Subdued Soul Chronicle

“What is that? Isn’t that a goblin?”

“ACKKK!”

Dozens of large goblin heads began to fly over the snowy white street.

“Get out! Move away!”

Hwarangs dressed in red pursued them. They focused on chasing after the heads while looking around.

“There!”

Someone pointed to the roof of a house.

Suddenly, a white thing appeared and fluttered. It was wearing a white robe and had long hair.

“A ghost!”

The people screamed in shock.

However, in reality, he was a Hwarang with a blue spiritual sword. A group of goblins rushed to him, possessed.

“Everyone, this way!”

Seol Young jumped off the roof and ran. He lured a group of goblins and guided them into a nearby hall.

Bang!

Zaha who had been waiting inside, slammed the door to the hall shut. The empty hall was polished with bronze mirrors, but there was only one goblin in the mirror.

“The real one.”

Golden aura shot from Zaha’s sword and struck it. When a Hwarang, Hwa Un, attacked, the fakes rushed to block them with their sharp teeth flashing.

Seol Young quickly cast an incantation spell.

Then wind rose around the goblin’s body. All the goblins that were controlled by the main body bounced back.

The Vermillion Bird Troops noticed Seol Young’s plan and quickly went there. Their spirit swords radiated a red aura and spun around it. Then the goblin’s body was cut to pieces in an instant.

They had this sword dance called the Phoenix Dance that had been handed down to them. It was like a bird leaning on the wind and spreading its wings. The key was to use strong wind to unfold its action.

And the wind that was caused by Seol Young gave them the leeway.

Puak!

Hwa Un’s sword pierced the center. The goblin’s body couldn’t stand it any longer and fell off. The rest of the heads quickly lost their strength and faded.

“Nice. Very well done.”

They glanced at Seol Young, who had cut down the goblin.

“But how did Seol Young-rang know that the Vermillion Bird Troops were here?”

For a moment, there was awkwardness.

Then Zaha tilted his head, as if he remembered something belatedly,

“Ah, right! The time you were the Ghost Demon King? I forgot.”

He had a grin on his face, and Seol Young just glared at him.

‘I need to act ignorant now and move on, right?’

Seol Young knew that this situation was funny. Because he struggled to survive against the Hwarang troops during his time as the Ghost Demon King, he learned about all the troops.

His knowledge from that time was of great help in bringing down these things and working with them. After this situation happened so many times, everything felt normal.

“….”

Hwa Un opened his fan and hit the goblins, while Seol Young worked next to him.

Eight years ago, a group of goblins suddenly appeared and harmed innocent people. The Hwarangs cleaned up the site and went out before people gathered.

Hwa Un told the Hwarangs,

“You people should head back to patrolling.”

“Yes.”

At the order of their leader, they all left.

Seol Young, Zaha, and Hwa Un walked out, and there were monks and soldiers everywhere. When their eyes met, they nodded.

They were the ones who were secretly monitoring the situation.

People were assigned to every place where strange incidents happened eight years ago and were instructed to contact the Hwarangs if something came up.

In that way, the disasters could be handled a little earlier.

But…

As Jin Rim also said, the plan wasn’t perfect. Seol Young’s gaze lingered on the other side of the street.

A Hwarang was running. He was injured and was clenching his other arm. No matter how much he defended himself, he couldn’t avoid getting injured.

Even if they already knew what would happen, such things would still happen.

So how long would this war continue?

Thinking about that, it was fortunate that they had made thorough preparations quickly.

Zaha mumbled,

“We will be the last.”

“I know.”

The three of them crossed the snow covered street.

They saw Mt. Danseok in the darkness.

When they reached the top, the first thing that caught Seol Young’s eye was the famous rock. The rock that was cut in half by just one slash of a sword.

When Seol Young, Zaha and Hwa Un arrived there, several shadows moved around the rock.

They were Jin Rim, Baek Eon, Seo Geom, and Mu Won.

“High Governor?”

“You are late.”

After a brief exchange, they went straight for the target. It was the natural stone pagoda that looked as if it were made of the same rock.

Withered by wind and rain, it seemed ordinary. Nine out of ten people who reached this summit would probably forget about seeing this. But inside this stone pagoda, a very important thing was cleverly hidden.

“Then, let’s reveal it.”

Jin Rim injected something into the groove of the stone pagoda.

Rustle.

There was this rustling sound of the stone moving.

The crack in the middle of the stone pagoda moved. Inside, the appearance of the Pasa stone pagoda was revealed.

Seven stones were piled up in layers, and it looked very strange from a distance.

“Each stone holds power in them. Regardless of their sizes, if they are stacked in the right order, we can make it work.”

Jin Rim explained.

“When the tower is activated, the stones stick together and create powerful waves of energy. That is how we will open the Ghost Bridge. The stones are what keeps the bridge and door open.”

“When the bridge opens, I will quickly summon the God of Cataclysm, push it inside and then close it. The plan sounds simple, but it isn’t really like that.”

Everyone nodded at Zaha’s words.

