What kind of person was Cheon Yijae in the past, exactly?
She suddenly became curious about his childhood. As she tried to imagine him looking like a small stray dog, Sim Seowoo suddenly gained an uncomfortable realization.
“Then until now, has Sojunim always endured alone until the contamination subsided? From the very beginning?”
“Yes, that’s right. If not purification, then sending him down to the ‘underground’…”
…Underground?
He had no idea there was an underground at Heun. He’d never seen a button to go underground in the elevator either.
But somehow Do Seonhwa’s expression when mentioning that word wasn’t very bright, and as if she didn’t particularly want to make that the topic, she shook her head.
“Anyway, as far as I remember, there’s never been a shaman who properly purified Cheon Yijae before. In the first place, he hated it too much and rejected everyone, telling them not to come close.”
“Ah…”
“Honestly, everyone’s so scared of that guy, so how could they break through his rejection and approach? Even when he’s just sitting still, they’re tense, and if he drives them out to leave, they run away immediately.”
She said that everyone, regardless of age, shrinks in front of Cheon Yijae. Since they were members of an organization that hunts evil spirits, they were even more sensitive to Ghost Energy, so they felt an instinctive rejection toward Cheon Yijae.
In other words, it was an answer that the hypotheses Sim Seowoo had guessed—that there existed a Purifier close to Cheon Yijae in the past so he rejected others’ purification, or that he avoided purification because he had a history of hurting some Purifier—were completely wrong.
Do Seonhwa seemed to have new feelings from recalling old events after a long time, gazing distantly at a faraway place for a moment before soon bursting into a sigh.
“Come to think of it, Cheon Yijae rejected purification from the beginning with the line ‘I won’t accept anything unless it’s purification that washes away contamination in one go.’ We had a hard time searching for Purifiers across the country because of that, and each time I grumbled that Sojunim brought up all sorts of absurd conditions because he didn’t want to receive purification, but…”
Her two eyes sparkled and turned toward Sim Seowoo.
“It seems like that was pointing to Guiin all along!”
Do Seonhwa exclaimed in a tone soaked with emotion. She had only thought Cheon Yijae had set such conditions to torment her until now, but realizing there actually existed someone who met them, the situation seemed to be illuminated anew.
“This is exactly fate! …Ah, no. That expression is rude to Guiin.”
However, Do Seonhwa, who had been about to exclaim in excitement at the novelty, quickly collected her words. She was about to say that perhaps Cheon Yijae had been subtly feeling and waiting for his fated partner from the past… but then what crime did Sim Seowoo’s fate commit?
Do Seonhwa quickly reflected and shook her head, and Sim Seowoo just kept silent, pondering whether to laugh or not. At least he understood that she had worked very hard searching for Purifiers.
“Still, even though you thought Sojunim’s condition was ridiculous, you tried to meet it.”
“Yes, I had no choice. Actually, grandmother… um, you probably know by now, but the Leader ordered me to help Sojunim well by his side before she left.”
Sim Seowoo nodded slowly. From the conversation the barrier masters had shared during the expedition a few days ago, he’d learned that she was the Leader’s only granddaughter, and that her family, the ‘Do family,’ had held the Leader position since Heun’s founding.
That’s why he’d been curious why Do Seonhwa, the precious granddaughter of the Leader whom all members naturally expected to become the successor, was currently serving and assisting Cheon Yijae as Sojunim…
So the Leader had given such an order directly.
“The Elders ask me what on earth the Leader was thinking, but haha, I really want to know too. Why grandmother made such a decision…”
“…”
“Ah! I’m absolutely not saying that Sojunim is lacking or that I should naturally become Leader! I’m not harboring resentment thinking grandmother made the wrong judgment either.”
Do Seonhwa hurriedly waved both hands to block misunderstanding. Even if the Do family had led Heun for generations, she had never once thought she would become Leader, and she believed that if there was someone with outstanding ability, that person should rightfully become the successor.
As Sim Seowoo just silently nodded, Do Seonhwa’s eyelashes trembled.
She had always been treated at Heun only as ‘the Leader’s granddaughter.’ People always pried into whether she knew anything about the Leader’s decisions, and also sent looks that subtly incited conflict with the current Sojunim or seemed to wish for her to clash with him.
That’s why now, the latch in her heart was released by Sim Seowoo’s action of quietly listening with his usual expression. Soon she lowered her eyes and murmured softly.
“I’m just… curious. Why grandmother suddenly made that announcement and left, why I can’t even contact her… She’s my only family…”
She honestly confessed that while she didn’t doubt grandmother’s decision, sometimes grief still welled up. Not because of issues about successors or assistance, but simply because grandmother wasn’t by her side.
Sim Seowoo gazed at Do Seonhwa silently.
According to the information he’d picked up while staying at Heun over the past few days, Do Seonhwa was twenty-five years old, the same age as himself, and originally lived normally with parents who had no spiritual abilities.
Though she showed talent from a young age, the Leader deliberately didn’t have her granddaughter join Heun but let her live in society, but around age eight, her parents passed away in a car accident. So she ultimately entered the organization and was raised preciously by the Leader…
Why did the Leader place such a granddaughter beside Cheon Yijae, who was even called a ‘stray dog’ at Heun back then?
Even considering when Cheon Yijae was appointed Sojunim, Do Seonhwa was nineteen, right before adulthood. Since Heun’s members naturally thought she would inherit the organization, perhaps successor training had already taken place, so why on earth?
