A Promise to the Abandoned
I could feel Mu-yong shivering inside my coat. Han Yujin barely managed to move his hand and stroked the trembling creature.
His instincts screamed at him to retreat immediately and prepare for danger, but his reason shouted back that doing so would force him into a fight to the death with Won-hee.
Even if it meant dying here and now, he could not act rashly. That would equal failure.
“It’s probably not that you saw wrong or made a mistake.”
In an atmosphere so tense it felt like an attack could come at any second, he spoke calmly.
“I came from a kind of… parallel world. One that’s about ten years in the past compared to here.”
Won-hee showed no reaction. A normal person might have asked what he meant, but she gave no sign of whether she was even properly hearing him.
“And though you probably don’t remember, I promised I would save you from this place.”
Having said that much, he resumed explaining the objects on the ritual table.
“This is an artifact called the Blade of Liberation.”
It was a short, sharp dagger.
Its surface was densely engraved with spell patterns like a ritual tool, the blade appeared to be made of some kind of bone, the hilt looked like faded silver, and the jewel at the pommel was a piece of pure golden amber.
The method of use was simple. Stab it into the body, activate it, and endure the pain.
The stronger the binding-type curse one was trying to break, the greater the agony. It was an effective artifact, but so violent and dangerous that the user could easily die first.
He then pointed to the next item.
Ghost Soul Banner
A combat-oriented Heavenly Treasure that captures and controls ghosts. Its power is immense, but it must be handled with extreme care when dealing with a vengeful spirit.
He had softened the explanation on purpose, worried it might provoke Won-hee. He also had to describe the Spirit Treasure Ghost Spirit Binding Formula used to refine the banner, carefully altering every phrase so as not to trigger her.
Finally, he explained why these items had to be used.
“If you want to leave this place and return with me to my world, this is the only way.”
After that, silence fell.
Won-hee continued staring at him with her pitch-black eyes. Mu-yong trembled violently at the terrifying aura radiating from her, and Han Yujin kept gently stroking the little beast, trying to calm it.
A moment later.
After a short time that somehow felt unbearably long, Won-hee slowly closed her eyes.
The frantic warnings of his instincts eased a little. The atmosphere was still dangerous and razor-sharp, but it was definitely better than before.
After observing the situation a little longer, Han Yujin asked, “Shall I light another stick of incense?”
Burning two wouldn’t double the effect. It would only improve things by about a tenth, but even that small improvement could be valuable right now.
— All right…
Fortunately, Won-hee answered in the same faint voice as before, this time positively. Han Yujin rejoiced and immediately lit another stick of Azure Peace Incense, placing it in the censer.
After a little more silence, Won-hee spoke first.
— When I died.
Her mental voice had grown even fainter, like a whisper.
— In the darkness, I saw a light.
“…What kind of light?”
— A warm light, moving farther away. If I missed it once… I could never get it back… never turn it back…
The smoke rising quietly from the Azure Peace Incense wavered slightly.
— Don’t go… I’m here, so don’t go… I kept calling out like that… kept running after it… but in the end…
Suddenly.
Bloody tears flowed from Won-hee’s closed eyes. At the same time, an emotion so thick and dark that even an ordinary person could feel it clearly flooded the area.
Frustration. Sorrow. Despair. Grief.
And fear.
— I was left behind… alone in this darkness… forever…
Won-hee opened her eyes again.
The sight of bloody tears streaming from her jet-black eyes was terrifying enough to raise goosebumps.
— You’ll… save me?
The clear resentment and hatred that washed over him made it feel like his breath was caught in his throat.
He realized he had touched the very reverse scale she now harbored because she had once longed for it so desperately. One wrong word and they would truly have to fight for their lives.
Yet within that resentment and hatred, he could also feel an equal amount of loneliness and pain.
That was why he wanted to help her.
Not simply because she would become an incredibly powerful ghost who could be of great help later, but because it genuinely hurt to see a child who had committed no real sin suffering in such deep despair.
It was probably because he knew the Lee Won-hee who was still just an elementary school student in reality.
He understood that the Won-hee before him, who had already become a ghost, was fundamentally a different being now, yet a profound sympathy still rose within him.
“Yes.”
So he could speak with sincerity.
“I will save you. It may be impossible right now, but someday, without fail.”
At that moment.
It felt as if a cold wind blew.
The small flame burning on the Azure Peace Incense was completely extinguished, and a chill far deeper and darker than anything before descended on the area, as if to claim compensation for all the eeriness it had suppressed until now.
Submerged in that darkness, still with her eyes open and bloody tears flowing, Won-hee slowly extended one hand toward him. Her palm faced upward, as though offering something for him to place upon it.
Prove it.
Her mental voice rang sharply in his ears, now terrifyingly clear.
That you are that senior.
The question of how? was answered by pure instinct.
From the hand she stretched out, he felt a psychic wave impossible to ignore. It felt closer to divine power than sorcery, and it was mixed with another type of energy and ghostly qi, making its exact nature difficult to identify.
What was certain was that it was an extremely dangerous power that should not be touched carelessly.
Is she trying to read my memories…?
But looking closer, it didn’t seem that simple.
And this was clearly a binary choice: either lower his mental defenses and accept it willingly, or refuse and fight to the death.
He did not hesitate long.
He stroked Mu-yong inside his coat once more, then deliberately dropped all his mental defenses and carefully met her hand as if supporting it.
The instant he felt how cold her hand was.
A terrifying chill spread through his entire body from the point of contact. It was excruciatingly painful, but fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the cold soon numbed all sensation.
