The mystical power of the golden chicken imbued in the feather crackled like lightning. Kyaaaaaaak, the ghost possessing the woman’s body shrieked.
“Mine! It’s my body!”
Sharp Gwigokseong filled the cafe. The windows rattled, and the tables and chairs also creaked and moved. Chwiweol and Taeho stood protectively in front of Ban Hanseong, who covered his ears. Shim Iyul frowned.
“Noisy.”
Eun Seonmyeong, who muttered indifferently, swept the feather upward from the foot. The ghost continued to scream while being gradually pushed up above the woman’s head.
“No!!! It’s my body!!! Kyaaaaaaak!!!”
The sight of the ghost’s face with blackened lips and blood-filled eyes floating above the unconscious woman’s head was quite grotesque. The ghost twisted its body, desperately trying to possess the woman’s body again, but it couldn’t overcome Eun Seonmyeong. It was when the ghost had floated about halfway above the woman’s head. Shim Iyul, who raised the corners of his mouth in a smile, grabbed the ghost’s neck. Then he pulled it out smoothly like pulling a radish from a field.
“A mere wandering ghost dares to ignore me?”
The terrified ghost’s blood-red pupils shook violently. Bright blue yogi formed clearly on the hand gripping the ghost’s neck.
“S-save me…”
“You’re already a dead ghost. Save you from what?”
Shim Iyul, who snorted, clenched his hand as if to break the ghost’s neck. Kyaaaaaaak, with another irritating Gwigokseong, the ghost scattered like dust and disappeared. He had shattered the soul itself.
“Hmph.”
Shim Iyul dusted off his hands and asked Eun Seonmyeong and Ban Hanseong, who were watching him, in a confrontational tone, “What? What is it?”
“Y-you did well. Fox-nim!”
Ban Hanseong shouted like Shim Iyul’s fervent devotee. Eun Seonmyeong looked at such Ban Hanseong as if viewing a sycophant, then looked around the cafe. Despite the bright sunlight streaming in, the interior still had a somehow gloomy feeling. It was the ghost’s influence. But since the possessing ghost had been annihilated, it would soon regain its bright energy.
“This woman has a constitution prone to ghost possession.”
Eun Seonmyeong said while looking at the woman still unconscious.
“Yeah.”
“It’s amazing she’s protected her body until now.”
“There was an existence that desperately protected this woman.”
“Who was it?”
Ban Hanseong asked, showing interest.
“…The cat this woman raised.”
Lee Jinkyung woke up about thirty minutes later. Her mind was dazed exactly like waking up from anesthesia. Her headache was also severe. She endured the headache with her brows deeply furrowed, then tears streamed down.
She remembered… After holding Kkamssi’s funeral and returning, while crying like crazy, she felt something invade her body. The cold and gloomy thing was a ghost. After losing control of her body, she had to crouch deep inside her body and just watch. The ghost moved her body freely. It ran through the streets giggling, ate food frantically and then vomited it all out.
“Finally possessed! After waiting five years, I finally possessed it! I won! Damn cat bastard, I won!”
While watching her body rolling on the floor laughing like a moviegoer watching a film, Lee Jinkyung could vaguely realize that Kkamssi had been protecting her. Though she took her to and from work every day, when she occasionally left Kkamssi at home and came back, the image of her being particularly sharp at the entrance came to mind. She would look up at the air and meow very sharply and shrilly – now that she thought about it, it must have been to drive away the ghost that followed her. When she tried to go out alone, Kkamssi would rub against her more intensely than usual, desperately trying to cover her with scent – that too must have been to protect her body from the ghost.
After she started raising Kkamssi, the severe sleep paralysis disappeared, so she vaguely thought ‘Is it thanks to our Kkamssi?’ and her guess was correct.
“Kkamssi.”
She had just thought she was getting old and her body wasn’t well, believed she would live several more years, but while crying remembering Kkamssi who suddenly left, she urgently looked around.
She now remembered that the regular customer who bought Einspänner every day had exorcised the ghost from her body. To be precise, the man the regular customer called had exorcised it.
The regular customer, Shim Iyul, was sitting expressionlessly on a chair near the entrance.
“Th-thank you.”
Lee Jinkyung, who approached him, bowed her head with sincere gratitude.
“……”
“I remember everything. The ghost that possessed my body… Thank you for exorcising it.”
“You’re not going to just settle it with words, are you?”
“O-of course not. What should I do? Money…”
“Money’s fine, one Einspänner…”
“The one who worked hard was me, so why are you stepping forward?”
Eun Seonmyeong, who was sitting across from Shim Iyul, said.
“Taking credit. How undignified.”
“I worked hard, so can’t I take credit? And your attitude seems too different from earlier? I heard you were an exorcist-nim.”
“That was then, this is now.”
“Your attitude changes so fast it takes my breath away.”
“If you’re really breathless, tell me. I’ll make a breathing hole in your neck.”
Lee Jinkyung looked at the two bickering in puzzlement. They seemed to be fighting, but neither voice had malice or emotion.
“Excuse me…”
At Lee Jinkyung’s words, the two stopped bickering.
“Kkamssi… the cat I raised has been protecting me all this time, right?”
“Yes.”
At the brief answer, the tears that had stopped momentarily poured out again. Her guess was right. Lee Jinkyung wiped the tears with the back of her hand and sobbed.
“I thought I saved her, but Kkamssi was saving me.”
