Chapter 66

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: True Detective

Chapter: 65

Chapter Title: Defying the Natural Order

-----------------------------------------------------------------

There was a girl born with extraordinary spiritual talent.

She could converse with the beasts of the mountains and fields, and she perceived, saw, and communicated with things invisible to human eyes.

Was it because she possessed such exceptional gifts from childhood?

Like the fate of most shamans, the girl's destiny was equally harsh.

The girl lost her parents at a young age and was taken in by her grandparents.

Even after that, she suffered from frequent illnesses, enduring near-death experiences multiple times.

When her grandparents finally passed away while caring for her, the villagers, who saw her talents as a curse, drove her out into the mountains.

It was an era when nothing was properly established.

Few knew what spiritual afflictions truly were or how to cure them.

It was a barbaric age where shamans and madmen were separated by a mere hair's breadth.

"I'm hungry..."

Driven into the mountains, the girl collapsed from starvation.

How many days had she been wandering these mountains already?

The girl couldn't distinguish poisonous herbs from medicinal ones.

She couldn't tell what was safe to eat from what wasn't.

Desperate with hunger, the girl wandered the mountains until she collapsed in exhaustion.

It was a day when she desperately craved the mysterious porridge her grandmother used to make.

"Nngh...?"

When ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the girl opened her eyes again, the sun had set, and night had fallen.

Rain was falling too, drops splattering on her face, and she whimpered from the cold.

The girl instinctively knew that the end of her life had finally come.

Indecipherable whispers grew louder in the darkness, and shadows crept in, clutching at her clothes.

It's all over now.

It had been a wretched, meager life, but even in that short span, she had her memories.

Having nothing to begin with, she simply accepted that death had arrived.

There was no sadness. Only a wish that someone would be by her side at the end.

She was lonely. The loneliness outweighed the hunger.

Still so young.

At just eight years old, driven into the mountains to die alone.

All she yearned for was someone's warm embrace.

Did her wish reach its mark? Or perhaps her sobs were heard.

"Hey, what are you doing there?"

Someone approached the dying girl.

They spoke from behind a tree, their form concealed.

It was different from any beast she had encountered before.

It was something closer to human than beast, yet carried an otherworldly aura not quite human.

"So cold... and... scared..."

Instinctively, the girl reached out to it.

It wasn't a plea for help. She just wanted anyone to hold her hand.

She wanted someone to witness her final moments. To feel human warmth.

Wandering the mountains, she had endured profound solitude and loneliness, separated too soon from her parents' embrace. At the end, she longed to die in someone else's arms.

Did her desire reach it?

The being hiding behind the tree revealed itself.

"You're..."

"S-sorry... for this ugly face... sorry..."

It truly had a grotesquely ugly face.

A round nose, slit-like eyes stretched long. Skin covered in boils... No matter how you looked at it, it was hideous.

People called such creatures mountain goblins.

Filthy and ugly, they were shunned, and if encountered, pelted with stones for being unsettling.

Back then, such weak goblins were common. It was that kind of era.

"No... it's okay... You're not ugly."

The girl took the mountain goblin's hand without a hint of revulsion at its hideous appearance.

All she needed was its warmth. She desperately craved someone's touch.

"You..."

The mountain goblin quietly accepted the girl's grasp.

The small hand of the child clutching its rough, calloused one without hesitation.

Goblins read the emotions of humans they touch.

The nameless mountain goblin pitied the dying girl and embraced her, sharing its warmth.

The anomalies of that time weren't as ferocious as modern ones.

Each had their own backstory, closer to "yokai" born from specific origins.

The goblin wanted to save the girl who accepted its repulsive form as it was.

Thus, the lives of the goblin and the girl became intertwined for the first time.

The bond wasn't particularly strong. It was a fragile connection that could snap at any moment.

But that was enough. The goblin's life reignited the dying embers of the girl's.

"Oh?"

"Awake? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"Yeah! I'm fine. Did you help me?"

"It was nothing. Hungry?"

"Starving!"

"Want to go pick mountain berries together?"

"Yes!"

The next day, the girl awoke fully recovered.

From that day on, she roamed the mountains with the goblin, living freely.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Me...? Well, I don't have one. People just call me a goblin."

"Goblin? Then can I call you Biya from now on? From 'gob'lin!"

"Biya? Sure. Call me whatever you like."

"Okay! Biya, take care of me from now on! I'm Arin."

"Arin?"

