Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Strength Without Apology
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057 Village - Yulkam
Hwan-in exchanged casual chit-chat with a sociable-looking Border Collie-headed man.
Small talk was perfect for building rapport and fostering closeness.
"The village has such a great vibe. The air is clean and fresh, and that river running through it gives off a crisp, refreshing feel. It's a wonderful place."
Sure enough, at the praise for the village, the Border Collie man wagged his tail vigorously side to side, clearly delighted.
=Woof~. As expected of a Soul Shaman, you have a keen eye. Just as you said, this village is the birthplace of Saint Luorla, who single-handedly stopped a massive procession of the undead long ago! The village had a different name back then, but to honor her noble deeds, we renamed it Yulkam...
Hwan-in listened to the Border Collie man with one ear while focusing on two key words that came from his mouth.
Saint. And the undead.
The saint seemed to mean something different from the one Hwan-in knew. And the undead...
'It's not just referring to people who died naturally—it's probably something like undead.'
In a world with monsters, undead wouldn't be out of place.
Hwan-in tossed in appropriate responses to the Border Collie man's words before shifting his gaze to the red soul.
Ephnis had said that a Soul Shaman was someone who could grant restless souls peace and prevent them from becoming corrupted.
Soul. Corruption. Undead. Saint. Garden of the Gods. Tainted souls...
He had a hunch.
'That soul must be corrupted.'
If so, then "undead" didn't just mean naturally deceased people—it referred to undead creatures.
No doubt it would be shocking if a dead relative rose from the grave as a rotting corpse or skeleton. And if a Soul Shaman prevented that, guaranteeing a key element of the afterlife in their religion?
Now it made sense why the villagers were so overly welcoming and hospitable.
Hwan-in's gaze turned to the red soul of the wolf-headed man.
Did that soul build up resentment until it turned that way?
"......"
He couldn't fathom how a soulless being could think, but Ryuhi's sister, Lua's soul, had taken action to save her sibling.
If souls could still think after death, they could feel satisfaction or resentment too, leading to changes like that.
'Does advancing further from that state turn it into an undead?'
He strongly wanted to verify it.
Would that man's corpse really burst from the ground? Would it attack people if it did? Would it be treated as a monster?
And souls that carried out his commands turned into hazy smoke—or glow, if you put it nicely—and ascended to the sky.
If that was the phenomenon of heading to the Garden of the Gods, what happened to corrupted souls that became undead?
=Uh, um... Soul Shaman? Is there something over there...?
Hwan-in had been staring at the empty wooden fence when the chatty Border Collie man, sensing something, drooped his half-folded ears further and asked timidly.
After a brief moment of thought, Hwan-in answered honestly.
"I see a red soul."
=Eek!?
"...?"
Puzzled by the man's excessive shock, Hwan-in looked at him, only for the man to bow deeply to Hwan-in before sprinting toward the village, shouting at the top of his lungs.
=Corruption! A corrupted soul has appeared!! Disaster's coming!!
Hwan-in was slightly surprised by the Border Collie man's reaction.
That red soul was indeed corrupted. But was it dangerous enough to warrant that kind of behavior?
It gave off an eerie vibe, but he didn't sense any direct threat.
It was like this: poison mushrooms kill if eaten, but not just by looking. Seeing a corrupted soul felt like spotting a poison mushroom.
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding...
At the noisy bell tolls, Hwan-in looked up at the watchtower to see a brown wolf-headed man with a bow on his back ringing it frantically.
He must have overheard Hwan-in and the Border Collie man's conversation.
Annoyed by the racket, Emergency Ration straightened its neck and cawed toward the watchtower.
Hwan-in glanced at the tower before turning back to the corrupted soul as villagers began gathering one by one.
'This could work to my advantage.'
In less than ten minutes, most of the villagers—farmers and herders from the fields—had assembled.
Not just people. To Hwan-in's eyes, faint souls were gathering too.
The villagers' reactions split into two camps.
=A corrupted soul appeared?
=The Soul Shaman spotted it.
=No signs of undead yet, right?
