episode_0009

“If you say you will become my wife, I will agree to it. Go sleep at my house.”

“Really?”

“It’s true. There is nothing to lose by following what my wife says.”

Erik Andersson.

Sarah was her father’s name. Although he was a foreigner from Sweden, Eric trusted his wife’s fortune telling. I found it somewhat strange that a foreign man would believe in instigation.

“Nothing to lose?”

“I’m a movie director. In the past, when I was working in Sweden, my wife looked after the store manager and gave me some advice. Things like who to use as actors and where to choose for filming. I have benefited quite a bit thanks to fortune telling.”

Eric was a famous film director in Sweden. He said that there were many instances where his wife’s help with the fortune telling helped the success of a movie. Eric also allowed me to stay at his house.

“Mom! This guy is destined to be my nobleman?”

“That’s right.”

Although Sarah was surprised, she seemed to believe her mother’s words.

Dear Cheoneul.

Does this mean that I will be someone who will help Sarah in her life in the future? I’m not sure how it helps. As with all fortune telling, I haven’t heard any specific predictions about the future.

I was able to sleep comfortably in the guest room that night.

When I woke up the next morning, Sarah’s mother truly treated me like a noblewoman.

“Jinwoo! Come quickly and eat breakfast.”

The moment I went to the kitchen to have breakfast, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

Even though it was morning, the table at Sarah’s house was full of delicious food.

“Wow… .”

Samgyetang, beef, steamed chicken, and many other side dishes and fruits.

It was such a luxurious morning that anyone would have mistaken it for a birthday party.

“It’s morning and there are so many delicious things to eat. Do you usually eat this much?”

“I don’t usually eat like this. When a nobleman comes home, you can’t send him away without treating him properly, right?”

Sarah’s mother woke up early in the morning and prepared breakfast for me.

Being treated like a nobleman was no joke.

“I will eat well.”

I sat at the table with Sarah’s family and ate a hearty breakfast. It was a satisfying meal because Sarah’s mother’s cooking skills were excellent. Honestly, it feels like a dream. I never thought I would be treated like a VIP like this when I thought my hiding place would be discovered and I would be kicked out.

After eating breakfast.

I was putting my shoes on at the front door to go home. Sarah’s mother spoke to me with a smile.

“Please come visit my house often from now on. I’ll make you something delicious again.”

“If you keep giving me things, I feel burdened.”

“Please don’t feel pressured and come.”

I received permission from Sarah’s mother to come to her house as I pleased. Out of courtesy, I tried to throw it away because it felt burdensome, but in reality, I was the only one who welcomed it. For me, this shaman’s house was a big mystery. As someone who loves mysteries, there was no way I could have resisted going to a shaman’s house.

So, whenever I had the chance, I often went to Sarah’s house.

“Sera, I’m here!”

“Are you here again?”

“They said I could come, so I came. What movie should we watch today?”

“Choose what you want to see.”

Sarah didn’t seem to particularly dislike me coming. Although she pretended to be indifferent, Sarah was happy when she watched a movie with me. I guess I needed a friend to watch movies with at home instead of my busy parents.

But we weren’t always just having fun.

One day, when I went home to visit, I saw Sarah laying out straw in the yard and doing strange things.

I asked Sarah what she was doing with the straw.

“What are you doing now?”

“Practice to make Jewoong.”

Sarah was making human-like dolls by twisting straw.

At first glance, you might mistake it for making a curse doll, but since I had heard of it, I knew what the doll was.

“Ah, is that Jewoong? You use it to ward off evil, right? A doll that solders clothes by dressing them in human clothes and burning them.”

“I know it well.”

Jewoong.

It was a soldering doll used as a magic tool in Korea. It is a doll that is mainly dressed up as a human and used to ward off evil or curses.

“Why are you making Jewoong? Do you want mom to make it?”

“I’m practicing, not because my mom told me to. Because I, like my mother, will receive divine blessings and become a shaman someday. They are accumulating practice by making magic tools in advance or memorizing scriptures. I learned everything from my mom.”

Sarah was practicing as a shaman. Even though I was looking at him, Sarah just made a gesture without saying a word. But just by looking at it, I became interested and wanted to make Jewoong.

