4) …Wait?
Hae-ryeong and Hae-hyun arrived not long after. From a distance, Jae-ha, who had been waiting out front, waved at their approaching figures.
“Sunbae, does the Business department have two lives or something?”
As soon as he reached them, Hae-hyun asked in a grave tone. Ever since Jae-ha’s message—that one of the kids fooling around during the courage test had found a candle and brought it back—his reaction had stayed locked on one thought: Are they insane?
“I’m wondering the same thing.”
Jae-ha grumbled. Just seeing the candle Yoon-taek had proudly pulled out had nearly made him dizzy.
“Sorry for dragging you all the way here. My kids can be pretty thoughtless….”
“They’re not your kids. They’re grown adults.”
Hae-hyun shot back coldly, then, after a beat, added,
“And it’s not like any of this is your fault anyway.”
At first, Jae-ha had offered to make up an excuse and quietly confiscate the candle himself, but both Hae-hyun and Hae-ryeong firmly objected. With Jae-ha now sensitive enough to sense spirits’ presence, carrying around a cursed object like that could put him in serious danger.
So he had simply waited until the siblings arrived. Now that they were here, he felt some of the tension finally ease. Just as he tilted his head to suggest they head inside, Hae-ryeong caught his arm.
“Hold up.”
“Huh?”
“Put up a barrier first, Ju Hae-hyun.”
At her signal, Hae-hyun—who had been glaring at her hand in clear annoyance—reluctantly raised his own. That golden glow Jae-ha had glimpsed once before seeped out between his fingers. Strange words followed, words Jae-ha had heard a few times now but still couldn’t understand. The cadence was so peculiar that even listening right next to him, it was impossible to imitate.
As the chant lengthened, the golden light spread wider. Fine particles scattered through the air, slipping into the courtyard and the walls of the lodge.
“All set.”
When Hae-hyun lowered his arm, his hand stilled again as if it had never glowed. Jae-ha immediately grabbed it, fascinated.
“How do you even do that? Seriously, that’s amazing.”
The sight never failed to impress him. He turned both hands over and prodded them like golden sparks might spill out again if he squeezed hard enough. Flustered, Hae-hyun stammered, his voice muffled with embarrassment.
“Anyone can do it… if they train in energy control and study spells….”
“See? I can do it too. Want to hold my hand, Jae-ha?”
Hae-ryeong stretched out her hand with a grin. As Jae-ha’s eyes flicked that way, Hae-hyun snapped irritably, telling them to stop messing around and just get moving. He stomped ahead, and Jae-ha’s light grip loosened.
But before his hand could slip away, Hae-hyun’s fingers twitched and caught his. Without realizing it, Jae-ha found himself being half-dragged along.
“So where are we going?”
“There’s a big auditorium in the basement. Everyone’s down there drinking.”
“Then we should put them all to sleep before going in.”
Hae-ryeong answered instead, trailing behind. Hae-hyun nodded and slipped an arm lightly around Jae-ha.
“…What’s this about?”
Awkward in the sudden half-embrace, Jae-ha asked. Hae-hyun answered matter-of-factly,
“We’re going to put everyone in the building to sleep. You’ll fall under it too, so I’ll hold onto you.”
Watching them, Hae-ryeong raised a brow and suggested,
“Wouldn’t he just get in the way? Leave Jae-ha to me.”
“Then you cast the barrier.”
“Why should I, when there’s an aura pig right here?”
“Don’t call me a pig.”
“What, embarrassed to hear that in front of Jae-ha?”
Hae-hyun glared at her, then snapped for her to move aside. There were eight years between them, but the way he talked made it sound like he’d skipped right over that age gap with sheer audacity.
“It’s fine. When you wake up, everything will be back to normal.”
Hae-hyun’s voice was surprisingly gentle, soothing. Hae-ryeong muttered a long, skeptical tsk, but he ignored her.
Golden particles streamed from Hae-hyun again, spreading throughout the building just as before.
But—
“…Sunbae, why aren’t you asleep?”
“…Shouldn’t you be asking yourself that?”
Even after the energy faded, Jae-ha remained wide awake. Hae-ryeong, who had gone door to door checking the unconscious students, turned and studied him.
