The husband and wife blinked as they looked at Iri. As was always the case when ordinary humans encountered him, the two were swept up in a strange mix of friendliness and bashful embarrassment.
“Sorry, but could you help me for a moment?”
“Uh, sure. What do you need help with?”
“I only got my license recently, and I’m really bad at parking.”
Iri pointed to the Dragon Horse, which was standing crookedly at an awkward diagonal. Originally, the Dragon Horse had been resting neatly in the far corner of the parking lot, parked in the most proper posture of any vehicle there—but at Iri’s call, it had hurried over and stopped at a perfectly awkward spot in a perfectly awkward pose.
“Oh dear. I’ve never driven a big car before.”
“I’ll do it.”
The man started to get into the car, then paused and stepped back out.
“Thank you.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Parking was the hardest part for me too when I was a beginner. But you look pretty young—got your license early, huh? Did your parents buy you the car?”
“I bought it myself.”
“Oh? Really? That’s impressive for someone your age. You look about the same age as my son—must’ve worked hard. My son just blows money left and right while going to college; it drives me crazy. He does part-time work, but instead of saving up to buy a car, he went and bought something useless like this the other day. I don’t even like wearing watches—they’re uncomfortable.”
With roundabout phrasing, the man showed off what looked like a smartwatch he’d received as a Parents’ Day gift. The same watch was neatly fastened around the woman’s wrist as well.
“Hon, is that all? He gave us this watch and Bluetooth earbuds. All money he earned working twelve hours every weekend—such a waste. He should’ve just bought himself a car.”
The wife chimed in with her husband’s boasting. Iri chuckled softly. Watching humans brag about their children without being asked—it really hadn’t changed, not in the past and not now.
Cough! Just then, the man bent forward and coughed.
“Do you have a cold?”
“Must be. Once you get old, colds sneak up on you without any warning.”
“Hon, hurry and finish parking. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Even though he clearly wanted to brag more about his son, his condition wouldn’t allow it. With a bitter expression, the middle-aged man brushed past Iri. Iri didn’t miss the moment—he spread his index and middle fingers and rotated them 180 degrees clockwise. Since his hands were clasped behind his back, no one noticed.
—Kiiieeeee—
With that brief motion alone, the vengeful spirit was pulled out from the crown of the man’s head. Iri pinned the spirit against the ceiling of the parking lot for the time being.
Standing beside the wife and waiting for the parking to finish, Iri happened to meet Dojin’s eyes as he came striding over.
“Hyung, what’s going on?”
“I’m bad at parking, so I asked them for help.”
“Ahh…….”
“Oh my… brothers?”
The woman’s curiosity flared. It started with how handsome both brothers were, then moved on to, “Wait, is the bigger one the younger brother?” and ended with praise along the lines of, “It’s not that the younger one looks old—it’s just that the older one looks so young.” It was a situation that always happened when dealing with ordinary people.
In the meantime, the man finished parking cleanly and got out of the car. The eerie chill had likely faded by now, but he still walked with his arms crossed and his shoulders hunched.
This was why possession by a vengeful spirit was terrifying. Unless the host was a shaman, even a short possession of ten minutes or so left aftereffects. For the next three or four days, the middle-aged man would probably feel anxious and unusually cold.
“Are they brothers?”
Apparently, the wife had filled him in.
“They say this one’s the younger brother.”
“Oh dear… well. I suppose that happens. It can happen.”
Dojin didn’t actually look old for his age. He was just big-framed, and standing next to the comparatively smaller Iri made him look that way.
“Thank you for your help.”
“Oh, it was nothing. Really.”
“I’d like to give you something in return—do you like radishes?”
“Huh? What?”
“Dojin, get it from the trunk.”
At Iri’s words, Dojin opened the trunk with a puzzled look.
Inside was a radish. It was fresh and hefty, as if it had just been pulled from the soil. For some reason, the green leaves were damp.
Still dazed, Dojin carried the radish over.
“A radish…?”
“A radish….”
The couple was equally dumbfounded. Dojin handed the radish to them. The husband grabbed it by the leaves and the root. It was surprisingly heavy.
“Wait, so… you’re giving this to us?”
“Yes.”
Receiving a radish as thanks for helping with parking was a first for them. And likely a last. The husband awkwardly held it out, trying to refuse.
“Haha, really, we don’t need this kind of—”
“You coughed earlier. If you slice the radish into thin strips, pour in enough honey to submerge it, and let it sit at room temperature for three or four hours, it turns into a delicious radish honey extract. If you take about two spoonfuls before meals or drink it as tea, it’s very effective for colds.”
Normally, it had to be left to ferment for at least three days, but this radish was an auspicious one grown in the rental shop’s garden, so the maturation time was significantly shortened.
