Chapter 65
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Chapter 65
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Can Humans Really Change?
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Too simple to call it a mere monster, yet closer to a divine spirit—though even more tightly bound to the laws of the world.
That was exactly what the reapers were.
While folk beliefs and legends often mentioned ways to drive off such reapers, there was no practical "exorcism method" in reality.
Because reapers, as their name implied, governed death itself—something no "human power" could overcome.
Thus, after much deliberation, the Fixer drew forth the Household God.
Following the folk tale that household gods blocked the reapers' intrusion, he summoned the White-Faced Bride, imbued with the Household God's essence, to obstruct their path.
It was a blatant farce of insisting a non-house was a house, but the Fixer knew this was the most effective approach.
'Even if it's hard to call it a house, if you claim it is and hold firm, they'll pause once... So it really works...'
The reapers existed to uphold the laws, so they were bound by those very laws.
Uncomfortable with the Fixer's absurd ploy, they still refrained from crossing the line he had drawn.
From their perspective, they'd never dealt with such nonsense. Yet by custom, they couldn't bulldoze past a household god.
In the end, they had no choice but to play along with the Fixer's act.
"What kind of nonsense is this... Not even flinching at the sight of us."
Normally, humans should tremble at the mere shadow of a reaper, but this man showed no fear as he spread out a mat and blocked the entrance.
His aura felt more like a spirit than a human, and his physique resembled that of the young lord who once brawled with Yama in his youth.
Reaper Yun-gwan was utterly perplexed. How was he supposed to break through a human like this?
With the opponent insisting this was his house and even bringing a household god, they had to enter through the designated gateway. Getting past that man didn't look easy.
The retrieval site being Mujin Mountain was troublesome enough, but near the summit no less, and now with a household god turning the open road into a "house"—it was absurdly problematic.
"What do we do? Force our way? Hard to call that a house."
"No. By custom, where a household god stands is the house. We can't smash into a house. Rules are rules, after all. We enter through the door."
"We'll be here till dawn at this rate."
"Even if dawn breaks, no choice. Rules are rules. If we break them, who upholds them?"
The miracle of a street turning into a house just because a monster in household god garb offered a prayer was bewildering even to them, but rules were rules.
According to the underworld records, the shrine maiden's death was a "death away from home," so the three unprepared reapers inwardly cursed as they ordered the inhuman-looking human blocking the entrance.
"Stand aside. We must take the one whose lifespan has ended. Further resistance won't end well for either side."
It was a polite request, but the opponent showed no intention of budging.
"Sorry, but I can't do that."
"This isn't a joke! Move!"
The bald reaper's bellow cracked the barrier. Right—they could break through anytime they wanted.
'What makes it so tough? Even a mid-tier reaper would burst from a shout like that.'
As the Fixer thought, if they weren't holding back, it would have shattered long ago.
With three reapers, if two pinned him and the third called the shrine maiden's name, his plan would crumble instantly.
He had to tie their feet somehow.
"...Cough."
"Sowol, you okay?"
"Y-Yes..."
At that moment, the White-Faced Bride, who had heard the reaper's shout, visibly worsened.
Seizing the chance, the two watchful reapers grabbed the Fixer to immobilize him, while the remaining one tried to slap a red paper talisman onto the forehead of the praying White-Faced Bride.
Down the Bride, invalidate the house, then snatch the soul—that was the plan.
-Argh!
-You bastard!
The problem was that the Fixer was far stronger than imagined.
He twisted his body urgently, ripping off the reapers clinging to him haphazardly.
He seized the bald reaper latched to his leg by the head and hurled him into the forest, smashed the back of the one gripping his waist to drop him, then dashed forward, twisted the wrist of the red paper holder, and shoved him tumbling.
After the brief chaos, the Fixer panted and yelled at the rolling reapers.
"Target me if you must! Why take it out on the innocent! Hey!"
The Fixer quickly snatched the fallen red paper before the downed reapers could rise.
Name:Red Summons Paper
Danger Level:Unconfirmed
Classification:Reaper, Underworld, Collection
Foundation:Unconfirmed
Usage:Unconfirmed
As expected, the red paper was the Red Summons Paper used to craft underworld writs. Legend said if a name was written on it and called three times, the soul was dragged away.
'So they planned to send Sowol off with this.'
Unable to shove aside the Fixer, they aimed to eliminate White Sowol and nullify the house.
Since she wasn't human, they could dispatch her like any monster without repercussions.
But how to handle this? The White-Faced Bride couldn't be exorcised that way.
To kill Sowol, they'd have to kill the Fixer first.
"What a brute... Is he even human?"
