"Yeo Min-seo."
"Yeo Min-seo." After the sparring practice ended, in the Holy Training Ground. So Do-jin called her name in a chilling voice.
Yeo Min-seo stared at the floor without responding, her head bowed. It looked like she was analyzing the tile pattern of the Holy Training Ground floor.
"Your punishment for your actions will be left to the disciplinary committee. No complaints, right?"
"......Is this really something that needs to go to the disciplinary committee?"
"You ignored instructions from me, the instructor for this practice, and on top of that, your sudden outburst injured four students including Do Seon-woo, and so on and so forth. There are too many to bother listing."
"Ha. Fine, got it."
Yeo Min-seo nodded reluctantly and turned away. Her attitude was blatantly defiant.
A wrinkle formed between So Do-jin's brows.
"Hey. Yeo Min-seo."
She turned her head at his call.
"Yes?"
"Answer again."
"Ah, yes. Sorry."
Yeo Min-seo bowed her head curtly. She was apologizing, but her attitude was still as prickly as ever.
So Do-jin fixed her with a cold stare and opened his mouth.
"Again."
"Yes. Sorry."
Her attitude hadn't changed.
"Again."
"......Sorry, Teacher."
Only then did So Do-jin let her go. He didn't look satisfied, but getting "sorry" out of Yeo Min-seo's mouth was achievement enough.
Yeo Min-seo swallowed her boiling rage and stormed out of the Holy Training Ground.
"Whew~ Feels like a weight's been lifted~"
She whipped around at Gu Jun-hyeok's teasing voice. Whether from anger or injustice, her eyes were red-rimmed.
Gu Jun-hyeok looked at her and patted his chest in relief.
*
Gu Jun-hyeok headed straight to the gymnasium after school. His sparring record was 2 wins, 1 loss. Excluding the match with Do Seon-woo, he'd won them all.
As he picked out a jump rope to warm up, he spotted a familiar face.
"What the— isn't this Kim Jin-seo, who went home early saying she was hurt? What're you doing here?"
Kim Jin-seo was sitting on the edge of the ring, catching her breath. The hand wraps on her fists were soaked red with blood. Her knuckles looked torn.
It happened sometimes when hitting sandbags or mitts, but the bleeding was way too much. Her hands were drenched in blood.
"Whoa, what happened to your hands? How hard did you hit someone?"
"No sparring today."
"Why? 'Cause you got beat by Yeo Min-seo earlier?"
Kim Jin-seo's eyes narrowed.
Gu Jun-hyeok grinned brightly and took a step back.
"Kidding~"
"What's kidding? It's the truth."
Kim Jin-seo spoke with resignation and jumped to her feet. As she unwrapped her hands, her mangled knuckles came into view.
Gu Jun-hyeok swallowed hard at the sight. How the hell did she train to mess up her hands like that?
As she rummaged through the cabinet, he approached.
"Whatcha looking for?"
"Hand wraps."
"Huh? Why? You gonna keep training today? With those hands?"
"......"
Kim Jin-seo glanced at him sharply. By his guess, that look meant don't talk to me anymore.
"Hey, just one question."
He knew he might get hit if he kept talking, but Gu Jun-hyeok couldn't shut up. No reason—just born that way.
Kim Jin-seo paused her search and looked at him. Her eyes were blankly unfocused. He felt an inexplicable chill and instinctively shrank back.
"Hey."
Kim Jin-seo stared at him with weary eyes.
"I'm busy, so could you fuck off?"
"Ah, haha. Whoa~ That was kinda scary just now. You really spooked me."
"Not joking."
She kept staring. Cold sweat trickled down Gu Jun-hyeok's neck. It wasn't a joke—it was genuinely scary.
He pushed down his fear and finally spoke.
"You really won't listen? It's about Do Seon-woo."
Kim Jin-seo ignored him, continuing to rummage silently. Gu Jun-hyeok fiddled awkwardly with his hair.
After a long silence with no response, he gave up.
"Fine, whatever~ I was gonna tell you something important too."
He turned to leave.
Bang!
