Chapter 24
Since entering this house today, Donghoon’s mother had not been visible.
Up until now, it had been Donghoon’s mother who was protecting Donghoon’s father…
I was about to swing open the bedroom door when I stopped.
This would be Kim Gi-jin’s first exorcism.
If Gi-jin was handling things properly, then going in now might only interfere.
And he would also feel hurt that I didn’t trust him.
I first knocked on the door carefully.
Knock, knock, knock.
I focused my senses inside the room, but heard nothing.
Lee Hae-mi also stood beside me with a worried expression.
“Do you think something happened?”
It hadn’t even been a minute since Kim Gi-jin went inside. It was unlikely something major had happened in such a short time.
I knocked again.
“Gi-jin. Are you okay? Can I come in?”
Still no response.
I tried the doorknob, but it was locked.
A very bad feeling rose in my chest.
“Gi-jin! Are you okay? Gi-jin!”
I began throwing my body against the door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I slammed harder and harder.
Finally, the lock broke and the door flew open.
The scene inside the room came into view.
“Hiiik!”
The red eyes screamed.
Lee Hae-mi covered her mouth with her hand.
On the bedroom bed, Donghoon’s father was lying there with a creepy grin on his face, and Kim Gi-jin was sitting beside him.
Kim Gi-jin’s eyes were unfocused, and he was drooling.
“Gi-jin, snap out of it. Kim Gi-jin!”
I grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
But he just kept grinning blankly, saliva dripping down.
“Hey, he’s fully caught. A shaman getting possessed during an exorcism? Pathetic.”
The red eyes clicked their tongue.
“Gi-jin!”
I kept shaking him, but it had no effect.
“Move aside!”
Lee Hae-mi spoke quietly from behind me.
But her voice was different. Deep, heavy—like a man’s.
She walked toward Kim Gi-jin.
Behind her stood a figure over two meters tall—a general from the Goryeo era.
It felt completely different from any spirit I had seen before.
“An actual divine spirit!”
The red eyes shouted.
Lee Hae-mi bowed in front of Kim Gi-jin.
Then she grabbed his right ear tightly and began slapping him hard across the face.
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
Even watching it made me flinch.
“I told you to pray properly!”
Smack!
“You were fooling around instead!”
Smack!
“You’re humiliating your own deity!”
Smack!
Each hit made Kim Gi-jin’s head snap to the side, but her grip on his ear kept him in place.
It was far too strong for her small body. It felt like a large, strong man was striking him.
Kim Gi-jin’s cheek quickly swelled red.
“Oof… that must really hurt,” even the red eyes shivered.
Then suddenly Kim Gi-jin shouted:
“I’m back! I’m back! Stop! Stop!”
His eyes finally regained focus.
When I scanned his aura, the dirty energy was rapidly disappearing.
Only then did Lee Hae-mi stop.
“Ow… that hurts so much!”
He held his cheek, tears welling up.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know… I was calling my spirit when some female ghost barged in first and took over…”
“What?! So you couldn’t even tell if it was your spirit or a malicious one?” the red eyes scoffed.
“So what now?” I asked.
Kim Gi-jin glanced at Lee Hae-mi.
“What should we do?”
“It’s not an ordinary spirit. It’s evil. We’ll need both my spirit and your spirit together,” she said.
“Ugh, fine,” Gi-jin nodded.
Then Donghoon’s father suddenly laughed.
“Do you think you can exorcise me?”
Even seeing shamans didn’t scare him. This wasn’t an ordinary spirit.
“Let’s begin,” Hae-mi said, ignoring him.
She stood at the head of the bed, while Gi-jin stood at the feet.
They both began chanting.
The words were not recognizable, but their auras expanded rapidly, spreading outward.
“Current…”
The red eyes whispered.
“Hm?”
“That idiot’s spirit has appeared.”
Behind Kim Gi-jin stood a massive divine being—similar in size to the one behind Hae-mi.
A goddess-like figure with long hair tied up, holding a fan.
“Don’t mock the spirit. You’ll get punished,” I warned.
“I’m not mocking the spirit. I’m mocking him,” the red eyes muttered, though they fell silent anyway.
The two continued chanting in a trance-like state.
Their auras wrapped around Donghoon’s father layer by layer.
Hours passed.
Both of them were drenched in sweat.
“They’re going to collapse at this rate…” even the red eyes sounded worried.
Then finally, something began to change.
Ghosts started leaving Donghoon’s father’s body one by one—dark smoke-like forms rising into the air.
A man in his 30s, a child around 7, a woman in her 50s… all ordinary wandering spirits.
One, two, three, four, five…
Until only one remained.
That one refused to leave.
“This is mine! Mine!”
Donghoon’s father’s body trembled violently.
But the divine spirits were far stronger.
Hae-mi grabbed his head while Gi-jin held his feet, both continuing the chant.
“Aaaah!”
His body convulsed violently.
Then I saw it—a hooked hand-like entity clinging to him.
A grotesque demon with black eyes, no whites, and a mouth stretched to its ears. Hundreds of tiny sharp teeth filled its mouth.
“Who are you?” Hae-mi asked in a divine voice.
—I am the spirit that dwells in all things.
“Hah! You dare call yourself a god?”
She swung a ritual blade through the air.
The man screamed, writhing violently as the demon was forcibly pulled out of his body.
“I have sinned… I didn’t know…”
The demon knelt in front of her.
“You lived as evil in life and continued harming people after death. Hell will judge you.”
—No! I was not acting on my own will!
“Then whose will was it?”
—There is an object in the shop… it drew me in…
“A cursed object?”
—I don’t know… I was pulled by its power…
“Who placed it there?”
—I don’t know…
It was as if everything had been caused by someone’s curse.
Hae-mi pressed further.
“You think you can escape judgment with excuses?”
—I’m sorry… please spare me…
“You already took a life. And the mother of that child too.”
—I only touched her… she was too weak…
“Where is that spirit now?”
—I don’t know… I drove her away…
“Enough.”
A thunderous sound echoed.
“Go to hell!”
The demon screamed and vanished.
Donghoon’s father collapsed, drenched in sweat.
“Sir!”
He slowly opened his eyes.
“Huh… Donghoon?!”
He looked around in confusion.
“Are you okay?”
“…Lawyer?”
He blinked.
“Who are these people?”
“They came to help you.”
“Thank you…”
He bowed deeply.
“By the way, there’s an object in your shop. Do you know anything about it?”
I relayed what the demon had said.
“…So that’s what caused everything,” he said weakly.
“I ran a fried chicken shop in Yangpyeong.”
Years ago, he and his wife had opened a small chicken restaurant.
Business went well for four years.
Then strange accidents began.
Delivery drivers got into crashes. Chicken that was properly cooked came out bloody and raw. Refunds became frequent.
Regular customers disappeared.
Then his wife fell ill.
She occasionally acted strange, losing her mind, and one day she took pills and died while he was late from work.
After that, his memory began to fade.
Sometimes he was frying chicken, and suddenly he would find himself screaming in the house.
Sometimes he was talking to Donghoon, and the next moment he was asleep in bed.
Recently, he had more lost time than remembered time.
“How terrifying it must have been for Donghoon…”
He broke down crying.
“…How pitiful. He’s a good man,” even the red eyes softened.
“Let’s go to the chicken shop first,” I said.
Everyone nodded.
Donghoon’s father, Kim Gi-jin, Lee Hae-mi, myself—and even the red eyes—we headed to the chicken shop.
