Ch.179179 – The Key

# Chapter 179 – The Key

“She would be good for the shamanic initiation ritual.”

When Kim Miyoung pointed at Bong Jiyeon, everyone, including me, was surprised.

Not Yu Dahui, the daughter of a shaman, or Yang Juhui, a descendant of Japanese shrine maidens, but Bong Jiyeon? Jeongseok, unable to understand, questioned the medium Kim Miyoung.

“Why Bong Jiyeon instead of Yang Juhui or Yu Dahui?”

“I’ve been reading faces and palms for politicians since middle school. That Yang Juhui girl doesn’t have the fate to be a shaman. Her energy is too strong. She has too much killing energy. In the old days, she would have become a king.”

Killing energy—

I remembered Dr. Ji Dongseok at the Gaeryong Mountain Cabin who also looked at Yang Juhui’s palm and said it was extraordinary. He said it was the palm of someone who would become a general or king.

It was fascinating how two completely different people at different times said similar things. Maybe palm reading and face reading were real after all.

“What about Yu Dahui then?”

I asked out of curiosity.

Dahui was a shaman’s daughter.

Wouldn’t she have inherited talent passed down through generations?

Soon, medium Kim Miyoung snorted.

“She does have the face of a shaman. But… hmm…”

Something seemed uncertain.

“Still, that girl is better.”

“…”

Bong Jiyeon trembled. She still couldn’t believe she was destined to become a shaman. She openly expressed her disgust, saying, “Isn’t she just a fraud?”

Maybe she was trying to deceive us.

With that thought, I looked at Teacher Hong Miri, who shrugged.

“Kim Miyoung might not see ghosts, but she’s good at reading palms and faces. You need at least that much skill to deal with politicians with faded spiritual powers.”

I see.

If Teacher Hong Miri, an experienced ghost expert, said so, then she must be quite remarkable. Curious, I extended my palm to Kim Miyoung.

I’m not sure if I should call her “noona” though.

“What about my hand?”

“Do you think I studied until I was shitting blood just to read some kid’s palm for free? Pay up!”

“How much?”

“Starting at hundreds of millions of won.”

How stingy.

It felt a bit unfair that someone could make hundreds of millions just by reading palms.

Is that how the world works? Is this society right when politicians neglect people’s livelihoods and instead pay hundreds of millions to shamans? If everything works out well later, I’d like to enter politics and correct these outdated practices.

I’ll make Jeongseok a president with his prosecutor background, and I’ll control things from behind. We’ll completely take over the National Assembly and defeat the deeply rooted curse of low birth rates in our country.

“Sisssster—”

Just then, the fluffy ghost Kim Aryeong nuzzled her face against her sister Kim Miyoung. She acted like an affectionate puppy, but Kim Miyoung clicked her tongue.

“Fine. I’ll do it for free.”

She grabbed my hand.

Her hand was cooler and softer than I expected.

Though a shaman, she was still a woman. She was the same age as Teacher Hong Miri.

A virgin medium.

A woman who promised to live her entire life as a virgin. Feeling embarrassed for various reasons, my face flushed as Kim Miyoung massaged my hand.

“Strange. I’ve never seen such an unusual palm in my life. Something feels missing. It seems reversed. Should I say what should be there isn’t? Or what shouldn’t be there is?”

“What do you mean?”

“This doesn’t seem like a human palm. It’s like a ghost’s. Spirits don’t have flesh and bones, but you do.”

She continued massaging my hand. She even sniffed it.

“Let me taste it.”

She licked and sucked, even putting my finger in her mouth to taste it. As I became extremely embarrassed, Yang Juhui got angry.

“What are you doing?!”

If Yang Juhui hadn’t pulled my hand away, she probably would have continued biting my finger. Kim Miyoung smacked her lips and shook her head.

“Even I can’t figure you out.”

So she was a fraud after all.

Things like shamanism are all lies.

Anyway, the important thing was that we needed to fight the Snake Maiden.

# # #

We prepared for the shamanic initiation ritual.

Though called a ritual, it was a simplified version.

It would be a disaster if Bong Jiyeon actually became the Snake Maiden’s shaman.

Since we only needed to bind her briefly, all preparations were simplified, which made it even more dangerous.

“You could die,” Kim Miyoung warned Bong Jiyeon sternly.

The initiation ritual connects souls.

If Bong Jiyeon and the Snake Maiden synchronized, Bong Jiyeon’s life could be in serious danger.

“But if it works out well, you’ll become one of the most powerful shamans in Korea.”

“Fuck, I don’t want to be a shaman.”

Bong Jiyeon was angry.

But she had no choice.

“Jiyeon, you need to be strong.”

Yu Dahui, who could be considered Bong Jiyeon’s mistress, held her hand tightly in encouragement. Our party’s lives depended on Bong Jiyeon.

Who would have thought it would be Bong Jiyeon?

“She is… Zelnagada.”

“What… what should I do?”

Kwon Sua, who had been quiet until now, asked with a face that looked like she might cry. We all looked at Sua, who trembled as if startled by our gazes.

Of course, Sua had an important role. I decided to hold her trembling shoulders to calm her anxious mind.

“You need to be bait when it gets dangerous.”

“So that’s what it was!”

“It’s the most important role.”

With that kind of preparation, we were ready to face the Snake Maiden.

Yang Juhui smeared blood on her palm and erased the writing on the talisman attached to the stone door.

When the door opened wide and I came to my senses, I saw the massive form of a snake coiled around the temple.

We were all overwhelmed.

Especially Jeongseok.

“Even knowing what it is, it’s impressive. A woman merged with a snake. Just like the Western Medusa, she clearly possesses the attributes of a seductress who tempts men. I feel like I could be enchanted at any moment…”

Jeongseok tended to talk a lot when nervous.

