Chapter 200: Ch 200: You accursed thing
Light pours down.
The forged blade flashes and draws its line with conviction.
A dance of blades performed by both hands and the sky.
Aaaaah...!
The blade pierces the body of the centipede, which takes the form of a
depraved monk.
It is not the same criminal-subduing blade that once pierced Assistant
Manager Jin Nasol in the Ocean Palace, or myself in the dream cultivation
chamber.
This blade is at least twice as large, adorned with brilliant pine and intricate
bells.
It’s a ceremonial blade.
A cleaver designed to confront evil ’entities’.
Uuuuuh...!
Thrashing now was the twisted thing that mimicked a human mouth and
planted madness, which had been preaching the so-called truth of the world.
Or rather, only muttering its own horrific enlightenment.
Each time, human arms writhing on its body fall to the floor, turning to ash
and finding rest.
The procedure of a ritual to appease souls of the dead.
Thud.
The centipede convulses, and the shrine’s pillars and rafters collapse.
It looks as if the debris could fall onto people at any moment, but.
"Do not worry."
Agent Bronze’s firm voice rang out.
The transparent bullets from his glass handgun embed themselves in the air
around the shrine, trapping the centipede inside.
搏[1]
Like a kind of talisman, the bullets engraved with the proper character each
activate their precise effect.
"It will be alright now."
"..."
"The most difficult and tricky part of ending these shamanic-ritual-type
supernatural disasters is that you must reveal the hidden identity."
I know.
You can only exorcise something if you know what it is.
And this is also the reason why the Disaster Management Bureau was
unable to easily identify that strange evangelist of the Church of the
Luminous Unknown, who had been buried together with the liquor jar
beneath the shrine, granting it an unusual power.
Agent Choi’s own hard-won notes come to mind.
– Hmm... Actually, the branch wanted to investigate more thoroughly, but
other government agencies kept getting in the way. They were even blocked
from dissolving the village itself.
Some said, ’Why not just keep rescuing people every year? The causal
relationship with the disappearances and deaths isn’t proven.’
However, in reality, it seems there was a government official who was being
bribed by Jisan Village.
That’s why things were at a standstill.
– If you think of the annual festival as a disaster, it’s actually long and
repetitive, right? But the investigation periods are always much too short.
Especially with such an old ghost story, where the ritual has been distorted
and it’s hard to find the original form, it gets even more difficult.
We’re always just barely managing to keep the situation stable.
– So it’s always a shame. There must be a real culprit... If we could just find
it, we could try exorcism or banishment or whatever. The fact we can’t is
just frustrating.
– Wait, Grapes-ie, don’t decide to dig up the village’s secret by yourself
just because you read this, okay?! We all do it together! You know, right?
^^
But...
I did it.
"You’re the one who found its identity."
I lifted my head.
"You drew that thing out of the shrine. And now that its identity has been
revealed..."
Agent Bronze was smiling.
"Ending this disaster has become what we do best."
Namely...
The specialty of the Black-Tortoise Team.
"Eliminating evil things in the traditional sense."
"Elder!"
A voice calls from the roof.
Agent Choi throws his cleaver into the air, the dokkaebi flame in his hand
burning as bright as the sun.
Flames sweep all the way down to the broken base of the shrine.
Aaaaah!
The dark, damp shade created for the centipede burns away as if it’s being
erased, and a bright, warm, yang energy arrives.
Aaaa—uuuu—ghhh!
The centipede, having lost many of its human arms, tries to open its mouth
again, but now its so-called enlightenment can no longer be properly
formed into human speech.
The Black-Tortoise Team’s methodical supernatural disaster response
steadily pushes it into a corner.
First. Purification of the ritual space.
Driving out the environment suitable for evil to dwell in.
And, second.
Imprisonment.
"Now!"
Agent Bronze’s bullets constrict the shrine.
The centipede, robbed of many arms and exposed to dazzling brightness,
thrashes and struggles.
But the targeted response, stabbing at its inborn, elemental weaknesses like
an awl, severed its connection to unspeakable evil truths and left it
vulnerable.
Thus, the end draws near.
Third.
"Seal."
䥗[2]
Agent Bronze’s glass handgun fires its final bullet.
Charged with a powerful exorcistic rite, crafted skillfully at the Baridegi
Workshop, it fits perfectly into the evil thing’s body.
Exactly into its forehead.
Thwack.
And then.
From the hole in the centipede’s body where the bullet embedded itself, its
innards began to be sucked away.
Inward.
Ooooooh!
