Subdued Soul Chronicle

“Where is that?”

Zaha’s eyes shone.

“Are you a child Seol Young-rang? You keep asking to go somewhere.”

He teased him at first and then smiled as he added,

“But it is fun. I was going to ask you to move somewhere.”

“Then is the High Governor a child too?”

After saying that, Seol Young asked,

“And where is that? It cannot be the market, right?”

“No matter how much I love the market, why would I ask to go there in this situation? Seol Young-rang, you misunderstand me.”

“Yes…”

Then Seol Young shared a thought that popped into his head,

“While we may have misunderstood the identity of the God of Cataclysm, one thing still remains unchanged. It means that the Tree God had to exert great power against it.”

“Right. That fact doesn’t change.”

“I thought it was just about punishing the evil, but when I found out the truth, that wasn’t the case. The God of Cataclysm shouldn’t exist on this land, so they tried to drive it out with the local Gods.”

Seol Young said that as he recalled the ghost mask and the Great Mother, who helped them.

“The Tree Gods, who have been protecting the order of the world since ancient times, are the nemesis of the evil spirits who break the order of the world and cross into another. That is why they can exert such strong power. Therefore, we need to gather all the remaining power of the Tree Gods.”

After saying that, he glanced at Zaha.

“Even though the one we worked so hard to acquire turned out like that…. Even if it isn’t something like the two previous godly items that we got, there must be other things that hold the power of the Gods, and we need to find them.”

“Right.”

Zaha agreed coldly.

“That was what I thought. So where did you want to go?”

“The Black and White Go Rooms. I will go back there and ask the one who helped us find the Great Mother. What about the High Governor?”

“To the temple. The temple was built by a group of Duduri who worshiped the Tree Gods overnight, so there will be something there.”

Their conclusions were different, but their thoughts were the same.

Duduris were what the tree goblins were called. They were the group led by Jung Myung from another world.

“We can do both. Hurry back before it gets dark.”

“Wait.”

Seol Young didn’t get up, and he looked at him.

“What? Is there a problem?”

“I am wondering if it’s really fine. You have just managed to stabilize the demonic qi, and you just absorbed more again, so the balance must have been broken.”

“Right.”

Zaha frowned as if he had just remembered it.

“You speak so innocently. I had no choice but to do that since we didn’t find anything… It is a huge thing. I couldn’t make it through the night.”

Seol Young’s face went stiff when he heard that.

‘His mouth seems alright, though.’

He looked carefully to see if it were a lie, but it didn’t seem like it. The one who should have sensed anything abnormal was quiet.

“I think the training to control the demonic qi did a good thing. But if you absorb more, it will be a problem.”

“Are you worried about me? Actually, I…”

Zaha pulled his hand from his robe and brought out the bone ashes.

“If you really care, take this.”

However, the moment the bone ashes touched Seol Young’s hand, the demonic qi shone again. It seemed that because Seol Young was the one who constantly tampered with it, it didn’t like him touching it.

“Enough. I’d rather hold it for the time being.”

And Zaha put them back in his robe.

“Let us head out now.”

“Yes.”

Then the two went out of the study.

Some of the Hwarangs followed the Governor, and some were preparing to clean up the yard. Seol Young looked around with his eyes.

“Hyo Wol-rang?”

“After seeing that we were alright inside, he left for the peak. He said it was better to inform them that the Memory Projection ended safely now.’

Yeon Jae informed them.

“He did well.”

Zaha said.

“Well, we cannot go to the peak right now. Before that, there is a place we need to visit. Send someone to let them know.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Seol Young and Zaha parted ways with them, then they went to Zaha’s home to find the right clothes and headed for their destination.

Immediately, they headed to the Black and White GO place in the capital, moved to the highest level, and found the guy sitting there.

But…

The number of victories recorded on the badge changed. Last time, it was a new record that couldn’t be counted, but now it was a couple hundred.

“…?”

He was unsure and looked again, and the hand of the guy from beyond the veil changed too. It wasn’t sharp or had claws, which he was familiar with, but it was an ordinary one.

Seol Young grabbed the coins and asked,

“Did the man in charge here change?”

“Yes. It seems like you came back after a long time. We changed last month.”

“Then where did the last one move to?”

“He is gone.”

“He left this place? Where did he go?”

“It is our policy never to give out the whereabouts of our people.”

Zaha, who had been listening from behind, handed him a piece of gold, and the man lowered his voice.

“The demon had kept his position here for a long time, but now he can no longer come back. He has died.”

“Died?”

Zaha asked, surprised.

“Yes. He was fine until the day before, but he didn’t come to work, so I went to visit him, and I saw his dead body with some black foxes. It looked like a bloody battle had happened.”

They were speechless.

It wasn’t uncommon for demons like Yokais to die fighting one another, but why?

Seol Young looked around, feeling lost. The new guy probably knew nothing, so he went around the hall and picked non-humans, but no one knew anything about the Great Mother.

“It cannot be helped. Let’s head to the next place.”

Zaha took the lead, and they headed for the temple. And there, he revealed his identity, and they were immediately taken to the chief priest.

“Are there any things left about the Mokrang group who built the temple? Their things, records or…”

The old abbot put his hands together, feeling bad.

“I don’t know why you are looking for them, but currently, there is nothing left of them.”

