Chapter 55
Jinseong, who had declared he would begin the ritual, climbed onto an altar haphazardly made of stacked wood inside the tent.
Crack.
As Jinseong climbed up, the wood, unable to bear his weight, broke with a cracking sound, and the roughly stacked wood pieces collapsed and scattered on the floor. But Jinseong, unfazed, stood there as if it were a podium and looked down at the mercenaries watching him.
Then, as if reading a prayer, he took out a roughly tanned hide from his bosom and began to read, but the strange thing was that there were only blood droplets scattered messily on the tanned hide, with no letters to be found even if one looked closely. Instead, only a pungent fishy smell and the scent of blood emanated.
"I declare, King of the Forest. Lord of the wind that flows between the branches of trees, rightful owner of all the swaying leaves. Ancient landlord residing in the great earth and rightfully holding all that is on the ground in your grasp, I begin this ritual in your name, so truly holy and profound that praise must be shouted."
As soon as Jinseong finished speaking, the mercenaries prostrated themselves on the ground and shouted as they had been instructed beforehand.
"King of the Forest! Lord of the Mountains! Your authority shall be eternal!"
"King of the Forest! Lord of the Mountains! Your authority shall be eternal!"
"King of the Forest! Lord of the Mountains! Your authority shall be eternal!"
When their shouts subsided, Jinseong opened his mouth again.
"Evil one. Monster that smells of sand from the ash-colored land. More terrible than blood-sucking monsters and more vicious than those who hide among people to take advantage. There was a monster that whispers to reach that evil, leads down the wrong path, kills with honey, a monster of inflated arrogance. It was called Whispering."
Jinseong said this and then raised his left hand.
"Behold! The terror of the monster that drives people mad with its nails! We must remember and be wary of this monster through pain and bloodstains!"
Crack!
Without blinking an eye, he pulled out the nail of his left ring finger and dropped it towards the altar he was standing on. Blood dripped from Jinseong's hand where the nail had been pulled out, but he looked at the mercenaries as if it were nothing.
The mercenaries, perhaps feeling pressured by Jinseong's actions, or perhaps because they were witnessing and participating in a ritual where someone pulled out their own nails, shouted even louder than before.
"King of the Forest! Lord of the Mountains! Save your pitiful subjects!"
"King of the Forest! Lord of the Mountains! Save your pitiful subjects!"
"King of the Forest! Lord of the Mountains! Save your pitiful subjects!"
Jinseong continued the ritual amidst their shouts.
The continuing ritual proceeded as if a storyteller was telling an old tale, or as if a forest sage was telling a legend to gathered children.
"King of the Forest! Great Being! We were living on the land of one who rightfully holds everything that grows on the ground and owns everything that grows in the sunlight as property."
"King of the Forest! Lord of the Mountains!"
"The grace of the Forest King was deep and wide, ensuring that wanderers did not starve, and giving leaves and stems to those who could not even cover their bodies, allowing them to cover themselves. His grace was like turning beasts into humans, how could we not be grateful and in awe!"
"His grace is like the vast sky, its end cannot be seen!"
"But there was a being who envied this, and that was the monster that came from the distant land of heathens! A monster that uses evil magic and changes its form, endlessly tormenting humans! When burned, it throws its nails to drive people mad, and when cut in two with a sword, it revives, the offspring of this evil being has arrived!"
"Great Being! Save us!"
Crack!
Jinseong pulled out another nail.
This time it was his little finger.
"Whispering! Bastard child of monsters and cursed being born outside of providence! Monster that burrows into ears to whisper sweet words and lead people astray! Deceived by this monster's tricks, many have suffered unnecessary destruction and met their end with their brains eaten away! Thus, the Forest Sage earnestly pleaded to the Forest King, saying there is an evil monster hard to find, please grant peace to these lowly subjects!"
"King of the Forest! Dragon of Mercy!"