Moreover, Cheon Yijae came to Heun at fourteen in a half-human, half-ghost state and spent only a year focusing on adjusting his condition. Then she gave the successor position to someone whose Ghost Energy had barely calmed, a boy who had only been at Heun for one year…
Suddenly, words he’d heard before came to mind in Sim Seowoo’s head.
‘Maybe… the Leader was bewitched by the Jaegui…’
It was a story the barrier masters had whispered together during the expedition. They’d said the reason Cheon Yijae, not Do Seonhwa, rose to the successor position was because of that, but it was cut off when Jin Gwangmin got angry, yet their attitude had been close to the feeling of mentioning a speculation solidified like an established fact.
But the reason Sim Seowoo was mulling over those words now wasn’t agreement that it seemed plausible. He just wondered, if even he as a newcomer had encountered such rumors, how much must Do Seonhwa have heard such talk?
“I heard your grandmother is a Mansin, so she must have had her reasons.”
Sim Seowoo spoke calmly. In the past, Jin Gwangmin had called Do Seonhwa ‘the granddaughter of a Mansin,’ and though he didn’t know the details about Mansin, he knew it was an honorable title that only great shamans possessed. Moreover, the current Leader was said to be like a symbol who had led Heun for the longest time.
…In fact, it was also because he thought that if everyone accepted bloodline succession, she must have been a tremendous Leader. After all, having just entered Heun, he still had many unfamiliar perspectives, so he ended up viewing things from a somewhat external perspective.
So Sim Seowoo’s tone had absolutely no energy of comforting or consoling the other person. At his plain attitude as if just dealing with facts, Do Seonhwa opened her eyes wide and round.
After just blinking for a while, she soon burst into laughter—ahahat.
“Right? I actually believe that too!”
Quickly wiping the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand as if brushing them, she returned to her original momentum. She clenched both hands into tight fists and trembled.
“Of course our grandmother must have made the decision with intention! But the Elders keep pestering me. They harass me to control Cheon Yijae because he’s risen to the successor position and throws tantrums however he wants, and whenever the organization gets even slightly noisy, they blame it all on my family’s responsibility!”
Since the Leader’s order to help Sojunim well had fallen on Do Seonhwa, it seemed they pushed all matters related to Cheon Yijae onto her. The accidents Cheon Yijae caused, and even his temperament.
Did they turn their arrows on Do Seonhwa instead because they couldn’t complain to the Leader? But he suspected they would have subtly pestered her even if the Leader hadn’t left. Her personality seemed spirited but also very fragile on the other hand.
Soon Do Seonhwa touched her nape awkwardly and said:
“I’m talking about all sorts of things. Anyway, the conclusion is I wanted to truly thank Guiin. Sincerely! So if there’s anything you need help with while staying at Heun from now on, please tell me anytime! You can have Gwangmin do it too!”
Do Seonhwa made a gesture of rolling up both sleeves, saying she would actively step forward for anything.
Sim Seowoo nodded, suddenly thinking that Team 2 only had four members including himself, but was a team made up of tremendous power holders.
***
The peace at Heun continued mysteriously.
This peace was possible because Cheon Yijae didn’t carry out workplace harassment telling him to quit by his side—in other words, the quiet was based on him still avoiding Sim Seowoo. Since Heun was very wide, when Cheon Yijae was determined to run away, there was no chance of encountering him.
Cheon Yijae even stopped going out to sites altogether.
“Sojunim has been really strange lately. He originally collected Hyungok extremely actively…”
Jin Gwangmin expressed genuine puzzlement at this. At first, he thought the reason Sojunim had quieted down was simply because witnessing Sim Seowoo’s exceptional purification power made him embarrassed about the harassment he’d spat at him in the past. But Sojunim’s behavior gradually reached a mysterious level.
“In the past, he kept going out to hunt evil spirits even without a Purifier, so Director-nim and I suffered tremendously. Back then, no matter how we tried to stop him, he didn’t listen, so why is he quiet now?”
Jin Gwangmin tilted his head left and right as if he couldn’t understand at all.
“Mm…”
Sim Seowoo quietly pondered. In fact, he had thought there were no expeditions because evil spirits weren’t causing disturbances, so he only now realized the truth that Cheon Yijae had been refusing work altogether. Even to firmly establish Sojunim’s position, expeditions should be done consistently.
“Perhaps he’s refusing site expeditions because he doesn’t want to receive purification.”
“No way! …Actually, it’s not like I didn’t think of that at all, but for that to be it, Sojunim originally really, really searched for Hyungok with his eyes burning.”
At the carefully offered reasoning, Jin Gwangmin firmly shook his head. From the moment it was proven that Hyungok was the method to break through Hoejin Mountain’s maze, Cheon Yijae had been the most enthusiastic in going around.
“As soon as the energy of a Hyeong Akgui was detected, he’d go hunting right away. It was almost at the level of knowing in advance when and where they’d appear and waiting nearby…”
“…”
“Anyway, so he wouldn’t avoid expeditions for the reason that he hates purification!”
That seems likely though…
Jin Gwangmin said, why would he avoid it when going with a Purifier would let him hunt more freely, and moreover, now that it’s even been proven that he’s an EX-grade Purifier who erases contamination in one go, not going on expeditions just because of rejection made no sense.
The more Jin Gwangmin asserted, the more blatantly Sim Seowoo felt that Cheon Yijae was uncomfortable with accompanying him, so he just silently nodded.
