TRPM 301

chapter 301

After discovering a book in the library that contained a human soul, I immediately checked it out and left the library.

My classmates looked at me strangely, but I just said something urgent had come up and slipped away quickly.

“Seriously… if you were going to bail like that, you should’ve just ditched from the start like Ryu Amin or Jin Cheonha!”

Watching my retreating back, Ryu Ah-yeong made a bewildered face. Still, since I’d rarely ever told clumsy lies before, she seemed to believe that I truly had something urgent to deal with.

So, though regretful, she let me go.

Looks like she was hoping we’d go somewhere like karaoke together after the library…

Feeling sorry for her, I headed home.

“I’m back!”

I shouted upon arriving, heading straight to my room.

Well… no one answered. My mother was probably away at Shinsegyeo again, so the house was empty.

“Phew…”

I turned on the light in my room, drew the curtains, and placed the problematic book in the middle of the floor.

… A person’s soul sealed in a book, huh…

Then I began seriously studying the soul within it.

First question: how could a soul even be sealed inside a book?

“Looks like sorcery…”

But it was a kind of sorcery I didn’t know.

From a glance, I could vaguely understand the principle, but if someone told me to replicate it…

That would be difficult.

My skill simply wasn’t enough.

As a sorcerer, I was far weaker than whoever had cast the spell that sealed this soul into the book.

… Could it have been a Grand Shaman?

That thought crossed my mind. Not impossible, though there could’ve been someone else capable too.

“And what was the purpose of doing this?”

What benefit is there to sealing a soul inside a book?

If the soul were meant as a component for sorcery, the book wouldn’t have ended up lying around in a library.

Which meant the act of sealing the soul into the book itself was the purpose. But…

Why…

Why seal it away and then just abandon it?

“And I don’t even know whose soul it is.”

No—there were clues.

Before being a “book with a soul,” this was an autobiography.

An autobiography would contain the author’s attachment, binding the book most strongly to the one who wrote it.

So naturally, the soul sealed inside should belong to the autobiography’s author.

Unless it wasn’t… but why go through the trouble of sealing a soul in an autobiography otherwise?

… In that case—

“Guess I should read it first.”

Of course, since it’s written from the author’s perspective, I couldn’t trust everything in it. Still, I could at least get an idea of the person.

“… Whew.”

Two hours later.

Having read the autobiography from cover to cover, I had a rough grasp of the soul’s identity.

“An awakener who lived around the time the Black Mist first appeared…”

How much I could believe was uncertain, but if the autobiography were truthful, the owner had been a fairly talented awakener.

He—or she—had first made a name as a pistol shooter in their early twenties. Then, with the rise of the Black Mist and the awakening system, they awakened with the power of acceleration.

By accelerating bullets, they turned guns—normally useless against monsters—into weapons capable of killing many, and they cleared quite a few dungeons that way….

“… I think I know this person.”

The names of those who had fought in Korea during the early days of the Black Mist were still remembered, even now.

They were hailed as heroes who had saved humanity from destruction.

Of course, some were criticized for their past deeds, and others for attempts to control the heroes for selfish reasons.

Still, among those remembered as heroes, I distinctly recalled that one of them had been a gun user.

… And I don’t just know of them—I’ve actually seen their face.

[The reason everyone came to know the Chairwoman’s childhood name was because a necromancer once revived one of her old acquaintances.]

[When that acquaintance was resurrected, they saw her picture and called her by her childhood name, “Maldong.” That’s how it spread to the world.]

In my previous life, that was how Chairwoman Shin Han-ji’s real name, Shin Maldong, became public.

Which meant—the person resurrected back then had been the very one whose soul was now sealed in this book.

Wait. So in my past life, that necromancer had used this exact book for their necromancy?

How they’d discovered the soul inside wasn’t important.

A capable shaman could easily perceive it.

After all, shamans within organizations even created sensors that could detect souls.

So, back then, that shaman must have stumbled across this soul-bound book in the library and used it as the medium for resurrection.

They might’ve figured it out the same way I did—by reading the autobiography and guessing the soul’s identity.

