05. A Deal with the Devil (4)

Yesterday afternoon. Baek Ji-soo rejected our offer to go together and said:

‘I have a schedule today. Sorry.’

Is that schedule for learning a new spell?

Baek Ji-soo and her teacher, a member of the witch’s family.

Also, although it is not certain, the lineage of Baek Ji-soo, who is assumed to be not an ordinary human.

Somehow it felt unusual for her to learn a new spell, having grown up in a special environment.

I opened my mouth half filled with tension and anticipation. Even Kertatus in his head felt tense.

“What kind of order is this?”

“Do you know King Solomon?”

“Um, I remember. Aren’t you the king of Israel?”

A king from a very distant past, commonly known as the King of Wisdom. I know the name because it often appears in the Bible or textbooks.

The story of finding the real mother by asking to divide the child in half, or tricking the devil by making the sheep cross the bridge first is very famous in Korea as well.

Baek Ji-soo nodded his head slightly.

“Solomon is famous as the king of wisdom, but in the field of occult science, he is also famous as the wizard who sealed 72 demons.”

Yoon Seo-hee reacted to those words.

“I heard! Are you talking about the 72 demons of Solomon?”

“You know?”

“Yes. I’ve been looking for some… But there wasn’t a name called Kertatus there, was there?”

“Right. But while Certatus may not be the demon Solomon sealed away, it is true that Solomon is an excellent demon sealer. The magic book he left behind was a textbook and guide for wizards in the Middle Ages.”

Baek Ji-soo drew a picture with her finger on the table.

“According to legend, Solomon had a ring that could command the devil just by wearing it.”

[Ha! An order from the devil? There’s no way that would be possible for a mere human wizard. It’s only at the level of commanding a few low-level demons, but that’s an exaggeration. Short-lived races are always like that. They say they exaggerate their history to the point of being a legend or something.]

Kertatus sneered and said, but Jisoo Baek couldn’t hear what he was talking about. He had to pretend to be strong enough to tell me that he was half bluffing, as I was mind-connected with Certatus.

Every time her fingers brush the table, a magic circle is drawn with soft white light. It was a simple pattern in which two triangles overlapped in a circle to become a hexagon.

“It’s Solomon’s seal. In the future, it would be meaningless to use this spell, but if it’s a demon with only a soul left without a body like now, it might work. So, please engrave this seal on the ring as well.”

“Huh? Can’t I engrave it myself?”

I think it would be convenient to engrave a magic circle on the ring just like the picture I just drew.

But Baek Ji-soo shook his head as if that wasn’t enough.

“It’s not enough to write on the surface. I need to imprint the seal on the ring itself. And can you fill his groove with brass?”

“It’s not that hard… brass?”

“As far as I know, Solomon’s ring is made of iron and brass. I want to fulfill the conditions as much as possible.”

Iron and brass. Not gold? Well, it was said that people at that time couldn’t tell the difference between gold and brass, so I somehow understood it. If it wasn’t as expensive as gold, it wasn’t a problem since this studio also had brass.

Iron is a bit ambiguous. I don’t know if I can call the magic stone iron. The horse uses the character stone (石) because this is closer to metal. It can be regarded as a mineral similar to iron.

I grabbed a carving knife to engrave on the ring. Craftwork requires sophistication, so it was uneasy to entrust it only to Yoon Seo-hee, no matter how good her dexterity was. Still, without an aura, she couldn’t even carve the magic stone ring at all, so she decided to help in another way.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes. Stay there now.”

“I’m a bit nervous….”

“It’s okay. You just need to match my movements.”

Crunchy. I delicately carved the outer surface of the ring with a carving knife with an aura.

Yoon Seo-hee was holding a golden orchid in one hand behind my back so as not to obstruct my vision, and holding the back of the carving knife with the other hand, blowing aura.

Since I had to keep the aura intact, Seo-hee’s hand was naturally placed on top of mine, and her upper body clung to my back.

“Looking at Lee, Jini Lee, etc., It is very wide?”

“Is that so?”

Since she wields a hammer every day, there is a sense that her back and shoulder muscles are more developed than others. Since it’s me and my body, I haven’t been very impressed so far, but I’m sure others can see it that way.

“Yes. And it’s very solid… It’s hard, it’s really hard….”

“… ? Thanks?”

