episode_0083
by fnovelpiaI know there was something in the water. But the important thing was to find out what it was. Depending on whether the opponent is a ghost or a monster, the way to deal with it varies considerably.
Could it be that the thing that killed the man in the water was a monster like a kappa?
In that case, if you prepare for the ancestral rite and go there, you will end up in failure.
“What was in the water? Why do you think so?”
“I told you earlier. The lagoon was dragged underwater! There’s no way a person who falls into the water will just be dragged to death, right? I will die by swimming in place and sinking!”
Hyejin’s voice was filled with resentment, perhaps because she thought the eyewitness account was not believed.
I nodded before I could antagonize her.
“Hyejin, I completely understand your feelings. It must be frustrating because no one believes what they clearly saw.”
“… You know very well.”
“But I would like to hear a more specific story. We need more information to confirm that your party’s death was not just an accident. Have you ever witnessed anything else strange at the accident scene?”
“It’s strange?”
“For example… Did you see something suspicious in the water? It’s okay to say that you’ve seen something that doesn’t make sense in common sense. Please tell me anything.”
“Umm.”
Hyejin was lost in thought with a thoughtful expression on her face. I took out the notebook I had prepared in advance and prepared to write down her words. Maybe you don’t remember anything, so you don’t hear anything.
The silence lasted longer than expected.
He looked at Hyejin at the counter at the motel entrance and said.
“There’s nothing I can do if I can’t think of anything. Thanks for your time… .”
“Wait a minute!”
Hyejin, who hesitated, caught me.
“I’m not sure, but I think I’ve seen something strange.”
“If you see it, please tell me.”
“I saw it when I was so distracted, so I’m confused as to whether I really saw it. Still, I’ll tell you something first. When the lagoon was pulled into the water. I was shining a flashlight on the water at that time, right?”
It was referring to the moment the deceased was dragged into the water.
At that time, Hyejin said she saw something strange.
“… Should I say that there was a pitch black thing floating next to the lagoon? Anyway, I think there was something that looked like aquatic plants.”
“It looked like black aquatic weed?”
“Yes… . I’m not sure because I haven’t looked at this closely.”
Black aquatic plants were seen floating near the drowned person.
I wrote down any special details in my notebook. A deceased person who was dragged into the water, a person who tried to commit suicide but disappeared at some point, and finally, black aquatic plants.
“Reporter. This is all I saw.”
The coverage is over.
At that time, a middle-aged man with gray hair walked out from inside the motel.
The middle-aged man looked at me holding a notebook and asked Hyejin with a puzzled expression.
“Hyejin. Are you receiving customers?”
“You said you were a reporter who came to cover the story, not a guest.”
“Did you come because of Seokho? I thought you were a police officer again.”
Hyejin told me who the middle-aged man was.
“This is CEO Jaeho Park. At least he is someone who believes what I say.”
The middle-aged man was the owner of the Sunshine Motel.
I shook President Park Jae-ho’s hand first.
“Hello. This is Jinwoo Kim.”
“Nice to meet you! Where did you come from?”
“This is Joryeong Ilbo.”
“Ah… You work in a good place.”
President Park Jae-ho accepted the handshake.
“Reporter. Are you done with the coverage?”
“Just finished.”
“Thank you for the article. I think Hyejin saw something, but there isn’t any evidence. Seok-ho, he did one thing well at the store… .”
“Are you saying Mr. Choi Seok-ho worked here?”
“That’s right. Hyejin and I spent quite a long time together.”
I learned something new.
Choi Seok-ho, who drowned, was working as an employee at the Sunshine Motel.
It seemed like he and Hyejin were working in shifts.
“It’s unfortunate. Because my young friend left too early. If the article becomes famous, wouldn’t the police be able to investigate again?”
“That is quite possible. I will try my best.”
“Thank you.”
The reason Hyejin and CEO Jaeho Park treated me favorably was because they thought there was a separate cause for Seokho’s death.
Now that the reporting is over, I need to find a room at this motel.
