-Because I was foolish enough··· to fall into a trap.
‘Ah. I wondered what it was.’
Noel had thought she was embarrassed because of the state she was in.
It was something worth being embarrassed about, was it not?
In places where the living resided, the dead also had to go in and out through entrances.
That was an absolute rule.
In a way, being stuck like this between the floor and ceiling was an embarrassing act, caught while trying to break that absolute rule by using a loophole.
“Why didn’t you ask for help?”
-I did, but no one could hear me. Even ghosts like me all avoided this place. So I just stayed like this. Am I going to··· disappear now?
“That’s not it. An underworld messenger should have come, though?”
-He did. He came, but I couldn’t leave.
“Why?”
-Because I was scammed by this building’s owner··· and hanged myself here.
-······Scammed?
Yeong-hyeon, who had been listening quietly, was startled.
He looked at her with a shocked face.
-Yes. Just a typical scam. The one where they lure you in, saying they’ll sell it especially cheap, only to you.
The woman laughed like a fool for a moment.
-I was the fool who fell for it.
“That’s not true. The bastard who fooled you is the one at fault.”
When Noel cut her off firmly, the woman looked at him with slightly startled eyes.
“That’s what typical perpetrators and pathetic losers who want to trample others with words like to say.”
-···Do you really think so?
The woman’s lower lip rose upward, and the corners of her eyes drooped.
“Of course.”
-You don’t think I was foolish?
“Both life and death belong wholly to you. No one has the right to say anything about them. Either way, they both require tremendous courage.”
At Noel’s calm words, Yeong-hyeon looked at him.
He was grateful that Noel had said that.
“So what happened?”
-I was so wronged after I died that I stayed here.
“Did you curse him or something?”
-Ah, no! I just dropped things a few times. Watching the building owner tremble was fun, you see. But then that building owner bastard called a shaman··· and I was tricked into ending up like this.
The more she spoke, the more her head lowered.
Her words were thick with injustice and sorrow.
“Then do you still want to stay here? Just for reference, my uncle bought this place through a bank, so it would be a problem if you did what you just mentioned.”
-I won’t do things like that! There’s no need anymore, is there? I just want to see my parents’ faces. The underworld messenger said he couldn’t undo it because it was done by the living. So······.
The ghost stopped speaking and closed her mouth.
She simply waited, as if leaving the choice to him.
Noel looked at Ashin.
-It is all right. Release her.
That meant it was the truth.
It really was nice having a guardian spirit tell him what was true and false.
Noel headed toward the place where the power was.
‘It’s in the wall?’
After confirming where it was, he drew out his power.
Black smoke lingered in his grip, then changed into the shape of a sword.
He drove it in just like that.
-···Huh?
A reaction burst out immediately.
“Come out.”
At Noel’s words, the ghost moved, and she slipped right out.
She looked at Noel, then sank down and cried.
-···I thought I’d never get out forever! Thank··· you! Thank you so much!
She was finally free.
That fact made her unbearably grateful.
“But how did you not become an evil spirit?”
She must have been trapped for quite some time, yet somehow she had not become one.
Had the cause of her death not been fraud, too?
It was more than enough motive to become an evil spirit.
-I··· heard so many people’s stories here. I realized I wasn’t the only one suffering.
This place was a counseling room.
All sorts of people had come and gone.
As she listened, she cried, laughed, and sometimes grew angry.
So strangely, the feeling called resentment had flown far beyond her.
-I should go somewhere good, too. That way my parents won’t be sad, right?
“You’ve made a good decision. If there’s anything you want to pass on, should I do it?”
-······Really?
“If their house is close.”
-It’s close. Truly. I wanted to teach art here, you see.
She had wanted to become an art teacher.
That was all.
The woman wiped her tears and looked at Noel.
She did not have anything.
But if she had received help, it was only natural to repay it.
-···Could you tell your uncle that there’s a problem here and the building owner deceived him? He probably didn’t tell him someone killed herself here. It’s not allowed to hide that a building has defects, is it?
