Chapter 78
"As I was passing by, I saw this child, and how could I not intervene when I saw misfortune clinging to three generations? Though I'm just an insignificant sorcerer, it's not just one person but three people about to fall into the abyss due to misfortune, so I couldn't help but intervene. Listen carefully to my words, thinking of it as the meddling of some strange sorcerer."
[ Th-three generations? Three people? ]
Jinseong spoke as if he had intervened out of pure altruism, without any self-interest.
"If it were merely due to the will of heaven, I would have passed by, but since it's misfortune caused by people that will make people fall into the abyss. How could I pass by those who are likely to become victims of this terrible evil karma? If I just passed by, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's staff would severely scold me after death, and if I turned a blind eye after seeing it, how could I enter the narrow gates of heaven? So I've come forward like this, witch. You must not doubt."
His whisper was cunning.
"I saw traces of an evil sorcerer. A pattern in the shape of a monster that moves like a snake writhing in the sky, and rolls its eyes like the sun moving in the sky. It was the pattern of one who received terrible offerings on a narrow island long ago. Its name is Crom Cruach, you wouldn't know that name, would you?"
[ No. It's the first time I've heard it... ]
"I don't blame you. How could a witch know such things? Moreover, you know those who covered the world with fire and iron holding the symbol of runes, so you must have an extreme aversion to symbols. It's not strange that you don't know, it's as natural as a tree growing and bearing fruit according to the nature of the land it's planted in."
Jinseong's tone was low and eerie, but at the same time, it contained a sound that stimulated the brain.
Just as the tiger's roar contains infrasound below 20Hz that affects the brain, Jinseong's voice also contained sounds that mesmerized people.
It wasn't a sound with sorcerous effects, but it was definitely a sound that affected the human brain.
"Crom Cruach is the pattern of a god who receives human sacrifices, and this child has become its target. And starting from that, misfortune will reach this child's master, and after that master, it will reach you, the Grand Witch. How can it not be terrible that one person's selfish and horrific ritual affects three people?"
[ Human sacrifice?! What kind of sewer hole of a...! ]
"You, Grand Witch. I don't know how much you love your disciple, and how much you hate this unsatisfactory child who can't properly continue your beloved disciple's progress, but it surely isn't to the extent of wishing for death, and even more so, you surely didn't wish for that death to be horribly offered as a human sacrifice. Moreover, that terrible death will reach your beloved disciple, and finally reach you, leading you to terrible despair and a painful death too horrible to speak of. So you must use all your strength to help me protect this child."
Jinseong continued to mesmerize the Grand Witch.
He elongated his words depending on the situation, or made them faster, preventing the Grand Witch from coming to her senses. Moreover, he spoke some words clearly so they could be heard well, while slightly mumbling the pronunciation of some parts by distancing himself from the smartphone, making certain sections and specific words stick in her mind.
In this way, he extracted everything he wanted to obtain.
He made her spend a large sum of money to help Ella.
He made her dispatch people to help Ella.
He made her contact Ella's master to visit Russia.
And.
[ ...To be honest, I can't fully believe you yet. But if everything happens as you said, and Ella, Ness, and I don't receive misfortune, I'll grant what you want as far as my ability allows. ]
He received a blank check.
"I won't ask for anything beyond your ability. What great thing would a wandering sorcerer want?"
Although he could only receive it after safely rescuing Ella and completely cutting off the seeds of disaster, Jinseong accepted as if that was enough.
That was how the conversation between Jinseong and the Grand Witch ended.
And now what remained were Ella and Lee Serin looking at him with surprised eyes.
And Lee Arin sleeping obliviously.
"Wow..."
The first to break the silence that continued for a while after the call ended was Lee Serin.
She stared at him blankly for a while and then exclaimed, and finally asked:
"O-oppa... What on earth have you been doing...?"
That look was like the expression one might show when a long-unseen blood relative returns as a con artist.
No, it might have been even more severe than that.
Because what Lee Serin saw was beyond that.
Her brother, who said he was just going to Japan for a while, came to Russia and she saw him expertly deceiving Ella in real time, and now she clearly saw him mesmerizing the Grand Witch while speaking in an old man's voice.
"My... my oppa isn't like this..."
She was even escaping reality to this extent.
"What... what exactly do you do, Herr Park?"
But Ella, perhaps receiving a different shock from Lee Serin, looked at Jinseong with an astonished expression.
The emotion revealed in her expression was wonder.
It was amazement at the sight of him freely persuading with words the pessimistic, hysterical, and distrustful Grand Witch, who could be described as 'ignorant, stubborn, and with a nasty personality'.
Moreover, the fact that he was reciting past events about the Grand Witch that even Ella didn't know made him seem truly like a prophet, which made her amazement even greater.
