The Altar of Mother
Some gods are jealous, and don't much care for their followers serving others as well.
When I returned to the shrine, I learned that lesson the hard way.
“...Huh.”
It was gone.
The folding screen, the candles, the offering dishes — all of it had vanished, as if from the very beginning this place had held nothing but the altar, the table, and that strange statue.
“Well... you didn't have to go that far. I was planning to tidy up anyway.”
I surveyed the shrine. This, then, was the altar of the god I would now be serving.
I drew fresh water into the jade bowl, set it at the base of the altar, and lit incense. I had no idea whether that being would like this kind of ritual or not, but in the end, sincerity was what mattered.
There is no help without a price. At least, not within anything I've ever known.
Which meant I needed to learn how to serve this existence properly. Gods and spirits never appear to make their demands directly — they simply take what is theirs.
Being a god is exhausting work, apparently. Every one of them demands something different — different rules, different norms, even different visions they show you. That's why no two shamans ever say the same thing.
So the only comfort available to those whose bodies have been seized by a god is to believe that the one who came to them is an authority, a power to be reckoned with.
Well, I don't know what price she'll collect, but if that power lets me rake in some serious money, I won't complain.
“...I look forward to serving you, Mother.”
That being had asked to be called Mother.
I offered a short prayer to her. And just like that, I had become a shaman serving a god once more.
I had the strange feeling that the shadow cast on the statue had shifted, just slightly, toward me.
Five days had passed since then. I was slowly getting used to living with 'Mother'.
Whatever the circumstances, I was the real deal now, so instead of following convention, I had to serve my god the way she wished.
Say, instead of drawing fresh water every day, catching fresh evil spirits and offering them up.
I'm still clumsy at handling this, though...
Should I call it spiritual power? The strength 'Mother' lent me had a texture entirely different from any spirit power I knew.
A shaman cannot wield power directly. She is nothing more than a medium through which power acts. But what I had now was far too active to be called a mere medium.
-Kiiiiing!!!
When I focused my mind on the mark on my left hand, I could trap evil spirits inside it. It reminded me of the barrier technique from InuXSha, that show I'd found so entertaining as a kid.
Not that it was anywhere near as flashy, of course.
And when I placed my left hand — stained pitch black with trapped spirits — onto the statue...
Gulp.
The statue devoured them. It was eating quite heartily, in fact.
The more spirits I caught, the stronger the mark's power grew, and the more I offered to the statue, the deeper the bond between Mother and me seemed to become.
And the deeper that bond grew, the more unknown 'knowledge' flowed into me, entirely against my will.
Mostly trivial things — like the fact that today's client would arrive earlier than scheduled.
Vroooom—!
The growl of a luxury sedan's engine reached my ears.
“I told you, we're just going at the appointed time. Why are people in such a rush today of all days?”
“Because I was worried you'd change your mind. Oh my — the gate's already open?”
One familiar woman's voice and one unfamiliar man's voice drifted over the fence.
I looked out at the construction company CEO and his wife standing in my front yard.
“CEO Kim Yeongsik, right? I've been expecting you. Come in.”
Mrs. Kim, standing at the front, wore a bewildered expression, and the woman beside her began clapping her husband on the shoulder.
“See? I told you I had a knack for this. Honestly, you never trust a word anyone says.”
Clicking his tongue, CEO Kim cleared his throat and stepped into the shrine. His wife followed, looking around at it as if it were some marvel.
“I noticed it last time too, but somehow the energy in here feels wonderful. Doesn't it, honey?”
Well, yes — it had become a place evil spirits couldn't enter. I almost said as much, then held my tongue; it seemed like an unnecessary thing to mention.
“It's all in your head. Keep talking like that and hyping the place up. The only reason con artists thrive is because people like you believe whatever they're told.”
The CEO replied curtly, while his wife — whom I hadn't seen in days — regarded me with a soft, conciliatory smile.
“Doryeong-nim~ Aigoo, your fortune has brightened in just five days. And you've changed the interior here too... It looks so much more refined. Lovely. It really shows off how gifted you are.”
Thank goodness this was a place where a lone, bizarre stone statue on an altar didn't look strange.
“I think I know why you've come today... Did you do as I told you?”
At my blunt question, Mrs. Kim gave an awkward smile and turned her head slightly toward her husband.
“Yeongsik was going to push ahead as planned, but in the end it looks like it'll go the way you said.”
“You ended the project, then?”
“They were digging near the construction site and apparently uncovered something like ancient ruins. Everything's on hold right now.”
They found ruins? I frowned at that.
Suspending construction didn't mean it was over. Something had already happened — it seemed certain of it.
“By the way, why are you suddenly talking down to him?”
“Honey! How can you speak that way to someone a god has touched!”
“God, my ass. Where exactly is this god, huh?”
Sssaaah.
