Chapter 67
After her unpleasant experience at the fortune-telling booth, Ella frowned every time she saw that booth on the street.
But each time, Lee Arin stopped Ella, who looked ready to go into the booth and confront the fortune-teller.
"Don't worry about it~ It's just a street fortune-telling booth anyway."
Every time this happened, Ella was dragged away from in front of the booth, unable to resist Lee Arin's strength, and even as she was being dragged away, she kept glaring at the booth for a long time, clearly displeased.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
The same situation repeated at the same place and similar time, and each time, Ella would hurl insults like "fraud" or "scoundrel" loud enough to be heard as she was dragged away by Lee Arin. But the fortune-telling booth either couldn't hear or chose not to react, showing no special response.
Instead, when they met on the street, the fortune-teller would greet them warmly and treat Lee Arin kindly, showing a friendly demeanor.
And amidst all this, the ingredients Jinseong had requested were steadily gathered, and by the time they were mostly collected...
Jinseong arrived in Russia.
* * *
"It's truly regrettable. So regrettable."
Jinseong muttered these words as he got off the bus, as if regretting leaving Japan.
Full of created cursed objects, and full of cursed objects that could be created.
Japan was exceptionally good for using sorcery.
Moreover, it was a good environment for using what could be classified as black magic, which harms people. Japan was a country where split hon and baek remained lingering in the air without disappearing, where human resentment from various wars was scattered everywhere, and where you could still encounter evil spirits and malevolent ghosts if you went to remote areas or rural villages.
Furthermore, due to the unique closed environment of an island nation and the unique conditions created by the energy heat dome, he could confirm that sorcery had developed in a deformed form.
For Jinseong, it was no different from a treasure island full of things he liked.
Moreover, he had gained control over some politicians and had also powerfully enhanced Rise's strength to act as his limbs. On top of that, he had obtained an enormous amount of money, so there was nothing he couldn't do in Japan. If he wanted, he could use the power of politicians to surround himself with beautiful women, or use the money he had obtained as capital to grow businesses and collude with power to inflate it tens or hundreds of times.
Tsk. Anyway, the groundwork has been laid and there are people to manage it. I can go and harvest anytime.
Jinseong closed his eyes to shake off the deep-seated regret within him.
And then he slowly calmed his mind.
Just as a dragon can only become one by holding a single cintamani (yeouiju - dragon orb) no matter how many there are, excessive greed will also become a stumbling block. If regret lingers too long, it becomes attachment, and if it becomes attachment, it becomes delusion.
His goal was solely transcendence.
Transcendence through sorcery.
He didn't desire wealth, honor, or pleasure.
If he had wanted such things, he wouldn't have worked as a mercenary before regression.
He would have just enjoyed life to the fullest while telling fortunes for some big corporation or powerful person.
But instead, he wandered the world, suffering from all sorts of side effects.
It was all for the sake of sorcery alone.
And as his previous life was like that, this life should rightfully be the same.
Only walking without forgetting the goal.
To transcend with an unpredictable power in a lowly human body, shouldn't one do at least that much?
Originally, a journey was long, but one must not lose direction.
If one only remembered the direction, one could eventually reach the goal.
Jinseong calmed his mind and opened his eyes.
Then he took out a cylinder from his bosom.
A cylinder engraved with a bluish eye-shaped figure.
It was the first cursed object he had made after returning to the past, and it had the power to find what he wanted. As he had done before, he put his mouth to the cylinder and spoke.
"Head, head. Where in Russia is there a place suitable for performing a ritual?"
Then the eye-shaped figure engraved on the cylinder changed from a bluish light to red. As if metal had heated up to the point of melting, it bulged out and glared at him with bloodshot eyes. Then it rolled its eyeball in all directions and extended countless thin, long tentacles that pierced into Jinseong's arm.
And then, as if it were a leech, it wriggled and drank deeply the blood flowing in his body, and this meal continued until Jinseong's complexion changed.
After a long while, the satisfied cylinder withdrew its tentacles and pulled back the protruding eye, and instead created smoke shimmering in five colors visible only to Jinseong's eyes. The smoke twisted and turned, creating the shape of a map.
The map displayed the image of Russia, and it was blinking at a specific location, indicating the position.
Hmm.
Jinseong carefully examined the place the map was pointing to.
This is the Sorcerer's Rock. It's the dwelling place and sacred ground of Russian sorcerers, which would be good, but...
Naturally, where there were many people, friction occurred.
Especially since Russian people could be a bit rough, there would certainly be fights for position.
If he brought the mercenaries, even if they couldn't win, they certainly wouldn't lose…
But there was no need to insist on that place and cause troublesome issues when it could be done elsewhere.
Let's see, this is… Huh, Kashkulakskaya Cave. Right, there was such a place. However, while it's good for performing sorcerous rituals, it's not suitable for the ritual I'm going to perform this time.
