Devil’s Music

The next day.

As if the chaos of the previous day had been a lie, everything had vanished cleanly. Byung-jun, having heard from Miroslav, came back to Red Castle with Geon after the sanitation was completed, and even the bodies of bugs, rats, and crows had been tidily cleaned up.

With a worried expression, Byung-jun looked around the house, whereas Geon, upon arriving, dashed into the annex shouting.

"Lucy! You must be so hungry, Lucy!"

Meow—

Lucy, who had been sitting on the sofa licking her bottom, greeted Geon with her pretty face.

Jumping off the sofa, Lucy climbed up Geon's legs and settled on his shoulder, making Geon laugh as he rubbed her head and then took out some pet food from the kitchen to fill her bowl.

"Sorry, I had to rush out and couldn't even feed you. You must be really hungry, eat up."

Contrary to Geon's concern, Lucy, who had gorged herself on crows and rats until she could eat no more, seemed indifferent to the pet food in the bowl, scratching her ear with her hind leg.

Knowing the cat's nature to eat only when hungry, Geon entered his room, thinking she would eat if she was hungry.

Geon organized the music scores scattered on his bed and took out the score he had been working on in the school practice room from his bag. Although he wanted to rest at home and create music today, he had a commitment with the school and was preparing to return there.

Having put the draft of 'Song of Water' into his guitar bag, Geon came out to the living room where Byung-jun, who had just entered the annex, hitched up his trousers and said.

"Going straight to school? Then why did you come in?"

Geon, showing his guitar bag, replied.

"I left Haku at school, and I thought I might need the acoustic guitar too."

"Oh, is that so? Okay. Did you feed Lucy?"

"Yes, I put it in her food bowl."

"Alright, let's go then, I'll take you."

"No need, brother. You must be tired, take some rest."

"No way, man. Am I your manager for nothing? Let's go."

As Byung-jun opened the door, Lucy dashed out like a bullet. Red Castle was a closed space, and although she could not leave the garden, Geon quickly followed knowing that there were fierce guard dogs outside.

"Lucy! It's dangerous!"

Lucy seemed to be waiting on the bonnet of the Cadillac parked in front of the annex.

Unlike what Geon had expected her to run around the garden, Lucy sat quietly waiting, which made Geon put the guitar bag in the car and then picked her up, looking into her eyes.

"Do you want to follow?"

Lucy's pupils shifted from Geon's eyes to the sky. Following her gaze, Geon looked up at the sky, puzzled.

"Huh? Is it a bird? It doesn't look like a crow..."

A bird the size of a large hawk was gliding on the wind, spreading its wings wide. By the time Geon felt Lucy struggling in his arms, she had already slipped out and was darting back into the annex. Watching Lucy re-enter the annex, Geon pursed his lips.

"Thought you wanted to follow... Well, can't take you anyway."

Byung-jun, now changed into different clothes, opened the door of the annex.

"Ah, sorry. Let's hurry. I've got a meeting because of Shizuka."

As the car carrying Byung-jun and Geon departed, Lucy's cute ears popped up in the window of the annex.

With a white face and a pink nose, Lucy looked up at the sky with round eyes, and the bird above slowly circled a few times as if to say, "Leave it to me from here."

Arriving at school, Geon entered the empty practice room without Shizuka and Kevin. He placed his guitar down, sat on a chair, and sank into thought.

Unlike his previous smooth music work, various issues had complicated his mind, and Geon had to spend quite a lot of time meditating to focus.

After about an hour of concentrating and shaking off his thoughts, Geon's eyes opened, and he began to seriously contemplate his music.

"Let's not forget, 'Song of Water' is music meant to heal."

Patting his cheeks with his palms, Geon thought of a mother he had seen in Chicago who had lost her child.

"May my music finally reach her."

Taking out a pen, Geon closed his eyes and took a deep breath, like a calligrapher preparing his spirit before facing a piece of Hanji. He began drawing notes on the staff paper.

Unlike other works, Geon used four times the emotion to insert a single note and after drawing

one bar, he let his arm hang loose.

Drawing just one bar felt as tiring as if he had written several pieces, and Geon rotated his right shoulder.

"Definitely not easy."

He wanted to take a break, but knowing it was difficult to refocus due to recent events, Geon slapped his cheeks again and stared down the staff paper.

