By Zephyria 
They are just hurriedly leaving to escape something. And this was a very ominous sign. I have to let them know right away. Ki Jae-eon’s intuition was quickly telling him to evacuate the children.
It was at that moment.
Kugung-!
The ground vibrated greatly. Enough to make his body sway. Ugh, Ki Jae-eon, desperately grabbing the window frame to hold on, saw the ruined outside.
The Blue Tiger statue, which represented the main office, had collapsed. The half-broken tiger’s head lay pathetically on the floor. Following that, the flock of Spirit Fish accelerated.
The atmosphere was changing rapidly.
Everything seemed to foreshadow the misfortune that would unfold. An eerie sensation covered his entire body.
‘Plague God?’
…No, it’s not.
The damp energy that was creeping in was similar to that of a Plague God, but it was slightly different. It was stronger than that.
‘I feel like I’m going to throw up.’
Cold sweat naturally began to form on his palms. Ki Jae-eon staggered towards the door. His knees almost buckled several times as he walked the short distance from the bed to the door. Huff- Haa. At the strange sensation of someone grabbing and twisting his stomach, he finally -Wretch! He ended up retching.
“Heeu, haa, ha….”
Heaving his deeply bent back, he barely swallowed his stomach acid. …Heok, heok. Cold air flowed out from between his pale lips. As if he had a chill, his dry, firm body swayed repeatedly. No. I can’t lose my mind yet. The hand grabbing the doorknob was trembling.
‘Get a grip. Don’t lose your mind.’
Suppressing the churning stomach, he bit his lip hard. Judging by his parched lips and pale complexion, he was in a state where he could pass out at any moment. But he endured.
‘Not yet. The kids, the kids….’
Ki Jae-eon bit his tongue hard to wake up his fading mind. A bitter taste of blood filled his mouth.
In fact, it wasn’t just a simple trauma that had made his condition so bad, as usual. There was another decisive reason why his condition had hit rock bottom.
A clash of energies.
To put it cheaply, a battle of nerves.
Yes, that’s right. Ki Jae-eon had been overwhelmed by the ‘energy’ of another being for the first time in his life.
The clashing spiritual power was tremendous. Just what kind of being is it, to be this strong?
I can say with certainty that the being we are about to face will be close to a disaster.
“Kids!!”
Just then, a loud shout was heard from the hallway.
“Kids, come out!”
Thump, thump, thump! The sound of pounding on the door as if to break it down.
Barely opening the door and going out, he saw Kim Yeong and the other Teachers. Moreover, everyone was in their pajamas. It seemed that the situation over there was not much different. They must have seen the Spirit Fish and felt the encroaching energy, and as soon as they sensed that something was wrong, they had rushed to evacuate the children.
“Everyone come out quickly! Jin-su, wake up Gyeong-hak!”
He had thrown away his usual relaxed attitude. Kim Yeong was grabbing and pulling out each and every one of the children himself. The way he treated the children was very rough and fast, showing how urgent the situation was. Then, when he made eye contact with Ki Jae-eon, he shouted like a thunderbolt, “Jae-eon, you too!” It was completely different from his usual self, who always showed respect by calling him ‘Jae-eon-ssi’.
“Did everyone come out? Count them!”
The Teachers moved busily among the murmuring children. Teacher, what’s going on? What is it! They told the frightened children, “It’s okay, it’s nothing,” a lie that wouldn’t work, and began to count them one by one… individually.
“Twenty-five, six…… twenty-seven. Seven? Who… Heok, Ju-won! Ju-won is missing!”
When the Teacher counting the numbers screamed, the color drained from Kim Yeong’s face. He hurriedly turned his head and looked at the dorm. Oh my god, could it be…! His dark pupils shook violently. In fact, judging by Kim Ju-won’s recent behavior, the probability of him being in the dorm was fifty-fifty. But Kim Yeong ran without hesitation. No. He was about to.
–Kwaaaang!
If a lightning strike that obliterated the world hadn’t struck the dorm.
“Kyaa!”
“Uwaaa!”
The children covered their ears and sat down. A cloud of smoke rose from the dorm and soon collapsed like a sandcastle meeting a wave. The sound of screams of despair was also faintly heard. Everyone was stunned by the sudden disaster, like a bolt from the blue. If they hadn’t rushed out, it was too terrible to even imagine what would have happened.
But only one person. Only Ki Jae-eon was different.
He stood upright and looked up at the dark sky. With a corpse-like complexion, he bit his lip tightly and narrowed his eyes as if trying to gauge the opponent.
It was around that time that great shock began to spread in his gloomy eyes.
