[Thump! Thump! Thump!]
Their feet pounded on the forest path towards the shrine.
Above their heads, sunlight increasingly pierced through the trees,
their fingertips tingled, and their legs wavered.
"Just a little further!"
Dam-bi gasped, shouting.
Min-chan never let go of her hand.
It was then—
Below, on the mountain slope.
[Grrrrrrrr…]
A beast-like panting echoed through the forest, rising up.
Kim Gap-su, Park Sang-cheol, Do-yoon, the Twin Tigers, Tae-geon.
The possessed comrades, now specters, tore through the mist and revealed themselves.
[Stomp… Stomp…]
But their steps slowed.
Their arms and legs seemed stiff, their eyes flickering.
Min-chan and Dam-bi realized it simultaneously.
"Look… the spell has weakened."
"…The mist has thinned."
The boundary of the mist.
Beyond it, a faint but different aura flowed.
Chiyoo's sanctuary.
It was proof that the shrine was near.
[Clink…]
The sound of a bell rang again from afar.
Twitch—
The thinned mist surged in as if alive,
engulfing the specters once more.
[Graaaahhh!!]
[Thud… Thump, Thump]
Worm-like veins bulged across their entire bodies,
and above them, red smoke shimmered like heat haze.
"What is that now…"
Min-chan muttered lowly.
[Flash!]
The comrades' bodies shot into the air as if flying.
[Zzzzt! Zzzzt!]
Even as their muscles ruptured and broke—
their speed, paradoxically, increased.
[Grrrrrrrr…]
Torn breaths, like those of beasts.
Hyun-nyeo's spell was
burning their life force, squeezing out power.
Dam-bi gritted her teeth.
"If they continue like this… they'll soon be completely broken.
Their minds and bodies… they can never return."
"No time. To save them… we have to go now!"
[Thump! Thump! Thump!]
Their footsteps plunged into the forest again.
But just then—
"Gah…!"
[Thud.]
Dam-bi's foot caught on a stone.
Her knee buckled, and just as she was about to fall—
"Dam-bi!"
Min-chan instinctively grabbed her.
"Sorry… my body isn't listening…"
"Don't talk. Hold on."
[Grab.]
Min-chan scooped Dam-bi up in his arms.
His breath hitched, but he didn't stop.
Sweat ran down his back,
and his heartbeat pounded like a drum.
At that moment—
[Swoosh…]
A strong, metallic scent of blood wafted from behind them.
Soon after, the sound of footsteps shaking the ground.
[Thump-thump-thump-thump!!]
He didn't need to look to know.
The Twin Tigers. No, the specters in their shells—
had closed in behind Min-chan, within arm's reach.
[Gasp! Gasp!]
Breathing sounds.
They weren't words.
A scream from deep within the throat,
something that wasn't even a beast.
[WHAM!]
The ground behind him dented as someone leaped.
Min-chan felt a chill run down his spine.
'They jumped… right behind me.'
Without a moment's hesitation,
Min-chan, as if squeezing out every last bit of his remaining strength, hugged Dam-bi close and rolled his body.
[CRASH! Rumble!]
Their bodies rolled, a pile of stones crumbled—
And at the same time, the shrine's boundary came into view.
[WHOOSH!]
The moment he half-slid into the shrine with Dam-bi—
[GRAB!]
Someone's fingertips from behind snatched Min-chan's collar.
The hand grabbing Min-chan's collar was Young-ho's.
Just then,
[BOOM!!]
As if there was an invisible boundary,
the moment Young-ho entered the shrine, a human-shaped black mist 'bounced off' his back like lightning.
And
Young-ho's body, like a puppet with cut strings, rolled limply into the shrine.
[Thud! Thump-thump! Thud!]
The possessed gym members who followed—
one by one, collapsed as if crumbling inside the shrine.
[Hiss. Hiss.]
And from within them, a black, misty aura dispersed into the air.
Kim Gap-su, Park Sang-cheol, Young-ho, Young-beom, Do-yoon, Tae-geon.
Their bodies lay motionless.
At that moment, the shrine became silent, as if exhaling a deep breath.
Min-chan knelt, still holding Dam-bi in his arms.
"Ha…"
Rough breaths,
and cold sweat dripped from his chin.
Dam-bi murmured in his embrace.
"…We're alive."
The shrine was silent, as if holding its breath.
But the air still held a lingering tension and tremor that hadn't faded.
[Gasp… Gasp…]
Min-chan carefully laid Dam-bi on the ground,
then turned his eyes to his fallen comrades.
