017 – New Wine in New Wineskins
017 - New Wine in New Wineskins
Rewinding time to about two hours before Janggun Choi woke up.
The time when we cleaned up the basement and treated the injured.
"Yeonseo isn't opening her eyes at all! Shouldn't we take her to the hospital?"
CEO Manchun Kim pulled a crying face as he looked at Yeonseo-ssi lying on the bed.
Seeing a man with palms as thick as cauldron lids shedding tears drop by drop like a child made me feel truly sorry for him.
"There's no need for that. Gain-ssi over here burned the culprit behind the whole problem along with the entire basement, so if you wait a bit, she'll wake up soon."
Sena Cho noona looked at Gain Yu standing by the bedside with pleased eyes.
It felt like honey was dripping from her eyes.
Gain Yu merely smiled good-naturedly in response.
"I was only able to pull it off because everyone bought time for me while I prepared the formula. More than that, I'm quite exhausted. May I borrow a quiet room for a bit?"
"Oh my, to meditate? I'm a bit exhausted too, shall we do it together?"
"I prefer being alone when meditating."
Gain Yu left Yeonseo-ssi's room.
I shot a quick remark at Sena Cho noona, who was smacking her lips in regret.
"Got dumped, huh?"
"Whatever. Just making a good impression is a win. More than that, Yuseong-ssi, don't you want to work with me from now on?"
Sena Cho noona pulled out a gold-leafed box.
Wondering what it was, I looked inside to find it packed with business cards.
「Marina Entertainment Executive Director: Sena Cho」
「010─.」
Her contact info was written on it.
Could this be... a job recruitment?
I was tempted by the job offer.
If it were me from just a few days ago, I probably would have accepted immediately.
But not anymore.
Right now, rather than working under someone, I wanted to freely explore what I could do and how far I could go.
Reading my expression, Sena Cho noona put a cigarette between her lips.
"Fuck, this is the first time I've been dumped twice in a single day. My pride is hurt. If you don't want to work under me, how about being Noona's boyfriend instead? I'll give you pocket money every time we meet."
Gasp─!?
A boyfriend who gets pocket money?
I thought my ears had broken down.
So just as I was genuinely flustered and turning red, Sena Cho noona burst out laughing.
"I'm just kidding, alright? Still, make sure to be careful around female magicians. There's more than a few men whose lives were ruined after becoming magician's juice."
Sena Cho noona left the room after saying that.
I felt like my neatly displayed heart had been toyed with.
To calm my startled heart, I asked CEO Manchun Kim.
"I'm sorry, but I'd really like to wash up. May I borrow the bathroom?"
"Ah... yes! Of course! You can go over that way! I'd like to show you the way myself, but as you can see, my daughter is like this..."
"It's alright. My younger sister was very sick when I was young, so I know how you feel very well."
I could see a feeling of warmth, or perhaps shared sympathy, welling up in CEO Manchun Kim's eyes as he looked at me.
It was probably the same in my eyes as well.
I headed to the bathroom along the path pointed out by CEO Manchun Kim.
Boribori followed trot-trot-trotting behind me.
Suddenly, what happened earlier came to mind.
When Sena Cho noona was caught in the ghost's hair and dangling helplessly—.
Honestly, I was so flustered that my body wouldn't move.
I froze at the unexpected situation.
But Boribori had moved first.
Boribori screamed and strained until his face turned bright red just to lift Sena Cho noona's legs.
Even though it hadn't been long since I met that guy.
Even considering that, it was the first time I had seen him so panicked.
Was it to save a life?
I didn't know Boribori was that type of guy.
There were still so many things I didn't know about Boribori.
One thing for certain was that Boribori was a huge help today as well.
"Boribori, let me buy you beef when we get home. Beef."
Since it feels like we'll get a lot of money as a reward for this job.
With those feelings in mind, as I took a step toward Boribori, the guy bristled his tail straight up.
"Urrrrr...!!!"
Guarding against me?
No, it's not that, it must be because of the holy water and traces of vomit on my body.
Honestly, if I were to describe the smell coming from my body right now─.
"Ugh-bleah."
Better wash up quickly.
However, there was a problem.
Swwaaaaa─.
Scrub scrub scrub─.
No matter how hard I scrubbed, the smell wouldn't come off.
The smell of holy water had washed off long ago, but the vomit Yeonseo-ssi spit up was the issue.
A sour, astringent, and strangely sweet scent seemed to have seeped into my body and wouldn't wash away.
Just when I was thinking how awkward this was, Boribori threw an even bigger temper tantrum.
"Urrrrr...!"
Boribori bit his own thumb chomp-.
"Hey, you're bleeding!"
I was flustered by the sudden bleeding, but Boribori approached me after I changed into a robe and scribbled a drawing on my chest with that blood.
A hexagram and a pentagram inside it.
And another circle inside that pentagram.
"Uh—"
Looking at that, I felt like all the pores across my body burst wide open, as if the back of my head was falling off a dizzying cliff.
As the geometric shapes reorganized in my mind, the meaning behind them came vividly alive inside me.
At this exact moment, only one word filled my brain.
Change.
What Boribori drew just now was the Magic Circle of 'Change'.
To be precise, a magic circle that changes 'a certain liquid' into 'water'.
Just like that, I, Ha Yuseong, ended up acquiring my third magic spell.
