Inside the VIP lounge of Terminal 2 at Incheon International Airport.
I… Kang Do-jun, a male shaman, stared silently at the document envelope on the table.
The front bore the official seal of Blue Tile, a covert exorcism unit reporting directly to the president.
“Agent Kang Do-jun, all the documents you need are here. I suppose this is the last courtesy the state will extend you.”
Across from me sat Lee Seo-jin, the director of Blue Tile, legs crossed and aides in tow.
His face was cold and impassive.
I drew my brows together and said,
“Courtesy?”
A sharp sigh escaped me.
Kang Do-jun, Special Class Exorcist of Blue Tile.
I had once been a male shaman who did readings for wealthy clients at a neighborhood fortune-telling shop. But after the Ghost Gate opened in South Korea and anomalies began harming people, I made exorcism my profession.
Special Class Exorcist.
I had earned an honor held by only three people in South Korea, and I had been reasonably content with my life.
At least until that incident.
-Divine Spirit! Divine Spirit! I'm sorry. Because of me… because I was powerless!
-It is all right…. Perhaps it is a blessing that I can fulfill my purpose this way.
Three years ago, the Black Malefic Energy had drained all the vital energy from the Inwangsan area and nearly turned all of Seoul into hell.
I sacrificed the White Tiger Spirit, the chief deity I had served my entire life, to destroy Saeuni, a great evil spirit.
It was an order from the state, and Seo-jin, now the director and once my junior partner, had pleaded with me.
I fought with everything I had. As a result, I lost my divine power.
No. More precisely, the vessel that had held my deity had grown abnormally vast and then emptied completely.
“I gave up even my Divine Spirit to save this country, and this is what I get?”
“And for the past three years, we have managed that dangerous ‘empty vessel’ of yours, have we not? Even our tolerance… has its limits.”
“Managed? You spent all that time trying to figure out how to use me. When you couldn't, you threw me out.”
Those bastards had tried to make spirits descend into my body again and again, but it had never worked.
I did not know why. Every attempt had triggered a violent rejection in my body.
Seo-jin pushed the papers toward me.
【Recommendation for Overseas Residence and Permanent Exile】
“You know that a vast, empty vessel like yours is the finest prey an evil spirit could wish for. Your mere presence in Korea is a seed of disaster. And then there is the ‘ominous prophecy’ about you. As director of Blue Tile, I would be neglecting my duty if I did not exile you.”
“A prophecy, huh? Even so, people don't usually discard their own mentor like this.”
A bitter smile.
“Senior… this is a sacrifice for the country. It is also the last patriotic act you can perform.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
I had sacrificed myself for the country all my life, and even at the end, this was the sort of thing I had to hear.
Worse, it was coming from Lee Seo-jin, the man I had regarded as my own little brother and trusted with my heart.
It was fucked up.
Enough to make me hate the very country of South Korea.
“If that's how it is, why don't you just kill me? Make a clean break of it.”
“We are not fools. If we break a vessel as immense as yours the wrong way, the entire land could be engulfed in powerful resentment and curses. Above all, Senior, you were born under the fate of the Heavenly Killing Star, were you not?”
“What am I, nuclear waste?”
“Something like that. Though you are far more dangerous… than anything nuclear.”
The Heavenly Killing Star.
I was born under a sinister, ominous fate. They could neither kill me nor let me continue running wild in Korea.
They would rather I died in distant America, brought a curse down on that country, and disappeared.
That was how uncomfortable Kang Do-jun made everyone.
Do-jun shrugged.
“Anyway, are you sure you won't regret this? Me… I can hold a grudge, you know.”
“Perhaps. But that was when you still served the White Tiger Spirit.”
“Ungrateful bastards. Get lost.”
Kang Do-jun raised his middle finger and stormed out of the lounge.
A bitter look settled over Lee Seo-jin's face as he watched him leave. Do-jun's face was filled with murderous intent.
***
Twenty hours later, in a secluded alley near Koreatown in LA.
Kang Do-jun's thoughts were tangled as he walked.
‘Huuuh. Those fucking bastards.’
A US green card and a paltry resettlement allowance.
After more than a decade of exorcisms, this was all I had left.
