Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 123: Harp Box (8)

At that moment,

“Great Heavenly Pavilion head.”

The officials split into both sides to give her space to walk. As usual, her black hair was tied up in a bun, and she wore this fancy silk dress.

Even though she was stuck in the banquet for a long time, she didn’t seem to be a bit tired.

But if one looked at her up close, her face looked pale. And because she was stuck in the royal banquet, she couldn’t show such feelings.

Seeing that Zaha was still in the shrine, she frowned.

“Still investigating?”

“Still? Did you think it’s easy to uncover the secrets of this harp box? This harp box kills people at will, and it is something that can break through the guards in this shrine.”

She accepted everything he said without saying anything.

“I am just surprised. The High Governor said he’d do it alone, but since it is a holiday, I thought you’d have to head home soon.”

‘Besides, you aren’t alone, right? ’

That was what her eyes said, turning to Seol Young.

Zaha said,

“I was trying to sort things out before going back. However, did you people do your task well?”

“Of course. ‘I alone will be in the shrine and thank the heavens for the auspicious blessing given to us,’ is what I told the King and received his permission.”

She immediately said.

Seol Young listened to her.

‘Then the King agreed right away? If that is the case, the ritual I saw wouldn’t happen, right?’

“Still, we cannot be careless.”

Zaha said.

“Until the horrid secrets of this harp box are brought to light, it shouldn’t appear anywhere near the public again.”

“I know.”

“Then, as I said, Pavilion Head, stop this from reaching the ears of the royal family…”

Zaha raised his hand, and a golden energy spread and covered the harp box.

Spiritual power alone didn’t work on the harp box, so he seemed to try and connect the evil harp box with a piece of his consciousness.

“And we will take this and control it.”

At that, she didn’t respond. It was because the shrine had failed to do it once already.

“Prepare a string so the High Governor and Seol Young-rang can carry this.”

“Yes.”

They brought a string and tied the harp with it.

“Then, I guess.”

Zaha looked at her before leaving.

“We will have to come here a couple more times. Its secret is hidden right in the shrine. Please cooperate.”

“I understand.”

She replied, and the two went out with the harp box.

As soon as the door was shut, her voice could be heard from inside, asking the officials if Zaha had touched or done anything suspicious.

Zaha mumbled,

“It is too late.”

Very naturally, he twisted the candle stand attached to the wall.

In an instant, the wall moved, revealing another space, and in the darkness, there were chests piled up.

Seol Young was surprised.

“What is that?”

“There is another place inside the shrine. If we go in there, we can find the treasure trove—the real one.”

Zaha moved it back to its place and closed it.

“Let’s sneak in next time.”

All the officials were now being summoned by the Pavilion Head, but they still couldn’t let their guard down. So the two got out, carrying the harp box.

When they were outside, Seol Young stood there for a moment and looked at the shrine.

He hadn’t noticed it because he had lost his spiritual power and was concerned for Hyo Wol, but there was one thing he should have thought of before.

“Come to think of it, isn’t this the place where everything began? The pavilion received the false revelation that I will cause supernatural calamities, and if we carefully search here, we might find out something.”

“Right.”

Zaha nodded.

“What if, as I guessed, the God of Cataclysm is aiming for you? And what if the revelation was for that purpose? Then there could actually be a link about the God of Cataclysm right in the shrine.”

“If we can find it, we can get another clue about its identity.”

“Right.”

Zaha agreed.

“But what good will it do if we talk about it? If you don’t get your spiritual power back, everything is useless.”

He was right.

“Yes.”

Seol Young turned around, and the two of them went to Zaha’s house.

“Welcome.”

The couple greeted them.

Even after seeing Seol Young earlier, they pretended as if he had only come now. And it looked like they weren’t even out to enjoy the festival.

Earlier, he didn’t think much about it because of the fear that seeped into him, but when he looked at them, they weren’t an ordinary couple either.

‘They are not normal people.’

The moment the two went to the study, Seol Young hesitated.

Lady Mo, Lady To, Teacher Seo, and the kids were all in the study. The sight of them standing near the window and looking around seemed so natural.

Seol Young smiled when he realized that.

“Everyone seems to have adapted to this place well.”

