“Did you see that, Lady Ashin? Sir?”
Jin-hon looked at Noel and Ashin with bright, round eyes.
-You are like a snake. Did you know everything and watch?
“I did not know the exact details. As you know, it is an affair of the living, is it not? What I can know precisely is information related to the dead.”
With a sly smile, Jin-hon casually looked toward Jang-yul’s father.
‘I knew it. There was a reason he smelled like death.’
Noel stared quietly at Jin-hon.
Even if underworld messengers were near those who were about to die, was he not meeting Jin-hon more often than expected?
-Wait a moment!
Yeong-hyeon clutched his head as if dizzy.
Things were flashing past too quickly for him to understand.
-···Curses are real?
-You and I exist, gods exist, and even an underworld messenger is here. Naturally, curses exist as well.
At Ashin’s firm answer, Yeong-hyeon quietly bit his lip.
It was truly an unknowable world.
No, the more he learned, the more frightening it became.
He did not know what else existed, but he did not want to know.
“···Sir?”
Jang-yul quietly called Noel, who seemed to be talking to himself.
What was here?
“Please bring your father here, Mr. Shin Jang-yul.”
Noel said that, then turned and walked toward a seat some distance away.
He could not very well talk with Jin-hon here, could he?
When Ashin lowered her sword, Jin-hon came closer.
“So?”
From what Noel could see, it did not seem Jin-hon had come intentionally.
When he had met an underworld messenger while taking Kkamang away last time, it had not been Jin-hon.
~Yes. I am the underworld messenger who will fill in when Team Leader Jin-hon is busy.
If he had even found a substitute, why would he come personally?
It meant this had been something he would leave to Noel anyway.
“Sir. You are not angry, are you?”
“It was a coincidence, wasn’t it?”
“It may be hard to believe, but it truly was a coincidence.”
Jin-hon raised both hands again.
“I know.”
“As expected of you, sir.”
Jin-hon approached as if he might start shaking a little rattle somewhere.
“Not that. Tell me what this is about.”
“We have been investigating continuously. Curses are rather troublesome on our side as well. Though they are acts committed by the living, there is deep concern over whether they can truly be resolved only within the realm of the living. If a curse grows, it becomes a monster, does it not?”
-As you say, the living confuse the name and call it an “evil spirit.” It is not a ghost, but a name is extremely important to anyone. A monster may transform into a ghost.
At Ashin’s words, Jin-hon immediately stretched out his hand as if to say that was exactly it.
“That is the most troublesome part. Something that is not a ghost pretends to be one, and even leads other ghosts into impurity. If they cannot shake off the impurity, we cannot take them away either.”
“You could say it exists in a gray area, then?”
“You could say that, but it is still a gray area where it is awkward for us to intervene. So we asked other shamans who can cooperate with us as well, but as you know, they cannot see or hear us as clearly as you, sir.”
“Why?”
At Noel’s expression, which seemed to say he genuinely did not know, Jin-hon’s mouth moved for a moment.
“Unlike in the past, the number of true shamans is disappearing. In that sense, you are truly remarkable, sir.”
There was not a single lie in that.
Were shamans not originally old collaborators and bridges connecting the living and the dead?
Jin-hon had once told Noel that he would receive tremendous treatment after death, and to begin with, there was no choice but to do so.
Was he not in a state where he had received Heaven’s power so strongly?
‘Though that is somewhat··· strange.’
There was another name in the Registry, yet it was not written, and no date of death had been engraved either.
The more he looked, the more he wondered what kind of being Noel was.
“To put it simply, you want me to deal with the curse, right?”
Noel asked as he reached an appropriate seat and pulled out a chair.
Jin-hon nodded again and again.
“Yes. That is correct. I have found a good place.”
“What did you find?”
“I have felt this before, but ghosts cling to you more easily, sir. If not for the guardian spirit’s presence, the ghosts swarming outside the shop would have rushed at you.”
“That is accurate.”
What could he do?
It was like an unwanted price paid by one born with the power of death.
