Chapter 110
As Jinseong, who had been looking at the stars, started walking, the mushrooms that had been still began to move again.
They moved their bodies back and forth and sang through their torn gaps.
[ Hung-geul! The guest reception is over! ]
[ Hung-geul! The meal time is over! ]
[ The guest left satisfied! ]
[ We were satisfied too! ]
The mushrooms moved their bodies as if reacting every time Jinseong passed by.
[ The fruit eaten after putting out the fire is the most delicious! ]
[ We gave a delicious meal! ]
[ The host gave the guest a delicacy! ]
[ But temporarily taking away resistance ]
[ Was only preparation for the meal ]
[ So this too didn't violate Hung-geul's rules! ]
The fairy mushrooms singing on the path Jinseong had passed crumbled and turned to powder. White and brown powder formed small cone-shaped mountains in that place, and when a cold wind brushed past, they disappeared like bread crumbs flying in the sky.
[ Hung-geul's rules! ]
[ To serve food and serve again! ]
[ The host's turn is over ]
[ Now it's our turn! ]
The mimics of fairy mushrooms, said to enjoy serving lost people, turned into powder by breaking their bodies to serve 'guests' just as the host had served guests, singing like that as their bodies turned to powder.
And the powder began to seduce what they recognized as 'guests' by flying to them.
Squeak-
Squeak.
The guests recognized by the fairies were small omnivorous animals that usually ate mushrooms, with good fertility and adaptability, easily seen anywhere in the world. They came running on four legs to eat the mushroom powder, wrapped in dull-colored fur, and filled the empty amusement park's stone floor, swinging their long pink tails.
Rats.
Unwelcome companions of humans, animals that could be seen everywhere.
They frantically craved the powder as if eating a delicacy descended from heaven.
Jinseong quietly watched the rats eating the powder, then took out a cloth from his bosom and spread it. The cloth had the symbol of Crom Cruach drawn on it.
"----!"
And then he made a high-pitched sound that seemed to have no meaning.
At the high-pitched sound that seemed to be squeezed out of his vocal cords, the rats stopped eating and raised their heads, then soon buried their heads again and ate the powder. But among them, some rats were staring at the symbol as if bewitched, and Jinseong floated these rats in the air.
The rats stared only at the symbol of Crom Cruach without any resistance despite their bodies floating in the air.
Jinseong nodded as if satisfied with this sight and headed towards a building in the corner of the amusement park.
The building was a dilapidated form built by piling up bricks, and its location, which was not easily noticeable to people's eyes, suggested that it might have been used as an employee break room in the past. The building had an ugly appearance with its paint partially peeled off, but strangely, unless one consciously looked at it, it didn't catch the eye, like passing by scenery in everyday life.
Moreover, not only was it hard to focus one's gaze on it, but strangely, when looking at the building, other things seemed to feel more vivid. And if one paid attention to that vividness, the building would completely erase its presence and try to disappear from memory.
This was a power derived from the authority of 'secrecy' of Gremory, the demon contracted by Lee Serin.
Jinseong walked while constantly being aware of the building, casting a spell on his eyes.
Then he approached the door of the building and lightly knocked, and.
Creak.
As the old wooden door slowly opened, someone peeked their head out.
"Brother, is it over?"
It was Lee Arin.
Lee Arin popped out as if glad that she was bored to death, and soon clung to Jinseong and asked various questions.
Who was the guest?
Who was the guest that you had to hide from?
It seemed like Lee Serin did something, what exactly was it?
Why couldn't we show our faces to the guest?
You made something that looked delicious with capybara, what dish was that?
When is it my turn?
There was a delicious smell, is there anything left?
I'm bored, I feel like I need to eat some leftover meat to feel better.
How much is left?
These questions flew at him without pause.
Jinseong listened quietly to her questions and answered only one thing.
"It's almost your turn for the ritual now."
"Oh, really?"
Lee Arin was delighted.
The endless waiting was enough to tire out her active nature.
But the joy was short-lived.
One question arose.
"But, um, don't we not have ingredients?"
"You mean rodents?"
Jinseong brought a few rats he had floated in the air in front of her in response to her question.
"Here they are."
The rats were already asleep.
Whether due to the satiety given by the powder or some strange component in the powder, the rats were all curled up with their eyes closed, and they might have looked cute if not for their long tails.
"Rodents, yes. That's right. So you had a plan all along."
