Subdued Soul Chronicle

“Don’t be the only one who knows something, and let me in on it too.”

Seol Young asked as he crossed the king’s path, which was straight.

“Why are you suddenly looking for your brother-in-law?”

“Because of the armory.”

Zaha said.

“Come to think of it, did I tell you his name?”

“No.”

“It is Woo Hyun. Memorize it in case we need it. My brother-in-law knows everything about steel and metal or anything related to them, even from the past. He can definitely help.”

When he heard the word metal, he thought of the ring.

The ring that Zaun-rang gave to her late husband.

In their world, Zaha had killed his sister’s husband, so he couldn’t help but care about this fact.

However, he headed directly to his house without hesitation.

It was a small mansion near Jaemae.

‘Zaun-rang’s late husband…’

Seol Youn prepared his mind, even if he was the only one doing so.

The moment they entered, they ran into someone who was coming out.

“Oh? Who is this? Our Governor is coming here right in the morning?”

It was Woo Hyun-rang.

He didn’t even know this person, and he had just taken a glance at him now, but as he looked at this person, his robe and dress were different from the general Hwarangs. He was probably working as a Hwarang and an official here.

His face was particularly tanned compared to others. He seemed to be more trained in labor than in martial arts.

Considering the status he had, he was a unique person.

And Zaha told him,

“I need some advice from you.”

“Hmm? From me?”

Woo Hyun looked shocked.

“See now, this is shocking. Your work is good, but it is a bit easy, right? Seol Young-rang also looks a bit down. For now, both of you should come sit down. I was told that you were out and about last night. You might faint.”

He asked the errand boy to bring them some refreshments.

“What on heavens could be the advice that the Governor wants from me? Is it related to weapons?”

“Precisely, it is iron….”

Then Zaha brought it out.

“Among them is the one that is used in Gaya.”

“Gaya sounds right. What are you curious about?”

“Gaya has had a lot of iron ores since ancient times, so their smelting process for iron had developed a lot, and they produced this mysterious iron that cannot be found in other nations. For example, the Snowflake Ice Iron.”

“Right.”

Woo Hyun nodded.

“The Snowflake Ice Iron, which is white, bloody, but cold like ice, and then the Blood Ice Iron that cuts down limbs, and then the….”

“Right.”

Zaha’s eyes shone.

“What do you think of this, brother-in-law? I think if iron can poison a person, it isn’t impossible to paralyze someone for a short time.”

“It wouldn’t be that impossible. But it seems that the short amount of time will be difficult.”

“There is something else on my mind. It is an incident that happened in Gaya in the past. In the iron smelting place, the workers were coughing up blood and dying. At first, I thought it was a curse of a ghost, but after looking a bit more into it, didn’t it turn out to be caused by iron?”

Seol Young, who heard that, was now alert.

If it truly was like what they said, was it the iron?

Did they guess correctly that a secret spell was used by the iron troops?

“Right. Right.”

Woo Hyun nodded.

“If simply touched, it will take longer for the symptoms to appear. But it is different if you inhale that iron powder through your nose and mouth. And from what the Governor knows, certain metal powders are like poison to the body. Whether it is the Snowflake or the Blood Ice one, they are all dangerous and can cause one to cough blood from inhaling them. So isn’t that why they use it for assassins?”

“In other words, what Brother-in-law said….”

“If you inhale this mysterious dust through your nose and mouth, it seems like your body becomes paralyzed.”

Woo Hyun came to a conclusion.

‘Then…’

Zaha exchanged glances with Seol Young.

“Thank you.”

They felt so rushed and got up, but it was at that moment.

Someone appeared from the side. It was a girl who seemed to be seven or eight years old.

The child was walking with a serious face while touching the part where her front tooth was missing. Then, when she saw the two visitors, her eyes widened.

“When did you come?”

Forgetting about her lost teeth, she ran to greet them. At that moment, Zaha looked at her so oddly.

He didn’t hesitate at the sight of his brother-in-law, whom he had killed, being alive, but the sight of this child agitated him.

‘Why?’

Seol Young was puzzled. Then another child appeared.

“Uh? Mother! The Governor and Aide arrived!”

A girl over ten years old followed and turned around, shouting something.

‘That child is the second, and is this the first?’

Seol Young suddenly remembered. When Zaun-rang gave him the ring to check on her husband’s state, among the visions that flashed through his mind was this.

‘The second one has a red face, so maybe a fever….’

So the toothless one had to be the second child.

Could it be that when Woo Hyun-rang died, and the family was in a mess, this child had suffered from some illness and died then?

Eight years ago, she would have been just a child.

“Who came?”

Zaun’s voice broke his thoughts.

“Aha.”

She looked at her little brother, and her eyes went wide.

“Who is this man here? The Governor? They said you went out last night? You should teach your aide good things, okay? You don’t even care what today is, do you?”

Zaha asked.