Sarah and I needed a place to stay for the weekend.
“Boss. I’m planning to stay here until Monday morning. Do you have a good room? One more person in my group will be staying.”
“Is it a room for two? Then use number 306. I will especially reduce the fee.”
I paid at the counter and received the motel room key from Hyejin.
In addition, I received a zipper bag containing miscellaneous toiletries and cheap condoms as a service.
*
After some time, Sarah, who had gone to buy coffee, entered the motel lobby.
Sarah looked at me and smiled and shouted happily.
“Baby! You waited a long time, right?”
As soon as you see it, do you think it’s a dream?
Even though it’s a lover’s role, it seems like you’re absorbed in acting.
Sarah walked over and put cold canned coffee to my cheek.
“Ugh!”
I was startled when something cold touched my cheek.
Hyejin, who was sitting at the counter, looked at Sarah with a curious expression. A mixed-race woman with an exotic appearance entered the store, so even if she were a woman, it was worthy of attention.
I took the can of coffee and explained to Hyejin who Sarah was.
“This is a group. We will share a room.”
“Uh… So, the person who seems to be in that foreign model magazine is the reporter’s girlfriend?”
It was quite awkward trying to call my childhood friend my girlfriend.
However, it was a role that had already been decided.
I cleared my throat and nodded.
“Yes.”
“Wow… . You are talented! Does your girlfriend speak Korean well?”
“Good job. Sera, please say something.”
“Baby! Were you hanging out with another girl while I was gone??”
“Did you see it? You speak Korean well.”
A mixed-race beauty appeared out of nowhere, pretending to be his girlfriend, but Hye-jin did not raise her suspicions. This was because Sarah’s acting was very natural. It was just that I was unintentionally treated as a person with abilities.
“Let’s go.”
Sarah and I went up the stairs and entered room 306.
There was no longer any need to pretend to be lovers in the room.
How dare you make a joke earlier?
He frowned and questioned Sarah.
“Hey. Why are you putting a can of coffee in someone’s face? You were surprised.”
“I saw it in a drama. Isn’t it true that lovers joke around like that?”
“So, did you find it fun to play around with?”
An eye for an eye.
This includes:
Feeling a little embarrassed, I put the can of coffee I was holding to the back of Sarah’s neck.
The moment Sarah touched the cold canned coffee, she let out a ‘Hi!’ sound and was surprised.
It was fun to try it myself.
It’s fun to play with.
We drank coffee and talked about the incident.
“Jinwoo. Did you find out anything new while reporting?”
“There is. I’m not sure, but the witness saw black waterweed. When Choi Seok-ho fell into the water, something like aquatic plants were floating around.”
“What do you think that is?”
“I don’t think it’s a monster that lives near the water. If it was done by a monster like Kappa, there should have been traces of it being dragged on the body. Since they killed a person without leaving any trace, there is a high probability that they are spirits.”
“Probably so, right? I’m also concerned about people saying they saw aquatic plants. Speaking of black water plants floating on the water’s edge, there is a famous ghost story… .”
“A ghost story about a water ghost?”
“Yes, I mean Susalgwi.”
Water killing ghost.
It meant a ghost who died by drowning. Among the sightings of aquatic fish floating around the country, there were many stories about seeing particularly black aquatic plants. The story was that the hair of a sea turtle floating on the water was mistaken for an aquatic plant.
There was another clue that led us to think that its identity was a razorfish.
“You said there was someone who committed suicide before the accident?”
“Yes. But when the rescue team searched, no one committed suicide.”
“Isn’t this something like this? It’s not that there really was a person who committed suicide, but they were both possessed by a ghost. In order to drag you to shore, the squirrel ghost showed you an illusion.”
An unidentified person who committed suicide by jumping to his death.
It could be that the murderous spirit possessed Seok-ho and Hye-jin. Since ancient times, there have been many stories about Susalgwi using all kinds of tricks to lure people to the water. He disguised himself as a corpse standing in deep water and killed divers who came to rescue him, or he manipulated their minds and dragged them into the water.