As the Fixer glared with a scowl, the reapers brushed dirt from their robes and let out deep sighs.
Head aching over how to breach the entrance and collect the shrine maiden's soul, they eyed the human and monster blocking their way.
"No wonder they sent three. Makes sense now, right?"
"How do you break through that? Always the tough jobs..."
"All because of you, bro. Too damn soft-hearted."
The reapers huddled, debating how to force the entrance.
The Fixer was furious they'd touched Sowol, but he couldn't seriously pummel the reapers here.
'Remember. They're just bureaucrats. Ordered from above—don't get too intense.'
The more serious he got, the more rigidly they'd enforce the situation. Peaceful demeanor was key.
'The reapers' goal is purely claiming the shrine maiden's life.'
She was long overdue, so this was just a formality soul collection.
From their view, no need to wreck the ritual—they showed zero interest in it. Typical civil servants: indifferent unless it's their department.
Whether the elders performed the altar-binding rite or the cleansing ritual, the reapers had no grounds to interfere.
So, stall until the ritual ended. To bind the reapers' feet, the Fixer quickly called for backup.
"Sister Dokyeom! Set the table!"
Moon Seon-woo the Taoist priestess was shuttling between the two rituals as assistant shaman, aiding head shamans Jeong Mi-dam and Ok-won.
The only one the Fixer could summon was martial artist Lee Do-gyeom.
"F-F-Fixer siiir... Th-those... in front... Wh-what..."
"No eye contact. Keep your head down and just set the table, then leave."
"...U-Understood..."
Not quaking before a reaper would be the real oddity.
Lee Do-gyeom bowed her head nearly to the dirt and began setting the table.
Status:Terror, Despair. Defeat
Lee Do-gyeom's condition was dire.
Her mental strength was visibly crumbling.
For ordinary spirit users, merely enduring before a reaper was a marvel.
"T-Ta-Table... set, Fixer sir..."
"Leave it and go."
"Y-Yes...!"
Dismissed with the guest-sending rite, Lee Do-gyeom fled the scene.
Any more help, and her mind would shatter.
'Alright, now the real key begins.'
From here, he had to perform the "Reaper Appeasement" with them.
Since they'd come formally to collect the shrine maiden's soul, he had to send them off formally.
"Reaper sirs, prepared this for you. Long journey. Can't send you empty-handed. Since you're here, please eat."
The Fixer had prepared food for the reapers before ascending the mountain.
The table offered to reapers was called "reaper's rice."
It meant: sorry to send empty, at least feed you before you go. Accepting it weakened their claim, tantamount to agreeing to leave empty-handed.
This too was part of Reaper Appeasement.
"Trying to sway us with scraps like this?"
"No, just open the door already. We only need Ha-un's soul."
"Sit and eat first. Makgeolli here too."
The Fixer forced a smile and poured liquor.
The disheveled reapers glanced at their leader, Yun-gwan, as if asking what to do.
If Yun-gwan rejected the farce and ordered a quick soul snatch, the two would comply.
"Sigh. There's sincerity in the offering... We'll sit for now. Can't refuse a gift. It's custom."
"..."
"But..."
"Just... go with it. Look how desperate. Indulging a deathbed struggle... is our role too."
Reaper Yun-gwan calmed the other two, then stared straight into the Fixer's eyes.
He simply gazed for a moment before picking up a spoon and speaking.
"Sorry for touching your companion. But we have our duties. Moreover, shrine maiden Ha-un has long outlived her allotted span. You understand, right?"
He understood—all too well.
They'd play along with the stalling by custom, but they'd do their job.
After the reaper's rice, the true appeasement would begin.
The reapers would try to half-kill the doorkeeper Fixer to breach the entrance.
He had to block until they gave up and left.
Crucial: his mental strength couldn't drop below 20.
'Need to save mental... for the Ghost Kings.'
To unseal the Ghost Kings at the ritual's end, he needed at least 200 mental reserved.
Also, to avoid mental depletion death, no less than 20.
Life force shared with White-Faced Bride, but mental was solely his to protect.
Soon the reapers dug into the reaper's rice. He'd piled it high to slow them—buying about 20 minutes.
While they ate, the Fixer endured the deferred heavenly punishment with his body.
During his reaper skirmish, the altar had shouldered it alone; now it scorched and struck him.
[Crushed by the weight of sin.]
-6 Life Force
-7 Life Force
-5 Life Force
...
...
...
Life force plummeting rapidly.
The ritual raged on. How much longer could they hold?
And the shrine maiden's condition worsening by the minute.
'Ok-won...'
