“For the gaju of the Eun Family to be with a yosu…”
Kang Sowon shook her head. Today had been a confusing and strange day in many ways. She’d worried that her revenge would end today, that she might go to prison, and then what would happen to her father. But unexpectedly, Eun Seonmyeong said he wouldn’t exorcise it. On top of that, the gaju of the only remaining exorcist family was together with a yosu.
“Is there a reason that shouldn’t be? In a world where humans harm humans more than yosu harm humans.”
Eun Seonmyeong spoke calmly while glancing at Shim Iyul, who was standing with his arms crossed and snorting.
“…I see. It is a world where humans harm humans far more. It’s also a world with more humans who are more vicious than yokai.”
Kang Sowon, who had been silent for a moment, smiled faintly and agreed with Eun Seonmyeong’s words. In the past, humans’ enemies were mainly evil things like yokai and yosu rather than fellow humans. But these days, humans’ enemies were humans. Kang Sowon had learned through Lee Seonghun and his father that humans could sometimes become more evil than anything else in the world, more evil than any evil thing.
“…Eun gaju-nim, please eliminate the goljinchung.”
At Kang Sowon’s words after she’d been lost in thought alone for a moment, Eun Seonmyeong raised his eyebrows. She, who had almost no spiritual energy, could feed them but couldn’t exorcise them.
“Didn’t you feed more goljinchung to kill Lee Seonghun?”
“Yes. I did. I fed them because my heart became anxious thinking the Eun gaju came to help Lee Seonghun and his father, but what I want most is…”
Kang Sowon paused for a moment, then continued as if making a resolution.
“For Lee Seonghun to suffer for much longer. And for Chairman Lee to continue suffering while watching such a Lee Seonghun. If the Eun gaju eliminates the goljinchung from Lee Seonghun’s body, it seems I can torment that father and son for a long time.”
Lee Seonghun would never be able to get up from his bed for the rest of his life. Death would rather be mercy. So she would mourn her younger brother and mother while watching him live and suffer. Kang Sowon’s face turned cold as she looked at Chairman Lee and Lee Seonghun in turn.
When Eun Seonmyeong stared at Kang Sowon blankly, she nodded as if sincere, then took out a piece of porcelain the size of a finger from her pocket. When she opened the stopper, though faint, spiritual energy could be felt. It was different spiritual energy from the Eun Family’s.
“You can put the goljinchung in here.”
Eun Seonmyeong, who received the porcelain, now looked at Ban Hanseong. It meant asking if it was okay to exorcise them. Ban Hanseong also answered indifferently, “I’m fine.”
“Please bring me a knife.”
Kang Sowon soon brought a paring knife, and Eun Seonmyeong, who received the knife, spoke to Shim Iyul.
“Wake them up now.”
When Shim Iyul absorbed the yogi, Lee Seonghun and his father woke up. As soon as Lee Seonghun came to his senses, he started screaming again.
“Fuck, it hurts!!!”
“Seonghun-ah! Eun daepyo! Please do something!”
Chairman Lee pleaded almost crying.
“Apologize properly for the past, even now. You too, Lee Seonghun.”
“Fuck, this bastard right now…”
“Seonghun-ah!!!”
Chairman Lee hurriedly stopped Lee Seonghun, who was about to curse and rage, and shook his head. His eyes signaled that saving his life was the priority right now. Lee Seonghun, whose face twisted as if his pride was hurt, glanced at Ban Hanseong and muttered.
“S-so… rr… y.”
“I can’t hear you.”
“Fuck! I said I’m sorry!”
Lee Seonghun screamed “I’m sorry” as if raging.
“I’m sorry.”
Chairman Lee also apologized for the past. He knew it wasn’t sincere. He also knew well that they were probably gritting their teeth inside. Eun Seonmyeong, with a sneer full at the corners of his mouth, infused spiritual energy into the paring knife he’d been spinning around. Then he made a cross-shaped cut on Lee Seonghun’s shoulder.
“Aaaargh!!! Ugh!!!!!”
Lee Seonghun screamed that it hurt. Blood began to flow from his shoulder, and the air in the room became fishy.
“Shut up for a bit. It’ll be over soon.”
