Chapter 54
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Lunar Blossom Divine Hall
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The mountain path we began climbing behind Daoist Mun Seon-woo was shrouded in fog, making it the perfect place to lose one's way.
If this had been my first time here, I would have undoubtedly gotten lost in that mist and wandered aimlessly.
"Be careful, Fixer. There are at least three tigers captured from Jang Mountain roaming this mountain."
"Pardon? Why are they wandering around here? This isn't Jang Mountain. And aren't those disaster-class anomalies?"
"Correct. They are disaster-class. And disaster-class anomalies are generally difficult to exterminate. In the end, sealing or confining them somewhere is the best option. Mujin Mountain is perfectly suited for that."
According to the Daoist, when beast-type anomalies that are hard to eliminate rampage, they capture them and lock them away in Mujin Mountain.
No matter how disaster-class they are, they can't escape this mountain.
"Is that even possible? What kind of barrier does this mountain have...?"
"Mujin City hasn't been bustling with people for long, but this mountain has existed long before that. In fact, it's essentially the source of the fog."
"So this fog wasn't set up by humans."
"Yes, Mujin Mountain itself is akin to a cataclysm-class anomaly. It's not that dangerous to humans, but to anomalies, it's like purgatory. Nowadays, it's dangerous to people too because of the released anomalies."
In short, if you only look at the anomalies it generates, Mujin Mountain is practically a cataclysm-class anomaly itself. Of course, since it works in humanity's favor, they utilize it as is.
Disaster-class anomalies are notoriously tricky to exorcise, so they capture them and toss them here. They wander lost on their own, catch intruders, and eventually become fertilizer for the mountain and disappear.
It was a fairly shocking method of anomaly disposal.
"Has there never been a case where a confined anomaly escaped outside?"
"The nature of Mujin Mountain is like a prison tailor-made for anomalies—the more they try to escape, the deeper they fall in. And as long as the shrine maiden manages it, the anomalies trapped in the mountain won't be released. The fog only envelops Mujin City as well."
As long as the shrine maiden managing Mujin Mountain exists, disaster-class anomalies have no way to break through the mountain's fog. Moreover, the fog only covers Mujin City.
"Still, population control is necessary, so it's not an all-purpose trash bin."
They can't feed it unlimited disaster-class anomalies. And if the anomaly to be confined is too intelligent, it doesn't work either. So the Lunar Blossom Sect only discards beast-type anomalies judged to have relatively low intelligence into the mountain.
Even if they're cunning, the low-intelligence ones can't escape this place and end up devouring each other. Mujin Mountain was truly hell for anomalies.
"I don't know about the anomalies' perspective, but from humanity's standpoint, it's a gift from the gods."
Capture anomalies rampaging outside Mujin City, release them into Mujin Mountain as 'fertilizer'—the world outside loses disaster-class anomalies, which is good, and Mujin City stays hidden in the fog, which is also good.
Isn't this essentially a symbiotic relationship between humans and the mountain?
Mujin Mountain receives a stable supply of anomalies in exchange for sheltering humans, and humans hide in the mountain's fog, offering hard-to-eliminate anomalies to the mountain for safety.
"But how are the anomalies transported to Mujin Mountain? Didn't you say it's been a while since you last came, Daoist?"
"My main job is rendering disaster-class ones combat-incapable. There's a separate transport team."
Daoist Mun Seon-woo was in charge of hunting, not transport.
I couldn't learn the details, but they seemed to have a proper system in place.
"Now, the Lunar Blossom Sect's main hall should appear soon. Just a bit further up, Fixer."
Soon, Daoist Mun Seon-woo stepped onto stone stairs. I hadn't noticed when the dirt path turned to stairs, but as the surrounding fog gradually cleared, we entered a garden with large shrines visible.
The Lunar Blossom Sect's main hall had small clusters of light resembling fireflies floating in the air, and in one corner of the garden was a small pond.
And in that pond grew human-faced fish and various aquatic plants, exuding an eerie aura. A three-eyed magpie and a one-legged crow circled the garden, chasing each other.
"This is the Lunar Blossom Sect's main hall."
"It's a beautiful place."
"Pardon? Beautiful...?"
Passing by the bewildered Daoist Mun Seon-woo, the Fixer toured the garden.
The Fixer found the Lunar Blossom Sect's main hall fascinating. He'd never properly seen it in the game.
"That's the shrine."
"The largest building. It looks incredibly ancient."
"As the Fixer surmised, it's a structure built before the Joseon era. Extremely old."
The shrines in the garden each had different names, and the largest wooden building at the deepest part had a large plaque reading Lunar Blossom Divine Hall.
The Lunar Blossom Sect's shrine maiden was there.
