The Birth of Yuri

The rooftop of the apartment building was bathed in the cool morning breeze. Far below, the Han River shimmered like scattered silver under the early sunlight.

I closed the rooftop door behind me and locked it firmly, then took my position in the center of the concrete floor.

“Alright, Mongsil. Come out.”

Slither—

Mongsil crawled out from my hair and settled lightly on my shoulder.

'You called, oh great and merciless one…'

“Skip the ass-kissing. I want to experiment with some new applications of the Flying Talisman Slash we practiced earlier.”

I pulled out a stack of sticky notes from my pocket and scattered them into the air.

Shaaaraaaraa—

The spiritual energy I drew from my dantian flowed naturally into the bright yellow notes.

The talismans hovering in midair began to tremble faintly.

I decided to try something I had been visualizing in my head for a while now—whether they could be used as armor.

“If I can make a shield with Flying Talisman Slash, then I should be able to cover my entire body with them like dragon scales and turn them into full-body armor.”

Swoooosh!

With a single gesture, the yellow papers scattered in the air shot toward me like a swarm of snakes.

Hundreds of sticky notes began attaching themselves to my arms, legs, chest, and back.

The edges of the papers interlocked with surgical precision, covering every inch of my body like the scales of a dragon.

'C-crazy… Master. You actually wove a solid full-body suit of armor out of Flying Talisman Slash talismans…'

'Pretty tough, right?'

'Tough doesn’t even begin to describe it! I’ve never seen anyone create armor out of talismans before. Whoa… there isn’t a single gap. The joints move perfectly too!'

Seeing Mongsil so impressed made me feel a little smug.

Not only did it serve as defensive gear, but every single sticky note wrapped around my body was also in a ready-to-fire state for Flying Talisman Slash.

It was the ultimate all-purpose armor—capable of blocking both physical and shamanic attacks while turning into hundreds of blades at my command to strike in every direction.

“Doesn’t even feel heavy,” I muttered.

I clenched and unclenched my fist, then threw a light straight punch into the air.

Feeling confident, I turned toward the reflective glass window of the elevator shaft at the corner of the rooftop.

“……”

The moment I saw my reflection, I froze solid.

“……Ah.”

Majestic? Absolute armament? All-purpose offense and defense?

The figure staring back at me from the glass was nothing more than a lunatic who had plastered his entire body with yellow sticky notes.

A ridiculous clown preparing for the “sticky note removal” game at a company sports festival, completely covered in office supplies.

And because it was bright yellow from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, from a distance I looked like a giant banana or a wriggling SpongeBob.

Sluuuuurp!

I used my spiritual energy to gather all the hundreds of sticky notes that had been wrapped around my body and pulled them back into my hand.

'Huh? Why are you taking it off? The defense and mobility were perfect, weren’t they?'

'Shut up.'

I’d better save this for when I was truly cornered. Using it normally was out of the question.

“Huu…”

I leaned against the rooftop railing, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.

I took a deep drag, then exhaled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a long plume of smoke into the crisp morning air.

“Hey, Mongsil.”

'Yes?'

“Why does talisman magic always need paper and ink?”

Mongsil blinked all eight of its eyes for a moment at my question.

'Well… because you need a medium, don’t you? Spiritual energy is a formless force. It’s nearly impossible to bind that energy in midair and sharpen it with nothing but the caster’s will. That’s why we draw bloodline-like patterns with ink on talisman paper—the vessel—and then infuse it with spiritual energy to make it move like a living creature. That’s the basics of talisman magic.'

“Right. A vessel to contain formless energy.”

I blew out a long stream of cigarette smoke.

The faint gray haze rode the morning breeze, slowly dissipating and losing its shape until it merged completely with the air.

If I didn’t control the spiritual energy flowing out of my body, it would vanish into the air just like that smoke.

This time, I gathered a thick mouthful of smoke inside my mouth.

I curled my tongue into a circle, adjusted the pressure inside my cheeks, and—whoosh—blew it out toward the sky.

A perfect smoke ring floated slowly through the air, keeping its clear shape.

