“···Wait.”
Noel covered his eyes.
He had just woken up, and his head was not working.
“So I’m alcohol trash who drank and passed out?”
-······.
Silence passed for a moment.
Only Kkamang, who knew nothing, shouted for a lickable cat treat and shook Noel’s trouser leg.
-···Well, yes.
Ashin answered hesitantly, even avoiding his gaze.
At that silence, Noel let out a hollow laugh.
Somehow, asking about it felt strangely unpleasant.
-Noel. Never drink alcohol. Got it?
Yeong-hyeon even came closer and urged him.
“No, did I cause a scene or something?”
Silence flowed again.
Around the time Noel’s eyes narrowed, Yeong-hyeon changed the subject.
-Mr. Jang-yul called Uncle, and Uncle brought you back. The jade ornaments are over there in the living room. There was one more thing too.
-How about checking it while listening to what Kkamang has to say?
Ashin smiled gently, holding a lickable cat treat in her hand.
The moment Kkamang shot out toward her, Ashin took it into her arms.
Noel looked at his disheveled trouser leg, then let out another hollow laugh at the sight of Kkamang in Ashin’s arms, gently swaying its tail.
‘It really goes back and forth however it likes.’
Noel clutched his head and headed to the bathroom.
‘······My stomach feels bad too.’
Was this what a hangover was?
It was his first time feeling it.
It seemed this body really was alcohol trash.
***
[Shin Jang-yul: Sir. I sincerely hope you returned safely. I only regret that I could not explain the jade ornaments I prepared for you at the table.]
[Shin Jang-yul: If it is about my father’s matter, please contact me at any time. I will put aside anything and run to you, sir. Thank you.]
He was very polite.
However, there was nothing about what happened after Noel got drunk.
‘······What? Was it that serious?’
Feeling uneasy for no reason, Noel threw his cell phone onto the sofa, slid down beneath it, leaned back, and opened the carefully wrapped boxes one by one.
-I know what’s inside.
Kkamang, who was in Ashin’s arms, spoke excitedly.
“Good for you.”
Noel answered without any emotion, but Kkamang came down and sat beside him.
Ashin’s gaze followed it.
-Jealous?
It looked as if it were smiling, but Noel simply found those words from Kkamang funny.
“Yeah.”
The moment Noel answered and opened the box, Kkamang instinctively slipped inside.
When it sat down right there, Yeong-hyeon laughed, and Noel narrowed his eyes.
“Move aside.”
Noel reached out and pushed, but Kkamang held out to the end.
-Hmmmmm.
“What now?”
-Something’s strange.
“What is?”
-···I don’t know. Noel, tell me.
“This isn’t a holy relic, so do you think you can easily touch the box?”
At those words, Kkamang stretched out a front paw while still sitting.
When the paw passed right through, it bounced out of the box.
“The box may look visible, but to you, it’s basically open. You need it to be blocked off to feel cozy, but it isn’t, is it?”
-Then Noel, you do it.
“Move.”
At those words, Kkamang moved a couple of steps to the side.
“Sit quietly there and think for a moment about what you saw and heard, and where the bastard who cast the curse is.”
After watching Kkamang sit down, only then did Noel look over the jade ornaments.
There were rings, necklaces, and earrings, as well as purely round decorative pieces of jade, fawns, dragons, and many other things.
“Uncle must’ve struggled carrying all of this.”
-Right. He was groaning a lot.
At Yeong-hyeon’s answer, Noel briefly laughed and examined the ornaments.
‘Oh. There are some good ones here.’
Borrowing the words of this place, there were objects among objects that had fortune dwelling in them.
If something was old and had been treasured dearly in life, it could become what they called a source of fortune if kept in the home.
-Is there something good?
Yeong-hyeon came closer and asked.
“Very rarely, fortune dwells in objects too. There are a few of those here. This is a very big gain.”
Fortune.
Put another way, one could call it luck.
Noel smiled brightly and took out the fawn, the dragon, and the dolphin, then paused.
‘Huh···?’
There was something beneath the jade ornaments.
Was that not a talisman attached there?
“···Wow, this is real.”
He had searched for and seen what fake talismans looked like, and he had seen ones stuck to shops while passing by.
They were sold with prayers for luck, health, and various other wishes.
Unfortunately, because the talismans themselves were fake, even if one wished on them, they had no effect.
They were illusions, in other words.
