WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 33: I Am Legion

──────

Sunday.

The day I went to church.

Lately, I felt like my faith had been getting stronger.

Was it because I'd encountered real angels and demons, and seen the hidden side of a world I never knew existed?

You still don't believe in God after all that?

That'd make you an impressively stubborn unbeliever.

Still, the church I attended being an exorcist group...

Gangnam Holy Temple Church was an exorcist organization.

And a fairly famous one in the business, at that.

Then Pastor Park, the senior pastor, was definitely an exorcist... Which of the other pastors at my church were exorcists too?

I'd find out eventually.

For now, it was time for worship.

"Shall we go in?"

CLACK!

I entered the sanctuary with Gari, Eight-Foot Sister, and Jjaekjjaeki in tow. The congregation that had arrived before us was already standing and singing a hymn.

Tens of thousands of people sang together.

Their voices boomed loudly enough to be heard outside the church, but after attending for over twenty years, I was used to it.

"Would everyone singing together make it more effective?"

Damn. I'd done a little exorcist work, and now I was calculating things like this too.

Still, I was curious.

In this world of spiritual prayers and spells, what kind of consecrating effect would a hymn sung by ten thousand people at once have?

I didn't only think like that during hymns.

[We will read today's scripture.]

Hmm, so this was how they interpreted this passage.

If something like this happened in the Bible, maybe we could handle a similar situation this way in real life.

I read the Bible and learned its interpretation through the sermon.

It used to be a boring, sleep-inducing time, but now that I thought each part could actually be put to use, it felt like studying.

CLACK!

Then Gari's teeth clacked together with a terrifying sound.

Gari, who was more serious and enthusiastic about worship than anyone, was suddenly making a racket?

I looked to the side and saw Gari biting down on Eight-Foot Sister and Jjaekjjaeki as if about to swallow them whole.

Chirp!

【Devour, devour... devour......】

"What's wrong? What happened?"

CLACK! CLACK!

"Did you two fall asleep, by any chance?"

Chirp...

【Devour......】

Good grief.

They'd dozed off during a sacred worship service, so Gari was keeping them in line.

"Good job, Gari. You two need to focus during worship."

CLACK!

"Still... I think there's value in just attending the service. If you're really sleepy, you can just lie down and sleep."

CLACK?!

Gari, people can fall asleep during worship. Why are you getting so mad?

Jjaekjjaeki and Eight-Foot Sister weren't exactly old, either.

Kids could get sleepy.

CLACK!

Gari seemed to disagree.

In the end, neither Eight-Foot Sister nor Jjaekjjaeki got to doze off until worship was over.

* * *

After thoroughly enjoying a meal at the church cafeteria, I headed out.

I picked up an iced Americano from a nearby cafe and went to the park.

I'd been dealing with dangerous things and going out at night so often lately that the peace of broad daylight felt especially precious.

As I sipped my iced Americano and watched people pass by, I thought this must be what a relaxed life felt like.

"Hehehe."

I checked my account again and again.

The balance showed 950 million won.

Honestly, that was only the cash. I'd gained plenty from this job.

Benkei's Iron Staff, which I'd won in a crooked game at the Ghost Market, was apparently worth several billion won.

"The Gutenberg Bible..."

It was an edition of the Bible over five hundred years old. Its value was enormous, of course, but what mattered was that it could be mass-produced as a consumable.

According to the previous owner's note, Myeongdong Cathedral or Gangnam Holy Temple Church could make them on commission, so I should look into it.

Sip.

As I drank my coffee, a sudden commotion broke out.

"Ahh!"

"What do we do?!"

I glanced over and saw a cat hunting one of the park's pigeons.

A stray cat had pounced on the pigeon as it flapped its wings, trying to fly away, and immediately bit its neck.

That cat was a pretty good hunter.

A pigeon softened by peaceful city life couldn't stand up to a stray cat, the peak predator of the urban food chain.

"Hey! Get away from there!"

Before it could enjoy its successful hunt, children playing in the park chased the cat off.

Poor thing.

The cat had been driven away without even getting to eat the pigeon it worked so hard to catch.

"Do you think it's badly hurt?"

"Poor thing..."

The children looked sadly at the dying pigeon.

They were too young to understand the cruelty of the wild.

Papa Cat had failed to hunt again today.

At home, his fox-like wife and rabbit-like kittens were waiting...

"What am I doing?"

CLACK?

The pigeon surrounded by the children was already dead.

It wasn't good for the kids to see, and I couldn't leave it lying on the park ground, so I walked over to its body.

"Kids, could you move aside so I can bury the pigeon?"

"You're going to bury it?"

I nodded at their hopeful looks, then carefully picked up the pigeon and headed toward a flower bed.

Was there a suitable spot around here?

Anyway, somewhere the kids wouldn't see...

CLACK?

Would Gari eat pigeons too?

Gari liked chicken, after all.

CLACK!

"No, I wasn't thinking that."

CLACK!

"I'm serious. What do you take me for?"

Gari trembled with indignation.

How did it know? Did it have mind-reading powers or something?

"Could you wake Decarabia's eye?"

CLACK!

Soon, the eye locked within Gari's ring opened.

The eyeball embedded in the brass ring glared with a vivid, lively gaze, so malicious I could practically feel the demon's evil intent.

"Hey, hey. Could you open your eye a little less nastily?"

When I flicked Decarabia's eye with my finger, Decarabia squeezed it shut.

I could feel a soundless roar, but it quickly died down when Gari bit it with its teeth.

"That's right, Gari. Keep it in line. A demon needs to know its place."

Now that Decarabia's eye was awake, I instinctively knew I could use Decarabia's necromancy.

I didn't know how a demon's magical authority was passed on, but it couldn't normally be something you learned this instinctively.

