Straw, Sunlight, and Steel
After the morning meal before their departure for Japan, everyone scattered to their respective rooms. Back in his own room, Jinseong reflected on the awkward yet undeniably respectful conversation they had shared. 'The Lee family has always been like this.' As an outsider who had rolled into their lives—an existence that could easily prove inconvenient to both the Patriotic Association and the National Unity Group—the fact that they treated him this way spoke volumes about their fundamentally kind natures. Even toward someone who had been consumed by sorcery and never properly built emotional bonds with them, they still tried, however clumsily, to reach out. That, too, was a testament to their warmth. Especially when compared to Lee Serin, whose entire body radiated discomfort, Lee Arin had actively approached him, clearly trying to accept him as family. Just moments ago, she had been calling him "big brother" without hesitation.
That was why Jinseong hoped Arin would be the one selected to go to Japan. At the very least, he wanted to give her one proper gift before she left the mansion and struck out on her own. It would be a happy outcome for everyone involved. Jinseong could use the two sisters to sidestep the fate that sought to block his entry into Japan, Serin could obtain a divine artifact, and Arin would gain access to the secret manuals of various martial families along with real combat experience. A true win-win situation.
Yet there was one problem.
'Hmm.'
It was Arin's mental state. Serin had already demonstrated in the previous timeline that she could raze Kyoto without a second thought, so there was no need to worry about trauma or PTSD. Arin, however, had never distinguished herself before the regression—at least not to the point where news of her reached Jinseong's ears. He had never even heard of her marrying or starting a family. Either she had lived quietly as an ordinary citizen, or she had encountered some hardship that crushed her spirit and forced her to abandon the path of a martial artist.
If it was the former, the things he could obtain for her in Japan would be of great help. If it was the latter, however, sending her there might immediately shatter whatever growth she had achieved.
"ॐ गम गणपतये नमः."
During his time as a mercenary, he had seen many such cases. Young soldiers who possessed sufficient strength, good physical condition, and abundant vitality would go on their first mission only to be haunted by nightmares afterward and ultimately quit. Their bodies were strong enough, but their minds were not. They were novices who neither knew how to temper their spirits nor how to clad a fragile mind in sturdy armor.
The mind. The great mind. It was precisely because they failed to understand its importance that such things occurred. No matter how vital the body might be, its importance was limited to sustaining life. A well-trained body was meaningless if one only knew third-rate martial arts that could not properly utilize it. Likewise, even someone blessed with a long lifespan would be nothing more than a lump of meat rolling about if their mind was steeped in laziness. The mind was an intangible force capable of moving a diseased body beyond its limits and allowing one to continue functioning until the appointed end, even if it could not resist the inevitable approach of death.
Even Jinseong himself had once dragged around a body little better than a corpse, sustained solely by his mind—his pure, unwavering mind. When one truly desires something with all their heart, the mind naturally becomes tempered.
"ॐ गम गणपतये नमः."
Which type was Arin? Was she someone capable of tempering her mind into a single, unified force like Jinseong? Or was she someone like Serin, who lived by cladding her deficient mind in armor?
"ॐ गम गणपतये नमः."
Jinseong recalled the past. The moment he had stormed out of the mansion, desperate to escape a future that would only become shackles. Back then, he had possessed nothing and had been too busy simply surviving to give them even a single proper gift. After that, he had run endlessly, pursuing only transcendence, until he eventually set his own body ablaze and perished alongside his sorcery.
He did not know what might happen in this newly obtained life. But since the future had changed and he now possessed power, he ought to prepare at least one gift. Arin deserved to receive a gift. Even if she could not accept it, he would simply solve that problem as well. Making it possible for her to receive the gift would itself be a gift. However, a gift must be something she truly desired—not a wish spoken from the lips or shining in the eyes, but one born purely from the heart and sincerely longed for.
To achieve that, he would need to squeeze out a little more information. The more cards one held, the better. The more information one accumulated, the better.
'Truly, formless gold.'
Creak.
* * *
The moment they left the dining room, Serin spoke to Arin.
"I think it would be better if you didn't go to Japan."
"What?"
The sudden statement without context made Arin turn to look at her sister. But Serin's face was deadly serious as she met Arin's gaze with dark circles beneath her eyes and repeated herself.