The Fixer glanced at Elder Ok-won's altar-binding rite.
His state looked poor too.
Lightning poured ceaselessly from the heavens, and three of the shrine maiden's altar guardians sat vomiting blood.
Only defense master Jo Un-gyeol barely stood.
The rite neared its climax.
And as everyone fulfilled their roles, shadows began creeping in the darkness, evading watch.
"The old gods withdraw. With new name, new soul, we serve here!"
Ok-won bellowed until bloody phlegm rose in his throat. No—this was now a desperate plea.
Desperate prayer. Nearing the altar-binding rite's end, Ok-won, delirious with fever, prayed oblivious to surroundings.
Instruments clashed chaotically to his voice. A soul-rending ritual. Lightning still fell from the sky.
'Feels like dying...'
As the rite progressed, Ok-won's body began breaking down.
Nosebleeds nonstop, organs twisting in agony, vision spinning with vertigo repeatedly.
That wasn't all.
All fingernails and toenails ripped out—hands and feet a bloody mess. Even his sparse remaining hair gone.
He felt his body aging rapidly. Just how furious was heaven to mete such heavy punishment?
This way, his lifespan would end before the rite concluded.
He had to stake his life. Having taken the altar-binding, he must bet his life.
'So hard. Why... why am I doing this...'
Want to stop, but can't.
Come too far.
Endure. Last moments near.
But Ok-won's resolve crumbled bit by bit.
His mental strength already near rock bottom.
Ok-won mustered his dying strength for one final shout.
"Now the altar opens! With unspoken words. Unspoken breath, bind the god! Grant name to the nameless! Answer the call and become god!"
The bell he shook shattered.
The falling lightning halted, and the pig head atop the altar burst into flames, crumbling to ash.
Ok-won sensed he'd reached the final page.
The heavens fell abruptly silent.
Soon even the musicians' playing ceased.
An eerily profound silence.
The frenzied ritual ended, yielding a chilling hush.
"Ha... ha... Su-success..."
Half-mad, having driven the rite to near-death, Ok-won believed the altar-binding succeeded and surveyed his surroundings.
Then he realized.
The silence wasn't from success.
All the elders lay fallen.
Jeong Mi-dam, who finished the cleansing rite first, trembled with eyes rolled back white, foam at her mouth.
The musicians' necks all snapped, lifeless.
And every altar guardian crushed beyond recognition by some immense force.
"Everyone... why..."
Those who had shielded Ok-won from harm till now had all met death.
Finally, he realized.
It was his turn.
Death approached.
The enshrined shrine maiden slowly neared him.
The divine punishment gnawing her body gone—her flesh no longer marred.
Fresh white skin beneath unwound bandages, but her once-kind eyes brimmed with malice.
He'd thought the rite's end summoned a new god.
But at the last moment, Ok-won failed.
The entity meant to become a god had turned to evil. Why?
The reason was plain.
At the rite's end, amid unbearable agony, Ok-won had wished to quit.
In that vast pain, delusion had seeped into his heart.
'F-Fixer...'
Summon the Ghost Kings now.
They must drag out whatever possessed the shrine maiden's body.
"Ah."
The Fixer was broken too.
Torn apart by the reapers? He lay collapsed, bleeding from every inch.
The one to summon Ghost Kings sat powerless. The plan had failed catastrophically.
At the rite's end, all dead or ruined.
The shrine maiden's Mujin Mountain-bound soul dragged off by reapers and vanished, while the "half-formed entity" possessing her body now sought to slay everyone present.
One survivor remained.
Ok-won. Him alone.
If he couldn't stop this calamity now, the operation yielded nothing.
His comrades' deaths mere doggy demise. The world would drown in fog.
Ok-won slumped. Impossible to stop. Only surrender viable.
"Ok-won. You're terrified."
Borrowing the shrine maiden's body, the newborn calamity queried the despairing Ok-won.
"If coward, just flee like one. Why act out of character in your twilight years? Hm?"
Her pointing finger let him taste surging regret.
Failed. Rite failed—that was a godless calamity.
Cleanse Mujin Mountain's monstrosity, rip free its obsession from the shrine maiden, install as new spirit. That was the op's framework.
But now, all for naught.
The uncontrolled calamity seized the kneeling Ok-won's head.
"Regretting heeding that Fixer fool? Why? Your choice. Or truly believed you could change a damn thing? Pathetic moron."
Pain as fingers twisted backward.
Joints wrenched, blood pouring from eyes, nose, ears—all orifices.
"Should've fled again. Lived longer. Like old days—ditch comrades. Toss faith. Save your skin. Wouldn't die so wretched here."
