By Zephyria 
“I was curious to see if you guys were doing well, but the door won’t open, as if it’s broken?”
Click-click.
The doorknob kept turning.
The grating sound of metal clashing against each other made him feel goosebumps for no reason. Kim Ju-won muttered quickly, “Ah, I’ll open it. I’ll open it,” and put strength into his hand. He thought, ‘He’s being so impatient today.’ Kim Ju-won chuckled, wondering if he wanted to go to the bathroom or something.
Come to think of it, Donggwan was such an old building that it was dilapidated and corroded in many places. That’s why he had briefly worked on the front door when he came in earlier. He definitely oiled it…
Pause.
‘Did I?’
His hand lost strength on its own. The hand holding the doorknob slid down.
“Ju-won? The door won’t open. Open it.”
Come to think of it, it was strange. Kim Ju-won recalled Lee Gyeong-hak, who had been teasing him while holding a bottle of alcohol.
-‘In case the Teachers find out.’
Usually, when you say something like that… doesn’t it mean that you’ve hidden your location from the Teachers?
The smile on Kim Ju-won’s face froze in an instant.
“The door… won’t open?”
Click-click.
“Yeah- it doesn’t.”
“Is that so…?”
Kim Ju-won’s answer gradually slowed down. A black shadow swayed behind the opaque glass window on the front door.
Kim Ju-won said, looking at the strange shadow.
“Ah, Teacher. It’s a good thing. I was going to buy alcohol, but I didn’t have my ID.”
Then, a smiling answer came from the other side, who had paused for a moment.
“Alcohol? What’s the problem if you go buy it with Teacher? Before that, open the door!”
“Ju-won?”
“Ju-won.”
“I said open the door.”
“You have to open it to get in.”
“Open it.”
“The Teacher told you to open it!”
Click.
Click-click.
Click-click. Click-click.
Click-click. Click-click.
Click-click. Click-click.
Thump thump thump thump! Thump thump thump thump!
Thump thump thump thump! Thump thump thump thump!
Thump thump thump thump! Thump thump thump thump!
The door shook violently as if it would break.
“Ju-won, Ju-won. Open? Open the door. Give it to me. Won-ah, Ju-won? Ju-ju, gi-give.”
Thump thump thump… Gradually, the movement stopped.
Hehehe!
Hehe!
An unpleasant laughter was heard.
At that moment, the neck of the black shadow was seen stretching looooong.
I knew it… it wasn’t a person.
Kim Ju-won was fiddling with the Mystical Instrument in his pocket when.
“It’s open?”
The door, is it open?
In an instant, a single message flashed through Kim Ju-won’s head.
‘[Don’t get confused between the main gate and the back gate]’
…Shit, the back door!
*
“We’re not in a ‘I can’t hurt someone precious’ setting, are we?”
“How can we fight more sincerely than this?”
Lee Gyeong-hak and Ahn Seo-myeong, who were hiding behind a wide table, gasped for breath. All they wanted was to have some samgyeopsal and a glass of dew… Lee Gyeong-hak let out a hollow laugh and pressed even harder on his side, where blood was gushing out. Hey, Seo-myeong. His voice trembled.
“If I go first, make sure to bury that bastard with me in my grave.”
“Do it yourself.”
Ahn Seo-myeong cut him off sharply.
The ‘bastard’ they were talking about was none other than Kim Ju-won.
To be exact, Kim Ju-won who was ‘possessed’.
“Seriously… Ugh!”
Another attack came flying.
Currently, [Donggwan] was in a state of disaster. All entrances were blocked, and all the children were either seriously injured or cursed.
“Hyung, you said the signal works, right?”
“Hoo-hoo, huh, no… it works, it doesn’t.”
Lee Gyeong-hak pointed near the window.
“It might work around there… ugh.”
“Let’s go.”
“What?!”
“I’ll be the bait, so go and,”
“No! You want me to crawl all the way there while bleeding like this?!”
“Ah, that way?”
Lee Gyeong-hak and Ahn Seo-myeong glared at each other like devils. Hyung, are you serious? You too! The two soon lowered their voices and started bickering.
“Then are we all going to die here? Get a grip. There’s no way we can solve this on our own! The only way to survive is to contact Teacher.”
“W-what if Teacher can’t help us either?”
“He’ll bring even the elders! Hyung, we don’t have time for this?!”
Ahn Seo-myeong scolded him with a frustrated face.
“Ah, really… Ah! I’m going crazy! Seriously! Kim Ju-woon! Why are you getting possessed when you never even get possessed usually!”
“I know Ju-won hyung is tanking for us.”
“I know! That’s why I’m more annoyed!”
Lee Gyeong-hak was annoyed, but he stretched his neck and secretly glanced at Kim Ju-won. His eyes were full of unconcealable worry.
‘That bastard won’t be able to hold on much longer.’
