The Feather Shield
The Flying Talisman Slash was a perfect fit for me.
Thanks to Mongsil, who had memorized Zhang Chen’s secret technique, I learned the art of talisman magic. After drawing about a thousand of them, I could now create them with my eyes closed.
By the time the sun pierced through the earth and rose into the dawn sky, the golden rays breaking through the dark clouds looked exactly like Flying Talisman Slashes raining down in every direction.
I let out a small snort.
I had only learned a single talisman technique, yet my head was already overflowing with ideas—how to launch them, how to make the attacks more efficient, and how to use them for defense.
The principle behind talisman magic was surprisingly simple.
Just like drawing circuits onto a circuit board, you inscribed circuits infused with spiritual power onto paper.
Flying Talisman Slash was a self-sharpening flying blade aimed at a target, using spiritual power as its propulsion. The stronger the spiritual power, the faster and sharper it became.
“Mongsil.”
Yes?
“If I don’t launch the Flying Talisman Slash and keep them on standby, couldn’t they act as a shield?”
??
I gripped a thick bundle of talismans in both hands. Roughly five hundred sheets.
“Scatter.”
I flung them all into the air at once.
There was no target.
I simply stopped them at the moment they hardened into blades, right before they would fly.
I pictured an eagle’s feathers.
An eagle’s wings were built in overlapping layers so dense that neither cutting winds, pouring rain, nor razor-sharp air could pierce them. The lower feathers supported the upper ones, and the upper feathers covered the lower ones. Each individual feather fluttered in the breeze, but together they could deflect even a storm.
Using my spiritual power, I meticulously controlled each talisman, assigning them precise positions one by one.
Right now… just what…
Ignoring Mongsil’s stunned reaction, I completed the wall in an instant.
The talismans, hardened as solidly as overlapping feathers, formed a perfect semicircle that blocked everything in front of me.
You’re insane, Master. You still have spiritual power left?
“Yeah. That’s one of my strengths.”
Monster.
I’d just been called a monster by a monster.
The talismans connected to my spiritual power could serve not only as a shield but also as a kind of claymore mine, waiting to be launched.
But if it’s built like feathers, couldn’t you make armor out of them too?
Mongsil’s words made my mind spin rapidly.
That was when it happened.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
As expected, Minah’s scream announced the arrival of morning once again.
“Kyaaa— You’re crazy!! Crazy!!!”
But unlike yesterday, these were screams of pure joy.
Her legs had been healed, and even her Achilles tendon had returned to normal.
Thud, thud, thud—
Heavy footsteps thundered closer. Before I could even turn my head, the living room door burst open.
“Oppa!! I—”
Minah’s face lit up with delight the moment she dashed into the living room.
At the same time, she saw the wall of talismans and froze right at the threshold.
More precisely, she froze with one foot already inside the living room.
Her eyes slowly widened.
Her mouth fell open.
Her gaze swept across the shield I had created—from bottom to top, top to bottom, back to the center, and finally toward me.
“…Huh?”
She pointed at the shield wall with her index finger and began making incoherent sounds.
I slowly recalled the talismans so as not to startle her.
Silence.
Blink. Blink.
Minah’s long eyelashes slowly rose and fell repeatedly.
“Oppa… were you a shaman?”
“Yeah.”
“Ehhhhhhhh?”
Flying Talisman Slash
Tap tap tap tap tap.
Minah ran over and grabbed my shoulders, shaking them lightly.
“Then… did you heal my legs, Oppa?”
“Yeah.”
The first treatment hadn’t technically been done by me, but in the end I was the one who healed her, so it wasn’t exactly a lie.
Minah’s mouth hung wide open.
She knew exactly how powerful the ability of a shaman was in modern society.
The brother she had always looked down on possessed a strength that transcended mere violence.
Her eyes began to sparkle with a strange, burning desire.
“Teach me too.”
It was the development I had expected.
The survival instinct to never be helpless again.
That instinct had ignited her desire.
“No.”
I stuck a cigarette in my mouth and cut her off firmly.
Minah, who normally hated cigarettes, picked up the lighter from the floor and lit it for me.
“Awww~ Why not?”
“You don’t seem to have the talent for it. I was born with mine.”
“Awww… Oppaaaa~~”
She linked her arm with mine and began acting cute.
Kang Minah’s natural cuteness made my heart skip a beat.