The Fixer felt a strange gaze as he headed toward the Lunar Blossom Divine Hall.
"Well, well, an interesting and handsome guest has arrived. The garden is pretty? Right? I'm thrilled he says the garden I designed is pretty."
"Elder..."
As we approached the Lunar Blossom Divine Hall, a woman in purple hanbok stepped out from a shrine labeled Jeongsim Pavilion.
The Fixer had assumed the elder council consisted of grandmas and grandpas, so he was surprised by Jeong Mi-dam's unexpectedly youthful appearance.
Beyond just looking young, she exuded a bewitching allure and sensuality.
She felt more like a married woman or widow than a young lady.
Her actual age must be incredibly advanced.
"Oh my, staring so intently at an old auntie like me makes my heart race. Hehe."
"Ah, sorry. That wasn't my intention."
The Fixer wondered if he'd stared too openly and quickly averted his gaze from Elder Jeong Mi-dam.
He'd only looked to gauge her strength, but she took it as flirting and threw a come-on, which was burdensome.
'But she's not appearing beautiful only to me, is she?'
If it were an anomaly, it might look pretty only in the Fixer's eyes, but humans looked beautiful to everyone.
In other words, Jeong Mi-dam, who would have been a wrinkled old hag in the original story, had become an incredibly voluptuous beauty thanks to the Baby Mode Pack.
"Anyway, enough with our greetings. Let's head to the shrine quickly. The old folks are waiting impatiently. Hehe."
Elder Jeong Mi-dam led the way, opening the shrine door and entering.
It was finally time to meet the shrine maiden. The Fixer swallowed dryly, sensing the presences inside.
Only true powerhouses. The air inside was so murderous it felt like he could be overwhelmed and defeated in a joint attack if a fight broke out.
And as if to prove it, Daoist Mun Seon-woo had grown tense and quiet since entering the garden, the White-Faced Bride in the ring began stirring as if sensing a crisis, and only the Silent Sea Ghost King silently observed the situation.
"So you've come after all."
"Is that the Fixer?"
"He looks perfectly fine. They said he was some bear-like brute. All rumors, I suppose."
The old shrine without electricity had only flickering candlelight as its sole source of illumination.
Entering the dim atmosphere, large statues of guardian deities stood on either side of the entrance, overlooking visitors, and the walls displayed a vast 'Pantheon' painting featuring the Jade Emperor and countless heavenly gods.
More people than expected awaited the Fixer in the shrine.
Six elders including Jeong Mi-dam, four dharma protectors in black uniforms, and five fairly young spirit mediums from the youth association.
Finally, one—or two?—behind the screen.
The Fixer was taken aback that even his cognition of 50 couldn't properly detect them. The screen was concealing the presence behind it.
'They said the shrine maiden's trait is 'unknown.' It's true.'
He also easily understood why Daoist Mun Seon-woo said he'd sense the shrine maiden upon entering the shrine.
From the moment he stepped into the Lunar Blossom Divine Hall, an intense gaze from behind the screen had been fixed on him.
"I'll head over there then."
"Ah, yes."
Daoist Mun Seon-woo directed the Fixer to the center, then went to where the youth association spirit mediums were gathered.
Now, the elders and youth association members faced each other six on each side, with the four dharma protectors guarding the screen hiding the shrine maiden.
The Fixer felt like he had entered a courtroom.
The Fixer stood alone, and the eldest-looking elder among them spoke first.
"Welcome to the Lunar Blossom Divine Hall, young Fixer. I am Grand Elder Ok Won."
A middle-aged man in deep gray hanbok with graying hair.
He was the grand elder Ok Won, who had insisted on taking the Silent Sea Ghost King and suppressing the Fixer's power.
His gaze on the Fixer was quite fierce. The status was highly hostile.
If he came out so aggressively from the start, the Fixer couldn't respond kindly either.
The Fixer wanted to snap back at Ok Won for glaring like that, but held back and waited for the grand elder's next words.
"We called you here because of a revelation. But before speaking of the revelation, there are a few things we must do."
Ok Won pulled out a small wooden box and tossed it in front of the Fixer.
As if asserting a natural right.
"Don't you have something to give us?"
The Fixer had already heard from Daoist Mun Seon-woo that the elder council would demand the Silent Sea Ghost King.
Of course, since he had no intention of handing it over, he just stared blankly at the box. At his reaction, Ok Won glared piercingly, raised his chin arrogantly, and demanded it haughtily.
"We already know you stole the Silent Sea Ghost King's core. No matter if you found it first, the ownership isn't yours. You're not seriously claiming ownership, are you? Put the Silent Sea Ghost King's core in that box now."
