Can't see it?
The raccoon den prepared for the chilly Camella.
Jinhyuk prepared some cold black tea and opened the door.
Even though he opened it just for a brief moment, smoke leaked out.
Jinhyuk quickly closed the door behind him as he stepped inside and took a seat.
Fortunately, it didn't seem like she was smoking anything too harsh.
His eyes weren't stinging, and he wasn't coughing.
"Have a full cup of black tea first."
"Nice."
Camella took the cup and leaned back into the recliner sofa.
The Jinhyuk and Kancho duo settled in beside her.
And then.
Rub rub rub.
They started massaging her arms.
A service for the elderly one who'd worked hard stamping out talismans.
Camella wore a deeply satisfied expression.
"This is a nice place."
"It's all thanks to the boss's grace! Be grateful, you cultist!"
"Hey, you little maggot."
"What's that? Isn't it a basket?"
"Tsk tsk, your vocabulary is still lacking."
"If I'd lived a few hundred years, I'd be good at it too."
"That makes some sense. Anyway, get down there and massage my feet. Your fur tickles."
Kancho glanced at Jinhyuk.
"You can't blow it up."
"Right. Too bad."
Kancho nodded and obediently moved down to massage her feet.
Of course.
"Is this a room for people or a raccoon den? Even a raccoon would cough and run away if it came here."
He didn't forget to grumble nonstop.
"Huuu."
Camella exhaled smoke with a smile.
"That one's definitely possessed by Satan."
Jinhyuk turned toward Momo, who was massaging his shoulders, reaffirming his conviction once again.
"You're surprisingly good with your hands. I thought it'd be totally ineffective, but it's really nice."
"Momo can do anything!"
The greedy collector Momo puffed out her chest.
Naturally, she started putting even more effort into the massage.
Praise that could make even a whale dance.
Momo had no way to resist it.
"The black tea is really tasty too. Where'd you get it?"
"This? I got some from the British royal family."
"Oh?"
Camella looked intrigued.
No wonder the flavor and depth were exceptional.
"Do you know someone in the royal family?"
"I'm friends with the one who's about to become queen."
"Oooh? You have more friends than I thought. I figured you'd have none."
Jinhyuk made a sad face.
As expected from a pantheon god.
He wasn't completely friendless.
He'd just made a few recently.
Camella leaned back with a mysterious smile.
Jinhyuk was just twenty-two years old.
Yet he had connections like that?
It meant the path he'd walked so far hadn't been ordinary.
Even just from yesterday and today, it was like this—things would only get more intense from here, not less.
"As thanks for the arm massage, I'll read your fortune."
Jinhyuk's eyes sparkled fiercely.
He'd been thinking about asking her anyway.
He didn't really believe in shamanism, but he'd always been interested in things like four pillars of destiny or divine fortune-telling.
"Read Momo's too!"
"Read mine too!"
"Eek!"
Kancho kicked Momo aside and claimed the front spot.
Camella pointed at Kancho with her pipe.
"You're headed straight to hell."
"As expected from a cultist."
Kancho abruptly lost interest and returned to his spot to continue the massage.
To keep massaging even after hearing he's hell-bound.
He's a guy with no grudges.
"What about Momo!? What about Momo!?"
"You're going to be very rich. You'll have so many gold coins you can't even hold them all in those tiny hands."
"I love gold coins!!"
Momo grinned widely and sped up her massage.
It was Jinhyuk's turn next, and he swallowed dryly.
Camella examined him very carefully, unlike before.
She frowned just a tiny bit.
Jinhyuk sucked in a breath.
Was it a bad omen?!
"You sturdy kid. If you've got some rice, hand it over."
"Here!"
Momo handed over a handful of rice.
Camella took it and closed her eyes.
'Ooh.'
Jinhyuk had seen this on TV.
The method of picking rice grains one by one to divine the future... Whoosh!
'Huh?'
Jinhyuk's eyes shook wildly.
Rice grains scattered across his face.
She'd thrown them so hard it actually stung a bit.
Maybe the massage wasn't to her liking?
"Even this doesn't work?"
It wasn't going as she thought.
Camella let out a low groan.
"Can't be helped."
Camella bit the tip of her finger.
She smeared the oozing blood on Jinhyuk's forehead.
"What are you smearing on the boss?!"
Kancho protested, but Camella ignored him and continued focusing.
Jinhyuk's tension skyrocketed along with it.
It was like waiting after a health checkup while the doctor says, 'This isn't good. Really not good,' without explaining why.
After some time passed.
Camella opened her eyes and shrugged.
"I give up."
After smearing blood and everything?!
"Cultist! Don't give up! See it through to the end!"
"What won't work just won't work."
Jinhyuk, who'd been listening quietly, put on a resolute expression.
"No, Camella. I'm ready to accept any future. So you can tell me."
"It's not that. I really can't see anything."
Camella sighed deeply and continued.
"What do you think fortune-telling or four pillars interpretation is?"
"Predicting the future?"
"It's somewhat right, but if you insist on whether it's accurate or not, it's not. What a fortune-teller sees is the future based on the circumstances at that exact moment of divination."
"So if the situation changes, the future changes too?"
"You catch on quick, that's nice. Situations can change any number of ways, by choice or otherwise. Naturally, the future changes with them. Sometimes there are people whose changes are endless. For those people, no matter when you divine, nothing clear shows up."
