019 – New Wine in New Wineskins # 3
019 - New Wine in New Wineskins # 3
On the way home from President Kim Manchun's mansion.
Baksu Choi Janggun sat deep in the back seat of the taxi and made a phone call.
"This is Baksu Choi Janggun. It's nothing else, but the payment I mentioned is all prepared as of today. How about we meet tomorrow to talk?"
Choi Janggun hung up the phone with satisfaction and closed his eyes.
His mind reminisced about his childhood.
─Son, this is Mom's building now. Named after you, Janggun Building. What do you think?
─Omma, am I going to be a building owner's son now?
─Yes, so my son doesn't need to become something like a baksu. You just need to soundly earn unearned income through real estate!
'Omma...'
Tears welled up in the eyes of Choi Janggun, who had never bowed his head even to big spenders.
How many years had it taken to reclaim the building since his omma passed away?
Just then, the taxi stopped, having arrived at the destination.
Choi Janggun paid 20,000 won in cash.
"Customer-nim, um, 20,000 won is..."
"Keep the change, driver-yangban. I'm in a very good mood today."
"No, the fare is 25,300 won, so it's not enough."
Having lost most of his eyesight made many things inconvenient.
Even so, the way back home was clear to him even without being able to see ahead.
Because it was a path he had walked for years, even with his eyes closed, the locations of sidewalk blocks, handrails, and the like unfolded in his head like a movie playing.
That was why Choi Janggun could tell the moment he grabbed the doorknob of the shrine.
That someone had touched this doorknob.
'Is someone inside?'
He listened carefully first.
Then low murmuring voices could be heard from inside the shrine.
A customer waiting for fortune-telling or four pillars reading?
No. To be customers, their energy was far too ferocious.
Wondering if it was a soul or a ghost, Choi Janggun pulled out the bells at his waist.
Not a single sound came out.
It doesn't seem to be a ghost─.
Then what is it?
This ferocious aura was just like that of a beast.
Then how to explain these conversations?
─Hanbando-nim, is the rumor that the Nguyen Witch died true?
─Ayy, it's probably bullshit. Who could kill that magician? Just the moderators who died because of that bitch are two already.
Voices of a woman and a man.
Judging by the content of the conversation, they were not ordinary customers, but probably...
Pal-lang-.
Choi Janggun reached into his inner breast pocket and pulled out a talisman.
It was a talisman made using the remains of aborted fetuses abandoned by their mothers.
Three, two, one─.
Choi Janggun counted the numbers in his mind, threw open the doorknob, and sent the talisman flying.
Pat, pat─.
The sound of the talisman sticking could be heard.
However, what was heard next was unexpected laughter.
"Woah, Hanbando-nim, did you see that? I got hit by the talisman!"
"Don't laugh. This is a fucking dangerous talisman. It's a fetus spirit talisman. What the hell is this guy thinking throwing something like this at a person?"
"Person? Are you people even human? How could you take that talisman and still..."
"That's thanks to the Cooking Foil, of course. Originals don't really use this kind of thing, so you wouldn't know, right? This works really well when fighting Oseonjok like you."
Choi Janggun tried desperately to strain his blurry vision.
Two blurry figures appeared in his eyes.
Jeobeok-jeobeok-jeobeok-.
They approached Choi Janggun.
Among them, the smaller one pounced toward Choi Janggun.
"Die, you fucking shaman bastard!!!"
Something sharp pierced Choi Janggun's chest.
Puk, puk-puk─ continuously.
Puk-puk-.
Puk.
"Stop it. Stop. Stop!"
The man grabbed the woman's arm to stop her.
Because the opponent was already dead, and only the woman's hand stabbing the knife was getting hurt more.
"Ah... haa... I'm sorry. It's just... I hate shamans. When I was little... he told my omma... that to stop seeing ghosts... we had to do an exorcism ritual, and he touched my chest and put his hand into my pa... panties... ugh, uweeeck..."
The woman took off her mask and vomited on the floor.
The mask thrown carelessly rolled across the floor with a tang-geu-reu-reu, its shape resembling the face of some beast.
"You fucking motherfucker! Son of a bitch!"
Still unable to relieve her anger, the woman kicked the dead shaman's corpse several times before sinking down with her shoulders huffing.
It was less that she had calmed down and more that she had run out of strength.
And only then did the woman see what she had done.
"Hanbando-nim, I... I killed a person."
"Ah, it's your first time? But look closely. If you look closely, what we killed isn't a person."
"Not a person?"
Look closely─.
At those words, the woman looked at the corpse.
She couldn't understand at all what it meant that 'that thing' was not a person.
The man took the kitchen knife from the stunned woman's hand and sawed off the dead man's wrist.
Seuk-sak, seuk-seuk-seuk, seuk-sak─.
The woman found this baffling as she watched.
"Why the hand?"
"Doing this completes it. Ah, this is really hard. I thought it was easy because that Oseonjok Exterminator fellow did it so effortlessly. There, done."
The man handed the severed wrist to the woman.
"Here, with this, the Oseonjok killing task is complete. Ganadaramajusa-nim is now a full-fledged moderator as well. Let's endure together for just one year from now on. Seems like there's some kind of reward."
"A reward? Is there a reward?"
"Yes. Did you think armbands delete shit posts and cursed photos for free? They do it because there's a reward. It's probably the same for other galleries too."
Reward─. At those words, the woman's mood improved.
Suddenly, the woman caught sight of someone's wrist clutched in her hand.
Looking at it now, it really didn't seem like a human's.
Five fingers.
Those joints, heavily stained with blood making it hard to discern their shape, were just like─.
"─Ah. I get it. This is a monkey, isn't it?"
"Right?"
"Ah... a monkey! So that's why we're the Monkey Gallery! Wow!"
