Chapter 90
World War III, when everyone went mad.
Somehow the framework of nations was maintained and trade continued, but looking inside, there was no place that wasn't a mess.
Ordinary evil deeds couldn't even compare, and murder became commonplace. Even countries that were considered to have terrible public safety before World War III broke out were like paradise compared to the average country after World War III, so it was no exaggeration to say that the entire world was consumed by madness.
As individuals.
As groups.
As nations.
Madness appeared in different forms and destroyed the world.
That madness visited Russia and Eastern Europe equally.
The Eastern European Union, the 'Red Union', provoked Russia, and Russia took this as an opportunity to try to devour Eastern Europe. And the result of that fight was...
A space of death full of evil spirits and demons.
Radiation wasn't a big problem.
Expensive but effective radiation decontamination technology had been developed.
But the problem was that two great evil spirits and one great demon were created due to mass slaughter.
The great demon caused the phenomenon of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, leading a ghost army and becoming a nuisance to neighboring countries, while the great evil spirits became disasters roaming Europe.
And now, a capable person who would contribute to creating that disaster in the future was pouring napalm into a hole in that forest, and burning the forest in preparation for any situation.
Just as he will in the future.
Jinseong quietly watched the forest spewing intense heat in the distance and then turned his back and walked away.
Behind him, two body bags were floating in the air, following him.
* * *
The place Jinseong moved to was not the mansion where Ella had stayed when she came to study in Russia, but the hotel where Lee Arin and Lee Serin were.
He dissipated the silver flames that had prevented Lee Arin and Lee Serin from acting rashly and entered the room.
"Oppa?"
"Brother!"
As Jinseong entered, Lee Arin, who had been leaning weakly against the wall, jumped up and ran to him, and Lee Serin, who had been staring blankly into space from a corner, turned her head towards him. Their appearance was so much like a dog and a cat that Jinseong couldn't help but smirk.
He placed the vinyl body bags on the bed and first opened the zipper of the larger body bag.
Zip.
As the zipper opened, Ella, sleeping with a peaceful face, was revealed.
Ella unconsciously took a deep breath as fresh air entered.
"Rabbit!"
Seeing this, Lee Arin started to sob and rushed towards Ella.
She hugged Ella, who was only showing her face, body bag and all, and cried loudly, and even though Ella frowned as if she couldn't breathe, Lee Arin kept hugging her tightly and repeatedly said how glad she was that Ella had returned alive.
Then she fully opened the zipper to carefully examine Ella's naked body to see if she was injured, put her ear to Ella's chest to check if her heart was beating well, and put her ear close to Ella's mouth to check if her breathing was even, and only after repeating such actions did she seem to be reassured and stop fussing.
But she only stopped fussing, not releasing her embrace.
Lee Serin quietly watched this scene and then slightly turned her head to look at the other body bag.
A body bag about half the size of Ella.
Lee Serin stared blankly at Jinseong as if asking if she could open this, and Jinseong nodded slightly.
Zip.
With Jinseong's permission, Lee Serin approached the body bag and opened the zipper and...
"Huh? Huh? Huh?!"
She was shocked.
There was a girl with exactly the same face as Ella in the body bag.
Moreover, it wasn't a corpse, but she was in a state of sleep, taking a deep breath of fresh air just like Ella.
Lee Serin, with her eyes wide open, alternately looked at the two body bags.
When she turned her head, there was Ella.
When she turned her head again, there was Ella's look-alike.
Didn't... didn't Ella say she was an only child?
There was someone who looked exactly like her but she was not an only child?
Not an only child but someone who looked alike.
Someone who looked alike but was neither a brother nor a sister.
Then.
"Daughter?!"
Finally, Lee Serin came to a shocking conclusion.
What was in the body bag she just opened was Ella's daughter.
And Jinseong brought her back along with Ella!
"Huh? Daughter?"
Perhaps hearing Lee Serin's shocked exclamation.
Lee Arin, who had been hugging Ella, raised her head and looked in her direction.
And soon Lee Arin's face also turned to shock.
"Daughter?!"
Jinseong smirked at the sight of them shouting exactly the same way, like twin sisters.
"No. She's her sister."
A brief explanation.
But Lee Arin nodded at that short explanation.
"Ah, a sister."
"What?!"
Lee Serin was shocked once again at the sight of the incredibly innocent Lee Arin nodding as if she understood Jinseong's brief answer. Lee Serin looked at Lee Arin with eyes like someone watching a sucker who squanders their fortune at a con artist's single word.
But Lee Arin rather said as if Lee Serin was the fool:
"There could be a secret about her birth, you know."
"A s-secret of birth is–That’s! In dramas...!"
Lee Serin shouted, bristling at being treated like a fool, but her sister and bundle of enemies turned her head towards Jinseong as if she didn't want to hear any more of Lee Serin's words.
"Brother! Is she Ella's younger sister?"
