Requiem of Subdued Souls

Was there a monster?

Seol Young looked down at his sleeve but saw nothing.

“Why?”

“…”

Zaha was staring there.

And he said,

“It looks like you are free enough to go to such places. But now isn’t the time for that, though.”

“Then?”

“There seems to be a water ghost in our pond.”

“Pond?”

Seol Young tilted his head.

“Wouldn’t it be normal for the landlord not to be angry and ask me to come? Pure energy, demonic qi, and even the energy of the Tree Spirit God…”

“That is why it is weird.”

Zaha guided Seol Young, and they moved to the back of the building.

There was a pond there.

“Let’s see…”

Seol Young rolled up his sleeve to the middle of his arm and put his hand into the pond. He tried to stir between the lily stems, but nothing was caught. He didn’t even feel the energy of a water ghost.

“Nothing?”

“…”

Zaha was still frowning. He seemed to be in deep thought.

“Um, excuse….”

“Sit down.”

He went back inside and got the zither, and then he began to play it.

It was a more complicated song than earlier. What was he doing? Bragging?

Seol Young sat down and listened to it, but it didn’t sound good to his ears. It felt like random grains were being thrown.

When the song was over, Zaha asked,

“How is it?”

“It sounded ferocious.”

Seol Young answered honestly.

“The level is too high, so I cannot hear the essence of it.”

“…”

Zaha’s face became serious again.

He couldn’t understand him. There must have been some reason for Zaha to act like this, but Seol Young didn’t know what it was.

He didn’t even want to think about it. It felt like he wouldn’t like whatever it was.

After sitting for a while, he cleared his mind and asked,

“But where are the scrolls you had brought from the palace?”

“….”

Zaha was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear the question, so Seol Young asked again,

“The eight scrolls with the ghost stories written on them. Where did you put them?”

“Ah.”

Zaha looked up.

“The study.”

“I will go take a look at them since I am already here.”

“We should go together.”

The two left and went to the study.

Eight scrolls were neatly placed on the desk. Seol Young sat down on a chair and opened them one after another. 𝘣𝘦𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘰𝘳𝑔

“Among these, there were no ghost stories related to the corridor. The long corridor where we saw the God of Cataclysm. At least, the hallways should be similar, right?”

“The hallway where we heard the bell?”

“Yes. If not, maybe we should pay attention to the subjects of the stories. The God of Cataclysm must have been in the form of a woman…”

Sel Young looked at the scrolls one by one.

“The palace servant who was the owner of the shroud hanging in the closet and the concubine who was hanged to a pole in the palace—these two were women, for sure. There were girls among the twelve children who were buried alive, but nothing about the God of Cataclysm….”

“The rest is a palace worker who stole food, a prince who wandered around the medicine hall, and a torturer. Then the coffins.”

“Or could it have something to do with the stories at all? The ghost stories had rules. There might be a rule hidden in the corridor that no one knew….”

This kind of story was something Seol Young was interested in and liked. He forgot about everything else and fell in love with this.

He didn’t notice it, but Zaha was observing him beyond the scrolls.

The next day.

Seol Young got up and went to the Moon Palace. He met with the Governor in the hall and talked about the Princesses.

His role as an escort Hwarang was discussed too.

As he was about to go out after talking, Jin Rim stopped him.

“There are only a few Hwarangs in the White Tiger Troops, so it seems like a few of them might be busy spending the holiday with their friends. If you don’t have other plans, why not go over there and help?”

He knew this would happen because Baek Eon had tipped him off about it, but he was really happy.

“Thank you.”

Thank you for entrusting him with that mission.

Instead of answering, Jin Rim smiled.

Seol Young went out of the palace. His steps were light, and he headed for the market.

It was a place where he could feel the holiday atmosphere better than anywhere else in the capital.

There were fruits and various kinds of foods that looked so different. There were colorful clothes and fabrics being displayed. There was also a strange and unique smell.

“This is the essence brought in from the heavenly side.”

