The popular Kakao Webtoon, "Where the Darkness Has Lifted," with over 20 million cumulative views, is now being turned into a novel!
A strange being and story visits May Brokerage in Gyeongseong, a city where past, present, and future are intertwined!

In the turbulent 1900s of Gyeongseong, at the 'Owol Brokerage', an art and antique brokerage located in an alley, there is a broker named 'Choi Du-gyeom' who can see and hear things that ordinary people cannot.
Thanks to this, a teahouse owner with a curse that drives away customers, a spirit named Go-oh who does not leave this world, a boy named O-myeon who comes to ask for the life of the Buddha he had blown away, a ghost who listens to a secret that has been kept for thirty years, a spring god who loves humans, and many other gods, spirits, and vengeful spirits, as well as humans with strange problems, visit the O-won Brokerage to ask for solutions to their troubles.
In front of such a Du-gyeom, Chijo, a special spiritual snake that saved his life when he was young and gave him special abilities, appears in human form and asks for help until he finds the missing piece of himself.
At the same time, a voice filled with resentment begins to reveal its presence around Doo-gyeom and Chi-jo, and Chi-jo hears news about a 'rotten' piece...


The author, Hong Woo-rim, is the Jellybean writer who wrote and illustrated the controversial work 『Myojinjeon』, which has accumulated 100 million views on Kakao Webtoon. This novel is a direct adaptation of 『Where the Darkness Has Lifted』, which the author serialized on Kakao Webtoon.
The emotions and stories of the characters that could not be fully expressed in the webtoon were captured in more depth through writing, and a new story, “Eyes That Do Not Close,” which was not in the original work, was added.

* The guest sat upright on the sofa in the living room, staring straight ahead without paying any attention to the antiques and artwork displayed on each wall.
Pale skin, crescent-moon eyebrows, thin, long, slanted eyes, and neatly combed hair with a fine comb were reminiscent of a portrait of a beauty, but the slender jawline and the mysteriously upturned corners of the mouth created an impression different from the warmness of the average portrait of a beauty.
(…) It must be an imitation of a human figure, but it’s not the kind of outfit that’s popular in Gyeongseong these days, so perhaps he’s from the countryside? The guest seemed to know Du-gyeom was thinking this, and spoke first.
“Let me introduce myself… Of all the names given to me by humans, I think Land God is the most appropriate.”
It's a friendly tone of speech.
“Nature’s spirits are inherently indifferent to humans.
But even among us, you are famous.”
Often, there would be instances where a guest would come to me and confide in me about their worries or ask me to solve a problem.
At that time, Du-gyeom simply did what he could, but it seemed like Du-gyeom's story was spreading little by little among the guests.
--- p.25~26

* Phew.
Doo-gyeom took a deep breath.
My steps were heavy as I walked alone to the guest's garden, carrying a shovel.
This is something that many people don't have to go through.
Especially those who have to make this place their home do not need to witness it.
Pok, pok.
I had no motivation to dig up the garden.
Doo-gyeom knew what he would find down here.
Among the white flowers that were in full bloom, now almost in full bloom, beneath the withered vines, and in the pitch-black soil, what appeared was... Daecheol's corpse.
(…) Du-gyeom stumbled out of the garden and sat down on the porch of the inn.
He remembered a story told by the village god who had helped him long ago.
-When adults scare children, they say that if they don't listen, the monster will come after them.
But you know what?
It really exists.
A ghost that catches bad kids.
It comes after hearing the wishes of the people.

-That's ridiculous.
At that time, Du-gyeom answered like that.
-Who would want a ghost to pick on and take away bad kids?
Hehehehe.
The village god laughed.
And then he whispered in Du-gyeom's ear.
-I'll catch you if you like ghosts.
Because if those kids disappear, no one will come looking for them.
--- p.100~101

* The boy cried for a long time in front of the well, overcome with uncontrollable emotions.
I got up when the boundaries between the surrounding trees, grass, and rocks became clear.
The well was still there.
It could no longer be a haunted well, but the villagers would not know it.
The boy was alive, but he was not meant to be alive, not to the villagers nor to his mother.
I was born again.
I have no home now.
Thinking of my mother broke my heart, but I thought that it was something that could not be helped anymore.