“!!!”

A flash of insight pierced through my mind.

When you just blow out cigarette smoke, it disappears. But if you roll it around inside your mouth first…

'If I increase the density and compress it, I can give it form. Just like that smoke ring.'

I cupped both hands together in a circle.

Then, just like I had rolled the smoke around with my tongue, I drew out my spiritual energy and began spinning it continuously inside that sphere.

I had a strong feeling that some kind of shape was about to form.

The spicy scent of the cigarette in my mouth made my eyes sting, so I stopped for a moment—but I was certain this would work.

“For ordinary shamans like Zhang Chen, that would be the limit. To maintain even their tiny trickle of power, they’d need the shell of a talisman. But I’m different.”

'…What do you mean by different?'

“What if I compress the density of my own spiritual energy to the extreme without using any medium like talisman paper? Couldn’t I give it physical form that way?”

Mongsil’s eyes widened dramatically.

'If you’re talking about materializing pure spiritual energy without a medium…'

Bang!

Mongsil suddenly swelled up and manifested as a giant spider.

In an instant, it had grown to the size of a compact car.

It was the same overwhelming presence it had shown when it slaughtered the evil spirits during Kang Minah’s soul-severing training.

'Look, Master. My spiritual energy originally remembers the form of this giant spider. That’s why I can materialize and manifest like this even with a small amount of power.'

The fog in my mind cleared completely at Mongsil’s explanation.

'That’s right. Once you create the shape once… you can summon it again with very little energy. If it’s theoretically possible, there’s no reason I can’t do it.'

I stubbed out my cigarette on the ground and walked back to the center of the concrete floor.

I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing.

“Suuuup— Haaaa.”

Just like before, I cupped my hands in front of my chest and poured spiritual energy into the space between them.

From deep within my dantian, where a pitch-black sea of spiritual energy lay coiled, I drew up a massive surge of power—enough to create a thousand Flying Talisman Slash talismans in one go.

Rumble—

A haze rose behind my back. The air on the rooftop grew heavy and began to vibrate with a low hum.

Grains of sand on the floor lost their gravity and floated faintly into the air.

“Suuuup— Haaaa…”

I gathered the enormous energy I had drawn into my palms.

Just like when I created the smoke ring, I condensed and compressed that vast power, gathering the spiritual energy together.

I spun it round and round, just like rolling the cigarette smoke with my tongue, shaping it into a perfect sphere.

Oooooooong—

The spiritual energy fought back violently.

Energy without a vessel rejected restraint and tried to explode outward in every direction.

I gritted my teeth and wrapped more spiritual energy around my palms, crushing the force down.

The recoil from the compression made the veins in both my arms bulge as if they would burst. Thick beads of sweat poured down my forehead like rain.

'Master… the spiritual energy is about to go out of control!'

Mongsil, who had returned to its small form and was clinging to my shoulder, screamed in terror.

“Kgh!”

The spiritual energy in my dantian began to rampage like a wild colt that had broken its reins.

My palms tried to open on their own. Through the widening gap, blue sparks flew as spiritual energy began to leak out bit by bit.

It looked like the energy was desperate to escape my body.

“Like hell I’ll lose!!!”

I bit my tongue and focused my mind.

There was no way I would lose to something I had already defeated once!

I concentrated harder, increasing the amount of spiritual energy wrapped around my palms.

Then, just like calming the cigarette smoke inside my mouth, I soothed and soothed the energy, compressing it further.

The veins at my temples throbbed. My heart felt like it would explode. Sweat poured down like rain.

“Get in there… you son of a bitch!!!”

I clenched my teeth and squeezed my palms together. The spiritual energy that had been rampaging inside suddenly went quiet.

In that instant, the wildly expanding mass of energy inside my palms subsided as if by magic.

Shhhk.

And then, inside my cupped hands, I felt something heavy and cold—a solid object.

The formless energy had undergone extreme compression and finally materialized into a bead with actual mass.

'No way… You actually succeeded in refining it?'