“That’s odd. Everyone else is out cold, but Jae-ha’s fine. A normal human should’ve dropped instantly. Maybe his constitution’s different?”
“Hm….”
Hae-hyun rubbed the back of Jae-ha’s head and shoulders. Tiny flecks of gold appeared and vanished like dust shaken loose.
“Why are you touching me like that?”
Jae-ha slipped out of his arms. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have cared, but since it was Hae-hyun, it felt strangely different. The younger’s eyes lingered briefly on the warmth that had slipped away before turning back toward the building.
“Just come with us for now.”
He had cast the sleep spell lightly—just enough to last about an hour. That would be plenty of time to deal with the candle. Figuring out why Jae-ha wasn’t affected could wait.
Inside the auditorium, everyone was slumped over fast asleep, as if they’d collapsed mid-drink. Jae-ha crossed the hall, marveling at the almost magical sight.
Yoon-taek, Jeong-seok, and Ji-hyang—who had been drinking moments earlier—were sprawled out too. On the spot where Jae-ha had been sitting lay the red candle Yoon-taek had pressed into his hands.
Hae-ryeong stopped in front of it, hands on her hips. She bent slightly, eyeing the wax marks that showed it had been burned more than once.
“This the one?”
“Yeah. The others probably still have theirs too.”
Yoon-taek and Jeong-seok had each taken one, meaning there were three in total. All of them would need to be collected. Sorry as Jae-ha felt for Yoon-taek, it was better than letting ghosts run rampant.
“Wait a sec.”
Not wanting to ask Hae-ryeong to search a guy’s body, Jae-ha moved forward. He rolled Yoon-taek halfway over and reached for his hip when Hae-hyun grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking his bag.”
Pointing to the pouch strapped at Yoon-taek’s waist, Jae-ha explained. Hae-hyun arched a brow, then pulled him back.
“I’ll do it.”
He crouched and started rummaging through Yoon-taek’s things. Pushed aside, Jae-ha blinked—when suddenly the sharp smell of burning hit his nose. He’d caught a whiff of it earlier too.
Then all the lights went out.
The auditorium, the stairwell—every light in the building vanished. The eerie phenomenon left no time to react, because the candle’s wick, which had been extinguished, suddenly flared to life with a violent blaze.
“Ah, shit.”
Hae-ryeong jumped back, flinging out a hand. Golden energy shot from her palm toward the candle.
But instead of going out, the flame only roared higher, burning so fiercely it looked like a gas stove. Alarmed, Hae-hyun pulled Jae-ha back with him, his expression hardening.
“Noona—”
“I know!”
She spread her arms wide. Like Hae-hyun earlier, strange words spilled from her lips.
Golden energy surged from her whole body, prowling across the hall before rushing straight toward the candle. A screech like metal scraping against metal echoed out, chilling as a ghost’s wail.
Is it working? Peeking over Hae-hyun’s shoulder, Jae-ha asked,
“Shouldn’t you help her?”
“It’s too late. Joint spells need prep work. Cutting in now would only break the flow—it’s better to let her maintain it alone.”
Explaining calmly, Hae-hyun draped an arm over Jae-ha’s shoulder to block his view, then pulled him a few steps farther back, clearly worried about stray sparks.
“Should’ve just knocked you out and left you outside.”
“You said the spell doesn’t work on me.”
Hae-hyun gave him a sidelong glance.
“Putting someone to sleep doesn’t always require a spell, you know.”
“……”
This brat’s out of his mind. Just as Jae-ha raised a fist to knock some sense into him, something caught his eye. Over Hae-hyun’s shoulder, within the golden blaze, he saw thick black wax streaming down the red candle.
It dripped like black tears, trailing across the floor in dark lines. A prickle of unease made Jae-ha frown as he followed its path.
The wax slid… and slid… until it touched the finger of one of the unconscious students.
In that instant—
[Who’s “it”?]
The man who should’ve been deeply asleep under Hae-hyun’s spell suddenly bolted upright. His familiar face and clothes were the same, but his voice was jarringly alien—high-pitched, mechanical, almost inhuman.
[Who’s “it”?]
It was Yoon-taek.
