Chapter 63 – Praying For Rain (1)

As if to symbolize the wealth of the capital, the Gold Beginning House glittered in gold.

The door of the mansion was open.

“Welcome.”

The couple who took care of the house immediately greeted Seol Young.

“Do you know what we talked about after your last visit?”

The husband talked in a friendly way.

“What are you saying?”

“‘Seol Young-rang is scary like a ghost,’ is what I said.”

“Why?”

“Since that night, our master stopped turning off the lights and locking the doors. Instead, he would leave them on and the doors wide open. Doesn’t that mean that he is scared you will come back again?”

His words felt a bit sensible and insensible at the same time. But it was a joke.

‘They must be in a good mood to even joke about it.’

With that thought in mind, Seol Young followed the couple inside.

The mansion, like many other things in the world, felt different in the daytime than it did at night the last time he visited it.

When he saw the mansion in bright light, it felt bigger. As Seol Young continued to look around, the couple began to explain.

“There are several buildings around here. On the right is the Gathered Dragon Hall, which was very crowded when the master was the Governor.”

“At that time, many Hwarangs and soldiers would constantly use that hall to stay for the night, but now you can see that no one is here…”

He followed them through the winding corridor.

The large garden he had seen before came into view. The trees were old, and there were oddly shaped natural stones in between them.

A knowledgeable person would have commented on this or that, but Seol Young didn’t care. Instead, he was looking for the main hall with the golden roof—the Golden Jade Hall.

“Seol Young-rang has arrived.”

The couple announced so he could enter.

“I greet the High Governor.”

Seol Young bowed politely, like any other Hwarang, and stood there. The parts that were broken before are now fixed.

He didn’t realize it because it was dark the last time he came, but the door was actually decorated with elegant patterns.

“Then we will prepare some tea.”

And the couple walked away. Seol Young opened the door and entered.

It was cold and dark.

A huge painting of Buddha could be seen in the shadows. The outline drawn in gold dust made it shine.

At the same time, there was this golden glow from the middle of the room. The person who was lying on a long chair in the middle of the room opened his eyes.

Seol Young said,

“Wake up.”

No reaction.

“I said get up.”

When Seol Young said it again, he answered this time,

“What is wrong with a corpse lying down?”

“To say that with your mouth…”

Seol Young answered indifferently and then stopped. It was because, in the shadow, something shady rose.

“Well, haven’t you decided to be more polite to me?”

Zaha asked, making Seol Young hesitate.

Did he actually care so much about it?

Firstly, Seol Young had just stepped into this place, not really caring much, and he had never once intentionally visited any of the other Hwarangs’ places.

So how great should it be considered that he came here now?

Seol Young didn’t care. It was much quieter with Zaha sleeping, and he knew that letting him sleep forever meant he wouldn’t be bothering him.

So at this point, he was treating him with the best care possible.

But did it make sense? He was silent, thinking about how to answer…

“Well, right. I thought of it on my own.”

Zaha mumbled.

“I asked for forgiveness for being rude in the past, but I never said anything about being polite in the future. Being rude and asking for forgiveness, and then being rude and asking for forgiveness again… that works, right? Then life will be comfortable.”

Seol Young looked at him.

‘And it is your side you should be worried about.’

His opponent was now a strange being. From the time of his birth until now, he must have heard so many things about how powerful he was.

And he must have been worried about what would happen to everyone when he died, and not a single one of them woke him up—it was someone else.

“It is my way of being polite.”

Seol Young said.

“I cannot do much even if you don’t understand it. The medicine you put in your mouth helps your body, right? This is the same.”

He wanted to say a lot more, but he stopped. Talking to those eyes in the dark felt odd.

“Let me ventilate this place.”

He ran across the room, put his feet on the window sill, and opened it with his hand, and the sunlight spread as it brightened the room.

The space was like a study room.

Hanging on the front wall was a huge painting of Water Moon Avalokiteshvara in silk.

It had such a benevolent face, with its back to the full moon and looking down at the water.

An empty cage hung by the window, being swayed lightly by the wind.

