LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 68
Iarin, upon hearing Jinseong’s direct request, immediately went to the bathroom and took out her smartphone to call someone.
[Hello….]
“Hey, Rabbit! Can I go check on the guinea pig and goat right now?”
[What?]
“Are the guinea pig and goat still alive?”
[Well, they’re alive, but…. Just a sec.]
“Got it! Older brother wants to check the condition of the items, but you know, I don’t have any pictures right now. Okay?”
[Wait a minute, do you mean your shaman older brother?]
“Yeah, that’s right! You remembered!”
[But wait! If you bring him suddenly like this!]
“Anyway, can I go see them?!”
[Wait…!]
“Okay, thanks~ Rabbit, I’m coming soon!”
[Hold on!]
She happily got Ella’s permission and poked her head out of the bathroom, shouting.
“They said I can come! Older brother, Iserin! Let’s go!”
* * *
“I’ve made a lot of friends since coming to study abroad, and they’re all really pretty, you know? I bet you know that the Russian girls are pretty too, older brother.”
“Hmm.”
“Plus, do you know how well they all handle AK-47s? They can disassemble and reassemble it in no time and their shooting skills are incredible! Of course, I’m not really into guns, so I didn’t do much with it. Yeah.”
Iarin was excitedly sharing her experiences from studying abroad, clearly happy that Jinseong had come.
“There’s this super pretty girl among them. What’s it called, albino? She has white hair and red eyes, and I called her Rabbit because she’s so cute. I tried to befriend her, and now she has a goat and a guinea pig at her house.”
“Albino?”
Hearing the word ‘albino,’ Jinseong showed interest.
“Isn’t it called albino? Was it a different name?”
“No. If you’re referring to albinism, then albino is correct.”
“Oh, what? You surprised me. With your reaction, I thought I was wrong.”
Iarin rolled her eyes slightly and poked Jinseong’s arm, as if to say he startled her.
Jinseong felt a strange nostalgia at the word ‘albino,’ poked by her finger that felt more like a solid stick than a finger.
‘Albino, albino.’
Albino technically had quite a significant meaning within the realm of magic.
Historically, albino animals were treated with great esteem and regarded as mystical beings. In the East, the white tiger is one of the four spiritual guardians, and creatures like the white snake or white lion are revered worldwide as spiritual entities. In India, white elephants are considered to possess cosmic significance, treated as divine beings who control clouds and rain.
However, this reverence was only afforded to animals.
Humans born with albinism were not only not revered but faced terrible rejection instead.
There exists a theory called the “uncanny valley.”
It proposes that humans feel more aversion toward entities resembling humans awkwardly than those that don’t resemble humans at all.
Individuals with albinism fit this uncanny valley perfectly.
Albinism is a condition that results when melanin pigments are not synthesized.
It’s said to be a congenital genetic disorder.
Naturally, since it’s a genetic condition, it can arise regardless of race or region.
And that was the problem.
What kind of treatment would a child with white skin and red eyes receive when born to yellow or black individuals?
In the past, in the East, such children were treated as goblins or considered as omens of change, and in places like Africa, they became subjects of superstition.
Moreover, when it comes to the West full of white people, it wasn’t necessarily better.
Looking back through history, Western societies often exhibited even harsher attitudes.
Due to legends about vampires, it was not uncommon for people with albinism to be completely dehumanized. No, there were many instances where they were outright designated as targets of extermination. Fanatics claiming that vampires are evil must be eradicated attacking them, along with hunters determined to cut off their heads for fame regardless of whether they were a vampire or not.
In modern times, it’s been revealed that individuals with albinism are not cursed or omens of change but merely have a simple condition, and as awareness has spread, such individuals are rarely hunted as they used to be….
“That’s just a story from developed countries.”
Before his regression, Jinseong had close companions.
Among them was a colleague nicknamed Danbi, who was small in stature, curious, and loved getting into all kinds of trouble. This fellow suffered from albinism and had lost an eye and three fingers by the time he joined the mercenary circle.
In some African countries, albinos are believed to bring luck, and there exist rituals and magical practices that utilize the bodies of individuals with albinism. Consequently, he was ‘hunted’ by shamans needing ‘materials.’
He narrowly escaped the danger of being cut into pieces spread throughout Africa but at the cost of an eye and three fingers. Furthermore, due to the magical curses and poisons binding him during the hunt, the missing parts could never be regenerated, and he could only replace them with mechanical prosthetics.
