Chapter 43
Deep in the slopes of Unhak Mountain.
The sky wasn't visible.
A massive barrier sealed off the entire mountain slope.
Inside, it was as dark as dawn despite the midday sun.
[Grrrrrrrr―]
A giant beast was thrashing as it was bound by dozens of spells.
Blue spiritual energy wrapped around its entire body.
Branches like deer antlers had grown from its head.
The guardian deity of Unhak Mountain, venerated by the Myeongseong family for generations.
It was Baekrin (白麟).
......
The young family head, Cheon Myeong, stared at the sight blankly.
When he was young, there had been a time when the previous family head led him around the ancestral mountain to offer prayers everywhere.
The guardian deity he met for the first time then.
Large, warm eyes quietly looked down at his younger self.
It said nothing, but he could feel it.
The spiritual energy that rose like mist from that immense body.
The warmth and comfort it conveyed.
That it was like a mother watching over and protecting them.
That very being.
Boom―
Dragged by its restraints, it rammed its head mercilessly against the barrier wall.
Thud. Kwooooom―
Its antlers broke, and scales flew off.
Its body was covered in self-inflicted wounds all over.
No one knew why it had ended up like that.
They had tried to purify it, but every attempt had failed.
A divine beast that had already fully become an astral body could no longer be sealed with ordinary spells.
At this point, they just had to stop it from self-harming by smashing its head against the barrier.
*
Around the divine beast stood a dense ring of sealers.
They were among the top sealing experts in the Bureau.
Among them were elite experts personally led by a first-rank sealer.
They were people the Myeongseong family had painstakingly gathered using every connection they had.
Of course, the Bureau did have people of higher caliber than them.
There is always a sky beyond the sky.
Even the Bureau could only list them by name and not command them as it pleased.
In the end, the only ones the Myeongseong family could call on were the people before them.
Each of them had large and small sealing gourds and ropes hanging all over their backs.
[Ummama― Ummama―]
They sat around the divine beast, shaking their heads as they chanted spells.
The black spiritual power extending from their bodies barely held the divine beast's limbs in place.
Meanwhile.
Shrrrrk―
Other sorcerers set up huge folding screens all around.
Each panel was packed with unfamiliar images and characters.
“All right, is everything ready now?”
Han Ji-myeong, a fourth-rank sealing officer, finished his preparations and stepped forward.
One of the very few first-rank sealers recognized by the Bureau.
“...Then let's begin.”
He drew out a ritual knife and began to dance.
Clang― clang―
Each time the blades struck, sparks flew and his dark blue robe whipped about.
Bang―!
A gong rang out.
Then the sounds of flutes and drums swirled together in a dizzying rush.
The sorcerers lined up before the screens each sliced their palms.
They pressed their bloodied palms against the screens.
“Heavenly Net, Earthly Snare―”
Han Ji-myeong pointed the tip of his blade at the divine beast.
“Seal!”
Fwoosh―
From the pictures on the folding screens, dark crimson hands burst out.
Swish. Swish-swish-swish.
Dozens of palms stretched out from all directions toward the divine beast and began binding it like a net.
Shhhwaaaak―
[Kuaeeeeek!]
The divine beast screamed and thrashed like mad.
Cheon Myeong swallowed hard.
Caught it.
This time for sure―
...it felt like it would work.
But then.
Flash.
One of the divine beast's antler branches flashed blue, and spiritual power was sucked toward it madly.
And then.
Fwoaaaash―
Bursting through the ground, blue tree roots shot up as if exploding.
Crack! Splinter―!
The folding screens shattered to pieces and flew into the air.
The sorcerers standing before them screamed and were sent tumbling in all directions.
Tuk-tuk-tuk―
The black net that had bound the divine beast snapped apart helplessly and scattered.
“...Ugh!”
Han Ji-myeong dropped to his knees, vomiting a mouthful of blood.
[Grrrrrrrr―!]
As if it had never been bound at all, the divine beast started ramming its head against the barrier wall again.
Boom― Thud―
'...It failed.'
It had failed again.
It had been a sealing formation built from the chief sealer's secret technique.
This was the last resort.
...It looked like they were out of options.
*
The family head's office.
Cheon Myeong silently looked down at the cup of tea that had gone cold.
“...The barrier doesn't seem like it can hold much longer.”
The aide standing beside him spoke carefully.
