episode_0070

Some time has passed since Sarah and I entered high school.

It seems like only yesterday that I entered school, but the midterm exams are over and it’s already May.

May is good because there are many public holidays.

This month, Children’s Day and Buddha’s Birthday are both celebrated, so there are two days off.

For high school occult enthusiasts like me, holidays are precious.

Because I can legally skip school and go investigate mysterious cases.

May 4th.

Just one day before Children’s Day, I was taking classes at school, waiting for the freedom that would come tomorrow. May 5th this year falls on a Friday. What this means is that if you work hard today, you will be free from school for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

How could you not be excited?

The only problem was that the girl sitting next to me was acting strangely today. This is a mixed-race female student with foreign blood whom I know very well.

“Hmm… . Isn’t this the expression? Should I raise the corners of my mouth a little more?”

I heard Sarah muttering to herself from the seat next to me.

I slowly turned my gaze to look at Sarah. Sarah was behaving strangely while sitting at her desk. As for what was strange, I could only say that the behavior itself was strange.

Sarah stuck her thin fingers into both corners of her mouth and forcibly pushed them up. The eyes were not smiling at all, but the corners of the mouth were turned up, giving the appearance of smiling. With a forced smile fixed on her face, Sarah was continuously adjusting her expression while looking at the hand mirror on her desk.

Even though I kept adjusting my expression, a natural smile did not come out.

‘scared.’

It’s like the murderous smile that Batman’s villain Joker shows with his mouth torn open.

The Joker was showing off to my childhood friend Sarah. The atmosphere is extremely bizarre. I saw my classmates turning their heads when they saw Sarah’s smile. The day before a holiday that should have been exciting, the atmosphere in the classroom was tense.

“Why is he acting like that… .”

“Ho, aren’t you possessed by Joker’s ghost? You’re the daughter of a shaman!”

I could hear my classmates whispering. As a childhood friend, I was so embarrassed that I wanted to hide in a mouse hole. Why is it that Sarah is the one who commits misdeeds, but the shame is mine?

In fact, it was not long ago that Sarah started forcing a smile.

Before taking the midterm exam, Sarah had a brief encounter with a spirit. A fairy with an attractive smile stayed in Sarah’s body and then left. It was good that the communication ended safely, but after that, Sarah started acting strangely, forcing a smile every now and then.

Sarah was the one who forced a smile while looking in the hand mirror whenever she forgot something, whether at home or at school. Fifteen days had already passed since Hongryeon left, but Sarah had not stopped practicing her smile.

It was truly a murderous smile that made the hearts of those who saw it flutter.

I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I talked to Sarah.

“Strong!”

“Why?”

“Can you stop smiling like the Joker? Didn’t I tell you that I’m surprised every time I see you?”

“You’re practicing smiling brightly right now. I’m not finished practicing yet.”

Sarah removed her finger from the corner of her mouth and responded bluntly. The corners of her mouth, which had been raised as if they were about to tear, went down and her face returned to that of a pretty mixed-race female student.

What on earth does it mean to practice smiling?

Why do you need to practice smiling?

Isn’t it just a smile that comes out naturally when you’re in a good mood? I just can’t understand it.

Sarah looked at me in confusion and shrugged her shoulders.

“Jinwoo. Imagine that later I open a new church and work on it. At that time, when customers come to see the store manager, shouldn’t they be able to put on a business smile? This is all practice for the future.”

“Are you already practicing your business smile for your first year of high school? Isn’t it too fast?”

“The faster the better. Are you dissatisfied with my offer to practice?”

“No… If you’re going to practice, try doing it well. God often smiles with the same face.”

“What?!”

Suddenly, I remembered the time when Hongryeon was possessed in Sarah’s body. The smile Hongryun smiled at that time was so bright and warm that it seemed like it could melt ice. It was the first time in my life that I saw Sarah’s face smile brightly. Because it was Sarah who always smiled like a witch while saying ‘Ugh’.

“God? Are you talking about ‘that woman’?”

“Yes, Hongryeon.”

The woman.

Sera is the name Hongryeon is called.

“… … .”

When the story of Hongryeon was brought up, Sarah’s expression suddenly became cold.

what?

Did I say something wrong?

I feel like I stepped on a landmine.

Suddenly Sarah leaned towards me and spoke in a questioning tone.

“Why does she laugh so well? This is my face. I can smile better if I just practice.”

It seemed like it would be more bothersome if I kept talking more and more.

