Master of All Sins

Chapter 0 : Prologue Receiving the Indulgence.

“This is a coming-of-age gift from the Madam, Little Young Master.”

Watching the small wooden box being placed on the table, I thought, ‘Come to think of it, it was today’.

I struggled to open my eyes to examine it, but the servant who brought the wooden box turned his head askew as if to avoid my gaze and continued.

“It is a relic excavated from the ruins of the West, and its name is the Indulgence.”

The Eight Clans of the White Blood, who supported the nation of sorcery and monsters, Aeshin Hanguk, were famous for giving special gifts to the direct descendants of the family who celebrated their coming-of-age ceremony at the age of 18.

It could be a talisman or a protective charm in which a particularly strong spell or a Shikigami was sealed.

It could be an enchanted tool completed by first-class or higher sorcerers belonging to the family, who poured their spiritual power into it day and night for several months.

Or it could have been a divine object that was strictly sealed within the family.

Of course, I knew that giving such a magnificent item was impossible unless one was a promising talent among the direct heirs continuing the family line, who had shown distinction since childhood.

“……Indulgence, you said.”

“That is correct, the very indulgence that is said to forgive a person's sins.”

To put it another way.

Receiving a gift that was meaningless or even harmful at the coming-of-age ceremony meant that, whether a direct heir or not, one's ties with the family were practically severed.

The gift I, Shin Hwe-in, a direct heir of the Shin clan famed for wielding particularly powerful Shikigami( servant demons) among The Eight Clans of the White Blood, received today was precisely that.

“N-no way! An indulgence is just a scrap of paper. The Phantom world Gatekeeper Ritual is tomorrow, this is the same as telling our Young Master to go and die!”

The only handmaiden serving me within the family, Geum Mo-a, flared up in anger at the servant across from her on my behalf, as my coughing would not stop.

“Lady Geum Mo-a, please be careful with your words. This is not just the Madam’s will.”

The servant, who replied politely even while watching Geum Mo-a raise her voice, laid out his words in a calm tone without even giving me a glance, the person of honor at the coming-of-age ceremony.

“The Little Young Master, since birth, has been frail and covered in inflammation like the ashes left after a fire, limps on one leg, has weak lungs and heart, cannot hear well, and even has poor eyesight, making his vision dark, so even the vast spiritual power that is the only sign of his Shin clan blood is barely enough to sustain his breath.”

“You!”

“Therefore, it is clear that the Young Master has accumulated sins from a past life that he could not repay, so the Madam, after discussing with the Clan Head, has procured this with great difficulty. It is with the hope that the weight of the sins the Little Young Master carries might be lightened even a little.”

“Young Master, don't listen! It's all bullshit!”

“…….”

I was a deformity.

An infant born with an unbelievable number of illnesses and a frail constitution, to the extent that everyone whispered I must have been born embracing all the sins of the world.

I wanted to argue with the servant who was brazenly spouting words without even a hint of shame.

If one were to ask about the sin of things thrust upon me from the moment I was born without reason.

Who on earth could compensate for the countless things I, born disabled, could not have.

“……Cough, go.”

But even if I, who could not even breathe satisfactorily due to chronic inflammation and lung disease, painstakingly opened my mouth, what was before me was merely a dog that moved according to its master's will.

The effort required for my breathing was far too precious to be wasted on a conversation with a beast.

But the servant still had a message to deliver.

“The Madam has said that with this, she will also forgive the sins the Young Master has accumulated by tarnishing the Shin clan's name and squandering its assets. Tomorrow morning, upon entering the Phantom world, will be the last of it; the Young Master will be liberated from the common duties of The Eight Clans of the White Blood.”

“What, did you say…….”

My handmaiden, Geum Mo-a, trembled as if shocked by those words.

Tarnishing the Shin clan's name meant that I, a direct heir of the family, was born with a disabled body, drawing the unfavorable gazes of the world and squandering assets referred to the money the family spent to feed and raise me, who was incapable of any activity.

However, this was something parents raising a child should naturally endure.

To label this as the child's sin and even to arbitrarily forgive it, was no different from a declaration of disownment, banishing me from the family forever.

“Then, since I have delivered the gift, I shall take my leave. ……Ah, Lady Geum Mo-a.”

