Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Episode 19: Suspicious Bodyguards (4)

Strictly speaking, the beings served by shamans are not gods.

They are spirits, or something that reads the secrets of Heaven.

Those beings either briefly emerge by borrowing the shaman’s body, or convey their words through them.

In short, beings no different from the nine-tailed fox Elder are unable to descend into the mortal world directly, so they display their individual powers through shamans.

Their purposes vary as well.

Some simply wish to save pitiful souls, some do it out of boredom, and some have no choice because their bloodlines are intertwined.

However, because they cannot disrupt the natural order, they can do little more than ward off misfortune and vaguely reveal the future.

Such gods never show their forms even to the shamans whose bodies they borrow.

No, they cannot.

Because a human vessel cannot withstand them.

But I can see them.

And hear them.

Their voices.

That was how I learned all of this.

Not because I particularly wanted to know.

“So that’s how it is.”

“How fascinating. I had thought they were merely the sort who got possessed by random ghosts with their paltry divine power and babbled nonsense.”

“If you put it like that, what does that make these people who stay beside San?”

“Hmph, stay beside him? They merely gathered on their own because they wanted to lessen their karma. The raccoon dog only refrained from throwing them out because he is softhearted. These ones have at least been carefully filtered, but the other shamans are not worth associating with!”

“There you go again.”

It was not that I could not understand him.

I had heard that over the long years, many shamans had deceived innocent people and even caused needless deaths.

It was a difference in experience.

The difference between the nine-tailed fox Elder, who had seen and experienced those things firsthand, and me, who merely thought vaguely, ‘So things like that happened too.’

But that was not these people’s fault.

“Anyway, these people don’t seem to have done anything particularly wrong. Nor do the gods dwelling within them. Their fate simply turned out that way. Isn’t that right, Elder?”

“Well, that is true, but... ahem.”

“Don’t pay too much attention to what the Elder says. He’s just being spiteful. Becoming shamans wasn’t your fault.”

(Thank you for understanding it that way.)

“I’m the same. It wasn’t my fault that my divine eyes opened and I could no longer live an ordinary life.”

“Hmph! Honestly, I can’t even tell who you’re talking to.”

____________

At Jinseong’s seemingly indifferent yet sincere words, the Haedong Divine Maiden’s eyes blurred.

And small memories buried beneath the years gently surfaced like wild grass swaying in the wind.

The smell of disinfectant that kept brushing against her nose, doctors and nurses rushing about, and even her mother’s pale face lying perfectly still.

“February 19, 1993, 1:48 p.m. Ms. Yoon Seonok has passed away.”

-Slap. Slap.

“It’s because of this bitch! This bitch ruined our family! What? A divine calling? My sister died because this crazy bitch kept spouting nonsense!”

The middle-aged woman mercilessly slapped the cheek of a child who looked barely old enough to have started school, then grabbed the child by the collar.

The child, held by the fierce woman’s hand, was lifted weakly into the air.

Her face was gaunt from how many meals she had missed, her lips split from repeated slaps, and the places she had been struck were swollen badly.

“Die! You die instead! Bring my sister back and die in her place!”

“Ma’am, what are you doing to the child! Someone come stop her! Sir! Your child is being beaten!”

The doctor who had solemnly pronounced the death urgently called to the man, but the man sitting collapsed on the floor showed no sign of getting up.

And the voice of the woman gripping the child’s collar grew harsher and harsher.

“What kind of lunatic tells her own mother the date she’s going to die! Is that what a daughter does? You evil-spirit bitch! I knew it! Your grandfather died the day you were born, and I knew you were the kind of bitch who’d eat people alive!”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry...”

The child parted her bloodied lips slightly and repeated the words of apology.

The grief, regret, and sorrow that came at the deceased’s final moment had nowhere to go, so anger took their place.

And the one forced to endure that surging anger and beg forgiveness was none other than the deceased’s daughter, the person who should have been grieving the most at that moment.

For a child who had lost the protective fence called family, even the right to mourn her mother’s death was denied.

As her consciousness blurred from being strangled, the last thing she saw was, ironically, her mother’s peacefully sleeping face.

That was the closest thing she had to comfort.

‘It’s because of me. Mom died because of me. If I just hadn’t said those words, Mom would still be alive.’

The vividly resurfacing memory dragged the little girl even deeper into the abyss.

It was like being underwater, deep enough that not a single beam of light reached.

She could not breathe, and her body floating in the air felt heavy as though submerged.

But the child did not struggle.

‘If I die like this, can I follow Mom?’

Having eaten and drunk nothing, the child simply let everything go and closed her eyes.

Just as even the suffocating pain in her chest began to grow numb,

-Clink.

(The tea is getting cold. Drink it.)

‘Tea?’

The hand around her throat had vanished without her noticing.

And when her vision returned, there really was tea in front of her.

A delicious-looking tea she had never tried before, with an egg yolk floating on top.

Only then did the girl realize that she had eaten nothing at all.

Before she knew it, the teacup was in her dried-out hands.

-Sip.

The fragrant scent of cinnamon erased the hospital’s smell of alcohol.

A single sip of warm tea spread warmth through her cold body.

And the girl’s time, which had stopped before her mother’s corpse, began moving again.

_____________

Even she did not know why one casual remark from Jinseong had brought back an old memory she hated even thinking about.

But now, it no longer mattered.

‘It’s warm...’

What the Haedong Divine Maiden faced after emerging from the old memory was tea.

