“It’s over!”
Someone somewhere shouted exactly what I was feeling. I thought they were shocked seeing this scene, but it was just students chatting, liberated after the college entrance exam ended. I, who barely came to my senses, examined Lee Hyeonseok carefully. Though faint, he was breathing.
I don’t know what I was thinking, but I left Lee Hyeonseok there for now and went into a general store 2 minutes away, bought a hat, mask, bandages, ointment, and bottled water, then came back. Lee Hyeonseok was still there as he had collapsed earlier. How persistent.
While calling a taxi and waiting, I wrapped the scarf I was wearing around Lee Hyeonseok. I deliberately wrapped it up to his lips to make it difficult to confirm his face. Then I quickly applied ointment to his head, wrapped a bandage, and put a hat on him. At this level, it would be difficult for anyone who saw him to recognize he was Lee Hyeonseok.
“Heup!”
I don’t know where the strength came from, but I lifted Lee Hyeonseok, who was much heavier than me, to his feet. I supported him as he was about to collapse, but Lee Hyeonseok’s drooping state looked like someone who had passed out drunk to anyone who saw him. Just as I was praying that no one would see, the taxi arrived.
I struggled to drag Lee Hyeonseok, opened the taxi door, and shoved him in. The taxi driver was startled. I pushed Lee Hyeonseok in further and sat next to him. The taxi driver couldn’t say anything and looked at us suspiciously, alternating between us.
“He took the exam while having a severe cold and ended up collapsing.”
“Oh my. What to do. How pitiful.”
I lied calmly. At my words flowing out very naturally, the taxi driver looked at Lee Hyeonseok pitifully and clicked his tongue. Anyone would feel pity seeing someone sick, but the sight of a student who passed out from illness on exam day was even more pitiful.
“I’ll quickly take you to the hospital.”
“No.”
“Huh? You want to go home? You can’t just dismiss it as a cold, it’s better to go to the hospital.”
“Nearby….”
The taxi driver tried to go to the hospital on his own even though I hadn’t decided on a destination. However, I shook my head and spoke carefully.
“Please take us to the nearest mountain.”
The taxi driver who heard my destination opened his mouth, then closed it. His pupils were shaking mercilessly. He didn’t stop glancing at us. The taxi driver didn’t intend to start driving. I could understand his heart a hundred, a thousand times.
“……”
A human who collapsed after the exam ended and a human supporting that human. No matter how you looked at it, it was an incomparably suspicious scene. I had nothing to say even if he reported us to the police. Somehow, today in particular was just awkward with the taxi driver.
“S-Student. I don’t know what’s going on, but grades aren’t everything.”
After much thought, he seemed to have judged that there was no way I would commit murder in broad daylight and be this calm. Instead, thinking we were students who ruined the exam and fell into despair thinking of suicide, he tried to persuade us with a trembling voice. Of course, since Lee Hyeonseok was still breathing with heated breaths and was alive, it wasn’t murder. And of course, I had no thoughts of suicide either.
“Haah— Ajeossi.”
“U-Uh?”
I deliberately let out a long sigh and called the taxi driver. I called him as if scolding him for being firmly mistaken. The taxi driver answered even stuttering. And I thrust my upper body forward to the front seat. The taxi driver hesitated for a moment as if encountering a suspicious person and moved his body back, but soon carefully returned to his original position. No, he came out a bit further from his original position and narrowed the distance with me.
“This friend is, well, that kind of… family.”
“That kind of family?”
I hesitated as if telling a very big secret. I acted as if I would or wouldn’t speak while moving my lips, then spoke carefully. In my appearance acting as if something big would happen if someone heard, there was no guilty spot to be found anywhere. At my appearance not looking particularly suspicious, the taxi driver’s guard loosened somewhat and he became curious about what would come out of my mouth.
“Well….”
“Well?”
After swallowing saliva once and taking my time for a while, when he urged me to speak quickly, I whispered very quietly to him.
“A shaman’s son.”
“!”
At the words “shaman’s son,” the taxi driver looked at me with wide eyes. At the look in his eyes telling me to explain properly, I returned to my place and scratched my head as if troubled. I leaned my upper body toward the taxi’s passenger seat.
The taxi driver stared intently at Lee Hyeonseok. Then he lowered his head and tried to focus on Lee Hyeonseok’s face hidden by the hat, so I stroked his cheek as if Lee Hyeonseok was pitiful and cleverly covered his face. He was faintly hot, as if he had a fever. I shook my head and apologized to the taxi driver in a sad voice.
