Chapter 159
Ding-a-ling
Ding---a-ling
The faint sound of a bell.
But strangely, it wasn't a sound that traveled through the air as a medium, but a bizarre sound that seemed to leap across space and directly touch the soul to transfer the sound. Listening to the sound made one feel dazed, and an unknown attraction welled up from deep within the heart.
If one stopped walking, passionate emotions would boil up, and if one moved, there was a sense of comfort as if finding the right path. And the more one walked, the more dazed one became, feeling as if marching while staring at the back of the person in front in a dull state.
A sound that bewitched people.
An evil spirit.
It was an ability possessed only by a very powerful evil spirit.
Jinseong smiled at the sound trying to shake up his emotions.
Nothing can shake my mind.
Jinseong was the one who had led a body no different from a corpse with only his mind intact.
It was none other than his mind - his sharp mind with an obsession-like focus on sorcery, believing that nothing was too precious to sacrifice for sorcery - that moved his body, which should have been in the ICU waiting for death while being heavily dosed with narcotic painkillers, and his soul twisted due to accumulated consequences.
Although he had regressed and his body had become clean, and his soul had been purified, only his mind remained connected to that time.
Since his mind from the future that was to come and from the past was controlling him, nothing could violate Jinseong's mind. Even if a horde of great evil spirits, not just evil spirits, swarmed, they couldn't shake his mind that harbored terrible madness.
However, if it's the minds of others, not my mind, then yes. It's certainly enough to bewitch a weak-minded ability user. Very impressive.
Jinseong continued walking, using the bell sound as a guide.
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling
As he walked, the bell sound gradually became clearer, and proportionally, what was heard sporadically seemed to fill his ears. And when his eyes finally caught sight of a colorful form, the bell sound began to ring so strongly that it seemed to shake his head.
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling.
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling.
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling.
In his ears.
In his eyes.
In the deepest part of his head.
The bell sound headed towards his head with vibrations, and it exerted itself as if trying to fill his entire body with the bell sound. But Jinseong sneered at this attempt by the evil spirit and just opened his mouth to mutter:
"How dare you, a lowly shaman, try to bewitch me?"
The moment Jinseong's words came out, the bell sound suddenly stopped.
Instead, the colorful thing in the distance turned around and started bouncing towards him on two feet like a rubber ball.
Boing-
Boing-
It approached Jinseong with both feet together, raising what it held in its hand high in the sky and shaking its head frantically. When it jumped, there was no sound, but when it soared high into the sky, a dull sound spread as if stomping on the ground. However, the sound wasn't carried through the air like before, but was conducted as a strange vibration that seemed to shake Jinseong's body.
This, too, was a trick of the evil spirit trying to bewitch people.
It was trying to show something detached from common sense to make one focus their gaze on it, and use that to create visual confusion to break down the mental barriers.
There was an expression in Korean:
To take one's soul out.
It was an expression meaning to make someone dazed by making them lose their mind, and as could be inferred from this expression, the ancestors believed that the soul and mind were closely related. In fact, when the mind weakened, the soul also wavered, and one became unable to properly defend against evil acts performed by external entities.
A similar expression was 'to lose one’s spirit', which also meant to be unable to think or to lose one's mind. Like the above expression, it was an expression that carried the meaning of a close relationship between mind and soul.
And the evil spirit approaching Jinseong was also trying to confuse the mind through vision, and infiltrate through that gap to possess him.
To confuse people and dwell in their bodies to commit all sorts of terrible acts.
However, the unfortunate thing for the evil spirit was that the human it was trying to shake mentally possessed an incredibly strong mental fortitude.
Boing-
Booong-
Finally, the evil spirit gave up its bizarre behavior and quickly reached Jinseong.
Ding-a-ling.
The evil spirit that reached Jinseong had the form of an old woman.
It had the face of an old woman with long white hair that showed sparse bald spots, and its flesh was so sagged that wrinkles drooped down to the collarbone. Moreover, its teeth were bright red as if it had eaten a mouse, and its tongue was so long it seemed to reach its toes, wrapped tightly around its neck as if it had died by hanging.
The evil spirit was wearing colorful clothes made of the five cardinal colors that a shaman might wear, but they were old and worn, barely maintaining their form. And through the holes scattered here and there, skin was visible, but as if it had been beaten to death, what looked like bruise marks filled its entire body. No, its body was so full of bruises that normal human skin color wasn't visible at all.
It was glaring at Jinseong, holding a bell in one hand and a long white cloth in the other.
Jinseong stared at it blankly for a moment before shouting as if angered:
"You utterly base thing that deceives the masses, believes in strange powers and spirits, and spreads superstition. How dare you hold your head high and look at me!"
