The Shrine Maiden of Haewondang, Seo Yerin
The Shrine Maiden of Haewondang, Seo Yerin
"A request?"
"Yeah. I heard a while back that you accept laundry requests on-site, right?"
"...You're talking about Ignis Industry, aren't you?"
"That's right. I heard you even went to the dungeon yourself."
So she heard about that, too.
"I did."
I went all the way to Ignis headquarters to increase customer satisfaction.
I held back the part about going into the bedroom.
Well done, Kim Jinsoo.
"The item is... very tricky. I couldn't take it out, so I only brought a sample."
"So you came here intending to entrust it to me from the start."
"Right. I was also curious about eonni's reaction. She insisted on coming to oppa's laundry, so I came along, but..."
Seo Yerin looked at the closed changing room door and continued.
"I ended up seeing a more interesting sight than I thought."
Seo Yerin grinned, pulled a small wooden box covered in talismans from her pocket, and carefully placed it on the counter.
"I'd like you to keep what you're about to see a secret until it's resolved."
"Even from Guild Master Chaerim?"
"Yes. Even from Chaerim eonni."
She gently peeled off one of the sealed talismans and opened the gap in the box just a tiny bit.
At that moment.
Wuuung!
-Ppi-iik!
Peep, who had been sitting still, bristled his fur and burrowed behind my back, and Elena's complexion turned deathly pale.
"Th-this is...!"
Elena gasped as she looked into the space inside the box.
I, too, furrowed my brow sharply.
A sticky power felt through the crack in the open box.
Black mist or blood rain?
There was nothing like that.
Nothing special had changed.
It was just a strange sensation, as if the air around the box was sinking in.
Suddenly, a heavy pressure, as if something were crushing my shoulders, filled the laundry lobby.
It was a heavy, suffocating energy, as if even the light and air were being sucked into that box.
[Using Cleaner's Detection.]
[Warning! Powerful gravitational pull, lingering attachments to this world, and ominous Demonic Energy detected in the contaminant.]
"What is this?"
"It's a scrap of cloth. A very small piece of cloth I tore off from the item I want to entrust to you."
Inside the open box lay a piece of white cloth the size of a palm.
"...This small piece of cloth is pressing down on the air like this?"
Seo Yerin wiped away her languid expression and nodded seriously.
"It's a Sochang (Small Cloth). In our temple, when we perform a ritual, it's a pure white cotton cloth that symbolizes the path the deceased takes to cross from this world to the afterlife."
"You mean the road-cloth. Isn't it supposed to be torn and burned after the ritual?"
Seo Yerin looked at me with a surprised face at my words.
Elena blinked, as if she didn't know what that was.
"You know about this?"
"I do. It's a long cotton cloth that connects the afterlife to this world."
"...That's unexpected."
"Well, I'm in a profession that deals with fabric, after all. I've heard a thing or two."
"There's a saying that a person uses one bolt of Sochang in life and one in death. One bolt for baby clothes when alive, and one for the coffin binding when dead."
"...Then this must be an item used by the dead."
"Right. Normally, it should tear cleanly and burn up. But at some point, this cotton cloth stopped tearing and stopped burning."
My eyes landed on the white cloth.
A white cloth filled with ominous power.
An ominous energy that should never exist if it held life was slowly rising.
Just looking at it made my stomach feel twisted.
"It's an unpleasant power..."
Elena furrowed her brow.
"It's an ominous power. It's similar to the power I felt from the Demon Realm... or Hell."
Seo Yerin slammed the box shut and stuck the talisman back on.
Only then did the heavy pressure crushing my shoulders disappear as if it were a lie.
"At first, I thought it wouldn't burn because the lingering attachments of the unjustly dead were tangled up in it. That happens sometimes. If the attachment to remain in this world is strong, the fire won't catch and will die out halfway. But..."
Her pink eyes sank coldly.
"It wasn't just because of the attachments."
Her eyes turned to Elena.
"You saw it correctly. I guess your intuition is good because you have a good aura."