Setting aside the joy of success, I tried to forge it with my spiritual energy.

Since the energy now obediently followed me, there was no longer any danger like before.

'Increase the density. Make it harder. Sharper. Thinner.'

The temperature of the energy dropped sharply, and white frost began to form around my hands.

The moment I compressed it to its absolute limit, I stretched the bead-like mass out with my fingertips—shrrrk—pulling it long.

'C-crazy…'

My eyes snapped wide open.

Floating above my open palms was a translucent, deep-blue blade that held the light of an abyssal darkness.

It was shaped like a dagger about a span in length.

It carried the sharp killing intent that only extremely compressed spiritual energy could possess.

It was as transparent and razor-sharp as a blade made of glass.

“Huu… Haa…”

I exhaled roughly as I stared at the blade floating at my fingertips.

I had only created one, yet an extreme wave of exhaustion hit me, as if I had just run a full marathon. Every ounce of strength had been drained from my body.

'Master. Do you realize you almost died just now? What kind of insane shaman pours out all his spiritual energy like that? You nearly got devoured by your own power, you know?'

'But I survived, didn’t I?'

'Crazy…'

Mongsil, who had been on my shoulder, hopped down onto my hand.

It poked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and prodded the blade from every angle before raising both arms into the air.

'A weapon forged purely from spiritual energy… This is a divine object. A sacred weapon that manifests according to its owner’s will. You can summon and dismiss it at will.'

'Then it needs a name, doesn’t it? Hmm… What should I call it? It’s transparent. Glass? Yuri?'

I was terrible at naming things.

Might as well keep it simple.

“Let’s call it Yuri. From now on, your name is Yuri.”

The moment I spoke, the translucent blade trembled as if rejoicing at its master’s call.

A divine object that had devoured nearly half of my spiritual energy was now complete.

“Yuri, rise.”

Because the spiritual connection was so strong, I could control it in the air like a drone.

As I watched Yuri shoot upward, piercing the blue sky at incredible speed, goosebumps rose across my skin.

Then it happened.

Yuri suddenly began chasing after a crow flying in the sky.

Slash!

It shredded the crow without leaving a trace.

Only black feathers drifting slowly downward proved that the bird had ever existed.

Soon after, Yuri flew off toward another crow.

I hadn’t ordered it to.

'The killing intent is too strong, Master. At this rate, it won’t be a divine object—it’ll become a demonic weapon.'

“Yuri, return.”

At my firm command, the blade changed direction, stopped its slaughter, and obediently floated back to rest gently above my palm.

When I released Yuri’s form and absorbed it back into my body, the massive amount of spiritual energy that had left me poured back into my dantian.

I felt the empty void inside me fill up again, and the exhaustion ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vanished.

'Why did it kill the crows on its own?'

'It seems to have inherited your nature as a predator along with your killing intent. It should calm down once you raise your spiritual power even higher.'

It was a blade that carried the exact temperament of Dueokryeong, the predator that had devoured countless evil spirits in the Underworld.

Although absorbing Yuri had restored my spiritual energy, I now felt a clear warning: if I didn’t increase the depth of my own power, one day my sanity might be devoured by this weapon.

'Still, congratulations, Master. You have obtained a weapon capable of wiping out all of humanity.'

'Why the hell would I wipe out humanity?'

'Isn’t that why you came from the Underworld?'

'No?'

At that moment—

Clank. Creeeeak.

The heavy iron door leading to the rooftop opened with a rough noise.

Along with a refreshing breeze, Kang Minah appeared wearing a gray sweater, smiling brightly.

“Oppa! Teach me talisman magic with sticky notes too!”

She was radiating quite a strong spiritual energy.

The moment she had awakened her power, she had become a 1st Class shaman.

Her dantian was already filled with the special-class spirit energy that the virgin ghost provided without reservation, so she should have been a Special Class shaman. But I had deliberately asked the virgin to suppress her power.

However, her outfit…

A sweater with missing bottoms.

Gulp.

'Ah. Master… So the reason you came from the Underworld… was to have sex…'

'I’ll kill you.'