Before the time warp, America could genuinely be called a magical realm of chaos.
Countless lunatics and an endless parade of bizarre ideas kept emerging, so how could it not be chaotic?
Even the soil from which these peculiarities sprouted was potentially the strongest in history.
It could feed the entire world with its crops, and its resources were so abundant they overflowed.
People were everywhere, with countless talents flocking to America to gain fame and wealth.
In such premium soil, how could anything sprout and not thrive?
Even if the weeds that grew were of a staggering height, if trees destructive to the ecosystem were to grow, they could form a forest of their own.
Before the rewind, America was like that too.
Lunatics burning food, wizards shouting about establishing peace under the rule of machines, warriors advocating for an independent nation of their ethnicity, robbery groups taking over railroads across the nation, alchemist factions laying terrible traps on highways to sabotage their use, and scientists hiding underground, shooting sugar rockets to bring down surveillance satellites…
If this wasn’t chaos, then what could chaos be?
But amidst this madness, there were indeed those who profited.
One of them was mercenaries.
Jinseong also gained constant profit as a member of a mercenary group amidst this madness.
Most of it was money, sometimes it was coveted magic records or divine objects, or materials and sacrifices used for magic as compensation.
Thus, Jinseong operated in America.
When was it, I wonder?
It must have been around the time he was staying where New York used to be.
The exact location was uncertain.
New York at that time was in shambles, being rebuilt all over, no longer resembling the pre-rewind New York at all.
With planks and concrete, the alleys transformed into a maze, and high-rise buildings either crumbling, reduced to shapeless forms, or remodeled to evoke the bizarre semblance of strongholds.
Certainly, many retained their shapes, but at the point where most had grotesquely transformed, it was a stretch to claim New York looked as it used to.
Moreover, due to the accelerated flooding following World War III, New York was submerged in water in various places, and several areas had become ruins, unable to recover from the constant disasters.
If one ventured to what was once Lower Manhattan, they would see the water rippling, and in Queens, countless sinkholes—whether man-made or caused by disasters—yawned wide, waiting for someone to fall in.
Jinseong lingered in such transformed places.
In the ruined parts of New York, there were gruesome sights of the American Left, tortured and killed, then hung on crosses.
Their corpses were all drained of blood, drying up, misleading onlookers to think they were witnessing Christ on the cross from afar.
These figures lined the rooftops of countless buildings and were visible on the outer walls of the structures.
As Jinseong walked through New York, he passed by these crosses.
Here and there, armed robbers would try to shoot Jinseong and take his belongings, but due to his magic, their guns would explode, blowing their hands off.
This left the robbers as crippled beings guaranteed to have their futures snatched away, making them nutrients for the countless insects he then hatched.
These hatched insects became precious weapons, shields, and currency.
The starving begged to eat the insects Jinseong transported, and they hesitated not to pay for the fresh, uncontaminated insects he offered.
What Jinseong sought was not extravagant, but rather things they could easily part with—
Thus, the swarm of insects that Jinseong carried became a remarkable currency and food in the ruined New York.
Later on, there were even people who would buy the insects from Jinseong, grind them into powder, mix them with sawdust, bake them like bread, and sell them. There even emerged those who would capture criminals or gang members and offer them to Jinseong in exchange for more insects.
Human adaptability proved extraordinary.
And through this process, Jinseong encountered some peculiar individuals.
They introduced themselves as coming from the Butchery Tower.
They had occupied a street filled with high-rise buildings and were operating from there.
This group, composed of those with butchery skills, lived by slaughtering, as indicated by their name—by taking on butchery requests or trading butchered meat for survival.
One might think they were leading quite a wholesome life at first glance.
In a world overflowing with murderers and various criminals, here were individuals utilizing their skills to coexist with local residents.
At first glance, they seemed like good citizens, absolutely necessary for the area.
However—there was something here you had to consider.
Butchery.
Meat.
Sure, that’s all good…
But—
In a situation where even plant protein is hard to come by, people are resorting to eating insects.
So where on earth could they find animals to butcher, and from which animals did the butchered meat originate?
It was a ludicrous tale.
‘People.’
Flesh that overflowed in the dying city.
So plentiful that you could easily grab one or two through plunder.
That animal was none other than human.
The lunatics of the Butchery Tower were capturing people and butchering them like beasts, consuming their flesh, and selling the leftovers to starving humans for profit.
And the reason these lunatics sought Jinseong was simply that he was infringing upon their profits.
They threatened Jinseong, declaring that if he didn’t stop creating insects to feed the people, he would make them his enemies.
They repeated acts of kidnapping or killing those who consumed insects, hoping to ensnare him.
Witnessing such events, Jinseong began to respond.
His method of response was drawn from his mercenary days.
And unsurprisingly, the tactics of a mercenary relying solely on their life to earn money weren’t exactly gentle.
Especially when the world had turned chaotic after World War III.
Thus, Jinseong exterminated the Butchery Tower entirely.
During that ordeal, his curiosity piqued as he investigated why these butchers had committed such insanity.
He discovered that most of them were afflicted with Kuru disease.
Initially, Jinseong surmised that the Kuru had spread through the cannibalism they indulged in.
However, while investigating these butchers, he unearthed strange records.
It was true that they contracted Kuru by eating human flesh…
But they hadn’t simply feasted on humans to fill their bellies; records revealing they did this for a certain purpose were scattered everywhere.
That purpose was to gain power and enhance group cohesion…
Surprisingly, that method had ties to magic.
No.
Actually, that’s not it.
To be precise, it was linked to something masquerading as magic.
Something that appeared magical but was merely a collection of nonsense with no efficacy whatsoever.
Yet in a devastated land, the ethics and morals tossed aside, it was just the kind of deceptive method to ensnare those seeking relevance.
‘The Soul Bond Magic of Foree.’
That was the title of the record, which bore no actual effect while masquerading as magic, driving the butchers to madness.
Jinseong seethed with rage, questioning which author had tricked people with this so-called magic, allowing such horrors to unfold, and used magical tracking to find the culprit.
But sadly, the author of that record had already perished.
From the information gathered, it turned out they had wielded true magic but had gone insane in their later years, doing strange things and eventually throwing themselves into a volcano, ending their own life.
According to reports, they had attempted a ritual of magic to appease the volcano, calling upon the power of the goddess Pol’iahu, offering themselves as a sacrifice…
However, upon examining photos from that ritual, it was clear it was pure nonsense and not an actual ritual.
Yes.
A mad shaman had vanished from the world in such a hollow manner.
Well…
Nothing peculiar about that.
