In the first month of the Year of Gimyo, a hole suddenly opened in the sky, and uncanny powers and wicked spirits swarmed across the country.
Officials and commoners alike lamented their suffering from every region, and it could not be ignored.
At this time, strange and wondrous individuals began appearing one after another. As the laws of the world were overturned and the chaos worsened, an urgent discussion of state affairs was convened to bring it under control.
To aid the young citizens suffering at the hands of ghosts and to ward off Ghost Gates and wicked things, a new institution was established beneath the Office of the Inspector-General. Since it was charged with governing the laws of ghosts, it was named the Office of Ghostly Inspection .
Furthermore, countless people formed associations of their own and strove to overcome the crisis. The king officially recognized their existence and sought to cooperate with them.
Thus began the age of the Ghost Gate Messengers .
Opening Note.
What were the odds of getting struck by lightning while on the way to take the civil-service examination?
What odds indeed? From the moment it happened, it was no longer a matter of percentages or fractions. It had simply happened.
Even after Ghost Gates appeared, wicked things began popping out of nowhere, and Ghost Gate Messengers started walking through the sky, the everyday lives of ordinary people remained much the same.
After all, several decades had already passed since the Ghost Gates first opened, and everyone had grown accustomed to them by now.
Lee Wonhyeok, who was ordinary among ordinary people but prided himself on having a sharp mind, was on his way to take the civil-service examination.
Nanny, I, Lee Wonhyeok, will surely place first and repay your kindness...!
That was precisely what he was thinking as he hurried into the palace.
RUMBLE, CRACK!
Without warning, a lightning bolt fell from the clear sky.
Where?
Straight onto Lee Wonhyeok’s head.
“GAAH!”
With an undignified scream, he collapsed in spectacular fashion. The examinees around him stared at him with startled eyes.
That was the last sight he saw while he was still in this world....
“Who gave you permission to kill me?!”
Gasp, gasp. Wonhyeok barely opened his eyes before being sent down the back road to the afterlife.
Has the sky gone mad? Why would it throw down a lightning bolt out of nowhere, like it was trying to kill someone?!
Then he realized that he was still at the examination grounds.
The people laying out parasols and mats for the young masters and ladies taking the examination, as well as those hurrying to find good seats, had all stopped what they were doing to watch Wonhyeok. The moment he rose, they all let out choked gasps.
‘I haven’t been unconscious for as long as I thought!’
Then I can still take the examination!
The proctors had clearly witnessed him getting struck by lightning, judging by their wide eyes, but Lee Wonhyeok forced himself to think positively.
A civil-service candidate who survived being struck by lightning. How extraordinarily remarkable.
Maybe they’ll consider it auspicious and give me bonus points....
Of course, proctors were merely proctors. They were not the ones who awarded scores, so it was no more than Wonhyeok’s wishful thinking.
As one of the proctors came running toward him in a panic, Wonhyeok quickly pushed himself up and shouted.
“I-I’m all right! I can take the examination!”
“Is that so?”
The voice that asked him that was not the proctor’s.
With a puzzled look, he turned toward the voice coming from behind him.
But there was no one there.
Could it be? Did getting struck by lightning give me auditory hallucinations...? If my head is damaged, will I be able to take the examination properly?
“Hey, not that way. This way.”
At the voice above him, Wonhyeok raised his head.
There, high in his vision, was a person floating in midair.
As though he had just flown in, the man slowly set his feet on the ground. He placed a hand on his waist and let out a sigh.
“So this is why people seek out shamans.”
“Pardon?”
The man before him wore black robes of the sort a Messenger might wear, along with a pitch-black military hat.
He was so tall that even Wonhyeok, who stood at the average height for most men, had to look up at him.
Beyond that, however, he was clad entirely in black garments and gloves, leaving not even a hint of skin exposed.
He even wore a veil beneath his hat, so nothing could be seen clearly except for the golden eyes shining through it.
“Lord Haje!”
The proctor whom Wonhyeok had thought was running toward him had apparently been rushing toward this man instead.
Wonhyeok looked back and forth between the proctor and the man behind him, then his eyes widened.
