Chapter 44
She was in pitch-black darkness.
A pale, hazy thread far away was being sucked into the darkness.
Si-yun reached out.
As always, knowing it would scatter before she could touch it.
But then.
Swish—
She grabbed it.
For the first time, something that had always escaped her.
The thread she held was warm enough to seep right into her bones.
Si-yun clutched what she held in her hand tightly.
Afraid it would scatter again.
And that warmth slowly turned into someone's hand.
The darkness gradually lifted, and something blurry began to take shape.
Black hair and cool eyes.
A small mole beneath one eye.
‘...Huh?’
What she'd caught was that person's hand.
‘M-Master Do? How did you get here...?’
This is my room, though?
He was sitting on the bed.
There was no answer. He simply looked down at Si-yun.
Thump, thump.
He gently tugged her hand. His gaze slowly drew closer.
So close their breaths could touch.
She had no thought of avoiding it.
Si-yun, as if bewitched, slowly closed her eyes.
Soon, a soft sensation touched her lips.
And then—
‘...!’
Flash.
Si-yun opened her eyes.
It was warm.
Sunlight seeping through the curtain gap brightly lit the room.
With her cheek buried in the pillow, Si-yun lay still for a while.
It had already been several days.
Since she'd had that nightmare.
Since then, there had been no more nightmares. No more soul slipping out on its own.
But.
‘Ugh... again.’
Now she kept having different dreams.
Embarrassment rushed up suddenly, and Si-yun buried her face in the pillow while kicking her feet.
‘I'm crazy, I'm crazy. Why do I keep doing this?’
My heart's pounding like crazy.
I keep thinking about it, and it's driving me crazy.
“Hoo....”
Si-yun fidgeted with the necklace resting on her chest with her fingers.
A turtle.
A small turtle in a deep blue shade.
‘Hee-hee, it's cute.’
How could he make it this cute?
It was cute in how it looked, and cute even in how it had been made.
She tapped the turtle with her fingertips.
Haa...
‘Will I be able to see him again?’
After finishing the ritual implement, he left the school.
Si-yun groped around by her bedside and picked up her phone.
At the very top of the contact list.
There was one number he'd personally saved for her a few days ago.
—Master Do.
‘Hehe…….’
A little giggle slipped out.
He'd told her to contact him anytime if the ritual implement broke.
He'd also told her to contact him if she had any questions.
What could someone like Master Do possibly have to ask me?
Thump.
‘Would it be okay if I contacted him first?’
Heehee……
Thump, thump.
Then Si-yun suddenly swiped up on the screen. It had become a new habit lately.
The first thing she did when she opened her eyes was turn on Dokkaebibul.
『Dokkaebibul』
An anonymous board where people from the shamanic world gathered.
For the past few days, that place had been buzzing with one story.
[Breaking] The Unhak Mountain barrier was stopped just before collapse... “It was Do-hwang's ritual implement”
It was a post she'd been seeing for days already.
She had it memorized by now.
And yet Si-yun clicked it again.
She still couldn't believe it.
It said that deep in Unhak Mountain, the guardian deity the Myeongseong clan had enshrined for generations had gone berserk, and the barrier protecting that area had nearly collapsed.
And beyond that barrier,
There were said to be countless homes packed tightly below the mountain.
If the barrier had collapsed,
If the raging divine beast had gone straight down the mountain,
Just imagining it was horrifying.
All of it had been stopped by a single ritual implement, a small gourd.
“…….”
A ritual implement that could absorb souls and seal a spirit beast with a physical body.
The spell inside it was her own spell.
It was the spell she'd devoted her whole life to.
Everyone had only laughed and called it useless.
No matter how many times she reread it, it still didn't feel real.
‘My spell saved that many people?’
And that many, too.
Maybe that was why the nightmare that used to torment Si-yun every night had started to subside.
***
Spirit Studies Hall. Research Building.
Creeeak—
As soon as she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
All at once, every gaze in the lab turned to Si-yun.
“Oh, Si-yun!”
“You’re here? Come here, come here.”
A classmate who normally wouldn't even return her greeting came over with a nasal sing-song tone.
“Our superstar Si-yun. Come hereee.”
Huh?
Before she could even stop it, the classmate plopped Si-yun onto their lap and hugged her tight.
“Hehe... our Si-yun.”
They even patted her head.
“Our Si-yun is so cool. Didn’t I tell you? I knew you’d pull it off.”
...When had she ever said something like that?
Just a little while ago, they had been the ones whispering behind her back.
But now they were acting like they were close.
It was awkward and... uncomfortable.
“How’s your schedule after this? We’re going out to eat.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come with us. We’ve got some things we want to ask you, too.”
