Real Education (1)
Actually, from the first moment I laid eyes on the priest—Il-sik—I'd sensed it. That faint, musty fishy stench wafting from the five vengeful spirits wailing within his soul. It was exactly the same smell as the ones from Gwiam Reservoir that I'd handed off to them.
Thanks to that, I knew the priest was connected to Gwiam Reservoir, but I couldn't be entirely sure if he really was that bastard Il-sik. So I'd been watching his every move. If Il-sik had watched Kim the vice-pastor dying without flinching, and if the soul binding those vengeful spirits hadn't wavered because of that "stench," I wouldn't have been this certain.
Even now, just thinking about it made my teeth grind. That day at Gwiam Reservoir when I'd let the "real evil spirit" slip away, with its stench lingering.
"Wh-what are you talking abou—"
Thwack!
"Guhk!"
"No excuses."
I kicked Il-sik in the head again. Sure, there was maybe a 1 or 2 percent chance it wasn't him... but if it wasn't, oh well. Just one less piece of trash breathing the world's air.
"Urk... ugh..."
"Talk."
I grabbed Il-sik by the hair, yanked his head up, and stared into his trembling, fear-filled eyes.
"Where's the evil spirit bastard that escaped from Gwiam Reservoir, and the fucker who made it?"
"...I don't... kn-know."
Slap!
"Kk!"
"I said no excuses."
Slap! Slap! Slap!
"Guhk! Kk! Kraaagh!!"
I slapped his cheeks several times. Sure, you might think a high school girl's slap couldn't hurt that much—but this wasn't just a slap. I'd infused it with spiritual power. So Il-sik must have felt his soul shaking from the impact, over and over.
"Hahk... hahk... I-I really don't know! That evil spirit belongs to the Bishop! Only he knows where it is!"
"Hmm. Then where's this bishop?"
"...That, I don't know either."
Tsk.
"Hiiik!?"
I raised my hand like I was about to hit him again, and Il-sik convulsed like he was having a seizure.
"I-It's true! When we make the evil spirit and perform the ritual the bishop taught us, it automatically goes to him! We get money deposited into our accounts... that's how it works!"
"Even so, you must've been in contact at least. Give me the bishop's phone number."
"Th-that's hard too! He always calls from a different number... and when I try calling back, it's disconnected."
Tch.
This bishop guy was thorough. Blocking info even from his own underlings like this.
Anyway, if what this guy said was true, there was no point sticking around. I let go of Il-sik's hair and turned away.
"S-sis?"
"What the hell was that just now..."
"Let's head out."
I patted the shoulders of Seo Jun and Seo Hanwool, who were staring in confusion.
"W-wait a sec! We came here to find out how to undo the curse on Seol-ah, right!?"
"Oh."
Right, I forgot.
"'Oh'? Did you just say 'oh'!? You forgot, didn't you!?"
"Better late than never."
I turned back around—and reached out toward the vengeful spirit lunging at me.
"Knew it."
Whoosh!
I turned the vengeful spirit to smoke, absorbed it, then smirked at Il-sik. He stared at me blankly, hand still outstretched, completely dumbfounded.
"You know, for someone with zero spiritual sense, how the hell are you using necromancy? Binding vengeful spirits, sending them out... all of it."
"Uh... uh..."
"Hm? Oh, right. Must be that ring's power."
I spotted the ring on the middle finger of his outstretched hand. I'd overlooked it before because of the vengeful spirits bound to his soul, but it carried a faint trace of spiritual power.
"I'm taking this."
"N-no! That's... the bishop gave me that holy relic...!"
Thwack!
"Guhk!"
"If I'm taking it, it's mine. Quit yapping."
I wrenched the ring off Il-sik's finger, pocketed it, and planted my foot on his collapsed head, grinding it down.
"Ugh...!"
"Now, if you wanna live, talk right. That ritual you told her about—the one that turns souls into evil spirits. Can it be undone?"
"N-no... maybe it can, but I don't know... He only taught us how to cast it, not undo it..."
"Is that so?"
I lifted my foot from Il-sik's head and turned to Seo Hanwool. Her face was pale.
"No way... D-does that mean there's no way to break the curse?"
"Nah, there is a way."
