Requiem of Subdued Souls

Black smoke billowed out of the blurred vision. It soon turned into weirdly used characters that were used in the underworld.

Seol Young could read it.

“What must happen will happen…”

With those words, Seol Young felt like he had awoken from a dream, and Zaha asked,

“Is that what your teacher said?”

“It wasn’t that, but it must have something to do with the mysterious power that the evil spirit has.”

The memory of his teacher was cut off, but this time, he had a clue.

His head was spinning nonstop. It seemed wrong to sleep tonight. Seol Young realized that he had been up from his seat before he knew it and sat down again.

“Causality.”

First of all, he got lucky with it.

“Isn’t the law of causality like, if there is a cause, there must be an effect?”

“Then the power that thing uses is the law of cause and effect…”

Zaha was also lost in thought.

“How do we interpret this?”

“Maybe…”

Seol Young began to think and touched his left wrist.

As he kept touching it, the golden letters engraved on it began to get crushed by his fingers. Then he thought about what Zaha would say if it cleared up, so he pulled his hand back.

“Because of the fact that someone’s blood was shed on the harp box, the result is that the person will die inside it. Is it something like that?”

“The moment someone shoots an arrow at the top of the harp box, the law of causality starts. It has been hurting people like that until now, and through it, it gains more power. It can be like that too.”

Zaha organized it.

“But aren’t there absolute things in the world? No matter how bound you are by the rules, there are exceptions. Everyone predicts that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, but there is a once-in-a-thousand chance for the sun not to rise.”

“Then we need to aim for the once-in-a-thousand chance.”

Seol Young agreed.

Little by little, things seemed to be clearing up.

“That is how it gets its power, so we need to break it. And then the curse will be broken.”

“Maybe you can find the pieces of your lost memories. It might bring back your memories of the Blank Demon.”

“Then….”

Seol Young collected his thoughts.

“To break the law of causality by breaking through the ten thousandth possibility and preventing a murder, we need to know about that day in more detail. If only we can find out how Third-rang gets inside the harp box at all….”

“Will that make it easier to stop it? If only you could see the scene before what you foresaw.”

“But is that possible?”

Seol Young was looking serious.

“There are times when people like shamans get a glimpse of the future, but that is all just a coincidence…”

“Still, you have to do it. You need to check that scene.”

Zaha lowered his voice.

“There is a way. Originally, I wasn’t going to talk about this, but now that you can’t see anything, we have to do it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Thievery.”

“…”

“Isn’t it time to cover things up?”

While he himself said it reluctantly, when Seol Young hesitated, Zaha chose to boldly say it.

“Your third hyung is in danger of dying, and you still think you shouldn’t steal right now?”

“No. Just that, when I became a trainee, I promised never to steal…”

Actually, a vague memory hit him.

Seol Young tried to think about it, but his head hurt. Where could he even go when his entire mind was foggy?

When he thought about it, it seemed like the gathering was over, and his three hyungs must have gone to sleep.

Suddenly, it dawned on him that he was the only one alive here.

Like the festival, which started out unusually, the end seemed unusual too.

“If it goes as we predicted…”

Zaha continued.

“The ritual will be canceled and will turn into a rite for the ancestors. Let’s find out why.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young nodded his head.

Their thoughts were right.

The next day, the King issued an order.

The Great Heavenly Pavilion head, which read the will of the heavens, and those who oversaw the rituals being done—the King gathered them all and said,

“Actually, only the pavilion should be holding the ritual alone, but the previous King appeared in my dream last night and told me to hold the ceremony like normal. Just in time for the festival, the place has been cleared, and the altar has been decorated, so you can smoothly prepare for it.”

“Yes. However, the Hwarangs have been put through an extensive schedule for….”

“There is no need for all of them to participate, right? The Governor and the Hwarangs who can quickly come are enough.”

“The White Tiger Troops have no missions the next day.”

“Then call them for the ritual.”

If it was the next day, then it was the day the incident would happen, and Seol Young listened with a cold body,

‘This is how it happens?’

As soon as he went out, the Pavilion Head was there, looking shocked.

“There is no way the previous King would give such a revelation. What kind of dream did he have for this to happen? This is all because of you!”

She glared at Seol Young.

“Is Seol Young-rang just going to keep taking the harp box? Other supernatural calamities had been solved well until now, but why has this one not yet been solved? Can you really solve it?”

She asked him with eyes full of doubt, to which Seol Young coldly said,

“The investigation has already been completed, and the decision will be given soon. Anyway, to break the harp box, we need the ritual to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Pavilion Head, you don’t need to know. I don’t even know either.”

Zaha intervened.

At that time, the three Hwarangs of the White Tiger Troops appeared as if they had heard about what happened and found Seol Young.

