Chapter 122
Jinseong, who had come out of the store, entered the shade and closed his eyes.
"Om svabhava shuddha sarva dharma svabhava shuddho 'ham (ॐ स्वभाव सुद्भाः सर्व धर्माः स्वभाव सुद्धोऽहम्)."
Sparkling flames leaked from Jinseong's closed eyes. The flames desperately tried to escape from his eyes like a thread snake trying to escape from a demon's maw, but they were sucked in as if there was an abyss inside his eyes and soon disappeared.
Instead, fragmented sparks flowed from his closed eyes like tears, and fragmented heat scattered in his breath as he chanted the incantation, creating thick white breath.
It resembled steam, and also looked like smoke.
As the incantation was added to Jinseong's eyes enhanced by sorcery, his closed eyes showed a scene.
The first thing shown was the image of a liquor store announcing its closure.
The image was as if a tiny insect was looking up at the store from the floor.
"----"
Jinseong uttered some sound as if it was done. It was close to a high-pitched sound, and also resembled the terrible sound of scratching a blackboard with something sharp. And as that sound was uttered, with a crackling sound, the darkness created by his eyelids covered his vision again.
But another scene came in as if rewinding CCTV footage.
This time it was a liquor store with an owner who looked despicable.
He was in the store's basement, mixing cheap alcohol with expensive vodka.
One bottle of vodka turned into four bottles through his hands, making one wonder if this was an alchemist who had realized the legendary 'golden rule'.
He seemed to have been doing this work for a long time, as behind him were piles of bottles filled with something unknown mixed in, with real alcohol added but infinitely close to fake. If Viktor saw this, he would be enraged, saying 'Even the bastards who stole supplies during the Soviet era didn't do this shit with alcohol,' and would carry out terrible revenge using his connections.
Jinseong, who had been quietly watching this through the insect's vision, uttered a sound again.
"---!"
But this time the sound was a bit different from before.
If the previous sound was just sharp, this time there was some rhythm to it.
Flutter.
The insect moved as Jinseong's incantation commanded.
The insect that had been watching the store owner from a corner of the basement fluttered its wings and flew up vigorously, then went to the alcohol spilled on the floor and burned up with a spark and a thud.
With that, the vision was plunged into darkness again, and Jinseong opened his eyes wide as if it was done and muttered.
"Life is like Old Sai's horse. Losing all the fake alcohol they made and the store burning down, losing money will actually become a blessing."
Jinseong muttered as if he had bestowed mercy.
* * *
"A fire broke out."
Viktor, who had come to the liquor store to check and crush the fake alcohol himself, saw it burning while emitting black smoke.
The intensity of the flames was quite strong, and it seemed the store would be completely burned down, or at best half-burned. In such a situation, intervening by saying he would find fake alcohol or punish them didn't suit his taste.
But he didn't feel like helping either, since it was a fire at the house of someone who had committed the terrible crime of selling fake alcohol. So instead of crushing the owner who had sold fake alcohol, Viktor forgave him, didn't intervene even though he could put out the fire, and turned away without doing anything even though he could call the fire department.
"Oh no, oh no!"
The store owner's wailing could be heard from behind, but why should he care?
He didn't want to save someone who had received divine punishment while he had an abundance of things to do.
Divine punishment, divine punishment.
Viktor, who had turned and started walking, stopped his steps for a moment as something occurred to him.
What came to his mind was Jinseong.
And that Ukrainian Nazi bastard.
Hmm.
Before knowing of Jinseong's existence, Viktor had moved thinking that the culprit of the human sacrifice ritual was someone from Ukraine's Azov Battalion. And he had asked his colleague to get testimony that those bastards had collaborated with Japanese sorcerers to do shitty things in Russia, and had even received approval after suggesting to higher-ups about retaliating against Japan.
Come to think of it, is Japan really the culprit?
It was Jinseong who had blocked Viktor's sword energy, and the one who performed the ritual was an Irish guy.
Was there any reason for Ukraine and Japan to be involved in this?
He pondered for a moment.
And came to a conclusion.
Well, it's none of my business.
That it didn't matter how things turned out.
Well, what did it matter if the one who performed the ritual was an Irish guy?
He might have received help from Ukrainian and Japanese guys.
The ritual site looked very grand and seemed to have a lot of money poured into it, so that's likely.
And well…
If not, so be it.
* * *
Someone said.
The sky that sparkled with starlight was covered in darkness by humans.
However, this happened because humans created stars on the ground with their own hands.
As that saying goes, it was difficult to find stars in the sky of civilized countries.
Covered with acrid smog, not only stars but even moonlight was dim.
Only artificial satellites looked like stars.
Korea was the same.
