The guardian spirit shook her head with a startled expression.
-That will not do. Changing the one I protect means you will bear the vow I broke and the karma I committed together with me. I cannot do that to my benefactor.
“What a truly admirable mindset.”
All of a sudden, he had even become her benefactor.
A ghost with this level of character was quite rare.
A smile came to him on its own.
“Don’t worry. I can take on as many of you as there are.”
-That is far greater than you think.
“I’m saying it because purification is possible, aren’t I?”
Noel walked closer and showed her the purple fire.
HISSSSS.
Its mere existence melted the erosion away.
The guardian spirit’s eyes widened.
-How··· is this possible?
She was confused.
He was clearly one of the living.
And yet she felt the power of death, something the living could not possess.
He called it purification, but for the dead, purification was supposed to be nothing but the path that led them to true death.
-Are you··· a god?
“As if.”
Noel laughed lightly.
He had possessed this most accursed and hateful power from birth.
That was all.
“You’ve been here too long, haven’t you? They forgot you, and they don’t even know about the sword that was the token of your promise.”
Noel looked at the guardian spirit.
She looked as though she might shed tears at any moment.
-I know all of that, but hearing that truth through another’s mouth stirs··· countless emotions.
“You kept your promise. You kept it for a very long time. You weren’t the one who abandoned it first.”
Noel stated the truth.
He did not want that guardian’s ankles to be held by an emotion deeper than guilt.
Because she had to come with him.
“My life won’t be that long either. It’ll be shorter than the time you stayed here. After that, do whatever you want.”
-···Whatever I want?
“Yeah. Pass on, wander the world, do whatever you like. Until I die, that is. Isn’t that fine?”
-But it seems that child does not know where she threw away the sword either.
“I’ll ask once, and if that doesn’t work, there’s another way.”
Noel openly revealed the power another guardian spirit had given him.
There was an immediate reaction.
-Do you have another guardian spirit?
“No. It’s power I received as payment for a good deed. Do you feel relieved now?”
At Noel’s question, the guardian spirit laughed lightly.
With that power, he would surely be able to find the sword.
-If you return the sword, I promise to protect you until the day you die.
When the guardian spirit held out her hand, Noel smiled and grasped it.
For a being of her level, those were not mere words.
They were words spoken while staking everything she had accumulated until now.
The moment the things the guardian spirit had borne began rushing toward Noel because the one she protected had changed, he let go of her hand.
-···?
The smoke spreading from Noel’s hand gathered at once and formed the shape of a sword.
CRASH—!
It pressed down just like that.
It was light where white and black mingled.
It looked as though a piece of the night sky had been torn away.
-···What are you doing?
“What else? I’m cutting away what you’re supposed to bear.”
Why would he foolishly accept that?
He could sever it like this.
-You can see··· the karma?
“I can see it.”
-How can you see··· such a thing?
The more she spoke, the stiffer the guardian spirit’s expression became.
She could not shake the thought that this was a kind of power she had never seen before.
“This is a burden that doesn’t even suit the dead, isn’t it? It’s absurd for you to stay bound forever by that vow to protect someone. Someone should be able to cut it off. If even after death everything is nothing but suffering, then why would peaceful death exist?”
Though he was not a guide to death like an underworld messenger, he possessed the power to let the dead meet a peaceful death.
Noel cut away what the guardian spirit called karma.
The guardian spirit could not even blink.
When she had borne it like baggage, it had been so heavy and overwhelming, yet it vanished so hollowly.
So hollowly that she felt empty.
“Stay still here and warm yourself by the fire. The swords embedded in your body and that sword over there will come back, and I’ll pull them out.”
-What benefit··· do you gain from doing this?
“I told you. I need a fake god. They said I need a god if I’m going to play shaman.”
-Is that truly the only reason?
“What other reason do I need? If not for that, I wouldn’t even have come here.”
Except for a very small number of ghosts, they were all trash-like bastards.
Why should he help those who had tormented him so viciously?
Though he had power, he had ignored them.
No, perhaps he had hated them.
‘Still··· there were ghosts who helped me.’
At the emotions surging up, Noel shook the thought away.
That ghost was a guardian spirit, and because they had contracted, she could not betray him.
“Wait here.”
He had to finish this.
Noel entered the room without knocking.
Haaah. Haaah.
