Chi-Woo’s relief that everything was finally over lasted for but a brief moment. He was about to close his eyes in Evelyn’s arms when a strange apprehension crept up to him. He had seen Evelyn’s appearance when she was a human several times before. At the time, she had embodied life only in appearance rather than turning into an actual living person. At the end of the day, her imitation was all artificial no matter how perfect it was. However, it was different this time. The texture of her skin and silky hair were not artificial; they were human, real. But…
‘What is this?’ She radiated death too strongly for a living person. It felt as if a soul had been forced into a well-preserved body and reanimated, and her body was closer to that of a jiangshi[1]than a living being. Chi-Woo, who had been walking between the boundary of the dead and the living since he was born, was certain of this. The present Evelyn was an unnatural existence.
Chi-Woo carefully said, “Lady Witch, your body is too cold.”
Evelyn looked downcast, and she didn’t reply.
“Lady Witch?”
“…I.” Evelyn smacked her lips a few times and finally spoke softly, “I was not actually a witch. No, I used to not be one.”
Chi-Woo blinked.
“I feel so regretful.” She exhaled a long breath. “If I had known a little earlier…” Her voice was full of remorse as she spoke with her chin tilted up, her gaze focusing on the ceiling. Then Chi-Woo felt his back gently touch the floor. As soon as she put Chi-Woo down, Evelyn’s arms drooped weakly. She seemed to be having a hard time even keeping herself upright as she slowly lost control of her body—like a person slowly dying. It was only then that Chi-Woo saw a faint air current flowing out of Evelyn’s body. She looked extremely unstable, like she was going to crumble and disappear at any moment.
“I’m sorry.” Evelyn’s head tilted softly. “I tried to resist until the end, but…there’s nothing I can do.” A mournful smile tugged at her lips. “You came all the way here for me… I’m really sorry.”
Chi-Woo tried to say something, but couldn’t; he couldn’t process this unexpected turn of events. At that moment, he heard a laugh coming from behind him.
“Ahehehehe…” It was an unpleasant sound that heralded death. “You can’t…You can’t…”
It was Zepar. Chi-Woo rose with difficulty and turned around, enduring the pain rippling throughout his body. Fortunately, Zepar wasn’t revived, and none of his worries came true. The great demon was disappearing; only traces of his existence lingered, and he was merely uttering a few words before he disappeared into nothingness.
Zepar said, “Do you know…how much effort…and heart and soul I put into this…heheheheh…!”
Chi-Woo frowned; even Zepar’s dying words annoyed him greatly. “What do you mean?”
“I’m the one who revived her…and tethered her to me…”
“Tethered?”
“Yeah…a forced contract…so that she would only exist for me…” Even though Chi-Woo couldn’t hear him well because of the sporadic pauses, he could roughly grasp what Zepar was saying—that bastard did some kind of dirty work to chain Evelyn to himself. Chi-Woo didn’t know what it was exactly, but he needed to first erase Zepar from existence.
“Hah…yeah…kill me…”
But Chi-Woo couldn’t help but stop.
“Since it turned out like this…it won’t be bad to die with her…”
“What?”
“Fool… Can’t you guess by seeing her condition…?” Then Zepar began giggling. “If I disappear…she disappears too… Not only her body…but also her neok…and soul…”
Chi-Woo blanched; he knew all too well what that meant—Evelyn would have no hope for reincarnation or existing in any way in the future.
When Chi-Woo faltered, Zepar abruptly stopped laughing. He asked, “…You want to save her?” His voice suddenly became softer. “Then…save me…”
“…”
“It’s really simple…if I live…she’ll also live…” It was the devil’s temptation. “It’s not difficult… It would be enough if I maintain my existence for a moment… It just so happens that there’s a good offering nearby…”
Chi-Woo’s facial muscles trembled. He managed to turn around.
“No.” Evelyn firmly shook her head. “Don’t do it.”
“Heh… Do what you want… She’s mine…even if I have to break her myself… I’ll never give her up…! Hahahahha…!” It really seemed that Zepar didn’t mind disappearing as he let out a final burst of laughter. At the same time, Evelyn, who had been barely holding on, collapsed onto the altar. The hazy current flowing from her body also became darker.
Chi-Woo’s face looked blank. Suddenly, his legs lost all strength and gave out again. “L-lady Witch.” He grabbed onto the altar and barely managed to call out to her.
“I told you I’m not a witch anymore…” Evelyn gave him a bitter smile with great strain.
“Then what shall I call…no, is there any other way? To release you from the connection!”
