Exorcism (1)
The day after my trip to Changwon, I was sitting on the bus headed to school, trying not to lose my mind. Since I was in public, I kept my face neutral, but if I’d been alone at home I would’ve let out a proper gasp. …I don’t even know what to say about this.
The reason I was so stunned was the single text message that had arrived on a phone that wasn’t even mine. It was the one Kim Kang-cheol had given me back in Changwon. The message contained the information on the creatures I’d asked her to gather. She had filtered through over a thousand tips and sent me only the ones she was certain about.
I’d thought fifty or so solid reports out of a thousand-plus wouldn’t be that many, but once you actually compiled the data on fifty different yokai, the file was massive. The first thing I did was check their last known locations.
Incheon, Jeju, Mokpo… They’re showing up a lot in port cities.
That meant a lot of them were crossing over right now. Creatures that could fly or swim wouldn’t need boats, but the rest had no choice but to sneak aboard the ones humans operated. There were planes too, but I’d heard there were far more smuggling ships moving between China and Korea. So most of them were probably coming by sea. Some even seemed to be coming through Japan—there were sightings in port cities along both the South and East Seas.
There are some in Busan, too.
Most of the reports had come in just yesterday or today. Since the information was fresh, there was a good chance the creatures were still near the locations listed. Of course, they could be anywhere in the country by now, but it made sense to start with the closest ones. The sooner I caught them, the better.
I opened the other phone and copied the information into our group chat.
I quickly typed back.
A notification popped up saying Jang San had added Ha Ye-ryeong to the group.
I copied the previous message so Ha Ye-ryeong could read it, then checked the time. Since I had the information now, I needed to move as fast as possible. Today was perfect for that—I didn’t have a shift at the café. I could head out right after class.
There was just one problem.
I promised to buy Jeong Se-a dinner…
I’d have to move our plans up to lunch and treat her then. It felt rude to change the time over text, so the moment I got off the bus I headed straight for the humanities building where she had class. I didn’t know which room her Korean Literature lecture was in, so I texted her asking where she was.
Her reply came immediately.
I was a little early, so it made sense that Se-a, who lived in the dorm, wasn’t ready yet. I sat on a bench in front of the humanities building and zoned out while I waited. A group of girls who looked like they were heading to class suddenly turned and walked toward me. Why are they coming this way?
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“You’re Se-a’s boyfriend, right?”
“…Sorry?”
What the hell is this about?
“Hey, I told you they’re not dating yet. What are you saying? Se-a’s gonna kill you if she hears that.”
“Oh, they’re not together yet?”
These girls just dropped a bomb on me and then started chatting among themselves without explaining anything. At least they were talking about Se-a, so they had to be her classmates in the Korean Literature department. It was ridiculous, but I calmed myself down for Se-a’s sake and asked,
“What exactly are you talking about?”
“Ah, we’re Se-a’s friends… You’re waiting for her, aren’t you?”
“That’s right, but I’m asking why you think I’m her boyfriend.”
At my question the girls’ eyes widened for a second, then they giggled lightly.
“Sorry! We got a little ahead of ourselves~.”
I see what’s going on. This was clearly a misunderstanding.
“I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have, but Se-a and I are not—”
“Hey! Lee Eun-young! Nam Seo-eun! Park Hyun-jung!!”
“Eek.”
At that moment, a familiar voice called out from behind the girls, and someone strode toward us. The girls gave me an extremely awkward look, bowed their heads slightly with strained smiles, and practically sprinted away. They disappeared in the blink of an eye. Were they sprinters or something?
Anyway, at least the weird misunderstanding was cleared up… or so I thought. I still felt like something was off. I slowly lifted my head.
“Haa, Se-hwan, I’m sorry. Did my friends bother you?”
Jeong Se-a was standing there, breathing hard. The way her damp hair was slightly tangled at the back told me exactly how much of a rush she’d been in.
“…Hey, Jeong Se-a.”
“Ah, they did bother you, didn’t they…”
“Since when have we been dating?”
“W-what!?”
“They asked me if I was your boyfriend.”
“Ah… so that’s what they said?”
Se-a let out a small sigh.
“It’s just them messing around. I never said anything like that. I only told them we’re close friends.”
So that was it. I could understand—people pulled that kind of prank all the time. Especially back in high school when we were even closer, a lot of kids used to tease us about it.
