Requiem of Subdued Souls

“Do you think that this is the end? It will never end like this! I will drag you down and see the end!”

A middle-aged man’s voice rang out from the mouth of the little girl.

It was Baek San.

‘How….?’

As soon as the shock went away, Seol Young’s eyes lit up with blue sparks. Everything that came out of the Princess’s mouth was what his teacher said.

He was boisterous and benevolent when he had to be, and he laughed and joked as well. And to think those words came from such a situation. It sounded like he was cursing, but they were actually words of warmth and affection.

But this spirit was looking into his memories and using the voice of his teacher to shatter his will.

It was a memory that only the two of them knew in this world. At that time, the expression of his teacher and his voice were all vivid to him.

They were memories that Seol Young cherished so much, and no evil spirit could so carelessly look into them. They were afraid of repercussions, so they avoided it.

But this one crossed the line. It seemed confident because of how many spirits it had gathered.

‘How dare….!’

His blood was boiling. With the Blue Rainbow sword in his hand, a blue aura rose like flames, and he immediately tried to cut it down.

But then a hand blocked him.

“Pretending to be strong?”

Zaha smiled.

And only then did he come to his senses. Losing one’s reason meant falling for the tricks of evil spirits.

Didn’t he act as if it would never happen to him?

‘I have nothing to say.’

His hot head cooled down.

“…”

Seol Young raised his spiritual power without another word.

“It hurts!”

A scream came out of the Princess’s mouth.

“You cursed bastard! I can see your future! You will have the most disgusting death ever! The spirits will gouge out your eyes and rip out your tongue! Your skin will be charred, and your limbs will be broken into millions of pieces! Everyone by your side will resent you and die horribly!”

When he didn’t listen, the evil spirits began to curse him in the most horrible manner.

“…”

However, both sides silently pressed on. They focused on making sure that their power didn’t drop.

The golden and blue light that circled around Princess narrowed in and entwined like two dragons.

“Ackk!”

A desperate scream rang out. The evil spirits reached their limit.

Tring.

A string connecting the dolls trembled.

Tring! Tring!

The bells rang in succession. Black lightning crackled along the rope.

The evil spirits were being cast out.

[Om—]

The dolls around them trembled as if they were alive.

[Om-]

A powerful mantra shook the air. The entire secret room shook.

The next moment.

Princess Ajin and the twelve dolls suddenly disappeared, and the same thing happened to Princess Ara, who was in the hands of her nanny.

“Princesses…”

The Queen screamed, and the entire surrounding changed.

They were no longer in the basement of the prayer room. They were in another dark place.

“What is this?! Where did my daughters go?! Where are we?!”

“Queen, you need to calm down. You have to calm yourself now.”

Zaha told her.

His sword began to shine, lighting the place. Finally, the surrounding scenery came into view.

Dark red pillars and a faded wooden door. Aside from them, the place was empty.

It was an eerie, old place.

“The old palace…”

A sigh escaped from everyone’s mouth.

.

“I knew it would be like this. I already expected that the evil spirits would escape into the old palace when they would be in danger.”

Seol Young said as he was taking out a pouch.

“I make the decisions here. I will catch the evil spirits hiding in the eight ghost stories and find the whereabouts of the Princesses.”

At the same time, he swung his sword with one hand. Blue letters began to fly in the air, and they brightly shone throughout the entire place as they spun around.

“I will draw a guardian deity so that the evil spirits cannot harm you. My Lady, keep the others safe.”

“I understand.”

Zaun took out a dagger for self-defense.

He was worried because she was pregnant, but she was so well-versed that he didn’t have to worry about her at all. It seemed like no one could touch her.

“Then.”

He left Zaun behind and hurriedly went outside. As soon as Zaha came out, he drew a pattern with a golden aura on the door, and it shone brightly in the dark.

“If we do this, we can quickly find something.”

And then he looked at Seol Young.

“Everything seems to be happening as planned?”

“That isn’t up to us, but on the others…”

Seol Young replied and reached for the pouch that had the scroll.

But at that moment, he felt a warm sensation in his right wrist. A sharp pain cut through his skin.

What?

He unwrapped the cloth around his wrist and held it up to the light. A thin red line was drawn across it.

Seol Young’s face twisted.

“When did this happen?”