Evelyn shook her head while laying down. “The devil’s contract… It’s not that easy…” From the moment she was revived through Zepar’s power, everything about her fell under the devil’s control. Moreover, Zepar had used his power to shackle her, so it went without saying how difficult it would be to free her.
Evelyn continued, “And even if you nullify the contract…nothing will change…” Evelyn’s resurrection hadn’t occurred through a ritual by the church offering an exorbitant amount of divinity and a request for the mediation of providence. It was done by the devil’s power to distort and twist providence.
Thus, even if Chi-Woo managed to release Evelyn from Zepar’s clutch, it wouldn’t change the fact that Evelyn was going to die. Divine providence that had been distorted would always return to its original state; Onorables Evelyn was already dead. Thus, even if Chi-Woo somehow managed to free Evelyn, she would still die. The only way to hold onto Evelyn and prevent her imminent passing was to revive Zepar. That was out of the question, of course, but Chi-Woo couldn’t stay still like this either. While contemplating his choices, the light of Evelyn’s gaze dimmed, and her eyes drifted closed.
Chi-Woo urgently called Steam Bun over and had it spit out everything. “No…not this…not this either…” Chi-Woo rummaged through the scattered objects on the floor and grabbed a water bottle.
The wishing well, the divine water. The holy water contained a god’s divine power and granted people’s wishes. ‘Yeah, maybe this could work.’
But Evelyn said, “Don’t do it…”
“Ms. Evelyn, open your mouth. Quickly!”
“It won’t work anyway…it’s such a waste…”
Chi-Woo ignored her and opened the cap immediately. Then he opened Evelyn’s mouth and poured the holy water in. He made her drink a whole bottle and sprayed the rest of the holy water on her body.
“Why…?” Evelyn asked with half-lidded eyes. In order to resurrect someone, the body, soul, and neok needed to be properly intact. Even if these conditions were met, performing a resurrection ritual was a serious ordeal. A tremendous divinity was required—thousands of priests would have to pray at the same time under the saintess’ lead.
Moreover, even with enough divinity accumulated, it wasn’t guaranteed that the ritual would turn out successful. In fact, success stories only appeared in ancient myths and legends. In actual written history, very few resurrection rituals had been performed at all, and all of them were recorded as failures without exception. But above all, the amount of divinity from the holy water was far from enough to even warrant the discussion of whether Chi-Woo’s attempt would succeed. Nevertheless, Chi-Woo used up all his precious holy water without care.
“We’re not even that close…” Evelyn spoke in a faint voice. “I’ve only seen your face a few times…” She wasn’t wrong. Even though their relationship was friendly, it was born out of necessity and common interests. Nothing more, nothing less. She wasn’t his blood-related brother or even Ru Amuh. And most of all, there was no way to save her.
Despite all that, despite the lack of reason for him to go this far, Chi-Woo was still doing everything in his power to save her.
“Yes, you’re right.” While shaking off the rest of the holy water, he said, “But you asked me for help.”
Evelyn’s eyes, which were on the verge of closing, widened for a moment. “Just…for that reason…?”
A reason. Yeah, a reason. Chi-Woo had done everything he could do. Since he’d done this much, he could quietly let her go. However, he felt an extremely fervent and anxious urge to save her that he couldn’t explain; he had no idea why he thought he must do everything he could to save Evelyn.
“…I don’t know.” Chi-Woo didn’t know why he felt this way, but he didn’t force these emotions down. He had realized since he was young that it was best to do whatever his heart told him to do. “…I honestly don’t know too well…but I don’t think I should send you off like this.” By following his heart, he knew that he would at least feel less regret and other lingering emotions.
Evelyn’s dimming gaze landed on Chi-Woo’s face and stayed. “Perhaps…” Judging by how her mouth twitched weakly, it seemed she was trying to smile. If she could, she would be beaming—with an edge of playfulness, but brimming with happiness. “Do you…like me…?”
Chi-Woo smiled wryly at her coyness. “No.”
Evelyn looked a little shocked at his firm denial and giggled. “So mean…even though I’m so pretty…” Then her voice soon softened to a murmur, and she completely closed her eyes.
Chi-Woo held Evelyn’s hand and leaned down, pulling it to his forehead. Then he prayed, ‘God, I beg of you. May you allow a new life for this poor woman who could not enjoy what she deserved. I sincerely hope and wish with all my heart and soul.’ Chi-Woo prayed more sincerely and fervently than ever. Time went by in that state. Before he knew it, both Zepar’s laughter and Evelyn’s voice had faded.
