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As Jinseong began to walk while gazing at the stars, the previously motionless mushrooms started to stir once more.

They swayed their bodies back and forth, singing through the torn openings.

[ Heng-gl! The guest treatment has ended! ]

[ Heng-gl! Meal time is over! ]

[ The guest was satisfied and has returned! ]

[ We too are satisfied! ]

The mushrooms reacted, moving their bodies as Jinseong passed by.

[ The fruits eaten in the dark are the tastiest! ]

[ We served a delicious meal! ]

[ The master treated the guest to delicacies! ]

[ It was merely a temporary loss of resistance ]

[ For the sake of the meal preparation ]

[ This too does not violate Heng-gl’s rules! ]

As the singing mushroom fairies transformed into powder along Jinseong’s path, they formed small conical hills of white and brown powder. Whenever the cold wind brushed by, the breadcrumbs scattered into the sky like disappearing dust.

[ The rules of Heng-gl! ]

[ Serving food and serving food again! ]

[ The master’s turn has ended ]

[ Now it is our time to act! ]

Imitating the mushroom fairies who love to serve lost travelers, as the master had served the guest, they too began to break their bodies into powder to “serve” the ‘guest’ by singing while transforming themselves.

And the powder began to float towards the ‘guest’ they recognized, enchanting them.

Snap—

Sizzle.

To the fairies, the ‘guest’ was a small omnivorous creature that usually feasted on mushrooms—a creature that was highly adaptable and could be found easily no matter where it went. With matted-looking fur, they came rushing on four legs to eat the mushroom powder, their long pink tails swaying as they filled the abandoned amusement park’s stone pavement.

Rats.

Companions humans detest and animals that could be seen everywhere.

They frantically scavenged the powder as if they were indulging in divine delicacies falling from the sky.

Jinseong quietly watched the rats eat the powder, then took out a piece of cloth from his pocket. The cloth had the pattern of Crom Cruach embroidered on it.

“—-!”

And then, he let out a high-pitched sound that seemed meaningless.

With a voice that sounded like he was squeezing his vocal cords, the rats stopped eating and looked up, only to soon bury their heads back into the powder. However, some of the rats, as if enchanted, stared at the pattern, and Jinseong lifted them into the air.

The rats floated in the air, facing the Crom Cruach pattern without any resistance.

Jinseong nodded in satisfaction at the sight and proceeded to the building in the corner of the amusement park.

The building was an old, crumbling structure made of stacked bricks, believed to have been used once as a staff break room in a spot not easily noticeable to the human eye. The building had a shabby appearance, with paint peeling off, yet oddly enough, if one didn’t consciously look at it, it seemed to blend into the everyday scenery without drawing attention.

Moreover, not only did it fail to focus attention, but whenever he tried to concentrate on the building, everything outside it appeared almost startlingly vivid. The clarity was so strong that if he diverted his attention for even a moment, the building would completely erase its existence and attempt to vanish from memory.

This phenomena stemmed from the secret power of the demon Grimoire, contracted by Iserin.

Jinseong continued walking towards the building, casting a spell on his eyes to maintain consciousness of it.

When he reached the door, he knocked softly.

Creeeak—

The old wooden door opened slowly, revealing someone peeking out.

“Brother, is it over?”

It was Iarin.

Iarin, who was dying of boredom, popped out as if something good had happened, and soon clung to Jinseong, bombarding him with questions.

Who was the guest?

Who was it that told them to hide?

It seemed Iserin had done something, but what exactly was it?

Why couldn’t they show their faces to the guest?

She heard they were making something delicious with a capybara; what kind of dish was that?

When would it be her turn?

There had been a delicious smell, but was there nothing left?

Her mouth felt bored—maybe eating some leftover meat would lift her spirits.

How much was there?

An unending barrage of questions rained down on him.

Jinseong listened quietly to her questions and answered just one.

“The time for your ritual is coming soon.”

“Really?”

Iarin cheered.

An uncertain wait had been enough to exhaust her lively spirit.

But her joy was short-lived.

One question crossed her mind.

“But um, don’t we have ingredients?”

“Are you talking about the rodents?”

Jinseong answered her query by bringing the few rats he had levitated in front of her.

“Here they are.”

The rats had somehow fallen asleep.

Whether it was from the fullness the powder provided or from some mysterious component that was supposed to be in the powder, all the rats had their eyes closed and curled their bodies, and without their long tails, they almost looked cute.