Jinseong examined other locations one by one.
Amur River. This isn't bad... Hmm. And... There are two places nearby.
Jinseong decided to visit the two places the map was indicating first.
If neither of them was suitable, he could perform the ritual at the Amur River.
After roughly identifying the locations like this, Jinseong used teleportation towards the hotel visible in the distance.
Screech.
With the sound that always accompanied his teleportation, Jinseong was able to reach the hotel in an instant, and there he could see Lee Serin and Lee Arin who had come out to greet him.
"Oh, you've arrived?"
"Brother, you’re looking good after a long time."
Jinseong followed the two people who welcomed him warmly into the hotel.
* * *
"Ah, what's with that, brother. No contact and all. When I thought you might be dead, you contact as if to report your survival. That... really."
The first thing Jinseong heard upon entering the room was a complaint.
A complaint about why he hadn't contacted them often.
Lee Arin made cute complaints to Jinseong. She was twirling her hair with one finger, and her gaze was directed to the side of Jinseong instead of directly at him. It was a look that clearly revealed Lee Arin's inner feelings, feeling too shy to look directly at him while speaking, but not wanting to look completely away for fear of seeming upset.
"I couldn't help it because I was traveling to various places. But haven't I come now, at least?"
"Well~ that's true. But, well. I guess it's fortunate that you came before my study abroad ended."
She kept grumbling but seemed happy that Jinseong had come, and Jinseong smirked and turned his head at the sight.
Where he turned his gaze, there was Lee Serin, curled up tightly and taking a posture as if claiming with her whole body, 'I don't particularly have anything to say.' Unlike Lee Arin, Lee Serin had gone to a corner and turned her body away, and even while Jinseong and Lee Arin were conversing, she didn't turn her gaze towards them.
But this was closer to hiding because something was bothering her, rather than being upset.
"Lee Serin."
"Y-yes?"
When her name was called, Lee Serin slowly turned her head to look at Jinseong, breaking out in a cold sweat, and when their eyes met, she gave an awkward smile.
"W-what is it?"
An awkward smile.
An awkward attitude.
A demeanor that exuded reluctance to engage in conversation right now.
Jinseong smirked at this sight.
"Are you acting like this just because your spirit vision was discovered?"
"Ah, no! It's not that!"
She panicked when the word 'spirit vision' came out of Jinseong's mouth.
Then she glanced repeatedly towards where Lee Arin was and looked at Jinseong with a desperate expression, and Jinseong slightly nodded in agreement to her desperate, oh so desperate wish that this conversation wouldn't reach Lee Arin's ears.
"Well then, did you get the ingredients?"
He completely changed the subject to grant Lee Serin's request, and she sighed softly in relief before answering.
"Yes, yes... Almost. We've got almost everything."
Lee Serin took out her smartphone as if to show proof, went into her photo gallery, selected a photo of a warehouse, and held it out to Jinseong.
"We rented a cold storage... in a quiet place. The predator blood and blood packs are here, here... 1kg of 30-year-old snow... it's in this container here..."
She showed off the gathered ingredients while flipping through the photos one by one, and Jinseong could roughly estimate the quality through the photos.
"Let's see. The blood is clear and clean, so it's high quality. The snow also looks well-aged from the photo, so it's likewise high quality. The birch is top quality, and the first harvest grain is also in good condition... Very good."
There were 7 ingredients captured in the photos:
30kg of birch firewood.
300mL of predator blood.
1kg of snow over 20 years old.
5 blood packs.
5L of alcohol over 80 proof.
500g of fish scales.
500g of raptor feathers.
Fortunately, they all looked to be in good condition.
Moreover, the place where the items were stored was a freezer that used purely mechanical refrigeration, not magic or sorcerous elements. Thanks to this, there was no need to worry about deterioration of the ingredients or changes in symbolism.
"Well done. The quality of the ingredients is good, and the selection of the storage is excellent."
Jinseong praised Lee Serin.
Lee Serin smiled slightly, feeling awkward but pleased with Jinseong's praise.
"What about the rest of the ingredients?"
"Ah, that. The English oak is here..."
At Jinseong's question, Lee Serin took out a long stick from under the bed and handed it to him.
Jinseong stroked the stick once, gripped it firmly, brought it close to his nose to smell it, and nodded in satisfaction.
"This is also high quality. Well done."
Jinseong praised Lee Serin again, and Lee Arin, who had been quietly watching this scene, poked his arm with her finger.
At the gesture like she was asking for attention for herself as well, Jinseong turned his head to look at her.
"Brother. I also prepared a goat and a guinea pig."
"A goat and a guinea pig. Well done."
Jinseong praised Lee Arin as well.
Then he said:
"Then I should check the goat and guinea pig you say you got. Let's see, I'd like to see them in person, where did you put them?"