I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband - Chapter 44

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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 44
“So what were you planning to do if Ern didn’t decay even after you performed the ritual?”
“I was going to tell you he’d start rotting tomorrow, and then I was going to run away. I’m sorry.”
Tan glanced at Udit and Ern’s expressions, then let his shoulders drop.
Udit let out an exasperated laugh, while Ern’s face remained unreadable.
Tan found Ern both frightening and fascinating. The ritual he’d performed that day—the so-called Cheondobjae—had been nothing at all. After witnessing Ern come back to life, Tan had hidden for a long time, too terrified to speak of it to anyone, keeping it as a secret. But seeing Ern standing before him now, perfectly intact, curiosity bloomed through the cracks of his fear.
“But how did you really survive?”
How would I know? Ern regarded Tan with bewilderment.
“And why do you talk like such a child? If you’re fishing for sympathy, you can forget it.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. When I’m working I use a more mature tone, but I was so shocked just now that my usual way of speaking came out.”
Udit, who had been listening quietly to Tan’s explanation, asked something that seemed to puzzle her—his age.
“How old are you?”
“Me? Seventeen.”
Seventeen? Udit examined Tan’s face carefully. Even being generous, he looked somewhere in his mid-twenties, and at first glance he seemed thirty, yet he claimed to be seventeen.
“If you keep lying, I’ll have you running around with your soles on fire again, just like before.”
“It’s not a lie!”
Tan felt deeply wronged. He’d faced this misunderstanding countless times because of his mature appearance, and it stung every time.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but I really am seventeen. What benefit would I get from lying about my age?”
“If that’s truly the case, I apologize.”
At Tan’s words, Udit’s expression turned sorrowful, as if she were thinking, ‘How did things come to this for him?’
“It’s alright. People say that a face like mine gets better with age—becomes more youthful as you get older.”
You’re quite the optimist, aren’t you? Udit regarded Tan with admiration, thinking it no small feat for a seventeen-year-old who looked thirty to maintain such a positive outlook.
“Don’t pity me.”
Tan spat out the words as if that expression of sympathy bothered him even more. His clipped tone was pure adolescence.
“Anyway, we’re here.”
“Here? I don’t see any village. And I don’t think there could be a village in a place like this.”
Udit looked around uncertainly. Ern, who had been surveying their surroundings, furrowed his brow sharply.
“I warned you not to waste our time. Guide us properly.”
Seeing their reaction, Tan exhaled as if he’d expected nothing less, then raised his finger.
“It’s not a waste. Don’t you see over there? Those tents—that’s where I live.”
Udit and Ern fell silent as they looked where Tan was pointing.
It was no place fit for human habitation. The ground lay perpetually in shadow, thick with wet mud.
“Tan! Tan is back!”
“Tan, why did you come back so early today?”
Children played cheerfully across the damp, fetid ground, all bearing the strong features of the Shartin tribe—plainly undernourished at a glance. Despite the filth seeping up around them, their faces shone with innocence. The moment they spotted Udit and Ern, however, their expressions shifted. Their eyes grew wide with curiosity, but they did not approach; instead, they edged backward warily, as if sensing danger.
“I’ve brought guests. Mind your manners.”
Barely seventeen himself, Tan chided the children with the gravity of an adult. They regarded him with curious but cautious eyes, maintaining their distance from Udit and Ern, shuffling back with apprehension. They had learned to fear what was not of their world.
“People around here don’t care much for us. The children pick up on that. Over there—that’s where Grandmother lives.”
Speaking as though it were nothing, Tan led Udit and Ern toward a ramshackle tent. Inside, there was a table and chairs—someone’s attempt at dignity.
“Grandmother.”
After asking Udit and Ern to wait, Tan approached the old woman lying on a rough cot. He gave her a gentle shake, and her eyes fluttered open.
Tan knelt before her and whispered the reason for bringing guests into her ear. The old woman’s expression darkened, she sighed heavily, then slowly rose from the cot.
“Please, sit.”
The old woman’s eyes were clouded as if covered by a white veil. Watching her lean on Tan as she walked, it was clear she could barely see. Once Grandmother was seated at the table, she ordered Tan outside the tent.
“I’ve heard your explanation. I’m ashamed.”
The table and chairs both felt sticky from the dampness rising from the earth.
“The boy isn’t a bad child, but as you can see, our circumstances are what they are.”
Faced with constant rejection, the Shartin tribe had learned to form small groups among themselves, supporting one another.
Those who could earn money fed the elderly and children; when those children grew, they in turn would provide for the old and younger ones.
In time, most of them were blood relations, but even those who weren’t were considered family within the group.
