Ch.246246. Dongrae (3)

The Tale of Sim Cheong. According to the faint memories of my past life that I’ve been trying to recall, this was originally not so much a literary work as it was pansori—a traditional Korean narrative song—based on oral folklore.

Of course, with my imperfect memory, I couldn’t properly recall whether this “Tale of Sim Cheong” was a literary work or if it originated from pansori….

What matters now is the content, so let’s set aside those meaningless details and get to the story.

The content of the Tale of Sim Cheong…. Although I only encountered it as a children’s story when I was young and then briefly during middle school literature classes, so I don’t remember the details precisely, I do recall the general plot.

It was about the filial daughter Sim Cheong and her blind father Sim Bonsa. Sim Cheong sacrifices herself to the Indangsu waters to obtain 300 seoks of rice as an offering to restore her father’s sight. Then she marries someone—was it the Dragon King?—and her father regains his vision.

….Of course, this narrative structure seems a bit strange for being so simplistic, so I’m guessing I might have misunderstood something or missed parts of the story.

But since I know the important parts now, let’s move on and talk about this child named Sim Cheong who stands before me.

She appears to be about 5 years old, but judging from her malnourished state, she’s probably no older than 10. Her way of speaking suggests she’s a typical child who has matured early, while simultaneously maintaining some of that childlike innocence, albeit somewhat concealed.

But more than that, what I’m concerned about now are the specific details regarding this child’s family background.

“What’s your father’s condition like?”

“It’s… it’s severe. Recently, he suddenly went blind….”

Wanting to know more details, I paid her with a few candies. The child, who seems to believe I’m a renowned foreign sage, willingly answered my questions in hopes that I might be able to help her father.

‘…Is this for real?’

No matter how I try to think otherwise, this can only be the actual Sim Cheong from the tale.

A girl named Cheong with the surname Sim, who has a blind father, and who is desperately trying to find a way to restore her father’s sight.

The moment I learned that her father is known locally as “Sim Bonsa” (Blind Sim), I could no longer find any reason to distinguish between this child and the character from that past life’s folklore.

And naturally, there’s one thing that must follow from this realization.

“Cheong, I have something I’d like to ask you.”

“Yes, Sage! Please ask anything!”

“Could you tell me about the medicine that will cure your father’s eyes?”

“…Pardon? The medicine?”

“Yes. Despite appearances, I’m quite a skilled sage. Since our meeting is fated, I can at least tell you if that medicine is truly effective.”

“Is that so…. (But the sage told me not to tell anyone.)”

Hearing my words, Sim Cheong began to ponder for a moment, and her faint muttering reached my ears.

Particularly, her self-talk about how this “sage” had requested her not to discuss this matter with anyone was enough to raise my suspicions to the extreme….

“Actually, the sage said the medicine costs 300 seoks of rice as an offering.”

“300 seoks?”

My suspicion continued to grow with each word she spoke.

300 seoks, she says. The cost to purchase medicine—this is presumably no small amount.

I don’t know exactly how much rice 300 seoks is, but I can tell it’s an amount that an ordinary urban poor person couldn’t possibly afford.

In the Kingdom of Korea, rice serves as both an alternative currency and a premium food. To draw a comparison, it’s equivalent to wheat flour in the Western Continent, and naturally, rice is eaten by the wealthy.

Just as the poor in the Western Continent survive on porridge made with barley or famine relief crops and dark bread full of rye, the poor in the Eastern Continent subsist on rice or porridge made from various grains like sorghum, millet, beans, and barley.

Of course, if it’s the price for medicine that can restore someone’s lost sight, it might be somewhat reasonable…. But what made me suspicious was the fact that they were selling such expensive medicine to Cheong, an urban poor child.

Even if they intended to enslave her through debt, 300 seoks is excessive. Truly excessive. And it’s strange that they would specifically demand rice when money is commonly used for transactions.

While rice is often used as currency in inland regions, in port areas where foreigners frequently come and go, money is naturally the primary medium of exchange.

Yet despite this, they specifically demanded rice….

“Something smells fishy.”

“I felt the same way.”

Since no matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t come up with a good explanation, I looked straight at her face and spoke directly.

“The medicine costs 300 seoks?”

“Yes. ….Of course, I don’t have that kind of money, but if I become a sacrifice for Indangsu, they’ll pay the 300 seoks of rice instead—”

“….What did you just say?”

“Pardon?”

Perhaps because I suddenly asked in a chilling voice, the girl froze in fear for a moment, but I was in no position to consider such things right now.

“Human sacrifice…. These people are truly despicable.”

Human sacrifice—a magical or religious ritual paid for with a human life.

The moment I heard this, I couldn’t help but figure out their identity.

Because…. human sacrifice is, at least in this world, the exclusive domain of evil gods.

※ ※ ※

Human sacrifice. This unique culture of offering humans as sacrifices to gods was quite common in ancient civilizations of my past life.

In reality, human sacrifice occurred in most primitive societies because humans were considered precious.

The more primitive and ancient a religion, the more universal the perception that deities are pleased when valuable or precious sacrifices are offered during religious ceremonies.

Additionally, there was a belief that the deities would provide great rewards in return.

Therefore, in most regions, the more important the ceremony, the more valuable livestock they offered to the gods as sacrifices.

For instance, animals like cattle or horses, whose value cannot be ignored in any era.

And as an extension of this perception, someone came up with the idea that ‘offering humans, who are more precious than livestock, would bring greater rewards,’ thus beginning the forbidden practice of human sacrifice.

While there were many political or practical reasons mixed in, universally, most ancient civilizations held this perception.

But separate from that, in our world, human sacrifice was firmly placed in the realm of cultists as an evil ritual.

Unlike in some hardcore Chinese xianxia stories where Taoist priests consume people or absorb the souls of other living beings to gain power, such things don’t happen here.

This is because, from the beginning, mere mortal beings cannot interfere with others’ souls no matter what they do.

Even the mighty celestial gods don’t know the source of souls—how could one absorb something so veiled in mystery? Setting aside the impossibility of it, even if one succeeded, could the being that absorbed the soul still be considered the same entity as before?

The soul is the self and the essence of existence. Absorbing it would mean mixing two souls, so even if one could accomplish this, they wouldn’t remain unscathed.

The same applies to the body. In this world, intermediate and higher realms are established through the holy trinity of body-mind-soul, so what power could remain in an empty shell where the soul has departed and the mind has vanished?

Countless rulers have fed the corpses of intermediate beings to their children who haven’t reached that level, but this is nothing more than a health supplement and magical aid rich in magical power and health benefits.

Even that only provides an immediate recovery of magical power, and excessive consumption could transform one into a corrupted servant like a ghoul—a deeply flawed medicine.

Therefore, I realized that this scam was essentially a measure by cultists to somehow entangle this little girl.

“….Cheong. Actually—”

Just as I was about to reveal this fact to her—

“—There they are!”

“This bastard, did he spill it to those two?”

“….Looks like it.”

Judging by their life force, they seem to be low-level at best, but from what I hear…. I suspect they’re a group who came looking for us after getting scared when they saw this girl Sim Cheong enter a high-end teahouse with someone.

The group, who I presume to be cultist henchmen, having lost their senses, boldly brandished their weapons at us.