“I see. Thank you. We’ll make good use of it.”
“My mother used to make radish honey extract for me when I was little. This radish is so plump—you could make radish salad, kkakdugi, even radish soup with it.”
Just moments ago, they’d been trying to refuse, but now the couple thanked Iri instead, cradling the radish carefully as they got into their car.
Once their car drove off, Dojin asked as if he’d been waiting for the chance.
“How on earth did you do that? Don’t tell me you carry radishes in your trunk just in case something like this happens?”
“No… I just moved a radish using a simple Taoist technique.”
“Master, you do know what ‘simple’ means, right?”
“I do. More importantly, let’s deal with the vengeful spirit.”
Iri dropped the spirit that had been pinned flat against the ceiling.
—Kiiieeeee—
The vengeful spirit, which had spread out like thick muddy water, slowly took on a human shape. A young woman collapsed on the ground, sobbing.
—It’s unfair! It’s unfair! I’ve been so wronged! It’s unjust! I hate everything! I even hate Immortal Iri!
There were three ways to expel a vengeful spirit from the Middle Realm: exorcism, banishment, and soul retrieval.
Using human criminals as an analogy, exorcism was imprisoning them, banishment was summary execution, and soul retrieval was rehabilitation. The last method, which could be called humane, had one fatal drawback—you had to fulfill the vengeful spirit’s wish.
Looking down at the spirit throwing a tantrum, crying about how no one understood her, Dojin sighed.
“I want to say, ‘Let’s just exorcise her,’ but you’re obviously going to say exorcism and banishment are off the table, right? You’re going to retrieve her soul, aren’t you. Right?”
This spirit was only at the ‘ven’ stage of ‘vengeful spirit’—there was still room for reform. Just as Dojin expected, Iri nodded slightly.
“Judging by it, it’s been over ten years, but it hasn’t fully turned into a vengeful spirit yet. It’s held on pretty well.”
“To me, it doesn’t look like it’s holding on all that well, but fine. Let’s just grant her wish quickly and enjoy the rest of our schedule. We still have a movie to watch, and we booked a couple bracelet one-day class for tonight. Hey, stop pretending to cry and get up. We’ll talk in the car.”
Dojin grabbed the spirit’s arm as it lay sprawled on the ground and shoved it into the Dragon Horse. Clearly displeased about carrying a vengeful spirit, the Dragon Horse displayed a navigation screen emoticon: [(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻].
The spirit’s hair was extremely long and tangled, taking up the entire back seat, so Iri got into the passenger seat.
Kkiwoong……
Kkiwoong usually roamed around the car marking its territory, but this time, terrified of the vengeful spirit, it couldn’t even come out and burrowed deep into Dojin’s sleeve instead. If it were Iri, he would’ve gently wrapped it up, but Dojin shook his wrist roughly, teasing Kkiwoong. All the while, the vengeful spirit shed chicken-dropping-like tears, plop, plop.
—It’s unfair…… I’ve been so wronged. This can’t be happening…… This isn’t how it’s supposed to be…….
“Hey, I get it, so just tell us. What’s so unfair? And why did you run away when you saw the Immortal?”
—I didn’t run away……. That’s a misunderstanding. I’ve been wronged.
“You dove into that man’s body the moment you made eye contact.”
“State your name, age, and cause of death.”
When Iri spoke with force, the spirit answered while still crying.
—My name is Seo Jeong-won. I’m twenty-eight. Cause of death… I don’t know.
“You don’t know?”
—I don’t know. I don’t know why I died. That’s why it’s unfair. That’s why it’s so unjust. That’s why I can’t leave like this. Ah… it’s so unfair…… This shouldn’t happen…….
Sometimes, spirits who died without realizing it fled from grim reapers out of sheer resentment like this.
“Do you remember where you died?”
—I remember……. It’s not far from here.
“Let’s go there first. You guide us from outside.”
Iri rolled down the backseat window. The spirit hesitated, then slowly crawled out. The moment it vanished, Kkiwoong dropped out of Dojin’s sleeve. With tear droplets still clinging to it, Kkiwoong crawled into Iri’s pocket.
A moment later, a mass of tangled black hair suddenly hung down over the windshield. With bloodshot eyes, the spirit pointed outside the parking lot.
“Dojin, let’s go.”
“Yes. Let’s finish this quickly and go on our date.”
Dojin drove the Dragon Horse in the direction the spirit indicated.
***
The vengeful spirit finally stopped when they reached the Noryangjin exam village. Wia were extremely rare there, but human spirits were so numerous you could trip over them. Noryangjin was a place where wandering souls, minor ghosts, petty gods, vengeful spirits, and occasionally even Evil Gods appeared—which was why it housed the Podo Office’s only branch.
