1440 - Chapter 23

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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 23
22
But the answer came not from Yeon Su, but from In Eum.
“Specifying the exact direction for the curse and its target—that’s the first step of cursework. And you didn’t even create a new curse; you revived an existing resentment and put it to use. That shows some cleverness, doesn’t it? What do they call it these days…… cost-effectiveness?”
Yeon Su bowed deeply in gratitude at In Eum’s praise, his head lowered. While he remained bent, In Eum asked, as if seized by sudden curiosity.
“But wouldn’t divine punishment fall on you for doing such a thing?”
It was the body of a spirit-possessed shaman who served the gods directly. Hearing the question of whether the gods Yeon Su served were angered, he lifted his head with a bitter smile.
“Yes, truth be told, I haven’t felt well since yesterday. So today I intend to use that curse-breaking talisman. Will you permit it?”
In Eum laughed heartily at this.
In Eum believed that Yeon Su “taking” the curse-breaking talisman was truly a manly act. Working well and knowing how to lighten the mood—that was very much a man’s way.
Of course, it had begun as an act to dissolve the curse, but its meaning had already twisted into something else. Whether because the curse bearing down on his body was crumbling away, something strange happened: rubbing his body afterward left him feeling refreshed. “Very well. You’ve earned the right.”
With In Eum’s permission granted, Yeon Su lowered his head once more. Above him came the sound of Yeon Hyeong scoffing.
It didn’t matter how things appeared to them. For Yeon Su, it was already a satisfying outcome that he had defended against Yeon Hyeong allowing that man to touch him.
And there was yet another benefit as well.
***
Meanwhile, Du Hee exited the mansion as if driven out, heaving a long sigh.
Is this right? Will this work?
With such thoughts, she gripped the straps of her backpack tightly and made her way down the forest path.
Halfway down, her phone chimed. Du Hee pulled it out quickly, as though she’d been waiting. An unsaved number had sent her a text message in the popup at the top of the screen.
「010-xxxx-xxxx : Good work. I’ll return the money soon, so don’t worry too much. Your lips should stay sealed. 22:12」
“Sigh…….”
Sealed lips, indeed.
Du Hee made a zipping gesture across her mouth to herself. Once she felt reassured, tears mysteriously welled up in her eyes.
“Sniff.”
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and began calling Su Gyun, making her way down the forest path with a steadier step than before.
“Hey, Su Gyun. How’s Jin Hyeong doing?”
Speaking with Su Gyun, Du Hee recalled the chaotic rituals that had unfolded two nights ago at dawn.
Once they had gathered all the materials that the shaman Yeon Su had instructed them to prepare, a man claiming to be his friend appeared.
The man, with his ears full of piercings and flamboyant clothing, looked more like a model or influencer.
So shamans had friends like this too. Still, that man called Baek Yeon Su seemed more like an entertainer than a shaman anyway.
The man who introduced himself as Park Deok Woo loaded Du Hee into his car, which was packed with luggage, and drove to Gwae Am-ri. His driving was so reckless that Du Hee felt nauseous the entire way, though she hadn’t eaten anything.
Back at the school, Su Gyun was already there. With some bearded man accompanying Su Gyun, who had arrived by car, their group now numbered five in total.
With Su Gyun and Du Hee settled in the car, Yeon Su took the lead while his informant O Sang Hyeong and his spirit-sibling Park Deok Woo prepared the ritual.
O Sang Hyeong and Park Deok Woo moved a small altar table and boxes containing rice cakes, fruit, and sweets into the classroom. Yeon Su was retrieving his ritual tools from his car.
Dressed in a black formal suit, he placed on his head a white triangular hood with red flowers embroidered along its edges. Across his chest and waist, he wrapped a red cloth like a sash.
The outfit was strikingly contradictory, yet it suited him mysteriously well. As Du Hee stared at him in a daze, Yeon Su, now even bearing a sword at his waist, called the two of them over. He folded two talismans and slipped them into each of their back pockets, speaking as he did so.
―You two are to set up the altar table. The offerings are sparse, but approach it with the utmost sincerity.
