Episode 26

In the middle of the painting, which came to life, a bright light shone from the sword.

The light was quite strong.

It was more like a majestic force that spread out everywhere, suppressing the evil spirits and ghosts in the area. And it held this shocking presence as if it was looking down on anything evil.

Ahhh…

In the painting, Avalokiteshvara, the beautiful men and women, and even the animals groaned. They all wriggled to get away from the light, but they couldn’t move.

Zaha calmly watched this.

His hair was flying, and his clothes were fluttering. Behind him, his dark energy shook.

He appeared to be standing alone on the edge of a cliff, far away, and just one step could crumble everything.

What is this?

Seol Young was confused.

Seol Young wondered if this was how the Black Tortoise Divine Troops felt when they fought against him.

Shock.

He couldn’t understand.

If Zaha had left him alone, Seol Young probably wouldn’t have survived. Why attack it himself when his aim was to drain Seol Young of his spiritual energy?

All because he wanted to test his strength against a painting?

Because of the bright light, even Seol Young couldn’t look at what was happening to the painting. And as he was squinting his eyes, he said,

“Is it really that hard to control your impulse? You ended up saving me because of this.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Zaha said,

“Seol Young-rang, what would change just because I stabbed it once? It just prolongs the time you suffer.”

And he smiled as if he were looking down on him. It couldn’t get any nastier than this.

“No! You made a mistake.”

In the midst of this crisis, he gained some time for a miracle.

Seol Young looked at the painting, and he opened his spiritual eyes.

He fixed his gaze on the lower left part.

He didn’t miss this single chance.

‘As I thought…’

He was right.

Seol Young pointed to that spot and shouted,

“Over there!”

It was under the five colored clouds, which were torn up.

Avalokiteshvara was screaming in pain, and the men too.

It was always there on one side. The one who was alone and still.

The person who was tightly hugging a pipa.

A sloppily drawn picture. A distorted two-headed man who blended in with the handsome men and beautiful women.

The figure could now be distinguished.

He could clearly see how elaborately the painter drew this part—how he carefully drew the clothes of this person, the pipa that was being held, and the hands.

‘Why…’

Seol Young stretched out his hand.

The talisman floated in the air at his fingertips. They contained spiritual qi.

A hidden talisman.

A talisman that allowed normal people to see ghosts. It was a beginner’s talisman that required the least amount of spiritual qi to create.

And people who were born with innate spiritual qi, like Seol Young, could see ghosts with the naked eye, so he didn’t need it.

But everything had its own use.

After completing the talisman, Seol Young turned it upside down. It didn’t appear to do anything special and only made the spirits shine brightly.

And the talisman worked instantly.

The vivid colors that covered the sloppy figure were taken out.

The silk clothes that had a natural luster and wrinkles all over them vanished. And the pipa, which was more realistic in the painting, also disappeared.

When everything was finally removed, the painting’s true form was revealed.

“Look at that. I found it.”

Seol Young pointed to the shape in that spot.

A shape that couldn’t be figured out as human or animal. It twisted and crumbled.

“Um?”

Zaha frowned.

“That looks familiar.”

“Right.”

Seol Young put his hand into his sleeve and took out a plaque.

Inside was the evil spirit that was captured and sealed by the Hwarangs, who came first. The evil spirit, who admitted itself to be the painter.

And he summoned it back.

It was exactly the same as the one found in the painting.

And he finally found it.

“This is a sketch.”

Seol Young said.

“Who would draw a sketch onto a painting? Someone who knew about…”

“Everything was a sketch?”

Zaha looked back at the sloppily-drawn things.

“And the painter covered it by decorating it?”

“Yes.”

Seol Young turned his head.

“I got it completely wrong at first. It wasn’t because of bad karma. This soul has been like this right from the start.”

Who are you? Why are you in this state?

He looked at the faint soul in front of him.

“We are lucky to find something.”

Zaha said.

“So what? We don’t really have time.”

He tilted his head and pointed towards the painting.

Right.

The light around the Dead Slayer Sword was fading.

He said he only pierced the painting because he wanted to try doing it, and there seemed to be a limit to what the sword could do.

The men and women who were screaming and struggling began to go silent, and their eyes began to turn white.

The things on the edge of the painting began to regain their strength.

“We barely found an important clue, but…. this is… I feel bad. Of course, this is a good thing for me. I will make sure to get your spiritual power and use it well.”

“No.”

Seol Young gritted his teeth and gripped the plaque.

This made things clear.

The soul that was sealed within the plaque was not an evil spirit.

For some reason, it borrowed the look of that roughly-drawn figure in the painting. The original, roughly-drawn picture was already in the painting, and it was stained with evil energy.

Then…

Helping it should be fine.

Seol Young raised his sword. He cut off the string that was around the plaque, and the spirit was released.

At that moment, it seemed that the painting, which had come to life, had slowed down.

“Nice.”

Seol Young was confident that he was going in the right direction.

“Come on.”

Without hesitation, he grabbed the hand of the spirit, which was freed from the spirit plaque.

The beginning is always the same. The most intense emotion gets imprinted on the soul. Feelings of death, fear, pain…

‘It is fine.’

Seol Young was not shaken. His body was already used to ghosts at the age of 6. He was already kind of immune to the fear and pain that he was feeling now.

Rejecting them wouldn’t work. It had to be like opening the door for the emotions to come but not being swayed by them.

If it weren’t for the evil spirits, there wouldn’t be anything bothering them.

‘Right. It is alright.’

Seol Young repeatedly encouraged the weak spirit.

“Show your true face!”

He ordered it.

The spirit was startled.

It immediately shook off the fear and pain of death as it stretched out.

Its true identity was a child.

It was a normal child that one could see passing around a street or village, wearing yellow pants and an open jacket.

He looked to be around 5-6 years of age. And his dark eyes looked bright and kind.

Seol Young looked right into his eyes and asked,

“Did you draw that picture?”

The child shook his head, and Zaha, who was watching from the side, asked a question,

“Did you make ‘that picture’ there?”

The child nodded.

“Are you the painter?”

He nodded again.

A child with access to paint. A child with a paintbrush. The child’s identity was rather obvious, so Seol Young asked,

“Your father is also a painter?”

Nod.

The child was nodding strongly now.

‘This child cannot speak?’

It could be so.

But maybe it was because he was weak that he couldn’t speak. The spirit of the child looked exhausted from the start. The spirit was flickering as if it would vanish at any moment.

It must be because he was wandering for such a long time.

Because Seol Young was infusing spiritual qi into him right now, he was at least in his true form, but he would fade again.

It seemed unreasonable to waste energy and talk right now.

And the child was too young, so he wouldn’t even be able to speak clearly and explain.

‘I need the truth.’

Seol Young held the hand of the child.

Ghosts loved him and this child too.

The child smiled without shaking off his hand, and so Seol Young asked,

“Will you show me what happened to you?”

And he held the child’s hand a little tighter as his spiritual power flowed, and the spirit of the child began to glow.

Energy must have surged through the child’s body, and the fading parts looked clearer.

The child was wide-eyed as he spoke.

[Wow!]

He was shocked. It must have been both odd and shocking to see his weak body feel fine again.

He spread his arms wide like wings as he ran somewhere.

Zaha asked,

“Where is he going?”

“Obviously, he will show us what happened to him.”

Seol Young followed the child, and an amazing thing happened.

With each step the child took, the space around them changed. They were no longer in a mansion taken over by the haunted painting.

It was the place within the child’s memory.

A large room was in front of them, and a man was drawing alone.

The child’s father.

The genius painter.

The truth from a hundred years ago was revealing itself.