“Which is why the old Hwarangs used the stone’s color as a marker. When an accident happens, the bottom of the stone changes color, and the door must be closed before the stone changes color entirely.”

Unidentified beings couldn’t be summoned to this land. In order to thoroughly prevent that from happening, they prepared another thing.

A barrier.

It was divided into five. From the top to the bottom of the mountain and was marked with flags. If anything out of ordinary happened, they were prepared to block it.

Looking down from the top, it was clear at a glance.

On each side, the flags of the Hwarangs were put up, the circle was installed and prayers had been placed.

“So strange.”

Jin Rim finished the report for Zaha and their discussion ended like that.

Before taking up their roles, Seol Young went to Baek Eon.

“I will see you on the afternoon patrol.”

Even though they were trying to match their schedules due to the rushed situation, it was comforting to see them once a day.

“Right. Be careful. Ah, and…”

Baek Eon was about to say something, but he just smiled and went down.

What? He was curious but he couldn’t follow him now. Zaha was already looking at the schedule by his side.

“Let’s stick to the schedule.”

“Yes.”

And it was now dawn.

The sky was dark, but people were still moving. The sound of temple bells rang around the mountain.

When one passed by the temple that was at the foot of the mountain and looked, people were bringing in sacks and opening them. And the sound of grain being poured could be heard.

Seol Young realized something at that moment.

“Aha…”

Zaha asked him,

“What?”

“I realized what Baek Eon-rang was about to say earlier. I don’t know what else it could be. Since I don’t like red bean porridge, I usually try to eat rice cakes with red beans…”

“You hate red beans? What are you? A ghost?”

“…Thinking of the youngest eating red bean rice cake because I can’t eat porridge, he may not have been able to stop himself from chuckling even in this serious situation. Of course, we brothers talk about it amongst ourselves.”

Regardless of what Zaha said, Seol Young continued. On the winter solstice, people would eat red bean porridge and bury pine branches.

That was because there was a legend that ghosts hated red bean porridge. According to the legend, ghosts could be driven away like that.

“Come to think of it, we are opening the Ghost Bridge.”

Seol Young realized it only then.

The winter solstice had the longest nights of the year. From the next day on, the days would start to get longer, which meant that the sun would become stronger.

“Since ancient times, winter solstice has been a time to exorcise ghosts, but it turned out like that for us…”

“I am not kidding. Do you really not know?”

Zaha was about to throw in another joke, but he stopped himself.

“No, this isn’t the time. Come to think of it, I completely forgot. The Empress Dowager called.”

“Why?”

“I was told that she couldn’t attend the banquet because of the training on the night of the winter solstice, so she asked me to get a calendar in advance.”

Zaha grumbled.

“Is the calander so important? In a situation where tomorrow and the safety of the land is unsure.”

“We need to go. Didn’t we decide to act normal as if nothing happened?”

Seol Young was right. However, Zaha didn’t seem to like the fact that he had to meet the Empress Dowager and listen to her nagging.

“We don’t have time…”

“Let’s just end it quickly.”

Seol Young brought him to the Moon Palace and sent him to the Empress Dowager.

Was it the wrong decision?

Even after one hour, Zaha didn’t come out. And he couldn’t just go in and check…

‘We should be moving soon.’

Seol Young turned around. However, when he was moving out, he saw a familiar person.

It was Zaun.

He recognized her at once.

She seemed to be waiting for time to pass by wandering in front of her carriage. And she wasn’t that careful, despite being pregnant.

It was clear she was waiting for someone.

‘Maybe me.’

After Seol Young looked into her dead husband’s ring, Zaun never looked hostile toward him again.

But since she was such a high ranking person, the fact that she was waiting for him didn’t seem right.

So Seol Young asked,

“What business do you have with me, Lady?”

Zaun raised her thin eyebrows.

“You are so quick witted.”

She gestured for Seol Young to enter the carriage, but he refused.

“I have to do a mission.”

“It is only to avoid the eyes of people. Or should I say it here? You will regret it.”

Having said that, he couldn’t refuse any longer. After he went in, Zaun closed the door and got straight to the point.

“Do you know Monk Do Cheol?”

Seol Young was confused.

“How do you know Monk Do Cheol?”

As soon as he asked, he realized it.

Zaun went to the ritual at the Old Palace and she must have met him.

“Right. It was that day.”

She said, as if she had read Seol Young’s thoughts.

“Since the monk insisted on greeting you and waited for you, I was curious as you seemed to know each other. I coaxed him by saying that I was your good friend, and he told me a lot of interesting things.”

Seol Young didn’t like this.

“What are you trying to say?”

Instead of answering, she pulled out a golden box under her seat, and when she opened the lid, it was empty.

“Do you know what was actually inside this?”

“How can I know?”

“It contained a family heirloom. A divine chain that can bind dragons and serpents.”

Zaun continued while looking down at the empty box.

“I didn’t even know the chain was gone, but the monk said the High Governor Hwarang had it? And it had shattered to pieces. In other words, it was used somewhere…”

She looked into his eyes.

“Where and what was my brother up to for the last eight years?”

“…”

Seol Young was dumbfounded.