CH 4

Suddenly, Seung-ju stood up from his seat. It was so loud that the other students’ eyes focused on him. Seung-ju checked that Mu-ryeong was still asleep and then quickly walked towards the back door.

“…….”

“…….”

The weird looks lingered in the air. Hwan-young furrowed his brow slightly in that tense atmosphere. Stepping forward, Seung-ju met his gaze and blurted out abruptly.

“Why do you want to see Kim Mu-ryeong?”

“Are you Kim Mu-ryeong?”

The tone of the question wasn’t really asking if it was truly Kim Mu-ryeong. It was more like, “If you’re not Kim Mu-ryeong, why do you care?”

“Kim Mu-ryeong is sleeping. Speak to me.”

“Really? Then I’ll come back later or something.”

Hwan-young turned around without hesitation. Or at least, he tried to. If Seung-ju hadn’t grabbed its shoulder, he would have left.

“Just tell me…”

Thud! Hwan-young rudely shook off Seung-ju. It was enough to make Seung-ju, who was not easily surprised, widen his eyes. Their classmates, who were startled by the loud noise, turned to look at them.

“…….”

“…….”

First, Seung-ju checked if Mu-ryeong had woken up. Mu-ryeong, who usually slept deeply, was so deep in sleep due to his exhaustion that he didn’t even move. It was a good thing that Seung-ju had covered him with his gym clothes. Even if they shouted here, he seemed unlikely to wake up.

“Let’s get out for now.”

Lowering his voice, Seung-ju looked outside the classroom instead of grabbing Hwan-young’s arm. This time, Hwan-young silently took a step back. Seung-ju quickly closed the back door of the classroom and leaned against it.

“Why do you want to see Kim Mu-ryeong?”

“…….”

He asked again, but Hwan-young remained silent, just looking at the hand that had grabbed him. At that moment, when Seung-ju was about to ask again, he moved his lips quietly.

“Are you Kim Mu-ryeong’s friend?”

Seung-ju nodded reluctantly. He wanted to tell Hwan-young to speak with him, but something else came out of Hwan-young’s mouth.

“Then, when you go home today, go with Kim Mu-ryeong.”

“What?”

“Don’t go on roads, and be careful in the alleyways.”

“…….”

“Watch out for anything falling from above.”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was the shaded corners of the eyes that seemed strangely creepy because of the long bangs. Unlike Mu-ryeong’s eyes, which were bright, his two lifeless eyes were dull.

“And don’t touch me.”

“Hey, you…”

The ending was very sudden. It could have been a warning or an annoyance. Before the bewildered Seung-ju could even say anything, Hwan-young walked away quickly, leaving him behind.

“What’s wrong with that guy?”

He had come because he had some business, right? Suppressing his growing unease, Seung-ju watched Hwan-young’s back, quickly walking off into the distance to the end of the hallway.

When Mu-ryeong woke up from his sleep, the last class was close to ending. He had slept deeply as if he were dead, but as soon as the teacher left, he got up from his desk silently. His usually playful eyes were now half-closed.

“Are you awake?”

“Yeah…”

Seung-ju took back the gym clothes that were hanging where Mu-ryeong’s head rested. The clothes still felt warm, as if he had been hot while sleeping. Seung-ju shook the gym clothes as if they were used to it and neatly folded them.

“Who came earlier?”

Seung-ju hesitated for a moment at Mu-ryeong’s question. Mu-ryeong let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes with his right hand. Soon, a nonchalant voice responded.

“No one came.”

If he told Mu-ryeong that Ki Hwan-young came looking for him, Mu-ryeong would definitely go and meet him. Seung-ju’s intuition told him that the only reason anybody would come to Mu-ryeong would be for a request. In other words, this little guy might spend another night at school today.

Even if he were Kim Mu-ryeong, it would be too much to stay up all night for several days, so it seemed better to let him rest well today.

“Is that so?”

Fortunately, Mu-ryeong nodded without any suspicion. Although he mumbled something like, “I feel like I heard my name…”, there didn’t seem to be any disbelief in his words. He blinked his eyes and scratched the back of his head, then let out a big yawn.

“Seung-ju, you’re on cleaning duty, right? Should I wait for you?”

They weren’t always together, but usually, the two of them would go home together if they had nothing else. It wasn’t because they were particularly close friends; they lived right next to each other.

“It’s okay; you can go ahead. Cleaning takes a long time.”

As he said that, Seung-ju recalled the words Hwan-young had said to him: “Make sure you go home with Mu-ryeong today”.

Well, nothing out of the ordinary could happen, he thought. And just as he was about to close his textbook…

“…….”

Kim Mu-ryeong suddenly grabbed onto Seung-ju’s right hand tightly, looking at him with a solemn expression, no sense of the sleepiness he showed earlier to be seen. Seung-ju reflexively wrinkled his face and tried to pull his hand away.

“Why are you doing this? It’s creepy.”

“Did you touch something?”

“What?”

Mu-ryeong, who was stronger than he looked, didn’t let go of Seung-ju’s hand. He held onto it tightly with both hands and even stared at him aggressively. His gaze was eerily reminiscent of Hwan-young’s, causing Seung-ju to shudder and tremble.

“I didn’t touch anything.”

Seung-ju’s hand was quickly released. This time, Mu-ryeong didn’t hold onto it again. Fortunately, their conversation was cut short as their homeroom teacher entered the room.