The servant, who finished speaking without ever facing me, turned his eyes toward Geum Mo-a and spoke with a glint in them, as if this were the main point.

“There are many within the family who desire your abilities. The Madam is, of course, one of them and the Eldest Young Master has said he is willing to formally place you in the position of his wife.”

“I am Young Master Hwe-in's handmaiden!”

“Of course, that is so for now. But…….”

“You!”

The gaze implied─you know what will happen to a person thrown into the Phantom world with a disabled body and without a proper enchanted tool and Geum Mo-a finally exploded.

“If you've said all you have to say, get lost!”

The servant, receiving her fierce glare, still remained unfazed and bowed his head to her as if to say he had been rude, then disappeared.

He paid no mind to me, whose death was already certain, and showed courtesy only to Geum Mo-a, who had a high probability of becoming the heir's wife.

“Really, who do they think they are to pair me with a pervert like that……!”

Meanwhile, Geum Mo-a, even after chasing the servant away, continued to glare at the empty space, fuming, then promptly stood up, brought salt from the kitchen, and meticulously sprinkled it from outside the room to the entrance of the annex where we lived.

Then she plopped down across from me where the servant had been sitting just a moment ago and spoke fiercely.

“Let's go together!”

“Where?”

“Where else but the Phantom world, of course! I will escort you, Young Master. I don't care about any duties, so as soon as we enter, let's find another exit and run away, just the two of us! We've been disowned, so there's no need to cling to this inhuman household anymore. Let's leave in search of freedom.”

“Ha, haha…….”

Freedom.

I just laughed at the emptiness of that word.

I knew my handmaiden Geum Mo-a said such things out of deep concern for me─but since my body was already like a prison, freedom would not be granted no matter where I went.

I hadn't told her yet, but I was beginning to realize that my body was nearing its limit.

Rather, it was a miracle that my body, full of defects, had lasted until I turned 18.

As someone said, if the vast spiritual power I was born with as a descendant of the Shin clan hadn't protected my body, I would have died before my first birthday.

“……Mo-a.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“You, cough. You should live as you please. Freedom…… find it, in my stead.”

“I refuse!”

I gave a bitter smile as I faced Geum Mo-a, who replied resolutely as if there were no room for consideration.

It was a pity that I couldn't see her face fully because of the bandages wrapped around my body due to inflammation.

“We die together, even in death. I made that decision from the moment I came to serve you, Young Master.”

“Was I, cough. Such a special person to you……. I am not confident.”

“It’s fine if you don’t remember. I just have to remember. All you need to know is that there's no way I would ever give up on you, Young Master.”

The weight conveyed by those words was something my current self could not bear.

I could do nothing but smile.

“If I had just two more loyal retainers like you, I would have founded a nation. Cough, cough…….”

“Would we have stopped at just one nation?”

Geum Mo-a smiled back at the faint smile on my face and reached her hand across the table.

The small, elongated wooden box that the servant had come and tossed, calling it a gift from the Madam, was still lying there.

“I'll clean up this trash. It's almost time for your meal, but the table is still dirty.”

“Give it to me.”

“Pardon? It’s obviously trash, so please let me clean it up. I’m afraid it might bring bad luck.”

“Still, give it to me. Cough cough…… It is the first gift I have ever received from my stepmother.”

“…….”

Geum Mo-a's expression showed she was reluctant to hand it over until the very end, but unable to win against my firm attitude, she reluctantly placed the wooden box in my bandaged hand.

Staring blankly at it in my hand through my hazy vision, I swallowed a gulp of saliva as my breath grew labored, then adjusted my stiff back to lean against the bed.

After slowly opening it to check the contents inside…… I couldn't help but burst into laughter.

“Haha, keuk, cough! Kehahahat!”

“Young Master?! I knew it was a strange cursed object! Give it to me, I’ll take appropriate measures right away—!”

“An indulgence, is. Heuk, a talisman, cough!”

Inside the wooden box was a single, vertically long talisman.

A talisman with the three characters for Indulgence written in a confident script of Hanja.

Originally, an indulgence was nothing more than a certificate of Great Absolution ( remission of temporal punishment) issued by a religious group in the West in exchange for a donation, yet what was in my hand was a single talisman that seemed to deny its very foundation.