Maybe they didn’t know it, so they apologized and looked around, but they couldn’t find anything. In the end, Seol Young and Zaha came out empty-handed.

“Then to the last place.”

“….”

Even without asking, Seol Young could guess where it was. The two headed for the forest.

It was the forest where goblins used to roam in the past. It was different from the world that Jung Myung guarded.

The sacred giant tree wasn’t even there, and there was no energy from the Tree God. Even when they brought out the necklace and waited, they didn’t feel anything respond.

The entire flow was cut down, and they realized that fact again.

“It cannot be helped if it happens like this.”

Zaha put the necklace back on his neck.

“I thought it would be solved easily with the power of the God. But we cannot be that lucky. We have to find a new way.”

“It looks like it.”

Seol Young responded calmly. The things he had expected only brought disappointments, but they weren’t too discouraged since Zaha had something else.

“Where do we investigate now?”

“For today, let’s end it here. I need to meet the Governor and the leaders.”

And after saying that, Zaha added,

“Seol Young-rang must have also used up a lot of spiritual qi during the Memory Projection, so skip work tonight.”

“No. I will…”

Seol Young wanted to be stubborn, but stopped. No matter how fine he looked, it bothered him that Zaha had absorbed more demonic qi. Wouldn’t it be a big deal if, like in the middle of the night, a crisis struck and, with just half of the Great Mother, he wouldn’t be able to do much?

It felt like he should go to his home and use his hands to make sure Zaha was safe. So he changed his words.

“I understand. Let us part ways here.”

“Good. Let’s meet tomorrow.”

Zaha nodded his head and walked the other way.

After his form disappeared, Seol Young headed to Zaha’s home. And all the Hwarangs were no longer there, and he met the couple.

“Seol Young-rang! Where did you go for you to come back alone and not with the master?”

“Shhh.”

Seol Young went in and took out a bundle of talismans.

“I will place some of these and leave here. They aren’t anything strange. They are just for good luck.”

The two of them cooperated with him right then, and the three of them went to attach the talismans to every corner of the house. And when they heard a sound from outside, the couple went to look at it.

It was a thick voice that everyone was familiar with.

It was Jin Rim.

So Seol Young and the couple immediately left to greet him.

“Governor. You are here?”

“Hmm? When did you come? Where is the High Governor?”

“He said he was going to meet you, so we went our separate ways.”

“Is that so?”

Jin Rim turned around, ready to leave, but the couple quickly noticed the exhaustion on his face.

“Our master isn’t here, but please quench your thirst first before you leave.”

And so the two went out to make tea, while Seol Young was entrusted with keeping him company.

Seol Young poured him tea and asked,

“Did you find anything more about the world beyond?”

“It was nothing special.”

Jin Rim shook his head.

“No matter how much I searched, everything that Lord Woo Hyun told me in my dream only came up. I guess we need to come up with a way to counter things with what little information we have.”

After saying that, he looked at Seol Young.

“I heard you went out to check some things with the High Governor, what was the result?”

“Nothing.”

Silence fell.

“Tomorrow, the leaders will have a meeting, and you should be there too.”

“Yes.”

Jin Rim got up and left after drinking the tea. His honest appearance quickly disappeared into the darkness.

‘If a lot of people come together, some kind of breakthrough might happen.’

Seol Young went back to the couple and continued to put talismans around the house. After finishing everything and infusing his spiritual qi into them, he felt his spiritual qi drop like being at the bottom of a well.

And the couple said,

“If our master sees such a side of you, he would never be mean to Seol Young-rang again…”

“You are welcome. But I think we had done more than was needed. I was in a hurry that your master would be back home, but he hasn’t returned yet.”

Seol Young urged them not to talk about his visit. And the couple agreed. When he went back to his place, the bundle of clothes was placed there.

‘I need to hurry up and head back to White Tiger Spirit Troops.’

That was what it meant.

Seol Young sat on the ground and held the clothes in his arms. Even though they were just clothes, they felt warm to him, and peace spread in his heart.

‘Master, parents, please give me one clue about the being from a different world. It is something far beyond our understanding. How do we protect this world…’

As he tried to let his fatigue go, his mind wandered.

And Seol Young fell asleep.

How long had he lost consciousness in the darkness that he felt so relaxed now?

But suddenly, he saw something. In front of his eyes, people were coughing blood and collapsing. Everyone looked scared.

[God of Cataclysm!]

Seol Young was confused.

What was this? What was he looking at?

And then it struck him. This was her memory.

The Memory Projection ended with the birth of the new being, but that wasn’t all. The God of Cataclysm had been alive several times.

Then, following the incantation on the bone ashes, it must have left memories each time. Seol Young infused spiritual qi into the bone twice today.

Because of that, the memories piled up.

What he was seeing now was the story after its birth. Many things passed before his eyes. Then it stopped at familiar figures.

Hwarangs.

The God of Cataclysm was watching them.

The ones drawing their swords to confront her, those who were dying, those who were raging, and the wailing ones…

She watched them all quietly, and at some point, there was this powerful calling.

The God of Cataclysm was heading somewhere. It was a tomb deep in the mountains. The moment the God of Cataclysm entered that place, the incantations around the place glowed in gold.

… Die together.

The moment he saw that scene, Seol Young opened his eyes wide and concentrated without even realizing it.