Chapter 5: Enchanted Bloodline

Chwararararak.

I kept hearing the sound of a camera shutter, and I began to get confused—was this real or just acting?

Could this be some kind of hidden camera prank? I had seen something like this on old TV shows.

At that moment, someone kicked the chef and stood in front of me with their back turned.

“Ugh!”

Thud, Whoosh

With a loud noise, the chef fell backward, and the cleaver he had dropped flew toward me. It was as if the knife had a will of its own.

Thunk

However, before the knife could reach me, someone caught it.

The person who had grabbed the knife was suddenly at my right side. Now that I looked, there were people standing on my left and behind me as well.

Including the one in front of me, four people had surrounded me.

They were all slightly taller than me, and their presence completely blocked my view of the outside world.

Security for idols like this is bound to get criticized.

Chwarararararak.

“Mr. Lee Young, what was that just now?”

“Where did that knife suddenly come from?”

“You all, is this really the time for an interview?”

The CEO had somehow jumped up onto the stage and was yelling at the reporters.

But the reporters kept bombarding us with questions.

“Is this part of the storyline for the season?”

“Is this all staged? What’s the reason for this?”

I was curious about the reason myself.

My manager had died in an accident.

I thought I was an orphan, but then my grandmother showed up and told me that my parents had died in a car accident, and that I was a descendant of royalty.

That alone was overwhelming enough, but then I found out that the scar on my shoulder was actually an inscription from a sacred relic.

And now, at a drama production press conference, a stranger had attacked me, and suddenly, a sword had appeared in my hand.

Light had flowed from my shoulder to my hand—was this the sacred relic?

“Sigh.”

I let out a short breath, overwhelmed by everything. The person who had been standing with their back to me turned around. It was my road manager, Kim Woojin.

“Sorry for being late.”

Now that I thought about it, this new road manager was suspicious too. With just one kick, he had subdued a man I had struggled against.

The other three people who had surrounded me helped the fallen chef to his feet.

“You should go to the hospital first.”

I was unsure whether I should trust this person, who had just started working today.

{This man is the eldest son of a family tasked with protecting the royal household.}

Suddenly, my own mind started speaking to me.

“Uh… excuse me?”

{Since the Divine Executioner’s Sword has been activated by the Blood of Heaven, I shall fulfill my oath. From now on, I will assist the wielder of this sword.}

“Am I the only one who can hear this?”

I looked at Kim Woojin and asked, but he only stared at me and the sword with a strange expression.

{No one else can hear me. Just think your words instead of speaking aloud, or you’ll look like a lunatic.}

A lunatic? Wait, am I actually going crazy?

The press conference was canceled, and I was taken to the hospital.

Reporters followed us there, but Kim Woojin and the three other men blocked them, and the hospital only allowed one guardian to enter my room.

While they treated my injuries, the CEO was busy making calls.

Left alone in my hospital room, I picked up the sword beside me.

The hilt was made of something resembling red jade, though it looked aged and worn.

The blade itself was a dull silver color—I wasn’t sure if it was real silver. The edge wasn’t even sharp enough to cut paper.

Was it just a decorative sword? The moment I had that thought, a person emerged from the sword.

“…..!”

I was so shocked that I couldn’t even scream.

Why is a person coming out of a sword?!

No, he didn’t seem entirely human.

His skin was white—not just pale, but a translucent, eerie kind of white.

More than anything, his aura was… terrifying.

“At last…”

He looked around and spoke softly. His voice sounded exactly like the one I had heard in my head earlier.

“That sword… is you?”

“You may speak informally if you wish.”

He bowed his head slightly as he spoke, but I couldn’t bring myself to be casual with him.

His long white hair flowed in waves, and the most striking feature was a long scar that ran across his brow and over his eye.

Above all, his sharp gaze and towering frame, nearly brushing the hospital ceiling, gave off an overwhelming presence.

When his head first emerged from the sword, I had nearly fainted.

Wait—calling him a “man” might not be entirely accurate.

He had a tail.

Then, suddenly, his tail vanished.

“Gasp!”

I had never believed in ghosts.

Even when my group filmed horror-themed content, I was only ever startled by the crew—not by the ghost costumes.

“If you must categorize me, I am closer to a deity than a ghost, but I am not some grand god who rules over all existence. Think of me as merely a helpful spirit.”

For over twenty years, I had lived under the assumption that ghosts didn’t exist. Adjusting that belief wasn’t something I could do in an instant.

Still, if he said he was here to help, at least he wasn’t an immediate threat.

But how exactly was he supposed to help me? Would he appear whenever my life was in danger?

“The condition of the oath is this: ‘When evil spirits spread across this land, if the Blood of Heaven calls upon me, I shall follow the owner of that blood.’”

Blood? Did it mean the blood I had shed from my shoulder injury? I had bled a lot.

“When you say evil spirits, do you mean ghosts, demons, things like that?”

“Yes.”

“Then… does that mean there are bad spirits roaming around right now?”

