After the accident, the only thing that changed around Cheon Jieon was Shin Mua alone. Gwi Bosal knew that he had been secretly active as Yangseon’s collaborator, but now he’d lost his memory after the accident. Gwi Bosal thought that he should now be identified as a different being from the Shin Mua that Cheon Yangseon had known.
“Hmm, then I’ll arrange a meal for the two of them.”
Yangseon answered without much thought. He believed anything Gwi Bosal said first of all, so there was no reason to refuse something like having a meal with his nephew and his spouse. After all, that was also entirely for the sake of his son.
“Yes, then I’ll ask you to do that.”
“Oh my, what are you saying. I’m the one who doesn’t know how to repay this debt of gratitude…. I’m always grateful and I ask for your continued favor in the future.”
At Gwi Bosal’s consistently polite and respectful attitude, Yangseon bowed deeply, almost prostrating himself.
Gwi Bosal’s attitude had also influenced Yangseon’s devotion to him. When you hold the life of a chaebol family member in your hands, it would be easy to become arrogant, but Gwi Bosal consistently maintained a humble attitude.
He didn’t demand excessive money, nor did he openly look down on or speak down to people. Moreover, Yangseon knew that he’d already earned enough money to last him until he died and then some. If he wanted, he could obtain even greater fortunes in the future.
To put it bluntly, it wasn’t like Yangseon had tremendous power to control all of South Korea, so if Gwi Bosal truly coveted money or honor, there was no way he would help him like this, even risking his own life.
He was helping him solely out of a will to save those in difficulty and desperation. That’s what Yangseon thought.
“I’ll contact you when everything is ready. Until then, I hope you recover completely.”
Yangseon bowed with deep respect until the very end and left the room walking backwards.
“Shin Mua….”
Having stepped outside, Yangseon muttered the name of someone he hadn’t paid much attention to until now. Before the accident, he’d used him conveniently whenever needed, but now that he’d lost his memory, he had no particular use and hadn’t thought deeply about him. But seeing Gwi Bosal take an interest in him, he suddenly felt suspicious of him.
“I won’t let anyone interfere with saving my son….”
A strange heat seethed in Yangseon’s eyes as he whispered quietly. Whether it was Shin Mua or anyone else, no one would be able to block the path he was taking.
***
“Are you alright?”
Mua, who greeted Seoran when she came to the hotel, asked with a somewhat worried face. And for good reason—Seoran’s face, which he was seeing after several days, had literally become half of what it was.
Not only that. Her skin had somehow become haggard and the area under her eyes was sunken like someone who hadn’t slept a wink for several days. She looked like she could collapse at any moment.
“I’m fine. I won in the end anyway.”
Her appearance as she answered that she was fine didn’t look fine at all. Because in the middle of saying that, she laughed “hehe,” and that laughter didn’t sound quite normal either.
“Are you really sure you’re okay? You look like you’re about to collapse right now.”
Jieon also spoke with genuine concern. But Seoran instead puffed out her chest more confidently and lifted her head proudly.
“Oh come on, what do you take this Seoran-mu for. No matter how terrible they are, me and my grandma are more terrible.”
“Good. Very impressive.”
Mua finally burst into a chuckle and answered. Even saying that, purifying a space filled with malice and curses—moreover, breaking the spell cast by a shaman skilled enough to affect a Grim Reaper—was absolutely not an easy task. He was willing to indulge her even if she was more boastful than this.
“I feel even better getting praised by the Grim Reaper.”
Though her face giggling with bloodshot red eyes was still worrying.
“Right. Did you find out anything new?”
“Ah, right. That’s actually why I came. Grandma and I found something more in that house, but….”
Seoran trailed off, glancing at Jieon. Mua immediately caught the meaning. It seemed to be an issue that might shock Jieon, the person involved. Naturally, Mua’s gaze also turned to Jieon, and he lightly shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s fine, just say it. What more could shock me at this point?”
“If you say so, well… Go ahead and speak comfortably.”
Mua didn’t bother to ask again if he’d be okay. Cheon Jieon wasn’t a one or two-year-old child, and through their conversations so far, he’d realized that Jieon was a more solid person than he’d thought.
