Chapter 19: The reason it had to be that way(4)

“…Huh?”

As Yoo Dahyun reached out and brushed my bangs aside, the clubroom was instantly filled with silence.

Seeing what had been hidden behind my bangs, the two of them froze in place.

I let out a bitter smile at their reactions.

I guess it really does look a bit strange to others.

That’s why I’d always kept it hidden with my hair.

“Uh… could you move your hand?”

“Huh…? Oh, yeah…”

Well, now that they had seen it, I couldn’t exactly pretend it didn’t exist, so I asked her to move her hand, and Dahyun blankly pulled it back.

As she did, my bangs naturally fell back down over my face.

Once the hair covered my face again, I felt strangely at ease.

I’d lived like this for more than half my life—it just felt incomplete without it now.

“…What’s that on your forehead? A scar from when you were little or something?”

As I was thinking about it, Seon Yul, who was sitting in front of me, asked carefully.

Maybe she thought it might have come from something traumatic; she looked at me hesitantly as she asked.

I shook my head and replied.

“It’s not a scar, so don’t worry about it. It just looks like a mole. I’ve had it since I was born.”

I have a large mark on my forehead that’s been there since birth.

It’s uneven, running horizontally across my forehead, and the color is a pale white, like a scar that’s already healed—so people often mistake it for a scar.

But really, it’s just a birthmark.

From what I’ve read in books, it’s probably vitiligo—a condition where melanin in the skin decreases, leaving white patches.

I’m guessing that’s what mine is.

“You grew your bangs to hide it?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I figured it doesn’t look too great to others.”

That’s what I told Seon Yul when she asked why I kept my bangs long.

In truth, the original reason I started growing out my hair was because I got bullied as a kid.

Even though vitiligo isn’t contagious, rumors spread that people who played with me would catch it and end up with ugly white spots on their foreheads, just like mine.

That’s when I started growing my bangs to hide it.

But once I did, I found that it had its own advantages and I got used to it, so I’ve just kept the look ever since.

“W-what…? Seriously…? You’ve gone this whole time with your bangs down just to hide your forehead…?”

That’s when it happened.

I heard Yoo Dahyun muttering in disbelief beside me.

She stood dazed for a moment, then grabbed Seon Yul next to her, pointed at me, and whispered something.

“S-Seon Yul… is he even sane? Covering up that face just because of a mark? That’s ridiculous!”

“Whether it makes sense or not… how he looks is his own choice.”

“No, but what a waste of a face! It drives me crazy just looking at it! He says he didn’t have any friends?

What the hell…!

If he just lifted his bangs, girls would be lining up for him.

Ugh, I’m so mad!

If I had a face like that, someone should’ve made me show it off!”

After whispering something to Seon Yul, Dahyun suddenly stormed over to me, pointing her finger and shouting.

“Hey, Lee Hwijun!”

“Yeah?”

“You! Don’t wear your bangs like that anymore! From now on—wait, no, hang on…”

She had been shouting furiously at me, but suddenly stopped mid-sentence, as if something had just dawned on her.

She stared at me in silence, then abruptly turned red and stammered,

“Uh, never mind… actually, I think it’s better if you keep wearing your bangs like that… I-I think it suits you best. So, um, don’t lift your bangs in front of other girls anymore, okay? Just keep it like that. Got it?”

As she said that, Seon Yul gave a snort of laughter, sounding incredulous.

“Oh wow, a minute ago you were mad that he was covering up his face, and now this? What, you don’t want to share what you just discovered with others now? That’s shallow. So shallow.”

“Ugh…! W-what…! What did I do…!”

“Nothing, I just think it’s cute. That’s so you, Dahyun.”

“Ugh…?”

I didn’t really understand what they were talking about, but I responded to Dahyun, who’d just told me to keep my bangs down.

“Alright. I’ll keep it like this, just like you said.”

“O-okay…”

When I said that, Dahyun seemed pleased, blushing a little but also looking happy that I’d followed her advice.

***

After calling Lee Hwijun and Yoo Dahyun into the problem-solving clubroom and chatting for a while, Seon Yul finally started the real reason they were here: teaching Dahyun how to handle energy.

“Ugh, even if you say to feel the energy inside me, I don’t really get it… And sitting like this is kind of uncomfortable. Do I have to sit this way?”

“It’s normal to feel lost at first, so don’t be impatient. And get used to sitting cross-legged, even if it’s a little uncomfortable. It naturally helps the energy circulate in your body, so it’s the best position to sense it.”

Dahyun struggled with the first step of learning how to handle energy: sensing her own.

But Seon Yul didn’t mind at all.

That was perfectly normal.

Qi, inner energy, chakra, mana, spiritual power, sorcery energy—

Whatever name it went by, this kind of energy was a rare force that most people neither possessed nor needed to handle.

Even if someone was born with a lot of energy, like Dahyun, it was normal to struggle just to sense it at first.

‘Except for that guy, apparently.’

Seon Yul glanced over at Lee Hwijun.

Despite being a beginner like Dahyun, he not only sensed his own energy, he could already use it—completely abnormal.

Even she, who had been told countless times by her master that she was gifted, hadn’t been able to do that at first.

It was impossible to guess just how talented Hwijun really was.

And clearly, he had even learned to suppress his own energy, something Dahyun was just beginning to aim for.

So, this kind of training wasn’t necessary for him at all.