“With it smashing into the inside like that, even if the sorcerers pour spiritual power into it day and night, we've reached the limit. At this rate, it will last three days. At most five before the barrier completely collapses.”
“......”
“And... pressure is starting to come in from Bureau headquarters as well.”
He knew that.
Because the family had a high-ranking official in the Bureau, they'd been getting as much leeway as possible until now.
Thanks to that, they had managed to hold out without performing an exorcism so far.
But that would soon come to an end too.
Cheon Myeong cast his gaze beyond the main hall.
Beyond the wall at the end of the yard, the slopes of Unhak Mountain rose up.
The moment the barrier collapsed, that maddened guardian deity would burst out into the world.
Below Unhak Mountain, there were villages packed with people.
“...Still no word from Professor Goo?”
Cheon Myeong asked abruptly.
“...No. Not yet.”
“...I figured.”
After this happened, Cheon Myeong had contacted Goo Do-gyeom himself.
He'd asked him to make a sealing implement to confine the spirit body.
He had been desperate enough to grasp at any straw.
...But.
There was no way it would work.
No matter how renowned a scholar he was, it wasn't something that could be made in a matter of days.
Cheon Myeong gently closed his eyes.
Even as they spoke, the barrier continued to crumble.
...He had to put an end to it.
The only path left now was exorcism.
The elders opposed it to the end.
To kill the guardian deity with his own hands.
They said it would bring the family's foundation crashing down. That if he did that, what face would he have to show the ancestors after death?
But none of them could answer the question of what they were supposed to do instead.
They only kept repeating that it couldn't be done.
He himself didn't fail to understand how they felt.
But if the barrier fell and that thing broke free, it would no longer be just the family's problem.
If they stubbornly dragged it out any longer and innocent lives were lost, the Myeongseong family would be finished.
And above all, that was the one thing the ancestors before them would never have wanted.
The guardian deity's body was already badly damaged.
It was already in great pain.
Now, it was time to let it go and send it off peacefully.
'...I can't delay this any longer.'
...I'm sorry.
If I can't save you,
at least before you bring about an even greater disaster, I will send you off with my own hands.
“...Prepare the exorcism.”
“......Lord head of the family.”
The aide lowered his head with a somber expression.
“There is no other way. I'll speak to the elders myself...”
“...Understood.”
Cheon Myeong rose from his seat and headed for the storeroom inside the family head's office.
To send off the guardian deity, he needed the sacred relic handed down through the family generations.
Cheon Myeong placed his hand on the storeroom door.
Just then.
Brrrrrrrrr―
The sound of a motorcycle came from somewhere.
“......?”
*
Cheon Myeong couldn't believe his ears.
This was private family property.
A place outsiders couldn't just waltz into.
It should have been under strict control.
And yet a motorcycle, with no prior notice?
'...How on earth did they get in here?'
When Cheon Myeong stepped out of the main hall with a puzzled look, a black motorcycle had just come to a stop in the middle of the yard.
The rider took off the helmet, and blonde hair spilled out.
It was an unfamiliar woman in a leather jacket.
“Are you the head of the Myeongseong family?”
“...I am.”
“I'm from the Occult University. I brought the item you requested.”
The woman took a black box out of her bag and held it out.
Cheon Myeong, not understanding what was going on, took it.
When he opened the box,
inside was a small black gourd tightly wrapped in red cord.
“...This is...”
By the time he looked up,
Vroom―
the woman had already pulled her helmet back on and was riding away the way she'd come.
Her red taillight disappeared beyond the mountain road.
The gourd sat alone in the palm of his hand.
...Could something this small really...
really be able to confine the spirit deity?
*
Just as Cheon Myeong had finished preparing to leave,
Tap-tap-tap―
“Wait!”
“We heard about it! Please stop!”
The door flew open roughly, and the elders rushed in.
“Lord head, is it true you're going ahead with the exorcism!”
“Didn't we say we should wait just a little longer!”
They had been startled by the news that an exorcism was being prepared and had come rushing over in a crowd.
Seeing Cheon Myeong already clutching the family heirloom and even suited up in armor, the elders' faces went pale.
“Hey now, Lord head! What are you planning to do to the spirit deity...! After this, can you truly face the ancestors with a clear conscience!”
But...
Cheon Myeong was just as bewildered.
He quietly lifted the small gourd in his hand.
“Well... I was going to... but I think I found a way...?”
*
On the way to the divine beast.
