Wiiiing—.
Nothing is as annoying as a summer mosquito.
I wanted to swat it away with my hand, but my body felt heavy.
My consciousness felt like it was sinking into a deep ocean.
Was I having sleep paralysis?
The unpleasant sensation lasted only a moment—.
Fwish, fwish—.
Something tickled my face, and my mind snapped awake.
It’s morning.
The cold air from the air conditioner that had been running all night made me shiver.
I turned my head, and there was the Imp, Boribori, curled up in the corner, her tail stretched upward like an antenna, swaying side to side.
At the tip of her tail were dead mosquitoes, which Boribori casually flicked off with her hand.
I don’t think I need to wonder what it was that tickled my face to wake me up.
‘It wasn’t a dream after all!’
Honestly, up until last night, I’d secretly hoped Boribori might be some kind of hallucination.
But expectations usually betray you.
My morning was undeniable reality.
Reality… thinking that brought back what happened last night.
The Thai woman, Ming, who lived in the front house, had come to my place.
And Boribori, after drawing the sealing magic circle, had threatened her like a snarling dog and chased her off.
It was all real.
Splash, splash—.
I splashed cold water on my face to shake off the dazed feeling, then left the house.
Right then, the front house, unit 302, was wide open like a well-ripened clam, and at the entrance, the landlady was gripping her phone, talking to someone.
“Ah! I’m telling you! That crazy bitch left with the door wide open! She’s not answering her phone either! Ah, just hang up!”
What on earth could have happened—.
Maybe she sensed my presence, because the landlady spoke to me first.
“Yuseong, dear! You know the woman in the front house, Ming, right?”
“Uh… why?”
My heart sank.
The events from before flooded my mind, and tension coursed through my veins.
“It’s been days since rent was due and she won’t answer her calls! The door’s wide open too—where did she go? Do you think something happened to her?”
“…Like what?”
Drip, drip—.
Whether from the summer heat or the tension, cold sweat ran down my back.
However she interpreted my awkward demeanor, the landlady glanced around at the neighbors, leaned her head toward me, and spoke in a hushed tone.
“You know how that foreign girl kept bringing men over, right? And always different men too. Plenty of them were covered in tattoos. It wouldn’t be strange if something happened to her.”
“Ah….“
“In that regard, you never seem to bring women over—that’s great! So wholesome!”
“…That’s a compliment, right?”
“Of course!”
Does the landlady know?
That I brought something into my home that might not be a wholesome woman, but a ‘demon’?
And that it’s right behind me right now.
Anyway, the landlady went into unit 302, Ming’s place.
A foreign woman who lived a free-spirited life and then vanished after leaving her door open.
As the owner, she said she wanted to check things out in case some ‘incident’ had occurred.
Though it might also be that she’s looking for valuables in Ming’s house that could cover the overdue rent, in case Ming had skipped town in the middle of the night.
I went into Ming’s house along with the landlady.
Honestly, I also had a personal curiosity to see the blood-soaked house again.
Last night, unit 302 was a complete bloodbath.
I secretly wondered how the landlady would react when she saw it—.
Ming’s house was surprisingly clean.
Sure, it was a bit messy, but compared to that wreck of a house from yesterday, it was as clean as a palace.
No blood. No nauseating smell.
As if nothing had ever happened.
Only the traces of a young woman having lived there remained.
It all feels like a dream.
Ha, jeez.
As I was stepping out of unit 302.
The Imp, Boribori, who’d been walking a few steps behind me, spoke.
“Phi pob.”
Phi—what?
Come to think of it, she’d said that yesterday too.
What on earth does that mean?
After stopping by the convenience store, I turned on the computer.
Then I did a quick search for what Boribori had said.
「Phi Pob is a representative divine being in Thai folk belief and a deadly evil spirit. It frequently appears in horror films, and especially in the folk beliefs of Thailand’s Isan region, it is described as eating the raw flesh and organs of humans and animals.」
「The evil spirits in director Banjong Pisanthanakun’s film ‘The Medium’ are also a type of Phi Pob.」
—Yes, I’m from Isan. Have you heard of it? It’s famous for its food.
Ming’s voice that had tickled my ears last night overlapped.
The evil spirit of Thailand’s Isan region, Phi Pob.
“Boribori, is this the Phi Pob you were talking about?”
I looked at Boribori with the heart of an elementary school student who wants to check the answer key while solving a difficult problem.
But Boribori was just curled up in the corner, staring at me with those red eyes, full of wariness.
Ming, who had looked as ghastly as a ghost yesterday.
And the Thai ghost, ‘Phi Pob.’
Would it be too much of a stretch to connect the two based on the word that came out of Boribori’s mouth?
If you’d asked me a few days ago, I would’ve said ghosts don’t exist—but.
Fwish, fwish—.
Boribori is probably a demon.
If demons exist, then ghosts must too!
Let’s be honest.
I was targeted by a Thai evil spirit last night!
Why would an evil spirit target me?
—Finally, I can suck on some egg yolk.
Come to think of it, she’d also said something about sucking my egg yolk.
Where would I have an egg yolk? Probably meant eating my soul or organs.
Tap, tap—. So I searched again.
That’s when Thai slang came up.
「To eat the egg yolk : A macho expression. Used when a man takes a woman’s first experience, etc.」
“…Ugh, huh?”
