I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

* * *

Seoryeong forced her eyes wide open, pretending nothing was wrong. The ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) sight unfolding before her was overwhelming beyond words.

Everything required for a curse ritual was in perfect order. Sacrifices, burned offerings, instruments, ritual tools—and lastly—

“You wretch, Yeomga! Shameless beyond compare in all the world! I will question every sin you’ve committed while wearing a human face!”

Even a shamaness wielding unfathomable power.

Seoryeong shouted at Yeomga in a trembling voice. At some point, the foul things stopped playing, and only silence lingered in the space.

“The sin of trying to overturn fate! The sin of seizing the nation in your hand and manipulating it at will! The sin of throwing the people into the jaws of a starving tiger!”

Her pale hand had clenched into a fist without her realizing it. Looking up at Yeomga standing atop the blades, Seoryeong seemed unbearably small.

And yet, she stood her ground.

“The sin of deceiving... innocent children... and starving them to death!”

Because she had to. Because it was the one thing only Seoryeong could do.

Yeomga looked at her, then tilted her head ever so slightly. Though Yeomga’s face was hidden behind the Hahoe mask, the mockery was unmistakable. A soft, rustling laugh escaped her.

That was when the ritual music began again.

“...Ugh....”

An unknown force pressed down on Seoryeong. Her body refused to hold up, regardless of her will.

The moment Seoryeong collapsed where she stood, flames sprang up on all sides, flooding the space with light. As if viewed from above, the vast ritual ground appeared before them.

A rectangular layout. Reed mats scorched in places. Yeomga and Seoryeong positioned at opposite ends, like polar points.

Those watching realized one thing.

The ritual ground itself was a single, gigantic talisman. And among the ritual’s sacrifices was Seoryeong herself.

By offering up Seoryeong’s life and divine power at the far end, Yeomga intended to create a vortex of hell.

“Hh... ngh....”

Pain surged in like madness. Unable to breathe, Seoryeong clawed at the floor. Blood welled at the tips of her nails.

The reed mats were densely carved with characters. The curse character—詛—burned into them as if branded with a hot iron. Seoryeong traced the character as she crawled across the ground.

“Hell in this very world!”

Yeomga leaped again and again atop the ritual blades, as if the earth itself could not hold her. She danced lightly on the steel, as though about to ascend to the heavens.

Seoryeong, the sacrifice laid on the ground, and Yeomga, the shamaness dancing in the sky. The gap between their power was unmistakable—violently, vertically so.

“No path to life!”

The audience’s concentration grew heavy. The air in the screening hall felt dense enough to suffocate. No one blinked under the crushing weight of the two performances.

At last, Yeomga stepped down from the blades. She reached into her robe and drew out a knife.

If she cut Seoryeong now and spilled her blood, Yeomga’s curse would succeed.

Yeomga approached Seoryeong, who lay collapsed on the floor, writhing in pain. The foul things beat the gongs and drums at a frantic pace.

Yeomga grabbed Seoryeong by the hair and yanked her head up. With an empty gaze, Seoryeong looked up at Yeomga wearing the Hahoe mask. There was a peculiar serenity to her—one belonging only to those facing death.

“Impudent little thing....”

As she said that, Seoryeong smiled quietly. At that sight, Yeomga felt a flicker of unease. In this situation—how could she smile?

Seoryeong spoke in a trembling voice.

“To dare... not look below....”

Yeomga sensed something was wrong and hesitated for a split second. That was when Seoryeong spoke.

“Reverse.”

At that instant, Yeomga dropped the knife from her hand. At the same time, Seoryeong slipped free from Yeomga’s grasp. With her hair in disarray, Seoryeong slowly rose to her feet.

The weight between the two of them flipped.

Now, it was Yeomga rolling on the ground.

“Do you know how many beings below are alive and breathing? Of course you wouldn’t. You never cared....”

Muttering so, Seoryeong passed by Yeomga. On the reed mat she had clawed at in pain earlier, a talisman had been wedged into the gap of the curse character 詛.

Written on the talisman was the character for reversal—反.

The moment Yeomga stepped on that talisman, Seoryeong gained a single chance to counterattack.

If Yeomga sought Seoryeong’s life—then the opposite.

If Yeomga tried to offer Seoryeong as a sacrifice—then the opposite.

Now, the ritual’s sacrifice was Yeomga.

“How desperately everyone struggles to live, what each person carries in their heart....”

Seoryeong pulled out a gourd from her robe. Inside was blood infused with the desires of countless people.

The noblewoman who could not bear a child despite endless scorn, Janghwa and Hongryeon’s stepmother who sought to reveal the unjust deaths of her children, Hwayeong who clenched her teeth, refusing to lose any more women around her, the courtesan girls who never wanted to live this way....

“You could never know.”

The blood in the gourd, steeped in countless lives, was unbearably viscous.

If Yeomga wielded resentment—恨—then Seoryeong answered with wish—願.

Not resentment—怨—but wish—願: yearning, hoping, praying, living while longing.