“A sudden ancestral ritual? We were just on our way back to work and…”

Baek Eon said to Zaha,

“There are almost no Hwarangs in the capital right now who can follow the orders of the King.”

“It is quite sudden. The late King appeared in his dream to say something important.”

“Is that so? We thought it had something to do with what Seol Young-rang urgently reported last night.”

When Seol Young heard that, he thought about it and asked,

“Were you waiting for me?”

“No.”

Song Ok shook his head.

“At a glance, we knew you were probably working overtime and felt bad for you since you couldn’t drink, and then someone collected arrows in the training hall and locked them. Was it you?”

“Ah, sorry. I was going to take them out, but I forgot.”

“What kind of joke were you trying to play? My righteous weapon was missing.”

Hyo Wol said, and it made Seol Young shocked.

“I borrowed it for a while because of work. I should have told you….”

“Enough. When did we care about such things?”

Hyo Wol smiled brightly.

The righteous tools held their own spiritual qi, and some people would never like to pass them on to others.

But these four were so innocent that it was common for them. So Hyo Wol didn’t think it was strange.

“I will return it later.”

If he returned it now, Hyo Wol would know that his weapon had sucked his blood and would be shocked.

“Do not worry about it. See you at the ritual.”

And the three of them went to the Great Heavenly Pavilion Hall because they had to talk about what they would do.

After everyone had left, Seol Young stood there pretending like nothing was wrong, but his mind was losing it.

“This is what causality is, so it is so scary. It isn’t some evil force, but it isn’t a good one, either. It’s just a law, a law that affects even the King.”

“Did you see it? It was as if telling us not to even think about changing fate. A ritual was created and pointed out your hyungs.” 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Zaha also acknowledged those words with a stiff face.

“It has been like that ever since. The more you avoid it, the more the rope tightens and helplessly drags you into the destiny you cannot escape from.”

Cynicism flashed across his face.

“But that is all over. Let’s go.”

While the Pavilion Head was busy, they had to move, so Seol Young and Zaha went to the shrine with the excuse of putting the harp box back in its place.

“Let’s see…”

There, the two inspected the harp box again, just to distract the officials. After opening and closing it a couple of times, Seol Young suddenly came up with an idea.

“There may be a surprisingly simple solution. If we fill the inside with light and bulky things, who would be able to fit inside it?”

There was a vase with flowers in the room, so he grabbed it and put it inside the harp box. And then he opened and closed the lid. When he looked inside again, the vase was missing.

“Did it swallow it?”

“Forget it. Let’s not do anything stupid.”

Zaha, who was carefully watching the movements of the heavenly officials, spoke.

The hall was empty. With the Pavilion Head being strict, everyone relaxed when she wasn’t around.

In addition, their colleague was killed, so they held a peace ritual for him.

“Hurry.”

They headed for the candle stand that Zaha had seen earlier.

He twisted it like last time, and the passage opened up, revealing chests in the darkness.

“Come in quickly.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young hurried inside, and the wall closed behind them.

“This way.”

Zaha went through the aisle full of chests, and then, at some point, he twisted another candle holder, and the wall slid open.

Sel Young asked curiously,

“Do you want to just leave?”

“Shhh.”

Beyond, there was another space.

“Is this a trap?”

“This is the right way. But I have no idea how many traps are here.”

“Then how do you avoid all of them?”

“Because I have tricks up my sleeve.”

Right, he did.

That was the bad luck of the Great Heavenly Pavilion.

Zaha raised the energy from his sword and projected it around.

“Now, be quiet, and look for it.”

“What should I be looking for?”

“Mirror.”

“What kind?”

“Life and Death. I knew it from the journals these people have. It is one of the ten treasures of the shrine, and it is said that when you look into it, the most important fate will be shown.”

Zaha said as he walked ahead.

“Not everyone can use it, but I was a priest once….”

That was his plan.

Seol Young followed him and looked around. Some places creaked, so he walked slowly.

‘To think the High Governor will be stealing things from a treasured place of a shrine.’

Seol Young felt nervous at the thought of someone finding out about it.

Eventually, a round place appeared.

Ten pillars stood tall in the room. And there were items placed around. No matter who sees them, they are undoubtedly the ten treasures of the shrine.

“Life and Death…. Here.”

Zaha approached the place where a bronze mirror was.

Seol Young had no spiritual power now. However, he could see with his naked eyes that a strange light clustered in the middle of the mirror.

It had to be heavenly qi or godly qi.

“Seol Young-rang, now look at Death.”

He carefully touched the mirror, and when there was no problem, he took out Hyo Wol’s righteous weapon and placed it there.

“…”

They exchanged glances in the dark.

If this mirror really had power, it would show how Hyo Wol goes into the harp box.