The centipede collapsed inward with a strange rending sound, as if it were
shrinking down to a single point. No, not just the centipede. Also the shrine,
the ground beneath it, the spirits, and all the territory tainted by the
Centipede Sage were sucked in.
Into the glass bullet.
Aaaaaaah!
The centipede’s voice rang out in a dying scream, and then...
It was cut off.
...
Clink.
The now-blackened glass orb dropped into the hollow left where the shrine
once stood.
On the surface of the orb, now about the size of a fist, was the engraved
image of a centipede.
The rough, bold carving gleamed gold for a moment like a fragment of a
sacred scripture from the Church of the Luminous Unknown, but then, as if
blocked by the sealing power, the light faded.
Soon, the surface of the glass orb cooled and turned to solid silver.
"..."
"..."
Agent Bronze walked over to the pit, picked up the silver orb, inspected its
surface thoroughly, then put it into his pouch.
And then he declared,
"It’s over."
Note/s:
[1] 搏 – a character that means ’to be entangled’, ’to bind’, ’to tie’, etc. ↵
[2] 䥗 – a character that means ’branding iron’ or ’to solder’ ↵
sidenote: I’m not really the best at hanja or chinese though, so please take
these translations with a grain of salt~
"Huu!"
Agent Choi, still holding the cleaver, sat down on the ground with a sigh.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Yes. They’re calming down."
The outsiders and villagers who had experienced the shock were either
collapsed and unconscious, staggering around aimlessly, or just standing
still, staring blankly into space.
Perhaps, with the disappearance of the centipede that had once revealed to
them the truth of violent madness, they had lost their reason to emptiness, at
least for a while.
The festival musicians had disappeared, leaving only their instruments and
clothes behind.
Occasionally, beneath the collapsed clothing, there were glimpses of bone
and earth...
And after surveying all of this, my gaze turned back to Agent Choi’s back.
"..."
He was just sitting quietly.
Staring at the hollow left by the vanished shrine.
’...What must he be thinking?’
A spy who will die in a month unless he leaks information from the Disaster
Management Bureau.
He himself nearly died, caught up in all of this.
But after preparing everything in a single day and coming down to the
countryside to save that spy, staking his life to fight the centipede... What
must a man like that be thinking?
"..."
I didn’t want to know.
The thoughts that would come to mind after realizing it, the tasks I would
have to face, felt too exhausting.
That’s how it had been.
But now, for a brief, flickering moment...
I kind of want to hear his answer.
What he’s thinking.
"...Grapes-ie."
"...!"
"Want to come over here?"
With no thoughts at all, I walked toward him.
Agent Choi didn’t look back at me.
But as I drew closer, he reached a hand behind his back.
Toward me.
"Everything’s done. Let’s go back."
...
...
I took his hand.
And Agent Choi pulled on my hand and stood up lightly from his seat.
"Up we go!"
There was the same smile on his face as before when he turned to look at
me.
And then he started making a fuss.
"Ugh, my whole body aches. I take one day off, and our kid gets himself
abducted. This is why I can’t ever rest."
"I’m sorry."
"It’s not your fault, is it, Grapes-ie? The caller was out of his mind.
Unpredictable incidents happen."
"..."
"But don’t do anything too reckless next time."
As if, of course, there would be a next time.
That’s how he spoke.
"...Yes."
It was strange, but for some reason, I felt a little better about the situation.
Even though nothing was really resolved or progressed.
"..."
My head felt a little clearer.
"Alright. That’s how Black-Tortoise Team 1 should be!"
Agent Choi patted me on the back and then headed over to see the orb
Agent Bronze had secured.
I took a deep breath in and out.
’Yeah.’
For now, I survived today.
And having watched Disaster Management Bureau agents seal a bizarre
entity through traditional exorcism... Maybe it’s not such a bad day after
all.
’Everyone survived, too.’
...My heart felt noticeably lighter.
The bright dokkaebi flame had disappeared, but the sun was shining in the
sky.
’Um.’
Then, as I looked down, I saw the people who had carried my palanquin
lying collapsed next to the now-empty shrine area.
But there were only three.
’Baek Saheon.’
I turned my gaze to where the rescue caller had been standing.
Baek Saheon was one of the people carrying the palanquin, and he had
originally stood to the left of the shrine...
’Hmm.’
He was gone before I knew it.
He must have run away the moment things started going awry.
’Not that strange, really.’
No, in this case, that was actually the wisest choice.
Still, now that I was feeling a bit better, it did feel a little annoying.
’A certain someone shoved me into the place where he was supposed to die
and left me to suffer like a dog...’
Still, it was true that taking the risk of being caught and staying up all night
to share what he knew about the village did help.
