“Maybe another bastard, but I never thought you would do it! I never thought you’d be such a whoreson piece of trash! Did you want the money that badly? Huh?”
This force.
That gaze.
They belonged to someone he knew well.
“······S-Sang-won?”
Was it because of the alcohol?
Even if he had gone mad, it truly felt as if Sang-won had come back to life before his eyes.
“I trusted you! Because you were like one of my own fingers! But you did this to me··· How could you do this to me?”
When he saw those disappointed eyes, the corners of Jung-ho’s mouth trembled.
It felt as though he could not breathe.
“Sang-won. Sang···won.”
Jung-ho swallowed hard the words that seemed about to burst out at any moment.
“When have I ever wanted your money? Huh? If you needed money, you should’ve said so before I died. Did you think I··· couldn’t even give you that little bit of money? Fuck···. How could you really do this to me? Even when you and I blew all the money we’d worked ourselves to death earning because we were going to start a business, I wasn’t this devastated! You were, fuck, weaker than me··· I thought you’d seriously die if you didn’t eat, so I······.”
Tears seeped into his voice.
“I··· sold my clothes and the shoes I was wearing, lied that I’d gotten paid, and brought you rice. I never regretted it, not once······.”
At those words spilling out one after another, Jung-ho could not doubt him.
Because they were things only the two of them knew.
“How··· do you know Sang-won so well? Did Sang-won say that?”
“Is that what’s important right now?”
“It is important! It’s important!”
“This student lent me his body! Satisfied, bastard?”
“······Possession?”
“Yeah! Have you never seen a movie? Then again, what would a whoreson piece of trash like you know?”
“······Ha.”
Jung-ho sank down as if collapsing.
He covered his face with his hands, then laughed like a fool.
It was simply funny.
“I’m talking through a borrowed body because it’s possible!”
“No, still, this is······.”
“I begged this student and came looking for you, and what? You can’t give it?”
Sang-won grabbed a fistful of Jung-ho’s hair.
It felt as though he would only feel better after ripping out all that rotten bastard’s hair.
“That money··· Are you really going to give it to your wife?”
“Yeah! My wife went through hell after meeting a bastard like me, and I’m going to look after her. Why the hell are you throwing a fit?”
Strength entered Sang-won’s grip.
“Fuck! It hasn’t even been that long since you died, and your wife was already meeting another man!”
“······What? That was it?”
Sang-won let out a long sigh, and Jung-ho stood up again with a dumbfounded expression.
That was it?
He grabbed the water bottle on the bench and drank from it.
There was alcohol inside.
He could not bear it without drinking.
“Those kids of yours you bragged about so much said it was good you died, too! So how could I hand over your money···?”
Jung-ho spoke as if his whole body were trembling.
The moment he had heard it, it had felt as if his blood was flowing backward.
He knew he was overstepping, but still, this was not right.
“That money··· Sang-won, do you know how you earned that money··· How could I······.”
“······I’m sorry.”
At Sang-won’s apology, Jung-ho raised his head.
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Because I only gave you needless worries.”
“Hey. Why are you··· saying it like that?”
“That man is my wife’s old classmate.”
“I saw them··· hugging. You know that isn’t normal by common sense, don’t you?”
“Hey, man. I once had a huge fight with my wife over that, too. But it wasn’t that. What was it··· Ahem, he was the kind of man who likes men.”
“What···?”
“It’s true. If not, do you think I would have stayed still? After I died, I would have followed them around cursing them. Wouldn’t I?”
“With your personality, yes.”
“And the things our kids said, they didn’t mean it. I heard it all back then, too. Maybe because the funeral hall was attached to the hospital, I could go that far. You heard it there, too, right?”
As Sang-won spoke sheepishly, Jung-ho’s mouth tightened completely.
There was nowhere else it could have been.
“Those brats take after me, so they have foul mouths. I was honestly startled back then, too, but it wasn’t resentment. They were just saying those things because they were so sad that even though I was a sorry excuse of a man, I was still their father. My kids were sad that I died.”
“···Ha.”
Jung-ho put a hand on his head.
Soon, he let out a hollow laugh.
“······Is that right?”
“Yeah. You should have at least asked······. Ah, shit!”
Had he not just heard that Jung-ho had been treated as a suspect because of him?
Sang-won’s face twisted deeply.
“···That’s a relief. What a relief.”
Jung-ho sank down where he stood and shed tears.
It had all been a misunderstanding.
He had no idea how much of a relief that fact was.
“You’re a grown man. What are those messy tears for?”
“It’s because I’m going through male menopause, you damn bastard!”
“Th-that going in and out of the police station, if it shaved years off your life··· what then?”
“Shaved what, my ass. I’m going to live another fifty years.”
“What do you mean, fifty? You have to live another sixty before you come.”
“······Are you happy? Are you? When it rains, you shouldn’t run! What kind of old bastard runs around without acting his age and dies like that? How embarrassing!”