That’s right. The ‘Poor little cutie’ who was inside Kim Ju-won’s body and claiming to be a ‘Earth God’ was not a difficult opponent. Except for his nasty personality, he was just a petty ghost who stayed in one place and cursed or slightly injured passersby. Even the intensity of the curse was weak enough to be easily Unraveled.
It was definitely like that.
‘Why?’
That bastard was even able to possess. Moreover, the intensity of the curse was also strong.
The children who were hit by him first vomited and then even had convulsions. In severe cases, their faces turned purple.
For a Poor little cutie… it was an unbelievable power. How many years has he been holding a grudge!
Fortunately, Kim Ju-won was actively giving his body to prevent others from being possessed.
If he hadn’t given his body, many of the children would have already gone to the afterlife.
Actually, it’s because it’s Kim Ju-won that he’s holding on.
If you are possessed by an Evil Spirit with a strong grudge, you will lose even your ‘ego’ the moment you lose your body. And that’s not all? As time goes by, the bones rot and the skin necroses, slowly dying.
In other words, you become a living corpse.
Even if you are released with the help of an Exorcist, there is a problem. Because there will be a big aftereffect.
So even Kim Ju-won was slowly reaching his limit.
He was barely protecting his ego from a guy who was out of the ordinary Poor little cutie’s range. His body had already been taken over for a long time.
The Poor little cutie thoroughly mocked Kim Ju-won.
He staggered like a doll hanging from a string and poured out thick blood from his eyes, nose, mouth, and all the holes. The more his handsome face was distorted by pain, the more his lips turned upwards. A man crying blood and laughing was a very bizarre sight.
Perhaps Kim Ju-won, who is more sincere than anyone else to ‘his people’, is distressed by the fact that he is hurting his friends with his own hands. The Poor little cutie must be enjoying reading such inner thoughts.
If someone really dies… Kim Ju-won may never be able to recover for the rest of his life. So as soon as possible… someone had to find someone to save him.
“Hyung, give me a signal and I’ll go.”
“Ugh, I feel like I’m going to pee my pants.”
“One… two… now!!”
Ahn Seo-myeong kicked off the table first and shouted, drawing the Poor little cutie’s attention. Then, Lee Gyeong-hak sprinted towards the window far away.
‘Explode, you bastard, explode!’
He barely found [Teacher] with his slippery hands and sent an SOS signal…
Ah, fortunately, the signal was caught.
“Hyung!”
“Huh!”
Kwaang!
The attack came before he could press the message send button.
He narrowly escaped death, but his cell phone was smashed. Wow, I haven’t finished paying off that phone yet. Lee Gyeong-hak trembled and looked at the Poor little cutie approaching him. His legs gave way from fear and he collapsed.
“Hey, hey… Ju-won, c-can’t you try a little harder…?”
“Huff, huff… Keuk, run away… Haa, uh, heh… Hehehe.”
“Get a grip, you bastard!”
That was right before the first victim was about to be born.
-Squeak.
Surprisingly, there was a sound of footsteps from the stairs below.
“……?”
The Poor little cutie stopped moving.
-Squeak squeak.
He didn’t mishear. Someone was coming up?
The Poor little cutie shook his head from side to side, his face full of question marks.
Of course. Currently, all the doors in [Donggwan] were blocked due to the curse.
But who broke through the seal?
The moment everyone’s eyes were focused on one place, what appeared in front of them was Ki Jae-eon, holding a cheap doll in one hand.
“Ah…”
Ahn Seo-myeong suddenly recalled the text message he had sent before coming here. Unlike the perfunctory message he sent to Kim Ju-won, he wrote each letter carefully. Yes, the message he sent after deliberately leaving the doll in front of Ki Jae-eon’s room…
[Hyung, this is Seo-myeong. Come anytime if you’re hungry. It’s Donggwan.]
[(Emoji)]
[Ah, and if you happen to see my talisman, please bring it to me. I can’t see where it went lol]
“The text message…”
Ahn Seo-myeong moved his lips.
There was another person who was surprised.
“Ki Jae-eon?!”
Ugh!! I’m alive!! Unlike Lee Gyeong-hak, who was shouting, Ahn Seo-myeong’s vision went dark. The sight of him having a seizure after seeing Bulgoechulsa was still vivid.
Of course, Ki Jae-eon was also the one who Exorcised Bulgoechulsa in the end.
‘I don’t have time to hesitate. If he has another seizure… No. No. I have to trust the Exorcist.’
Ahn Seo-myeong quickly shook off the negativity. There’s nothing I can do now.
‘I have no choice but to hope.’
After all, there was no one to rely on but Ki Jae-eon at this point. If he doesn’t do his part, the only ending left is to take the train to the afterlife.
‘Let’s believe.’
Ahn Seo-myeong looked at Ki Jae-eon, sweating profusely.
‘Even if it’s just for a moment.’
If he can stop the Poor little cutie’s movement… I can use that gap to send an SOS signal outside.
So now, all I can do is pray.
That he is a real talisman.