WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 61: King of the Sanctuary

──────

A few nights ago.

It was an ordinary night, like any other.

Mr. Kim, a bachelor ghost, was wandering the world of the living without a destination as usual.

【Haaah~ When will I finally find passage to the afterlife?】

It had already been over two years since he became a ghost.

Mr. Kim still had not found passage to the afterlife.

What lingering grievance kept him wandering this world?

Well, he had an idea.

He was a bachelor.

He had died a bachelor.

【Urgh!】

Being a bachelor ghost was unfair enough, but now he was doomed to wander the spirit realm too.

Still, there were plenty of things more unfair than that.

【Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee!】

【R-Run!】

【That bastard's having another fit!】

The biggest problem was the evil spirits.

They were fewer in number than ghosts, but they were violent and powerful, which made them dangerous.

They even ate other souls. To ordinary ghost spirits, evil spirits were no different from wild beasts running loose in the wilderness.

No, wild beasts might be better.

At least a beast stopped hunting once it was full. Evil spirits kept devouring ghost spirits without end.

Ghost spirits like him, wandering with nowhere to go, had it comparatively easy.

Earthbound Spirits tied to a location, though, often got eaten without even being able to resist.

【Mr. Kim, you here?】

【Old Man Park, you made it through another day.】

【I've been around a long time~】

Old Man Park had been a ghost spirit for ten years. That was a remarkably long time to last.

Even ordinary ghost spirits gradually built up resentment if they wandered the world of the living for too long, eventually turning into evil spirits.

To avoid that, they needed to find passage to the afterlife first, or keep receiving ancestral rites and memorials.

Old Man Park had neither.

That meant he was entering a dangerous period.

【Old Man, aren't you going to find passage to the afterlife?】

【Who would resolve my grievance? I don't even have family. I'll just end up fading away like this.】

【Ugh, are we talking about that again?】

【Oh, Manager Oh. You survived another day too?】

The newcomer was Manager Oh, a ghost spirit who had worked for a major corporation headquartered in a Gangnam building.

He had supposedly died in a traffic accident.

【At least your family keeps holding memorial rites for you, don't they?】

【They stopped last month.】

【What? Already?】

【They remembered a dead man for a year. That's plenty.】

Ghost spirits began gathering one by one from all over.

Ghost spirits usually had nobody to interact with, so they often picked a place and gathered like this.

【It's about time I found passage to the afterlife, but it isn't as easy as I'd like.】

【The time will come someday.】

Usually, they complained about their lives and comforted one another, but if they did not even do that, their transformation into evil spirits only sped up.

A person's lingering grievance was not limited to resentment.

Then it happened.

A cold presence passed through the alley where they had gathered.

【Shh!】

Old Man Park noticed first and raised a hand to his mouth, his voice trembling.

【······!】

Mr. Kim and Manager Oh also went silent at once. They knew exactly what that signal meant.

The air grew heavy.

A chilling cold that could be felt even through their spirit bodies.

The darkness at the far end of the alley writhed as if it were alive.

Splash.

Splash.

Wet footsteps.

They almost sounded like someone dragging meat along the ground. That grotesque noise slowly drew closer to them.

【Chuuuuuuu······.】

It was a female ghost, soaked from head to toe.

Other than her distinctly feminine curves, every part of the evil spirit was grotesquely twisted.

A monster consumed by resentment, devouring other souls to grow stronger.

【Run!】

At Old Man Park's shout, the ghost spirits fled in a panic.

The evil spirit immediately chased after its prey as soon as it moved.

Splish! Splish!

【Hee hee! Hee hee hee hee!】

Wet footsteps followed them, along with laughter that sounded like sobbing.

【Damn it! Is this neighborhood cursed or something? Why are there so many evil spirits?!】

【Mr. Kim! It looks like a maiden ghost. As a bachelor ghost, won't you hold it off for us?!】

【Cut that crap! I have standards too!】

Even while running for his life, Manager Oh could not stop himself from making dad jokes.

But they needed another way to survive.

【Old Man Park! Good luck!】

【Mr. Kim, survive this one too!】

The ghost spirits began scattering through the alleyways.

If they fled in several directions at once, their chances of surviving were at least a little better.

Mr. Kim prayed the evil spirit would not chase him.

