Acting as though Wonhyeok’s frustration were none of his concern, Haje lit a campfire.
Wonhyeok moved the children one by one closer to the fire.
Their lives did not seem to be in danger, but their bodies were so cold that he could not help worrying.
After telling Wonhyeok to remain there, Haje went to summon the villagers.
Naturally, the village erupted into chaos.
While Wonhyeok tended to the children amid the commotion, Haje clapped his hands and drew everyone’s attention.
As though he were deliberately showing Wonhyeok something, he called loudly for the village head.
“M-Messenger, sir.”
“Well, we recovered the children, did we not? And I dealt with the ghost properly.”
“P-perhaps, is there a Ghost Gate...?”
Wonhyeok’s eyes widened.
He had not expected the village head to ask about a Ghost Gate so directly.
However, Haje spoke with a breath that might have been a scoff, as though he had expected it.
“There is no such thing. There is no sign that one will form, either.”
At Haje’s words, the village head’s expression changed strangely.
Wonhyeok could not tell what emotion she felt to make such a face.
As the village head tried to withdraw, Haje tossed the gourd flask to her.
Startled, she caught it, and Haje spoke.
“That is the sonmalmyeong that was in this village. It was not one ghost, but a mixture of several. Seal it as it is, hold a soul-guiding rite, or do whatever you please.”
“Then the children and the men will be safe now.”
As she said that, the village head’s face changed in that strange way again.
This time, Wonhyeok swiftly read her expression.
A faint smile, almost easily mistaken for relief, that seemed to say, ‘Aha.’
If all they had to do was seal it or hold a soul-guiding rite, what was that expression supposed to mean?
As he stared at the village head, a thought passed through Wonhyeok’s mind.
‘It is as though there is another choice.’
Haje spoke to her.
“It depends on what you do. But let me tell you one thing....”
Haje glanced at the sky.
A bright full moon looked down upon the villagers.
“No Ghost Gate will form because of whatever you do. So think about getting along well with the living.”
“...Pardon?”
The village head tilted her head, her expression making it impossible to tell whether she was flustered or did not understand.
Behind her, the village women had gathered and were murmuring among themselves.
“Well, our work is done, so we should leave. Clerk, come.”
“Pardon? We are leaving like this?”
Wonhyeok looked at Haje in bewilderment and helplessly flailed his hands.
Haje turned away without hesitation. He placed an arm around Wonhyeok’s shoulder, then slung him over it like baggage once again.
“Ah, no, wait...!”
Was he truly going to make his exit like this?
However, Wonhyeok’s feeble resistance was instantly ignored.
In the blink of an eye, Haje had brought him down from the mountain ravine. Wonhyeok stared at the back of Haje’s head with a complicated expression.
“So what exactly happened? Those people are committing murder in that village. Can we simply leave them alone?”
“If we do not leave them alone, what would you do? We have done everything we can. We are Ghost Gate Messengers who catch and govern uncanny powers and wicked spirits, not inspectors who deal with the laws of people.”
At Haje’s calm words, Wonhyeok narrowed his eyes.
“Somehow... it sounds as though you knew the whole story from the beginning.”
“Well, I did not know the details. Still, was it not a fine case for field practice with a novice Messenger?”
By the time they had untied the horses from the village stable, Wonhyeok had regained his freedom.
He straightened his clothes, let out a sigh, and took out his ledger and brush.
A lantern hung from the horse’s side, so there was no problem seeing even at night.
“Then tell me the whole story in detail. I still have to keep a record, do I not?”
“You record every little thing.”
Haje answered indifferently, but he did not mount his horse.
It seemed he was worried that, if he sat high on the horse, he would be able to see every word in Wonhyeok’s inspection record.
Holding the reins, Haje walked beside Wonhyeok and recounted the village’s story. Wonhyeok copied it down as they walked slowly.
The full account was as follows.
“So the first people to die were women... At the hands of the village men. All to create a Ghost Gate....”
The petition sent to the Office of Ghostly Inspection had merely stated that people were dying.
But in that village, the women and children had died first.
At the hands of men from the same village.
According to Haje, such a thing happened surprisingly often.
Because of the rumor that Ghost Gates formed when ghosts gathered.
“Why do they want a Ghost Gate so badly? Is it not trouble even if one forms?”
“It is trouble. But it is trouble that can be controlled, and once one appears, a neighborweb springs up around it. Those with an interest find that tempting. The state even provides support. If a manageable Ghost Gate forms in such an obscure village, then until it ruptures, it is like finding wild ginseng.”
“A... a what?”
“...A neighborweb. It means a dense web of neighbors—interconnected foundations growing thick together.”
“...Is that truly a word?”
Wonhyeok gave Haje a doubtful look, but Haje did not answer.
In any case, that was what mattered.
