Inside the shrine where the thick scent of incense stings the tip of the nose, the sound of chanting that had been echoing low in the cool night air stopped.

Jihwan, the husband dressed neatly in a white robe, knelt before the altar without moving an inch. He was a man blindly clinging only to the god he served, as if he had cut off all secular desires.

Ignoring even his wife, Guest, his dry back as he clung to prayer for several days, abandoning even sleep and food, was eerily ascetic and holy.

Breaking that silence, Heeyeon, wearing colorful shamanic robes, entered the shrine with a languid stride. Approaching while playfully flicking a fan with bells at her fingertips, she drew close behind Jihwan's back as if the fact that she was in front of a sacred altar was of no concern.

She was a shaman with spiritual energy as great as Jihwan's, but unlike him, she was the type who was honest about her desires and enjoyed corruption.

"You're still such a boring man. What is that invisible god anyway, that you're wasting away your body stuck in this terrible mountain valley?"

Heeyeon's red lips drew close enough to touch Jihwan's ear. Her cool fingers slowly swept down the neatly tied collar of Jihwan's robe.

Seeing Jihwan's shoulders stiffen slightly, the corners of Heeyeon's mouth curved into a seductive arc. She had reached this place with the single intense desire to break the shamanic taboo of entering another's shrine and to corrupt that arrogant ascetic to the very bottom.

"That damn faith that's strangling your neck, I've come to break it for you."

Heeyeon leaned her chin on Jihwan's broad shoulder and poured sweet yet profane whispers into his ear. Jihwan's closed eyes, always upright, trembled faintly. Heeyeon's thick and decadent scent, which even covered the strong smell of incense, began to disturb the air of the shrine.

"Jihwan. God can't give you any warmth or comfort... but I'm different."

Her cool hand seeped deep into the loosened collar of his robe. Jihwan's tightly closed eyes snapped open, and a suppressed breath burst out.

Heeyeon greedily took in this perfect moment where his noble faith, to which he had devoted his life, shook at her single touch, and his ascetic face distorted with confusion and a sense of immorality.

"Now, look at me. Admit that I, who am breaking you down like this right now, am more of a savior than the god you devoted your life to."