Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 30: Nirvana Painting (13)

The moonlight was shining brightly in the spot that he had noticed earlier.

Seol Young went there and removed the leaves and branches that had gathered. He made it as flat and clean as he could.

And Zaha lurked around as if it were casual for him to see all of this. Even though Seol Young spoke to him harshly, he didn’t seem to care.

‘Just ignore him.’

Seol Young knelt and sat down. He took out two talismans from his robe.

Talisman for the Dead.

The one that prayed for the rebirth of the dead in a good environment.

He cleaned up the energy in that area and used the talismans with sincerity.

While raising the first talisman, Seol Young said,

“The first soul was a very talented painter. He made many people happy by drawing beautiful pictures. Then, in the end, he ended up committing a sin and taking many lives, but…”

He raised another talisman.

“The second soul saved several lives. It was for the sake of his father. Please atone for his sin with this.”

He said this earnestly as he prayed, keeping both talismans side by side.

“Lord, please have pity on the two souls and guide the father and son to be reborn together in a good place for them to continue their relationship.”

He bowed for a long time and got up.

Zaha, who watched this without saying anything, said,

“Even if I see it through to the end, it is the same thing that I don’t get. Both souls have been extinguished, and there is nothing left of them or their past that can be found again. Even if you do this, doesn’t it mean that nothing will happen?”

“Yes.”

Seol Young shrugged.

“But I still have to do it.”

“Why?”

“Because the heavens and earth taught me that. If there is death, then there is rebirth. And ‘Re’ of ‘rebirth’ means to calm down. It is a process to soothe the soul and put it to sleep.”

“Even if there is nothing there?”

“Even if there is nothing there.”

Seol Young said.

He picked up the two talismans he had placed on the floor and soon burned them.

The two talismans turned into a blue mass of light and soon burned brightly as they spread everywhere.

“Please be reborn.”

Seol Young mumbled and looked at the sky.

The moon he saw from the room was shining, and his mind felt complicated.

There are cruel people in this world who kill others for no reason.

There are greedy people who simply deceive others to get what they want, and there are those who fight until the end.

A person who does his best to live a good life even after death and musters up the courage to go forward despite not having enough strength.

People like that are the ones who do miracles.

What if they unknowingly annihilated the soul of the child right after seeing him?

If that were the case, Seol Young wouldn’t have known about the story behind the grudge until the end.

‘Thank you.’

After bowing to the moon, he turned around.

There was one last thing to do before leaving this place.

Seol Young headed for the house.

“…?”

Zaha, who was looking at the moon, turned his head and looked at him.

“What?”

“Just one more look before we head back.”

Seol Young said.

“You saw the memories of the child, right? The painting had been sleeping so deeply for so long and suddenly woke up. It was no coincidence that someone came and woke it up. As if someone gave it a whiff of its prey.”

And they had to find out who it was.

He went inside and checked every corner of the empty house, but he couldn’t feel anything.

Not a single trace of spiritual energy was left inside. It felt clean, and before he knew it, Zaha was there.

“Anything?”

As he was watching as if this wasn’t his duty and pretending he wasn’t interested, Seol Young had a thought.

‘Actually, he is too invested in this.’

He wasn’t just faking it. He was genuinely interested.

Let’s see.

Seol Young intentionally mumbled.

“Weird. I thought it would be here.”

And he glanced at Zaha.

“Actually, at that time, I saw a strong evil spirit in the child’s memory. I thought that spirit awakened the painting.”

“Really? I saw the same memory, but I didn’t see anything special.”

“I was connected to the child, so it made itself visible to me alone.”

Seol Young spoke with a serious face.

“Kind of a woman. I could only see the image of her back, but…”

For a short moment, Zaha’s face looked as if he believed him, and he asked,

“The back was how?”

Seol Young didn’t answer and looked straight at him.

With a faint smile, he said,

“It is a lie.”

“What?”

“I made it up. I saw nothing.”

Seol Young said without batting his eyes.

“When the servant of the hall told the story about a certain woman outside the gates, your reaction was unusual. That is why I tried lying once. In order to get my revenge…”

“What?”

Zaha glared at Seol Young.

“You lied to me? Seol Young-rang, do you have a death wish? Are you so tired of life that you seem to be playing with death?”

He snorted and continued.

“You are so exhausting. Just one supernatural calamity has been solved, and your courage seems to have hit the sky, but know that you were just lucky.”

“Luck is also a form of skill.”

“You would have never solved it without me.”

