By Zephyria It wasn’t until the evening of that day that Kim Ju-won was able to come to his senses.
He massaged his stiff neck and raised his upper body, shaking his head firmly at Kim Yeong, who asked if he was okay.
“No. I don’t feel anything.”
“……Haa.”
Kim Yeong sighed and rubbed his forehead. He felt like it was all his fault.
‘I shouldn’t have tried it recklessly.’
Arrogant faith had clouded his vision.
A teacher should be able to admit his disciple’s shortcomings……!
Kim Yeong blamed himself.
Because it was Kim Ju-won, and no one else…… he thought he would be able to do it without difficulty if he only blocked his spiritual power for a month or two. But it was a huge misjudgment.
The difference in level between the two was too great.
“I’m sorry, Ju-won. Teacher will offer a sacrifice soon.”
Currently, Kim Ju-won’s guardian spirit was intimidated and had disappeared. Therefore, he needed offerings of food and sincere prayers to appease him.
However, the problem was that he couldn’t guarantee whether the guardian spirit would be appeased and return even if he offered a sacrifice.
No one knew exactly how many days or months it would take.
“Take a break for a week…… and think of it as a vacation.”
Kim Yeong hated the reality that he could only look at his discouraged disciple.
‘He’s a very proud guy, so the shock must be enormous.’
The same goes for the Vermilion Bird summoning incident last time…… he just hoped that he wouldn’t do the stupid thing of comparing himself to Exorcist Ki Jae-eon.
Because that child is too bad to be compared to.
It goes without saying that a week wasn’t enough. No matter how much he offered sacrifices with all his heart, Kim Ju-won’s guardian spirit was nowhere to be found.
In the meantime, Kim Ju-won had to go through all sorts of things.
Every time he went out, he got hit by bird droppings, the ground suddenly caved in, the food he ordered was always missing and he couldn’t eat it…… and that wasn’t all? Getting caught up in unprovoked fights was a service, and he even got splashed with water.
Splash!
Just like this.
Drip…… Drip…….
“Ha, haha…… hahahaha!”
Kim Ju-won burst into laughter as if he had lost his mind, looking like a drowned rat.
He knew why these X-like things were happening continuously.
It was obvious. It was the petty ghosts’ revenge.
“Ah…… it’s fun.”
He roughly swept his wet hair back with the back of his hand, his veins bulging.
‘Yeah, enjoy it while you can.’
When my spiritual power comes back, I’m going to kill all these petty ghost bastards! – It had already been more than two weeks since he vowed revenge.
Kim Ju-won was still sealed. No, it was even worse.
He was almost hit by a truck while trying to cross the crosswalk, but a dormitory kid who was passing by caught him and he ended up taking the train to dormitory confinement.
He protested that he was okay…… but not at all.
In the end, under the leadership of Master Kim Yeong, the children started taking turns guarding Kim Ju-won every day.
“Why are you stopping me from going out! Did I commit a crime?”
“Today’s meal. 0812.”
“You’re gonna die, Ahn Seo-myeong.”
“Hyung is really…….”
“What.”
Ahn Seo-myeong blinked his eyes with his unique dead fish eyes.
“Not cute.”
Thud. In the end, he got hit on the head.
“Ouch.”
“Don’t say useless things and get lost! You’re so annoying.”
Kim Ju-won, who was already rough, was getting more and more vicious day by day.
This was an emergency.
Of course, he showed a gentle attitude towards Kim Yeong and the girls, which was no different from usual…… but to interpret that differently, it meant that he was being a pain in the ass to everyone except Kim Yeong and the girls.
“I feel like I’m living with a real bully!”
“No to violence! No to violence!”
“Is it okay to come and stab me in the side in the middle of the night just because I snored a little? The bruise hasn’t gone away yet!”
“I got hit with a spoon for making a smacking sound while eating.”
“I got scolded for an hour because the angle of the folded laundry wasn’t good.”
“Still, you guys didn’t get hit for not liking the way you look.”
“Is Gyeong-hak’s face okay again?”
“He’s committed an offense…….”