The boy got up, bowed his head, and began to walk silently.
And I remembered those green eyes that I had seen in my dreams.
That's all there is to remember here.
I think it was called a toothache.
alveolus.
You must not forget that name.
Maybe we'll meet again someday.
No, I really hope we can meet again.
White magnolia petals fell on the head of the boy who was leaving on a path from which he would never return.
--- p.129~130

* When Doo-gyeom returned to the May Brokerage, a familiar figure was sitting on the living room sofa, his back straight like a warrior.
The problematic visitor of the dawn was a civet.
her.
Every time you come, your strategy evolves. At first, you barged into my house before dawn, and now you even know how to come to my workplace during work hours. At this point, I'm impressed.
However, unlike the evolving strategy, the appearance, which barely resembles a human, remains the same.
He is about as tall as Doo-gyeom's waist, has the face of a child, but his ears are large like the handles of a kettle, his mouth is slit, and his eyes are bulging.
It seems that he firmly believes that he has disguised himself as a human, but whether you look at it from the front or the back, it is still a civet.
Is he still not good at disguise, or is that really how he sees humans? A laugh escaped Doo-gyeom's lips.
--- p.149

* iced coffee.
Doo-gyeom wanted to hold the child's hand.
I knew very well the hardened eyes filled with anger and confusion that had no place to go.
It resembled the memory of his younger brother who died after being thrown into a well, and himself in his teens and twenties, wandering around, struggling to cope with the power he gained after being thrown into a well and coming back to life.
This child will probably never be free from this burden on his heart.
It may get lighter, but it will never go away.
As Doo-gyeom, who was wandering, began to use his ability to see and hear things that ordinary people could not see and hear to help spirits, ghosts, and living people, he met good people one by one and gradually learned how to bear the burden, but he was not completely free.
--- p.201~202

* Hmm~um.
Chijo slowly rolled his eyes.
Sam says he should be wary of affectionate people, but in Chijo's view, it is the affectionate people themselves who should be wary.
Deokjae must be a kind person.
So, it is clear that the affection that remained in the body went into the spring water that turned the body upside down.
The spring water did not disappear because of kind humans, but because of kindness.

Chijo thought about when Dugyeom was abandoned in the well.
At that time, Du-gyeom was really small.
It's small now, but back then it was the size of a soybean.
The people thrown into the well, Du-gyeom's younger brother, and the little child who cried out of pity for Chi-jo.
Now I think I understand a little bit.
The child would have been thrown into the well because he was so affectionate.
--- p.237

* What and who is causing this situation to persist?
What should we do about the lives of the victims whose lives are already irreversible?
If it is something that cannot be helped, then why do I, and countless others, suffer because of it?
Why are we angry?
Doo-gyeom, who was both a victim and a survivor of this absurd situation, still hasn't found the answer.
Doo-gyeom will never forgive the villagers who killed his younger brother.
Even if they were to suffer the pain of having their intestines ripped out by the devils of hell every day, I would not forgive them.
No, it wasn't forgiven.
but….
Doo-gyeom took a long, shallow breath.
I clenched my hands together to keep from shaking, but they kept shaking.
In the darkness, he felt countless ghosts watching him.
It was a threatening pressure.
Doo-gyeom made up his mind.
“But I can’t sit in my wounds forever.”
Noisy.
The surroundings were in an uproar.
--- p.301

* “That’s a hollyhock tree.”
The woman said.
To Chijo, all the children had different names, but to the girl, they were all called Hambakkkotnamu.
It is said to be a 'deciduous small tree of the magnolia family and the buttercup order' that mainly grows in deep mountain valleys throughout Joseon.
The man and the woman were looking at the same object with different eyes.
Something is really changing.
We are all swept away by the irreversible current.
(…) The woman’s words muffled behind Chijo’s consciousness, lost in thought.
Chijo raises his eyes and sees the mountains beyond reality, imbued with life from the ancient past, the cinematic beasts imbued with that energy, and the times they enjoyed.
The world Chijo knew was flowing along leisurely.
Leaving the alveolar ridge intact.

--- p.339