On the way back from President Kim Manchun’s mansion.
Male Shaman Choi Janggun sat deep in the back seat of a taxi and made a phone call.
“This is Male Shaman Choi Janggun. The payment I mentioned is fully prepared as of today. How about we meet tomorrow and discuss things?”
Choi Janggun hung up the phone with satisfaction and closed his eyes.
His mind drifted back to his childhood.
- Son, this is now your mother’s building. Named after you—Janggun Building. What do you think?
- Mom, does that mean I’m a building owner’s son now?
- Yes, so you don’t need to become something like a shaman. Earn your money properly through passive income!
‘Mother…’
Tears welled up in the eyes of Choi Janggun, who never bowed his attitude even to big spenders.
How many years had it taken to reclaim the building after his mother passed away?
Just then, the taxi arrived at its destination and stopped.
Choi Janggun paid 20,000 won in cash.
“Sir, that 20,000 won is…”
“Keep the change, driver. I’m in a very good mood today.”
“No, sir, the fare is 25,300 won, so it’s short.”
Having lost most of his eyesight, many things were inconvenient.
Still, the way home was clear even without sight.
Because it was a road he’d walked for years, the locations of sidewalk blocks and railings unfolded in his mind like a movie screening even with his eyes closed.
That was why Choi Janggun knew the moment he grabbed the door handle of his shrine.
That someone had touched this handle.
‘Someone’s inside?’
He listened carefully.
Then he heard murmuring voices from inside the shrine.
Customers waiting for fortune readings or divination?
No. For customers, their spiritual energy was far too fierce.
Wondering if they might be spirits or ghosts, Choi Janggun pulled out the bell from his waist.
Not a single sound came from it.
They don’t seem to be ghosts.
Then what are they?
This fierce energy was just like that of wild beasts.
Then how do you explain these conversations?
- Korean Peninsula-nim, is it true that the Nguyen Witch is dead?
- Eh, that’s gotta be bullshit. Who could kill that magician? Just from her, we’ve already lost two blue tags because of her.
A woman’s voice and a man’s voice.
Given the content of their conversation, they weren’t ordinary customers, probably…
Flutter-.
Choi Janggun reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a talisman.
A talisman made from the remains of those abandoned and aborted by their mothers.
Three, two, one-.
Choi Janggun counted in his mind, then threw open the door and launched the talisman.
Thwack, thwack-.
He heard the talismans stick.
But what followed was an unexpected burst of laughter.
“Wow, Korean Peninsula-nim, did you see that? I got hit by the talisman!”
“Stop laughing. This is a seriously dangerous talisman. It’s an unborn spirit talisman. What kind of person throws something like this at people?”
“People? Are you two people? How did you survive being hit by that talisman…”
“That’s thanks to cooking foil. Originals don’t use this stuff much, so you wouldn’t know, right? This works really well when fighting against Five-Clan folks like you.”
Choi Janggun struggled to widen his blurry vision.
Two blurry figures appeared in his sight.
Thud, thud, thud-.
They approached Choi Janggun.
Among them, the smaller one lunged at him.
“Die, you fucking shaman bastard!!!”
Something sharp pierced through Choi Janggun’s chest.
Thunk, thunk thunk- repeatedly.
Thunk thunk-.
Thunk.
“Stop. Stop. Stop!”
The man grabbed the woman’s arm to halt her.
Because the opponent was already dead, and only the woman’s hand holding the knife was getting hurt.
“Ah…haa…I’m sorry. I…hate shamans. When I was little…my mom…said I had to have a shaman ritual to not see ghosts, and she kept touching my chest and…stuck her hand inside my panties…ugh, uuueeek…”
The woman took off her mask and vomited on the floor.
The carelessly thrown mask rolled across the ground with a clatter, its shape resembling the face of some beast.
“That bastard! Son of a bitch!”
Not yet satisfied, the woman kicked the dead shaman’s corpse several times before plopping down, panting heavily.
She seemed less calmed down and more drained of energy.
Only then did the woman see what she had done.
“Korean Peninsula-nim, I…I killed a person.”
“Ah, is this your first time? But look closely. If you look carefully, what we killed isn’t a person.”
“It’s not a person?”
Look closely-.
At those words, the woman stared at the corpse.
She couldn’t understand at all what it meant that ‘that thing’ wasn’t human.
The man took the kitchen knife from the dazed woman’s hand and sliced open the dead man’s wrist.
Slice, slice slice slice, slice-.
The woman watched with curiosity.
“Why the hand?”
“We need this part too for the task to be complete. Ah, this is pretty hard. The Five-Clan Eliminator made it look so easy. Okay, done.”
The man handed the severed wrist to the woman.
“Here, with this, the mission to kill a Five-Clan member is complete. Lady Ganadara Magician, you’re now a proper blue tag too. Let’s both survive the next year well. It seems there’s some kind of reward.”
“Reward? There’s a reward?”
“Yes. You thought the moderators deleted poop pictures and cursed pictures for free? They do it because there’s a reward. Other galleries are probably the same.”
Reward-.
At that word, the woman’s mood lifted.
Suddenly, she looked at the wrist clenched in her hand.
But now that she looked at it, it really didn’t seem human.
Five fingers.
Those joints, caked in blood and hard to make out, were like-.
“-Ah. I get it. This is a monkey, right?”
“Right?”
“Ah…monkey! So that’s why we’re the Monkey Gallery! Wow!”
It felt like a part of her mind burst open.