“I see.”
“…You believe me so easily.”
What was she on about now?
“You wouldn’t lie to me about something like that.”
“…R-right. Why would I lie to you about that?”
“Anyway, I’ve got something to tell you. I have class soon, so I’ll make it quick.”
“Something to tell me?”
Se-a tilted her head, clearly not expecting this.
“About our dinner plans tonight.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s move it to lunch.”
“…Huh? I have afternoon classes and so do you.”
“Something urgent came up for me tonight. I didn’t want to cancel on you completely, so I figured I’d at least buy you a meal like I promised.”
“What…?”
Se-a looked genuinely taken aback. I completely understood how she felt. I gave her an apologetic look.
“Sorry for changing the time on you.”
“No, it’s just…”
“I’ll treat you to a simple lunch today and buy you a proper dinner next time.”
“……”
Se-a’s lips pushed forward in a tiny pout. She probably wasn’t even aware she was doing it. It just happened because she was disappointed.
“Is it another exorcism job?”
“…Yeah.”
“You said you weren’t going to do it seriously yet. What part of this isn’t serious?”
I don’t have an answer for that either. I never expected to be running around this much.
Se-a thought for a moment, then glanced at me.
“How many more self-absences can you take this semester?”
“What?… I still have three left.”
“Then use one today.”
It was still March and I’d already be using two self-absences. When I hesitated, Se-a’s expression hardened slightly.
“What, you don’t want to? I’m using one too. This is because you suddenly changed our plans, you know.”
She’s right about that.
“…It’s just surprising to hear you suggest skipping class. Is your attendance grade okay?”
“I almost never skip, so once won’t hurt.”
As expected from the model student who’s close with the professors. What a useful connection.
“So we’ll just attend the morning classes and meet up after?”
“Yeah.”
“…Alright, got it.”
As long as I met up with the others before evening, it should be fine.
“I have to leave by evening, though.”
“What time do you need to go?”
“…Um, six?”
“Okay. Then let’s meet at the main gate after morning classes.”
With that, Se-a adjusted the eco-bag on her shoulder and turned to leave. Before she walked away, she gave me one last pointed look.
“You’d better show up.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
Se-a headed into the humanities building. I stood there alone for a moment, staring blankly, then checked the time and started walking toward the engineering building for class.
I should probably buy her coffee too, not just a meal…
The moment morning classes ended, I turned to Ju-hyeok, who had the next class with me.
“Can you cover for me?”
“Suddenly asking for a proxy attendance? Where are you going?”
“I didn’t plan this, but something urgent came up and I have to miss class.”
“…I can’t promise it’ll work. Where are you going, though?”
Since Ju-hyeok knew Se-a too, I explained the situation.
“I was supposed to have dinner with Se-a tonight, but something came up. So she suggested we meet for lunch instead. I didn’t have a choice…”
“You fucking bastard.”
Why is he suddenly exploding?
“Why are you cursing all of a sudden?”
“You’re asking me to cover for you so you can go on a date, you asshole! How can you say that to a single guy like me?!”
“It’s not a date, dumbass… You know Se-a and I are just friends. I’m just spending money, that’s all.”
“I’ll spend the money, so let me go instead.”
“You don’t even have money, so shut up and just do me this favor. I’ll buy you a meal later.”
“Haa…”
Ju-hyeok thought for a second, then said,
“But if you’re just eating, why skip class?”
“Se-a told me to skip too.”
“…Fuck, it really is a date!!”
In the end, asking Ju-hyeok to cover for me was a failure. He was so worked up that he flat-out refused. Looked like I’d have to take a proper self-absence. I knew there was no guarantee a proxy would work anyway, but I’d still wanted to try my luck…
“Sigh, only two left now.”
I had three months of the semester left and only two self-absences to survive on. Just thinking about it was terrifying. While I was lamenting my fate, I arrived at the main gate.
She’s not here yet.
I figured I wouldn’t have to wait long and glanced at my phone. The second the last digit on the clock changed, I heard her voice from behind me.
“Se-hwan!”
“Oh, you’re here.”
Se-a looked a lot happier than earlier. She was smiling brightly, the kind of smile that made people feel good just looking at it.
“Did you wait long?”
“Nah, not even a minute.”
“What? So we basically arrived at the same time.”
Se-a laughed lightly.
“I was worried I was really late.”
