Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 33: Lion Dance (1)

The Sorabeol Mountains.

Once upon a time, during the time of the 18th king of Silla, a mysterious thing happened there. Clouds rose far away like the shape of a pavilion, and a strong scent lingered for a long time.

“The good spirits are coming down and having fun! This land must be blessed! Please do not cut down the trees here.”

On the King’s orders, that place was called the Godly Forest.

A forest where the Gods could roam.

And they let it remain like that.

The five great clans, which symbolized the sun, blue dragon, white tiger, black tortoise, and red vermillion, all headed there. It was to practice the Sword Dance, which was taught since the times of the ancient Hwarangs.

Meanwhile, Seol Young went to the waterways.

It was a sacred place in Silla.

“Come to think of it, why the waterways?”

There were two people in front of this well, which was made by the ancestors of Silla. Among them, the man dressed in black said,

“I forgot about it for a while. But we shouldn’t have come here.”

“Right. Those who have deviated from the path of righteousness and fallen into sorcery and the demonic path must not pollute the sacred well.”

“Not that. Look at the people, Seol Young-rang.”

The people around them were looking at them and whispering.

Come to think of it, the well was where people who wanted to have a child would come and pray.

And it wasn’t a place where Hwarangs who weren’t married could come and visit. But those would be the Hwarangs who were well-behaved.

“If I cared so much about the eyes of the people, I wouldn’t have gone down the demonic path at all.”

Seol Young pointed this out.

Regardless of what Zaha said, he walked around the shrine near the well and took a closer look. Was there anything strange here, or was there any part that seemed overly active…

When he pinched the floor and rubbed the soil with his fingers, the children walking by gave him a strange look.

Zaha told them,

“This person didn’t want to participate in the ancestral rites, so he is doing this.”

Seol Young jumped up.

“It might not be the well. But there is something around here.”

“So…?”

“There is a way.”

Seol Young took the lead.

“I have no choice but to ask around.”

“Can that be called as a way…”

He tried to ask him a question, but Seol Young just moved forward.

The two men headed to the street below, and Seol Young grabbed some random people and asked,

“Did anything strange happen around here? Something like a scary story actually happening in real life or a ghost of some story appearing…”

“Well.”

The people seem shocked.

He looked everywhere, but nothing came up. Rather, it only drew attention.

A man in fluttering white clothes was going around, searching for ghosts in stories appearing in real life, with no expression on his face.

“Isn’t he the ghost?”

Now people were thinking that Seol Young was the ghost.

“It would be quicker to make a ghost story here.”

Zaha pointed it out.

“Seol Young-rang, the entire day will pass by like this. Do you really not have an ulterior motive? After dragging me around like this, I am now waiting for the ‘I am tired, let’s head back’ dialogue.”

“No. You have to follow me until the end. Isn’t that how you can confirm if I am right about this? You can give up on those thoughts and continue to suffer here with me.”

Zaha laughed.

Seol Young looked confused.

“What part of my words was funny?”

“The ‘follow’ part. I guess you’re used to my presence always following you now, huh? I hate to say it out, but…”

He didn’t even pay attention to what Zaha said and kept going. Zaha, however, whispered something to the playing kids nearby, and they gave him a sad look.

Seeing that, Seol Young was angry, but he couldn’t get rid of them by force or power, so shouldn’t he just endure it?

But getting angry here would be like falling into Zaha’s trap.

“…”

And he was hiding his clenched fist under his sleeve. He was the one who made the kids cry with the demons he released.

Seol Young pulled on his sword’s sheath, intending to hit Zaha with it.

“You want to hit me, but you cannot do it, so you are going to use that?”

More people gathered, and everyone watched with wide eyes as this happened.

At that time…

“Oh! It is true!”

Others came running.

“Hwarangs who catch ghosts, please help us!”

“Please catch that evil ghost!”

Seol Young stopped. And he withdrew his hand as if he had never intended to hit anyone, and he turned to the people.

“Did you just say evil ghost?”

“Yes. It has to be the work of a ghost. Even though there is absolutely no reason for a fire to start, the flames go up every night. Several of the houses have been damaged, and we think it is a Shiki.”

Shiki?

Originally, it was the name of a certain young man. After seeing the queen’s face during her procession, the young man fell in love with her.

Seeing the gold bracelet that she had given out of pity, the man’s heart flared up. And the flames were known to have burned his body and turned him into a ghost. And wherever he went, flames would break out.

And that story about a Shiki came true?

Seol Young looked back.

“Aren’t I right? Supernatural calamities have been happening around here.”

“Well?”

Zaha looked a bit awkward.

“Why don’t we check it out first?”

The two followed the people to the scene. In order to get a good look at the ghost, they went with the person who asked for help.

