episode_0181

“You didn’t drink today?”

“I don’t like alcohol.”

“Hey, just kidding.”

I left the Ghost Story Management Headquarters, exchanging light jokes with Jaehee.

Jaehee and I completed registration as exorcists along with obtaining our licenses.

The two of us have completed the process of working together as a team, and we have even received a selection of ghost stories in the form of items distributed to individuals.

I don’t know what Jaehee chose, but I chose a gold necklace.

The power of this necklace was simple.

It is said that your mental strength becomes stronger.

The person in charge cautioned that it is not yet clear how much stronger it will be.

I could tell.

[Acquire Mental Power LV.7.]

The moment I put on the necklace, a window appeared before my eyes.

‘Level 7 is pretty high, isn’t it?’

As I gained various skills, I realized that most of them were beyond human limits even when they were only level 5.

“Then I registered, so let’s get startedㅡ”

“Oh, wait a minute!”

So, I was thinking that we should part ways here for today, but Jaehee suggested something to me.

“Since you’re out today, would you like to solve a ghost story?”

“…”

It was difficult to understand even though he said something like, “I’ll go see the market while I’m at it.”

Ghost stories can’t be that simple.

Then Jaehee said with a smile.

“No, I have to do two per month, but I don’t have much time because of college.”

“…You went to college even though you became an exorcist?”

“How much money did you pay? You have to get a diploma!

“Ah.”

When you say it like that, I immediately understand.

By the way, exorcists have to solve two ghost stories every month.

It was a pretty generous number for me, but I don’t know about other exorcists.

Actually, in the end it’s all about luck.

The level of difficulty will vary greatly depending on which ghost story you encounter.

“Aren’t you scared of ghost stories?”

“Yes? Of course it’s scary!

When I asked Jaehee, he answered as if it was obvious.

My doubts deepened with that reaction.

“But let’s exorcise ghost stories…”

“Huh? Oh, no! How can we do that!”

Jaehee waved both his hands and was startled by my words.

“We will just rescue the civilians or evacuate them.”

“Ah.”

When you say you want to do ghost story work, I naturally thought you meant exorcism.

I guess that wasn’t the case.

As soon as I heard that, my first meeting with Sophia came to mind.

Sophia and Lee Hwan came to the fire station not to eradicate ghost stories, but simply to evacuate the people trapped in the fire station.

Although they have the name of exorcist, Lee Hwan said that not all exorcists can get rid of ghost stories.

“Did you get this app?”

“Yeah.”

Suddenly, Jaehee took out his cell phone and showed me a ghost story app.

This is an app I have already checked several times.

“I see? Then, if you look here, you can see that you can check the report status on the right side, right?”

“…”

I haven’t seen that.

I was busy looking at the map and trying to dispel the ghost stories.

I took out my phone and checked the app, and there were indeed people who had reported ghost stories.

I thought I saw something flashing like a red light on the right, and it turned out to be the report status.

By touching it, I was able to easily see where, who, and why the report was made.

“Then… I’ll start by looking around Jongno-gu.”

After saying that, Jaehee looked at his cell phone and started to touch something busily.

“Huh?”

And then Jaehee, seemingly flustered, grabbed his phone and made a serious expression.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing… Can I look at my phone for a second? Keep the app turned on.”

Jaehee hesitated and smiled awkwardly.

When I asked what was going on, he pointed to my cell phone.

When I held out my phone, he looked at my phone as if he was checking it too, then nodded his head in relief.

“Phew… I thought my smartphone was broken.”

“What is it?”

“No, suddenly there was no report and no red dots…”

“…”

There was something to be said about that.

I’ve definitely moved towards most of the red dots located in Jongno-gu and solved various ghost stories.

Because ghost stories don’t appear so suddenly and immediately, Jongno-gu is still a rare ghost story-free zone.

“I guess I’ll have to go to another district… What’s going on? Jongno-gu always has the most ghost stories.”

“…”

All those ghost stories became my inner strength.

“I’ll look for it in another district… Oh, how about this report?”

“…where.”

How about this report?

I was a bit surprised because he asked me as if he was deciding on a delivery menu.

That means there are a lot of reports related to ghost stories.

The cell phone Jaehee handed over had a brief report written on it.

“I’m trapped in a building because of a fire. Please rescue me… Isn’t this something that requires going to the fire department?”

“No, it’s a ghost story. Here, the fire department came out, but there was no fire. And look, there’s a red dot at the report location.”