Unfortunately, he was exactly who it chose.

【Damn it! Why me?!】

Mr. Kim ran for his life.

He darted through the alleys like they were his own home, using his familiarity with the area to try and shake it off somehow.

But the evil spirit was far faster than he had expected, and he soon reached his limit.

【N-No!】

In the end, it grabbed his shoulder.

Ghost spirits could pass through physical walls, but when another ghost spirit caught hold of them, breaking free was not easy.

Especially when the other one was a far more powerful evil spirit.

【D-Damn it!】

Was this how he died?

Still a bachelor ghost?

Just as Mr. Kim squeezed his eyes shut, he felt gazes upon him.

Kwwwwwwaaaaang!!

When he came to his senses, the hand gripping him... no, the evil spirit itself, was being crushed by something.

【Guh! Gack! Guh-gack!?】

From the top of its head to the tips of its toes.

Was this what it looked like to be slowly crushed to death?

The evil spirit buckled under endless pressure, until it finally became like a bug that had been stepped on, leaving a gradient of itself on the ground.

【W-What was that?】

What on earth had happened?

Then Mr. Kim realized similar screams were ringing out everywhere.

-Kyaaaaaaah!

-Kwaaaaaaah!

Ghostly shrieks echoed from all around.

It was not just the evil spirit in front of him. Evil spirits were being crushed to death in every direction by those silent gazes.

Mr. Kim looked up at the sky without thinking, and saw the owner of those gazes.

【······Would you look at the terrifying size of that head.】

That thing looked scary as hell.

* * *

"So... every evil spirit around the sanctuary got wiped out, and you found out it was because of me?"

Listening to the ghosts gathered in front of my house, I realized that Declaration of the Holy Realm had been a much bigger deal than I thought.

I never imagined every evil spirit in its range would disappear all at once.

"But how did you know it was me?"

【Ah, you can tell just by looking.】

【You were glowing with this huge halo. We could see it from far away.】

A halo?

What was that supposed to be?

Maybe ghosts could see some kind of light that people could not.

【I didn't believe in things like that either, since I'm a modern person and all... but I can just tell instinctively.】

Every ghost inside the sanctuary had looked at me and immediately known I was the King of the Sanctuary.

They were all ghosts dressed in modern clothes too, so maybe there really was something to it.

"Then why did you come looking for me?"

Had they all come to say hello?

They could have at least brought gifts instead of showing up empty-handed.

But that was not it either.

【Please resolve our lingering grievances!】

【Please resolve this injustice for me!】

"Come to think of it, you were shouting stuff like that the moment we met."

I tossed the question at the ghosts, who all looked like they expected something from me.

"Did you leave something with me or what? Why are you asking me to resolve things when we just met?"

【W-Well...】

They had nothing to say when I put it that way, and the ghosts drooped.

I glanced at Gari.

Click, clack!

I think I got the general idea.

I was the big boss of this area now, so I had to handle complaints too?

Was it right to make me deal with this stuff without even collecting taxes?

"Ugh, fine. Let's hear you out first."

I had been about to go to the Association to make money, but I decided to put that off and listen to the ghosts first.

【My name is Park Chun-pil. I used to live in Bangbae-dong, but my son doesn't even observe my ancestral rites anymore...】

【I died in an accident while chasing after my wife when I caught her cheating...】

【I died a bachelor! It's so unfair!!】

Complaints came rushing in from every direction. I raised a hand and quieted them.

"One at a time. Form a line, will you?"

Silence fell in an instant.

The ghosts looked at one another, then began fighting over who had arrived first.

【Shouldn't an old man go to the back?】

【I ran here at the crack of dawn!】

【Line cutter! They're cutting in line!!】

Man, ghosts really were no different from living people.

Gari's teeth grinding was what brought order to the marketplace-like chaos.

Grrrrrk!

The huge mouth monster scraped its teeth together, and everyone shut their mouths.

"Sis, make some numbered tickets and hand them out."

【Devour~】

"Gugu and Jjaekjjaeki, get everyone into a single line and watch for anyone cutting in."

Chirp!

Coo!

"Today... let's do what we can. First, Old Man at the front of the line."

