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Two days ago, Iserin awoke from sleep, haunted by a peculiar sensation. It felt as though the fine hairs on her body were detecting something foreign, as if instinctual senses sensed a threat and roused her from slumber. Even though she had closed the door to her room, there was a strange incongruity brought on by a gentle breeze wafting in from somewhere.

At that moment, Iserin shot up, her eyes wide, climbing out of bed, just as a demon whispered into her ear.

[Something is being ritualized.]

The demon, taking the shape of a red camel, silently whisked her away. Its hooves sank deeply into the desert sand, making no sound nor leaving any trace behind.

Eventually, they arrived at a place….

[Isn’t this the room where your brother, who loves bugs so much, stays?]

“Don’t say that…. It feels weird….”

Her brother, despite having no blood relation, was a man with whom she shared a peculiar bond until he became an adult. It was standing in front of Park Jinseong’s door.

[So then how should I express it? Should I say it like your sister? If it were your sister, she might have described it as a non-blood-related roommate or something along those lines.]

“That makes it even weirder….”

Iserin and the demon, neither feeling nervous, playfully bickered at the door. The camel grinned widely, its ears split from the delighted smile, teasing Iserin relentlessly while she rolled her eyes in response yet took the demon’s words to heart.

[Hahaha, I merely echoed your sister’s words, yet you grumble to me.]

“She’s not my sister. She’s my younger sister….”

[Since you were born first, isn’t she technically the younger?]

“It’s because I let her go first while in the womb. It’s out of my sister’s generosity….”

[Hahaha, why is it that twins always go back and forth like this? Be it demon or human, twins insist on calling themselves the eldest…. I know of a certain angel who struggles to stand higher than his brother.]

The camel silently chuckled, directing its foot toward the doorknob.

[Come on, my contractor. The cute little contractor who wanted to know the order of birth by gazing into the past. Before you, there lies a secret that your insatiable curiosity cannot resist.]

“I-I couldn’t help my curiosity….”

[It’s not blame. Humans are inherently adorable due to their curiosity about uncovering secrets and poking around everywhere. I, too, have a hobby of seeking out secrets, so I find that charming.]

“Uh, right. Everyone has secrets and wants to know about them… that’s normal…”

Gulp.

Iserin unconsciously reached for the doorknob but froze in her tracks.

“B-but…. Looking into my brother’s secret is a little, a little… I hesitate….”

Even though her curiosity compelled her to solve every mystery, peeping into Jinseong’s room—a place that felt oddly intimate—brought forth a strange sense of guilt. She pondered whether it was appropriate for family to invade each other’s privacy, especially considering they were not blood-related, and whether spying on someone who was practically a stranger was a crime.

Especially since she thought that once this year passed, there would be even fewer chances to meet him.

[So you must see it now. I don’t know what kind of ritual is being held, but if you let this pass without witnessing it now…].

“Ugh, in the future… when will I see it again?”

[Yes. He may never conduct that ritual again, and even if you happen upon another chance later, it could be a completely different ritual. Moreover, if your brother drastically elevates his skills as a shaman, he could be prepared for anyone peeking.]

“But, but….”

[Once you become independent, it will only get worse. Your brother is now a stranger, and would he even perform a ritual in this mansion? Surely he will conduct it in his own home, and do you really think you’ll be able to see it then?]

In the end, Iserin could not resist the demon’s enticing whispers.

No, she hadn’t even considered putting up a fight as she naturally grasped the doorknob.

She threw aside her guilty conscience that flickered in one corner of her mind and surrendered herself to curiosity, gently nudging the door open.

With the demon’s stealthy powers, the door opened without a sound, and just enough of a gap emerged for Iserin and the demon to peek inside.

“Oof!”

However, the moment Iserin leaned in to spy, she almost let out an involuntary moan.

“What is that smell?”

It was a scent reminiscent of roasting flesh blended with charred hair. Alongside that, the reek of long-rotting meat mixed with a sour aroma and the stench of sewage was omnipresent. It was an overwhelmingly intense odor, like needles and knives wreaking havoc inside her nasal passages.

[Huh, what on earth is happening to create such a smell? It’s even worse than the odor produced by a witch simmering in a cauldron of mycelium!]

“This, this smell is unbearable. But… why is it only coming from here? Why not outside?”

[…Hmmm.]

With her nose pinched in disdain, Iserin complained about the foul odor. However, the demon, sensing something amiss, sharpened its gaze and scrutinized the room.