At the woman’s words, Noel withdrew his power and said,
“Could you tell me a little more about that?”
This was good information.
***
“Uncle.”
Noel came outside and called Shin-hyeon, who was waiting there.
Unlike before, the hallway had gone quiet.
What had Shin-hyeon said to the employees?
“Is it over?”
“Yes. But Uncle.”
“What is it···?”
Shin-hyeon looked somewhat nervous.
Noel did not know what was going on, but he offered the information he had just heard.
“This was a defective building, wasn’t it? Someone died here, and they even held a gut ritual. Did you hear about that?”
“···What?”
“You didn’t hear.”
At Noel’s following words, Shin-hyeon’s face stiffened.
“Is that··· true?”
“Yes. I just heard it. Park Ye-jin. She said she was scammed by the building owner and killed herself here.”
“······.”
“I’m going to meet the bereaved family. There’s a message I need to deliver. Do you want to come with me?”
“Wait a moment. Just a moment is enough.”
After asking for understanding, Shin-hyeon took out his cell phone and put a little distance between them.
As Noel watched him speak gravely to someone, he turned his gaze to Ye-jin.
-···Are you taking revenge for me?
“Well, that’s how it turned out.”
Noel did not know how much Shin-hyeon would gain from the information, but at the very least, he should not take a loss.
Noel looked at Yeong-hyeon, and he was already clenching his fists.
-We have to take revenge. Of course. We have to protect the bankbook.
***
Ding-dong.
Shin-hyeon pressed the doorbell.
“Who is it?”
When a voice came from inside, Shin-hyeon introduced himself calmly.
“Hello. I’m Attorney Do Shin-hyeon.”
At the word attorney, the door hurriedly opened.
“···Wh-what is this about?”
When the middle-aged woman was startled, Shin-hyeon first handed over his business card.
She accepted it, but her gaze wavered uneasily.
“It’s nothing else. Is this perhaps Ms. Park Ye-jin’s home?”
“Leave!”
The moment the name came out, the middle-aged woman’s eyes turned fierce.
“Leave right now! It’s torment enough that my daughter is dead, and even after her death, do you have to keep tormenting us like this to feel satisfied?! Do you know that you people are truly beyond saving?”
“Please calm down, ma’am. We are······.”
“Ms. Park Ye-jin has a message to deliver.”
Noel opened his mouth.
Perhaps he had offended her, because the middle-aged woman looked at Noel as if she would kill him, then lunged at him.
“Are you insulting my daughter again? Don’t insult her! I said don’t insult my daughter···!”
When Noel’s collar was grabbed, Shin-hyeon pulled them apart.
-Mom, no. That’s not it. Please calm down, please, please calm down!
“Don’t say that. Tell me something only the two of you know.”
Noel calmly spoke to Ye-jin.
Ye-jin shed tears and clenched both hands.
-With Mom··· I said we’d have a staycation at Sinnabi Hotel, eat delicious food there, swim, and have fun. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep that promise.
“You promised to have a staycation at Sinnabi Hotel with Ms. Park Ye-jin, didn’t you?”
At the words Noel threw out, the middle-aged woman’s mouth, which had been shouting as if spewing evil, closed.
-The pink hairpin Mom bought me. ···I’m sorry I lost it. The building owner took it. I don’t know where he threw it away.
“She says she’s sorry she lost the pink hairpin you bought her.”
“······H-how?”
The hand gripping Noel’s collar slipped away.
-When I earned a lot of money, I said we’d build a house with a good view of the sea and live there together··· I’m sorry.
“When she earned a lot of money, she said you’d build a house with a good view of the sea and······.”
“Ye-jin···. Is Ye-jin there?”
The middle-aged woman sank down where she stood.
Tears had begun flowing before she knew it.
“Yes. She’s beside me.”
“I prayed···. I prayed every day without fail. That beautiful child couldn’t even go somewhere good, and she’s··· there?”
