Chapter 14
014 – I Am an Army (3)
#There's a scary illustration!#
Though Korea's magical community was said to be unusually closed-off,
a Hohwan-class magician could easily make 100 million won a year.
For someone like Shaman Choi Jang-gun, with big clients booking appointments to see him, the income was more than double that.
That was how he’d been able to take on a job from Kim Man-chun, a famous name in the food-service industry.
The fee for this job was a whopping four large bills.
It was an opportunity beyond compare for Choi Jang-gun, who was short on cash because he was trying to acquire a building.
‘The problem is that I have to share the table with them.’
Yoo Ga-in and Jo Se-na.
The arrival of two people with considerable skill had put Choi Jang-gun on edge.
The fee for resolving this case was generous, but it might not be enough to split three ways.
But.
Choi Jang-gun soon changed his mind.
‘That snot-nosed brat Yoo Ga-in doesn’t look like he came here out of greed for money.’
According to Choi Jang-gun’s information network, Yoo Ga-in wasn’t the sort of person who would care about the fee for this job.
In fact, he’d said he was taking part because of his connection with Kim Man-chun, not for the money.
Which meant he might readily turn down his share of the fee.
What about Jo Se-na, then?
Just looking at her, he could tell she was the sort who ran a business.
For someone like that to go after money was as natural as a magpie snatching grain outside a mill.
‘Do I have to split it with that sly vixen?’
Ssshhhh—.
As he walked through the cold underground meat-storage room, Choi Jang-gun quickly turned the matter over in his head.
Then he reached a conclusion.
‘No, that little fox doesn’t look like she came here just for the money. Women don’t go around doing all the legwork for cash.’
Since ancient times, the magical community had held women in higher regard.
It was because of the unique physical traits of female magicians.
That was why female magicians were often aloof, haughty, and prickly.
Someone like Jo Se-na was all the more likely to be that way.
A wealthy and talented female magician who ran her own business, with no apparent connection to Kim Man-chun, would lower herself to run around doing legwork just for the money?
There was only one answer.
‘That Jo Se-na must’ve heard somewhere that Young Master Yoo Ga-in would be taking this job! She came here to make a connection with him!’
Certain he was right, Choi Jang-gun snapped his fingers.
For Jo Se-na, who had come to build ties with a prestigious family, the money from this job was something she’d be fine with getting—or not getting.
That meant there was a good chance Choi Jang-gun could take most of the fee, or at least secure a large share.
But then a problem arose.
The transfer student showed up, wearing a tracksuit with aluminum foil sewn inside.
The very picture of a pathetic loser.
He looked like he’d sink his saliva-slicked teeth into the piece of meat Choi Jang-gun was eyeing and shake it around like a mad dog.
“Tsk. Kim Man-chun, you may be out of your mind with worry over your daughter, but how could you invite some stray dog with no credentials to sit at the table with us?”
Choi Jang-gun clicked his tongue and pursed his lips into a circle.
Then, when he whistled, the footprints visible beyond his sunglasses grew a little darker.
‘I’ll take care of this quickly and leave that stray with no chance to dare ask for a share of the fee.’
He was confident.
Choi Jang-gun was a shaman.
He’d resolved countless possession cases across Korea.
“Now, where are you? Whiiiiistle.”
Finding the spirit possessing the chairman’s daughter, talking it around, and soothing its soul and lingering resentment—
For Choi Jang-gun, it was an easier task than anything.
“Whiiiiistle.”
As Choi Jang-gun whistled, before him—
Between the pigs hanging from hooks and growing cold—
A woman with long hair came into view.
Choi Jang-gun took a rattle from his pants pocket, held it out in front of him, and shook it.
“If you’re human, speak. If you’re a ghost, stay just as you are!”
The rattle had no bell inside, so it made no sound.
But it was a ritual object that could ring under special circumstances.
Jingle, jingle—.
This time, it rang.
Aha.
This one was a spirit.
Kim Man-chun’s daughter, Kim Yeon-seo, and the ghost that had taken over her body!
It seemed he’d chosen the right direction to follow the footprints.
Thinking his luck was excellent, he raised his voice in a stern reprimand.
“Who are you!”
“I am…”
The woman’s long hair covered her entire face, making her so terrifying that he couldn’t even see her expression. She opened her mouth.
And the next moment—
“━─da.”
An unintelligible voice came out.
Choi Jang-gun sighed.
If what had possessed her was a ‘foreign spirit,’ the situation was different.
Korean spirits who wandered the world because of their han (恨) could often be dealt with easily by hearing them out and resolving the cause of their resentment,
but foreign entities were often filled with nothing but malice, and in those cases, many people got hurt or killed.
“Kim Man-chun did a good job keeping you locked up. If you’d been let loose like this, you’d have hurt a lot of people.”
Choi Jang-gun put away his rattle.
Then he pulled a talisman from the pouch at his waist and held it out in front of him.
“Let’s get this over with so I can go home.”
He’d written the talisman every day from the Hour of the Ox until the Hour of the Rabbit, grinding ink with dew gathered on peach branches.
Against a Dusk-class entity, it was a suppression talisman that could exorcise it without any special offering or ritual.
It would be more than enough.
“Aaaagh! Aaaagh!”
In fact, the minor spirit writhed in agony before the talisman paper, as if it were on fire.
Then at last, it collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
“Looks like I’ll be home before sunset.”
At the thought of getting home early, the corners of Choi Jang-gun’s mouth curled up.
But then something strange happened.
Jingle, jingle—.
The rattle, which shouldn’t have been able to ring, began to sound again.
Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle—.
It was shaking with unusual intensity.
“…What?”
Choi Jang-gun frowned at the bizarre situation.
