Kim Woo-jin slowly lowered his gun.
However, he didn’t release his two-handed grip on the weapon.
“There was no one entering…”
“Because they came in with me.”
I reached out my hand towards Baekmoong.
It was a signal for him to transform into a figurine.
“In front of this person?”
“We’ve already been caught today, so why not again?”
“…I’ll do as Jaga wishes.”
Baekmoong transformed back into a figurine and was held in my hand.
– Bang!
I turned around at the ear-splitting sound to see a bullet embedded in the floor.
“…I’m sorry… no, what is that…”
Is it really so surprising to see something human-like transform into a figurine that you need to fire a gun?
A gunshot in a residential area of South Korea.
* * *
This will surely be reported.
“Mr. Kim Woo-jin, you’ll need to be more careful about pulling out your gun in the future.”
“I apologize.”
The situation was only resolved after showing Kim Woo-jin’s ID to the police who responded to the report. It was fortunate that there were no people in the neighboring and lower floor apartments at the time.
Baekmoong, in his figurine form, remained silent and motionless.
Looking at him, I finally realized why I had felt uncomfortable in a corner of my heart every time I saw this mystical creature or monster.
It didn’t appear when my parents died, or when my manager hyung died, but only showed up when the spell on my shoulder broke.
And then saying it would help me – it didn’t make sense.
Because it didn’t appear when I really needed help.
The hair on the Baekmoong figurine seemed to move slightly.
But if my parents’ car accident wasn’t related to ghosts, if I hadn’t been hurt when my manager hyung died, then the sacred object’s spell wouldn’t have been broken.
Thinking about it that way, I could understand a little why Baekmoong couldn’t have helped.
But I couldn’t shake the thought that the sacred object’s choice was selfish.
“I have something to tell you.”
Kim Woo-jin, who was driving, spoke up.
He glanced back, looking briefly at the Baekmoong figurine.
“We received a visit request from the Cultural Heritage Administration. They want to propose you become a promotional ambassador.”
“Promoting for the Cultural Heritage Administration?”
“To be precise, it’s for a Korea Tourism Organization promotional video, but it’s about showcasing the restoration process of the damaged figurines and promoting the palaces.
Actually, the figurines weren’t stolen, but broken. Such incidents happening all at once have created a bad atmosphere at the Cultural Heritage Administration lately.”
“They were broken?”
“The culprit hasn’t been found yet. Also, the Cultural Heritage Administration seems very interested in Song Yiyoung’s sword.”
Well, a sword that appeared in hand along with a flash of light.
Even if no one clearly saw the light transform into a sword due to the power outage and the flash, many people saw the brandished sword.
The drama press conference was being streamed live, after all.
People who had never shown any interest in me, whether I was a celebrity or royalty, now started to add their two cents.
The live-streamed scene circulated as GIFs, and current affairs shows even analyzed it in slow motion.
– It’s been almost a hundred years since South Korea was established, and you’re committing terrorism because of royal bloodline? Does this make any sense?
-Is this why they didn’t reveal it before?
– I heard he grew up in an orphanage and didn’t know himself
– What did the other actors do wrong? They couldn’t even have a proper press conference
– Then what did Lee Young do wrong?
The sin of being born with a rotten silver spoon
– These are the ones who grow up to become terrorists
– What would have happened without the bodyguards
– 222222
-333333 But was that sword brought there in advance?
-I heard it’s an ancient Four Evil Beheading Sword made by the royal family
– Isn’t that the one that goes for hundreds of millions at auctions?
The live broadcast was transmitted from a camera fixed at the front.
So after the flash of light, only the scene of me holding the sword in my hand was captured.
So why was I holding a sword, was the sword going to appear in the new season of Professor, did I hold the sword because I’m a royal descendant?
All sorts of creative speculations were running rampant.
Of course, not everyone misunderstood that the sword was there originally.
The CEO, Kim Woo-jin, and four National Intelligence Service agents who were nearby realized that the light had become the sword.
Scholars who saw the streaming video requested to study the sword, but the National Intelligence Service, knowing the truth, blocked them.
“Let me say this once again, nothing that’s about to be said should leave this room. You must maintain absolute secrecy.”
This was said by Oh Sang-hoon, who claimed to be in charge of some domestic department at the National Intelligence Service.
When I entered the Cultural Heritage Administration’s conference room with the CEO and Kim Woo-jin, Oh Sang-hoon and Yoon Dae-han, who was said to be from the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center of the Cultural Heritage Administration, were already there.
I placed the Baekmoong figurine on the empty chair next to me.
“We’ve already signed confidentiality agreements, haven’t we?”
Oh Sang-hoon looked at the Cultural Heritage Administration’s Yoon Dae-han, who answered while gritting his teeth, and then at CEO Choi Si-woo.
“You should worry more about keeping your own people’s mouths shut than mine.”
After hearing the CEO’s irritated response, Oh Sang-hoon now asked me.
“Can we see that sword again?”
At Oh Sang-hoon’s question, I looked at the ring.
Then Baekmoong spoke in my mind.
{If you think of the sword, it will respond to your call.}
Following those words, as I thought of the sword, a silver light burst from the ring and the sword appeared.
The eyes of everyone in the conference room focused on it.
“Wow!”
Someone quietly exclaimed.
“May I take pictures? Usually, we have to schedule a day to take photos to avoid damaging artifacts, but…”
“Well, this sword should be fine, right?”
“Still, we’ll take photos without using flash to avoid potential damage. We can share these photos with the press and scholars.”
