Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 144: Ghost City (8)

Lady Mo, Lady To, Teacher Seo, and the boy and the girl.

They had disappeared long ago, and only their faint thoughts were left behind. He gave them to Zaha, and they should be at Zaha’s house.

Therefore, what Seol Young saw was an illusion. Still, his blood went cold.

Seol Young took another step to the sea.

“Let’s go in there.”

“We aren’t of that level yet.”

Seo Geom put his hand into the sea, but it didn’t go in, it was as if the water was stopping him and this made Seol Young turn around.

“Then let’s go raise our level.”

“Wait.”

Zaha said as he put his hand on Seol Young’s shoulder.

Ah…

Seol Young hesitated.

“You are fine for a while….”

“This.”

At that, he took out the White Tiger Troops’ pill and handed it to him. Then Seo Geom’s eyes widened.

“Is the High Governor hurt?”

“It is because of the wound. The one when I saved Hyo Wol-rang…”

“I have heard about it. But you aren’t cured yet? Until now?”

“It is all better now. But there are some side effects. It will disappear completely after I kill the Lord of this place.”

“That’s true, but…”

Zaha swallowed the pill.

“Seo Geom-rang, give me the sword.”

“Yes.”

Seo Geom took out his half-dragon sword and offered it with both hands.

Zaha turned the Yin-Yang plaque that hung there around. A small piece of the divine object rotated and reflected light.

That meant that real light was shining in this place, not a fake one. It was one of the methods used by the Hwarangs to distinguish between hallucination and reality.

“Did everyone see that?”

Zaha gave him back the sword.

“Time really flies so fast. Seo Geom-rang, how long have we been here?”

“Around half a day?”

“I was kind of hungry.”

“Ah…”

Seo Geom nodded.

“Right.”

And that wasn’t all. The quiet ring began to wriggle, making Seol Young look down in shock.

.

“Senior Oni? You have eaten a lot of ghosts here…”

“Even when he is full, he feels hungry when others talk about hunger. You need to feed him, then.”

Seo Geom was an expert on dragons.

Seol Young had been accustomed to starving since he was a child, so he wouldn’t feel the hunger that much, and only when his body wasn’t moving so well would he realize it.

If he had been alone, he wouldn’t have cared much, though. But with everyone here, he couldn’t let it pass.

“We need to finish eating fast. But there is a problem. We cannot eat anything here.”

“Shouldn’t there be human food?”

At Zaha’s words, he remembered something.

“Ah, I saw it earlier.”

“Right. There were people selling rice and meat.”

Seo Geom also remembered it. In this market where money was everything, there were items that had been brought in to get more profits, especially for humans, who were commodities in this place. They were fine to eat.

Zaha said,

“Remember? The one where there was a human cage like this?”

Seol Young remembered.

“I remember. But who will cook?”

“I don’t know. I never did anything like that.”

Zaha cut him off.

‘Right.’

Seol Young thought.

If one was a Hwarang, they should know about basic skills like cooking. It was because no matter how skilled one was or how powerful their family was, the trainee period required them to do it. And when they were left to train, all the trainees would have to do it.

But…

Seol Young already knew before Zaha said anything that this man had such a great reputation that he didn’t have to be a trainee.

He started as a Hwarang at the age when his peers were trainees, and when the others were Hwarangs he was a Governor. He was a human who wasn’t bound by rules.

And Seo Geom? He was the one who held the pride of his family instead of his older brother. Even in his trainee days, he wouldn’t have touched a single drop of water to boil.

And Oni couldn’t cook.

Seol Young said,

“I know how to cook a little.”

“Is that so? Seol Young-rang?”

Zaha looked happy.

“You don’t look like you could at all! That is good.”

“Let’s finish it quickly.”

Seol Young went around the market and bought some human ingredients. The meat was mutton, but no matter how much he looked at it, it was suspicious, so he didn’t buy it.

“Wait…”

Zaha was trying to say something.

“What?”

“No.”

Did the colossus appear? He looked around, but there was nothing there.

The three of them equally paid the amount to buy all of the ingredients and went to the human cage or guest house. And they dealt with the ghosts that were attempting to traffic in humans and took over the kitchen.

“It will be over soon.”

Seol Young made stir-fried veggies, steamed fish, and rice. Then he put them in front of the two humans and one dragon.

Everyone ate a bite of each dish.

“…”

And then silence fell.

In the next moment, Oni threw something out, making Seol Young shocked.

Did it puke? The thing that shallowed anything?

He frowned.

“Seol Young-rang? What is this? Why is the fish so bland? This isn’t rice! I don’t know what this is, but this cannot be rice! This is…”

He pushed the vegetable bowl aside.

“Poison!”

“No”

“It is true since it cannot be eaten. What is this? You said you knew how to cook!”

“I said I knew how to cook a little. I never said I cooked well.”

Seol Young responded coldly.

“What flavors can I make inside enemy lines? Fill your stomach if you are hungry. I didn’t make anything bad, so there is no need to puke them, and my hyungs would eat it without saying anything.”

