013 – I Am an Army # 2
013 - I Am an Army # 2
013 - I Am a Legion # 2
Businessman Kim Manchun-ssi worked day labor jobs until he was forty.
With the money he saved up that way, he opened a restaurant at forty-one, and it hit the jackpot.
He married his wife, who was the restaurant manager, at forty-three.
"...I was forty-five when we had a child. It might sound like just an empty boast, but she really was... the apple of my eye, a daughter I could show off anywhere without envy."
Kim Manchun-ssi's wrinkled gaze headed toward the picture frames hung all over this large mansion.
Inside the frames were photos filled with a smiling girl wearing a white ballet outfit.
「Championship」
「Bukyang Cup Youth Ballet Competition」
There were tons of trophies as well.
"When my daughter turned twenty, she got a boyfriend. She didn't tell us much about the boyfriend, but... my daughter started acting strange after she broke up with that guy...."
It seemed Kim Yeonseo-ssi hid away in her room as if digging a burrow after breaking up with her boyfriend.
She gradually stopped going outside as well.
She even stopped joining us for meals at the dining table.
"At first... I just thought it was because the pain of heartbreak was so great. So I figured it would get better as time passed. That she'd pull herself together and get up on her own. Everyone has times like that..."
But she didn't.
His daughter Yeonseo-ssi's symptoms grew worse and worse.
"My daughter..."
CEO Kim Manchun wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead with his hand.
His hands were thick and rough, as if testifying to the days he spent jumping from one day labor job to another for a long time.
Those hands were trembling uncontrollably.
"My daughter... came out every dawn and rummaged through the refrigerator. My wife was leaving meals in front of the child's room, but... I thought maybe that wasn't enough, but..."
Kim Manchun-ssi's refrigerator was always full of fresh, uncooked ingredients.
"She was eating... raw meat. My daughter... That wasn't all. One night, I sensed a suspicious presence and opened my eyes, only to see Yeonseo holding a knife... watching us sleep..."
Ssiik-.
She was apparently grinning, revealing her white teeth.
"That smile... I can't erase it from my head. It was as if she wasn't my daughter at all!"
CEO Kim Manchun had called upon prominent shamans recommended by acquaintances.
However, his daughter's situation only worsened further.
"Every night, my daughter talks to someone. Even though there's no computer, TV, or even a cell phone in her room! When I listened closely... it wasn't just my daughter's voice I heard!"
CEO Kim Manchun was terrified.
In the end, he exercised the sharp decisiveness characteristic of a self-made man who built himself up from nothing.
He decided to lock his daughter away in the cold basement.
It was a place equipped with a cold storage room for keeping meat.
CEO Kim Manchun said he only checked whether Yeonseo-ssi was alive or dead beyond that thick iron door.
And normally, he had it locked up tightly with a padlock and chain.
"But... lately, I feel like my daughter is watching me. Even though it's locked tight with iron chains. I don't know how that's possible, but... at this rate, even my wife might be in danger..."
CEO Kim Manchun buried his face deep into both palms.
The CEO's worries were deep, and one of his young employees had posted his situation on the internet.
And I saw that and came here.
"Well, it's a typical symptom of possession."
A middle-aged man in his mid-forties wearing a leather vest snorted.
Wearing sunglasses, a bandana wrapped around his forehead, and chewing gum loudly, he looked like a man who would ride a huge motorcycle through a desert highway in an American movie.
Beside him, a woman wearing a white one-piece dress was touching up her base makeup while tapping her face.
Potpotpot-.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh━─!!!"
Just then, a scream echoed from the basement direction once again.
It was an ear-splitting shriek.
Having never heard someone scream at the top of their lungs like this in my life, my spine instantly turned cold.
However, unlike me, the leather-jacket ahjussi who looked like the Terminator merely snorted with a "Hmph."
"That low-life spirit must know it's met its match today, screaming as if the world is ending. So, Kim Manchun, the compensation is four big ones as promised, right?"
At this, the woman who finished touching up her makeup curled up the corner of her lips with a "Pik-".
"Do you think you're the match it met? It's because of the doryeonnim from the prestigious family over there. Even ghosts know who has come to sit here right now—"
Ttogak, ttogak-.