=I checked my father's grave this morning. It was fine. The Illail flowers planted around were intact too.
Some were tense, assessing the situation and planning countermeasures.
=Lucky the Soul Shaman's here. Otherwise, it'd be a huge disaster.
=The Beast God must be watching over us.
=Thank goodness, really...
Others were just relieved a Soul Shaman was in the village.
'Corrupted soul.'
The village chief arrived late, panting as he pushed through the crowd.
=Soul Shaman! Is it true a corrupted soul appeared!?
"I've come from far away, so I haven't fully grasped the definition of corruption yet. But if it's a soul emitting a red, malevolent aura, then yes, there's definitely one there."
The chief immediately looked where Hwan-in pointed, but saw nothing. The gathered villagers were the same.
As murmurs grew, the chief shot a fierce glare at the crowd to silence them before cautiously asking Hwan-in.
=I heard from the kids. You fell into the Labyrinth Forest due to a teleportation accident from a distant place.
"Yes. That's why I'm ignorant of your culture and customs. Could you explain about corrupted souls?"
The chief gladly explained the corruption disaster.
=Corruption happens when a soul is exposed to negative events or malevolent energies and begins to degrade. Its biggest trait is that ominous blood-like color. If it lingers too long, it risks corrupting nearby souls too.
Once corruption density builds up, the real disaster begins.
The soul itself turns into a malevolent spirit and attacks people, or it possesses nearby corpses, raising them as evil ghosts. Not its own body, though—any corpse around.
That's where the real problem starts.
The souls of those whose corpses are defiled grow furious and despairing, turning corrupted themselves. Those then possess other corpses, causing more souls to rage at their own defiled bodies...
And sometimes, intensified corruption even seizes the bodies of the living.
This chain reaction has wiped out entire small towns when not handled quickly.
=Strong corruption can even animate freshly dead corpses. By then, it's too late. You have to abandon the village.
'No wonder the villagers are overreacting.'
Hwan-in nodded as if understanding, then asked again, thanks to the chief's seasoned knowledge.
"Do you know any ways to resolve corruption?"
=The simplest, most common method is planting Illail flowers by graves.
"Illail flowers?"
=Flowers the gods scattered out of pity for us mortals tormented by corruption. Sky-blue blooms that grow anywhere—hot, cold, damp, or dry. If their color changes, it's proof corruption is near... Painful as it is, you dig up all the graves, gather the corpses, hold a rite, and cremate them.
Cremation must be taboo here.
"Is there no way to restore a corrupted soul to its original state?"
=I'm just an ignorant villager, so I don't know... Ah! I recall Soul Masters are rare, and they have various ways to appease corruption. But that's over 30 years ago—I wouldn't know now.
'Whatever method I use, they won't suspect anything.'
Then one of the chief's wives appeared, arms full of sky-blue flowers resembling helmet flowers.
"Are those Illail flowers?"
=Yes, Soul Shaman.
"Hand them over."
He took some and approached the red soul, which stared blankly at one spot without moving.
Sizzle...
As he got closer, the flowers in his pocket began sizzling and wilting black. Proof it was corrupted.
Whoosh!
Hating the acrid smoke, Emergency Ration flapped up into the sky. Hwan-in dropped the now-purplish bouquet and stepped back.
=Gasp! The Illail flowers—the flowers...!
=Ugh... It's real corruption. Real...
=You lot, shut your mouths!
The young wolf-headed men flinched and fell silent at the chief's outburst.
They weren't the only shocked ones—the chief and elders were too, though they kept quiet.
In this era, good fortune meant ancestors' blessings; misfortune meant failing to honor them properly.
In a world where ancestral or family souls turning corrupted not only caused material harm but left survivors fearing unrest in their own afterlives, anxiety was widespread.
Hwan-in, having overheard the villagers' worries about their own ancestors...
'What caused it to change like that? Can I command a soul in that state?'
...couldn't care less. His interest in the corruption only grew.
Could he control it? What would Spirit Possession do? Could he even dissipate it?
The urge for information was overwhelming, making the surrounding noise grating.