"Yeah! Mom named me! Pretty, right?"

"It's a beautiful name. Take care of me too, Arin."

The goblin Biya received its first name from Arin.

Time passed, and the girl grew while the goblin remained unchanged by her side.

Sometimes they picked and ate fruits, splashed in streams during summer, summoned mountain beasts to dance and sing with them.

Childhood friends, perhaps.

The girl and goblin cherished and loved each other.

On a night when the starry sky shone especially bright, they hooked pinkies and promised to stay together forever.

"Biya, I'll never leave you. You're my favorite in the whole world."

"Yeah. I like you too, Arin. And I'll never forget you. Probably forever."

The girl was human, with a finite lifespan.

The goblin was immortal, never dying.

The girl promised to stay by the goblin's side until her death, and the goblin vowed never to forget her, even after.

That was enough.

Even in lives possessing nothing, they had each other. The goblin had no intention of defying fate to extend the girl's life.

Things destined must follow their course.

Though it knew the pain of being left behind, the goblin truly loved her and was prepared to let her go.

Time flowed on until the girl turned fifteen.

An unwelcome guest arrived at the wild mountain where the goblin and girl lived.

"Hiding in a place like this, huh. The vessel for the Oracle."

Rumors spread of a girl roaming the mountains.

Hearing that a child who should have died was alive and living with a yokai, an old Taoist came searching.

Upon seeing Arin, the old Taoist realized she was born with the talents of an Oracle, destined to protect this land.

He struck down the obstructing mountain goblin and forcibly seized the girl.

As in all tales, the brief happiness of childhood ends abruptly in destruction.

"No! I don't want to go! Biya! Biya!"

The mountain goblin, felled by the Taoist's spells, lay collapsed and unable to rise.

The girl was dragged down the mountain in the Taoist's grip.

The goblin had taken in and raised the girl abandoned by humans and left to wander the mountains.

Yet ultimately, greedy humans claimed her.

"From today, you're no longer Arin. You're Haun—Summer Cloud. You'll serve as my Oracle from now on."

Whether she wanted it or not, she couldn't resist.

She had promised to stay by its side until death.

But that promise was broken.

A life of oppression.

Forced duties.

Arin became Haun and lived as an Oracle under the Taoist's coercion.

The bond between the goblin and girl faded with time.

The girl had to host countless spirits in her small body.

She saved the world, upheld the heavens, served them.

The more she did, the more her vitality waned, her body weakening.

The many spirits that passed through her took her life force with them.

Crushed by the weight of her burdens, even breathing became labored.

Everyone pinned their hopes on her alone. She couldn't remain a girl.

They even called her defiled for hosting too many spirits.

She became history's greatest Oracle, commanding countless spirits and gaining fame.

But nothing remained for her.

Excessive blessings are akin to curses.

The connection between girl and goblin severed completely.

Long years passed.

The Taoist who forced her into the role of Oracle had long died.

Her followers now sought other shamans and left.

Alone once more, Haun realized her days were numbered.

As her final moments approached, the Oracle dragged her emaciated body back to that mountain she had been forced to leave long ago.

How many more years passed like that?

After endless searching, she finally reached that mountain.

And faced the goblin she had left behind.

"Arin... where...?"

Biya, now a mindless anomaly, stared at her with hollow eyes.

The broken remnant of her old friend no longer recognized her.

Twisted memories of the past and unrelenting obsession.

Haun... no, Arin saw it.

"I... came too late."

Long-buried memories resurfaced, tormenting her.

The Oracle still remembered Biya's voice calling her.

The sight of Biya as a malevolent ghost tore at her heart.

It must have wandered these mountains alone, searching for Arin endlessly.

That obsession, that resentment, had twisted it into this.

She thought it could live well alone.

She believed it would endure.

But she was too late.

"Biya..."

Biya reacted to the woman's voice calling its name.

But it didn't recognize her.

She had changed too much from before.

The girl Biya remembered was gone.

Biya couldn't recognize the mature woman Arin had become.

From the tangled basket of memories, the image of Arin it dredged up didn't match.

Lifeless eyes.

A body ruined beyond measure from hosting countless spirits.

As Biya grasped the Oracle's white, aged hair, its touch conveyed rage, sorrow, resentment, and longing.

Arin was no longer from the past.

Not that tomboyish child.

Not the pure girl it remembered.

"Biya. I came too late, didn't I? I'm sorry."

"I..."