Even though she was wearing an oxygen respirator, the first thing he heard was a sound as if her breath might stop at any moment.
Unlike the living room, where warmth circulated, this place was the coldest.
Even indoors, his breath came out white.
Her eyes, rolling weakly, turned toward Noel.
“Hello. There’s no time, so I won’t talk for long.”
The scent of death shimmered around her.
At most, she had two days.
Even that was a miracle made possible because the guardian spirit had suppressed her own power.
But why had she thrown away that sword?
Surely, on some unconscious level, she must have known it was precious.
Noel did not understand it, but he reached out.
“Where did you throw the sword?”
Along with the question, light circled the bird symbol engraved on the back of his hand.
***
Since the guardian spirit who had given him the power had said he would definitely be able to find what he wanted, it was only natural that he found it.
Was that not the so-called power of a miracle?
Following the power, he found that the sword was closer than expected.
It had been thrown away like trash among the bushes in a small park behind a shopping building outside the market alley.
“Take it.”
Noel held out the sword.
Honestly, if he had not been told it was a sword, anyone would have known it as trash, broken and wrapped round and round in cloth.
And how badly it had rusted.
But the guardian spirit received that worthless sword with great care.
-······Thank you.
When she stroked the sword, light circled it.
As if it had never been broken or rusted, it recovered its form.
It was plainer than expected.
-···Truly, thank you.
She carefully touched the sword and smiled.
-This is the sword my mother gave me. Because no son was born in our household, I was raised as a man and had to take up a sword, and this was the first sword she bought for me.
What had her mother felt then?
She had never asked.
She had only resented her.
-And this family belongs to my master. They accepted me and raised me.
As he listened to the story, Noel pulled out the swords embedded in the guardian spirit’s body.
One.
Three.
Seven.
‘She really did stab herself with a lot.’
-I wanted to repay my master’s kindness.
“You repaid it plenty. No, far too much.”
At Noel’s words, the guardian spirit laughed loudly.
-I am called Ashin. I have no surname. What is your name?
He could not give a false name to a ghost of this level.
“Noel Teurus.”
-What an unusual name.
“Outside, I’m called Do Yeong-hyeon, so know me by that.”
-Understood. I will ask no more.
At Ashin’s answer, Noel nodded, then silently continued pulling out the swords.
-That is enough. I can do it now. I am a guardian spirit in name, after all.
“Then I’ll finish that off.”
-I will leave it to you.
At Ashin’s courteous words, Noel walked over and stood in front of the door.
Wrapping smoke around his grip, he seized the thickly embedded sword.
From the sword, dark-red hands stretched out and clutched the door.
It was an intent that absolutely refused to be pulled out, but Noel did not care and yanked it free.
How long could a power that had failed to become a proper curse endure?
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.
As it was pulled out cleanly, like a radish from the ground, a scream spread.
-Aaaaaaaagh!
It was the final struggle.
‘Noisy thing.’
Noel summoned purple fire onto his finger and swept it from the tip of the sword to the hilt.
After watching it blaze up, he threw it down onto the floor without hesitation.
It would never go out until the erosion was erased.
Noel opened the door.
Warmth circulated.
Noel looked around, then opened the curtains.
When sunlight descended and touched the woman’s face, her eyes opened wide.
“Are you conscious?”
Noel removed the oxygen respirator.
She was breathing on her own.
“I··· I didn’t throw away the sword. A woman kept appearing in my dreams, but I really didn’t throw it away!”
White breath flowed from her mouth the entire time she spoke.
The cold that had touched the insides of her organs was draining away.
“I know.”
Ashin reacted to Noel’s words.
-···She did not throw it away? What does that mean?
“Should I call it spellwork? It seems she was affected by something like that. That’s why she has no memory.”
-That cannot be. I am here, so who could use power in this place?
“It seems it happened outside the house, so don’t blame yourself too much. It’s all over now.”
While speaking to both of them, Noel pulled something from the woman’s ear.
It was a single strand of thread.
After wrapping it roughly, he put it in his pocket.
‘Should I track down who did it or not? For now, let’s put it away.’
-Is that··· power?
At Ashin’s question, Noel nodded lightly and looked at the woman.
“It was the token of the contract with your guardian spirit, but because you unknowingly threw it away, you received a powerful curse. One so strong that ordinary power wouldn’t be enough.”