At the grand elder's repeated brazen demands, the Fixer rubbed his forehead.
If he handed over the Silent Sea Ghost King's core, he couldn't be sure if they'd simply seal it or do something else.
Would they really leave the Silent Sea Ghost King's heart, sealed and perfect for extracting power, alone?
They'd try to exploit it. And desires might arise from that.
With the cataclysm's source still unconfirmed, he couldn't hand the Silent Sea Ghost King's heart to untrustworthy people.
He had already vowed to take in the Silent Sea Ghost King and promised not to betray her.
In that situation, he couldn't pass Haeyul into others' hands. That would betray Haeyul's goodwill.
No matter the reason, the Fixer could never abandon Haeyul.
He wouldn't hand her over to them, even if it meant fighting the elders.
He knew that if he betrayed Haeyul, the Silent Sea Ghost King would hate humans again. To suppress the cataclysm once betrayed by humans, the Fixer had to embrace Haeyul unconditionally.
Just as the Fixer was about to tell Ok Won he couldn't hand over the Silent Sea Ghost King, a young man from the youth association raised his hand and began defending him.
"First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Lee Do-gyeom, head of the youth association. I have a point to raise regarding the grand elder's opinion, so I presumptuously offer my view."
The Fixer realized upon seeing Lee Do-gyeom that he was the supporter Daoist Mun Seon-woo had mentioned.
Unlike the tradition-bound elder council, the youth association moved for Mujin City's reform and the Lunar Blossom Sect's future.
"I apologize to the elders, but the Silent Sea Ghost King belongs to no one. Therefore, saying the Fixer stole it is clearly misleading."
Lee Do-gyeom denied the claim that the Fixer stole the Silent Sea Ghost King outright.
As he said, the Silent Sea Ghost King belonged to no one from the start, so the elder council framing the Fixer as a thief gave ample ground for rebuttal.
"And I've heard the Fixer was directly chosen by the Ghost King. Their bond is already formed. Forcibly separating the Fixer from the Ghost King could have even worse effects. It's a cataclysm-class anomaly, after all."
"Hey, Do-gyeom. Know when to butt in and when to back off. Don't you know no individual can possess a cataclysm-class anomaly, no matter the reason?"
"Just leave it be because the cataclysm-class might get angry? You know that's nonsense."
"All who believed they could control cataclysm-class anomalies ended up causing catastrophes themselves. The endings were always the same. Those who prided themselves as different or special all died regretting it at the anomaly's hands."
"Listen, Fixer. Why not hand it over before you get sealed? It might not end with just you dying. How will you handle the damage to those around you? And our position cleaning it up? Seal it while we can. Miss the timing, and we're all in trouble."
Do-gyeom's opinion was valid, but the elders' words weren't entirely wrong either.
The Fixer knew how many humans had failed spectacularly trying to control cataclysm-class anomalies.
Representatively, the Moss House, home of Korean onmyoji, and the shamans who paid dearly after failing with a cataclysm-class.
He understood why the elder council was so sensitive about individuals handling cataclysm-class anomalies. If an incident occurred, they'd have to clean it up, so better to seize it beforehand.
"From what I heard from Daoist Mun Seon-woo, the Fixer is already coexisting with disaster-class anomalies. And he's handled the cataclysm-class without issue for days. Seizing it recklessly isn't a good choice. No benefit in stirring it needlessly."
"It hasn't even been a week. How can we trust you'll control it perfectly just because you held it briefly?"
"But the Fixer conquered Cursed Mountain Lodge almost single-handedly and stopped the Western Demon's resurrection. You know that, right? The Fixer is resilient."
"However, those were ambiguous to call cataclysms. Disaster-class at most, but not cataclysm. Too dangerous. Too many deaths. Rules exist for a reason. The Lunar Blossom Sect's rules are written in blood. No exceptions, no matter the situation."
The elder council acknowledged the Fixer's strength but absolutely refused to believe he could handle a cataclysm-class, while Do-gyeom repeatedly insisted on leaving the Fixer and cataclysm-class anomaly be.
"Enough. Do-gyeom, stop. We need to talk to the Fixer now. Standing by him won't change anything."
"We must seal the cataclysm-class anomaly and partially seal the abnormally strong Fixer's power too. If such a person falls, who knows what disaster. Too much power."
"Listen, Fixer. Don't be stubborn. Do you know how many people on this land might die because of your choice?"
"Hand over the Silent Sea Ghost King nicely."
In the end, the elder council silenced their youth association head Do-gyeom and openly pressured the Fixer.
The elders' momentum wasn't enough to make the Fixer kneel, but it was plenty to unsettle him.