Zaha looked at it.

“You didn’t notice you were hurt?”

“I wasn’t hurt…”

As he thought about it, he managed to come up with an answer.

“I get it. These are the rope marks.”

“Rope marks? Eh, not at all.”

“It is.”

Seol Young cut off Zaha’s words.

“It is not an ordinary wound. These are typical symptoms experienced by sorcerers who try to exorcise powerful evil spirits. Hallucinations and marks of the dead.”

“Marks of the dead?”

“It refers to scars left on the body when the deceased dies. Didn’t they say they were buried alive with their hands and feet tied? It is just them taking their anger out on me.”

Seol Young rubbed the wound on his wrist a couple of times.

The pain quickly went away, but it felt weird. It was going to continue hurting until the evil spirits were completely eradicated.

‘It bothers me so much.’

He tightened his sleeve again.

“We need to find the first ghost story quickly.”

The candles were lit by the courtiers, who were standing in a circle.

The faint light cast shadows in the old palace. There was no wind, yet there was a constant creaking sound from somewhere, and it felt like they were walking in deep water.

What the old eunuch said popped into his mind again.

‘It is alright as long as we know where we are and only protect what needs to be protected.’

This was the world of Ghost Stories.

As he continued to walk, he saw a room at the far end of the hallway. There was an old-style doorknob.

“What room is that?”

The two looked outside.

There were dozens of wooden bunks lined up left and right, rusty lanterns that had not been lit for a long time, and the drapery shook with its fibers unraveling because it was so worn out.

“Isn’t this the palace accommodation?”

The moment Zaha said that, one of the scrolls in the pouch began to glow blue.

“…!?”

The two exchanged meaningful glances.

“This is the first ghost story.”

“Let’s see.”

Seol Young took out the scroll and unfolded it.

—Palace Residence—

If you open your closet in the room and find that all your clothes are gone except for a skirt and a jacket being hung, you should never touch them.

Close the closet as it is, and without taking your eyes off that door, step back and go outside to your superior.

The superior would understand what had happened and immediately help you. On that day, you have to close your door and lock it so you can be alone.

Every time there is a knock on the door, knock back the same number of times.

Something like that.

What was the identity of the thing that was trying to harm?

It was a typical ghost story in which the important things were left blank.

“I don’t know what is being talked…”

“Let’s see.”

Zaha agreed and immediately went into the room.

“First, look for the closet.”

“This side.”

There was a wall lined up with closets, and the two of them searched the numerous doors and found it—the skirt and the jacket.

Here.

Needless to say, they attached a talisman to it right away.

The letters containing a spell were sucked into the clothes, and they caught on fire as a horrid scream rang out.

Numerous hands came out of the clothes that were hanging and were engulfed in flames.

“Is this its true identity?”

Zaha raised his sword.

“Well, just die first.”

His sword shone in gold, and he slashed a cross.

Seol Young threw talismans into the middle, and a series of explosions erupted.

Something seemed to be struggling to come out, but Zaha’s sword pierced its core.

With Zaha’s sword inserted in it, he infused spiritual power into it, and it exploded again.

The smoke vanished, and the place was quiet. Then the clothes burned and turned to ashes. After they entered the room, not even time had passed to burn a single stick of incense.

Following the rules was troublesome, and breaking them was easy.

“Then let’s take a closer look.”

Seol Young touched the ashes with his fingers, and the story slipped past him.

“The shroud of a royal court. It’s not a special story. It’s the story of someone stealing things made of high-quality material, and he tried to sell them, and they all got cursed.”

The object of fear, which had been omitted from the ghost story, was revealed, which meant the missing part was now filled. The power the ghost story had is gone now.

Thud!

The child’s doll that was in the closet fell out.

‘One person?’

Seol Young checked inside the closet. There were eight stories and twelve dolls, so it had to be more than one doll.

But this time, it was just one. Then it was safely sucked into the plaque.

Seol Young retrieved the plaque that he had hidden in the doll’s clothes and put it in his sleeve.

“We have caught one of the twelve.”

“Good start.” 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔

The two went outside, and at that moment, they found two people standing at the end of the hallway.

The twin princesses.

Ara and Ajin were standing straight in the darkness and looking their way with expressionless faces.

“There!”

The two ran hurriedly.