episode_0046

Before Friday afternoon, we were able to prepare offerings to offer to Princess Hongryeon at Hyehwadang. These were the six representative offerings used as offerings in Buddhism.

Incense, lamps, flowers, fruits, tea, rice.

These were Buddhist-style offerings, referred to as six-dharma offerings. Since I don’t know what Princess Hongryeon’s tastes are, I prepared everything. Additionally, pork and beef were also stored in Hyehwadang’s refrigerator. At this level, we can say that we are ready to offer offerings to Princess Hongryeon whenever she comes.

“This is enough, right?”

“Enough. I spent some money preparing. If you are not satisfied with this, you are not a fairy, you are a villain.”

Sarah, who purchased the offering herself, said it cost some money. I didn’t buy it, so I didn’t know exactly how much it cost. However, even with a rough estimate, it seemed like more than 5 million won was spent preparing the offering. It could be said that the amount contained sufficient sincerity.

“Shall we go soon? I have to go meet the informant.”

“Let’s go.”

We left Hyehwadang with our suitcases containing our equipment. It was a suitcase containing a military knife, a lump of rock salt, and various other new knives. Additionally, I packed a bag of tonfa in my suitcase. Because it is a foldable tonpa, it is easy to carry in a bag.

“Are you taking the tonpa with you again? I guess you liked it when you used it last time?”

“It’s good to carry around. You can just use it like a club. It’s pretty good when used with Gunwoong’s knife.”

“Honestly, it’s amazing that you can use other weapons together with the Gunungknife. Normally, if you hold a weapon in both hands, it should be difficult to handle, right? How does picking up two weapons make you instantly stronger?”

“If you hold a weapon in both hands, it’s natural to become stronger.”

“It’s never taken for granted.”

Weapons increased from one to two.

So isn’t it natural to become stronger?

… … Of course it was a joke. To be honest, I thought I would make some mistakes until I directly fought a monster who worshiped a god. This is a mistake such as twisting your hands when using a weapon with both hands. But there was no problem. Rather, it honestly became stronger.

Maybe I have the talent to use weapons skillfully.

That’s what I thought.

We took a taxi from Seungcheon-gu and soon arrived at Soyeon-dong in Guro-gu. It was in front of the Blooming Cafe, which the informant had chosen as the meeting place.

The current time was 7pm sharp. It was the time we promised to meet. We went into the cafe. There were quite a few customers inside, but it wasn’t that difficult to find the informant. As soon as the store door opened, I saw a female student looking our way.

A female student with short hair wearing a school uniform.

The short-haired female student’s face was haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes and his face was pale. He looked somewhat anxious. Is that person the informant who posted on the mystery site? I approached the female student directly and called her by her nickname.

“Are you by any chance Cat Girl? A member who is active in Wonderland.”

The answer came immediately from the short-haired girl.

“Ma, that’s right. I am a cat girl. Are you Jin, whom I promised to meet today?”

“Yes. The nickname I use is Jin. I also replied to Catgirl’s post before. You remember me, right?”

“I remember. Since Jin is a person you often see on the site… . By the way, how old are you? What is the age of the person who came with you?”

“We are both 17 years old.”

“Wow… He was the same age as me. It’s fascinating.”

The short-haired girl looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.

“What’s so interesting?”

“No, when Jin is active on the site, his tone of speech is very harsh. You don’t use initials and you don’t use catchy words often. I thought I would at least be a college student. But when I met him in person, he was a high school student.”

“I’m a high school student. I can also show you my student ID.”

“There is no need to show it.”

Is it because the way I speak on the Internet is too stiff? The members of the mystery site thought I was a college student or something. The short-haired girl also thought I was older than her, but seemed surprised to see me in person.

The short-haired female student turned her head and looked at Sarah.

“But didn’t you say you would bring a shaman friend? Why are there foreigners?”

“This person is not a foreigner, but of mixed race. He’s a mixed race shaman. Sarah, please say something.”

“Meow.”

“Did you see it? Because we’re Korean, we say meow. If you are a foreigner, your crying sound will be different.”

“Ah… Yes.”

I tried to make a joke to lighten the mood, but the short-haired girl couldn’t laugh. He just nodded with a haggard face. I cleared my throat and told the short-haired girl my name.

“My name is Jinwoo Kim. This guy is strong.”

“I am Dajeong Yoon.”

“You seem very tired.”

“Because my brother was seriously injured… .”

The short-haired female student’s name was Da-jeong Yoon.

We ordered drinks from the waiter. When our drinks arrived, I chatted with Da-jeong while drinking Americano.

“Hey, you said you saw something strange before your brother attempted suicide, right? You said that what was reflected in the mirror was your front, not your back.”

“Yes, my brother was clearly standing with his back to the mirror. But I could see the front, not the back. I remember it clearly.”

Before the accident occurred, the image in the mirror was strangely formed.

This alone wasn’t enough of a clue.