She looked at the rats and nodded as if understanding, then approached Jinseong with a big step, her face looking expectant, and spoke in a slightly lower voice.
"Any meat left?"
Jinseong answered with a smirk at her voice whispering as if dealing with something very secret and dangerous.
"There is none."
"Huh?"
At those words, Lee Arin tilted her head.
"Did I hear wrong?"
"No. You heard correctly. There is no meat left."
Lee Arin blinked her eyes repeatedly on the spot as if the information wasn't processing properly. Then she slightly closed her eyes and moved her nose, sniffing the intense and greasy meat scent lingering in the air, and then opened her eyes again.
Lee Arin's reopened eyes... were similar to those of an angry feline predator.
"There's none?"
"That's right."
"Why?"
"That's how it turned out."
"I was waiting for that in that cramped place?"
"You can eat when we go back."
"I was going to eat and get rid of that evil beast? I was going to get revenge?"
"I'll do it for you when we go back."
At Jinseong's words trying to soothe her, Lee Arin spoke as if trying to extort money.
"Come on, you're joking, right? There is some, right? Give it to me quickly."
"How can I give what doesn't exist?"
"Give it."
"I'll buy capybara and make it for you when we go back."
"Give it."
Lee Arin spoke as if throwing a tantrum, then slightly frowned as if annoyed at the lingering scent of roasted capybara carried by the wind.
"Hey, brother? That, well, I thought you wouldn't have any aggression towards me because we're non-blood-related housemates, but. Are you playing a prank on me now? Are you playing with food? Huh?"
Jinseong smirked seeing Lee Arin treating him as if grumbling to her father Lee Yang-hoon, and gestured to call an expert in dealing with Lee Arin from the old building. Then Lee Serin quietly approached Lee Arin and whispered something in her ear.
"Huh? Wait. No, that."
Lee Arin looked at Lee Serin with great embarrassment after hearing those words.
"Um, stupid. I'm cold and hungry... so I want to do the ritual quickly and g-go, you know?"
"No... Even so... No. Ha. How did you even see that?"
"Authority."
Lee Arin tried to pounce and subdue her twin sister when she mentioned a secret only she knew, but realizing that Park Jinseong was watching from the side, she stopped her body. At this sight, Lee Serin threw a few words as if to urge her.
"Vodka. Drunk behavior. Causing trouble while holding animals..."
Lee Arin pounced like lightning, got behind Lee Serin and covered her mouth. Then she gestured to Jinseong with her eyes as if to say let's go in that position, and Jinseong floated the eagle owl sleeping with its head buried in a corner inside the building and walked somewhere.
The place they arrived at was an empty lot overgrown with unknown weeds.
The unknown weeds had grown up to waist height as if to say this was the true Russian weather, and dead and living grass were tangled together, densely occupying the space. Moreover, in the pitch-dark space where moonlight had disappeared, their swaying appearance looked as if fierce beasts or evil spirits might be hiding.
At that eerie sight, the sisters slightly moved closer to Jinseong.
Jinseong made a gesture of grasping the air to lay down the grass and make a path, and pulled out a bunch of grass to create an empty space.
"You wait here."
Then he sat Lee Serin in front of the grass thicket and pulled Lee Arin in. Then he started to compact the ground using a stick made of sessile oak.
The ground made of mixed stones and soil was hard.
Thud.
The soil had frozen solid through the unimaginable Russian night, and its hardness was similar to other stones or ice. Therefore, the hard wooden stick made of sessile oak made a dull sound when hitting the ground, and shook from the impact as if it would break at any moment.
But Jinseong continued to pound the ground without minding.
Thud!
Thud!
This unknown action of Jinseong continued until a streak of light rose from far away. Jinseong kept pounding until beads of sweat formed, and when he confirmed that the sky was starting to be dyed with light, he stopped what he was doing and brought some items.
He lit a fire in the center and mercilessly poured vodka with over 80 percent alcohol content on it. The fire greatly increased its size as if enjoying eating the vodka, rising high into the sky.
He waited for the flames to rise up to his chest level and then started putting things into the fire.
The first harvested wheat.
The first harvested plum.
The first harvested lime.
The first harvested flat peach.
They jumped into the fire to become food, and piled up at the bottom of the flames as ashes, piling up more and more.
Jinseong put them in one by one as if he would feed until the fire was satisfied.
When there was nothing left to give to the fire.
Squeak.
He put the youngest of the rats he had floated in the air into the fire.