The world of the Third World War was completely insane.
Somehow, the framework of nations was maintained, and trade continued, but looking deeper, there wasn’t a single place that wasn’t a mess.
Normal acts of evil were no longer shocking, and murder had become a part of daily life. The chaos of public safety before the Third World War was paradise compared to the ordinary nations that existed afterward, so it’s hardly an exaggeration to say that the whole world had succumbed to madness.
Individually.
As groups.
As nations.
Madness appeared in various forms and destroyed the world.
This madness equally reached Russia and Eastern Europe.
The Eastern European Coalition, known as the “Red Nation Coalition,” provoked Russia, and Russia seized the opportunity to devour Eastern Europe. And the outcome of that battle was…
“A deathly space filled with evil spirits and malicious ghosts.”
Radiation wasn’t a huge problem. It was expensive, but effective radiation decontamination technology was developed.
However, the issue arose from the mass slaughter that resulted in the birth of two Great Evil Spirits and one Great Evil Demon. The Great Evil Demon led an army of ghosts, causing the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons phenomenon and becoming a headache for neighboring countries, while the Great Evil Spirits became disasters roaming across Europe.
And in the future, a capable person would contribute to creating that calamity, dumping napalm into holes in that forest, preparing for any unforeseen circumstances by burning the woods.
“As if this is how it will be in the future.”
Jinseong quietly watched the distant forest spewing heat before turning away to walk.
Behind him, two body bags floated in the air, following him.
Where Jinseong moved to was not the mansion where Ella was studying abroad in Russia, but rather a hotel inhabited by Iarin and Iserin.
He extinguished the silver flames that had prevented Iarin and Iserin from acting recklessly and entered the room.
“Oppa?”
“Brother!”
As Jinseong entered, Iarin, leaning weakly against the wall, jumped up and ran to him, while Iserin, staring blankly into space from the corner, turned her head towards him. Their appearance was reminiscent of a puppy and a cat, causing Jinseong to smile wryly.
He placed a vinyl body bag on the bed and first opened the zipper of the large body bag.
Szzzz.
As the zipper opened, Ella, with a peaceful face, appeared.
Ella instinctively took a deep breath as fresh air filled the bag.
“Rabbit!”
Seeing this, Iarin tearfully rushed towards Ella.
She hugged Ella, who was only exposing her face, crying loudly, not caring that Ella seemed to be struggling for air, repeatedly saying how glad she was that she had come back alive.
After checking that Ella wasn’t wounded by fully opening the zipper and carefully inspecting her naked body, placing her ear on her chest to listen to her heartbeat, and checking her breathing by bringing her ear close to her mouth, she finally seemed to settle down.
But though her fussing stopped, her embrace didn’t loosen.
Iserin silently stared at them for a moment before turning her head to glance at the other body bag.
A body bag that seemed to be about the size of half of Ella.
Iserin looked up at Jinseong as if to ask for permission to open it, and Jinseong nodded slightly.
Szzzz.
In response to Jinseong’s consent, Iserin walked to the body bag and unzipped it…
“Huh? Huh? Huh?!”
She was astonished.
Inside the body bag lay a girl with a face identical to Ella’s.
Moreover, she wasn’t a corpse but was in a state of deep sleep, inhaling fresh air just like Ella.
Iserin’s eyes widened as she alternated her gaze between the two body bags.
When she turned her head, there was Ella.
When she turned her head again, there was someone who looked just like Ella.
‘Ela, didn’t she say she was an only child?’
There was someone who looked just like her, but she wasn’t an only child?
Someone who looked alike but wasn’t a sibling.
Then that means…
“Daughter?!”
Iserin finally reached a shocking conclusion.
What was now in the body bag she had opened was Ella’s daughter, which Jinseong had rescued along with Ella!
“Huh? Daughter?”
Had she heard Iserin’s astonished exclamation?
Iarin, holding Ella, looked up and stared at her.
Soon, Iarin’s face was also painted with shock.
“Daughter?!”
It was a sight that made Jinseong chuckle at the identical way the twin sisters shouted.
“No, she’s a sister.”
A very brief explanation.
But Iarin nodded at that short explanation.
“Oh, she’s a sister.”
“What?!”
Iserin, hearing Jinseong’s brief response, was astonished seeing Iarin nodding as if she fully understood. Iserin looked at Iarin as if she were an easy target who would squander her fortunes over a scammer’s words.
However, Iarin retorted as if calling her foolish.
“There could be a secret about her birth.”
“Th-the secret of her birth?! That’s! A drama…!”
Iserin shouted back, feeling offended by being treated as foolish, but her sister, who was the embodiment of a rival, turned her head away from her as if not wanting to hear more.
“Oppa! Is this Ella’s sister?”