“So I was on my way back after finding the location of a sacred old tree. I mentioned it quietly, so it will give you a branch. If that is made into a rosary or prayer beads, the small fry will not even be able to come near you. Ah, and that includes things like black arts.”
“Can it make about two?”
One was for Shin-hyeon.
Even without that, Noel had slowly begun worrying about him.
What ghosts in his previous world were best at was threats, and among those threats, the most effective was touching someone close to him.
Even if the ghosts here were docile, there was no telling.
“Of course. If there is one thing I am unbelievably quick at, it is reading the room.”
-Is it not that your tongue is long?
At Ashin’s remark, Jin-hon laughed “haha” and looked at her with an awkward expression.
Just hearing that statement made him feel as though his neck were about to fall off.
“Go on. Come back a little later. You are busy, are you not?”
Noel smiled.
He had been planning to deal with the curse anyway.
Whatever form it took, it had dared to bare its nails at him.
Things like that had to be trampled down.
Only then would the same thing never happen again.
“I am busy, yes.”
“Why are you not leaving?”
Noel asked when Jin-hon, who had acted as if he would leave at any moment, remained still.
“Well, you see, sir, I heard that you gave chocolate to one of my team members. I waited for a moment in case you might recreate such a gracious situation for me as well, but it seems no such situation is coming my way.”
Around the time Jin-hon looked embarrassed, Noel took chocolate from his pocket.
Only then did Jin-hon’s expression change.
Perhaps it was like worldly food encountered during ascetic practice.
Noel himself could no longer return to a life without fried chicken.
It could be called food that belonged in the world of dreams.
“Thank you!”
Jin-hon bowed deeply, and only then did he disappear.
-He would faint if you gave him something more delicious.
At Yeong-hyeon’s casual comment, Noel chuckled.
“That is true.”
Who would have known that underworld messengers were weak to the food of the living?
When he heard footsteps, Noel turned his head.
Jang-yul’s father, whom he had been told to bring, was not behind him.
“···Sir. With the window earlier and everything, is something there?”
“It is a curse.”
At the word curse, Jang-yul was briefly confused, but he immediately put a hand to his chest and said,
“I believe your words, sir.”
Evil spirits existed.
Had he not suffered one himself?
It had been so horrifying that even recalling it made him nauseous.
Then why would curses not exist?
They absolutely had to exist.
“Mr. Shin Jang-yul’s father is the one who commissioned the curse. It seems the target was probably you, Mr. Shin Jang-yul, but that is my guess. We will have to ask more to know the details, will we not?”
“Does the person who commissioned the curse also suffer harm?”
“Of course. Where is there anything without a price? So bring him. I do not know what your relationship is or why he did it, but use this opportunity well. His life is on the line.”
Noel handed the opportunity over to Jang-yul.
How bad must their relationship be if it had gone as far as a curse?
“Thank you, sir.”
Jang-yul bowed his head.
He understood exactly what kind of opportunity Noel had given him.
Was this not a chance to tie his legs legally?
Life.
Because he knew how heavy it was, Jang-yul was smiling gently when he raised his head.
“He is my stepfather.”
After briefly informing Noel of that fact, Jang-yul headed toward his stepfather.
What he had to do was extremely simple, was it not?
The employees cleaned up the broken glass, and his family was whispering about what had just happened.
There was no need to listen closely to such things.
Some were trying to put a straw into him, and some were pointing knives at him.
“···Jang-yul.”
His stepfather approached with a displeased face.
“Yes, Father.”
“We all gathered because it was your request, but where did you drag in something like that from?”
‘···Something like that?’
The corners of Jang-yul’s smiling mouth trembled faintly.
He knew his stepfather had always been this kind of person.
“I know you were sick before and your mind is not intact, but I still think this is not right.”
Pretending it was for him.
“That is a cult fraud. A quack.”
Pretending to be a caring father.
“You saw what he did to us earlier, did you not? He only stretched out his hand. Then he said it was over. I could not tell how far we were supposed to play along. Just how much did you give a fraud like that?”
