Hah.
Noel immediately let out a sigh and glared at the ghost.
“Hey. What the hell are you doing? If you’re going to do it, do it properly.”
There were things like making someone have nightmares or leaving wounds on their body, were there not?
It was using a petty method that hurt, but left no visible trace.
“Huh···?”
“Not you, Si-hoon. I mean the bastard attached behind you.”
-He pissed me off! What?
“What did?”
-That bastard··· says there’s something he really wants to become, but his parents are against it! I did it in a fit of anger. Why?
Noel was rather shocked by those words.
There was no way a ghost would help like this without gaining anything.
-Did you not say··· he was nasty?
Yeong-hyeon needlessly touched under his chin.
Was this not somehow a good ghost, enough to make that worry seem unnecessary?
“Did you die after getting hit in the head···?”
-What are you talking about? It’s unfair enough that I died. Do you want to die too?
“By any chance, do you pray with him too? Is that why?”
-······.
The mouth that had been chattering away stopped.
Only then did Noel smile playfully.
“You do pray, don’t you? If your heart became reverent, you should hurry up and pass on. Why are you clinging to him?”
“You really··· pray with me?”
Si-hoon was surprised, but at the same time, expectation swelled inside him.
Being able to share faith was a very joyful thing.
Once he went to seminary, he would likely have to live mostly cut off from the outside world.
Though he could not see it, the fact that he had a companion itself gave him some comfort.
“Looks like it. Though he seems very embarrassed about it.”
-Shut up! Be quiet···!
The ghost shouted at Noel.
Even when he tried to sound fierce, it was like a puppy barking.
-Do not shout.
At Ashin’s words, the ghost closed his mouth and merely pointed at Noel with a trembling hand.
“···I’m happy.”
When Si-hoon quietly smiled, the ghost lowered his hand and let out a long sigh.
-That one is a real idiot. You know that?
How would Noel know that?
This was only his second time meeting Si-hoon.
“Stop tormenting Si-hoon’s parents now. You know it isn’t good for you either, don’t you? You aren’t stupid, so I think you understood me.”
Regardless of circumstances, Noel warned him clearly.
His erosion had been washed away because he had repeatedly prayed in what could be called a god’s domain, but if he kept tormenting people like that, far from returning to his original state, he might become even worse than before.
“I asked if you understood.”
When there was no answer, Noel asked again.
-Then that idiot···?
“What are you talking about? Ah, I’ll have an Einspänner latte and cheesecake. Please.”
At Noel’s order, brought up mid-sentence, Si-hoon said he understood and got up from his seat.
He had been unable to cut in and had kept glancing over as if asking what Noel wanted to eat.
‘If it’s this simple, I should be satisfied with getting treated once.’
“I’ll be right back.”
Si-hoon smiled and moved quickly.
-Hey. Is he your servant?
When the ghost bristled, Noel snorted.
“That’s my proper payment, and because he’s my friend, I accepted payment at that level. To begin with, Si-hoon is running over there like that because of you. Why did you torment Si-hoon’s parents when they were staying still and create this whole mess?”
-······That mouth of yours is irritating.
“So? Keep talking.”
-You don’t know how much he’s suffering because of his future path right now, do you?
“I don’t.”
-I’m telling you because you’re his friend, but if he keeps going like that, something terrible will happen.
“Not yet.”
There was no scent of death flowing around Si-hoon.
Why was he saying that about someone who still had many days left to live?
The ghost stared at him with a dumbfounded face.
“So? Si-hoon’s parents opposed him, and every time they did, you tormented them. Is that it?”
-Yeah. If I hadn’t done that, he would’ve already······.
“What are you projecting?”
-···What?
“Is that why you kept following Si-hoon around? So he wouldn’t become like you? No, he looked like you, so it made you angry. That’s why you kept following him. Right?”
Since Si-hoon had a cross hanging over his head, most ghosts should not have been able to approach him.
Even if it was not like Ashin, the god he believed in must have given him a reward for his faith.
Noel had wondered why this ghost was stubbornly enduring nearby despite that, but to think this was the reason.
“You seem to be mistaken about something, but Si-hoon isn’t you.”
Noel clearly said what ghosts often thought.
“You’re dead, and whatever Si-hoon does, it isn’t something you get to interfere with. Si-hoon’s life belongs to Si-hoon.”
The ghost was not even family.
There was not even the slightest crack for him to crawl in through.
-···Everything you said is right. So right it’s hard to argue.
“Isn’t it?”
Seeing Noel smile gently, the ghost unclenched his fist.
It was irritating, but Noel was truly right.
He let out a long breath.
-······I hated him because he was just like me. I followed him around the school, thinking only of how to mess with him. Sometimes I tripped him a little, and sometimes I flipped his lunch tray.