A tanned merchant smiled and said,

“And we have glass marbles here. It looks good when decorated with a robe and a belt. Like the young Lords there.”

Should he buy these for the kids?

Seol Young looked around.

And then he heard a loud voice,

“Look here! The maidens of heaven, elephants, and even monkeys are engraved on small beads! Will you believe me if I tell you that this was made by a ghost and not a human?!”

A ghost?

Even though he knew it was an exaggeration, his feet led him there.

Seol Young approached the man.

But then…

Pat!

…right in front of him.

With lightning speed, a kind of shock went through him from head to toe.

He went still.

‘What?’

His body was feeling strange. He couldn’t pinpoint what was weird, but it felt odd.

He tried raising his spiritual qi.

At that moment, he could feel the pain burning through the veins all over his body.

.

“…?”

Seol Young was shocked, but his spiritual qi didn’t respond.

‘What is this?’

He immediately put his hand on his sword.

But what was this?

His sword wasn’t moving either. The Sword Spirit also didn’t react.

He couldn’t believe it.

‘Why is this happening all of a sudden…’

He tried using his spiritual qi again, but it was still the same. He only felt the pain running through his mind. It seemed that his spiritual power had vanished.

When he was standing there blankly….

Puak!

Someone hit him on the shoulder, but he couldn’t see who or what it was.

Seol Young realized that he had lost his ‘ability to see.’

Puak!

And something pushed him again.

Things he didn’t know were gathering one by one. It seemed like Seol Young realized faster than anyone else that he could no longer see.

Puak!

Again, his body shook.

He couldn’t figure out what to do. It was all just white.

And then….

“Look ahead.”

A voice came from behind.

It was Zaha.

He looked ahead as he said that, and tiny lights shone in the air.

To give him direction.

Seol Young stared straight at them, and he tried to move faster, but they disappeared.

“Walk. And don’t look back.”

Another light shone in the air, and Seol Young walked slowly this time.

Wherever the lights shone, his eyes looked for them.

There were no more things that rushed at him. Soon, he safely got out of the market, and then his senses came back.

Seol Young looked back, and Zaha stood there with a serious face.

“My spiritual power vanished. What happened….”

“Look at your wrist.”

He untied the sleeve and rolled it up, but he saw nothing.

“I see nothing…”

“Look again.”

He wondered and looked at it again.

At that moment, a clear mark suddenly appeared, and it looked like several marks were overlapping.

Seol Young was surprised.

“Why did this reappear?”

“It never disappeared in the first place. And yet, for some reason, you alone couldn’t see it.”

Zaha said coldly.

“I said it from the start. It wasn’t a rope mark.”

“Then?”

“At that time, I observed it closely at the pond, and no matter how much I looked at it, it seemed like a chain.”

“Chain…”

Seol Young mumbled.

He was trying to come up with something to say.

“So you told me to catch the water ghost, which wasn’t really there. And that zither was….”

“True Vision Song. It is a song that cannot be played or heard if the mind is polluted. If you couldn’t hear it, then it would mean someone cursed you. I secretly tried to release it but failed. I couldn’t even get close to it.”

And so he followed him.

Seol Young asked,

“Why am I under a curse?”

“I don’t know, but I can tell you one thing.”

“That is?”

“Ever since I first heard about you from the broken tombs, there was one thing I was curious about”

Zaha said with a hard face.

“Is the reason why your teacher told you not to use sorcery really just for your body? To pacify the anger of various things, one has to feel what they went through to make them feel safe. Is that the only reason?”

Seol Young was dazed.

“I don’t know.”

The blood drained from his face.

“I don’t remember. All of a sudden, I cannot remember anything that happened. How did this happen?”

“It is blank.”

Zaha said,

“While filling the void hidden in the ghost stories, on the contrary, you yourself have been cursed. Curse of Void.”

“….”

“Like the objects in the ghost stories that have died and come back, something from the past has come for you.”

Zaha said.

“You need to remember what it is.”

TL/N: In old Korean, India, and China borders were the same.