episode_0086

What’s strange about water plants floating in the river?

It might not be strange.

It is a wide Han River, and there may be aquatic plants floating in it, or there may be garbage thrown away by citizens or ducks floating in it. But the problem was the direction in which the black waterweed was floating.

‘The aquatic plants are going against the current. Does that make sense?’

The Tancheon confluence area where we are located is where the Han River and Tancheon meet, so the flow speed is relatively high. If ordinary aquatic plants or trash are floating, they have no choice but to move with the current. However, the black waterweed was approaching the soul bowl from the opposite direction of the water flow.

Like a huge fish rushing towards bait.

This is not a natural thing at all.

That was a beast.

Sarah, who was next to me, clapped her hands and shouted.

“Are you ready to catch a big catch? Baby.”

“Are you sure it’s a big deal? If you make maeuntang with that, the two of you will die after eating it.”

“Anyway, it’s a big fish!”

What would it taste like if you caught a sea turtle and boiled it in spicy fish stew?

I was curious, but I didn’t dare to try it.

The black aquatic plant came near the soul bowl and circled around it. It rotated repeatedly enough to create a whirlpool on the river, but at some point it suddenly stopped moving.

━━Seuugh

A pale hand crawled out from the black water weeds. It was the hand of a ghost who tried to kill Hyejin by drowning her at the motel a few hours ago. Pale hands grasped the soul bowl drowning in the river.

“Now! Pull!”

It was right now.

Sarah and I grabbed the paddle together and pulled it toward land. It was true that Sarah said that the soul vessel attracts ghosts like a magnet. The pale hand clung to the soul bowl and did not easily come off.

Catching a snail was never easy.

Even though the two of us tried to pull it out, it didn’t come out to land right away. A pale hand pulled the soul bowl into the depths of the river. The snake ghost was resisting rather than being gently pulled out.

I shouted to Sarah as I strengthened my hand holding the horn.

“Sera! I don’t think that guy has any intention of being caught easily?”

“Then you have to force them to catch you.”

What we did was save souls. It is a ritual that lifts the soul of an evil spirit and turns it into Buddha. However, if the Assalgwi did not wish to attain Buddhahood and wish to remain in this world, there was no way the ritual could have been carried out smoothly.

The snail was clinging to the soul bowl and struggling to avoid being caught by us.

The cotton cloth, which acted like fishing line, was pulled taut as it went up.

At that time, something strange happened in the direction where the snail was floating. The current of the water, which was flowing normally, changed and the river began to flow in the opposite direction from the land.

“Crazy!”

The flow of the river suddenly changed.

And that’s the exact opposite of the direction we’re giving power to.

It was such a strange thing that I couldn’t believe it even when I saw it with my own eyes.

It could never be said to be a natural phenomenon.

Do you remember when water suddenly poured out of the motel’s empty bathroom earlier?

If you think about it, it is clear that the water snail is capable of manipulating the flow of water.

Now, the beast has manipulated the flow of the river.

So that they don’t get dragged away by us.

“Oh! Be quiet!”

I clenched my teeth and put more strength into the horn belt I was holding with both hands. Sarah, who was next to me, changed her position to lie down and pulled on her wedding band. Then, the soul vessel that had been going deep into the river was slowly dragged back towards land.

There seemed to be a chance of victory.

Whether we were changing the flow of water or not, the pulling power of the two of us was slightly higher than that of a snail. If I continued to give strength, one day I would be able to catch the soul of the beast.

About 3 minutes passed.

A sea turtle that was deep in the river was brought to the water near land so that it could be seen. What looked like black waterweed from a distance turned out to be a long hair floating on the water when seen from nearby. The pale hand was still attached to the soul bowl.

“We’re here!”

It was the moment when I thought that soul-saving was successful.

I felt a suspicious presence behind my back.

Someone’s footsteps echoed faintly behind us.

Did a passerby see us?

While holding the horn, I slowly turned my head and looked behind me.

A person appeared at the fishing spot where we were.

It was a person wearing a thick coat over his body and a mountaineering hat that covered his face.

There would be no surprise if the person with their face covered showed up with empty hands. Even if his clothes were a bit suspicious, he would have been thought to be a passerby.

However, the person with his face covered was holding a broad machete in his hand. If a person with his face covered showed up with a weapon, I had no choice but to be on guard.

‘What’s happening all of a sudden?’

While I was trying to save my soul, a suspicious person appeared.

“… … .”

The person with his face covered held the machete back and lunged at us. I could feel the murderous intent in the movements.

I urgently shouted to Sarah.

“Sera! Damage!”

“What, what?!”

Sarah was concentrating on pulling the wedding band for a long time, so her reaction was slow.

A person with his face covered stabbed a machete towards Sarah, who was holding a sword.

━━Swish

It was the moment when a terrifying blade was aimed at Sarah’s back. I quickly hugged Sarah and rolled her to the side. The machete passed us just in the nick of time.

If I hadn’t turned around, I would have had a hole in my back.

“Sera! Don’t miss out on Hondae!”

He quickly got up and grabbed the military sword in his hand. I had no choice but to let go of the wedding band, but Sarah was still struggling to hold on to the wedding band. If I quickly subdue the person with his face covered, I will be able to capture Hondae again.

