Free Web NovelSome time after Im Hyomun launched into a long lecture about how college majors affected your future career path, he suddenly shot to his feet.
“Oh, right. Drinks.”
He hurried over to the vending machine, fed in a few bills, then glanced back toward the table where Jaegyeom sat.
“Seventy-Seven, want something?”
“I’m fine.”
Cans clattered down one after another as Im Hyomun jabbed the buttons. Mission accomplished, he returned to the lounge table carrying four drinks and set them down with satisfaction. Resting his chin on his hand, Jaegyeom stared blankly at the lineup of cans.
“What, you preparing for a drought?”
“Huh?”
Hyomun blinked, not understanding.
“How are you supposed to drink all that?”
“Oh. These aren’t all mine. The rest are for the seniors.”
Jaegyeom muttered flatly,
“What, their legs broken? Why’re they making you do it?”
“No, no! It’s not like that.”
Hyomun waved both hands in alarm, horrified at the misunderstanding.
“I lost a bet in FriendsPang.”
“FriendsPang? What’s that?”
“...Wait, you don’t know FriendsPang?”
It was the hottest smartphone game around lately. The gameplay itself was simple: connect matching characters to rack up points within a time limit. But because it linked to your messenger contacts and let you compete against friends’ scores, it had exploded in popularity. A perfect time-killer designed to provoke people’s competitive instincts.
“How do you not know it? Seventy-Seven, are you seriously a teenager?”
Jaegyeom shot him a cold glare, and Hyomun awkwardly scratched at his nose.
“Well... maybe you studied too much or something. Though honestly, everyone my age is obsessed with it. Once you start, you can’t quit.”
Still looking vaguely embarrassed, Im Hyomun fiddled with his piercing before pulling out his phone.
“Want me to show you?”
He quickly launched the app and hit start.
Ready! Go!
Cheerful background music burst out as the game began. Jaegyeom, who genuinely liked games, instinctively leaned closer like a hunting bird watching prey. The rules looked simple enough at first glance.
Despite claiming he was only demonstrating, Hyomun played with fierce determination. His lips puckered in concentration like a bird’s beak, making him look ridiculous. Unfortunately, his actual skill level was terrible.
As the timer ticked down mercilessly and the puzzle board became more chaotic, Hyomun’s hands grew increasingly frantic.
“...Down there. Lower.”
Having mostly figured out the rules already, Jaegyeom couldn’t help speaking up.
“Where? Where?”
“One row down.”
“Where?! I can’t see it!”
Wasn’t this just matching three identical shapes together? It was painfully obvious. Yet even after being told directly, Hyomun still couldn’t find it. Frustrated, Jaegyeom finally shoved his hand forward and moved the block himself.
“Idiot, it’s right here.”
The score jumped dramatically.
Then a cute voice chirped:
“Game Over!”
The sixty seconds vanished in an instant. After a full minute of struggle, Im Hyomun’s final score was 210,000 points.
“AGH! I should’ve used the bomb instead of saving it!”
He writhed in despair, yanking at his bleached hair.
“You seriously suck at this. How many times do I have to point things out for you?”
Jaegyeom clicked his tongue in boredom.
“It only looks easy when you’re watching. Try it yourself.”
Sounding offended, Hyomun shoved the phone toward him.
“Go on. Let’s see how good you are.”
Jaegyeom snorted and accepted the phone.
Do you know how many game consoles I’ve destroyed in my life? This is nothing. Piece of cake.
Ready! Go!
The instant the game started, Jaegyeom’s face stiffened.
Everything that had looked perfectly clear from the sidelines instantly became a tangled mess. His fingers hesitated against his will while his heartbeat sped up for no reason. Across from him, Im Hyomun slowly began to grin.
Before Jaegyeom had even properly moved a few blocks, the game ended.
“...What? It’s over already?”
He stared blankly at the screen.
70,000 points.
“...”
“...”
Hyomun clamped a hand over his mouth, barely containing his laughter.
“Seventy-Seven... you really do love the number seven, huh?”
He doubled over laughing, clutching his stomach.
Jaegyeom’s face twisted darkly.
This little bastard...
“Hey. Again. That one doesn’t count.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t count? Accept your defeat gracefully, Seventy-Seven.”
“I didn’t even know the controls properly yet. Explain it right and we’ll do it again. It’s only fair if I fully understand the game.”
Jaegyeom glared at the bleached-haired man with wide, irritated eyes.
“Hurry up and start it again.”
“Playing without stakes is boring. Maybe I’ll consider it if we make a bet.”
“A bet? What kind?”
“The loser buys the winner movie tickets.”
Jaegyeom scowled, his competitive streak fully provoked now.
“Fine. Whatever. Just start already.”
Honestly, it was only natural that Jaegyeom got hooked almost immediately.
The reason he immersed himself in games had always been simple.
Life itself rarely offered clear objectives. Games did.
Beat your previous high score. Defeat the boss monster. Reach the next stage. They offered visible progress that could be achieved while sitting alone in a room. The easiest form of accomplishment in the world.
And while he was absorbed in a game, distracting thoughts disappeared. He no longer had to think about where his life had gone wrong.
Ready! Go!
As he and Im Hyomun tackled the chaotic puzzle board together, Jaegyeom found himself thinking that maybe it had been a good thing he hadn’t let the 7212 bus leave without him that morning.
It was the moment he realized there had been no point trying to avoid taking the same bus to work as before.
***
“Jeongtak, have you ever heard of Byeoksadan?”
“Yeah. That ghost group supposedly working under Master Yeohye?”
“I heard something interesting about them recently.”
Kim Seokcheol lowered his voice mysteriously.