After taking numerous photos with an ornate cloth as a background, Yoon Dae-han put on gloves and began examining both sides of the sword blade.
Ignoring this, Oh Sang-hoon addressed me.
“Actually, I don’t think being a descendant of the royal family is the important part here.”
I nodded in agreement with Oh Sang-hoon’s words, as I shared the same opinion.
“But such a special weapon…”
“It’s a sacred object.”
Yoon Dae-han cut off Oh Sang-hoon mid-sentence, wedging himself between Oh Sang-hoon and me.
“This isn’t just a simple weapon, it’s a sacred object. You probably know about the ancient constellations on this side from what scholars said on broadcasts, and the seal script characters on this side usually contain spells. It’s about driving away evil with heavenly energy. But this sword is more than just that.”
The eyes of the Cultural Heritage Administration’s Yoon Dae-han gleamed as he looked back and forth between me and Oh Sang-hoon.
“The Taoist spell about repelling evil is almost the same. But there’s additional content here.”
Yoon Dae-han pointed to a part near the hilt on the sword blade.
Unlike the other 29 characters written vertically along the sword blade, there were six small characters written horizontally.
“”Heaven’s Command, One Following Duty.” This phrase doesn’t appear on other swords. When you see the character for ‘cheon’ in Chinese, you might think of sky, but the character for sky, ‘geon’ (2), appears separately below this.
So we can assume that ‘cheon’ here refers to the ruler of the time, meaning the king or emperor. Since it seems to have been made in the mid to late Joseon period, it probably refers to the king.”
Yoon Dae-han’s explanation continued.
His interpretation was that while other Four Evil Beheading Swords were gifts given to royalty and meritorious subjects, this Four Evil Beheading Sword seemed to be one that responds to the king’s call.
{Oh, he’s a smart one.}
“Of course, this is my speculation considering the circumstances under which the sword first appeared. But even just looking at this hilt, you can tell it’s more special than other swords.”
Yoon Dae-han pointed to the red hilt.
“The red hilt is presumed to be made of carnelian, which also has the meaning of warding off misfortune and has been widely used as decoration for buttons and knots since ancient times.
In other words, this Four Evil Beheading Sword seems to be a perfect exorcism sword, or in modern terms, a demon-slaying sword, made with a silver blade and a carnelian hilt in the year, month, day, and hour of the tiger.”
{The red hilt shouldn’t be that rare, I guess thieves were rampant.}
I recalled what I had learned in history and seen on broadcasts about the plundering of cultural properties. Though I don’t know much, it should suffice as an answer.
“Then why has the Four Evil Beheading Sword only appeared now?”
“That’s why it’s a sacred object. The fact that it remained dormant when Song Yiyoung’s grandmother and mother held the spell, but has changed now, might be because the conditions for activating the sacred object have only just been met.”
“What are those conditions?”
Yoon Dae-han was making guesses close to the truth.
“Being of royal bloodline must be one of the essential conditions. Perhaps the reason neighboring countries tried to eradicate the royal family was… ahem, anyway, besides bloodline, there must be other activation conditions that Song Yiyoung meets, don’t you think?”
“But when did the sword change into a ring?”
I debated a lot about whether to mention Baekmoong.
But with the spell becoming a sword and the sword turning into a ring, plus a mystical creature capable of illusions?
There’s no need to reveal too much at once.
Even before a comeback, they start with schedule announcements, then photo 1, photo 2, teaser video 1, teaser video 2, highlight medley, and so on, revealing one thing at a time.
For dramas too, they leak casting news, then release posters, script reading videos, trailer 1, trailer 2, and so on, promoting one thing at a time.
So I didn’t answer that question.
Only the sound of camera shutters capturing the Four Evil Beheading Sword could be heard in the conference room.
“Well, let’s agree to talk about that when the opportunity arises to reveal it later. That’s not the important part, is it?”
The CEO tactfully changed the atmosphere.
“You said the figurines weren’t stolen but broken, right?”
Now it was time to address my business.
The first thing the Cultural Heritage Administration showed was CCTV footage from Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Amidst the dim lights, shadows seemed to ripple, and then the figurines burst one by one.
{Did you just see the demon moving?}
‘That was a demon?’
“It must be quite high up, but you can see the shadow.”
“We also thought that was strange, but no person was visible.”
“A shadow without a person, that’s scary.”
{It’s a demon moving in shadow form. With that level of power, it wouldn’t be difficult to control humans.}
But why did it destroy all of them?
{Figurines serve the role of warding off misfortune. Even without the power of spells or Taoist magic like when they were first made, they’re designed to fulfill that role through the power of their names.}
So names have power imbued in them. If that’s the case, I slightly regretted giving Baekmoong such a casual name.
{It seems the disappearance of all the figurines is the cause. Someone has summoned demons.}
‘So did the sacred object appear because the figurines disappeared?’
{Yes, because sacred objects were arranged to ward off demons.}
While I was having this mental conversation with Baekmoong, Oh Sang-hoon and Yoon Dae-han were busy analyzing the footage.
“But how did they crumble like that? They turned to powder.”
“It would be possible with a crossbow or sniper rifle. There are CCTV blind spots, right? Someone who knows the geography well could avoid them.”
“…If it’s a gun, could it be foreign forces? Has the National Intelligence Service found anything?”
“It’s just my own thoughts. There’s no trace at all.”
“…But why destroy the figurines, most of which were recently restored and have little value as artifacts? I still don’t understand.”
I didn’t relay Baekmoong’s words about the figurines being destroyed to summon demons.
Grandmother said it was the duty of the royal family to catch demons, so this was something I had to resolve myself.