The villagers are swarming.
[He has come, the Blessing of Jisan!]
The shout from the person holding the megaphone grew louder and louder, and before I knew it, the sounds of singing and kkwaenggwari gongs had surged back to life with intensity.
A whirlpool of people.
"This way!"
I followed Agent Bronze and tried to hide from the villagers in the gaps between them, but it was not enough.
"Wow, crazy."
"Is that the guy who receives the golden rooster?"
The whispers of people who hadn't grasped the situation yet, the villagers rushing toward me, abandoning everything else, people prostrating themselves on the ground and praying toward the mountain, and Baek Saheon, who had disappeared among them.
And….
"Please run away."
I grabbed Agent Bronze, who was trying to push me and Assistant Manager Eun Haje back and confront the villagers himself.
"Calm down. Chances are high that I won't be able to leave 'safely' now anyway."
"……!"
"And it was clearly in the rulebook."
Our eyes met.
"How to act in a similar situation."
During rescue operations, there are occasional cases where one of the agents is captured by the villagers.
However, unless it is the last day of the festival, do not rush in blindly or confront the entire village.
You can re-enter a village in the middle of a festival at any time. What that means is, you can come back after making sufficient preparations.
Do not waste a precious opportunity by making a scene swayed by emotions; act wisely and decisively.
Let the captured person, the remaining people, and the rescuers all survive and escape the Disaster.
"Go."
"……."
"Go, find a way to rescue me quickly, and come back. That is my way to survive."
I could see the intense deliberation in Agent Bronze's eyes. A tug-of-war between emotion and rational judgment.
But soon, reason won.
"Tomorrow."
"……."
"I will definitely return."
I tucked the Five-Colored Sneaker Laces, which Agent Bronze quickly handed over, into my inventory tattoo.
It was a card I could use in the worst-case scenario, when I had to get out even at the risk of going missing or committing suicide.
Then, Agent Bronze ran toward the entrance, weaving through the crowd at a terrifying speed.
"He has come. The Blessing of Jisan!"
At that moment, the villagers swamped me.
I blinked.
I think I lost consciousness for a moment.
And the place where I regained my senses was… a wide, elegant wooden floor.
Sliding Doors were attached to both sides of the square space.
"……."
I had seen a similar style recently.
'It’s that tile-roofed house.'
Assistant Manager Eun Haje was nowhere to be seen. …It seemed she hadn't been captured with me.
That was a relief.
'…….'
I looked down at my legs.
Both legs were tied with a Sacred Rope.
The Sacred Rope led outside through a hole in one side of the Sliding Door.
When I pulled it slightly, I felt tension. It seemed to be fixed.
'This is getting serious.'
At that moment.
Drrrk.
The Sliding Door opened, and people entered.
No, just two people.
One person carrying a soban tray with festival food and another person carrying a liquor bottle. The two of them bowed deeply to me and set down the neat food and liquor.
And faintly, music began to be heard.
Likely, a madly intense festival was taking place outside the building.
All through the night.
"……."
The two of them picked up the small drawing box they had brought and drew lots. In the end, the one who drew the stick with the rooster feather remained here, while the other bowed and left.
The one who remained was the one who had brought the liquor.
"Saheon-ssi."
"……."
The villager who had brought the liquor, Baek Saheon, looked at me.
The prime suspect I could think of for why I suddenly drew the Special Prize.
"Last night, did you purposely make me draw the 'Special Prize' stick from your pocket?"
—...Check my pocket.
He had certainly induced it naturally like that.
That was the only suspicious behavior that could explain why I, who had only drawn blanks yesterday, drew the Special Prize today.
"By making me out to be someone who had already drawn the Special Prize, to make me 'suitable'?"
"……."
"Is that why you induced me to draw the Special Prize the next day?"
A thick sense of satisfaction flashed in Baek Saheon's eyes.
And he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"What if that's right?"
"You planned this for a long time."
"……."
"Until you reached the assumption that this would work, and while worrying about what to do if the agents couldn't rescue you."
A gleeful smile spread across Baek Saheon's lips.
"That's right."
Liberation.
Madness.
"I thought about it every day. What would I do if I ever got picked? I don't want to end up like that. Every time I slept in this sh*tty house, every time someone died, even when Noona died!"
He spoke as if vomiting the words out.
