It Works, though? (4)

[Haa, do you get it? Basically, humans are only truly beautiful until their teens. Twenty years old? Sure, that's not too bad either. But past your twenties? Isn't that just old and crusty?]

"What the hell are you saying, you crazy bastard! And I'm still twenty-nine, you know!?"

[?]

"?"

[??]

"Why!"

[So, this is... twenty-nine?]

Johwasu had an expression that seriously looked like he was seeing something he shouldn't.

Kim Dojun was genuinely surprised that a snake could even make such a face.

"You son of a bitch!"

With her patience snapped, Choi Yuron was now openly swearing and trying to grab at Johwasu with a furious look.

Whoosh!

But Johwasu-nimbly dodged Choi Yuron's grasp, wagging his tail lazily as he continued.

[Besides, the clothes you're wearing are just hideous.]

"What's wrong with these clothes!? Do you even know how high-quality this spiritual robe is, even if it looks like this!? Let me tell you, this spiritual robe was made by a famous Japanese artisan—!"

Incensed again by Johwasu's words, Choi Yuron began vigorously explaining everything about her spiritual robe.

[Anyway, I have no intention of making a contract with an old hag.]

With that, johwasu simply slipped away behind Kim Dojun's back as if flowing away with the water.

That day.

In the end, after Kim Dojun disappeared, all that was left was Choi Yuron, who had unconsciously gotten defensive about her age and had her mental state broken from the argument.

"Kiing..."

White Ghost Wolf, who had been eagerly sharpening her claws in anticipation of fighting Kim Dojun again, could only let out a whimper as she stared at her master, who looked utterly devastated as though she were scattering into dust in the distant, fading sunset.

####

About two weeks had passed since the Sorcery Institute's semester ended.

Contrary to Kim Dojun's expectations, quite a lot had happened after that, so he didn't have much time to stay in the dormitory, but he still regularly turned on his computer to log into Lantiarval.

'Work keeps me busy, and even though I'm keeping an eye on Goryuwon, that doesn't mean I should slack on clearing Tia... Honestly, though, I still haven't thought of how to make her feel anything other than anger.'

Still, Kim Dojun thought it was better to at least keep searching for possibilities rather than give up entirely, so he'd been relying on the power of internet searches and had been chatting with Tia up until recently.

Whether it was thanks to his efforts or not, Tia's attitude toward Kim Dojun had shifted slightly.

[Iron-Blood: Hey.][Iron-Blood: Whatcha doing.][Iron-Blood: Ah, this bastard's not answering again.][18yohighschoolgirljjang: lol][Iron-Blood: Pissing me off...][18yohighschoolgirljjang: Just have the game on while searching.][Iron-Blood: Searching what.][18yohighschoolgirljjang: lol][Iron-Blood: If you type 'lol' one more time I'll kill you, you bastard.][18yohighschoolgirljjang: lolol][Iron-Blood: Didn't I say I'd kill you?][18yohighschoolgirljjang: That's two times lol][Iron-Blood: ??]

"Hmmm..."

Her overall attitude hadn't drastically changed.

But what mattered here was that he could at least have somewhat normal chats with her now.

... Of course, if others were to ask, "Is this really what you call a normal chat?", they'd surely all shake their heads vigorously. But Kim Dojun, for his part, was satisfied.

'It's much better compared to the past, when she displayed clear boss-villain behavior.'

While it was Kim Dojun himself who had triggered Tia's nasty temper, he had long since forgotten those days and just looked at Tia as she was now.

The chat wasn't a one-sided stream of curses like before; at least it was taking the form of a conversation.

Granted, the main content was probably Tia repeatedly trying to ask where he lived, but he didn't think that was such a bad twist.

'If we can at least talk, then things can only improve... The internet really is helpful.'

Dojun unconsciously nodded to himself, recalling the times he roamed the internet before meeting Tia.

'But what actually worked?'

He pondered for a moment.

'Could it have been the jokes?'

He recalled the recent time when he'd managed to make Tia type 'lol' in response to a joke.

'But didn't she hate that kind of stuff before?'

He remembered quite vividly that Tia used to foam at the mouth in rage when he'd made jokes like that in the past, and so he hummed to himself, deep in thought.

'Eh, maybe I'll just ask her.'

Now that they could talk, he decided he might as well ask Tia directly.

[18yohighschoolgirljjang: Hey.][Iron-Blood: What?][18yohighschoolgirljjang: Aren't my jokes funny?][Iron-Blood: ?][18yohighschoolgirljjang: ?][Iron-Blood: Are you serious?][18yohighschoolgirljjang: ??][Iron-Blood: Now that I think about it, that's pissing me off... Don't make me remember weird shit, it's disgusting.]

As soon as he poked, Tia immediately slammed him with a savage retort.

"Was it that bad...?"

Kim Dojun muttered, his voice unconsciously deflated at her reaction, and spent some time chatting with Tia.

"Come to think of it, this is infuriating!"