"…Everyone…"
Coach Kim Gap-su, Coach Park Sang-cheol, Tae-geon, Do-yoon, the Twin Tigers.
One by one, he wiped the blood from their faces with the back of his hand,
checking their breathing.
[Sigh…]
Their chests were rising and falling.
Their faces were pale, but they were clearly alive.
[Ugh…]
A small groan escaped Dam-bi.
Min-chan quickly looked back; she was clutching her swollen, red fingertips.
"Dam-bi…!"
At his voice, Dam-bi raised her head.
Her breathing was ragged, but her eyes were clear.
"It's okay… At least we're safe.
My energy… is slowly returning."
Her hands were red and swollen, as if burned.
The skin at her fingertips was cracked, and dried blood had clotted black.
But—
Her complexion had changed.
The face that had been completely pale just moments ago,
slowly… began to regain its color.
The interior of the shrine was unbelievably… quiet.
[Swoosh—…]
Unlike outside, the presence of the mist had completely vanished.
In the air was the smell of old earth and wood,
and… like a trace of someone who had visited,
an incense stick burned, shedding red ash.
The ceiling was half-collapsed, revealing the sky,
and sunlight filtering through the gaps in the roof tiles
quietly illuminated the dust motes floating in the shrine.
The light was…
so quiet,
that the stench of blood and screams from just moments ago
felt like a dream.
Min-chan looked around.
On one wall, a dusty red goblin mask,
on a small altar, a rusty bronze sword lay half-broken.
"This… this is the same shrine from earlier, right?"
His voice was small and low.
Dam-bi slowly nodded.
"Yes. This is it.
…The place where we first felt the 'energy.'"
Min-chan's gaze shifted to the incense stick.
The incense was almost entirely burned,
but at its tip, a small red ember still glowed.
"Someone has been here."
He murmured quietly,
looking at the burning ash.
It was then—
[Clink… Rustle…]
With a metallic sound heard from somewhere,
the mist at the entrance of the shrine writhed again.
[Whoosh…]
As if to swallow the shrine itself,
the hazy mist slowly began to encircle the shrine in a semi-circle.
The sunlight was instantly obscured,
and the air once again became damp and heavy.
And through that mist—
Hyun-nyeo slowly appeared.
Unlike before,
her face no longer held composure.
Only distorted rage was clearly visible.
"These worm-like creatures!"
She stood at the shrine entrance, slowly extending one hand.
[Thud.]
Her hand bounced back as soon as it touched 'something.'
Her eyebrows twitched.
"Do you think you can escape just by running away with the wooden box?!"
She gritted her teeth.
The corners of her mouth twisted, and her voice was laced with killing intent.
"Let's see how long you can last."
[WHOOSH—]
And her form dispersed back into the mist.
As if she had never existed in the first place.
However—
The shrine entrance remained completely blocked by mist.
"She disappeared…?"
Min-chan cautiously uttered.
"No."
Dam-bi shook her head.
"This is just a temporary retreat.
She's blocking us from leaving right now.
And… she's preparing something."
Then,
[Gasp… Gasp…]
A faint sound of breathing came from behind.
Kim Gap-su, who had been collapsed, slowly began to stir.
"Ugh!"
"My jaw…"
"Ugh… I feel like I was hit by a car."
Following him, one by one,
Park Sang-cheol, Do-yoon, the Twin Tigers, and Tae-geon
struggled to open their eyes.
"Everyone's awake…"
Min-chan said, catching his breath.
But his face remained grim.
Dam-bi spoke quietly.
"…Right now, you're inside the shrine.
This place still has some of Chiyoo's energy,
so she can't just enter freely.
But I don't know how long it can last."
And so—
Time passed.
Evening came,
and the sky visible beyond the shrine's ceiling turned red.
And then, darkness arrived.
[Crackling… Crackling…]
A bonfire crackled, dimly illuminating the inside of the shrine.
Someone sat kneeling,
and someone else leaned against the wall, quietly catching their breath.
Min-chan looked at the flames and spoke.
"…Everyone, do you remember?"
"We… we do remember, comrade."
Young-ho hunched his shoulders and said lowly.
"I felt like something was holding onto me… like someone inside kept whispering 'kill them.'"
"That's right. Something kept mumbling… but it wasn't our voices."
Young-beom nodded, continuing.
At his words,
Dam-bi slowly nodded.
"…Yes. To be precise, they briefly 'borrowed' your bodies.
It's called possession, or in simple terms… being haunted by a ghost."