It felt like a section of her head opened up with a huwak-.
Feeling as if her level of mastery had ascended, Ganadaramajusa's mood spiked instantly.
She felt like she could do anything right now.
As she looked around in that strange, peculiar heat, the man beside her suddenly felt immensely reliable, and her face flushed hot.
"Um, Hanbando-nim, what are you doing after this? My studio apartment is nearby... If you're okay with it, would you like to... eat a bowl of ramen before going..."
"Ah, I don't have sex with female magicians. I don't want to end up becoming a Juice Magician."
"...Eh?"
"You know how it is. This industry is a bit harsh on men. Please understand."
"Ah... well... I didn't mean it in that way, really... just literally ramen... ah..."
Ganadaramajusa felt like dying of embarrassment after having her invitation rejected.
So, to cover her bright red face, she quickly picked up the dropped mask and covered her face.
The silence stung.
So she decided to say whatever came to mind.
"Gy... Gyeryusan!"
"Gyeryusan?"
"Ha... Hanbando-nim, did you hear about that? That rumor. The story about the Mount Gyeryusan wine cellar."
"Ah, the rumor that there's a 'Demon' at Mount Gyeryusan?"
"Yes, do you think that's real?"
"Of course it's a lie. A demon? If something like that were real, those suit-wearing bastards would have raised a fuss already."
"Still, there must be something there, right? Even that Nguyen Witch said she avoided going to Mount Gyeryusan of all places."
"More importantly, Ganadara-nim, look at this. It seems the shaman bastard left a dying message before he died, but what on earth is this?"
Ganadaramajusa looked at the bloodstain dragged across the floor.
To her eyes, it was...
"...I don't know. Looks like some shooting star."
A shooting star.
They could not understand what it meant.
# # #
"Magician Ha Yuseong makes his entrance."
I just said it for no reason as I got off the bus.
It was a line I had wanted to try at least once since becoming a magician.
Trying it out in reality was more thrilling than I thought.
That excitement of mine exploded even further upon seeing the landscape of Mount Gyeryusan standing loftily under the hot summer sky.
To think I have to hike a mountain in this hot summer.
Because today's meeting place, 「Gyeryusan Bacchus Winery」, was located halfway up the mountain.
If I had a car, I could easily go up halfway.
Regrettably, I only had a driver's license, not a car.
'From now on, once I make a ton of money working as a magician, let me buy a car first.'
I climbed the mountain while thinking such thoughts.
My heart throbbed and thudded while going up.
「Monkey's Paw Site」.
The wish I had entered there.
─The thing I desire most from the deep depths of my heart─.
Because of that, I ended up calling an unidentified person.
And I came to meet that person.
Is that person what I desired?
Or the events that will unfold because of him?
As I hiked the mountain nervously like that, a problem occurred.
"...Hieeeck... hieeeck..."
Boribori, who had always followed right behind me so well, had collapsed from exhaustion halfway.
Sweltering summer weather.
A rugged mountain path.
Boribori bundled up in a worn-out winter padded jacket.
In a way, it was only natural for him to collapse.
What should I do? I felt conflicted.
Should I leave Boribori behind and go?
While thinking that, I suddenly felt amused.
Because I realized that at some point, without even knowing when, I had come to take it for granted that Boribori followed me around.
Honestly, I didn't even know who Boribori was or what his true identity was.
I merely vaguely guessed he was a demon.
However, Boribori had many points different from the 'demon' I would logically think of.
He didn't demand sacrifices, nor did he wish for my misfortune; he simply existed.
"That's why I told you to stop wearing that padded coat. Piggyback on me."
I offered my back to Boribori.
Actually, even as I said it, I was half-doubting.
Because Boribori was the kind of fellow who would patter along behind me, yet pull far away whenever I reached out my hand.
A feeling like an untamed wild animal?
Yet in this mountain hike under the sweltering heat, it seemed even Boribori had no choice but to throw away his pride and surrender.
Seu-euk─.
Boribori got onto my back.
A subtle weight.
The memory of carrying my younger sister on my back resurfaced.
I climbed the mountain carrying Boribori like that─when a strange thing happened.
The older men and grandmothers coming down kept trying to bump into me.
Was shoulder-checking trending among mountain hikers?
Like the 'Butsukari' said to be done against tourists in Japan?
Someone even bumped into me and tripped over.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Beside me is a cliff, so I had nowhere to dodge..."
"Whoops, what's this? Is there a jagged rock here?"
"...Huh?"
"Sigh, what's this? What did I step on to fall over? That almost turned into a disaster."
The old man picked up his hiking stick and went down the trail hut-dul-hut-dul, acting as if nothing had happened.
Only then did I come to realize this situation clearly.
'Could it be that people... can't see me?'
It felt as though I had turned into an invisible man, so to speak.
Just in case, I tried shouting loudly right into the ear of a passing grandmother.
"Mount Gyeryusan Yahoo! Welcome to my Mount Gyeryusan! Now I shall stand at the summit!"
It was a noise pollution worthy of having others stare weirdly and point fingers at me.
Even I thought it was an unsightly line─.
"Sigh, why are there so many grasshoppers?"
"Them ain't grasshoppers, it's brown katydids! Careful, cause dem bastards bite people!"
Nobody paid any attention to me.
They acted as if they could neither see nor hear me.
At this moment, I realized with certainty.
I haven't turned into an invisible man.
Because even if I were an invisible man, my voice wouldn't be unheard.
Then what on earth is this?
What state am I even in right now─.
While I was thinking about that for a long while, a large banner and a parking lot appeared in front of me.
「Mount Gyeryusan Bacchus Winery Summer Brewing Experience Event!」
「Women's Groups, Couples, and Married Couples Most Welcome!」