"Be quiet for a moment."
The murmurs of 150 people vanished instantly at Hwan-in's low voice.
Silence fell over the fence like no one was there. Hwan-in reached for his back, then awkwardly lowered his hand and turned to the chief.
"I need my staff..."
=Ah! The deer-antler staff. Bigunt, hurry and fetch it!
=Yes!
The chief's son dashed off and returned in a flash, handing the Deer-Antler Staff to Hwan-in with both hands.
Gripping the staff, Hwan-in held a pearl-colored stone in his left hand and slowly approached the red soul.
'Lua's soul couldn't speak or communicate, but her eyes and actions showed her wish.'
Whether her wish was fulfilled leading to ascension, or it was just time, communication seemed possible.
When he was about 4 meters away, the red soul slowly turned to face him.
Locking eyes, Hwan-in asked silently: What do you want?
—...
"......"
For a fleeting moment, Hwan-in was certain he felt the red soul's emotions.
A sticky, burning rage. Grudge and thirst for revenge.
The opposite of Lua's soul, which held only pure pity and longing.
'Murdered.'
He glanced at the villagers, then back. The red soul slowly turned to look at them too.
Dozens of thoughts and hypotheses flashed, dismantled, reassembled, sank, and resurfaced.
Meanwhile, the red soul moved in front of a Pitbull Terrier-headed man, glaring at him with venom.
"......"
The villagers gulped, staring at Hwan-in.
He spotted tense Ryuhi, Ephnis, Huini, and Ennel.
Without sharing info, he beckoned them.
"Everyone. Come over here for a bit."
Realizing he was calling, the women hurried over without question.
Ephnis passed right through the red soul without any ill effect.
'It can't affect people yet.'
The chief asked Hwan-in worriedly.
=Soul Shaman? What's going on...?
"I need to check something privately. I'll explain to you later."
=Yes...
Moving away from the puzzled chief and villagers, Hwan-in told Ryuhi.
"Somewhere the villagers can't overhear our talk."
=Yes, Benefactor. This way.
Ryuhi led them to a small log cabin fit for two.
Large and small cabins clustered in a semicircle around a clearing—ordinary housing to Hwan-in.
"Bring something to draw with."
=W-We only have charcoal... Is that okay?
"Yes."
=One moment.
As Ryuhi went inside, Huini slyly wrapped Hwan-in's arm between her ample cleavage and asked.
=Benefactor. Sleep well last night?
"The chief gave me a nice room. Slept great."
=Hehe.
Seemingly just wanting to chat, she giggled without more. Ennel competitively hugged his other arm, glaring at her sister.
Ephnis shot the sisters a pitiful look, composed herself, and asked Hwan-in.
=You must've been exhausted after arriving yesterday and dealing with everyone... Isn't handling the corrupted soul right away too risky?
"It was right there, hard to ignore. Plus, I can see what the villagers want."
=It's been half a century since a Soul Shaman visited. They're excited. Sorry on their behalf.
"I'll face this a lot ahead. Consider it practice."
Ephnis caught the hint he'd leave alone, a pang of sadness rising, but she hid it.
Back in the village, she felt an invisible wall from the men.
Understandable. With plenty of women, who wanted one toyed with by monsters?
No one asked what happened in the labyrinth, but some things were obvious.
She, with living parents, and the Huini-Ennel sisters fared better. Ryuhi, now alone without family...
Uninterested in Ephnis's thoughts, Hwan-in focused on the pair of souls following him—even into the cabin.
They trailed Ryuhi gently, perhaps her guardians.
Unlikely. True guardians would've followed to the labyrinth.
Pondering their link to Ryuhi, Hwan-in saw her return with charcoal and tanned hide, gently pushing the sisters off his arms.
"I called you separately to ask about the corrupted soul."
As he took the charcoal and hide, Ryuhi replied uncertainly.
=The chief would know best...
"True. But right now, you're the only ones I trust in the village."
The women softened slightly at his words. Hwan-in quickly sketched the red soul's appearance and asked.
"Tell me everything you know about this man."