Eun Seonmyeong wrapped his hand around Lee Seonghun’s wrist. Then he slowly moved his palm toward the shoulder while letting spiritual energy flow. The bright red spiritual energy flowing from his hand attacked the goljinchung. The goljinchung moved their bodies frantically to avoid the spiritual energy. As the goljinchung twisted their bodies and fled, Lee Seonghun’s body also convulsed along with them.
The goljinchung that had fled avoiding Eun Seonmyeong’s spiritual energy crawled out through the wound left on the shoulder. One was about half the size of a pinky fingernail, and the other two were less than half that size. The three goljinchung wriggled, trying to escape somehow while bound by spiritual energy. Eun Seonmyeong put them into the porcelain and closed the stopper. They were creatures that didn’t die easily, so it would have consumed quite a bit of spiritual energy to completely extinguish them, but once put into the porcelain made by the Hyeon Family, they quickly became quiet.
“It’s done.”
As soon as Eun Seonmyeong finished speaking, Chairman Lee asked Lee Seonghun.
“Are you okay? Does it not hurt anymore?”
“…I think I’m okay. The pain is somewhat gone.”
At Lee Seonghun’s words, Chairman Lee shed tears of joy. Lee Seonghun also widened his eyes as if amazed at his body being without pain.
“Give me the money.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I said give me the promised money.”
Eun Seonmyeong held out his hand with a rough voice like a loan shark. Chairman Lee made a “Hmm” sound, then reluctantly made a phone call saying, “Bring the money I had prepared.”
“It seems precious to you?”
“Of course it’s precious! What did you do to receive money?! Motherfucker!”
Lee Seonghun’s eyes rolled back. As expected, he knew they’d come out like this. Eun Seonmyeong held a sneer.
“You shut your mouth. Every time you open it, it smells like a sewer.”
“What? This bastard!!!”
“Eun daepyo! Can’t you be more careful with your words?!”
While calming the excited Lee Seonghun, Chairman Lee furrowed his brow with displeasure. It seemed he couldn’t even hear his own son’s manner of speech. Eun Seonmyeong sneered at the father and son. When did they plead to be saved—Chairman Lee, who changed his attitude so quickly, was ridiculous. How could he show behavior that didn’t differ even slightly from expectations?
Soon Chairman Lee’s secretary came with a Boston bag. Eun Seonmyeong, who received it and opened the zipper, slung the bag over his shoulder. Anyway, since he’d exorcised it, it was proper to receive the money.
“I hope we don’t have to see each other again. Next time, even if you offer your entire fortune, I won’t accept the commission.”
“Eun daepyo, when a person is too strong, they tend to make enemies. You’d better fix that personality that doesn’t know how to distinguish up from down. Otherwise, the enemies you make might attack you.”
Anyone could hear it was a threat. Eun Seonmyeong snorted and ignored it, but Han Seolju, Ban Hanseong, and Shim Iyul were different. Before Han Seolju and Ban Hanseong, whose faces twisted, could say something in a rush, Shim Iyul approached Chairman Lee with a bewitching smile. Then he stared straight into Chairman Lee’s eyes and said.
“If you so much as lay a finger on the hunter’s body, you’ll die the most painful and miserable death by my hands.”
At the threat filled with murderous intent after raising his yogi to the fullest, Chairman Lee unknowingly leaked a little. Though it was an impossibly beautiful face, somehow fear crept up as if his heart was freezing. Chairman Lee nodded frantically with his body completely stiff.
A Fire Fox enchants humans, but since the essence is a yosu, it was also possible to instill fear in humans. When Shim Iyul turned around with the corners of his mouth raised, he saw four humans looking at him strangely.
“What? Why?”
“…”
“Aren’t we going?”
Hmph, snorting, Shim Iyul strode ahead and went down the stairs. Ban Hanseong chased after Shim Iyul saying, “Let’s go together!” Eun Seonmyeong and Han Seolju, who laughed shortly, also moved. Kang Sowon followed saying, “I’ll see you out.” She, who had come out to the front of the gate, bowed her head and said.
“Eun gaju. What I brought from the family warehouse wasn’t only the goljinchung.”
“…?”
“I also brought hyeolhyeopchung. I will feed this to Lee Seonghun too.”
Kang Sowon showed another piece of porcelain. Hyeolhyeopchung are yokai that eat human blood. Humans who harbor hyeolhyeopchung in their stomachs always suffer from severe anemia, headaches, and abdominal pain. Unlike the goljinchung, hyeolhyeopchung have no reproductive ability and share life and death with the human they parasitize.
