Requiem of Subdued Souls

He hastily cleared the snow and turned the man over.

His face was pale like a corpse. He picked up the man and checked his pulse. It was weak but still there.

He didn’t know the cause, but after lying in the snow for about half an hour, this was bound to happen. It seemed like there was a reason behind it.

Seol Young brushed the snow off his body. it was difficult to drag the man who was huge, so he had to get help.

‘The money is here.’

The hand that was touching him stopped. Asking for help by giving money might not be a good idea.

An adult that lost consciousness and a child with a money pouch alone. They would kill both of them and take the money. Seol Young looked around and picked up a wood.

Hallucination spells didn’t take much effort. So he cast it on the wood and made sure to do it carefully so no one would suspect him.

And held out his hands to the villagers passing by and shouted,

“Excuse me! This is my father. He came here to carry out the order of the King, and he suddenly collapsed! If something happens to him, the King will take out his anger on all of you!”

Everyone gathered and looked at the piece of wood.

“This is insane!”

They hurriedly moved the man into a warm room and began to treat him.

“He is normally strong, but it seems like his energy has been greatly reduced due to a serious incident in the past. It seems like he passed out from overexerting his body and also from the cold. If he stays a few days in the warmth, he will be up soon.”

Everyone was relieved, and Seol Young silently sat next to him.

He remembered everything that had happened since he met the man. With such a body, he convinced the kid to be with him.

He blankly thought that.

How long was it?

The man blinked his eyes and looked at Seol Young.

“You came back.”

They were three simple words with so many emotions.

Seol Young didn’t say anything. When the middle-aged man squirmed to get up, he said,

“The physician said that you need to lie down for a few days.”

The man shook his head.

“They will come again. These people here aren’t guilty of anything, so we cannot bring trouble for them, right?”

“…”

“Can you help lift me up?”

Seol Young helped him, and the man went to pay for the treatment.

“I will pay for a horse in advance.”

Then he asked if there was a knife, and he picked one of the hunting knives the people had offered.

“Would this work?”

Seol Young followed him and asked,

“Why aren’t you carrying your sword?”

“It isn’t that I am not. I cannot carry it.”

“Why?”

“I lost my Sword Spirit.”

Seol Young didn’t know what that meant.

The snow was heavy, and the moonlight made the place look blue. Large and small footprints appeared side by side on the snowy field.

After leaving the village, they went to a forest.

The man stopped in front of a tree. The black branches were winding down like a dragon. Its upper part shone in silver under the moonlight, and its lower part was dark blue in the shade.

“Plum blossom.”

As if he liked the tree, the man stood tall in front of it.

Seol Young knew he was thinking of dying here, and that he was buying time for Seol Young to escape.

He handed him the money pouch.

“Go back to the kingdom.”

“….”

Seol Young kept silent, and he thought about accepting the money. But the small footsteps disappeared.

The wind blew around the plum tree, and dozens of people with black lips appeared.

Knowing that the man was skilled, they attacked him at the same time. And the moment they got close, a shrill sound resounded.

The whistle soon turned into a howl and the ghosts raged in the spot they were in.

Seol Young stood in the middle and shouted,

“Spirits of the Nine Heavens and the Underground, wake up right now and open your eyes. Listen to my command!”

There was a booming roar from deep within the ground.

The branches with snow piled up fell all over the place, and ghosts rose in the midst of the misty blizzard.

“Kill those things!”

When the order was given, all of them rushed at the enemies. Cries rang out in the moonlit night.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Seol Young moved between them.

‘I don’t care if cannot escape this forever.’

The demonic beings clung to and bit their enemies, tearing them apart.

He went through the gap and pulled out the man, who was covered in blood.

He squinted his eyes.

“You….”

At that time, the man’s back was seriously wounded.

“Watch out!”

Something flashed, and blood flowed down Seol Young’s body.

Suddenly, the man had a sword in his hand, and a demonic being that was behind Seol Young was stuck at the tip of it.

It collapsed, and the sword rolled out of his hand.

When it tried to attack Seol Young from behind, the man picked up a fallen sword and stabbed it. Blood dripped from the blade of his sword, and a blue aura rose.

“…?”

Seol Young was surprised. The unique blue aura—he clearly saw it.

“This is…”

The man pulled the sword out of the body and spun the sword, which shone on the moon. A half-moon-like slash fell, splitting the enemies in half.

“…!”

The last one left tried to escape, but the man was quicker.

The sword that moved with a blue glow knocked it down, and it looked at him with wide eyes.

The man picked Seol Young up and ran away.

“You are….”

“Right.”

He got on a random horse and threw himself over it, and he drove the horse while holding Seol Young close to him.

“Baek San. The head of the White Tiger Spirit Troops.”

The horse ran away.

“Among the three boys you met, the eldest is my son, and the other two are my pupils. They were worried for you, so I came to check.”

“…”

He felt strange, and he couldn’t explain it.

They rode for days.

Eventually, they arrived at a quiet village on a large mountain.

It couldn’t be seen from the outside, but it was clearly full of spiritual qi.