"There's no eternal pain; eventually, the rain stops, and the blue sky appears through the clouds. When sadness and pain dig deep into the heart, remember, they will pass like a storm cloud."

Inserting another bar, Geon looked at the notes shining in red, orange, yellow, and green, and smiled in satisfaction.

Although he had only drawn two bars, this new task was giving him both fatigue and satisfaction. Geon smiled, holding the staff paper up to the light, then suddenly frowned in thought. He set the staff paper down and crossed his arms, lost in thought.

"What is happiness?"

Some say happiness isn't minimal or nonexistent but rather that people feel unhappy because they do not realize they are happy.

People try to pick up coins in unfamiliar places, but they often don't try to pick up the happiness that falls right at their feet.

However, the music Geon was trying to create was not meant to bring happiness but to provide healing to those who are hurting.

"Hmm... healing and happiness."

Geon set his pen down and murmured deeply in thought.

"Those who need healing aren't happy, right? But surely there is happiness there, just without the leisure to look back. Being in pain makes one sensitive."

Music alone cannot cure physical ailments, but Geon thought his goal was to create music that could help those experiencing mental pain.

"Don't think of anything else; the music for the album isn't just 'Song of Water.' First, complete the music for healing, then worry about the next."

Geon leaned back from the chair and refocused on the score. Inside the peaceful and quiet practice room. But outside Juilliard School, it was not so tranquil.

Unknown to the students commuting to the school, a slaughter was occurring at an altitude invisible to the human eye.

The black beak of Garuda was smeared with blood, and its massive beak engulfed dozens of crows and bats with each snap, as quickly as a whale swallowing a shoal of krill.

Occasionally, bloodied black feathers would fall to the ground, but the people on the ground could not even glimpse a dead bird.

They thought it was merely feathers stuck to a tree falling to the ground. Looking up, they saw only a small dot near the sun, the struggle of the birds not visible to the human eye.

On the rooftop of Juilliard School.

Arms crossed, Gamagin slowly nodded his head.

"Indeed, Garuda."

The struggle was on the side of the crows and bats. Garuda, with relaxed glides, swallowed dozens at a time and occasionally let out a long cry.

Still many bats and crows remained, Garuda watched them with gleaming eyes, preparing for another glide when a sparkle appeared in his black eyes.

The swarms of bats and crows that were either attacking or dodging stopped in mid-air and looked in one direction.

Garuda also looked in that direction but saw nothing but the late afternoon sky. Turning his head back to them, Garuda's eyes widened slightly.

Hundreds of bats and crows were flying in formation in one direction. Continuously looking back, keeping an eye on Garuda as they retreated, they were not heading towards Juilliard or Red Castle but seemed to be strenuously trying to distance themselves from Garuda.

Gamagin unfolded his arms and turned his head in the direction they were flying.

"Ah... it seems Paimon's matter is settled."

Whether Paimon had finished negotiating with the other demons or not, their familiars had vanished all at once.

Yet, Garuda did not relax his vigilance and still glared menacingly down from the sky. Gamagin, looking at the distant sunset, said.

"Shiva, please."

Gamagin's blue eyes flashed, and his vision instantly expanded, stretching across mountains and seas to the Himalayas.

Thousands of people trampling through the snow-blown mountains were visible in his eyes.

The village chief Timo, hooded against the blizzard but leaning on his staff, shouted.

"Find it at all costs! It's the oracle of Brahma!"

At his command, the people probing the snow with their sticks sped up.

They searched in a tight formation from the bottom of the mountain to the top, leaving no room for even a needle to escape.

In Gamagin's sight, a white monkey sat on the edge of a cliff.

A normal monkey would scratch its body, wag its tail, and chew on something, but the white monkey just looked down at the people without moving.

Gamagin bared his teeth as his blue eyes shimmered.

"Gushion."

The monkey, visibly startled, climbed higher up the trees and began to leap towards a higher peak.

As the last of the blue light faded from Gamagin's eyes, he put his sunglasses back on and turned around.

"Humans who are not afraid use fear as the source of their magic, so he would probably fear those who are unafraid. Yes, blind his eyes, or else I will have to deal with him myself."

Gamagin quietly looked up at the sky.

"If I have to deal with it myself, the 72 demons won't stay quiet either."

>

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