Seeing Decarabia's contractors chant various spells, there clearly seemed to be a proper procedure.

I poured spiritual power into the freshly dead pigeon's body.

It was my first time since Jjaekjjaeki.

And Jjaekjjaeki had been nothing but bare bones.

I wondered if it would work differently this time, but the pigeon soon opened its eyes and began to flap.

No, more precisely, its body remained where it was, while only its soul seemed to have been extracted from it.

"This was easier than before."

It felt far less difficult than last time.

When I made Jjaekjjaeki, I'd used much more spiritual power.

Calling this pigeon's soul took less than one hundredth of that amount.

The efficiency was completely different.

What was the difference?

Was it because it had only just died?

Jjaekjjaeki's body had been old enough to become a skeleton, while Gugu's had only just died, so that was probably it.

Once I realized that, I flicked Decarabia's eye again.

Poke!

!!!!

"You little punk. If there was a difference like that, you should've told me right away."

???

It looked wronged.

What was I supposed to do if a demon felt wronged?

Anyway, it was Decarabia's fault.

Whenever something bad happened in this world, it was a demon's fault.

"Jjaekjjaeki, say hello. This is the new family member."

Chirp?

Gugu?

The two birds met each other's eyes.

Then Jjaekjjaeki opened its mouth wide and threatened Gugu.

Screeeech!

Coo! Coo-coo!

Gugu flapped its wings and backed away.

Looks like the pecking order had been settled in an instant.

Don't worry too much, youngest.

I'd get you plenty more companions.

"All right, this time let's link my sight with Gugu."

Like I had with Jjaekjjaeki, I shared my field of vision with Gugu.

I'd done it once before, so it wasn't difficult.

Gugu's vision synchronized with my left eye, and soon I could see myself through Gugu's gaze.

"Roll forward. Roll backward."

Coo! Coo!

Gugu was confused, but it followed my orders right away.

Its ability to understand commands wasn't a problem either.

"Lastly..."

I remembered what Jjaekjjaeki had done while tracking the urban legend.

It had passed through a locked door and opened it from the other side.

The reason Jjaekjjaeki, which had no physical form, could open a physical door was because its spirit body had materialized.

"Gugu. Materialize."

Coo!

Gugu drew on my spiritual power and successfully materialized.

"Good, good."

The spiritual power needed for materialization was less than I expected.

Or was it because I'd absorbed the spiritual power of over a hundred dream demons?

Compared to a pigeon's soul, a dream demon's soul was on a completely different level.

"First, fly to celebrate your revival!"

I threw materialized Gugu high into the air, and it flapped its wings as it soared upward.

As I watched Gugu fly across the sky...

Splat!

A little girl stood there blankly, her ice cream dropped on the ground.

She was the girl who had chased away the cat for Gugu.

I put my index finger to my lips and winked.

"Shh."

* * *

A coincidence.

At first, that was what it thought.

Flap.

Several pigeons perched on the power line above took flight.

That was all.

A common sight in the city.

The blue raccoon dog yokai, disguised as a human, paid them no mind.

Stupid pigeons.

Who were they looking at with those stupid eyes?

The blue raccoon dog yokai let out a gloomy chuckle as it walked through the city's night streets.

Then...

Flap!

The moment it entered an alley, dozens of pigeons rose from the rooftop at once.

As if they were going somewhere to report something.

Their movements were perfectly coordinated.

Then, suddenly, it felt something was strange.

'Not a single feather is falling?'

If that many pigeons had taken flight at once, quite a few feathers should have come loose.

Yet not a single gray pigeon feather fell through the air.

"Tch. Guess my luck's bad."

It didn't like those dull eyes staring straight at it.

The blue raccoon dog yokai felt a strange discomfort.

Like an animal whose location had been discovered by a hunter.

That beast-like instinct made it run.

It was a murderous monster that broke into people's homes, stole their possessions, and eventually took their lives.

It knew.

When it killed and ate humans, other pursuers came after it.

But the blue raccoon dog yokai had always used its unique shapeshifting technique to flee swiftly and evade pursuit.

Not strong, but troublesome to catch.

That was the blue raccoon dog yokai.

This time would be the same.

It leaped over roofs, crossed roads, and even went underground.

But...

The pigeons pursued the blue raccoon dog yokai without end.

Not one or two.

Ten. A hundred. Two hundred.

It was as though every pigeon in the city was chasing it.

"What is this?"

For the first time, confusion entered the blue raccoon dog yokai's voice.

"What is this?!"

It slipped through the darkness, transformed into a raccoon dog, then changed back into a human.

It transformed into an old person.

A child.

A young man.

No matter what it became...

Coo-coo-coo!

It couldn't escape the gaze of birds looking down from the sky.

There was a limit to beasts that crawled across the earth on two legs.

"Gasp! Huff! Gasp!"

Coo!

It heard them.

Coo!

Coo!

Behind it.

Coo!

Coo!

Beside it.

Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo!

Above its head.

Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo!

Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo!

Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo!

Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo!

From every direction.

Hundreds of pairs of eyes fixed on it.

It felt fear from the gazes it had dismissed as dull and stupid.

And beyond them stood a man in a black coat.

Coo!

A pigeon landed on the man's shoulder.

The nasal cries of pigeons rang out from every direction like a chorus.

As if they were paying homage to a king.

"From the beginning..."

The blue raccoon dog yokai's voice trembled.

"Was there no way to escape?"

The man lightly snapped his fingers.

At that moment, the flock of pigeons covering the blue raccoon dog yokai took flight at once.

"Y-you... Who are you...?"

The man raised his head and met its eyes.

His lips moved slowly.

"Ah... I am Legion."

As the pigeons dove down upon it all at once, the blue raccoon dog yokai realized.

The moment the hunter became the prey.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried