Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
〈Chapter 89〉
“You’re so cold, I can’t stand it. I’m going out.”
“I don’t understand. Are You so resentful because I didn’t proclaim You the highest grade meat?”
Yu Dan ignored Baek Ran’s words and headed out through the main gate.
Strange thing. Even though he was stamped with the seal protecting him from the water ghost, once he left the Banwoldang, the anxiety raised its head again. He was restless.
Yu Dan walked down the traditional street. The traditional masks tightly packed on the wall of the antique shop, the dolls wearing hanboks, bowls made out of rice straw, etc, he looked around all of it, and then abruptly turned his head at a strange feeling.
It wasn’t just him. The children eating ice cream, the elder resting on a street stone seat, the foreigners, who were taking pictures with their cameras, they all stared with their eyes wide open at one place.
A woman with disheveled hair and ripped clothes was running barefoot, out of her mind.
One of his ears was suddenly stuffed as if filled with water. He heard a high frequency beeping noise in his head. The familiar tinnitus. And dizziness.
Supernatural.
The woman crossed the traditional street and rushed into the Banwoldang.
Ah, this is…
Yu Dan urgently followed her.
“Please save me!”
The woman seized Do-ssi, who stood in the yard and collapsed, blindly begging. He saw a ghost behind the woman. His heart sunk as he rushed inside, the twins were startled.
“You haven’t gone yet?”
“The water ghost!”
“Yes?”
Baek Ran looked at him in surprise.
“But it’s not the water ghost I saw in my dream. This one is a man.”
The woman suddenly looked at him.
“How do you know?”
She emanated very dark feelings. Fear, horror and fragments of memories were passed to him.
“You were locked in a room. You barely escaped on the last day.”
“Right! Right! I escaped on exactly the seventh day! If didn’t, if I didn’t…”
She couldn’t continue. She was terribly exhausted, body and soul. Looking at her, he had that strange feeling of anxiety again.
Why the hell?
Yu Dan grabbed her arm, feeling suffocated.
The memories clearly flowed into him. He fumblingly told the story of the scenes he saw instead of the woman.
She was an ordinary office worker. She was moving to another company, and right now was resting a bit. Ten days ago, she heard a conversation of residents who like her came to the apartment’s underground fitness center.
“Wasn’t he working at a good company? How regretful.”
“Didn’t she live with only one son, without a husband?”
“I would have lost my mind too. Whew, what a life.”
As she overheard, it was a story about the only son of the single mother, who lived at the same building as her, the son went to train at the company and fell into a reservoir, drowning.
The woman’s heart ached. She often ran into that mother in the elevator, she was a madam of a calm and quiet disposition. Would she be able to eat after seeing the only son she raised alone die first? Perhaps because she had spare time, her mind kept coming back to it, and after turning on the oven after a long time, she rang the doorbell of no. 503.
“Hello. I wanted to ask if You would like…”
She couldn’t speak when the door opened.
The sun has just set, and because the lights were not on, the face that popped out was very gloomy. The woman almost screamed. While she didn’t see her, the madam’s face turned like that of a skeleton.
“What is it? Thank You.”
Even her voice was mechanical and stiff. Before the door closed, the madam’s flashing eyes seemed to scan her in the darkness. The woman regretted doing something for no reason and went back.
A few days later, the doorbell of her house ran again.
“Miss from no. 1003. It’s me. No. 503.”
When she opened the door, she saw the madam, holding a bowl. Surprisingly, her face, which was lively, completely different from what she saw a few days before, was even prettied with a makeup. Did she see something wrong, because of the darkness that day?
“Ah, You didn’t have to give me back the bowl.”
“Ehem, no. Have You been cooking for Yourself only? You have good cooking skills, not like the misses these days. When did You learn it while working at that busy travel company? It was very delicious, I enjoyed it. I wish to buy You dinner in thanks, can You come for a moment around seven?”
“Yes…?”
It was an atmosphere in which she couldn’t refuse. It was just one evening. How much you do have to miss someone to be like this? Even so, when she was putting on simple make-up to go out, she suddenly felt a chill. It felt like the madam did a thorough a background check on her.
Eeh, no way.
Seven o’clock, at the promised time. The woman went down to the no. 503 and rang the doorbell. The door opened.
“Hello—.”
She was immediately roughly dragged in.
“Ack! Auntie!”
She was gagged right away. The madam pressed the woman down and overpowered her. She was so strangely powerful, not like a woman in her sixties.
“Be quiet.”
The madam first took the phone out of the woman’s pocket and threw it away. She put strange red paint on her forehead and cheeks, and forcibly put her into paper clothes, put something like a ring on her finger and pushed her into a dark room. As she touched her face, a fishy smell wafted over. The paper clothes were a colorful wedding dress and the ring on her finger was a wedding ring.
The woman screamed in terror.
