Chapter 102
The wind blew fiercely once again, carrying a snowstorm outside. The stone-paved streets gradually became buried beneath piles of snow, and the air felt cold and piercing as the people passing along the roads were forced to take shelter and run to reach their homes as quickly as possible.
00:30 AM.
Inside another room in a building near the previous hall, the windows had begun to close. The people inside curled up from the cold, each breath releasing white mist into the air. Meanwhile, the chandelier hanging above and the rows of candles along the walls burned brightly with warm light, while the blazing furnace crackled as it heated the room.
The four of them were still in the same place, remaining wary of one another while carefully and cautiously observing their surroundings.
"So," Aaron finally spoke as he sneezed repeatedly. Pointing behind him toward the furnace on the left side of the room, he continued, "I'm going to warm myself up first."
The sentence ended, yet the other three seemed to realize that the weather at the beginning of this year was unbearably cold and suffocating, as though something was piercing into their bodies from within.
While pressing down the brim of his wide hat, Zavi observed the activities of several people in the same room. His gaze was sharp, as if he did not want to lose the strange sensation weighing heavily on his mind ever since arriving here.
'Are those three alright wherever they are?' Zavi wondered briefly.
He let out a deep breath. "Have you found your friend yet?"
'As for the Recipestele that didn't appear when summoned by its master... did something happen to them?'
Zavi recalled the strange creatures, which he had only recently learned were called Recipestele, when he arrived on that street and saw the two frightened Recipestele while Aaron's Exorcist ability was active.
But unlike what those two Recipestele had assumed, Aaron, who acted with extreme caution, did not hesitate to reveal information about the weakness of the Exorcist ability when it reached its second level, Extraction.
That he could only repel supernatural beings such as demons, ghosts, jinn, and low-level evil spirits, with the limitation of banishing only two within roughly five minutes. Beyond that, the power would increase at higher levels, eventually becoming terrifying at the fourth stage.
The room, which had previously sunk into individual silence, suddenly erupted when cheers from the hall above echoed through the building as the climax performance began after the singing event.
Roughly ten people around them lifted their heads, allowing the question to dissipate like ice evaporating under intense heat.
Then Hana turned around and stared sharply at Zavi, who was crouching nearby, for several seconds while thinking about how strangely familiar his identity felt.
"I feel like I've seen you before," Hana said hesitantly, causing both their heartbeats to quicken while their held breaths made the surrounding air feel frozen from the tension between them.
'Seen me before? Through those wanted posters?' Zavi panicked inwardly, assuming his plan to make use of the two women was about to collapse.
After thinking for a moment, he straightened his body and glanced at Aaron, who sat with both hands extended toward the flames. Then he exhaled as his fingers trembled violently inside the pocket of his fur-lined jacket.
"Of course you've seen me before," Zavi said, trying to remain calm and composed as he adjusted his hat.
For a moment Hana hesitated, but several seconds later, she asked one final question to satisfy her curiosity.
"An assassin? Was it really you and your cousin who killed the Avvalen family?" Hana asked seriously.
Likewise, Mine, who belonged to the same group under the eleven members led by the Intersection Society, was curious before carrying out the cruel act of summoning demonic horses in Moran and burning everything on the ground with a single burst of black flames and thunderous footsteps.
Zavi's face remained calm, but inwardly he was panicking as he observed them with constrained breathing, his hat slipping lower as he lowered his gaze and concealed his expression.
Zavi cleared his throat while pulling his right hand from his pocket and spoke in a restrained tone;
"Looks like the two of you found the right person."
'Now, let's see their reaction after this,' Zavi added inwardly, waiting eagerly while their gazes remained unchanged.
But unexpectedly, the hardened expressions they wore moments ago as their thoughts drowned in vigilance suddenly disappeared. Their blue eyes shimmered with emotion as they stared at Zavi with wide smiles, as though they had discovered something incredibly rare.
Zavi frowned, his mouth parting slightly as he watched the two women change in the blink of an eye.
'Have they both lost their minds?' he wondered in confusion, trying to raise the tension of the conversation.
"Is there a problem with us killing the Avvalens?" Zavi said in a restrained, intimidating voice, trying to ensure the people sitting or standing not far ahead near the furnace could not overhear him.
With a broad smile, Mine replied, "The two of us truly admire your actions when you spread terror letters throughout Sanerva two months ago, along with the infiltration of the noble mansion in Sanerva and how even the special detectives struggled to trace you."
'Eh, isn't that too much? Especially if I'm using the name of some killer.' Zavi was shocked upon realizing that the name he had made up back then apparently belonged to a notorious murderer in Ninesorals.
He truly had no idea, and from his memories, he had never once heard any news about it from newspapers or from people's conversations.
"So," Zavi said calmly, "does that satisfy the curiosity of you two?"
"Wait a second, there's something I need to confirm first," Mine said with a calculating look, as though she could not believe that the person she admired was actually in Moran.
"..." Zavi fell silent while staring sharply at the two of them, completely unaware that they already knew his identity.
The two women immediately stepped away and whispered to each other about Zavi's presence and Aaron standing against them earlier.
