“Neokgeori?”
“Yes. That seems to be what your companion is afflicted with. I’m sure the word sounds unfamiliar to you, but her condition seems to fit it perfectly.”
The man was taken aback. The translation device tried to translate the word to best fit his culture, but the concept of Neokgeori was new to him.
“Um…I still don’t get it. Could you explain a bit more so that we can understand?”
Chi-Woo nodded at the man’s request and explained. A person’s body was made up of a soul and a physical body, but these weren’t the only components that made up a human being. There were other immaterial things that dwelled inside the soul and governed the body; these were the things that remained even after a person’s body turned to ashes, and their soul left for the next realm. And this thing, which linked the body and soul to create harmony so that a person could have a ‘life,’ was called neok.
“So, neok isn’t just a soul?”
“It’s much more than that,” Chi-Woo continued, “A neok is very transcendental. A person’s death has no impact on it. Not confined to a person, it can freely reveal itself, but you have to remember that it’s not the person.” On the other hand, a person was bound to their neok. “If a person’s neok escapes, they will faint or lose their minds—just like your companion.”
Although it was a concept none of them had encountered before, the man and the others in the cave nodded.
Chi-Woo continued, “Thus, someone might have used neokgeori on Abis, and because of that, Abis’ neok flew out.”
The man now understood the hypothesis. “Yes, sir. So…”
However, Chi-Woo looked doubtful. He thought there was little chance that concepts and laws on Liber would be the same as shamanistic teachings on Earth, specifically South Korea.
‘There must be dissimilarities, but…’ Even if Chi-Woo considered these factors, there was a part that bothered him. Thus, he asked, “Could I ask about the situation of when this happened? As detailed as possible.”
“We will explain to the best of our ability.” The man went on to recount how he, his brother, and Abis came to Liber as the eighth recruits. They were able to survive thanks to the rescue team, but they couldn’t find suitable gods when trying to use the growth system. Still, they couldn’t just sit around, so the three left for the fortress on the border where the yongmaek was. They succeeded in awakening their energy, but using the yongmaek wasn’t enough to make them stronger. It was then they heard that the Cassiubia League had sent an envoy for the operation over the godly territory that had been recently established. They also heard that the legend, Choi Chi-Hyun, was going to negotiate the terms, offering to help restore Kabbalah’s godly city on the condition the League brought some of the gods they worshiped there. And if that became reality, the growth environment the heroes could choose from would widen dramatically.
Among the new gods that would be brought, there might be one who could match their personalities and characters. Thus, the three decided to collect merits before the day came. Since it took a significant amount of merits just to establish a contract with a god, they wanted to save as much as possible. Thus, they left the fortress with two natives who could act as a guide and a porter.
However, all their plans resulted in nothing. Ru Amuh had cleaned the area of mutants with a group of heroes long before. Furthermore, the Abyss troop that Evelyn commanded swept away the rest of the stragglers during their march, so there was nothing left for the three to take care of. But instead of returning to the capital like that, the three ventured further, telling themselves, ‘little bit more, just a little more,’ and did something crazy—they ventured beyond the border.
Overzealousness often brought calamities. And only after a couple of days of walking, they found traces of monsters—not just a few of them, but many—which they desperately sought for. Tracking the traces soon led them to a region with lush, tall reeds the height of adult men obscuring their view, and the ground was muddy enough to be a swamp.
“That place…was a nightmare.” The man’s voice trembled. It was a very dreary and unpleasant place, but blinded by their desire to gain merits, the three heroes ventured on fearlessly. It was on the second day that the incident happened. After they camped outside overnight and woke up, they saw that one of the natives they had brought was gone.
They had night duty, but the native had disappeared without anyone’s notice. Since there were traces suggesting the native had left on their free will, though, they searched for the native. However, they couldn’t find anything; the traces had disappeared abruptly. All they found was a noticeable stain on the ground. After studying the area carefully, Abis screamed. While shaking, she tried to run, and when they asked her what was wrong, all she said was that they had to leave as fast as possible. It was then the man felt strange, lumpy sensations that he couldn't describe all around him.
As soon as he sensed this foreboding energy, the man decided to get out of there. Although none of them could see anything, the man felt as if something of great evil and malice they couldn’t easily escape from was chasing after them. His predictions turned out to be right on the mark. While running senselessly, the man suddenly heard a scream from behind him. It was Hawa’s voice.
