In fact, thinking about the past, even rushing over right now and beating him nearly to death again wouldn’t be enough, but the reason he thought he should eliminate it later anyway was because of Goljinchung’s characteristics. If Goljinchung only laid eggs on Lee Seonghun and his family, he would have ignored it with a smile. What do you mean ignore? He would have gladly gone with popcorn to watch Lee Seonghun and his family get infected one after another.
“I don’t have anything like a sense of duty, but as a hunter, Goljinchung is one of the yokai that must be killed immediately upon discovery, so I can’t ignore it.”
“I know. But why did you call me? I’m not even an exorcist.”
“Let’s go together when we go see that bastard Lee Seonghun.”
“Why would I go see th-that bastard?”
Ban Hanseong, who flinched, stammered slightly. His complexion had even turned pale just from the thought of seeing Lee Seonghun, as if his heart was tightening.
“To watch him writhe in pain.”
Having a bug that sucks marrow inside his body, it must hurt and be painful enough to want to die. It seemed like it would be quite fun to watch. The joy of watching him beg to be saved wouldn’t be insignificant either.
In the past, Lee Seonghun had laughed watching Ban Hanseong suffer. This time it was their turn to laugh at Lee Seonghun’s suffering.
“Gaju.”
“What?”
“When I see you at times like this, you really seem like a villain.”
“So you don’t want to go?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to…… but I don’t want to go either…… I’ll think about it.”
Ban Hanseong answered hesitantly while scratching his chin. Eun Seonmyeong said “I’ll eliminate it just before it becomes an adult, so there’s still time. Think about it slowly.” Ban Hanseong originally had difficulty with people. Much less Lee Seonghun—he understood it wouldn’t be easy to decide. Lee Seonghun was the very person who had planted a huge and terrible trauma in Ban Hanseong.
However, though Eun Seonmyeong said to think about it, he had inwardly made up his mind to definitely drag Ban Hanseong along by any means necessary.
“Hunter.”
Shim Iyul, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, called Eun Seonmyeong.
“What?”
Eun Seonmyeong, who took a sip of coffee that had cooled lukewarmly while talking with Ban Hanseong, gave his attention to Shim Iyul.
“Let me go too. It seems like it’ll be totally fun.”
Shim Iyul smiled brightly, raising the corners of his mouth.
***
When Ban Hanseong was pushed by his classmates at Lee Seonghun’s orders, if he’d tried to retaliate with the help of ghosts, it would have been possible. Ban Hanseong adored the ghosts he employed, Chwiweol and Taeho, so he hadn’t even thought of using those two. At that time, Ban Hanseong had taken the stance of ‘Chwiweol noona and Taeho are my family, so I’ll never use them.’
But at that time, Chwiweol and Taeho weren’t the only ghosts around Ban Hanseong. There was also the ghost attached to Lee Seonghun. It was a ghost who had committed suicide unable to bear Lee Seonghun’s school violence.
He found out later, but the reason Lee Seonghun had transferred during the awkward period of 9th grade fall was precisely because a classmate who couldn’t bear his bullying had committed suicide. Perhaps unable to abandon his timid and weak personality from life, the ghost who even in death just followed Lee Seonghun around didn’t even know what he should do. He was just resentful and bitter.
If it had been Eun Seonmyeong, he would have used that ghost to retaliate against Lee Seonghun. What did it matter if he harmed a human and couldn’t ride the wheel of reincarnation or fell into hellfire? But Ban Hanseong didn’t do that. He said he didn’t want ghosts to harm people because of him. Rather, perhaps afraid the ghost might later transform into a vengeful spirit and harm Lee Seonghun, he persuaded him and sent him to the afterlife. Ban Hanseong, who asked why he did it even when Eun Seonmyeong beat up Lee Seonghun, was a truly foolish guy.
Of course he understood the thought of not wanting to cause harm to beings he cherished. Though frustrating, he wasn’t unaware that was Ban Hanseong’s way of protecting things. Ban Hanseong was a guy with a tender heart, though he occasionally acted selfishly. He couldn’t understand such a Ban Hanseong, but he had no intention of disregarding his way. He just felt sorry for him.
Eun Seonmyeong thought Ban Hanseong would never be able to leave home for life. When he forcibly dragged him out several times feeling frustrated and saw him have panic attacks, he wanted to kill Lee Seonghun. There were many times he wanted to gather all the vengeful spirits in the world and send them to Lee Seonghun. He lamented that assault was too easy a retaliation. He should have repaid him more persistently and viciously. If Lee Seonghun had remained in Korea, he didn’t know what he might have done if he’d gone to find him again.
It was Han Seolju’s father who said Ban Hanseong needed time, so wait for him slowly. Eun Seonmyeong swallowed his impatience, frustration, and resentment, trying his best to watch over Ban Hanseong without stimulating him as much as possible.
Ban Hanseong, who Eun Seonmyeong thought would become a complete shut-in who never went out and only touched the computer at home, began to change in the winter when he was sixteen. Ban Hanseong, who came on the coldest day that year, shouted excitedly toward Eun Seonmyeong.
“I’m going to become a shaman who only takes requests from ghosts!”
And after that, Ban Hanseong gradually got better. He still found people awkward and tried to avoid them as much as possible, and sometimes showed fear, but he went out little by little. Because he needed to go out even if he didn’t want to in order to solve the requests he’d received. Though at a frustratingly slow pace, Ban Hanseong very slowly got better to become what he is now.
