CH 2

Falling Sunset (2)

Muryeong was the youngest child of a promising exorcist family. Good parents, playful older brother, older sister, and a dog. Growing up loved by his whole family, he was evaluated as a genius who would appear once every 100 years.

Muryeong’s spirit energy had already exceeded those of many adults the moment he was born, and he knew how to control that energy as he pleased without any training. In addition, he excelled in the ability to detect souls, so his talent could no longer be compared to an ordinary person.

People would even say ‘It is faster to be born on leap day (February 29th) than to be able to beat Muryeong’. Though of course, that too would be of no use since Muryeong was also born on leap day.

Anyway, Muryeong, who had such a bright road ahead, was walking smoothly on the royal road as an exorcist. He went to high school during the day,  and at night he would train at home to master his spiritual powers, and sometimes…….

Only read this at europalation (dot) wordpress (dot) com, please do not repost

“Spirits.”

While catching spirits.

“……What did you say?

“I couldn’t sleep because of spirits……”

In May, when the midterm exams were over. While it was still not time to go to school, Muryeong cried out as his head fell on the desk. The way his eyes opened and closed resembled a sleepy person.

“Aaaah…… Spirits.”

Seungju, who sat next to him, nodded to show that he understood. He had known Muryeong since they were kids, so the word ‘devils’ was enough for him to have a rough understanding of the situation. Perhaps he was commissioned by someone, or perhaps it was Kim Muryeong showing off his unique arrogance.

“Commission?”

“…….”

The first guess was unfortunately wrong. Muryeong answered by secretly avoiding his gaze. Seungju clicked his tongue and said ‘you volunteered.’

“So what was it?”

“…….”

All at once Muryeong crumbled and his round eyes contorted without mercy.  Although his face looked troubled, Seungju knew that he would bring up the story sooner or later.

“You know…… The seniors that fainted in the new building.”

As expected, Muryeong told the truth as he frowned. It was a story that Seungju knew well.

“The English teacher’s flower bed?”

Only read this at europalation (dot) wordpress (dot) com, please do not repost

In the new building of Haeyeon High School, there was a flowerbed managed by an old English teacher. That place where spring flowers would be planted during spring, and autumn flowers would be planted in autumn had been the place where strange phenomena would occur one after another recently. That is, every morning, a different 3rd year would faint for no particular reason.

“Nobody got hurt, but I waited there just in case.”

Muryeong watched over the new building carefully last night to find the cause of the phenomenon. He hid in a classroom that had a good view of the flower bed and waited until the morning.  He got a bit sleepy in the middle, but staying up all night was no big deal.

“No it was  different,  a third year was possessed and tried jumping through the window.”

“That’s crazy…… window?”

“Yes, the one right in front of the flower garden.”

“So? Did you catch him before he could jump?”

“Of course I catched him. But, I bumped into him while holding him and bruised my elbow.”

Muryeong jumped up and put out his right arm, making a crying face. It was the area he bumped hard when he caught the student and rolled around a few hours ago. When he checked in the bathroom afterwards, there was a black bruise from the elbow to the bottom.

“Well done. If he had fallen…… No… No, what floor was it?”

“…….”

At Seungju’s words, Muryeong stopped moving. Seungju frowned slightly after he realised something was wrong. Even if Kim Muryeong caught him this time, it was strange that none of the students found there were injured so far.

As expected, after a long silence, Muryeong answered quietly.

“……1st floor.”

He had realized it only after he grabbed the student. The fact that the place he was waiting in was none other than the first floor.

“I was surprised so I jumped without thinking……”

He didn’t mention that the main reason he was really surprised was because he was dozing off a little. This was because he didn’t want to be scolded for keep doing things like this if he couldn;t stay awake. As expected, Seungju spoke in a calm, polite voice.

“So you got hurt trying to stop someone who was trying to jump off the 1st floor window?”

“…….”

Honestly it was good that they were on the 1st floor, otherwise they would be in way more trouble. However he didn’t say that since he would have been in more trouble if he did. Even the simple-minded Muryeong had that much sense. Seungju sighed and took the ointment out of his bag.

“So, why did the ghost create a suicide commotion on the first floor?”

“What do you mean suicide? It wasn’t like that.”

Muryeong stretched  out his right arm to Seungju without hesitation. While trying to roll up his sleeves, due to the strange shape, he decided to just take it off instead. Thanks to the T-shirt inside, he didn’t feel embarrassed when unbutton. Seungju applied ointment with a rough touch and asked without sincerity.

“What is it if not suicide?”

“Just a responsible teacher.”

Muryeong gloomily drooped the corners of his eyes. Whenever he made that expression, Seungju would feel weak without realizing it. At the same time, if this was the case because he heard another story from this affectionate guy.

“There was originally an abandoned building within the new building. He’s a teacher who used to work there.”

Not long ago, there was a construction to renovate an abandoned building in the corner of the school into a new building. The construction, which was scheduled before Muryeong entered the school, began in earnest only by the time he was in his 2nd year. The students were asking why it was so late, but Muryeong thinks they shouldn’t have touched it.

