Chapter 7

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 23, 2025

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It’s snowing.

According to the weather forecast, it seems like it will snow frequently this winter.

Sonia was already jumping around happily at the announcer’s words that we could look forward to a white Christmas.

She said she likes it when it snows.

It was proof of her innocence.

Amon, who had to shovel snow for his ID, in the military, at work, and at home, was too old in soul to like snow.

However, the word “Christmas” was a magical word that could make even an old soul flutter.

Pretending not to care, Amon was just as excited for Christmas as Sonia.

‘It’s already Christmas.’

Christmas in this world was no different from his past life.

Christmas trees decorated the streets, adults gave gifts to children, and various events were held.

The only difference was that those born on Christmas were not the sons of God but the daughters of the Goddess.

Otherwise, everything was the same.

Thinking of it, Amon headed to his drawer.

He was preparing for the upcoming Christmas by organizing money envelopes.

‘This is for offerings, this is for Sonia’s gift, this is for the Orphanage Director…’

Amon transferred the money into envelopes.

His only sources of income were odd jobs and government support under the name of allowance.

But since Amon was an ascetic by nature, his expenses were almost nonexistent.

Thanks to that, the amount he saved over a year was quite substantial.

Amon nodded satisfactorily as he wrote notes on the envelopes.

Hand cream for the Orphanage Director, toner for Sonia, a lighter for old man Johnson, whom he owed a lot to, and so on.

It was clearly the moment when the money he had saved for a year was draining away, but Amon was incredibly happy at that moment.

The fact that he had the leisure to give to others felt like a blessing to him.

After sorting out the offerings to the Goddess, Amon locked the drawer.

Then he left the room to go to the swordsmanship dojo with Sonia in the afternoon.

Rustle rustle.

As he left the room, the orphanage was in chaos.

“Huh?”

He turned his gaze to where people were gathered, wondering what was going on.

The nuns were controlling the children with serious expressions.

The younger nuns were sending the children back to their rooms, while the more experienced nuns formed a circle as if surrounding something.

A translucent barrier spread along the circle formed by the nuns.

Seeing this, Amon roughly understood the situation.

‘Some kid must have been possessed.’

It wasn’t uncommon for orphans to be possessed by spirits.

Located right next to the red-light district, the orphanage was a perfect place for the spirits of lost babies to gather.

Because of this, incidents of orphans being possessed occurred about once a year.

The only fortunate thing was that the spirits of newborn babies weren’t as strong, so the nuns could handle them.

Amon tilted his head to see the face of the possessed child this time.

Through the gaps in the fence made by the nuns, he could see inside the circle.

It didn’t take long to find out who it was.

“Oh dear… I knew those kids would cause trouble someday.”

It was Jimmy and his friends.

At Amon’s muttered words, the nun listening beside him gave a wry smile.

Even to them, this possession seemed like a case of reaping what they sowed.

The items they were holding dearly were talismans sent by wraiths to possess the orphanage.

These talismans were mixed in with Black Friday gifts, most of which were screened by the nuns and sent to the warehouse.

They could seal or block the wraiths, but exorcism required an expert, so they planned to handle it all at once later.

However, Jimmy and his friends had gone to the warehouse and taken the talismans, even breaking the seals.

From the nuns’ perspective, who had worked hard to sort those talismans, it was a case of reaping what they sowed.

Though they wanted to mock them, as nuns who had to care for the children with love, they expressed their feelings with a wry smile.

Amon also joined in with a wry smile.

The ones being cursed at by the nuns and Amon were inside the barrier, babbling nonsense.

“Hehe… My precious…”

Jimmy was hugging a black vase and stroking it.

The other friends were in a similar state.

Seeing their condition, the Orphanage Director diagnosed the situation.

“They’re still in the bewitchment stage. It doesn’t seem like full possession yet, so let’s try to wake them up. If it fails, we’ll put them in the isolation room.”

With 30 years of running the orphanage,

the Orphanage Director had experienced all kinds of possessions, so this situation wasn’t particularly special to her.

She calmly sprinkled salt and holy water on the bewitched children.

Fortunately, some of the children regained their senses.

But not Jimmy.

While the other children had taken only one item, Jimmy had stuffed his sides full and left the warehouse.

It meant that more than one or two wraiths had bewitched him.

Because of this, he was too deeply bewitched to be affected by salt or holy water.

The Orphanage Director looked at Jimmy with pity.

“Jimmy…”

Though it was still the bewitchment stage, bewitchment was just the groundwork for possession.

If the bewitchment wasn’t resolved in time, possession was certain, so the Orphanage Director made a cold decision.