I didn’t know the identity of the person with his face covered.

I couldn’t figure out why they were suddenly disturbing us. A passerby would not have brought a machete and tried to kill us.

‘Are you a person possessed by a demon?’

You just have to subdue that person and find out what his identity is.

That was the moment when I grabbed the military sword and ran towards the person with his face covered.

━━Crash

People with their faces covered also ran.

However, the direction was not toward me and Sarah, but toward the river.

The person with his face covered stretched out his arms and jumped into the river as if diving and swam. There was a large spray of water, splashing the surrounding area.

At that moment, the water flow suddenly changed again.

The speed at which the person with his face covered was swimming was very fast.

I wasn’t particularly good at swimming, but the current was moving quickly in the direction I was going.

A fisherman was helping a person with his face covered swim.

‘Why is a beast helping people?’

It wasn’t long before I found out why.

The person with his face covered broke the soul vessel hanging in the water with a knife.

The bowl broke and the rice and paper inside sank into the water.

In terms of fishing, the bait was destroyed.

From the beginning, that person’s goal was to disrupt the very ritual of saving souls. There was clearly a reason for Susalgwi to help. Although it was very strange that as soon as I jumped into the river, I became aligned with a ghost.

“Ugh!”

Sarah, who had been pulling the belt for a while, was pushed back. The soul vessel was shattered, so it was no longer possible to attract the spirit of the beast.

The person with his face covered swam away as if he had done his job. As I swam with the rapidly increasing water flow, I was able to move at a speed similar to that of a motorboat.

It was dangerous for us to jump into the water to catch that person.

Because the spirit that had been blowing into the soul vessel just a moment ago has been released.

“The murderous spirit has been released!”

“Aaaaa! I caught them all!”

Sarah, who missed the big catch, burst into anger.

Suddenly, black aquatic weed-like hair floated high above the water. At the same time, the face of the fish that was hidden under the water came out.

At that moment, we saw Susalgwi’s face for the first time.

As soon as I saw it, I felt terrible.

It was like seeing the badly damaged body of a drowned person with my own eyes.

A white woman’s face floating in water.

The area where the eyes were was empty, and the entire face was covered in bug-like things. The skin was horribly damaged, as if the flesh had been eaten by fish or insects. Just looking at the face looked like that, but I couldn’t imagine what the body looked like under the water.

The ghost’s face floated above the river.

The scorpion ghost stared at exactly where we were with its empty eyes.

As if it were a threat.

If we go into the water to chase after someone with his face covered, that water ghost will come after us.

Grabbing a water ghost in the water is out of the question.

━━Grudge

The sea lion that was glaring at us soon went deep into the water and disappeared.

Sarah and I looked at the river and regretted it.

“I missed it.”

“It would have been fine if that strange guy hadn’t disturbed me!”

The soul vessel was shattered, so the ritual could no longer proceed. In order to retrieve the soul of the beast, I had to make a soul vessel again. It was fortunate that the hondae was intact. If it’s cotton cloth, you just need to rewind it with a new one.

Sarah said to me with a puzzled expression.

“What on earth is that guy holding the knife earlier? Are you a person possessed by a ghost?”

“I’m not sure, but I got along well with the ghost. They didn’t say a word to each other, but they helped each other well.”

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

The person with his face covered appeared in an instant, broke the soul bowl, and disappeared. This is without even communicating with Susalgwi at all. As if the water snake was accustomed to receiving help, it directed the water flow exactly towards the person with his face covered.

“… … Hmm.”

I was lost in thought for a moment with Sarah next to me.

Although I was attacked suddenly, there was something I learned from this incident.

First of all, it is the face of a beast.

When I imagined when Susalgwi was alive and well, I pictured the face of a young woman. Since we found out the age and gender, it would be of great help in revealing the identity of the murder ghost. If we look for the accident where a young woman fell to her death at this fishing spot, we may be able to find out who she was.

And there was something more important than the face of the beast.

“Sera.”

“Why?”

“I think there is an accomplice.”

Sarah looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“An accomplice?”

“Do you remember what Hyejin saw when Choi Seok-ho was murdered? You said there was someone who committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. He committed suicide with his clothes wrapped tightly around him. So Choi Seok-ho and Hye-jin got into an accident on their way to the water.”

“… That’s right.”

The first incident that occurred came to mind.

Even then, an unknown person appeared at the scene of the incident.

He committed suicide with his face covered.

That lured Choi Seok-ho and Jeong Hye-jin towards the river. Until now, we thought that the murderer created the illusion of a suicide. But now I had no choice but to change my mind.

“What if the person who pretended to commit suicide at that time was the same person you saw earlier?”

“Ah… !”

Sarah looked surprised as if she realized what he meant.

It’s not like a welcome.

On the day the incident occurred, there were definitely people other than Choi Seok-ho who fell into the water.

We just saw with our own eyes a person helping a fisherman. It would make sense if on the day Choi Seok-ho died, like today, people helped Susalgwi commit murder.

There was an accomplice who helped Susalgwi commit murder.

Regardless of whether he committed the murder because he was possessed, or whether he committed the murder in his right mind.

“That crazy guy threw people as food to the beast!”