[The Summoned Grudge]
Kigigigik! Kigigigik! Kigigigik!
“Aaaah!”
“Ugh, ughaaaaah!”
As the metallic screeching and the wails of vengeful spirits scraped against their eardrums, Jina and Lee Junhyeok collapsed to the floor, screaming. At this rate, both of them might actually lose their minds before long.
“Ugh, so noisy.”
I picked at my ear first, then flicked my finger. It was a serious situation, sure, but their screaming was far more grating than the wails of the spirits.
“Tsk tsk, neither of you has any etiquette. Don’t you know you’re supposed to be quiet in a hospital?”
“O-Oppa!”
“Aaaaaah! T-those things…!”
Well, I get it. I didn’t know until today that vengeful spirits could actually harm people. But that doesn’t mean they pose a threat to me.
“Too loud. Everyone, quiet down.”
I flicked my finger lightly.
Silence
Tak—!
A single gesture. That was enough.
“Uh…?”
“It… it stopped.”
As the hallway fell into an eerie silence, the two of them looked up at me, dazed.
“Jina, did you see that? You need to show me a little more respect. Your brother is a pretty badass guy, you know.”
“……”
“……”
I turned away from the two who had frozen like statues and looked toward the end of the hallway.
“How did you bind and manipulate these vengeful spirits?”
Black threads were connected to the spirits writhing in agony. I was talking to the evil spirit holding those threads.
“When a person asks a question, you’re supposed to answer.”
At my sincere request, the evil spirit’s hollow eye sockets turned toward me. I’d grabbed its attention, so the initial objective was achieved.
“Your name is Jung Taehyuk, right… Were you the director of this hospital? You’ve got a hell of a lot of sins to your name.”
I took a slow step toward the evil spirit. Even as I approached, it stared at me unblinkingly, without a single tremor.
“Let’s start with a beating. You’ll answer something once you get hit.”
And the moment I reached right in front of the spirit:
Swoosh—
The evil spirit suddenly vanished, as if seeping into the floor.
“…Look at this bastard?”
Having lost the spirit right in front of my eyes, I let out a dry, incredulous laugh.
“Hello?”
It was such a clean exit that my hand, still outstretched in the air, felt ridiculous. In the ten years I spent in the other world, no vengeful spirit I ever encountered had behaved like this. By nature, a won-gwi (vengeful ghost) doesn’t know how to run away. They are left with nothing but hatred and instinct.
But this one was different. It had sensed a threat from me and tucked its tail between its legs.
“Did it really run? Did it actually run?”
I tapped the floor where it had disappeared with my toe, but I couldn’t feel anything from the tile.
I returned to the two of them.
“O-Oppa, what happened?”
“It ran away.”
“Then… is it all over?”
Over, huh.
There are two ways to untangle a complex knot. The first is to take your time and untie it calmly. It takes a while, but it’s the standard method. The second is to just cut the tangled mess off. Sure, the string gets shorter and you lose some usable parts in the process, but the problem is solved. It’s not clean, but it’s certain.
However, there’s one fact being overlooked here. This knot I’m talking about didn’t tangle on its own. Some bastard tangled it on purpose. So, instead of untying the knot, I have to deal with the bastard who tied it. If I just untie the knot while he’s still around, he’ll just tangle it up again.
In other words, the ‘end’ Jina is asking about is still a long way off.
But the bastard left behind a very important piece of information before running away.
I ruffled Jina’s hair as she trembled in fear and grinned.
“No. It’s just starting.”
“Wasn’t it all over? What do you mean, starting?”
“It ran away, so I have to catch it.”
“Is that even possible?”
It is. Because it left its name behind.
A coordinate that specifies its existence, and a shackle that allows me to grab hold of it? Then it’s as good as dead.
I spoke to the two, who were still looking dazed.
“Your brother happens to be an expert at hide-and-seek. Let’s head down.”
“Okay.”
Jina stood up on her own and seemed to have regained some of her senses, but Lee Junhyeok was still sitting on the floor with his eyes glazed over.
“Hyung, I don’t have a hobby of touching men, so get up on your own.”
“…Isn’t that a bit cold? I’m still your hyung.”
“If you don’t like it, stay here by yourself.”
“Wait for me!”