‘What? That was him?’
Yeong-hyeon narrowed his eyes.
He had thought something was wrong with Si-hoon’s wrist.
“How petty.”
Noel glanced sideways at Si-hoon, who was standing in line.
-You know his grades are good, right?
-They are. They’re incredible.
The answer burst out of Yeong-hyeon almost reflexively.
Did Si-hoon not belong among the very top students?
-Mine were really good too. My parents wanted medical school, but I wanted to become a teacher. I guess he thought that if he failed to get into medical school like me, his parents would give up. But that doesn’t happen.
The ghost gave a self-deprecating smile, as if the strength had drained from his body.
He looked at Noel more desperately than before.
-He’s··· exactly like me. They keep telling him to retake the exam. They keep shouting over and over that medical school is the answer. If that keeps up, he’ll die. His heart will break··· and he’ll die. Like me, he might end up wandering the school.
Slowly, the ghost’s expression twisted.
Even though Noel had told him not to project, the scene was drawn before his eyes.
-Did you wish to save someone?
At Ashin’s question, the ghost looked at her.
His eyes widened slightly.
Whom had he wanted to save?
“Not Si-hoon. You.”
Noel asked bluntly.
His limbs were intact, but it did not seem as if he had died in a good way like Yeong-hyeon.
Put differently, it was a question asking whether he regretted it.
The ghost could not speak for a moment, then narrowed his eyes.
-······I think so.
The corners of the ghost’s eyes slowly drooped.
-···You’re right.
When he admitted the truth he had pretended not to know all this time, only then did the ghost’s face look relieved.
“Don’t worry. Si-hoon is truly a long way from death.”
Noel looked at Si-hoon, who was returning energetically.
-Really···?
“Why would I lie?”
There was no underworld messenger nearby either.
“Are you still talking?”
“Si-hoon.”
“What?”
“The ghost was trying to help because he was really worried about you.”
-I never said that!
The ghost bristled and shouted.
“Really?”
“Your parents are telling you to retake the exam for medical school, aren’t they?”
Si-hoon was briefly surprised, then eventually answered.
“···Yeah. I thought that if I failed to get into medical school, they would give up, but they didn’t.”
At Si-hoon’s answer, the ghost stared as if very tense.
“So are you going to live according to your parents’ wishes?”
“No. I don’t want to.”
Si-hoon shook his head.
He was quiet, but he was not weak.
Why had the ghost not understood, despite watching from his side, that there was no need to worry?
“I’m going to work part-time and save money first. I have to become independent. I’m an adult now, aren’t I? Besides, the priest said he’d help me. I’m really lucky, right?”
At those firm words, the ghost smiled more brightly than anyone.
Was he relieved?
“The ghost looks really happy at what you said.”
-···Wh-when did I?
The ghost immediately erased his smile.
“It feels like I’ve made an invisible friend, so it’s strange and fun.”
Si-hoon laced his fingers together and smiled gently.
“Looking at him, he likes prayers too, so call his name whenever you’re bored. If he keeps growing well like this, he’ll be able to protect you too.”
-Hey. Am I a plant?
“Grow? How··· does he grow?”
Si-hoon made a rather serious expression.
“It means his grade will rise. If you pray a lot, he might even become a guardian spirit someday, right? So what’s your name?”
Noel looked at the ghost.
-······Lee Ho-shin.
“He says he’s Lee Ho-shin. Call his name often. It looks like he can help you. Doesn’t that feel reassuring?”
After finishing his words, Noel looked at Ashin.
-Indeed. The fact that he has taken the first step with a heart that wishes to help someone is already meaningful.
“You heard her, Ho-shin? A very, very impressive guardian spirit is saying that, so listen well.”
Ashin was a god-grade guardian spirit.
He would likely almost never meet one.
At Noel’s praise, Ashin wore a pleased smile.
‘Anyway, that’s one thing solved.’
It had been a very simple matter.
Once he opened his shop, there would be many things like this, so it was right to adapt quickly.
‘For a light matter like this, would about 50,000 won be enough?’
He had to think about prices.
‘I also have to think about the divine reading part.’
What could supplement his lacking areas was, as expected, ghosts.
He had pretended to be a fortune-teller through ghosts before, after all.
-···Oh, right. The priest he mentioned seemed to be in a bit of trouble.
At Ho-shin’s words, Noel paused for a moment.
Had things not just been resolved well?
If something happened to the priest who was helping Si-hoon, then things would become twisted again.
“Uh···?”
When Si-hoon looked at Noel and realized Noel was not looking at him, he simply sipped his drink.
“Si-hoon. He says the priest is in trouble.”
“······!”
