Free Web Novel“Alright, let’s loosen up a bit—one more fighting cheer before we go!”
The genius director held out his hand. One by one, the others’ hands landed on top of it with firm thuds.
Jeongan, Yunhwi, Seonghwi, Myungdo, even Yeomga. On top of the backs of the hands of everyone who had made <Strange Tales> together, my own hand came down.
“Okay, when I count to three, we shout, ‘Strange Tales was a huge hit!’”
One, two, three!
Everyone shouted in unison, pressing their palms downward as if stamping their pride into them.
“<Strange Tales>!”
“Was a huge hit!”
Their hands shot powerfully into the air.
Let’s go.
With that, the genius director surged ahead first. Someone pushed me from behind. The protagonist has to go right after the director, after all! Still dazed, I moved forward.
The shutters exploding at the photo wall were blinding. Everyone was calling Seoryeong’s name. All eyes were focused on me now.
From far away, I spotted my fan. Without even realizing it, I waved.
It didn’t feel real. Not at all.
* * *
On her way to the theater, Aetami felt her entire body stiffen. It wasn’t just nerves.
All through the night, she’d been making edits, posting featured threads, watching the name “Seoryeong” and the title <Strange Tales> climb the trending lists.
Those who had been with the drama from episode one to the finale knew.
That particular joy you feel when a beloved work finally, perfectly succeeds.
The indescribable sense of achievement from having been there from the very beginning.
The bittersweet feeling of enjoying the perfect ending of a flawless story, while already missing it.
“Wow, it really broke twenty percent ratings.”
“At first everyone said Jegal Rok was insane, but at this point? That guy’s riding the ritual blade for real.”
Listening to the reporters who had arrived early, Aetami lifted the corner of her mouth. Amid the buzzing chatter, there were quite a lot of people waiting for the <Strange Tales> team.
“No, but seriously—Han Yeoreum is insane. Did you see yesterday’s clip views?” freewebnoveℓ.com
“Over a million again.... But yeah, that makes sense.”
Aetami smiled, satisfied.
‘Yeoreum isn’t just good at acting—she’s unreal in person, too.’
Her mouth itched, wanting to jump in and say something, anything. She forced the corners of her lips down.
People everywhere were saying she was the perfect Seoryeong. There wasn’t anyone who could argue otherwise.
Seoryeong was Han Yeoreum.
And Han Yeoreum was Seoryeong.
“Oh!”
“She’s coming out!”
The area grew noisy in an instant. Yeoreum was stepping onto the photo wall.
People with cameras hammered the shutters nonstop. Flashes burst in dazzling succession. Everyone pushed and shoved, desperate to get a closer look, and Yeoreum slipped out of Aetami’s view.
That was when it happened.
At the exact moment she thought their eyes might have met, Yeoreum smiled and waved in this direction.
‘...Did she see me?’
Aetami stared blankly at Yeoreum. Guided by staff, Yeoreum was already heading into the theater.
Even if that greeting hadn’t been meant for her, it was fine.
Someday, Yeoreum would go to awards ceremonies held so far away that Aetami wouldn’t even dare think of following her there.
She was certain Han Yeoreum would do just that.
At last, the path into the <Strange Tales> screening hall opened.
* * *
Chapter 16
The Final Destination
Before anyone realized it, the unclean things and Seonghwi had reached the door of the king’s audience chamber. Bang—! Seonghwi roughly shoved the doors open with both hands, panting in excitement.
“How does it feel?”
But the king did not even spare Seonghwi a glance. He was only reading the document in his hands, as though Seonghwi did not exist at all.
“The days of you sitting up there, gazing down at me with that lofty air, are over.”
Seonghwi laughed as he trudged forward, cackling as if recalling the day he had begged to be given his place back beneath the king. Rustle—. Without a word, the king picked up the next document.
“Don’t act so arrogant! You’re not the king! The highest seat belongs to me now!”
At those words, the king finally lifted his head and barked as he looked down at Seonghwi.
“You wretch!”
The tiger embroidered on his robes seemed to move, roaring.
“The highest seat belongs to the people, not to some individual! Anyone who doesn’t understand that has no right to sit here!”
Seonghwi clenched his teeth at the king’s icy expression. Just then, footsteps rushed in. Yunhwi and his guards.
“Brother. You should stop here.”
“You...!”
Seonghwi’s pupils shook violently.
The king he thought had fallen was alive and well, and the younger brother he believed had lost his mind stood perfectly sound.
From beginning to end, Seonghwi had been deceived.
“Hahaha! Hahahaha! So that’s how it is. From the very start.... I was played with like a toy! A useless, sickly eldest son!”
Burning with resentment, Seonghwi aimed his sword at Yunhwi.
“Kill them all. Right here!”
He commanded the unclean things. Yunhwi’s and Seonghwi’s swords crashed together fiercely. The guards had no choice but to keep fighting the unclean things.
No matter how much they were cut, they would not be cut.
No matter how much they were killed, they would not die.
“Your Highness! There is a way to break the curse!”
Myungdo shouted toward Yunhwi, who was clashing blades with Seonghwi, cutting down unclean things again and again. At the mention of a way to break it, Seonghwi faltered for a moment.
“What is it?!”
“We don’t know yet! But we will find it!”
