Requiem of Subdued Souls

The women who lost in the weaving competition during the festival began to soothe their hearts with the song called the ‘Gathering Song.’

The song resonated all over the streets of the capital. The holidays ended like that, but it was regrettable.

Didn’t the festival for the White Tiger Spirit Troops end with Seol Young running out in a hurry?

Baek Eon, Song Ok, and Hyo Wol visited the house of Zaha as visitors. The garden next to the entrance was often visited by Hwarangs.

Under a beautiful pine tree, there was a natural stone table where several people could sit down. On one side, vases, books, and fans were placed to add to the charm. And there was a stove to boil water on the other side.

Baek Eon looked around and admired it.

“As far as I remember, there was nothing here, but this was decorated anew before I realized? It must be hard to find such a large and straight natural stone.”

Song Ok and Hyo Wol also said the same thing.

“The pine trees are great. My father likes them so much that he named us siblings by using Chinese characters that have ‘Song’ in them. Hence, now I know how to tell a good pine tree from a bad one.”

“I like this tea. Is it a heavenly tea? It must be a difficult variety to find.”

Zaha suspiciously glanced at the three.

“You guys, be it in the past or now, will never bring good mountain wood for decoration, right? Do you know how hard it is to decorate this place by myself?”

Seol Young mumbled softly,

“I heard that the couple had to decorate this. They were so bored without their owner for eight years, and…”

Zaha looked up and said,

“Water.”

Seol Young got up right away, brought a kettle, and poured water into a glass.

“Towel.”

And he quickly brought a towel too. He was polite and fast.

“…?”

His three hyungs’ eyes went wide at this, and Hyo Wol asked,

“When did our Seol Young-rang start listening to the High Governor?”

“He must have been trained. I don’t understand how the kid who troubled the entire Hwarangs seven years ago is…”

“No. He is injured, so I am running his errands. As long as he is better, and…”

“Tea.”

Seol Young got up and looked at Baek Eon as he headed to the stove.

“Baek Eon-rang, look at the High Governor’s wounds while you are still here. I overheard the physician saying…”

He put new, dried tea leaves into the teapot, poured cold water into the boiling water, and continued to brew it.

“He definitely said it. He said it would heal faster than expected, probably because no muscle was damaged. He said it would heal, not healed.”

And he brought him the tea.

‘No, what is this?’

Baek Eon, Song Ok, and Hyo Wol couldn’t help but smile. On the other hand, they were impressed.

Seol Young only listened to their teacher and the three of them. He was the type of person who would rather die than follow others.

However, to repay the favor of saving his third hyung, he was now running various errands. It was funny, but they felt proud of him.

Baek Eon brought the teacup to his mouth and smiled.

“You did well.”

Zaha said, 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡．𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Right. Chun Kwang managed to learn the tea ceremony.”

At that moment, the three of them spewed out the tea. Baek Eon even wiped his mouth with a towel.

“How did you end up telling him that? Didn’t you hate it when someone mentioned that name?”

“…”

Seol Young’s face turned red and then blue.

/p>

That was why he didn’t want to show Zaha his memories. He would definitely make fun of it, and Seol Young knew it, but he didn’t expect it to be like this.

‘Why didn’t he manage to learn how to do things in moderation from the former Governor!’

Seol Young had reached the limit of his patience.

But…

“Come to think of it. This reminds me of the old days. Hyungs, we really thought that was Seol Young’s name, right?”

“Right. Even Teacher was fooled. If we hadn’t seen his necklace, we wouldn’t have known it until the end.”

“Chun Kwang is a good name. It is because the feeling of acknowledging my real name was different.”

Hyo Wol, Song Ok, and Baek Eon smiled. Seeing Hyo Wol’s face in particular, Seol Young’s anger vanished.

-Now, whenever you see the moon at dawn, you will think of me.

Years passed since the boy turned into a young man, but the smile he had was the same as the first time they met.

He might have never seen that smile again, and he could have never served tea to his third hyung like now.

When he thought about that, he felt good. Seol Young sighed.

“Because I was immature, I harassed Teacher and Hyungs a lot.”

“There were so many twists and turns.”

Baek Eon smiled.

“But my father kept his promise to find you eventually. He taught the four of us and spent the last years in happiness. It wasn’t a long time, but he had never been as happy as he was at that time. Isn’t that what happened?”

Seol Young nodded slowly.

It reminded him of the pleasant memories he had the first time he entered the training place.

The evil force was still lurking around, and it was like he was in the eye of a storm, yet they had a good time talking about happy things.

And it happened.

Zaha said,

“Baek Eon-rang. There is a meeting tomorrow. The situation is not yet serious, so I am trying to come up with a countermeasure.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about it from the Governor.”

“And if you have an idea, put it on the table. Also, pull out the pine trees. They don’t seem to be drinking water much these days.”

“No. It is fine.”

The three hyungs laughed and waved, and Hyo Wol said,

“It would be nice to head back with Seol Young-rang, but it is a pity that we have to leave him here.”

