Subdued Soul Chronicle

A sunny spring afternoon.

Around the mossy rocks, boys dressed in the Black Tortoise Troops’ robes were sitting together. Their gazes were directed in the same way.

A small cabin hidden among plum trees.

“…It wasn’t an illusion. The picture on the left side of the wall cannot be erased…”

The voice of their leader could be heard inside. The boys couldn’t fathom who the person their leader was meeting could be.

Their seniors called the person the Green Hut Man.

The man dressed in white lived in a grass-roof hut. Some matters were addressed to him directly rather than being resolved in the Hwarang Troops.

They heard such rumors, but it was their first time actually seeing him. And this felt both exciting and mysterious.

“Why is he alone in such a place?”

“For medicine? Or training?”

“I heard about it. There was a time when he borrowed the tomb of someone and didn’t return it, so he protects the tomb now.”

Their mouths opened, and they began to talk one by one.

“Did you guys see it too? It had to be a spirit sword. At one time, he used to be a Hwarang.”

“From which troops?”

“The White Tiger Spirit Troops. They say that when someone from the White Tiger Spirit Troops come to visit, he goes out and greets them.”

“But did you all see that? What is that?”

A boy asked in a curious tone, but no one answered.

Inside that green hut, there was a shimmer, invisible to ordinary eyes.

It was clear that it was a sorcery incantation. And a powerful one too. But they couldn’t figure out what it meant.

“I need to get a closer look. It felt like I was being dragged into it.”

“But that black puppy there seems fine.”

“Is that a puppy? Do puppies have horns?”

“Right. That cannot be a puppy.”

The trainees talked for a long time. And then, when their Great-rang came, they went silent.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

The trainees turned around. The sun started to set as they walked down the road. One of the boys, plucking a blade of grass as he walked, absentmindedly hummed a tune.

“Are we going to the west now?”

But when they turned around, the other kids were humming the same one.

“You too?”

“You too?”

The boys all looked shocked. Why was everyone coming up with the same song?

“Put your hands together and pray. Holy…”

The boys continued to walk down the path, reciting the song of rebirth.

In the distance, the boys’ singing could be heard.

Seol Young listened to the song and read the words in front of his eyes.

People from the capital always brought him letters. This time, in addition to his hyungs, there were letters from Zaun-rang and Do Cheol.

After reading the letters carefully, he put them in the box next to the table and got up.

A blue glow began to die in his eyes as he looked at the twilight. The aura, which constantly flowed out, went unseen.

While awake, he devoted his entire being to maintaining this technique.

No matter what he did, the string of consciousness was always connected to the sorcery. Of course, even when asleep, he didn’t let go.

In the dark and rough sea, this light was similar to a lighthouse. So he couldn’t take this glow down, even for a second.

Seol Young drew and painted the first talisman with spiritual qi. One day, two, three, seven, and more…

The seasons changed, and then the years, but there was no response.

No one had told Seol Young to stop, and he himself didn’t have plans to stop.

But…

On nights when the roof was shaken violently by the storm, and it was so thick that it was impossible to see an inch ahead, the shadows on the wall seemed to whisper.

Did it fail?

Could it be that the Dead Slayer Sword pierced Zaha, too?

Even if he avoided the sword himself?

Couldn’t it be that his soul had shattered into millions of pieces already? Could that even be reunited? Since he died on the other side of the Ghost Bridge, could he have been trapped further beyond?

‘…No.’

Seol Young shook his head.

The reason why the Dead Slayer Sword disappeared was because someone destroyed it before it stabbed his body.

Now that he has learned to deal with demonic qi, he could fight against them.

As long as he maintained his ego, the scattered parts could be brought back.

Even if it was beyond the Ghost Bridge, if there was a talisman, he could freely move through the space.

He used all kinds of reasons to fight the voices in his head, but nothing mattered.

No matter how impossible or destined to fail it seemed, if it was him, it somehow felt like he could succeed.