“Can I make Jewoong?”

“You?”

Sera looked at me for a moment and gave me permission to make Jewoong.

“Well, maybe try making it once.”

I sat down next to Sarah and started making a straw doll. By moving my hands while looking sideways at Sarah’s hand movements, I was able to create a doll that was roughly shaped like a person. The head was made and tied with straw, then the limbs were made and tied with straw.

“For the first time, you make it well.”

Sarah, who had finished making Jewoong next to me, looked at me with an interested expression. Jewoong, whom Sarah created, was a female doll wearing a straw skirt. Unlike Sarah, I made a male doll.

In the yard, a male doll and a female doll created by Sarah and I were born. I was happy because I felt proud when I saw the matching dolls. We played with dolls in the yard for a while.

*

It was after the doll play was over.

I wanted to take Jewoong home, but Sarah said no.

“Can’t I take the doll home?”

“No. The rule is that if Jeung is not used for ritual purposes, it should be burned and disposed of.”

“What? Are you going to burn it? It’s a waste.”

Sera said that the Jewoong that had been created should be burned on the spot.

It felt like a waste, but Sarah was adamant.

“Ghosts tend to attach themselves to dolls that resemble people. This is especially true because Jewoong is used to ward off evil. If you leave it alone, ghosts can attach to it and turn it into a cursed doll. Do you want to take the cursed doll home?”

“Not really.”

Since I brought up the curse, I have nothing to say.

Sera put the pair of Jewoong down in the yard and prepared to burn them.

“I’ll bring matches from home.”

“Hey, wait a minute. The fire is here.”

It was when Sarah was about to bring matches from home.

I happened to have a fire-starting tool in my pocket.

I took out the lighter and showed it to Sarah.

“Because I have a lighter.”

“Huh? lighter… ?”

Zippo lighter plated with silver.

It was something I always carried with me. I showed it to them because they said I needed a fire, but Sarah looked at me and made a bewildered expression.

“No, it’s really a lighter, right? Jinwoo, are you spreading a cigarette?”

“I don’t smoke.”

How would a 10-year-old smoke?

“This is a gift from my father.”

“Who gives their son a lighter as a gift?”

“My father said that. They say it’s a good idea to always carry something that can light a fire.”

“What is that… ?”

The silver-plated Zippo lighter was a birthday present from my father.

My father gave me a Zippo lighter as a gift and told me to always carry it with me.

━Son, always carry that lighter with you.

━Isn’t it okay to play with fire?

━I’m not telling you to play with fire, Inseok. It’s a good idea to always carry something that can light a fire. Dad taught me that last time. A ghost might be trying to harm you. You’ll need fire then.

My father said that fire was needed to ward off ghosts.

My father’s words were trustworthy. Because my father was a person who was knowledgeable about the mysteries of this world. About half of what I know about mysteries I learned from my father.

“Father said that fire is needed to ward off ghosts. He said that burning a haunted object or corpse is the most efficient method of exorcism.”

“Of course, burning the traces of the dead is an exorcism, but… That kind of exorcism would only be used on terrible evil spirits, right?”

“A terrible evil spirit?”

“Among the ghosts, there is one that cannot communicate at all. No matter how you appease them, they are terrible demons who use evil to avoid attaining Buddhahood. The method used to forcefully exorcise evil spirits is what your father told you about.”

Burning the traces of the dead.

It was an exorcism that my father taught me. Sera nodded as if it was definitely the right exorcism method.

After hearing the story, Sarah looked at me with even more curiosity.

“I was curious about it from the first time I saw it. You can’t even see ghosts properly, so you know a lot of useless things, such as ghost gates. Did your father teach you all that?”

“I heard about half of it from my father.”

Sarah asked me with her eyes shining.

“What on earth does your father do?”

There was nothing that couldn’t be taught.

“He was a detective. And.”

Yes, I could teach anyone up to this point.

That his father was a detective.

It belongs to the Violent Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

However, from this point on, it was a story that could not be easily taught to anyone.

It would be okay to tell Sarah.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

“He secretly worked as an exorcist.”

An exorcist who solves cases that cannot occur according to common sense.

Saving innocent people and defeating evil.

Exorcism was my father’s secret business.