On one side, there was a table and some chairs made of hard-looking wood. There were inkstones, brushes, and paper, but there was no trace of them being touched.

“If this is the case, no one will doubt it.”

Seol Young scattered the paper and spread the brush on it.

“You don’t have to worry about it. There aren’t people who can cross that door and come in.”

“Then I am glad.”

Seol Young ignored his words.

“Then, since you seem to have woken up, can we finally talk?”

As he said that, he looked around, and his eyes lingered on a closet.

“The biggest problem right now is that your body is out of shape. Your body cannot stand it because you are stubbornly holding onto the energy of the evil spirit. And if you use your strength, it will cause side effects.”

Seol Young walked to the closet and opened the door.

And inside were five shadows.

The family that guarded him, his Guardian Spirits. It was bizarre to see everyone hugging their knees with still faces. Perhaps they were not too familiar with Zaha yet.

Seol Young closed the closet door again.

“These Guardian Spirits can help you, but they are not the solution, so the first thing we have to do is get a new item from a God. Just like the Tree Spirit God’s.”

He looked at Zaha, and the man was listening with a frown.

‘It would be better to organize it again from the start.’

Seol Young sat down on a blackwood chair.

“Be it a Tree God or a Tree Spirit God. Their roots come from the Shrine Tree. But do you know what it is?”

“…”

Zaha looked at him, a bit dumbfounded.

“Who was the priest in the former Governor’s time? A very long time ago, before people lived on this land, a huge tree was known to be guarding this place, and it was called the Shrine Tree.”

“I see.”

Seol Young nodded.

“The Guardian Trees that protected this land, along with the one major tree that existed, protected the people who came to live here. Then the people worshipped the Tree Gods, calling them the Tree Spirit Gods.”

The sunlight shone on the walls. The painting in the dark could be seen half shining.

“But with the new religions emerging, the ancient Guardian Gods were forgotten. Even the name ‘Tree Spirit God’ was changed to ‘Kodama.’”

“Something everyone knows of.”

“You didn’t know about it until I told you.”

Seol Young said,

“The important thing is that from now on, when we think of these facts, it is like the old Gods are dead. It may be a cruel word, but since no one believes in or has faith in these Gods, it is like they are dead.”

“But the dead God is alive now. At that place.”

“You are right. We have succeeded in summoning one old God to this dead land and driving out an evil spirit by using its body.”

“What exactly does the sacred wood do?”

“To take the place of the Gods in ancestral rites. Perhaps the priest cut the twigs of the sacred tree and carved the God’s face into it…”

For a moment, Seol Young recalled the grim appearance of that wooden mask.

“The powerful shock when the item was destroyed seemed to summon the God into this land…”

He glanced at Zaha.

“It will definitely help control the demonic energy inside of you. Seeing how it saved the monk in the past by staying within the closet, it seems like it has the power to work even without breaking it.”

“Ah, right. I see what you mean.”

Zaha nodded his head.

“And after that, I can take over…”

Just give it to me.

It was that kind of attitude.

“I knew you would do this.”

Seol Young said coldly.

Even when he closed the lid of the coffin himself, he was still a bit arrogant. Although he felt terrible pain from not being able to control the aura of the evil spirit within him, he never showed any signs of backing out.

“There has never been anything that has gone wrong in my life until I met that evil spirit. And finally, there was something blocking my path, so I had to get rid of it even if I had to die. The cause of my death was my temper.”

“It is usually like that.”

“Well…”

Seol Young shrugged.

“Finding the body of a dead God isn’t easy. Wealth, power, and force are all useless. You should approach this like you are solving a riddle.”

“You think I cannot do it?”

“Then do you realize where to start?”

“Of course I do.”

Zaha snorted.

“Did you already forget? That I kept lying to you until you had to go through my memories? I can see what is in your head.”

“Then what is the first clue?”

Perhaps Zaha hated admitting that he didn’t know it, so he continued to frown but did not answer.

“The first clue is…”

“Do not overdo it.”

“Shut up.”

Zaha looked up.

Then he smiled, saying,

“I know.”

TL/N: Kodama means Tree Spirits.