“Save me! Someone, save me, please!”
She banged on the door, when she felt an eerie presence. She unknowingly turned her head.
She saw a man crouching in the dark room. A bluish, swollen with water, face — the water ghost. The woman lost her mind at the unbelievable sight.
“Save me! Please save me! Auntie! Auntie!”
She heard a calm voice from outside.
“Our Yongbeom-i, the sole son, is dead, so what can I do? Somehow the family line has to continue. Does it not? Daughter-in-law.”
The woman screamed.
Through the darkness of the room, the memories of the ghost kept flowing into her. This was all the son’s doing.
At the beginning he was submerged in deep water. The corpse was collected, but his soul wasn’t properly recovered and he remained there, in eternal suffering. But then he heard a distant sound of festival fanfares and he opened his eyes.
He abruptly thought of coming out of the water.
‘I didn’t leave anything in this world.’
Feeling anger surging, his blood flowing backwards, the man went to find his mother. He shouted that he couldn’t leave like this.
The mother, who was already half-crazy after losing her son, donated a sum worth a mid-sized car to a skilled shaman in Mirari Hill and obtained a secret method. For seven days only, exactly for seven days, lock up a young woman with the soul of your son, she heard.
Learning all of this, the woman felt terrible fear. Once seven days pass, a seed of the ghost would sprout in her womb.
She shouldn’t have felt pity. She shouldn’t have prepared a meal. But it was too late for the bitter regrets. Day after day passed as she was locked up with the ghost of a man she didn’t know at all.
“Daughter-in-law-ah. Eat this. With this, the child will be healthy.”
Each day, the madam came in and forcibly fed her the fishy medicine that was prepared by the shaman. She tried not to swallow the medicine, argue for a while — then unexpectedly someone knocked at the door.
“Anyone in? I’m from 508, a parcel was mistakenly delivered to us.”
The woman hastily screamed.
“Save me! I was kidnapped! Call the police—.”
She was gagged right away. She was pressed down so strongly, she couldn’t breathe. Outside, the man from no. 508 knocked hard on the door.
“What’s going!? Excuse me! Excuse me! Hello. Police?”
Despair crossed the madam’s face. When she threw down the woman with her full strength, and urgently searched for the kitchen knife, the door opened. They saw the man from no. 508 looking at them with a shocked face.
The woman scrambled to her feet. In that moment, gaining strength from somewhere, she grabbed the vacuum cleaner that was just beside her and smacked the madam in the back of the head. Hearing the jingling sound of a kitchen knife falling to the floor, she dashed down the stairs.
She must not be caught. Absolutely not be caught.
She could bear a ghost baby. Whatever she had to do, she absolutely couldn’t do it. Uncaring whether people saw her or not, she fled like crazy, when suddenly the water ghost of the dead man appeared before her.
“Hieek!”
The woman sucked in a breath. She urgently changed the direction, but the water ghost appeared in front of her again.
“Don’t come! Don’t come!”
She seemed to be just going crazy. Screaming, she ran in that direction and that direction, when suddenly Banwoldang’s sign caught her eye.
If you go there, you will live.
At that impulsive thought, she ran flying inside, without looking back. The moment she dashed through the gate, she could breathe.
‘I came to the right place…’
The memories were suddenly cut off there.
“Heuk!”
The woman’s body sagged. Heuk-yo quickly caught and hugged her.
“Miss! Come back to your senses!”
“What should I do? Will I really give birth to a ghost baby? I don’t want to! Please save me! Please!”
“It’s still okay. However, the problem is that you’ve been already married. If you’re dragged in again and spend one more day with the ghost…”
The woman fell into terror.
“What to do! Yes? What should I do!”
“Don’t worry. We will protect you.”
Do-ssi reassured the woman again. The twins brought a wet towel and rubbed off the wedding rouge of a bride remaining on the woman’s forehead and cheeks. But the red trace didn’t come off. The wedding ring on her finger also didn’t budge, as if it was glued.
At that moment, he felt a chill down his spine again.
Yu Dan swiftly looked around. Someone banged on the door, which were quickly closed before. Everyone exchanged glances. There was something behind the gate covered in the summer thick tree shades.
“Who is it?”
“People accompanying the groom. They came to take the bride.”
At Baek Ran’s answer, the woman spasmed.
“No! No!”
“Let’s evacuate her first.”
Do-ssi said.
The twins supported the woman and took her inside the shop. They brought her to the medicine room, where Yu Dan laid down struck with the ghost curse. They sat down the woman and tightly closed the door. And then plastered the ‘Hwa’ talismans of blind ghost that Baek Ran gave them to the medicine room door.
“Even if those bastards glance in from the outside, they won’t be able to see here. Miss, if you stay here, you will be safe. We will protect you closely outside.”
“Yes. Please save me.”
“We got it. Don’t worry.”