"Go somewhere else. Anywhere but Japan."
Arin was about to ask what she meant when she realized her sister's expression was far more grave than usual and changed her question.
"Why?"
It was a more fundamental question than what she had originally intended to ask. Serin hesitated for a moment, unsure what to say, before grabbing Arin by the arm and dragging her into her own room, forcing her to sit on the bed. Her thin, frail arms should not have had the strength to pull the well-trained Arin along, yet Arin followed as if entranced. Was it instinct? Or was it the power of the demon Serin had contracted?
After seating Arin on the bed, Serin opened her mouth.
"Arin. Listen carefully. The demon told me there's some deeply hidden secret, but it can't figure out what it is. It smells like sunlight covered by straw and the scent of iron…"
"Sunlight? Iron?"
Arin stared at her sister and scratched her head vigorously.
"No, I mean… ha… I don't know anything about symbolism, okay~? Can't you just explain it simply?"
"You ignorant fool, Arin."
"What?!"
Serin delivered the insult as naturally as breathing.
"Straw represents grace that remains even after daily use and has many practical applications. In other words, it symbolizes something beneficial that takes on many forms. Feed it to livestock and it becomes fodder. Twist it and it becomes sandals or ordinary rope. Burn it and it becomes firewood. Stuff it into clothes and it forms the body of a scarecrow."
"Ooh~"
"It's not 'ooh.' It should be 'ah.' Didn't you learn this in first-year liberal arts…?"
"So that's what it was."
"It's not 'so that's what it was'… Do you not remember 'Life and Symbolism'…?"
Contrary to Serin's face, which looked as though it might collapse from shock, Arin smiled brightly.
"Nope. I slept through all my first-year classes."
At that pure, innocent statement, Serin gave up on explaining in detail.
"I'll just say it roughly… It's something that helps us, but it doesn't seem like it'll only help. That's what it means."
"If it helps, then it helps~ What's this about it not only helping?"
'People who practice martial arts are supposed to be pretty smart… Why is Arin like this?'
Was it a side effect of the martial arts she had learned? The kind that relied on instinct and senses?
Serin sighed at her sister's pure, one-dimensional brain.
'Sometimes she seems less like a person and more like a simple beast…'
[Is that not what makes her adorable? Oftentimes, something simple receives more affection than something unnecessarily cunning.]
Straw. Sunlight. Iron.
Ignoring the demon's repeated cooing of "adorable, adorable," Serin engraved the three words into her mind.
'In exchange for gaining something, one must pay something…? In exchange for gaining something, one must face an equivalent crisis? What could it be…'
Serin wanted to uncover everything—the meaning behind the demon's words about "the scent of the secret Jinseong is hiding," what Jinseong had meant by "good information," and where and how he had obtained that "good information." At the same time, she also felt that it might be better not to know.
'If we go to Japan together, I'll find out… but the scent of the secret feels unpleasant… Still, not knowing… I can't help being curious…'
But soon she shook her head and looked at Arin, who was rolling around on the bed as if it were her own.
'A country that comes out through a lottery… Yeah. No matter which country comes out, I can just follow along…'
* * *
Straw referred to beneficial transformation. For those who lived by consuming what grew from the earth, straw was both a gift and a material. It could become a house to dwell in, shoes to wear, or bags formed by binding and tangling. When there was no firewood, it could be burned. It was an essential item for making fermented foods, and even the ashes left after burning could be used. Truly, it was a remarkably useful thing.
However, this usefulness also implied "usefulness to humans." The symbolism clearly contained the element of "human." Useful to humans. Beneficial things. Things that could change. Yet still, things useful to humans. Just as the essence remained unchanged even as the form transformed endlessly, straw—however small and unremarkable—must always be beneficial to humans. No matter what form it took.
"Let us play through the night until the rooster crows, then return to our places and sleep. Let us sleep. Let us sleep."
Straw could become anything. As long as the condition of being beneficial to humans was met, it could take on any form imbued with magical meaning. Truly, it was an easy and excellent material to use.
Thus, a figure meticulously woven and bound entirely from straw appeared before Jinseong's eyes. It was the shape of a person, flickering in the light of a bright torch and casting shadows.
This was called a Jeung.