“Even if you were, it’s fine. Anyway, have you decided what you want to eat?”
“Oh, before that, Se-hwan. Are you hungry right now?”
It was lunchtime, but…
“Not really.”
Thanks to certain people, I’d gotten into the habit of waking up early. When you wake up with nothing to do, you end up eating breakfast every day. So I wasn’t starving the moment noon hit.
“Then let’s go shopping first.”
“…Shopping?”
“Yeah, I want to buy some clothes. Since we moved the time up… I’ll be quick! It’ll only take a little while. You’ll come with me, right?”
I wasn’t exactly a fan of shopping, but it was true that I’d been the one to change our plans…
“…Sure, okay.”
“Thanks! Then let’s go!”
“Where are we shopping?”
“Seomyeon!”
I’d expected that. Of course we were going there. Se-a had always loved buying clothes from the underground malls or cheap stores in Seomyeon. She said the prices were good and you could coordinate an entire outfit from head to toe.
“Whatever you want.”
“Yeah! Let’s go! I’ll buy you some clothes too, Se-hwan!”
“What? Why me…”
“We’re going together. I can’t be the only one buying stuff, right?”
Se-a walked ahead with energetic steps, waving for me to follow. Watching her made me feel like we’d gone back to high school. It felt… nice.
“…Yeah.”
We took the subway to Seomyeon. Se-a wanted to start at the underground mall, so the moment we got off the train she headed straight there. As we stepped into the relatively quiet underground shops—it was a weekday afternoon—she took a deep breath like she was smelling home.
“It feels like I’ve come back to my hometown after a long time. There are definitely fewer people right now, so it’s nice. In the evenings this place is packed.”
“You haven’t been here recently?”
“I came last week with my friends.”
Then you come here all the time… what do you mean it’s been a while?
“Se-hwan, what do you want to wear?”
“I didn’t really think about it.”
“You should’ve thought about it on the subway!”
“You kept talking to me the whole time. When was I supposed to think?”
“I-I didn’t talk that much…!”
Weren’t we talking so much the person next to us kept staring?
“Anyway, isn’t there anything you want?”
“…Short-sleeve tees?”
“Don’t just wear those all the time!”
“I don’t wear them all the time. I’m not wearing one right now, am I?”
I dressed like a normal student. Right now I had on a solid knit sweater appropriate for the season, beige slacks, and decent canvas shoes.
“I mean think about clothes you could dress up in a bit more.”
“Why would I need to?”
“Ah, let’s go in here.”
Se-a walked into one of the stores and started browsing clothes. Most girls’ shopping trips were like this—lots of window shopping, not much actual buying. She’d said she’d be quick, but I’d known it would take a while. Still… why was she looking at men’s clothes?
“Se-hwan, this would look good on you.”
“Didn’t you come to buy clothes for yourself? Why are you picking out stuff for me?”
“You need to buy some too.”
“I don’t really…”
“Se-hwan, sometimes you waste that face of yours. If you put in just a little more effort, you’d be insanely popular with girls… Wait, maybe that’s not a good idea.”
“What’s not a good idea?”
“Huh?… Oh, right. You’re still single, Se-hwan. What if you end up stuck with some sly girl?”
This girl…
“You’re talking like you’re not single yourself.”
“I’m different from normal single people. Do you know how many guys like me?”
I wanted to argue that she was still single, but I couldn’t deny what she said. Just looking at her ridiculously wide network and the way weekend customers at Cafe Idea had skyrocketed…
“Then why aren’t you dating anyone?”
“Huh?”
“You said a lot of people like you. There has to be at least one decent guy among them, right?”
“…N-not really. Their personalities weren’t my type… Yeah, that’s it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
That was surprising. Did she have bad luck with guys too?
“Honestly, I thought the moment you got to university you’d get a boyfriend right away.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Don’t you remember? You used to sing about how you were going to date all the time once you got to college.”
“Ah…”
Se-a went quiet for a moment as the memory came back. Maybe it had just been youthful bravado and she hadn’t meant anything by it. I thought she’d let the silence continue, but then she spoke in a small voice.
“…I can’t, so what am I supposed to do?”
“You can’t? Wait, does that mean you like someone?”
“Huh? N-no! That’s not it! University life is busy, so I don’t have time to date!”
“Oh, so it’s about not having time?”
“Yes!!”
“Boring.”
