Chapter 5 — The Sorcerer And The Mudang (2)

“Brother, this whole affair has been such an— such a great trouble for you. Truly, I have caused you no end of inconvenience.”

That was the first thing out of Father Lucas’s mouth when he came to call at the suite.
By the look of it, he too had grasped the whole of yesterday’s situation, though surely that demon of a woman could not have laid the matter out from her own mouth.

“Did you hear it from Zer?”

“What? Ah… ahaha, yes. That’s right. From him. To be precise, he was only muttering to himself.”

For a moment the priest’s face went blank, as if he hadn’t quite caught what was said.
Then at last he gave a wry smile and nodded, let his shoulders droop weakly, and murmured.

“Zer, you say. He has never told even me his name…”

“What was that?”

“Ah, did you hear me just now? Then since you heard, would you not tell me? I should very much like to know how you won his heart. I, too, would like to grow a little closer to him.”

It was a preposterous thing to say.
Shin Hweein had met Zer exactly once, yesterday, while Father Lucas must have been with him all along.
He looked at the priest, who clung to him so readily it was as though he’d been letting the muttering slip in the very hope of being overheard, the way one looks at a bedbug, and spoke.

“You seem to share memories. Do you not already know? It is only that, when I called him by the wrong name, he flew into a temper and corrected me.”

“That much, even that, until now he had never offered. …Hoo. I shall sit a moment, if I may.”

The priest scratched his head, dragged a chair over from a nearby table, and sat.
At first he’d been quite the picture of manners, and was the speed with which he abandoned all formality not something truly remarkable?
Watching him because the spectacle amused him, Hweein listened as the priest blew out sigh after sigh and went on.

“Since we are who we are to each other, I shall just speak plainly, if you don’t mind.”

“I am deeply concerned as to what exactly we are to each other, but fine. Speak.”

“You see… as for what Zer ordinarily thinks, I have no way at all of knowing. I only know what happens while he is awake, watching it as an observer. Yet every one of the things he does runs against my own common sense, so I should be glad if we could open our hearts to each other a little more and come to understand one another.”

“He was discourteous, certainly, but it did not seem to me he was wicked at heart. Perhaps you and the priest have, unexpectedly, more in common than you think.”

“Haha, Brother, truly, your vessel is great. Yet, well, perhaps you judge so because you have only seen him under restraint.”

“Ah.”

At the word restraint, Shin Hweein at once recalled the black iron chains Zer had wrapped about his whole body.
He had supposed that, since Zer attacked and defended with them, the chains were a weapon meant to be wielded that way from the first.
But as Lucas’s account went on, it seemed the chains were no more than a sacred relic that bound and restrained Zer’s strength.

“Ha. That was the restrained measure of it? The giant yokai resembling that Western ghoul looked to be at least Rank Six, and the force that shattered the barrier the taejagwi had raised was a power that outright transcended reason.”

“Did I not tell you so? That you need not worry, that the martial side I would see to… haha, though in the end, it was not I after all.”

Shin Hweein narrowed his eyes at the priest, who hung his head with a bitter look.

“Do you, perhaps, resent Zer? For its being on his account that you became an exorcist priest…?”

“Resent him? No, no, never that. Of course, he often acts as he pleases and it can be hard on me, but to me, who had been only an ordinary medical student, he is also a good friend who showed me a new world. Or so, at least, I think. …And that is why I want to understand his thoughts more.”

Recalling yesterday’s Zer in high spirits as he fought, Shin Hweein thought only inwardly.

I suspect he doesn’t think very much at all…

“Very well. Should I meet Zer again, I will ask him for you.”

“Truly, you are Brother Shin Hae. I knew you would say as much, I knew I could believe in you!”

“Of course, since Father Lucas and I shall be parting ways soon, I cannot say when ‘again’ might be.”

“Pardon?”

“Hm?”

For some reason, at that the priest cocked his head.
Shin Hweein reflexively tilted his own head in answer, felt a strange flush of vexation, and said.

“What is the trouble, priest?”

“No, it’s only, well, we are partners, are we not? And to hear you speak so easily of parting, that hurts my feelings a little.”

“…”

At that, Shin Hweein rose without a word from his seat and held out both arms.
Geum Moa, who had been standing by behind him, came forward, ran a careful check over his arms and neck and the rest, and then said.

“Astonishingly, you have not been bitten anywhere, young master.”

“So the priest has not been possessed by a bedbug-yokai after all…”

“Brother?!”

— Hey. This bastard, if we don’t burn him off soon, isn’t that going to be trouble? I seem to remember hearing tell of a Hwa spirit that fastens itself on a person just like this and chews through his fortune and his luck.

When even Flame-tail joined in with this scathing abuse, the priest wore a face on the verge of tears.
Shin Hweein heaved a sigh at the sight and asked.

“Has the matter not been settled with this? I had thought all that remained between us was the reckoning of payment. What is left now?”

“Therein lies, in fact, a rather complicated set of circumstances.”

“The heart of it, briefly.”

