episode_0192

A night where only the cold moonlight shines down softly.

The two beings continued their chase in a quiet, dark alleyway where the moon’s gaze could not reach.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

A young child whose running speed has slowed down significantly, as if his physical strength has already reached its limit.

And the pursuer, shrouded in pitch-black darkness, slowly pursuing the child as if teasing him.

The chase that lasted a long time finally ended when the child tripped on a rock and fell. The child looked at the pursuer who had come close to him with trembling eyes and screamed loudly.

“Please save me!!!”

But the sound doesn’t spread as if it’s blocked somewhere.

The child looked around in confusion, and soon realized that the darkness surrounding his pursuer had enveloped him completely.

Crunch. Crunch.

“Hee, eek…!”

The child desperately crawled even though he had fallen, as the sound of shoes gradually came closer.

To somehow get away from my pursuer, and to return to my parents and be held in their warm arms.

But the pursuer mercilessly caught the fleeing child, lifted him up, and smiled broadly.

“Why are you running away so desperately? My sister hasn’t done anything yet.”

“…”

“Tag is fun. All the kids I’ve caught so far have shown different reactions. But even apart from seeing their reactions, the chase itself is incredibly boring. It’s only fun when it’s a game.”

The pursuer spoke in a gentle voice, brushed away the child’s dirty clothes, took off the mask he was wearing, and showed the child a bright smile.

“Anyway, the fun tag game ends here! You’ve been given enough time to think, so now it’s time to choose!”

Instead of the darkness that had surrounded him a moment ago, a blood-red fog was spread around him.

“Do you want to be kidnapped nicely? Or do you want to rebel and end up being kidnapped after seeing the bad side of it?”

The pursuer licked his lips as he looked at the child’s pure white nape.

—–

Another kidnapping incident.

Because of that, Nachal had to receive a call from his old colleague early in the morning, and he was furious when she asked him for help.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I won’t help you? This is the fifteenth time you’ve contacted me about that. Why are you doing this too, seriously.”

[Why would I reach out to you? I’m not doing this because I’m frustrated, I’m doing this because I’m frustrated!]

“How incompetent do you have to be to reach out to a retired person? I quit my exorcist job 5 years ago! Even if I call him, his body is stiff and he won’t help!”

[Haa… Seriously, how can it not work? I’ll definitely pay the compensation. Seriously, just help me once, just this once!]

“Don’t you know that once becomes twice, and twice becomes three? I’ve experienced it several times since I retired, and you want me to do it again? Am I a fool?”

Nachael firmly refused the tentacle shaman’s repeated requests for help, and the tentacle shaman eventually sighed and asked for forgiveness.

[Phew, if you’re going to reject me like that, then there’s nothing I can do. Sorry for contacting you so suddenly. Get some rest.]

“Okay, go in. If it’s really hard, tell me. I’ll get you at least one rare tentacle.”

[Okay, I already have everything I need. Heh, but it gives me strength to hear those words.]

Stop.

The tentacle shaman hung up the phone after saying such weak words.

Nachal stared at his cell phone for a while, then quietly took out an amulet from under the bed.

“Should I really help you? But if I help you, you’ll probably ask me for help again when something comes up that you can’t handle.”

How many times have you been called out for that reason in the year since you retired?

He clearly said he was going to retire and stay home, but he ended up working even harder than before he retired.

This time it will be the same. If you help him, he will cling to you like a leech, asking for more help. Not only will it be annoying, but it will also affect his wife and Jin-ha.

After thinking about it, he injected yang energy into the talisman and burned it cleanly, saying:

“No, I’ve done enough so far, so do what you want. If an organization can’t run without a single person, then it’s right for it to disappear.”

If one person is missing and can’t do a single task properly, is that really an organization? You have to make sense.

Nachal took the stick out from under the bed and left the room. As he was heading to the basement of the mansion to do some pleasant morning exercise, a maid spoke to him.

“Master? It’s almost time for the little girl to go to daycare. Since Madam passed out from the night, how about you at least see her off?”

“Okay, I’ll go soon.”

After carelessly setting up the bundle he had brought, he immediately walked away to see his daughter off.

It’s not a problem if I’m 30 minutes late for my weight loss, but if I don’t see my daughter’s cuteness for even a day, I’ll have a problem.

Especially in the morning, when you’re tired and have a haggard face, I can’t help but resist that cute aegyo where you peck my soft cheeks.

“…I don’t think there’s a father with a daughter who can tolerate that.”

Nachal hurried his steps in case he was late, and fortunately he was able to arrive at the main gate on time.

“I’ll be back – !”

The young gumiho bows his head and greets us with a bright face again today.

When Nachal saw this, he walked towards his daughter and roughly ruffled her hair.

“Jinha, I keep telling you this, but you have to tuck your ears and tail in, right?”

“Ah, oops!”

Swish!