"I thought that I definitely didn't want to become like that. F*ck, if I die, what do I care about gods or whatever…."
"God?"
Baek Saheon gasped. I could feel the anxiety and pleasure of someone speaking forbidden words.
"This holiday festival was for serving a god."
"Serving? No!!"
Baek Saheon spat out like a scream.
"This is a ritual to try and create a god!"
"……!"
"'Pick an auspicious day to make it a holiday, and at that time, install the winner in the Seonangdang to create the Blessing of Jisan, a god who will liberate us from the Truth of the World.' They actually believe that crazy bullsh*t and are doing it!"
"Is that really possible?"
"I don't know! But…."
Panting.
"There really is something here."
"……."
"During the holiday, if there are no outsiders who drew the Special Prize, we gather the remaining sticks and draw among ourselves every day. And if someone gets picked there…."
Baek Saheon's face hardened.
"When the last day of the festival is over, they cover their head like they're catching livestock and drag them to the Seonangdang."
"……."
"They drag them there and do something at the Seonangdang."
"Do what?"
"I don't know. I don't know. But, but there's something…."
His face turned pale.
"When the people who were dragged away come out in the morning, their complexions are all different. They become unable to speak. They prepare for the next year's holiday among themselves…."
"……."
"When the holiday they prepared for that year ends, they hang themselves at the Seonangdang."
…!
"But, but they reappear every holiday. They died, but they return. They walk out of the Seonangdang."
He wailed.
"They perform pungmulnori!!"
"…!"
"They're doing it right now. Outside!"
Hiyayaaaa!
"I won't end up like that. I won't die. Never."
Baek Saheon's eyes glinted with fear, anger, survival instinct, and the relief that he had made it… then they became calm with reason and calculation.
"Now that you've been picked, the holiday and the drawing are over. I don't have to come back here anymore. The fact that I couldn't escape this Jisan Village, the fact that I was held captive—it's all over now."
…….
"I see."
I nodded.
Baek Saheon muttered.
"Can I say it now because you're an insider too? Haha. …I used to think the bastards who blabbered about this stuff first were all idiots, but this… so this is how it feels?"
The feeling of going through a situation alone, unable to speak and having to swallow information only I know.
It's a funny thing, but I think I know better than anyone how Baek Saheon is feeling right now.
'…….'
Actually, it would be right for me to be angry or anxious right now.
Didn't this crazy bastard, Baek Saheon, push a civil servant—who only said there was no way to save him after coming to rescue him—into his place as a Sacrificial Lamb just to save himself?
I should be angry, feel disillusioned, feel anxiety and resentment welling up at being subjected to such a thing, and my head should be spinning to find a way to escape.
That would be right.
But strangely, that's not the case.
Instead, oddly… my mind is at ease.
This feeling where the complicated tomorrow and near future have become a bit opaque.
'Since I'm caught here, I don't have to think about other things.'
I no longer have to worry about Wish Tickets, Director Ho's Binding Restriction, the information I have to find within a month, or how to treat the agent whose identity has already been discovered as top priorities.
'Is it literally escapism?'
It's a bit funny and absurd that the threat of death is actually more comfortable.
But it was the truth.
That's why I could speak plainly.
Without sympathy or anger.
"I see. I understand."
"Understand?"
Wariness returned to Baek Saheon's eyes.
"Are you going to say 'Oh, how unfortunate, I understand,' and then tell me I shouldn't be doing this and ask me to let you go?"
"Perhaps. But… spending daily life in a situation where you can't feel at ease at all, where it feels like you'll die soon, and every day is terrifying."
"……."
"I know that."
The other person looked at me with a subdued expression.
"Still, out of the two agents, you chose well by luck."
"Why, do you want to die or something?"
…….
"A little bit?"
I don't really know right now.
"Have you never wanted to die? Not even once?"
"……."
"You have."
"That's not going to happen."
Baek Saheon said abruptly.
"I don't want to die. If you wanted to die, then good for you. You can just stay like that."
"……."
It's strange.
There is no sign in those words of trying to mock me for being fooled by him. Even though it's a situation where he could make fun of me, it doesn't seem like he find it all that entertaining.
I could only feel a selfish desperation for survival.
He didn't exactly seem to feel guilty, but how should I put it… there seemed to be no room for guilt to even enter.
'Come to think of it, it was always like that.'
He desperately looked out only for his own gain and survival.
