CH 4

Falling Sunset (4)

Hop. Seungju got up from his seat. It was so loud that all of his classmates turned towards him. Seungju made sure that Muryeong was not awake and strode towards the back door.

“……”

“……”

An ambiguous gaze hovered in the air. Hwanyeong lightly frowned at that unusual atmosphere. Seungju made eye contact with him and sighed.

“What do you need from Kim Muryeong?”

“Are you Kim Muryeong?”

He wasn’t actually asking if he was Muryeong. But more like saying if he was not Kim Muryeong, then he didn’t care.

“Kim Muryeong. Tell me.”

“Is that so? Then come later.”

Hwanyeong turned and walked without any regrets. No, he was going to walk. That is if Seungju had not grabbed his shoulder, he would have gone back without hesitation.

“Just to me……”

Tak, Hwanyeong fiercely shook off Seungju. Seungju, who was not surprised at how fiercely he was shown off, widened his eyes. At the sound that seemed to be quite painful, the classmates turned to them in surprise.

“……”

“……”

Seungju first checked to see if Muryeong had woken up. Originally, Muryeong, who had been sleeping deeply, had fallen asleep without moving due to exhaustion. He was glad he covered him with his gym uniform. It didn’t seem like he would wake up even if he screamed here.

“Get out of here for now.”

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He lowered his voice and instead of holding onto Hwanyeong, he gestured towards the door. Hwanyeong quietly took a step back without saying a word this time. Seungju quickly closed the back door of the classroom and stood there leaning his back.

“Why Kim Muryeong?”

“……”

He asked again, but Hwanyeong didn’t say anything. He just stared at Seungju’s hand that was  holding him. So, just as he was about to ask again, he moved his lips quietly.

“Are you Kim Muryung’s friend?”

Seungju nodded his head with a grumpy face. He was about to say ‘so tell me’, but instead another set of words came out of Hwanyeong’s mouth.

“Then, when you go home today, go with Kim Muryeong.”

“What?”

“Don’t walk on the road, and be careful of the alley.”

“……”

“Check carefully for anything falling from above.”

He had sudden chills on his back. It was because the long bangs that shaded off his eyes gave off a creepy feeling. The two black eyes, unlike those of Muryeong, were cloudy as if they belonged to a dead person.

“And don’t touch me.”

“No, hey……”

The ending was very sudden. Was it a warning or did he simply find it annoying? Before the bewildered Seungju could even utter a word, Hwanyeong stepped forward, leaving him behind.

“……What the, what a weirdo.”

Perhaps he had come here for business. Seungju suppressed the feeling of uneasiness and looked at his back. Hwanyeong had quickly reached the end of the hallway.

Muryeong only woke up when it was the last period. Muryeong, who had been sleeping as if he was dead , woke up as soon as the teacher left the classroom. Both of his eyes, which had always been round, were now half-closed.

“Are you awake?”

“Uh……”

Seungju took back the gym uniform that was on top of Muryeong’s head. The inside of the clothes were still warm from him sleeping with it. Seungju, who had been accustomed to brushing off his gym clothes, unfolded his clothes neatly.

“Who came earlier?”

Seungju paused for a moment at Muryeong’s question. Muryeong yawned and rubbed his eyes with his right hand. Soon, a muffled voice sounded out.

“No, nobody came.”

If he had said that Ki-Hwanyeong came, Muryeong would surely go looking for him. Based on Seungju’s prediction, the only reason to find Muryeong was to make a request. That means this little guy might stay up all night at school today as well.

No matter what kind of a person Kim Muryeong might be, staying up all night for a few days is too much, so it would be better to let him rest today.

“Really?”

Fortunately, Muryeong nodded his head without any doubt. He mumbled something like ‘I think I heard my name……’ but it wasn’t a suspicious remark. He blinked his eyes, scratched the back of his head and yawned again.

“Seungju, you are on duty right? Shall I wait?”

They don’t always go together, but unless there was nothing special, they would always go home together. It’s not that they were particularly close, they just lived right next door to each other.

“It’s fine, go ahead first. Cleaning takes a long time.”

As Seungju said so, he recalled what Hwanyeong said earlier. Something like he must walk with Muryeong today, like a shaman.

Well, it won’t be a big deal. It was the moment Seungju thought about that and was about to cover the textbook.

“……”

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Muryeong took hold of Seungju’s right hand. He had a serious face, as if he had a good fortune to fall asleep. Seungju reflexively twisted his face and tried to pull out his captured hand.

“What are you doing, gross?”

“What did you touch?”

“What?”

Muryeong, who was unusually strong, did not let go of Seungju’s hand. He held it tightly with both hands and even stared at it. The gaze somehow resembled a vision, Seungju shuddered and shook his shoulder.

“I didn’t touch anything.”

And with that, he took his hand back. This time, Muryeong did not hold Seungju’s hand again. The homeroom teacher came in just in time, and the conversation ended there.