Kim Jin-seo slammed the cabinet shut. Gu Jun-hyeok startled and looked back. She was wrapping new hand wraps and striding toward him, eyes still sharp.
"......What?"
But her words made him burst out laughing. She'd pretended not to care, but she was curious after all.
He held back his grin and asked.
"Why'd you fight with Do Seon-woo this morning?"
"We didn't fight."
"Oh? So you just unilaterally got pissed off?"
"I didn't get pissed."
"C'mon, be honest. Why were you mad?"
Kim Jin-seo dropped her gaze to the floor, hesitating.
"He lied to me......"
Saying it out loud, it didn't seem like a big deal. She felt petty and embarrassed. On reflection, getting mad over something so trivial didn't make sense. Do Seon-woo had saved her twice, after all.
But a lie was still a lie. Was it really that bad? Maybe she was overreacting, but still......
Her head started to ache, so she stopped thinking.
Gu Jun-hyeok casually picked his ear and spoke.
"Eh, that's not the point anyway. Just get along better. You both like each other but act like you don't, and it always backfires. It's frustrating as hell to watch."
"Both?"
Kim Jin-seo asked, puzzled.
Gu Jun-hyeok smirked confidently, as if he'd been waiting.
"Yeah, both. Hey, know Yeo Min-seo's record from practice?"
"3 wins, 0 losses, right?"
"Wrong~ 2 wins, 1 loss~!"
He laughed triumphantly. Kim Jin-seo's eyes widened slightly.
"Why 2-1? Who beat her?"
"Do Seon-woo. And he's 3-0, FYI."
"Huh......?"
Kim Jin-seo gaped blankly, making a weird noise. It was unbelievable. Do Seon-woo's skill level couldn't possibly beat Yeo Min-seo. No first-year at Florence could beat her in sparring.
Yet Do Seon-woo had done it. She didn't underestimate his strength, but it was still hard to believe.
Gu Jun-hyeok grinned, as if he'd expected her reaction.
"Lemme explain! After you lost to Yeo Min-seo and cried your way home early—"
"Hey."
"......Anyway, after you left. Yeo Min-seo sparred with Do Seon-woo, and he was pissed for some reason. You know that vibe? Man, you should've seen it. Anyway—"
He explained with dramatic flair: Do Seon-woo was furiously angry, laid into Yeo Min-seo with righteous fury, won the match, and now she was off to the disciplinary committee.
In his tale, Do Seon-woo was the hero.
"Why the disciplinary committee all of a sudden?"
"......Well, she's got a rap sheet."
"What does that—"
"Not the point~ Do Seon-woo was super mad, okay? Why do you think? Huh?"
Gu Jun-hyeok cut her off. There were holes in his story, but now wasn't the time.
Why was Do Seon-woo mad?
"He hates Yeo Min-seo too. Probably that."
Yeo Min-seo despised the weak and challenged the strong—like a Chihuahua. Almost no first-years liked her. A baseless joke circulated: "Fold up everyone who hates Yeo Min-seo, and Korea splits in half—that's the 38th parallel."
"Sure, maybe. But the timing of his anger. Right after you lost to her and dipped! His face went stone-cold from then on."
"So?"
"If he didn't care about you, why bother~ That's the story."
Kim Jin-seo pursed her lips, staring at the floor. Her heart fluttered oddly.
Aftermath of training? Or something else? She couldn't tell. Wild imaginings chained in her mind. She shook her head to clear them.
"Nah, that's speculation."
"'Nah, speculation'? What kinda 'nah' is that?"
She glared sharply. Gu Jun-hyeok stuck out his chin teasingly.
"Hey, don't look at me like that just 'cause I teased. Can't talk now."
"Never looked scary."
"Yeah, yeah~"
"Anyway, just try. Ask him straight-up why he lied."
"......"
"If you keep bottling it up, how's Do Seon-woo supposed to know how you feel?"
It hit home. Kim Jin-seo never voiced her hurts—nothing changed by talking, so better to suffer alone.
As she hung her head silently, Gu Jun-hyeok rushed to fill the awkward pause.
