Inside a hidden room at the club Alice in Wonderland.
The owner… the man known as the ‘Clock Rabbit’ had gathered all his employees for a meeting.
“Mad Hatter, did you check the shop’s equipment stock properly?”
“Yes. There are no problems.”
They reported on and checked everything needed to run the Underworld Board.
The Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, and the March Hare.
The trio who effectively served as his field commanders, known as the ‘Tea Party,’ reported in, along with other members who had their own roles, including the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts.
After the meeting had gone on for some time, the Mad Hatter asked,
“Master… may I ask a question?”
“What is it?”
“Why did you give that Asian bastard the vampire job?”
The Clock Rabbit had handed the vampire extermination job to an Asian exorcist who had recently shown up out of nowhere. The Mad Hatter wanted to know why he had entrusted such a job to someone they had never even met, no matter how skilled the man might be.
“Because it was the perfect assignment to test his abilities. Dealing with those vampires alone is not easy. They are as troublesome as they come, and the fallout is severe.”
“…….”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The vampires were flourishing in Brooklyn. Countless gangs and exorcist organizations had failed to eliminate them so far. It was an absurdly difficult assignment.
“Do you think he’ll succeed?”
“No. He will die, one hundred percent. How many men have already died trying to take them down?”
“True….”
Everyone nodded. They knew perfectly well how absurd it was for one man to go after the vampires now.
Then the Mad Hatter asked again.
“What if, by some chance, he succeeds?”
“Then he is the ‘real deal,’ and we will have to treat him accordingly. Though that will not happen.”
Just as a sly, unpleasant smile curled beneath the Clock Rabbit’s mask, his smartphone began to vibrate violently in his pocket.
BUZZ! BUZZZZ!
He answered it.
“What is it? I told you not to contact me during meetings.”
《M-Master…. Th-the Asian exorcist is back. H-he says he’s exterminated all the vampires!》
“What?”
Shock appeared on every face in the meeting room.
And a little later….
“Here’s the evidence. Take a look.”
The moment the footage Kang Do-jun had brought began to play….
‘Good heavens….’
‘What on earth is this guy?’
Everyone watching stared with their mouths hanging open.
The footage showed the Asian exorcist killing vampires on his own. It wasn’t a fight. It was a one-sided massacre.
The Asian man looked into the bodycam and said one thing.
“Now, I’d like to be paid for this job. It was a little more difficult than I expected.”
A faint smile spread across Kang Do-jun’s face.
***
On the far outskirts of Williamsburg.
In the middle of a redevelopment zone filled with rusted steel frames and shattered windows.
The building looked ready to collapse at any moment, but the top floor, reached by a heavy freight elevator, was another world entirely.
‘There’s… a place like this here?’
A spacious living room, marble floors, and a panoramic view of Brooklyn at night through enormous floor-to-ceiling windows.
I slipped my hands into my pockets and slowly surveyed the interior. Stylish furniture, soft indirect lighting, and even a top-of-the-line bar at its center.
A smile threatened to spread across my face, but I kept my expression as blank as I could.
The rabbit-masked man who had arranged the place stood with his arms crossed.
“It is a converted upper floor of an abandoned building that does not appear on ordinary maps. The specially coated glass blocks light completely, so no one outside can even tell someone lives here.”
“Any other ways someone could track me down?”
“The previous owner was a shell company, so there is no trace in any American database. You can come and go through an underground passage without anyone seeing you.”
The rabbit-masked man handed me several documents he had prepared.
As he’d said, he seemed to have transferred the property through various names until, on paper, it was an empty building where no one lived.
“Well? Satisfied? I put a fair bit of effort into this rabbit hole.”
“…Wait. There’s one last thing I need to check.”
I knelt and placed my hand on the floor.
‘Eye of Dispelling Evil and Revealing Truth.’
My pupils glowed blue for an instant as I scanned the room. Invisible spiritual waves penetrated the spaces between the walls and floorboards.
It was a kind of detection technique for finding listening devices or sorcerous traps. Fortunately, the place was clean.
‘…Is he using a technique of his own to search the place?’
The rabbit-masked man waited, apparently having guessed roughly what I was doing.
After a moment, I slowly rose and said,
“Well, this isn’t bad. How much?”
“Three thousand dollars a month in rent. Anything else you need will cost extra.”
That was about 4.3 million won a month. It certainly wasn’t cheap, but given the safe house’s facilities and security, the price was reasonable.
To be honest, this place was far better than my accommodations when I’d reigned as South Korea’s finest shaman.
For a mere broker running a dark-web operation to provide a safe house on this overwhelming scale….
‘This really is the home of capitalism.’
The rabbit-masked man spoke.
