1440 - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2
2
It was exactly as I remembered from childhood. Despite being a two-story wooden structure that would have required advanced technique for its era, it felt impossibly small and unremarkable.
The outer walls were all weathered wood, and the ritualistic patterns painted on them some generations ago had peeled away in patches, making the whole thing look shabby.
The small building had no windows facing the Main Residence—peculiar for its design. A single narrow door, barely wide enough for one person, was the only passage connecting this box-like structure to the main house.
I stood for a moment, studying the Annex Building. My shoes had grown considerably larger since childhood. I planted them firmly on the ground and began trampling through the overgrown weeds with deliberate steps, clearing a path toward the structure. I could already see traces of someone else having trampled through recently.
“Ah, I see.”
The whisper of grass underfoot resembled the sound of his sleeve rustling against me the day he ruffled my hair.
That nostalgic sound allowed me to suppress, at least partially, the unpleasant feelings rising within me.
On the Annex Building’s gate—invisible from a distance—hung a freshly made Keumsil, woven rope strung across to prevent the approach of spiritual impurity.
I tore it away without hesitation and threw it into the weeds. This was a seal, not a ward against defilement.
Once I’d removed that, I found the door plastered with Talismans. The gleam of pristine yellow Mystical Paper mixed with the faded traces of older ones, creating an ominous impression—as though something profoundly sinister were sealed within. But I knew with certainty that what lay trapped inside was never such a thing.
I knew absolutely that what was confined here was never such an entity.
I inserted the key into the locked Annex Building door. The ancient key resembled something from a historical drama, and it bore the deep marks of age not merely in appearance but in substance as well.
The key turned slowly with a grinding sound. Once I’d fully rotated it and withdrawn the bolt, the old door creaked open with a long, drawn-out shriek.
The stagnant, heavy air pressing down inside made me hold my breath for a moment.
Something other than ordinary incense filled the Annex Building, accompanied by a thick, oppressive presence.
Peaceful silence no longer dwelt in this place.
The decrepit floorboards groaned and shrieked beneath my feet with each step, and from deeper within the Annex came a sound I had no desire to hear—one that issued at regular intervals.
A man’s moan. The breathless voice caught up in passion belonged to someone I knew well: my stepbrother, Baek Yeon-hyung.
I felt no guilt at overhearing my acquaintance’s intimate act. Only displeasure.
Only one voice continued to sound throughout, as though he were pleasuring himself alone. Yet I knew with absolute certainty that someone else existed in this place besides him.
—Do not suffer.
That serene space where a clear voice and the gentle scent of incense once flowed no longer existed.
Standing before the only room on the first floor of the Annex, I steadied my breathing quietly. Enduring the heavy, twisted presence that permeated this place, I forced the corners of my mouth upward against their natural downward pull.
—Do not grieve.
Recalling that voice, I made a soft knocking gesture against the old paper door. Though he’d certainly heard my footsteps creaking across the floor, the breathless sounds abruptly ceased.
“……What is it?”
“Brother. It is Baek Yeon-su.”
My words prompted the sound of startled rustling from within the room.
“……What? Baek Yeon-su? What are you doing here?”
To my stepbrother’s crude outburst, I simply smiled and delivered my message.
“Father requests your immediate presence in the Main Residence. I trust you’ll finish here and come out promptly.”
“…….”
Silence filled the room briefly before more curses erupted. I let the sound pass over me with practiced ease, taking a step or two backward.
Soon the door flew open roughly, and a man appeared. Baek Yeon-hyung—fastening his trousers with an expression of displeasure directed at me.
It was curious that I resembled him by half. Objectively speaking, his face would have been quite handsome. Yet those even features had been twisted into strange angles by years of harboring his volatile temperament and the constant disdain in his gaze toward others.
“What—is this really Baek Yeon-su?”
He smiled at me with a crooked, mocking expression. Before he’d even fully stepped from the room, I’d already arranged my features into a prepared smile, bowing my head respectfully to him.
“Yes, brother. Your younger brother. I have returned.”
As I paid him such elaborate courtesy, Baek Yeon-hyung seemed torn between the desire to mock and a secret satisfaction. The way he stood in his disheveled state as though about to offer me instruction spoke to both impulses at once.
“Why have you come back? Why not simply go find some quiet place and set up a Shrine somewhere? What good do you expect to see in this house? Why return at all? Tsk.”
Having dispensed with his false concern and mockery, he turned and walked down the corridor ahead. The sinister creaking of the floorboards followed his every step like a shadow.
The moment he left the room, a servant who had been waiting in the living area entered the chamber carrying a basin of clean water, a towel, and a brass bowl heaped with rice, incense sticks bristling from within. Another servant knelt outside the door with a brass tray of dried mugwort.
I turned to follow Yeon-hyung with apparent deference, stealing a glimpse into the room as I did.
A white mat lay spread across the center of the modest room. Over it hung a black long robe, partially open, and between its folds lay a white, emaciated body.
A servant wiped the motionless form with a damp cloth as though tending a corpse. The twisted, malevolent presence that Yeon-hyung had left behind moved obscenely through the air.
I had to suppress the urge to rush into that room and verify his condition. My fingernails carved deep crescents into my palms.
—Do not suffer.
That tender voice no longer echoed from anywhere.
Yeon-hyung continued speaking as we walked toward the main house, but I heard nothing. My mind was entirely consumed by the figure lying in that room.
You could never understand how desperately I wished to see him.
—Only the Cursed Shaman who carries on the family line may take him as a Spiritual Shield.
Since childhood, when I could not comprehend those words, I have always thought of those white, gentle hands.
I regained my composure as I watched the servant begin to kindle the mugwort, releasing its smoke.
The servant carrying the smoking mugwort entered the room to drive away spiritual impurity, and soon the door closed with a sharp sound.
Only then did I turn and follow Yeon-hyung down the narrow corridor with an air of complete indifference.
“Is that your sword?”
Yeon-hyung turned back, gesturing dismissively at the Jangdo thrust through my belt. His manner of indicating someone else’s Shaman’s Tool was extraordinarily arrogant and presumptuous.
“Yes.”
“You carry around something that looks so impressive? Hey, won’t the police catch you with that?”
Yeon-hyung seemed genuinely delighted to have found one more person to needle. Unlike his earlier question about why I’d returned to this house, he stood beside me now, rattling off barbed comments without pause.
“But seriously, why did you come back? You don’t even have a room here anymore.”
He spoke as though erasing my room from the house had dealt me some grievous wound. I let my face smooth into practiced pleasantness and offered him empty words.
“I could never presume to match your experience. But wishing to repay the kindness of those who raised me, I’ve come to offer my help.”
I’m going to kill you.
All of you—I’ll kill you all.
With that thought burning behind my eyes, I smiled and bowed again.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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