“Urk.”
Cheon Yijae staggered. The poison that poured out like jureureuk— seeped into Jaegui as if ink was spreading, and it seemed to have affected the host in an instant as well. His complexion paled.
It had been the yokai’s scheme to poison Cheon Yijae from the start.
“Cheon Yijae!”
“Hiik! S-Sojunim!”
Do Seonhwa and Jin Gwangmin were horrified, and Seowoo was also surprised as he examined him. A red light seemed to briefly hover in the eyes of Cheon Yijae, who had lowered his head with his hand covering his mouth. The Jaegui bitten by the centipede yokai quickly retreated, but perhaps the toxicity had already spread, as its form trembled unstably.
The sight of the giant red mouth surging was ominous, so nearby members hesitantly stepped back. Not only that, but the red energy rippling around Cheon Yijae also seemed to ominously break off—ttuk, ttuk, ttuk—and then.
Pwaaaaak!
Finally, Jaegui burst out. It exploded to the extent that no other word besides truly ‘burst’ could be attached, and the small separated Jaegui like remnants began to fly around wildly.
It was a scene where what had been one giant thing split into dozens, hundreds of small entities and ran wild.
“Shit… Stay still.”
Cheon Yijae, gritting his teeth, stretched his hand forward and pressed down firmly. It was a gesture trying to suppress the evil spirits subordinate to him, and blue veins bulged on his pale hand.
Accordingly, the spirits that had been moving as if maddened slowly settled down, but—
“Kkeulleok.”
Stagger, the moment Cheon Yijae wavered again and lost his balance, the evil spirits stirred again. He hurriedly covered his mouth, but blood flowed out between his fingers. Not only that, but from his white fingertips, seurereu— dark blemishes began to form.
It wasn’t that he’d been hit by the Ghost Energy the yokai spewed. It was a situation where Cheon Yijae couldn’t control his own Ghost Energy.
Moreover, from the moment he spilled blood, the Jaegui’s movements became even more intense, and their behavior seemed strange somewhere to be seen simply as running wild after losing their leash. The way they writhed wildly and swirled around Cheon Yijae was as if…
[Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat!]
[Now! Now! Now! Now!]
[Tear it apart! Tear! Rip it to shreds!]
[Take it! Steal it! Steal it! Take it! Take it!]
They seemed to be targeting Cheon Yijae.
The evil spirits that had grasped that the host had weakened were trying to swallow Cheon Yijae’s body. They deliberately trembled noisily to make him expend energy controlling them, and behaved as if waiting for him to weaken.
It was a chilling sight. The evil spirits that had ‘opened their mouths’ in the direction he gestured following Cheon Yijae’s orders until now were now baring their sharp teeth toward him.
The members who saw that slowly distanced themselves from him.
“Sh-shouldn’t we avoid him?”
“The Ghost Energy is ominous…”
Anxious energy rose one by one on the members’ faces. They glanced at Cheon Yijae, and the emotion contained in those eyes seemed closer to wariness than worry.
“If Sojunim eventually turns into an evil spirit like this…!”
If Cheon Yijae couldn’t control Jaegui and his body was taken over, from that moment he would be conversely controlled by the evil spirits. Losing initiative and being led, ultimately his very existence would become a living, moving evil spirit.
A calamity that destroys the world’s balance.
Hostile energy gradually appeared in the members’ gazes. As if they’d anticipated this would happen someday, they revealed hostility as if they’d been together with a ticking time bomb all along.
The centipede yokai burst out in giggles.
[Keuk, keuheuheut… Dog, your treatment is so miserable. How pitiful…]
“Shut up.”
Cheon Yijae ground out viciously. Then hwak! He firmly grasped the leashes of the wildly rampaging Jaegui as if gripping and pulling them, then threw them all at the yokai.
It seemed like he was trying to block the yokai’s mouth so it couldn’t use poison again, but that attack missed at the end. He failed to aim accurately because he couldn’t control the surging Jaegui.
“Keuk…”
The complexion of Cheon Yijae gritting his teeth was pale. He turned white as if about to collapse at any moment, and cold sweat was fully beaded on his forehead, so Jin Gwangmin sighed.
“Oh my, what to do with that… We can’t even get close…”
Since Cheon Yijae couldn’t control Jaegui, approaching him was also impossible. If they approached closely, they could be attacked by Jaegui, and if such an accident occurred, Sojunim’s position in Heun would be tremendously shaken.
Though even now his reputation was fierce, it was based on ‘fear.’ Everyone read the room before his terrifying power, but if he hurt an ally, he would obviously be ostracized. Perhaps he might not be able to go outside Heun like before.
“Wait! Everyone please don’t attack right now! You mustn’t provoke him…!”