“Once you build up more of a track record, I will move you to a penthouse in central Manhattan. Though that will cost several times as much.”
“…We’ll see.”
He was more or less my boss now, but I didn’t bother speaking politely. I knew that in the underworld, the moment someone saw you as a pushover, you were finished.
The rabbit-masked man seemed to find this amusing. He gave a small chuckle, tossed me a tablet, and said,
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
An app called ‘Underworld Shop’ was open on the screen.
“You can get everything here, from food and exorcism weapons to everyday necessities. I guarantee the delivery system leaves no trace.”
I swiped through the screens. From bizarre spiritual goods to the latest tactical equipment, there seemed to be nothing the shop didn’t carry.
With this, I could live in seclusion and build my strength in comfort without even having to go out.
‘This rabbit-masked man seems far more capable than I first thought.’
I’d taken him for a third-rate merchant making money from commissions on the deep web, but the business sense and ability he’d shown so far surpassed anyone I’d known in South Korea.
Finally, the rabbit-masked man placed two heavy aluminum cases on the table.
“Your reward for this assignment. Two million one hundred thousand dollars. I prepared it in cash. Check it.”
“…….”
I opened the cases. They were packed tight with crisp hundred-dollar bills.
Nearly three billion won.
‘Holy shit….’
I’d made that much money in one job?
It would have been unthinkable in South Korea. His heart pounded, but Do-jun closed the cases with a blank expression.
“I’ll put it to good use.”
“Let us keep working well together. We can make plenty of money. And….”
We shook hands briefly. The rabbit-masked man moved his lips as though he wanted to say more.
“And?”
“Never mind. I will tell you next time…. Get some rest, then. When can you start your next assignment? It will take me a while to bring in another job that pays well.”
I shrugged and answered.
“If possible, I’d like to take about a month off.”
“All right. Get some rest. By then… I will bring you an assignment with a reward you will be happy with.”
“I look forward to it.”
CLICK!
The moment I heard the door close, I threw the cases open again. My fingertips trembled as I touched the stacks of bills.
‘…This is insane.’
My years with Blue Tile flashed before my eyes.
I couldn’t use even a single talisman as I pleased without the state’s permission. I could risk my life fighting evil spirits all year long and still earn only three hundred to five hundred million won at most.
Even that took every danger allowance and overtime payment I could get. Once taxes and everything else were deducted, nearly half was gone.
Yet as soon as I arrived in America, I killed a mere hundred or so vampires and pocketed three billion won.
At this rate, being exiled almost felt like a blessing in disguise.
But I had no intention of forgiving those bastards at Blue Tile. Because of them, I’d had to part with the spirit who had been with me all my life, and there had been plenty of other pain besides.
‘Well, that’s that….’
As my pounding heart began to settle, one goal came clearly to mind.
Three years from now would come the Year of the Earth Rooster, the ‘Day of the Darkest Night.’
There was a terrible prophecy that the boundary between the living and the dead would collapse and the gates of hell would open.
I had briefly witnessed a fragment of that inhuman hellscape myself.
Ordinarily, I’d have spent my days steadily preparing with Blue Tile to survive that day. But now it was time to change that course a little. No, a great deal.
So I could survive on my own.
No. I needed enough power to protect my own people when that day came, even without Blue Tile behind me.
‘I’ll earn money here, train successors, and make the spirit inside my belly as strong as I can.’
My desire for revenge against the country and Blue Tile that had abandoned me. My instinct to survive as a human being. And the words left behind by my master, who had sacrificed me, and the White Tiger Spirit.
This was the only way to uphold all of it.
‘Good. I know what I need to do….’
Do-jun threw himself onto the bed and picked up the tablet. He knew exactly what he needed to do right then.
‘Over the next month, I’ll learn as much as I can about the spirit inside my belly.’
My most important ability and source of power right now was the spirit who had newly settled in the spirit jar.
I still didn’t know who he was, or even his name. Without that, I couldn’t use his power to its full potential.
For a shaman, being in tune with the spirit whose power he borrowed was vital.
And if I was right….
‘Sooner or later, I’m going to get tangled up with those vampires or whatever they are.’
I’d erased my traces and been careful. But since those evil spirits operated like a massive organization, there was a good chance we’d inevitably cross paths again, somewhere, sometime.
I’d killed well over a hundred of them, after all.
I needed to raise my power to another level to prepare for that day.
‘First, let’s buy a whole lot of bullets.’
I opened the Underworld Shop and began filling my order. To avoid being tracked, I mixed in large quantities of holy water and crosses, the sort Western exorcists commonly used, along with plenty of things I could actually use in a fight.
“Oh, right. This too.”
At the end of my shopping cart, I made sure to add the electronic cigarettes I liked and some Furabono-flavored e-liquid.