"Is it the power of the Demon Realm?"
"Yes. The dregs of the Demon Realm. Those demonic bastards stuck themselves to the attachments of the dead and are trying to use them as a rope to crawl into this world."
Seo Yerin's voice was filled with deep anger.
A blind anger toward those who use wicked power.
"A demonic scheme?"
"Yes. The sticky witchcraft of the demons has tangled with the attachments of the dead."
"What happens if you leave this alone?"
"This cotton cloth will probably become a Gate, and our temple will become a new dungeon."
"Even though I hate the temple, I can't stand by and watch the place where I was born and raised become a base for dirty demons."
"Since when has it been like this?"
"Since half a year ago? After I heard the news from my master, I tried to solve it in my own way by carrying a scrap around... but it's no use."
Deep disappointment settled on her expression.
"Anyway, because of that, the main body of the cotton cloth has become so heavy that it has pierced through the basement of the temple. Even with several of my junior disciples helping, we couldn't lift it, so we just put layers of barriers around it and sealed it."
Hearing the explanation, the warning on the status window made perfect sense.
The heavy emotion of attachment.
The sticky scheme of demons trying to cross over to this world using that.
"It can't be burned, and it can't be physically cut. If I try to purify it by force, the demon's curse attached to the resentment will backflow, and a new dungeon will be created."
Seo Yerin placed both hands on the counter and leaned her face close to mine.
"Oppa, can this be laundered too?"
A strange sense of anticipation hung on her lips.
"That Spell Worm's bodily fluid wasn't just an ordinary stain. It was a kind of parasite. If you managed to handle that without any risk..."
I tapped the wooden box with the talisman on it with my finger.
"It's possible, right?"
A request to wash away a curse that exorcists or shamans couldn't.
An ordinary laundry owner would have refused.
Because breaking a curse is not the domain of a laundry owner.
However.
I had already laundered curses and evil thoughts before.
The uniform that Lee Chaerim brought.
[Coat of Snowflakes Encroached by Resentment]
This was also a garment full of curses and evil thoughts.
If it's a garment, if it's an item that can be equipped.
It could sufficiently fall within the category of laundry.
A cotton cloth that connects the afterlife and this world.
This was also a cloth that could be laundered.
A cotton cloth that could even be made into clothes.
"I'll go to the temple basement where the main body is for an on-site estimate. Get ready to host a VIP."
Seo Yerin smiled at my words.
"Thank you. As expected, there's no one like oppa."
"I want to check the sample, so leave the box."
"Okay. When you seal it, make sure you always keep the talisman attached."
Seo Yerin and Lee Chaerim left.
"I'll come again later. I'm really sorry for hitting you earlier."
Lee Chaerim bowed her head repeatedly, apologizing until she stepped out the door.
"It's fine. My jaw might hurt a bit, but thanks to that, I got a very good view."
"......A good view?"
I couldn't bring myself to say what that view was.
The pink thing that was revealed while she was kicking.
It was a sight worth getting hit once for.
The Guild Master's taste is cuter than I thought.
"I'll come by for a cup of coffee later."
Anyway, the two of them left like that.
As soon as the door closed, Elena pointed carefully at the counter and asked.
"Boss, are you really going to do this?"
It was the small wooden box covered in talismans that Seo Yerin had left behind as a sample.
-Ppi-iik!! Ppi!!
Peep, who had climbed onto the counter and stood next to the box, was also flapping his wings and shouting his absolute opposition.
I felt it too! The terrible resentment that was attached to the cloth inside this box! I feel like I can still hear those voices!
Seeing the little guy, who usually had no fear and scurried around, being this wary, it seemed the energy dwelling in that thread was quite ominous.
"Of course I have to. The more high-difficulty laundry items like this there are, the greater the sense of accomplishment after finishing the after-service, and if I want to make money, I have to take on requests like this, right?"
"No matter how much you like money, you only have one life! The energy leaking from that box isn't at the level of an ordinary vengeful spirit. The disgusting smell of the Demon Realm is vibrating...!"
Hmm.