The woman walked across the marble floor of the house, her high heels making clicking sounds.
She gently lowered her hips and sat on the sofa in the center of the living room.
"I guess luck has been on my side lately. I didn't expect doryeonnim to show his face for such a crude Eosureum-grade request. Will I get a chance to see that famous skill of yours?"
Opposite her, a man dressed in a suit was sitting relaxed, sipping tea.
Hureureub-.
His face was among the palest I had ever seen, and his features were handsome and neat.
He was tall, and his shoulders were broad.
To be honest, I thought he was a celebrity.
And at this moment, I grasped what could be called the relationship dynamic of this room.
That Terminator ahjussi and the woman in the dress were probably magicians.
They didn't treat Kim Manchun-ssi, the owner of this mansion, very politely.
In a sense, it even felt like they were looking down on him.
However, they acted as if yielding a step to that young, handsome man, the 'doryeonnim'.
'If they call him doryeonnim... is he like the son of a chaebol family?'
While I was wondering...
Tak-.
The young man called doryeonnim placed his cup onto the saucer.
And he smoothly rose from his seat.
"Since I've also visited CEO Kim's restaurant often, of course I should help. And while we're on the topic, shall we introduce ourselves? I am Yu Gain. Please feel free to address me comfortably."
His bright, refreshing smile was charming.
That handsome bastard!
Why is my own heart fluttering for no reason!
Imagine how women must feel!
The woman in the white dress furrowed her eyebrows into an inverted V shape, like a girl watching her favorite singer's concert live from the front row.
Whether she was crying or laughing was unclear.
"Gain-ssi, your explanation is too short! Don't you need to talk about your family background or something like that? For your information, I'm Director Cho Sena from Marina Entertainment."
"I am Choi Janggun, working as a baksu in Yeonnam-dong. The magic I use is mainly Mediumship-type and Ritual-type. I can do the rest reasonably well, but not as much as the first two."
Magic. Mediumship-type. Ritual-type.
Unfamiliar words popped out and drove themselves sharply into the neurons inside my head.
Just as I was wondering if magic had types, I felt everyone's gazes gathering on me.
"Ah, I'm—"
"Kim Manchun! Let's see your daughter first. Are those the stairs going down to the basement?"
"Ah, yes..."
The Terminator ahjussi who revealed himself to be Choi Janggun stepped toward the basement.
It felt like he cut me off intentionally.
At this, Cho Sena, the woman in the dress who revealed herself as a director of Marina Entertainment, sneered.
"Seriously, you really have to hand it to those baksu bastards for being so rude. Speaking informally to just anyone."
Even though she said that...
Cho Sena didn't seem to intend to listen to my introduction either, as she followed Choi Janggun toward the basement.
I had faintly felt that they didn't think much of me ever since I entered this mansion.
Because I've been pretty quick-witted in that regard since a long time ago.
However, what surprised me was what happened next.
Yu Gain walked over to me and extended his hand.
"You're a Transfer Student, right? What's your name?"
In the past, my younger sister went to an idol fansign event, and she said her heart fluttered wildly when the idol held out his hand to shake hands.
My feeling right now was just like that.
Although I didn't want to admit it.
"I'm Ha Yuseong. But why does everyone think I'm a Transfer Student?"
"Because the only people who wear Cooking Foil inside are Transfer Students. Also, those people over there are second-generation and third-generation, respectively, so they look down on and ignore Transfer Students. That's just how this industry is."
"And here I thought they were jealous because I was too handsome."
"Ha, yeah. Maybe that's true too."
Yu Gain laughed, "Haha-".
At this moment, my spine actually chilled.
This guy, how good is his personality to laugh like that at my lame joke?
Is he easy to laugh? No, could he be gay?
So I quickly brushed off Yu Gain's hand and took a step back.
Yu Gain wiped his eye corners, wet with laughter, with his index finger and said.
"Well, I look forward to working with you today."
It didn't seem like he was just paying lip service.
This guy, on top of having a handsome face, even has a good personality?
Could it really be that?
They say handsome guys receive so much goodwill from the world that the world looks like a happy, goodwill-filled dreamland to them, so they have a high chance of becoming good, kind people themselves.
Could he be one of those?