To be honest, it was fucked up.
I had worked myself to the bone for Blue Tile, for a South Korea that had barely had any exorcists of its own.
And they had cast me aside like this.
‘I'll make them regret it.’
I sighed again.
No matter how I thought about it, I could not forgive them.
I ground my teeth and vowed revenge, but how was I supposed to do it?
Until recently, I would have found work as an exorcist in America at once.
Unlike Korea, which still refused to acknowledge the existence of anomalies, America recognized them officially and operated an exorcist licensing system suited to its capitalist ways.
I laid a hand on my lower abdomen and felt only my spirit jar, as broad as the sea.
It had been unusually large since birth.
But pushing myself too far in the fierce battle against Saeuni on Inwangsan had made it even wider.
In other words….
‘My body's become the perfect place for evil spirits to latch on. A cursed body.’
For now, I had relied on other shamans to keep evil spirits away with talismans and ritual implements. But I no longer had the money to hire them.
I did not even know if there was anyone in America who offered that sort of service.
It was as if I carried a time bomb inside me, ready for an evil spirit to latch on and turn me into an anomaly.
The situation was hopeless in more ways than one.
‘This ought to be fun.’
Yet my fighting spirit rose instead.
What if I clawed my way up from this worst of circumstances? One day, I wanted to bring the bastards who had abandoned me to their knees and make them beg for forgiveness.
That was simply the sort of man I was.
My life in Korea had been the same.
I had been born an orphan with no mother, no father, yet I had reached the pinnacle of shamanism.
I had endured through sheer spite and grit and achieved everything I set out to do. Why should I fail to do it again here in America?
GRRRR!
Ever since arriving in America, I had skimped on food and sleep to save money. That was how I had made it this far.
A twinge of self-pity welled up.
‘Those damn bastards could at least have given me a decent wad of cash before kicking me out.’
But I could not afford to waste money.
If I blew through the little money I had, I could easily end up dying far from home.
It would take an enormous amount of money to welcome a new deity into my spirit jar.
Once I regained my power, I would become an exorcist, rake in a fortune, and rise to the top of America's exorcist world.
And once I had the strength….
‘Starting on the day of the darkest night in the Year of the Earth Rooster, I'll take back everything I lost.’
Of course, there was something I had to do first.
‘First, I've got to shake off the eyes they've put on me.’
Seo-jin was sure to have someone watch me.
I had to vanish completely before that happened.
I could not make any serious moves until I was strong enough to withstand their pressure.
I was about to lose Seo-jin's watchers, just as planned.
STEP!
I stopped at the mouth of an alley.
‘…What is this energy?’
An uncanny pulse seeped from between the redbrick walls behind an old motel.
It was the energy of a harsh, scorching wilderness, entirely unlike the vital energy of Korea.
Desperate longing was mingled with it.
And my spirit jar tingled.
《Come… to me….》
It felt as though something in there was drawing my vessel toward it.
I touched the talisman tucked inside my clothes, ready to respond at any moment, and cautiously approached the back of the alley.
“Huh?”
The smell of blood mixed with the stench of rotten, fishy water struck my nose.
An old woman lay where my gaze had fallen.
She had dark brown skin, deeply etched wrinkles, and jewelry bearing strange designs.
‘An Indian?’
There was a huge hole in her abdomen, and dark red blood gushed from around it.
Black energy rippled across her skin. It was demonic corruption.
Someone must have attacked her by sinister means.
“…Are you all right?”
I approached slowly, shook her, and patted her cheek.
The old woman's clouded eyes turned toward Do-jun.
“Hello… my child….”
…What was she saying?
I was fluent in English, but I could not understand the language she spoke.
Only the desperate tremor in each word reached my ears.
“Nectar Purification.”
Damn it…. It was no use after all.
I tried a healing art, but without divine power, human strength alone could not cure such severe demonic corruption.
‘Should I at least call 911…?’
I was about to pull my phone from my pocket.
SNAP!
The old woman's thin hand moved like lightning and caught Do-jun's wrist.
Her strength was hard to believe in a dying woman.
She shook her head and said,
“No… it is good….”
At that moment, my vision flashed white.