The sour, astringent, and strangely sweet vomit stuck to my body had also turned into water and completely washed away.
"Mhehehe."
Only then did Boribori wag his tail gently again.
It seemed Boribori had a sensitive nose.
# # #
Returning to the time when Janggun Choi, the shaman, woke up on the sofa─.
About one hour later.
In a sense, we had to face the real battle.
Having to decide how to divide the 40 million won reward for resolving this case.
Dinner time.
Before we began eating at the extravagant dining table, Gain Yu opened his mouth.
"I'm fine without the resolution fee."
Giving up his share of the 40 million won just like that?
It was just as shocking as a possessed human or a corrupted underground cold storage room.
Sena Cho noona quickly spoke up as well.
"I'll just take the exact cost of the materials used for this job as well. Ten million won."
Sena Cho noona's eyes curved like a bow toward the young master Gain Yu as she said that.
Although she was greedy for money, it seemed her desire to score points with Gain Yu was greater.
Now, is it just me and Janggun Choi the shaman left?
Dividing 30 million between the two of us─.
The corners of my lips crept up for no reason.
An income in the tens of millions at the very least!
With that, I could pay utilities and lounge around lavishly for a year.
I could give my parents some pocket money and get a suit tailored for my job-seeking younger sister.
"Ha Yuseong-i, shall we just split it fifty-fifty?"
Janggun Choi asked nonchalantly.
Then Sena Cho noona clicked her tongue tsk-.
"Look at him? You did nothing this time, yet you're so damn shameless. This is why people say saving magicians is useless."
"Ahem, I didn't do anything for you, but I did something for that young man over there."
Behind Janggun Choi's sunglasses, I felt a gaze that shouldn't be possible.
It felt like he was looking at the phone tucked in my shirt pocket.
You'd better use the 「Monkey's Paw Site」 quickly─.
Otherwise, a great calamity will befall you─.
This was what Janggun Choi had told me.
Honestly, from my perspective, I was just dazed.
Whether the money I was supposed to receive was 15 million won or 20 million won, it was such a huge lump sum that either way felt great.
It was probably because I was just a miserable commoner.
So as I was picking my words inside my mouth, Janggun Choi scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Alright, fine! Just give me ten million won, which was my original share! I really need at least that much!"
What that action signified was just one thing.
'GET 20 million won after working for just one day!'
Whatever it was, the huge amount put me in a mood good enough to fry my brain.
And I even figured out the Magic Circle of 'Change' today.
"Hmm?"
As I began eating like that, a strange thing occurred in my mouth.
The stir-fried pork I thoughtlessly ate was insanely delicious.
"CEO-nim, how did you make this? No lie, this is the most delicious stir-fried pork I've ever eaten in my life."
I asked CEO Kim with utter sincerity.
Shouldn't this be able to get a Michelin star?
At that, CEO Manchun Kim laughed haha- and scratched the back of his head.
"I'm glad it suited your palates. The meat aged in the basement refrigerator earlier seemed just right, so I tried using it─"
"...Ugh!"
Gag─. I barely swallowed down what almost came back up.
He used the pork that was possessed by ghosts and then exorcised?
Seriously?
It seems one has to be that frugal to become rich.
Although no one made a big scene, everyone quietly set down their utensils.
After the meal ended like that, around 10:00 PM.
Yeonseo-ssi woke up.
As soon as she woke up, she looked for food first, polishing off three bowls of white rice with nothing but fresh cabbage kimchi.
I asked Yeonseo-ssi, whose complexion had improved significantly.
"Yeonseo-ssi, I don't know if you remember, but you threw up heavily. Since it was vomit, the acidity was strong, but it was mixed with notes of toasted bread, chocolate, and espresso coffee beans."
"...Eh? What do you mean by..."
Yeonseo-ssi trembled as if flustered and blushed shyly.
A slight hint of disgust flashed in her eyes as she looked at me describing her vomit, but I didn't care and asked point-blank.
"Did you by any chance drink wine? And an extremely expensive one at that."
The magic circle Boribori newly showed me.
It was something that converted only wine into pure water.
I could probably name it the Magic Circle of 'Wine Transformation'.
At my question, Yeonseo-ssi lost her words as if lost in thought, and then...
"Ah. Wine... I drank it. When oppa and I broke up, I was so sad that I drank a lot of alcohol. There must have been a wine I received as a gift from oppa back then too. Come to think of it... my body has been hazy since then..."
"Wow, Yuseong-ssi knows a lot about wine? That's unexpected, you look like you'd only drink soju."
Sena Cho noona clicked her tongue as if impressed.
"So why wine? Does it have something to do with this case?"
"...Well. You said Yeonseo-ssi's condition had deteriorated ever since she broke up with her boyfriend, right?"
At that moment, a single thought wouldn't leave my mind.
Notes of dark chocolate and coffee beans, along with a strangely sweet aroma of reduced blackberry jam.
And there was also the toasted aroma unique to charred oak barrels, as well as a scent like dried tobacco leaves.
I knew my memory had improved after becoming a magician, but even I was surprised that sensory details like these came back so vividly.
"...It really seems like a Naka Valley Auction limited vintage."
As far as I knew, it was a vintage with only three bottles in Korea.
And I had tasted it just once before.
Back when I was still working as a stage intern at the restaurant.
"By any chance, was that person—your boyfriend—a sommelier?"