Requiem of Subdued Souls

“Now isn’t the time to rest.”

Saying so, Zaha held out his hand.

Now he knew what to do.

Seol Young raised him up and made him sit down. Baek Eon handled it so well that his wound no longer bled.

“I am in big trouble now.”

Zaha said with a frown on his face.

“I planned on getting out of the way using the fact that ‘I don’t exist.’ Actually, I was going to use that method to survive in an emergency, but now it has been exposed. I traded my way out for your third hyung’s life…”

“Yes…”

“So shouldn’t you pay me back? If I am in danger, you will have to save me. It is all up to you now.”

“I understand.”

Seol Young answered.

There was nothing more he could say.

Was he in pain? As he looked at Zaha with such a thought, he said,

“Open the bottom drawer of the desk.”

Seol Young did as he was told and opened it. There were several yellow papers inside, and he was a bit taken aback at the silver letters written on them.

Thinking he was wrong, he looked at it again.

“Talismans?”

“Can you see them? Then I succeeded. I just imitated them, but they have to work at least once. You know how to summon a guardian, so stick them.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young positioned himself and attached the talismans. The moment they touched the wall, they began to glow one by one and then vanished. It worked.

Zaha said,

“Now look at your right wrist.”

Seol Young unbuttoned his sleeve, and there was a change there.

The chain marks around it were cut off as if they had been cut in the middle. It was because the harp box was broken.

“Now is your chance.”

Zaha said,

“You have to remember who the Blank Demon is. You need to do whatever you can to get your memory back. There is no other chance than now.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young looked down at the broken chain marks. There was a reaction there. In the fog that filled his head, he could remember several things now.

“I am going to try to follow something.”

“Well, do not rush. We need to get as much information as possible.”

After stopping there, Zaha asked,

“Do you remember the Heungryun-sa Temple?”

“Yes.”

There was a high monk who died while trying to exorcise the evil spirit that possessed Princess Ajin, and they went there to get information.

“At that time, we watched the Memory Projection together.”

“Yes. It was a normal spell.”

“It didn’t seem like it needed a lot of spiritual power, right?”

“Yes. It isn’t like attacking or defending. It is just connecting.”

“Then would it be possible with the spiritual power of your new open Meridian now?”

“Yes.”

Seol Young nodded as he knew what Zaha was trying to say.

“Are you saying you want to look into my memories together?”

“That is right.”

There were scenes he didn’t want others to see, especially Zaha.

But he couldn’t help it now because it was such an important thing.

“Fine.”

Seol Young took a talisman and wrote the character ‘Permission’ by using his newly opened meridian’s spiritual power.

Zaha removed his necklace and put it on the talisman. The silver letters were sucked into it. 𝒷𝓮𝒹𝓃ℴ𝓿𝓮𝓁.𝓬𝓸𝓂

Soon, a thick mist began to spread.

“If you don’t think hard about it, it will never happen. You have to follow the flow of time, and I will help you with that.”

Zaha took out something that looked like a small rock and had a moon shape engraved on it. It was the item that Miss Dohwa used as a die.

How far had he thought about it for him to prepare everything so well?

Seol Young thought about that for a moment.

“Sit down.”

After sitting down as instructed, Zaha held a droplet bell in front of Seol Young’s eyes.

“Look at this and focus your mind. You will turn your memory back and head to the time before you first met your teacher.”

“Before?”

“Right. The first time you met the Hwarangs from the White Tigers and went to the swamp. You seemed to have gotten into a fight around that time, and at some point after that, you met ‘it’ right after the swamp fight. The Blank Demon.”

The droplet bell moved right in front of his eyes.

“Remember when that was. If you look at this, you will remember something.”

It slowly swayed, and a small light began to move before his eyes.

Left to right, right to left…

And its movement began to get faster and faster.

“Ah.”

Seol Young recognized it.

It was a mace. A mace wielded by someone came flying in…

It passed by his face, hit the tree next to him, and got stuck!

Even in the middle of that mess, Seol Young thought,

‘Is someone helping me now? Or am I interrupting?’

“Sorry! Ghost Demon King!”

The group of mountain ghosts shouted in shock.

“Move!”

“Yes!”

Everyone hastily disappeared, and at the same time, Seol Young pierced the forehead of a three-headed fox that was struggling in front of him.

Light shone.

“Ackl!”

There was a scream from all three heads at the same time. It was a three-headed fox with three heads and nine tails.

It wasn’t a common thing to find around the capital, but when it suddenly appeared and tried to kill Seol Young for his spiritual power, he didn’t just stand still.

‘Just why is this….’

Seol Young threw several bamboo barrels at the staggering enemy. The evil spirit sealed inside came out and bit its lips.

“This is the last time!”

Seol Young threw a bundle of talismans at the ghost’s open side, and there was an explosion.

The three-headed fox collapsed with a desperate scream, and the ground thumped.

He did it.

Seol Young slumped to his knees.

