The Grudges of Haewondang (3)
The Grudges of Haewondang (3)
When the stain covered me.
I saw a vision.
-Why do I have to die? Why me, of all people?
A man wailing in despair.
The man, who died in a traffic accident, was standing blankly on the street, despairing.
Today was his daughter's birthday.
He had been in a car accident on his way back, with his daughter's gift in the backseat.
A car that crossed the center line had slammed into him, just as he was filled with the desire to give the gift to his child.
The sorrow of a father who couldn't deliver his daughter's gift in the end.
-I have to give her the gift.
-I shouldn't die like this.
A voice tinged with the lingering attachment of someone who didn't want to end their life.
In the place where the ghost who couldn't accept their own death remained, the energy of a Demon, carrying a chilling aura, took root.
-Poor things, you can't end it like this, can you? Take my hand. Then I will help you continue the thread of life as you wish.
A shadow Demon, speaking in a voice so sweet and sticky it was sickening.
Possessing dozens of eyes and ears, it extended a sweet temptation to the dead.
A part-timer who was just commuting to work.
An ordinary student who was thinking about how to hang out with friends today.
A patient who hadn't been able to do anything while lying in a hospital bed for years.
An old person who wanted to see their grandchildren one last time.
A person living alone who died lonely in the end.
The tentacles of Jinchwireu gently wrapped around the souls floundering in the pain and regret of death.
The instinct to want to live.
Crushed by the fear of death, the dead desperately grabbed onto those pitch-black tentacles.
Thinking it was a lifeline.
-Yes, never let go. The more you emit this resentment and lingering attachment, the stronger your hope to live will become.
The moment the dead grabbed the shadow, the creature's terrible deception began.
It deceived them, claiming they could regain their lives, and used their souls as shields to inhabit the Sochang.
The vision of one dead person.
And the vision of another.
-Save me... Please, save me...
-Help me! It hurts so much!
The suffering dead.
-Hello. I'm looking for happiness...
-I moved recently, and this place is really nice...
The dead, replaying their lives as if rewinding a tape to forget the pain.
And.
-Ugh...
Some even looked lethargic, as if their souls had been sucked dry.
I quietly watched that terrible cycle of deception within the vision the stain provided.
The countless screams that burst out from outside the stone chamber.
-Save me. Save me. Save me.
It wasn't a lingering attachment to wanting to gain life again and return to the world of the living.
It was a desperate cry for rest, begging to be freed from the pain of death that was infinitely repeated, tricked by the devil's lies.
They weren't holding onto the Demon because they wanted to live.
Even after realizing they had been deceived, they couldn't escape the Demon's grasp once they had been caught.
The endlessly repeating pain of death.
The more the dead struggled to live, the deeper they fell into the quagmire of pain.
Their attachment to their innocent lives.
Twisted in pain, it turned into a bitter grudge and dyed the cotton cloth pitch black.
So the stain was the grudge of the dead.
Then that meant the Demon was hiding in that white cotton cloth.
Now that I realized this stain was a grudge.
There was only one way.
Remove the stain, and once the pure white Sochang was revealed, pour Divine Power and Godly Power into it to drive out the Demon dwelling within the Sochang.
'So that's why you told me to look at it myself.'
I almost made a mistake.
I had thought that stain was Demonic Energy.
"Hang in there just a little longer."
I whispered as if speaking to the screaming dead.
"I'll have you washed in no time."
Phat!
My vision flashed, and the musty air of the underground stone chamber filled my lungs again.
It was a short moment of only a few seconds, but my body was drenched in cold sweat.
"Ma, Master? Are you okay? You were suddenly engulfed in a black stain...!"
Elena approached with a pale face.
Beside her, Seo Yerin also asked in a worried tone.
"Are you okay? Oppa, you're sweating a lot right now."
The two of them poured their Divine Power and Godly Power into me.
"You don't need to use it on me. I'm fine."
I shook my head lightly and pointed to the Sochang.
"I've got the perfect estimate."
The spot where I had poured the Dye Restoration Agent just moments ago.
The black stain was bubbling.
The pitch-black stain, which I had initially thought might be Demonic Energy, was falling off while creating white foam.
As they fell away, the fibers of the Sochang, having found their original color, revealed themselves.
But soon, the black stains around it covered the white part of the Sochang again.
As if it had to be contaminated even more.
Knowing that even that was a deception, I couldn't help but laugh.
"When I remove that stain with the Dye Restoration Agent, use your Divine Power and talismans on the white exposed part."
The two of them asked me with their eyes.
Asking why.
"The Demonic Energy isn't that pitch-black stain."
At my words, the eyes of Elena, who was gripping the Dye Restoration Agent tight, and Seo Yerin, who was taking out a talisman, widened at the same time.
"What does that mean? That terrible black mass that was torn off earlier isn't Demonic Energy?"
"That stain is the manifestation of the lingering attachment and grudge of the dead who want to escape the Demon. It just looks sticky and stuck on because it's entangled with Demonic Energy."
I glared with cold eyes at the giant main body of the Sochang, which was deathly pale.
"The real Demon is wearing that pure white shell and hiding cunningly inside the main body of the Sochang."
It was the exact opposite of common sense.
Usually, one would assume the pitch-black stain is the contaminant and the white background is the clean cloth.
The Demon aimed exactly for that.
It coiled itself deep inside the main body of the Sochang, disguised in white, and instead stuck the grudges of the dead all over the surface like a pitch-black stain, using them as meat shields to protect itself.
Because the grudges of the dead, mixed with Demonic Energy, block the shaman's Godly Power, so they aren't exposed to Godly Power and Divine Power, which are their weaknesses.