It was different from the virgin ghost or the shikigami—it was her own bubbly, innate charm.
“Get off.”
At my icy tone, her playful smile froze.
I leaned deep into the sofa and looked down at her with the indifferent eyes of a predator.
“Do you think shamanism is some kind of skill you learn at an academy?”
“N-no, but… if you help me, Oppa…”
“Kang Minah.”
I exhaled a long plume of cigarette smoke.
She seemed slightly startled by my cold reaction, but her lips still moved.
“But my friend is a shaman too…”
“Shin-naerim is nothing more than the ability to sense spirits. Controlling them means making that power completely your own. It’s not just sensing them! It’s not asking questions and receiving answers by relying on spirits.”
Minah wasn’t stupid.
She understood my words perfectly.
“Ah… so shamans and spirit mediums are different.”
“A medium can only work when the ghost gate opens, but shamanism is different. You can’t create one just by teaching them. Only those who have stood at death’s door and returned can wield the spiritual power—the energy of the dead. Are you willing to die?”
All the color drained from Minah’s face.
“The boundary between the living and the dead. You have to pierce that boundary with your own body. You must touch death at least once to become a true shaman.”
“D… death…”
“That’s right. Becoming a shaman means throwing yourself off a cliff. If you survive, you become a shaman. If you fall and die, you’re just a corpse.”
I leaned forward over the table.
I thrust my face close to hers.
Then I grabbed her slender neck with my right hand.
“You still want to do it? The chance of dying is higher than the chance of living.”
I applied a light amount of pressure to her throat.
Her pupils shook like there was an earthquake inside them.
Fear. Pure, unmistakable terror.
But the memory of her shattered knee in Cambodia and her severed Achilles tendon held her in place.
“…I want to.”
Her lips trembled violently.
“I don’t want to… be that helpless ever again. I’d rather die by your hand, Oppa.”
Oh?
I released her neck.
The venom this haughty girl showed at the edge of a cliff was quite impressive.
“Fine. But there’s one rule. You will obey my commands without question.”
“Okay.”
“The training is simple.”
I stubbed out my cigarette in the ashtray and began explaining in a dry voice.
“It’s called Soul Detachment training. I’ll use my spiritual power to forcibly block three vital points in your body, knocking your soul halfway out of your flesh. If you can endure this, you’ll become a 2nd Class shaman. If you fail, you’ll be left as nothing but an empty shell. …In other words, you’ll die.”
Minah swallowed hard and barely managed to answer.
“Okay…”
“Normally, becoming a shaman consists of three stages. The easiest of them is this Soul Detachment training. However, because it consumes an enormous amount of the caster’s spiritual power, no one performs it lightly.”
It was the truth.
The amount of spiritual power consumed by Soul Detachment was massive. Even for a Special Class shaman, it used up a third of their reserves.
Plenty of people were willing to pay extra to become shamans, but what shaman would waste their own spiritual power? Obtaining the opportunity for Soul Detachment was no easy feat.
Shamanism was an enlightenment gained at the boundary between life and death—during a moment of accidental death. Forcing that moment to happen was never going to be simple.
“What comes after that?”
Minah’s desperate expression was mixed with fear and anxiety, but her curiosity refused to stay quiet.
“After achieving Soul Detachment and gaining the ability to handle spiritual power… you must undergo Boundary Crossing training, where you step into the realm of the afterlife. To become a Special Class shaman, you have to cross that boundary.”
“The afterlife?? Hell?”
I nodded and let out a small sigh.
Unpleasant memories had surfaced.
“It’s also called the Underworld…”
“And after that, you willingly invite a powerful vengeful spirit into your body and seize control through Possession training. A shaman’s spiritual power isn’t truly their own—it’s merely borrowed.”
Minah covered her mouth with her hand.
No one had ever explained the principles of shamanism to her before.
“The strength of your spiritual power depends on how powerful a spirit you can possess and dominate. At this stage, it’s common for the body to lose control and become an evil spirit instead of remaining human.”
Minah’s face turned deathly pale.
“Then… most of the terrifying evil spirits you see on the news…”
“Exactly. They’re Special Class shamans who failed their Possession training. Eight out of ten fail and become evil spirits.”
I leaned back against the sofa.
“So? Do you still want to do it?”
Silence fell.
Minah hung her head low and said nothing.
Her shoulders were trembling faintly.
Was she going to give up?
