Chapter 62: The White Witch of Rumpelstiltskin (1)

Despite the absence of Yoshiaki and Narumi, the festival proceeded without any problems.

As everything was already prepared, Jinseong only needed to make an appearance, and the vacant positions could simply be filled by others.

The vacant position of the martial artist was filled by a mercenary.

Rise filled Narumi's vacant position.

Jinseong filled Yoshiaki's vacant position.

Although there were some minor hiccups, perhaps because they couldn't completely replace the original people, even those complaints disappeared when Jinseong provided support with the items he had brought.

Greasing the wheels was always effective no matter where you went in the world.

Jinseong preemptively blocked any potential problems with the overwhelming power of capitalism.

Thus, the festival concluded successfully.

However, not everything was finished.

Another task awaited the mercenaries.

The final job of enjoying the distribution of bundles of money and gold bars.

"Wow, employer. This is an enormous amount, are you sure it's okay to give us 30%?"

The mercenary leader stuck out his tongue, seemingly overwhelmed by the mountain of wealth before his eyes.

With one hand he was holding the hair of Yoshiaki, who had almost turned into a rag, and a tactical light illuminating the dark warehouse with the other.

The powerful light from the tactical light revealed items that hadn't seen light for decades, and their grandeur was nothing short of overwhelming.

"This is like a complete bank..."

All kinds of wealth filled the large underground warehouse, like a scene that robbers who had broken into a bank vault might see.

Bonds were stacked up to the ceiling, and banknotes formed actual hills. Moreover, jewels were well preserved in display cases to prevent scratches, and there were so many display cases that it was hard to tell if this was a secret warehouse or a jewelry museum.

The highlight was the gold bars, piled up in such an enormous quantity that one might think this much gold might not even exist in the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. The quantity was so vast that the light reflected off the gold bars was so dazzling that one might need to wear sunglasses.

It seemed like it might be the legendary Yamashita's treasure from urban legends.

"Wow. If treasure hunters saw this, their eyes would pop out."

The mercenary leader, while feeling overwhelmed by the mountain of money bundles before his eyes, grinned with joy at the thought of receiving a share. But he kept glancing at Jinseong, as if suspecting that the employer's mind might change.

Didn’t they say that one's mind when entering and leaving the bathroom was different?

It wasn't uncommon to see those who regretted the large amount of money they had to pay after making good use of mercenaries. Especially since the money found in this warehouse wasn't promised when they were first hired, if Jinseong were to completely go back on his word, it could cause quite a troublesome situation.

For both Jinseong and the mercenaries.

Jinseong slowly opened his mouth, as if to reassure the mercenary leader who was watching him:

"The promise will be fulfilled. Banknotes, bonds, gold bars, jewels. 30% of these four categories will be your share."

The mercenary leader's worry ended up being unfounded.

Jinseong once again affirmed that he would keep his promise.

He didn't just stop at affirmation but actually levitated the wealth and threw it towards the mercenaries.

"Wow!"

"Oof!"

"Wait! The gold bars are flying too fast!"

The mercenaries, though flustered by the dreamlike event of treasures flying towards them, grinned with joy. Thus, the reward for the torture was paid, and the mercenary leader saluted Jinseong as if thanking him for keeping his promise.

Then he called out to the mercenaries who were busily examining the wealth that had come into their possession:

"Boys! The settlement is done! Let's go!"

At this, the mercenaries moved in unison, each carrying the treasures they had received and heading outside.

"Wow, that's clean, really clean."

"It's been a while since we had an employer who’s so chill with paying."

"After meeting so many messy humans, it’s really refreshing to meet someone like that."

"It would have been terrible if he had said he wouldn't pay."

Jinseong smirked at their voices chattering as they left.

Right. If I had said I wouldn't pay, something terrible would have happened.

The money used to hire mercenaries was the price of their lives and their value.

Not paying it was no different from throwing their lives and value into filth.

