Chapter 76 – Praying For Rain (24)

“Maiden, just one minute.”

After Seol Young asked Jung Myung for her understanding, he looked at Zaha.

“There is no point in doing the same method again. Your sword can’t go as fast as your heart, and as a result, a gap is created, and he continuously tries to dig into that gap.”

It was embarrassing to even think about it. However, it seemed like Zaha hadn’t thought much of it, probably because he didn’t expect Seol Young to talk like that.

“So, any good ideas?”

“This is not a matter of will. There is just one way—to train.”

“Train?”

“Didn’t you say that you could do it a hundred times if needed? Then, I really want you to do that.”

Seol Young looked at Jung Myung again.

“The maiden is pretty strong too.”

“Uh? Me? No…”

“It is true. So I am asking the maiden for help. I am not sure if it will work…”

“It probably wouldn’t.”

“But let’s try it once.”

Seol Young looked straight at Jung Myung.

“You said you felt the need to help us, right? Why? Why did you feel that way? Did you see something? Or did you hear anything?”

“There is no way a fool like me could have seen or heard… But…”

Her eyes turned clear. Her gaze turned to Seol Young and then to Zaha.

“That one.”

Jung Myung said.

“Looking at the painful memories of a soul is a shaman’s job. I looked into something of his and heard something. It is odd. When was it, though? I met you for the first time today…”

“Can you show it?”

“I don’t know. I can try.”

Jung Myung sighed and closed her eyes. She put her hands on her chest as she focused. And the next moment, the surrounding landscape changed.

The forest vanished, and the sky was gray.

And then came the sea.

“Help me!”

There was a demonic beast in front of them. A being that was driven by all the evil in the world.

It was the size of a large ship, with several rows of sharp teeth protruding from its mouth. People were caught on its legs.

“Please save me!”

The people were struggling and screaming at the same time, and Jung Myung was shocked.

“I-I did it…”

Everything was so clear.

Rather than recalling his memories, it was as if he had re-entered the scene of the disaster in the past.

“…….”

The expression disappeared from Zaha’s face.

To experience the memories that he didn’t want to recall as reality again was certainly something that required a lot of determination.

But he didn’t look away.

Zaha looked straight at the demonic beast screaming in front of him and drew his sword.

It was his duty.

Hsss! With a sound, one of the beast’s legs flew his way.

Zaha cut it, and he jumped up to swing his sword at the screaming head.

‘Do not avoid it. It’s my fault..’

The moment Zaha heard that voice inside his heart, Seol Young loudly said,

“But it is not your fault!”

The demonic beast’s head flew off.

Zaha looked at him from the other side. His eyebrows furrowed.

“What did you say?”

“Don’t bother. I was talking to myself.”

Seol Young replied.

Blue blood gushed out from the neck of the beast. It screamed as if it were going mad.

“Thank you!”

The people tried to quickly get away from the legs of the beast that caught them. But the next moment, another head popped out.

Seol Young looked at the scene and said,

“They were the ones who were determined to deceive the people from the start. That’s just it. It’s not your fault. It just happened that way.”

The head that had just risen opened its mouth wide.

When the other head that it didn’t get along with was cut off, its movements became swifter.

In the blink of an eye, it began to grab the people and shove them into its mouth.

Seol Young said,

“It is not your fault.”

Zaha looked up.

“Why are you saying that?”

“I am also practicing.”

Seol Young answered calmly.

“So far, I have been lucky enough to avoid it, but I might end up facing something similar to this in my life, right? If so, what should I think then? As a result of my hard work….”

Bodies floated up in the sea.

“I have decided to think that the things I can’t control won’t be my fault.”

Seol Young said that and looked back. Jun Myung looked at him with wide eyes, as if the situation made no sense.

“Maiden, can you do it again?”

“Ah, yes.”

Although she didn’t understand why, the kind-hearted girl immediately closed her eyes and put her hands on her chest. The scene from earlier reappeared, and the people began to scream.

“Help me!”

“It isn’t your fault.”

Seol Young calmly said.

Zaha cut off the head of the beast, just like before.

“Stop being stupid.”

He said that and looked at the people who thanked him.

“Do you think I don’t want to get rid of those thoughts? I just can’t shake it off.”

“Who said so? You are free to think what you want to think and do what you want to do. If you believe that you can change someone’s mind with just a few words, that’s arrogance.”

Another head rose from the sea, making the people go stiff in fear.

“Who doesn’t know that it’s useless to say anything?”

Seol Young looked at the people being dragged and said,

“No matter what we do, we cannot change the past. You cannot change what has happened, no matter how much you regret it. You cannot change the decision you made that day, and the dead cannot be brought back to life.”

The demonic beast swallowed the people and coughed them up.

Seol Young looked back.

“Maiden?”

“Yes.”

Jung Myung summoned the demonic beast again. And everything was repeated again.

“You cannot change the past, no matter what. So change the way you think. The past is dead, but you are still alive.”

A sharp sword was slashed in front of Seol Young, and the head of the beast was cut off.

“You cannot shake it off?”

Seol Young mumbled.

“Then don’t even bother shaking it off. You just have to think in a louder voice than that.”

Another head rose from the water.

“It’s not your fault. Everyone would have done the same thing at that moment.”

The people were dragged, and Zaha turned to Seol Young.

“So resentful.”

Seol Young said.

“Certainly, it will be hard to forget what you have seen with your own eyes. Still, you cannot help it… because it is not your fault.”

The beast appeared again, and Zaha cut its head off as blue blood gushed out.

“Stop. Now.”

He lowered his sword.

“I get it, so stop.”

“…”

Seol Young looked back.

Jung Myung was standing there. Tears flowed from both of her eyes.

“Those people couldn’t be saved… It’s not your fault.”

The girl mumbled and came back to her senses.

“I am sorry. I don’t know why I am tearing up.”

She said that while wiping the tears with her hand. There was something different about her now, as if she looked more relieved.

“I don’t know why the two of you are doing this…”

Jung Myung spoke again.

“Why? I feel like a huge burden has been lifted. I feel like I’ve been tied to a rope and escaped. For some reason, my strength is increasing.”

Then she looked at them with clear eyes.

“I have one thing to tell you. Actually, today in our village….”

The moment she said that, a powerful current flowed from somewhere and swept them off.

Soon, the time was up.

Seol Young thought as he felt suffocated.

‘This time, this time for sure….’

His consciousness was cut off.

And he opened his eyes to the sunlight. This time he wasn’t on a rock, but he was just lying down.

Zaha was looking down. When Seol Young opened his eyes, he immediately said,

“Get up.”

He had a blunt expression. However, his eyes seemed to have changed a bit. Was it an illusion that he looked a little more comfortable than last morning?

Seol Young got up.

His heart ached. It seemed that his lungs were still full of water.

“Wait, calm down.”

He took a couple of deep breaths…

At that moment, they heard a loud rustling sound, and the two quickly looked in that direction.

The branches were being snapped. At the same time, someone came into view.

It was Jung Myung.

The look of fear and timidity she had before was nowhere to be seen. With her eyes wide, she walked towards them confidently.

She even had a knife in her hand. It was a large knife that shamans normally use.

“I am Jung Myung, the shaman who inherited the traditions of this village.”

Jung Myung stood in front of them and spoke clearly.

“I came because I felt the presence of spirits here that could help me. I don’t know where you are from…”

The girl slumped to her knees.

She put down the knife she had brought in front of them and looked up at the two men.

“Something wrong has entered this village and is about to cause a great disaster, so please lend us your strength!”

She made a bold request.

Both of them were shocked.

This was way too different.