‘Now he is not even watching my mood.’
Jang-yul merely smiled.
It was true that he had weakened that much.
But even so, was that really the way to speak about the sir to whom he owed a debt so great he could never repay it, no matter how many times he tried?
“···Dear.”
His mother grabbed his stepfather’s sleeve and tried to stop him.
“No, you saw it too, did you not? How sick must the child have been to act like that? Jang-yul. You are busy, so I will handle that thing.”
“Father.”
“Yes.”
“Could you come this way for a moment?”
Jang-yul smiled gently.
At that call, his stepfather looked somewhat uneasy, but walked toward Jang-yul.
“Father.”
“Yes.”
“I did not know you were so deeply absorbed in shamanism.”
At those gentle yet cold words, his stepfather stopped walking and looked at Jang-yul.
Jang-yul lightly tapped his own face.
“You should manage your expression. You always told me that, did you not?”
Jang-yul began walking again, and his stepfather’s steps quickened as well.
He swallowed dryly for no reason.
“You called him ‘something like that,’ but Sir told me what you did.”
“···Ha. Jang-yul. How could I do something like······.”
“Unfortunately, the curse did not work. They say that curse is now after your life. What will you do?”
When Jang-yul turned his head slightly and looked at him, his stepfather’s face turned deathly pale.
He grabbed his neck, and his fingertips were trembling.
There must have been far too many things that came to mind.
“I can swear on my name that Sir’s ability is genuine. Shall I introduce you? Or shall I not?”
“Jang-yul···.”
“All you have to do is put down the knife you are pointing at me. You can simply bury what you are preparing now as well.”
Jang-yul stepped a little closer to his stepfather and lowered his voice further.
“That is the last warning I will give you as family. What will you do?”
“You are joking··· right?”
“Father. Have you ever seen me joke? I am, in truth, someone who would not feel any regret if you passed away. Rather, like you, I would be the sort to pray for your swift repose. Even so, I am saying this because I am worried about my mother.”
“······.”
“Yes. If there is something more precious than your life, then do as you wish.”
Jang-yul turned his head and quickly approached Noel.
If he did not want the chance even when given one, what could be done?
“Wait!”
His stepfather hurriedly ran toward Jang-yul.
“···Can you prove what you just said?”
“Why should I prove it? The one who needs something is not me, but you, Father.”
Jang-yul snickered.
He had known his stepfather was originally a shameless person, but even after placing a curse, he was truly shameless.
“Wait. Jang-yul.”
As that urgent voice came closer, Noel looked at the stepfather.
His eyes were full of distrust, but less so than at first.
“You have quite a lot of slush funds.”
Noel spoke to the stepfather.
“What···?”
The stepfather suspected something between Noel and Jang-yul.
Just what had he heard for him to say that?
“You recently stored gold bars. The safe is black. The passcode is, ah, I do not know if I should say that.”
“H-how······.”
The stepfather was horrified.
Had that not happened only yesterday?
Jang-yul had not been home that day because of that matter.
“3-4-7-1. I will say only this much.”
When Noel mentioned the passcode, the stepfather looked at him with more than horror, with a gaze faintly filled with fear.
Why would he go this far?
He knew the reason.
The man turned his gaze and looked at Jang-yul.
He was smiling gently.
Be stripped bare, or die.
If he disliked either, it meant he should place another leash on himself.
The stepfather breathed heavily and looked at Noel.
“Did you think you would be fine after using black arts? Or do I need to grab the caster by the hair and drag him here before you will accept it?”
This much should have made him understand.
-Kkamang really is good at this.
At Yeong-hyeon’s praise, Noel also wore a satisfied expression.
‘Of course it is.’
When he returned, he thought he should give Kkamang another lickable cat treat.
Would it not like it so much its eyes rolled again?
“You are the father of my precious customer, so I will treat you well. Make sure you charge plenty for your life.”
Noel lightly rubbed his thumb and index finger together.