Chapter 8: The Temple (4)

Several days had passed since the girl started staying at the temple.

Though awkward at first, the girl and the monks could now have somewhat stilted conversations.

Swish swish swish swish- Whoosh!

The girl’s blue hair flowed like water as she dashed about.

She was still desperately trying not to cross that one line they hadn’t permitted.

“Kid. No matter how much you hate it, you’ve got to study.”

I can’t learn the ways of heretics!

I’m already bound for hell, I don’t want to pile on more sins!

The small figure appeared and disappeared quickly here and there.

Despite her small size, she ran around trying to hide so diligently.

This game of hide-and-seek had become a daily routine among the monks.

However… the girl’s escapes were never as successful as she hoped.

As the girl ran out, the yellow dog that had been lying quietly with its paws folded got up wagging its tail.

Woof woof! Woof!

The excited white dog ran after the girl, barking.

Chirp chirp! Chirp-!

The sparrow family in their birdhouse, not to be outdone, circled around the girl’s head.

With two living trackers, it would’ve been stranger if the monks lost the girl.

Rustle-!

“Found you! Our little one’s here!”

After diligently hiding here and there, the girl was finally captured behind some bushes.

The girl was lifted up, held by both sides.

“Uwaaah! Bad sparrows! Bad dogs!!”

She flailed her arms and legs in protest, but it was like watching an inflatable tube man with “Grand Opening!” written on it flapping about.

How strong could her already skinny limbs be when flailed?

“Let… let me go…”

The girl meekly admitted defeat and tried a different approach.

She looked into the eyes of Monk Myungjin, who wore glasses and had a stern expression.

She slumped her shoulders and made a whining sound.

Monk Myungjin almost lost his resolve at her round, cat-like eyes, but-

“Tsk, I can see you rolling your eyes.”

He noticed her eyes darting around, glancing behind him from time to time, and steeled himself with difficulty.

This education was all for the girl’s sake.

Despite feeding her well all this time, her weight showed no signs of increasing.

Feeling a bit bitter, Monk Myungjin picked off a leaf stuck to the girl’s head.

Even such a kind gesture-

“Eek! I-I don’t like heretics…”

Only felt extremely heretical to the girl.

After all, when it came to teachers, beating with a stick was the norm.

“Now now. I told you not to use that word carelessly.”

Where on earth had she been educated all this time?

Monk Myungjin swallowed a sigh and flicked the girl’s forehead with his finger.

“That hurts…”

“The hearts of those you call heretics would hurt too.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Good, so you’ll attend class properly now, right?”

“Yes…”

She’d been beaten countless times to the point of breaking bones, but somehow this flick brought tears to her eyes.

What was the difference?

Was it some evil trick because they’re heretics?

The girl inwardly resolved not to give in easily, snorting as she followed behind Monk Myungjin.

Her white robe was stained green from grass after all that running around.

Even this was much better than when they first met.

She used to faint at the sight of their shiny bald heads, saying demons possessed them.

She’d panic at the sound of wooden blocks, calling it wicked sorcery to summon demons.

Demons this, demons that.

Even the monks, who’d been through thick and thin, had never met someone who viewed Buddhism this way.

They’d crawled around on the ground trying to persuade the fleeing girl, earning strange looks from visitors more than once.

“Um… Monk? Is this some new prayer method?”

“Ah, hahaha. No, I just dropped something and was looking for it…”

“…In front of a child?”

Thus, education time was created to teach the girl proper common sense.

But today didn’t seem to be the day for it.

“Ah! Myungjin. Perfect timing. Monk Jamyeong was looking for you.”

Monk Muae, who was greeting citizens nearby, waved them over.

He looked quite busy too, with a long line of people waiting.

“Then, what about today’s lesson…”

“Hmm, we’ll probably have to postpone it until tomorrow. Monk Jamyeong’s been going around singing about how the child’s a genius for days, and it seems he finally brought people.”

Oh dear.

No wonder there were more cars coming in from outside today than usual.

The child already ran away to avoid lessons, so she needed consistent habits even more.

He couldn’t understand what the abbot was thinking.

Monk Myungjin’s expression, which had been smiling at the thought of teaching the girl, fell gloomily.

Conversely, the girl’s face lit up brightly as if she’d been given free time.

She didn’t like meeting people, but she disliked learning heretical ways even more.

It was that simple.

“They’re preparing the lecture hall, but we’re not very good with electronic devices. Let the child play for a bit and hurry to help them.”

“Yes, I will do so.”

Tsk.

Well, what could you expect from 70 and 80-year-old men?

It was fortunate that he, an elite who graduated from Buddhist studies, was there.

Monk Myungjin, suddenly confident, left for the lecture hall, avoiding the crowd.

