Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Virgin Ghost Yi-hwa and Evil God Emel (4)
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“Exactly! Unless you're dying tomorrow, the kids need to go to school and study. Jun-su's dad has to go to work and earn money to put food on the table. He can't just quit his job to catch ghosts.”
The supermarket grandma chimed in agreement with Baekho's words and continued.
“Jun-su's dad, anyway, it's getting too late to head to Seoul today, so let's go up together tomorrow during the day. I want to see the face of that ghost bitch or demon lump myself.”
Baekho smiled faintly at the grandma's words and spoke to the couple.
“As the lady said, it's a bit late today. Let's go up together tomorrow during the day. We should check out the house first. Alright, rest up for today.”
At Baekho's suggestion, the couple finally relaxed and left after repeated thanks.
After the grandma's group departed, Baekho and Yi-hwa approached the captured stray ghosts and questioned them.
Overpowered by Yi-hwa's presence, the stray ghosts spilled everything they knew.
The house where Jun-su's family had moved was not vacant for just two years.
According to the stray ghost, it didn't know exactly when it became empty, but it had been there for about five years.
And it had been empty even before it stayed there.
It lingered because it was vacant, but there were other stray ghosts there before it, and even before them, there had been a ghost gate in the house.
Jun-su's dad said he only saw the ghost gate after moving in, but it had been there long before.
He must not have noticed it at the entrance when they came to look at the house.
The female evil spirit trying to possess Jun-hee was not a human soul but an entity that had always existed in the world, and they whined that they didn't know if it was an evil god or a demon.
It appeared around the time Jun-su's family moved in.
The stray ghost said she was a transcendent being compared to them, so they just did as ordered out of fear, and it harbored no ill will toward Jun-su's family.
In Jun-su's house, there were five stray ghosts that had wandered the neighborhood and settled in the vacant home, two animal ghosts she brought, and the woman herself.
[A cramped corner of the house crowded with all sorts of them. What could the woman be?]
Baekho transmitted his voice mentally to Yi-hwa so the stray ghosts couldn't overhear.
This telepathy technique was something he'd learned from Yi-hwa, and to Baekho, she was both friend and teacher.
[An inherently evil woman... If not a human soul turned spirit after death, then an evil god or demon. Yet after wandering this Joseon land for five hundred years, I've never encountered a female evil god, rakshasa woman, or female demon.]
Yi-hwa classified demons into evil gods, rakshasas, and demons, but Baekho called them demons.
[You've never seen one like that either, Yi-hwa? Hmm, since it attempted possession, it's not a yokai or monster either. Definitely a demon.]
As Baekho said, yokai had their own bodies, so they dominated human minds or shapeshifted into humans rather than possessing bodies with their souls, which they rarely did.
[A female demon... Not from our country, must have come from outside or hidden her existence all this time. Is she stronger than you, Yi-hwa?]
When Baekho asked, Yi-hwa smiled brightly and replied.
[We don't know her true nature, so no countermeasures yet. But from what I've seen wandering the living world for five hundred years, there's no absolute evil. If humans resist persistently, evil gods, rakshasas, yokai—even the mightiest demons eventually give up. Humans are stronger than you think, Baekho.]
Yi-hwa paused in thought before continuing.
[Come to think of it, I'm not human either. Based on the description and traits that stray ghost mentioned, one possibility comes to mind.]
Yi-hwa explained her inference about the woman's identity to Baekho based on the stray ghost's words.
[It's a ghoul, an evil god said to exist in the Western Regions and India. Since it's female, Ghoulra fits.]
[Ghoul? Zombie?]
At Baekho's question, Yi-hwa examined the stray ghost and said gravely.
[Immortal, uses sorcery, and speaks. A tall, beautiful exotic woman in form—an evil spirit. Among the living, vampires crave human blood but not the body. Wolves and gumiho are the same.]
[Ghouls crave human bodies? So they possess?]
[That's what's strange. Long ago, my master said ghouls can possess but don't. They have excellent living bodies, so they don't need frail human ones.]
Possession is how bodiless spirits use human bodies to exert physical force.
Byung-su had requested the removal of the ghost gate at the ranch, but focused on that, he hadn't heard about Emel.
Yi-hwa thought for a moment, then sent another telepathic message to Baekho.
[Even I don't need possession for physical force, so a ghoul needs it even less. We need to figure out the purpose of the possession and the ghost gate.]
Spirits without bodies couldn't use strong physical force.
But Yi-hwa could create a temporary body using spiritual energy when needed, the result of long training.
Spirits lacking such ability resorted to possession.
Ghouls, with superior bodies, didn't need it, as Yi-hwa explained.
Yi-hwa was convinced the woman was a ghoul but couldn't fathom why it needed possession.
She only suspected it was related to the ghost gate.
* * *
Mi-hee got a call from her Daejeon oppa, Baekho.
He said he had business near Daesung University in Seoul tomorrow and was coming up.
“Tomorrow, Daejeon Baekho oppa is coming to Seoul for some business.”
“He didn't say anything when I saw him yesterday. What's up?”
Da-hee tilted her head at her sister's story.