WHOOOOSH!
The barren Arizona desert spread before my eyes.
‘This is….’
I saw the woman in her youth, standing alone amid a tremendous storm.
She held a staff made from the skull of a giant wolf.
Huge, grotesque evil spirits that looked as though they had risen from hell surrounded her. But when she chanted a spell and struck the ground with her staff, the earth shook and sacred flames burned the spirits away.
She was a great medium who had protected this vast land.
FLASH!
When I returned to reality, tears brimmed in the old woman's eyes.
She gathered the last of her strength and placed her palm against Do-jun's chest, precisely where his empty vessel lay.
“Na-nee-tin… shé'ee'ahane'…”
Though I could not understand her words, I knew instinctively what she meant.
Take my god… the divinity that has protected this land, into your vessel.
“But my vessel… most deities can't even enter it.”
The old woman gazed at him intently, as if to say that would not be a problem.
I swallowed.
I had no idea what deity she served.
But the instincts of a man who had spent his life making a living among ghosts told me that accepting her offer was the right thing to do.
And then….
《Accept… it….》
Someone's voice sounded faintly beside my ear.
“…All right. Let's give it a try.”
The instant I answered, brilliant golden energy burst from the old woman's body.
RUMBLE—!
“Hnnngh!”
His vast vessel, empty since the White Tiger Spirit had left, filled in an instant, bringing a pressure that threatened to burst it.
A hot, majestic, untamed divinity of the wilderness, unlike Korea's vital energy, surged through his veins.
An ordinary deity would have wandered through that space, failed to adapt, and been expelled.
This was the exact opposite.
‘What is this?’
I gritted my teeth and endured.
Using the principles of Qimen Dunjia, I guided the energy's flow and controlled my breathing so it could settle properly in the vessel.
How long did I struggle with it?
By the time my body was drenched in sweat….
“Thank you.”
The old woman offered a final, brief word of thanks and smiled faintly.
RUSTLE.
Then her body became a handful of ash and scattered on the night wind.
“…You did well, Senior.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and bowed my head where I stood.
It was the least courtesy I could show a senior in the same profession.
Then I examined my body calmly.
In the center of my spirit jar, I encountered an immense, blazing energy.
‘Divine Spirit dwelling within me… who are you?’
A resonant reply came to my inward question.
【I am merely a spirit. I remember no name, nothing at all. Merely a spirit.】
That was all.
I could learn neither the deity's name nor the nature of its power.
As he was now, Do-jun could not even make out the spirit’s form.
‘…Looks like I've ended up serving an American Divine Spirit. Never thought that was in the cards for me.’
***
Sitting cross-legged on a cheap motel bed, I sweated profusely.
“Nnnngh….”
I shook all over and tried to squeeze out every last bit of strength, but little happened.
I was trying to discover the identity of the Divine Spirit dwelling in my body.
But the only thing it said now and then was….
《I am hungry….》
No meaningful communication. Just endless complaints about being hungry.
…What exactly was this Divine Spirit?
I let out a sharp sigh and scratched my head.
“This is okay, right?”
I had let it into my body because it definitely was not an evil spirit, but I could not even have a conversation with it….
How many hours had I spent struggling pointlessly like this?
“Aaaaaah!”
“Huh?”
A scream came from outside.
I quickly opened the window. Police tape surrounded a motel on the opposite block, and heavily armed officers controlled the entrance.
Among them were figures in black priestly robes and specialized protective suits.
Exorcists, probably.
“Everyone, stand back!”
“Ghost Fall in progress! Exorcist team, prepare to deploy!”
The radio call rang out loud and clear.
I frowned reflexively.
Ghost Fall was the American term for an incursion in which evil spirits gained the ability to exert physical force in the real world.
“Oh…?”
I stroked my chin and looked beyond them.
Then….
A shiver ran through me!
The hair all over my body stood on end as I sensed sinister energy from beyond the cordon.
‘That thing seems pretty strong, doesn't it?’
My curiosity stirred.
Just then….
“It's Slender Man!”
“Damn it! I-it's Slender Man!”
I heard people shouting nearby, and my brow furrowed.
‘Slender Man… isn't that a pretty famous anomaly?’