’Now that guy probably doesn’t have to come back here, either.’
According to what Baek Saheon said at dawn, it seemed the villagers had to
periodically visit Jisan Village to escape the madness of the ’truth of the
world’.
No matter how much they soaked the Centipede Sage in liquor and pressed
it down with a stone and enshrined it in the shrine, they’d already had too
much contact with it.
But now that the original source, the centipede, was gone, things would
probably be better. At least, one could hope.
’Hmm.’
I was about to look away when I noticed something odd.
– No, I told you already. I have to come back every year. Even if I try to run
away, I’ll just go mad and hang myself!
There was something left in the spot where Baek Saheon had been.
"..."
I shifted slightly and picked up the item.
A note... no, something like a small paper boat, folded out of paper.
’Did he leave this?’
Thinking I’d check it out later, I put it in my pocket.
And when I turned my head, I made eye contact with Agent Choi, who had
been watching me.
"..."
"..."
Agent Choi turned his head away with a smile and said casually,
"Lucky I made it on time, right? I really rushed over as soon as I finished
getting ready."
"If you hadn’t been at Seoraksan, you could have come even sooner.
Seriously, why’d you take your day off to go there?"
"Hahaha... To recuperate in a place with good air and clean water, I guess?
Anyway, there he is! The real MVP who made sure we got to Grapes-ie in
time."
Agent Choi pointed somewhere.
And at the end of his finger... was Assistant Manager Eun Haje!
"Yes. She’s the one who told us the location of the shrine right away."
"...!"
Assistant Manager Eun Haje had been waiting at the village entrance and,
as soon as she saw them, told them exactly where the shrine was.
Thanks to that, the agents were able to arrive before I could be enthralled by
the Centipede Sage and become one of its arms...
’...She must have been busy with her own work, too.’
I was grateful.
I tried not to stare blankly.
"She recognized Bronze-ie right away. Oh, she’s waving goodbye."
When she met our eyes, Assistant Manager Eun Haje nodded slightly, then
melted into the crowd.
Or at least, that’s how she probably thought of it, and that’s how I took it,
but someone with sharp eyes might not see it that way.
Because even among the dazed, hollow people, she moved with clear
purpose.
"Shh."
Agent Choi put a finger to his lips, squinting as he watched.
"She’s heading toward the abandoned houses. Hm."
He put away the cleaver and quickly straightened his clothes.
"Let’s follow her. Her destination is a little unusual... Did you say she’s a
reporter?"
"That’s right."
"That’s a great job for going undercover..."
A chilling deduction.
’The Assistant Manager can’t get found out.’
I didn’t want to make things harder for her, or drag Agent Choi any deeper
into Director Ho’s grasp.
That would be a total disaster.
"Um."
After exchanging a few words with Agent Bronze, Agent Choi turned to
look at me. He seemed to study me for a moment, then said,
"Grapes... you can go outside and rest if you want."
I can’t.
"If you don’t mind, I’d like to go with you."
"Sure. Let’s go together."
"..."
Did he notice?
Even if he didn’t, his kindness made my stomach twist a bit.
Anyway, I hurried after the agents as they moved.
And before long.
We found Assistant Manager Eun Haje half-removed some of the wooden
planks covering the well and was looking inside.
"...It’s not here."
She muttered.
"Ms. Civilian? Are you looking for something right now?"
Assistant Manager Eun Haje, who had been staring down the well, looked
up at us with a slightly exasperated expression.
"Now you’re acting like normal public servants... Seriously. Aren’t you
guys, you know, like in the comics? That sort of thing?"
"Comics..."
"Well if we’re going to play the part, why not go for 007? Haha, our dear
agent here really likes that comparison, you know!"
"...Ha."
Agent Choi grinned and patted Agent Bronze on the back, then put a finger
to his lips.
Agent Bronze closed his eyes tightly. Agent...
Watching this, Assistant Manager Eun Haje just shrugged.
"Anyway, don’t worry. I don’t plan to tell anyone about this."
"Thank you!"
But I saw the agents exchange covert glances.
Most likely, before long, agents from the Disaster Management Bureau’s
Vermilion-Bird Unit would sweep into this village to ’clean up’. In the
process, they would probably carry out a large-scale, harmless memory
erasure on the population...
I could only hope that Assistant Manager Eun Haje got out before then.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
Meanwhile, the agents got down to business.
"So, why were you looking at that well?"
"Well, I heard there’s a strange legend about this place. Something about it
being connected to somewhere mysterious."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje took out a cigarette from her pocket, but
quickly put it back as she spoke.
