And moreover, after Cheon Yijae came in at that time, the Purifiers realized the truth and bowed their heads to him, apologizing for the misunderstanding. Rather, what remained surprising for Sim Seowoo was the fact that he received an apology.
However, no matter how much Sim Seowoo said it was okay, Do Seonhwa’s face grew even more colored with remorse. She kept apologizing and blaming herself as if it were her fault, so eventually he decided to choose a different approach.
“Then, as a token of apology, may I ask for a favor?”
***
Sim Seowoo’s request was simple.
‘I’d like to go home.’
It had already been five days since he’d stayed at Heun, and judging by the situation, it seemed he’d have to live here for much longer. So he wanted to stop by home and pack some things.
Although they provided most daily necessities here, his own belongings would be more comfortable, and he also wanted to organize his home a bit. He’d unexpectedly ended up at Heun without anticipating he’d be away from home for so long.
So he asked Do Seonhwa if he could go home, and after some consideration, she agreed. The reason Sim Seowoo was staying at Heun was due to concerns that Hyeong Akgui might be drawn to him and pose a danger, so if he could go out safely, it would be fine for him to go far away.
However, the condition of this ‘safety’ was fulfilled by a completely unexpected person.
“Why do you keep looking back? Let’s get going already.”
It was none other than Cheon Yijae.
When he was discussing going out with Do Seonhwa, Cheon Yijae entered the treatment room, and after hearing the situation, said he would go with him. At his declaration, Sim Seowoo was actually quite surprised, and Do Seonhwa was startled exactly five times more than that emotion.
Springing up from her seat like a spring, she demanded to know what his ulterior motives were, throwing him a highly guarded look, but Cheon Yijae merely responded nonchalantly, asking if it wouldn’t be better to go and return before sunset. His attitude of shrugging his shoulders as he answered was just indifferent.
‘There wasn’t really any need, but anyway, he purified my hand again.’
Though it was added as a footnote, he answered as if it were just a simple gesture of thanks, nothing significant, and eventually Do Seonhwa nodded. Although his intentions were suspicious, there was no one else who could block Hyeong Akgui as well as Cheon Yijae.
So the three of them tried to depart together, but coincidentally at that moment, a call came for an Elder looking for Do Seonhwa. She stamped her feet and told Sim Seowoo to definitely contact her if Sojunim bothered him, and by the time Cheon Yijae was staring at her in bewilderment, she left the space swiftly.
So in conclusion, the two of them ended up leaving Heun alone.
From inside Heun, Sim Seowoo glanced at Cheon Yijae as they passed through doors one by one, seven in total. At the continued gaze, he raised an eyebrow slightly and asked.
“Are you very uncomfortable going out with me?”
“Mmm, I won’t deny it’s absolutely not that, but……”
At the honest answer, Cheon Yijae let out a “ha,” a hollow laugh.
At Heun, there were many who didn’t want to get on Sojunim’s bad side. Whether because of his position or because of the evil spirit he harbored, everyone dressed up their words in front of him, so it seemed quite amusing that Sim Seowoo readily admitted it.
But Sim Seowoo didn’t feel the need to lie. It would show anyway, and it was truly a puzzling situation.
He showed tremendous aversion to Purifiers, so why is he now willing to move together with me?
However, even until they got in the car that Do Seonhwa had called in advance and headed home, Cheon Yijae didn’t say anything. He just kept his hands stuffed in his pants pockets and quietly stared out the window, so Sim Seowoo also lost interest.
The scenery outside that he was seeing after a long time was welcome.
They departed from the quiet city outskirts and gradually headed toward the city filled with high-rise buildings. He gazed anew at the familiar scenery of the neighborhood visible beyond the car window, and soon they arrived at the alley in front of his house and got out of the car. The villa where he lived alone was up some stairs, so from here he had to walk up.
But on that path, Sim Seowoo encountered an unexpected disturbance.
[Kihihit……]
[A medium, a medium.]
The path was teeming with ghosts.
What appeared to be at least dozens of them gathered about 10 meters away and looked this way—specifically at Sim Seowoo. Their eyes gleaming as if drawn to the luscious energy flowing from his soul, they kept whispering something. It was the sound of enticing him to come to them.
Sim Seowoo was bewildered. Until they left Heun, he hadn’t seen such things—was that place protected by a barrier? Or was the vehicle also Heun’s property, so ghosts were blocked inside it? He turned his head and confirmed that the path on the opposite side was also equally full of ghosts, then furrowed his brow.
Actually, he was a bit surprised that there were many ghosts on the path he usually traveled, and though he found the ghosts’ fervent gazes burdensome, he didn’t feel fear. However, the forms of the ghosts were visible so clearly that his eyes hurt.