Because he finally recognized it.
Someone with bandages covering his entire face, wearing a black durumagi stained with blood and filth, and holding a golden staff with nine rings, was there. The damp gaze visible through the gaps in the bandages, where thick pus had spread, even contained a familiar detachment. Especially that staff. It was the [Jade Relic], a Mystical Instrument born from the gathering of the energy of the twelve mountain peaks in the distant past, and said to have been used to seal the Four Perils.
From head to toe, there was no way he couldn’t know.
“……Why.”
Why. How. Lies. It can’t be.
Ki Jae-eon’s pupils shook violently.
His pulse quickened and his breathing became irregular.
“Haa, ha…. Heuk!”
Ki Jae-eon rolled his eyes around frantically like a person with a seizure. Then he even started hiccuping. His broad back heaved violently.
“Heu… Euht, heuk!”
He trembled incessantly, then hesitantly took a step back. Ugh, hic! Haa, n-no, I don’t, wa-ant to. He mumbled to himself with slurred pronunciation, struggling to escape. But his weakened legs soon faltered and buckled.
Thud! Despite falling with a rather loud noise, he didn’t seem to feel any pain. Instead, he frantically clawed at the ground, as if consumed by terror. He seemed to have lost all judgment.
“Wh-why, n-no, a-ah, ugh, hic, no, a-ah, hic, a… th-that…”
Ki Jae-eon curled up into a ball and trembled for a long time, as if that was the best defense he could muster.
He remained frozen in that position until Ahn Seo-myeong, finally noticing his pathetic state, shouted, “Hyung!” and rushed over. H-help me, I, I did wro-ong. Thick teardrops finally fell onto the floor.
“Hyung, Hyung…!”
Ahn Seo-myeong quickly reached him, knelt down, and wrapped Ki Jae-eon in his arms. His half-conscious body easily succumbed to the embrace, still shedding tears with vacant eyes.
“Jae-eon… Hyung.”
Ahn Seo-myeong called out to him with a face of renewed shock. Hyung… Jae-eon-ah. His surprisingly large hand trembled as he carefully wiped away the shadows beneath Ki Jae-eon’s eyes. The sight of a human consumed by fear was always devastating.
And an unknown entity, looking down on them like insects, slowly approached.
The truth of the rotting Evil Spirit that had shattered Ki Jae-eon’s mind…
No one knew, no one could know…
It was Ki Jae-eon, the hero who had saved humanity, back in those days.
“Teacher! Over there!”
“What is that? Ugh, it feels awful.”
“It’s weird… Just looking at it makes me want to throw up.”
“I’m scared…”
Kim Yeong raised his head in the direction the children were all pointing. There stood a specter he had never seen before, no, an Evil God. Its mere presence overwhelmed everyone in the area.
The chilling aura emanating from it was truly vile, as if it were made by condensing all the ‘resentment’ in the world. It was that ruthless and cruel.
He couldn’t even move carelessly. He felt like his limbs would be sliced off with a snick!
‘To carry around such a thick stench of blood.’
Calling it an Evil God was an understatement.
This kind of fear was something he was experiencing for the first time as an Exorcist… truly the first time. His body automatically stiffened as if he had encountered a natural enemy.
‘What is it? A Plague God?’
But he had never heard of such attire.
Bandages smeared with yellowish pus.
An old, tattered robe reeking of blood.
And… a stone spear exuding a terrifying aura.
‘It’s dangerous.’
He realized it instinctively.
“Teacher Park… Take the children, take the children and go down to the basement. Block the entrance by any means necessary.”
“What about Teacher Kim!”
“Someone has to buy time!”
“Are you crazy? It’s impossible alone! It’s on a different level from the specters we’ve exorcised so far! We might barely manage even if we all work together!”
“The kids are here. There’s no time. Hurry!”
He said that, but in truth, he wasn’t sure how many minutes he could last.
‘…At least until the Elder returns!’
It was at that very moment, as Kim Yeong, prepared for death, swallowed hard, that something appeared above the head of that bizarre Evil God.
—Ding!
A bell rang out like a scream.
He recognized it instantly.
It was a Wish Eater.
[Wish Eater: A specter bell that grants wishes. It does not disappear until it rings three times, and it will use any means necessary to achieve the final goal of the human who made the wish before the three rings sound.]
‘Wish Eater? Why a Wish Eater… Huh, could it be!’
Kim Yeong’s eyes widened as he grasped the situation. Putting it in context, someone had made a wish to the Wish Eater… and as a result, the Wish Eater had summoned that Evil God.
“…Who on earth…”
Would summon something so vile into the world!