The elders were still buzzing with talk.
They glared at the box Cheon Myeong was carrying in his arms and whispered among themselves.
“...Where on earth did such a ritual implement come from all of a sudden.”
“Wasn't it the Occult University? I hear some professor named Goo made it.”
“Goo Do-gyeom? Hah... then it's a thing made by a commoner, isn't it? Why trust something like that!”
“If anything were to happen to the spirit deity's body...”
“Then what do you suggest? There is no other way.”
“Hah... what a blasphemous thing this is.”
Though they fussed anxiously back and forth, they themselves knew better than anyone that there was no other option.
Thus they reached the inside of the barrier.
“S... spirit deity.”
The elders were left speechless.
Seeing the spirit deity up close, its condition was far worse than what they'd been told—more horrifying than they'd imagined.
Kwoooooom.
It was still the divine beast, raging with its head pressed against the barrier.
All its scales had fallen off, and one of its legs was bent.
Many of its antlers had already been broken off too.
“......”
“...Even if we succeed in sealing it like this, I wonder whether it can recover its body...”
“Sob... spirit deity.”
Everyone's expressions darkened.
Cheon Myeong had secretly been worried about that too.
But there was no time to hesitate now.
They had to try something first.
*
Sealing officer Han Ji-myeong received the ritual implement from the family head.
He was utterly baffled.
A special-grade divine beast that hadn't been subdued even after he'd poured out everything in his secret techniques.
And they said someone made a ritual implement to seal that?
'There's no way something like that is possible.'
He knew Goo Do-gyeom, of course.
They had once studied under the same master.
Goo Do-gyeom was also a sealing sorcerer who had once made quite a name for himself.
He had heard that he was now doing research at a university.
But no matter who it was, did it make sense that he had made a ritual implement capable of trapping a spirit body—of all things, a divine beast?
No matter how he looked at it, a single palm-sized gourd didn't seem like it could do something like that.
Still, there was no other way now.
He had already done everything he could.
Gulp.
With nervous anticipation, Han Ji-myeong placed his hand on the ritual implement.
'All right, let's give it a try.'
He steeled himself.
This was a seal that would suck the divine beast in whole.
It would drain spiritual power like a mountain collapsing.
And after he'd already poured a considerable amount of spiritual power into the daytime sealing formation and failed, he didn't have much left.
He might even run out partway through.
But time was short, so there was no leisurely time to recover.
As he swallowed a special elixir,
he slowly poured spiritual power into the ritual implement.
But then.
Swoooosh―
'...Huh?'
The spiritual power was drawn in very smoothly.
Without even the slightest resistance.
Every bit he put in went down gulp by gulp.
It wasn't as light a seal as sucking in the divine beast would suggest.
Even so,
'...it's using far less than I expected?'
At this rate, what he had left didn't seem like it would run out.
'...How is this...'
Vwoooom―
At last, the spiritual power surging out of the ritual implement reached the divine beast,
Flash.
[Kuaeeeeek―]
The divine beast thrashed repeatedly.
But only for a moment; the wave of spiritual power slowly searched through the divine beast's body.
Then,
Tap.
Han Ji-myeong felt something.
An indescribable sensation rose up through his fingertips.
Tatatatatak―
His instincts were shouting at him.
'...Now.'
He knew it.
This was the signal.
Han Ji-myeong poured in more spiritual power at just the right moment.
Then a blue soul floated up.
And then.
Swoooooosh.
The soul that had slipped out began to be sucked into the gourd in a torrent.
As it greedily devoured the soul,
Brrrrr― Brrrrr―
the gourd in his hand vibrated wildly.
The vibration, like a vacuum cleaner sucking up a soul, sent a tingle racing up his palm.
“Ugh, ngh... khhh.”
A cry of delight escaped his lips without him realizing it.
His hand was trembling.
What in the world was this.
How many years had he lived as a sealing officer?
In all those long years, after sealing things thousands of times, this was the first time he'd ever felt something like this.
An intensity more thrilling than anything before!
'This feel...'
Yes, yes.
This was just like―
'...like reeling in a whale with a fishing rod!!!'
“Kyaaahhh.”
And then.
Thud.
The divine beast's body, stripped of its soul, collapsed weakly to the ground
and.
Shhhhh...
began to scatter like ash on the wind.
*
The elders were all shocked.
“...I-it really worked?!”
“You really succeeded in sealing it?!”