But Seon Yul didn’t bring him to the clubroom just as a bonus with Dahyun—she had her own reason for calling him there.

She walked over to Hwijun, who was sitting and watching Dahyun struggle in lotus position, and called out to him.

“Hey, transfer student. Look over here for a sec.”

“Huh?”

“Hi-yah.”

“?!”

As soon as Hwijun turned to look at her, Seon Yul suddenly flipped up the skirt she was wearing.

“KYAAA!! Seon Yul, what are you doing?!”

As she lifted her skirt in front of Hwijun, Dahyun screamed in shock after seeing what had just happened.

Hurriedly unfolding her legs from a lotus position and rushing over, she stood in front of Lee Hwijun, blocking his view.

With an expression of bewilderment, she shouted toward Na Seonyul.

“You… You’re not trying to seduce him, are you?! I mean, no matter what, this method is just wrong!”

Looking as if she was shouting to uphold some moral code even in competition, Yoo Dahyun’s appearance made Na Seonyul mutter while staring at her with pity.

“I get what you’re misunderstanding, but how about looking before you speak?”

“…Huh?”

At those words, Yoo Dahyun finally looked down and peeked inside the lifted hem of the skirt.

– Ping!

“Eek?!”

In that moment, a small fox with three tails popped out and landed squarely on Yoo Dahyun’s face.

– Hiss!

– Meow~

Along with the fox, a white snake and a black cat that had been nestled inside the skirt revealed themselves.

Seeing them, Yoo Dahyun hastily peeled the fox off her face and asked Na Seonyul,

“Wh-what are these?!”

“Spirits that follow me around. They’re drawn to yin energy, so they usually live in the shadows under my skirt.”

That’s why, to those with spiritual sight, looking under her skirt would only result in making eye contact with these spirits, just like now.

Showing them off, Na Seonyul explained to Yoo Dahyun,

“I only wanted to show these to Lee Hwijun.”

“Ah… I-I see… I thought maybe, since you saw his face, you suddenly got interested and…”

“Why would I do that to some guy I’ve only seen a couple of times…? I’m not some face-obsessed idiot like you.”

“F-face-obsessed?! I liked him even before I saw him… ugh…”

Feeling deeply embarrassed by her baseless assumption that Na Seonyul was a rival, Yoo Dahyun blushed bright red.

Watching her, Na Seonyul chuckled and asked,

“So, what do you think of these little guys?”

– Ping, ping!

“Huh…? They’re… cute?”

Looking at the three-tailed fox in her hand, Yoo Dahyun commented that it was cute.

Seeing this, Na Seonyul thought,

‘Hmm, Yoo Dahyun is still in the basic stage, after all.’

Spiritual sight, or the “eye that sees spirits,” is generally classified into three stages.

The most basic is Observation (觀測)—the stage where one can merely see spiritual beings and no more.

Considering that many spiritually sensitive people never even open their spiritual eye, the fact that Yoo Dahyun can see spirits puts her in a gifted category.

Still, she had a long way to go.

Because if she had reached the next stage, there’s no way she’d call that thing in her hand cute.

– Hmm, such a fragrant scent! I wonder what this female’s liver would taste like…

The second stage of spiritual sight is Discernment (觀察)—the stage of observing and understanding.

At this level, one can see through deceptions like the current fox spirit’s cute appearance, which is a disguise masking a sinister creature.

Na Seonyul, who had this level of sight, asked Lee Hwijun,

“What about you? What do you think of these things?”

To this, Lee Hwijun replied,

“…I don’t know exactly, but you must’ve had a rough time.”

Unlike Yoo Dahyun, he didn’t call them cute.

His answer told Na Seonyul something.

‘It’s certain… This guy’s natural ability is at least on par with mine.’

Just like her, who awakened to the discernment stage from the beginning, Lee Hwijun seemed to have that same level of sight—Na Seonyul could sense it from his answer.

Bringing Lee Hwijun here today had been precisely to confirm that.

At the very least, she was now sure he had a spiritual eye as powerful as hers.

And that might even mean he could be beyond that—at the final stage.

It was an absurd idea, but she couldn’t help thinking it, because…

‘Still, that time when he exorcised that vengeful spirit…’

“Yeah… You were really bitter about being pushed in front of that car and dying before you even had a chance to date a pretty girlfriend…”

During yesterday’s exorcism, she had vaguely heard Lee Hwijun mutter those words.

As if he knew the very reason behind the spirit’s grudge, he’d murmured those uncanny words.

So she couldn’t help but wonder—could he have reached the final level of spiritual sight?

The final stage: Penetration (觀徹), also known as Clairvoyance (天眼通)—the eye of heaven.

One who attains this level is said to be able to see through everything: a being’s past, future, karma, and even its consequences.

That’s how it’s described, though those who have reached that stage are so rare they exist only in legend.

But if Lee Hwijun had such eyes, or anything close to them…

‘…No, that’s going too far. He probably just guessed.’

Thinking back, she realized she’d jumped to conclusions.

It was practically impossible.

If Lee Hwijun did have that kind of sight, he would have gone insane by now.

A human simply couldn’t retain sanity with that level of perception.

Unless he had a mind as enlightened as a Buddha or a Bodhisattva…

‘That’s just not possible.’

Even someone as unusual as Lee Hwijun couldn’t be that extraordinary.

Na Seonyul chuckled softly and dismissed the thought as a fantasy.