[18yohighschoolgirljjang: Shut up.][Iron-Blood: ? What's with the sudden attitude, want to die?][18yohighschoolgirljjang: FU][Iron-Blood: ???]

Slightly angered that his jokes were so dismissed, Kim Dojun spat back at Tia and logged off Lantiarval.

"Getting closer to a would-be final boss is tougher than I thought..."

Having already forgotten that he had thoroughly wrecked Tia's mental state in the past, Dojun mumbled to himself as he sank back into thought again.

####

A vast cavern, location unknown.

A grotesque scene was unfolding there.

Against the far wall of the cavern, countless skulls were piled up into mounds so tall, one could not hope to count them by eye.

Five such mountains of skulls.

Was that all?

In the space right in front, decorated almost like an altar, disordered piles of what looked like possessed entities' skulls lay scattered everywhere.

And in that cavern, full of such heaps of corpses...

[Grrr—grrk—]

A centipede, massive enough to coil around the entire expanse, ceaselessly scuttled about on thousands of legs.

Kadadadadadak—!

With a revolting sound, it filled every nook and cranny of the vast cavern—no, this being, known in the world as a first-grade possessed entity, called a second-grade possessed entity "Gongwang (King Centipede)" by the masses, for its appearance meant a small town could be laid to ruin in an instant—a disaster in its own right.

Gongwang was staring at a man.

A man wrapped head to toe in bandages.

The expression of the man standing before Gongwang couldn't be read.

For his face was hidden beneath the bandages as well.

But even if his face was unseen—

"This is a sacrifice... more than fitting—"

From his voice, one could tell his mood.

"—A top-grade offering."

A hint of amusement colored the man's tone.

[Kiiiiik-!]

Perhaps the Gongwang sensed the scorn in his words, and began to twitch his many legs in preparation to attack.

Yet even as Gongwang lunged, the bandaged man did not move.

Instead—

Swish.

He unraveled the bandages.

Starting from the index finger of his right hand, the knot unraveled, and the tightly wound bandage swiftly unwound.

Soon, what emerged was a jet-black finger.

Upon it, white incantations glimmered.

"Form Zero—"

[Kieeeeeeeek—!]

Just as Gongwang threw its gigantic body from the wall and rushed toward the man—

"Temporary Release."

With the echo of his voice—

Crack—!

Gongwang's head dropped off.

With no warning.

With no oddity, no signal.

Simply—

Kwaarang!

—it fell off.

Only moments ago, gongwang's gigantic form had been aiming for the man, but now it collapsed to the floor, all strength gone.

Then, its head, severed without apparent cause, toppled, too.

[Kieek—!]

Gongwang writhed, as if unable to comprehend what had just happened.

[Krr... grrk—!]

But soon, the light in its eyes faded entirely, and it fell silent.

The man gazed at Gongwang's perfectly silent form and, smiling, began winding the bandage back around his index finger.

Thus perished Gongwang, a disaster that had ravaged six villages alone over the past two years—his life ended by the bandaged man, leaving only his severed head behind.

"It's ready."

Looking at the corpse of Gongwang, the man's smile deepened.

####

The underground of the Muryu clan.

Deeper still, in the basement only the clan head could use, Shin Cheon-gyun was being handed something by the bandaged man.

"... This is."

Murmured Shin Cheon-gyun as he looked at the box he'd received from the man.

"A sacrifice."

"You said it would take weeks, yet you finished rather quickly."

"I managed to find the materials sooner than expected."

As if he'd worked quite hard, the man muttered while taking a seat in a chair prepared for him by Shin Cheon-gyun.

"You know how to use it, yes?"

"Of course."

A calm voice.

Nodding in satisfaction, the bandaged man glanced at the small door behind where Shin Cheon-gyun was seated.

The bandaged man, staring at it, spoke.

"It's alive, right?"

"Of course. I check every day."

"Yeah?"

"It must not die for the ritual—it is the key, after all."

"Strictly speaking, as long as it retains its value as a key, death doesn't matter... But the effect is better if it's alive—provided it doesn't try to run away."

"Indeed."

As they spoke, the bandaged man kept his eyes locked on the door, but soon turned his gaze back to Shin Cheon-gyun.

A brief silence.

After a moment—

"Heh."

The bandaged man let out a laugh, then rose from his seat.

"Well, I delivered the item, so the rest is up to you."

"... Weren't you going to participate in this ritual as well?"

"I had planned to, but something troublesome came up."

"... An issue?"

To Shin Cheon-gyun's question, the bandaged man nodded and began to disperse into dust as he had before.

"Yeah, so you'll have to handle this alone. Well—strictly speaking, not quite alone, right?"

"...."

"Anyway, I wish you success."

With those words, spoken just as his head became dust and scattered, the bandaged man was gone, leaving Shin Cheon-gyun alone in the room.

After maintaining silence for a long while in that room, Shin Cheon-gyun finally stood up, recalling how she had become increasingly murderous toward him lately.

"I thought I'd have had to wait a little longer."

At the same time—

"It's nearly time."

He muttered to himself.

And then.

....

A week passed.

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