Binding the Noble One 14

'The truly frightening thing isn't ghosts. The truly frightening thing is a person who holds a ghost inside them. On the off chance you ever come across someone like that — don't hesitate. Run.'

Siyun has lived since childhood concealing his spirit eyes.

One day, Gyohyun comes to his workshop and holds out a keyring made a few months prior, asking:

"Is this something made here?"

A courteous manner and a gentle way of speaking. Yet an unease that was difficult to put into words pressed down on Siyun. And not long after, a friend who had visited a haunted house becomes possessed by something.

The one who appears before Siyun in his moment of crisis is none other than Lee Gyohyun.

"Looks like there was a prior guest?"

And so the two become deeply entangled in a fate neither can escape….

"Found you — my noble one."

※ All shamanistic content, place names, and rituals that appear in this work are entirely fictional.

"Got you."

A calm, low voice drifted down from above.

The blood in his entire body surged in reverse. Siyun froze where he lay, face down. He couldn't move a single fingertip — not even his eyes.

Slowly — very slowly — he lifted his head.

The moment their eyes met, Gyohyun curved his lips as if making a point of it.

"Hide-and-seek is over?"

His gaze drifted to his wristwatch.

"You ran for quite a while."

His tone was composed. Like a hunter appraising his prey.

"Why not try running a little more?"

"H-how…… I was sure……"

Siyun's voice fractured into hollow pieces.

Gyohyun, who had been quietly looking down at Siyun's terror-stricken face, let the corner of his mouth curl upward once more.

He bent his knees and crouched down, then whispered:

"Looking at you now — Cha Siyun. It seems you have a talent beyond working leather."

The fingertips that touched Siyun's cheek were cold as ice.

"The talent for driving someone mad."