“Hey. But honestly, it was kind of funny, wasn’t it?”
When Sang-won grinned, Jung-ho swallowed his tears and laughed.
“Kind of funny? That’s drinking-story material for life.”
“Still, quit drinking. You have to live another sixty years.”
At those words, Jung-ho bit his lip hard to hold back the expression that was about to crumple.
“And give this student a generous amount.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You. You can’t even do that much?”
“That crazy bastard.”
“You’re the crazy one.”
The two looked at each other and laughed once more.
Then Jung-ho asked rather carefully,
“···Sang-won. Was that weighing on you so much that you couldn’t even go somewhere good?”
“Well, there were a lot of things. You were weighing on me, too.”
Sang-won instinctively knew.
His time was up now.
“Drink in moderation and live well, bastard.”
Sang-won said to Jung-ho, his voice choked with tears.
“I will. You just wait in a good place, bastard.”
The two looked at each other and chuckled.
Slowly, Sang-won closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the atmosphere changed once more.
A grown man was sobbing his eyes out.
“···Did that friend leave?”
“Yes. He trusted you and left.”
Noel watched Sang-won disappear.
To think he would let go of his lingering attachment this quickly.
“It was supposed to be paid in advance, though.”
Puhaha.
At those words, Jung-ho ended up bursting into laughter.
When Noel looked at him, Jung-ho was laughing and crying at the same time.
He could wait a little before receiving the money.
***
“···Thank you.”
Noel unbuckled his seat belt.
Could he not have just put him in a taxi?
Why had he called a designated driver and ridden with him?
Jung-ho rummaged around, then held out a business card.
When Noel looked at it, Jung-ho smiled with his swollen eyes.
“If you ever need help, contact me anytime.”
“I will.”
Noel smiled brightly.
This man seemed to have more money than he looked.
Two million won.
He had given him a very generous amount.
“And, um, may I have your phone number, too?”
“Why my phone number?”
“You’re very gifted. I’d like to visit you personally later.”
“I’m not very good at fortune readings. Are you all right with that?”
“I am. I know you’re a real shaman now.”
At Jung-ho’s words, Noel gently raised one eyebrow.
Then that was that.
“Replace the car’s right-side tire today.”
Noel gave one piece of advice to his future customer, who had given him two million won.
-Why the tire? Was something wrong with it?
Noel did not answer Yeong-hyeon’s question and got out.
Before getting in earlier, he had seen fingernail marks on the tire.
The car might have been parked in the path of a passing evil spirit, but anything touched by an evil spirit’s hand brought misfortune, whatever it was.
Changing it was the right choice.
“Then please get home safely.”
Noel spoke as kindly as possible.
“···Thank you.”
Jung-ho looked somewhat bewildered, but now that Noel had told him, the matter belonged to that man.
Noel walked toward the apartment, stretched one hand high above him, and stretched his body.
‘Somehow, I feel good.’
***
After returning to the apartment, Noel glanced around.
Because people were gathered there, it seemed ghosts were swarming, too.
Before drawing attention for no reason, he said nothing, only stared at the ground, and went inside.
-···Noel.
As he entered the password, Yeong-hyeon called him.
“What? You’re already dead. Don’t get needlessly sentimental.”
-It is true that I feel, um, not great, but possession was possible, too?
“Do you want to do it, too?”
-Can I do it, too?
“If you pay generously, I’ll lend it to you for a little while.”
Noel snickered.
What was so difficult about possession?
He opened the door.
-Thank you! I’ve really never seen anything like this before, but how is it possible? Is there some principle behind it?
Yeong-hyeon looked at him with curiosity.
“Principle? There’s nothing like that. It’s just been as natural as breathing since I was born.”
-Since you were born? Were you a genius?
“Who knows. I’ve never thought of it as that kind of power.”
Was this not power, but a curse?
He had thought that countless times, so it was a part he could not understand at all.
-It’s kind of amazing.
Noel took off his shoes and naturally headed to the bathroom.
‘I find this more amazing.’
He did not have to draw water; just turning this handle made water come out.
He did not have to make fire; just pressing a button made light come on.
It was astonishing.
-By the way, Noel.
“What?”
-How old are you, by any chance?
“About a year short of becoming an adult?”
-Then I’m the older brother?
“Why? Want me to call you older brother?”
-It would be nice if you did! I was the youngest, you know? I always wished I had a younger sibling.
Yeong-hyeon smiled happily and floated around Noel.
When Noel glanced at the mirror for a moment to wash his hands, Yeong-hyeon was not reflected in it.
In that place was someone who looked exactly like Yeong-hyeon.
‘It does feel unfamiliar.’
His still-wounded face was swollen and covered in marks.
-There’s a lot I have to tell you before I see my family.
“Tell me everything before you pass on.”
-I should, right? First, um··· I should tell you about my relationships, shouldn’t I?
“Why would I need that?”