The room was shrouded in a thick fog of white smoke, so dense that it obscured everything nearby, and within it, a dark shadow was flailing its arms—likely Jinseong. The shadow danced amidst the candlelight, rhythmically expanding and contracting while its flailing limbs writhed like tentacles through the smoke.

[The serpent of shadows, its coils are visible.]

The demon recognized something was amiss and activated its sight-enhancement power, placing it over both Iserin’s and its own eyes.

“Huh?”

As the power of perception activated, Iserin covered her mouth in disbelief.

“W-what is all that?!”

Before her eyes stood an altar.

Constructed from decayed wood, reeking with decay, the surface was carpeted with leaf mold, upon which clay vessels were arranged haphazardly, resembling an altar for a ritual. The pots were crackling, ready to shatter at any moment, and within them lay an assortment of items that elicited disgust.

“There are… there are heads.”

Heads.

Heads of various creatures were there.

The head of a snake.

The head of a fish.

Piles of insects’ heads.

Even the desiccated head of what appeared to be a sika deer long past death.

All those heads lay atop the altar, rolling their eyes grotesquely as they gazed at Jinseong.

“—Behold, those poor wretches buried in karma, whose lives have come to an end. Here, the insides and out have reversed, and the self has become infinitely heavy. Follow the path of life you once held; come forth and seek the self you lost.”

Jinseong stood in the center, surrounded by countless heads, emanating an aura of eerie precision. In one hand, he clutched a small cylinder and in the other, a marble-sized piece.

Ding.

[Contagious magic? No, it’s more primitive…]

The demon cocked its head, pondering the scene.

Ding.

“Come, follow the lives into the burrows. Rest in peace. Even if the bug has no wings, it can fly; a snake may not become a dragon but can still emerge. Even if one has no legs, they can leap upon the earth, and without water, they can swim through the air. Come, cross the sea of incense and drape yourself in the wings of smoke, and come hither.”

Jinseong’s ritual was reaching its climax.

The white smoke rising from the candles slithered like a snake, curling around the heads placed in the clay vessels. One head, as if gripped by an unseen hand, began to levitate into the air, turning its gaze toward the cylinder and spiraling rapidly toward it.

Whoosh—

Whoooooosh—

As if being tossed like a ball into a cylinder, the countless heads with rolling eyes began filling the container. The head of a snake, the head of an insect, the head of a snake, the head of an insect, the head of a fish…

Finally, when it was the sika deer’s head’s turn, it crumbled into brittle fragments like sand, swirling wildly like a swarm of insects until it completely filled the cylinder.

Thud.

The cylinder automatically sealed itself, and an eye-like azure pattern emerged on its surface, prompting Jinseong to smile.

Fssssss…

As if reading the end of the ritual, the candles in the room extinguished in unison, ceasing their release of smoke, which then spiraled toward Jinseong’s mouth and nose. The altar transformed, almost melting like ice under the scorching summer sun, into a dark liquid, and then, with what appeared to be intention, it spread across the walls of the room.

In an instant, the room became spotless as if nothing had happened.

“Whoa.”

A small sigh.

A satisfied smile.

Jinseong stood in the center of the room, grinning widely.

[We should retreat.]

“Uh, okay?”

[The ritual has ended; lingering here may risk being discovered.]

“Got it.”

[Hmm, when thinking of rituals, I imagined the kind humans perform, yet this was truly primitive in nature… What should one call this sort of ritual…? My curiosity is piqued…].

Iserin and the demon silently closed the slightly ajar door and crept back to their respective chambers.

[My contractor, it’s getting late; you must sleep now.]

“Okay… Since I woke up this late, can’t I just stay up a bit longer?”

[That will not do. If you don’t sleep properly during your growth phase, you won’t grow well. Growth must happen right for human beauty to bloom, so you ought to prepare for sleep.]

“Alright….”

As soon as the demon entered the room, it began pestering Iserin to sleep, only tearing its gaze away from her once she succumbed to slumber to head toward the window.

[Hmm, that was truly a bizarre ritual. Not of this land… But neither of my homeland…]

The demon, taking the form of a camel, licked its nose with its tongue, mulling over the ceremony.

In that moment, suddenly, a thought struck the demon.

When the smoke writhed like a snake.

At that moment, when the countless heads soared, piercing through the cylinder.

It felt like Jinseong’s eyes had met with its own.

That thought lingered.

 

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