Chapter 13: The Insect's Blessing (2)

A strange encounter.

That was how the man regarded meeting the sorcerer in the back alley.

"They say there are so many eccentrics among sorcerers."

Eccentrics were people who couldn't be measured by common sense.

That was why he understood the strange person's attire, appearance,

And the sudden luck that came to him.

He understood all of it with the single thought, 'Because sorcerers are eccentric.'

Perhaps that was why he could truly feel the power of the magic cast on him.

The ability of the 'great sorcery' the strange person spoke of.

"Oh, ooh! Ooooh!"

First, his mornings changed.

His life, which had always been full of drinking excessively, being harassed by the big brothers and the boss, and being tormented by debtors, was always accompanied by excessive stress and an enlarged liver. His liver, steeped in alcohol and grease, was barely maintaining its condition, let alone relieving his fatigue, and excessive stress exacerbated his fatigue.

Insomnia.

Hair loss.

Chronic fatigue.

Muscle pain.

And in the mornings, it wouldn't even stand up.

They say there was a phenomenon where one got an erection when tired, but the man was either not at that level or too exhausted to the point of feeling like he was going to die, so it remained completely limp.

It got so bad that sometimes it wouldn't even stand properly when he tried to watch porn after returning home from work, making him feel a sense of crisis.

"It, it's standing! It's standing!"

At a point where he was seriously considering going to a urologist.

It stood.

"Damn, thank you! Thank you so much, Sorcerer!"

Some might say, why make such a fuss over just this much?

But that was because they didn't understand.

For men.

Especially for men who lived and died by their pride, whether it stood or not is truly a matter of life and death.

Even if you're strong, you get disrespected if it doesn't stand!

In the world of fists where gangsters and thugs ran rampant.

In that world, an impotent man could never receive respect.

Losing hair, you could just shave it all off cleanly and go around like that, and a protruding belly could be passed off as a 'fortune pouch' or 'prosperity flesh'. Being skinny or bulky, you could just go to the gym.

But not standing was truly an issue of identity.

Bluntly speaking, was there any reason for a man who couldn't even get it up to have one?

"Long live the Sorcerer!"

That was why the man was sincerely grateful to the sorcerer.

His fatigue disappeared and what was dead came back to life, what could be better than this!

Perhaps that was why?

The man felt as if his tangled life was suddenly blooming.

On his way to work, he heard women saying, "Huh? Isn't that guy quite alright?" as they looked at him.

While going around collecting money, he found a 10,000 won bill.

The big brothers who used to treat him like air said, "Hey, your face has been blooming lately" and promised to take him to a room salon later.

One of the delinquents who used to treat him like crap gave him the allocated amount without a word.

Luck.

Yes.

This was luck.

The man only now realized that his day could be so joyful and full of happiness.

The man couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he left work.

Moreover, on his way back, he bought a whole electric-roasted chicken from a truck with the 10,000 won he had found and ate it with a can of beer.

Thus, the man spent a happy day.

And the next day.

"Oh, it keeps standing."

The day after that was the same.

His body felt light as if it could fly, and his once troublesome member was also vigorous.

Not only that?

On his way to work, when he brushed past a woman, he could feel her gaze on him, and when he went face-to-face to collect money, people meekly handed him money as if they had forgotten all their previous troublesome behavior.

Moreover, when he followed a strange metallic smell, he found a 500 won coin.

"Wow, this effect is killing it. Money is rolling in, rolling in."

The peak of happiness was when one of the big brothers really took him to a room salon after work.

"Hey, there's a girl I'm targeting, just help set the mood so I can get with her."

He knew he was being used as a wingman and mood maker for the brother's goal, but the man was just happy. The reality was that the man couldn't get a woman by his side, but he was satisfied just being able to enjoy the atmosphere of the room, and he was only happy, immersed in the future where he too could play with women like that someday.

The man who returned home grinning like that.

"Money luck, woman luck, success luck, health luck. Whew. Everything's blooming, blooming. This is why they call them sorcerers, sorcerers!"

The man was happy.

His blocked luck had opened up, and everything was going well.

But when he was about to wash up and go to bed, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

How long can I be this happy?

It was a valid question.

No matter how effective the 'great sorcery' was, it wouldn't last forever, right?

Even flashlights needed battery changes, and magical items needed constant maintenance.

The man was afraid that the luck that had suddenly come to him would disappear just as suddenly.

That was why the man had no choice but to visit the back alley again the next day.

"Sorcerer, Sorcerer."

He called for the sorcerer quietly, as if secretly calling for the genie of the lamp. At the same time, he called desperately, like someone trying to make a wish to a demon.

"Kh-he. How is it, the power of great sorcery?"