The important thing was that we needed to start the initiation ritual immediately.

“Now!”

At Teacher Hong Miri’s shout, Dahui, the most skilled with instruments among us, began beating the small gong she was holding.

Kkae-gaeng—kkae-gae-gae-gaeng—it was an extremely loud noise that made me feel like my mind might pop out.

Kim Miyoung began the initiation ritual as planned, drawing a butcher’s knife and spitting pig’s blood from her mouth. The scene looked less like a shamanic ritual and more like a scene of manic exorcism.

[Interesting.]

The Snake Maiden’s lips curled up at the sight. Her expression was similar to my parents watching me perform as a tree in kindergarten.

Like watching an amusing childish performance.

“Misuzu!”

But when Teacher Hong Miri, who was beating the drum, called out the name, the maiden’s expression turned cold.

It was a cold expression that made me think even a waterfall flowing magnificently for thousands of years might freeze instantly.

“Misuzu!”

Teacher Hong Miri called the maiden’s name again. Misuzu meant “beautiful bell.” Strangely, it was the same name as the virgin medium Kim Miyoung.

As I wondered about this coincidence, Bong Jiyeon screamed.

“Ahh! What is this! Something’s entering my body!”

“N-now! Juhui! Yang Juhui!”

I shouted with all my might toward Yang Juhui.

Yang Juhui, holding a can of gasoline, splashed it on Bong Jiyeon.

The pungent smell of gasoline spread, and Bong Jiyeon began to retch.

“Ugh! Uuugh!”

[Ugh—!]

The Snake Maiden also retched like Bong Jiyeon.

Through the shamanic connection, Bong Jiyeon and the Snake Maiden were half-connected. This meant that the gasoline splashed on Bong Jiyeon affected the maiden as well.

“Throw it up!”

Throw up the key in your stomach!

I shouted with all my heart, but the Snake Maiden quickly regained her composure.

[Ssssssssss—.]

The Snake Maiden made a threatening sound as if she had recovered immediately. Her gaze became sharper, and her face became more snake-like.

The beautiful maiden’s appearance was gone, replaced by a terrible and strange monster. She was clearly furious.

“Sisssster—”

When the maiden targeted Kim Miyoung, the fluffy ghost Kim Aryeong jumped in. The fluffy vengeful spirit Kim Aryeong was torn to pieces by the maiden’s hands.

The maiden lunged again toward Teacher Hong Miri and Kim Miyoung. If the ritual was disrupted like this, we would be in serious trouble.

“Over here! Over here!”

At that moment, Kwon Sua, who had been waiting nervously, waved her hands. Sua’s body swayed greatly in various ways, and that charm stole our gaze and the Snake Maiden’s attention.

“Eek!”

Sua was terrified like a mouse before a snake.

Just like last time, Sua crawled into the gap between collapsed building debris to hide.

The brief time Sua created.

Yang Juhui was preparing a second set of items to attack the snake.

But there was a problem.

[Was that fun?]

With incredible speed, the Snake Maiden lunged forward and swallowed Jeongseok in an instant. Like a mouse eaten by an anaconda, Jeongseok was gulped down!

“Hey! Jeongseok!”

That wasn’t all. Yang Juhui was also swallowed by the rapidly moving snake woman. Two people swallowed in an instant.

We were completely doomed. Just as I thought that, Dahui called my name.

“Not yet! Yeongwon! Not yet!”

Not yet? What does she mean by not yet!

Is there still hope? Are they not dead yet?

Dahui threw something to me with all her might.

It was a bundle full of stones.

These stones were a special type of arsenic sulfide, an extreme poison that causes chills, fever, diarrhea, and abdominal pain in ordinary people just by carrying them.

The moment I saw these stones, I understood what Dahui meant.

“Eat me! Eat me! Eat me!”

I hugged the bundle of stones to my chest and deliberately charged toward the snake.

“You want to become a dragon! If you eat me, you can become a dragon! Eat me! Swallow me! I’m delicious!”

In the previous cycle, the Snake Maiden wanted to eat me.

Probably because I looked delicious.

It would be the same this time.

The Snake Maiden opened her mouth wide toward me, and with the feeling of a mouse jumping into a lion’s mouth, I threw myself hard toward that dark throat.

Squelch, squelch—.

It felt like crawling through a narrow mud tunnel. Warm, soft, and moist flesh wrapped around my entire body—this must be what it feels like to be eaten alive.

“Ugh, it’s cramped.”

Soon I met Yang Juhui, who was suffering in the same intestinal prison. Meeting in the stomach of a giant snake—who else in the world would have such an experience?

Yang Juhui seemed touched.

“Did you come to save me?”

“No, I got eaten too.”

“What?”

In my case, it was closer to being eaten on purpose!

I desperately moved my hands in the slippery intestinal prison. Then I took out the toxic stones that snakes hate from the bundle Dahui had given me and dropped them everywhere.

“Even a worm squirms when stepped on! I’m a centipede! One that bites with poisonous teeth!”

Squirm, squirm—.

The toxic stones seemed to be working. I could feel the snake’s intestines moving in a strangely uncomfortable way.

After all, these were items so toxic they could cause dizziness just by carrying them. Even I, with immunity to various poisons, found them irritating to my nose—the snake couldn’t possibly have no reaction to them inside her body.

Heave, heave—.

Soon I felt the intestinal muscles moving rapidly and my body floating in the air. The snake woman had vomited me out.

Yang Juhui and Jeongseok came out with me in the process.

“We’re alive!”

“We did it! I got this too!”

In Jeongseok’s hand was the key.