Chapter 16
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Road to the Mountain Lodge
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Even before setting out for Gangwon Province, our team was already starting to creak under the strain.
The reason was simple.
The Oracle had taken one look at my face and freaked out.
"No way, Oracle. You don't want to ride with him? This person's our teammate."
"No! If I say no, it's no! You're too chatty! I absolutely refuse to ride in the same car as that freakish monster!"
"Aigoo, what are we going to do with her."
Hye-ryeong Monk looked troubled by Nam Yu-ha's irrational stubbornness.
The longer we wasted time on the roadside like this, the lower the survival chances for the missing monks.
This was unavoidable.
I'd hoped for a peaceful trip, but circumstances weren't cooperating.
"Hey, could I have a private word with the Oracle?"
"Pardon? Oh, of course. Sorry about this, Fixer. She's still young, and her spiritual senses are so sharp that she must be feeling something off about you."
I approached Nam Yu-ha, who was glaring at me with her arms crossed, ignoring the monk's desperate bald-faced excuse and his profuse sweat.
I knew exactly what the monk was trying to cover for without him saying it.
In simple terms, this kid had taken on a spirit way too powerful for her age, and it was giving her a massive divine boost.
That made her extra sensitive to my energy and that of the White-Faced Bride, hence the bared teeth.
I saw this as a hierarchy issue that hadn't been properly sorted yet.
Time to press down on her shoulders a bit.
"Hey, Nam Yu-ha."
"Eek..! See? I haven't even told him my name yet! He already knows! He's a ghost!"
"Come here. Let's talk."
"N-No! I said no! Get away!"
"Haa."
I grabbed the nape of the terrified girl's neck as she hid behind Kang Seong-woo and dragged her out by force.
With morning already underway and me manhandling a girl, the stares from passersby were getting weirder, so I quickly pulled Nam Yu-ha behind the car.
"Hic! Wh-What are you going to do to me, you terrifying thing?!"
"Do what? Get out of that kid's body right now. We don't have time to waste."
"What? What did you say!?"
"I said get out of her body. The kid won't get hurt even if you don't guard her upfront, so leave her body. Nothing's getting done with you cowering in fear."
"How did you know it was me? Y-You're not human, are you?!"
"To my eyes, your face and the kid's overlap weirdly when you're in control. So hide what you wanna hide. It's obvious as hell."
"Obvious...? No one's ever noticed before...?"
The Five Flower Bell Spirit jumped in shock at my words.
From the moment we'd first met, Nam Yu-ha's consciousness had receded, and her possessing spirit had taken the front to deal with me.
Powerful, but no danger since it doesn't harm humans—that's how it read.
But this origin story is something else. A runaway, huh?
Now I got why it was so obsessively protective of the shaman girl.
The runaway Five Flower Bell Spirit was treating its host—essentially a safe house—like home and clinging desperately.
That excessive attachment had manifested as over-the-top wariness and fear toward me.
But with the possessing spirit this scared, nothing was getting done.
To drive the Five Flower Bell Spirit out of Nam Yu-ha's body, I flicked her forehead hard.
Thwack!
"Ow, ouch! That hurts!"
"Good. Nice to meet you, Yu-ha. Feeling better now?"
"Ugh... Y-Yeah... Ow..."
Nam Yu-ha rubbed her forehead—it must've stung—and looked up at me with teary eyes.
Now her face looked normal.
With the Five Flower Bell Spirit in control, it was like graphical glitches: Nam Yu-ha's face mixed weirdly with the spirit's divine presence.
"I'm Lee Do-hyun. Let's get along."
"H-Hi."
"Right, Yu-ha. You know it's bad for your health if you keep losing control of your body like that, yeah?"
"Ah! Um... Yeah, I know."
Nam Yu-ha startled and nodded vigorously at my words.
Shamans and possessing spirits should coexist symbiotically, but with such a massive spirit in a young girl's body, the Five Flower Bell Spirit's presence was overwhelming.
She wouldn't last long like this. She'd burn out young and die prematurely.
From what I could see, Nam Yu-ha and the Five Flower Bell Spirit weren't a great match anyway.
It felt like the spirit had fled the flower fields and just squat in an empty house that wasn't even its own.
This might not be a fated descent; maybe the spirit had just arbitrarily moved in.
Still, since it wasn't malevolent, they'd probably left it be.
Compared to a typical ancestral spirit, this one was far stronger, so purely in terms of power, it was a huge boon for Nam Yu-ha.
Of course, whether she'd chosen it willingly or adults had forced it on her for the specs was another question.
'No need for me to dig into Lunar Blossom Sect internals.'
She was their people; they'd handle it. Not my place as an outsider.
I just needed to keep things on track for this job.
"Did you two finish your talk?"
"Yes. The Oracle's stabilized. We can head out now, right, Oracle?"
"Y-Yeah. Sorry for the fuss."
"No worries. Alright, let's get going."
The gray van's engine soon roared to life, and we finally departed for Gangwon.
What a way to start. At least I'd humbled the Five Flower Bell Spirit early; no more antics later.
"Urp... S-Sorry. I get carsick pretty bad."
"What? Then why didn't you bring motion sickness pills?"
"Well, um... Actually..."
Nam Yu-ha looked pale the whole ride, her stomach churning. When I asked why no pills, she spilled the beans.