Haje?
There could not be anyone across the eight provinces of Joseon, save for newborn infants, who did not know that name.
A man of unknown identity who had held the number-one rank among Joseon’s Ghost Gate Messengers ever since the first Ghost Gates opened.
It must not be forgotten that nearly a full sixty-year cycle had passed since the Ghost Gates first opened. More precisely, this Year of Muin marked the fifty-ninth year.
He had heard that most of the rankings among the Messengers had changed hands, but Number One, Haje, had remained exactly where he was from then until now.
Truly, he was Joseon’s guardian spirit and a national benefactor....
“All right, that’s enough.”
Haje waved a hand at the flustered proctor, then looked at Wonhyeok.
“You there. You don’t need to take the civil-service examination.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m going to recommend you.”
“Pardon?”
Haje grabbed the collar of the dazed Wonhyeok and easily hoisted him into the air.
“Come on, shall we go put your fingerprint on a contract?”
“Pardon?!”
Dragged to the Office of Ghostly Inspection in Number One’s grasp, Wonhyeok saw a vision.
Far in the distance, the royal flower wreath awarded to the top scorer waved at him as it drifted farther and farther away....
“Ah, no!”
“What’s not?”
Wonhyeok smacked his forehead and came to his senses, but Number One merely asked him that in a carefree manner!
Recovering his wits at last, Wonhyeok hurriedly spoke.
“Why, why did you bring me here? I’m not a Ghost Gate Messenger!”
“Of course not. If you were a Ghost Gate Messenger, the notice on the status window would’ve already spread everywhere.”
“Status... Do you mean the communication network?”
“Ah, right. The communication network.”
They said that a shining rectangle appeared when one became a Ghost Gate Messenger.
Moreover, they said Ghost Gate Messengers could communicate with one another through that rectangle, so everyone called it the “communication network.”
It was a strange thing that ordinary people who were not Ghost Gate Messengers would never see.
In any case, it had nothing to do with Wonhyeok.
“I have to take the civil-service examination!”
“What do you want to take it for? Could you even pass in the first place?”
At Haje’s words, Wonhyeok’s shoulders jerked.
The truth was, he had not been taking the examination because he sought some grand position.
Still, did not all young scholars throughout the eight provinces of Joseon who had not awakened as Ghost Gate Messengers wish to rise in status and win renown?
Since the civil-service examination system began, the scholarly fervor across the eight provinces had not diminished with time. If anything, it only rose higher each time.
“I-I would be fine with just a lowly post....”
“Exactly. That’s why I said I’d recommend you. Isn’t that great? You get an official position without even taking the examination.”
That was not what I wanted at all! Especially not something that would draw attention!
However, Wonhyeok did not have the nerve to defy Number One, so he cautiously asked.
“Wh-what position....”
“A clerk of the Office of Ghostly Inspection. And my accompanying inspector.”
“Pardon?!”
Wonhyeok’s face turned white. Ordinary people might not fear Ghost Gate Messengers, but they certainly feared the Office of Ghostly Inspection.
And for good reason....
“I don’t know the first thing about dealing with uncanny powers and wicked spirits!”
The Ghost Gate Messengers of the Office of Ghostly Inspection primarily entered Ghost Gates to subdue uncanny powers and wicked spirits, responded to public complaints regarding uncanny powers and wicked spirits, and, in short, dealt with uncanny powers and wicked spirits!
In Joseon as it now stood, even those who lived ordinary lives could, with a stroke of bad luck, find an entire town tormented by ghosts.
And he was supposed to enter the Office of Ghostly Inspection of his own volition and deal with ghosts?
Yet Haje, the radiant Number One, leisurely pulled a sheet of paper from thin air.
“Don’t worry. Who’s your accompanying inspector? Me. Joseon’s unshakable Number One. Haje himself. Ah, you’ve been blessed~. Clap, clap.”
“But I said I don’t want to! I already got struck by some damn lightning earlier....”
That was right, the lightning! Wonhyeok suddenly looked at Haje.
“What was that lightning earlier? Because of it, I....”