“It happened as soon as he became the first homeroom teacher…… He knows he’s dead, and he knows he shouldn’t do this, but he just went into the body of a visible person because he still has lingering feelings.”

“…Then he should’ve gone to the classroom. Why did he jump over the window?”

“Looking at the old drawings, it was class 1 for year 3.”

Since the building was newly built, the location of the classroom was naturally not the same. There was no way for a spiritless ghost to visit the newly changed classroom. It just endlessly lingers in one place or constantly goes to the place where it used to be.

“As soon as we got to the classroom and stood at the school table, he passed on.”

In fact, he even called attendance to introduce himself, but Muryeong didn’t include that part. If they had talked in more detail Seo Seungju’s unique nagging would begin right away. Muryeong knew very well how painful the hand that applied the medicine could be.

“Yeah, my English teacher won’t cry because of his ruined flowers anymore.”

Seungju, who carefully applied the ointment, wiped his finger on Muryeong’s T-shirt even though there was tissue on the locker, it was a very shameless action. Of course, Muryeong didn’t say anything but his lips twitched

After that, Muryeong slept until lunchtime. He slept during the morning self-study session, slept in the first period, and dozed off when he went to the music room.

It was inevitable. He  briefly explained things to Seungju, but this was already Muryeongs third day staying up all night. Even an extraordinary person would feel sleepy if they stay up all night.

“Kim Muryeong, wake up. I’m going to go eat.”

“Mmmhm.”

“Mmmhm…… Wake up, dude.

At the sound of the bell announcing lunchtime, Seungju shook Muryeong without hesitation to wake him up. Muryeong, who opened his eyes half-asleep, shook his hand as if he was lazy. It meant go eat alone, but Seungju did not give up easily.

“Hey, sleep after lunch.”

He didn’t care about class time, but Seungju never let it go when it was lunch time. The words skipping lunch did not exist in Seo Seungju’s dictionary. In addition, as a person who deals with spiritual power, Muryeong needed to properly replenish his energy.

Eventually, Seungju dragged Muryeong and headed to the cafeteria. Every student he encountered while carrying Muryeong was busy holding back laughter.

Only read this at europalation (dot) wordpress (dot) com, please do not repost

Muryeong came to his senses through the middle, but he openly hung on Seungju’s back because he was too lazy to walk on his own.

“They’re doing that again.”

“Is Muryeong still sleeping?”

“Seo Seungju is so nice. If it was me, I would have abandoned Muryeong.”

“A dad shouldn’t abandon his child.”

“Come out, the bastard who said dad.”

The last words finally came out of Seungju’s mouth. Unlike Seungju, who was very displeased, Muryeong smiled brightly and shook his legs. It was an attitude that showed he was openly enjoying it, but it was not enough, so he even took it a step forward.

“Dad, me and mom.”

“You crazy guy.”

Without hesitation, Seungju threw away the child like a chewing gum. Muryeong, who skillfully landed on both feet, stretched out. He slept well all morning, so he felt somewhat relaxed.

“What does Kim Muryeong do every night? He sleeps every day. Do you go around catching ghosts?”

One of the guys jokingly asked on the line heading to the cafeteria. Anyone who heard it could tell it was a joke, and Muryeong replied casually, ‘How did you know?’ Seungju was the only one who frowned and sighed.

“There’s no ghost in the world.”

“Why? I believe in ghosts”.

“Me too. I didn’t believe it before, but when I look at Muryeong, I think they really exist.”

The topic of the discussion changed to a series of ghost stories that have been uploaded on the Internet. Something came out of the closet. Someone knocked on the door and there was no one outside, or that the Grim Reaper appeared in your dream. It wasn’t a very pleasant topic for Muryeong, who suffered from evil spirits all night.

“Since we’re talking about it, Muryeong-ah let me ask you a favor.”

Suddenly, a friend next to him grabbed Muryeong’s arm and talked to him. It was the student who said he didn’t believe in ghosts. Instead of pointing out the fact, Muryeong lightly infiltrated it.

“Well…”

After entering high school, Muryeong started a simple exorcist job. Small things such as hearing strange sounds in the music room these days, strange elevators in our apartment these days, or nightmares at night.

At first, he only received commissions about psychic phenomenons, but it gradually misrepresented, and now he was also doing things like getting rid of stalkers and acting as a boyfriend. The requests were closer to that for a problem solver instead of an exorcist, but Muryeongl did not mind helping others. In addition, he was being paid regularly.

What was strange was that the price was not money, but goods.

“Minji, I have nothing to receive from you…….”

“Not even money?”

“I have a lot of money.”

Muryeong always asked his clients for small, old items. A sharp, worn-out pencil eraser from childhood, or a friendship ring set that was originally bought as a joke. The smaller the better, the older the better.

“Do you have any old items?”

“More than 10 years.”

“Can’t it be a couple ring with my ex-boyfriend?”

“…….Is it older than 10 years?”

Muryeong let out a smirk. While the friend nearby giggled and said you can’t do it either.

Then, he was about to ask if there was anything like the hair braids he used when he was young.