"I’d heard rumors that weird things happen during this village’s festival, so
I came to check it out..."
She tapped the well with her finger.
"Well. Doesn’t seem like there’s anything particularly odd."
"Aha."
Agent Choi nodded, as if he meant to help with her investigation, and
pulled out a light source from his coat.
A lantern inhabited by a dokkaebi.
The red, flickering light brightened the shadows of the well for a moment.
"Here, let me shine a light for you!"
"...Do you really have to use that?"
"Yes, yes."
Agent Choi replied with a smile.
"And you know, this lantern can also sense danger!"
"Aha."
"See? The color changes, right? When it flickers this red—"
"And when it flickers?"
"It means there’s something non-human nearby."
"..."
"..."
"Who are you?"
Silence.
"The one who guided us earlier was definitely human, but you... You’re not
human, are you?"
"..."
The thing in the shape of Assistant Manager Eun Haje lifted its head.
That faint, gentle smile on her face.
"You’re quick on the uptake."
"...!"
"Hello, agent! We’ve met before, haven’t we?"
"Agent Choi!"
Agent Bronze hastily moved to defend, but Agent Choi held him back with
a gesture.
Even so, the being in the shape of Assistant Manager Eun Haje spoke with a
gentle, kind expression she would never normally wear.
"Ah. What I asked this person to do was definitely something else, but it
seemed like she was heading somewhere strange. So I’m assisting her
personally."
Director Ho.
Whether he was disguised or merely controlling her, it was him.
Director Ho, wearing Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s appearance, was
standing in front of us.
"By any chance, do you have something to say to me?"
No.
’He’s trying to provoke us!’
We must not talk to Director Ho any further here. Agent Bronze was
present.
’Agent Choi might break the binding right here...!’
Even if not, it could drag in Agent Bronze. Or Assistant Manager Eun Haje.
Again. It was all happening again.
’No.’
I clenched my teeth, searching for a chance to cut in. Just as I was about to
force my way into the conversation—
"Well, that’s perfect. This’ll be even easier. ...As long as we know who it
is."
Agent Choi raised his cleaver and pointed.
...At me.
"...?!"
"Grapes-ie."
"Agent Choi, what are you—"
Chalang, chalang.
"It’s been hard, hasn’t it?"
"..."
"It’ll be alright now."
Chalang, chalang.
"Your binding."
"...?!"
What was he suddenly saying, and at a time like this...
...
’...Wait.’
I realized.
Right. Agent Choi really couldn’t speak of last night’s events to anyone,
because of the binding.
That I was a spy.
That I planned to leak information from the Disaster Management Bureau.
Even the fact that he himself was bound by a supernatural restriction.
’All of that is forbidden.’
But.
"I thought about it... and realized there’s something I can do."
The restriction on talking about me was an exception.
The fact that ’one of our agents is under a supernatural binding imposed by
a supernatural being’ is not one of the prohibited topics.
He could attempt to break that binding for me as much as he wanted.
"...!"
"I had a hell of a time finding the right person at Seoraksan."
Agent Choi looked up at the sky.
"Welcome."
So it’s you
Fox spirit
You accursed thing
The back of my hand began to burn.
[goblin note]
Short background on the fox spirit 호귀(狐鬼):
There are many animal spirits that appear in East Asian folklore, and the
fox spirit is a recurring image in many stories. Among the many tales that it
appears in, it is acknowledged as a beast with high intelligence and is an
antagonist to hunters and farmers with its cunning intellect. But on the
flipside, it is also recognized as a helpful spirit (and a god of abundance in
some regions) for eating mice that cause harm to agriculture and harvests.
Apart from this, the fox spirit is also depicted as a shape-shifting entity,
taking on various forms with different meanings, powers and
characteristics. (Sources: https://en.namu.wiki/w/여우%20설화,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_spirit)
Additionally, the Gumiho 구미호 or nine-tailed fox is one of the most
known iterations of the fox spirit in ancient folklore. (Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumiho)
[p.s.]
Arguably, however, 호귀 could also be interpreted as a tiger spirit/demon
(虎鬼) from the Joseon era. The author didn’t provide any hanja, so take
what you will.
Both 호귀 (fox/tiger) and 호랑 (tiger) have ’Ho’ as the first syllable so...
̄_(ツ)_/ ̄
[p.p.s.]
Damn I’ve been reading on the web version of KKP all this time and only
recently realized that author-nim used different fonts here and there... I’ll
do my best to adopt those features in my translation moving forward, and
I’ll also try to review past Chapters and tweak them too. But we’re at
Chapter 200 now so it may take a bit of time ^^;;