It would make sense if the person who committed suicide was not a person but a ghost.
It was a bait for the murderer to attract the living.
Sarah listened to my reasoning and nodded.
“It makes sense to call it the actions of a criminal.”
“What should we do now? If you’re a ghost, it’s not like you can get rid of him by burning him.”
Susalgwi was different from the evil spirits we had exterminated so far. It was difficult to use methods of extermination by burning a body such as hair or trapping it in a temple. Because the place where the spirit of the beast was tied up was not a corpse or furniture, but a huge river.
There was no need to worry for long.
Sera told me how to hunt snails.
“Let’s ‘save the soul’.”
“Can you do that? Catching ghosts.”
“Of course you can. I learned it from my mom.”
Saving the soul.
It was a shamanic ritual to pull the soul of a drowned person out of the water. It was also a traditional ritual used by Korean people to ancestral rites. I heard that it is a ritual that is quite risky and difficult as it is dealing with a murderous spirit.
Retrieving souls is a ritual that is like fishing for ghosts.
Let me briefly explain how the ceremony takes place.
First, tie a bowl full of rice with a cotton cloth and throw it into the water. This bowl is called a soul bowl, and when placed in water, the soul of the drowned person enters the bowl. It’s like a fish biting a bait.
At this time, if the shaman and helpers pulled the cloth and brought the soul vessel to land, the ritual was successful. If the soul has been properly retrieved, hair or remains of the drowned person are surprisingly found in the bowl.
It was a good thing if Sarah could save the soul.
When dealing with a demon, I couldn’t think of a method that would be more effective than saving souls. There was an option to swim through the water and search for the remains of the sea turtles one by one, but that was too inefficient.
The place where the accident occurred was the Han River.
How can we find remains in that wide river?
It would be better to try saving souls.
“Jinwoo. I’ll go outside and prepare the items needed for the ceremony. You are resting.”
“When will you come?”
“It will probably take about three hours. The ritual can be done at night.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Sarah said she would get the shamanic supplies needed for the ritual from outside.
━━Squeak
Soon the sound of the door opening and closing was heard from the front door.
I didn’t look back, but it seemed like Sarah had left the room.
In the meantime, I rested in the motel room.
‘I’m left alone.’
I was left alone in the motel room.
Again, this means that the high school boy was left alone in the motel room.
Suddenly, the TV remote control came into my field of vision.
There was a red button on the remote control.
“… … .”
It was a button that said ‘Adult Broadcasting’.
If you press that button, a flesh-colored screen will turn on.
As with all motel TVs, there was at least one pornographic channel.
I held the remote control in my hand and swallowed.
‘You said it would take about three hours for Sarah to come back, right?’
Three hours.
It was enough time to enjoy something fun for a while.
“Hehe.”
I decided.
I tried to press the red button with my thumb.
It was right then.
“… … Jinwoo?”
A creepy voice came from behind me.
For some reason, Sarah, who I thought had gone out, was standing behind me.
“What! Didn’t you go out?”
“I didn’t go out.”
“Bah, I just heard the door!”
“I was going to leave, but I came in to have a drink of water.”
I heard the door close, but Sarah didn’t leave.
He just opened the door, closed it, and returned to his room.
I was so startled that I threw away the remote control I was holding.
But Sarah had already seen what button I was trying to press.
“Adult broadcast? Were you just trying to watch something sexy?”
Did you try to see something sexy?
Don’t ask questions knowingly.
“Uh, um, oh, ah, yeah.”
I was so embarrassed that my words came out in vain.
Sarah glanced at me and crossed her arms calmly.
“The lewd devil Jinwoo, Jinwoo. Does it make sense to start touching dirty things just because you’re left alone? I can’t do it. Don’t rest and come with me.”
“Okay, ma’am.”
“Who said you were madam? I’m your girlfriend now!”
“Let’s go, girlfriend. Let’s go.”
In the end, instead of resting, Sarah and I went outside to look for shamanic supplies.
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