As he shouted as if he were a nobleman, the shaman seemed to shrink, slightly hunching its neck. But soon it rolled its eyes back and started jumping up and down in place.
Ding-a-ling
Ding---a-ling
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling!
[ Hee hee hee hee hee hee! Oh ho, oh ho! Eolssoo-eo-eo-eo-eok! Since the noble gentleman has called for this lowly shaman wench, I must answer promptly. Since there's no adult here, whether you call me a shaman wench or just shaman, it's not a call with roots or branches or wild grape or Korean wild grape complications! You bastards, I'll come as you nobles call, pitifully. Oh ho ya oh ho! Shaman, oh shaman, utterly base shaman wench, worse than a slave, won't you come quickly as called! ]
The shaman shouted like that, jumping up and down in place as if mocking Jinseong who was imitating a nobleman.
It was an attempt to shake up Jinseong's emotions.
If Jinseong had actually been a nobleman and had a weak mind, those words would have made his anger boil up and shaken his mind, and in that gap, the evil spirit would have unhesitatingly attempted possession.
But Jinseong was neither a nobleman.
Nor was he someone with a weak mind.
Rather, Jinseong just stared blankly at the jumping shaman, and the shaman, foaming at the mouth, raised its voice to mock Jinseong. But when Jinseong didn't budge, it repeatedly stretched and shrank its neck before sighing.
[ It's truly difficult when a non-human has a proper mind. You look like an idler from Hanyang, why don't you watch a gut ritual and go! ]
The evil spirit grinned, showing its teeth as it looked at Jinseong.
Then it started to dance.
It swung the drooping cloth as if it were a sword, and created an optical illusion by fluttering the five-colored cloth it was wearing. Then it started to jump up and down and shout.
[ Protest against yeongsan gamang and bujeong gamang! ]
(The shaman then recites a long, complex ritual chant in archaic Korean. It mentions various types of impurities and purifications, invoking natural elements and spiritual concepts.)
[ Oh ho ya oh ho! Hee hee hee hee hee hee! Hee hee hee hee! ]
The shaman started performing a gut ritual, shaking the bell frantically.
As the gut began, the bell sound spread in all directions, and hearing that sound, those who came to watch the gut ritual began to approach one by one.
An avaricious ghost with a sagging belly approached, a female evil spirit with a long tube-like mouth crawled over, a skeletal thing that looked emaciated walked over, and something that slithered its body like a snake moved like a piece of cloth swaying in the wind as it approached.
All sorts of ghosts in the village were bewitched by the sound of the shaman evil spirit.
[ Hee hee hee hee hee hee! ]
(The shaman continues with more ritual chanting, mentioning various types of impurities and purifications.)
[ All sorts of impurities have gathered! Oh, impurity, many and many impurities. Impurities that will burst your stomach if you eat them, impurities that will tear your throat if you suck them! Oh, impurity, as it dances surging, it will make waves and flood the village, oh how terrible, terrible. ]
As evil spirits and demons gathered around, the shaman evil spirit seemed to gain more strength and went wild. And when the gut reached its climax, it swung the cloth it was holding like a sword once more and struck the evil spirits, and the evil spirits who had been staring blankly as if bewitched were hit defenseless by the cloth and their bodies scattered.
An exorcism had been performed.
By the hand of another evil spirit, not even human.
And the shaman repeated this act several times during the gut.
It scattered evil spirits by swinging the cloth, and smashed the heads of evil demons by swinging the bell like a weapon.
Jinseong watched this scene silently.
Silently.
With an expressionless face.
And when the gut was almost over, he untied the A-frame carrier on his back and placed the golden pyramid on the ground.
Boom.
The golden pyramid made a heavy sound as soon as it touched the ground, as if its weight had increased.
Jinseong placed his hand on the apex of the pyramid on the ground, and then the firmly solidified gold began to move fluidly and started to change its shape.
What had formed the faces gathered in one place and started to twist, and the twisted part stretched out long and became a rod. And at the top of the staff, gold clumped and twisted to form a shape, which looked like a cross with a round handle.
Jinseong gripped the golden ankh (☥) staff and looked at the cursed object that had now been liberated.
The cursed object, as if it had been waiting to be liberated from the golden pyramid, spread terrible impurity in all directions, and sprouted poisonous mold on the desolate land. Not only that, it turned the spirit bodies of the evil demons standing dazed by the gut pitch black and made them rot, and started to decay and dismember the forms of the evil spirits.
That impurity was truly no different from a disaster.
Even the shaman ghost stopped the gut it was performing and stared blankly at the cursed object with wide eyes.
Jinseong raised the staff he was holding to the sky and then.
Whack-!
He struck the cursed object that was spewing impurity with all his might.