“Is this the ‘one more thing’ you mentioned earlier, older brother?”
~Mr. Jang-yul called Uncle, and Uncle brought you back. The jade is over there in the living room. There was one more thing too.
Had Yeong-hyeon not said that before Noel washed up?
-That’s it! It looks really suspicious, doesn’t it?
“Did you touch it, by any chance?”
-No. Ashin told me not to.
Yeong-hyeon shook his head, and Noel looked at Ashin.
-Do you know what that is?
“Isn’t it a seal?”
-That is correct. It is a talisman meant to seal some being. I am more concerned about whatever is inside than the talisman itself.
“To be honest, I’m fine with whatever it is. What do you think?”
-The seal appears old. I think it may be somewhat dangerous.
“Does it look related to the ghost that used to be a centuries-old evil spirit?”
~This abandoned land··· I bought it fairly. I bought it, I tell you. But those people killed my wife, saying they wanted the land. They killed her.
Had he not said he bought abandoned land, only for someone to come wanting it?
-···Ah. Would it not be related to those who killed that man’s family? It was in the same place, after all.
“That does seem likely. Or maybe he was just unlucky as hell and got swept up in it and died.”
Perhaps whoever had come saying they wanted the land had come because of this object.
“But that evil spirit died, didn’t he? Why couldn’t he take it··· Ah. He must’ve become an evil spirit right after dying.”
-Would that not be so? His wife and child died. It is only natural that his eyes turned over.
“Still, becoming an evil spirit right after death isn’t easy.”
Putting aside the strange unpleasant feeling, Noel looked between Yeong-hyeon and Kkamang.
“Older brother. Kkamang. Step back.”
-Is it dangerous?
“I don’t know. A seal is something you only know about once you open it.”
-Be careful.
“Don’t worry about me. Take Kkamang with you.”
At those words, Yeong-hyeon quickly took Kkamang into his arms and moved back with a happy smile.
Its belly fat was very soft when touched.
-Do not worry. Noel will not be hurt.
Ashin spoke firmly and looked at Noel.
‘I wonder what’s inside.’
Contrary to her concern, Noel was already excited.
If something was sealed, it was usually on the ghost side, was it not?
‘Will it be an evil spirit? Or just an unlucky-as-hell god-grade ghost?’
There were many beings called gods in this place.
They were all god-grade or mid-tier god-grade, not true gods.
Noel boldly removed the talisman.
Wriggle.
He felt the object move in his grip.
“Ooh.”
He could already see power leaking out.
THUNK!
When Ashin drove her sword in front of it, the power could not approach.
Noel spread purple fire from the tips of his fingers and placed it like a campfire, then looked at the power.
It was dark red, like congealed blood flowing down.
“There’s quite a lot of grudge piled up.”
-So it seems. At this degree, I wonder if it was once a god.
“A discarded god? Or a betrayed god? Something like that, maybe?”
-I think the same.
Noel thought carefully for a moment, then simply released the rest of the seal and immediately formed black smoke into a sword and drove it down.
THUNK!
The object inside thrashed and thrashed, but there was nothing it could do.
The black and red power writhed, then went inside.
“What, it’s a fan? I was going to buy one.”
A fan that looked luxurious revealed itself.
Was a fan not something a shaman should have at least one of?
‘Let’s see.’
Noel stared at the fan.
Seeing the black and red power enter the fan a moment ago, it seemed the fan had been made into its leash.
Noel looked at the talisman he had removed.
‘This is only at the level of closing a lid.’
The true medium of the seal was this fan.
‘No wonder it looked luxurious.’
A fan capable of trapping a god-grade ghost.
Was this not a reward?
‘Of course. It’s a reward. You could call it one life’s worth.’
Who knew?
The god-grade ghost might have transformed into an evil spirit and gone berserk just now.
Noel dropped purple fire over the fan.
Fwoosh.
The fan continued burning.
-What are you doing?
“I’m going to leave it like this until it comes to its senses.”
-Is your power like a flame of purification?
“Well, something like that.”
It was a flame that burned erosion, so it could be called a flame of purification.
-Noel. Are you really going to leave it like that?
Yeong-hyeon asked with concern.
“I have no choice. It’s not in its right mind right now, so it can’t even speak. If it was a god, purifying it right away will be difficult. It has to stay like that for a few days.”
-Because the grudge is too deep?