Seoul's sky is pitch black, with only the moon floating lonely.
The desolate moonlight showed itself shining alone, adding to its coldness, and as seasons changed and changed again, continuing changes, only the moon could stand and watch, so it had no choice but to change its shape by itself, filled with loneliness.
The stars that should have been placed beside it were stuck to the ground under the name of streetlights, and the lights that should have been seen revolving around the Earth with it changed to cell phone lights, lights leaking from buildings lit up by overtime work, lights emitted by electricity used by numerous people active at night, leaving the moon.
Lonely and truly lonely.
But some say.
No matter how much it was covered by a curtain, the essence remained the same.
Even if darkness fell, if there were eyes that could pierce through it, the truth could be seen.
And here, there was someone who could pierce through that truth.
An old man was sitting cross-legged on the rooftop of a high-rise building in Mokdong, Seoul.
He was sitting cross-legged with his back straight, quietly looking at the sky.
The sky covered by dim moonlight, where only darkness could be seen.
The flowing clouds, dyed by darkness, created a three-dimensional effect, and the lights of planes and helicopters wandering the sky even in the middle of the night looked like fireflies. And the eyes of the martial artist, strengthened by long training, pierced through that darkness and deceptive lights, capturing the essence beyond that veil directly in his eyes.
In his eyes, he saw a sea of stars.
He saw stars forming groups and creating rivers, and he also saw stars scattered, each shining and creating shapes. He saw constellations flowing along the sky, and he also saw stars exerting their presence by repeatedly dimming and brightening.
The old man, who had been quietly capturing that trajectory in his eyes, muttered.
"The heavenly energy is truly not good."
He muttered with a serious face like an ancient Taoist who had read the future by looking at the sky, or like a prophet who had mastered the principles of the sky and even foreseen the future. He saw the shapes made by the stars reflected in his pupils, and marveled at the picture they created as they flowed.
"The energy of the tree will grow stronger as days go by. This only benefits Japan, which is truly terrible. I have lived thinking only of patriotism, how has Korea's national fortune come to be in such a precarious state?"
The old man muttered with a regretful face.
His appearance was similar to that of a Taoist who had realized the truth after practicing the Way for a long time.
However, the sword he was carrying at his side revealed that he was a martial artist, and the rock-like calluses and excellent muscles that didn't match his age showed that he had reached a high level of skill.
But this serious atmosphere was soon broken.
"What bullshit."
An old woman who had come up to the rooftop by opening the door swore at the old man.
The old woman scolded the old man who was sitting cross-legged and putting on airs.
"You senile old fool. You don't even know jack about sorcery, yet you're spouting nonsense about heavenly energy!"
"Oh! Senile, you say!"
The old man stood up, undoing his cross-legged position, and shouted at the old woman's scolding.
"At this age, one should be able to read the will of heaven to some extent! Moreover, I have trained my mind as a martial artist, and I've thoroughly studied the Tojeong's Secret, so I can read heavenly energy as much as I want!"
"Oh my, you crazy old man. Why don't you keep practicing your sword skills instead of getting obsessed with strange things in your twilight years."
"Twilight years! How long do martial artists live that you're calling it twilight years already!"
"It seems like you’re about to die, seeing as you’re doing strange things. That's what twilight years means!"
Whack!
"Argh!"
The old woman infused qi into her hand and hit the old man's back hard.
"Oh, you old fool! You said you'd hand over the company to your son and devote yourself to the Hongik Patriotic Group activities! Why are you obsessed with this strange stuff! What sorcery, what heavenly energy! Go practice your sword skills!"
"Oh! This old hag, really! Do you know how amazing my skill in reading heavenly energy is!"
Whack!
The old woman hit the old man's back once again.
"How can someone who doesn't even know the basics read heavenly energy! What? Something about trees? Listen here! Korea has both the qualities of earth and wood in the yin-yang and five elements! So what's this about Japan and precarious situations! I'm dying of embarrassment just listening to you! Stop being dramatic and go inside to practice your swordsmanship!"
The old woman pushed the old man towards the stairs while continuously nagging.
"My goodness. Soon, what's his name. Lee Yang-hoon, yes Lee Yang-hoon, said the child he's raising is having a coming-of-age ceremony, right? Imagine if you said such things there. How embarrassed would I be, unable to show my face? Huh? What do you think other people would think if you said such things? That this old fool has finally gone senile. That he's gone senile and handed over the company to his son, becoming a back-room old man. Wouldn't they think like this? Huh? Oh, I can't live like this. How come this old fool becomes more like a child as he ages. He's immature, so immature!"
Behind the two people disappearing downstairs like that, there was a picture of a single sword standing tall.
It was the logo of Korea's conglomerate group, Ilgeom Group.