Sometimes Kang Sowon felt she was becoming a monster crazed with revenge. But it didn’t matter. To deal with monsters, she had no choice but to become a monster herself.
Eun Seonmyeong stared for a moment at Kang Sowon, whose tired face seemed to have only evil left. He didn’t say proper-sounding things like “That’s enough” or “Don’t ruin the rest of your life with revenge.” Such advice would be presumptuous.
“Do as you wish. Take revenge as much as you want, until your heart is relieved. And when your heart is relieved, go back.”
To your father. Eun Seonmyeong returned the porcelain containing the goljinchung to Kang Sowon. Kang Sowon accepted the porcelain with an expression that was hard to tell whether she was smiling or crying.
“Thank you. Please… go well.”
Kang Sowon, who had placed both hands neatly on her lower abdomen, bowed ninety degrees, then straightened and turned around. The gate closed.
Eun Seonmyeong gave his gaze to Shim Iyul while hearing the sound of the door closing behind him. Shim Iyul was in the middle of stroking Ban Hanseong’s head. His brow furrowed involuntarily.
“Yul-ah, what are you doing right now…”
Eun Seonmyeong, who had unconsciously called Shim Iyul’s name without thinking because irritation had surged up, quickly changed the form of address. Cold sweat dampened his palm, flustered by his own mistake.
‘I’m crazy. Yul…’
Fortunately, it seemed no one had noticed his mistake. Eun Seonmyeong, who let out a breath of relief, thought ‘But it’s not bad’ and rolled Shim Iyul’s name with the tip of his tongue: ‘Iyul, Yul-ah.’ Even though he hadn’t called it out loud, embarrassingly, his heart was trying to heat up.
“How was it? Was it worth watching? Was it fun?”
Shim Iyul asked Ban Hanseong, who was obediently presenting the top of his head as if asking to be stroked more.
“Yes. Honestly, it was kind of fun.”
Ban Hanseong smiled awkwardly. He too was unavoidably human, so watching Lee Seonghun writhing in pain made him feel somewhat relieved inside. He also thought it was karma, and felt like the lump that had been stuck in his stomach for many years was gradually being resolved. Especially at the sight of him kneeling and apologizing, he even felt elation.
“Right? I told you. That it would be fun.”
“Yes. And… I also felt like I could take one more step forward. I’m going to try not to be afraid of people anymore.”
Most of all, the biggest gain was the resolution ‘Let’s not be scared because of insignificant humans who have no value to me.’ Ban Hanseong still couldn’t go to busy streets. Just thinking about places with many people made his heart feel stuffy, so he only went to places with few people. He used to get scared first when seeing people, but now he thought he shouldn’t be like that anymore. He wanted to throw away everything that originated from an insignificant human like Lee Seonghun. Even if it was fear.
If he felt like he did now, he could smile and wave even when seeing teenage boys gathered together… that might still be a bit difficult, but he had hope that it would gradually get better if he tried.
“Well done!”
Shim Iyul exclaimed in a praising tone. Eun Seonmyeong approached the two and grabbed the wrist of Shim Iyul, who was stroking Ban Hanseong’s head.
“Let’s go now. Hanseong, you get in your car, and you fox, get in my car.”
Eun Seonmyeong, who had gestured to send Ban Hanseong away, put Shim Iyul in the passenger seat and said.
“You fox bastard, stroking Hanseong is prohibited from now on.”
“This is prohibited, that is prohibited, always prohibiting things. I only stroked him because the shaman was praiseworthy. And Hanseong is fine with it too, so why are you prohibiting it?”
Shim Iyul grumbled. Eun Seonmyeong turned his body toward Shim Iyul and pulled the passenger seat seatbelt. Their chests became close enough to almost touch. It was when Shim Iyul unknowingly held his breath.
Click—
The sound of the seatbelt clip connecting was heard. And 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds. The two looked at each other without words. An inexplicable tension pressed down on their hearts.
It was when Shim Iyul unknowingly stopped breathing because even breathing felt cautious. Eun Seonmyeong said while looking straight into Shim Iyul’s eyes.
“Because I don’t like it.”
“What?”
“You touching someone other than me.”
“…Why, why?”
“I’d like to know the reason too.”
Eun Seonmyeong sat down facing forward. Then he immediately started the car. Only then did Shim Iyul slowly exhale the breath he’d been holding.