Perhaps because she confirmed Ella was safe.
Lee Arin showed interest in Marten.
"Ella said she was an only child, but there's a secret about her birth or complicated circumstances, right? Where was she born? Where is she from? Where did she grow up? An orphanage? Adoption? Was that fortune-teller keeping her?"
Questions thrown without pause.
Jinseong didn't answer her questions and took out an obsidian dagger with a slight smile.
A sharp blade reminiscent of a scalpel.
A blade surface that shone dazzlingly reflecting the hotel lights.
Even Lee Arin, who was unfamiliar with sorcery, could tell that the obsidian dagger was no ordinary object.
He removed the world map that was attached as interior decoration in the room with the dagger, and carrying it, approached Ella. Then he slightly cut the tip of Ella's index finger with the obsidian dagger to draw blood and let it drop on the map.
Then the single drop of blood that fell on the map moved like slime on the vinyl-coated map, slowly moving to a certain place.
The place it moved to was the eastern part of the African continent.
"Brother, is this Tan...zania? It's Tanzania, right?"
"That's right."
Jinseong nodded as if he finally understood, looking at the drop of blood revealing her homeland.
Blue zoisite.
Ella's full name was Ella B Winter.
Her middle name was Blue zoisite.
Blue zoisite was also called Tanzanite.
Africa.
A gem that came only from Tanzania.
"So you brought her from here. As you said, there was a secret about her birth."
Jinseong could finally understand everything.
Why Ella had a different middle name from the Grand Witch and her master.
Why Marten had lost one eyeball and three fingers before the regression.
Why she was 'hunted' in Africa.
"Tsk."
Jinseong clicked his tongue as he looked at Marten.
If you got a new life, you should have just lived, why did you go back to your homeland and get hunted.
In a way, it was a pitiful tragedy.
In a way, it was close to reaping what she sowed.
Having lived trapped inside her sister's body, everything must have been fascinating when she experienced the world directly with her own body.
But that fascination was short-lived. After satisfying all her curiosity by wandering around recklessly, she must have been curious about her homeland.
So she must have gone to her homeland without fear, and there, she must have been hunted by sorcerers targeting albinos.
She'll surely do the same in this life too.
The Marten he saw before the regression would go to her homeland whether he tried to stop her or not.
It might be a little different because Ella was still alive, but she would surely go to her homeland someday.
Because like a marten that got caught and skinned because it couldn't overcome its curiosity, she too was a human who couldn't overcome her curiosity and would risk her life.
Jinseong didn't want his old colleague to die in vain.
If she died in vain after he personally stepped in to save her...
Wouldn't his efforts become meaningless?
You must give me the price you gave up for resurrection.
The price of life must be paid in some way.
Whether she wanted it or not.
Marten must repay that debt to Jinseong in some way, in some form.
And to repay the debt, she must be alive.
Jinseong felt the need to take measures to prevent Marten from acting recklessly.
He took out two long thorns and a few strands of long hair from his bosom.
They were thorns containing divine power extracted from slime and hair received from Rise.
He connected the hair to make a long thread and tied thorns to both ends. Then he stuck one thorn on Ella's bridge of nose and the other on Marten's bridge of nose. Then he took out Rise's tail hair from his bosom and burned it.
Along with an acrid smell, the burned tail hair left some ash.
He dipped his finger in that ash and smeared it under Ella and Marten's nostrils.
"Hmm."
But perhaps feeling this wasn't enough?
Jinseong took out tail hair from his bosom again, burned it to make ash, and drew patterns on Ella and Marten's lower abdomens. Then he grasped the air to float them and overlapped their bodies.
"Huh? O-oppa? This is...?"
Lee Serin's face turned bright red.
Because the overlapped appearance of the two looked like snakes tangled together for mating.
The sight of Ella lying underneath and Marten mounted on top made her imagine strange things. This seemed to be the same for Lee Arin, who was slightly blushing and looking alternately at Jinseong and the two with a flustered expression.
Jinseong gestured as if to say not to worry and brought a mountain goat's horn that was placed in the corner of the room to him. Then he broke the horn with the handle of the obsidian dagger, chose a small piece, and inserted it between Marten's hair.
With that, the preparation was complete.
"Succubus, succubus! You evil fairy lying underneath!"
He shouted.
"Incubus, incubus! You fallen fairy lying on top!"
Jinseong, who chanted the incantation, drew patterns while placing his hands on their heads, and then a strange fragrance began to emanate from their bodies. It was like a scent that reminded one of sweet fruit, and it was also somewhat fishy like the smell of something with scales.
Along with that smell, a pungent odor wafted from Marten's body lying on top, and a fresh scent of phytoncide wafted from Ella lying underneath looking at the ceiling.
Jinseong removed his hands from their heads as if it was done now and asked his younger sisters.
"I'm hungry, is there anything to eat?"
* * *
Ella had a dream.