He was a bit wobbly, but seeing him walk just fine, I guess his earlier state was just an act.
“Oppa, slow down a bit!”
“Can I even go any slower than this?”
By the time we reached the first floor and arrived at the lobby:
“What on earth happened up there!”
“Did you find anything? How do we get out?”
“Please, please just tell us something!”
The streamers who spotted us rushed over all at once. In the grip of extreme terror, they no longer had any manners or face left to save. Besides, I hadn’t expected them to explore in the first place, so there was no disappointment to be had.
“They didn’t even think to look for themselves…”
Jina, however, seemed to think otherwise, hiding behind my back and grumbling to herself. But actions done ‘secretly’ are surprisingly easy to get caught.
“……”
“Oh.”
As people’s gazes locked onto her, Jina hid even deeper behind my back.
“*Ahem.*”
At that moment, Lee Junhyeok cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped forward.
“Everyone, please calm down. I will tell you what happened up there.”
He briefly recounted the events on the second floor.
“…That’s what happened.”
As he finished explaining the situation, he added:
“It seems Kang Jinwoo has found a way for us to get out.”
“R-really?”
“We can get out of here?”
“I’ll do anything! I’ll do whatever you say!”
To the barrage of questions, I looked around instead of answering.
“Bring me some paper, a pen, and a desk of a reasonable size.”
Everyone looked bewildered by my sudden demand. But knowing they had no one else to rely on but me, a few of them scrambled to move, dragging paper, a pen, and a small table from the administration desk.
“Now, we are going to eliminate the mastermind. No, wait, I am going to eliminate the mastermind. So, you all will take on the role of bait.”
“B-bait?”
“What does that mean?”
It would be faster to show them than to explain it one by one. I spread the paper out on the table. Then, with the pen, I slowly drew an O and an X.
Two simple shapes. I showed them to the people and asked:
“You know what this is, right?”
“…Bunshinsaba?”
Correct. There was no need to explain. I intended to summon the escaped evil spirit here using Bunshinsaba.
“This place is bound by rules. And there isn’t a person here who doesn’t know Bunshinsaba, right? A rule everyone knows. That is the law that works here. And the most important thing.”
I tapped the paper with the pen and continued.
“A name is a coordinate that specifies existence, and a shackle that allows you to grab hold. Since the bastard left its own shackle behind while running away, all I have to do is call it and kill it. But it saw me and hid, right? So if I do it, it won’t react. I need two volunteers.”
As soon as those words left my mouth, as if by agreement, everyone shut their mouths and avoided eye contact. Someone looked at the floor, someone else stared into the void. The desperation from moments ago was gone, leaving only the frantic struggle to avoid standing out in this situation.
“Hurry up and volunteer. If there are no volunteers, I’ll pick someone myself.”
However, when I spoke nicely again, the gazes of the people who had been eyeing each other soon turned toward one person.
The person in charge of the content, the King of Horror, Park Junsu.
“I-I can’t do it.”
Park Junsu, his face crumpled like a sheet of paper, shook his head and backed away.
“I’m just a regular broadcaster. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would never have planned this content.”
“You talk too much. So?”
“Yes?”
“You’re saying you have no responsibility now? Park Junsu-ssi, do you want to do it voluntarily? Or do you want to do it by force?”
At my final warning, Park Junsu eventually hung his head.
“…I understand. I’ll do it.”
“Good.”
I gave a thumbs up and turned to the remaining people.
“Last one.”
Silence flowed again.
“Haha…”
Perhaps because of Park Junsu, who looked half-out of his mind, no one wanted to step forward. Then, I suddenly realized I had forgotten a certain fact. If you’re a human, shouldn’t you repay kindness with kindness?
“Junhyeok-hyung, you didn’t get to ask about the horizontal coordinate system, did you? Let’s ask directly this time.”
“…Can I refuse?”
“Obviously not.”
I patted Lee Junhyeok, who was on the verge of tears, on the shoulder.
“I’ll stand in the middle of you two. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you if anything happens. Just keep the name ‘Jung Taehyuk’ in your mind while you chant the spell.”
Following my instructions, Park Junsu and Lee Junhyeok relaxed their hands and gripped the pen. Then, they slowly lowered the tip of the pen onto the stark white paper.