“That’s right, Ju-won hyung was right- you can see it that way.”
“What? Is this my fault?”
Kim Ju-won, whose nerves had become overly sensitive, was like a time bomb, and the complaints of the boys who were directly affected were increasing day by day.
Having heard the cries of innocent children, the wise ruler, no, the teacher Kim Yeong, decided that he could no longer stand by and ultimately resolved to bring out his last resort.
“I really didn’t want to ask you for something like this…”
Kim Yeong was on his knees before his last resort, Ki Jae-eon.
It was only natural, as he was about to make a shameless request.
“Exorcist, just for a few days…”
Kim Yeong abruptly bowed his head to the ground.
“Could you please take care of Ju-won?!”
If offerings didn’t work, the only option left was to prostrate himself!
The person who scared me suddenly takes care of me? What could be a more effective method than this!
‘This… he’ll come back out of curiosity.’
Seeing Kim Ju-won being revered from afar, he’ll probably come back out of curiosity. Then, soon after seeing Ki Jae-eon’s subdued appearance, he’ll be proud, saying, ‘Our believer is very strong! Heh heh!’ and let go of his sulking heart.
It was a very one-dimensional and very simple method.
But it was also a humiliating method that required someone to put down their pride. Therefore, Kim Yeong didn’t want to ask Ki Jae-eon for such a favor even more.
‘But there’s no other way.’
Fortunately, Ki Jae-eon readily agreed.
Of course, it seemed like he accepted it because he was uncomfortable with Kim Yeong, who was much older than him, groveling and begging for forgiveness… Anyway, the real problem was something else.
It was that Kim Ju-won himself was refusing.
His position was understandable enough. After all, being taken care of meant having a non-close same-sex person with a face that looked like he was about to faint, trembling as he fed him, or trying to wash every nook and cranny of his body while suppressing his gag reflex. Any normal person would hate it.
Moreover, the situation spiraled further into the worst as the dormitory kids, upon hearing the news that ‘Kim Ju-won was being taken care of by Ki Jae-eon,’ turned green with envy and shouted,
“Kim Ju-won, what makes you think you deserve such happiness?”
“That’s right! Kim Ju-won is not qualified!”
“You bastards, would you like it if some guy washed every nook and cranny of your body?”
Kim Ju-won burst out at the jeering of the kids. But the response he got was just crazy nonsense.
“Are you going to brag until the end?”
“If you like it so much, you guys can wash between his toes!”
“Huh, are, are you giving us such an opportunity?”
“Life is so sweet…”
“I’m hurriedly lining up.”
“……”
Kim Ju-won ended up causing a total of five injuries that day.
He somehow managed to endure without anyone’s help for several days.
It was when his nerve, which he prided himself on being quite strong, was about to snap due to the indoor confinement, which was like torture to an extreme extrovert, and the insomnia caused by the accumulated energy.
Just as he was barely falling asleep with tearful effort, he faintly heard the sound of drums.
Boom- boom- boom!
It was a cheap harassment that had continued since he refused Ki Jae-eon’s care.
Yes… the Evil Spirit that hurriedly came and banged on the drums in his dreams as if protesting, waking him up whenever he tried to sleep… no, the Guardian Spirit!
“Aaaaaah!”
Kim Ju-won’s patience finally exploded.
His appearance, as he ruffled his hair wildly and bounced up, was truly ferocious.
‘He didn’t even come when I was begging him to come back!’
…Oh, yeah. Fuck.
So, you’re saying I should just accept that bastard Ki Jae-eon’s care, no matter what?
Okay, fine. I’ll do as you wish.
Kim Ju-won, already driven to his limit, looked for Ki Jae-eon with bloodshot eyes. His footsteps walking down the hallway were terribly fierce. He kicked open Ki Jae-eon’s door, shirtless, and shouted so loud that the dormitory shook.
“Attend to me!”
It was so loud that you could see his abs deeply contracting and relaxing.
Someone from the floor below shouted in fury, “It’s dawn! Dawn! What a fucking mess!” but that wasn’t so important to Kim Ju-won right now. He needed a deep sleep right now.