Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Virgin Ghost Yi-hwa and Evil Spirit Emel (2)
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Baekho, having calculated the direction based on Jun-su's dad's story, looked up and spoke to Yi-hwa.
"Gwi-mun. The gate in the southwest, amid the darkness. High chance it's a ghost gate."
Yi-hwa silently nodded in agreement at Baekho's words.
To the others, it must have looked like Baekho was muttering to himself while staring into empty space.
Jun-su's dad paused at the mention of "Gwi-mun," looking curious as he gazed at Baekho.
Reading his expression, Baekho said,
"I'll explain later. Please continue your story."
* * *
This darkness wasn't dark because it was shadowy.
It was just pure darkness, you could say?
Even with the living room lights on and everything bright around it, there was darkness within the light.
What can I say?
It was hard to describe, but it felt like a natural darkness that existed simply because it was dark, regardless of the brightness around it.
Yet, even though it was such a deep black darkness, the shoes on the entryway floor and the door handle were clearly visible.
It was a darkness that felt wide open, unobstructed.
And from then on, up to now, that unsettling darkness has lingered right at the front entryway.
Not just me—anyone in the family could see it.
It wasn't there when we toured the house before moving in...
But that first night I saw the darkness, I had just woken up, so I thought it was an optical illusion.
I ignored the darkness.
The important thing was the thumping sounds...
Back then, the noises coming from Jun-hee's room felt more urgent.
I headed to Jun-hee's room, where the continuous thumping echoed, and opened the door.
Just as I was about to open it, something strange happened.
The thumping was still there, but I couldn't hear the kids' laughter or voices.
It was unsettling and weird.
Kids always make laughing and chattering noises when they run around playing.
But there were none.
And the thumping was so rhythmic, like they were keeping perfect beat.
Thinking something was off, I opened the door with a heavy heart...
The moment the door opened, the thumping stopped.
No, it vanished.
The sound disappeared completely...
I cautiously stepped in and turned on the light...
Jun-hee was sleeping soundly, and there was no one else inside.
Despite all that racket, Jun-hee seemed to be in a really deep sleep.
When I came out of Jun-hee's room, Jun-su's mom and Jun-su were standing in the living room, staring at me—they had followed me out without me noticing.
I hadn't meant to wake them...
According to Jun-su's mom and Jun-su, Grandpa and Baekgu had appeared in their dreams, telling them to hurry to Jun-hee.
Ha ha, Baekgu is the white dog my father raised.
Baekgu's name was actually Whitie.
Father cherished Whitie so much.
After Father passed away in an accident last year, Whitie roamed the neighborhood every morning and ended up as roadkill.
I think Baekgu was searching the neighborhood every morning for Father.
Since my wife grew up as an orphan with no relatives, she was especially attached to my late father.
Father loved her like his own daughter...
Maybe that's why he often appears in her dreams.
Anyway, my wife and Jun-su had also heard the thumping and were pretty shaken.
I reassured them, sent them back to bed, and spent the night sitting on the living room sofa.
At first, I planned to just sit there a bit and go back to bed if nothing happened.
But even though there was only a wall behind me where I sat on the sofa...
I felt someone glaring at me from behind.
It was a gaze filled with such intense hostility that I couldn't bring myself to go to the master bedroom because of how uneasy Jun-hee's room felt.
Overwhelmed by that inexplicable anxiety... I had to stay right there and keep watch.
I was scared.
* * *
As Jun-su's dad mentioned the hostile gaze, Baekho glanced at the vagrant spirit in the corner.
Its face was twisted in agony.
'That thing was definitely smirking at Jun-su's dad earlier, but there was no hostility...'
Yi-hwa glared at the vagrant spirit, thinking the same.
'It's not that one.'
As they turned their eyes away from the vagrant spirit, Jun-su's dad's story continued.
* * *
The next day, Jun-hee had no idea about the commotion from the night before.
She didn't know there'd been such a racket in her room—that was strange.
Ah, strange things started happening after we moved in.
During the day, only my wife was home with the kids...
Around three in the afternoon, the TV she'd be watching would turn off, or sometimes turn on by itself.
Lights would come on in empty rooms.
She said she got startled a lot when the bathroom light went out while she was alone in there.
But whenever the family started gathering one by one, these things stopped, so I never experienced them myself.
* * *
Jun-su's mom took over the story.
I thought the TV turning off or on was just a timer glitch or a problem with the TV.
The room lights or bathroom light going out...
I suspected a short circuit and called someone, but after a quick check, they said there didn't seem to be any shorts causing lights to go out in specific rooms.
They said they'd schedule a full wiring inspection later just in case, but no date's been set yet.
But more nerve-wracking and scary than the lights was the laughter.
It was the laughter of older men, always coming from right around me, and I'd feel like someone was staring at me.
The laughs were all different—sounded like four or five of them.
* * *
At Jun-su's mom's story, Yi-hwa sent a mental message to Baekho.
[Is it those guys?]
[Seems like it. Looks like a bunch of those lowly things are in that house. Damn pests... Of all houses, the one I picked for their move-in. Damn it all.]
* * *
Jun-su's mom's story went on.
Sometimes I'd hear voices too, but they were too faint to make out.
Just a feeling that they sounded amused, somehow.
The laughter and the gazes around me didn't feel threatening, but they followed me around like they were enjoying it.
Gazes that scanned my body, like they were observing me...
Occasionally, something would brush against my body...
It made my skin crawl.
That disgusting, creepy feeling lasted until the family came home.
Thinking that some invisible thing was trailing me, watching me—it was frightening and anxious.
I couldn't even shower or change clothes when alone.