“But despite all that, he couldn’t resist his curiosity and kept getting into trouble; I truly was something else.”
Jinseong chuckled at the memories of his old companion.
Seeing him chuckle, Iarin frowned slightly as if she thought he was mocking her, and poked him again.
“What’s that? Why are you laughing?”
Pfft.
Iserin, who had been trailing behind Jinseong, burst out laughing as well.
This made Iarin, unlike the light-hearted way she reprimanded Jinseong, stare at Iserin seriously.
“Are you laughing just because we mixed up albino? Huh? Is it funny?”
When Iarin asked, lowering her voice like a growling leopard, Iserin shook her head.
“Oh, no.”
“Not? It seems to me you find it funny.”
“Actually, it’s true.”
“…Fine, since you admitted it coolly, I’ll let it slide this time.”
Jinseong strolled slowly, listening to their conversation.
Then suddenly something caught his eye.
‘A fortune teller’s house?’
A roadside fortune teller’s tent.
This was the kind of tent you could see anywhere in the world and not particularly special, as you could find such tents in busy districts back in Korea.
“Hmm.”
Despite its humble appearance, peculiar symbols were visible on the tent.
The tent displayed celestial bodies, boasting that they practiced astrology, and some of these celestial bodies emitted the odor of musk.
Musk serves to entice and enhance allure.
With the need to attract customers, using musk wasn’t unusual, but the issue lay with which celestial bodies had it applied.
The Moon and the Sun.
Jupiter and Pluto.
Only those four celestial bodies had musk applied to them.
These bodies were not only deeply significant in astrology but also very closely related to tarot.
The Moon symbolizes Major Arcana 1, The Magician.
The Sun symbolizes Major Arcana 19, The Sun.
Jupiter symbolizes Major Arcana 10, Wheel of Fortune.
Pluto symbolizes Major Arcana 20, Judgement.
The arrangement didn’t seem odd at first glance, but…
“Hmm. This is quite strange.”
It created an eerie sense of incongruity.
Moreover, what added to the uncomfortable feeling was the bizarre angles of those celestial bodies.
Not only was it unconventional at any orientation but neither straightforward nor reversed.
And this angle was so delicately positioned that a slight movement of the fabric could adjust it perfectly into a standard or reversed position.
As if magically altered, the colored areas where moisture touched slightly shone, appearing like stars or halos. If it rained or snowed, the engraved patterns would surely distort, continually changing their symbols.
It was definitely not a layout one would expect to find in an ordinary fortune teller’s tent.
Even stranger was the smell of blood wafting from inside the tent.
Not just any blood smell, but the odor of blood infused with residual thoughts.
The foul scent of blood that one might expect to find within black magic rituals.
“Wait? Is older brother also interested in fortune telling?”
“Huh?”
While Jinseong stared at the fortune teller’s tent, Iarin struck up a conversation.
“That fortune teller seems really interesting. Do you want to go inside, older brother?”
“Interesting fortune teller, huh.”
Jinseong narrowed his eyes slightly at Iarin’s take.
“An interesting fortune teller? What kind of person is he?”
“Hmm. He’s a bit feminine, he really connects with me when we talk. When I chat with him, I feel oddly relaxed. It was fun, so what do you say? Want to give it a shot?”
A feminine fortune teller.
A relaxed feeling.
Hearing those two words, something started to arise in Jinseong’s mind.
However, with just those few clues, it was too inadequate to form a conclusion, and he decided to use a more efficient method rather than improperly piecing together recollections that wouldn’t return.
He plucked a few strands of hair, rubbed them between his fingers, and tossed them in front of the tent.
Afterward, he said let’s go to Iarin and left the tent.
Not long after departing from the tent, they reached their destination.
It was a house resembling a witch’s abode.
Iarin briskly approached the house, knocking on the door with one hand while pressing the doorbell like crazy with the other, shouting.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!
“Rabbit! We’re here!”
At this scene, Iserin slightly bowed her head, feeling embarrassed, hiding her face.
“What are you doing? You’re not in elementary school….”
It almost looked like she was trying to break the door down rather than just knocking.
“I—I’m coming right now!”
Was the owner of the house afraid of the door breaking?
With the sound of hurried footsteps, the door flung open.
And there she was, the woman whom Iarin had called ‘Rabbit.’
“Huh.”
Jinseong let out a laugh.