< 80. The Hell of Distrust (8) >
The prisoner who had descended to the strip bar was now using the name Christoph and had first met Min-jun on Earth.
Occasionally, the committee assigns missions to prisoners from specific dimensions, and at that time, there was competition that inevitably involved them.
And it seemed that the memory of that time had left a very unpleasant mark.
"What would you like to drink?"
Min-jun glanced over the shelf behind the bar.
For a strip bar, the selection of whiskey was quite impressive. Several bottles had labels signed by renowned master blenders or master distillers. The script, of course, was the indistinguishable, curly handwriting typical of dwarves.
"I'm fine."
"Come on, have a drink."
Without waiting for an answer, Min-jun poured another bottle into a glass. It was clear the liquor cost more than the rent for the bar.
If the owner were an ordinary person, they would have been shocked, but Liam was not a typical merchant; he was the top information broker in Germany.
The expensive liquor displayed here was sometimes used to swindle naive (or drunk) customers who came for the strip shows, but the primary purpose was to entertain genuine clients like Christoph.
As Christoph watched the brown liquid filling his glass, he muttered.
"Is this going to make me suffer from vomiting and diarrhea..."
"Oh, come on. You're so suspicious."
"I remember clearly. Some prisoner who had a pleasant meal with you and left with a smiling face showed symptoms of cholera just an hour after parting. He started vomiting and purging from both ends like a waterfall."
Min-jun responded nonchalantly.
"I remember. But do you have any evidence that it was my fault? That was in the 60s. Cholera was not as rare then as it is now. The hygiene standards of Earthlings were not great either. The cook might not have washed his hands."
"...But cholera was accompanied by mucosal pain hypersensitivity syndrome! That's a rare disease by Earth standards!"
Did it?
Min-jun couldn't recall that part, but it sounded like something he might have done. Cholera-induced dehydration alone wouldn't be enough to neutralize a superhuman prisoner.
He buried that self-reflection in his chest and shrugged.
"Any evidence?"
"..."
After all, it wasn't something prisoners plotted against each other to kill one another. Doing so would result in being executed by the committee. Unless the committee's tool was completely destroyed, they rarely intervened. When they did, it was more often a pattern of post-event punishment rather than preemptive prevention.
The victim, who should have felt the agony of lava erupting from below—whose prisoner identification number was now vague—must have eventually gotten up and dusted himself off after a few days of hardship, after Min-jun had finished his business.
"If you don't trust it, then don't drink. Really. If prisoners can't trust and exclude each other like this... it's truly an era of distrust."
Christoph glared at Min-jun with eyes full of reproach and condemnation.
Min-jun boldly met that gaze and said.
"By the way, I noticed Liam's reaction was a bit odd."
"What do you mean?"
"He said I was the first prisoner he had come to see because of this matter."
Even though he secured a plane ticket immediately upon confirming the mission and flew to Germany, he thought he'd be a step behind the agents stationed here.
But contrary to expectations, no one had looked for Liam for over half a day.
Christoph hesitated for a moment before answering Min-jun's question.
"This is information that shouldn't leak outside Europe..."
"Are you not going to exchange information?"
Seeing that it seemed like it was already too late, Christoph wore a slightly resigned expression.
"The prisoners in the area are all tied up because of what Kalieter did. I'm just lucky to have temporarily slipped out."
It seemed that among the prisoners living in the vicinity, there was no one who didn't owe a debt to that dragon. It looked pitiful from Min-jun's perspective, but that was the reality.
The dragon, who had taken over territories in Germany, Austria, and part of the Czech Republic, was very displeased with the recent series of events and judged that Earthlings alone couldn't solve it, so he requested cooperation from prisoners.
"What's the matter?"
Christoph looked puzzled, as if he didn't understand either.
"Due to a media blackout, it hasn't hit the news yet... Lately, there have been reports of crazies rampaging all over Germany."
"Crazies?"
According to Christoph, there were ongoing incidents where people who seemed to have no connection suddenly went mad and committed brutal murders.
The common factor was that the perpetrators, who had been fine until the day before, suddenly lost their minds in the middle of the night and committed terrible acts with various weapons.