“They run around much better than before.”

Zaha said.

It seemed like they didn’t have to monitor him every time. Could he take them back then?

When Seol Young was thinking that, Zaha said,

“Stop looking around like that. You look like a stupid fish.”

They were strange words to say, but they weren’t mean.

‘Let’s leave them here a little longer.’

Seol Young sat on a chair.

“The spell to calm me had broken, so do it again.”

“Ah, right.”

Zaha sat on top of the harp box, and then he drew the characters on the ground.

Seol Young transferred them onto his wrist, and he calmed down as the letters glowed.

“Now, I will activate it.”

He showed it to Zaha. Considering the spells he cast before, this was nothing.

But now, even such things helped him. The flickering light around his wrist made it seem like his spiritual power had returned.

‘What is this…’

Zaha looked confused.

“Don’t do anything strange. Are you thinking of recovering your memories?”

“I was planning to.”

Seol Young picked up a brush and began to grind some ink, then drew two circles on a piece of paper.

“Let’s say this is the start. My memories of growing up during my childhood are in the Blank Demon’s hands. And this is the memory of me meeting my hyungs for the first time.”

He drew a connecting line between the circles.

“The next problem… where did I lose my memory from?”

He turned to the blank space.

‘But come to think of it, am I the only one alive in this room?’

At that sudden thought, his focus broke, but he managed to concentrate again.

“After the memory came to my mind, I looked at Third-rang and asked him what would have happened if I followed them right then…”

He found a good reason to continue that train of thought.

‘What could have happened?’

Seol Young focused on that question.

The writing on his wrist shone, and the confusion in his mind was eased.

“If I did follow them, then…”

Suddenly, he thought of it.

“… I wouldn’t have met it.”

“It?”

Zaha asked.

“Are you talking about the Blank Demon?”

“It seems like it. I feel bad, anxious, and lost.”

“Then you seem to be correct. Then you must have met it not too long after you met them.”

“Well, that part is blocked. I will skip that and try to approach it in another way.”

“Try to direct your thoughts to your most important memories. Anything that can be a clue to find out about it.”

“I get it.”

Seol Young took a deep breath again.

‘Where do I start?’

As he looked around the study, he saw a lot of things, and he stared at what caught his eye the most.

The four Great Gods hanging on the wall.

The moment he looked at them, the Blue Dragon on the wall seemed to move and look at him.

“Blue Dragon.”

Suddenly, something worked in his mind.

“After I separated ways with my hyungs, I continued to train and develop my strength. As a result, I got the name the Ghost Demon King, and I fought with the Blue Dragon Troops at their base that was located in Mount Toham.”

“I heard about that from Seo Geom-rang. I heard that innocent people were killed. They did acknowledge that they did a bad thing then, but you didn’t accept their apology for attacking the innocent, and you tried to cut off the arms of the Hwarangs who made the mistake.”

“Yes.”

Seol Young nodded.

“During the war with them, I ran into my hyungs again. They were saddened to see what I had turned into, and eventually, I held a grudge against all of the Hwarangs. I tried to subdue all the Hwarangs further and reveal the truth about what they did like an immature kid to end the situation.”

“So you fought with your hyungs?”

“Yes. And the demonic beings too, but they were much stronger then. In the end, I couldn’t handle it, so I summoned a stronger one, which surprised them.”

“What was it?”

Seol Young was a bit taken aback by Zaha’s question.

What was it?

The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t say them out loud, as if he wasn’t sure how they were said.

“I don’t know. Except that it is a scary and heinous thing…”

His head ached, and it felt like his memories were about to vanish, so he skipped that part and moved on.

“The three Hwarangs tried to subdue me at all costs, but the thing I summoned was so vicious that they had to withdraw. However, when they saw what I was using, they seemed concerned and went back to talk about it.”

And the words naturally flowed out.

“To Teacher.”

Zaha looked up.

‘This is it.’

He didn’t say anything because he feared the flow would break, and they just looked at each other.

‘I did it.’

He managed to step into the important part.

What kind of mysterious powers did that thing have?

His teacher, who was Baek San, must have known about it.

Seol Young tried not to get excited and he continued,

“To Teacher….”