Perhaps relieved that Ella was safe, Iarin showed interest in Danbi.
“Ella said she was an only child, but there must be secrets of her birth or some complicated circumstances, right? Where was she born? Where is she from? Where did she grow up? An orphanage? Adoption? Was she taken care of by the diviner?”
A barrage of questions was thrown at him.
Jinseong smiled lightly at her questions, drew out an Obsidian Dagger, and said nothing.
The sharp edge reminiscent of a scalpel.
The blade gleaming dazzlingly in reflection of the hotel lights.
Even Iarin, who was unacquainted with magic, could tell that the obsidian dagger was no ordinary item.
He removed the world map pinned to the wall as decor with the dagger, approached Ella with it, lightly cut the tip of her index finger with the obsidian dagger to draw blood, and let it drop onto the map.
Then, a drop of blood fell on the coated map, slowly moving like slime toward a certain location.
The location it moved to was the east of the African continent.
“Oppa, here’s… Tanzania? It’s Tanzania, right?”
“Yes.”
Seeing the blood droplet indicating his hometown, Jinseong nodded as if finally understanding.
‘Blue Zoisite.’
Ella’s full name was Ella B. Winter.
Her middle name was blue zoisite.
Blue zoisite is also known as Tanzanite.
From Africa.
And that jewel only comes from Tanzania.
“You brought her from here. Just as you said, there were secrets of her birth.”
Finally, Jinseong was able to connect all the dots.
Why Ella had a different middle name from the Great Witch and her master.
Why Danbi had lost one eyeball and three fingers before his rewind.
Why she had been “hunted” in Africa.
“Tsk.”
Jinseong glanced at Danbi.
‘How unfortunate that she has to go back and be hunted after obtaining new life.’
In a way, it was a tragic tale.
Yet it was also somewhat self-inflicted.
After living trapped in her sister’s body, she must have found everything fascinating.
But the novelty would be fleeting. After wandering recklessly and satisfying her curiosity, she would inevitably question her roots.
So she must have gone back to her homeland without fear, where she would likely be hunted by a diviner targeting albinos.
‘This time, she was bound to do the same.’
If she were the Danbi he knew before his rewind, she would definitely visit her homeland.
Though there might be slight changes since Ella was alive, she would eventually return to her roots.
Unable to resist her curiosity, she would be caught like Danbi, whose skin was flayed.
He didn’t want his old comrade to die in vain.
If he personally went to save her only for her to perish so easily…
Wouldn’t all his efforts be for naught?
‘You must pay the price for the life you surrendered for resurrection.’
The price of life must be paid in any form.
Whether desired or not.
Danbi must repay this debt to Jinseong in one way or another.
And to repay that debt, she needed to be alive.
Thus, Jinseong felt the need to take measures to ensure that Danbi wouldn’t act recklessly.
He pulled out two long thorns and several strands of long hair from his pocket.
The thorns were imbued with divine power extracted from slime, and the hair was from Rise.
He intertwined the hairs to create a long thread and tied the thorns to each end. Then, he placed one thorn on Ella’s nose and the other thorn on Danbi’s.
Finally, he took out Rise’s tail fur from his pocket and burned it.
With that acrid smell, the burnt fur left behind a bit of ash.
He used his finger to dip the ash, placing it beneath Ella and Danbi’s nostrils.
“Hmm.”
However, perhaps thinking that this was insufficient, Jinseong took out more tail fur from his pocket to burn into ash, then drew symbols on Ella and Danbi’s lower abdomen. He gripped air, levitating them, and overlapped their bodies together.
“Huh? O-Oppa? What’s this…?”
Iserin’s face turned bright red.
The sight of the two overlapping looked like a snake entwined for mating.
The figure of Ella on the bottom and Danbi on top spurred strange thoughts in her mind. Iarin looked taken aback too, glancing back and forth between Jinseong and the two with a slightly flushed face.
Jinseong gestured as if reassuring them and then pulled the goat horns that were in the corner of the room towards him. He struck the horn against the hilt of the obsidian dagger, breaking it, and selected a small piece to insert between Danbi’s hair.
That concluded his preparations.
“Sucubus, succubus! Evil fairy lying below!”
He shouted.
“Incubus, incubus! Fallen fairy lying above!”
With his invocation shouted, Jinseong placed his hands on their heads and traced the symbols, and then a peculiar fragrance began to emanate from their bodies. It smelled sweet like fruit and slightly fishy, reminiscent of something scaled.
From the body of Danbi, who was lying on top, a sour odor emanated, while from Ella, who lay beneath looking at the ceiling, a refreshing scent of phytoncides emerged.
Jinseong finally felt it was done, removed his hands from their heads, and asked his sisters.
“I’m hungry. Is there anything to eat?”
Ella was dreaming.