The most troublesome part was that, despite the similar nature of the acts, there was no discernible commonality among the perpetrators.
The case with the fewest victims was an incident in Augsburg, where the perpetrator was a 4-year-old orc girl. For some reason, at 2 AM, the girl went down to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and entered her parents' bedroom, stabbing it into her mother's abdomen. However, the 4-year-old girl couldn't penetrate the sturdy abdominal muscles and tough skin of an adult orc, and eventually, no one died, and the incident was resolved.
On the other hand, the place with the most victims was a small town near the border with Austria. Unfortunately, the perpetrator was a police officer on duty at the local station that day, and he had a firearm. Even worse, his species was a troll. As a result, no one in the village, except for the troll, survived that night.
"The stranger thing is that the perpetrators don't remember what they did. They just... thought they had a terrible dream."
"A dream?"
Min-jun's expression grew serious.
"Initially, I thought it might be the work of Oslo School remnants. Mind control is something black magicians do, right? Like implanting something in the brain."
Realizing that the person in front of him was also a black magician, Christoph flinched and glanced nervously, but Min-jun made a gesture indicating it was okay. He meant to continue with the story.
"Because... most of the scenes were that terrible. It was the first time I'd seen anything like that on Earth. Ugh."
As Christoph recalled, his face turned pale.
"None of the bodies were intact. Usually... black magicians perform such acts when offering sacrifices, right?"
However, Kalieter, realizing the situation was serious, had personally appeared on the scene and declared that there was no evidence of magic involvement.
"So we thought maybe a species with unknown abilities had smuggled in."
He tapped his head with his fingers.
"Why did this mission suddenly come up?"
"What was the initial occurrence date of these incidents?"
Upon hearing Christoph's answer, Min-jun rested his chin on his hand.
The date he mentioned was right after Joachim Steinmeyer had disappeared with the head of the archbishop.
"If this is a coincidence, even a dog would laugh."
"Yes. Moreover, 'Elahu-Fraga?' They say something about dreams in that sect's doctrine."
After pondering for a moment, Min-jun tilted his head.
"But even if this is related to Joachim, there are parts that don't make sense. Is there a type of divine power that can control the mind? It's beyond healing wounds and exorcising spirits. As you suspected... this seems closer to black magic."
"I wouldn't know."
"Then, where was the last place the incident occurred?"
He thought that following the incidents might lead to Joachim's whereabouts.
"That's ambiguous too."
There must be a reason why Christoph, who had access to that information, had come to find an information broker.
"But before we discuss further, there should be a give-and-take, right?"
His eyes were filled with a determination not to be cast aside.
Min-jun nodded and asked.
"How much do you know about the deceased archbishop's activities before his death?"
Despite being a prisoner active in Germany, he didn't know about the recent incidents in the sect, and Min-jun informed him that the archbishop had sequentially killed high-ranking clergy members.
However, he omitted the fact that the archbishop had eventually died at Min-jun's hands and the strange appearance he had shown at the moment of death.
"What? Was that guy already insane before he died?"
Christoph looked perplexed.
"Then why is the committee asking for such a crazy head?"
"What? Have the customers increased?"
Liam, who had gone into a back room to gather information, returned and looked at the two increased customers.
Min-jun asked.
"Did you find out anything?"
The information broker nodded, causing the unyielding skin to ripple with the movement.
"Our people have gathered, analyzed, and combined what they've seen, heard, and smelled..."
Liam was a druid.
Unlike ordinary druids, who can control only one type of creature, his efficiency was far superior compared to other ability users.
Min-jun didn't know exactly how far Liam could control beasts, but it was assumed that he could cover most incidents within Germany, indicating a minimum range of such ability.
"However."
Liam, who had been rolling the information in his mouth, finally spoke.
"Christoph, why are you here?"
Even though he had a clear idea, he still wanted to probe. Christoph pointed at Min-jun and replied.
"It's for the same purpose as this one."
The information broker then said firmly.
"You know, I don't deal with bulk discounts or anything like that. Even if you both want the same information, you'll both have to pay the fee. And you know that reselling second-hand information is against business ethics, right? If you sell the information you bought from me to someone else, you won't be able to do business with me again."