Eun Seonmyeong silently gazed at Ban Hanseong, who was telling Shim Iyul about the past. Ban Hanseong, who was in the middle of talking with hand and foot gestures as if recounting heroic tales, was how to say it…… looked really guileless.
“The fact that I was fine after that, you know? Though my skin got scraped a bit and I suffered a bit from an ankle sprain. Do you know how high the rooftop was? It was a whopping 5 stories high.”
A sigh came out naturally. Eun Seonmyeong called Han Seolju in a frustrated voice.
“Seolju.”
“Yes.”
“Sometimes I think Hanseong, that bastard, is really lacking.”
“You’re only realizing that now? I already knew when I was three.”
Han Seolju agreed with Eun Seonmyeong’s opinion with an impassive expression.
“But do you know why Hanseong only takes requests from female ghosts?”
He knew why he became a ghost-specialized shaman. But he didn’t know why he insisted only on female ghosts.
“He says it’s because of the principle of yin and yang.”
“What nonsense is that? Everything becomes yin when dead.”
Whether male or female, when they die and become ghosts, life energy drains out and only yin energy fills them. But what does he mean talking about the principle of yin and yang?
“I gave up trying to understand Hanseong when I was five.”
“I already gave up long ago too. Let’s go to the shop.”
It was when Eun Seonmyeong, who shook his head, stood up. Shim Iyul, who had been quietly listening to Ban Hanseong’s story, tilted his head as if ‘Something’s strange?’
“You’re in the middle of talking about being bullied by humans your age and falling from the rooftop, right?”
“Yes, Fox-nim!”
“But why are you so carefree?”
“Pardon?”
“You should normally be burning with resentment and anger saying you’ll get revenge, right?”
At Shim Iyul’s words, Ban Hanseong scratched his nape while still smiling cheerfully.
“It was a long time ago. The gaju also beat him to a pulp for me, and he’s suffering from Goljinchung. I guess divine punishment does exist. I just feel relieved now.”
Shim Iyul let out a sigh. While doing so, he made an expression like Eun Seonmyeong earlier, as if ‘This seems like a lacking human?’ Eun Seonmyeong nodded to Shim Iyul, who looked this way as if seeking agreement. It meant he thought the same.
“You definitely have to go too.”
Shim Iyul said firmly while grabbing Ban Hanseong’s shoulder.
“Pardon?”
“Grudges should be repaid to be satisfying! How chewy and delicious the taste of repaying grudges is, how sweet as honey the taste of repaying one hit with ten hits is—I’ll show you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“What do you mean it’s fine? It’s not fine! You definitely have to go too, shaman.”
“If Fox-nim says so, then yes. I’ll go together.”
Eun Seonmyeong let out an empty laugh seeing Ban Hanseong answer immediately to Shim Iyul’s suggestion. When he himself said to go, he said he’d think about it.
“I’m really worried how you’ll live in this harsh and cunning human world being so lacking—no, with such a weak heart.”
Shim Iyul looked at Ban Hanseong with pitying eyes. Looking at him repeatedly, he felt so sorry he wanted to pat the funky hair he’d now grown accustomed to. He knew to some extent, if not completely, how it felt to be ostracized and even bullied by one’s own kind. He’d lost his mother to the White Fox whom he’d believed was the same species, and had almost died attacked by a Fire Fox who was truly the same species. Only then did he realize that species meant nothing to yosu. That’s why maybe his mother wanted Shim Iyul to live as a human, not a yosu.
However, humans were no different from yosu either. Humans also attacked fellow humans, ostracized them, and even killed them. Like those who killed his father.
Though he of course also knew there were good humans, most humans to Shim Iyul were people he couldn’t associate with. That’s why he didn’t truly trust or expect anything from them.
‘When giving your heart to humans, you must keep half back.’
Because the possibility of betrayal is high. Thinking that, it was when Shim Iyul unconsciously glanced at Eun Seonmyeong.
“Not really that much……”
“I’ll protect you. Because you’re a human I rather like.”
Shim Iyul tapped Ban Hanseong’s shoulder. Eun Seonmyeong’s eyes narrowed.
“Who are you to protect Hanseong? Hanseong is my bongshin, so if anyone protects him, it’s me.”
“Are you jealous? Should I protect you too? Just say the word. As if this Fire Fox-nim can’t protect one more weak human.”
Shim Iyul straightened his shoulders. Looking at the high-spirited Shim Iyul with eyes lowered downward, he was dumbfounded. So for a moment, he was even at a loss for words. It was just as Eun Seonmyeong was belatedly about to say he didn’t need protection from the likes of him.
“The gaju can sufficiently protect himself, so you don’t need to worry, Fox-nim. Thank you so much for protecting me. Shall I buy you a cup of coffee as thanks?”
“Make it Einspänner.”
Shim Iyul answered immediately.
“I’ll buy you even ten cups. Shall we go now?”
“Sounds good. Let’s go right away.”
The back of Shim Iyul, who excitedly went out the gate shoulder to shoulder with Ban Hanseong, was truly absurd. For a fox, he had no pride—lured with coffee, he’d gladly follow along saying oh boy. That Fire Fox was.
“Gaju.”
“……”
“CEO-nim!”
At Han Seolju’s call, Eun Seonmyeong snapped to attention and cleared his throat. Then he put on the outerwear Han Seolju held out.
“Let’s go.”
While going to the shop, Han Seolju held the steering wheel. Eun Seonmyeong, who headed straight to the CEO’s office upon arriving at the shop, said to Han Seolju, who followed.
“Seolju, go buy a cup of Einspänner.”
Let me try what the taste of that damn Einspänner is like.