“You are quite perceptive. That’s correct. The man wielding the knife earlier was possessed by an evil spirit.”

The fact that a monster had come out of a sword wasn’t even the biggest problem.

The fact that ghosts existed was shocking enough—but the idea that they could possess people and turn them into attackers was straight out of an urban legend.

I looked down at my injured shoulder. My old scar was definitely gone.

“My shoulder scar turned into this sword?”

“Look at the blade.”

Following the white-haired spirit’s instruction, I examined the dull silver sword. On its surface, I recognized a familiar pattern of lines and dots.

“Huh?”

It looked like an extended version of my scar.

“These are ancient constellations. They were inscribed to channel celestial energy. But because they were all clustered together, their power had weakened significantly.”

“Does that mean… the scar will return?”

A large hand suddenly grabbed my injured shoulder.

“Why, why?”

I tried to pull my shoulder away, but the large hand holding it didn’t budge.

“The wound is influenced by an evil spirit, so it may heal slowly. I will help it heal faster.”

At those words, I stopped struggling and left my shoulder still.

“The form of the spell can be changed as you wish. You can conceal it within your body again or transform it into another form. People often wear accessories—what do you think about turning it into one?”

The sword in my hand instantly transformed into a ring and rested on my palm.

The ring’s band gleamed silver like a blade, and in the center was a red gemstone, resembling a sword hilt.

Startled, I looked up at the being—not a beast, but a white-haired spirit.

“It’s a simple illusion,” it said, releasing my shoulder with a grin, revealing sharp fangs between its lips.

A chill ran down my spine, and I looked away.

Still, I liked that the scar had disappeared, leaving only the ring behind.

Then, I suddenly remembered—my parents had died in an accident.

My mother had a spell on her back. If that spell transferred to me when she died, that meant I had been at the accident site, too.

But why had I been abandoned somewhere completely unrelated?

“There was also a protective spell cast on the one who carried the spell. It probably saved you once or twice. But since I was asleep inside the relic, I don’t know the full details.”

“A protective spell?”

“Yes, but… Ah, I must leave now before I am seen.”

The white-haired spirit stopped speaking and suddenly moved right in front of me.

“Gah!”

Before I could even react fully, the spirit vanished into the ring.

As I tried to calm my surprise, the hospital room door opened, and the CEO walked in.

“Talking and then suddenly stopping…”

“Oh? Did you hear me talking? It’s fine, I was just on a call. My grandmother was quite shocked.”

I gave the CEO a small nod, but inside, I wondered—could other people see that spirit?

{Yes, because I was materialized. By the way, how about giving me a name?}

A name? Did it not have one?

{Everyone who saw me called me something different, and I appeared differently to each person. Every name and form belonged to me, yet they didn’t. So, it would be nice if you gave me a new name.}

★★★

As expected, online communities were in turmoil over whether the royal descendants were collaborators or victims of a fallen nation.

A term that first appeared in anonymous forums, “Royal Idol,” was now forbidden among fans.

Some people reacted extremely, beyond mere curiosity.

They argued that royalty was outdated nonsense in a democratic country.

I agreed with them, but I couldn’t say so openly, which was frustrating.

Kim Woo-jin came to see me the next day.

Wearing a suit and an ID badge around his neck, he bowed slightly at the door.

His ID read “National Intelligence Service.”

“I’ve been assigned to protect you, Song I-young, starting today. Let me formally introduce myself again.”

Ah, Song I-young—that was my name.

It was just one extra character added to “I-young,” but it felt completely unfamiliar.

{As I mentioned before, that man is a descendant of a family that once protected the royal family. I’m surprised that still remains.}

What still remains?

{I thought at least a thousand years had passed based on the way people dress, but maybe not as much time has passed as I thought.}

“So, you weren’t really a manager, were you?”

“I infiltrated as a road manager to guard you discreetly, but now that an official protection order has been issued, I’ll be handling both roles.”

{I don’t know if you can see it, but his neck is covered in Taoist spells.}

I looked closely at Kim Woo-jin’s neck but didn’t see even a small tattoo.

“And I don’t know if you heard from Madam, but my grandfather, the chairman of HC Group, has been financially supporting an organization for royal descendants.”

On top of that, he was a third-generation chaebol. Why was a chaebol heir working for the National Intelligence Service?

{That family must have been watching over the royal bloodline to break that ancient curse.

As long as that spell remains, all children of the family, except for the eldest son, die before reaching 100 days old.

The spell is then passed on to the eldest son. It was the punishment for their ancestors’ rebellion—rather than exterminating three generations, they were given this curse.}

A rebellion? A curse?

My head throbbed. Why was everything so complicated?

{Considering how deeply ingrained the desire to continue one’s bloodline is, this is an extremely cruel curse.

But since they’ve now witnessed the divine relic, they probably see this as an opportunity to end their burden. And, in fact, it is possible.}

“I’ll be right outside.”

After Kim Woo-jin left, I closed my eyes and pressed my temples, trying to make sense of everything.

But there was too much information, tangled like a messy ball of thread in my mind.