Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 056
Chapter Title: Close the Window, Mister! (4)
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The chuk-gwi chased after the departing car relentlessly, but when they sensed the two girls running up, they whirled around and lunged at them.
Charging fiercely toward the girls, they leaped into the air, pouncing on Mi-hee and Da-hee.
“Eek!”
Startled by the chuk-gwi’s momentum, Mi-hee screamed and shrank back.
Even in that moment, Da-hee took a step backward and drew a shield talisman in the air.
The shield talisman Da-hee drew formed an invisible, sturdy wall in the designated space.
Though weaker than one drawn in blood on paper, it was handy in emergencies like this.
Thud!
The chuk-gwi hurtling down from above bounced off as if hitting a wall over the girls’ heads.
Crack.
At the same time, the sound of the airborne wall cracking echoed.
The chuk-gwi that fell to the ground got right back up as if unharmed, kicking off the asphalt once more and launching themselves again.
Thwack!
They bounced off the invisible wall again.
Crack.
This impact made the cracks in the air visible.
“Whoa, Da-hee! Hurry!”
As Mi-hee urged her on, Da-hee turned a water bottle upside down, pouring out half the water before drawing a sealing talisman with her finger.
Weaker than one drawn in blood, but with no time to prick her finger, she used her bare one.
Thwack, thud, crackle.
This time, the invisible wall shattered.
The chuk-gwi that broke through the airborne barrier reached out to grab Mi-hee’s head.
“Ah! No! Get away, you things.”
Mi-hee flailed her hands, trying to fend them off.
Ignoring her hands, the chuk-gwi seized her long hair.
They kept tugging at the gripped hair, reaching out to claw her face.
“In you go, you pests!”
Da-hee, who had drawn a sealing talisman on the water bottle, thrust it toward the chuk-gwi.
The ones about to claw Mi-hee were sucked into the bottle like smoke.
Da-hee quickly screwed the cap on and drew a purification talisman.
“These aren’t ordinary chuk-gwi, huh? Where’d they come from? Can’t exactly ask them.”
Da-hee shook the bottle and said to Mi-hee.
“Can’t ask those guys who ran off either. Think they’ll come back tomorrow? Lost a ton of hair. Ugh!”
Mi-hee touched her tousled hair, her face scrunched up.
“Dunno? Sis, think those guys’ll come back?”
“Doesn’t seem likely.”
The two girls figured the men who’d bolted wouldn’t return.
Da-hee pricked her fingertip with a hairpin to draw blood, then redrew the sealing and purification talismans on the bottle, grinning as she spoke.
“Anyway, let’s head home, Sis.”
* * *
Thanks to her little sister Da-hee’s help, Mi-hee finally made it home at dawn. After a brief chat with Da-hee, she fell asleep.
Having stood for so long the night before, she didn’t wake until past noon.
Da-hee was already out, nowhere to be found in the house.
Having crashed without showering, her body reeked of rotten eggs.
Peeking into the black plastic bag by the entrance, three rotten eggs remained.
“Used them all up… and these are left. Ugh, the smell. No more egg rice from now on. The stench is too much for the effect. It’s soaking into my skin.”
Grabbing the black bag, she headed to the bathroom and flushed the rotten eggs down the toilet.
On the living room floor sat a small plastic water bottle with Da-hee’s blood-drawn sealing talisman on it, and a purification talisman on the cap.
Da-hee had a habit of drawing a purification talisman after sealing spirits to naturally cleanse their malevolent energy.
Mi-hee picked up the bottle and scribbled on a Post-it note.
[Near our house. Chuk-gwi 2]
Lazy, she skipped the date.
She opened the large freezer door next to the fridge and placed the bottle in the top compartment.
Eight other Post-it labeled bottles were already there.
Da-hee’s notes all meticulously listed dates and locations.
Mi-hee, a frozen food fan, had bought a separate freezer—which doubled as a cryogenic prison for various spirits.
Apart from the top shelf holding the sealed bottles, it was packed with discounted frozen goods.
While showering, Mi-hee pondered the previous night.
The massive malevolent energy and the sudden chuk-gwi.
The man with the bizarre arm that flung them away.
Mi-hee recalled seeing Byung-su casually toss the chuk-gwi off his back through the convenience store window.
‘No ordinary guy. That arm—left or right, not sure—but it looked reptilian. Gross! Where’d those chuk-gwi come from anyway?’
Chuk-gwi wandered places where people lived, but most acted as they had in life, unaware they were dead, so they rarely clashed with the living.
‘They were definitely targeting that pervert from the house.’
* * *
By the time the long-haired woman, worried, turned the car around, Mi-hee and Da-hee had already sealed the chuk-gwi and left.
“What do we do? Will she be okay?”
Dong-jin fretted over the long-haired woman’s safety, but Byung-su reassured him.
“That woman’ll be fine. Bringing egg rice to fend off chuk-gwi means she’s no pushover. She sensed the energy too, carrying a whole bundle like that.”
“Egg rice?”
Byung-su pointed at the rotten egg smeared on Dong-jin’s head.
“Reporter Park, that nasty rotten egg on your head.”
“This?”
“Yeah, that’s egg rice—rotten eggs soaked in urine. Used to repel stray ghosts or curse someone with a grudge.”
Dong-jin’s face twisted.
“First time seeing it used for real. Anyway, she came prepared, so she won’t go down to chuk-gwi. No need to worry.”
Dong-jin felt less anxious about the woman thanks to Byung-su’s explanation, but the egg on his head made him want to scream.
“Soaked in urine?”
“Yep, probably her own pee. People usually use their own—others’ is filthy. Heh.”
