Chapter 24
After breakfast, everyone scattered to their own rooms.
Returning to his room, Jinseong recalled the awkward but clearly respectful conversation.
The Lee family was always like this.
It was surely their good nature that was treating Jinseong, an intruder who could be seen as uncomfortable for both the Patriotic Association and the Patriotic Group, like this. Moreover, their continued attempts to even awkwardly approach him, despite his obsession with sorcery preventing him from building proper relationships, must also have been due to their warm-hearted nature.
Especially unlike Lee Serin, who exuded an awkward air with her whole body, Lee Arin actively approached him and showed signs of accepting him as family. Just a moment ago, hadn't she approached him calling him "oppa, oppa"?
That was why Jinseong hoped Lee Arin would be selected for Japan.
He wanted to give at least one gift before leaving the mansion and becoming independent.
Wasn't it something that would make everyone happy?
Jinseong could use the two sisters to avoid the fate that prevented him from entering Japan, Lee Serin could obtain divine objects, and Lee Arin could gain the opportunity to learn various martial arts secrets and gain practical experience.
Wasn't it a win-win situation?
But if there was one problem.
Hmm.
It was Lee Arin's mental state.
While Lee Serin had witnessed the devastation of Kyoto without any issues before the regression, so there was no worry about trauma or PTSD, Lee Arin hadn't stood out even before the regression.
At least, not enough to reach Jinseong's ears. He hadn't heard about her marrying someone and starting a family before the regression, so either she had lived quietly like an ordinary citizen, or she had experienced something and given up on the path of a martial artist out of frustration.
If it was the former, what she could gain in Japan could be of great help to her, but if it was the latter, it could immediately break Lee Arin's growth momentum.
"ॐ गम गणपतये नमः."
Even during his mercenary life, he had seen many such people.
Cases where new recruits with sufficient strength, good physical condition, and high spirits quit after suffering from nightmares following their first mission. They had strong bodies but weak minds, and were novices who didn't know how to train their minds or how to put hard armor on a weak mind.
Mind.
The great mind.
It was because they didn't know the importance of this that such things happened.
No matter how important the body was, it was limited to life. Even if you had a trained body, it was meaningless if you were learning third-rate martial arts that couldn't move it properly, and even if you were born with a long lifespan, you were nothing more than a rolling chunk of meat if the mind was steeped in laziness. That was what human life was.
The mind was an intangible force that made even a diseased body move beyond its limits, and while it couldn't resist the approaching lifespan moment by moment, it could make the body move until the predetermined end.
Even for Jinseong, wasn't it only the mind, a pure mind, that led his body that was no different from a corpse?
If one desired one thing in their heart and sincerely wished for it, naturally the mind was trained.
"ॐ गम गणपतये नमः."
Which category did Lee Arin fall into?
Was she someone who could train her mind into one thing like Jinseong?
Or was she someone who lived by putting armor on a lacking mind like Serin?
"ॐ गम गणपतये नमः."
Jinseong recalled the past.
The time when he left the mansion as if kicking off, trying to avoid a future where they would become shackles for each other.
At that time, he had nothing and was too busy taking care of himself to properly give even one gift. After that, he ran tirelessly looking only towards transcendence, and later oxidized himself by setting his body on fire along with magic.
He didn't know what would happen in his newly gained life.
But since the future had changed and he had gained abilities.
Shouldn't he give at least one gift?
Lee Arin should receive a gift.
Even if she couldn't receive a gift, wouldn't it be enough to solve that problem for her?
Making it possible for her to receive a gift would also be a gift.
However, since a gift should be something desired, he needed to know for sure what Lee Arin wanted.
Not a wish uttered from the mouth, not a wish emanating from the eyes.
Only a wish desired from the heart and sincerely wanted.
For that, he needed to squeeze out a bit more information.
The more cards one had, the better, and the more information accumulated, the better.
It's truly intangible gold.
Creak.
* * *
As soon as they left the dining room, Lee Serin said to Lee Arin:
"I think it's better not to go to Japan."
"What?"
Lee Arin turned to look at her sister, surprised by the sudden statement without context. But Serin, with a face that couldn't be more serious and eyes with dark circles, looked at her and said again:
"Go somewhere other than Japan."
Arin was about to ask what she meant, but realizing her expression was more serious than expected, she asked something else.
