MTL
"...!!"
Baek Saheon quickly lifted his head.
Just now, there was a deafening sound behind him. Perhaps something even worse had happened in the village...
'Damn it, is this the time to think about that?'
He gritted his teeth and moved his feet again.
He needed to get away as fast as possible.
"Huff."
In the huge backpack Baek Saheon carried as he sprinted through the mountain path, there were water, food, and survival supplies meticulously chosen after serious consideration.
He had hidden them in a secret place, planning to use them when he had to flee this village someday. He couldn't believe that the time had finally come.
But now, in the remaining space of his backpack...
There were bones.
Remains of the pungmulnori troupe that had vanished and collapsed.
Among them, the bones that had once belonged to his sister.
"...."
He should've discarded them since they were heavy.
He found himself ridiculous for bringing them along despite knowing how foolish it was. Yet, now, it was impossible to just throw them away. That was the only thing he cared about.
'I wish everyone would just die.'
It might as well end this way.
The villagers, the outsiders who came to the village, and even the agents who failed to rescue him.
He imagined all of them dead and the damn village vanishing without a trace.
It was an electrifying thought.
But...
'Still, that one agent...'
That young agent with glasses who he had made draw the "special prize." Surprisingly calm, he had never sneered or gotten angry at his words. He helped him without asking for anything in return.
In the end, he kept his promise.
Both of them surviving.
Not betraying each other.
'....'
It felt strange.
It was probably the first time he felt this sensation in his life.
A strange feeling experienced when doing something good unintentionally, something he normally wouldn't do, and achieving it. People called this 'fulfillment.'
That was likely why, impulsively, he had left behind the 'paper boat.' Of course, this mattered only if that agent survived and discovered it. '...I'll think about it when he picks it up.'
Considering the mess earlier with centipedes and blades, he might be dead already...
At that moment.
"...!"
An eerie sensation pierced sharply into the back of his neck.
Something was behind him.
Something even stranger was happening in the village.
'...Damn it.'
Unable to resist, Baek Saheon glanced back.
Then.
"...!!"
His face turned pale, and he began running frantically down the mountain path.
He didn't look back again.
'Damn.'
What he had just seen.
Red blood pouring from the sky.
I was prostrate.
It happened automatically. My hands touched the ground as if bowing.
As if performing a deep bow.
I see you, I see you, I can see you.
Splatter.
Red blood fell onto my head and the backs of my hands.
You wicked beast, plague, ancient fox-spirit.
Pain intense enough to make me scream erupted in one hand. The left hand,
not the severed one.
I feel like I'm dying!
A rotten stench spreads.
I scraped the ground with my hand.
"Agent Grapes!"
I heard Agents Bronze and Choi arguing loudly.
"Isn't that Baemgun of Daecheongbong! Are you crazy? That supernatural phenomenon isn't friendly to humans...!" "Later! Quiet for now!"
Enduring the pain, I hurriedly glanced sideways.
Director Ho, in Eun Haje's form...
Filthy and lowly one, let me see you clearly.
...was smiling while drenched in blood.
"This is my acquaintance. Pay him no mind and move along, elder." Blisters bubbled up on the back of my hand.
I see your tail.
"This is my acquaintance. Elder, kindly raise your voice from outside the threshold."
The blisters burst into pus. Traces of plague.
Your tail is severed.
"This is my acquaintance. Elder, have your meal on the porch." Pus burst and flowed.
Crafty tongue.
Eun Haje's body floated into the air.
"...!"
His limbs twisted violently, yet his calm smile remained unchanged.
"No..."
"Shh."
Agent Choi pressed my shoulder.
Die.
Lightning strikes.
Burn to death, leaving only skin behind.
"No thanks."
Between lightning flashes, Director Ho's expression appeared.
"It's tigers that leave behind skins when they die. I'm unsure what you're
trying to say."
Still smiling.
"Inexperienced shamans are dangerous indeed. I'm not a fox spirit. Where's
your proof that I'm a fox? Proof that I'm a ghost? How about trying this—
evil spirits begone, Namu Amitabha Avalokiteshvara, Kyu Kyu Nyo Ryo,
Our Father who art in heaven, throw salt, scatter red beans too?"
Lightning struck again.
"But it doesn't work."
A tearing sound.
"What a shame. You must've misunderstood."
A calm voice echoed from the floating figure.
"You can't burn me."
A giant eye appeared between the blood rain from the sky.
So noisy.
Director Ho's limbs twisted further.
Ancient, and utterly detestable.
Dirty creature.
Disappear at once.
"Oh dear."
Grab your tail and run.
"You're terribly wicked. Forcing me apart from my acquaintance." The smiling face turned toward me. "What a shame, Soleum."
"...!"
Then, in the next instant...
He vanished.
Eun Haje's strangely twisted floating body disappeared as if it had never been there.
Along with Director Ho who inhabited that body.
"...."
"...."
Did he... run away?
My head was spinning with complex conjectures about how Eun Haje was being controlled and what restriction was placed on him. But simultaneously, I looked up at the sky. The blood rain had stopped.
I looked down at my hand again.
The blisters and pus had vanished cleanly, washed away by the blood rain.
I removed the dirty thing, as promised.
"...."
"No, General! You said you'd have him groveling for forgiveness! He ran off pretty quickly, didn't he?"
Silence, impertinent thing.