Therefore, when hiring mercenaries, one must always.

Always pay the price of their lives.

Contracts must always be kept.

For mercenaries, the price of their lives was both the cost of hiring them and the leash around their necks.

The moment they realized it wasn’t being paid properly, the leash would come off, and their sharp fangs would sink into the employer's neck.

If they weren’t paid, they would turn from hired help into bandits who kill the client for breach of contract and plunder their property.

There were many fools who thought they could get away without paying. Truly foolish ones, truly...

Wasn't that how power worked originally?

In one's own hands, it was self-defense, but in others' hands, it became violence.

The same went for mercenaries.

If the contract was kept, they were faithful hounds, but if one broke the contract, they turned into bandits.

However, this was only spread unofficially and wasn’t publicly declared, so those who didn't know the habits of mercenaries often made mistakes.

They would try to save their own property by beating down and bullying mercenaries the same way they did with their own employees or subordinates.

However, due to laws and image concerns, they usually didn't retaliate immediately.

At least before World War III broke out, they gave one chance to pick up the spilled water.

Using the "legal resolution" officially put forward by the mercenary association.

But what if a stupid employer who overestimated their abilities hired expensive lawyers and struggled in every way not to pay, dragging out the payment of money by making a fuss even when there was no chance of winning?

What if they dragged out time, waiting for the mercenary to die before paying the money?

Then the first and last chance disappeared, and "unofficial" retaliation began.

Using the terrible and barbaric methods that the mercenary association tacitly allowed to be used on troublemakers who didn't properly pay money.

Power, wealth, influence, religion, honor... There are many forms of power, but the one at the top is violence.

Even with a lot of money, you couldn't stop bullets.

Even with many talented people, you couldn't avoid death.

If it was an opponent they couldn't handle alone, they would get help from other mercenaries, and if it seemed like it couldn't be resolved even with other mercenaries, they would bring in other forces.

The price of mercenaries' lives must be paid in one way or another.

This was the darling of the huge organization called the mercenary association and the numerous mercenaries that make it up.

Houses burned down.

Property that could only be obtained through legal means was shattered.

Only physical assets became the target of plunder, and clients who betrayed mercenaries inevitably died in one form or another. Family members sometimes survived and sometimes died, but their fate depended solely on the will of the mercenaries, and they themselves had no right to decide.

Mercenaries called this kind of plunder a 'carnival'.

Come to think of it, I too am like a mercenary conducting a carnival.

He felt a strange nostalgia.

The shrine, which was no different from the Kishimoto family's home, burned down.

The family's power, their supernatural ability, was shattered, and its source, the sacred object, came into Jinseong's hands.

Moreover, the physical assets that the Kishimoto family had scraped together during the Pacific War became the target of plunder, and the fate of Yoshiaki and Narumi was solely in Jinseong's hands, with no right for them to decide for themselves.

Wasn't it exactly like a carnival!

Then three festivals have occurred consecutively in one place.

The night festival where he secured sacrifices, lit the sacred fire, and performed the ritual.

The originally planned festival.

And the carnival that Jinseong was conducting without realizing it.

It was even more curious when considering the meaning of the number 3.

3 represented the past, present, and future.

3 symbolized the soul.

3 symbolized divinity.

Jinseong was living in the present with the past and future tangled, performed a ritual to strengthen the soul, and trampled and insulted divinity.

Truly.

Wasn't it a curious thing.

Too bizarre to be just a coincidence.

It is said that coincidence and necessity are only a difference in knowledge.

It was a truly bizarre, seemingly inevitable coincidence.

*                     *                     *

Around the time Lee Arin and Lee Serin were getting used to life in Russia, they received a text message.

『 I'm not sure how you're doing. Now that things have settled down in Japan and I have some free time, I'll be visiting Russia soon with gifts for you. I'll choose an auspicious day to visit, so I'd like you to tell me the location of your lodgings and when you can meet. 』