Then another classmate chimed in from the side.
“Ugh, I can’t take it anymore. Si-yun, is it true?”
“What...?”
“About you and Master Do. You two are really close, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. How do you know each other? Are you two actually dating? That’s what they were saying on Dokkaebibul. Someone said they saw you go into the dorm room together.”
Since when had such absurd rumors started spreading?
Before Si-yun could even answer,
“Si-yun~”
another classmate called out to her from over there.
“The professor's been looking for you for a while.”
Perfect.
She had something to tell the professor anyway.
*
“Oh my, our Si-yun is here.”
Her supervising professor was beaming.
It was a face she'd never seen before.
Unknown people were sitting on the sofa.
“Come here and sit. Introduce yourself to the guests too.”
A man and woman in crisp suits stood up smoothly and bowed politely as they handed her their business cards.
She looked over the business card she took.
[Chief Planning Officer, Cheonhwadang]
‘...Cheonhwadang?’
The professor, who had Si-yun seated beside him, went on excitedly.
“I’ve already talked everything over with these folks. Now, let’s finish the paper quickly while we’re at it.”
“A paper?”
“Yes! I know very well how much you’ve struggled all this time. I’ll help you as much as I can, so let’s polish it up and list us as co-authors.”
The professor added, stroking his chin.
“Or we could write a brand-new one from scratch. A paper laying out the spells to be inscribed on ritual implements, for instance. Let’s put it right on the front page of the journal this time!”
“...?”
Si-yun had no idea what all that meant.
Seeing her dazed expression, the professor waved a hand airily.
“Ah, of course. There’s no need to spell out every detail in the paper. You know? For things like this, you just briefly summarize the simple principles and the results. After all, it still has to go through the overseeing bureau and academic review before it’s published.”
“...What about these people?”
“Ah, right. As for these people here.”
The professor spread a palm toward the Cheonhwadang staff.
“They came in person to make ritual implements from your research. Our lab and Cheonhwadang are officially signing an industry-academia partnership contract! The portion that goes to you will be quite substantial as well.”
The professor patted Si-yun’s shoulder with satisfaction.
“Heh heh heh~ Our Si-yun is our lab’s lucky charm. A lucky charm, a lucky charm. Krahaha!”
“Of course.”
The Cheonhwadang staff member placed a document folder on the table with a business smile.
“It’s the contract regarding the use of the research results. Please take a look.”
[Cheonhwadang Technology Transfer and Exclusive License Agreement]
The contract stated that Cheonhwadang would be entrusted not only with exclusive rights to use the technology, but also with all rights to modify it and carry out secondary processing.
And below that, in tiny print.
There was even a clause quietly added allowing use in derivative products.
Si-yun stared blankly down at the contract.
“I read through it all, and the terms are very good.”
It was outrageous.
As her supervising professor, he had only looked over her materials once, the very first time.
After that, he had ignored it completely, saying it was dangerous and useless research.
And now, suddenly—
‘What? Co-author...? And an industry-academia partnership contract?’
“Wait a second.”
Si-yun slowly raised her head.
“That won’t do.”
“Huh? What do you mean...?”
“I’m quitting the lab as of today.”
Si-yun stood up from her seat.
“I came here to tell you that today.”
“...What?”
The smile vanished from the professor’s face.
Flustered, he hurriedly stood up after her.
“No, Si-yun. Wait. Wait a second. Why are you suddenly doing this.”
Si-yun went straight to her own seat and started packing her things.
Thud. Thud.
Silently, she put books and materials into a box.
The professor came rushing after her in a fluster.
“I-I’m sorry, Si-yun. You were hurt all this time, weren't you? But please, think about it one more time. Huh? You... how far did you come to get here.”
“...”
“Are you really going to make all that suffering go to waste? You still have to finish it. I’ll follow everything up for you!”
When she gave no answer, the professor’s voice grew more and more urgent.
“You... fine, fine. But if you walk out like this, then it’s all over! Huh?! Anyway, isn’t all of this something that Master Do or whatever developed? You can’t even finish the paper by yourself!”
“...”
“If you leave like this, it’ll really be nothing! Huh?!”
Thud.
After packing the last materials, Si-yun hugged the box and turned around.
“I’m not quitting research, though?
“...?”
“I’m just moving to another lab.
“What... moving? To where?!”
“To Professor Goo’s lab.”
The professor’s expression went blank.
“What, to that bastard...? Why on earth?”
He looked truly baffled.
“What am I lacking? Character, too, and scholarship, too. Ahem, and looks as well.”
The professor shot a glance at the other labmates.
“Ahaha...”