“You’ll meet a pharmacist named Beichi, and you’ll understand—he can work as a pharmacist because he looks like an Empire citizen. The other children cannot work with people. Whether they like it or not.”
They had no choice.
“Empire citizens think all Shartin are born with Spiritual power, but that isn’t so. Many are born without it, with only yellow eyes to mark them.”
“What do those people do?”
“Work the jobs Empire citizens won’t touch. For pennies.”
Sewer cleaning, chimney sweeping, garbage collection, grave-tending—such was their lot.
The fortunate few who secured positions as servants in grand houses found themselves confined to stables or hidden corners, scrubbing and cooking and washing while remaining unseen.
“Groups with more youth fare slightly better than we do. You’ll have seen it on your way here—we have mostly children, the elderly, and the sick.”
That was why young Tan had been forced to masquerade as an adult, working as a Spirit medium.
“Tan’s training is still incomplete. But we need money. So we sent him out into the world, though I never imagined he’d resort to fraud. This old woman begs your pardon.”
“I’ve already received an apology from Beichi, so there’s no need for another.”
Udit waved her hand dismissively.
“We came because we had something we wanted to ask you.”
“I shall answer as best I know.”
“I opened a shop, you see.”
As Udit lamented how the place was perfectly fine when she went to sign the contract, but reeked unbearably the moment she tried to start business, Grandmother let out a soft, heavy sigh.
“I think I understand what’s happened.”
“Really?”
“Someone has cursed that shop, it seems. I’d need to see it myself to be certain, but I’m fairly sure that’s what it is.”
“Is there a way to fix it?”
“There is. Would you call for Tan?”
Udit and Ern stepped outside the tent and called for Tan. While Tan spoke with Grandmother inside, Ern and Udit watched children playing in the distance.
They seemed to be playing house, though it looked less like a family game and more like listing all the foods they wanted to eat. One child in particular kept scratching at himself constantly.
Living here, what else could you expect?
“It’s damp.”
A clammy moisture rose from the soggy earth, and even standing still felt humid.
“With dampness like this, sickness is inevitable.”
Udit murmured the words like a sigh. The moment she stepped back into the tent and caught the stale, musty air, a memory she’d rather have forgotten surfaced unbidden.
A half-basement room blooming with mold. Those humid, suffocating days spent drenched in sweat through sweltering, oppressive nights without air conditioning.
When her father’s business collapsed and the family moved through cheap motel rooms, it had been truly unbearable. Her father had disappeared somewhere, her mother was out working, her older brother was gallivanting who knows where—and the room stood empty more often than not.
Young Ugin had spent those nights alone in a room where the door barely locked. Every night, drunk men fought outside. But the most terrifying sound was someone trying to force the door open. She never knew if they’d mistaken her room for theirs or if they knew a girl was alone inside, but there were times when a stranger would try to wrench the door open.
Each time, Ugin would huddle in the corner, blanket pulled over her head, trembling uncontrollably. Her heart would hammer, time would crawl, and fear would paralyze her. So what was a cursed house compared to that? To Udit, such things were nothing at all.
“Please come in.”
At Tan’s call, Udit and Ern stepped back into the tent.
“Take Tan with you. I have my suspicions, but we should verify them ourselves.”
“Thank you.”
Udit reached into her pocket and withdrew the gold coins Beichi had given her earlier, placing them before Grandmother. Both Grandmother and Tan were startled, but Ern was the most shocked of all.
“What are you doing?”
He grabbed her cheeks and turned her face toward his, scrutinizing her eyes and complexion.
“You’ve been breathing this damp air too long—what’s wrong with your head?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“There’s plenty wrong. You’re giving up gold coins? Tell me what’s going on, Udit.”
He squeezed her cheeks harder, and her expression grew increasingly pinched in response.
“Stop, please, don’t.”
Udit pushed hard against his arms. Ern still looked utterly baffled by the situation.
Fine, I suppose I do hoard money, but not like this in front of others. Udit cleared her throat awkwardly and slid two more gold coins closer to Grandmother.
“If you’re taking on a request, you should be compensated for it. This isn’t charity.”
“We’re not in a position to refuse. Thank you.”
Grandmother’s trembling fingers touched the gold coins gently.
“We had more people once, you know. I don’t say it to boast, but the truth is we have history and tradition behind us. We’ve lived together the longest, and we had our own system. But ten years ago, when those people appeared.”
Grandmother’s voice caught, and she trailed off.
“Those people?”
“Yes. Members of our own tribe who led a rebellion and made our lives far more difficult.”
“You mean their followers?”

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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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