"Ha…"
Park Sang-cheol sighed, letting out a hollow laugh.
"First time being haunted, and now reincarnation too?"
A quiet silence fell within the shrine for a moment.
And then, Dam-bi spoke again.
"It's closer to a remnant… than reincarnation."
She gazed beyond the bonfire, whispering softly.
"Chiyoo Cheonwang. And the shamaness by his side.
In our bodies now, there are fragments of their memories or parts of their energy."
"Chiyoo's energy, you say…"
Kim Gap-su murmured lowly.
"Yes. Even before this shrine was built, Chiyoo's relics were hidden here.
And all of us… reacted to that energy."
Dam-bi looked at her own palm.
Her fingertips, cracked by clotted blood,
were slowly regaining warmth.
It was then—
Kim Gap-su spoke from beyond the bonfire.
"Hmm… Whatever the case, Min-chan, and you, Dam-bi.
The fact that you're our family hasn't changed."
He let out a short breath, then looked at Min-chan with regretful eyes.
"Dam-bi noona… if we go outside, we might get attacked by a ghost again, right?"
Do-yoon raised his hand slightly and asked.
Following his words, Tae-geon, sitting next to him, tilted his head and muttered.
"…So, are we supposed to live here, completely stuck?"
For a moment, everyone was silent.
Fatigue, fear, and a sense of isolation
surfaced one by one on their faces in the firelight.
And then—
[Clink…]
As the bonfire sparked tiny embers,
that sound rang out again from outside the shrine.
As if mocking—
very slowly, and distinctly.
"She's here…"
Dam-bi said lowly.
[Stomp. Stomp.]
A faint shadow approached through the hazy mist.
Just outside the shrine entrance, at the boundary—
[WAAH!]
A sudden child's cry.
Everyone sitting by the bonfire froze simultaneously.
"That's…"
Do-yoon whispered, covering his mouth.
The moment they saw it, everyone froze.
Two people stood at the shrine entrance.
One was an old woman in a worn magoja.
Beside her, a little girl, about five years old, held her hand tightly.
The old woman, holding a sickle, slowly raised her head.
Her eyes—in the whites, the black pupils were contracted like dots.
"…Her eyes are different."
Dam-bi said, gritting her teeth.
"Is that person… possessed?"
"Yes. Not completely taken over…
Hyun-nyeo is temporarily controlling her, like a puppet."
[Cackle, cackle, cackle, cackle…]
Outside the shrine entrance, cutting through the darkness,
Hyun-nyeo appeared behind the old woman.
"This is what happens when you believe in minor deities."
The corners of her lips twisted upwards.
"Thanks to this old hag, I saved myself some trouble.
She was praying to a minor deity to keep wild animals away."
At her words, the group's gaze naturally turned towards the completely burnt incense inside the shrine.
"Yes. This old hag burned incense…
Following that energy, I found her gathering medicinal herbs.
Thanks to that, I didn't have to take the long way around."
Hyun-nyeo lightly poked the child's hair beside her.
"This one… is just a bonus. Isn't she cute?"
[WAAAHHHH!!]
The child shrieked in terror.
The old woman, with her stiff body, forcibly embraced the child.
But in her eyes, there was no emotion.
She was merely moving like a 'living doll.'
"Such evil…!"
Kim Gap-su cried out in a voice full of rage.
[Cackle, cackle, cackle, cackle…]
Hyun-nyeo tilted her head as if mocking.
"Better to be remembered as a demon,
than to be miserably forgotten as a minor deity."
At those words—
Min-chan bit his lip tightly.
His fists clenched involuntarily.
"Alright, then."
Hyun-nyeo said, narrowing her eyes.
"Hand over the wooden box."
[Trickle…]
At that moment,
the old woman's hand slowly moved.
The old sickle blade was placed just below her own neck—
brushing against her skin.
A thin trickle of blood flowed down.
[WAH! Grandmaaa!!]
The child struggled.
But the old woman merely held the child with a stiff expression.
Hyun-nyeo looked down at the scene,
a smile on her lips.
"Ah… how sad."
She theatrically reached out and placed a hand on her chest.
"If this old hag dies…
what will happen to this child?"
She briefly lifted her gaze to look at Dam-bi.
Their eyes met.
"Looking at her memories—
she has no family or relatives, it seems?
Hmm, will she become food for wild animals?"
Hyun-nyeo sneered, whispering.
At her words, Min-chan's eyes changed.
He quietly lowered his head—
and picked up the wooden box lying on the shrine floor.
[Clunk.]
