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[Alexandr Korol]

because he was asking questions exactly like from my draft notebook, almost as if he wanted to decode it further. And he told me that he had always been interested in everything anomalous, unique, and spiritual that exists in the world. He had watched every possible video, every program on the subject, traveled to different countries, met with different “indigo children,” psychics — basically, he had studied it all. And from what I could tell, his approach was like what you see nowadays: there are entrepreneurs, even on a global scale, who make an effort to visit unique sacred places. And this man had that kind of approach. He wasn’t strange or eccentric like people who believe in miracles and esotericism often are — he wasn’t like that at all. On the contrary, that was the whole point — this Alexandr “the Businessman” was a serious, educated man who, like you sometimes see in movies, had everything in life but was curious to understand something inexplicable. He wanted to understand it all just for himself. Maybe he had a hungry mind, a sharp intellect, and was just built in a way that made him want to know and analyze everything. Of course, that’s just my guess — maybe something else pushed him toward all this. Maybe he went through some misfortune, or something bothered him deeply. But he never told me that directly — he never looked me in the eyes and said it. And he told me that no matter how many people he had met, no matter who he had talked to, or what he had thought before — that I was the one most closely aligned with the truth. He said that for the first time, he was seeing someone who was truly real sitting in front of him. He clearly said that no one had ever impressed or astonished him like I had. And again, you see, that same period of time — that stretch of years when I was receiving this overwhelming support and faith from all sides. See how the circumstances were aligning? On the one hand, there were silly young people from school or university laughing, pointing fingers at me. And maybe there were people on social media saying, “Oh, what a weirdo, posting strange things.” But in my actual, real life, that cycle was filled with serious, respectable people all telling me that I was unique. Maybe I was at some crossroads then — maybe I was close to giving up — and suddenly all these people showed up. I don’t know. But it really was “wow.” I even remember that before I ever met Valentina for the first time, there was this woman... well, not a girl — she was twice my age, a photographer. I think her name was Natalia. Natasha. Her last name started with a “G.” And she offered to take some photos of me.