The strange person appeared silently from the darkness, just as when he first met the man.

As if shadows were gathering to form a shape, he appeared from the dampest and darkest shade of the back alley and approached with incredibly light footsteps.

Gulp.

The man faced that bizarre form that flowed out of the darkness.

An insect's head looking at him.

A protruding, shiny hump.

A smell similar to some kind of scent... but much more disgusting and sticky.

"Sorcerer. The power of magic was amazing, no, it was very satisfying. But..."

The man couldn't help but lower his eyes before that monstrous form that overwhelmed his senses.

Thud.

Thud.

Then the strange person brought his face close to the man's, as if understanding everything.

"You want."

Kh-he.

The strange person's breath sounded like laughter echoing from far away, and like the voice of a madman mocking from the deepest part of a cave.

"You want this magic to be eternal, and to gain even more happiness."

The man raised his head at the strange person's words that mirrored his desires like a mirror.

What he saw when he raised his head was the inorganically hardened insect form, no different from before.

"That's impossible. As the only eternal thing in the world is transcendence, the fortune that has stayed with you will disappear and you will naturally live a life befitting your life."

"What?"

At those words, the man's expression hardened.

He had been so happy and joyful.

That was going to disappear?

The fortune would disappear and he would live an appropriate life?

What was an appropriate life?

The life of a thug?

The life of an impotent man who couldn't even touch a woman?

No matter how many lottery tickets he scratched, there was no sign of a money windfall.

Every day he spent his salary on drinking and smoking.

What was left after that?

It was a low-life found everywhere.

Was that the life befitting him?

If this luck disappeared, was he bound to live such a life?

"Kh-he. I told you something when I bestowed the great magic upon you. Try to recall what I said."

"That, that... Ah! If I need more luck, if I need more, to speak..."

The strange person nodded, affirming.

"That's right. And what else did I say?"

"Ah, a price! That there would be a price..."

Yes.

That's what I said.

The strange person muttered and whispered to him.

"Bring me what I want. Then your fortune will strengthen, and the time you can enjoy it will also lengthen."

*                     *                     *

The man knew that the luck that had come to him was not eternal.

The man knew that he could return to his original state at any time.

The man knew that this happiness would disappear like a mirage.

That was why the man had no choice but to accept the strange person's deal.

It wasn't that difficult.

No, rather, it was easy to understand.

He would bring what the sorcerer demanded.

In return, the sorcerer would extend the magic cast on the man's body and strengthen its effect.

That was all there is to it.

Fortunately, the sorcerer didn't make excessive demands on the man.

"Kh-he, live-octopus. Yes. Bring octopus. The number should be one bundle."

The man, hearing the sorcerer's request, went to the fish market and asked for a bundle of live octopus. What the owner gave him was twenty octopuses with moving legs and round eyes.

For the man who had been nervous thinking a bundle might be a box or hundreds of octopuses, it was an anticlimactically small number.

"Here it is."

When the man brought the octopus, the strange person showed his magic.

Riiip-!

The strange person clenched his plaster-like hand as if grasping the air, and then, as if something invisible was being torn, the bag he was holding was shredded and water dripped onto the floor. And among the water leaking out, the octopuses also escaped outside, and as if caught by something, they floated in the air and flew towards the strange person.

"Huh, huk!"

What followed was truly a horrifying sight.

Pak!

When the man clenched his hand again, the eyes of all twenty octopuses floating in the air were simultaneously plucked out. The octopus eyes that were once wide open floated in the air as if they were separate creatures and approached the strange person, and then...

Crunch!

They entered the strange person's mouth and were crushed.

"Ugh!"

The fishy smell wafting.

The octopuses writhing in the air after losing their eyes.

The eyeballs constantly being crushed inside the strange person's mouth reminiscent of a monster's maw...

The man felt something rising from his stomach.

This wasn't a matter of a weak stomach.

It was as if something, some instinct was trying to distance itself from something disgusting…

It was a phenomenon as if the human species was trying to reject the situation before its eyes.

"Kh-he, you. You, you know. Your instincts are stronger compared to your mind. Not bad. Ah-am, not bad at all. It's truly a good thing..."

The strange person, offering what might be praise or something else to the man, put his finger on the man's stomach.

"Kuk!"

When he touched his finger, a weak pain arose in the stomach.

A pain different from being pricked by something sharp.

Not like being burned, nor like being touched by a cold object...

It was truly a kind of pain the man had never experienced before.

But it disappeared instantly, like being stung by an insect, and the man stared blankly at the black dot that appeared briefly on his stomach until it disappeared, then asked the strange person.

"How, how effective is this one?"

The question was the same as before.

"Experience. Experience it yourself."

And the answer was also the same as before.