“That is also my skill because you coveted me for my spiritual power and made you follow me. You can say that I called for you.”

“Is that so?”

Zaha had a look as if saying it was absurd.

He did say that, but Seol Young was thinking about it too.

What if Zaha had fought seriously with the painting and destroyed it?

The entire situation would have ended right then.

When he thought about it, it felt strange, so he said,

“Even when I die, my spiritual power will not be taken away. I’d rather destroy it all with my own hands. I will make sure that it never falls into the hands of a demon.”

And he looked at Zaha with cold eyes.

“So throw away the thought of trying to obtain my spiritual power. Go back to where you came from and do not appear again. Then I will let this go. I will make it possible for you to remain a respected man to everyone until the end. So as not to tarnish your honorable name.”

Zaha looked up and laughed as if it were the funniest thing he’d ever heard.

“Then, let’s meet next time.”

As he said that, he turned around.

Seol Young didn’t even have time to say anything because, in the blink of an eye, the man moved farther away.

“Wait.”

He went after him, but he couldn’t find him anywhere. He was nowhere near the streets or the mansion.

This made him frown.

Zaha didn’t seem like the type to give up just because of a threat.

Was he saying that he needed to gain more power then? Despite being this strong…

“Seriously.”

The sight of light shining from the Dead Slayer sword was vivid in Seol Young’s eyes. It was as strong as the power of God.

Even if he was on the evil path, the power he gained was still the same.

Does this mean that the two forces do not collide in his body?

What did he do for two opposing energies to stay in his body?

Again, the opponent felt way too strong. He didn’t even imagine what would happen if his spiritual energy was absorbed by Zaha.

‘If he comes at me, I will not just stand still.’

The only thing the demon didn’t know was that Seol Young was looking forward to it.

In the Black and White Hall, where the game of go was played, and among the many rooms, Seol Young went inside where the top-ranked people gathered.

He sat across from the one he had commissioned last time.

The opponent said,

“I was waiting”

“Did you find out?”

“No.”

The voice of the man couldn’t be identified as that of a man or a woman, or as that of a monster or a beast.

“We couldn’t find out what you described, but…”

“But?”

“We found an object having similar power.”

A hand crossed the veil. A small package wrapped in cloth was placed on the table.

Seol Young tried to open it, but it was just a lump. All the colors were mixed inside, and it looked quite old.

“What is this? It looks like an egg.”

“I don’t know.”

“And it was found in?”

“You know, you shouldn’t ask.”

The person said.

“This has been around for a very long time and has been passed through the hands of many monks and demons. All things that clung to it lost their original shape.”

And the person added.

“Anyway, it is not wooden. You got it wrong. You wasted two days of our time just because you called it ‘wooden.’”

“When did I say wooden? I said it looked like a wooden tablet.”

Seol Young took out the small sealing pouch with a red string from his sleeve.

The piece of wood, which looked like a wooden tablet, was in this pouch. An egg-like object was put into it as a test, and it reacted.

Incantation letters floated on the cloth, and the metal attached to it snapped into place.

“It is of the same type.”

“Bigger and more powerful.”

Said the man.

“Now, what will you do? Strictly speaking, the request is a failure. I tried all our connections, but no one could identify what it was. I just wanted you to know that we can get you something useful. Will you close the deal? Or will you decide to cancel it?”

Seol Young looked at this lump.

“I will take it.”

He wasn’t in a position to give up on it. Didn’t he use it well once before?

‘If I can purify this and uncover its identity.’

Seol Young left that place and went outside.

He went back to his dorm and took out a talisman. It was five times the size of a common talisman.

And the size of the talisman changes the amount of spiritual power required. If the paper were five times the size, it would have twenty times the spiritual power.

Seol Young put all his energy into making a huge one.

He wrapped the unknown object in the talisman and put it into the sealing bag, which shone softly.

And he put this pouch into the bag he had brought from the White Tiger Spirit Troops. This made the item’s spiritual power vanish.

‘I have this, at least.’

His heart felt a little relieved.

Then he heard a call from outside.

“Seol Young-rang.”

A voice of a middle-aged woman.

When he opened the door and went out, it was someone he had encountered so many times.

“The errand boy came and went. To give this….”

She handed out a letter.

“Thank you.”

Seol Young opened the letter.

The neat handwriting caught his eye. He could sense the character of the writer from this.

Hundred words.

Seol Young’s face brightened. He was happy without even having to read the content.

‘You haven’t forgotten your promise.’