“It's done!!”
“Now we can finally breathe easy...!”
The elders let out sighs of relief one after another.
Just moments ago, they had been grumbling that they couldn't trust a thing made by a commoner, that it was blasphemous, and so on.
“Goo Do-gyeom? I knew that man would pull it off.”
“Exactly. Even his name sat well with me.”
...Now they were all singing that name's praises in unison.
Cheon Myeong was so dumbfounded he could only let out a dry laugh.
Still, he was glad.
More than he could put into words.
As everyone was still caught up in the excitement,
“...Lord head.”
Sealing officer Han Ji-myeong called to him with a hardened expression.
“Could you come over here for a moment?”
Amid the crumbling, scattering spirit body,
Something was embedded in that ash.
“...This is!”
It was an iron stake.
Countless dark red geometric patterns were densely engraved on it.
“Who on earth would do something like this...”
Baekrin was originally a divine beast with the energy of wood.
So driving an iron stake into Baekrin's body could only be fatal.
'...Metal overcomes wood.'
It was the energy of mutual incompatibility, like metal cutting down wood.
“...Why hadn't this been discovered all this time?”
“......”
“Just who did this—”
Then Han Ji-myeong stepped closer and whispered something briefly into Cheon Myeong's ear.
“......!”
Cheon Myeong's eyes slowly widened.
'...If that's the case.'
He snapped his head around.
Over there, one of the elders was carefully holding up the box containing the gourd after the seal had been completed.
Cheon Myeong strode over and snatched it away as if plucking it from the air.
“Ah—!”
And then.
He began undoing the red knot without hesitation.
“N-no, Lord head! What are you doing now!”
“After all that trouble to trap it—!”
“What if it goes wild again right here!”
The elders turned pale and waved their hands frantically.
Regardless.
Cheon Myeong finished undoing the knot and pulled out the stopper.
Pop!
Then,
Ssshhh.
an enormous amount of blue soul energy poured out beneath the gourd like mist.
The dispersing mist gradually grew denser,
and slowly began to take the shape of a deer.
Hop, hop.
The soul groped for its own form as it took shape.
And slowly, a body began to form.
Clear and clean, as if newly born, as if it had just finished shedding its skin.
Its broken antlers. Its bent leg. Its shed scales.
All of them had vanished without a trace.
“...Ah.”
Only then did Cheon Myeong realize it.
A spirit body is formed when spiritual power and intent are strong enough.
If there was enough spiritual power, then when released it would be reborn into a new body.
The iron stake that had driven the spirit deity mad had already fallen out of its body.
It was welling up.
Light gathered, and flesh began to grow.
The blurred shape gradually sharpened.
Yes. This was the spirit deity he had seen as a child at the ancestral mountain.
[Prrrrr―]
Baekrin, having gained a new body, slowly approached Cheon Myeong.
Then,
as if to thank him, it quietly rubbed its head against his chest.
Its large, warm eyes quietly looked down at the grown man before it.
“......”
Cheon Myeong stood there for a long while
and gently stroked that warm head.
*
Fwoooooosh.
The barrier that had sealed off the mountain's waist faded away.
Bright sunlight poured down again through the dark sky.
The elders cheered like children.
Those lofty old men were hugging each other and jumping up and down.
“Professor Goo, the best! Professor Goo, the best!”
“From today on, I'm going to be Professor Goo's fan!”
“Indeed, indeed. Of course. Goo Do-gyeom is surely the greatest sealing sorcerer of the modern age.”
They kept making a fuss over and over.
“My, my, we should make a donation to the university too!”
“What donation? Professor Goo did all this. We should send a separate gift!”
“Of course. We should have Sae-a prepare a thousand-year-old black ginseng.”
Cheon Myeong looked on at the scene with satisfaction and took out his phone.
All of this was thanks to that person.
A request to make a ritual implement for sealing a spirit body, something he'd thought was practically impossible.
The person who had finally pulled off that difficult feat.
...He had to thank him in person.
Riiing― riiing―
Click.
“Oh, Professor Goo! Goodness, you saved us. Truly, I don't know how to thank you—”
He was bowing repeatedly and pouring out thanks, having forgotten even his dignity as family head.
“What?! You didn't make it yourself? What do you mean...?”
“...What?”
The smile slowly vanished from Cheon Myeong's face.
“...What did you say? Who, who made it?”
“―Master Do made it.”