"I promised to stay with you forever, but I couldn't keep it. How lonely you must have been alone."

The aged Oracle wept and apologized to the goblin, frozen in its childlike form, now an anomaly.

"But now, at least at the end, we can be together. Right?"

The goblin couldn't comprehend.

How much time had passed while it rampaged madly.

Why had she alone grown old? Why did she look at it with such sorrow?

"Arin..."

"I've changed so much you can't recognize me? So much happened. I saved so many people. Brought peace to this land. I was too busy to come sooner. But I'm glad I made it before dying. Glad you're still here..."

The broken goblin understood nothing.

Soon, the Oracle embraced the goblin that had waited only for her.

The familiar heart of the girl cleared the fog in Biya's mind momentarily. Only then did the goblin realize the woman before it was the Arin it had waited for endlessly.

And that her life was nearly over.

Ultimately, the goblin burst into tears, and the Oracle made a request to the weeping creature.

"Hey, Biya. Will you grant my final wish?"

"Wish?"

"Yeah... I don't want to die without ever marrying. So, you could be my..."

Having expended her remaining lifespan to briefly restore her old friend, the Oracle closed her eyes without finishing her words.

Biya's gender didn't matter. Mountain goblins had no such concept anyway.

Arin just wanted Biya. That's why she asked it to be her partner.

Biya accepted the impossible-to-refuse request, and then another unwelcome guest approached the pair.

"What a truly sad tale."

"You..."

It was the same old Taoist who had stolen the Oracle from it long ago.

The Taoist should have died of old age.

Yet he appeared before the goblin with a smiling face.

"If you let her go like this, you'll suffer in pain forever. Can you bear it? That's why you shouldn't love humans."

"If you hadn't taken Arin...!"

"It was unavoidable. She was the only one who could protect this land. It must be safeguarded until that day comes."

"What?"

"Oops. No need for other tales now. Want to save her? Let's be honest about our desires. I have a way."

"..."

The goblin Biya instinctively realized.

This wasn't the old Taoist.

Something wearing the Taoist's skin was tempting it.

Offering a way to prevent Arin's death, luring it down a dark path.

"What do you say? Use the method I teach, and you both can live forever. Though with pain. But that's bearable, right? Chant the incantation after me. Then you two can live happily ever after."

Biya's resolve wavered.

It didn't know what this choice would bring for it and Arin.

But the man's words were too sweet to outright refuse.

"I..."

Biya began ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chanting the incantation the man taught.

Thus, dooming itself and Arin to hell.

"Even if it means committing a sin against heaven... even if I can never see you again... fine. Still fine... I can't let you go like this..."

Biya's obsession ran deeper than Arin had imagined.

The goblin couldn't let the girl go.

Muttering incomprehensible words, Biya bound the fading soul of the Oracle to its own.

It offered its eternally youthful goblin body and reconstructed Arin's ruined form—marred by countless spirits—back to how it remembered her.

Even as its flesh dissolved into mist, the goblin cursed the heavens that had destroyed the girl it loved, scattering fog to blind their eyes.

Thus, the mountain goblin became the fog veiling heaven's gaze. The mountain where girl and goblin once played became known as Mujin Mountain.

Long ages passed.

The Oracle became the Shrine Maiden. Biya's will faded into Mujin Mountain's fog.

Over those endless years, Biya couldn't see the Shrine Maiden, nor could she converse properly with Biya.

Together, yet apart.

While the Shrine Maiden occupied Biya's body, or Biya became fog, they could never face each other.

But now, that boundary was crumbling.

At long last, they could reunite.

"You've suffered guarding me all this time. Yes, so much has happened."

The love of anomalies is heavy; Biya had guarded the Shrine Maiden for what felt like an eternity.

But now it was time to end it.

Guardian and guarded.

Time to release the ancient restraint and shatter the boundary.

"This body was originally yours. Right? But you gave it to me. Became fog, became the mountain, embracing me and those I cherish."

So take it back now. This body. This flesh.

"I hope you continue protecting this land, Biya. Not for me. For those I loved and their descendants."

Biya resisted the Shrine Maiden's plea fiercely.

Empowered by the Ghost Kings, the fog took form, and finally Biya and Arin faced each other again.

How long since direct communication? But this reunion wouldn't last long.

"But you know I don't have much time left."

"We've endured like that for centuries already. So it's time to let go. Where there's meeting, there's parting. You know that. Right?"