Jjik…!
“Shh… it’s okay.”
He calmly soothed Mu-yong, who had let out a small, worried cry.
Soon.
The chill penetrated beyond his bones and seeped into his mind, freezing even his thoughts.
His vision gradually darkened until everything sank into complete blackness.
The last thought that surfaced was that this felt remarkably similar to the deaths he had experienced countless times.
At least B-rank ghost disturbance incident confirmed at Seoul’s southwest boundary.
All available hunters, deploy immediately.
The familiar yet irritating alarm blared in his ears.
Han Yujin, who had finally been enjoying a deep sleep, frowned deeply and grabbed the smartphone beside his pillow, squinting at the screen.
“…Fuck.”
A curse slipped out on its own. It was an emergency message ordering him to deploy at once because a ghost disturbance of at least B-rank danger had broken out on Seoul’s southwest boundary.
He let out a long sigh, fighting the temptation to just go back to sleep and the annoyance of never being allowed a moment’s rest, then forced himself up.
Like a soldier near the end of his service, his movements looked slow at first glance, yet he finished changing in a short time, gathered his chest armor, belt, and weapons, and left the house.
He took the familiar emergency stairs down to the underground parking lot, mounted his bike, and started the engine. Without bothering with a helmet, he ran through his equipment checklist out of habit.
Then he unconsciously moved as if to hold something against his chest, only to pause and tilt his head.
“…Hm?”
For some reason, he felt strangely empty. It was as if he had forgotten something very important, but he couldn’t figure out what.
He checked his gear again for no particular reason, then twisted the throttle and left the parking lot.
All the way to the destination with the smartphone’s navigation on, he felt oddly dazed. Yet whenever he noticed the strangeness, his mind would snap back into focus and he would conclude it was just his imagination.
As he rode along the unusually quiet roads, his thoughts naturally drifted elsewhere.
This world was falling apart.
It hadn’t been that long since humanity adapted to the dimensional collision disasters, yet now ghosts were appearing everywhere, corpses were rising, and the world was turning into something straight out of a malicious horror story.
So the phrase “falling apart” was painfully accurate.
Far from calming down, there wasn’t even a clue for a proper solution.
Why does it have to fall apart right now, of all times…
A sigh escaped him like a habit.
How happy he had been when he awakened his ability at a much later age than others. And how happy again when that versatile and unique ability quickly raised him to A-rank.
Yet before he could fully enjoy the wealth and honor he had longed for, the situation had become like this.
These days were so bad that the mere fact that society’s systems were somehow still functioning felt like a miracle.
Feeling heavy and stifled, he accelerated even harder. Thanks to that, he reached the destination quickly.
It was a shabby residential area full of one-room apartments.
Police officers who had already been dispatched stood blocking entry with extremely tense expressions, while the hunters arriving one after another were strangely hesitating instead of going inside, staring into the depths of the complex.
“What the hell is that…?”
When Han Yujin looked inside as well, he immediately understood why.
It was a sight that made entry seem impossible.
The darkness hanging over the residential area writhed as if alive. Just looking at it was horrifying. Moreover, staring at that darkness seemed to bring incomprehensible whispers that disturbed the mind.
He shook his head to dispel the goosebumps that had risen, then began asking the hunters he knew about the situation.
It was then.
“Uh…?”
“S-something’s coming out!”
At someone’s shout, the atmosphere instantly turned urgent.
The hunters each raised their power or lifted their weapons, preparing for battle, while the ordinary police officers recoiled in terror and fled.
Han Yujin also reflexively drew the sword at his waist upon seeing a blood-covered woman walking out from inside the complex.
“Wait!”
But he quickly sensed that the other party was not a ghost and stopped his fellow hunters. Since no one present didn’t know him—an A-rank hunter—everyone obeyed.
The woman who had been trudging forward stopped as if she had only just realized she might be attacked.
A few minutes of standoff followed.
Han Yujin moved first.
Ignoring the slightly startled, worried gazes of the others, he bravely sheathed his sword again and walked up to the woman.
Seen up close, she looked like a minor who hadn’t even finished growing.
At best she seemed like a high school student, perhaps even a middle schooler—she was that young.
“Did you… do all this just now?”
He tried to speak as gently as possible while gesturing around them. The girl stared at him for a moment, then nodded.
“…Yes.”
Her tone was drained, as if she might collapse at any moment.
“Are you an awakened?”
“…Yes.”
“Unregistered?”
“……”
“You look exhausted. Want something to eat? Before that, can you calm this phenomenon down a bit?”
After a short silence, the girl nodded.
Immediately afterward, the darkness that had been writhing over the entire residential area grew still and began to be absorbed into the ground at her feet as if being sucked in.
Han Yujin was startled but did his best not to show it. In any case, the girl before him was clearly a human being, not a ghost.
She also appeared to have suppressed the ghost disturbance incident here all by herself.
Once all the darkness was withdrawn, the ominous atmosphere of the residential area returned to normal. The dangerous aura that had been emanating from the girl almost completely vanished as well.
This… feels stronger than me…?
Considering he was an A-rank hunter, it was truly hard to believe, but he wasn’t foolish enough to deny what he had felt himself.
“For now, um… want to eat something simple?”
Even though he thought she should wash first since she was covered in blood, he had already offered, so he took an energy bar and some chocolate from his snack pouch and held them out.
The girl looked back and forth between the snacks and Han Yujin’s face, then accepted them with a hand that trembled so badly it was pitiful.
It was his first meeting with Lee Won-hee.