“Even the heavens must be impressed with your friendship!”

Zaha said that and screamed.

“I cannot do that as I lack virtue! I cannot eat this!”

And then he turned to Seo Geom.

“Seo Geom-rang, can you really not cook?”

“Yes. But what can I even cook to make it better than this? Just boil them first.”

Seo Geom picked the vegetables up and ate them.

“Enough!”

Zaha took them away.

“The ingredients were wrong. Why are you people so out of touch?”

Seol Young asked,

“Do you even know how to make a fire?”

Without saying a word, Zaha picked up a knife, which made Seol Young flinch…

“I will never tell anyone to do things for me.”

He cut the vegetables and put them in a bowl. Seo Geom looked shocked.

“High Governor, what are you doing?”

In the blink of an eye, Zaha mixed some rice into the bowl and made something new. He looked at the vegetables in the bowl and cut them some more.

Seol Young asked,

“Why are you throwing them?”

“It isn’t throwing them. It is to make them appetizing. If we included cooking the spoiled parts, the entire thing would taste bad!”

“I know that. But rather than taking the time to do that, wouldn’t it be better to throw it all in…”

“….”

Zaha looked at him like he would explode in anger.

He was so focused. He was so angry that he forgot about the pain in his hand.

He made stir-fried veggies in no time, and then Seol Young cracked the eggs that he was trying to make. Soy sauce, pepper, and a few other ingredients were mixed in, and then he put them into a bamboo tub with mushrooms.

The steaming bowls were placed in front of them.

Seol Young, Seo Geom, and Oni took a bite of it, and their eyes widened.

‘So delicious…’

The rice was glossy, and the vegetables were rightly seasoned. The steamed egg and mushrooms were so soft that they had an odd taste, which felt nice. It felt like each of them was an expensive dish.

Seo Geom looked like he was possessed by Zaha.

“You are such a good cook… When did you learn this?”

“I didn’t learn. I just observed.”

“But you said you didn’t know. Why did you lie?”

“Isn’t it obvious? If I said I knew a little bit, then I would have ended up working all this time.”

“Eh, who will make the High Governor cook?”

“Didn’t you two just make me do it?”

“…”

Seo Geom went silent, and Seol Young and Oni just ate.

“If you tell anyone, that is the day you will die.”

“Yes.”

“Leave anything, you die.”

“Yes.”

All of them nodded, and the dishes were finished quickly. Seol Young ate silently, thinking about a lot of things.

Then he remembered the tomb spirits that he had seen and realized something.

‘Since I am not bound by memories, there is no need for me to bring them back and retrieve them. It seems like that guy is using my memories to block me.’

Even though he had forgotten things, it was obvious how painful the memories were.

‘I will have a firm heart and fight without breaking.’

That was what he thought, and when they finished eating, they all left that place.

Since it wasn’t long before they would reach level 3, each of them caught a couple of ghosts and leveled up.

Maybe there was just a small amount this time, but Seol Young didn’t feel his body taking a hit like before. But he was still scared.

‘What could have been the reason?’

Seol Young looked at the water.

The tomb spirits couldn’t be seen. What else would appear now…

“I will go first.”

Seo Geom went in, and his figure vanished right away.

“We should go too.”

Seol Young was also ready.

The water seemed to pour in fast, and he vanished. Then he lightly landed on the ground, as if he had jumped from the air. What was this? There was nothing here.

Seo Geom, who had come down first, was looking around and then told them,

“High Governor, this is odd.”

“What is?”

“We can’t get out of here.”

“We cannot?”

“Try it. You will know.”

The place they landed in was like a room, so they tried to open the door and go outside, but they were back in the same room again.

They tried it again, but it was still the same. Even though the door opened and they went outside, it was still the same.

“What is this?”

Zaha tried again. But as soon as he left, his body vanished, but he was back in the room with Seol Young and Seo Geom.

“If we go outside, we will come back here? What? Is it going backward?”

“Then, if we go the other way, will we go out?”

Seol Young changed direction and walked into the room.

The next moment, he found his body in a hall. Then Seol Young told them,

“Right.”

The other two also walked the other way, and Zaha frowned.

“What do we do? It is upside down.”

Seol Young thought to himself.

An upside-down world.

Reverse causality.

And the two said,

“His power is causality. Could it be that this is a world that has been mixed with it?”

Seo Geom asked,

“Cause and effect are mixed?”

“It means things don’t have to happen according to normal reasons, neither time nor space.”

Zaha said, and Seo Geom was more confused now.

“I don’t understand a single thing you are talking about.”

“I don’t either.”

Zaha stopped walking and pointed to the room across the hallway, and said,

“There it is.”

He had seen something familiar.

The colossus was there. No one seemed to have noticed yet that three of them were here.

There were many other beings here besides them.

“It seems to be a place where rare monsters and demonic beings are collected.”

Seol Young looked around, and then his gaze stopped.

There was a child who had become a wreck in a cage.

‘That is…?’

Seol Young couldn’t believe it.