“…We’ll begin. Bunshinsaba, Bunshinsaba.”
“Bunshinsaba, Bunshinsaba.”
“Oide kudasai.”
“Oide kudasai.”
“Have you arrived?”
“Have you arrived?”
As soon as they finished the chant, the hands of the two, which had been drawing circles, suddenly stopped dead. Then, the pen began to move like crazy.
“W-we really didn’t put any strength into our hands! Kang Jinwoo-ssi, what should we do!”
It seemed the spell had worked.
The pen then moved with extremely precise and elegant penmanship, ignoring the fact that two people were holding it from either side, carving letters onto the paper.
[Ludus]
What the hell is that?
“If this bastard is Korean, it should write in Korean.”
I vented my anger while looking down at the black hand that had begun to bloom from the paper. I wasn’t angry because I didn’t understand the word—absolutely not. I was angry because it was an evil spirit tormenting us.
‘Should I burn it to death? No.’
I thought about just obliterating it right there, but since it was already bound by the spell, it wouldn’t hurt to satisfy my curiosity. Putting off the exorcism for a moment, I gestured with my chin toward Lee Junhyeok, who was holding the pen with a pale face.
“Hyung, since it’s come to this, let’s put off killing it for a second and ask a question.”
“W-what question…”
“Aren’t you curious about how it fixed the horizontal coordinate system?”
“Jinwoo-ya, I’m sorry. I’m not curious about the horizontal coordinate system at all, so please just do something about it quickly.”
I thought about it and said it for him, and this is the thanks I get.
“Ask anything.”
At my words, Lee Junhyeok, perhaps resigned, asked the first question with trembling hands.
“A-are you… a man?”
“Ugh…!”
[Fortasse]
Look at this guy, using words only it knows again.
“You just need to die.”
That was when it happened. As I revealed my power, the hands of the two and the pen moved without hesitation.
[Who are you?]
Maybe because I kept filing complaints, this time it was written in Korean. I watched calmly as the black hand pointed exactly at me.
“Are you talking to me? I’m Lee Junhyeo—aaaaah?!”
“Ugh!”
The pen suddenly shot into the air and flew toward Lee Junhyeok’s neck. It was a dangerous situation, with Park Junsu’s weight behind the pen.
“Wow, what the hell are you?”
I grabbed both of their wrists before a windpipe-hole could be made in Lee Junhyeok’s neck.
“That’s enough. Come out.”
[Kikikik… Do you think you can end this whenever you want? These guys are mine.]
To use a metaphor for Bunshinsaba, it’s like sex agreed upon by both human and ghost. But a moment ago, this guy answered a question with a question and called Lee Junhyeok a rapist. They promised to do it by mutual consent, and now it’s calling him a rapist?
Naturally, it has to pay the price.
“Bullshit.”
-POWER RELEASE
Kwa-ang!
As I unleashed my power, the table split in half and collapsed. The bastard had forcibly broken the contract.
“Do you think you can run away?”
[You…!]
“You seem quite curious about who I am. I’m curious about you, too, you know?”
I still didn’t know what kind of power that guy was using. However, there is such a thing as ‘rank’ in power. And the source of my power is Oranis. A being so close to omnipotence that it birthed itself at the beginning of the universe and could erase the world on a whim—could the power it gave me lose in a clash of spirit?
That’s impossible.
[Kyaaaak…! H-how?]
“That’s why you should’ve known when to stop acting up.”
Faced with an overwhelming difference in rank, the evil spirit’s very existence began to collapse. But just before it was obliterated, it let out a final, incredulous scream.
[Oh Marbas…! Was I not the chosen one!]
Marbas.
That was a name I’d heard of, too.
“Why is Marbas coming out of nowhere? Hey, finish what you’re saying before you die!”
But since it had already been obliterated, I couldn’t get an answer.
‘Shit, demons actually exist?’
It seemed the bastard who tangled the knot wasn’t this guy after all. That aside, I had work to do.
I held out my phone toward the dazed streamers.
“It doesn’t say ‘out of service area’ anymore, right? Jina.”
“Oh, right! I’ll start the broadcast right now!”
“Just show a little sincerity. If you’re human, you’ll know how to take care of me without me having to ask, right?”