“I’ll be waiting for you, so let’s go home together.”

After the ceremony was over, Muryeong waited eagerly for Seungju. Seungju dissuaded him, but he was so stubborn that it didn’t work.

The only reason Muryeong left school was because of a phone call from home.

“Yes? Did Seolgi pick up something strange and eat it?”

Seolgi. It was the name of a yellow puppy that Muryeong raised since childhood. Even though he was over ten years old, he was as energetic as a young boy.

Muryeong looked back at Seungju with troubled eyes, then left the classroom with a single word.

“Don’t go anywhere else and go straight home. Understand?”

What could he do about Kim Muryeong if his family was sick? Seungju waved his hand without sincerity towards the running Muryeong. If Kim Muryeong was like that, he should be careful. He thought like that to himself.

And the next day, Seungju did not come to school.

* * *

The whole classroom was noisy. From the sound of bustling words, bustling footsteps, to the sound of opening and closing doors and the occasional sound of pulling chairs. There were several students entering the classroom in a hurry just before they would be considered late.

In the midst of the commotion, Muryeong was constantly tapping his cell phone with a troubled face. Seungju, who would normally get seated way before Muryeong, didn’t show up until late.

“Muryeong! Why isn’t Seungju coming?”

“Yeah. I don’t know about Kim Muryeong, but Seo Seungju is never late.”

“Did you guys not come together today?”

Questions poured out one after another. Muryeong scratched the back of his head and lowered the corners of his eyes. The impression that was once gentle had now turned to a helpless one.

“I do not know…… I can’t contact him.”

This morning, for the first time in a while, Muryeong went to school in a refreshed condition. This is because he slept through the night wrapped in a soft blanket instead of staying up all night. Exorcists who deal with spiritual powers recovered their strength quickly, so a good quality sleep melted away fatigue like snow.

In addition, Seolgi, who had been on Muryeong’s mind, also threw out the food he ate without any problem. From the looks of it he had swallowed the eye of his favorite doll while biting and chewing it like always. Yesterday, Muryeong went straight to the local hospital with seolgi, and was told by the doctor to wait for him to throw it up since there were no health problems.

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After returning home, he moved every doll with eyeballs to a place that the culprit Seolgi couldn’t reach. And he had no choice but to remove the decorations from his favorite doll. Then, seeing Seolgi whining, his brother said he was sorry and hugged him for a long time.

However, Seungju, who should have done nothing, had not come to school. No matter how many times he called him, he only heard a mechanical beep saying that he couldn’t reach the person. He also hadn’t received a reply to the message he sent a while ago.

‘Did something actually happen?’

Others might have thought that he was simply oversleeping, but Seungju was the type who woke up with the morning breeze. He was different from Muryeong, who once fell asleep because he slept too much, he wouldn’t wake up even when thunder strikes. Besides, he was quite diligent. So because of that he wouldn’t miss school even if he was in pain.

Muryeong looked at the empty seat next to him and bit his lower lip in nervousness. As he kept closing his front teeth, he remembered what had happened yesterday. The moment he woke up after sleeping for a while, he felt a mysterious energy coming from Seungju.

‘What did you touch?’

It was an aura. Spiritual energy from someone or something. Something of a higher level that could never be felt unless it was someone with spiritual powers like Muryeong.

In fact, Muryeong knew who the owner of the aura was. In his life as an exorcist he had only seen one person who had such clear and pure energy. Although the opponent didn’t seem like an exorcist, anyway.

‘It didn’t look dangerous though……’

Basically, to have an aura means to have a pure soul. In other words, it meant that evil spirits were more likely to take notice of it, which meant that they were more exposed to danger. The stronger the aura, the clearer the soul, the greater the possibility of becoming a prey for the dead.

Similarly, people who had an aura that wasn’t as pure would have less accidents. If it was dangerous to some extent, it was their survival instinct to not even look at it.

That’s why spirits never got entangled with exorcists with strong aura like Muryeong. They were able to use it as a spirit power by dealing with it.

In that sense, Seungju had a body without even the slightest amount of aura, let alone an open aura. No matter how strong the aura was, there was no foolish spirit that would mistakenly believe that Seungju had an aura. If he would be in danger for such a simple reason, he would have already lost his life the moment he became friends with Muryeong.

“Oh man…… I hope he is okay.”

Muryeong tried to shake off his worries and put his phone in his pocket. Like Seungju said many times, he had too many useless thoughts. Maybe he had just overslept. Just as he thought so to himself and got rid of his anxiousness.

Suddenly, the front door opened and the homeroom teacher came in for the ordinance. He erased Seo Seungju’s name under the list of ‘late students’ written on the blackboard with an eraser. Then he stood in front of the school table and looked around at the children in his class before saying.

“Seungju is unable to come to school today because of a car accident. It wasn’t a major accident, so don’t worry too much, and make sure to watch out for cars whenever you are walking.”