Dojin counted on his fingers one by one.
“An exorcist, Lee Seokjin, and Lee Ah-jin all grew up together in the same orphanage, living peacefully and close-knit. Then the exorcist committed some huge mistake, got tangled up with Evil Gods because of it, and now Lee Seokjin is suffering. On top of that, Berimos has some kind of leverage over him.”
Dojin, who had been organizing the information, let out a sigh.
“This is a complete mess. But Master, doesn’t that mean Lee Seokjin is a victim?”
“When I tore off Lee Seokjin’s arm, if I had punished someone who was truly innocent, there would’ve been disciplinary retribution in accordance with the rules—something that would’ve caused a loss of virtue.”
“Ah, since there was no loss, that means you handed down proper punishment to a guilty party. Then that exorcist bastard was lying—… huh? No, wait. He said it while looking you straight in the eyes.”
“Ughhh, my head hurts,” Dojin groaned, raking his hands through his hair. Even with his hair completely mussed, the disciple was still handsome. Iri gestured that they should get going, and Dojin stood up after him.
“That exorcist didn’t even know about the rental shop. Berimos must not have told him, right?”
“Who knows.”
“‘Who knows’?”
“It might be something Berimos himself doesn’t know….”
“What? That doesn’t make any—”
Dojin froze mid-motion as he was about to step out of the restaurant, his eyes widening.
“Master, wait—!”
Iri felt a flicker of anticipation, wondering if Dojin had finally arrived at a proper deduction. Dojin continued enthusiastically.
“Look over there! There’s a train going around! Whoa, damn, it’s one of those trains that goes in circles. That looks fun. Let’s ride it too! Huh? I’ve only ridden one once when I was really little, you know. Master, let’s ride it and do a full lap around here. Since we’re here anyway, let’s look around a bit. Please. Masterrr.”
“…….”
Iri let out a low sigh. Dojin grabbed Iri’s arm and briskly dragged him toward the train platform. At some point, Kkiwoong had climbed onto Dojin’s shoulder, staring at the train with sparkling eyes. Of course, it didn’t actually have eyes… but that was the vibe.
Dojin must be thinking things through in his own way….
Iri forced himself to think that.
***
The exorcist boarded an express bus. Originally, his next destination had been Naju. Four months ago, Berimos had forcibly absorbed the yin energy of small, weak yokai in Naju. He had planned to go there to apologize for that incident.
However, after meeting Immortal Iri, his plans changed. He felt sorry toward the yokai, but protecting Lee Ah-jin—who was no different from family to him—took priority. That clear, gentle, beautiful Immortal, and….
That terrifying man must be his disciple, right?
Maninsa had said that Immortal Iri had a fierce-looking disciple. Because of that, someone who was already frightening had become even more frightening.
In any case, using the talisman given by Immortal Iri and the young man who seemed to be his disciple, he had to make sure no other Evil God could take root in Lee Ah-jin.
“…….”
The exorcist stared gloomily out the window. At some point, the sun had begun to set, and the sky was dyed entirely in blood-red hues.
He never imagined that the protagonists of the so-called ‘exorcism videos’ Lee Seokjin had been searching for were truly people with supernatural abilities. If he told Lee Seokjin that he’d met them today, he would be thrilled. If he mentioned that he’d even gotten their contact information, Lee Seokjin would rush off to meet them immediately.
‘You want the Geas lifted?’
‘I’ll lift it. If that’s what you want.’
Immortal Iri’s words had been dangerously sweet. He’d nearly fallen for the temptation.
There had been someone in the past who’d said the same thing. That person was an exorcist active overseas, who claimed he’d lift the Geas and even take care of Berimos. Han-su had scraped together every last bit of savings he and Lee Seokjin had at the time and commissioned him. The result was….
That man lost his spiritual powers and now lives as a wreck.
Could Immortal Iri truly defeat Berimos?
‘Immortal Iri is a Heaven-and-Earth Divine Spirit. A thousand years ago, I saw with my own two eyes just how strong he was. Because of the rules, he won’t touch us anymore, but just becoming his enemy is already a heavy burden to bear. Berimos, I’m withdrawing from this matter now. Do your best on your own.’
Maninsa had left those words behind and fled.
If even that horrific serpent feared him… maybe it was all right to trust Immortal Iri? Even if, on the surface, he looked so young. Even if he seemed nothing more than a clear, gentle, pure person…….
Was he really that strong?
Stronger than Berimos?
Stronger than that wicked Evil God…….
The exorcist shuddered as a sudden chill ran through him.
No one can defeat Berimos.
He couldn’t overcome the fear that had been etched into his bones since he was very young. Hadn’t even that enormous serpent been crushed beneath Berimos?
‘Next time we meet, I’ll tear that brat’s arm right off.’
He remembered Berimos’s cold declaration, spoken through Lee Seokjin’s face.
Ah… he wanted to warn that kind Immortal, at least—but because of the Geas, he couldn’t.