“There’s no other way. Let’s put him in the isolation room.”

Once possession starts, it gets a bit tiring.

Though the spirits of newborn babies aren’t particularly threatening in terms of spiritual power, Jimmy was a boy going through puberty.

In terms of pure physical ability, it was a bit tough for the nuns to handle him.

So it was much better for their well-being to throw him into the isolation room while he was half-conscious.

Following the Orphanage Director’s orders, the nuns threw Jimmy into the room.

Jimmy was left alone in an empty room with a structure that couldn’t be opened from the inside.

After catching the last glimpse of Jimmy through the closing door, the Orphanage Director locked the door.

“The exorcist will come the day after tomorrow, so please make sure the children don’t touch this lock. And I’ll inform you of the special instructions for emergencies.”

The nuns carefully noted the Orphanage Director’s detailed instructions.

Shortly after,

Thud!

Jimmy banged heavily on the isolation room door.

[Mommy-! Mommyyy-!!!]

Jimmy shouted in a voice mixed with a baby’s cry.

The nuns were relieved that they had acted just in time.

Meanwhile, Jimmy’s voice changed again.

In a grotesque low voice, Jimmy shouted as if scratching his throat.

[Sister-in-law!! You shouldn’t do that to me! Why did you do that to me!!]

The chilling voice made the nuns jump back from the isolation room.

Unlike the other nuns, the Orphanage Director didn’t flinch.

Instead, she made the sign of the cross and prayed towards the room where Jimmy was.

May there be salvation for that child.

***

That evening.

Amon rustled around and suddenly jumped out of bed.

“Ah… I drank too much cola.”

Rubbing his messy hair, Amon got out of bed.

Though it was pitch dark, his body, familiar with the room’s layout, easily found his slippers.

Dragging his slippers, he headed to the bathroom, relying on the faint light in the corridor.

The way to the bathroom passed by the isolation room.

Amon yawned and bowed his head to the nuns guarding the isolation room.

No response came.

The nun on guard duty was asleep in her chair.

Seeing that, he didn’t feel much.

It was too understandable for her to be negligent, given her exhaustion.

Having to entertain guests, wake up bewitched children, and still be on duty was too harsh.

Besides, the isolation room wasn’t so fragile that it needed a nun to guard it.

The Orphanage Director had said that even a bomb wouldn’t budge the isolation room.

Judging by the thickness of the iron door, it was as thick as armor plating.

‘Where did they get something like this?’

The more he saw, the more curious Amon became about the Orphanage Director’s true identity.

Anyway, since the room was practically a vault, it was fine even if the nun dozed off.

Amon bowed to the sleeping nun and continued on his way to the bathroom.

Drip drip drip.

After relieving himself, Amon headed back to his room.

On the way, he passed the isolation room again.

The nun was still asleep.

Amon bowed again, though it wouldn’t be acknowledged, and continued on his way.

Then, a voice came from inside the room.

“Amon. Is that you?”

It was Jimmy.

It wasn’t the eerie voice of the possessed but Jimmy’s pure voice.

Amon stopped and turned towards the door.

Somehow, Jimmy on the other side of the door called out to Amon.

“I’m free from possession now. I’m so hungry, can you open the door?”

“…”

“I couldn’t eat dinner today, I’m so hungry. I could eat a whole cow.”

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

And without a word, he flipped the bird towards the door.

Suddenly, Jimmy fell silent.

That reaction confirmed Amon’s suspicion.

“In all my life, I’ve never seen a human conspiring with a possessing wraith.”

Amon spoke loudly enough for Jimmy to hear.

In typical possessions, the original owner and the spirit fight for control.

That’s why spirits weaken the original owner’s mind and body for an easier possession.

But rarely, the original owner and the spirit coexist.

Sometimes, like in shonen manga, the spirit is acknowledged by the original owner and they suddenly reconcile,

or they grow close after sharing the body,

or maybe the spirit was just a good soul from the start.

Of course, not all relationships are hopeful.

Sometimes, both the original owner and the spirit are just jerks who get along well.

Amon thought Jimmy fell into this category.

As evidence, they knew Amon was passing by despite the thick iron door.

It was proof of Spirit Vision.

The fortunate thing was that neither the spirit nor Jimmy were very intelligent, so they blatantly revealed they had Spirit Vision.

No one would fall for such fools.

Amon decided not to pay attention to those idiots and headed back to his room.

But then, something curious came to mind, and he asked Jimmy and his soulmate.

“How did you two become friends? With so many spirits inside, it must have been hard to get along.”

No answer came.