Seoryeong walked to the center of the ritual ground—the talisman itself—letting blood stream down. The talisman was being rewritten.

The flames surrounding the ritual ground flared even more fiercely with Seoryeong’s divine power.

“How dare you, how dare you, how dare you...!”

At last, Seoryeong reached the very front of the ritual ground.

Now the sacrifice was Yeomga, and the shamaness was Seoryeong. The hands of the foul things moved at a frenzied speed. Gongs, flutes, and drums crashed like a tidal wave.

“Spirits and gods, heed my command—leave this place and return to the heavens!”

Seoryeong shouted as if coughing up blood.

“I beseech you, divine ones—depart from this place and return to the sky, you irreconcilable enemy! This body is not your body, this life is not your life—this ends here!”

Yeomga scraped at the reed mat with hands drained of strength. If the talisman were torn by Yeomga’s nails, the ritual would lose its effect.

There was no time. This advantage would last only a moment.

Everything had to end before Yeomga could strike back.

Seoryeong hurriedly drew a blade from her robe and severed her hair in one stroke. She threw it into the flames. Her sacrifice opposed Yeomga’s burned offerings.

With her hair now cut short, Seoryeong turned around. Gasping breaths echoed from all around.

Desperate. That was the only word that fit her expression.

“May the blood tears in your eyes never dry, may your hands rot with clotted pus and blood!”

In her haste, Seoryeong shouted as if screaming in rage. From behind the Hahoe mask came a choking cough. Even so, Yeomga did not give up.

Both of them fought, staking their lives.

“Guilty souls will hound you, drag you down to the very end! This sin will reach your life itself!”

Her insides burned as if a fireball were lodged in her chest. Sweat poured down Seoryeong’s face as she glared at Yeomga with bloodshot eyes.

“...Supreme Heavenly Venerable, Supreme Heavenly Venerable, Supreme Great Venerable who governs all living beings....”

Please, please, please. With the desperate need to stop this, Seoryeong chanted without even breathing. Blood streamed from between her teeth and pooled at her chin. Some among the watchers began to sob silently.

“Dark Hell, White Tiger Hell, Charcoal Hell, Yellow Springs Hell, Iron Sand Hell, Earth Sand Hell....”

Seoryeong did not blink, pressing Yeomga down within her sight. Yeomga writhed on the ground, struggling without pause.

“Spirits and gods, heed my command—leave this place and return to the heavens.”

In the voice of a child,

“Spirits and gods, heed my command—leave this place and return to the heavens.”

In the voice of a withered old woman,

“Spirits and gods, heed my command—leave this place and return to the heavens....”

In the voice of a deep-voiced man.

Looking down at Yeomga, Seoryeong chanted without stopping. At some point, possessed by spirits, she could no longer stop herself.

Even knowing she would surely die like this, her mouth kept moving on its own.

“Let soul and spirit be severed and scattered—leave this place and return to dust.” 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

I want to live.

“Let soul and spirit be severed and scattered—leave this place and return to dust....”

I want to live.

“Let soul and spirit be severed and scattered—leave this place and return to dust...!”

I want to live so badly it hurts to die....

Tears streamed down Seoryeong’s face as if she were saying it aloud. She had never even properly called Myungdo’s name once. She wanted to see him call her by her name.

Together, sharing each other’s names, on this land the two of them had saved....

“Cough....”

She wanted to live.

“Let soul and spirit be severed and scattered—....”

Yeomga’s convulsions subsided, and Seoryeong collapsed to the ground. Blood flowed freely from her mouth. Even as she panted, she kept chanting.

The foul things smiled broadly as they played. The ritual music shook heaven and earth.

That was when—

“Seoryeong!”

A voice calling her rang out from far away.

The frantic sound of hooves was like the heartbeat the two of them had once shared, pounding with violent force.

He had come. Myungdo had come.

“....”

Only then could Seoryeong stop speaking.

* * *

I kept my promise.

As if trying to say that, Seoryeong—collapsed on the floor—smiled brightly. Myungdo hurried toward her.

Everything was over. Only happiness remained.

Yeomga, fallen on the ground, was seized by the guards. The Hahoe mask that had hidden her face hung precariously.

Being dragged away, Yeomga turned her head. Taking in the sight of the two beautiful figures, the corners of her mouth curled up in a greasy smile.

Her divine power had been completely sealed. Now, any sorcery she could use was weaker than a child’s.

“...My blade will cut you down....”

“What did you just say?”

“Fall in accordance with heavenly law.”

That was enough. The Hahoe mask slipped from her face and fell to the ground.

With her face revealed, Yeomga smiled brightly. It was a chilling smile.

That was when it happened. Fine cracks spread across the base of a massive old tree. The withered trunk, bare of leaves, tilted heavily.

Then it crashed down.

Seeing it, Myungdo pulled Seoryeong into his arms in a panic. Boom! A deafening roar echoed. Beneath the tree, he—

“...Myungdo....”

—was crushed in Seoryeong’s place.