Ok-won could muster no reply.
Because she spoke truth.
Flee, and he'd survive once more.
"Or did trash like you fancy saving the world? Delusions have limits. You're zilch. Overrated yourself."
To her query if he'd thought he could save the world, Ok-won shook his head.
Never. Never crossed his mind.
No way trash like him could.
Just seeing the White-Faced Bride, he thought maybe he could change a little.
But he changed nothing.
Still a coward, saving no one like always.
Still powerless.
"Clueless wretch. End it here. That's your only path. Look. All ruined. Your failure. Delusion in heart. Will unmet heaven! Those who trusted you—all dead."
Momentarily, the shrine maiden's face shifted.
To his master's, cursing as she died.
To the children screaming for rescue from the manhole depths.
To his disciple, begging exorcism from the merged monstrosity.
"N-No... I..."
"Still dim and inept. No denying. World knows. You know."
The ritual dagger clattered before his eyes.
The calamity in the shrine maiden's body offered mercy.
"Wallowing ugly still crave life? There—one alive. That woman. Slit her throat. I'll spare you."
The survivor: Moon Seon-woo the Taoist priestess.
Unconscious but breathing.
"Slay your comrade with your hand. Amuse me. I'll let you live. Promise. Prove to the world humans never change. Show effort's futility! Now!"
Ok-won picked up the knife with trembling hand.
Impossible to refuse.
Kill her, escape the mountain alive.
"I..."
He held the knife to the fainted Moon Seon-woo, tears streaming.
Wanted to change. To transform.
Hated the ugly flight like before.
Hated abandoning comrades for self-preservation.
Craved courage.
Yet powerless, his courage evaporated before despair.
Can't help it. Survivors gotta survive.
They'd all choose same, right?
How many sacrifice self for bloodless strangers?
Grab the chance.
Accept the lifeline.
She'd respect his choice.
"S-Sorry... N-No choice..."
He apologized to the fainted Moon Seon-woo.
Like fleeing his dying master.
Ignoring kids' wails from the manhole.
Ditching the disciple begging death.
Still. Still, Ok-won was...
"Sorry..."
Powerless.
"My fault..."
A coward.
Pshk.
Ok-won's gripped knife sliced through flesh.
Blood gushed.
Crimson gore.
"Impressive."
The monstrosity laughed at the stabbing Ok-won.
No—the entity masked as the shrine maiden laughed.
Amused by the unforeseen outcome.
"I... I too... can change... so... don't... test human will... even if I die. This time... I swore... to protect. Begone. The altar-binding... isn't over."
Ok-won had stabbed himself.
In the final instant, he turned the blade inward, breaking free of the thick darkness's temptation.
The altar-binding's end.
The darkness that gnawed his mind to usurp the spot scattered.
No one knew its true nature.
Merely something risen from the abyss's deepest fringe.
█████ withdraws.
Having intruded the humans' ritual.
The wrecker of all retreats laughing.
Ok-won, throat gushing blood, cried out.
"Gahk... Fixer... finish it... finish..."
Ok-won collapsed.
Then the delusion veiling his eyes lifted.
The true world returned.
No one had died.
The prior vista a blatant lie—all lived, completing the rite's end.
"...I liberate."
Matching Ok-won's final cry, the Fixer blocking the reapers summoned the Ghost Kings.
In an instant, his mental plummeted to 20 and evaporated, manifesting the two Twin Ghost Kings.
The reapers abandoned the staggering Fixer, Yun-gwan leading the remaining two in retreat.
"Bro! Why..."
"It's done. Beyond our hands now."
"But... we must take this one too..."
"Enough. Charge that after seeing it?"
At the Ghost Kings' glaring azure eyes, the reapers shook their heads.
Yun-gwan could have drained his mental below 20 earlier but refrained.
He deemed yielding to fierce resistance a custom.
Moreover, the Fixer observed etiquette first, so he halted.
Rules must hold firm, yet sometimes heavier than rules lies human propriety.
Soon the reapers vanished. Simultaneously, the shrine maiden's body floated skyward.
At last, the roots binding her life suppressed by the two Ghost Kings.
Two calamities quelled, the third emerged.
Finally, the altar guardians' plea let the shrine maiden endure via the Nameless Cloth.
'Succeeded. We succeeded...'
Ok-won realized his breath was fading.
Body growing cold.
Elder Jeong Mi-dam cast healing arts, yet consciousness receded.
And oddly, a hallucination of his long-forgotten master's voice.
-Well done. You endured, Won-ah.
Finally acknowledged?
Ok-won closed his eyes.
His consciousness slowly drifted into slumber.
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