Byung-su chuckled at his own quip about others’ urine being dirty.
Dong-jin grabbed tissues from the console box to wipe his head, but the foul smell nearly made him puke.
“Fishy stench… Those chuk-gwi gone now, right?”
At Dong-jin’s question, Byung-su bowed his head thoughtfully before answering.
“If they’d stuck around, they’d have attacked us by now? Hmm……”
Byung-su paused, then continued.
“They sensed this sword’s energy and came from near your place… Better not draw it from the sheath anymore. Please, no more accidents.”
“Got it… But Team Leader, will they come back?”
Dong-jin asked anxiously.
“Hard to say… Chuk-gwi are stubborn and persistent. They probably won’t leave your area. Might come back, might not—but once it’s light, pack up and stay at the motel with Lucifer-nim and Jijang-nim for a while.”
As Byung-su suggested, Dong-jin decided to grab his stuff and leave at dawn.
After tidying roughly, he stepped out as day broke.
Dong-jin spotted Byung-su outside the studio, with an unfamiliar girl standing before him.
She had a short boyish cut, white short-sleeved cotton tee, and blue-striped track pants.
From the back, she could easily pass for a boy.
‘Who’s that? Boy? Looks kinda scrawny… Girl?’
Only her long slender neck exposed by the short hair, thin wrists, slim waist, and overall lines revealed her as a girl.
Barefoot in three-stripe slippers, she had to live nearby.
‘Three-stripe slippers again. Local kid.’
Curious about the girl in front of Byung-su, Dong-jin approached.
Ignoring Dong-jin, the girl beamed at Byung-su.
“Wow! You’re super tall, Mister. Over 180, right? I’d die happy at 160. So jealous! I’m the shortest in my class. Being skinny makes me look taller. Hehe.”
Her voice was bright and clear.
She eyed Byung-su up and down like a massive ancient tree, full of wonder.
“But how’re you still alive, Mister? How do you live so long? Looks like over a thousand years. Amazing. Is the height from living forever?”
Byung-su’s face hardened at the girl’s words as she sized him up.
‘What’s this kid on about? Did she recognize the imugi’s front paw?’
Byung-su and Dong-jin exchanged puzzled glances.
Sensing someone behind her, the girl turned to Dong-jin.
Her face was pale with big eyes—pretty cute.
To Dong-jin, she looked middle school or first-year high.
Of course, hopeless at guessing women’s ages, he didn’t trust his own judgment.
The girl grinned at Dong-jin, then clapped delightedly.
“Aha! Haha. The mister Sis mentioned? Looks like you’re packing to leave? Bringing stray ghosts to a quiet neighborhood and bailing without fixing it? We worked hard sealing those chuk-gwi. Hehe.”
Her tone and expression brimmed with amusement.
“Uh, who are you? Do you know me?”
The girl, sparkling eyes fixed on the stammering Dong-jin, kept grinning as she replied.
“I’m Da-hee. Sis is Mi-hee. Bro called us exorcists… Saw you with Sis yesterday with those weird guys. Came early to check.”
Da-hee shifted her gaze from Dong-jin to Byung-su.
“There really is a weird mister here. And he’s got a weird thing. This tall mister human?”
Absurd, but a sharp question.
The girl who’d introduced herself as Da-hee pointed at Byung-su, eyes wide with curiosity.
“That mister had a freaky arm yesterday… Imugi front paw, right? And that thing he’s got… Looks dangerous. Super strong malevolent energy. Gonna drive all the local stray ghosts crazy. I can get rid of that energy. Hehe. For real. Hehe.”
* * *
“Sis! Those guys are at the house now!”
Da-hee blurted to Mi-hee as she emerged from the shower.
“When’d you get back?”
“Just now, but those guys returned. The freaky-arm mister? Arm’s normal today. But super weird.”
“How weird?”
“Yeah, felt like over a thousand years from him.”
Byung-su had the thousand-year imugi front paw thanks to the dokkaebi’s help, so she’d sensed the ancient traces on him.
Mi-hee scoffed at Da-hee’s words.
“What? A thousand years? Ridiculous. A ghost?”
“Nah? Human. Total ajusshi. Ajusshi! I stopped him from heading out. Hehe.”
Da-hee could sense energies more finely than Mi-hee.
Even her brother Baekho used that skill in his exorcist work.
“How?”
“Told ’em we caught the chuk-gwi. Hehe.”
Mi-hee jumped at Da-hee’s words, yelling.
“What? Why say that? Think they’ll believe it?”
“Hehe, of course not. That’s why I said it. But there was this thing with weird energy, so I said I could clear it. Hehe.”
* * *
After Da-hee left, Byung-su couldn’t shake the little girl’s words.
‘No way a kid that small caught chuk-gwi, but knowing they exist… Not ordinary. And if they’re still around, locals are at risk. Can’t just leave.’
Dong-jin asked the pensive Byung-su.
“What’s that ‘exorcist’ the girl mentioned?”
He’d met Baekho and knew roughly, but the kid calling herself one sparked curiosity.
“Like exorcist, but that’s Japanese. We call ’em guma-sa. They use swords, bells, staffs, talismans to drive out evil spirits.”
“Like shamans?”
“Kinda… But more like Taoist priests, law masters, or high-powered monks. Even exorcist priests are guma priests. Didn’t know? Baekho-nim’s one.”
Bragging and name-dropping Baekho, Byung-su continued to Dong-jin.
“Used to see guma-sa often… Lately, just Baekho-nim and Priest Kim. No way that kid’s one. But Reporter Park, maybe trust her word.”
Byung-su seemed ready to believe the little girl who’d called herself a guma-sa.
‘Didn’t seem like a liar.’