Then, before him, tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—.
Countless footprints began appearing.
And from the woman who’d just collapsed—
“Aaaaagh! I’m so huuuungry!”
“Grrrrrrrr.”
“Meeeow.”
"¡Let's eat that guy!"
Animal cries and voices in several languages erupted all at once.
The footprints filled the entire floor around Choi Jang-gun, even covering the walls and ceiling.
“Th-this… th-this…”
Choi Jang-gun could no longer speak coherently.
He’d never seen anything like this in his life.
There was only one thing he knew for certain: this was no mere Dusk-class job.
With that thought, Choi Jang-gun screamed.
“Gyaaaah… D-don’t come inside meee!”
# # #
“Did anyone else just hear something like a scream?”
I asked about the sharp noise that had brushed past my ears.
Jo Se-na took her eyes off the strange machine and glared at me.
“I’m measuring entropy right now, so could you stop talking to me?”
“Oh, entropy? I know all about that. So what is it?”
“…Hah. Entropy is the degree of disorder. In places where paranormal phenomena or anomalies appear, the entropy reading shoots up and everything becomes chaotic.”
Entropy.
It was a word I’d never heard before, but I roughly understood the principle.
Whatever the details, she was using that radiation-detector-looking device to detect ghosts, right?
“But I can’t get a proper reading. Maybe it’s broken. Is it because it’s too cold here? Or maybe whatever’s in here is too much of a minor ghost for it to detect.”
The entropy meter was broken.
I wondered if it was because Bori-bori was hanging around us.
Bori-bori was an invisible demon.
‘Wait, but if there’s a demon here, shouldn’t the entropy reading shoot up…?’
If the device wasn’t broken, it seemed Bori-bori was an entity that didn’t affect that strange entropy meter, either.
So Bori-bori wasn’t just invisible.
Jo Se-na tapped the machine a few times, then shoved it into her handbag, apparently losing her temper.
“Ugh! I knew coming down the middle was a mistake! You were the one who started spouting nonsense about footprints in the middle, so I had to come with you!”
The footprints branched to the left and right, and also straight down the middle.
Of course, I seemed to be the only one who could see the ones leading down the middle.
“Then why didn’t you go right like you wanted to?”
“Ga-in said he’d go right, so he told me to come down the middle with you and keep an eye on you. I actually wanted to go with Ga-in.”
Apparently, Jo Se-na had wanted to stay with the handsome Yoo Ga-in from earlier.
Did she like him?
No, it felt more like she wanted something out of him.
I could tell at a glance because she had the same oily, ingratiating expression as Team Leader Jung, the head sommelier at the Michelin-starred restaurant where I’d worked, when he was serving VIP guests who dropped by from time to time.
“If you listen to him and help me wrap this up, you’ll make even a tiny connection with that guy. So it’s not really a loss for you, is it, Ms. Jo Se-na?”
I asked casually.
Jo Se-na’s mouth fell open in a blank stare.
“You look younger than me, so why are you sneaking in casual speech? You may not know this, but don’t go talking down to female magicians, okay?”
“Why?”
“Oh, you little—”
“...Ma’am?”
“Hah, honestly. Male magicians are worth next to nothing on the marriage market. Even if men have children, the odds of their kids inheriting magic are low. But female magicians always give birth to magicians.”
Really? Female magicians always gave birth to magicians—
Even though I was a beginner and a transfer student, I wasn’t stupid enough not to understand what that meant.
I looked at Ms. Jo Se-na, a little surprised.
A woman who was guaranteed to give birth to a magician.
That’s amazing!
Perhaps she was a little pleased by my expression, because Jo Se-na went on to tell me all sorts of things I hadn’t even asked about.
“When magicians have children who are magicians for generation after generation, building up a record of achievements and accomplishments, that becomes a magical lineage, and they’re called a ‘prestigious family.’”
“And Yoo Ga-in comes from one of those prestigious families?”
“That’s right! Do you know how long that family’s lineage has been passed down? Under normal circumstances, you, me, and that shaman Choi Jang-gun wouldn’t even be able to exchange a word—or even a glance—with him!”
“Wow, that guy’s really something.”
“That guy? Watch your mouth. Don’t try to act all friendly just so you can get something out of him.”
“Like you’re not trying to get something out of him yourself.”
“Oh, you little—!”
Jo Se-na scowled at me.
But what stopped me from saying anything more was that I sensed something was off.
“By the way, sis, isn’t this basement way too big?”
“Sis? You’ve got some nerve. But you’re right, it is huge. Abnormally so. The basement itself might’ve turned into some kind of bizarre space.”
“Like the basement of Dori Building?”
“Dori… You know that place? Well, if you know about it, I don’t need to explain any more.”
At that moment, I learned a little more about Jo Se-na.
She was grumpy and fussy, but she answered all my questions, and in the end, she stayed right by my side, even though I was a complete novice in this line of work.
Even if she was only doing it because she wanted to make a good impression on Yoo Ga-in, who’d asked her to accompany me.
She didn’t seem like a bad person.
So it was probably best for me to cooperate with her, too.
“Sis.”
“What?”
“From now on, do exactly as I say.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Whatever you do, don’t look up. Keep your eyes on the floor. The footprints I saw are climbing the wall and continuing across the ceiling.”
Jo Se-na’s face slowly stiffened.
Her head and gaze naturally lowered toward the floor.
“When I shout three, jump as hard as you can toward the spot behind me. One—”
Jo Se-na swallowed softly.
“Three!”
“Yah! You son of a━─!”
Jo Se-na leaped toward me with all her strength.
As she went crashing down, I pulled out the bottle of water I’d brought at my waist.