Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Virgin Ghost Yi-hwa and Evil Spirit Emel (6)
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Emel gestured with her fingers, shaping them like a phone, as if telling the grandmother clutching the cellphone on the vanity to make the call.
The wail of a fire truck siren drifted in from somewhere through the open living room window.
Emel simply stared in silence at the grandmother dialing Baekho. She didn't shake off the white dog gnawing at her leg, didn't extinguish the flames clinging to her body, and didn't step into the room.
Jun-su's house was close enough to Mi-hee's that one could walk there. Once the call ended, Baekho should arrive soon.
But Jun-su's family had no idea where Baekho was staying, so they couldn't guess when he'd show up.
"He's coming?"
As the grandmother finished her call, Emel finally took a step forward and asked curtly.
With no reply from the grandmother, she dragged the white dog clamped onto her leg and took another step.
"You filthy ghost!"
The late grandfather's image appeared in the vanity mirror and bellowed at Emel.
"Hmph. What do you think you'll accomplish from in there? Treating me like some stray ghost, are you?"
Emel sneered, ignoring the grandfather in the mirror as she turned her gaze to the grandmother.
"Granny! Don't move! Stay put. That bitch can't come in."
The grandfather in the mirror was still confined within the vanity.
She hadn't crossed the threshold yet.
Emel had no intention of crossing due to the talisman charm, but she deliberately provoked Jun-su's family anyway.
The grandmother's legs trembled weakly under Emel's icy glare.
Jun-su's dad stood blocking Emel at the threshold.
He spread his arms wide to keep her from entering further and shouted.
"Stop!"
"Stand down! Get back!"
Despite the grandfather's cry, Jun-su's dad's expression remained resolute.
"Don't come in! I won't let you!"
Even as Jun-su's dad yelled, Emel's eyes curved in amusement.
She was targeting their instinct to protect their family.
The grandfather seemed unable to leave the vanity.
Emel seized Jun-su's dad's neck with her burning left hand and hoisted him effortlessly into the air.
Jun-su's dad's body lifted off the floor, and he flailed wildly, but he soon screamed from the searing heat radiating from Emel's left hand.
Jun-su's mom and grandmother rushed over at the sight of his agony.
They clung to Emel's left hand gripping his neck, desperately trying to pry it free with all their might.
But the iron grip didn't budge, and the two women only burned their own hands.
Emel slowly raised her right hand, as if intentionally prolonging their suffering.
She grabbed the grandmother and Jun-su's mom one by one by the neck with her right hand and flung them onto the bed.
The fire clinging to Emel's body spread to Jun-su's mom and the grandmother.
Emel still hadn't crossed the threshold.
As the two tumbled onto the bed, flames began licking at the bedding too.
Jun-su's mom swiftly patted out the fire that had spread to her and the grandmother with a pillow, then hurried the children to the corner of the room.
"Jun-su, Jun-hee! Stay behind Mom!"
"You bastard! Come on, kill me if you dare!"
The grandmother scrambled up and charged at Emel again.
Emel hurled the still-gripped Jun-su's dad toward his wife while seizing the grandmother's neck with her right hand.
Smoke rose from the grandmother's neck, and she went limp, losing consciousness.
Jun-su's dad, dropped to the floor, lay motionless, unconscious as well.
Emel lifted the unconscious grandmother with her right hand and stared at Jun-su's mom.
"You damned wench!"
The grandfather in the mirror roared in fury, but Emel ignored him completely and smiled at Jun-su's mom.
Bang.
The sound of a steel crowbar ripping open the door rang out, and three firefighters burst in.
The firefighters hesitated at the sight of the burning woman clutching the grandmother by the neck but rushed forward to extinguish the flames on her and rescue the old woman.
"Calm down and stay still. We'll get the fire out soon."
As the firefighters approached, Emel threw the grandmother at the middle one to block their path, then grabbed another firefighter with her left hand and leaped out the window.
Throughout it all, Emel never once stepped across the threshold.
* * *
Baekho raced to Jun-su's house the moment he got the supermarket grandmother's frantic call for help.
Fire trucks and police cars had arrived first.
Police barriers kept him from entering the building.
"What happened? Why are the fire trucks and cops here already?"
Mi-hee arrived right behind him, panting as she asked.
"Dunno. Yi-hwa went up—let's wait and see."
By the time Da-hee followed Mi-hee, Yi-hwa descended from Jun-su's house.
[Jun-su's family got carted to the hospital, and that bitch vanished. Nothing for us to do here. Let's head home, Baekho.]
Yi-hwa sent Baekho a grim telepathic message in response to his question about the situation.
* * *
"From what the firefighters and cops were saying, the fire didn't spread much."
Yi-hwa began explaining the situation.
"But the firefighters and family members who tangled with the burning woman got seriously hurt and hauled to the hospital. The woman on fire jumped out the window and disappeared after. Gotta be Emel."
Yi-hwa trailed off.
It was rare for the cool-headed Yi-hwa to hesitate like this.
She seemed rattled by Emel's unexpected moves.
"The person who reported the fire said it was a woman on fire."
Mi-hee asked in surprise at Yi-hwa's words.
"Did a firefighter say that?"
"Yeah. One was explaining to the police. Said a young woman called warning she'd set the house ablaze. They rolled out on what they figured was an arsonist's tip-off. Turns out the arsonist matched the description of a woman engulfed in flames."
Baekho, who had been checking the timeline of his call with the grandmother, spoke up.
"Timeline-wise, looks like she called the fire station first, then went after the family. Why tip 'em off upfront? What'd they say about the family's condition on the way to the hospital?"
"Didn't catch details on the family. Firefighters took a bad hit, though."
"They're probably at Daesung University Hospital—the closest one."