An early Black Mist hero’s soul would certainly seem valuable.

Even if their deeds were exaggerated, the very legend would strengthen their resurrected self.

So that’s what happened.

I now had a rough idea of what had gone on in my past life.

I still didn’t know why the soul had been sealed here, but reviving it shouldn’t be a problem.

If there’d been anything wrong with the book or the soul, it would’ve caused problems back when that hero and shaman had done it.

Since I never heard of any, it should be fine.

With that thought, I began considering how to summon the soul.

Destroying the book won’t work. It’s not just a vessel, but also what anchors the soul to this world.

Right now, the soul was bound here by sorcery.

Whether or not an afterlife truly existed, such magic was based on the assumption that it did. For now, I’d accept that premise.

More importantly, this wasn’t my book—it belonged to the library.

I could erase the enchantment easily, but the book has to be returned within a week…

Better to transfer the soul to a different medium.

The problem was—what to use?

The Harmonious Divine Sword? Rejected. Can’t seal a gun user into a sword. A gun, then? I’ve got plenty in my sub-space, but I don’t even use guns myself.

And since this was a soul once called a hero, it deserved a worthy vessel—not some random trinket.

This autobiography had worked because of the personal connection.

So then…

“Hm?”

Rummaging through my sub-space, I spotted something unusual.

“A doll…”

The doll I used when acting as an artist.

Lately, I used it for night patrols, formal appearances where an adult image was needed, or whenever my real body couldn’t move.

What if I anchored the soul into this doll?

… That could work.

The soul would appreciate being housed in something human-like.

And for me—

If anything went wrong, I could control it with puppetry.

That way, I could restrain it from acting on its own.

Of course, I wouldn’t attempt it right away.

Handling human souls was new to me, and there was much preparation required. Plus, since this was outside my expertise, I’d need help from a shaman I trusted.

“The shrine maiden working as a sorcery instructor at the Awakener Academy… I’ll need her help.”

Now that the Academy was on break, she shouldn’t be too busy.

… Wait, hold on.

Wasn’t she Japanese, not Korean?

If she’d gone back to Japan during the break, that would be a problem.

No point in sitting around. I’ll call right now…

I pulled out my smartphone and dialed Chairwoman Shin Han-ji.

I didn’t have the shrine maiden’s number—we weren’t that close.

Click.

[Yes, this is Shin Han-ji, Chairwoman of the Seoul Awakener Academy. What is it, Student Geon-woo?]

Thankfully, she picked up right away.

“Sorry to bother you, but I need the help of the sorcery instructor… Instructor Ayano.”

[Ah… so you called me for that. I didn’t expect you’d contact the Chairwoman directly, just to ask for Ayano’s help.]

Hm… she sounded slightly offended that I was asking for someone else, not her.

“I have some sorcery-related questions, and I don’t know her number.”

[All right. Fortunately, she hasn’t gone back to Japan yet. I’ll pass her your contact information and ask her to reach out.]

And then—

[By the way… I don’t know what you’re planning, but would you mind if I observed when you perform the ritual?]

I thought about it, then answered.

“I don’t mind. Actually, would it be possible to conduct the ritual at the Academy?”

Performing it there would be far more stable than in my room, no matter how many magic circles I’d inscribed at home.

[Hehe… now I’m curious what kind of sorcery you intend to perform. Will it be today?]

“No. I’ll need to prepare with Instructor Ayano first, so at the earliest, in two days.”

[I see. As expected, you seem quite skilled in sorcery as well, Student Geon-woo.]

… Hm?

Oh, right.

Publicly, I was known as a multi-awakener who could use aura, magic, and psychic powers.

Almost no one knew I could also use sorcery.

Well… it’s not like I was trying to hide it deliberately.

Besides, Chairwoman Shin already knew I was a regressor.

No need to hide sorcery from her—especially since I’d need Ayano’s help.

More importantly—

The hero I plan to resurrect was once close to Shin Han-ji.

If her old friend was coming back, she had every right to be there.

Not just as a comrade-in-arms, but as someone who’d even known her childhood name.