“Okay! Then I’ll just say it. But this isn’t certain yet and is just a hypothesis from me and Grandma.”
“We’ll keep that in mind.”
“At first, the spell was so vicious that I really thought there was clear intent to kill you, sir. There’d be no reason to go that far unless that was the case.”
“But?”
“But… that talisman you said you found inside the pillow.”
Before leaving that house, Mua had left behind the talisman he’d discovered and passed it on to Seoran. It seemed like such an elaborately made talisman that he was worried there might be consequences if he rashly got rid of it, and also because he wondered if a shaman’s eyes might discover new facts.
Mua’s eyes sharpened.
“That… it wasn’t simply a talisman to extinguish a person’s life.”
“Then?”
“Ah, how should I explain this. So… it wasn’t trying to completely erase the life you have, sir, but rather trying to steal it from you.”
“That’s the same thing. How is that different?”
Jieon interjected with a puzzled expression. Whether they erased his life or stole it, he’d die either way, so he couldn’t understand what the difference was. But Mua nodded with a serious face. Seoran continued her explanation.
“It’s different. Erasing it means just burning it up so that no one, including you sir, can use it.”
“And…?”
“But stealing it means taking it away so someone else can use it, so it can be recycled.”
“Recycled…?”
Jieon slightly frowned at the frivolous word to use as a metaphor for a human life. Recycling a life—was that even possible? Before Jieon could deeply ponder the question that came to mind, Mua muttered quietly.
“Not scattering the life force, but breaking the life and covering it over another’s life…?”
The surroundings instantly fell silent. Jieon swallowed dry saliva at the inexplicable tension. He wasn’t familiar with the words Mua had uttered, but just from the nuance, he could vividly feel their ominousness.
“This is just a hypothesis, a hypothesis! That talisman was repeatedly overdrawn so cunningly that it was hard to easily recognize. One thing that’s certain is that it’s fundamentally different from just an ordinary curse. Grandma told me to make sure to say this.”
Mua mulled over what Seoran had said and fell into thought for a moment. Though she’d said it was just a hypothesis, considering what he’d experienced as well, this seemed much more plausible.
Even setting aside the fact that the curse was indescribably elaborate, it didn’t make sense that a Grim Reaper of Mua’s caliber would possess a human body for a ritual with such a trivial purpose.
That’s why Mua had expected there to be a grander and more sinister purpose. But if they were trying to steal Cheon Jieon’s life as is and cover it over someone else, everything made sense.
“It wasn’t simply trying to send misfortune to Cheon Jieon. If that were the case, there’d be no need to painstakingly curse him to weaken his vitality.”
Mua muttered while organizing his thoughts alone. Generally, even the Daesu-daemyeong Gut that transfers one person’s misfortune to another life is taboo if the one receiving the misfortune instead is human, and this was even worse.
“If they were trying to cover the life written in the ledger, the fortune Cheon Jieon holds, an entire person’s life—everything—over someone else as is….”
Mua’s eyes gleamed coldly. He’d never heard of a shaman who had succeeded in such a ritual.
No matter how much money was at stake, what foolish shaman would dare to do something that would not only go against the Natural Order but also incur the wrath of both the Jade Emperor and Lord Yeomra? Even if they tried, the probability of success would be barely 1 percent, so who would be so reckless as to attempt it?
“What do you think?”
Having organized his thoughts alone, Mua asked Seoran.
“Based on what you found in that house, do you think the shaman involved here has the ability to handle such an absurd ritual?”
Hearing Mua’s question, Seoran rolled her eyes around and soon opened her mouth.
“I probably didn’t even see half of half of that person’s abilities. Even so, the moment I saw those traces, I couldn’t breathe.”
But if someone had attempted it.
“Besides, that ritual showed a spine-chillingly strong self-confidence. With the same spell, depending on which talismans are placed how, you can tell how ballsy the person is.”
If a shaman with such tremendous skill and arrogance—confident enough to succeed without major problems—had truly committed this forbidden ritual.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that person attempted the ritual you mentioned, Grim Reaper.”