Then the mountain ghosts came running.

“…”

Seol Young looked at the sky without saying a word. In the corner of the blue-purple sky was the moon.

“Huh.”

He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

The words of the boy named Hyo Wol were like a curse, and he really came to his mind each time he saw the moon.

He still didn’t throw away the wooden plaque that they had given him.

‘I should throw it out tomorrow.’

Seol Young gave up thinking and went to the dead, three-headed fox. He put his hand inside its body and pulled out a ball of energy.

After that, he looked around to see if there was anything else to pack and found a strange mark on the nape of the dead ghost.

“What is this?”

“Uh? What is?”

The mountain ghosts also went close and looked at it. It looked like a bite mark from a snake’s teeth. The snake formed a circle by biting down its own tail.

One of the mountain ghosts looked startled.

“T-This…!”

“Do you know what this is?”

“Y-You shouldn’t touch it. Just run! That thing is….!”

The mountain ghost couldn’t speak anymore and stepped back. The guy who had never done that until now ran away without another thought.

“What is up with him?”

“I don’t know.”

The other mountain ghosts also didn’t seem to know why. Well, they need to find out, then.

But right now, they were too tired.

Seol Young walked back to the grave, and as expected, everyone was waiting outside the tomb, not knowing why Seol Young was out late.

“I am back.”

Seol Young bowed to the five ghosts.

When he told them what had happened, they were surprised.

“A three-headed gumiho1?”

“But I defeated it. I stole the spiritual qi orb from it. And right….”

Seol Young drew the snake pattern on the ground.

“What is this? A mountain ghost saw this and ran away.”

“…”

The five ghosts looked at the image.

“I don’t know.”

The most knowledgeable one also said so.

“Well, it doesn’t sound like it’s a good thing.”

Lady To carefully said.

“It is strange how heinous things keep happening around here. As the rumors about the Ghost Demon King spread, more people seem to be curious.”

And she sighed.

While he was away, they would always wash his room and even worry about him.

Lady Mo opened her mouth,

“It has been over ten years since we have lived together. Even though we knew this wouldn’t work out, we dragged it out each day and ended up like this. But we cannot push this any longer. I think this is the end.”

Seol Young’s face changed.

“What do you mean?”

“We were wrong.”

The child said.

“We should have sent you back to the humans. It isn’t good for a living person to live with ghosts like us. The boundary between humans and ghosts is quite clear, so we need to leave.”

Seol Young was shocked.

Were they going to leave?

His eyes looked lost, and his ears turned red. He wanted to say something, but the words were choking his throat.

Seol Young looked at them for a long time and then got up.

“Seol Young.”

Lady Mo called out.

Seol Young had a difficult time following her fierce and venomous personality, so he never went against her.

But for the first time, he ignored her words. He didn’t respond, and he walked out and left.

Because they were ghosts, they were cold and couldn’t show their emotions well. Growing up with that, even Seol Young’s personality became similar to theirs.

However, upon hearing those lightning-like words, his emotions naturally surged, and tears welled up in his eyes.

‘Why are you trying to abandon me?’

That was the only thought in his mind. After wandering aimlessly for a long time, he came up with the answer.

‘It’s because they are afraid I won’t be able to win against a strong enemy.’

His eyes looked determined. Seol Young crossed the mountain and went to the other side. He went to visit the demonic being called the Third Grandpa with whom he was familiar.

“What is it, kid?”

“I want to know something.”

Seol Young first offered the head of the three-headed fox and said,

“Do you know what this is?”

He drew the snake biting its tail. At that moment, the face of the Third Grandpa turned blue as he jumped up, shouting.

“I have given you all the information you needed until now, so there is no reason for you to hold any grudges against me, but why are you doing this?”

Then he picked up an awl and stabbed himself in both eyes.

Seol Young was shocked.

“Why…”

Right then, someone suddenly came from behind and blocked his mouth.

A strange scent spread, and his consciousness became clouded.

How much time had passed?

“Get up.”

Someone said while tapping his foot. His consciousness was dim, but he could tell that he was sitting on his knees.

Where was he?

Someone grabbed him by the hair to raise his head, and Seol Young looked around. It was a circular space.

A man was seated on a high platform. He was wearing this long red robe and a mask made of a skull to prevent his face from being seen.

“Are you the Ghost Demon King?”

He said. From his voice, it was hard to tell if the person was a man, woman, young, or old.

Seol Young shouted.

“Why did you capture me?! Who are you to catch me?!”

“Cheeky bastard!”

He shouted, and kicks came in from all directions.

The person on the altar raised one hand, and at that moment, blood gushed from the chest of the beings that kicked Seol Young.

“…!”

All of them collapsed on the spot and died. At first, he thought that person threw a talisman.

But no, there weren’t any traces, just scars.

He just made a hand gesture, and it pierced holes in their bodies?

Seol Young was shocked.

TL/N: A nine-tailed fox???