“Rodents, huh? Right. Brother had it all planned out, didn’t you?”

As she looked at the rats, she nodded as if understanding, then took a large step closer to Jinseong with an expectant expression, lowering her voice slightly.

“What about the leftover meat?”

Jinseong chuckled softly at her whispering tone, as though he were trading something very secretive and dangerous.

“There is none.”

“Huh?”

Iarin tilted her head at his words.

“Did I hear you wrong?”

“No, you heard correctly. There is no leftover meat.”

Iarin blinked in confusion, seeming unable to process the information. Then, she shut her eyes slightly and flared her nostrils, trying to capture the powerful, greasy scent of meat that lingered in the air, and soon opened her eyes again.

The look in her eyes was akin to that of a furious feline predator.

“There’s none?”

“Indeed.”

“Why?”

“It has come to that.”

“Wait, I was stuck in that cramped place just waiting for that!?”

“You can go back and eat.”

“I was going to get rid of that wicked beast! I was going to take my revenge!”

“You can do it if you go back.”

With Jinseong’s soothing words, Iarin began speaking as if extracting money.

“Ugh, you’re just joking, right? You have some, don’t you? Hurry and give it to me.”

“How could I give you what I don’t have?”

“Give!”

“If you go back, I will buy you a capybara to prepare.”

“Give!”

Iarin insisted childishly until she frowned slightly at the aroma of grilled capybara wafting through the air as it rode the wind toward her.

“Brother? Huh? What’s this? I thought our lack of blood-related aggression might mean you wouldn’t mess with me. Are you kidding with me right now? Messing with me about food? Huh?”

Seeing Iarin act as if she were complaining to their father, Lee Yang-hoon, Jinseong chuckled softly and gestured for Iserin, who was in the old building, to come.

Iserin then approached Iarin and whispered something in her ear.

“Wait. No, that—”

Upon hearing those words, Iarin looked shocked and turned to Iserin.

“Y-You idiot. I’m cold and hungry…. I want to get through this ritual and go home, okay?”

“No… No matter how you put it… No. Huh? How on earth did you see that?”

“Power.”

When Iarin mentioned the secret known only to her twin sister, she lunged at her to overpower her, but realizing Jinseong was watching nearby, she froze.

At that sight, Iserin seemed ready to encourage her with a few choice words.

“Vodka. Drunkenness. Capturing animals and being disorderly….”

In a flash, Iarin pounced on Iserin, covering her mouth. Then, signaling with her eyes for Jinseong to join her, Jinseong levitated a sleeping Eurasian owl that had been hiding in a corner of the building and walked off somewhere.

Eventually, they arrived at an overgrown patch of weeds, dense with unnamed plants.

The weeds stood as high as waist level, seemingly proclaiming it the weather of Russia, tangling the dead and living vegetation tightly throughout the area. Apart from that, the absence of moonlight left the place pitch-dark, its swaying appearance suggesting that a fierce beast or an evil spirit might lie in hiding.

At that eerie sight, the sisters inched closer to Jinseong.

Jinseong mimicked grasping at the air as he flattened the plants to create a path, tearing away a handful of foliage to clear a space.

“You wait here.”

He sat Iserin down at the edge of the weeds and pulled Iarin further inside, where he began to pound the ground with a stick made from Robur Oak.

The ground, a mix of stone and earth, was solid.

Thud.

The earth had frozen hard, passing through Russia’s unimaginable night, with a strength akin to other stones or ice. Thus, the solid Robur Oak stick hitting the ground produced a dull sound, shaking as if it would break any moment.

However, Jinseong continued to pound the ground without a care.

Thud!

Thud!

Jinseong’s actions, indefinably resolute, persisted until a ray of light shot up from afar. Noticing the sky beginning to transform with hues of dawn, he stopped what he was doing and retrieved an item.

He built a fire in the center and poured in vodka that exceeded 80 proof without hesitation. As the flames devoured the vodka, they rose higher, expanding with delight.

He waited for the fire to reach his chest before he started adding items into the flames.

The first harvest of wheat.

The first harvest of plums.

The first harvest of limes.

The first harvest of flat peaches.

They dove into the fire, becoming sustenance and stacking up as ash in the flames’ depths.

Jinseong continued to feed the fire one by one, as if he wished to satisfy it.

Finally, when there was nothing left to give to the fire.

Sizzle—

He dropped the youngest of the levitated rats into the flames.

 

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