“That’s true.”

The reporter’s location and the location of the red dot matched.

There was a high probability that the ghost story was causing hallucinations in the reporter.

“Hmm, could this be a ghost story?”

“That could be true.”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s that strong of a ghost story, considering it only shows hallucinations to one person…”

Did you learn that kind of information in a university department called Ghost Stories?

Honestly, I don’t think it’s that strong of a ghost story.

Last time, in Ghost Hotel, we created a hotel that was not an illusion, but a real hotel.

“This seems the easiest if we don’t meet, should we do it?”

“Let’s do it.”

“The location is Seodaemun-gu… It’s quite a walk.”

Then Jaehee stared at me.

“…Why?”

“Sorry… I can’t burn you because I only have one helmet.”

“Huh?”

Only then did I see Jaehee, looking slightly embarrassed and fiddling with the motorcycle handlebars.

It seems he felt bad about riding the motorcycle alone.

“Okay, see you there.”

I just received it with gratitude.

“Okay, I’ll go first.”

Woof, woof!

As Jaehee grabbed the motorcycle handlebars and started the engine, a rough engine sound that made his heart pound was heard.

” and.”

The excitement was different when I heard it up close.

Jaehee quickly drove his motorcycle down the road with a smile on his face, perhaps satisfied with my exclamation.

It was a clean cornering.

“…This is not the time to be amazed.”

I turned on my cell phone and hailed a taxi.

Somehow, I looked a little miserable.

“…I need to get a license.”

Added one more thing to the to-do list.

***

“Here?”

“Yes.”

It was an ordinary apartment.

It wasn’t engulfed in flames, and children were laughing, talking and playing near the apartment entrance.

Even though it wasn’t engulfed in fire, there was no trace of the ghost story either.

It seemed like a lie that a bright red dot was pointing to this place.

It was that peaceful.

“…Shall we go in?”

“Yeah.”

I went into the apartment through the entrance that had been opened after receiving prior notice.

It was an ordinary apartment.

Nothing happened until we got on the elevator and arrived on the 14th floor where the report came in.

Still, Jaehee was nervous and swallowing hard.

Ding.

[It’s the 14th floor.]

Woof.

The door opened.

“Huh… Oh, no?”

“Ghost story? Yeah, I don’t see it.”

Jaehee was tense and holding a three-sectioned staff that he didn’t know where he got.

I wondered if that three-stage staff would work on the ghost story, but I couldn’t say anything because I was also a physical exorcist.

On the right side of the 14th floor.

Room 1402 was our destination.

“Is this it?”

dripping.

As soon as I knocked on the door, I heard rough footsteps from inside.

And –

bang!

The door opened quickly.

I opened the door so roughly that it slammed open and hit the wall, denting the doorknob.

I jerked my head back to avoid the opening door.

Thanks to that, I was able to avoid it just in time.

“Ugh!”

The man who opened the door sat down, holding out his hand.

“Are you okay?”

“Ahh… Yes, okay, it’s okay. The doorknob is hot.”

“The door handle is hot?”

Jaehee touched the doorknob and shook his head, saying it wasn’t hot at all.

“I’ll check for a moment.”

“Huh? Kyaak!”

I forcibly pulled the man’s hand away and checked.

The man’s hand was also intact, without a single scratch.

But this expression, this heated expression, was real.

It was a sinister reason, but I could understand it because I had also burned people and ghost stories with my extreme martial arts skills.

It was the expression of a person feeling the pain of being burned.

“…um.”

I turned my head and looked around the house.

The fact that it was marked with a red dot on the app meant that it was a true ghost story.

And I had a gut feeling that the ghost story was inside this house.

There was nothing visible, but I had to look in every corner of the house.

“Let’s get this person out of the apartment quickly!”

“Oh, take this person and go down first.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll just take a quick look and go.”

“No! It’s dangerous!”

Jaehee stopped me as I was getting up and trying to go inside the house.

My hands were shaking.

“Just go. Okay?”

I could feel that he was genuinely concerned about me.

“It’s okay, I’m that crazy guy.”

“Huh? What is that… Ah.”

Then, Jaehee seemed to remember what he had said before.

“That guy, he exorcised two ghosts…”

“Oh. Okay, then go. This guy is hot.”

“Whoaak!”

“…I’ll be right back.”

Jaehee got on the elevator with the screaming man.

I started to lightly stretch my body and search around the house to find my elixir, or rather my ghost story.