“I’ll wait, so let’s go home together.”

After the class was over, Mu-ryeong stubbornly waited for Seung-ju. Despite Seung-ju telling him to go first, he was way too stubborn.

The reason Mu-ryeong left school was because of a phone call he received from home.

“Yes? Seolgi ate something strange?”

Seolgi. It was the name of the yellow mutt that Mu-ryeong had raised since he was young. Even though she was over ten years old, she was still a lively and energetic little girl, just like when she was a puppy.

Mu-ryeong looked at Seung-ju with a troubled expression, then finally left the classroom after saying one more word.

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

It wasn’t like Kim Mu-ryeong had been told a member of his family was sick. Seung-ju waved his hand insincerely at Mu-ryeong, who ran out of the classroom. If Kim Mu-ryeong was like that, he should be careful, he thought inwardly.

And the next day, Seung-ju didn’t come to school.

* * *

The classroom was filled with noise. There were chattering voices, bustling footsteps, the sound of opening and closing doors, and the occasional sound of chairs being dragged. As it was just before the start of class, there were several students rushing into the classroom in a hurry.

Amid all the commotion, Mu-ryeong was anxiously tapping away on his phone with a worried look on his face. Unlike usual, Seung-ju, who should have arrived earlier than Mu-ryeong, was nowhere to be seen, making him close to being late.

“Mu-ryeong! Why isn’t Seo Seung-ju coming?”

“Yeah. I don’t know about Kim Mu-ryeong, but Seo Seung-ju never comes late.”

“Did you guys not come together today?”

After one person asked the first question, a series of confused questions continued. Mu-ryeong shook his head in confusion and narrowed his eyes. His gentle impression had almost changed into a dejected-looking one.

“I don’t know. I can’t get in touch with him.”

This morning, Mu-ryeong came to the school feeling very refreshed for the first time in a while. He had slept deeply in his soft bed after staying up for several nights. A good night’s sleep was usually enough for a spiritualist who handled spiritual energy to recover from fatigue, as they recovered their energy quickly.

Moreover, the discomfort that had been bothering Seolgi also disappeared completely as she fully expelled what she had eaten. It was a doll’s eye that she had swallowed after biting and chewing on her favourite doll. Yesterday, Mu-ryeong rushed to the local vet with Seolgi in his arms and was told by the doctor that there was no problem with her health and to wait for her bowel movements.

After returning home, Mu-ryeong moved the doll with the eye to a place that Seolgi couldn’t reach. He had no choice but to remove the decorations from the doll that she liked so much. While looking at Seolgi’s whimpering, Mu-ryeong felt sorry and hugged her for a long time, saying he was sorry.

However, the problem was that Seung-ju, who shouldn’t have had any issues, did not show up to school. No matter how many times Mu-ryeong called, he only heard the machine noise that the call could not be connected. The message he sent a while ago was also not getting a response.

‘Seriously, what’s going on?’

Another person might have thought it was just oversleeping, but Seung-ju was the type to wake up at the crack of dawn even without an alarm. Unlike Mu-ryeong, who was so sleepy that he wouldn’t wake up even if there was thunder, he was diligent, too. He hardly ever missed school, even when he was sick enough to warrant skipping it.

Mu-ryeong chewed on his lower lip anxiously as he looked at the empty seat next to him. As he gnawed with his front teeth, he remembered what had happened yesterday—the strange energy he had felt from Seung-ju when he woke up after sleeping for a while.

‘What did you touch?’

It was an aura. A spiritual energy that could be felt in other people or objects. It was a high-dimensional one that only someone with abilities like Mu-ryeong could feel.

Actually, Mu-ryeong knew who the owner of the aura was. The clear and pure energy was something he had only seen in one person throughout his life as an exorcist. Although the person didn’t seem to be an exorcist, anyway…

‘But it didn’t seem dangerous…’

Basically, having spiritual energy meant that one’s soul was that much more pure. In other words, it meant that evil spirits were more likely to be attracted to them and that they were always exposed to danger. The stronger the spiritual energy and the purer the soul, the greater the likelihood of becoming prey to the dead.

However, even ghosts that had not attained enlightenment were capable of superficial thinking. If they sensed a certain degree of danger, their survival instinct would kick in, and they would not hesitate to flee.

This was why strong exorcists like Mu-ryeong were never plagued by evil spirits. They could manipulate their spiritual energy and use it as a tool for their spiritual power.

In that context, Seung-ju had not only failed to develop any basic level of spiritual energy but also lacked spiritual eyes. Even if a strong spiritual energy had stuck to Seung-ju, there was no stupid evil spirit who could mistake Seung-ju for having any spiritual energy. If that was the only reason for him to become endangered, he would have lost his life the moment he became friends with Mu-ryeong.

“Damn it… I hope he’s okay.”

Mu-ryeong tried to shake off his worries and put his phone in his pocket. He got worried about little things, as Seung-ju usually said. Maybe Seung-ju had just overslept. He tried to suppress his unease with that thought.

Then the front door opened with a thud, and the homeroom teacher came in to start the morning class. He erased the name “Seo Seung-ju” under “Latecomers” on the board and stood in front of the class, looking through the students.

“Seung-ju got into a traffic accident and won’t be able to come to school today. It wasn’t a big accident, though, so don’t worry too much, and be careful when you come to school.”