He dressed it up roughly, similarly, and plausibly.
“···Guardian spirit, I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. Please forgive me.”
The woman apologized and sobbed.
Since she had seen Ashin directly in her dreams, what choice did she have but to believe?
“I soothed her well, so don’t worry now. For the time being, get plenty of sunlight and focus on drawing out the grains of curse pooled inside you.”
“Then can I··· live now?”
The woman asked cautiously.
Many people had come and gone, but no one had ever answered that question.
“Yes. It’s over now. You’ll recover soon.”
When Noel smiled, Ashin came closer.
With the erosion gone, her eyes had returned to normal.
-···Child, I am sorry.
She quietly placed a hand on the woman’s forehead.
A small light circled there.
The woman’s gaze changed.
She was no longer cold.
“···I’m really not cold anymore. It doesn’t hurt either.”
“I’ll call your parents.”
Before leaving, Noel took a pebble from his pocket.
It was glowing violet.
As its mere appearance made the room grow warm, the woman held out her hand.
“And keep this pebble close until its light goes out. Once the light disappears, just throw it away.”
“Thank··· you.”
The woman shed tears.
“···Thank you so much.”
At the repeated thanks, Noel quietly smiled and left the room.
The smile disappeared, and his gaze turned to Ashin.
“You forgave her that quickly?”
-She was a lovely child.
“If you say so, then so be it.”
Noel let it pass as if it were nothing and left the home, then went down the stairs.
Since he had gone out and returned earlier as well, the owner did not react as strongly as before.
They merely asked with their eyes how it had gone.
“She’s all right now.”
At that single sentence, the owner rushed out in a frenzy.
As he followed behind, Noel transformed the door-shaped power he had made into something that would drive away evil spirits.
‘This is a service.’
Noel went inside and closed the door for them.
Crying spread.
Without going closer, he sat on the sofa and waited.
As he listened to countless questions asking whether she was all right, Noel looked at Ashin.
“It isn’t your fault.”
-···Thank you.
Ashin smiled.
What would have happened if that child had not come?
Was this not fate?
Thudthudthudthud!
At the urgent sound of footsteps, Noel was slightly startled.
“Thank you···! Sir! Thank you so much!”
The owner immediately bowed low on the floor.
Noel was slightly surprised.
“···Owner?”
“Thank you··· truly. Thank you, thank you so much for saving my daughter.”
A choked voice buried in tears could be heard clearly.
They seemed so grateful, and so at a loss over having suspected such a person, that they did not know what to do.
“Do you believe now that I’m real?”
“···Yes! Sir, you truly were a real shaman!”
The owner immediately raised their voice.
Everything they had met until now had been fake.
They had all been frauds.
It had not taken even a day.
No, not even two full hours.
How could they doubt him?
“Then I’ll be opening a shop later. Could you spread the word? Around the time I set up the shop, I’ll visit again and check your daughter’s condition.”
At Noel’s proposal, the owner raised their head.
“Of course I will! I absolutely will!”
“Thank you. Then, after deducting the value of spreading the word, just give me five hundred thousand won.”
Since he had unintentionally taken away their guardian spirit, he decided to accept only this much.
“Five··· hundred thousand won?”
Only?
The owner wondered if they had misheard.
Had other places not taken more than ten million won from them?
“Yes. Is that perhaps too··· much?”
“N-no! Not at all, sir.”
After calling Noel, the owner wiped their eyes.
“Do you need side dishes? Our side dishes are really delicious.”
“There really were a lot of people. May I accept them?”
“I must give them to you. Truly··· I must give them to you, sir.”
The owner looked at Noel earnestly.
“If you give them, I’ll gratefully accept.”
When Noel smiled, the owner smiled along with him.
***
Noel, carrying side dishes heavy enough to be quite a burden in one hand, stopped walking.
A familiar bastard had chased after him.
-Halt.
Ashin spoke first.
“As expected of a guardian spirit.”
Jin-hon appeared, clapping his hands together.
-Messenger, what brings you here? This child’s day of death should not have come yet.
“A soul I was supposed to collect two days from now has had its lifespan changed, you see. Our dear sir caused an incident, so wouldn’t it be right for me to come looking? Isn’t that so, sir?”
At those words, Noel smiled.