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The more I think about it, the more it grows.

The more I observe, the more it swells.

The reasons to kill keep increasing, while finding reasons to spare is proving quite challenging.

“And, yeah.”

Jinseong watched the woman who was unleashing her rage while lifting the man by the collar with a monster in control.

Despite her fury, she was intermittently reaching into her handbag as if there was something more to unleash, seemingly ready to hurl whatever was inside at the scam man.

However, every time her hand went to her handbag, a beautiful bracelet made of golden roses wrapped around her right wrist would sway and tease it, causing her volcano-like anger to subside in an instant, returning to a more manageable level of rage.

A bracelet that looked as if it was woven from golden roses.

Normally, it felt like an extension of her body and rarely captured her attention, but being metal, it undoubtedly retained some coldness.

At the moment it touched her arm, creating an unusual sensation, it reminded her of the person and the words associated with that bracelet, prompting her to rein it in.

That woman was somehow managing to control her anger, though it was a very close call.

To Jinseong, that was indeed commendable.

Reflecting on how she couldn’t control her nature before and after the return, and how she had been throwing fits everywhere upon their first meeting, he couldn’t help but see it as a tremendous improvement.

Because of that, Jinseong felt even less inclined to let the scam man, who was caught by the scarecrow, go free.

“Odilia A Reich.”

The woman punishing the scam man right now was none other than the Great Witch, Odilia, whom Jinseong knew well.

* * *

Odilia continued to shake the scam man down for quite some time.

Finally, having vented some of her anger, she sighed, grasped her head, and shot the scam man a fierce glare, silently warning him, “I won’t let you get away with this.”

Planning to relieve her stress with a drink, she noticed all the guests’ eyes were on her, prompting an irritated twist of her mouth before she turned her back and exited.

Yet even after she left, the scarecrow remained.

Instead of following Odilia out, it continued to hold onto the scam man, gripping in a rather peculiar manner.

“Huff, huff….”

The vines had manifested in two specific places.

One was the scam man’s collar, familiar to both people and him.

And the other was….

“Gah, gah….”

…the groin.

The vine had turned into a coconut shell-like texture, tightly clasping around the man’s groin.

Quite firmly, too.

If this scam man even tried to pull any funny business or consider running away, it would surely… snap.

There was no doubt that it would burst apart like a rotten fruit.

Hence, despite Odilia’s departure, the scam man didn’t dare even think about escaping.

No, he wasn’t just frozen in place; he was paralyzed in sheer terror.

He was so frightened that even the slightest movement might have the scarecrow interpret it as “running away,” leading to a catastrophic fate for his precious parts.

His predicament appeared utterly ridiculous.

Perhaps as a result?

Despite Odilia’s wild spree, most of the guests were still present.

On the contrary, they chatted away as if enjoying the absurdity, even laughing at the man, who was standing as stiff as an ice statue carved by Antarctica’s cold winds.

But there were those who reacted differently.

People who had enjoyed the atmosphere but now felt their vibes completely shattered.

One of them was…

“….”

Rise.

As the good vibes evaporated due to the unexpected intrusion of the Great Witch, she puffed up her cheeks slightly, showing signs of displeasure. With a resentful gaze, she stared at the door through which Odilia had exited, also glaring at the scam man drenched in sweat.

But what could she do with her resentment?

The pleasant ambiance had already been ruined.

It was something irretrievable.

So, Rise could only sip the cocktail that Jinseong had gotten her.

How many sips had she taken?

The cocktail went down smoothly like a refreshing beverage, its taste favorable and pleasant, but…

A cocktail was still a cocktail.

As she kept drinking, she felt her spirits lifting and her body warming up.

“…Deity. How strong is this cocktail?”

“It’s a cocktail without any alcohol.”

“Ah… yeah….”

Perhaps it was just her imagination.

Rise felt her face growing warm.

In an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks, she lowered her head and sipped her ‘non-alcoholic’ cocktail.