“They say the leader of Byeoksadan is an incredibly powerful evil ghost. According to the rumors, it can change its appearance whenever it wants.”
Sometimes an old man with white hair.
Sometimes a young adult.
Sometimes even a toddling child.
“Of course, they’re just rumors. Believe them or don’t. But personally? I think they’re true.”
Kim Seokcheol smirked faintly.
“Still, that part isn’t what matters. Nobody really knows what the leader actually looks like anyway. But there is one thing people always say.”
He paused dramatically.
“Whenever the leader appears, it’s always wearing a red cloak.”
“I’m not really interested in the leader itself.”
Kim Seokcheol drummed his fingers against the steering wheel.
“But the cloak...”
His eyes gleamed strangely.
“They say that thing contains incredible power. Just touching it can open blocked senses. Blind eyes start seeing. Deaf ears start hearing. Even ordinary people can experience it.”
He glanced sideways.
“What do you think, Jeongtak? Pretty fascinating, right?”
“...I mean, it’s interesting, sure, but why are you suddenly talking about this?”
Seo Jeongtak blinked, finally snapping out of his daze after listening to the entire story. Kim Seokcheol clicked his tongue in irritation.
“You’re hopelessly dense.”
He shook his head in disbelief.
“Were you even listening? Touch the cloak and your senses open up. Your eyes open. You can hear spirits clearly.”
Kim Seokcheol and Seo Jeongtak were currently driving through a rural road lined with empty fields. It had already been two hours since they’d left the city, but Jeongtak still seemed unable to grasp the situation.
Kim Seokcheol finally smacked the steering wheel impatiently.
“We’re on our way to Byeoksadan’s headquarters right now!”
“What?!”
Seo Jeongtak’s eyes widened.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Kim Seokcheol stroked his scruffy beard grimly.
“I got the information from someone reliable. Honestly, isn’t it about time we opened our own shrine? Haven’t we struggled long enough?”
Years ago, Kim Seokcheol had suffered from a mysterious illness and eventually visited a famous local shaman. After undergoing a ritual and recovering, he had entered the shaman’s path himself. freewebnøvel.coɱ
But receiving the calling was only the beginning.
A shaman still needed training under a spiritual teacher. After years of study, prayer, and discipline, they would eventually become independent and establish a shrine of their own.
Age meant nothing in this world.
Kim Seokcheol had already been in his forties when he received the calling, which naturally made him one of the older apprentices. His teacher had several disciples besides him. One of them was Seo Jeongtak.
Warm-hearted and affectionate by nature, Jeongtak had attached himself closely to Kim Seokcheol from the start, calling him big brother and following him around constantly. He was around the same age as Seokcheol’s nephew.
The two had become especially close because neither of them possessed much talent.
Naturally, every apprentice dreamed of opening a shrine someday. But while the others steadily succeeded and became independent, Kim Seokcheol and Seo Jeongtak remained stagnant. As the years passed, Kim Seokcheol only grew more desperate.
“Listen, Jeongtak.”
His voice dropped lower.
“They say that once you touch the leader’s cloak, it feels like all your senses split open. Like you can hear spirits speaking right beside your ear.”
Only then did Seo Jeongtak finally understand what he was implying.
“...Big brother, don’t tell me...”
At first he’d thought they were simply out for a drive.
“You’re saying we’re going there to touch the cloak and gain spiritual power?”
Something felt horribly wrong.
The road grew increasingly isolated. Soon they entered Hwagok-myeon, Juwang 2-ri. After passing a large stone monument near the roadside, they crossed a bridge.
The stream beneath it had completely dried up.
Yet the air still carried a foul, fishy smell.
This was clearly not the kind of place people visited for fun.
Eventually, Seo Jeongtak could no longer hold back.
“Big brother, turn the car around right now. Are you insane?”
But they were already close.
“Who said anything about stealing it?” Kim Seokcheol snapped. “We’re just going to meet them. Talk a little. Maybe touch it once.”
He scoffed.
“I was planning to come alone, but I brought you because I was thinking about you too.”
“Big brother, are you seriously in your right mind? You actually believe those rumors? What if none of it’s true?”
“And if it is?”
Kim Seokcheol’s voice sharpened.
“How long are we supposed to keep living like this? You’re young, so maybe you can afford to waste time. I can’t. This is my last chance.”
While they argued, the car continued along an unpaved road.
Eventually it stopped at the foot of a mountain deep in the countryside, a place absent from any map.
A wooden village guardian pole stood at the mountain entrance. freēwēbnovel.com
Its sharply carved eyes seemed to glare directly at them.
Seo Jeongtak leaned halfway out the window to stare upward.
The mountain itself wasn’t particularly tall, but the forest covering it was thick and unnaturally dense. It felt isolated from the surrounding range, like a place entirely cut off from human presence.
The mountain’s spiritual force felt eerily silent.
Heavy.
Without question, something was hidden there.
“Big brother... please. Let’s just go back.”
Seo Jeongtak’s {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} voice trembled near tears as he grabbed Kim Seokcheol’s arm.
“If we pray sincerely, the spirits will answer eventually. What if you accidentally get involved with something evil and end up possessed? Especially if it’s really a powerful evil ghost...”
But Kim Seokcheol ignored him completely and pulled the handbrake.
“We already came this far. Stop talking nonsense.”
He opened the driver’s side door.
“If you’re scared, stay in the car. I’ll go alone.”
Then he got out.
Seo Jeongtak hesitated anxiously before finally throwing open the passenger door as well.
“Ah, damn it... big brother! Wait, I’m coming too!”
Unable to leave him behind, he reluctantly followed after Kim Seokcheol.