When darkness began to fall, fire erupted from the house on the west, and someone screamed.

“An evil ghost!”

What the people said was true. A fire had suddenly broken out in the middle of the yard. There was neither a flame nor any firewood. The fire just burned on its own.

And in the blink of an eye, it vanished. Immediately after, another house was in flames.

“Fire!”

Fires broke out in several locations in a short period of time. This was the trick of an evil ghost.

First, it created a fire to cause fear. In the east and west, the ghost made fun of people by moving in strange patterns.

The evil ghost was running rampant everywhere.

Looking at the fires, Zaha said,

“You will have to run hard to catch that.”

“That is not necessary.”

Seol Young looked around. He found what he was looking for on the outside wall of a nearby place that looked like a warehouse.

There was something leaning next to some agricultural equipment.

It was a hunting bow.

Seol Young immediately jumped over the roofs and went to that house. He caught the man who was fixing the bow, and he told him that he was someone who could chase the evil spirit away.

“Can I borrow that bow for a moment?”

“Ah! Yes! But there are no arrows…”

“No need.”

Seol Young took the bow and jumped onto the roof again.

Standing there, he aimed at the fire ghost rampaging around and drew a talisman in the air, using it as an arrow.

It was a suppression talisman that could put out the fire. And when he pulled on the string, the talisman flew like a bow.

It looked like it was shot in the air, but no. He read the ghost’s movement and shot ahead of it.

A fire ghost appeared in the middle of the arrow’s path. The ghost couldn’t avoid it and was hit accurately.

“Kuaaak!”

The ghost screamed and rolled on the ground. The roaring flames began to vanish little by little, and the soul’s shape was now visible.

Zaha looked up.

“Is it a man or a woman?”

The two got off the roof and went to where the ghost was.

“ACK!”

The ghost rolled on the ground and continued to scream. The flames had scattered everywhere due to the ghost’s raging emotions.

Seol Young tried to read its emotions, but they all felt too noisy.

This ghost was a gambler. He was a gambling addict who got into debt and beat his wife and children as he constantly threatened them to give him money. The wife, furious at his actions, decided to abandon him for a new husband.

And he went to the house she was staying in and set it on fire. The wife, children, and her new husband got out, but this man, who had been drunk, couldn’t escape on time and was burned to death.

“This is pathetic!”

Seol Young was shocked and kicked the fire ghost.

“If you didn’t have the money, you shouldn’t have gambled. Why would you gamble yourself into debt? Why beat your wife and kids and set the house on fire? You deserved it.”

People gathered.

Every time Seol Young said, ‘This thing!’ and ‘How can you?’ they all felt bad.

The evil ghost seemed angry.

It was a vengeful one. The entire soul of the ghost was full of evil.

“Others should burn like me.”

The evil ghost had such an obsession brewing inside of him. With just this thought, the ghost managed to shake off the talisman and jump up.

Wheik!

A huge fire broke out.

The ghost was like a madman who couldn’t realize the dangerous situation he was in. There were cases where a person who had learned to use a sword could not beat a madman with a kitchen knife.

This case was the same. The ghost jumped up, wide-eyed.

There were flames all over the place, and the heat was rising.

“Ah!”

People began to back away with screams. They looked at Seol Young and shouted,

“Be careful!”

Seol Young gave the ghost a cold look.

“I was going to kill you gracefully if you showed any sign of remorse…”

With his other hand, which didn’t hold the bow, he drew the end of the string. It was directly aimed at the forehead of the ghost.

“ACK!”

The ghost fell again.

Seol Young stepped onto his head this time and said to the people,

“‘Dead ghosts cannot overcome and hurt the living.’ You must all think of that when you meet any ghost.”

Ghosts are those who have died, and they are those who have left this world. Humans are one step above ghosts in this harsh world because they are alive. And in that way, they can hold the reins.

“These guys are already losers.”

Seol Young believed in that, whatever the truth behind the ghost was.

He had been through the rough side of the world with this attitude up until now.

“KUAAAK!”

The ghost struggled and screamed, trying to keep the flames going.

But now it was like wet firewood. It wouldn’t catch on fire.

During its desperate act of getting away, the talisman that was accurately stuck on its forehead began to dig deeper.

Zaha arrived, and Seol Young pointed to the ashes with his chin.

“See that? I didn’t have to run around to catch it.”

“Right. That is good. But…”

He glanced at the ashes and said,

“Wasn’t it a Shiki?”

“…”

“You ran so confidently, but in the end, it wasn’t one of the supernatural calamities that were predicted by the Great Heavenly Pavilion.”

And he smiled.

Seol Young clenched his hands.

Crack!

The bow broke.