Chapter 77 – Praying For Rain (25)

There was nothing more to talk about.

“Fine, maiden.”

Seol Young got up and brushed his clothes.

“Let’s go and end this matter.”

“Yes!”

Jung Myung took the lead.

“I will guide you to the place where that being is. Come this way! Ah, there is a trap there, so be careful.”

It was to the point where they could now avoid the traps with their eyes closed. They rushed ahead and reached the altar.

Sabiso and the villagers were preparing for the ritual. They invaded the scene, and everyone looked at them in shock.

“Jung Myung? Those people…”

“Insolent thing!”

Sabiso took out the mirror right then, and the spell was activated. But at that moment, Zaha’s sword pierced the mirror and lodged itself into Sabiso’s chest. Without hesitation, he cut him down.

“….!”

Sabiso wasn’t even able to scream and collapsed to death.

“Mr. Sabiso!”

The villagers were shocked.

How could such a thing happen?

Seol Young looked at Zaha with a face of disbelief.

What?

And Zaha looked at Seol Young with a calm face, as if he just did what he had to do.

“Everyone.”

Seol Young walked to them and kicked Sabiso. And something fell out of his clothes.

It was the shattered wishing bead.

“Oh!”

The villagers screamed.

“How can this happen? Since the wishing bead is broken, everything is over!”

“Calm down and look at this!”

Seol Young pierced Sabiso’s collar with his sword.

A black, hairy torso could be seen through his robe. And then he flipped his face over and pointed to his mouth through his hair. It was a monster that looked like a raccoon.

“…”

The villagers, who were noisy, went silent, like they had been hit with cold water.

And then it became noisy again.

“Sabiso? Oh God! That….?”

“Right! He fooled everyone!”

Jung Myung shouted and turned around.

“You two, please destroy that altar quickly!”

“What is happening…”

The villagers were too shocked to see Sabiso’s real face.

Even when the outsiders armed with swords were destroying the altar, everyone just stared blankly at them.

“And this too!”

Jung Myung touched the long knife in her hand and swung it at the seventh pole.

But the pole didn’t budge. Rather, it rose up straight.

“Uh…?”

Jung Myung’s face changed.

It was really shocking.

Sabiso was dead, the bead was broken, and so was the altar. There was still some evil left.

‘It’ tenaciously gathered the power of the wishes that had already spread throughout the village. It was trying to make the wish come true.

‘Late.’

Both Zaha and Seol Young felt it. Of course, Jung Myung too.

And she made the decision. She turned to face the villagers.

“Everyone! We need to evacuate right now!”

“Evacuate?”

The villagers were shocked again.

“Jung Myung-ah! What are you talking about now? Why evacuate?”

“We need to get out of the village first! Quickly!”

“Then we should get our things…”

“We don’t have time!”

Jung Myung shouted.

“We need to leave right now!”

She had a firm and dignified attitude, and everyone looked puzzled at her. One by one, they began to move as if they were possessed.

“Let’s head out first!”

A lady with a child on her back said, and an old man hurriedly helped her.

“This side!”

Seol Young and Zaha also helped the villagers. They made sure that everyone could evacuate without pushing each other.

“Hurry up! Come!”

Jung Myung took the lead and commanded them like a leader. The moment they got out of the village and walked ahead….

Puah! There was a loud noise and an earthquake.

The village, which was fine until then, was completely destroyed. And water gushed out from the ground.

“Oh my!”

Everyone was shocked.

They couldn’t believe it, even when they saw it with their own eyes. They were shaking their heads and pinching their cheeks.

“What is happening? How can our village be like this?”

“You might have seen it before…”

Jung Myung explained it to everyone.

“Sabiso was not a human. He deliberately came into our village to bring that disaster to us.”

“Then the rain ritual…”

“A hoax. Sabiso gathered the wishes of the villagers and turned them into evil energy, saying that he would hold a ritual for rain. ‘Let water overflow into this dry land’ is what he would say to make that wish come true in a wicked manner. And this is the result.”