“What day is it today, Noona?”

“Forget it. Let’s not talk about it.”

“Hold back the reins, My Lady. I heard there was a ghost that appeared near the bridge last night, and both of them were busy with that task at hand.”

Zaun fell silent, and her husband laughed.

And then the little girl asked,

“Father! If one swallows their missing teeth when sleeping, do they turn into a yokai? My sister keeps doing that.”

Zaun looked at the eldest one.

“Why are you saying such absurd things?”

“It isn’t my first time saying this.”

The eldest daughter glanced at Zaha and Seol Young, then went to cling to her mother.

“Mother, do you know? Father says we can head to the shrine after he finishes his work early.”

“Is that so?”

Zaun glanced at her husband.

“If you are fine.”

“Is Mother not okay with it?”

“Let’s go.”

She took her two daughters and went away.

Woo Hyun looked at the back of his wife and kids before mumbling,

“Did you say you were coming?”

“No.”

Both of the visitors said.

To think they had been staring without realizing it. Then Zaha looked at Woo Hyun.

“Brother-in-law, we don’t have time to delay, we will head out first.”

“Hmm? Why don’t I come along? I was about to leave.”

“That is because we aren’t going to the Moon Palace.”

“Another place?”

“Brother-in-law, let them know that we will be late. And…”

Zaha took out a piece of paper and a brush, and he wrote a couple of things down.

“Could you pass this to Jin Rim-rang—no, the official? It is an important matter, so please have him check it out. And if you said it, he would definitely listen.”

“I get it.”

Woo Hyun took the paper with a bit of a confused face.

“Then let’s go.”

Seol Young and Zaha went out of there. And after a couple of miles of walking, they stopped.

And Zaha mumbled.

“I feel strange.”

“I know.”

Seol Young agreed with him. Then he looked back at Zaun’s place.

The thoughts they hadn’t been able to think about came rushing through their heads.

‘If that didn’t happen eight years ago…’

But they didn’t think further than that.

It seemed that Zaha had sealed away those thoughts. And he had already made sure never to touch them again. This world wasn’t theirs.

As Zaha said before, it was better to consider this a painting.

“Then we will do our jobs again…”

Seol Young searched through his sleeves.

He took out the items he kept for emergencies and held them in the sunlight. It was a cloth that was dense and strong.

“How is that? Will that be enough?”

“I think that should do.”

“Then let us try it right now.”

“Nice. Let’s go.”

Zaha immediately agreed.

And the two silently headed to Mount Toham. At the entrance, they almost ran into the Blue Dragon troops, who were coming down.

They climbed up, avoiding them as skillfully as they could.

“This way.”

From there, Seol Young guided the way. Jung Myung’s illusion was strong.

There was no path that was easy to walk on. Green bushes were everywhere and covered everything.

If they didn’t know the location of the tomb, they would have probably missed it.

Seol Young stepped into that and called out,

“Miss.”

At that moment, various trees appeared from all directions.

There was a rustle, and the bushes in the middle cleared up.

“Hwarang Seol Young?”

Jung Myung showed her face. Her eyes were blank from not being able to sleep, but they became clear when she saw them.

“You are already back. Did you find a way?”

Zaha shrugged his shoulders.

“We figured out quite a few things, but they say it might be paralysis from a unique iron powder rather than sorcery.”

“So we are going to try it by covering our nose and mouth this time in order not to inhale it.”

Seol Young said,

“If we are wrong, we will come out right away. Miss, please take good care of the outside like last night.”

“Alright.”

Jun Myung waved a tree branch into the air, and the illusion above the tomb changed. The excavation site was now revealed.

The wooden spirits appeared and opened the blocked entrance.

“Then be careful.”

Jung Myung said, seeing them off.

“Yes.”

“Miss, you too.”

Zaha and Seol Young stepped on the ladder and went down. As he drew his sword and lit up the darkness, the surroundings were revealed.

Earthen birds were broken and had fallen to the ground.

It looked the same as when they went out. When he raised his head, he could see the darkness beyond.

“….”

It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t afraid.

The tomb itself was like a powerful demon that he had never encountered before.

‘But we aren’t fighting each other or alone in here.’

Seol Young looked at Zaha.

“How do we proceed with the plan?”

“We will try it once, and if it doesn’t seem right, we can leave right then.”

Zaha said that while raising his demonic qi in his left hand.

“This should work fine. I don’t know if we will be cut down by doing something wrong.”

It wasn’t tough. Imagining the situation of being surrounded by those iron troops, Seol Young felt a bit relieved.

“….”

He walked quickly without saying anything. After passing through the passage, there was a stone chamber.

It was a room with Gaya’s precious burial items where monsters attacked.

The iron troops appeared in this place.

“Isn’t it about time to run?”

The moment Zaha said that,

Unsurprisingly, from the other side of the aisle, towards the exit, they began to hear a rattling sound.