Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 52 – Peach Blossom Girl (8)

An invisible force held Park Won’s body.

“Help me!”

Park Won screamed, and at that moment, something changed in his body.

It was himself.

Park Won was shocked.

‘Why am I here now?’

Another Park Won, who flew out of his body, was shocked. 1

The woman sitting in the boat had disappeared before he realized it, and only the die was left spinning around.

Seol Young threw his sword.

The Blue Rainbow Sword flew towards it. The moment it was inserted into the dice, the talismans that were engraved around the sword activated.

Exorcising Talisman.

It was a powerful talisman that could surely destroy evil spirits. But the die deflected the talisman with its strong shield. And the Blue Rainbow pierced and bounced back too.

And then the die stopped.

It stopped at ‘Bend your arms to drink.’

The moment the penalty was decided, an evil energy burst out.

The other Park Won had fallen into the river and jumped as if someone had grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up.

And then….

His arms were snapped back with a cracking sound and pulled back. His elbows were bent in the air, and his hands were thrust right into his mouth!

Watching it unfold, Park Won finally realized it.

It was the other him that was thrown out and had his arms cracked. It was nothing but a wooden doll. It was meant to take the damage instead of him.

The reason why the wooden doll was able to replace a human was that the date and time of his birth were written on its torso, and his hair was attached to it.

It was a trick to show that he was on the list of people to die. And it was a ruse that they prepared clothes, hair, and everything else that looked like him.

They couldn’t imagine that Seol Young had used such a powerful technique on the wooden doll to hide them.

So even the ghost was fooled.

“W-What is that?”

As the noise grew outside, the other two young men also ran out and were dumbfounded at what they saw, and then they were quickly dragged between the golden line, which broke.

“Ack!”

The same thing happened to them too.

Another self escaped from their bodies, and the two young men were dragged away. It was as if a living spirit was brought out of them.

They were the two wooden dolls that looked like them, and the dice rolled.

Seol Young swung his sword again.

Various formations were formed as he combined several talismans, and all of them were ready to be used. But no matter what he did, the dice didn’t break, and they went round and round until they stopped.

‘Sing a song loudly and dance wildly.’

‘Drink three glasses of alcohol at once.’

The dolls that were taken instead of the real people died from the penalty they got.

‘As I thought.’

Seol Young stared at this without missing a single thought.

First, throw the dice.

Second, the results will come.

Third, people die as a result.

These were the three stages.

Dohwa executed a powerful curse of death through the act of throwing dice. But during these three times, death didn’t happen.

She got it wrong all three times.

Dohwa was angry as red peach petals began to appear from the ground.

A stronger force than before attacked the three young men. It was trying to drag them in at the same time.

“Ack!”

The three screamed as it felt like a tornado was sucking them in. It felt like their skin would start to peel off their body from this force.

But at the same time, another force was pulling them down. Their feet stayed glued to the ground as if lumps of iron were tied to their legs.

When they couldn’t be pulled, Dohwa became furious, and the petals moved again.

But the three didn’t budge.

It wasn’t just the weight of the three but also of the talismans that made their souls heavy.

“Miss Dohwa, give up.”

Seol Young took something out of his sleeve. Four pieces of wood were tied together with a string.

It was a kind of wooden tablet made from a jujube tree that was normally used to write down a person’s wish. Three of them belonged to the men here, and one belonged to Seol Young.

Live together and die together.

It meant what it said.

“I said I would definitely save these three. If you want to kill them, you will have to kill me first.”

Seol Young stated.

“No, that is…”

The three young men were shocked.

He would go so far for them?

No matter how selfish they were, they felt moved by this. They got to see how merciful these Hwarang people were.

“….”

However, Seol Young looked at them in disgust.

‘To think I’d have to tie my fate with these idiots.’

The bonding spell he cast only worked well when it was used with the right companion. And these three weren’t as wicked as their parents, but they didn’t seem any better either. They were idiots enjoying their own lives.

Besides, didn’t all three of them run out without listening?

Seol Young genuinely hated them.

But he did have to save them, and that fact wouldn’t change.

[Get out of my way!]

Dohwa shouted.

And the tornado moved.

The river began to rise from this, and it moved like it would attack the village.

“Oh my!”