Ssanghwa tea with a rich aroma, something she would never normally think to buy for herself.

Whether her younger self had drunk it, or whether her present self had unconsciously done so, nearly half the cup was already gone.

And just like the half-emptied tea, the pain from that day somehow felt slightly dulled as well.

‘Right. It’s been more than twenty years. I don’t even have time to make money, and I’m sitting here wallowing in misery. Damn it.’

“Hey, what’s wrong? Thinking about the old days again?”

“Yeah.”

At the Haedong Divine Maiden’s casual answer, the dharma master jumped in alarm and hurriedly grabbed his coat.

“Damn it, why now of all times? Let’s get out of here quickly.”

“Where are we going?”

“Where else! We have to get you to a hospital before you start screaming and having another fit... Huh? You’re fine?”

“Took you long enough to notice.”

“You’re really okay?”

“I said I’m fine. Stop making such a fuss and sit still.”

Because the dharma master had suddenly grabbed his clothes and jumped to his feet, quite a few eyes had already turned toward them.

But the gathering was so awkward that before long, only the sounds of sipping tea and firewood crackling in the stove remained in the coffeehouse again.

And amid the silence, a quiet whisper reached her ears.

(It seems you received a fine gift.)

‘Yes, Heavenly God. I received a decoction with excellent medicinal effects.’

“What? Why are you smiling again? It’s mania, isn’t it? Right? See! I told you we should go to the hospital!”

“Shut that mouth of yours.”

Separate from the pain that had been healed, the dharma master’s every word kept scraping at her nerves, making the Haedong Divine Maiden’s newly calmed emotions flare up again and again.

____________

By the time the teacups I had served were emptied, I casually glanced at my phone and saw that it was already well past midnight.

It was about time to send the guests home.

“You’re going to kick them out now?”

“You too, Elder. It’s already midnight.”

“Why me?”

“Business hours ended ages ago. Don’t tell me you’re planning to sleep here.”

“Insolent brat. I stayed and guarded this place until late at night, and that is all you have to say? Tsk. I have no intention of sleeping in this shabby place either!”

Fortunately, he understood the roundabout dismissal perfectly.

And the other shamans also began gathering the empty cups onto trays while reading the atmosphere.

“Sending them away is one thing, but it is about time you handed it over.”

“Handed what over?”

“Why do you think these fellows came all the way here?”

“Didn’t San send them to guard the Divine Tree?”

“That is merely what you think. They also came in hopes of receiving a sacred object while they were here. The ones who failed to receive one from the raccoon dog are standing around like puppies desperate to relieve themselves. Did you truly not notice despite having divine eyes? Heh heh.”

I had been so busy clearing away cups that only now did I notice the shamans who had already finished their tea yet were hovering nearby awkwardly.

“So you came here to ask for sacred objects to help guard the Divine Tree.”

Judging by the way everyone avoided my eyes and scratched their heads awkwardly, that seemed to be the right answer.

Just as nothing in the world was free, there had been another reason they had run all the way here looking half dead.

But I did not particularly dislike them for it.

At least they had a sense of shame.

They had not brazenly demanded compensation for guarding the Divine Tree.

They had simply watched the mood and drunk the tea I served them, hadn’t they?

Even if I had simply said, ‘It’s closing time now,’ and sent them away, they probably would have hesitated with embarrassed expressions just like now before leaving.

Of course, setting aside my personal feelings, there was one problem.

“But I don’t have any sacred objects. I don’t have divine power either, so I have no ability to make them.”

“What? But you are the being who guards the Divine Tree, so how could...”

“It’s not because I have especially great divine power that I’m guarding the Divine Tree.”

Everyone looked confused.

Everyone except one person—

No, one divine beast.

“Heh heh heh.”

“Elder, stop laughing and help solve this properly. You’re making these people uncomfortable.”

“You said yourself that you lack divine power and therefore cannot make sacred objects. That is exactly how it is. What do you expect me to do about it? For the record, I cannot help you, so keep that in mind. Making sacred objects is not something even that raccoon dog who guards the Divine Tree is casually permitted to do.”

The mischievous look in his eyes made it obvious he had no intention of telling me anything.

With no idea what to do, I turned my head toward the window to stare into the distance for a moment.

“Ah.”

“Damn, you realized it already? How boring.”

“Yes. The answer was unexpectedly close by.”

“Heh heh, then hurry and hand them out.”

Come to think of it, it was not as though I had absolutely no method.

I had already once succeeded in creating something packed full of divine power with my own hands.

The problem was that we had eaten all of it.

The nine-tailed fox Elder was already grinning at the thought of me handing each of them one leaf of wrap vegetables and calling it a sacred object.

I wanted no part of a sacred object that looked ridiculous and might need to be reissued whenever it wilted.

The replacement procedure would be far too frequent.

I needed another method.

Something that could be distributed fairly to everyone, and whose creation method was not too different from that of the wrap vegetables.

As I swallowed dryly and sank into thought, one of the waiting shamans carefully approached and politely held out a card to me.

“Um, by any chance, do you accept cards for payment?”

“No. I was simply treating you, so there’s no need to pay...”

Ah, I found it.

A magical machine that made leaves sprout when rubbed(?).

“Wait a moment. I’ll process the payment. Only those without sacred objects, bring me your cards.”

“You brat, don’t tell me you’re going to...”

Yes, Elder.

Exactly what you’re thinking.