“Let’s meet tomorrow.”

Seol Young lowered his head. Every time Hyo Wool said something, he thought,

‘I might have never seen this.’

Maybe he could never escape the aftereffects of the damage his mind had taken.

“Then.”

Their figures vanished beyond the garden. Seol Young looked at him for a long time and then looked away.

His face, which had softened up, went stiff again.

“How can this…”

“I did that to distract you. Aren’t you constantly anxious about your hyungs, noticing that you’ve lost your spiritual power and that you will be a target for the meeting? So I set the mood to myself—the one with a sick body.”

“…”

Seol Young had nothing to say.

Was it the atmosphere? His eyes seemed to shine so wickedly when the past was brought up.

Seol Young looked at Zaha with doubt.

“Now that I have rested, I need to get back to work.”

He averted his gaze. Then as if it was too much trouble for him to speak, he ordered with his chin,

‘Right, I’ll wait until he has fully healed.’

As Seol Young thought that, he took his clothes and a few more items and headed to the main hall.

The grave ghosts were outside. He walked slowly, leaving just traces of his thoughts.

Zaha looked at them and asked,

“Did you kill the Devil Lair Lord?”

“I don’t remember.”

Seol Young said.

“But…”

“But what?”

“Actually, I thought about the White Tiger Troops, and I don’t think I need to remember the things I had forgotten.”

“Why?”

“Well, if I had killed it once, I can do it again. Even without my memory, I can do it. I believe so.”

The moment he said that sparks flew around his right wrist. One of the chain marks, which was clearly there, was now gone.

“…?”

Seol Young looked down in surprise.

“Am I moving in the right direction?”

“It is fun…”

Zaha’s eyes were shining.

“Fine. Let’s go back there and think. Today might be our last chance.”

“Right.”

After discussing for a while, they left Zaha’s home and headed for the palace. The majestic shrine, in an octagonal shape, was standing tall in the darkness.

The official on duty looked puzzled.

“High Governor, Seol Young-rang. What are you doing here? Today is not observation or prayer day, and the Pavilion Head is at home.”

“So?”

Seol Young asked coldly, like it didn’t matter.

“Haven’t you seen my righteous weapon fall inside? It must have fallen somewhere inside the shrine.”

“If it is your righteous weapon, can’t you retrieve it yourself?”

“That is the problem. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find it, so I came here.”

“Uh?”

The official was shocked at his words.

“So you are saying we picked up the righteous weapon of Seol Young-rang and kept it hidden inside the shrine?”

“You cannot ask us that.”

Zaha spoke coldly.

“In the revelation, he was called an evil spirit and was falsely accused, so I, as the High Governor went running day and night to clarify the truth. What if we choose to use force? How do you plan to handle the aftermath?”

The officials jumped up.

“I know nothing! I haven’t even seen his weapon!”

“Then I will try to find it myself.”

Seol Young entered.

“Righteous weapon?”

The officials began to move in haste, and they all began to search.

They initially denied it, but they weren’t sure if they truly had it.

Couldn’t someone have really found it and put it away on purpose, thinking that they were stopping the evil spirit from doing its thing?

If so, they had to find it and restore it to its original state quickly. If not, who would trust the shrine?

At that thought, they hurriedly disappeared.

Seol Young didn’t care about the living. He cared for the dead.

At that moment, he thought about the dead official.

‘I am sorry for deceiving your people, but it is to save everyone and prevent a disaster. I am trying to get information, so help me a little.’

He prayed from his heart.

“Let’s go.”

Zaha looked around and moved inside.

Taking advantage of people being in haste to search for a nonexistent thing, the two entered the secret place.

“It all started with the Pavilion Head receiving wrong information as a revelation. And I tried searching last time, but I couldn’t find anything that stood out.”

Zaha said while moving quickly.

“I think there is a secret being kept here. I looked around, but I couldn’t find it because I didn’t have enough time.”

“That is our goal for today, then.”

Seol Young followed him.

The appearance of the river becoming bloody, the comet moving, and the appearance of ghosts and demonic beings around the Moon Palace.

All the supernatural calamities must have been recorded.

The storage room was full of bamboo plaques and books, and Zaha went to one of them.

“These are the records of the Old Palace. Let’s split them in half and read them fast.”

“Yes.”

His heart pounded.

This was turning into something worse than stealing. The pavilion was distracted for a moment because of a tragedy that had happened.

If they get caught, everything they did would be investigated, and even the parts that had been overlooked would be criticized.

They would find out that Seol Young lost his spiritual power, and maybe they could also find out that Zaha had escaped the law of causality.

‘As much as this is like an adventure, there has to be something we can gain from this too.’

Seol Young calmed his heart and looked at the records.

“There is something about the Eight Ghost Stories. The concubine who hanged herself and the detailed record of the ghost appearing and making a mess, but I wonder if it has anything to…”

He paused as he looked at the next one.

He suddenly felt strange, like something had passed by his field of vision.

Seol Young turned his head and looked at what it was,

“…?”

The moment he saw it, his eyes widened.