The villagers were terrified when they saw this, and the elderly trembled as they recalled what had happened thirty years ago.

“It is fine. I am here.”

Zaha pulled out his sword and cut the ground, and then golden energy rose from the scar on the ground. It was similar to a barrier, so the storm or river couldn’t cross the line.

“Help! Help us! Save us! We will do anything!”

The three young men were scared and pleaded with Seol Young as tears streamed down their faces. The arrogant appearance they had before has now vanished.

“….”

Seol Young just stood there.

His hair was blowing wildly, and the hem of his robe fluttered strongly, but he didn’t even move an inch. Without blinking, he just looked across the river.

‘To kill them, you will have to kill me.’

He was relaying that.

It wasn’t because he was tied to them as relatives, nor was he their friend, nor was it because of money—it was just faith.

So it didn’t break much.

“…”

Dohwa began to accept this, and the wild wind slowly stopped. The river, which was roaring, began to turn quiet.

“Is it done?”

The people groaned.

At that moment, the moon turned red.

“Look over there! What is that?”

A small island appeared in the middle of the river.

It was the old pavilion, and there was a shadow in it. It was the banquet hall, which he had seen before.

The place where Dohwa was dragged to her death. The place where her pain, resentment, and despair intertwined.

[Then I will kill you first.]

Dohwa said.

Seol Young looked at her gloomy figure under the red moon. Then, suddenly….

Pack!

With a sound, golden sparks flew from the Dead Slayer sword.

The flames grew bigger and wrapped themselves around the sword.

“What?”

Seol Young looked at Zaha.

“What is it? Have you ever met a demon called Dohwa?”

He pretended not to know anything.

“No. Never before.”

“Strange. Then why did you react to her right away? It seemed like she was giving a warning.”

“Yes.”

Zaha said.

“You tried to destroy the dice several times, and every attempt failed. You couldn’t even scratch it. From the point of view of the enemy, you won’t be able to defeat her.”

“But your sword couldn’t have done that.”

Seol Young didn’t listen.

“And it was not a failure. I had a theory I wanted to test.”

“Theory?”

“You will find out soon.”

Seol Young got onto a small boat by the river, and Zaha also got in. The boat was moving on its own.

It was moving with the current of the river, and the sound of the river crashing against the boat could be heard.

Seol Young looked at the pavilion in the dark and thought,

‘Miss Dohwa hasn’t come out yet.’

And if he went there, he could see her.

Was she the woman with talismans on her face? Did this woman have the power to spread darkness?

Everything would be revealed now.

‘And…’

He turned to Zaha, who was standing.

At this moment, his eyes were fixed on the pavilion, and his eyes shone in gold. He had a completely different attitude than before.

‘His secret will be revealed too.’

He felt so.

Soon, a bloody road on the river appeared and accepted the boat, shrouding everything in fog. No one knew what would happen.

But this was a familiar feeling.

‘Ghosts can never defeat humans.’

Seol Young mumbled that.

‘The reason they cause fear in our hearts and take on bizarre shapes is to deceive our eyes and ears into seeing things and to shake our hearts. It is because they cannot overcome us.’

The dead couldn’t overpower the living, and it was because they had been defeated by their deaths.

Those who tried to confront the ghosts should never forget it. That was the only way they could win.

Clack.

The boat finally reached the island.

Weeping willows were drooping like the hands of a dead man and were swaying in this windless place. The entire island felt dark.

“Does this make sense? Even if there was an island like this here before, it must have never been a pleasant place to be in.”

Zaha said as he was getting off.

“Wait.”

Seol Young stopped him, bothered by how quiet the place was. It was like a beast was lurking in the darkness, waiting to bite them.

“We need to greet her.”

He searched his clothes and pulled out a light. He sent it into the air while he stayed in the boat.

It was actually a flame talisman. And then it shone.

At that moment, the entire place changed.

The roof of the old pavilion had changed to a splendid color. The lanterns that were outside lit up at once. The sound of laughter could be heard.

It was the world of Dohwa.

Seol Young got off the boat.

“There is one thing you need to remember from now on.”

PR/N: It means that something akin to his soul or his soul got pulled out of his body. It’s something similar to what happened to the Buddhist priest in the last arc. ↩️