Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 005
Chapter Title: If You Fall Asleep, You Die (3)
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"When I arrived in this neighborhood, the funerals for three young men were being held simultaneously. Since they were young men who still had long life lines ahead of them, I took a close look."
'Life lines? Looking into deaths?'
Even as Kim Byung-su puzzled over it, the man's story continued.
"At the funeral home, I spotted a young man of the same age as the deceased, his face dark, so I sat down in front of him and asked. It turned out his gloom wasn't just from grieving his friends' deaths."
The man's expression, lit by the camera lights, was calm and gentle.
"According to the young man, a few days earlier, he and his friends had been drinking and decided to test their courage by coming here. Young men's bravado, you know. Something they wouldn't normally do, but the alcohol gave them the push. He said nothing much happened on the lower floor."
The young men must not have seen the ghost gate.
"When they came up to this floor, they heard a woman muttering and rustling sounds. When they shone their light, there was some woman climbing onto this coffin, hugging it, stroking it, and kissing it. He said the sight was grotesque. And since he'd never seen her in the village before, it freaked him out even more."
Stroking the coffin he was perched on, the man continued his tale.
"Anyone would think that wasn't normal. This is that coffin. Trusting in their numbers, one of the young man's friends approached the woman, shone his light on her, and asked, 'What are you doing here?'"
"What did she say?"
Kim Byung-su asked urgently.
"Her reply was, 'There are more people than the coffin can hold, so I guess I'll have to chop them up small.' Her throat was full of phlegm, and she spoke with a gurgling rattle. Shocked by the sight, the young man bolted out without looking back. He stood in the lighted area outside, but his friends didn't come out. He called, but no answer."
Eun Na-rae, who was filming, felt a chill run down her spine and shivered slightly, causing the camera to shake for a moment.
"He was scared to go back in. No choice but to wait outside. After a long time, his friends finally emerged. But they were out of it—no responses to any questions. Feeling guilty for running alone and thinking they were mad at him for it, he went home without a word and fell asleep."
"And then?"
"Mm, the next day he met his friends and asked about the night before, but no one remembered a thing—blaming it on the booze. That's what he thought, until two days later, all three friends died at once."
The man slowly looked around as he spoke.
"I asked the young man, 'And you? Everything okay?' He said, 'Since two days ago, whenever I fall asleep, someone climbs on me, strokes me, and kisses me. When I wake up, that woman is hugging me tight.'"
"Dream ghost. Succubus."
Hong Sang-in muttered, and the man nodded.
"That woman drove out the original owner's earth-bound spirit from this haunted house and lingered as a dream ghost. The young man had been possessed. If left like that, he wouldn't live out his life line. She'd drain all his yang energy and kill him."
"So what happened?"
Kim Byung-su reporter asked the man.
"To save him, I had to exorcise the dream ghost, so I told him to lock up tight at night and never open for anyone begging at the door, then came straight here."
The man's hand was still caressing the coffin.
"Inside, I found a ghost gate connected to the underworld. You saw it from below. Thinking it was an evil spirit that came down through the gate, I came up here and saw the dream ghost hugging the pitch-black coffin, doing all sorts of bizarre things. Haha."
Recalling the scene, the man burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha. Embarrassing sight, but I couldn't stop laughing. That made the dream ghost angry, and it lunged at me. Black Dog and I caught it and sealed it in this coffin."
"So the dream ghost is in the coffin?"
"Yes. That thing was so ferocious, it took some doing. After sealing it, somehow more evil spirits had slipped through the ghost gate and were standing behind me. That moment was truly thrilling."
Kim Byung-su swallowed hard as he stared, and the man grinned.
"Black Dog and I tussled with them and sealed them in the coffin too. We caught about a dozen overnight, but even at dawn, I couldn't leave this place."
"Why not?"
Scratching his head at Kim Byung-su's question, the man answered honestly.
"I could catch and seal them, but I didn't have the skill to seal the ghost gate, so I was stuck here waiting for someone more capable. Luckily, everything that came through the gate lusted after my body and only came up here instead of going outside."
"Ah, only up here."
Not quite believing the man, Kim Byung-su just nodded along.
"Made it easier to guard, but I worried some would eventually slip my power and cross the gate."
With that, the man slowly met each person's eyes and asked.
"Can any of you seal that ghost gate?"
The man's utterly absurd story came to an end.
Hard to believe, yet hard not to.
Silence fell; no one answered his question.
No one here could seal a ghost gate.
The man nodded as if he understood.
The old woman asked in a slightly softened tone.
"You called yourself Judge Choi. Is that your name? Your title?"
The man just smiled warmly at her question.
Meanwhile, the bell tolls from below grew louder.
Probably more of them now.
The old woman listened to the bells for a moment, then spoke calmly.
"I can't seal a ghost gate either. But this reporter fellow knows some decent exorcists. They might have a solution, so I'll contact them."
The old woman turned her gaze to Kim Byung-su.
"Fr. Kim Jin-young Matia or Baekho might be able to seal it..."
Kim Byung-su trailed off.
Fr. Kim Jin-young Matia's prayers created a holy aurora that could easily subdue lesser evil spirits and demons.
But the old woman's shaman powers were suppressed by it, so she utterly despised Fr. Kim.
Plus, lately even Kim Byung-su could barely meet him.
Rumors said he'd found a skilled new partner and was swamped.