Godly Power can't burn the souls of the dead, after all.
"Crazy... They really are bastards!"
Elena, who understood the situation, trembled with rage and gritted her teeth.
Seo Yerin also bit her lip hard and gripped the bell she was holding tightly.
"That's why we're going to peel it off."
I held up the Dye Restoration Agent, which still had plenty left.
"When I remove that stain, you two pour all the power you have into the exposed white Sochang."
"Is that all it takes?"
"Probably?"
"Demonic Energy is weak to Divine Power, after all. It will work. And the Master said it would work."
Elena smiled confidently.
There was no sign of the fear she had when she first entered.
"But are you really okay? If we pour out our full power, the Divine barrier protecting us will disappear. Then the Demonic Energy will attack us..."
The two of them and Peep would be fine.
They were women who possessed powerful Godly Power, and Peep was a high-grade spirit.
"It's fine. I can endure this much."
I pointed to the warmth on my wrist that Elena had given me.
Her Divine Power would protect me a little, at least.
Seeing that, Seo Yerin nodded.
"Got it. Then I'll start as soon as you give the signal."
"In the name of the Goddess... I'll make sure we succeed today and get the full contract fee."
Taking their determined answers as a signal, I poured the special Dye Restoration Agent, packed with Elena's high-purity Divine Power, mercilessly over the giant, swollen pile of Sochang.
The moment the restoration agent touched it, a bizarre, piercing sound rang through the stone chamber.
-Kuaaaagh!
The terrible screams poured out by the dead.
It was the desperate scream of those being separated from the Demon the moment I poured out the Dye Restoration Agent.
Chiiik!
Chemical decomposition began.
The pitch-black stains stuck to the surface of the Sochang began to fall off, like grease hitting boiling water.
It was the moment the relationship between the dead and the Demon, bound by the Demon's deception and false contracts, was severed.
The white cloth revealed as they were neutralized.
Just as they were trying to fill that spot again with other souls.
"Now! Shoot!"
At my shout, Elena and Seo Yerin unleashed their explosive power as if they had been waiting for it.
"Fierce judgment of light upon the filthy deceiver!"
Dazzling Divine Power, like the sun, erupted from Elena's two hands and struck the gap in the Sochang, which had been left defenseless as the black stains fell away, with precision.
"You wicked monster, get out of the path to the afterlife right now!"
Seo Yerin also shook her ritual tool, the Seven-Star Bell, violently, and brought down her clear, sharp Godly Power like a lightning bolt.
As Divine Power poured onto the Sochang.
-Kuaaaaaaaagh!
A sound different from before rang out.
Not the screams of the dead, but a deeper, more unpleasant, hollow resonance.
The Demon, having lost its shield, let out a desperate death cry as it was beaten by Divine Power and Godly Power with its bare body.
The scream of the Demon that had been dwelling in the Sochang, which it had been disguising in white, echoed out.
-You damn humans!!!
The scream that shook my chest headed toward us.
A shadow popped out of the Sochang and headed for me.
The shadow of a Demon with hundreds of eyes.
It targeted me, who was left defenseless because the Divine Power that had been blocking the Demonic Energy around us had disappeared.
"Oppa!"
Seeing that, Seo Yerin shouted in a panicked voice.
"I knew it."
The trick is too obvious.
The moment the creature targeted me.
-Ppi-eek!
Peep, who had been hanging on my shoulder since I sprayed the Dye Restoration Agent, emitted a pink radiance.
Pang!
-Kuaaaagh!
The power of an uncorrupted spirit is also the polar opposite of Demonic Energy.
Peep's power and.
Woo-woong.
Elena's Divine Power, which I had worn like a bracelet on my wrist, burned the eyes of the Demon that was trying to target my heart.
The final struggle ended.
-You... Jinchwireu will be watching you...
The wicked Demonic Energy that had filled the surroundings faded.
The crushing force gradually disappeared, and the screams full of resentment diminished.
Because the Demon's control, which had been forcibly holding the souls, had vanished.
The pitch-black stains of resentment that had been wandering in the air began to fade slowly.
Even in places where I hadn't sprayed the Dye Restoration Agent, the Demonic Energy and the dead separated as if boiling.
'Ah...'
'It's over...'
'Thank you...'
The dead, finally freed from the terrible cycle of pain.
The fear of death that had been dyeing their resentment pitch-black turned into rest, and the black stains soon turned into soft, warm white lights, one by one, and began to rise toward the ceiling of the stone chamber.
The dye that had been forcibly painted on faded naturally, and they were leaving the world of the living, returning to their original, pure souls.
[Cleaner's Detection is activated.]
[Contamination level reduced by 72%... 88%... 99%...]
Checking the contamination level dropping moment by moment before my eyes, I shook the empty Dye Restoration Agent container lightly.
The terrible stain of lies was being erased perfectly.
"Hoo..."
And when the last stain disappeared completely.
Hwaaa.
The terrible force and resentment that had filled the surroundings vanished, and silence returned.
"I'm exhausted."
My legs were trembling, so I sat down without realizing it.
Thud.
In front of me as I sat down, I saw a small, white hand.
It was Seo Yerin.
"Here, I'll help you up."
"...Thanks."
"Master!"
As I stood up with the help of her and Elena.
"Oppa, that was a little too cool just now."
Seo Yerin, who was supporting my shoulder, whispered with a smile in her eyes.
"......."
"I see why Chaerim unni likes you."
She smiled at me.
"Fox..."
I heard Elena mutter in a voice full of hostility.
And.
"Are you alright!"
I could see Cheongyeon-nim and the shamans, who had been watching this from beyond the gold thread, rushing over urgently.
I have to get paid.