“Who knows. Ghost hunting? I wanna watch! Let's go!”
“Sis, you could get in big trouble casually watching that stuff. Anyway, sis! I'm heading to that house nearby. I can't stand not knowing that ajusshi's identity.”
“Come back early. You have school tomorrow, so don't stay out late.”
Mi-hee knew Da-hee had superior abilities, so she wasn't too worried about her actions.
Plus, she was curious about the man with the strange arm and the qi that appeared and vanished last night, so she didn't stop her sister.
‘Even if he didn't fully believe me, he must have stayed at that house to confirm... That arm like a crocodile's foreleg... Could it be an imugi's claw?’
Da-hee thought as she left the house that she absolutely needed to confirm Byung-su's identity.
Baekho, Yi-hwa, and Mi-hee could sense the size of qi, but Da-hee could sense its shape too.
Da-hee saw the accumulated form of Byung-su's qi, like tree rings showing years passed.
But even Da-hee couldn't be sure that Byung-su's left arm was the imugi claw given by the dokkaebi.
* * *
“You're incredible, Reporter Kim, waiting alone when you don't know what might come.”
Emel praised him with shining eyes, and Byung-su laughed in response.
“I've never been incredible. Sang-in said you're pretty dangerous. Why come to our country, and what's your business here? Do you know what happened here?”
At Byung-su's question, Emel shrugged instead of answering.
Meaning she wouldn't tell.
Feeling miffed, Byung-su gestured her inside.
“You're not what I was waiting for, but you seem connected, so come in and let's talk quietly.”
At Byung-su's bold words, Emel laughed ho-ho-ho for some reason and smiled silently.
‘What a beautiful woman!’
His disloyal friend Sang-in had warned Byung-su that she was an evil god ghoul and to avoid clashing if possible.
He didn't reveal her motives.
‘What motives... What is that guy Sang-in trying to do helping the ghoul? I'll grill him properly next time.’
Byung-su was convinced Emel, smiling brightly, was in league with the animal ghosts.
He feared her inwardly but felt safe with the dokkaebi-granted imugi claw on his left arm; he wouldn't go down easily.
‘She probably doesn't know my left arm is an imugi claw.’
Sitting, Byung-su pondered and prepared defenses.
“Does it matter why I came to this land and what I want? Beings like us can appear anywhere once the door opens. If you help me, Reporter Kim, I can pull scoops for you like noodles—endless ones.”
“Noodles? Endless?”
Byung-su figured she'd made the same offer to Sang-in.
Seeing his reaction, Emel pressed close to the window and spoke affectionately.
“I can raise corpses, create countless phenomena, and leave solving and reporting the incidents to you. Just like I gave Sang-in the ability to sense spiritual energy and talk to spirits so he could work as a psychic researcher.”
Emel's face looked delighted making the bizarre offer of handing him countless incidents.
“No, what is this? You create incidents? No law-abiding spirit at all.”
“Ho ho ho, is that so? Laws are for humans to follow. Anyway, skip the nonsense—if you tell me the sword's location, I can make you rule followers on a small island like a king. A king! I value contracts above all.”
Emel's tone was polite, her proposal plausible.
“Tempting. But isn't the offer kinda old-school? King of a small island? Lame compared to our neighborhood ward office head. Not biting. Better come in and talk in depth. Come on in.”
Rejecting her, Byung-su beckoned her inside, but Emel waved from outside laughing.
“Ho ho ho, not coming in today. I just need the house owner, no need for pointless arguments. Pity, but I'll wait and find the sword eventually.”
Emel sensed unusual qi from Reporter Kim's body and didn't want to clash.
‘That human is different now.’
Unlike Emel's thoughts, Byung-su saw her as dangerous and stood.
‘Even if I have to go all out, I need to stop her today. Letting her go feels risky.’
As Byung-su approached with a stern face, Emel stepped back from the window and waved.
“Whoa, not today. Looks like guests are coming, so I'll be off. See you soon— we'll finish our talk then.”
Emel walked away lightly, ignoring Byung-su, turning and quickening her pace.
Her steps were light and fast, hard to chase.
Byung-su watched her receding figure from the window, hesitated, then leaped out.
He landed barefoot on the asphalt, turned, and pursued Emel.
“Wow! That lady is super tall! Ugh, why am I the short one?”
A bright voice stopped Byung-su's feet.
“Taller than you, ajusshi! Is that why? Her strides are huge. Like a giraffe. But ajusshi, where are you going barefoot?”
Turning, Byung-su saw the little girl from earlier.
“Ajusshi, you shouldn't follow that lady right now.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“No evil qi from her, but something's in that spot over there. She knows it too. It's a trap.”
Da-hee pointed to the alley beside the church, unusually dark compared to surroundings.
Emel stopped at the alley entrance, smiled back at Byung-su, and vanished into the darkness.
Byung-su felt gazes targeting him from there too.
The next day, after an early lunch, Baekho and Jun-su's family split into Baekho's car and Jun-su's dad's car heading to Seoul.
Yi-hwa the virgin ghost rode in Baekho's car, Jun-su's family in his dad's.
Yi-hwa disliked going out, but accompanied them on this Seoul trip.