He sat cross-legged with a satisfied smile and focused on the movements he felt in his stomach.
“Om-”
Focusing his spiritual energy, he wrapped it around his index finger, then pressed it against the stomach area and began to draw a pattern.
A thick line. The line formed a vertical stroke, then a curve resembling a circle, followed by a horizontal stroke. The horizontal stroke became another vertical one, then another horizontal stroke. This process completed a square nearly identical to a circle, resembling the Chinese character for “mouth” (口) written in seal script.
Jinseong did not stop there. He inserted his finger into the square and drew a smaller square within it. Thus, the pattern emerged as a circle within a circle, a square within a square, resembling the Chinese character for “return” (回).
A mouth within a mouth.
An enclosure within an enclosure.
This was a labyrinth drawn in Chinese characters and symbolized something that endlessly repeats.
The pattern emitted a faint bluish light as it began to seep into his stomach.
His stomach transformed into a prison, and the mountain of indigestible mass within roared fiercely, defying logic and climbing the walls. The gastric juices transformed into a sphere of acid, and the snake’s flesh that had entered his stomach began to melt. The small something within the melting flesh dissolved not by the gastric juices but by the spiritual energy that seeped into his stomach, becoming one with meaning.
“One gathered.”
Starting with eating the snake, Jinseong went about gathering various animals in the mountains. With his eyes closed, he wandered around, striking at the air, collecting all sorts of creatures — some were repulsive larvae, others were mushrooms that had stopped growing. Whatever he collected, he hastily prepared and swallowed while traversing the mountain. Eventually, he arrived at a small valley deep within the mountains.
“Om.”
Upon reaching the valley, he removed his shoes, stepped into the water, and grasped the air.
Chh-plonk!
Every time he clenched the air, fish and crayfish hiding between the rocks were drawn toward him. Jinseong swiftly tore off their heads and chewed them without hesitation.
Crunch! Crunch!
The crayfish’s shell was mercilessly crushed by his teeth, and the sharp fragments harmlessly melted into his stomach. The fish, their heads excluded, also entered his stomach and were instantly dissolved by the acidic substance that had turned into a viscous slime-like form.
Jinseong repeated this process for a long time and finally stopped when most of the fish and crayfish in the valley had been collected, muttering under his breath.
“One, two, and three.”
Jinseong immediately sat cross-legged on a rock and lit some incense. The smoke seemed to rise normally at first, but then it swirled toward him as if blown by the wind. It formed a wall of smoke surrounding him, even though it looked like it was blocked by something invisible.
“One.”
Jinseong focused his mind within the wall of smoke and began to erase the “return” character (回) drawn on his stomach, gradually replacing it with a new pattern. This new pattern resembled the previous one but had a slightly different form. While the earlier one looked like a square nearly identical to a circle, the one he was drawing now was a circle nearly identical to a square.
It was a mere geometric shape, devoid of any specific meaning.
“Snake within a snake, one and many.”
The drawn circle stimulated his skin and made his blood vessels protrude, revealing its shape. The blood vessels turned red and blue where the pattern was drawn, then darkened to purple as if bruised. This shape looked ordinary like any geometric pattern but also resembled snakes crawling, drawing shapes, or even evoked images of more primordial and smaller creatures.
Shaak!
The blood vessels twitched and bulged as if alive, giving the illusion that Jinseong’s consumed snake had been reborn and was moving within him. Remaining calm, Jinseong moved his finger to the back of his neck.
He drew a vertical line along his spine on his neck.
The area his finger passed over turned gray. The skin resembled rotting flesh or something unclean clinging to it, turning corpse-like gray wherever his finger touched. The gray dust that emerged from his finger soon melted away as if it were an illusion, smoothing his skin again.
“Three.”
Jinseong muttered his last word and returned his finger to his stomach.
His finger moved through his lungs, liver, and intestines, tracing a triangular path and returning to his lungs. The areas his finger touched appeared as if the flesh had vanished, creating a strange texture. However, they soon recovered as if filled with something else again. Though the traces remained, someone with keen observation could tell that this part of his skin had lost elasticity.
“One becoming two, two becoming three. All numbers gather to make six. The beginning has found its balance; it wouldn’t be strange if it grew wings.”
As Jinseong’s invocation ended, the traces engraved on his body began to disappear.
The protruding circle faded away, the gray pattern on his neck dissipated like smoke, and the skin that had lost elasticity regained its vitality.
Finally, when the incense ash disappeared as if sucked into his nostrils, Jinseong opened his eyes and smiled.
“The foundation is laid.”
Grunt-cha.
Jinseong rose from the spot with a sound like an old man’s creak and used teleportation magic.
Ki-eek.
With a sound of the space twisting, Jinseong instantly returned to the mansion.
*
“Strange.”
“Yeah, it’s strange.”
In a corner room of the mansion, the sisters were whispering to each other.
Eserin, flapping her raven-patterned pajamas, said,
“Lately, Brother has been really strange.”
Her usually ominous impression seemed transformed due to her animal-print pajamas, looking sleepy and tired. Her flapping arms, rather than resembling a witch conducting a sinister ritual, looked like a dazed raven happily reaching the shore after struggling in the water.
“It is strange. He’s always been odd, I guess.”
On the opposite side, Iarin appeared like an ordinary girl with her hair down and no adornments, but the yellow sleeping gown gave her a lioness-like appearance.
“Ah, was it back then? When you claimed you’d be the number one in curse magic and brought all those strange bugs.”
“Hmm.”
“Don’t you remember? When there were cockroaches among the bugs, it caused a big commotion.”
“I’d rather not remember…!”
[ Ha ha ha, how adorable the boy’s naivety was. He could not even control the bugs he brought back but proclaimed to do curse magic—like an innocent boy. ]
“Ugh.”
“Seriously, what did you do to those bugs? Remember, when I think about it, I still feel chills. Some cockroaches were resistant to medicine and even survived electric fly swatters. If left alone, they almost caused some horror movie scene to happen. Some of my friends said there are creepy horror films about cockroaches.”
[ Like a cat flaunting its prey only to lose it, that’s what it was. Truly naïve yet adorable, especially since he often went out capturing bugs like a cat itself. ]
Especially when the demon she had a contract with mentioned other insects, Eserin naturally recalled the numerous bugs Jinseong had once brought back. She grimaced even more as visions of those creatures with too many or, worse yet, no limbs emerged in her mind. And the memories of the past that Iarin recalled further vividly brought forth those ghastly images.
“Not just the cockroaches, but other bugs were creepy too, but… what I’m trying to say is, he’s been strange lately. Understand?”
“I understand…”
More than you do.
Eserin barely swallowed the words she wanted to say to her twin sister. However, while she could refrain from speaking, the complicated expression on her face betrayed her thoughts, and Iarin’s face changed as she noticed.
[ The contractor, my contractor. You witnessed it, yes? That lowly, baseless, and vulgar ritual scene of his magic. ]
Eserin sighed hearing the whisper of the demon she had contracted.
“Yeah, I saw it…”
…