Feeling as if she had ascended to a new level, Ganadara Magician’s mood soared.
She felt like she could do anything right now.
As she looked around in that strange heat, she found the man beside her incredibly dependable, and her face flushed hot.
“Um, Korean Peninsula-nim, what are you doing after this? My place is nearby…if you’re okay with it, maybe have a bowl of ramen before you go…”
“Ah, I don’t have sex with female magicians. I’d rather not become a Juice Magician.”
“…Huh?”
“You know. This industry is pretty harsh on men. Please understand.”
“Ah…that…I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant literally just ramen…ah…”
Ganadara Magician was so embarrassed at being rejected that she wanted to die.
So, to also hide her flushed face, she picked up the mask that had fallen and quickly covered her face.
The silence was piercing.
So she decided to say anything at all.
“Gy…Gyeryusan Mountain!”
“Gyeryusan Mountain?”
“Ha…have you heard about it, Korean Peninsula-nim? That rumor. The story about the wine cellar on Gyeryusan Mountain.”
“Ah, the rumor that there’s a ‘demon’ on Gyeryusan Mountain?”
“Yes, do you think it’s real?”
“Of course it’s a lie. A demon, of all things. If something like that really existed, those suits would already be in an uproar.”
“Still, there must be something there, right? Even the Nguyen Witch avoided Gyeryusan Mountain.”
“Anyway, Lady Ganadara, take a look at this. The shaman bastard seems to have left a dying message before he died. What do you think this is?”
Ganadara Magician looked at the blood smear scrawled on the floor.
To her, it looked like…
“…I’m not sure. Looks like some kind of shooting star.”
A shooting star.
They couldn’t know what it meant.
#
“Mage Ha Yuseong, appearing.”
I said it for no reason as I got off the bus.
It was a line I’d wanted to say at least once ever since I became a mage.
Now that I actually said it, it was more thrilling than I expected.
My excitement exploded even more as I gazed at the noble silhouette of Gyeryusan Mountain standing under the sweltering summer sky.
Having to hike a mountain in this heat.
Because today’s meeting place, the «Gyeryusan Bacchus Winery», was located halfway up the mountain.
If I had a car, I could get to the midpoint easily.
Unfortunately, I only had a license, no car.
‘I’ll buy a car first once I earn a bunch of money doing mage work.’
I climbed the mountain with those thoughts.
My heart pounded the whole way up.
The «Monkey’s Paw Site».
The wish I had entered there.
-What I desire most from the depths of my heart-.
Because of that, I ended up calling a mysterious stranger.
And I came to meet that person.
Was that person what I desired?
Or the things that would unfold because of them?
As I climbed the mountain with such nervousness, a problem arose.
“…Hieek…hieek…”
Boribori, who had always followed along at my heels, gave out midway.
The scorching summer weather.
The rugged mountain trail.
Boribori, wearing a worn-out winter padding.
Honestly, it was only natural she’d give out.
What should I do? I felt at a loss.
Should I leave Boribori behind?
As I thought about it, I suddenly felt something amusing.
I realized I’d been taking Boribori following me around for granted, though I couldn’t say since when.
Honestly, I didn’t know who Boribori was or what her true identity was.
I only vaguely guessed she was a demon.
But Boribori differed from the ‘demon’ I’d think of in common sense.
She never demanded sacrifices, never wished for my misfortune, she just existed.
“That’s why I told you to take off that padding. Get on my back.”
I offered my back to Boribori.
Honestly, even I was half-doubtful as I said it.
Because Boribori was the kind of creature that would follow me around at a trot, but keep her distance the moment I reached out my hand.
Like a wild animal that wouldn’t be tamed?
But in this sweltering mountain hike, it seemed Boribori had no choice but to swallow her pride and surrender.
Swoosh-.
Boribori climbed onto my back.
A subtle weight.
Memories of carrying my little sister on my back surfaced.
I carried Boribori up the mountain like that- and something strange happened.
The older men and grandmothers coming down kept trying to bump into me.
Was shoulder-checking hikers some kind of trend?
Like the ‘Butsukari’ that’s done to tourists in Japan?
Some people even bumped into me and fell over.
“Oh, I’m sorry. The cliff’s right beside me, so I had nowhere to dodge…”
“Ouch, what is this? Is there a loose rock?”
“…Huh?”
“Ugh, what is this. I tripped over something. I almost got hurt badly.”
The old man picked up his hiking stick and headed back down the trail as if nothing had happened.
Only then did I fully understand the situation.
‘Is it that people…can’t see me?’
In other words, it felt like I’d become an invisible man.
Just in case, I shouted loudly right into a passing grandmother’s ear.
“Gyeryusan Mountain yahoo! Welcome to my Gyeryusan Mountain! Now I shall stand at the summit!”
It was the kind of noise pollution that would normally make people stare and point.
Even I thought it was an embarrassing line-.
“Ugh, why are there so many grasshoppers around?”
“They’re not grasshoppers, they’re brown katydids! These things bite people, so watch out!”
No one paid me any attention.
They acted as if they couldn’t see me, couldn’t hear me.
In that moment, I realized it clearly.
I hadn’t become invisible.
Even an invisible man wouldn’t have his voice unheard.
Then what the hell is this?
What kind of state am I in right now-.
As I was lost in thought, a large banner and a parking lot came into view ahead of me.
«Gyeryusan Bacchus Winery Summer Brewing Experience Now Open!»
«Female groups, couples, and married pairs all welcome!»