---

Ella silently squeezed the paper in her hand, and Jinseong, seeing this, left his room with a satisfied expression. Finally, when the sound of his footsteps faded and Jinseong was no longer in sight, Ella straightened up, allowing the confined Anastasia to be released from her seal.

“Sibling!”

“Kyaa!”

Anastasia dashed out and clung to Ella’s waist. Pouting her cheeks, she started to complain in a whiny voice.

“Why did you erase this masterpiece? Art should be preserved! What’s the reason? Do you want to be a Count? Are you planning to erase the glorious civilization of humanity!”

“What’s a Count? Kyaa! Don’t touch strange places!”

Anastasia played with Ella until her anger subsided, then stealthily snatched the paper from her hands. After unfurling it and pretending to consider, she nonchalantly declared to Ella, “I’m still a bit angry, but since it’s preserved, I’ll let it slide.”

“Alright. I’ll forgive you for being rude to this older sister.”

Ella felt her temper flare at those words but suppressed it upon seeing Anastasia’s small stature. With a weary sigh, she responded vaguely while entering the room with her, heading straight to the bed to lie down.

Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, a thought brushed through her mind.

“By the way, where did you get that pattern?”

“It’s from a dream~.”

In response to Ella’s question, Anastasia smiled brightly.

“A dream? That place…?”

“Yes! The place where this older sister and younger sister had such fun~.”

Anastasia gave a brief answer, then dove onto the bed, using Ella’s belly as a pillow, continuing her chatter.

“You remember the movie theater we went to? Do you recall?”

“Oh, that weird one…”

“If you turn left there, you can catch the platypus taxi, right? If you ride that for two stops, there’s a crayon-like house where they sell paintings~. And there are paintings you’ve never seen before, right? That painting is right here!”

She spread the paper she was holding to show Ella.

“This!”

Upon hearing that, Ella paused for a moment to think and then burst out in anger.

“Then this isn’t art at all! You just copied it, didn’t you?”

“Oh ho! It’s art! Dreams are inspiration, and inspiration is art!”

“But you’re not the only one in that dream! If there are others, isn’t it just stealing someone else’s dream?”

“Things that don’t take a complete form anyway~ What I did was simply excavate and shine a light on it.”

Ella shot up from her seat, shouting at Anastasia.

“This isn’t excavation; it’s looting!”

“Looting! How could you say such a thing to your sister?!”

“You might end up traveling the world, digging up ruins, and stealing artifacts!”

Only then did Ella seize the chance to lecture Anastasia, as if it was a golden opportunity.

Regardless of it being a dream, one must not infringe on intellectual property; such things could fall under copyright law, so caution is necessary. No doodling on someone’s house, even if it’s something cool, ensure it doesn’t carry a bad meaning, and investigate thoroughly afterward, especially if it’s not a ruin but a person’s house where blessings are felt or where one has connections—these were the points she emphasized.

Ella continued to spout off obvious things that might as well have come from an elementary school textbook, while Anastasia, at first, nodded along, eventually began to stifle yawns.

She looked around during the preach, seeking an escape route, and wriggled her fingers to free herself from Ella’s grasp.

“…Even if it seems fine, you should think twice or thrice before acting. That’s the grace of a lady. Do you understand?”

Yet in the end, Anastasia couldn’t make her escape until Ella’s lecture was over.

She had no choice but to listen to everything while still holding onto Ella’s hand, even declining Ella’s threat to ask Agnes for etiquette training, and reluctantly accepting the horrifying suggestion that they would study Korean etiquette together.

It was tragic.

* * *

“Hmm.”

Upon returning to the room, the first thing Jinseong did was remove the stuck gold from his body. He poured the gold that moved like a living creature from inside his clothes onto the floor, directing it all towards the bed. As it pooled on the floor, the gold wiggled and seeped into the bed, coating the bed frame and the underside of the mattress as if it had always belonged there.

Once the gold disappeared, Jinseong tossed away his clothes and made his way to the wall. There, covered by a cloth, stood a full-length mirror devoid of any decorations.

He gently pulled back the cloth and examined his body.

“Hmm.”

Jinseong’s skin was a patchwork of colors. His skin tone and red shades were mixed all over, with only his face remaining intact.

‘Let’s see.’

He brushed his finger over the red patches on his skin. A sharp sting and burning heat coursed through him, and he could feel that he was on the verge of oozing pus.

