The Priest's Second Visit
**Chapter Title: Yongha's Desperate Plea**
Yongha raised his voice a little higher and called for his wife, but the same thing happened. “Ahhh! What should I do?!” He spun his feet around helplessly, unable to move in either direction. He was worried that something might happen to his wife. Yet he still couldn’t muster the courage to open the door and step inside. Yongha was still terrified of the daughter he had left behind—or rather, of the ghost wearing her skin. He had been hesitating for quite a while. At that exact moment, a loud *bang!* echoed from inside the door. “Aaaah!” Again, the scream jolted him so hard that he bolted out of the house. Outside the gate stood someone. Upon closer inspection, it was the strange young man he had seen last night. Yongha wondered if the man was introducing himself as a bride? Had young people become brides these days? The fellow looked like a young man in his early twenties, with a boyish air still clinging to him. Yongha forced a smile and tried to hide the anxiety on his face. He had known for a long time that every expression of his would become raw meat for the broadcast crew. “Huu…” Yongha let out a sigh, rubbed his face with his hand, and walked toward the man standing blankly outside the gate. “Hey, why did you come again? We don’t do filming stuff like that. Besides, you don’t even believe in gods anymore. Just go home.” Yongha’s voice came out rough and gruff. Maybe it was because the situation was so bad, or perhaps the deep fear inside him was still too strong, but he could no longer hold back and spat out his frustration at the young man in front of him. ////// “Really, you just won’t listen…” Yongha muttered while watching the young man’s back as he walked away. He had never listened, no matter how many times he was told. The young man had said the house felt off and that something bad had to be exorcised quickly. At that moment, Yongha grew even more certain. This guy was clearly one of those greedy opportunists chasing money. It had to be a scam cult. After all, if things stayed like this, someone would get hurt, right? Yeah, he knew. He knew perfectly well. Every person he had ever met had told him the same thing. Danger was coming, so he had to perform a good. Well… he was supposed to pray with all his heart. In exchange… the god would grant blessings if he prepared plenty of money, right? That was what they always said. It was all just scams. Nothing was actually helpful. All they did was make him lose the money he had saved. So he would never believe those empty words ever again. Yongha turned his head away in irritation. But then… he saw the man tilting his head curiously. Beside the disappearing young man, a woman suddenly appeared. Yongha stared at the woman in the trench coat and tilted his head. “What? Where did she come from?” The path the bride was taking was a lonely road lined with fields on both sides. If a woman had been there, he would have noticed long ago. Yongha rubbed his eyes just in case and looked again at the young man walking away. But he was startled once more. He had definitely seen a woman in the trench coat… and yet she vanished completely. Ah… could it be an illusion? Because of the strange things happening at home, was he starting to see illusions too? Yongha rubbed his forehead with his hand. He stared at the young man for a long time, then noticed something in his hand. A small note. On it was a phone number. If something happened, if there was even the slightest danger to his safety, he was told to call right away. Yongha sighed, thinking he might as well throw the note away, but an odd hesitation gripped him. He couldn’t just discard it; something felt wrong. In the end, he shoved the note into his pocket irritably and turned in the opposite direction the young man had gone. Besides, where should he go now? It was still early in the morning… he didn’t even know where to head. Moreover, the sky was still cloudy and gloomy. It felt like rain would pour down any second. In the end, Yongha arrived at his friend’s meat restaurant. The moment he stepped inside alone, the place was deserted—only flies buzzing around. A meat restaurant like this in the countryside had no chance of succeeding. His friend Jin-gu had been waiting for customers since the morning, but when he learned the customer was Yongha, he sighed irritably. Yongha responded gruffly, “When a customer comes, you should welcome him, not sigh like that.” “A customer is still a customer. How can you be the customer? Hah…” Yongha gave a bitter smile and took a seat at the empty table. He looked toward the counter and saw Jin-gu give a short tongue click, then head to the kitchen. Moments later, Jin-gu returned with a bottle of soju and a few cucumbers. He sat down across from Yongha and asked, “How’s