Everything began when the villagers’ malice, born from their desire for a Ghost Gate, crossed the line.
The men united to kill the weak: women, children, and the elderly.
Once they believed a ghost had appeared, they continued their evil deeds and summoned a Messenger through a petition to confirm whether a Ghost Gate had truly formed.
But in this village, there had been a reversal.
The women who had been prey fought back.
According to Haje’s prediction, the village head had likely been the one to start it.
The woman who killed her husband and took the position of village head had seized control of the village.
It was neither satisfying nor particularly tragic.
“The women in the reservoir were women who died before the petition was sent. The men who died afterward... Well, perhaps they were buried in the fields and became fertilizer.”
“...Once they divided the wealth the men had possessed, their circumstances must have become even more prosperous. That is why the clothes the woman was weaving looked so fine.”
When someone died in a village, it was natural for the mood to grow subdued and sorrowful. Yet the younger children wore rainbow-striped clothes and ran about noisily in groups, while the older children sided with their mothers and sisters.
The women poisoned the men and weakened them so they could not fight back.
The madman Wonhyeok had met in the village must have been one of them.
‘If only they had grabbed me from the beginning and told me the full story....’
Was that too naïve a thought, considering that man must have been a criminal as well?
In truth, even if they had told him, there was little Wonhyeok could have done.
The Ghost Gate era had brought great social changes, yet in a small village where even Messengers and Ghost Gates were rarely seen, the old order of strength and weakness—and shocking atrocities—remained.
“But a real ghost did appear. The women who died unjustly before had gathered together. Who do you think that ghost wanted to take?”
“...The men who killed them.”
“Yes. But unrelated people had already killed those men in their place. It is enough to make anyone go mad. It would be infuriating too. The ghost took the children because it wondered whether these people were killing children as well.”
Wonhyeok remembered the villagers, who had seemed to believe the ghost would not cause great harm.
Then he remembered the ghost, weeping mournfully as it searched for someone.
That was why they had been so confident. They had been in the same position as the ghost, so they believed the maiden ghost would let them pass.
And there was the rotten fruit found near the children....
The village had already known.
Had they been holding makeshift rites to soothe the ghost and keep the children alive?
Instead of rescuing the children sooner, had they been too concerned about watching the Messengers who would come because of the petition?
“If there is no one left to take revenge on, the ghost should return to the underworld. What sin have the abducted children committed?”
“Having gained power, do you think a ghost will merely watch quietly and leave?”
In the end, it meant that the ghost had made up its mind to do something.
The attackers and victims had traded places. The bitter taste did not change.
Yet Wonhyeok could not help thinking this as well.
‘Would peace have come to this village if only the men who committed evil had been killed?’
Even after their positions had reversed, they had repeated the same sins exactly....
In the end, even the woman who became village head had been tempted by the prospect of creating a Ghost Gate in that manner.
But if they stopped now, the remaining men would not stay still. And if the women had not fought back, they would still have been the ones dying.
Someone from outside needed to stop them.
“Is allowing things to pass like this the only way to handle such matters?”
“What else would you have us do? Shall I shout, ‘Know your sins!’?”
“...If we chose to, could we not do that?”
“Goodness, Clerk. Let it be.”
Haje waved his hands back and forth.
“What did I say earlier? I said this was a case for a novice Messenger. You need to understand clearly what we are supposed to do.”
What he meant was that they could intervene in the affairs of ghosts, but not in the affairs of the living.
But was that truly impossible? Even with Haje, Joseon’s greatest Messenger, standing beside him?
Wonhyeok looked at the moon and spoke.
“I almost feel sorry for the ghost.”
“What?”
At Wonhyeok’s words, Haje laughed loudly.
Even as he finished writing, Wonhyeok felt embarrassed, wondering why Haje found that so funny.
“Come to think of it, why did you hand over the gourd flask containing the ghost? You did not even take a reward.”
“Well, what would I do with a measly reward that leaves a bad taste? And the ghost only seems weak because it has not killed people. Keeping that many people alive after abducting them is no ordinary feat. The best course is to guide it onward just as it is. Once you imprison it and then release it, it becomes resentful and goes even wilder.”
“That does not answer my question. Why did you hand it over to them?”
“To see what they do.”
At Haje’s cryptic words, Wonhyeok thought deeply, then his eyes widened.
“Everything happened because of their vain greed to create a Ghost Gate. Even after you told them it was useless?”
At Wonhyeok’s question, Haje laughed again.
Unlike his earlier hearty laughter, there was something chilly in it.
If the village head could not restrain her greed despite Haje’s advice and released the ghost again—
Then another Ghost Gate Messenger would likely have to visit the village.
For now, however, no one could know.
“Since ancient times, greed has never distinguished between the living and the dead, and it has never known satisfaction.”
After saying that, Haje mounted his horse, cried out, and spurred it onward.