But even so, if he doesn't find pleasure in seeing someone in trouble because of him or find bullying fun… there is a slightly different approach.
I can use him.
'…Because I probably can't just escape reality until I die just like this.'
In the end, I opened my mouth.
"Saheon-ssi. If both you and I could live, would you help?"
"…What?"
"It will just be more troublesome than it is now, and you'll have to risk being caught."
"As if I'd do that? You crazy bastard."
It was then.
—Goodness, stop! Even for a dramatic element, there's a limit to what I'll tolerate. How can he be so rude!
—Ah, Friend. Why are there so many lately who return your favors with betrayal! Even this Braun's heart aches.
…The Plush doll began to speak again.
—I will help you. First, let's get out of here.
—After that, let's show them clearly what karma is. That would be quite a thrilling and exciting scene.
…….
'Ah. It's okay.'
The Plush doll stopped speaking.
'I'll try it alone. Won't that be more fun?'
—That's… well. It seems like it would be a good flow if appropriate help was involved!
'It's okay.'
I finished my conversation with the Plush doll and looked at Baek Saheon again.
Because the words were directed at someone I hadn't even expected anything from, they came out naturally.
"But Saheon-ssi. I'm dying because of you."
"……."
"I'm just someone who came to rescue you and couldn't because there was no way. I'm dying because you pushed me into this spot."
"Why is this because of me?"
Baek Saheon's face contorts.
"Did I tell them to kill someone if they pick the f*cking Special Prize? Did I stuff someone into the Seonangdang and kill them? The one who kills is someone else! Then you're saying I should just die? That…."
Gettingangryandswearingbringsbadluck.
"……!!"
Baek Saheon and I turned our heads toward the Sliding Door at the same time.
A muttering could be heard.
Gettingangryandswearingbringsbadluck. Gettingangryandswearingbringsbadluck. Gettingangryandswearingbringsbadluck. Thosewhohaveforgottenbegone. Thosewhohaveforgottenbegone. Thosewhohaveforgottenbegone.
OProxygrantusthescatteredwhiteblessingofJisanOProxygrantusthescatteredwhitebles singofJisanOProxygrantusthescatteredwhiteblessingofJisan
A resonating sound.
Baek Saheon looked toward the Sliding Door with a face pale as a ghost.
There was clearly nothing there, but the sounds of the pungmulnori troupe began to be heard louder and louder….
"Baek Saheon-ssi."
"No."
The guy went to the opposite side of the Sliding Door, crouched down, and covered his head.
A helplessness that was hard to believe from someone who usually committed all sorts of impulsive acts with composure.
'Is it a trauma response?'
I wonder if this will work.
I deliberated for a moment, then opened my mouth.
Toward the Sliding Door.
"I'm sorry. I was flustered and swore."
The sound stopped.
"It was a bad attitude for a festival. I will try to use kind words from now on."
The Sliding Door did not move, as if dead quiet.
And….
Hiyayaaaa!
The sounds of the pungmulnori, which had started again, gradually drifted away.
Until it melted into the festival noise as if completely disappearing.
"……."
"……."
"Baek Saheon-ssi."
Baek Saheon stood up from the corner of the Sliding Door, drenched in a cold sweat.
And he looked at me with confused eyes.
"I just helped you so that you wouldn't die."
"……."
"Don't you feel even a little bit of gratitude?"
"…If I'm grateful, are you telling me to die in your place?"
"You're speaking as if saying thank you means you have to pay a tremendous price."
Baek Saheon looked at me as if asking what kind of obvious thing I was saying.
I see.
"Do as you wish. Since your life seems so very precious."
Then I looked down at my feet.
"But my life was precious too. Even though I sometimes think I want to die."
"……."
"……."
After a long silence.
Baek Saheon opened his mouth.
"What exactly is the way for both of us to live?"
"……."
"What is it?"
I put my still-free hand into my pocket and rolled the silver badge I felt inside.
The Silver Heart.
"It's simple."
Because I realized it just now while listening to Baek Saheon's words.
What kind of ghost story this is.
"I'm going to plant doubt in their faith."
Making a god, liberation from the Truth of the World, coincidence and fate, an offering ritual shared by only a few, the dead who return, the Sacrificial Lamb….
Everything pointed to one thing.
This is a ghost story under the Church of the Luminous Unknown.
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