Mi-hee chimed in, thinking of the likely spot.
"Yi-hwa, let's swing by Daesung University Hospital and check. Can't let this slide. They figured they were safe with us close by, and bam—got hit. Damn that evil bitch."
Baekho stood and said to Yi-hwa, then cautioned Mi-hee and Da-hee.
"This is fishy. While I'm gone, get those talismans ready. Hop to it."
Talismans required blood to draw and qi to infuse, so cranking out a bunch took serious time.
"Ah, I'm low on blood already..."
"Quit whining—shoulda started earlier. I'll buy you meat later. Get to work."
Baekho scolded Mi-hee's grumbling and headed out.
[If she just wanted to hurt the family, no need to kick up this ruckus. She's got something up her sleeve.]
Yi-hwa sent a telepathic message as she followed Baekho.
* * *
It was two hours before Baekho and Yi-hwa returned.
"Jun-su's dad and grandma are in the ICU. Mom got treated in the ER and moved to a regular ward—nasty burns on her neck. Jun-su and Jun-hee inhaled some smoke but look fine enough."
Mi-hee and Da-hee breathed a sigh of relief that Jun-su's family would pull through.
"Thank goodness. Bro, I worked my butt off."
Baekho ruffled Mi-hee's hair and continued.
"Yeah, good girl. Looks like Jun-su's folks need a few days' hospital stay, but they're scattered all over the place now. What a mess. With all the people around, should be safe for now."
"At least that's a relief. Ah, safe!"
Mi-hee beamed, relaxing her face.
"Naw. Ain't safe yet. That bitch split 'em up so she can possess Jun-hee when the coast is clear. We screwed the pooch."
Yi-hwa, who had been listening from behind Baekho, spoke up.
"Figures she'd pick the hospital over the house with my talismans. Sly bitch."
Baekho nodded in agreement and turned to Mi-hee and Da-hee.
"Da-hee, you got school—head in and catch a wink at least. Come dawn, Yi-hwa and I'll check on Jun-hee. Mi-hee, hit the hospital after classes. Time to shred that evil bitch."
"Got plenty of talismans ready—I'll head straight there after morning classes. Shred her good!"
As Mi-hee replied, Da-hee said she'd come to the hospital too.
"Bro, I'll swing by somewhere after class before the hospital. Got a meet-up with that weird uncle in the afternoon—then I've got questions for you and Auntie Yi-hwa."
"Weird uncle?"
Baekho asked Da-hee.
"Yeah, looks like your average joe, but I can't pin down who he is. He's got over a thousand years of qi."
Baekho's eyes widened in shock at Da-hee's words.
"What? A living human?"
A thousand years was double the time Yi-hwa had lingered in the living world.
"Yeah, he's alive. Asked if I could purge the evil qi from some object, so we set up a meet for tomorrow."
"What kinda object? Little one."
The virgin ghost Yi-hwa reacted to Da-hee's words.
"Dunno what it is. But it seemed important. I told him to reveal his identity before I touch the evil energy, and he agreed. Hehe."
"A man with over a thousand years' qi... Ain't possible for a human. Yi-hwa, this guy's tied to ghouls too?"
Yi-hwa silently eyed Da-hee at Baekho's question.
She knew Da-hee's talisman exorcist skills outshone Baekho's or Mi-hee's, so she didn't dismiss it as nonsense.
Da-hee could sense not just the magnitude of qi but its fine details—that's how she'd read traces of the imugi's age in Byung-su's qi and pieced it together.
"Baekho, what do you think?"
"Think what? I asked first. Anyway, guy's no ordinary mark, Da-hee—just come straight home."
Instead of answering Yi-hwa, he sternly warned Da-hee.
He clearly didn't like his young sister meeting shady strangers.
"They need sleep to make school—let's tuck 'em in and grill her tomorrow."
Yi-hwa spoke, concerned for Mi-hee and Da-hee with sleep heavy in their eyes.
"Yeah, rest up first, talk tomorrow. You girls did good work."
Baekho took pity on his little sisters, drained from blood and qi after making dozens of talismans, and shooed them to their rooms.
Yi-hwa spoke gently to Da-hee heading to her room.
"Little one, if you meet him tomorrow, confirm who he is and bring him to the hospital. I'll take a look."
"Got it—no worries. Good guy or bad, I'll drag him there."
Still just a kid, Da-hee worried Yi-hwa, who added,
"Be careful, little one."
Yi-hwa had her suspicions but held back, mindful of Da-hee's school start.
Spilling what she knew would drag things out, and she could already picture Baekho getting pissy.
"Da-hee, bed now. Mi-hee, you too—get some shut-eye. Messes up your skin. Kids need early sleep to grow."
Baekho paid little mind to the tale of the old man Da-hee mentioned and hurried his sisters off to sleep so they could get to school ASAP.
"Da-hee... no hangin' with weird uncles. Straight home after school. Thousand-year qi ain't our priority now."
He knew the man with the thousand-year-old imugi's forepaw, if nothing else.
"Baekho, a thousand years ain't common."
Baekho nodded at Yi-hwa's words.
"True enough—rare as hen's teeth. Only seen one myself. Tomorrow evening, if time allows, let's touch base with Reporter Kim too."
He seemed set on enlisting Byung-su's help.
* * *
Mi-hee had only one morning lecture.
Late to school from crashing late at dawn, she stood at the crosswalk near home, waiting for the light to change.
The man standing beside her looked familiar.
'Who is he? Dressed like he's commuting to an office job—no way I know some random uncle type... Who?'
She pondered for a moment, but no name surfaced.
Just someone she'd brushed past on the street sometime, she figured.
The man next to her seemed to know Mi-hee too—ever since she'd taken her spot at the crosswalk, his gaze had been fixed on her.