The first one to respond was Abis. Abis was kind and caring and wasn’t the type to turn away from a native in trouble. She went back for Hawa despite the man’s younger brother telling her to not go. Soon afterward, they heard another scream. It was Abis’ voice this time. Turning around belatedly, the man could see between the reeds that Abis was getting pulled underground by a strange suction. The native girl was groaning on the ground. Although the younger brother jumped back in to save Abis upon seeing her situation, he had no choice but to retreat soon afterward.
The one silver lining among the dark clouds of misfortune was that they were able to find Abis quickly again. She was half-buried, lying prone where the traces of the native had been cut off. The two brothers quickly pulled Abis from the ground, dragged Hawa along with them, and made a speedy escape.
“Fortunately, we weren’t attacked again, but…” The man sighed as he looked at Abis, who lay quietly with her eyes wide open. “As you can see, she has been in that condition ever since we brought her back.”
Chi-Woo fell into deep thought after hearing the whole explanation. ‘If this happened on Earth…’ He would’ve concluded that Abis was attacked by a water ghost—the ghost of a person who had died by drowning. Of course, that could not have been the case since they were on Liber, but if it were, there were three reasons why a water ghost would attack the living. First, they were lonely and wanted a friend. Second, they could only leave the place they were bound to if they drowned another person there. And the third reason was to strengthen themselves by taking the victim’s neok and using it as bait to call upon their soul, then subjugating it.
‘Neokgari as a ritual…isn’t commonly done on a living person though.’ This was the part that Chi-Woo couldn't understand. Neokgari was done to prevent the aforementioned situations from happening. And as a ritual done for the sake of relieving a ghost, a shaman commonly did it on someone who was already dead. The opposite had happened in this case. A mysterious person had taken just the neok of a living person. But for what reason? While Chi-Woo thought, the man spoke.
“So according to what you said, Abis is missing her neok, right?”
“Yes.”
“She breathes, and her body temperature is normal…but what will happen if she stays in this state?”
“She will soon…die.”
The man squeezed his eyes shut, and the younger man gasped.
“Is there any way we can help her?”
“In her current condition…let me try something first.” Chi-Woo got up because of the man’s desperate pleas. He took out a bottle of holy water from his bag and put a couple of drops into her mouth, making a prayer.
“…” It was useless. Abis appeared the same as before.
“…It doesn’t work,” Chi-Woo clicked his tongue. It became clear now that holy water wouldn’t bring back her neok. “I don’t know who did this, but it seems they have no intention of letting her go. Her neok isn’t coming back.” In other words, a mysterious being had Abis’ neok in a tight clutch, and they were strong enough to resist the holy water.
“Who in the world…!” The man gritted his teeth in anger. After calming down a little, he asked, “Is there nothing that can be done here?”
“No. There is something to be done if you go back to where the incident happened…”
“Then, could you come with us by any chance?” the man asked. “I don’t think my brother and I can do much even if the two of us go there again.” For some reason, they believed something different would happen if Chi-Woo went with them. The younger man looked at Chi-Woo pleadingly, but Chi-Woo didn’t immediately respond.
‘It’s too dangerous.’ The fact that they had to go beyond the border was the first problem. This meant they needed to enter either the Abyss’ or the Sernitas’ territory. If his brother heard, he would’ve foamed from his mouth in outrage. Moreover, Chi-Woo had another matter to attend to—the Abyss’ witch, Onorables Evelyn. He still wasn’t able to decipher her message along with the broken broomstick. Chi-Woo looked up and saw Eshnunna quietly shaking her head. It seemed she hadn’t gathered anything substantial. With such stakes on the line, Chi-Woo couldn’t possibly make a long trip without knowing when he was going to come back.
“Of course, I’m not asking you to give me a reply immediately. We have enough time for you to decide…right?” The man backed away, noting Chi-Woo’s hesitance. Chi-Woo nodded in the end.
“Yes…but I think it will be difficult. I’m in no position to move around right now.”
“I see. Then it can’t be helped.” Like the man promised to do, he got up and left. “But thank you for telling us about all this. You’ve done us a great favor.”