home?” Jin-gu’s expression showed he was a little tense. He already knew about Yongha’s situation. Yongha poured himself a glass of soju and answered with a sigh instead. Then he downed the entire glass in one gulp. Maybe because he hadn’t eaten anything today? His stomach felt like it was burning. At the same time, Jin-gu grew more worried and said, “Hah… how long are you going to live like this? First, take her to the hospital again.” “What if I do? The hospital will just say there’s nothing wrong. They’ll even suspect that we’re abusing our daughter.” His voice trembled as he spoke. A deep resentment was seeping through every word. Jin-gu clicked his tongue and shook his head from side to side. He picked up a cucumber, dipped it in the side dish, and crunched on it loudly. Yongha only gulped down soju after soju on an empty stomach. “So… what can we do? As a shaman, should I visit once more?” “It’s no use. Nothing will change. Besides, I don’t have money anymore… Hah… I don’t know what to do anymore. Jin-gu, what should I do? Why did this have to happen to the poor thing? Is this all… my karma? If it’s my karma, why can’t I just fix my own mistakes… Why does it have to happen to my daughter… Why…” The sake might have gotten to him, or perhaps the resentment was simply boiling over. Jin-gu clicked his tongue the way he always did and then shouted back, “So why did you do something you’ll regret later! You stupid idiot! I told you many times! Don’t do anything you’ll regret! I said that, and you just won’t listen! Hah!!” In the end, tears filled Yongha’s eyes. Jin-gu, frustrated by his reaction, hit his own chest once and then dipped another cucumber into the side dish. “So just don’t do it poorly… don’t do it poorly from the start… or if you were planning to leave so coldly, just don’t come back and leave at all! Then none of this would have happened, right? You stupid idiot! Hah…” Jin-gu’s voice was like a whip cracking across Yongha’s face. Yongha couldn’t refute him. Everything he said was true. He could only sob in sorrow. ///////// The same thing happened today. Yongha returned home drunk, the kind of drunk that only made it possible for him to face his wife. He gazed at the empty living room. His wife was nowhere in sight. Worried, he opened the bedroom door, but she wasn’t there. He checked the bathroom, thinking she might be inside, but she wasn’t. He clicked his tongue. He hesitated several times before finally looking toward his daughter’s room. Was his wife still in his daughter’s room? What was she doing inside? Yongha’s hesitant footsteps brought him right in front of his daughter’s door. *Thump-thump-thump…* His heart pounded as if it would burst just standing in front of the door. Even the drunkenness vanished instantly, leaving only fear. He still couldn’t bring himself to open the firmly shut door. He simply leaned his ear close and listened. But no sound came from inside. Only silence. As if no one was there at all. Was that why? Should he open it? A drunken urge flared up. He shook his head hard. He didn’t want to. No matter how drunk he was, the fear toward his daughter could never be forgotten. He had no choice but to collapse onto the living-room sofa. Ah… maybe he was too drunk. The house seemed to spin around him. His eyes grew heavy again. The fatigue pressing down on his shoulders felt like a lump of lead. But even falling asleep terrified him. What if he dreamed a nightmare again… No, worse than nightmares were the moments after waking. What if, upon waking, his wife was looking at him the way she used to, or if his daughter was glaring at him? Yet even inside that fear, his eyes kept closing on their own. He couldn’t stop the approaching nightmare. Yongha desperately prayed, “Please, just don’t let me dream tonight. I just want to sleep deeply… Yeah, that would be nice…” In the end, his consciousness snapped off with a dull *thump*. ////// Sadly, at this very moment he could not tell whether it was a dream or reality. Yongha was once again pouring out every curse at his wife Sunja. “It’s all because of you! My life has turned into a wasteland!” Even as he said it, he suddenly thought, What exactly had gone wrong? What had turned into a wasteland? Ah… yes, when he married Sunja, he had failed to go to Seoul. He had had the chance several times. Each time Sunja had stubbornly refused to go, insisting they should stay and farm together. In the end, he had stayed here. Thanks to that, he had lived his whole life in this cursed countryside. Ah! That had been his biggest mistake and regret. But thinking about it now, hadn’t it been his choice after all…? Moreover, he hadn’t firmly told her to go to Seoul because of the uncertainty. If they went to Seoul, he wouldn’t be able to live like others, flaunting his money. So was it his own fault…?