He understood the elders' concerns, but the Fixer was truly special. No human before had raised an anomaly's favorability.
Thus, the Fixer refused.
"Sorry, but I have nothing to give the elders."
"What?"
"I can't entrust the Silent Sea Ghost King to you."
At the Fixer's words, the elders couldn't hide their anger, especially the grand elder's face flushing like an active volcano.
He revealed bewilderment, shame, and fury at the situation not going his way. No matter how much he persuaded or cajoled about the danger, it didn't get through, so it was no wonder he was erupting inside.
"We advised handing it over for safety, but greed makes you refuse? We'll have to take it by force."
"So full of greed. Don't you know how dangerous it is?"
"Don't you know eating anything causes trouble? Hand over the Silent Sea Ghost King's core now!"
The other elders except Jeong Mi-dam chimed in, scolding the Fixer.
Their momentum was so intense the shrine shook.
To exert such pressure with mere shouts that could burst eardrums.
A normal shaman would shrink under the elders' shouts and aura. No, they'd properly faint.
But the Fixer was outside the realm of normal.
"If you plan to crush me with force, you'd best reconsider."
Despite their collective shout, he stood firm unshaken, leaving the elders unable to hide their shock.
"What... He endured that? Is he even human?"
"Hah. That young pup has some spirit!"
Unlike the astonished other elders, Grand Elder Ok Won showed no sign of giving up, pulling something from his bosom.
It was several talismans and iron needles. A declaration of direct attack, not mere warning or pressure.
"Let's see how long you can hold out. We planned to seal your power too from the start. We can take the Silent Sea Ghost King after sealing you."
A threat to seal if he didn't comply. No, a declaration of war.
The Fixer finally understood why Daoist Mun Seon-woo called them stubborn blockheads.
Having experienced such incidents, the elders suffered a form of PTSD.
The word 'cataclysm-class' had them already losing reason.
Better to end it within the Lunar Blossom Sect than let it rampage outside.
The current situation wasn't about right or wrong.
Both sides were correct; it was a clash of convictions.
"I can't just take this lying down."
Since the opponent crossed the line first, the Fixer would respond accordingly.
He had valid reasons not to let them take the Silent Sea Ghost King, so he wouldn't kill them but planned to thoroughly suppress them.
"Eek...!?"
Ok Won, trying to deploy a sealing formation to bind the Fixer's power, collapsed as if his legs gave out before he could cast.
His inner self shook as if receiving a massive shock, and he flailed amid an unfamiliar intense pressure, gasping roughly.
"H-How..."
He couldn't even lift his head to meet the Fixer's eyes.
The talismans and needles fell from his hands to the floor, and he trembled, sweating coldly.
"What is this! What are you all doing? Help the grand elder!"
"Th-That... We have to stop that kid... but our bodies..."
"What trick did you use..."
The other elders too were crushed by the Fixer's intimidation, unable to approach easily.
No matter how skilled they were, they couldn't surpass the Fixer's stats.
"You collapse unable to handle just me, and you want the Silent Sea Ghost King's core?"
The Fixer asked the collapsed Ok Won and the elders about to charge.
The elders, ruling from the top of the Lunar Blossom Sect for decades, taking dominance for granted, were equally arrogant.
Even knowing the Fixer's strength from reports, they believed they could suppress him and tried to bully and manipulate him as they pleased.
Under the hat of Lunar Blossom Sect elder, no longer scrambling for survival, they had forgotten fear.
Fear of pure powerhouses.
That an individual's overwhelming force could shatter group rules and cause cataclysms anytime.
They had forgotten.
Those who clung to the past more than anyone had forgotten the past themselves. The Fixer awakened their dormant survival instincts.
"If you can seal it, go ahead and try."
The Ghost King, who had quietly observed from within the Silent Sea's breath, slowly walked to the shrine's center.
Plop.
The sound of a water droplet splashing.
Ok Won fell into the illusion of being submerged in the sea.
'What is this...'
His feet couldn't touch bottom.
Endless darkness welled up from below, staring into Ok Won's eyes.
The Silent Sea Ghost King's seal was temporarily released.
[You have received a severe shock.]
[Mental strength decreases by 100.]
The first effect engraved in the Silent Sea's breath.
[Effect 1: Temporarily release the Silent Sea Ghost King's seal at the cost of mental strength.]
The one embracing the great ocean unleashed the sea.
The elders clutched their throats, unable to breathe, and collapsed. The youth association members were swept like waves against the shrine walls.
All that remained were the steadfast screen enduring the cataclysm's flood and the four dharma protectors blocking its front.
"To truly wield a cataclysm... Intriguing."
Finally, the shrine maiden hidden behind the screen spoke.