She seemed as if she might stop breathing, and deep breaths mixed into the spaces between her words.
“Breathe.”
Noel spoke calmly to the middle-aged woman, and Ashin held her shoulder.
Haaah. Hah.
Only then did the middle-aged woman breathe out.
She looked at him with an expression that begged for an answer.
“First, may we go inside?”
Noel suggested it.
This was not a conversation to have here.
***
“···That is what happened.”
Noel informed the middle-aged woman why they had come all the way here.
Before leaving, Ye-jin had wanted to see her parents, so he had come to deliver the words she wanted to leave behind.
“My daughter is really··· here?”
The middle-aged woman spoke as if she could not believe it.
“She’s beside you.”
“Where?”
“Beside you, ma’am.”
“Here? She’s here?”
Though she could not touch her, the middle-aged woman reached out.
Ye-jin, too, reached out despite knowing that fact.
Their fingertips touched.
Did she know, or did she not?
The middle-aged woman’s expression changed for an instant.
“That’s the right place.”
“···Ye-jin. Mom is sorry. If Mom hadn’t gotten angry back then, you··· wouldn’t have done that.”
-It wasn’t Mom’s fault, so please don’t say that. Don’t. If you do, I can’t leave.
“She’s telling you not to blame yourself. She says she won’t be able to leave.”
“I won’t. I won’t blame myself! I won’t do that! I mean it. I mean it, Ye-jin.”
As if frightened, the middle-aged woman changed her words.
“Please take these.”
Noel handed over two letters.
The middle-aged woman flinched.
Had she received many envelopes like this while being threatened?
“···What are these?”
“Ms. Park Ye-jin said she couldn’t convey everything in words, so she wanted to write letters.”
At the words that they were Ye-jin’s letters, she took them immediately.
The moment she saw the words written on the letter, “To my beloved Mom,” she crumbled.
Sobbing, she carefully touched the letters with her finger.
It was her daughter’s handwriting.
How could she fail to recognize it?
“Did Ye-jin··· write this before she died?”
“No. Today, Ms. Park Ye-jin wrote it herself. Of course, she borrowed my hand.”
Noel had lent her his body for a moment.
Because she had cried so much, his eyelids felt heavy.
“Please read that after we leave. For now, I’ll deliver Ms. Park Ye-jin’s words.”
Ye-jin had said there were words she wanted him to deliver directly besides the letter.
Ye-jin held the middle-aged woman’s face and looked at her with deep love.
-Mom. My mom, whom I love most in the world.
Noel delivered those words.
-I’m going somewhere good now, so live healthy and happy, and come meet me later.
The middle-aged woman’s eyes reddened.
-I love you. I love you so much.
Tears wet the floor.
“···I love you too, Ye-jin.”
Ye-jin was there, in the place the middle-aged woman was looking.
Though they could not see each other, their eyes were meeting.
“I love you so, so much that nothing could ever change it.”
The moment the middle-aged woman’s words ended, Noel snapped his fingers.
Ye-jin’s form materialized and appeared.
Shin-hyeon, Ashin, and Yeong-hyeon were startled.
What kind of power was this?
But the middle-aged woman was different.
She simply reached both hands toward her beloved child and embraced her fully.
There was no warmth, but she could touch her.
She held the child she had missed and missed again in her arms.
“···Ye-jin!”
She reached out, touched Ye-jin’s face, and called her name at the top of her lungs.
-Yes, Mom.
But Ye-jin’s voice did not reach her.
-I’ll go now. Please be well.
Even so, the middle-aged woman understood those words.
She watched Ye-jin disappear while smiling brightly at her.
More dazzling and beautiful than at any other moment.
Only after watching and confirming that she had vanished did the middle-aged woman collapse.
Noel let out a long breath as he heard Ye-jin’s quiet voice say, “Thank you.”
-···What is that power?
Ashin asked in a startled voice.
Noel only smiled quietly.
He did not want to tell her.
He had used the power to materialize a ghost simply because he had thought of his mother.