Do Seonhwa also urgently shouted from over there. In the current situation, even long-range combat shamans couldn’t use their strength. Because if Jaegui was hit by talismans thrown from afar, even Cheon Yijae would take damage.
In a situation like being surrounded on all sides, Seowoo looked around and asked,
“Is finding the Guiyeok’s exit useless here?”
“Yes… Since that yokai is already using a lot of the Hyungok’s energy, in fact right now it’s at a level where there’s no exit. The door will only open if we kill the yokai.”
At the movie theater, when they found and opened the Guiyeok’s exit, the evil spirit took damage, but even then, it recovered by swallowing the Hyungok and hid the exit again.
Moreover, if that time was a theater created to stimulate Seowoo’s trauma so they had to escape, the current Guiju was targeting ‘prey,’ so the situation was also different. The way to break through Guiyeok varied depending on the Guiju’s purpose.
Around the time Seowoo sighed quietly, small murmuring was heard from the side. It was the sound of barrier masters protecting the missing people grumbling.
“The Ghost Energy is too severe…”
Since ordinary people were dangerous if exposed to Ghost Energy for long, they’d deployed a protective formation, but the Ghost Energy swirling in the space grew increasingly strong, so the barrier masters had to add more spiritual power. Seowoo was in a safe situation with the prayer beads he’d received from Jin Gwangmin before entering the Guiyeok, but even he felt breathing was becoming stifling.
The barrier masters glanced at Cheon Yijae and whispered.
“It’s really hard every time we work jointly with Sojunim…”
“Why did the Head give the successor position to that side instead of leaving his perfectly fine granddaughter alone?”
However, their complaints seemed a bit removed from simply finding Cheon Yijae uncomfortable. Seowoo, who turned his head in puzzlement, noticed that their gazes were directed at Do Seonhwa.
“Originally, Seonhwa-nim should have become Sojunim. The Do family has led Heun since its founding.”
“Right. Plus, since she’s the current Head’s only granddaughter raised with such devotion, everyone thought she’d naturally become the successor…”
…Was Do Seonhwa the Head’s granddaughter?
Seowoo felt one major question being resolved now. No wonder Do Seonhwa used various spells and weapons—it was because she came from the family that led Heun. He understood both the reason the ghosts held grudges and also the background of Team 1 members being somewhat cooperative with her.
So that’s why Jin Gwangmin seemed uncomfortable when explaining the situation of the Head appointing Cheon Yijae as Sojunim in the past…
Then why on earth did Cheon Yijae become Sojunim instead of Do Seonhwa?
“Perhaps… the Head was bewitched by Jaegui…”
“What on earth are you saying! You’re crossing the line too severely!”
Jin Gwangmin approached the quietly murmuring barrier master and shouted loudly. The barrier masters were startled at the surprise approach. The realization came belatedly that they’d been too careless with their words in a space where Jin Gwangmin, who came from a vassal family of the Do family and served Do Seonhwa, was nearby.
They fumbled saying they’d misspoken, but Jin Gwangmin’s angry expression didn’t soften. Though he had an image like a novice monk, when he scowled fiercely, that momentum was quite sharp.
“That’s not the only nonsense! It’s not like Sojunim deliberately spread Ghost Energy—it happened in the process of fighting, yet you’re so full of complaints! When he hunted ghosts for you, you were happy saying it was convenient!”
Jin Gwangmin shouted furiously. Did he too fear Cheon Yijae yet couldn’t forgive others badmouthing him? While Seowoo watched the conflict scene with peculiar feelings, the barrier masters spoke while reading the room.
“But it’s true that recently Sojunim’s—ah, Sojunim’s ability has been shaking. Though he’s still strong, perhaps he can’t control his own Ghost Energy, as he has much more blemishes than before…”
“While continuing to refuse purification, it’s eerie whenever we see his hands stained with blemishes. It’s not like he deliberately shows them…”
In small voices, they argued as if crawling and tried to sneakily elicit Jin Gwangmin’s agreement. They tried to coax him, asking if serving Sojunim closely wasn’t hard for him too.
And from a slightly distant position, the centipede yokai narrowed its eyes and looked this way. Perhaps having eavesdropped on the conversation the humans were having, it giggled.
[Aah, you’re ostracized even while wearing a leash…]
The atmosphere surrounding Cheon Yijae had changed since he was hit by poison. Gazes containing wariness flew from various places, and though the combat shamans stopped attacking following Do Seonhwa’s request, the tips of their weapons pointed this way. It was unclear whether they were aiming at the yokai or being cautious of Jaegui that might run wild at any time.
The yokai asked Cheon Yijae in a quite affectionate voice.
[Don’t you feel like turning to our side now…?]