I thought hearing about my friend’s love life would be interesting. Especially since Se-a was so pretty—I was curious what kind of person she’d end up with. Would it be someone handsome who matched her level, or someone surprisingly ordinary?
“Hold this.”
Se-a handed me the clothes she’d picked earlier and started looking at pants. I had no idea why she was choosing my clothes first…
Watching her brought back old memories and made me feel nostalgic. There had been times in the past when we’d come to watch a movie or just hang out and she’d drag me around making me try on this and that. Thanks to that, I at least know how to dress myself properly now… I was genuinely grateful to her. If I hadn’t had all that experience buying clothes with her, I might still be walking around like Engineer A in a plaid shirt.
“Here, go try this on. The fitting room’s over there.”
“…Okay.”
If I tried it on quickly, Se-a could pick out her own clothes and we could finish shopping faster. Obeying was the efficient choice. Before leaving the fitting room, I checked myself in the mirror. Yeah… Se-a really did have good fashion sense. She hadn’t even asked for my opinion and just picked it out, but I actually liked it. It suited me. I nodded to myself and stepped out.
Se-a, who had been waiting outside, lit up the moment she saw me.
“It looks great~! The combination is perfect, and I knew it would suit you, Se-hwan. What do you think?”
“It’s nice.”
“Right? Then let’s buy it just like that.”
“What about yours?”
“I’m only getting a skirt. I have plenty of tops at home.”
Hmm. That’s no fun.
“That’s not fair.”
“Huh?”
“You picked out clothes for me and made me wear them. So I should get to do the same. It’s only fair.”
“What?”
We’d always been like this. If one of us did something, the other had to do it too. It wasn’t calculated—it was just what we wanted to do for each other. Because we were really close friends. And that didn’t just apply to good things. It applied to embarrassing things, shameful things, and bad things too. The mindset was that we’d do everything together. We didn’t always make it perfectly 1:1, but… maybe that’s why we’d stayed close for so long.
Anyway, I said,
“You wear what I pick out. Let’s walk around dressed like this today.”
“…You want me to trust your fashion sense?”
“I’m not that bad, you know.”
I should just put her in a plaid shirt.
“That’s not what I mean. Have you ever picked out clothes for a girl before…?”
“……”
She hit me right where it hurt.
“Ah, so you haven’t…?”
“…Shut up. I can still pick something. Just be quiet and watch.”
“Ahaha.”
Se-a laughed like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Just as my evil desire to dress her in a plaid shirt was reaching its peak, she said,
“Pick whatever you want. I’ll wear it without complaining.”
“…Fine.”
I’d let her off the hook this once.
Se-a was a little nervous. She was in such a good mood that she was worried it might look strange to Se-hwan.
Her outfit was completely different from when they’d first arrived at Seomyeon. Instead of the casual jeans-based look she’d been wearing, she now had on stockings, a short pink pleated skirt, a cropped denim jacket, and a crisp white dress shirt. This wasn’t something she had chosen—it was today’s look that the person standing right next to her had picked out for her.
The overall fit was cute, but it was definitely a style not everyone could pull off. It worked because Se-a had such a nice figure. Even she thought it looked good on her. And the fact that Se-hwan had chosen it for her made her incredibly happy. The fact that he’d picked something that suited her so well made her feel like he must have been paying close attention to her all this time.
“Hehe.”
A giggle slipped out before she could stop it. Se-hwan chuckled softly and said,
“Was it that good?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, it was delicious!”
They had just finished eating. The two of them had gone to one of Seomyeon’s famous restaurants and completely cleaned out a four-person portion of spicy stir-fried octopus and tripe.
“You really can eat. How did the two of us finish four servings? And you even had the fried rice at the end.”
“There’s a separate stomach just for fried rice.”
Watching Se-a look completely unbothered after eating that much, Se-hwan said in disbelief,
“You should apologize to everyone in the country who’s on a diet.”
“What are you talking about? I exercise hard too, you know.”
“Exercise? What kind?”
“You know what I do. Did you forget?”
At her question, Se-hwan looked slightly surprised.
“You’re still doing that?”
“Yeah, I am. It’s easy since there are bars all over campus.”
“…Don’t tell me you’re stronger than me now.”
“Looks like you stopped. I haven’t seen you doing it lately.”
