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Fairies are very familiar to people.

However, apart from that familiarity, they are also incredibly distant from humans.

The reason is simple.

Fairies do not live on Earth.

Dragons.

Yokai.

Angels.

Demons.

Countless beings of non-human origin appear in legends, myths, and folktales.

But while they may appear in stories, they do not live on Earth.

The reason is…

I don’t know.

At least, no one among the living humans on Earth knew the reason.

Some might ask like this.

“Contractors carry Transcendent Beings, Summoners bring Summon Creatures. Witches create monsters and even Shamans drag weird things along! So aren’t they living on Earth?”

But strictly speaking, they do not live on Earth normally.

The real bodies of Transcendent Beings are in places that humans can’t perceive or even imagine, and what resides on Earth is nothing more than a hologram projected by their power.

Summon Creatures do exist, but they are akin to guests summoned by Summoners, while monsters made by Witches are mere mutations created using Witchcraft. And what Shamans create is, just like Witches, a transformation of existing living or non-living things or merely a refined “imitation” of some entity due to magic.

Deities? Physical bodies? They too exist, but it is hard to say they live.

No one knows why they don’t inhabit Earth.

Humans have no way of knowing, and the Transcendent Beings who might know the answer have not shared it.

Thus, all humans could do was speculate.

Some scholars looked at these recorded beings and said, “The activities of the Transcendent Beings on Earth must have been misinterpreted and evolved into this.”

Others speculated, “Some kind of incident must have led to the extermination of all tribes except for those existing on Earth.”

Some said that most beings became Transcendent Beings, while others claimed that those beings were Transcendent Beings from the start and thus had no reason to remain on Earth.

Some speculated that they simply left to seek new homes, while others claimed they were sealed deep underground.

Among them, there were extreme voices proclaiming, “Monsters from stories are all mere fabrications. They never existed from the beginning, and everything is a product of imagination.” However, these statements were not accepted as orthodox.

Because there was clear evidence.

Armor made from dragon scales, taxidermied monsters, and the hides of terrifying Yokai.

Items made from byproducts of the corpses of recorded beings, though few, have remained to the modern age.

Moreover, there were Summoners.

The Summon Creatures summoned by Summoners are proof of the existence of those recorded beings and unequivocally disproved the claims of those who assert that monsters never existed.

The Summon Creatures varied according to the Summoner.

Some summoned dragons, some summoned slimes, some summoned enormous dogs that walked on two legs, and some summoned gigantic snakes that grew to the size of houses. Some summoned birds resembling seagulls that flew at supersonic speed, while others brought forth jellyfish-like beings that enjoyed drifting in the stratosphere.

Some Summon Creatures appeared to be indefinable as Earthly life forms, while many were even doubted as living beings.

However, among them were also Summon Creatures strikingly similar to recorded beings.

Such as dragons, divine beasts, spectral beasts, and monsters.

Thus, two main theories emerged in academia.

One was the speculation that “The non-human beings existing on Earth have disappeared for various reasons. A minuscule number might have transcended, and most likely migrated to other worlds. Those remaining Transcendent Beings on Earth may have been killed or sealed for some reason.”

The other was the speculation that “The beings appearing in myths and folktales are merely records of Summon Creatures summoned by Summoners and Transcendent Beings. It’s highly probable that, passed through the mouths of humans, these accounts were distorted or expanded upon to create the stories we have today.”

Scholars passionately supported their respective opinions and would sometimes resort to physical altercations, throwing punches while declaring “My argument is correct, and yours is nonsense!”

And there was a topic that drove both factions of scholars even more insane.

It was precisely about “fairies.”

Fairies were a concept so broad and appeared in myriad tales, plus lacking a proper definition, that they turned into a headache for scholars. To make matters worse, Shamans known as “Fairy Mages” even performed the Fairy Mimicry Generation Ritual, imitating the “recorded fairies”…

So it’s only natural that scholars struggle to get a grasp on this concept of fairness.

Did they exist from the start?

Had some other being been called fairies?

Are they merely products of imagination?

Were they summoned?

Is there a fairy among the Transcendent Beings?

Or, did they arise due to the magic performed by Shamans, afterward earning the name fairy?

Did the “Homunculus” created by early Alchemists get misconstrued as fairies?

Did the experiments of Witches result in creatures breaking free, thereafter being referred to as fairies?

Scholars could not even begin to form a coherent thought on these myriad possibilities.

Too much information burdens a person more than insufficient information.

In a way, it can be likened to the Phaistos Disc, which is known as a mystery within archaeology.

It remains a mystery not due to a lack of information but because whatever you apply to it for decoding makes it hard to ascertain its true meaning.

But one thing was certain.

The existence of fairies was indeed very capricious.

And that capriciousness prevents anyone from truly understanding their intentions.

Sometimes they help people.

Other times they cause trouble.

Sometimes they’re friendly.

Other times they display unwavering hostility.

Being benevolent can turn into hostility, hostility can turn into kindness, kindness can shift to indifference, and indifference can suddenly lead to unexpected trials.

Even the reasons for such actions often elude human comprehension, and their conduct lies far removed from common sense.

With all this, how could one define fairies?

In terms of appearance, emotions, relationships, and personality.

Everything is a chaotic mix.

However, a certain poet once said.

“Fairies possess everything. Yet not a single thing, they lack is conscience.”

Tales throughout time and space speak of fairies like this.

“Beware of fairies, do not entangle yourself with them, and try to avoid relating to them as much as possible.”

“If you get involved with them, you can’t lead a peaceful life, neither good nor bad.”

But these warnings have faded with time.

And finally, in an era overflowing with media and information, they are seen only as tales filled with the exaggerations of the ancients.

It is a tragically sad state of affairs.

* * *

On a night where the moonlight was scant, cloaking the world in utter darkness.

Lee Jae-soon found himself in a remote area of Gangwon-do.

“Fairy, fairy….”

In a field so remote that his smartphone couldn’t even catch a signal.

With a nervous face, Lee Jae-soon was biting his nails.

Fear and tension filled his face, hard to conceal.

But that tension and fear felt different from the kind a regular person would have.

In a dark night in a remote area, it would be natural to worry about wild beasts or ghosts.

But Lee Jae-soon was tense not about such things but over what he was about to undertake.

“Damn it, damn it, am I doing the right thing right now…?”

In the middle of the abandoned field, Lee Jae-soon was muttering to himself repeatedly.

At that moment, he appeared akin to a psychopath, or a drug addict rambling under the influence. His eye bags were sunken as if his eyes had been gouged out, and the dark circles under his eyes drooped all the way to his lips.

Moreover, whether it was due to anxiety or hunger, his face looked gaunt.

His eyes had dimmed, lacking any spark, and due to the fear and anxiety in his heart, his pupils were darting around.

Anyone would find it hard to see him as normal.

Moreover, Lee Jae-soon’s attire was far from ordinary.

He wore tattered clothes that even a homeless person wouldn’t pick up.

No, it was something closer to a rag or a dirty cloth than a proper piece of clothing.

What’s more, wherever he found them, they reeked of fertilizer and had a musty smell wafting from them, showing stains that made them look filthy.

IF he wore this, he felt he’d develop a skin disease in less than three days.

Littered around him were bottles of various kinds of alcohol, and several cup-like vessels were rolling about.

The quantity of liquor was so abundant that it almost seemed like he intended to gather a group of drinkers and conduct an all-night binge.

“Damn, is it okay to call forth that Fairy Mimicry or whatever…?”

Lee Jae-soon was clenching a piece of paper in his hand.

At the very top of the paper were the words written:

“Fairy Mimicry Generation Ritual Methods and Precautions.”

 

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