Jang Ha-woon left the accommodation wearing a tracksuit similar to Lee Geon’s.
Today, even Kim Woo-jin was wearing a black tracksuit, making it look like they had matched outfits as a group. Except for the Baek Mungi doll in my hand.
{I don’t have the spiritual power to waste on matching clothes with them.}
I thought he would sulk.
“Shall we get some clothes for the doll?”
{…}
As Kim Woo-jin said, we were heading to Jongmyo Shrine. Today was the day we received permission for nighttime entry after speaking with the Cultural Heritage Administration.
I wanted to go during the day on a closed day, but there were still a few days left until the closed day, and we had a shoot scheduled for that day.
It was inconvenient to wander around looking for spiritual power on the day of the shoot.
In the end, we had no choice but to go late at night after the viewing hours were over and the staff had left.
We parked the car in the parking lot and started walking towards Jongmyo Shrine side by side.
Our black tracksuits were perfect for moving around at night. We looked like a four-man special forces team.
“Jaga, may I tell you an old story?”
Baek Mungi, in doll form, suddenly started speaking so that everyone could hear.
“A long time ago, during the Japanese invasion, the Japanese used Jongmyo Shrine as their camp.”
“You mean the Imjin War?”
I know the Imjin War well. I’ve seen all the movies about General Yi Sun-shin.
“But every night, as soon as those guys tried to sleep, they would hear ghostly wails and tiger roars from somewhere, and they could see non-human figures. How could those punks endure it for several days? They all ran away.”
“…So, you’re saying there are ghosts in Jongmyo Shrine?”
Before I knew it, the gate leading into Jongmyo Shrine appeared before my eyes.
The round pillars painted in red looked ominous for some reason.
Lee Geon responded to my muttered words.
“At that time, the Japanese burned down all of Jongmyo Shrine. The current Jongmyo Shrine was rebuilt after the Imjin War.”
Baek Mungi didn’t say anything more.
It seemed like he brought it up to tease me.
But Lee Geon and Jang Ha-woon next to me are also ghosts, so there’s no way I’d be scared by ghost stories.
{No, Jaga, I wasn’t trying to scare you, but to let you know that there was a Mystical Creature that made that sound and chased away Japanese…}
So, a Mystical Creature deliberately imitated ghosts to chase away the Japanese?
What’s the point? They burned down all of Jongmyo Shrine.
{…Yes, so I started being chased.}
It seemed that the Mystical Creature was referring to himself, Baek Mungi, and that he was being chased because of it.
He did it with good intentions, but the result was bad, and he ended up being chased. I’d be upset too if I were him.
‘Did that Taoist person come to catch you?’
{That damned Sorcery… it won’t let me say anything. I’ll tell you everything when it’s over.}
Baek Mungi was sorry that he couldn’t say more, but I got some very important information.
That Baek Mungi was here during the Imjin War.
So, the person who sealed Baek Mungi and prepared the Sacred object must have been a king from the Imjin War era or later.
I had almost figured out the secret of the Sacred object’s birth.
I swung the Baek Mungi doll, which was probably reading my thoughts, in the air and headed towards the gate.
– Creak
The wooden gate slowly opened with a terrifying sound.
* * *
We couldn’t turn on the lights inside Jongmyo Shrine brightly, so we had to rely on the nighttime lighting that was always on. But it wasn’t so dark that we couldn’t identify objects.
However, I had only been told to go to Jongmyo Shrine, and I didn’t know where to go or what was there, so I was walking without a destination.
“Shouldn’t we go to Jeongjeon first, where the spirit tablets of the deceased kings are enshrined? I have come here to perform ancestral rites as a member of the royal family, so I will guide the way.”
As I walked behind Lee Geon, small ponds and wells appeared along the dark path. I glanced at Kim Woo-jin’s sword to see if it was shining, just in case.
Ever since I fell into the water at the valley where I went as a group from the orphanage, I’ve been most afraid of water.
At that time, something grabbed my ankle and pulled me into the water.
The nuns said that I suddenly walked into the water, but…
{Did a water ghost chase Jaga even when she was young?}
I don’t know if that’s the case. I just developed a fear of water after that.
“Younger brother, it’s too eerie. There aren’t even any evil spirits, but it’s strange.”
I was relieved that I wasn’t the only one feeling it.
Even Jang Ha-woon, who is a ghost, said it was strange.
“This way.”
As I followed Lee Geon’s guidance, another gate appeared.
Kim Woo-jin took the lead and pushed the gate open with his hand.
The gate wasn’t locked, and it opened easily as Kim Woo-jin pushed it.
– Creak
Please oil the gate, please.
As I stepped through the open gate, a very large space appeared.
Since the royal family and officials gathered to perform ancestral rites, it seemed that such a large space was necessary.
A large building was visible in front.
“Wow, it’s bigger than the buildings in other palaces.”
There was no response. I felt strange and turned around, but no one was around.
“Huh?”
I even turned around in a full circle, but no one was there. Even the Baek Mungi doll that was in my hand had disappeared.
‘Baek Mungi?’