Chi-Woo cracked his eyes open. “…” Then he felt the strength in his hands draining. There was no change. Neither Evelyn nor the holy water showed any reaction. When he unconsciously released his grip on Evelyn’s hand, it fell to her side.
…He had known all along that resurrecting the dead went against the providence of the universe. In order to coordinate a resurrection, even the god who received such an exorbitant amount of divinity had to be prepared to suffer a serious loss and use a great deal of their power. Therefore, Chi-Woo knew that the holy water would be nowhere enough. But still, still…!
Chi-Woo clenched his fists, his head drooped. He had come all the way here, but now a strong sense of helplessness dominated his entire body. It was then he noticed a faint light.
‘Perhaps.’ Nothing had changed when he looked up. Evelyn still wasn’t moving, and she was still sprinkled with holy water. ‘What could it be?’
“Pyu!” Then Steam Bun jumped at him and knocked him in the thigh. Chi-Woo’s gaze followed the movement and finally saw what it was. Light was leaking out of his pocket. Chi-Woo hurriedly searched through it and found a seed. ‘This is…?’ It was a present from Evelyn.
[It’s the seed of a spirit.]
[Try growing it. If you’re lucky, you might get something you really need.]
[It’s up to you when, where, and how you plant this seed. But you must give it parts of your body as its nutrients.]
[Any part is fine, such as your hair or fingernails. I personally recommend your blood. You can just give it one or two drops whenever you remember it.]
It was the spirit seed he got from Evelyn. Chi-Woo had worked hard to sprout this seed at first. As Evelyn told him, he tried giving it his blood and cut his hair, nails, and toenails to somehow nourish the seed, but it remained unresponsive. Moreover, even after it absorbed all the divinity that flowed out when he defeated the god, it didn’t show any signs of germination. But now, the seed was faintly glowing, and the light surged all of a sudden.
“Ah!” Chi-Woo lost his grip on it; no—it escaped by itself. The seed fell in a gentle curve and stopped a little short of touching Evelyn. It circled around her a few times before turning to the left side of her chest, in front of her heart. What happened next was even more shocking—the brilliantly shining seed slowly changed shape, turning from a spiral into a pointed awl at the tip, while the other end transformed into a sword’s handle. In the end, a beautiful and intricate rapier-like dagger that even the most skilled blacksmith wouldn’t be able to make appeared. It tilted slightly to get itself upright, as if it was aiming for Evelyn’s heart.
“!” Without a moment’s hesitation, it pierced through her chest. Chi-Woo, who had been watching in fascination, flinched. He reached out without thinking and tried to pull it out, but—
Hwaaaaaaaaah! A powerful divinity burst out and pushed Chi-Woo’s hand away. Chi-Woo staggered back and fell on his butt, staring at the altar in a daze. The shining dagger was quickly disappearing into Evelyn’s heart as if it was getting sucked in; it was like a seed absorbing nutrients and taking root deeply into the soil to sprout new life. The moment the seed finally disappeared completely and absorbed every drop of the holy water on Evelyn—
Wiing! Evelyn’s body floated from the altar. Her head and limbs reclined. Wiing! Wiing! Wiing! Wiing! Wiing! Wiing! Wiing! Wiing!
In the meantime, invisible and intangible air currents emerged one after another like wind, so intense that they not only filled this cavity, but spread in all directions.
“What…What the…!” Zepar, whom Chi-Woo thought had finally disappeared, called out. “The tether has been severed…?” The restraint he had put on Evelyn was cut in one shot, and now, there wasn’t even a trace of it left—as if the ‘cause’ of that restraint hadn’t been there in the first place. Of course, this still didn’t change the fact that Evelyn was dead.
Zepar shouted, “It doesn’t matter what you do…! She’s doomed to die…!” He shouted vigorously, but there was an undercurrent of nervousness. Zepar focused his remaining consciousness to assess the situation. Evelyn was rising into the air. She was curled up like a fetus in her mother’s womb. Slowly, she rotated while hovering. Then she stretched out her arms and lifted her head, standing tall in the air with her head tipped backward to the fullest.
Chi-Woo and Zepar looked up at the ceiling and couldn’t move their eyes away from Evelyn, who was wrapped in a cocoon of intangible currents, her long hair fluttering in the air. Their reverence made it evident how mystical and wonderous the sight was. Eventually, Evelyn slowly straightened her neck. And a little later…
“Gasp…!” Zepar could not believe his eyes.
1. Chinese zombie ☜