“You can hide here for a while.”

Baek San put his hand on Seol Young’s shoulder.

“It is too dangerous for you to be with me now. My son and disciples are not far from here. I will come to pick you up at midnight in five days.”

.

Seol Young went to a house, and the man left him there in a hurry. Seol Young was left dazed.

‘Will he really pick me up?’

At first, he decided to wait. Day after day passed, and finally, it was the fifth day. The sun had set, and it was midnight.

But no one was there.

The hours passed, and he stayed up all night waiting. But in the end, he didn’t return.

‘Of course, he got tired and abandoned me in this secluded place.’

Someone laughed in his head.

Seol Young stood there.

He had money, so he could leave. There was nothing he could not find in the capital, but…

‘… let’s wait just another day.’

For some reason, he thought so, and he waited another day. But again, no one showed up until midnight.

‘For the last time…’

Seol Young stood at the entrance of the village, and even after being there for a long time, he couldn’t see a shadow.

He wasn’t coming back.

And he accepted it.

‘As expected.’

He lowered his eyes.

The moment he slowly turned around, his feet stopped. There was only pitch-black darkness before his eyes. There were no trees or houses in sight.

“…?”

He turned back, and it was dark there too.

Something was wrong. He raised his hand to cast a spell, but at that moment, something cold touched his forehead, and Seol Young was unconscious.

He felt like he was being carried somewhere. And someone was guarding him in front.

When he tried to wake up, he seemed unable to do so.

He tried to move, and his consciousness began to wander around with his memories jumbling.

Then, at some point, loud noises came pouring in.

His body fell down and rolled hard on the ground, making him come to his senses.

“Ugh…”

When he opened his eyes, he saw a stone floor. Someone got up from behind and knelt down. Then he looked at the ceiling.

The man in a skull mask sat on the high platform.

‘I got caught in the end.’

His mind felt like it was on the verge of collapse, and someone shouted,

“Even though you are a cheeky child, I gave you the Red Bone Disease after seeing what you can do! Yet you betrayed my expectations!”

There were some people in front of him, and he was startled when he looked at them.

“…?”

They were all too familiar.

Lady Mo, Lady To, Teacher Seo, and the kids.

They were the five tomb ghosts. His eyes were in pain.

“H-How…”

“It is no use now.” 𝘣𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Lady Mo coldly said.

“It is true that we raised the child, but he grew up with a temper that only increased over time, and he doesn’t know how to appreciate things. If we tried to do something, he would have betrayed us, so we decided to cut off ties with him.”

Seol Young was confused.

It was only then that he found out why they had left him.

“We have nothing to do with each other anymore.”

The man with a skull mask raised one hand high, and Seol Young turned his gaze back to the five ghosts.

Everyone seemed cold.

‘Definitely betray….’

Lady Mo’s voice echoed in his mind, and it felt like his heart was being ripped open.

They hated him.

But…

When he got up, he was trying to help them before he knew it. A flame glowed brightly on his hand.

“Do not touch them!”

Seol Young shouted.

“Really? This is fun.”

The man with a skull mask looked his way, and it felt like his heart was being stabbed.

The flame went off.

An invisible force pushed Seol Young to the ground.

“Betrayal means death!”

Everyone shouted in unison.

Thud! Thu! Thud!

They made a sound by stamping their feet or tapping the ground with their weapons.

And they called the man’s name.

His name resounded in his head.

The world in front of him began to crumble.

Then Seol Young realized that he had reached the limit of his memory.

‘No! I need to find out!’

He gritted his teeth and focused again. He struggled to hear the name that everyone shouted in unison.

[Omniscient and Almighty…]

The memory crumbled like a sand castle, and the sounds vanished.

And then he succeeded in recognizing the terms they used.

[… Devil Lair Lord.]

The empty part was filled.

“The Devil Lair Lord.”

The name that he had completely forgotten came out of his mouth. And at that moment, Seol Young was pushed out of his memory, and his consciousness was back in reality.

He was in the main hall of Zaha’s house. Everything was the same as before.

But Zaha, who was previously sitting down, was now standing with a golden light flashing.

“Devil Lair Lord?”

When he checked his wrist, the chain marks that used to look like they had been cut off were now connected again.

Before he would forget it, Seol Young said,

“The Devil Lair Lord. But I am sure that he died by my hand…”

The moment he said that, something came to his mind.

A waterfall. A waterfall of red, yellow, and purple flowers.

A field of flowers.

The flowers that Seol Young placed in the harp box seemed to be laughing.

“It seems to be the correct answer.”

Zaha silently swung his sword.

A golden storm broke out. And he cuts down the imaginary string of thoughts to bring Seol Young back to reality.

“That is it. I remember it well.”

Zaha had a sneer on his face.

“We can win now.”

Seol Young looked at him.

In the past, when he met the Devil Lair Lord, he almost died. Or it would have been more horrifying if he died.

A faint fear was about to settle into him.

However…

It was different now.

He was alone then, but not anymore.

He was slowly calming down.

Then he might as well give it a try.

“…”

He nodded in silence and moved.