"I know, I know. So how much is it?"
"3 million marks."
It was an amount that an average middle-class person could never save even if they worked their entire life and spent nothing. It was a fee that would make most people faint.
But the prisoners' reactions were quite the opposite.
"What? 3 million? Why is it so cheap?"
"Are you sure the information is reliable? Is the price reduced because it's ambiguous?"
Liam said nonchalantly.
"I can't tell you anything until you pay. So, what's it going to be? Buy it or not?"
Christoph, seemingly with no other option, took out his smartphone and fiddled with it.
"Transfer complete."
"Confirmed."
On the other hand, Min-jun didn't even glance at his phone.
"3 million?"
Muttering as if to gauge something, he snapped his fingers.
The next moment, Min-jun disappeared from Liam's line of sight.
"..."
A stack of thousand-mark banknotes had piled up on the bar, completely obscuring the small-faced Liam.
After a moment of silence, the information broker mumbled.
"By the way, have you ever heard of bank transfers?"
"My pocket is safer than a bank vault."
"...It's such a hassle to move."
As he dropped thousands of portraits of the Brothers Grimm below the bar, the information broker said.
"Since it's the same information fee for the same information, you both get it together."
After his explanation, Christoph said.
"Czech Republic? Not as far as I thought. I expected it to be all the way to the other side of the Earth."
"Again, the traveler who arrived there yesterday smelled exactly like Joachim Steinmeyer. I can't guarantee it's the same person. That's why the information fee is set at the relatively cheap rate of 3 million marks."
Christoph thought for a moment, then turned to ask.
"...So what's the plan? Min-jun, are you going to keep moving alone? If there's more information to exchange, how about we clear everything out together?"
It was clear that Min-jun was interested in the bizarre incidents occurring in Germany recently. Christoph also had not yet mentioned some details beyond the location and timeframe of the events. Min-jun probably hadn't revealed all his cards either.
"What do you think?"
But Min-jun remained silent.
Christoph seemed quite relaxed now, sipping his drink as he spoke. Min-jun was staring intently at Christoph's hand, which was holding the glass.
Without responding at all.
Suddenly, Christoph was struck by a sinister feeling. He immediately put down the glass.
"...What's going on? Could it be that you've mixed something into this drink...?"
Min-jun's next words were unexpected.
In a direction different from his fears.
"Now I get why it felt so strange all along..."
"What?"
"Hey, how many years have you been a prisoner? And you're still carrying that thing around?"
"?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Min-jun swiftly drew a ritual dagger from his coat with lightning speed.
The movement was so natural and fast that Christoph didn't even have time to think about resisting.
Swish!
The dagger struck Christoph's hand, which was resting on the bar!
Crash!
And then came the sound of tearing screams.
"Ahhhhh!"
In excruciating pain that seemed to set his whole body on fire, Christoph screamed. The curse that was fully inflicted on him was something he could not resist without the mental fortitude of a dragon.
At the same time.
Khaaaaaa!
A desperate scream echoed through the walls. It was someone else's voice, not Christoph's. Min-jun and Liam both looked up. The sound seemed to be coming from the rooftop of the building.
"Wh-what is happening...!"
Liam, bewildered by the sudden situation, gasped as he took in the unfolding scene.
Christoph's skin, pierced by the dagger, began to bubble and swell. It then formed an appendage where none should have been. Liam, who witnessed it, muttered.
"...An ear?"
From the bleeding hand, an ear that had been pierced in the middle was swelling like a tumor.
Given its shape and size, it was not human.
"Elf?!"
Min-jun took out another bundle of thousand-mark notes from his pocket. Christoph was already unconscious, his eyes rolled back and frothing at the mouth. Min-jun tossed the bundle of money at his feet and retrieved the dagger, frowning. The money on the floor was soaked yellow.
"Tell them this is for the hospital bills."
With that, Min-jun disappeared into the basement.
He was considering piercing the remaining ear of the audacious elf who had eavesdropped on the conversation.
It seemed like, depending on the situation, it would be a slightly deeper puncture wound than before.
< 80. Hell of Distrust (8) > End