What they were talking about was the pull-up bar under Jinri Hall. Se-a loved doing bodyweight exercises on the pull-up bar. The reason she’d started in the first place was because of Se-hwan.
“You were the one who suggested we do it together, but now you’re the one who stopped?”
“Hey, that was back in high school. I did it all the time back then too.”
“I know. You used to do it every time we hung out.”
It had all started one hot summer day when Se-hwan wanted a drink and suggested a pull-up contest. What began as a simple pull-up bet evolved into all kinds of games they could play on the bar—how long they could hang with both hands, how many times they could flip over the bar, how long they could hang upside down with their legs hooked over it… The contests kept getting more and more creative. They even looked up different moves and compared who could do them better. That became their form of exercise. It was a great way to loosen up their bodies after studying all day.
Recalling those memories, Se-hwan let out a dry laugh.
“No wonder you carried me down the mountain without breaking a sweat last time. You’ve got the physique for Physical 100.”
“Hey, it’s not that impressive, okay?”
Se-a denied it, but her body was actually very toned. It was the result of years of consistent bodyweight training. That was why she had been able to carry a struggling Se-hwan down a mountain so easily.
“Um, you said six o’clock, right?”
“Yeah.”
After shopping and eating, it was already two in the afternoon. There were still four hours left, so Se-hwan figured they could keep hanging out and asked,
“What do you want to do?”
“Hmm… Can I decide?”
“I don’t have any plans. I’ll go with whatever you want.”
“Then let’s go to the arcade!”
“…Huh?”
Se-hwan thought that was an unexpected answer.
“I thought you didn’t go to places like that anymore.”
“Why?”
“I figured once you got to university your tastes would change.”
Se-a looked at him quietly, realized what he meant, and let out a small laugh.
“Se-hwan.”
“What?”
“Have I ever said I didn’t want to do something when I was with you?”
“…No, you haven’t. But don’t you dislike games now?”
“It’s true I don’t like games as much these days, but I still like arcades.”
“What do you…”
“Because I have so many memories of playing with you there.”
Se-a smiled brightly.
“Back in middle school, we went to the arcade in front of school almost every day after class. We used to bet on who would buy snacks.”
“…We did.”
“Let’s do it again. Loser buys coffee!”
“I was going to buy coffee anyway.”
“No, let’s bet! There’s a huge arcade in Seomyeon. I’ve always wanted to go there.”
Se-a walked ahead and waved for him to follow. Se-hwan watched her back for a moment, then smiled without realizing it.
“Slow down, dummy.”
As he followed after her, the lightly smiling Se-hwan suddenly stopped in his tracks. His eyes widened as if he had seen something unbelievable. He muttered under his breath,
“Why is that thing here…?”
“Huh? Se-hwan, what did you say?”
“……Jeong Se-a.”
“What?”
Se-hwan’s expression turned deadly serious as he began tracking something with his eyes. Se-a followed his gaze and saw a man disappearing into an alley.
“Get out of here right now. Take the subway back to school immediately.”
“What?… Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“There’s something dangerous here.”
Se-hwan swung his messenger bag around to the front, unzipped it, and pulled out several sheets of yellow paper, crumpling them into his pants pocket. Seeing that, Se-a’s eyes widened.
“Se-hwan… are those talismans?”
“Yes, they are. So get out of here, quickly.”
Se-hwan’s face was extremely serious. And for good reason. According to the information he’d received from Kang-cheol, this creature had been sighted in Gijang-gun, which was quite far from Seomyeon. Yet here it was. It was possible for it to have traveled this far in that amount of time, but the purpose was suspicious. Seomyeon was one of the places where you’d have the hardest time finding even the letter “y” in “yokai” because it was so crowded with people. Yokai found it difficult to live in places with too many humans. It wasn’t the kind of place a creature that had come to conquer the spiritual veins of the Korean peninsula would visit. In fact, it should have been at the very bottom of the list. The fact that it was here meant it might have some other scheme in mind.
Not knowing the reason, Se-hwan spoke with a grave expression.
“It might get dangerous here. So take the subway back to school and…”
BOOM!!
A tremendous noise erupted from the alley the creature had entered. It sounded like something had exploded. Not only Se-hwan, but Se-a and the other ordinary people nearby all jerked their heads toward the sound in shock. Then a gigantic tiger crawled out of the alley.