I couldn’t hear Baek Mungi’s response. If even Baek Mungi disappeared…
It was clear that it was a space of thought, like at Hwaseong Fortress.
I calmed my surprised heart and slowly looked around again.
With a large building standing firmly beside me, it was quite a sight.
I forgot about being alone for a moment and looked at the building.
– Rustle, rustle
I turned around at the chilling sound and saw an old man in tattered clothes in the corner of the wide yard. The old man was sweeping the yard with a large broom.
‘A groundskeeper?’
I had no idea who the owner of this space of thought was, so I just approached him.
When I looked closely at the old man’s rags, they were old and charred in places as if they had been burned.
Even for a groundskeeper, those clothes were too much.
“Hello?”
The old man suddenly stopped moving.
Was he broken? Was he a hologram or something?
Did I have to say something again to make him move?
But before I could do anything, the old man moved again and threw the broom on the ground.
“How old am I…”
The temperature around me seemed to drop with his sorrowful voice.
I wondered if I should sweep instead, so I reached out to pick up the broom that had fallen on the ground.
But the broom that I had been looking at was already in the old man’s hand.
“I’ll do it. I’m good at sweeping.”
“No, you won’t.”
The old man’s hair was white without a single black strand, and his beard was also white.
Judging from the wrinkles all over his face, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was 100 years old.
It was uncomfortable for such a person to use polite language with me.
“Please speak comfortably. I’m young.”
The old man smiled at me.
“It is an honor to serve as a subject for all these years, but it has been so difficult that I have been acting out of line. Please do not mind the grumbling of an old subject.”
He wasn’t a groundskeeper. But he wasn’t my subject either.
“Have you been here for a long time?”
“Yes. And now my duty is coming to an end. I have been receiving this punishment for hundreds of years for being disloyal by requesting and requesting resignation from my official position and disturbing His Majesty’s heart. I am extremely grateful that you have now forgiven this subject.”
He said he requested and requested resignation, which reminded me of Councilor Hwang Hee for some reason.
“I don’t have the right to forgive anyone.”
“Didn’t you come here and end my duty?”
“Were you waiting to meet me?”
“Yes. This old subject has been guarding this place until a noble descendant arrives.”
There were many things I wanted to ask when I met a space of thought.
How was the space of thought left behind, how was the spiritual power absorbed and how did it give me strength?
And whether that spiritual power could not be exerted with weapons other than the Sacred object.
There were many questions to ask, aside from the question of why me in particular.
“It is difficult for me to know other things, but the person who made me wait here is His Majesty, whom I served. I thought I was dead, but I was drawn here by His Majesty’s voice.”
So, he’s saying that after he died, he was in the other world, whether it was heaven or hell, and he was called up.
If this person is who I think he is, then His Majesty is….. King Sejong?
“Now, I will deliver the message.”
Suddenly, the old man knelt down in front of me in a deep bow.
“Uh… excuse me? Grandpa?”
I quickly squatted down in front of him, but the old man remained prostrate and began to speak.
“It is commendable that the descendant has done his best to protect this country, so I will convey to the loyal subject of all time the method to fulfill his will.”
The old man stopped speaking and remained prostrate. I wondered what to do, so I tried bowing like the old man.
But that wasn’t it.
“…That’s a bit of a strange thing to say, so I’m not sure if this old subject remembers it correctly.”
“I’ll listen to it first to see if I can understand it.”
“…He left behind something that will be helpful for the work of seven and one-half.”
Seven and one-half? Is it like a platform or something? I’m not going to a magic school, am I?
“I understand seven and one-half, but where is the seven and one-half?”
I asked as I got up, following the old man who was getting up.
The old man who stood up had a smile on his face, his expression was so bright that his face seemed to glow.
“Do you feel relieved now that the end is in sight?”
The old man clapped his hands at my words and asked.
“How do you see through this subject’s heart so well?”
“I think I would feel the same way.”
Yes, even before, there was a limit to what I could get answers to, even if I asked this and that.
It will be the same this time.
So, I should let this person, who has been working for so long, go.
“You’ve worked hard for a long time. I hope you rest in peace now.”
“Your grace is boundless.”
No, it’s not grace. Grace is what you say to the king.
The old man’s body began to be surrounded by a bright light.
The disappearing pattern is the same as last time.
Ah! You have to tell me where the seven and one-half is before you go.
But the old man with white hair looked so happy as he smiled brightly and disappeared, so I couldn’t hold him back.
The light disappeared and the old man disappeared.
Well, I’ll find it somehow.
– Thud!
“Jaga!”
When I turned around, Baek Mungi, who had burst open the heavy gate in one go, was flying towards me in his true form.
It’s not the first time, but why is he doing this so much?
Kim Woo-jin, Jang Ha-woon, and Lee Geon came in behind him.
“We tried to step through the gate, but we couldn’t enter. So we thought it was because we were spirits, but…”
“Me and that doll were thrown backwards.”
Listening to Kim Woo-jin’s words, it seemed that those with a physical form were thrown back, and ghosts could not enter.
“Was there anything dangerous?”
I asked the most urgent question in response to Kim Woo-jin’s words.
“What comes to mind when you hear seven and one-half here?”
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