“Excuse me, Monk? When can we talk about our ancestral rites…”

Pushed by the crowd of citizens, Monk Muae hurriedly added to the girl,

“Child, don’t miss lunch. Play as you like today, but come back by two o’clock.”

It was truly a sea of people.

“Okay…”

The girl glanced around nervously, worried someone from the cult might be looking for her.

She quickly left the area.

The place she found was under the sparrow family’s birdhouse.

Recently, the muscular Monk Haein had built this crude birdhouse, saying, “The sparrows seem to like our little one too!” and declaring he’d make them Wonhyo Temple’s second mascot.

Chirp chirp-!

“Hmm… Even so, how could you do this to me!”

The sparrows, who used to cling to the girl’s body all the time, rarely visited now, seemingly content with their few planks of wood.

She was already feeling lonely because Mia hadn’t appeared since she started living at the temple.

“Come here! I’ll end our friendship if you don’t!”

As if understanding the girl’s threat,

Chirp-

The sparrow family slowly approached and perched on the girl’s body.

Daddy Sparrow, as if showing off that he was the head of the family, sat on top of the girl’s head.

Mommy Sparrow seemed to prefer the left side, settling on her left shoulder.

Baby Sparrow hovered around the girl’s chest before realizing there was no place to sit and settled on her right shoulder.

Assembly complete!

With this, the girl who had survived two months in the mountains became whole again!

This familiar feeling.

A sense of omnipotence, as if she could do anything!

“I need your help again today! The monks keep eating poisonous mushrooms and insisting they’re not poisonous, you know? So today I’m going to pick real mushrooms from the mountain.”

The girl turned towards the tree-covered mountainside.

Glancing at the clock, there were still over 4 hours until lunchtime.

This should be enough time to gather mushrooms for each monk to have a bite.

“Hehe, Daddy Sparrow, deploy!”

Chirp-!

Daddy Sparrow took off energetically at the girl’s gesture, heading into the forest.

Now she just had to wait a bit, and he’d guide her to where the mushrooms were.

Of course, the girl wasn’t just waiting idly.

This was the time to step up and show her usefulness.

That’s how she’d make these heretics follow the almighty God.

Eager, the girl ran out and poked at the moss growing under a large tree.

“Green mushroom!”

This green mushroom didn’t cause any problems when eaten.

It even had an additional effect.

“When you eat it with an upset stomach, it makes you throw up!”

The girl grinned as she grabbed a handful of moss and stuffed it into a black garbage bag.

Still not satisfied, she ran towards her next target without waiting for Daddy Sparrow to return.

This time she found a white mushroom with a unique shape.

“Th-this is…!”

It was easy to identify with its white dots on top, like sesame seeds sprinkled on the cap.

The effect?

“The monks must miss their moms and dads too. Let’s take these!”

Surprisingly, eating these mushrooms makes you fall asleep!

Your consciousness fades out, and you have recurring dreams of your mom and dad taking care of you.

That’s why this was one of the mushrooms the girl sought out most often.

Later.

Chirp chirp-!

The girl followed the returned Daddy Sparrow to gather “real” mushrooms the monks hadn’t tasted yet.

“Huh? Was there a fire…?”

As they went deeper into the mountains, things started to feel strange.

The first thing the girl noticed was a chill that made her hair stand on end.

“Haa… Look! You can see my breath!”

The sparrows were shivering, and she could see her breath in the sudden temperature drop.

Ignoring this, they went deeper, and the color of the ground and trees changed dramatically.

Everything was black.

Withered leaves fell constantly from shriveled trees.

The only sound of life was the chirping of the sparrow family on her shoulders.

“…This is weird. We should go back.”

Mushroom?

She did find one, but its long, tentacle-like filaments writhing about clearly said “this is inedible” to anyone who saw it.

In the end, the girl was satisfied with her half-filled garbage bag and ran back towards the temple urgently, not looking back.

Thump, thump, thump.

Her heart was racing madly.

An aura of death, like facing someone on the brink of dying.

The girl, who had been too busy fleeing in panic, finally realized one thing.

“…Nature has died.”

Though the present world was hell for the girl’s atonement,

That land she just saw…

It was hell even for people who should be happy.

-“Hell will soon come to this land. So if you want to go to heaven with your parents, you must atone more diligently, do your very best.”

The sage was right.

Clearly, hell was gradually encroaching on this world without anyone noticing.

The desperate girl ran like mad.

As if something was chasing her from behind, like when she heard gunshots on the first day.

She didn’t look back once.

Her only thought was to quickly return and tell the monks they needed to escape.

Chirp chirp-! Chirp!

As if understanding the girl’s feelings, the sparrow family flew ahead to guide her.

But when she finally arrived at the temple in such a hurry,

Though she found Monk Jamyeong in time,

“Move your car! Do you know who I am?!”

She saw Monk Jamyeong being cursed at repeatedly by some unknown man.

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