Everyone averted their eyes.
Then, almost unconsciously, his gaze landed on the mirror hanging on the wall.
“...!”
The professor slicked back his hair.
“If only I had a little more hair!”
Clack.
Si-yun hugged the box and left the lab.
There was no more point in listening.
The professor's shout followed after her from behind.
“No! Don’t go! Song Si-yun!”
***
Meanwhile, at the Myeongseong clan’s main house.
A clan meeting was in full swing.
Originally, the first issue was who had been behind the act committed against the clan's guardian deity.
...But no matter how much they put their heads together, nothing came to mind.
The Myeongseong clan was a house that did not make enemies.
They were on good terms with the Twelve Clans across the board, and though they fell short of the Four Great Clans, their influence was by no means negligible.
There was no place they could have earned such resentment.
And because they couldn't even figure out the motive, it was all the more unsettling.
In any case, they decided to keep tracking the mastermind.
The overseeing bureau had also launched a full investigation and was searching every nook and cranny, so they’d catch a lead soon enough.
That left one issue.
What official stance should the Myeongseong clan take toward this man called Master Do, who had done such an incredible thing?
“Of course we should repay the favor! When has our clan ever accepted help and then pretended not to know?”
“Exactly! Even if it was a private commission from Professor Goo, our clan owes that man an enormous debt.”
Chunmyeong, the clan head, rested his chin on his hand and quietly watched the elders talking.
The ones defending Master Do with veins bulging in their necks were the same elders who were usually so exacting you’d be hard-pressed to find their equal.
The Myeongseong clan had been a noble family for generations.
These were people who valued clan and pedigree more than anyone else.
And yet they were all showering a mere blacksmith, who wasn't even from a clan, with praise, calling him the greatest blacksmith of the age.
‘Well... I can't help it. I’m the same.’
If that man had been even a little later, he would have almost sent the clan's guardian deity away with this very hand yesterday.
That divine being they'd honored together with the clan's history since the ancestors’ time.
After experiencing it himself, things like clan origin and bloodline had long since been forgotten in his mind.
Yes.
After that incident, Master Do had somehow maxed out the favorability of the entire Myeongseong clan.
“Rather than that, how about our clan gives regular sponsorship?”
“...That’s a bit much. He’s still affiliated with the Cheonsan Sect, after all. It would look a bit odd, wouldn’t it? And would he even need money from us? He’s an E-rank craftsman.”
“Hah! How frustrating! If his mother is Korean, then he’s Korean, what are you talking about? And besides, if he’s going to be active in this land anyway, shouldn’t he have at least one solid clan backing him?”
“Yes, and the Four Great Clans have persecuted that young man so much until now.”
“Exactly. Thinking about it now, they were nothing but a bunch of bastards.”
Chunmyeong, watching that, let out a wry chuckle.
‘Just yesterday they were jumping around, saying how could they trust a ritual implement made by a commoner...’
And now they’d changed this much.
...Still.
Openly sponsoring him was another matter.
The current clan monopoly system.
And why did the overseeing bureau tolerate the Four Great Clans that led it?
The spirit-entity incidents that kept breaking out nonstop.
To respond to that, the overseeing bureau imposed mobilization obligations on the clans.
Instead, the clans with greater influence were given benefits to match.
Tolerating the Four Great Clans’ monopoly to a certain extent was one of those things.
In that situation, openly sponsoring an outsider meant
it was essentially the same as taking a direct stand against that system.
‘That... would probably be impossible.’
Then there was only one path.
“...Unofficially. Quietly lending a hand would be best.”
That was when Chunmyeong finally spoke.
“Keep the Four Great Clans from finding out, but act as his backing. How about supporting him with anything he needs—funds, information, whatever?”
“Ohhh, if that's what the clan head wants!”
The elders nodded with satisfied expressions.
And so, the clan's decision was made.
The Myeongseong clan would have Master Do's back.
The meeting wrapped up in no time.
One by one, the elders withdrew.
Left alone in the main hall, Chunmyeong quietly sipped his now-cold tea.
...But there was one problem.
‘This... how am I supposed to convey our intentions naturally?’
It was impossible for the clan head himself to go see the Cheonsan Sect craftsman.
If he sent someone, there would be no telling how many eyes were watching the clan.
He needed a way to reach out quietly, yet firmly.
...Fortunately, there was still a way.
Chunmyeong took out his smartphone.
And with a practiced hand, he logged into a certain site.
『Dokkaebibul』
An anonymous board where unaffiliated freelance shamans gathered to post nonsense and gossip.
Who would ever imagine that the Myeongseong clan head would frequent such a place so often?
...Probably no one, not even in their dreams.