Of course, she wasn't without suspicion that he might have done a background investigation, but most of that suspicion was diluted by Jinseong's profession as a sorcerer and the fact that he spoke of secrets 'only the Grand Witch knew'.
Jinseong smiled again at Ella, who was looking at him with a surprised face.
"I'm just a sorcerer. Please don't worry about it."
Then he approached Lee Serin, who was confused by the difference she felt between the Jinseong she had seen in the past and the Jinseong she saw now, and whispered:
"How about it? Do I seem like a proper sorcerer?"
He casually threw out words to make Lee Serin conclude that the behavior Jinseong had just shown was 'the effort of a brother obsessed with sorcery'.
He said that and then left the room.
But before leaving, he earnestly implored Ella:
"Frau Winter. You must not leave this place until the Grand Witch sends you support and secures your safety from the evil sorcerer."
"Until... when is that?"
"Hmm. Who knows? But it won't take long."
He smiled.
"Things seem to be going well because we're luckier than expected."
* * *
Huh, truly strange.
Jinseong returned to his hotel room.
How strange that connections from before the regression are linked like this across time and space. Truly strange and strange again.
He was feeling a peculiar sentiment.
He had met Ella B Winter, who was the original owner of the body Marten used before the regression, saw Anastasia Alexandrovna Vesna barely existing in a state of not dying while sharing nutrients in her chest, and also saw the sorcerer who was the culprit behind switching the two.
Moreover, he was even connected to the troublemaker Jinseong had killed in the past.
How could one not call this strange?
Odilia A Reich.
Grand Witch was a kind of title.
A title given to witches who had lived long and had strong power.
And Odilia, who had just spoken with him, was a powerful witch who had lived from the time when the Nazis began to gain power in Germany until now, and maintained a delicate appearance despite being old enough to be called a grandmother without hesitation.
But just because one lived long and was strong didn't mean their personality was kind.
Odilia was a woman with an evil and nasty witch-like personality.
She was so stubborn that she didn't even try to listen to others properly, she got envious when she saw others liking something, and she even thought money could solve everything.
Moreover, she bullied those she considered beneath her, and once she found someone disagreeable, she tormented them so terribly that there was even a mercenary who suffered from nervous breakdown.
Furthermore, she thought she should be revered and that those who served her should listen to everything she said, and it was so severe that she even spouted nonsense like 'you should consider it an honor to have worked for me' without even giving proper compensation.
The worst flaw of this Grand Witch with a terrible personality was that as stubborn as she was, once she trusted someone, she trusted them to an absurd degree. It was a personality that would be in big trouble if caught by a typical cult leader or con artist.
Before the regression, she had gotten involved with some religious person, and she was so devoted that she even gave all her money to that woman. She even took money meant for mercenaries and employees to give to her, and then shamelessly spouted nonsense and tried to beat them down, inciting anger in everyone.
Thanks to this, Odilia met a terrible end before the regression.
The only fortunate thing was that the person in charge of her was also a woman.
However, it could be said that it was unfortunate that this woman was a torture specialist.
Well, fortune and misfortune were originally one body.
Perhaps the death Odilia experienced was somewhere between a good death and a bad death.
The timing is very good, very good.
Jinseong smiled as he recalled Odilia's voice that had shown an extreme reaction as soon as he mentioned Hans, and then thought of his younger sister.
Lee Arin.
His younger sister who hadn't stood out before the regression, who hadn't bloomed greatly compared to the talent she possessed.
Since she didn't meet the conditions, she probably wasn't a target for sacrifice even before the regression. Maybe she even benefited from the human sacrifice ritual.
But Marten's appearance meant the same as Ella's death.
Perhaps Lee Arin was greatly shocked by Ella's death, and that became a mental obstacle preventing her from reaching higher levels.
If there's even a slight possibility of harm, I can't leave it alone.
But he couldn't abandon Marten either.
Anastasia was his old colleague and a woman who traveled around the world bringing him information about sorcery.
Whether in terms of connection or usefulness, Marten had to exist.
Anastasia, who could hardly be said to be alive, but barely existing.
How could he make her walk on two feet and think for herself?
How could he make something that wasn't even a fetus or a baby be born?
Originally, I was going to bring in Ella's master, but things have turned out much better.
Jinseong smiled, feeling that things were going much better due to a pleasant miscalculation.
If luck is on our side, we might be able to save Marten, save Ella, make Lee Arin do much better than in the past, perform a much better ritual than I had planned, and even obtain better quality cursed objects.
He only wanted to share blessings with his family before becoming an adult, but to think such luck would come.
Wasn't this truly a good thing?
This was the rightful result of good karma, truly a blessed event.
Moreover, the price for all this blessing would be borne by another who accumulated good karma.
How good was this!
Good, good. Truly good.