How strange.

It was a cocktail with zero alcohol content.

When the atmosphere was good, she wouldn’t have thought such thoughts or felt this way.

Why was her body so warm and her face so flushed right now?

Maybe it was because she was upset about the atmosphere being ruined.

Or perhaps it was the embarrassment that hit her afterward when she remembered the “good vibe” she had earlier.

Or could it be that residual feelings of naughtiness from the earlier “good vibe” were catching up with her?

As Rise sipped the cocktail little by little, she glanced subtly at Jinseong.

Taking the hand that held the cocktail glass, the one that had turned cold from the refreshing beverage, she placed it against her cheek.

‘Cold.’

Her hand was indeed cold.

‘And yet, it’s warm.’

Her cheek felt inexplicably warm.

It was as if she had thrust her frozen hands into a well-heated winter handwarmer.

Thus, she felt both warm and hot.

* * *

While Rise was busy crafting her own little drama with the cocktail, the man who had stepped into the bar with her, Jinseong, was filming something entirely different.

If this were a video, it would definitely lean toward the horror genre.

Tuck.

A mischievous fairy alighted, playfully plucking strands of hair, giving a light and airy sensation, and three strands sprung free. They fluttered, momentarily caught between Jinseong’s fingers before landing on the table, slumping in a little group as if tired.

Jinseong’s finger touched the fallen strands.

One elongated finger.

Jinseong’s index finger moved as if it were playfully drawing patterns in the moisture left on the table or perhaps testing its cleanliness, gliding lightly over its surface.

And during that process, a hair strand touched… one, two, three.

Tap, tap, tap.

The strands reached the tip of his index finger, as if sticking to it like they were coated in some sticky substance. They danced in the air, asserting their presence, almost pleading to return to the spot they had just vacated.

But instead of granting that wish, Jinseong moved another finger to grip the hair and wobbled his hand.

Wobble, wobble.

So slowly that it left afterimages.

Wobble, wobble.

And as that swaying continued, the hair gradually stiffened.

Like a plant that had just been bent by the wind, standing upright again.

The thin black hair shot up.

Finally straightening out, the ends sharpening like needles.

Hair needles.

Spikes created from hair.

Jinseong, holding onto that, moved his hand once more.

Where before it had seemed to be a calming gesture, signaling something…

This time, however, it was slow but traced a circle.

As if conjuring a tiny whirlwind.

As the vortex began to swirl, the energy floating in the space started to respond.

A minuscule amount of energy.

What the warriors referred to as ‘Qi.’

This collected Qi began to swirl into Jinseong’s hand as though being sucked into the vortex.

Of course, it was so minuscule that calling it movement would be an embarrassment compared to a warrior’s impressive energy collection. If the warrior’s energy was akin to electricity powering appliances, what Jinseong was doing was hardly more than static electricity.

But even the most minuscule had its purpose.

Though futile, and given that it couldn’t accumulate due to having learned magic, blowing energy into something like this hair…

It was good for a little mischievous play.

Whap.

The hairs in Jinseong’s hand shot out.

As if he were flicking a small pebble, those transformed hairs flew from his grip and soared into the air.

They shot towards the man soaked in sweat, embedding themselves in his stiff body.

Of course, the scam man didn’t notice the three strands of hair lodged in him.

He was too tense and rigid to feel anything.

Even if he had not been tense, having three thin strands stuck into him might merely feel like insects biting.

The hair embedded into the scam man with remarkable ease.

And alongside Jinseong’s gesture, the man’s stiffened body relaxed, drooping.

It began to writhe.

Writhe.

Writhe.

A distinctly different motion than swaying in the wind.

The bizarre, slick writhing that only living things could exhibit.

The hair moved like a grotesque bug, worming its way, burrowing towards where it had entered.

With sharp tips.

It burrows in.

And in an instant, the strands disappeared, beginning their journey through the man’s body…

It looked like the opening scene of a B-rate horror film.

 

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