"The Forest King said, You human! My subject! Here I give you herbs and wood, burn them with the proper etiquette to create smoke. Then the smoke will drive out and kill the monster, bringing you peace."
With these words, Jinseong descended from the altar.
Crack.
As he came down, the altar wobbled once more and wood pieces spilled out, but he paid no attention and stepped down, placing greens that had been next to the altar on top of the barely standing structure.
The greens he placed were those called herbs.
"Thus the sage burned the received herbs with proper etiquette, and although flames were lit, they did not spread but only emitted thick smoke. Its fragrance was sweet and caused no harm to people, but it was poison only to the monster hiding in the ears! Oh! King of the Forest, Great Dragon. May you receive worship!"
"May you receive worship!"
"We shall drink wine from the fruits you have given to offer joy, and make bread from the grains you have given to fatten ourselves and fulfill our duties, Great Dragon! Rightful owner of everything from the roots to the last fruit at the top! Protect us!"
With these final words, Jinseong threw a lit match onto the altar.
Whoosh!
Although the altar only had dried wood pieces and freshly picked herbs, it caught fire instantly as if it had been soaked in oil and blazed up, and the nails Jinseong had dropped on the altar moved as if they were alive, moving to places that hadn't caught fire yet and spreading the fire evenly.
Thus, the altar was engulfed in flames in an instant. But the flames were short-lived, as if extinguishing themselves, and instead, an enormous amount of smoke began to pour out from the herbs and firewood that had turned into a pile of charcoal, as if a smoke grenade had been set off.
"Wow!"
One of the mercenaries was so startled that he unconsciously reached for the gas mask hanging at his waist, such was the thickness of the smoke. But despite the thick smoke, no one felt any difficulty breathing, and instead, the fragrant herb smell swept through their lungs, giving a refreshing feeling.
The smoke filled the tent and swept over everyone, and then began to fly outside through the gaps in the tent and spread in all directions. It looked as if the smoke had become multiple snakes scattering in all directions.
"It is done. Tonight, no one will know what is happening in this shrine."
* * *
It was said that in ancient Europe, there was a monster called Whispering.
This monster, originating from a transcendent being called Ghoul that appeared in the Middle East, was unlike other ghouls of similar size to humans, being so small as to be barely visible, and was said to have wings like a fairy and could fly through the sky.
Whispering was said to have moved to Europe for evil reasons and committed terrible acts against people there.
This monster considered the warm brains of recently deceased people a delicacy and harmed many people, and its method of obtaining this food was truly wicked.
Whispering used its small body to crawl into the body of the person it would prey on. Then it blocked the ear canal with its body and continuously whispered pleasant words to the host, and people who heard these whispers, no matter how gloomy they were, would change to have a bright personality and become people who lived actively again.
But people who lived only hearing good words couldn't possibly live a proper life, and in the end, they all met miserable deaths. When the host died like this, the Whispering that had settled in the ear would crawl all the way inside, eat the host's brain, and then leave to find another host.
In Europe, people naturally shuddered at the existence of this terrible monster, and it was said that they sought wisdom from a transcendent being called the King of the Forest and were able to safely eradicate it.
Afterwards, through oral tradition, it became a good example of how terrible it could be for a person's life to hear only 'good words'.
And as time passed and the Whispering story became a trivial existence like a fairy tale read to children before bed, a sorcerer created a sorcery ritual based on this story.
However, this sorcery ritual did not become widely known. The sorcerer lost his life right after creating the ritual, and what was passed down was transformed into the form of a festival. Moreover, even the form that maintained the festival was destroyed once again in the flames of witch hunts, an extreme anti-superstition movement, making it impossible to find even the original form of the ritual in the festival.
Because of this, only the records carved in caves remained, buried with time.
And in the distant future.
It wasn’t until World War III broke out, all of Europe groaned under the ravages of war, and that caves hidden by numerous bombings were revealed, that this sorcery was discovered.
And now, transcending time, it has been recreated by Jinseong's hand.