“Well, you see…”

The circumstances Father Lucas laid out were these.
In the course of this mission he had unexpectedly won a remarkable by-catch, namely taejagwi Taeju Doryeong, who wields the power of crossing boundaries, and his taeju-mudang Do Yumi, and the catch had been so highly esteemed that the Vatican’s backing and trust in the priest was about to be greatly increased.

Father Lucas, being incapable of deceiving anyone, had confessed that someone assisted him in resolving the mission.
Whereupon, he said, the suggestion was raised that, for the time being, he ought to remain in Seoul together with that person and be made solely responsible for handling whatever befell within the Archdiocese of Seoul.

That is to say, what had originally been no more than a single temporary dispatch had, on the back of unanticipated results, brought him the chance of vaulting up to become the person in charge of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul, itself a center of gravity even within Aeshin Korea, that great realm of sorcery.

“Moreover, since Sister Do Yumi handles a power native to Korea, namely mu-gyeok, her education too must be carried out in Korea. As I have likewise been entrusted with overseeing Sister Do Yumi, in a sense the way matters have arranged themselves is altogether inevitable.”

“And, quite naturally, the priest tucked me into his rising career as a necessary piece of equipment.”

“Er, you see, the thing is—”

Watching Father Lucas, who had lost his answer, Shin Hweein gave a snort and turned to Geum Moa.

“Moa. My memory is a little hazy on this. What was it the priest said when he first put his request to me? Can you recall?”

“Yes, well, let me see… ‘For me, what matters first and last is the completion of the Vatican’s mission, the following of our Lord Jesus’s will to redeem the suffering lambs. As for any other fame or monetary recompense, the whole of it I am quite content to hand over to you, Brother.’ Something to that effect, I believe.”

To Hweein’s astonishment, Geum Moa reproduced Father Lucas’s voice exactly, playing back the priest’s words from that day as though from a recording.
When Shin Hweein silently shot him a sidelong glare, the priest acknowledged complete defeat and bowed his head.

“I am sorry, Brother. Of course I had no intention of putting you out. I only… well, did we not work together rather well this time? I just thought it would be enjoyable to keep at it together, that’s all…”

“This one hasn’t any friends, young master.”

“Quiet, you.”

And since Shin Hweein, too, was a man with no friends, those words struck home for him as well.
Heaving a sigh at the sight of Father Lucas wearing so pitiable a face, Shin Hweein clapped the priest on the shoulder and said.

“It goes without saying, I have no intention of letting the Catholic Church meddle in my every move from this day forward.”

“Ugh, of course not. I never meant to trouble you to that extent. I only mean to ask that, when help is needed, you might lend a hand…”

Another sigh.
Resolving to draw up a charm later that would keep his fortune from leaking away, Shin Hweein decided it was time to throw the priest a rope.

“In that case, let us draw up a contract, so that going forward we may have intercourse satisfactory to us both.”

“Heh, then that means…?”

“To form a tie with a man of influence in the Catholic Church is no bad thing from my side. That is all.”

“Brother! I knew it! Truly, the Lord has prevailed upon you!”

“You’re going to get conned, badly, one of these days.”

It seemed Father Lucas tended to overestimate Shin Hweein’s abilities.
That, of course, would be quickly seen through if they kept acting in concert from now on, but if Hweein limited contact and met him only occasionally, lending a little aid in the priest’s own specialty, he could maintain his relative advantage for quite some time.

How long that would last would depend on Shin Hweein’s own ability, and on what the priest and the Catholic Church chose to spend.

“Conned, you say… It isn’t that, but, Brother, the contract you speak of, it doesn’t involve, say, putting one’s soul on the line, does it?”

“You have been watching too many films.”

“Honestly, His Eminence the Cardinal gave me quite a fright when I told him I was going to speak with a sorcerer.”

Cardinal?

At that, Shin Hweein turned his head, and Geum Moa held up two fingers.
The meaning being that there were currently two Cardinals of the Catholic Church in Aeshin.

In other words, Father Lucas was to have a private audience with one of only two such heads-of-state-class figures within the colossal religion that wielded great influence in this country of Aeshin.
Whether he understood that gesture or not, Father Lucas merely smiled and said.

“Are you, perhaps, surprised by the word Cardinal? Since I am at present temporarily attached to the Archdiocese of Seoul, my direct superior is the Bishop of the Archdiocese of Seoul, though an archdiocese is headed by an Archbishop, and since Seoul is the center of Korea, it is ordinarily the case that the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seoul also holds the office of Cardinal. Between a Bishop and a Cardinal there is only a difference of rank; they are of the same episcopal order.”

“Yes, indeed. Even the Pope is, in the end, only the Bishop of Rome. I know it well.”

“Young master just used an English word directly…!”

“…You seem to know it altogether too well.”

When his smokescreen tactics failed, Father Lucas clicked his tongue and drew out a sheet of paper.
When Shin Hweein took it and passed it to Geum Moa, she crossed two fingers, drew them down across the paper from top to bottom, and nodded.

“There’s nothing peculiar set into it.”

“By the standard of a handmaid with some little skill in sorcery?”

“By mine, plainly. This much I can throw in as service, surely?”

“My thanks, though extra would, I think, be the better word for it.”