“Right. Touching a grudge that deep right away is a stupid thing to do. How painful would it be to be cursed by a god?”
Yeong-hyeon could not hide his fascination at Noel’s answer.
How did he know so much about things like that?
‘He said he had this power from birth, didn’t he?’
Then what kind of life must he have lived?
At that question, Yeong-hyeon’s thoughts grew a little deeper.
“Kkamang.”
Kkamang was crouched down, wiggling its rear as if it might pounce any second, and Noel called it.
Kkamang turned its head.
-Hm?
“Don’t touch it.”
-Why?
“If you touch it, I won’t give you a lickable cat treat.”
Even so, it was obvious it would touch it.
Whether all cats were originally like that or not, they did things he could not understand.
Even though it could pass through doors, it always had to push its head into gaps in doors.
‘I need to stop it from coming here.’
Noel gestured to Kkamang.
Kkamang came down.
It glanced over there, but at Noel’s “Ahem,” it pretended not to know and looked at him.
“Kkamang. Now tell me who cast the curse.”
At those words, Kkamang shook its tail slightly with a very confident face.
***
BUMP.
“···Ah, what the hell?”
When their shoulders bumped, the words shot out reflexively, and she glared at the other person.
But the woman soon avoided his gaze.
His eyes did not look like human eyes.
The moment she met them, goosebumps rose over her skin, and his breathing was so rough she almost wanted to scream.
“······Watch yourself.”
At the murderous warning, the woman pointlessly grabbed her shoulder.
What would have happened if she had said something then?
Prick.
Strangely, her shoulder seemed to sting.
“It was a good thing you didn’t talk back.”
At the quiet voice she heard, the woman turned her head.
There was someone who looked like a high school student.
With a bandage on his forehead, a cast on his arm, and bandages stuck to his face, he looked as if he were in quite a lot of pain.
“There’s nothing good about raising your voice back at someone like that.”
Noel smiled gently, and the woman stared at him.
That rotten bastard was transferring the curse he bore.
‘Do you think it’ll transfer just because you do that? How stupid.’
Since she was not someone who shared the curse, passing it over like this would only make him hurt less for a short while.
What crime had the person forced to take the curse committed?
She would feel pain for at least ten minutes.
If it was severe, a bruise might form.
Noel quietly burned away the trace of the curse and left.
-···Oh! He’s transferring the curse again. Again!
Yeong-hyeon pointed with an outstretched finger.
How many people had it been now?
-He’s a bad human!
Kkamang spoke while hanging over Ashin’s shoulder.
Perhaps it felt that was the safest place.
-Noel, scold him like you did with the last bad human!
Kkamang showed its claws slightly.
The bad human who had told it to steal the holy relic had been thoroughly scolded by Noel.
~Our Kkamang will keep coming around, so try stirring up nonsense or spouting nonsense again. I’ll cut off your wrists. Do you think I can’t?
It had been very cool.
Kkamang had hidden its own front paws for no reason.
“I will.”
Noel answered simply and followed the bastard.
The place Kkamang had told him about was a shopping mall.
It was not the one he had gone to, but this place was quite large as well.
The moment he heard it, he immediately thought of “curse transfer.”
It was a technique that existed in his own world as well.
Before the curse completely swallowed oneself, one divided it little by little among other people to extend one’s life.
Was that not why he had chosen a crowded place?
‘But it was useless effort.’
Noel looked at that bastard.
A beast-shaped curse was sitting on his shoulder.
Even just looking at it, was it not terribly unlucky?
Noel smiled and walked quickly.
As he drew close, the curse recognized him.
‘What are you going to do if you stare?’
As the curse howled like a beast and charged, Ashin lowered her finger.
-Kneel.
CRASH—!
With a rough sound, the curse was slammed down, and the lights in that area briefly went out, then came back on.
As if the chain around his neck had tightened, the man fell backward along with the curse, and the murmuring of the people grew louder.
Noel approached and drove a sword into the nape of the curse’s neck.
THUNK!
When he opened his other hand, black smoke rippled around the curse.
“Hello.”
Noel pretended to reach out to the man, then used his power against the curse, and a scream rang out.
“Aaaaagh!”
One could say he had been bitten so deeply that he was almost one with the curse.
The thick black line visible around his neck was a trace of being bound to the curse, and Noel could see it slowly tightening.
Did he have two days left?
“Now then, how much should we start with?”
Noel smiled kindly and held out his hand to the man.