Chapter 13
Jeon Ha-ryeong.
She possessed Spirit Eyes that could see souls and shamanic power, the energy of otherworldly beings.
She was one of the few individuals who could be called a complete shaman, possessing all of these abilities.
In the original work, she was almost unique.
She pointed at me with the folding fan she was holding and said,
"I heard you're a shaman, is that right?"
"Yes, I'm a shaman."
"And you even handle familiar spirits. You're exactly the talent I've been looking for!"
She spoke while fluttering her robe like a true sage.
It was no different from her description in the original work.
Both her personality and appearance.
Even the unusual pattern drawn on the back of her robe.
'Descendant of Jeon Woochi.'
In every region of the world, there are many famous shamans.
Although they're called by various names, their existence is certain.
Even though shamans are rare, quite a few have appeared throughout this long history.
Then, who is the famous shaman in the Korean Peninsula?
The first name that comes up is Hong Gil-dong, called the greatest shaman of the Korean Peninsula.
Next is Jeon Woochi, whom most sage-type shamans follow.
Jeon Ha-ryeong was a descendant of that Jeon Woochi.
That unusual pattern was proof of that.
'I didn't expect to meet her here.'
I expected to see her someday as a shaman,
But I didn't know it would be this early.
Come to think of it, I think there was a description of Jeon Ha-ryeong being a professor of shamanism at the academy.
However, since there were no shaman protagonists among the academy's main characters,
That setting was never used or highlighted significantly, so I had forgotten about it.
'Is this a good thing?'
Jeon Ha-ryeong's position is different in the early/middle parts and the latter part of the novel.
In the early parts, she appears as a mysterious figure who occasionally helps the protagonist, playing a good role.
In the latter part, she becomes a villain who is consumed by an outer god and confronts the protagonist.
Moreover, she becomes an apostle, the outer god's greatest force, and fights against the protagonist's group.
However, the reason and detailed background for this were not explained in detail, and it remained a MacGuffin that was questionable until the end of the work.
"I didn't see any content about a shamanism course."
"That's because shamans are so rare! And if a real shaman shows up, wouldn't it be better if I personally greet them?"
"Jeon Ha-ryeong, don't be noisy in my office."
As Jeon Ha-ryeong moved around and spoke loudly,
Heo Si-won sighed and said.
"Anyway, the major is your choice, but there's also a shamanism course, so think about it carefully."
"If you're a shaman, shouldn't you naturally take my class?"
With those words, Heo Si-won handed me that paper from earlier.
Given the situation, I had only one choice for my major.
'Definitely shamanism.'
My shamanism is still a weak power at only level 3.
Since it didn't appear in the novel, I don't know how to increase my power through self-study.
So learning from Jeon Ha-ryeong, who is described as strong even in the original work, is definitely beneficial.
At least in the early stages, she's on the good side.
And why was Jeon Ha-ryeong consumed by an outer god in the latter part of the work?
If I stick with her, I might be able to find out the reason for that too.
This wasn't certain, but the possibility wasn't zero.
"I'll take shamanism."
Therefore, what was written in the major column next to my name on the paper was shamanism.
In one of the two blank spaces next, I filled in herbology.
And in the remaining one, I wrote history.
'This is the most reasonable.'
There were several reasons for choosing history.
It's the most common, I can use knowledge from the novel,
And to understand this world.
This world is similar to the original world in many ways, but also quite different in many aspects.
Major events in the past have been changed quite fantastically.
Many current common sense ideas have also changed.
So history was the best for me to adapt, as I still have a strong perception of the original world.
"History? Do you want to take the class with me?"
"That's part of it. I was just interested in history."
Rin seemed subtly pleased that I chose history and poked my side while smiling.
As I smiled back at her,
Jeon Ha-ryeong, who stood in front of me, put her hands on her hips and shouted.
"Welcome as my disciple! Call me Master!"
"Don't we usually call you Professor?"
"Tut-tut, among shamans, it's customary to call one's teacher 'Master'."
It was quite funny to hear her say this, as she was of average height but her face looked no different from a student's.
Jeon Ha-ryeong's age wasn't properly mentioned in the original work.
It's just vaguely mentioned that she's quite old as she talks naturally with the professors.
The description in the original work was ambiguous, and she herself spoke cryptically, so there were many rumors that her age wasn't ordinary.
'Actually, changing one's appearance isn't that difficult.'
As I was thinking this,
I slightly bowed my head and said,
"Please take care of me, Master."
It was the moment I unexpectedly gained a master.
***
The second day at the academy.
In terms of classes, the first day is usually for major courses.
We don't attend liberal arts classes yet.
It can be said that it's a day for attending only the most important major classes.
And it wasn't much different for me either.
However,
"This is quite remote, my lord."
"Indeed, I didn't know there was such a place near the academy."
The location where I was attending that class was quite different.
Yesterday, after finishing course registration and about to return home,
Jeon Ha-ryeong notified me as if making an announcement.
-Come to this place for tomorrow's class, we'll do something quite interesting.
The place I arrived at following her instructions was this mountain located behind the academy.
It wasn't an ordinary mountain, but one where trees grew densely.
I could feel quite a bit of spiritual and demonic energy, though very faintly.
