ROA 7

Recognizing it as the hairpin that had held up Do Seon-hwa’s hair, Shim Seo-woo was bewildered. Just as he was worrying whether it was okay to throw a hairpin at someone’s face like that, a very eerie scream burst from the man.

[Aaaaaaaaaaah!]

The man who fell as soon as he was pierced by the hairpin rolled around on the ground. But his cries rang out torn like a broken recorder, and then even the man’s face burned up. Beyond the level of rotting blackly, his body disappeared entirely.

…This was a phenomenon that couldn’t be considered human.

Shim Seo-woo was flustered by the abnormal phenomena appearing from the man. While quietly looking down at the man, Jin Gwang-min, who had barely caught up, panted heavily.

Having witnessed the situation just before, he asked as if dumbfounded.

“Wait, you saw a ghost though?”

He didn’t know how to understand the behavior of giving double thumbs up to a ghost, but at least Shim Seo-woo clearly recognized the existence of ghosts. Moreover, given his unsurprised reaction, he must have been seeing them all along.

“…I didn’t know this was a ghost.”

“When it’s in such a bizarre form?! Wearing a fur coat in June, and backwards at that!”

“Fashion is a matter of personal taste…”

“Acting in reverse is a characteristic of ghosts! The world of the dead is reversed from the world of the living!”

At Jin Gwang-min’s exasperated cry, Shim Seo-woo felt a bit wronged. Though he didn’t know that background, compared to modern fashion shows, wasn’t wearing clothes backwards not that strange?

‘Hey. Do you perhaps see strange things, you know… like ghosts?‘

However, on the other hand, things he’d seen recently came to mind. The person lying on the entrance stairs of the lecture hall, the person who had climbed the tree in front of the cafeteria, and even the strange people he encountered on the way to school yesterday.

Could all of that have been ghosts?

Strictly speaking, Shim Seo-woo hadn’t denied the existence of ghosts. To the extent that he passed over all worldly matters as ‘that can happen,’ he didn’t assert ghosts absolutely didn’t exist, but it was also true he didn’t view them as definitely existing either. He also accepted the logic denying ghosts as plausible, maintaining a stance reminiscent of Prime Minister Hwang Hui’s famed neutrality.

So until now he considered the strange things he’d been seeing as just being due to going crazy. He’d even thought he’d finally lost his sanity, and had lasted quite a long time at that.

“Ha, it’s not that you can’t see ghosts, but that you’ve been seeing them all along without thinking it strange.”

Jin Gwang-min sighed deeply. While strangely scrutinizing him saying this was the first time seeing someone who accepted things like this, Do Seon-hwa stroked her chest in relief.

It was an opportunity to prove they weren’t a cult.

“This is a hairpin made from dongdoji. The branches of peach trees that grow toward the east are spiritually powerful, so they’re used to chase away ghosts.”

Records can be found in the Annals of King Sukjong where evil spirits were chased away with peach tree branches before the king’s procession, and in Yongjae Chonghwa records can be confirmed of palace evil spirit exorcism rituals where brooms were made from dongdoji to beat and expel ghosts. Peaches have been regarded as spiritually powerful fruits since ancient times and were often used as tools for protective magic.

Do Seon-hwa explained as thoroughly as possible and, above all, in the kindest tone while clasping both hands tightly. Looking up at Shim Seo-woo in a posture reminiscent of a cat from a certain movie, she pleaded.

“Benefactor, can you spare some time now?”

*

Shim Seo-woo made a choice he normally wouldn’t have. He decided to go to HN following Do Seon-hwa and Jin Gwang-min, who were practically strangers.

Since his perception had been overturned, that what he’d been seeing was ghosts, he decided to try making the opposite decision from usual.

Following them, Shim Seo-woo imagined a traditional house located in a deep mountain valley. Since they said they hunted evil spirits, shamans naturally came to mind, leading him to picture the stereotypical image commonly seen in media.

However, the place they arrived at was indeed in the quiet outskirts of the city, but the building was tall enough that you had to bend your head back to see it. The alphabet letters HN were attached prominently to the glass-fronted building, and the entrance was quite splendid too.

In some ways, it made sense for a business with a long history, yet it also left him slightly uneasy. There was a strange sense of obsession in those letters.

Confirming that Shim Seo-woo was staring up at the building, Jin Gwang-min explained.

“Externally we disguise ourselves as a construction company. It’s the most suitable company for cleaning up buildings destroyed while fighting evil spirits, plus it’s good for selling nice lots.”

The reason was they could hide the noise generated in the process of hunting evil spirits by putting up construction barriers, and it was also possible to carefully purify and manage curses dwelling in places over a long time.

Thinking it quite reasonable, Shim Seo-woo recalled an earlier memory. Come to think of it, the business cards the two showed at the library had HN written in alphabet, but they’d referred to themselves as ‘Heun.’

Perhaps when one go in there and say ