A Windfall of Money Even While Spending It - 15
'Whatever was attached to Seo Jinwoo felt different from anything I'd dealt with so far.'
The energy it gave off was unmistakably that of an evil spirit. It clung tight to Seo Jinwoo's body, coexisting with him like a parasitic spirit.
And yet, it didn't feel like one of those fragmented conglomerates born from countless souls torn to shreds.
Above all, the thing attached to Seo Jinwoo had a purpose.
'It left handprints on Seo Jinwoo's neck.'
And that, while Seo Jinwoo and I had been standing face to face, no less.
It was almost as if it were saying... This one's mine. A declaration of ownership.
That was exactly why I'd suspected a curse or voodoo.
A lead in a blockbuster film, a flawless face, a model citizen who had never once been touched by scandal or controversy.
A genius actor who was notoriously picky about his roles, and who perfected every part he ever took on.
'Which is why they call him a walking mid-sized company, with fans in the millions.'
Word was that Seo Jinwoo pulled in hundreds of billions of won a year, with articles once reporting his personal earnings alone in the tens of billions.
'And his popularity keeps climbing higher and higher.'
Say there was a production company forced to compete against a drama starring Seo Jinwoo. Would they drop four billion won on marketing just to beat him?
Would they pay a hundred million to some shaman who commands lowly spirits and ask her to throw a curse?
If the shaman proved capable, they'd gladly spend that hundred million.
The exact opposite scenario was just as easy to imagine.
Say there was a fan who adored Seo Jinwoo beyond all reason. Someone who wanted to hold his hand, to date him even in fantasy — and who happened to know voodoo?
Then they could make a doll of Seo Jinwoo and use it to make him turn his head toward wherever they were standing, or wave in their direction.
And if they kept doing such things, and their desire eventually crossed the line into forbidden territory, into spells no one should ever cast...?
'Then something could appear on set in the shape of a ghost.'
Of course, only Seo Jinwoo would have been able to see it.
Either way, judging by everything I'd analyzed so far, this was not a dead person who had become an evil spirit on its own and latched onto Seo Jinwoo.
'Whether it's a spirit or an evil spirit, a ghost or a lowly wraith — each has its own little quirks, but this thing feels completely different.'
Someone had draped a curse, an obsession, over Seo Jinwoo like a shroud, with him as the target.
Which meant this could well be a disaster manufactured by human hands.
I rose from my seat and headed out to the spirit room.
"No. 1. Come here."
[What? I was just about to fall asleep.]
The little wrigglers had apparently raised hell all day long. No. 1 looked one breath away from passing out cold.
No wonder the old sayings are never wrong, I thought. Like parent, like child — a crappy lot for all.
"Come on out. You've got to earn your keep, you know."
[I earned my keep by birthing the 12-Shin, didn't I? To protect you and our whole village.]
"That's a load of crap— no, wait, you're a cat, so cut the meow-bullshit and get out here. You're the only one holding out, and it's keeping your wives from sleeping."
It wasn't just No. 1 who was worn down to a thread, either.
All three of his wives had collapsed from exhaustion, nursing and tending the squirming litter all day long.
"Mrr?"
"Maa-maaow."
"Eeeeng, eeeeng."
The little wrigglers woke from their nap and started whimpering.
[Such is my fate.]
Afraid the noise would wake his wives too, No. 1 swallowed his tears and climbed down from the hammock on the cat tower.
"Sit."
I set No. 1 on the table and pulled out a Churu treat stick.
"In a little while, a movie actor named Seo Jinwoo is coming over..."
I calmly laid out the symptoms Seo Jinwoo had been experiencing, then shared my suspicion that he was under attack from a curse or voodoo.
"What do you think?"
No. 1 licked at the treat I squeezed out for him, then flicked his bright red tongue and spoke.
[If it's a curse, then whatever's clinging to that guy's back is an evil spirit being used to carry it out. Dogs, chickens, rats — that kind of lowly wraith. You just catch it and get rid of it, Boss. Easy.]
He'd done it before, so apparently it wouldn't be difficult at all.
[The problem is voodoo.]
"Voodoo doesn't attach anything to the person, right? You use a doll to control and manipulate Seo Jinwoo directly."
[Right. Look at you, Boss. You've actually been studying.]
Chai had told me about the doll magic practiced in Thailand — essentially their version of voodoo — so I knew a fair amount by now.
"You gather a person's hair, nails, and blood to make the doll, then feed the doll your own blood to control them — isn't that how it works?"
[Yep.]
"But something is stuck to Seo Jinwoo's back."
[So the person controlling the voodoo doll used a curse on top of it? Beats me.]
No. 1 tilted his head this way and that, then said:
[Either way, if you can't catch whoever's wielding the voodoo doll, that Seo-Jinwoo-whatsis guy is going to keep getting puppeted.]
That matched my own thinking.
"So what do we do?"
[First, you deck him from behind and knock him out cold. Then we check what's stuck to his back, and we'll know what we're dealing with. Won't we?]
"Does that even make sense?"
[Or how about dosing his drink?]
"That sounds even worse?"
Inviting a famous actor to my house and feeding him a drink laced with sleeping pills? What would that make me?
Think it through before you open your mouth.
[But if Seo Jinwoo really is under voodoo... then you have to deceive the one doing the controlling. Otherwise you can't even find out who they are — and if you can't find them, you can't undo the spell.]
"This is getting complicated. I don't even keep sleeping pills in the house."
[Then just smack him on the head. You're strong, Boss.]
No. 1 let out a soft purr and curled himself into a round ball. He looked ready to drift off.
"No. 1, I've thought of a brilliant idea."
[Great. Have fun with that.]
"The moment Seo Jinwoo walks through that door, you drop down from the ceiling."
[Do whatever you want... Mrr?]
No. 1's head shot up, startled.
[You want ME to do WHAT?]
"Think about it. We can't very well deck a superstar like Seo Jinwoo and knock him out cold. Same with slipping him sleeping pills."
[So you want me to knock him out? If I possess him, whoever's pulling the doll's strings will notice.]
"I'm not asking you to possess him. While you drop down and block his line of sight, I'll take a good look at whatever's on his back."
If it was a curse, physical force would settle it.
If it was voodoo, we'd immobilize Seo Jinwoo first, then track down whoever was moving him with the doll.
"That's the plan, then."
[Huh? What was that?]
No. 1 pretended not to hear.
So I, in turn, pretended not to notice that he was pretending not to hear.
"Don't screw this up. If you want your wives and the little wrigglers to get through tonight safe and sound, you'd better do your job right."
"Mrr? Mrrrooow."
No. 1 grumbled mightily about it, but ours was a contracted relationship — refusing my orders simply wasn't in the cards.
"Get some rest. I'll wake you when Seo Jinwoo gets here."
[I'm the real voodoo doll around here. Hng.]
"So where exactly do you think you're going right now? Are you insane?"
Bae Junghee's voice — his agency's CEO — grated irritably out of the hands-free speaker.
Seo Jinwoo's grip tightened around the steering wheel.
"I'm about to start filming a movie, so I figured I'd clear my head and take a drive around the countryside. Is that grounds to call me insane?"
"That's not the point. Why are you going ALONE? Have you already forgotten what happened on the drama set? You said you were seeing things!"
He had. Just for a moment.
Which was exactly why he was on his way to see Kim Yunho now.
He hadn't said a word about it, yet Kim Yunho had seen straight through every one of his symptoms.
"Seo Jinwoo? Are you feeling unwell, by any chance? Nightmares, or never feeling rested no matter how much you sleep — things like that?"
Kim Yunho's words, that he wanted to offer help, had felt like salvation.
"If the nightmares get any worse, or you start feeling really ill, ask the director for my number and give me a call. I think I might be able to help you."
The moment Kim Yunho said it, Seo Jinwoo had felt his head clear and his shoulders lighten.
And then...
There had been a scent. Bamboo incense, the kind you'd only ever smell at a temple.
Was that why?
It felt as though he had to see Kim Yunho a single minute, a single second, sooner than planned.
"I'll text you when I arrive."
Seo Jinwoo didn't feel like talking long, and the moment he reached to end the call, Bae Junghee shouted.
"Jinwoo, that runs in your family. Mental illness!"
"Hanging up."
"Your mother killed herself because of her mental illness, didn't she? You need treatment, right now!"
Beep—! The sound of a heart monitor going flat rang out from deep inside his eardrums.
He'd realized his mother's heart had stopped beating, and he'd sobbed and screamed — but he wasn't allowed past the curtain of the emergency room.
"Don't let the child see this. 150 joules! Charge! Clear!"
The medical team's frantic shouts, desperate to bring his mother's heart back to life, still seemed to echo in his ears.
"Hah... hah..."
Seo Jinwoo pulled over onto the shoulder and dragged in ragged breaths. His stomach churned as if he might vomit on the spot.
"Jinwoo! Jinwoo!"
Bae Junghee's voice blared through the car.
Seo Jinwoo pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his mouth.
"You know, you really do say whatever you like."
"Hm? What?"
"Fine — say you can't empathize with other people's pain even one bit. But you know I can't stand hearing about my mother. Can't you at least stop doing that?"
"I only say it for your own good. Take your meds and rest. Let's cancel all your schedules for now and get you into treatment."
Bae Junghee was terrified, it seemed, that Seo Jinwoo might one day end his life the way his birth mother had.
Frankly, every time he heard it, Seo Jinwoo found himself thinking: So I'm a suicide risk, apparently.
And then he would be seized by a grim premonition — that someday, on some distant day, he too would meet his end by his own hand.
Seo Jinwoo clenched his teeth, lifted his eyes, and spoke into the phone.
"If you keep trying to control even my personal time like this, I may not renew my contract. When that happens, you'd best figure out which of us stands to lose more."
"......"
At that single strike, Bae Junghee couldn't so much as draw breath.
"Then I'll call you tomorrow, CEO Bae."
Seo Jinwoo pressed the end-call button and wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.
And in doing so, his face came into view in the rearview mirror.
"Gahk!"
A white hand was climbing up his neck.
"AAAGH!"
The white hand, fingers curved into claws, began to squeeze his throat.
Seo Jinwoo seized the white hand by the wrist and tried to wrench it away, but it didn't budge an inch.
"Urk! Ugh—!"
He couldn't breathe. His eyes felt as though they were being forced from their sockets.
"Save me—... Huh?"
He looked at the mirror again — and the hand strangling him was his own.
"N-no. That's not it. I wasn't strangling my own neck, I wasn't—"
Seo Jinwoo spread both hands open in front of him and shuddered.
Just then — HOOOONK! A car coming from the opposite direction blared its horn furiously.
His eyes flew open and he wrenched the wheel. When he came to his senses, he was in the middle of driving down the road.
When had he stopped the car? When had he strangled himself? He couldn't say with any certainty that those things had even happened at all.
"I've lost it. I'm... I'm not in my right mind."
Even in the middle of all that, Seo Jinwoo could not let go of the single-minded conviction that he had to reach Kim Yunho.
"I think I might be able to help you."
People were always lecturing him. See a psychiatrist. Rest. Do this, don't do that.
But exactly one person — only Kim Yunho — had said he would help.
"I think I might be able to help you."
That's right. I need help.
Seo Jinwoo gripped the wheel, forced his focus together, and drove on. To reach Kim Yunho.
"Come on in."
At last he arrived at Kim Yunho's house and knocked on the front door. Kim Yunho opened it and greeted him warmly.
"Sorry to bother you. I hope I'm not calling too late at night...?"
Mrrooow!
Something thudded down from the ceiling.
A musky animal smell washed over him, and for a moment his vision blacked out entirely.
Whoosh — something seemed to brush along his back like a gust of wind.
Riiip! His clothes were torn to shreds without mercy. Then — THUNK! — a blow landed on the back of his head hard enough to make his skull ring.
He had no idea what on earth had just happened as his body swayed and tilted.
'But why... why does this feel so comfortable?'