"Are you the one recommended by Gong-san?" asked a short-statured man.
Jin simply nodded.
More than a week had passed since the successful kidnapping of Yaga, thanks to Toji.
Kaori's pregnancy was becoming more and more visible, and the bank was threatening to seize their house after the loan they had taken out.
Jin was broke and about to become a father.
He needed money, and fast, or he would end up on the street once the bank repossessed the house.
'I managed to hide the bank loan from Kaori, but she'll find out sooner or later,' he thought, breaking into a cold sweat at the idea.
"Excellent. We need a capable man to eliminate this… thing," the man said in a flattering tone at first, but a flicker of fear crossed his face when mentioning the target.
After a brief general explanation, the man slid a photo of a rural village toward Jin.
The former employee nodded to show he understood the situation, then quickly read the information written on the back of the photo.
In short: Jin had to exorcise a village clearly under the influence of a curse.
Normally, this kind of task would be handled by the sorcerer clans managing the area.
But…
'If the local clans haven't eliminated it after all this time… then the spirit is at least a Grade 1 curse, or… Special Grade,' he analyzed while examining the notes.
In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen,
sorcerers are not individuals driven by noble intentions, like the classic heroes found in novels.
They are very similar to civil servants—or even salaried employees.
If a mission is dangerous but underpaid relative to the risk involved,
an ordinary sorcerer will avoid it.
That's why Mei Mei is alive and Nanami is dead.
One threw himself into the fray with respectable ideals, while the other noticed the anomaly in the situation and chose to avoid the storm.
Jin held nothing against Mei Mei.
After all, the former employee would probably have made a similar choice to the white-haired woman.
"Are you from this village?" Jin asked calmly after finishing gathering the information.
"Uh… yes. I'm the village chief. My name is Hanzo Aburame," he introduced himself somewhat hastily, thrown off by the sudden question.
Jin returned the photo with a gesture reminiscent of Hisoka flicking his playing cards, then stood up from his chair in the cheap restaurant.
He cast one last glance at the man.
"Consider the job done by the end of the week. However, don't forget the deposit tonight and finalize payment once the task is complete," he declared before walking away.
"Absolutely, curse master sir," the man said with a bow, relieved that Jin was leaving the table.
While walking through an alley, Jin gazed at the night sky, thinking back on the villagers' symptoms.
A smallpox epidemic.
This outbreak had struck a village not far from the city of Sendai, where Jin and his family lived.
The former employee had already heard about it on the news, but he never would have believed it was the work of a high-level cursed spirit.
'Is this a cursed spirit of the same type as Jogo and Dagon?' he wondered, frowning.
There are cursed spirits born from urban legends, spread by word of mouth among the population.
These rumors generate cursed energy, which eventually gives birth to a high-ranking cursed spirit.
This phenomenon also applies to nature itself.
If the population suffers too much from earth-related climatic phenomena, then an entity like Hanami will eventually be born, nourished by the "curses" uttered by humans.
So Jin wasn't wrong.
The cursed spirit hidden in the village was no ordinary one.
The village chief had withheld certain information because he feared further refusals.
As for why Gong had recommended Jin for this job?
The former employee had asked him if he knew a quick way to make money.
'You need to be at least a Grade 1 sorcerer to complete this mission successfully… But even then, victory isn't guaranteed,' he thought to himself.
Just as Jin was considering calling Yaga for the first time or canceling the deal, he received a notification from Kaori.
[Come home…]
[We need to talk]
Jin frowned after reading it, but decided to put Kaori on hold.
From his memories as Claud, the former employee knew that when a woman says "we need to talk," it's rarely a good sign.
This was definitely not the time.
'Weird… but suddenly the cursed spirit feels less dangerous than going home,' Jin thought as he put on his Vanir mask.
The Vanir mask.
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It is a magical piece of equipment developed by Wiz to sell in her magic item shop in the adventurer city of Axel.
The mask was modeled after the one worn by the archdemon Vanir. It has the ability to boost magical abilities, increase blood flow, and give the wearer's skin a healthy glow under a full moon.
The one Jin usually wears on missions is a mass-produced variant Wiz created for commercial purposes.