That was the only reason.
Noel looked at Yeong-hyeon.
He seemed to have something he wanted to say.
Perhaps it was a request, asking if Noel could do the same for him.
But Yeong-hyeon did not open his mouth.
‘You don’t have to hold back like that.’
Noel only thought it and did not say it aloud.
For now, he simply waited until the weeping subsided.
“Ma’am. There is one thing I would like to ask. Would that be all right?”
Shin-hyeon, who had waited quietly like Noel, handed her a tissue and asked.
The middle-aged woman looked at Shin-hyeon.
“By any chance, were you threatened when you received the body?”
“They offered to pay··· the funeral costs in my place if I kept quiet about this. And.”
She stopped speaking for a moment and bit her lip hard.
Her gaze deepened.
“They said my daughter also··· had done something wrong. They said wasn’t it close to interference with business? When I refused to settle··· they kept coming and tried to buy me off with money, insulting my daughter! They said they could make it look as if my daughter··· considered the money she’d earned honestly as dirty, and that was why she did that···!”
“If it is all right, may I help you?”
“···You, Attorney?”
“Yes. In return, I only need you to testify to one thing.”
“Please tell me.”
“That Ms. Park Ye-jin made a bad choice in that building.”
This was worth trying.
For himself, and for those parents who had lost their child.
***
<···A woman’s body was found inside a refrigerator in an apartment.>
A familiar case came through the car radio.
Noel faintly raised the corner of his mouth.
-···Huh? This is about that person, right?
Yeong-hyeon knew what it was the moment he heard it.
<The body was found dismembered and has been identified as Miss Kim, who went missing three months ago. The culprit in the case is a man in his thirties, Mr. Lee, who confessed that it was an impulsive murder.
Noel nodded.
‘They succeeded in catching the culprit.’
-What are they talking about?
When Ashin asked, Yeong-hyeon answered in his place.
-Noel helped them catch the culprit they just mentioned on the radio. Their daughter had died, but they hadn’t even found her body.
-Did you not do something admirable?
Ashin laughed loudly with a pleased expression.
It had been the same this time, too.
He had allowed parent and child to meet.
She could not say how proud she was.
“···Yeong-hyeon.”
“Yes.”
“Was she in that kind of form? The ghost, I mean.”
“Yes. You saw her too, Uncle.”
“It felt··· really strange.”
“Did I look strange?”
“No! No!”
Shin-hyeon denied it strongly.
“Really, no! It actually felt warm!”
“······Warm?”
Noel doubted his ears.
What was he talking about?
“I don’t know much about things like that, but I almost cried.”
When Noel looked at Shin-hyeon, his eyes were slightly reddened.
“···Is that why you asked where the accident site was?”
“Yes.”
At Noel’s answer, Shin-hyeon let out a long breath.
He agonized over it, but in the end, there was only one answer.
“I’ll take you there on my day off.”
“Then, let’s ride a hot-air balloon then.”
“Ah, you kept saying you wanted to ride one, didn’t you?”
“I did?”
“You did. Let’s go ride that too!”
Shin-hyeon spoke happily.
“But Uncle.”
“What?”
“Are buildings usually cheaper if someone died there?”
“Usually, people feel uneasy and don’t buy them. The worse the rumor, the cheaper it becomes. Of course, even if there are ghosts, real estate wins in the end.”
“Is that so?”
When Noel smiled, Shin-hyeon quietly asked,
“Are you trying··· to get that place?”
“Why not? I should at least take a look around.”
***
The next day.
Noel entered a real estate office near his home.
He had already stopped by several places.
They had flatly insisted there were no such places, so he had no expectations this time, either.
“Welcome.”
“Hello.”
At Noel’s greeting, the owner looked at him briefly, then smiled.
“Are you here to see a room?”
“No. I’m planning to open a shop. Do you happen to have any defective buildings?”
“······Pardon?”
“You know, a building said to be haunted by ghosts.”
Noel smiled gently.