What the hell is this now.
Thai slang used when a man takes a woman.
Why would Phi Pob Ming say that to me… and wasn’t Ming a woman… wait, what is Thailand famous for….
Ugh, damn it!
Suddenly, chills ran through my entire body, and cold air seeped into my very bones.
Beep—.
It wasn’t until a few minutes after turning off the air conditioner that the chills finally subsided.
Once I calmed down a bit, I finally understood the situation.
I had nearly been attacked in various ways by an evil spirit from abroad, and I’d managed to survive somehow.
And that it was probably that ‘Boribori’ who had helped me.
# # #
Demons, ghosts—honestly, I thought they were all made-up stories.
But before I could deny it, the ‘Imp Boribori’ was clearly right there.
I grilled the last of the chuck flap in the fridge on a frying pan, and she ate it with great relish.
I can see her. She exists right in front of me, so there was no room for believing or not believing.
Whether I deny it or accept it.
The fact that she exists doesn’t change.
Just like how pheasants can bury their heads in the ground when startled by gunfire, but the hunter doesn’t disappear.
Everything was clear.
That my ‘everyday life’ had completely changed.
Honestly, it gave me the creeps.
Thump, thump, thump—.
My heart was pounding wildly, like someone who’d just run a few laps around the neighborhood.
Scary, and bizarre, and somehow thrilling.
I’d say I’m excited!
A ghost! A demon!
These past few days, no, these past few months, I’d been lounging around at home feeling worthless.
But right now, I feel more special than anyone.
So what do I do now?
I thought about what I could do in this situation.
Then the sealing magic circle came to mind.
“Right!”
I walked over to the screen door.
Because I remembered drawing the magic circle there.
Buzzzz—.
But the magic circle I’d drawn was nowhere to be found, and mosquitoes were flying in and out freely.
Come to think of it, mosquitoes had been attacking my ears this morning too.
“What? Was I imagining it?”
Half tense, half expectant, I drew a small sealing magic circle on the white frame of the screen door.
The material was a water-based marker that wipes off easily.
Wiiiing—.
Then, the mosquitoes couldn’t get through the holes in the screen.
It worked.
And at this moment, I felt like I’d discovered the limits of this strange ‘magic.’
“Ah! It has a duration!”
Probably about half a day to a full day.
I’d need to run various experiments to figure out the more detailed effects, though.
For instance, just what exactly does ‘blockade’ block?
The magic circle drawn on the screen door blocked bugs like mosquitoes, but it didn’t seem to block the wind, since the breeze came through just fine.
If it rained, raindrops would probably slip right through the holes too.
What’s the standard and principle behind what it blocks?
It was fascinating, and curious, and I wanted to figure it out.
“Boribori, do you know any more drawings like that?”
I turned my head and asked Boribori.
But Boribori, who had finished eating, was curled up in the corner again, busy staring at me with wary eyes.
She barged into my house, ate the food I made for her, wears my clothes, and still looks at me with suspicion?
Downright ungrateful.
A demonic attitude!
That’s why she’s a demon!
A being that chased off even the Thai evil spirit Phi Pob with a snarl!
The subject of exorcism in movies and games!
But, that thing helped me last night.
That’s an undeniable fact.
And besides, getting close to anything always takes ‘time.’
Suddenly, I remembered Bori, the Border Collie mix I’d found in a box back in elementary school.
She was covered in conjunctivitis and all sorts of skin diseases.
「Surgery cost: 6,074,000 won」
To cover the hospital bills, my little sister and I had to spend all the New Year’s money we’d saved up.
Why would you pick up an abandoned dog and throw away all that money—.
Everyone had something to say about it.
That’s when Dad said it.
—Yuseong, good things always cost a lot of money.—
Good things cost money.
What you’re willing to pay for is a ‘good thing’….
“Money.”
「Balance: 114,000」
Ugh, this is a real problem.
Because of Boribori, food costs have doubled, and I barely have enough to cover the rent.
If I don’t pay the rent, the landlady might break into my place next time.
There was only one answer.
Earn money.
The more, the better.
Considering the bills I need to pay right away, it makes sense to find something with good daily pay to cover the urgent expenses, and then look for longer-term work.
More than I expected, anticipation rose within me.
If my bank account gets healthier, I’ll have room to learn more about this strange ‘magic,’ right?
Maybe I could use the magic I trained and learned to make even more money.
And with that money, learn even greater magic, make even more money—.
It’s a perpetual motion machine, complete.
‘Have I ever had my head spinning this fast before?’
It seems that becoming a ‘mage’ has made me smarter too.
After all, mages in games are usually intelligence INT characters.
I opened Hobak Market on my phone to look for short-term part-time work.
Since college, whenever I needed pocket money, I’d occasionally find work here.
「Please get rid of the bugs in my house😭 Hourly 10,000 won」
「Moving help, same-day pay, hourly negotiable」
Stuff like that.
But today, there were a lot of job posts in a format I’d never seen before.
[Urgent/Same-day pay] Overnight building security Twilight-Tier Daily 220,000.
Let’s attach doll eyes together ^^ Ritual Class welcome Hourly 12,000
Buying magician’s sap in bulk, 2030 welcome
The words inside the asterisks feel unfamiliar.
Twilight? Ritual Class? Magician’s sap?
While wondering what these words even meant, I clicked on one post as if possessed.