"Huh!?"
"What!?"
Seo Hanwool and Seo Jun both gawked at me.
"Sis, you knew how to undo it!?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Then why didn't you say so earlier!? We didn't even need to come here!"
"Nah, there might've been an easier way than what I know. That's why I asked. Guess it was a bust."
And I'd found my revenge target in Il-sik, so no loss for me.
Seo Jun stared at me like I was insane. But Seo Hanwool, latching onto the hope of freeing his girlfriend, rushed over desperately.
"Wh-what's the method!?"
"Calm down. Let's get outta here first. Not the place for a serious talk... right?"
I glanced around. Il-sik trembling in terror. His followers cowering at a distance, too scared to help even as their leader got wrecked. ...And Kim the vice-pastor still twitching on the floor.
"Y-yeah."
"Agreed! Let's go!"
Seo Jun immediately agreed and dragged Seo Hanwool out. I followed them through the door.
Snap.
I flicked my fingers, channeling spiritual power. In that instant—
"A-aaaagh!!"
Il-sik suddenly screamed, foam bubbling from his mouth as he collapsed. At the same time, the vengeful spirits bound to his body broke free.
"Uwaaaah!"
"Get away! Get awa— mmph!"
The vengeful spirits rampaged gleefully while the followers screamed and fled. I watched Il-sik's soul get torn apart, smirked, and quietly shut the door.
※
We slipped out of the Soul Salvation Association building and headed straight to a quiet nearby café. I sat at a table and took a sip of my iced caramel macchiato. Ahh, this sweet, sticky flavor was perfect for me.
"Tell us now."
Seo Hanwool had ordered an iced Americano but hadn't touched it, just watching me intently.
"How do we free Seol-ah from it?"
"Yeah, sis. Spill it quick. The guy's desperate!"
"Fine, fine. Here."
I stirred the ice with my straw and decided to satisfy their curiosity.
"Like I said before, Seol-ah's soul hasn't become an evil spirit yet. The ritual isn't complete. It only turns into one after killing everyone who holds a grudge against it."
I paused, took another long swig of caramel macchiato, then continued.
"Seo Hanwool, you said Seol-ah got bullied to suicide, right?"
"Y-yes..."
"How many bullies?"
"Total... four. Two of them were the worst."
Her face twisted in rage, teeth grinding as their faces flashed in her mind.
"Those bastards are demons!"
She slammed the table, trembling with fury.
"From what I looked into, no one else committed suicide like Seol-ah, but at least five ended up hospitalized from the abuse, got mental illnesses, or dropped out! And those human scum? They just laughed it off, strutting around school hunting new targets!!"
Listening quietly, one question popped into my head.
"If it was that bad, wouldn't the school handle it? Or the police?"
"One of them's the son of a famous congressman."
"Ah."
Seo Jun's answer made instant sense. Fantasy world or Earth, power's kids were all the same trash.
"So the teachers hushed it up, even faked records saying they were model students. We reported to the police, but they just visited the school a few times, did a token investigation, and closed the case... Oh, and her death got ruled an accident, not suicide."
"That's possible?"
Even faking a suicide as an accident? Really?
"Beats me. Anyway, that's how it was announced. They admitted the bullying but said it had nothing to do with her death."
Now I got why Seo Hanwool had turned to curses to kill the bullies.
"Any of them gotten to Seol-ah yet?"
"...Not yet."
"Good."
I turned to Seo Jun.
"Seo Jun, you told Hanwool she didn't need to kill all the bullies—just film them bullying and post it online to ruin their lives, right?"
"Uh, yeah. I did."
"That's it."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean?"
I twisted one corner of my mouth and went on.
"Make the evil spirit—which hasn't lost its reason yet—realize that killing them now would just be letting them off easy."
Think about it. Say you have a mortal enemy so hated you can't stand them breathing the same air. You've sharpened your blade for revenge, tracked them down to kill them. But what if they're living a life of such agony they'd beg for death? If killing them would just grant mercy, would you do it? Or leave them be?
Obviously, 99.9999% chance you'd pick the latter.
That's the idea.
"Make the bullies wish they were dead instead."
As I grinned, I caught Seo Hanwool beaming just as brightly in my vision.