At his movement, Dam-bi instinctively reached out.
"No, Min-chan! If you hand that over, it's truly… truly the end!"
Dam-bi's fingertips trembled.
Her lips were deathly pale and quivering.
Min-chan said nothing.
The heavy wooden box in his hand.
He quietly,
looked towards the shrine entrance—no, towards the old woman and the child.
"…She's someone who remembered us,
who were being forgotten."
Dam-bi's eyes wavered.
"Every time she climbed this mountain…
she must have desperately prayed, every single day."
He lightly gripped the wooden box and said.
"Today, too… she must have prayed for a safe return.
To a powerless deity—
every time, like that."
Min-chan's voice was low and deep.
Within it, there was no anger, no resignation, but most of all—
A sense of sorrow.
"Here, take it."
Min-chan threw the wooden box out of the shrine.
Hyun-nyeo picked up the wooden box and said.
"Go to the afterlife and resent the god you prayed to. I'll send you there soon enough."
[SPLURT!!]
[Grandmaaa! WAAHH!]
Blood spurted like a fountain from the old woman's neck,
and the child's face, soaked in blood, screamed in sorrow and horror.
Dam-bi covered her mouth, and the others squeezed their eyes shut.
Hyun-nyeo, holding the wooden box,
slowly twisted the corners of her mouth upwards.
"Good… shall we begin now?"
[Click…]
She slowly turned the lock on the wooden box.
Black smoke spewed from within it.
Like living snakes—
it writhed and shot up into the sky.
[WHOOSH!!]
"Hear me.
In the name of the forgotten specters—
now, open this sky."
Red energy blossomed from her fingertips.
That energy spread into the darkness—
[RUMBLEEEEEE!!]
The sky split.
Black smoke became clouds,
and red energy swirled within them,
until finally, the entire sky began to fragment.
[CRAAAAAASSSHHHH!!]
At that moment—
From the heart of the clouds,
red lightning struck straight down.
[BOOM!!]
The lightning struck the shrine's ceiling,
precisely at the center of the barrier.
[ZZZZZZZT!! CRACKLE!!]
The transparent barrier turned red,
and began to crack like a spiderweb.
[CRACK.]
Something fractured,
and the invisible barrier
finally shattered.
"…It's done."
Hyun-nyeo laughed lowly.
Her face, reflected in the red lightning—
was cruelly distorted, like a demon that had crawled out of hell.
And she,
holding the wooden box, looked at the child and the old woman.
"Now, I don't need you."
[Click…]
As the lid of the wooden box opened,
dark crimson flames erupted from Hyun-nyeo's fingertips.
[WHOOSH…]
The flames, like living beasts,
writhed and blazed through the air.
Hyun-nyeo tilted her head slightly,
a bitter smile on her lips, and murmured.
"It's noisy… so stop crying now."
[WHOOM…]
With the end of her words,
the dark crimson flames spread softly.
Like wind, like smoke—
but their essence was slaughter.
The moment the flames approached the child—
the already collapsed old woman
gathered her last breath and turned her body.
Holding the child in her blood-soaked arms,
she froze just like that.
[CRACKLE…]
A moment later.
At the shrine entrance, a form turned black like charcoal remained kneeling.
The sickle in her hand had melted,
and there was no lingering regret or pain on her lips.
In her arms—
A child.
Small, trembling breaths.
And alive.
In her arms—
there was a child, astonishingly unharmed, who had survived.
A face smeared with bloody tears.
Eyes wide with terror and shock.
And… from the tip of trembling, small lips,
words barely escaped.
"…Grandma…"
At that moment—
Something inside the shrine snapped.
Beneath the fading firelight.
Dam-bi slowly rose.
Her fingertips, cracked by clotted blood.
Fresh blood dripped from the fissures.
And—
Her eyes.
In those clear, deep eyes,
a brilliant blue light spread, as if tearing through the darkness.
Hyun-nyeo paused, looking at her.
"…This might turn into an interesting scene."
[CRAAAAAASSSHHHH!!]
At that moment—
The sky split open once more.
Red lightning poured down in a straight line from above the shrine,
[BOOM!!]
piercing the ceiling and striking directly.
[WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH—!!]
Soon after—
The entire shrine was engulfed in flames.
The roof collapsed, and the walls burned.
Sparks shot up through the gaps in the roof tiles,
and the flames soared towards the sky.
The night sky,
slowly began to turn red.
A red sky.
A burning shrine.
And Dam-bi, standing alone at its center.
That day—
the pitch-black night sky,
was burning, scattering embers.