Si-hoon froze just like that.
Had Ho-shin told him?
He needlessly touched his thick eyebrows.
-You know those things they call holy relics? It seems one was stolen. Even when they checked the CCTV, nothing showed up.
‘A holy relic···?’
Noel wondered if he had heard wrong.
There was no divine power here or anything.
At most, Si-hoon had a cross hanging over his head.
“Holy relics exist···?”
At Noel’s question, Si-hoon nodded.
Did not every church sell souvenirs under the name of holy relics?
The representative example would be rosaries.
“Every church probably has them.”
At those words, Noel briefly froze.
‘Holy relics··· aren’t supposed to be that common, though?’
Were they not objects bestowed by a god?
Priests in his original world had cherished them more than their own lives.
And yet every church sold them.
He felt as if his head was tangling.
“I don’t know how much you heard, but they lost a holy relic that supposedly had God’s power dwelling in it.”
-A real one exists?
When Yeong-hyeon asked, Ashin proudly pointed at herself.
-If Heaven’s power exists, would God’s power not exist?
At Ashin’s words, Noel felt as if he was falling even deeper into a maze.
Did they sell God’s power in a whole line, from small to large?
‘Why···? Are they that short on money?’
Were the clergy here different from the priests in his own world?
“The priest who said he would help me is the parish priest of that church, so it really is a serious matter.”
Si-hoon truly had not intended to ask for help with this.
To begin with, was this not a different kind of matter?
“Are you sure it’s a real holy relic?”
“To be honest, I don’t know whether it’s real or not. But there are holy relics said to contain God’s power placed in a small number of churches, and the church I attend is one of those few.”
“You must go to a really big place.”
“No. They said it has a deep history.”
Listening to Si-hoon’s answer, Noel calmed his confusion for a moment.
First, he felt the need to see what kind of thing it was.
Above all, he was interested.
Because he had never known what the holy relics priests treasured so dearly looked like, he wanted to see one even in this world.
“By any chance, do they need help from someone with a different kind of sight?”
Noel smiled brightly.
‘Church officials can’t be exceptions among my customers either.’
Looking at it, were they not quietly running something like exorcists or whatever too?
They would become customers.
“To be honest, it did seem like they needed help. It really looked like a ghost had taken it.”
“But Si-hoon. I take payment. In other words, I don’t work for free. If that’s still fine, contact the priest. Otherwise, I’m going home.”
“Wait. Just a moment!”
Si-hoon happily rose from his seat and went outside the cafe.
-Can’t you do it for free since he’s your friend?
“If I was going to do that, I’d have become a religious person, wouldn’t I?”
Noel elegantly answered Ho-shin’s grumbling.
Clap, clap.
Yeong-hyeon clapped his hands and nodded several times.
Even when Ho-shin glared at him, Yeong-hyeon said what he had to say.
-He’s right.
As soon as he got out of the taxi, Noel raised his head.
“···Si-hoon? Is this the right place?”
“Haha, there are··· a lot of stairs, right?”
“It isn’t just a lot.”
Noel already looked sick of it.
When fleeing, what he hated most were places one had to climb like that.
The ones chasing him hated them, and he hated them too.
Because of the high stairs, he could only barely see the very tip of the church.
-Climb up bravely. You’ll be surprised.
Yeong-hyeon spoke with a shrug.
His body was not that weak.
“If you walk, it’s not too bad.”
“Is that so···?”
Noel steeled himself and stepped onto the stairs.
How far had he climbed?
When about half of the church came into view, he had to narrow his eyes.
“···It really shines.”
“We worked hard cleaning the church.”
At Si-hoon’s answer, Noel stared at him for a moment.
For some reason, his gaze looked a little coy.
“I don’t mean that···? We cleaned the outer walls hard too.”
“I mean I can see the power.”
“Really? You can see that?”
“I’m saying it because I can see it, aren’t I? This place is real.”
It was not some half-baked lingering power. It was real.
-I feel a little··· sick inside.
“Si-hoon, I’m not saying this to you.”
After speaking briefly to Si-hoon, Noel addressed Ashin.
“It’s because the powers are clashing, right?”
-Yes. It differs from the power I received, and this place is rather intense.
“Will you be all right?”
-That is even better. Is this not training?
With one hand raised, Ashin laughed loudly with a firmer expression.
“If you’re fine, then come with me.”
-Are you all right?
“Of course I am.”
Whether it was Heaven or God, were they not both benevolent powers?
They should be able to embrace even death.
Yeong-hyeon seemed fine as well.
‘More than that, this is turning out interesting.’
With power of this degree, it seemed plausible that a real holy relic existed.
Anticipation rose inside him, full and bright, that today he might see a true holy relic.