How could I not laugh?

It was like an object scribbled together by a naive child who had only heard the word ‘indulgence’ but did not know its detailed meaning.

“I'm at a loss for words, really.”

Geum Mo-a, who cautiously approached to check the contents of the wooden box at the sight of me unable to stop laughing despite the pain from my body screaming from all over, soon wore an expression of disbelief.

If at least an indulgence personally written by a medieval Western Pope or a Cardinal had remained intact, one could have hoped it might have sublimated into a relic with some efficacy, but to present such a nonsensical piece of paper as a coming-of-age gift!

“Throw it away right now, no, I'll throw it away!”

“It is fine, it is fine. Hehe…… Is it not an object without a single shred of malice.”

“It's a gift with nothing but malice!”

I retorted, barely managing to defend it from Geum Mo-a's violent attempt at plunder.

“I know, my eyes can see. Haven't I always been exceptional at distinguishing between goodwill and ill will?”

“Oh, this is so frustrating, so are you really going to proudly enter the Phantom world with just that one sheet?”

“If I could have gotten any other enchanted tool or even a single talisman by refusing this, I would have done so long ago.”

Was it because my spirits had been so lifted?

After a good laugh, my throat somehow felt less itchy than usual.

Intending to carry it on my person, I picked up the result of a misunderstanding born from a collaboration between East and West with one hand.

At that moment, countless flashes sparked in my mind.

“Ah!”

“Young Master?!”

The faces of many people I could not remember surfaced in my mind one after another.

There was a young woman, then an old man, a huge and beautiful beast, a robust young man, a benevolent old woman, one soaring like a dragon and a giant bird endlessly immolating itself.

I felt a thread connecting me to all of them.

A thread so thin and faint I couldn't tell when it had been connected, but so tough it would never break…….

Just after the hand holding the talisman flared up as if it were on fire, one of the countless threads shone with a particularly bright light and became vivid.

It was the thread connected to the burning bird.

- I resent and curse you, I hope you suffer in endless agony and can't even die when you're dead.

A chilling, beautiful voice filled with resentment.

The being's stature was so high that just its voice echoing in my mind was agonizing enough to feel as if my entire brain would burn away.

-You dare try to become free alone after abandoning me? I won't forgive you, I can never let you go. I will find you.

-Until then, enjoy your brief freedom.

“Aaargh!”

“Young Master, Young Master Hwe-in!”

As I let out a painful scream while clutching the talisman, Geum Mo-a, terrified, rushed over and held onto me.

She then realized my whole body was so hot it wouldn't be strange if it spontaneously combusted, but she still didn't let me go.

Believing there was a trap in the talisman she didn't know about, she frantically tried to pull it from my hand despite the pain.

Just then, everything ended as abruptly as it had begun and my body grew cold.

It was like touching a corpse and Geum Mo-a screamed in horror.

“Young Master, are you okay?! Young Master!”

“Mo-a…….”

“Young Master!”

Having barely regained my senses, I was helped by Geum Mo-a to lean against the bed again, and I realized one thing.

My vision was a little clearer than before.

The skin that had been itchy with all sorts of inflammation felt a little calmer.

The same went for the heat that had been scorching my lungs and throat.

A part of my spiritual power, which had been struggling to protect its master from all that pain, was set free…….

And I felt that a red heat had settled into it.

“…….”

“Young Master, please say something. Please…….”

“……Mo-a.”

As I, having finished my self-assessment, finally opened my mouth, Geum Mo-a, as if she had been waiting, brought her face close to mine and whispered.

“Yes, should we run away right now without waiting for tomorrow? And tear up that disgusting piece of paper!”

“I've become able to handle flames.”

“……Pardon?”

After speaking, I painstakingly flicked my finger.

A brilliant red flame rose and burned away a part of the bandage wrapped around my hand.

My hand, which had been covered in inflammation since birth, its shape unrecognizable, was now seen to be clean.

Geum Mo-a's eyes widened.

“Huh……?”

“The sin I was said to have been born with from a past life…….”

Choking up mid-sentence, I paused for a moment, then continued with a self-mocking smile, pulling up one corner of my mouth.

“It seems a part of it has been forgiven.”