“Brother…!” The young man cried out as his older brother picked up Abis.
“Get up,” the man said firmly. “There are things that can’t be done. We promised.”
“But…we can’t just give—"
“Who says we’re giving up? We have to find another method. Come on. We don’t have time.”
The young man dragged himself up with great reluctance.
“We’re going to look for a method while staying in the capital. If you have any intention of joining us later, please look for us. We will never forget the favor.” That was the last thing the man said before leaving the cave.
Seeing how unsettled Chi-Woo appeared, Ru Amuh said, “I’m sorry. Because of me, you…”
Ru Hiana turned to Ru Amuh and said, “You should’ve listened to me… I’m sorry, senior. We just made you feel uncomfortable.”
“No, it’s fine,” Chi-Woo shook his head and smiled. Thus, the Ru sibling quietly left the cave. The only ones remaining were Eshnunna and Hawa. Eshnunna glanced at Hawa. She hadn’t said anything while sitting in the corner. Perhaps she was shaken up or shocked senseless; she had stayed motionless with her head lowered. After pondering for a bit, Eshnunna decided to get up and leave.
As soon as Eshnunna turned around, Hawa got to her feet and turned to stagger away as well.
“Ms. Hawa…” Chi-Woo was about to ask if she was all right, but it was clear she wasn’t. It was a meaningless question. Still, Chi-Woo was worried, so he changed his words. “Did you go to the fortress at the border?”
“…Yes,” she replied in a quiet voice.
“Why?”
Hawa flinched. Her body trembled, and Chi-Woo heard her take a deep breath.
“Because I wanted to become stronger,” Hawa eventually confessed. “I also wanted to accumulate those things called merits.”
It was as Chi-Woo had guessed. No, he didn’t even need to guess; Hawa had said it herself before.
“You should’ve just trained with me here…” Chi-Woo said regretfully, but he heard her snort. ‘Ha.’ It sounded like she couldn’t believe what Chi-Woo was saying.
“No,” she said, “This isn’t a place where I can train.” Her faint voice was clearer now. “This is a place where people like you, a very selective number of heroes in particular, could improve their powers.”
She wasn’t wrong. When she came with the others under Chi-Hyun’s guidance, she participated in the training with Chi-Woo. But before she could complete the first course, she collapsed. No matter how tough her training had been when she was young, this training was created for Chi-Woo and wasn’t something an ordinary person could complete. Even Ru Hiana gave up in the middle, and Ru Amuh barely managed to finish it. Thus, Chi-Woo soon realized that he had said something careless.
After coming out of the cave under the Evalaya volcano, Chi-Woo had promised Hawa that he would help her become a hero. But meeting his brother and all the other things that were happening at the same time made him forget. If he hadn’t forgotten about it, Hawa would never have left for the fortress and ended up in this mess.
“I’m…sorry.”
“No.” Hawa shook her head furiously. “There’s nothing for you to apologize about. If you really had the intention to help me, you would’ve done it long ago.”
“But…”
“I didn’t fulfill my part of the deal, either.”
When Chi-Woo said he would help out, he placed a condition on it. He wanted her to prove that she had all the makings of a hero. He also hinted at this when taking her to rescue the eighth recruits. However, Hawa failed to meet these expectations, and instead of achieving something like Ru Amuh, simple survival occupied all her efforts and thoughts. Thus, she hadn’t been able to prove herself even when given the opportunity.
“But what you did was really dangerous,” Chi-Woo said after listening to her quietly. “Even if you had left, you shouldn’t have gone beyond the border. You should’ve come back by yourself at least—”
“I couldn’t do that,” Hawa cut him off. She sounded like she had had enough of Chi-Woo’s lecture.
“Why?” Chi-Woo furrowed his brows. “Were you blackmailed?”
“No.” Hawa shook her head and told the truth. “Because I didn’t want to. I was actually all for it; I told them I knew the path outside the border even better as a member of a nomad tribe.”
Chi-Woo looked at her for further explanation, and Hawa turned to scoff. On their way back to the capital after rescuing the eighth recruits, Hawa felt keenly that she couldn’t wait any longer. Humanity had changed and was still changing. Before, there was room for Hawa to compete and contribute since there were only a few of them, and heroes weren’t much different from normal people. But after the growth system was established, she could sense how much had changed.