“Mm, it was me marking you as mine. Romantic, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?!”
Wonhyeok, whose fear of Number One was being steadily worn away, cried out.
Unbothered, Number One even hummed as he held out a sheet of paper covered in writing.
The paper, titled Contract, contained the terms Haje had mentioned earlier.
Clause One. At the will of Number One Haje, hereafter Party A, the scholar Lee Wonhyeok, hereafter Party B, shall become a civil official attached to the Office of Ghostly Inspection.
Clause Two. Party A and Party B shall become accompanying inspectors, and Party B shall accompany Party A wherever he goes. This shall apply mutually to both parties.
Clause Three. At the request of Party A and the Office of Ghostly Inspection, Party B shall be obligated to record and preserve all activities....
And so on, and so on.
Wonhyeok went blank.
“But I’m not a Ghost Gate Messenger. Why....”
“You’ll become one soon enough. A Ghost Gate Messenger, that is.”
“Who in the world says that? I’m nothing more than a civil-service examinee. There aren’t any Ghost Gate Messengers who are civil scholars, are there?”
“A spirit shaman.”
At those words, Wonhyeok’s mouth snapped shut.
A spirit shaman was a shaman of immense ability.
Was he saying that a shaman had foretold that he would soon become a Ghost Gate Messenger?
Wonhyeok barely managed to speak again.
“Then come back when I awaken!”
“Why? There won’t be any problem with you working now.”
“Why not? I....”
“You’ve got dog eyes, right?”
Haje’s gleaming golden eyes curved like crescents.
Dog eyes was a derogatory term for those who could see ghosts despite not having awakened as Messengers.
Wonhyeok was stunned.
How could he possibly know something like that? Even if he had investigated Wonhyeok, nothing should have turned up.
Wonhyeok had lived such a quiet, inconspicuous life....
Surely Joseon’s greatest Ghost Gate Messenger would not harm someone as insignificant as Wonhyeok, but that did not make the situation any less bewildering or embarrassing.
Before his eyes, Haje waved the contract.
“Well, I’m not calling you dog eyes to insult you. Actually, it’s good. It means you can work with me without awakening, and it won’t cause any problems. It’s not a bad deal for you either. So, will you put your fingerprint on it?”
“Why... Why is this....”
“Or should we pretend I never recommended you? Ah, what a shame. Even if you went to take the examination now, you’d only come back after staring at the closed palace gates.”
He had dragged Wonhyeok here without warning, and now he was pretending to have nothing to regret!
Listening to Number One’s irritating mockery, Wonhyeok gritted his teeth.
At this moment, even Wonhyeok, who knew nothing, could understand the scholars who lamented the insolence of Messengers whose arrogance reached the sky.
Nanny, my promise to repay your kindness has been ruined so easily....
Then Haje spoke.
“For reference, your salary will be the same as that of an Eul Grade Ghost Gate Messenger. I’ll cover any expenses that arise while you serve as my accompanying inspector. I don’t do much work outside of inspections, so all you have to do is accompany me on inspections. And if there’s any extra income, I’ll give you thirty percent. We’ll split bonuses in half too. Hmm, should I add that to the contract?”
“Which finger should I use for the fingerprint?”
Wonhyeok immediately rolled up the sleeve of his robe.
Nanny! The salary is the same as an Eul Grade Messenger’s!
Your son will earn money diligently and show you what people nowadays call “starchward elegance”—the splendor of warding off ill luck with nothing but starched cloth!
Wonhyeok was a bookish man who had spent all his time reading, but he had picked up the term starchward elegance, which someone had apparently made fashionable, somewhere before.
In any event, blinded by money, Wonhyeok pressed down his fingerprint.
PRESS.
And exactly one week later.
【Where might you be.... Where might you be.... Will you make me spend this night alone again....】
Unable to breathe properly, Wonhyeok hid beneath the wooden floor and swallowed back his tears as he watched a pair of white-socked feet drift through the air just a hair above the ground.
He wanted to return to a few days ago and sternly scold the hand that had been about to put down that fingerprint.
Be careful with contracts.
It was a lesson carved into his bones.