She used to say ‘I’m your life’s benefactor, you know? So repay the favor by living long,’ but Kkamssi had already repaid the favor to the point of excess, and was rather bestowing a debt she couldn’t repay.
“I’m sorry.”
Lee Jinkyung, who finally turned away, cried silently with her lips bitten. Tears endlessly poured out. She already missed the black, sleek fur and the corn chip smell of the paws, the purring sound when she buried her head in the fur, the warm body temperature.
There was still so much time left to live without Kkamssi, and she felt lost about how to endure that time. She didn’t know how to live missing and longing for her. How to endure the emptiness as if a part of her body had been torn off.
‘Kkamssi.’
After crying for a long time calling Kkamssi inwardly, she finally suppressed her emotions and turned around with reddened eyes.
“I’ll make you an Einspänner. Please wait a moment.”
Lee Jinkyung smiled with effort through swollen eyes and made two Einspänners with more care than ever.
“Thank you for saving me. But are you two shamans… by any chance?”
At the word shaman, Eun Seonmyeong furrowed his brows. Shim Iyul, who swallowed a laugh, answered “Let’s say something similar” and received the Einspänner. When he naturally tried to receive both cups, Eun Seonmyeong swatted away Shim Iyul’s left hand and took one cup. Shim Iyul muttered “How petty.”
“Kkamssi… crossed the rainbow bridge well, right?”
Lee Jinkyung, who had been hesitating, asked Shim Iyul.
“I’m sure she did.”
Unlike humans, animals rarely leave behind resentment and obsession. So she must have already crossed to the afterlife with light steps and was waiting for reincarnation.
“That’s… a relief. I feel a bit at ease.”
Lee Jinkyung smiled while forcibly holding back tears that threatened to pour out again.
“Please accept this.”
Shim Iyul held out a talisman he had practically snatched from Eun Seonmyeong.
“What’s this?”
“Always keep it on you. It will help.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“If you’re that grateful, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t close the cafe if possible. I can’t stand anything but the Einspänner from here.”
Shim Iyul left the cafe, leaving behind her who answered “Yes. I’ll try.” Perhaps because he drank it desperately, it was twice as delicious as usual. He sipped it happily slurp-slurp-slurp, and it ran out before he even got home. It wasn’t like the cup size at <The House Where You Are> was small, but the amount felt insufficient.
Shim Iyul, who was looking pitifully at the cup with only ice remaining, turned his gaze to Eun Seonmyeong’s right hand. He could see a cup that was almost full.
“Turn those eyes away. It’s mine.”
“You said it wasn’t that good! You said you didn’t know why you were drinking it?! Don’t force yourself to drink it and give it to me.”
“No.”
“Why?!”
“Because it’s the price for my labor. What do you think one of my talismans is worth? You make me work for free, snatch my talisman, the loss is enormous. So I have to stubbornly drink at least this.”
“Don’t be petty and just give it to me. I’ll only drink one sip.”
“I saw earlier you finished it in three sips. Is your one sip based on a hippo’s standard?”
“A pig, a dog, and now a hippo?!”
That damn hunter keeps comparing the great Fire Fox to any animal?
While fuming, they arrived home. As soon as Shim Iyul crossed the gate, he reached for Eun Seonmyeong’s Einspänner. If he won’t give it, I’ll snatch it! Then, as if waiting for it, Eun Seonmyeong raised his right arm up and twisted his body, and their legs tangled and they fell.
Eun Seonmyeong’s back hit the ground, and Shim Iyul fell covering Eun Seonmyeong. Eun Seonmyeong’s short groan and the sound of ice pouring from the cup thrown on the ground were heard simultaneously.
The two froze for a moment in their overlapped state. Hearts pounded in their touching chests. Shim Iyul’s flustered breath poured onto Eun Seonmyeong’s nape. Eun Seonmyeong felt the illusion of dizzying pheromones piercing his lungs again. His head became distant and all his senses stood sharply on edge. It felt like blood was rapidly rushing to his lower half.
It was when they were frozen motionless as if time had stopped.
“What are you doing?”
It was Ban Hanseong, who had fled saying he would go home first since the woman would wake up soon. Eun Seonmyeong and Shim Iyul pushed each other away simultaneously without saying who first and stood up abruptly.
“We fell.”
“We fell.”
This time too, they answered simultaneously. Ban Hanseong, who had been window shopping on his phone in the Sarangchae and came to the main building after hearing a thud, asked Eun Seonmyeong, “Can I buy this?” Eun Seonmyeong answered without even looking at the phone Ban Hanseong held out.
“You’re buying with your money, so why ask? Since when did you buy things with my permission?”
“Then I’ll press purchase now?”
“Do whatever you want. I’m going to the store.”
Eun Seonmyeong turned around and left just like that. Shim Iyul looked down at his slightly erect lower half and staggered up to the main hall.
‘Am I crazy? Why is it up?’
It was fortunate his clothes were loose so it didn’t show, or he would have been greatly embarrassed.
“Fox-nim! Where are you going?”
“I received a mental shock, so I need to lie down.”
It wasn’t even heat, yet it stood just from briefly touching a mere hunter. The mental shock was severe.
“You won’t play with me?”
“Play by yourself for thirty minutes.”
Shim Iyul, who waved his hand dismissively at the dejected Ban Hanseong, entered Eun Seonmyeong’s room.