Turns out, unlike her, the Five Flower Bell Spirit didn't get carsick, so she'd always fronted it for long trips to dodge nausea.
They'd been using a Western Paradise flower field manager as a motion sickness hack?
This made even less sense.
I'd thought the spirit was just using her as a hideout, but the more I heard, the more it seemed like a weirdo not all there.
'Like shaman, like spirit.'
Scratch that about bad compatibility.
She was subtly unhinged too.
The fierce, stubborn Five Flower Bell Spirit paired perfectly with its mad shaman who used it as a nausea shield.
And Nam Yu-ha knew fronting the spirit shortened her lifespan.
"I'm, uh, blessed with a long one."
"Ah, I see. You've got plenty of lifespan..."
I was speechless.
Plenty of lifespan, she says. How long must it be to casually use a deity you need to pamper as a puke blocker?
"Oh, right. Before we enter the Cursed Mountain Lodge, there's something I should warn you about."
As the car hit the highway, the monk began briefing us on the lodge.
"It's been rediscovered after over a decade, so it'll be extremely dangerous. We don't know the internal layout, but if we get separated and you're alone, prioritize escape."
Stick together at all costs, as the monk said. But if unavoidable circumstances split us and you're solo, escape first.
The lodge had mimics that imitated intruders' voices and appearances, so even a momentary lag meant traveling with potential monsters disguised as allies.
"If you're separated and then reunite, we'll use a password."
"Got a passphrase in mind, Monk?"
"Yes. How about 'Namo Amitabha' answered by 'Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva'?"
"No, Monk. That's too obvious. Even anomalies would know it."
"Ahaha. True enough."
The passphrase had to be unique to us. "Namo Amitabha, Avalokitesvara" was common knowledge for Korean anomalies—or any Korean.
"What should we use then? Any ideas, Oracle?"
"Me? Uh... Hmm."
The high school Oracle pondered the monk's question before brightening with an idea.
"Um, how about 'ritual drumming begins' answered by 'possession ends'?"
"Oh... That's solid. What do you think, Fixer? Sounds good to me."
"Ritual drumming begins, possession ends. Ritual drumming's the Buddhist ritual music, right?"
"Correct. It's the percussion for Buddhist rites. 'Possession' is shamanic, so it means 'drumming starts, possession stops.'"
Not bad. Ritual drumming begins, possession ends. Solid passphrase.
"Nice one, Oracle."
"Thanks, Fixer."
Even as an oddball, Nam Yu-ha had the sharp instincts of someone in this line of work.
"By the way, Monk. If distinguishing friend from foe is hard, how will we tell if the missing monks are real when we find them?"
"That's why I got info from the Korean Buddhism White Lotus Order. Q&A—if they answer right, they're our monks. Wrong, and it's an anomaly."
They had a way to ID the two missing monks.
Passphrases for us, Q&A for any found monks—if alive, confirm human or anomaly.
"Whoa, Knight. The road's getting rough."
"Yes. Nav says we're close, Monk."
Kang Seong-woo announced we'd soon reach the mountain with the Cursed Mountain Lodge.
The path had twisted into mountain switchbacks.
"Trees are thick."
"Feels shady."
Nam Yu-ha started scanning around, sensing ill omens.
Morning light, but the mountainside darkened fast.
"No birds. No bugs. The malign energy's thickening."
Hye-ryeong Monk closed his eyes, fingering his beads.
Kang Seong-woo said nothing but sweated from tension.
"Looks like this is as far as I go."
The car halted mid-mountain path.
Kang Seong-woo, drenched in cold sweat, shook his head to clear his mind before releasing the wheel.
"Thanks for your hard work, Knight."
"Huuu. No, sorry. My faith was weak..."
"No, you came plenty far for a civilian."
As the monk said, deep in for a layman.
The area already felt warped from reality.
No life signs. Just lifeless grass and trees overgrown.
"I'll wait in the village below. Call when you exit the lodge—anytime, I'll come get you."
Kang Seong-woo bowed apologetically for not going further, then drove back down.
Having him kill time alone in these woods waiting was harsh.
Dragging an powerless civilian into the lodge? Suicidal. He'd just get in trouble.
Better he wait in the village. Smartest move.
We looked like a young monk, an unemployed guy, and a truant high schooler—but top talent in this field.
"Let's climb. Energy says it's close."
We started up the mountain.
Keep ascending till the Cursed Mountain Lodge appeared.
Climbing up, yet descending into the other side.
This had to be how you entered the hidden world.
"Om mani padme hum. Burst the poisons of greed, anger, and delusion; the eight hells vanish. Om baro mani dani svaha."
"Riding a tiger's back, trampling goblin rites. My words are a blade. My hands beat the drum."
⟨ Protective Incantation ⟩
Following the chanting monk uphill, the Oracle clapped and recited spells.
Their resonant mantras and incantations made our heavy steps lighten instantly.
"There it is."
We passed through the endless gloom and reached the Cursed Mountain Lodge.
Vines overgrown on unmanaged walls, windows boarded with planks, trees encroaching— a bizarre structure plopped in the forest heart.
"Alright. Let's go in. Ready, you two?"
"Yes. Ready."
"I'm ready too, Monk."
"Then, opening the door."
Hye-ryeong Monk led and forced open the tightly shut door to the Cursed Mountain Lodge.
A fierce gust swept us inside.
And when I opened my eyes again...
"Huh."
I was alone.