It allows Jin to take on the appearance of Kazuma Satō.
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That's also why Jin was surprised that Gong had managed to connect him to the curse master mentioned in rumors.
Jin's true appearance bore no resemblance to Kazuma in thief mode.
"Now that I have my work outfit…"
Jin sent an apologetic message to Kaori before leaping onto a rooftop to traverse the city.
[I can't come home today. There's an important deadline on a major project.]
[I'll probably be putting in a lot of overtime.]
…
"Indeed, the local sorcerer clans were right to refuse this mission," Jin muttered, dressed in black, after arriving.
It was already very late at night.
Jin hadn't sensed anyone around him since arriving in the smallpox-stricken village.
Yet… he felt it.
The presence of a very high-grade curse.
The entity was potentially the most powerful creature Jin had ever faced.
"I never thought I'd have to thank Aqua one day," he said as he pulled an amulet from the dimensional pocket where the rest of Kazuma's cosplay accessories still rested.
Jin took out an amulet he usually avoided using because of its extremely precious value.
Megumin's amulet.
A magical item capable of nullifying the effect of a curse on its wearer thanks to the influence of Aqua's sealed hair inside.
Jin had no idea why Megumin had also used strands of Darkness's and her own hair in its creation, but it didn't matter.
This object had the potential to help him one day… if he ever had to face Satoru Gojo.
'The problem of contracting smallpox because of the curse is solved with this, but…'
Another problem remained, judging by the cursed energy residues on the ground.
The cursed spirit was clearly very active.
This situation demonstrated great arrogance on the creature's part: it had enough confidence in its strength to crush any intruders.
It didn't seem to need cunning.
"Hm… it's too late to abandon this quest now. I'd better investigate," he said quietly while observing the traces on the ground.
The further Jin advanced into the village, the more he saw, through the windows, sick people or those wearing mournful expressions.
This place had been slowly but surely transformed by the cursed spirit into a reservoir of raw negative energy.
If Jin didn't exorcise this spirit, it would surely become much more powerful thanks to the curses uttered by the inhabitants against the smallpox.
"Gyiii… giiii…"
After several minutes, Jin finally traced all the residues back to his target.
A grotesque creature stood atop a medical clinic.
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'Fuck… that thing is ugly,' he thought inwardly while concealing his presence as best he could using the Lurk skill.
This skill only cost one point, but it was incredibly useful in the long run.
After confirming that the spirit hadn't detected him,
Jin carefully drew Chunchunmaru from his pocket dimension before pulling from the small pouch at his waist a tin can fitted with a short fuse.
A Jam tin grenade (WWI).
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It is a grenade consisting of an inner casing containing an explosive and an outer casing filled with metal fragments or steel balls.
Jin couldn't easily defeat a Grade 1 cursed spirit, based on his experience against the serpentine creature during his first hunt.
Troubled by his weakness, he remembered the wise words of an explosion-obsessed loli:
'If one explosion isn't enough, then a second one~' he recalled after returning home injured.
Fortunately for him, Kaori had gone to take care of her father at the nursing home.
He had been able to hide all traces of his injuries.
Later, he turned to creating poisons and explosives to compensate for his weaknesses.
That was when Jin remembered World War II and discovered the existence of this homemade grenade: the famous Jam tin grenade (WWI).
It was also around that time that his forging skill proved particularly useful for his evolution.
This skill isn't just for forging; it's also for crafting and maintaining equipment.
Jin simply replaced the nails meant to be propelled by the explosion with fragments of damaged cursed weapons, which he easily found on the black market at a reasonable price.
As for poisons? They're meant for sorcerers, not cursed spirits.
Toji had shown him the effectiveness of an ordinary weapon when he completed his mission against Geto.
"Art is an explosion," he muttered as he threw the grenade toward the cursed spirit.
The moment the grenade struck the beast, it performed a strange hand sign while looking toward Jin.
Bam.
Bieng.
Two sounds rang out at that moment.
The first was the devastating blast of the explosion, accompanied by cursed object fragments propelled at high speed.
The second was a sound familiar to every Jujutsu Kaisen fan.
Jin had just been trapped in a Domain Expansion.
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