"Mine, are you sure he's that serial killer?" Hana asked curiously, occasionally glancing toward Zavi as though she did not want him overhearing the conversation.
Mine shook her head uncertainly and answered,
"I'm not completely sure. 'He' is incredibly skilled at disguising himself, so why would he show us his real identity?"
Mine's sentence was cut short, never finishing as something she had never expected was about to happen.
"Could it be," Hana finally spoke with indescribable emotions, "that the killer master wants to recruit the two of us into his group?"
Mine's fingers busily played with each other, her face pale and her breathing uneven as she realized that being a servant of the 'Intersection Society' no longer felt enough, while her obsession with the serial killer Lamena made her wish to devote herself to him.
"Maybe," Mine replied with a smile. "Should we just ask him directly?" she said while staring at Hana seriously.
Hana nodded in response. Then after the two of them thought it through carefully, she finally walked confidently toward Zavi.
"Excuse me, Mister Lamena," Hana said nervously. "Do you want to recruit us into your assassin group?"
"Yes," Zavi answered without the slightest hesitation.
"What!? That easily?" the two of them muttered at the same time. Then both instantly became overjoyed like little children finally receiving something they had long desired.
Aaron, who sat while warming himself, reflexively glanced back when he heard the strange noises coming from the two women.
'Did that guy do something reckless again?' he thought indifferently. The blazing fire reflected within his pupils as he continued shivering from the freezing temperature inside the room.
Meanwhile, Zavi, who was enjoying his role as a famous killer, suddenly felt something disturbing cross his mind.
'If that assassin is famous, then how could Dave, the person I met back then, not know about him? There must be someone spreading conspiracies about that untraceable killer?'
Zavi completely finished his thoughts as he rubbed the scratched brown pistol he had found two hours earlier.
Then he pulled his hand from his jacket pocket before carefully slipping his right hand into his pants pocket, retrieving something that caused both women to hold their breath as they watched Zavi's movements.
It turned out that Zavi had taken out his pocket watch and opened its cover as he held it toward them.
"Sir? What do you mean by showing us that watch?" Hana could not hold back her curiosity.
Zavi smiled faintly and replied, "A sign that you've both been accepted into this group."
Both women reflexively lowered their heads as their hearts pounded rapidly, not out of fear, but because they had never imagined being part of the same group.
Although the two women possessed strange and unusual tastes compared to ordinary people, they would never question anything once they considered someone to hold a higher rank than themselves. They would follow that person's orders without hesitation, even if it meant doing something dangerous.
All of this originated from a village located in a corner of Nowell County in Vinohoshi, where such an ideology had been instilled into every villager.
It was unknown whether this was merely a trick devised by the village elders, but with that ideology, the villagers lived freely by choosing people they considered above them and following them until the very end.
The leader of the 'Intersection Society,' sent by the organization's higher-ups, was a man named Canel Hewwich, and the two women decided they would no longer follow his orders, including those of the organization's leaders, after obtaining a new master they deemed to hold a higher status than them.
"We'll do anything according to your orders," they said in unison, their expressions blank as they stared at his black boots.
Zavi let out a short sigh as he half turned around before speaking one last time.
"The two of you will search for that man, and also find your Recipestele." Zavi pointed toward Mine, hoping she would also find Zuhen and Felina, along with information regarding the second level of Prisoner, Motivation, which belonged to the man named Canel.
As for further information regarding other abilities at the Error level, Zavi had not obtained anything at all, and it was extremely difficult to acquire such information unless he met Canel directly.
He had only recently realized after fighting the man with The Coffin ability at its first stage, Butcher, that the snake whose entire body was made of skulls belonged to a man named Canel, whom he had learned about from Aaron.
"That's all?" Mine muttered to confirm.
"Yeah, that's all," Zavi replied with a sigh.
"And one more thing, be careful with the weather out there, and I hope you obtain what I want." After saying that, Zavi walked toward Aaron to warm his freezing body despite the tight jacket making him feel overheated.
The two women smiled faintly before steadily walking toward the half-open door on the lower right side and carrying out the task Zavi had ordered without harboring even the slightest suspicion.
Meanwhile, Zavi patted Aaron on the shoulder before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Aaron merely glanced at him coldly. Then after thinking for a moment, he finally voiced what was on his mind.
"Why did you suggest I use that name?" he asked in confusion. "You do realize the risks behind all this, right? The underground groups and secret orders will hunt both of us down."
"Let them," Zavi replied, the veins on his forehead bulging while his teeth chattered. "I intentionally want them to capture and kill me if they can." Zavi remained calm while saying that, even though deep inside he was trembling violently. But he did all this solely to avenge what they had done to his mother and the survivors who died based on the information from Karl.
'Right, this man has gone insane.' Aaron's face stiffened as he realized the man beside him had overheard his conversation.
Then a calm voice, yet one that pierced directly into Aaron's thoughts, sounded afterward.
"Uh, sorry for interrupting," said the man sitting beside Aaron while warming himself. "Which group is hunting the two of you?"
The air turned freezing cold, and time itself seemed to slow as both their minds went blank, accompanied by held breaths while their pupils widened as they stared at the man.