To the point where he realized the ghosts he’d met at the university before had been very blurry, now the ghosts’ facial features were distinctly visible. No, since there were cases without eyes and noses, he’d correct that to say even individual strands of hair were visible in detail.
When he rubbed his eyes at the stinging eye pain, the ghosts on the other side stirred. The moment they were about to noisily rise up as if wanting to draw out more reactions from Sim Seowoo, Cheon Yijae exhaled a short “hoo—” and stared in that direction.
Though it was merely a single glance, the ghosts instantly became docile. They trembled like herbivores before a predator and even lowered their bodies.
“Don’t bother looking at those things. If you give them attention, they’ll like it even more.”
Cheon Yijae warned firmly.
Sim Seowoo was also confident in not paying attention to external things, but right now the ghosts were moving so passionately that his gaze turned unconsciously. Still, thinking he’d gradually adjust, he nodded, but Cheon Yijae narrowed his brow.
As if the subtle resignation felt in Sim Seowoo’s attitude of accepting this problem calmly was strange, or irritating, he stared intently and then said.
“You see all the ghosts on the street because you don’t know how to control your spiritual sight. You’d better learn how to close your eyes.”
“How to close my eyes……?”
Sim Seowoo was puzzled. It didn’t seem to mean simply covering his pupils with his eyelids—when he looked up with that question, Cheon Yijae tapped near his eyes with his index finger and explained.
“When your spiritual sight has just opened, you try to see all the beings of the other world. Would you understand if I expressed it as survival instinct that unconsciously guards against the other side, trying to examine each and every thing?”
It was a story that as you became aware of the world of the dead, your central nervous system entered a state of high tension at the unfamiliar change and instinctively tried to perceive ghosts in detail. Even passing minor ghosts were all caught by the eyes.
But since there was no need to see ghosts in detail unless you had a specific task, he explained that you had to narrow the range of your spiritual sight. No matter how much you ignored and passed by ghosts, your energy would unconsciously drop, so you had to adjust it so they weren’t visible before your eyes at all.
Even if you were aware that those things were around, unless it was a dangerous situation, you had to learn not to look at them in detail……
“Cover your eyes with both hands and approach it with the feeling of just slightly peeking outside through the gaps between your fingers.”
After Cheon Yijae explained step by step and gestured at his hands, Sim Seowoo was bewildered. Actually, he was very surprised that he would teach him in such detail, but before he had time to think long about it, a look urging him to practice quickly was conveyed through eye contact.
So he awkwardly raised both hands to cover his face vertically and slightly spread only his index and middle fingers.
“Mm……”
But the ghosts were still very clearly visible.
Rather, they stirred as if mocking Sim Seowoo’s actions, then became docile again upon receiving Cheon Yijae’s gaze once more. He urged him not to mind the ghosts’ interference at all and to concentrate on practice.
“Learn it now. While I’m here, those things can’t come close.”
Sim Seowoo couldn’t understand why Cheon Yijae was suddenly showing enthusiasm for teaching, but pushed along by the obvious look, he followed. However, the result remained the same.
Whether he covered his face completely with both hands and then spread the gap just slightly, or rubbed his hands to generate heat up to ten times before trying, there was no particular change. Though Cheon Yijae sent him a look asking why he was even generating heat, he silently watched all the attempts.
When this practice reached about 20 minutes, Sim Seowoo gradually felt embarrassed rather than frustrated. It was awkward since Cheon Yijae kept watching from the front, and he thought perhaps he’d use this as an excuse to kick him out of Heun, saying he had no talent since he couldn’t even learn to control his spiritual sight.
“Looking through the gaps between my fingers seems to make them even more visible……”
Completely puzzled, he muttered while looking down at his own palm. It was just a very small mumble to himself, but Cheon Yijae, who had only been watching until now, extended his hand.
A pale, elongated hand where blue veins were visible hesitated for a moment in Sim Seowoo’s field of vision, then eventually covered his eyes horizontally. The hand was so large that one side was enough to cover his entire face.
“……Close your eyes, then slowly open them.”
Sim Seowoo obediently followed Cheon Yijae’s low instruction. Belatedly, he wondered why he hadn’t avoided it even after seeing his hand approach, but that question also quickly folded away in the warmth. He’d naturally assumed the hand would be cold since it was so pale, but unexpectedly it held warm heat.
Cheon Yijae pressed down on the eyelids with appropriate pressure, then slowly spread his fingers.
“How is it now? Can you still see them?”
Light spreads into the dark field of vision like slashes.
The world read through that light was, mysteriously, very quiet. The street that had been teeming with ghosts just moments ago became instantly tranquil, and Sim Seowoo rolled his eyes in admiration