A tiger… No, it wasn’t quite a tiger. It was far too large to be called one, and its tail was impossibly long. The people on the Seomyeon streets froze in terror at the sudden appearance of the monster and began fleeing in panic. Thankfully it was a weekday afternoon so the crowd wasn’t too thick, but it was still Seomyeon. When people started running all at once, there were still quite a lot of them. Trying to escape the giant beast, they began sprinting toward where Se-hwan and Se-a were standing. People consumed by fear weren’t going to be able to keep their reason and avoid the two of them. Whether there were people in the way or not, they were going to run. If someone got knocked over or trampled, it would be extremely dangerous.
Se-hwan reacted instantly.
“Se-a, grab on!”
At his urgent shout, Se-a’s hand moved before her mind could catch up. Se-hwan yanked her toward him.
“Eek…!”
He pulled her so close she was practically glued to his side. Then he took one of the talismans he had stuffed in his pocket earlier and held it while chanting,
“(Min).”
The moment the incantation left his lips, he slapped the talisman onto his calf. Then he wrapped one arm around Se-a’s waist, the same one he had just pulled toward him.
“H-hya!?”
As Se-a let out a startled sound, Se-hwan held her tightly and looked at the building beside them. It was relatively low. He kicked off the ground powerfully, stepped on the windowsill, and with astonishing agility leaped again. He grabbed the rooftop railing with one hand and vaulted over it. It was almost acrobatic, but the talisman had made his legs light and fast enough to make it possible.
Once they were safely on the roof, Se-hwan set Se-a down and said,
“Sorry. Did that scare you?”
“N-no… But Se-hwan, that thing…”
The tiger was as tall as the second floor of most buildings. There was already something red staining its claws. It had clearly attacked people—or other yokai. It looked like it had already achieved its goal; instead of attacking more people, it was looking around, preparing to flee. If it wasn’t targeting humans, the situation might not get any worse, but he couldn’t just let a yokai that had revealed itself and rampaged in broad daylight in the middle of the city get away.
“…Don’t worry. Just stay here where it’s safe.”
Se-hwan tried to reassure her. He pulled out two shikigami talismans with one hand and used the other to turn on his phone and send a message somewhere.
“Wait here. Then I’ll…”
Se-hwan knew exactly what kind of yokai that was. It looked like a tiger but was much larger, with a tail far too long to belong to any normal tiger. It was a Chui. A representative yokai known for eating the kings of the mountains—tigers. It possessed enough power to devour tigers. Yet Se-hwan spoke with absolute confidence.
“I’ll take care of it.”
He hurled the two shikigami talismans high into the air and chanted,
“(Shik).”
Both talismans burst into flames. A small bird resembling a red sparrow appeared and landed on his shoulder. Beside him materialized a beast that looked like an ox, its entire body covered in hard scales. The unique thing was that those scales were pure white, like snow.
“Phoenix, cover the area with your spiritual energy. Make sure that thing can’t escape, and make sure no other humans can see us.”
With a cheep, the Phoenix flapped its tiny wings and released its energy. The Chui noticed them and turned its head.
“……Exorcist.”
The Chui growled, baring its massive fangs. It let out a roar, then launched its enormous body toward the rooftop in a single leap. The ox-like shikigami beside Se-hwan immediately charged forward. It charged bravely, but it was only a little bigger than a medium-sized dog. It looked like it wouldn’t stand a chance. Size alone seemed to decide the outcome. Normally, it was impossible to overcome such an overwhelming difference in mass.
Anticipating a horrible failure, Se-a unconsciously shouted at Se-hwan.
“Se-hwan, if you let it go like that…!!”
But Se-hwan didn’t stop the shikigami. He simply gave the order.
“Push it back.”
The body of the shikigami, which had been smaller than a medium-sized dog, began to glow. It looked like it was emitting light on its own. More precisely, the pure white scales covering its body were releasing spiritual energy.
“Baek-taek.”
BOOM!!
The Chui, which had charged forward so fiercely, was sent flying backward and tumbled across the ground. In front of the writhing, pained Chui now stood a massive white ox with huge horns, snorting powerfully and pawing the ground.
“…I-it suddenly got huge!?”
When Se-a cried out in shock, Se-hwan simply told her,
“I told you.”
He gently stroked the Phoenix’s crest with his finger. The Phoenix flapped over and landed on Se-a’s shoulder, as if to protect her.
“I said I’d take care of it.”