Do-ssi reassured the miss once again. After carefully hiding the woman, everyone returned to the shop.
“Alas, she must be starving, I’m going to prepare her a meal.”
Heuk-yo went to the kitchen, while Do-ssi and the twins grabbed seats and piercingly stared at the gate. When the three of them watched it like this, no one would be able to enter.
Yu Dan looked at Baek Ran.
“What do we do now?”
“There is always only one way to completely escape a ghost.”
“To return them to their original place?”
“Yes. We have to take the soul of the groom, who was wounded because he wasn’t sent off properly, soothe him and send him away.”
Baek Ran took out a paper fox out of his pocket and handed it to Yu Dan.
“You read the guest’s memories a moment ago, correct? The memories when she was escaping the ghost groom. Please recall a few scenes if possible.”
He did as ordered and once he handed back the paper fox, Baek Ran called out a few of strangely looking creatures. They disappeared like lightning, following after the paper fox.
“They will bring the groom. We will wait at the ghost gate.”
“Ghost gate?”
“The door ghosts leave through.”
Baek Ran retuned to the back of the shop. In front of the old tree in the backyard stood a gate from the red painted wooden pillars, which was usually invisible in the shrubbery. Yu Dan waited beside it with him.
After a moment, the creatures returned. A blue tiger reported as a representative.
“Entering the ghostly newlyweds room we found a strange jar. It seems that the spiritual body was sealed in the urn. But that nasty thing didn’t budge. It was heavier than a great mountain. Even though we put all our power into it, it was no use and we finally were unable to bring it.”
“Looks like I’ll have to look into it in person. Is there anyone at that house right now?”
“No. The lady, who formed this scheme, was taken to the hospital.”
“Good.”
“Ah, and we brought this.”
The three-tailed weasel offered a phone. Yu Dan recognized it right away.
“It’s that woman’s. Should I take it to her? The humans find comfort in having it.”
“Please do so.”
As he returned to the medicine room, the woman, wrapped in a blanket, was startled. It seemed that she didn’t relax, even though they told her that the ghosts couldn’t enter. Yu Dan handed her the phone.
“Someone found it.”
The woman turned it on with trembling hands. There was still some battery.
“How could it be that no one called?”
“It’s always like this, no one knows and lives like usual. Besides You. But You too will forget all of it once it ends.”
“Really?”
The woman kept trembling. It was strange. Every time he looked at this woman, he kept having an unidentified feeling of anxiety.
“What is Your number? The yokai here don’t have phones, so in case something urgent happens…”
Just in case, he gave his number and also typed in her number. When he put the phone in his pocket and walked out, he heard Baek Ran speak:
“They said that they couldn’t bring the urn sealing the spiritual body. I’ll have to go there personally and deal with it. You take care of this place.”
“Yes. We will thoroughly protect the miss, so don’t worry and go.”
Seeing Baek Ran and Do-ssi, he had that strange feeling of anxiety again. At this point, he was annoyed.
‘Ah, really. What is it?’
He couldn’t shake it off no matter what. Yu Dan raised his hand and rubbed his forehead. It still felt strange to touch.
“I’ll go too.”
The two looked at him at the same time.
“Why?”
“That water ghost is not the woman I saw in my dream. I’m stamped with a seal right now so what water ghost would dare to take me anyway? You’re going to the apartment where humans live. Even Cheon-ho may not know something.”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
Do-ssi quickly agreed.
“We had less trouble because you read that miss’ memories instead. Isn’t it very handy? There is no use in staying here, you would be just slacking off. Take Cheonho-nim and go. Got it?”
Baek Ran looked at the two of them with absurdity.
It was obvious what would come next. When someone tries to meddle in this fox’s business, you have to resolve for the defamation of character. Yu Dan prepared his heart for the storm of insults to come.
“Good.”
“That’s too harsh.”
He automatically replied and was startled.
Uh? It wasn’t it?
Baek Ran didn’t even respond to Yu Dan’s words. He just turned away his expressionless face. That was even more confusing. He would rather just have his character insulted.
Anyhow, he quickly followed, before he was left behind.
A paper fox swiftly jumped on the tip of the spear. Following the fox yokai’s steps, a road opened. They walked stepping on the patterns gradually made by the sunlight, passing through gaps of street trees’ foliage, on the sidewalk. Sometimes they would pass a passerby, each in their own dimension. Every time he blinked, the distance quickly decreased.
What the hell was his intention behind this?
He kept on worrying, but on the other hand, he focused on walking. If he was left behind, his head and legs could each end up in a different administrative district. He knew this much by now.
He occasionally traced back the scenes he saw the ghost bride fleeing through.
At last, the gate to the apartment complex, something called ‘Palace’, which he saw in the woman’s memories, appeared.
*~*~*
Translator’s note: Not what you expected with the first chapter of this story, huh?
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