"Baekho-nim said he's coming up to Seoul."
Eun Na-rae spoke up for Kim Byung-su.
Baekho, called the "Mt. Gyeryong Spirit," was a talisman exorcist who drove out evil spirits using ancient family secret seals.
Among them, the Byeokryeokjang even had physical force, making it highly effective against yokai too.
Moreover, his partner, the virgin ghost Yi-hwa, had been a shaman maiden in life—a mudang ghost.
Yi-hwa, who had roamed the living world for five hundred years chasing evil spirits just as she had in life, once treated the old woman's guardian spirit as an evil one and disciplined it.
Since that day, the old woman's powers had weakened, and she loathed Yi-hwa.
"Really? Coming up from Daejeon?"
Kim Byung-su asked Eun Na-rae, glancing at the old woman.
"I talked to him this morning—he said he's coming today. Probably already here?"
Eun Na-rae replied, also glancing at the old woman.
"Why do you keep looking at me?"
The old woman snapped irritably for no reason.
Just then, bell tolls rang out from below again.
"That insolent virgin ghost and Baekho's talisman skills are useful, so call them."
The old woman replied, frowning.
* * *
Ding-a-ling.
It was a clear yet mournful bell sound.
Almost like the bell before a funeral bier.
Black Dog, stationed at the stairs, stopped barking and let out a low growl.
"Today's count and energy feel different from before. Will you stand behind me now?"
He beckoned Eun Na-rae, who was filming in front of him.
The old woman and Hong Sang-in looked half-doubting.
Absurd, but hard not to believe in this situation.
Hong Sang-in, behind the man, asked.
"Any good plan to survive the night?"
"Just endure. Catch and seal the weak ones, and if one's stronger than me... well, it'll eat me."
His calm words carried a sense of ease.
Eun Na-rae fearlessly swung the camera back to the stairs.
The loud bells stopped, replaced by a buzzing like bee wings.
"What's that sound? Buzz buzz buzz—like bees flying?"
Kim Byung-su mimicked the noise from below.
Hong Sang-in and the old woman focused silently, unable to identify it.
The man, who seemed to know, grew serious.
"Black Dog, come here!"
At his call, Black Dog retreated from the stairs and sat by the man.
Well-trained dog.
Gripping Black Dog's collar tight, the man said.
"Not bee wings—flesh flies."
"Flesh flies?"
Kim Byung-su, who'd never seen Flesh Fly, asked.
At the words "flesh flies," Hong Sang-in and the old woman's faces darkened.
The loud bells must have summoned a hellish swarm of flesh flies through the ghost gate.
"Lord of Flies? Has a demon shown up?"
Hong Sang-in asked the man incredulously.
The only demon ruling hell's flesh flies was Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies.
The man didn't answer.
Eun Na-rae couldn't hold back and asked Kim Byung-su.
"Team leader, what's the Lord of Flies?"
"The ancient demon Beelzebub. Leader of the 'Fly Cult,' the biggest demon faction. Often appears as a giant fly leading tens of thousands of flesh flies, hence the name."
Explaining too much for the moment, the old woman snapped.
"Shut up and focus!"
Beelzebub stood opposite Zeus, whose name meant "one who shuns flies."
He appeared often in the Old and New Testaments.
In the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate), he plotted to imprison Jesus in hell.
Infuriated by Beelzebub's scheme, Jesus grabbed his head and commanded Hades.
[Bind this one's limbs, head, and mouth tight with bronze! Keep him secure until my Second Coming!]
Even after imprisonment in hell, Beelzebub frequented the earth.
Buzz buzz buzz—the swarm's wings grew louder.
The man on the coffin fixed his gaze on the stairs.
"Might not be the one you think, but definitely a demon from his cult."
He said concisely to Hong Sang-in, then asked the old woman again.
"First, wrap clothes around stakes for torches and prepare for the flesh fly swarm. Can those exorcists you mentioned seal the ghost gate?"
"They're no ordinary exorcists. They'll figure something out, so let's just hold out tonight."
The man nodded silently at the old woman's confident words.
The group quickly stripped outer clothes to make torches.
The flesh fly swarm's buzz grew, ascending the stairs.
Black Dog by the man perked its ears and stood.
"It's okay, just sit quietly by me."
Torches lit up brightly around the coffin.
Soothing Black Dog, the man shouted shortly.
"Incoming!"
The swarm that had lingered on the stairs now charged the group.
The firelight revealed the sound's source from the darkness.
Monsters the size of hornets: broad foreheads, bodies covered in black fur, only their abdomens yellow-furred with skull patterns.
As the flesh flies swarmed, Eun Na-rae filming set the camera on the coffin and grabbed a torch for defense.
A few flesh flies caught fire on Hong Sang-in's leading torch and dropped to the floor.
Their oily bodies burned, lighting the ground.
The vast floor filled with the stench of burning oil.
The swarm targeted the coffin, reeking of foul decay.
They dove at the man on the coffin like dive-bombers.
Kim Byung-su swung his torch to help, but a few flies veered and stuck to his face.
A long, straw-like proboscis emerged from a flesh fly's mouth, piercing skin and injecting acidic fluid.
Startled, Kim Byung-su slapped the flesh flies on his face.
Smack!
The gross sound of bursting sacs and spray of foul, acidic fluid hit his face and hands.
"Argh! What the hell is this?"
He screamed from the burning pain and sticky disgust on his skin.