【A-Ah, I'm Park Chun-pil. My ancestral rites have been neglected for a long time, so I'm afraid I won't be able to find passage to the afterlife and will turn into an evil spirit...】

"Please tell me your son's name and address. I'll send him a letter telling him to keep holding the rites."

【Oh... Thank you. Thank you so much.】

The old ghost kept bowing as he gave me the name and address.

I wrote them down and tied the note to one Gugu's foot.

"Go deliver this letter."

Coo!

Since it was a spirit body, it could just slip into the house and give it to the head of the household.

"Next!"

The ghosts' complaints were not that extraordinary.

Some had just had their ancestral rites cut off, while others had unfinished business from before they died.

Since ghosts could not communicate with the living, they could only let those grievances fester. Once I helped resolve them, ghost after ghost found passage to the afterlife.

Not every grievance was easy to resolve, though, so I set aside the difficult ones to deal with slowly later.

There was one more kind of complaint.

【Please settle our unjust dispute!】

【Mine is more unfair!】

They wanted trials.

Ghost spirits had disputes with one another and wanted me to judge them.

I could not believe I was holding court for ghosts now.

"Come on, you're ghosts. Can't you just take it easy? Why do you need a trial? You can't exactly get prison time or the death penalty."

【Isn't every place people live like that...?】

【Even if we try to settle it ourselves, nobody takes us seriously because we don't have authority, sir. Ah, we should've stopped that judge ghost from finding passage to the afterlife.】

Well, damn.

"Anyway... let's hear it first."

The first case was assault between ghosts.

Ghosts could not touch living people, but they could touch one another, so apparently fights broke out as usual.

"Why did you throw the first punch?"

【That bastard talked to me like he had no manners!】

"You threw the first punch, so you're in the wrong. You should've held back."

【I-It was mutual assault! I got hit too!】

"Yeah, but throwing the first punch is worse. Let's see, how am I supposed to give you prison time... You'll spend one week inside Gari's mouth."

【What?】

Gaaaape!

I did not know how to create a barrier that imprisoned ghosts, so I handled prison sentences by having Gari swallow them.

【U-Uaaah! Uaaaaaagh!】

Gulp!

"Good. That's how we'll handle prison time. Next."

The ghosts trembled as they watched the assailant get swallowed by Gari.

Still, I guess they could not put off resolving their grievances. The next ghosts stepped forward.

"One male ghost... and three female ghosts? What's going on?"

【W-We want to have a Soul Wedding!】

【No! I'm the one who'll do it! Dusik is my man!】

【I'm the one marrying him! I dated him longer!】

What the hell was this? A love triangle?

"······Explain it in a way I can understand."

Apparently, bachelor ghost Oh Du-sik had only started dating after he died.

He had never even held a woman's hand when he was alive, but maybe dying had given him courage. He started dating a maiden ghost pretty easily.

The problem was that it went beyond two-timing.

He was three-timing them.

The guy had gotten far too attached.

Ghosts could not do that sort of thing with one another, so they apparently had to hold a Soul Wedding to be joined together. The problem was that there was only one Oh Du-sik.

This was their chance to find passage to the afterlife, but there was only one bachelor ghost, so the three maiden ghosts had no choice but to get desperate.

That was why they wanted me to use my authority, pick one of them, and hold a Soul Wedding.

"Shouldn't you decide this among yourselves? Mr. Oh Du-sik, who do you like more?"

【W-Well... I can't choose just one person!】

What kind of asshole was this?

"Is that something you should be saying? Huh? Since when is polygamy a thing in Korea?"

【Ugh... B-But still!】

"Ha..."

What, did he think he was the protagonist of some Japanese manga?

I looked at the maiden ghosts.

Did they really want to marry a guy like that?

But the maiden ghosts were firm.

People's hearts really were impossible to understand.

"One man and three women. Hmm..."

Oh Du-sik could not pick one, so it looked like I would have to pick for him. But no matter who I chose, it would not be a fair judgment.

In the end, people should be joined with the person they loved most, but the guy was like that...

"Ah!"

A solution suddenly came to mind.

King Solomon, the great king from the Books of Kings who could be considered my predecessor, had once given the perfect judgment for a situation like this.

"All right, here's my ruling. There is one man and three women, so divide the man into three and let the three women share him."

【······What?】

Footnotes:

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