"But what lie did Do Seon-woo even tell? He doesn't lie."
He wasn't really curious—just breaking the silence.
Kim Jin-seo hesitated, then spoke.
"When his house burned. I asked where he was, and he said study room."
"Huh? Why's that a lie?"
She explained seeing Do Seon-woo leave a house on the way home from the gym.
Gu Jun-hyeok nodded along. So Do Seon-woo wasn't at the study room but somewhere else, lied about it, and that upset her.
Now he got it. Then, mid-story, he raised an eyebrow curiously.
"......But exactly where did Do Seon-woo come out from?"
"Alley near school. The Western-style house in the middle."
There was only one such alley— the one he, Do Seon-woo, and Jeong In-ah used to go home.
The Western-style house in the middle...
"Isn't that Jeong In-ah's house?"
"......"
"Ah! Wait, no—actually, yeah. Only one Western-style house there."
Seeing Kim Jin-seo's darkening face, he tried to backpedal too late.
She walked past him in a daze and left the gym without a word. Her pace was too fast to follow anyway. Not that he wanted to.
"Oh shit, this is bad."
Gu Jun-hyeok squatted and tore at his hair.
"This is really bad, fuck......"
His face showed more anger than despair.
*
"The contract is established."
Baron Samedi's eerie voice filled the room. I tilted my head in confusion.
"......That fast?"
"Contracts are always quick deals. Can't have second thoughts midway, right?"
"Fair, but don't contracts with the dead usually take payment upfront?"
"Usually, yeah. But this time, how about deferred payment? What do you say?"
Baron Samedi laughed heartily.
Payment was normally upfront, but he offered deferred. No idea what his angle was, but it was good for me—later the better.
"Works for me. Deal."
The contract was insurance for a future crisis. Interpreting his prophecies helped prepare, but not perfectly. Better safe.
"That concludes the plea."
The negotiation disguised as a plea ended. I looked at Baron Samedi's flickering eyes in the darkness. They seemed distant, thoughtful.
"......What're you doing?"
"Hm. It'll work out somehow. Hang in there, Cult Leader. Wishing you peace ahead! I'm off!"
He vanished into mist after his cryptic words. The room filled with his deathly scent and purple candle smoke. No wind in the basement, so it lingered.
[Legba: Baron Samedi of the world surprisingly agreed so easily.]
Legba sounded surprised.
"I used the Loa's nature against him."
[Indeed. Quite satisfying. You take after your mother. Even Baron Samedi couldn't handle her.]
"Still a long way to go."
I laughed self-deprecatingly. Success in negotiation, but not total dominance like Mother.
Click.
I turned on the light. My dark-adjusted eyes stung; I thought I'd gone blind momentarily. I stood still until they adapted.
Finally, I saw Father's relics in the room's center: a box and ring. The box was locked tight.
"......"
Father said to open it after turning eighteen. I'd honor that.
But curiosity gnawed—what was inside?
The ring's bone gem fit the lock. Vague memory of Father's explanation.
I could open it now. Honestly, I wanted to.
[Legba: Then open it.]
While brooding, Legba spoke casually.
[Your life's too turbulent. Stubbornness might kill you before checking. Better now.]
"It's Father's dying wish. Better to keep it."
[So you'll wait till adulthood?]
I shook my head firmly. I'd keep it—unless circumstances forced otherwise, like dying before eighteen.
Ideally no such crisis, but I'd carry the box and ring always. For any moment—even facing death.
Box in bag or Baal's mouth; ring on finger to avoid loss.
I tried the ring—first index.
"No fit."
Too small. Middle—no. Thumb obviously not. Ring finger slim but no. Only pinky fit.
"......Father had such small hands?"
Muttering absurdly, I slipped it on my left pinky. Perfect fit—made for it.
Crack.
A fracture in the bone gem. Faint purple mist seeped out—voodoo mist.
Spell in the gem? Engraved on an object? How?
No time. Mist enveloped me. Consciousness faded—unfazed by high-level spells before, yet this thread undid me.
Thud. Body went limp. Eyes closed into endless sticky darkness.
(To be continued in the next chapter)