Upon return, Hawa clearly sensed that every hero had grown tremendously simply because they were where an important event had happened. Of course, not all stood idly and did nothing, but it was hard for Hawa to accept that just because she wasn’t a hero, she couldn’t reap the same benefits as them even though she had also risked her life.
After that incident, the Cassiubia League sent their envoy, and although humanity was progressing in a good way, Hawa felt nervous. It seemed she was going to fall forever behind and be cast away for good any moment now. The fear drove her to action. She didn’t care who it was as long as they gave her another opportunity. That was why she approached any hero she could find and told them that she was confident in helping them.
In the process, she realized that a hero like Chi-Woo was rare. Most of them ignored her or laughed at her, telling her that a native should just go tend the farm. And such heroes were actually the nobler ones. Some accepted her into their teams with the malicious intention to take advantage of a young woman with mystical beauty like Hawa. In the end, Hawa left the fortress thinking that nothing could be done and returned to the capital. Since heroes who hadn’t made a contract with any god gathered in the capital, she thought she would be better understood here. That was how she met the brothers and Abis.
“It was quite a rare opportunity, and the condition wasn’t bad. They didn’t treat natives badly or lay their hands on them. I was satisfied with just that. But…” Hawa didn’t finish. She had simply wanted to snatch an opportunity and do something—who knew things would become so screwed up?
Chi-Woo was at a loss for words. He understood what it was like to want to do something so desperately and fail.
“Still…” Chi-Woo murmured. But it was as Hawa said. Even though he forgot, if he really had the full intention of making her a hero, he would’ve made her one a long time ago. However, he hadn’t done that even though he knew how much Hawa yearned to be a hero—and he knew she had great potential as a 3-star.
‘Why?’ Chi-Woo thought deeply to himself.
[But that’s why it’s more of a problem. It’s impossible to know which side she would turn to.]
[People who have the same disposition as her usually…]
Chi-Woo recalled the conversation he had with Mimi before. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Is there a reason why you must gain power at all costs?”
Hawa had her back to him, but upon Chi-Woo’s question, she suddenly looked over her shoulder at him.
“…What if I don’t? Should I just sweep the floor every day while wearing shaman clothes and eat what I am given and live the way I am told to live?” she snapped. “All the while knowing that danger might befall me any moment and kill me?”
Hawa had fully turned her body around now, and her eyes shot daggers at Chi-Woo’s.
“I want to live.”
“…”
“I said I want to live.”
She wasn’t telling Chi-Woo to protect her. She wanted to protect herself. Knowing what she meant, Chi-Woo felt his throat dry.
“…If you gain power, what will you do? How are you going to use it?”
“I’m going to use it for myself,” she answered without pausing one bit.
“For yourself, Ms. Hawa?”
“Yes,” Hawa confirmed her answer.
“Can’t you explain it in more detail?”
Hawa’s eyes were blank, but she went on to voice the thoughts she had been suppressing all this time.
“I don’t want to rely on other people and be a burden to others.” If she had power, she wouldn’t have fallen behind in the rescue mission. And the nice hero who helped her out wouldn’t have gotten her neok stolen away.
“And I don’t want to be laughed at or looked down on. Even when I don’t do anything, there are many who provoke me. I am sick of enduring and being patient any longer.” If only she had power, none of these things would’ve happened. If only she had power. It was this power she needed. “I want to pay them back a hundred, a thousand times! Why…am I not supposed to desire such things?”
Chi-Woo couldn’t retort. Hawa had no noble purpose or higher cause for wanting power. She simply wanted it for herself, but Chi-Woo couldn’t bring himself up to tell her no.
“…” It was because he felt like he was looking at himself.
Then, Hawa asked sorrowfully, “What else am I supposed to do?” Her voice was heavy with desperation. “How can I earn this thing called power and use it?”
Chi-Woo felt a sense of déjà vu. He recalled what he had been told.
[You have to tell her. Teach her and lead her to the right path then.]
“…Please tell me,” Hawa whimpered in a strained voice, her head dropping low.
Her desperate pleas made Chi-Woo fall into deep silence. Having eavesdropped on the conversation until now outside the cave, Eshnunna reacted the same way.