"Why?"
It was a more fundamental question than what she had originally intended to ask.
Serin hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say, then dragged her to her room and sat her on the bed. Though her thin arms couldn't possibly have the strength to drag the well-trained Lee Arin, Lee Arin was pulled along as if entranced.
Was it intuition, or was it the power of the demon Lee Serin had contracted?
After forcibly seating her on the bed, Lee Serin opened her mouth:
"Lee Arin. Listen to me carefully. The demon said something. There's a secret hidden deep somewhere, but it doesn't know what it is. It said it smells like sunlight covered in straw and iron..."
"Sunlight? Iron?"
Lee Arin looked at her, scratching her head vigorously.
"No, that. Ha... I don't know that kind of symbolism~ Can't you just explain it simply?"
"Ignorant Lee Arin."
"What?!"
Serin spat out criticisms as easily as breathing.
"Straw means grace that's more than enough for daily use and useful in many ways. In other words, it means a form that changes into beneficial forms. It becomes food when fed to livestock, becomes straw shoes or ordinary rope when twisted into shape. It can be used as firewood when burned, and can form the body of a scarecrow when stuffed into clothes."
"Oh~"
"Shouldn't it be 'ah'.... Not 'oh'...? We learned this in first-year general education..."
"So there was something like that."
"It's not 'there was something like that'... Don't you remember Life and Symbolism...?"
Unlike Lee Serin's shocked face, Lee Arin smiled brightly.
"I don't know. I was always sleeping in first year."
At this innocent statement, Lee Serin gave up on explaining in detail.
"I'll just make it simple... It does help us, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be all helpful... That's what it is."
"If it's helpful, it's helpful~ What do you mean it won’t be all helpful?"
People who learn martial arts are usually so smart... Why is Lee Arin...
Was the martial arts she learned the problem?
Was it a side effect of learning martial arts through instinct and sensation?
Lee Serin sighed at her innocent brain that refused to think beyond one dimension.
Sometimes she seems like a simple animal, not a person...
[ Isn't that cute? Often, simple things are more endearing than unnecessarily clever ones. ]
Straw.
Sunlight.
Iron.
Lee Serin ignored the demon saying "cute, cute," and imprinted the three words in her mind.
Paying something in exchange for gaining something...? Facing an equivalent crisis in exchange for gaining something? What could it be...
Lee Serin wondered what the meaning of the 'smell of the secret Jinseong hid' that the demon told her was, what the 'good information' Jinseong mentioned was, and... where and how he obtained that 'good information'.
She wanted to find out all of it.
At the same time, she thought it might be better to pass by without knowing.
If we go to Japan together, I could find out... But the smell of the secret is unsettling... But not knowing... I can't help being curious...
But soon she shook her head and looked at Lee Arin rolling around on her bed as if it were her own room.
The country that comes out in the lottery... Yeah. Whatever country comes out, I'll just go with it...
* * *
Straw spoke of beneficial multiformity.
Straw was a gift and material for those who lived off what grew from the earth. It became a house to stay in, shoes to wear, or a bag made by tying and tangling together. When there was no firewood, it was used to start fires, was an essential item for pickling, and even the ashes made from burning it could be used, making it truly a useful thing.
However, this usefulness also implied 'something beneficial to people'. Its symbolism clearly included 'people'.
Something beneficial to people.
Beneficial thing.
Something that could change.
But something beneficial to people.
Just as its essence didn't change even if its form changed endlessly, straw, though small and unremarkable, must always be beneficial to people. No matter what form it took, it must be.
"ᄉᆡᄫᆞᆯ ᄇᆞᆯ긔 ᄃᆞ래 밤드리 노니다가 드러ᅀᅡ 자리 보곤 가ᄅᆞ리 네히어라. 가ᄅᆞ리 네히어라. 가ᄅᆞ리 네히어라." (Interpreted lines of Song of Cheoyong, written during the Silla period)
Straw could become anything.
As long as there was a condition that it would be beneficial to people, it could take any form with magical meaning. Wasn't it truly an easy and good thing to use?
Thus, a form made entirely of tightly woven and bound straw was before Jinseong's eyes.
It was the form of a person casting shadows and shimmering in the light of a bright torch.
This was called Jewung (straw doll).