Slashing away an unclean thing that was struggling to bite his throat, Myungdo saved one of the nearby guards. The guard who had been crushed beneath the unclean things barely managed to stand. Yunhwi cast Myungdo a brief glance.
“You need to focus on me. Yes?”
In that instant, Seonghwi’s sharp blade grazed Yunhwi’s cheek. Red blood flowed. With a mocking, laughing tone, Seonghwi moved his arm again. Yunhwi knocked aside the sword flying for his throat.
“The shamaness named Yeomga is behind everything!”
“I know! Is there anything else?!”
Before they knew it, Myungdo and Yunhwi were standing back to back, facing the enemies before them.
Beings that were human, yet not human.
Seonghwi was the same. Having abandoned his brother, his father, his people—having abandoned everything—Seonghwi was alive, yet could hardly be called living.
“The name Yeomga...! It isn’t that shamaness’s name!”
After blocking Seonghwi’s sword, Yunhwi slashed at him. The blade narrowly skimmed Seonghwi’s abdomen, and he clenched his teeth.
“It’s the name of her child who was never born!”
A child who was never born.
The unfamiliar information [N O V E L I G H T] made Myungdo flinch for a split second—but there was no time to dwell on it. An undying ghost he had just cut down rose again and lunged at him.
“Grrrk...!”
With rolled-back white eyes and blood streaming from its mouth, the undying ghost was terrifying just by existing.
An unclean thing tried to bite his wrist. Myungdo hurriedly cut it down.
His eyes traced his own wrist, checking that the five-blessing cord Seoryeong had tied there was still secure.
A shamaness who used her child’s name.
The five-blessing cord.
Seoryeong, who had once entrusted herself to Yeomga.
And then Jeongan again.
His thoughts tangled as a memory surfaced.
Seoryeong had been staring intently at the five-blessing cords spread out in the marketplace.
“Do you want a new five-blessing cord?”
“No.... Why would I?”
“You couldn’t take your eyes off them.”
“I was just... reminded of the past.”
Seoryeong had never been able to resist expensive things. Her lesson—that the shinier and prettier something was, the more expensive it had to be—had been drilled into Myungdo’s ears over time.
Then why had she worn that plain, cheap five-blessing cord on her wrist for so long? He had always wondered.
“Jeongan usually didn’t buy things like this. She believed money had to be earned honestly. So how could there ever be anything left over? And whenever there was some leeway, she’d go help beggars instead. Honestly.”
Fiddling with the cords laid out at the market, Seoryeong had smiled softly, as if recalling Jeongan.
There were all kinds of five-blessing cords: a turtle for longevity, a yellow butterfly for wealth, a tiger for health, a lotus for virtue, and a white chrysanthemum for a peaceful death.
“Well, anyway... I didn’t have a five-blessing cord. No one ever bought one for me. I could’ve bought one myself with the money I earned wandering around, but... I didn’t want to spend my own money. Actually, before that... I did ask someone to buy me one, once....”
Seoryeong trailed off. It wasn’t hard to guess who she’d begged—Yeomga.
Around her, people agonized over which cord to choose. It was Yeomho Kingdom’s custom to tie at least one around a child’s wrist before they came of age.
“So, Jeongan and I went to the market, and it just happened to be the spring festival. The vendor asked if I wanted the turtle, and I said I was going to die young anyway so I didn’t need that, and told him to give me the yellow butterfly instead.”
Loneliness flickered in Seoryeong’s eyes.
“But do you know what Jeongan said? She told me to just come along for now. I threw a tantrum. I yelled at her, asking who she thought she was, refusing to buy me something like this—until Jeongan finally dragged me to my feet. I cried all the way back to the hut, demanding she buy it, and Jeongan just quietly pulled me along....”
That was why, despite having possessed so many expensive things, Seoryeong had worn a cheap five-blessing cord on her wrist.
“And then—would you believe it? When I woke up, the five-blessing cord was right there in front of me. I remember thinking, if she was going to buy it anyway, why did she make such a fuss?”
Because Jeongan truly loved Seoryeong.
And even without words, Seoryeong had known it too.
“I found out later. Back then, she didn’t even have the money to buy that one cord. While I slept, Jeongan wandered the mountains all night gathering wild herbs, then went to the dawn market and traded them for a single five-blessing cord....”
On that spring dawn, when the lingering cold had yet to fade, Jeongan must have gathered herbs the entire night.
Thinking about which blessing she should give Seoryeong first.
Digging into frozen earth, not even feeling the pain in her hands.
The five-blessing cord that poor Jeongan had gone to such lengths to buy.
Then why—despite being so wealthy—had Yeomga never bought Seoryeong that one cord she’d begged for?
If she was going to feed her well, dress her well, let her enjoy every happiness, wouldn’t it be more effective to turn her into a curse maiden afterward?
That was when—
Something caught Myungdo’s eye.
Each time an unclean thing moved its arm, something flashed into view. Something unmistakable....
“A five-blessing cord!”
Myungdo swung his arm wide.
With one sweep of his sword, three fell at once. He cut through the unclean things clawing at him, cutting them down in every direction.
Myungdo seized the wrist of an unclean thing that had a five-blessing cord tied around it.
Sensing annihilation on instinct, the unclean things surged toward Myungdo all at once.