“What is it that strange things have been happening in the neighborhood for a long time?”

“That’s right. It’s kind of awkward to say this, but… . There have been a lot of suicide accidents in this neighborhood for a long time. Self-harming at home, falling from a high floor, hanging yourself with a rope… . But do you know what’s strange? People who commit suicide in this neighborhood have something in common.”

“What do we have in common?”

There was silence for a moment.

Dajeong opened her mouth as she wrapped her hand around the coffee cup.

“When the body was found, everyone was laughing.”

The corpses were laughing?

It was a story that made no sense. If you committed suicide, you would have felt severe pain or experienced fear before you died. It was strange that so many people were dying and yet they were laughing.

“I have lived in this neighborhood for a long time, so I know it well. When I was young, I once saw a man who fell from an apartment and died. The man was bleeding profusely, but his face was smiling. I still remember what happened then.”

“You mean there are other corpses smiling like that?”

“Yes. It’s because people in the neighborhood are whispering that it’s a bad rumor. Similar accidents have happened more than ten times since long ago. I probably would have stayed quiet too if the accident hadn’t happened to my brother. Because my parents told me not to tell others… .”

Da-jeong’s expression, who was looking at the coffee cup, distorted.

Da-jeong seemed to be remembering the time when her brother had an accident.

“… … When I found my brother stabbed in the bathroom. My brother was smiling the same way. I laughed horribly while bleeding from my body. It was the same face as the dead body of the man I saw in the apartment when I was young.”

“Even my brother who almost died was smiling.”

“So, I have doubts. I don’t think this is just a suicidal accident. My brother was taken to the hospital and hasn’t woken up yet. It’s already been a week.”

Why did he laugh right before he died?

Da-jeong’s brother, the only survivor, might know the answer.

However, because he was unconscious, it was impossible to ask why.

Sarah asked Da-jeong next to me.

“Where is the place where your brother attempted suicide? Can we go see it ourselves?”

“It’s right in front of here. That’s Saetbyeol Villa over there.”

Dajeong pointed out the window of the cafe with her finger. A villa was built on the street where the cafe was. An accident occurred at that villa. Dajeong looked at us and opened her mouth.

“My brother was living in that villa. Because there’s no one at my house right now. I’ll let you take a look inside.”

“It’s nice because it’s nearby.”

“Because I called Jin to investigate the accident. I will help you as much as I can.”

“Let’s go together.”

We drank coffee and followed Dajeong out of the cafe. Perhaps because we met late in the afternoon, it was already dark. After a while, we arrived at the villa, opened the door to room 202 where the accident occurred, and went inside. Da-jeong knew the password to the door lock, so she was able to get inside.

“There are a lot of unusual things in the house.”

“There are also skull gourds.”

We looked around the inside of room 202. It could be said that it was an ordinary house, but there were many strange decorations inside the house. These were occult items such as paintings depicting skulls or pentagrams. On one wall hung a large antique mirror that only witches would use.

Dajeong, who came into the house with us, explained it to us.

“My brother is also a member of the mystery site like me. I bought a lot of those things with the money I earned from tutoring.”

“Ah, you were a member.”

Da-jeong’s older brother, who suffered an accident, was also a member of the mystery site. There were quite a few occult items in the house where I lived alone. Maybe there really was something in the house that was haunted.

The time has come to use the equipment.

I took out the EMF meter from my suitcase. When I pressed the button, a light on the EMF meter came on. If four or more lights come on, it means that there is a haunted object or ghost nearby.

“I’ll take a look around first.”

“Yes.”

We searched the house for a while. I checked every room, starting with the bathroom where the accident occurred. However, no matter where I looked, there was no EMF meter responding particularly well. The same thing happened when I brought the machine close to occult items.

“Sera. how about you? Do you feel something?”

“I can’t feel anything. I don’t think there’s anything suspicious in this house right now.”

I could only slightly smell the persistent bloody smell in the bathroom.

I checked the bathroom mirror and the antique mirror hanging on the living room wall, but the EMF meter did not respond.

So that means there are no ghosts in this house now.

The one who hurt Da-jeong’s brother has already left here.

“I think the person who tried to kill the person left this house?”

“Yes. You said there were many similar suicide incidents in this neighborhood. He fakes a suicide accident, kills someone, and then leaves home. Go to another house and kill another person.”

“Seeing as he faked suicide, he seems like a pretty clever guy.”

“I think I should take a look around the neighborhood. I need a clue.”

Time passed and it became late at night.

We finished the search and rested inside the house.

Dajeong, who was sitting in the living room, asked us.

“Have you found out anything?”

“Not yet. I’m going to walk around this neighborhood tomorrow. Can I stay overnight at this house?”

“Go to sleep. It’s my brother’s house, but… Anyway, since there is no one there right now, I can go to sleep.”

We decided to stay overnight at the house where the accident occurred.

It was already past midnight.