Noel asked while drying his washed hands on a towel.
-···Huh? What do you mean, why?
“They’re connections that have nothing to do with me now. I’ll maintain my relationship with Uncle as you wish. He’s blood, so I can do that much.”
His body headed on its own toward the room where Yeong-hyeon had stayed.
When he lay on the bed, he saw Yeong-hyeon’s face, now without any trace of a smile.
-Right. That was my greed.
“Wasn’t it?”
-Still, will you hear about my relationships, at least?
“Why?”
-···Um, because you have to go to my high school graduation ceremony?
At Yeong-hyeon’s words, Noel blinked, then opened his mouth with an “Ah.”
He remembered that the accident had happened when Yeong-hyeon left for a family trip during winter break.
-It isn’t far off. If it’s all right, can we go see my family after the graduation ceremony?
“That much doesn’t matter.”
-Thank you, Noel.
Yeong-hyeon smiled again.
-And you don’t have to go to university. That was something I wanted. You can do what you want to do.
Yeong-hyeon lay back, laced his fingers together, and wiggled the tips of his toes.
His life had ended.
Now that he accepted it, he felt both strangely at peace and terribly empty.
“Do you regret it?”
-No. No matter how many times you ask, my answer is the same. ···I could not have endured it. If you weren’t here, I probably wouldn’t have even been able to come in here, either.
After dying, it was quite nice that the emotions he had gone through back then had blurred.
So he had no regrets.
-Ah, the money is here. The password is 47783.
Yeong-hyeon moved and pointed to the wardrobe where a small safe was.
At the word money, Noel got up, opened the wardrobe, and looked at the safe.
-Use all the money inside to live your life. You deserve that.
“I will. I’ll do whatever I want with it.”
-But gambling, drugs, and, um, bad things like that are not allowed, all right?
At Yeong-hyeon’s words, Noel looked at him in disbelief.
“Why would I do something like that? I’ve only just found paradise.”
At those words, Yeong-hyeon came down, crouched, and looked at Noel.
Noel was looking at the bankbook.
‘To call this place paradise. What happened to him?’
Yeong-hyeon’s gaze deepened as he looked at Noel.
-Noel.
“What?”
-If it’s all right, may I hear your story?
“No.”
-It was only for a moment, but you saw me, so you know, don’t you? My mouth isn’t that loose.
“I don’t know that.”
-Then can you tell me before I pass on?
Noel, who had been checking the money, turned his head and looked at Yeong-hyeon.
At that displeased gaze, Yeong-hyeon laughed lightly.
“What are you so curious about?”
After checking the amount, Noel’s voice and expression had softened considerably.
-I treated my body carelessly, but it feels like you’ll use my body well. I want to know who you are, don’t I?
“I’ll tell you before you pass on. This will probably become a lingering attachment anyway.”
-How did you know?
“I can tell just by looking. But can I really use this?”
Noel waved the bankbook.
It was the price of his family’s lives.
The amount was on a different scale from the shaman’s fees he had received so far.
-I heard Uncle is getting compensation from the owner of the offender’s vehicle. If you add this and that together, wouldn’t it be a fairly good amount for one person to start over?
“It seems like a lot. It’s in the hundred-million-won range.”
-Like I said earlier, just don’t use it for bad things like gambling or drugs. I’m dead anyway, and even if I want to use it, I can’t. So it’s right for you to use it.
Unless one was a fool, one would know what kind of look was in Yeong-hyeon’s eyes.
It was goodwill.
And a terribly unfamiliar kind of goodwill at that.
“What did you want to do if you had lived, older brother?”
At being called older brother, Yeong-hyeon smiled like a fool, then cleared his throat with an “Ahem” and steadied his voice.
-I wanted to ride in a hot-air balloon.
“That does sound fun.”
-Right? Will you let me ride one before I pass on?
“I should. This must have become a lingering attachment, too.”
At those words, Yeong-hyeon grinned.
His way of speaking was blunt, but he was quite a kind boy.
***
Noel stepped into a place called school, somewhere he had never been even once.
It was certainly unfamiliar, but because of Yeong-hyeon’s memories, a familiar feeling lingered.
‘I did want to go to school, too. So this is what it feels like.’
Noel looked at the school and walked slowly.
Memories seeped in.
Friends.
Classrooms.
Teachers.
As several memories circled in his head, he felt strange.
Though he had never attended this place, it was as if he were floundering in the illusion that he had.
-It feels really strange. I used to hate going to school so much, but today, for some reason, I feel good.
Yeong-hyeon’s voice sounded excited.
“Student Do Yeong-hyeon.”
When someone called his name from behind, Noel turned his head.
Yeong-hyeon’s expression stiffened, and Noel raised the corner of his mouth.
A neat suit, cold eyes, and even a pale complexion.
An underworld messenger, a civil servant of the afterlife, had come looking for him.
‘He got here fairly quickly.’