Agent Choi was suddenly lifted by the neck into the air.
"Agent!"
"Ugh, haha..."
I hurriedly looked upward and shouted: "I apologize! And thank you!"
Respectful child.
Something above was gazing down at me.
Very well.
It examined me.
Declare it.
Serve me properly.
For a moment.
Offer your bow.
I grant permission.
A strange force pressed down on my shoulders and back...
"You cannot."
"...."
Agent Choi raised his arm.
"This one already serves another. Can you see? The Goblin elder." At the end of his arm, the Goblin elder's lantern swung.
"The procession is finished, so return before your meal cools, General Tiger!"
Impertinent thing.
A snorting sound, like a feline predator's breath.
Set up the promised feast.
Then everything went quiet.
The blood rain, the lightning, all vanished as if they never existed.
I barely managed to speak.
"Who was that...?"
"Oh, the Great Tiger General Bodhisattva of Daecheongbong. Just call him that. It's a bit long, but he wants to be called that way." Ah.
At that moment, I realized what ghost story it was.
General Tiger of Daecheongbong.
A tiger-related ghost story derived from Baekho Daesal--a deadly omen in the Four Pillars of Deestiny (Saju Palja) believed to bring great misfortune and disaster, particularly associated with punishment, bloodshed, and blades. However, the Paranormal Disaster Management Bureau discovered that when this particular omen is involved in professions related to such themes (e.g. law enforcement, surgery, military), it can actually become advantageous. Building on this insight, they found a method to make the entity in the ghost story devour misfortune and bad luck instead.
For more detailed expedition records, refer here.
And as for what it means...
First and foremost, you must climb to the peak of Daecheongbong in Seoraksan, bearing your offering completely by your own strength. Agent Choi had accomplished its condition, climbing the peak alone with offerings.
"...."
I struggled to change the topic.
"...Based on what Agent Bronze said, that supernatural phenomenon didn't seem human-friendly."
"Oh, that." Agent Choi shrugged, "It just has no interest. Present a good meal and it grants favors."
"That meal includes humans, that's the issue!" Agent Bronze flared up, but Choi calmly smiled. "Don't worry, we've convinced him to go vegan." His eyes then fixed sharply on my now-clean hand. "It's gone... right?"
"....."
Agent Bronze gaze also shifted to the back of my hand.
After witnessing what happened earlier, it wouldn't be hard for him to guess that whatever entity had possessed the Deputy just moments ago might've left behind a curse or some kind of misfortune on my hand. "Agent Grape, what on earth..."
"I'll explain everything once we're back. For now, let's just confirm... Grape, tell me something."
I hesitated, then finally spoke.
"...I'm Roe Deer."
"...!"
The seal was lifted.
'Oh my god'
I stared blankly at the back of my hand.
And right on cue, the sound of a bicycle bell began ringing from outside the village.
"The Vermilion Bird team arrived."
The mission's end signal.
"This Jisan Village... still has a lot of suspicious areas. They'll probably start a full-scale search now. Looking for people, and the well too." Agent Choi tapped beside the well and spoke in a lighthearted tone.
"We'll investigate more later. Today, let's return."
"Yes."
Yet, I had overlooked something crucial:
"There may be other peculiar findings, but not right away. Let's head back for today."
A strange sense of relief began to spread through my chest.
Yeah, the Ban is gone now.
The whole "dying within a month" thing is over. I'm free....
Wait.
—"What a shame, Soleum-nim."
"...Agent Grapes?"
I was mistaken.
Swept up in emotion, I'd let myself feel a ridiculous sense of relief. This is no time to be happy or at ease.
I need to cool my blood.
"Sh*t."
I can't afford to fall out with Director Ho now.
Failing the mission and dying in a month? Sure, that's a big deal. But what's more important is completing the mission and getting the wish token.
But if things go on like this, wouldn't it be too clear a betrayal? If I want to carry out Director Ho's mission, this won't work.... No way.
I turned to look at Agent Choi.
Could it be that... even breaking my relationship with Director Ho was part of the plan?
"...."
"Grapes."
Agent Choi didn't meet my gaze.
Instead, with the same smiling face, he inserted his ritual blade and checked its edge.
While saying this:
"But on the way back... there's somewhere the Disaster Management Bureau's Agent Grapes needs to stop by." "...Sorry?"
The blade spun gently in the agent's hand.
"You were caught in some strange binding spell that the Bureau didn't know about."
"Since an agent was under some unknown spell, we need to properly investigate what happened. That's the protocol. Safely... in the isolation zone."
What he held with the blade came into view.
A small glass bead.
"Get in."
The same one I'd seen a few days ago.
The makeshift glass prison.
No.
"Wait..."
Thud.
Before I could even finish speaking, countless hands shot out from the void created by Agent Choi's bead and grabbed hold of me. "Agent..."
"Shh."
This time, the ambush happened so suddenly and thoroughly, I didn't even have a chance to resist.
"If you're cooperative with the interrogation process, you'll be released quickly. Don't worry."
I clenched my teeth and looked at him.
Agent Choi blocked Agent Bronze, who was about to rush over in shock, with his blade.
"It's a bit late, but everything will be fine."
"Agent Choi, what is this..."
"Just a moment."
Agent Choi looked back at me and spoke quietly.
"Get some rest... Grapes."
I was sucked into the void.
And just like that, I was transferred to the glass prison.