Even so, Jin Gwangmin shouted as if he couldn’t help but worry.
“Still, if you ever want to visit your university friends or feel like going out, please tell me anytime! I’ll give you tons of protective charms, and I’ll get you an outing pass right away!”
“An outing pass? Is that necessary? I went out before without one.”
“It’s mandatory for new members to have it checked. Before… well, the position of the person accompanying you served as proof itself.”
The explanation was that back then, Cheon Yijae—the Sojunim—had been by Sim Seowoo’s side, so the guards who checked passes didn’t even approach them in the first place. While Seowoo was surprised by this information he’d been completely unaware of, he found himself thinking once again about why Yijae had called Heun a “prison.”
“Now that your spiritual sight has opened, going out might be a bit scary, but don’t worry! The protective charm my family made this time has really excellent performance.”
“Ah, is it the one you said was in the middle of testing last time?”
“Yes, that’s the one! We confirmed it doesn’t break even against the energy of Hyungok, so it’ll definitely block attacks from Hyeong Akgui easily. We engraved the protection spell really firmly, so if you just take that with you, you’ll be able to go out comfortably on your own!”
He’d heard that Jin Gwangmin’s entire family consisted of spiritual ability users, and most of them worked in the production field. Since they’d spent a long time as vassals of the Dao family, many of the tools used in Heun were also made by Gwangmin’s family. Even the gun Do Seonhwa used was something the Jin family had made and gifted to her.
So Gwangmin said that although he was in the exploration field, he often joined in on his family’s inventions. The salty red bean tea spray and round glasses he’d used before were his personal inventions.
And that family had researched protective charms that could block Hyeong Akgui over a long period of time. A protective charm that could withstand collision with Hyungok—that is, the energy of Hyungsin—for several hours without issue. To borrow Gwangmin’s expression, it was an SSS-rank tool.
Seowoo remembered that Gwangmin had suffered through all-nighters for a while for that research, and now he was saying very willingly that he’d give it to Sim Seowoo. An item that had just been completed and was displayed quite proudly in the center of the production department’s office.
“I’ll become a phantom thief for Seowoo-nim! Well, if I say you’re using it, all the elders in my family will approve anyway!”
Since Sim Seowoo had joined Field Team 2, Jin Gwangmin’s work environment had improved considerably, so everyone in his family apparently viewed him like a Guiin. He no longer had to suffer chasing after the Sojunim in a frenzy, and the young lady of the Dao family they served was also recently spending her days peacefully.
Seowoo just nodded his head halfheartedly. The situation Gwangmin worried about—being too scared of malevolent spirits to go out—didn’t apply to him, and he didn’t particularly have plans to go out anyway, but Gwangmin’s attitude was very proactive.
“And I’ve invented quite a lot of other tools too! I can give them all to you, so just say the word! This time, I increased the performance of the ghost-repelling spray several times…”
Moreover, he rummaged through his bag and even pulled out a notebook where he’d organized his inventions, starting to explain them one by one like advertisements. Even within the organization, Gwangmin often carried around a large bag.
Actually, Gwangmin mainly made tools in modern forms, so he received strange looks in Heun, but Seowoo just found it fascinating and even praised them as inventions that embodied the organization’s identity. Also, everyone else found the talkative Gwangmin annoying, but Seowoo always received him calmly, so chatter poured out in front of him. He truly was a Guiin indeed.
‘Dora*mon…’
Though Seowoo was reminded of a blue cat robot when he saw Gwangmin like this, he quietly nodded and listened attentively. Information related to Heun was still novel and fascinating to him.
However, Gwangmin, who had been talking enthusiastically, suddenly fumbled at the collar of his dopo. Noticing the vibration from the button, Seowoo realized it was his communication device. Even though all of Heun’s members had cell phones, they used communication devices more within the organization. It was a kind of internal messenger.
Having received some transmission through the button like that, Gwangmin blinked his eyes, then tilted his head and said,
“Huh? A mandatory deployment order has been issued to our team…?”
***
A notice to deploy was suddenly handed down to Field Team 2.