Shin Hweein, indulging in an unnecessary little quibble, took the paper back.
Then, drawing blood from his fingertip, he wrote out several clauses upon the paper in swift strokes.

The priest wore a look that asked why, with perfectly good writing implements to hand, he would use blood.
But for contracts, blood had ever been the surest medium; and besides, Hweein had just come into a power tied to blood, and he was not without a wish to test it.

“Read it, and sign. With blood.”

“As I feared… Ugghhh…”

The contents of the contract were simple.
Operations not coordinated in advance, that is, sudden summonses, could not be answered; simple contact for the seeking of advice would be settled by telephone, without need of meeting in person; and active cooperation would be lent to the preparations necessary for activity as an assistant.

Granting that the first two clauses went without saying, the priest, true to form, wore a slightly unsettled face at the third.

“Brother, this is, I find, a rather vague expression.”

“I have no intention of demanding the unreasonable. The contracts of a sorcerer who accumulates good karma must not tip the scale to one side alone. Put directly, the matter is funding for my activities, and the procuring of an identity.”

“An identity.”

“I want an identity card under the name Shin Hae.”

“You go boldly, do you not…”

At Shin Hweein’s outright declaration that he meant to defy the laws of the land, the priest wore a daunted expression.
But for Hweein, who must operate within Aeshin Korea without disclosing his true station, this was indispensable.

Come to think of it, perhaps it was a heaven-sent fortune that, along the road to fulfilling this indispensable condition, he had fallen into good relations with the priest.

“I mean to take the State Sorcerer’s certification examination under that name. To do that, naturally, I shall need an identity card.”

“You hadn’t a sorcerer’s certification?!”

“Not under this name.”

Of course, he had none under his original name either.
As mentioned before, State Sorcerer certification was indispensable for taking formal commissions and operating as an art-practitioner.
In point of fact, beyond sorcerer there were several other classes of ability-practitioner that Aeshin recognized.

First, the curse-quelling healer, who handles the various healing arts.

The Barrier-Master, descended from the ancient art of geomancy passed down from of old, charged with surveying terrain, uncovering its secrets, and at times raising barriers upon the earth to seal off a given area.

The art-practitioners of Aeshin’s traditional faith, the mu-gyo, namely mudang (women) and paksu (men), who take the mu-gyeok license.

The goeryeok-nansin license, taken by mutant esper-types unrelated either to the systematic sorcery handed down through generations or to the mu-gyo, and by those whose abilities cannot be accounted for within Aeshin’s traditional system.

And, embracing all these domains, the comprehensive sorcerer license.

The one I must take is, of course, sorcerer. As for rank… the lowest at which one may operate independently in the field was Fourth-Rank, was it not. That is what I shall aim for.

Even without one of the licenses on this list, those who could yet operate as art-practitioners within Aeshin, managed separately from the State Sorcerer system, were the Buddhist monks under the Aeshin Jogye Order, the Catholic priests such as the one before Shin Hweein now, and, representing all denominations of Protestantism together, the moksa pastors.

“Are you not in any case going to have to put together a new identity for Do Yumi as well? While you are at it, you may as well make one for me too.”

“You speak so easily of it. Well, certainly, if I ask His Eminence the Cardinal, the matter will not be a difficult one…”

Just as expected.
Shin Hweein smiled behind his mask and pressed the priest for his signature.

The priest, despite the request having been his own to begin with, signed wearing a faintly queasy look. Yet on Shin Hweein’s side there was really no scheme afoot.
So long as they kept faithfully to their bargain.

“This is a contract sealed in blood. We must each respond to it, in good faith and with full sincerity.”

“Of course. You too, Brother, shall help with full sincerity.”

When the priest finished signing, the paper flushed red and gave off light; then it lifted into the air, divided in two, and flew to each of the two men.
When the priest, flustered, caught the half that came to him, the contract turned to particles of light and was drawn into his body.
Shin Hweein’s, of course, did the same.

“Brother?!”

“It is just an ordinary contract. There is no soul put upon it, so be at ease.”

What had been put upon it, instead, was a name.
Should the contract be broken, baptismal name or no, the priest would never again be able to use the name Lucas.

This was no light thing. Everything tied to the name Lucas would be forfeit to the contract.

Since this is the blood-sorcery the vampires wield, shall I call it blood-curse*? It pleases me.*

His trial of the new power, too, had ended satisfactorily.
Resolving not to volunteer facts that needn’t be known so long as no one broke the contract, Shin Hweein rose from his seat.

“Right, then, let us start drawing on that activity-support at once. We shall need some means of contacting each other from now on, so I would have you set me up with a mobile telephone. The latest model would be best.”

“…Brother, your character has, perhaps, shifted a little, has it not?”

“What of it, are we not par—tners? Take it as a sign of how unguarded we have become with one another.”

“Young master, you’ve gone and used an English word again…!”

And there was one thing the priest was mistaken about.
Shin Hweein, as the legitimate heir of an old house steeped through and through with Confucian thought, was kind only to those it fell to him to protect, women and children, and as for fellow men, that was no concern of his.