Now that Elena is saying this much, my mind is suddenly changing.
To think that even Elena, who loves money so much, would refuse it.
'Should I cancel?'
But it hurts my pride to take back words I've already spoken as a man.
Elena, who had been stomping her feet, blocked my path as if she had made up her mind.
"It won't do. Take me with you when you go on the on-site visit. No, I absolutely have to go!"
"Why you?"
"Because holy power is the natural enemy of demons! Even though I was excommunicated from the Church, my purity was top-tier, enough to make even the Pope click his tongue."
Elena puffed out her chest triumphantly.
Certainly, if it was a contaminant mixed with Demonic Energy, it would be safer in many ways to take an employee who was a former saintess with powerful holy power.
She was also a talent too good to just let rot as a laundry assistant.
"Alright. Then let's do a sample test."
"A test?"
"The piece of cloth Yerin left behind. Let's see if it can be purified with your holy power."
I carefully peeled off one of the talismans attached to the wooden box with my gloved hand.
As the gap in the box opened just a tiny bit, a sticky Demonic Energy flowed out, along with the heavy pressure that crushed my shoulders again.
"Now, Agent Elena. Start the purification."
"Leave it to me! I command in the name of the Goddess, wash away the filthy Demonic Energy and find rest...!"
Elena clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.
A warm and pure white light, dazzling enough to blind, burst from her fingertips and poured toward the crack in the box.
It was an overwhelming and clear holy power that would make an ordinary evil spirit scream and be purified the moment it touched it.
Chiiiiii-!
Light and darkness collided, making a fierce sound.
The pressure crushing my shoulders also slowly disappeared.
However.
"Huck, h-huff...!"
Before long, Elena staggered backward, sweating profusely.
The holy power she emitted scattered into the air without being able to burn or purify the piece of cloth inside the box.
"What's wrong? Is it not working?"
"I-it won't work. Far from the Demonic Energy disappearing, it's repelling all of my holy power...!"
Elena gasped for breath and glared at the box as if she couldn't believe it.
"The attachments of the dead... their attachments are acting as a shield, tightly wrapping around the Demonic Energy. If I try to force holy power in to burn it like this, even the souls tied to the attachments will burn up!"
"...What happens if those souls burn?"
At my question, she pressed her lips together.
"...They won't even be able to go to Hell and will be completely extinguished. Their very existence will be forgotten."
At her words, I quietly nodded, closed the lid of the box, and stuck the talisman back on.
"As expected. It means it can't be solved by an exorcism method of smashing or burning."
I understand why Seo Yerin went out of her way to find me, the laundry owner.
"What I have to do is simple."
I cannot erase Demonic Energy.
So, I will.
"Erasing the resentment of those dead souls is my job."
Clang-! Clang-! Clang-!
The Dark Iron Forge.
In the deepest part.
Next to the furnace that held the strongest heat.
Clang-! Clang-! Clang-!
Garun was silently hammering.
The silvery steel placed on the anvil.
He listened to the voice the steel made and devoted himself to making it into the shape of the object they wanted, the object they desired.
The greatest craftsman.
At the same time, the attention of all the dwarves was focused on the hammering of the craftsman who was about to retire.
"A masterpiece will be born."
"I can feel it, the sound of the iron."
"This is the first time I've heard such a fierce resonance."
All the dwarves in the forge watched only Garun, watching the finished product he was creating.
But Garun, the person in question, had no interest in the admiring gazes of those dwarves.
-I want to become.
-I want to become the best tool.
-I will do anything for my benefactor.
Clang-!
The voice of the iron.
He listened to the voice of the best iron that Kim Jinsoo had made for him and shaped it as they wished.
Clang-!
And the final hammer blow.
Chiiiiii!
Having cooled the heated iron for the last time, he looked at the greatest masterpiece of his dwarf life that he had created.
"It is done. My best tool to gift to my benefactor."
In his hand, a pair of scissors shimmering in silver was held.
The strongest equipment on earth, which he could confidently call the most perfect scissors in the world.