Anyway, when I arrived at the place she specified,
I saw Jeon Ha-ryeong sitting still on a rock as if meditating.
By the way, just like her wearing a hanbok with a robe,
I was also wearing a hanbok.
Jeon Ha-ryeong said it doesn't matter what clothes you wear in her class.
As the uniform was quite uncomfortable anyway, I came wearing the hanbok I usually wore.
"You're here? You're quite late."
"I think an ordinary person wouldn't be able to find it if you just throw out a vague location in the mountains and tell them to find it."
"It's all about resourcefulness, resourcefulness."
Jeon Ha-ryeong, who was talking with her eyes closed, soon opened her eyes and came down from the rock.
Along with that, she swung her fan.
As her fan swung,
Poof-
A small white smoke burst from its tip and something appeared.
"Here, a gift for my disciple."
It was a black robe.
It was quite long, as if tailored to my body size, and had gold embroidery in parts.
"It's a robe?"
"Yes! A gift for my disciple! I personally procured this high-quality item."
It certainly looked that way.
The texture when touched,
And the finishing quality.
Even someone who doesn't know much about clothes could tell it was high quality.
"I specially applied shamanic and Taoist techniques to make it comfortable."
What I was originally wearing was a durumagi.
I had worn robes at home too, but while they looked cool, they were quite uncomfortable to move in.
That's why I was wearing a durumagi, but,
According to her words, this robe seemed quite comfortable.
"Come on, try it on."
At Jeon Ha-ryeong's urging, I quickly changed clothes and found it much more comfortable than expected, just as she said.
It felt like wearing modern clothing.
There were no uncomfortable parts.
As I was admiring this, Hwa-ryeon, who was beside me, adjusted my robe properly and said,
"It really suits you well, my lord! As expected, you look good in anything."
"See, I told you! I have an eye for clothes, you know?"
It was Jeon Ha-ryeong who answered Hwa-ryeon's words, not me.
It was natural for her to see Hwa-ryeon, who was a ghost, as she was also a shaman with Spirit Eyes.
Jeon Ha-ryeong looked at Hwa-ryeon, who was clinging to me while swaying her nine tails.
"By the way, a gumiho... and a golden gumiho at that. I've only seen a few of those myself."
"This concubine hasn't seen any other golden gumihos besides herself either."
After looking at Hwa-ryeon for a moment, Jeon Ha-ryeong soon turned her gaze back to me as if it didn't matter much.
Opening her fan and fanning herself,
"Well, it doesn't matter if she's a familiar spirit. Disciple, let's go have our lesson now."
"What are we going to do all the way out here in this remote place?"
"Can't you feel it? The spiritual energy, demonic energy, and shamanic power spread throughout this mountain."
"I can feel it, but..."
It's not enough to be called a spirit mountain full of spiritual energy, or a yokai forest full of demonic energy.
It feels like it's just evenly distributed in moderation.
At least that's how I felt it.
"That's because I adjusted it that way. There are quite a few hidden things in this mountain."
"Hidden things?"
"More precisely, things I personally hid."
Saying this, she headed towards the inner part of the forest with her folding fan closed and her hands behind her back.
Trees growing densely.
Just their presence alone was enough to feel the energy.
"This mountain was given to me as a gift by the academy. It's a kind of treasure vault of mine."
A mountain as a gift.
As expected, the academy's scale was big.
"And among the treasures in this vault, there's something I can give to you, a familiar spirit shaman."
"Familiar spirits?"
"You don't have many familiar spirits yet, do you?"
I nodded at her question.
In reality, the number of familiar spirits I had was just Hwa-ryeon and Heuk-rang.
Honestly, it was such a small number that it was embarrassing to call myself a familiar spirit shaman.
"I'll increase that number dramatically for you this time, in bulk."
How?
Just as I was about to open my mouth with that question,
Suddenly, Jeon Ha-ryeong stopped in her tracks.
As I looked ahead instead of at her, I could understand what she meant.
What was in front of us was a wide open space where no trees grew.
And what was there was...
Growl-
None other than ghost-like beings resembling zombies.
They wandered around the clearing like zombies, showing the whites of their eyes as if they had lost their reason.
Yet, perhaps due to Jeon Ha-ryeong's Taoist technique, they didn't leave this place.
"They're half-soul ghosts. I caught these wandering beings from the human world and confined them here."
Half-soul ghosts.
Beings that are half ghost and half monster.
Basically, they have more ghost-like tendencies, but they can also temporarily use physical force.
There were no shadows under their feet, but,
The fact that footprints appeared as they moved was proof of this.
Generally, they become beings who committed strong sins in their past life and have no intention of repenting.
Most are dealt with by people.
"Make all of them your familiar spirits. Can you perform subjugation?"
"Yes, I recently acquired it."
Half-soul ghosts are weak.
They're probably at the lowest rank among ghosts.
But I understood her intention.
Numbers are power.
No matter how weak, if there are many, there will be some use for them.
It was a good thing for me, who had an extremely small number of familiar spirits.
"This master will watch from here. Let me know if it's dangerous."
"I don't think there will be any danger."
With those final words,
I stepped into the clearing full of half-soul ghosts.