Heun had a total of 5 field teams. There was Team 1, which the Vice-Leader occasionally oversaw, Team 2, which the Sojunim was in charge of, and three teams led by three shamans with long experience as team leaders. The numbers were similar to power rankings, so Team 5 was close to a trainee team that hardly ever went out to the field.
When reports or requests related to ghosts came to Heun, the operations department would first confirm whether it was actually an incident caused by evil spirits, then roughly measure the danger level and announce it. Then each field team would check and take on missions, and in case of urgent incidents, upper management would assign them first.
But recently, Cheon Yijae, the leader of Field Team 2 and the Sojunim, had completely refused to deploy. Even when the operations department subtly encouraged him, he completely ignored them, and as a result, he recorded a deployment rate lower than even Team 5. Still, no one dared to force “that” Sojunim, so everyone was just watching carefully…
Finally, the Vice-Leader directly ordered deployment. It was an order issued as the acting Leader, no less.
“Well, it was a field team that didn’t go to the field…”
Gwangmin nodded his head, saying the work slowdown had gone on a bit long, and next to him, Do Seonhwa’s shoulders trembled. Her face, gathered in front of Heun’s main gate to deploy, was slightly flushed.
“I understand that the Vice-Leader-nim had a hard time hunting yokai last time, but when he gently asked if the gap wasn’t too long, I was really embarrassed. Actually, I’d just been thinking it was nice to have a break for once too.”
Do Seonhwa, who had come back from a separate meeting with the Vice-Leader, made a confession of conscience while fanning her flushed cheeks. Even if they didn’t hunt Hyeong Akgui as a field team, they could at least take on missions to examine situations caused by ghosts, but Field Team 2 hadn’t even done that recently.
There was no specified quota that field teams had to fill or number of deployments stated, but this was natural trust placed in Heun’s members. The atmosphere was that everyone should actively engage with a sense of mission to protect the world’s balance.
“Still, he said he couldn’t order us to fight evil spirits by force, so instead he told us to go investigate Gwiraechon.”
“It’ll take some time, but still, to let us off with a field investigation when we slacked off for nearly ten days—the Vice-Leader-nim is truly warm-hearted.”
Gwangmin clasped his hands together, moved, but Cheon Yijae muttered in a very dissatisfied tone.
“Anyway, that stubborn old man. We only rested a few days.”
As if quite displeased about being forcibly dragged out after staying deep within the organization, he looked up and down at Heun’s building with eyes that said he’d been given another bothersome task.
At that behavior, Do Seonhwa cried out in shock.
“What kind of rude words are those toward the Vice-Leader-nim! He’s being considerate of us by only sending us to investigate!”
“We’ve collected a lot of Hyungok, so that’s probably why. Even if we say we haven’t deployed for a few days, haven’t I collected more than all the other field teams combined?”
Cheon Yijae answered indifferently. He’d hunted Hyeong Akgui almost daily during the past time, so he found it absurd that the Vice-Leader was pointing out a gap of just a few days. Gwangmin seemed somewhat swayed by his argument and nodded in agreement, but then stayed still after receiving a glare from Do Seonhwa.
Sim Seowoo quietly gazed at the scene of the three conversing noisily. To be precise, he stared at Cheon Yijae there—at him, whom he was seeing for the first time in quite a while since the last deployment.
It had been about ten days, but he seemed quite unchanged.
Standing crookedly with his gray-purple dopo roughly draped over his shoulders, treating Do Seonhwa and Jin Gwangmin with a cynical attitude. It was the same appearance as before, and his face also seemed to have no changes. No, had his chin gotten a bit sharper? Had he lost weight again from not eating properly, or was it because of some other problem?
“And what would come of investigating that village anyway? Wasting time on something utterly useless…”
While staring intently at Cheon Yijae, their eyes happened to meet just as he was expressing dissatisfaction with the Vice-Leader’s order.
The moment their gazes met precisely in the air, Yijae’s words cut off abruptly, and then he slowly closed his mouth and rolled his eyes to the side.
“…”
He even slyly turned his head as if looking around. At his suddenly quiet behavior, Do Seonhwa tilted her head with a bewildered expression.
