Secret Love Affair between a Former Saint and a Dark Hero - Chapter 59
Park Sol was a girl with extraordinary abilities that she could never tell anyone about. The world she and others lived in was at the intersection of the supernatural and the earthly, and Sol learned that people like her were often called shamans who usually received divine revelations.
Thus, Sol communicated with ghosts, could invoke spirits, and at some point, had to come to terms with living a life different from ordinary people. That’s why she didn’t have many friends. There weren’t many people willing to accept how inexplicably odd she was.
Still, Sol wasn’t lonely. She had a most precious friend, someone she wouldn’t even think twice about giving her own organs to. Despite this friend being born into a life and circumstances more unfortunate than most, she remained resilient and was never afraid to stand up for herself. A friend who was always confident, who made Sol happy and hopeful—Jiyeon.
Thinking of her, Sol chuckled.
“Oh, I miss our Jiyeon!”
Sol was on vacation in the countryside to visit her grandmother. Walking through the snowy field, she wiped her runny nose.
“So cold, so cold.”
It was freezing, and she couldn’t help but wonder how hard it must be for Jiyeon to endure this at her part-time job. After repeatedly checking her phone, Sol decided she needed to pick up the pace. Walking faster, she soon saw a green-painted gate on top of the hill. She started sprinting until she was close enough to fling open the door to her grandmother’s house.
“Grandma! Graaandma! I’ve brought the rice!”
Thump, thump!
Baekgu wagged his tail, happily greeting her. Sol brushed Baekgu’s thick fur while searching for her grandmother.
Just as the door opened, she noticed her grandmother seated inside the multi-colored lit shrine. She gestured towards Sol, her wrinkled hands moving with an unmistakable power.
Sol’s eyes went wide. Her grandmother refrained from calling her when she was in the shrine, because she didn’t want to interrupt the communication. For Sol also had a reserve of spirits, authority, and power within her.
“Why, Grandma? Did something bad come up in the divination?”
As she cautiously stepped into the shrine, she was surprised to see her grandmother dressed in shrinemaiden clothes. It was one of her grandmother’s ceremonial outfits for proper divination.
Suddenly, Sol’s grandmother lifted her head and opened her eyes wide. Seeing the mysterious gaze, Sol realized that her grandmother was in a trance. Although she looked like her grandmother, there was a guardian spirit within her.
“Child. Oh, dear. Your friend is in danger. She is going to die, poor thing.”
“My friend? Who?”
“Yes. That child’s luck is about to run out.”
Sol widened her eyes. She didn’t have many friends, and the most precious one among them… Looking at her trembling eyes as if she didn’t want to believe it, Sol’s grandmother shook her head in pity.
“Poor, pitiful thing. Lonely and tormented. It is not even a complete death, for the soul is fleeting and scattered, and will perish in a sealed-off world, and there is nothing you can do about it.”
Sol fell to her knees, shaking her head. No, it couldn’t be. Jiyeon was destined for a happy life, marrying a loving man, having two children, and living happily without any illness. Why would she suddenly have to die?
“Oh, no. No. That can’t be true. I’ve seen Jiyeon’s fortune. I’ve checked it every year. Even if her childhood was lonely, there was never a time when the ancestral spirits didn’t help, and no calamity befell her…”
Grandmother closed the golden fan she was holding. The chilling sound of it resonated like a falling guillotine.
A solemn voice descended upon Sol’s despairing shoulders.
“Child, foolish one. How can you be so sure? While you can’t change fate, there are many paths to take. So even a man who rises like a dragon can suddenly fall into a mire and die.”
“But how can this happen so suddenly…”
“Ask yourself. Did you purchase a certain book?”
“What? A book?”
“You still have it. Yes, that book is the problem. What’s inside is not of this world. It’s entangled with sinister thoughts and curses.”
“What?”
Sol was taken aback. On the side, there was a novel with a colorful cover in her bag. But it wasn’t anything strange; it was just a popular romance novel from a large bookstore. Why would this be an issue?
The foreboding look in her grandmother’s eyes sent a shiver down her spine. Could Jiyeon be affected by this book?
But that didn’t make sense. If that were the case, everyone who read it would be cursed. It was a popular novel!
“Grandma, this is just a book I bought at the bookstore. There’s no curse. It couldn’t harm Jiyeon. Besides, she hasn’t even seen this book before.”
“That’s not it. It’s not like that, child.”
She pointed a trembling fingertip at the book Sol held out.
“That one is cursed. You just haven’t recognized it. It will devour souls, over and over.”