In that instant, a chill ran down my spine, and shadow poured out from the back of my hand. Just as it had with Officer Shin, the shadow was sucked into CEO Kim's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
Immediately, a vision appeared before me: jagged rocks and an enormous mountain range. Deep within those mountains, screams too terrible to come from anything human were ringing out. And they were clinging to CEO Kim's trouser legs, hanging on for dear life.
“Your business was out in Gangwon-do, wasn't it? Looks like you set out to build a resort in the mountains.”
“Oh my— oh my!! Honey, look! Aigoo, that gives me chills.”
Mrs. Kim rubbed her arms frantically and stared at me with horrified eyes. The CEO's face twisted as he looked at her.
“You've been here before, haven't you? Didn't you tell this man everything? Why are you blabbing my business to a shaman?”
“I did not! Why would I say such a thing! And stop making those weird noises in front of Doryeong-nim, seriously. It's embarrassing.”
“There we go. Hey — what exactly did you use to brainwash my wife, huh? What did you say to her? You must love taking advantage of naive people, day in and day out?”
CEO Kim Yeongsik's words didn't reach me. Because for a split second, his shadow had rippled into a strange shape.
Is something hiding inside him? I focused power into the mark and rested my hand on the CEO's shoulder.
“What the hell do you think you're doing, you punk!”
“Honey! Stop it!”
Kim twisted away and shook off my hand.
Judging by the mark's reaction, nothing was hiding inside his body. Most likely, the CEO was being spiritually harassed by something.
So that was why he'd arrived ahead of his appointment. It hadn't been for nothing.
“You've only been back from your business trip a few days, haven't you? Your nerves are on edge.”
At my words, the CEO's face crumpled, while his wife beside him could only nod again and again.
“Our Doryeong-nim is this gifted, and you still keep doubting him.”
“...Just tell them to finish it quickly. I can't stand being here any longer.”
I looked the CEO straight in the eye and continued.
“Your sleep is restless, and your body feels heavy somehow. You've been feeling off, haven't you?”
“Anyone could say that. You think a man just back from a business trip sleeps like a baby? Huh? You and your plausible-sounding act...”
CEO Kim answered irritably, raising his voice a little.
Well, his eyes were sunken and his complexion wasn't great, but that was a separate matter. I turned to his wife and asked.
“Have you taken him to a hospital?”
“The checkup came back clean. They said it was insomnia and gave him a few sleeping pills.”
“Don't go telling him things on your own!”
Hmph. I took a sip of tea and studied the CEO.
Sunken eyes. A wavering shadow.
A person with frayed nerves is prime prey for evil spirits and malicious gods. They drain your vital energy, and slowly, the person begins to wither away.
“You haven't taken the sleeping pills, have you. They'd only make it clearer.”
And with that, the CEO's face went completely rigid.
“...I'm sorry, what?”
“It's beyond restless sleep, isn't it? Every time you close your eyes, something appears in your dreams. Strange landscapes, maybe.”
The CEO looked utterly lost.
“...What did this con man just say?”
“Do you know why it's called a 'dream-place'?”
I began to unpack the story I'd heard from Mother. She had always told me this before interpreting anyone's dream.
“Isn't it just called that because it's the place where you sleep?”
Mrs. Kim answered in my place.
“No. We already have a word for a sleeping place — there'd be no need to coin a separate one for dreams.”
I gave a shrug.
“Dreams are another world to us. Since ancient times, we've believed that dreams are closely bound to this one — that they foretell what is to come.”
The scent of incense thickened sharply. I glanced back at the smoke billowing up behind me.
“And a 'place' means a space where something is destined to occur, doesn't it? So a dream-place is an omen — a sign by which you read the fortune or misfortune of what is about to appear.”
At my words, the CEO gave a dismissive snort.
“What a roundabout way of saying something bad is going to happen. Rambling on about simple things — that's the mark of a con artist.”
“That depends on the dream. Whether it's a good omen or a bad one.”
“And how exactly would you know what I dreamed?”
The mark on the back of my hand stung. Pitch-black shadow stretched out once more and swept through CEO Kim's mind.
At the same time, I felt 'knowledge' itself driving into my skull.
I trembled, a wave of vertigo washing over me. This was knowledge related to the dream of the man standing before me.
CEO Kim's fist, clenched and trembling beneath the table, looked as though it had been soaked and stained in someone's blood.
His hair and clothes, too, were smeared with it.
“Oh my — Doryeong-nim's eyes...”
At Mrs. Kim's words, I lowered my head slightly and looked at my reflection in the polished desk.
...In my eyes, a pupil split horizontally like a goat's was gleaming.
My heart lurched for a moment, but I quickly steadied myself.
...Maybe it just means I'm communing well with Mother.
I furrowed my brow slightly, gave a dry cough, and turned my head back to CEO Kim.
What kind of dream had that man had? I could feel the pieces assembling themselves in my mind.
“Guessing what you dreamed? That much is easy.”
“You're hilarious. How is anyone supposed to guess another man's dream...”
“Lately, you've been dreaming of people dying horribly at your construction sites, haven't you?”
And then, fear took root in CEO Kim's eyes.