The young gumiho felt her head with her small hands, then quickly pulled her ears and tail back in.

Then she thanked her father and rubbed her soft cheek against his chest.

“Hehehe, thank you dad.”

“Of course. What? And daughter? I heard there are a lot of strange people wandering around these days, so if it gets dangerous, you should tear the amulet right away? Got it?”

“Yes! Dad!”

At her confident answer, Na-chal stroked his daughter’s head a little more, and the young gumiho, who was enjoying her father’s touch with a relaxed face, smiled faintly and said goodbye.

“See you later, Dad! I’ll really be back now!”

“Okay, take care on your way back.”

As he watched the young gumiho walk away from his sight in an instant, Na-chal quietly muttered to himself a small sense of anxiety growing inside him.

“…I hope nothing happens.”

—–

It was an ordinary day, nothing special happened.

A typical day at the daycare, playing with the kids, and acting as Solomon to decide the most childish toy disputes.

Yes. It was a day so peaceful that it was scary, with no incidents or accidents happening.

The reason it’s scary is because the more peaceful it is, the more likely it is that something big will happen.

Five years old, an age when children are so curious and energetic that it wouldn’t be strange for them to get into trouble.

The probability that 10 or 15 of these kids will get together and cause an accident is probably the same as the probability that they will get struck by lightning on the street.

But if an accident doesn’t happen despite the extremely high odds, you should definitely suspect this.

Lucky day.

If your luck is damn good, karma will surely follow.

I became even more vigilant when I saw the children falling asleep without resistance during nap time, so instead of putting the children to bed and going straight to work, I intentionally stayed in the dark classroom.

I hope this anxiety is just groundless. I hope that my lucky day will really be a lucky day.

A quiet classroom.

I tried to calm my anxious mind by looking at the cute children sleeping soundly, and I looked at the clock on the wall and thought.

Yeah, just have to hold out for 5 more hours.

Nothing will happen during the two hours that the children sleep, so I think it would be okay if we just manage it well for about three hours.

But since incidents and accidents are the kind that come when you let your guard down a little, I could soon hear the ghosts’ urgent voices.

[…Someone came. Everyone, please extend your stay.]

[what?]

[A woman came here, smelling like blood and an old corpse. I don’t know who her target is, but it doesn’t feel good.]

[Somehow the master increased the number of guards by one, and there was a reason for this. Should I subdue him? Or should I kill him?]

[Kill her unconditionally. She’s not weak enough to be subdued.]

The ghosts chatted for a while and then left, and as I listened to the conversation fading away, I took out one of the amulets my father had given me from my bosom.

“Haha, this is a bit difficult. You should give me a trial within a solvable range, not like you’re giving me a thought like this that has no answer…”

[[Gyaaa …

As I was muttering, I heard the screams of ghosts from afar.

It seems that they fought and lost against the being they mentioned.

The faint sound of footsteps had become close enough to be heard clearly, and I had no choice but to get up from my seat and go out to greet the intruder.

“Hehe, you’re just going to sleep here quietly? I’ll take care of it and come back soon.”

Knock… thud.

As I quietly closed the door so as not to wake the children and came out, what came into view were ghosts in the form of injured and collapsed maids and a pale woman covered in pitch-black darkness.

What was the purpose of that being coming to the daycare center?

Could it be that the intention is to harass the children?

Thinking that if that was really the case, I had to do whatever it took to stop it, I slowly opened my mouth as I scanned the thick darkness in the hallway.

“It wouldn’t be right for someone from the underworld to cause trouble in the front world, right? What kind of nerve would you have to do something like that?”

“Phew, judging from the way you speak, you must be one of these people too? Are you trying to gather strength? I can’t feel anything.”

“Well, hehe… Think what you want.”

Calming her trembling heart and suppressing her fear, she quietly takes out an amulet from her apron.

Father’s words: If anything dangerous happens, take out this talisman and say as he tells you.

I decided to stake everything on this one talisman and started to unleash my passion against an unstoppable opponent.

“Why aren’t you attacking me? Are you scared of this ordinary person?”

“Phew, what confidence do you have when you look so innocent? Do you think I’d be scared if you looked so sinister?”

“You said that, but you’re already scared. Then why are your legs like that? They seem to be shaking right now.”

“…”

As the corners of her lips lifted, the pale woman’s face hardened, but soon she smiled broadly.

“I don’t know what you believe in and what makes you so confident, but whether you’re strong or weak, you don’t need to fight.”

“What?”

“You mean I kidnapped as many people as I needed while you were messing around? Thanks? For letting your guard down. Oh, and you asked me how someone from the other world could cause trouble in the front world?”

The woman left behind some precious words, filling the narrow hallway with the fog-like darkness that had enveloped her body.

“If you get caught, it’s a crime, but if you don’t get caught, it’s art.”

And this is art.

The woman said that and left, and when I returned to the classroom, a chill ran down my spine.

Two children were already missing.