I also feel the touch of something soft on my back, but since she seems to have been so focused on her aura that she didn’t notice it, she decided not to bother. If you have to tell them, it will only embarrass each other, so it would be better to just end it quickly.

“… ….”

And I don’t know why, but Baek Ji-soo’s eyes are stinging as he looks this way.

Her face is still expressionless… Are you in a bad mood? Why?

In the midst of the chaos, I tried to stay focused and engraved all the inscriptions on the ring. I engraved it, but it was perfect without being disturbed as if I had drawn it with a ruler.

As Baek Ji-soo requested, the brass was melted and densely filled into the empty groove of the ring, and the ring with golden hexagons engraved on the silver ring was completed.

“Um.”

It’s well made, but looking at it this way, it looks like a souvenir ring sold in an occult shop. The perfection is good, but rather, it’s made so well that it’s a bit burdensome visual to wear.

If you wear this, wouldn’t it look like a second grader who fell into the occult? Well, among the top hunters, there are people who wear more occult-like equipment than this, so I guess it’s okay.

I handed the completed ring to Baek Ji-soo.

“Is this enough?”

“Yes. That’s enough.”

Baek Ji-soo unstopped a glass bottle of holy water and poured out the contents on the floor.

I was surprised for a while because I wondered if I was throwing away that precious thing, but the holy water that had been poured out indiscriminately emits a soft light, then moves on its own and draws a six-pointed star on the ground.

“Ohh….”

“Wow, pretty….”

Me and Yoon Seo-hee burst into admiration at the same time that she looked more magical than the magic she had seen at the academy.

Baek Ji-soo slowly opened her mouth in the Six Stars.

“According to the legend, there are two theories as to why Solomon’s ring was able to control the devil. That there was a strong magic. Another is that you are blessed by God.”

The Six Stars emitted stronger and stronger light. Even though it was indoors, the wind was blowing from somewhere, and Baek Ji-soo’s hair was shaking little by little.

“I don’t know which of the two is true. But it doesn’t matter.”

Baek Ji-soo opened the hand holding the ring. Then, the ring floated in the empty air.

“Because you can try both.”

At that moment, a strong wind blew through the room, making it hard to even open your eyes.

Hwa aak – When a strong wind hit the dying furnace, the temperature of the furnace began to rise rapidly, and I and Yoon Seo-hee frowned at the sudden hot wind. However, Baek Ji-soo was concentrating on his consciousness with a calm face as if nothing had happened.

Baek Ji-soo licked his lips and uttered a language that sounded like an incantation. All I could understand was that it was a Hebrew word.

[This, this… !]

The startled voice of Kertatus.

Every time the spell continues, the sacred magical power permeated in the holy water and the pure white magical power of the white water are integrated into the ring.

She looked like an angel without wings as she cast a spell with a calm face in the pure white light.

“גם זה יעבור.”

With those words, the light faded in an instant.

The studio suddenly became quiet. As if the holy water evaporated and disappeared, the magic circle that filled her floor did not even leave a wet mark.

“… It’s over.”

I hurriedly supported the shoulders of Baek Ji-soo, who was staggering and unable to keep his body still.

“Are you okay?”

“Eh. A little bit of magic, a lot… Wait, I was just dizzy.”

The already pale complexion of Baek Ji-soo, who was already white, was clearly visible even in the dark studio.

The person who came to visit the hospital must have been Baek Ji-soo, but only now I don’t know who the patient is. What? Haven’t you thought of this before?

I carefully supported Baek Ji-soo and sat him in his chair.

“You worked hard, so take a break. Thank you, Jisoo.”

She closed her trembling eyelids as if she didn’t have the energy to answer, and only nodded her head very slightly.

I held the magic stone ring handed over to Baek Ji-soo in my hand.

Externally, there was not much change from before. However, a huge force swirled inside. As the soul stone fragment in his heart thumped, he could feel the tension of the Kertatus inside him.

‘Hey. There’s no way a human mage or something like that is possible?’

[…] Words… No.]

Astonished. And negative.

But no matter how much I denied reality, it was useless. This magic stone ring I’m holding… No, let’s call it a replica of Solomon’s Ring.

The ring that was confirmed using the analysis had a tremendous effect, even taking into account some limitations.

Absolute command over the devil.

It was the moment when A and E were reversed.