* * *
Jun-su's mom was in her mid-thirties but still had the graceful air of a young woman.
Baekho glanced again at the grubby vagrant spirit he'd pinned in the corner and spoke to Yi-hwa loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Yi-hwa! That shameless behavior must be those guys' doing, right?"
The virgin ghost Yi-hwa glared at the filthy vagrant spirit in disgust, then spoke in her clear, articulate voice that rang through the room.
"You scum terrorized the child's mother with your petty tricks for fun. I'll burn you to enlightenment, so go pay for your sins in hell! Even you worthless thing knows what that means."
Yi-hwa's beautiful, dignified voice shook the room.
The grandmother and the couple, unaware of the virgin ghost Yi-hwa's presence, were startled, but they could sense the voice's owner genuinely cared for Jun-su's mom, so they weren't afraid.
But the vagrant spirit trapped in the corner trembled in fear, overwhelmed by the intensity as the once-smiling virgin ghost Yi-hwa glared and scolded it.
The vagrant spirit pleaded desperately to Yi-hwa.
"Forgive me! We had no intent to defile or harm the child's mother. It was just play, and we're not connected to that bitch trying to harm the child or her dad. We truly had no prior ties to her—we just followed because she scared us into it."
"That bitch? What is this bitch?"
"She's not a ghost born from a human like us—she's something that existed from the beginning. We had no choice but to obey out of fear. Please believe me!"
The pleading cries from the corner made the grandmother and the couple gasp in shock.
Unlike the gentle woman's voice that had been advocating for them, this was a pained man's wail—unsettling and terrifying.
Thankfully, Baekho calmly controlled the situation, helping them steady themselves.
"Shut it! Didn't I say I'd question you later? Be quiet. Damn fool, whining where? This ain't a complaint desk. You looking to get it?"
Baekho spoke coldly, then sent a mental message to Yi-hwa.
[Something that existed from the start, not from a human... and female. Ring any bells?]
Yi-hwa replied after receiving his thought.
[Baekho, in my 500 years wandering, I've never seen a female entity that existed from the beginning on this Joseon land—not a male one turned female. Can't fully trust that lowly thing, but it doesn't seem to be lying. This is troubling.]
The virgin ghost Yi-hwa questioned the vagrant spirit.
She deliberately didn't use mental transmission, so everyone in the room could hear.
"This bitch you mentioned—is she an evil spirit, a rakshasa, a malevolent ghost, or a yokai?"
When the vagrant spirit couldn't answer Yi-hwa's question, Baekho asked again.
He didn't use mental transmission either.
"Is she a demon? A monster?"
In medieval Christian Western thinking, evil spirits, rakshasas, and malevolent ghosts were all lumped under demons.
Demons had various origins and classifications, but in medieval Europe, they included even pagan gods—anything opposing their god was called a demon.
"I don't know. I've never seen a demon. But she wasn't a dead being. She had a living human body, yet she definitely wasn't human. Even with a human body, she could hide like us."
"Not dead, but hides like you? What're you saying? Sorcery? Magic?"
When Baekho pressed, the frozen vagrant spirit answered immediately.
"I don't know what, but she's definitely alive! Not a magician... I've never seen anything like her before, so I don't know what she is. But..."
"But what? Spit it out!"
"But she's extremely tall, in the form of a beautiful woman, and superior to us—that much I can say for sure. Ah! She's a foreign woman with red hair!"
The vagrant spirit's voice trembled with its vague answer, but it didn't seem to be lying.
[Baekho, I don't know her exact identity, but something comes to mind. I'd need to see her to be sure.]
Hearing the virgin ghost Yi-hwa's mental message, Baekho spoke to Jun-su's dad with unwavering composure.
"We've heard enough from the child's mom. The rest, the child's dad can explain."
Baekho figured Jun-su's mom might find it hard to talk about parts involving the pervert-like vagrant spirits harassing her, so he asked Jun-su's dad to take over.
Jun-su's dad was deeply grateful for Baekho's thoughtful consideration.
* * *
After Dong-jin grabbed his knife and gear and left for the motel where Lucifer and Jijang were staying, Byung-su was left alone in the studio apartment, waiting for the chuk-gwi.
To make it easy for the chuk-gwi to enter if it was nearby, he left the front door and the repaired window wide open and sat on the floor.
Judging from the chuk-gwi's persistent behavior last night, if nothing visited tonight, then the girl he met during the day was telling the truth.
'I hope nothing visits this place tonight...'
Things didn't go as Byung-su wished.
"Reporter Kim, long time no see. I hope you've been well? Where'd the owner of this room go?"
A clear, refined young woman's voice came from beyond the window, despite it being daytime.
She wore a sleek black suit, her reddish hair neatly tied up, with a sharp nose and large eyes—an exotic beauty.
It was the evil spirit, Ghoulra Emel.
Emel smiled brightly at Byung-su through the open window.
Byung-su was startled to see Emel's upper body casually poke through the window—not the chuk-gwi he'd been waiting for, but her sudden appearance.
'I didn't notice before, but she's incredibly tall. No, she's a ghoul. Even if she's friends with Sang-in, a naturally vicious ghoul has come, so I need to stay alert.'
Looking up at Emel, who was a full head taller than his own over 180cm frame, Byung-su gathered energy in his left arm.
Emel spoke to him with precise pronunciation, step by step, but it felt somehow off.
"I'm looking for a small knife. Could you tell me about it?"
"A knife? Out of nowhere, asking me about some knife? There's a few kitchen knives in the kitchen over there—take one if you need it."
Byung-su replied curtly to Emel, who was politely questioning him.
He recalled her threat before leaving the grassland garden—that he'd run into a zombie horde—and decided to keep his distance.