“I’m sorry. This right now actually isn’t a cold, but a divine illness.”
“D-Divine illness!”
At the words divine illness, the taxi driver returned to his place. People of a certain age were generally not favorable toward shamans. It was common to not want to associate with them, so the taxi driver also frowned and withdrew his curiosity.
“He needs to receive the spirit but refused and said he’d pursue other dreams, so he took the exam and ended up like this…. This friend studied really hard to get into a good university. He studied so much for the exam, you know. You know how important the exam is to us.”
I bowed my head first before the taxi driver could kick us out and made a dejected voice. To somehow evoke sympathy, I repeatedly mentioned the word exam. The taxi driver felt sympathy as I wished, but strangely, my heart became heavy.
“No, then what do you do now?”
“First we have to go to the mountain to let him breathe in the clear energy, then purify him, draw purification water, and pray to the spirits.”
At the taxi driver’s worried voice, I spouted whatever came to mind without knowing what I was saying. Clear energy aside, how do you purify something on a mountain? I inwardly mocked my own words, but the taxi driver nodded with a serious face.
“Will that work?”
“It might not work, but it’s better than not doing it.”
The taxi driver was skeptical, but it was closer to a question about whether we should do something more rather than doubting me. I answered leaving room without affirming the taxi driver’s words. It seemed like having some appropriate gaps would increase credibility in me.
“Well…. Looking at him, he seems like he’s about to die any moment, so we have to do something.”
The taxi driver seemed to have completely fallen for my words as he agreed with me and showed signs of starting the taxi.
“Where was the nearest mountain around here….”
“Please go as fast as possible.”
“Okay, okay. …By the way, living life, I even get to see a student suffering from divine illness.”
The taxi driver muttered to recall the mountain he knew and finally started the car as if he remembered. I let out a sigh of relief and requested a quick arrival. The taxi driver said he understood while muttering to himself as if he’d seen something amazing. Hearing that muttering, I realized the taxi driver would carelessly run his mouth somewhere.
“Ajeossi.”
“U-Uh?”
I immediately lowered my voice and made my gaze cold, and the taxi driver who had just loosened his guard started to be on guard again. He stuttered and looked at me fearfully through the rearview mirror. Even I could see that my gaze in the rearview mirror was dark enough that not a speck of light could enter, so at this level it seemed like it could sufficiently give fear to ordinary people.
“You can’t tell anyone about what you saw just now, okay?”
“Huh? O-Oh. Y-Yeah, of course.”
I warned in a monotone voice. As expected, the taxi driver seemed to have been thinking of telling someone as he avoided my eyes and smiled awkwardly trying to hide his embarrassment. At his not very trustworthy appearance, I secretly shook Lee Hyeonseok. Then a faint groaning sound came from Lee Hyeonseok. The taxi driver flinched.
“Really. The spirit attached to this friend is a very jealous spirit, so it even hates when someone shows interest in this friend.”
“Hates it?”
“Yes. If you tell someone somewhere, you never know, ajeossi or the people around ajeossi might become in danger too.”
“Okay! I got it. I won’t tell anyone.”
At the words “hates it,” the taxi driver’s complexion turned pale. He widened his eyes and was wary of Lee Hyeonseok. I didn’t give him that gap and leaned toward the front seat once more while speaking quietly. The taxi driver desperately nodded and spoke as if making a pledge.
“Yes. You thought well.”
It seemed it wouldn’t be bad for me to seriously consider the path of an actor. I was having such leisurely thoughts while looking at the street beyond the running car window that was strangely full of vitality.
* * *
The mountain was 20 minutes away. I greeted and got off after the taxi driver took us as far as the inaccessible area. The taxi driver hurriedly turned back as if afraid someone would chase him. The vehicle body shaking on the slope rattled so much I was afraid he might get into an accident like that.
When I checked the time, it was already 6 o’clock, and since it was even in the mountains, it was very dark. I was scared a ghost might appear. I turned on my phone’s flashlight and held it in my mouth. I put both hands under Lee Hyeonseok’s armpits and dragged him away from the slope.
Contrary to my worry about what if I ran into hikers, I didn’t encounter anyone. Everything matched so well that Lee Hyeonseok didn’t wake up and was sleeping quietly and well.
After dragging the well-sleeping Lee Hyeonseok deep into the mountain for a while, my stamina ran out so I just laid Lee Hyeonseok on the ground. Even though it was a cold wave, I was hot enough to sweat. When I looked around, for some reason there was a shovel lying around.
It was just perfect timing.