Nothing must happen to that gentle Immortal.
The exorcist pressed a hand firmly against his anxiously pounding chest, then quickly relaxed his grip when he noticed the paper crumpling in his hand.
A talisman and a business card.
Berimos had said he would rest for a while… but he was still sleeping inside Lee Seokjin’s body. There was always the risk that the demon might notice, so he had to memorize everything here and erase all traces.
His vision blurred. The exorcist roughly wiped away his tears with his sleeve. Still, his sight remained hazy.
Why did it turn out like this?
As he memorized every line and symbol of the talisman—the drawings, the characters, even the kind warning message—sobs and resentment piled up in his chest.
Why did it turn out like this?
Lee Seokjin had always liked ghost stories. When the orphanage teachers told ghost stories, the children would scream and cry, but only Lee Seokjin would listen with sparkling eyes.
The teachers thought Lee Seokjin was influenced by his younger sister and his friend. Lee Ah-jin and Han-su had seen strange things and experienced bizarre phenomena since they were little, after all. They thought he was just pretending to like ghosts to protect Ah-jin and Han-su, who were bullied by other kids.
The three of them entered elementary school together… those days when they climbed up and down the mountain twice every single day.
One rainy day, the three of them took shelter beneath a large tree and discovered a strange jar.
That jar.
It was from that jar that all the problems began.
We shouldn’t have opened it.
But they did because they could.
There was no other intention.
They opened it simply because it could be opened.
Grinding his teeth, the exorcist made a quiet crunching sound, and the passenger beside him glanced over. Realizing it, he shut his mouth and refocused on memorizing the talisman.
What was done was done.
There was no way to take it back.
Lee Seokjin still held onto hope, but the exorcist had abandoned hope long ago.
All he could do was obey Berimos’s commands, bide his time, and run far away when an opportunity presented itself.
‘You guys, don’t you need help?’
‘If you need help, contact me anytime.’
He forced the thin strand of light that kept trying to leak out back into the darkness—into a darkness so deep that even he himself wouldn’t be able to find it.
14) Summer Horror Special
“What? What did you just say?”
His already upturned eyes widened even more. A boy with pale skin and unusually red lips paused mid-wipe as he dabbed away sweat and stared at his manager.
“You heard me right, Yoha. The last summer horror special did great in views and the response was huge. So this time, we’re doing another one—on an even bigger scale.”
“…….”
No, seriously—why would you tell me that right before the encore stage? How am I supposed to perform now?
Yoha’s red lips parted and closed soundlessly. Beside him, Chiho tapped Yoha on the shoulder.
“Hey. What? You scared? Man, you’re secretly such a scaredy-cat.”
“Secretly? Yoha’s openly scared. He had the highest decibel screams last time.”
“Right. Fans were even joking that Yoha should handle all the high notes from now on.”
The members laughed, chuckling as they changed their clothes.
Yoha lifted the corners of his mouth and laughed along—haha, ha—awkwardly.
This is really bad….
Yoha, who was in charge of the ‘cute’ role in one of the most popular male idol groups right now, Shaman, was in serious trouble.
Because he wasn’t someone meant to be startled during a summer horror special—he was the one meant to do the startling.
He couldn’t even begin to describe how exhausting the last summer horror special shoot had been.
They’d gone into an abandoned school in the dead of night and had to complete three missions before coming out. For Yoha, it was something he could do even while half-asleep. It wasn’t scary or difficult at all. It was about as taxing as moving three pebbles from here to over there in broad daylight.
If anything, the summer horror special was for the benefit of the stray ghosts and yokai lingering in the abandoned school, drawn by its yin energy. The humans who were supposed to be frightened were instead yawning while meeting their gazes head-on.
The Mountain Divine Spirits and Immortals already knew that Yoha of Shaman was a fox yokai, but most Wia didn’t. His human transformation was absolutely flawless. So whenever those creatures—thinking he was a human whose spiritual sight had opened—came over to mess with him, they’d end up getting smacked once each and run away crying.
Haaah……. Good thing I’m good at acting. No—wait. At this rate, aren’t they going to make us do a summer horror special every year? Should I just straight-up faint this time?
For a fox yokai who could freely move his soul, fainting was as easy as breathing. He could simply slip into astral projection, and this physical body would collapse backward.
Yeah. This way’s better.
Just as the fox yokai finished forming his plan and buried his face into the collar of his comfortable encore-stage shirt—
“This time, we’re filming together with some really famous shamans. The location’s an abandoned house in Jeonbuk. When you hear ‘Jeonbuk abandoned house,’ you know exactly where it is, right?”
“Oh, no way—is it that place from the ‘exorcism videos’?”
“Yep. Apparently, when the anniversary of when those exorcism videos were uploaded rolls around, shamans gather there for some kind of meeting. We decided to squeeze ourselves in. A true occult special, even more in-depth than a summer horror special! Sounds fun, right? We might actually see real ghosts this time.”