Well, telling an idol trainee who had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse to prepare for death was probably too much.
“If I die, cremate me.”
Minah suddenly lifted her head.
The tears in her eyes weren’t from fear—they were from sheer stubbornness.
“If we wait any longer I might get scared and run away… so do it right now, Oppa.”
“Heh.”
A low chuckle escaped me.
I slowly rose from my seat.
“Sit on the floor in the lotus position.”
With trembling legs, Minah sat down on the living room floor.
“Close your eyes. From now on, you have two hours. If you don’t come back before I wake you… it’s a failure.”
“……”
Minah bit down hard on her tightly closed lips and shut her eyes.
I moved behind her.
I brought my right index and middle fingers together and sharply drew up my spiritual power.
The tips of my fingers vibrated with a blue glow.
“Beginning.”
Without hesitation, I struck the vital points at the back of her neck, the spine behind her solar plexus, and near her tailbone in rapid succession.
Thud-thud-thud—!
“Ugh…!”
Minah’s body jerked violently as if she had been electrocuted.
But she didn’t collapse. She remained frozen in the lotus position.
Her breathing grew shallow in an instant.
She was barely breathing once per minute—a state resembling suspended animation.
At the same time, the temperature in the room began to plummet.
A bone-chilling cold crept across the living room floor, thick enough to make your breath fog white.
…It’s open. The latch on her soul.
Mongsil muttered in a tense voice.
Through my spiritual eyes, I could see Minah’s condition.
Above her physical body, a translucent soul of Kang Minah hovered precariously, flickering.
It was on the verge of snapping its lifeline.
The lid of the vessel called her body had been flung open.
Creak… screech… scratch…
A spine-chilling metallic scraping sound came from outside the window.
Something thudded against the balcony glass.
A bloody handprint smeared across it.
Then a crushed face slapped against the glass.
It was a lowly ghost with hollowed-out eye sockets and a long, dangling tongue.
“An… empty… vessel…”
A grotesque whisper leaked through the glass.
That was the signal. Dozens, then hundreds of evil spirits and lowly ghosts began swarming up the apartment’s outer wall like a swarm of bees.
Starving beasts drawn by the scent of an empty vessel whose flame of life was flickering out.
The windows rattled as if they would shatter.
Bang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang!
“Hungry… give me… I want… that body…”
Ghosts of every grotesque shape filled the balcony.
They looked ready to smash the glass at any moment and devour Minah’s empty shell.
The fact that they were appearing even after sunrise meant these weren’t ordinary lowly spirits.
Crack—!
Finally, a tiny fracture appeared in the balcony glass.
The largest one—a hanged evil spirit—forced half its head through the broken pane and into the living room.
“Mine… pretty… shell…”
Its rotting fingernails slowly reached toward Minah’s cheek.
I sat on the sofa, chin resting on my hand, watching the scene without moving a single inch.
That was when it happened.
A giant spider rose up in front of Minah like a gatekeeper.
“Hiiiiiiik!!”
“Save…”
At Mongsil’s manifestation, the lowly ghosts fled in utter panic.
“Hey. If you step in, Minah’s training becomes way too easy.”
Wasn’t it already easy because of the virgin ghost? She looked so scared. I felt a little sorry for her.
“Things that are easily obtained disappear just as easily. She needs to believe she earned it the hard way. At this rate, she’d automatically complete the possession training and become a Special Class shaman… and then how much of a handful would she be?”
Are you planning to prevent her from becoming a Special Class shaman?
“She stops at 1st Class. Virgin. You know what I mean, right?”
An eyeball bulged out from between Kang Minah’s breasts.
“Yes, my lord. I shall impose a limit using the spiritual power of a 1st Class shaman. However, may I ask the intention behind saying the Soul Detachment will take two hours? Ten minutes would be more than sufficient…”
Master. How about you annihilate this stupid virgin and let me possess this half-human half-shikigami body instead?
“Hiiik! Heavenly Spider sir… please take back those words.”
Stop being so slow on the uptake and get back inside. You stupid bitch who doesn’t even understand Master’s intentions.
Startled by the Heavenly Spider’s words, the virgin ghost rolled her eyeball around until it finally stopped at my crotch.
“Ah!!”
With what sounded like a scream of realization, the eyeball slowly vanished.
At the same time, Kang Minah’s long eyelashes fluttered as she slowly began to open her eyes.
It was the shikigami’s turn.