Du Hee and Su Gyun entered the school, tense with anxiety. Su Gyun had to drag Du Hee, who couldn’t bring herself to move, terrified of climbing the stairs. Su Gyun himself had worn a grim expression and hadn’t spoken a word since earlier.
One by one, they unpacked the items they’d prepared from the box. Following Park Deok Woo’s instructions, they took great care to place everything without shifting a single position or letting a single crumb fall to the ground.
Once Yeon Su confirmed the setup, he lowered a lantern before the altar table. Beside the lantern, carefully folded from paper, sat a paper boat as well.
He then withdrew from his breast pocket the name papers he had prepared and written down beforehand. There were four name papers in total.
Before the altar table, Yeon Su’s eyes perceived Ye Eun and Heo Eun. Heo Eun was sitting in front of the sweets, asking if she could eat them, while Ye Eun stood weakly, her gaze fixed downward.
―Wheee-. Whee.
Yeon Su whistled. Then Ye Eun, whose eyes had been fixed on the ground, slowly turned her head. Yeon Su held out the name papers once more and spoke.
―Look carefully. This time, don’t confuse them. See them properly.
He waved the four name papers slowly before Ye Eun.
Focus gradually returned to Ye Eun’s eyes. Then, as though she longed to burn the papers, she glared at them fiercely.
Yeon Su began burning the name papers one by one in sequence. Two sheets in the left candle flame, two sheets in the right, kept separate, and then he gathered the ashes and combined them.
Wrapping the ashes in a white cloth wrapper, Yeon Su had Su Gyun hold them. Su Gyun and Du Hee knelt before the altar table, clasped their hands in prayer, and each time Yeon Su commanded, they bowed twice.
As the two of them bowed and bent forward again, the blade of Yeon Su’s long sword dangerously grazed past their backs.
After dozens of bows were completed, Du Hee suddenly felt her back grow heavy and couldn’t lift her head, collapsing forward. Startled, she trembled violently, gasping for breath.
―Didn’t I tell you that’s not where you should go? I said to look carefully. I know well that the weight of injustice can drive one’s eyes wild. But you must see correctly.
Speaking thus, Yeon Su made a slicing gesture across Du Hee’s back with the blade.
On one side of the blade was engraved the Big Dipper, and on the other, six stars. Warmth radiated from there. Du Hee, who had been trembling all over, slowly drew in her breath and found stability.
Yeon Su gazed at the black qi clinging to his fingertips as he gripped the sword. The qi the man had given him still lingered at his fingertips. Thinking that today the sword clung unusually well to his hand, he turned his feet toward Su Gyun.
Su Gyun sat with the cloth wrapper held against his chest, his eyes tightly closed and his head bowed.
Rather than slash Su Gyun’s back as he had done with Du Hee, Yeon Su crouched before him and met his gaze.
―Are you really going to do this?
At Yeon Su’s words, which had shifted slightly in tone, Su Gyun lifted his head. He hesitated just a moment, then answered firmly.
―Yes. I’ll do it.
Yeon Su studied Su Gyun for a long moment, as though determined to unearth every trace of deception in those eyes.
Fear might have clouded Su Gyun’s gaze, but there was no lie in his resolve to stand in for Jin Hyeong. Yeon Su read this truth and exhaled quietly.
―Hand it over.
He took the cloth wrapper from Su Gyun’s grip.
―What?!
While Su Gyun and Du Hee stood bewildered, Park Deok Woo opened the classroom window—a movement that spoke of prior arrangement.
Yeon Su walked to the window and untied the wrapper’s knot. As it came loose, the cloth fell open, and the ash inside scattered on the wind, drifting across the sports field and out toward the village.
Once he’d emptied it completely, Yeon Su lifted his pointed hood slightly with the back of his hand, revealing the eyes that had been hidden. Sharp eyes met Ye Eun’s.
―What you’re looking for is over there.
Ye Eun’s gaze snapped toward the window. Her red eyes, streaming with tears of blood, curved upward as though flooded with joy.

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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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