Subdued Soul Chronicle

Night Walk under the Moon.

In the midst of the darkness, a blue light flashed through the air.

From the tip of the sword, which was shining brightly as if the moon had fallen on it, the blade shone white, and a blue aura flowed down it.

‘Perfect.’

Seol Young lowered his sword.

He had been busy since this morning. He checked the sword spirit in the backyard of his accommodation.

‘I need to head to bed early now.’

He was about to leave the yard and enter his room, but then he saw the monks gathering and talking.

Seol Young approached them and asked.

“Hwarang Seol Young? Did you hear aout it? Well, I-I heard the strange sound of a ghost coming from the land in front of the Heavenly Emperor’s Temple.”

“Is that so?”

Oddly enough, even a small thing couldn’t be passed lightly. Seol Young went out and passed the mountain as he arrived right in front of the temple.

Sure enough, people were gathered there, murmuring and discussing the eerie cries of “Eung! Eung! Euhh!” emanating from beneath the ground.

Sensing an ominous sign, Seol Young tensed up. Then, upon hearing a cry from the ground, his expression changed.

‘Wait, this is…’

He borrowed a shovel from the temple and dug the ground. A white, round object was buried deep in the soil.

“What is that? An egg?”

People rushed in to watch. And surprisingly, the egg had letters written on it.

“Snow? And Shadow?”

Seol Young covered the egg with his hand, and it was then…

“Is there a problem?”

Two people appeared from behind and their attire was cleanly visible in the moonlight. They wore a Hwarang’s uniform with a silver pattern on a blue background.

Seol Young went stiff.

‘The Blue Dragon Troops out of everyone?’

The two Hwarangs didn’t like seeing Seol Young.

Their eyes trembled, looking at the object in his hand.

“What is that?”

One of the onlookers said,

“We heard eerie cries coming from the ground here, and that person dug up this strange egg. There were characters written on it, ‘Shadow’ and ‘Snow’.”

“No.”

Seol Young denied it, and the faces of the two Hwarangs changed.

“Hearing cries from the ground is a bad omen to the nation, but the characters Snow (Seol) and Shadow (Young) were written on the egg? How can there be such a coincidence? Give that here.”

“I said it isn’t like that.”

Seol Young was sweating.

He was still being framed in such situations. But this was just a misunderstanding. His tongue stiffened, rendering him unable to speak.

At that moment…

“What’s going on here?”

His eyes flashed at the voice that came, and his clenched hand felt stiff.

“…?”

He was surprised to see this noble dressed in black, and what was interesting was that he had golden eyes.

‘No, that person is…?’

Seol Young reached for the egg, but Zaha slapped his hand faster. Then the Blue Dragon Troops asked,

“High Governor, are his words true? Is his name really written on this egg?”

“Let’s see.”

Zaha looked at the egg, and the next moment, he said,

“What? Snow and Shadow? I read it as ‘Lightning’ and ‘Tick Symbol’?”

He took the egg to a bright place and showed it. The characters written weren’t Seol Young’s name.

Seol Young was shocked.

What just happened? He knew that the hands of this demon were swift, but they were swift enough to change characters?

If he hadn’t seen the characters beforehand, he would have been fooled.

“What? It isn’t even his name, so what are you being suspicious about? This guy is always gloomy, and what do those characters even mean, High Governor?”

“Nothing. Someone must have played a trivial trick. It looks like it is time for the egg to hatch, so I will put this in the pond. I will handle it myself.”

“Yes, High Governor.”

The Hwarangs of the Blue Dragon Troops looked at Seol Young with displeasure before leaving. The onlookers, reassured that it was nothing serious, dispersed.

Zaha said with a smile that only the two of them knew.

“Is this also something that happened during your Ghost Demon King days? You wrote your name and buried it in front of the temple to prevent the evil spirits from stealing it, but you forgot about it when the ban got lifted up recently and your spiritual qi returned, and it must have woken up as well, huh?”

“What does it matter?”

Seol Young tried to snatch the egg back, but Zaha lifted it up and threw it in the pond.

“I cannot let such a glamorous egg grow with your energy, right?”

“Grow what? I was already planning to dispose of it. Besides, it wouldn’t be of much importance to you, who fell into the demonic path, right?”

“I didn’t mean it like this. I mean, I cannot let something like this waste your precious spiritual qi, which is supposed to be mine.”

Seol Young was stunned by Zaha’s attitude, as if he were protecting him.

“Is this why you tailed me? To not let me waste my qi?”

“Tail you? Me?”

Zaha looked shocked.

“I was the first to come to the temple. Seol Young-rang, you were the one who followed me here.”

“Why would I follow you?”

“You should know why. Well, it isn’t a problem. If you are going to follow me around early in the morning, you might as well openly follow me, right?”

“I didn’t tail you!”

“I am heading to the right, so don’t follow me.”

He said what he wanted to say and left. Now, he was being accused.

It was just one of his ways of harassing people, and his tactic was clear.

He said he was going to the right, but he was actually moving to the left. If Seol Young decided to move to the left now, he would be caught in the trap.

And when they would meet…

‘I told you not to follow me, but you still did it again!’

He could already hear his shameless voice.

‘Do you think I will fall for it?’

Seol Young took the right without another thought, but it wasn’t long before he heard a familiar voice.

“High Governor! Are you heading back now?”

Seol Young’s feet stopped there.

Why did he hear this now?

Besides, wasn’t this Seo Geom-rang’s voice?

“Is everything alright? I heard from the kids that you ran into Seol Young-rang in front of the temple. That rude Hwarang must have been arrogant to the High Governor again, right?”

“Shhh, be quiet. Seo Geom-rang. I don’t know if it was Seol Young-rang or some other Hwarang, but I’m sure he is tailing me right now.”

“Tailing you?”

“Right. He kept tailing me, which was so annoying, so I told him not to follow me, saying I would head to the right.”

Zaha looked back.

Seol Young was so shocked that he hid behind the trees.

‘Why on earth did that compulsive liar, who only opens his mouth to deceive others, actually come down the right path?’

Seol Young couldn’t believe that he had indeed come down the right path. Now that it turned out like this, who would believe him?

It would be even worse to prove his point to someone like Seo Geom. Seol Young hid himself even more.

“It seems like he hasn’t caught up to me yet since I don’t see him. Then good, I can leave.”

“You won’t have a drink? While the High Governor was away, many nice places opened up in the capital.”

“I need to leave early tomorrow morning, so I just want to head home.”

“Ah, yes, then. Goodbye.”

Seo Geom and the Blue Dragon Troops stepped aside and opened the path. And after Zaha left, they whispered that it was unfortunate.

Then Seol Young walked out from behind the tree and came out only after it was quiet.

‘Phew, I lost 10 years.’