XG 149 - I can no longer protect you

Located not far away from the church where Nanse had made his base, there was a small temple right up the hill, which was located right in front of the street to enter the housing areas. Among the rows of houses, the temple stood out as it was the only place undisturbed by any evidence of violence.

The electricity was long cut off, so there was no electricity in the small temple, with only candles lit, providing light and some well-needed warmth to the occupants.

Dressed in white hanbok, an elderly shaman gingerly stepped out of her prayer room to join a group of people with the help of a young lady.

"Shaman, are you feeling better?" A lady in a dirty office suit with a messy bun asked worriedly. She quickly stepped forward to help, grabbing her arm to offer support.

The office lady was tactful not to act overly concerned for fear of offending the granddaughter of the shaman, who was originally supporting the elderly shaman.

The elderly shaman sighed and let the two young ladies help her to take a seat on the floor, right in the middle of the long wooden table. Facing the rest of the worried faces of the survivors in the room, the shaman felt a little apologetic for being unable to help them for much longer.

"I don't have many days left. This place will no longer be safe after I leave."

"Shaman, how could you say such a bad omen thing! You will surely live a long life!" A man in a green sweater scolded unhappily, his eyes honestly revealing his fear.

"You are just joking with us, right?" Another person asked shakily.

The elderly shaman shook her head. "I can't lie to myself anymore. I can feel my time is coming."

"No way..." The defiance sentence trailed off, as one could see the shaman's complexion was poor if scrutinized properly under the yellow light. The elderly shaman seemed to have aged ten years and there was more white hair that could be spotted.

A young mother hugged her daughter, hiding her face from view as she could not stop the despair etching onto her face. Being one of the neighbourhood residents, there was never once she was happy having a temple this close by, until now. With renewed outlook, she had thought this place would be safe for a long time from the monsters outside, at least until the government or soldiers come to their rescue.

But after experiencing the entire winter without the situation outside getting better, she had more or less brought herself to accept that no one other than themselves would be able to save themselves. It was their fortune to be able to encounter the elderly shaman that was willing to offer them shelter.

"What should we do now?" The one that asked the question was hushed up by her boyfriend, his eyes scolding her for being tactless.

The girlfriend was one of the few in their small groups that initially refused to believe the credibility of shamans or witchcraft. But now, they were devout believers. They had seen with their own eyes how the elderly shaman stopped the zombies from approaching the temple, chasing them away with a sharp wave of her brass handbell.

Her short figure was nothing intimidating, with her features similar to a kind grandmother, but the resoluteness and belief in her eyes as she told them those monsters were possessed by the devil had them believe her.

It was her capability that triumphs their preconception that real shamans should have fierce-looking faces to scare off ghosts.

The elderly shaman held up her words for months, until a few days ago when a strange, white-haired woman showed up before the temple gates.

To avoid destroying the temple, the shaman stepped out to meet the unknown stranger, already knowing that the other party would resort to violence once she rejected the offer to join the original host of the devil's seed.

The elderly shaman may have won and chased the intruder away, but she had to pay a great price to achieve that. Her lifespan was shortened drastically and nothing could help her regain them back.

With almost faded bruises on her face, a young girl mumbled, "Can't we continue staying here even... even..."

The elderly shaman shook her head softly. "Without me, there is nothing that could hold back the demons from entering. It won't be safe to stay here."

"But the God's statues should be able to scare the demons somewhat, right?"

"Unfortunately, my humble shrine is not powerful enough to hold them back if they come in a large number," the elderly shaman said apologetically.

"We will stay here until that day you no longer breathe. You have selflessly saved us, there is no way we will leave you now," the office lady firmly decided. "We will leave for the closest shelter base after that."

Although she decided without consulting everyone, no one opposed her decision.

"The closest is the church. We will be one of the murderers?" the girlfriend asked and once again her boyfriend hushed her.

"We won't pick the church or the shopping mall," the office lady assured and the woman with bruises visibly calmed down.

"Then where? The only other base is the school. We don't want to return there," the girlfriend said.

"... Musihada," the bruised lady mumbled.

Hearing her as they just sat next to each other, the girlfriend asked, "Where's that?"

"The large laboratory near Nanse street," the bruised lady answered. "I... I heard they treat survivors nicer."

"Where did you hear that from? It sounds like a scam that lures people to do their evil experiment."

"I came from there," the guy in green revealed. "That place is quite safe but you will need to find your own food and supplies."

"Then why did you leave that place?"

The eyes of the green-shirt guy became cloudy. "To find my family."

For once in a long while, the girlfriend did not ask any sensitive questions, as she already knew that the guy's family was dead.

"I stayed here because of the powerful shaman," the guy in green continued. "Travelling back to Musihada will take a long time if you don't have any car."

While the others were still discussing what to do after the shaman died, the shaman herself took her granddaughter to her prayer room.

"Don't wait until I die to leave. The devil is getting stronger and it will be more dangerous to travel," the shaman dissuaded.

"Grandma, no matter what you say, I won't leave. I want to stay with you."

Staring at her granddaughter she had carefully taken care of for more than a decade, the shaman had to harden her heart for her own good. "Why would you care about this grumpy old lady? I'm not even your real grandmother that you need to remain filial to. Go to Musihada. I sense many people there have chosen to embrace the devil's power and will be a good hideout."

"You said those who succumbed to the devil's power are dangerous. They will become like those monsters outside," the granddaughter retorted.

"Those are different. Those undead beings do not have the strength to use the power and got eaten instead. Not all that have the devil's power will become mindless. To survive, one might have to make a deal with the devil."

"Aren't they more dangerous then?"

"Only if they use the devil's power for the wrong purpose. Miyeon ah, you can make your own judgement after seeing how they use the devil's power. Grandma is old and will be leaving the world soon. I can no longer protect you."

With red eyes, Miyeon shook her head and did not give in to her grandmother's words.

Being a child of the elderly shaman's daughter-in-law's previous marriage put Miyeon in an awkward place, especially after her mother died from cancer. Her stepfather did not toss her away but he was a workaholic. He had migrated overseas for work and hardly came back home at all.

There was no single news from him when the demons started possessing humans.

At those moments when Miyeon felt unwanted, the elderly shaman did not treat her as a piece of unwanted baggage and instead, treated her as if she was her real granddaughter. Both of them were lonely and had kept each other company.

The elderly shaman smacked her granddaughter's arm, her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Child, don't be foolish!"

"Then protect me until that day. I won't leave you until then."

END OF ARC 4