'Man, the world really is so unfair!'
I felt a bit cheated.
However, what surprised me even more here was Boribori's attitude.
Binggeul-binggeul-.
Boribori circled around Yu Gain as if searching him, scanning him up and down.
...Is he on guard?
No, it felt a bit different from that, as Boribori's tail was swaying side to side.
That gentle swaying was the stage when Boribori showed curiosity and interest.
Even I could distinguish that much by now.
"Why? Did something drop over there?"
Yu Gain looked around himself.
It seemed Boribori was invisible to him as well.
So I decided to just give a vague response.
"My charm."
"Then let's pick it up quickly. We need to head down to the basement too."
# # #
Opening the basement door revealed a snowy kingdom.
It was cold due to the frost settled chillingly over everything.
"You said this was originally a refrigerator, right?"
Cho Sena, wearing sunglasses, held a cigarette in her mouth and lit it with a "Chiik-".
Phoo, when she blew out smoke, it fluttered away in the shape of a butterfly.
'How on earth did she do that?'
My head tingled with curiosity at the wondrous trick.
The baksu shaman Choi Janggun, who looked like the Terminator, also clicked his tongue while looking around.
"Rather than a refrigerator, this is a complete freezer. It's as big as a house, too. The temperature... seems to be around minus 2 degrees. The chill settles in because the spiritual entity is so strong. Tsk."
Seueuk─.
The handsome doryeonnim Yu Gain also pulled out gold-rimmed glasses with clear lenses from his inner chest pocket.
They looked like magnifying glasses that grandfathers wear, but it was amazing how well they suited him.
"...I see a few."
Yu Gain was looking at the floor.
Wondering what he saw a few of, I also looked at the floor, and there were something like sneaker sole prints.
Their shapes were each different.
Yu Gain explained to me.
"We're looking for traces of the spiritual entity. It'd be good for you to get a pair of glasses while you're at it. There are things that are easier to see when viewed through glass lenses."
"No point explaining it to a novice."
When the baksu shaman Choi Janggun gave a contemptuous snort, a sharp, awl-like determination surged up from deep within my heart.
I hadn't done anything for that man to dislike me.
Yet he still dislikes me?
Then I'll give you a reason to dislike me to your heart's content.
"Since I'm young, I can see veeeery well even without using those. This is my own training method to avoid relying on tools."
"Is that so? Then tell me where this footprint here leads to."
Choi Janggun pointed at the bare floor where nothing was visible.
The corners of his lips curled up slyly, seemingly trying to test and mock me.
"There are no footprints there."
"Uh—"
"The footprints go from here to over there."
I pointed with my hand to the path of footprints closer to my side.
Baksu Choi Janggun gaped his mouth open like a surprised goldfish.
Just as I was thinking it served him right, Yu Gain took off his glasses.
"It's amazing that you can see it without glasses! Should I try too?"
He seemed to be straining his eyes, emitting a "Heup─" sound.
Sweat trickled down his forehead and gathered at his chin.
To be ultra-focused to the point of sweating in an instant inside this refrigerator that was close to minus 2 degrees...
What on earth is this guy—it was slightly astounding.
"Ha, this is way harder than it looks."
Even while exhaling deeply with a "Puha-", Yu Gain's eyes were chasing the footprints.
It seemed he succeeded in seeing them without glasses.
Yu Gain said.
"First, there are two sets of footprints, left and right. If we follow them, CEO Kim's daughter, Yeonseo-ssi, should appear. One of the two might be a trap to lure us in."
"Tsk, let's just split up and go. I'm going this way!"
The baksu shaman Choi Janggun took big strides to the left.
At this, Cho Sena, who held a cigarette in her mouth, turned to the right.
"I dislike that man, so I'm going this way. Doryeon... Gain-ssi, where are you going? Do you want to go with me?"
"I'll go to the left. I'm a bit worried about that ahjussi."
"Ha, then do I have to go with this guy?"
Cho Sena frowned while looking at me.
What's your deal? I dislike you too.
Above all, to my eyes...
'There are three sets of footprints though?'
Besides the left and right, there were footprints extending straight down the center.
Footprints that were relatively small compared to the large ones, likely belonging to a woman.
It seemed the others didn't realize it.