So he couldn’t give up.

If he stopped, and Zaha couldn’t find the way back, then Seol Young could never forgive himself.

Towards the wilderness, where chaos raged, he called for his soul again and again. The boundaries between time and space were gradually blurring.

Although the sacred object was protecting him, even he wanted to cross the line of death.

‘To bring back a dead soul is against the law of heaven…’

The voice of the Pavilion Head told him.

He had felt for some time now that his clock kept stopping. Even if he didn’t sleep or eat anything, he didn’t mind.

Was this the price she said he had to pay?

But he couldn’t help it. To make it heard far away, he had to go far.

‘Maybe this isn’t enough.’

And one day, he had this thought.

‘I am not calling him to save him, but to make him live…’

Maybe that was why he couldn’t hear him.

Like when he had desperately called, hoping someone would hear his voice and come, chained, surrounded by demons, facing only death.

‘I am right here.’

Darkness engulfed everything.

The windows, facing outward, one by one closed.

He just hoped everyone wouldn’t worry too much.

“I’m fine. I’ll find my way back, so please wait.”

It seemed like a very long time had passed, yet it felt like no time had passed at all

Seol Young didn’t call. He didn’t feel the need to.

Because calling had already become a part of him. He just existed there.

Whether it was an eternal moment or a momentary eternity, he didn’t know, just sitting quietly….

At some point, he realized.

As the veil lifted, the peak of the lotus flower, supporting the world, unfolded like a bright golden light.

Nothing changed.

Colors that formed matter, numbers that made sense, images that formed persection, causes that formed actions, and consciousness that made up the mind.

The elements that make a human.

From the far edge of his senses, a bright golden light shone, and Seol Young’s consciousness awoke.

He opened his eyes without realizing it, and stood up without realizing it.

He pushed the door, but it didn’t move.

When he pushed it hard, it opened with a creaking sound.

Snow had piled up in front of the door. Seol Young broke through the thick barrier and went out.

The whole world was covered with white snow. The moonlight shone brightly on the snowfield, like a mirror. Every tree had sparking snowflakes.

In the midst of it, he walked aimlessly as far as he could and then stopped.

As white snowflakes fell, someone appeared between the trees.

It was a child.

A child came across the forest like a small beast without leaving footprints. Then, noticing someone standing on the other side, the child stopped.

“…”

The two looked at each other on the snowfield.

In the darkness on the other side, golden eyes shone. For a moment, the world went still, and Seol Young looked at the child.

His heart pounded loudly.

‘He did it.’

He wasn’t surprised because he knew it, but this felt like a dream.

In the end, he won. After overcoming so many battles, he succeeded in returning from the dark and rough sea.

A dazzling light spread through his chest. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say.

As he stared blankly, the child narrowed his eyes as if trying to gauge him.

“What demon are you?”

An arrogant and confident tone, but a look of curiosity too.

Still, there was no answer, and the child lightly moved through the trees. He only had thin cloth as a top and nothing more. His cheeks were frozen red, and the child’s face looked like he had starved for days.

The child went close to the tomb, and began to dig through it. Only then did Seol Young said,

“Are you robbing it?”

“Why would I?”

The child spoke confidently.

“Ever since I was little, I have been robbing graves every day, but I have always been told that one has to make a promise before doing it.”

“A promise?”

“To pray for rebirth, and then the ghosts will give you good sleep and let you use their place.”

Wasn’t that too much for a robber to say?

The child added.

“My talisman isn’t perfect yet, so there are many times when demons get angry and kick me out too.”

And he looked down at his hands, covered in wounds.

Seol Young looked at him, then reached out and took his hands.

His golden eyes widened in surprise, and Seol Young smiled. His lips, which had been in a straight line for so long, curved into an awkward smile.

“You cannot do that anymore.”

The child looked at him with a blank face.

And then he smiled.

A smile as bright as the sun in the snow.

-End-