"Remember that night under the moon. I promised to stay by your side forever. Do you recall how you replied?"

Biya had no answer to the Shrine Maiden's question.

"You said you'd never forget me. Probably forever. Right? You accepted my end then. Death."

As the Shrine Maiden said, Biya had always known Arin would die someday.

Holding onto her now was mere obsession.

"Do you see those children outside? They're all my disciples, whom I raised and taught. The Fixer isn't one, of course."

"They're your children now. So please don't hate them. Remember me through them. The human who loved you to the end."

"Nothing is eternal. Nothing unchanging."

"No, that's not it. To keep this feeling unchanged until the end, I'm choosing to let go now."

Because she didn't want to come to hate it.

To preserve that initial love intact at the close.

A plea to release her hand now.

A wish for this heart to remain eternal pure love.

"I won't tell you to love someone new."

But.

"I'll still be inside you. Protect our children with me."

The Shrine Maiden couldn't go to the afterlife.

She had one final role left.

"When six moons wax and wane, the boundary forgets its initial restraint. You told me that revelation."

When six moons wax and wane.

That was the limit she could endure.

If the Fixer had come half a year later, the Shrine Maiden would have died, and Mujin Mountain run rampant.

"Above and below, this and that unite. They share blood and call to each other. That was your revelation too, Biya."

Biya wanted to silence the Shrine Maiden.

Stop. Don't let the revelation come true.

"The time has come, Biya. Devour me. It's time we become one again. Shatter the boundary completely. Use this body now, not me. Yes, time to change. Protect us no longer as an anomaly, but as a divine spirit."

The Shrine Maiden's final role.

It was to serve as a restraint, preventing the god born of the Divine Binding Ritual from killing humans.

Feeding herself to Biya, returning the body to the goblin, suppressing its harm to people.

Infusing it with full human understanding and her own memories.

For this, the Fixer had blocked the underworld messengers from taking her soul.

Finally, the two Ghost Kings separated the Shrine Maiden's body and soul, extracting the root that bound her—Biya—the restraint.

The goblin that had guarded the Shrine Maiden eternally, dreaming in the fog, finally manifested in the world.

As is, the Shrine Maiden would ultimately die.

Her soul would enter Biya and slowly digest.

Biya would be alone again, tormented by the Shrine Maiden's final words.

This operation's conclusion was such a tragic end.

A predetermined finale. Unchangeable...

"Wait... hold on."

Confirming the underworld messengers had retreated, the Fixer halted the Twin Ghost Kings' actions.

He had planned this operation himself.

He knew the Shrine Maiden would ultimately offer herself to Biya.

It was the natural order. He thought it shouldn't be stopped.

Until he witnessed Elder Okwon’s death.

The Elder’s sacrifice changed the Fixer’s mind.

"I’ve still got one coin left. So, let’s live another 60 years exactly."

They’d only just faced each other again, and now to part?

That was too sad.

They yearned for each other so deeply.

Finally able to truly meet.

To separate again was heartbreaking.

Before parting, he wanted to grant a reprieve.

A chance for the Shrine Maiden to age normally. Time for Biya to stay by her side.

"Shrine Maiden, I’ll make sure to claim full compensation for this."

The Fixer pulled a coin from his pocket.

He had agonized endlessly.

Should he use it here? Or let the natural order prevail?

In the midst of that, he saw Elder Okwon’s sacrifice.

Heard his final cry.

One person had already sacrificed for him.

Now they could be happy.

The natural order?

‘I’m a being that defies the natural order from the start. What’s a little deviation? God will forgive it.’

He gripped the coin.

The item given by the nun who fought the demon with him before.

"Shameless as it is, help me out."

The Fixer prayed.

For an ending where the Shrine Maiden wouldn't die.

The end of the Divine Binding Ritual, the opportunity Elder Okwon created with his sacrifice.

No longer an anomaly obsessed with the Shrine Maiden, but as Mujin Mountain's divine spirit.

No longer the karma-accumulating goblin, but as the Lunar Blossom Sect's guardian deity.

Elevate mountain goblin Biya to godhood. And grant a brief reprieve until Shrine Maiden Haun, its restraint, fades.

Did his wish reach? The Shrine Maiden's soul, being consumed by Biya's spirit, remained.

Success at last ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in altering the anomaly's nature.

Biya, once goblin, earth-bound spirit, and curse ghost, was reborn as a divine spirit.

Shrine Maiden Haun opened her eyes.