I need to stop touching it.

“Joe, okay. I won’t mess with you, so smile a lot. They say good luck comes when you smile. Smiling angel Sarah fighting.”

He raised his fist and cheered for Sarah in a soulless voice.

Then Sarah started ‘practicing smiling brightly’ again by pressing the corners of her mouth with her fingers. Even so, to other people, he was just smiling like the Joker.

It’s Sarah.

Please don’t dance down the stairs.

*

After school classes are over.

Sarah and I returned to Hyehwadang.

Now we are on holiday for 3 days. Since it’s a long holiday, it might be a good idea to make plans to go out with friends. But we didn’t really need to make any plans to go out and have fun. Because there was a case that needed to be investigated while I was on vacation.

When we arrived at Hyehwadang, Sarah took out a red invitation from inside the house. A lot of time had passed since we got that invitation, but we both remembered what it was about. The writing on the invitation was so strange that it was not easy to forget.

“Is there someone you want to curse?”

“We are planning to hold a curse auction this year. We sell curse tools. Anyone who receives this invitation can participate in the auction.”

It was an invitation announcing that a curse auction would be held. When I was hunting Chinese monsters in Chinatown the other day, I found them in their hideout.

We both thought it was fascinating to see that curse tools were being sold at auction.

It was an auction that someone crazy about money would think of.

I didn’t even know if this auction was really taking place or not, but finally I had a chance to see it with my own eyes. According to the invitation, the curse auction was held tomorrow. May 5th is Children’s Day.

It would be surprising if there were adults who habitually cursed or bought and sold things on Children’s Day.

“Jinwoo.”

Sarah, who was fiddling with the invitation, spoke to me.

“Are you going here tomorrow? The auction house. You asked me to go with you last time.”

“Of course I should go. If you think about it, this is our job.”

Our job was to solve supernatural phenomena involving ghosts and monsters.

Even if it is a curse, it is no exception.

“But what are you going to do if you actually go and see that the auction is actually taking place? Are you just going to look around?”

I know what you’re asking.

When we went to the auction house, we never decided specifically what to do. It looked interesting so I decided to give it a go. It seemed better to set a goal before setting off.

I gathered my thoughts and opened my mouth.

“No. You can’t just look around and then come back. The auction must be blocked. There are people buying and selling murder weapons, so we can’t just leave them alone, right?”

A curse could become a murder weapon.

However, if someone killed someone with a curse, they would not be arrested.

For example, let’s assume that a shaman commits murder by killing someone.

Are shamans punished by law?

The correct answer was ‘no’.

Because there were no laws punishing people who curse others.

For murder to be established, there had to be a physical causal relationship, not witchcraft.

The point was that a curse can be a secret murder tool that avoids the punishment of the law. If the transaction went smoothly at the auction house, there was no way to know what kind of terrible murder would occur.

“It would be better to dispose of all curse tools in the auction house.”

“Good. It’s better than just watching and coming back like a coward.”

Ultimately, our goal became to disrupt the curse auction.

If all curse tools were disposed of, murder cases could be prevented.

Sarah told me what to pay attention to.

“But you must not destroy the curse tool carelessly. You can’t burn it randomly like you do when exorcising ghosts. Some curse tools require special purification rituals when disposing of them.”

“What happens if you just smash it or burn it?”

“The person who tried to dispose of the curse tool may end up in danger. You know the story about the Dangsan tree, right? A story about how workers who tried to cut down a tree possessed by a ghost died as a group.”

It seemed that curse tools had to be handled with care when disposing of them.

There is something to be careful about at the auction house.

“Just don’t break it without thinking.”

“That’s right. Let’s get ready to go quickly.”

The curse auction was conducted anonymously.

Participants who received invitations had to dress up so that their identities would not be revealed.

“Sera. Have you decided what to wear tomorrow?”

“Wouldn’t it be okay to wear a thick coat and a mask? All you have to do is not show your face.”

“Is that so?”

It was when I was thinking about my outfit.

Sarah, who said she was going to wear a coat, clapped her hands as if a better idea suddenly occurred to her.

“No. Wear something other than a coat.”

“What is it?”

“Wearing a suit. If we wear a suit, won’t people think we’re office workers? You wouldn’t think of me as a high school student.”

“It’s okay.”

It was a good idea.

From our perspective, a suit was the perfect way to hide our identity.

You wouldn’t think of men and women walking around in suits as students.

We visited a clothing store and a department store that day and purchased suits and party masks.