“Ah…”

The villagers only then understood what had happened.

They couldn’t believe it, but the sight before their eyes was the proof.

“No.”

Everyone was surprised by this.

“We didn’t know that, and we were just praying as he told us to!”

“I thought he was a true shaman because he was good at fortune-telling and talking!”

“All of us would have drowned there together without even knowing that!”

They all rubbed their arms at the shiver that ran down their bodies.

“Jung Myung saved us!”

When someone said that, everyone nodded.

“Right! If it wasn’t for her, it would have been a huge problem for us! She said that guy was suspicious, but…”

“She had been saying that since before! I should have listened to her sooner! I am sorry. I thought you were just jealous of him.”

“How frustrating must it have been to come out and say a person is suspicious but not be taken seriously?”

Everyone surrounded her and tapped her on the shoulder.

“You turned out to be a great shaman!”

Jung Myung looked around at everyone. An inexpressible emotion flooded her face.

“I just wanted to hear that.”

She mumbled and turned her gaze. The two uninvited guests of the village stood aside for a moment.

They were resolving their problems, but Jung Myung approached them.

“We did it! Are you happy? You have suffered so much…”

And then she continued,

“It is strange. We met for the first time today, but why…”

Mumbling blankly, the memories seemed to collide with each other.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The faces of the villagers who were thanking her became confused.

“Right. How do you know them? Have you met them before?”

“No.”

Seol Young shook his head, and Zaha asked,

“What do we do now?”

“Well…”

Jung Myung thought.

“It is sad that the village turned out like this, but it is fortunate that everyone survived safely. And there is another thing that is good.”

She pointed to the blue lake.

“There is water here. Wouldn’t this solve the problem of drought in this area?”

“Right. That is true.”

The villagers chimed in.

“It will be difficult, but since we are alive, we can think of a way to somehow live again.”

Jung Myung said so. Then she looked at the villagers as she said,

“Now then, are we going to look for a new village?”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

“I will take the lead! I will try to find a good place.”

Jung Myung turned around.

“Wait.”

Seol Young called her, making her look back.

“What is it?”

“Didn’t the maiden say that you could neither see nor hear the voice of God? But that isn’t it. It is just that the bridge between the two hasn’t been built yet.”

“Uh?”

Jung Myung was surprised.

“How do you know that?”

“Your God told me.”

“Really?”

She looked at Seol Young with wide eyes, and Zaha also nodded.

“He told us.”

Jung Myung’s face brightened.

“As I thought… I believed in you!”

The girl turned around again.

“Then let’s go!”

She stepped forward with confidence.

At that moment, the world turned white, and the maiden’s appearance turned into light.

A father holding a child by his hand, grandchildren supporting their old grandmother, a mother with an infant in her hands…

Everyone turned into light.

The soul of the young shaman, who felt sorry for not being able to save the villagers, had been repeating the same day every day for hundreds of years.

And the last shaman, who could never communicate with her God, repeated the same lonely day. Her two sides were now free. And the souls of the villagers who were tied together were finally set free.

A round halo of light spread in all directions. It got smaller and shinier and disappeared slowly.

“…”

Seol Young watched without a word.

It was different from the normal light that could be seen, and then the light began to fade away. He looked at the souls, which now seemed like twinkling stars.

No matter how many times he saw it, he never got used to it.

“…”

Zaha also watched it quietly. The twinkling lights left an afterimage in his eyes.

How did it look in the eyes of someone who had already experienced death?

And when their eyes met,

“Then…”

At that moment, the world around them began to tremble.

“…?”

Zaha immediately drew his sword. He tried to attack the center that was showing strange movements immediately.

Seol Young quickly interrupted him and said,

“No. This is the God.”

Something that had sunk into the depths of the world was slowly emerging. A dazzling light spread out, and vibrations that felt like an earthquake shook the area.

The mask he had obtained was similarly strong. But it was even more powerful in a unique way.

Even though he had expected it, Seol Young was still surprised.

‘It was like this… !’