He had first-degree burns known as sunburns all over his body.

The cost of magic.

But Jinseong examined the reddened areas as if this much was nothing significant.

‘Thanks to the Yang energy resting within, this is all there is. Not too bad.’

He found satisfaction in having only to pay this much and walked over to the window, snipping off one well-growing aloe leaf to rub on the red patches.

Once he was sure he had applied aloe adequately, he grabbed a couple of dried lizard tails from a drawer and began to chew them. He then swung the sharp edge of an aloe leaf through the air a few times before muttering.

“Like attracts like. The shiny resembles slime, the colored like scales, the sharp at my fingertips like claws. Though it has no tail, this is due to an external factor. Truly resembling the lizard’s form, its nature shall similarly align.”

Jinseong chewed the lizard tail for what seemed like an eternity. As he did, the reddened skin where he had burned returned to its original color, and the injuries caused by the teleportation began to close up and writhe. The aloe he applied seemed to multiply, soaking him entirely.

After checking in the mirror that his body had completely healed, he covered it back with the cloth and began washing his body meticulously. However, for an inexplicable reason, the fishy-smelling aloe gel was not washing away, and after a long time of scrubbing, he finally freed himself from the stickiness.

“Huuh.”

Now cleaned up, Jinseong took out his smartphone and initiated a video call.

After a brief wait, a woman’s face appeared with a clicking sound.

[Yes, Deity.]

It was Rise.

“Yes, I called because of the divine object.”

[Is that so?]

Rise smiled, seemingly pleased Jinseong had called.

[I just finished the prayer and was circling around the shrine. Do you need anything else? I can show you on the smartphone at the Divine Storehouse.]

Behind Rise, the shrine was visible in the night. The dark shrine exuded a spooky ambiance, and the slightly choppy video due to the distance created an atmosphere as if a ghost might pop out at any moment. At the end of the choppiness, a head began to rise behind Rise.

The head, rotting and hollow with holes, stared directly at the camera of the smartphone, as if trying to haunt anyone watching the video, spewing out grotesque insects from every opening. Even though they were merely watching a video, the horrific visage felt as if it were emanating a rotting smell.

Seeing that horrifying sight, Jinseong remarked to Rise,

“It looks like you’ve become close with Seitani.”

[Yes. Now it’s not too frightening.]

Rise lightly tapped the head protruding behind her with the edge of her hand and sighed, showing a somewhat troubled expression.

[But it’s too mischievous… I’m a bit displeased about that.]

“It is a ghost made of a child, so it can’t be helped. However, it can be a great help, so if you provide it with snacks or toys and prepare someone to play with it, you can handle it without much trouble.”

[Yes.]

Rise smiled at Jinseong’s words.

It was the kind of charming smile that made one think if this was the expression a fox might make when enticing someone.

[By the way, Narumi is playing with Seitani instead of me.]

Jinseong thought of Narumi, whom Rise had mentioned.

“Speaking of which, yes. The divine object cannot be confirmed by you, so you must utilize that child. How is she doing?”

[Ah, she’s down with a fever. Her eyes have some broken blood vessels, and she has a bit of malaise. So, I gave her eye drops and told her to stay warm in a room where purified salt is placed on each corner…]

“Hmm. Well done. So, it means there’s no one to see the divine object?”

[Don’t worry. If I go in…]

“Oh, that’s not allowable. How could plunging someone into pain bring them happiness? I said I would make you happy. Therefore, it’s best not to entertain such thoughts at all.”

Jinseong lightly scolded Rise, who was eager to take action, and gently stroked her chin. Then, he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and said to Rise,

“Yes. Ryosuke, Ryosuke yes. It’s fortunate. Call that Ryosuke fellow to check the warehouse.”

Rise’s eyes widened in shock.

[That traitor?]

“Yes.”

[Do you think that traitor would do such a thing…?]

Jinseong coldly smiled at her question.

“If he has changed his mind, he will come, and if he’s weighing the balance with me and the Onmyoji, he’ll come to show his loyalty. Even if he completely betrays me and aligns with the Onmyoji, he will still come.”

Jinseong recalled the picture he had seen in the book.

A painting that looked alive, drawn on white paper.

Living, moving pictures.

Living, moving paper.

That was the shiki controlled by the Onmyoji.

“Regardless of the side, it will have its usefulness.”

 

---