Chapter 53 – Peach Blossom Girl (9)

Zaha asked,

“What is that?”

“Watch out for the dice.”

Seol Young said, walking ahead.

“Since you saw it before, you should know that once she throws it, the result will come out in any situation, and one dies according to it.”

“Then not running into it is good enough.”

“Right. But the problem…”

Seol Young opened the door to the pavilion, and at that moment, a light flashed.

Applause rang out, and a topless man was breathing fire from his mouth.

The entire place was bright, with dancers in heavy makeup dancing around. Laughter echoed throughout the drinking party.

A man got excited and knocked down his drink, and the glass made of jade fell.

Seol Young stepped on the glass and broke it.

“The problem is that the dice will seduce us into playing it.”

“Aha.”

Zaha understood it right away.

“You mean to be wary of anything spinning?”

They glanced at the paper lanterns on the ceiling, and one of them began to spin slowly in its place, and Zaha swung his sword and broke it.

“Like this.”

“Right.”

Seol Young nodded.

They had already blocked Dohwa twice, and she backed down, which meant her third attempt would be stronger.

“We need to find her without falling for the curse.”

They made their way through the hall, which was filled with talks, laughter, and women.

‘Beware of anything spinning.’

A customer fell, and the coins on him began to fall, and a few spun around.

A cat jumped from somewhere, and a five-colored ball began to roll at its paws.

“Seol Young-rang, do not pick up the coins. They are fake.”

“When did I pick any up?”

The two broke them one by one and destroyed them.

A jade doll’s head rolled on the floor, a musical instrument in a magician’s hand, a marble spinning even though there wasn’t any wind….

As they destroyed all of these things one by one, the world they were in also began to crumble little by little.

[Hahaha!]

The women and customers laughed loudly too. The lanterns and flowers became clearer.

The evil feeling in this place grew thicker, and at some point, a spinning watermill caught Seol Young’s eye.

He quickly turned away and kicked it.

There was an artificial stream in the middle of the hall, and the lanterns and wine glasses floated.

He looked at it, and dead courtesans lay there. Some had bruises on their faces, and others had clear handprints on their necks. One even had a hollow on one side of her head.

As their eyes met, the ghastly corpses rose one by one, and they stretched out their hands.

“What is this now?”

Zaha swung his sword.

The corpses grabbed his sword and pulled on it. They were surprisingly strong, and Zaha frowned.

“This isn’t an illusion or hallucination. This is real.”

“…”

Seol Young was puzzled.

He thought everything here was created by Dohwa.

“Why is a real ghost in here?”

And then he remembered. The elder in the village said,

-It used to be a banquet hall where nobles called courtesans to play, but it was soon abandoned as people drowned each year.

The story matched.

“The banquet hall was cursed from the beginning.”

Seol Young said, drawing a talisman in the air.

“The people who were said to have drowned here each year didn’t actually drown. The nobles played with them, abused them, and killed them.”

“Aha! Then they lied about the women drowning?”

Zaha looked at the brutal appearances of the women. These souls died unjustly, like Dohwa.

And they were trying to stop them from spoiling Dohwa’s plans.

Normally evil spirits like this could be easily subdued, but there was a problem this time.

Every time they attacked, their skirts would flow around or their hair ornaments would spin around.

The purpose of the ghost women wasn’t to kill them. Someone among them was hiding the dice, and if they accidentally glanced at her, they would be cursed right away.

“But we cannot kill them at random…”

Seol Young hesitated for a moment.

“Then we have to do this.”

Zaha tore the hem of his clothes, folded the torn part into several layers, and tied it around his eyes.

Right.

Seol Young followed him right away and placed it around his eyes.

“Wait, they are pitiful souls. Do not kill them.”

“Then.”

“Throw them at me.”

They weren’t strong souls. And with his eyes closed, he had nothing to be afraid of. Seol Young raised his hands and caught the attacking ghosts one by one, imprisoning them in his plaque.

“Seol Young-rang! You were the one who asked for these women!”

All the ghosts that went to Zaha were thrown back and sealed in his plaque.

Doing this was so simple.

They were able to subdue these women to some extent without seeing the dice.

“When did I ask you for them?”

“Ah, please, you said to throw the women at you. You are worse than normal men.”

“When did I…”

Seol Young went silent and thought.

Wait.

Now, with a blindfold on, wasn’t this the perfect moment to play a prank?

He couldn’t see the other side since the cloth was layered several times. It seemed like they couldn’t see everything around them.

Seol Young removed the blindfold.

Zaha, as if thinking the same thing, stopped talking and hurriedly took off the blindfold, and their eyes met.

“When did you say it? You surely said…”

But he stiffened up without continuing and didn’t even look him in the eye.

“What is it?”

Seol Young asked. And then he saw something spinning at the periphery of his vision.

There was a lantern on the ceiling, and it could be seen in Seol Young’s eyes.

Seol Young’s eyes acted as a mirror, so Zaha avoided his gaze.

Tak!

And then there was a sound of something falling from behind them. One didn’t have to see it to know what it was.

The dice.

They kept avoiding it, but they ended up seeing it in the reflection of the other’s eye…

“To send people away like this. Quite a clever method, Seol Young-rang!”

“I didn’t do that.”

Seol Young said,

“We need to find Dohwa right now. This isn’t the time for us to be fighting!”

“Such a lame excuse.”

Zaha said as he struck down the dice with his sword. A golden light rose, and he hit the dice with a terrifying force.

Swish!

A sharp metallic sound rang out, and the floor cracked, but the dice were fine.

Swish! Swish!

He cut it down several times, and the golden light was so strong that Seol Young couldn’t even open his eyes.

Still, the dice didn’t budge.

It was said that if resentment deepens, it can snow even in May.

Dohwa poured all her resentment into this dice, and this made it clear that they couldn’t match her strength now.

Round and round.

The penalties on all fourteen sides went crazy. Little by little, the penalties could be seen, and the dice could stop at any time.

“This… surely we will not be punished, right?”

Zaha raised his sword, and his spiritual energy rose.

“Wait.”

Seol Young gathered spiritual power in his hands.

It was time for him to test what he had thought about earlier.

“I will give it a try.”

“Seol Young-rang. Now is not the time to test something out. Will you take responsibility if something bad happens? Besides, if a penalty involving two people is given, then even you will be dragged into this.”

“Look straight ahead. Earlier, when she tried to drag people, I experimented with various things and came to a conclusion. ‘It might be impossible to break the dice.’”

Seol Young raised his hand and said,

“But do we really have to break it?”

“…?”

Zaha was confused.

“Then?”

Instead of answering, Seol Young acted.

Wind Spirit Curse.

A gust of wind rose from his hand, and it was a gentle wind that went around the dice.

The dice, which had slowed down and seemed to stop at any moment, began to spin again. And Zaha looked at it.

“I see.”

He realized it. There was a way to not receive any penalties.

There were two things.

To destroy.

And to not let it stop.

“Just keep it moving.”

Why didn’t he think of that?

Zaha looked at the dice, looking disappointed.

“Right. It is much more difficult to go against it forcefully. But what if we can lean on what it is doing? We just need to make sure we don’t tackle the power.”

“And this proves it.”

Seol Young said.

“If I had just concocted a way to force you to see the penalty, would I have bothered to stop the curse?”

“Fine. Let’s say that…”

And Zaha asked,

“Do we just let it spin for eternity like that?”

“Good question.”

Seol Young replied.

“I barely got hold of her. It is the only chance to bring out her main body.”

He gathered all his strength in his hands as he was using the Wind Spirit Curse.