But Amon knew an easy way to make the spirits talk.

“I’ll hold an ancestral rite for the first one to answer.”

Though it’s ambiguous if the word “ancestral rite” exists in America, the spirits roughly understood the nuance.

Being beings obsessed with resolving grudges, they reacted immediately.

The youngest among them spoke.

[He offered to help us possess you. Since it’s too cramped with many in one body, we agreed.]

“Ah. So Jimmy made the offer first?”

[Yes.]

Amon shook his head.

Right.

That’s Jimmy for you.

‘Jimmy. I’ll revise my evaluation of you.’

Jimmy wasn’t just a jerk.

He was a natural-born great ship bastard.

‘Whoops. Good thoughts. Good thoughts.’

He barely held back the curse that almost slipped out and made the sign of the cross on his chest.

‘Inner peace. Peace like a river…’

Singing a hymn in his heart, he suppressed his anger.

Only after finding inner peace did Amon promise the spirit who told the truth an ancestral rite to resolve its grudge and tried to leave.

But someone stopped Amon.

An old spirit used Jimmy’s mouth to speak to Amon’s back.

[Ahaya…]

A cave-like voice mixed with Jimmy’s voice came out.

Amon ignored it and continued walking.

The old spirit, unfazed by Amon’s attitude, continued.

[Your eyes are so clear. You have no interest in vanity or success, but seek wisdom. Ahaya. Aren’t you curious about the afterlife? Aren’t you curious about the truth of this world?]

Not curious at all.

Having already experienced the light path ending, gone through the afterlife, and even met the Goddess, how could he be curious?

Moreover, how could a being wandering the Nine Heavens, unable to ascend, know about the afterlife?

Thus, Amon had no reason to listen to the spirit.

But he was curious.

What nonsense would that idiot spout?

How would a fool perform?

So he stopped and turned back towards the door.

The old spirit took Amon’s action as curiosity and began spouting false truths.

It’s said that people go to the afterlife when they die.

But most humans don’t go to the afterlife because their level isn’t sufficient.

The spirit said one must stay in the Nine Heavens and accumulate enough level to move on to the next world.

[I will raise your level.]

Normally, it would take long training in this world to gain that level, but the old spirit was at the threshold of ascension.

Thus, if Amon opened the door, he promised to show him the moment of ascension.

Not only that.

He whispered that he would bestow upon Amon the truth and all the wisdom of this world that he had learned after death.

While the spirit tempted Amon, Amon’s shoulders shook.

The spirit misunderstood it as the reaction of a seeker of wisdom witnessing fragments of truth.

In reality, Amon was struggling to hold back laughter.

‘The clown doesn’t know he’s a clown, so he truly makes people laugh.’

A phrase he had heard somewhere came to mind.

As if trying to kill Amon with laughter, the spirit eagerly offered a taste of the false truth.

[Ahaya. There’s no need to live virtuously in this world.]

“?”

Amon stopped holding back his laughter.

What nonsense was he spouting now?

Amon listened to the spirit.

The spirit, thinking Amon was listening attentively, continued.

[Things like karma or virtue are all false values created by rulers to control people. The world doesn’t work that way. The world is a sophisticated system of cause and effect. Good and evil have no effect on that system.]

“…How can I believe that?”

[Because I’ve seen it. There is no God in this world, and the world just runs on a sophisticated system.]

Snap.

At that moment, something in Amon’s mind snapped.

Amon’s head lowered, and a shadow fell over his expression.

He silently unlocked the isolation room’s lock.

By the time the nun sleeping beside him woke up to the clinking sound, the lock was already undone.

Before she could scold Amon, the thick iron door opened.

Through the opening, Jimmy was there, grinning creepily.

The nun, though startled, stood protectively in front of Amon.

Jimmy (?) looked at Amon, who was bowing his head, with pity.

[Ahaya. Was it that shocking? It must be. There’s nothing more painful than having the virtues you’ve believed in all your life denied. But don’t worry. You’re still young. I’ll whisper the truth to you-]

Jimmy stopped mid-sentence and looked at Amon’s hand.

Amon was holding a scripture.

But if it were just holding it, his gaze wouldn’t have been drawn there.

The reason his gaze went there was one.

It was trembling with all kinds of emotions suppressed within.

[?]

A question mark appeared above Jimmy’s head.

It was hard to read the emotion behind that trembling.

Because of that, his reaction was delayed until Amon was right in front of him.

Jimmy’s eyes followed Amon’s hand as he raised the scripture.

The edge of the scripture was pointed towards Jimmy.

A little lower, and there were bulging veins on Amon’s forearm,