"I'm one of those cases, huh."
"Sort of... yeah?"
Camella answered vaguely and bit down on her pipe.
Then she closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair.
Jinhyuk accepted it with an 'oh well' and continued the massage.
Camella subtly opened her eyes and stared at Jinhyuk.
'This is a first. For me to see absolutely nothing.'
She didn't show it, but she was honestly flustered.
She'd even used blood.
Something should have appeared.
But all she saw from Jinhyuk was pitch-black darkness.
"What are you sneaking glances at the boss f—"
Smack!
Camella swung her fan.
Kancho went rolling far away.
'Is it really because his changes are so endless that no future is set?'
Camella shook her head.
Theoretically possible, but realistically unlikely.
'If not...'
Then only one possibility remained.
Camella narrowed her eyes.
She'd never encountered it before.
'Daring not to allow me to peek, a human on a whole different level from me.'
A smile full of intrigue curved on Camella's lips as she looked at Jinhyuk.
She was truly satisfied.
He had to be at least this level to be worth serving as a master.
"I can't take it anymore!!"
Kancho, having rolled away and returned, lunged at Camella.
And with that, the peaceful massage time came to an end.
[Entering the Tower of Despair, 61st Floor.]
"Grrrrr!"
"That Satan-possessed guy."
Camella backed away in disgust.
Her neatly arranged long hair had been yanked into a mess by Kancho.
Elia approached and lowered her voice.
"It's best not to mess with that crazy furball, you know?"
"Crazy furball?"
"Spot on."
"Fits him perfectly."
"What are you two old hags mumbling about!?"
Kancho tried to charge again, but Seira pulled him back.
After barely stopping the fight, they moved forward.
"Haaa."
White breath scattered into the air.
From the 61st floor, it was the snowy region.
Temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees as a baseline, and the colder floors could hit minus 60.
"Brrr, my bones are freezing."
"Momo's gonna freeze to death!"
"Huuu."
Instead of shivering, Camella maintained her elegant poise and exhaled smoke.
"Aren't you cold, Camella? Can you raise your heat with talismans or something?"
"No? My body's frozen solid."
"Ah?"
Only her mouth wasn't frozen, so she'd been moving that at least.
Elia and Momo looked at Kancho with envy.
The fluffy Kancho, oblivious to the cold, was dashing back and forth across the snowfield as usual.
"I should've stopped by the Yeon Trading Company first."
Yoo Soo-yeon had contacted him.
She'd prepared warm fur clothes for Jinhyuk, who was about to enter the 61st floor region.
He'd have to go get them tomorrow.
"Momo, can you start a bonfire?"
"Yeah!"
As if waiting for it, Momo lit a fire since it was too cold.
"It won't light!"
"It's fine. With my whoosh oil, no problem, right?"
Elia sprinkled black oil.
In an instant, flames shot up to the sky.
This wasn't a bonfire; it was a massive blaze.
"Haaa. Nice."
"Warm!"
Camella, Elia, and Momo gathered around the fire, looking like they could finally live.
"Warm yourselves by the fire and wait. Seira, Dark, and I will go and come back. Kancho, you come too. Momo, be careful not to singe your eyebrows like last time."
"Deploying for recon!"
Kancho crawled low through the snow, advancing quickly.
The three who didn't feel the cold also stepped into the blizzard.
"Oh? Reinforcements?!"
An old man in thick fur clothes approached Jinhyuk's group.
Like the previous orc region, the 61st floor region had a story that continued floor by floor.
The grandfather who'd just arrived was Noir, the Inuit tribe's commander-in-chief leading the snowfield battles.
"Hm?! Not just one today! Well, the more the merrier!"
"One more is out on recon."
"Excellent! Taking initiative on recon without being asked! But we need to hurry. Or you'll freeze to death in this brutal cold."
The mission on the 61st floor was to find and destroy yeti dens buried in the snow.
Surviving the extreme cold was the real challenge, more than the monsters' strength.
A burrow appeared in the ground, and pop—Kancho emerged.
"Mission return! Found a total of 27 yeti dens!"
"Good, good. Destroy those and it'll be clear. Grandpa Commander, this little guy will guide you to the dens."
"No need to go!"
Commander Noir looked puzzled.
"No need to go?! If we don't take out the ambushing yetis, we'll get attacked during the adv—"
Before Noir could finish.
Boom!!!
Massive explosions erupted from all directions.
Deafening roars echoed, and snow shot high into the sky.
Mixed in were traces of yetis caught in the blasts.
The sensible Yodel Ranger squad leader Kancho.
He hadn't just scouted—he'd meticulously planted bombs too.
"Gwaaaar!!"
Commander Noir roared with his mouth wide open.
After staying like that for a while, Noir turned to Jinhyuk and the group.
"It's been a while since some refreshingly efficient friends showed up!"
He burst into hearty laughter, clearly pleased with their performance.
"We didn't do anything. Uh...?"
Jinhyuk trailed off, puzzled.
For some reason, Dark was staring blankly into the distance with a dazed look.
What was he looking at?
----------
T/N:
Just for being a free member, you'll get 5 advanced chapters every week!
Access 35 chapters in advance on my Patreon:[email protected]//towerup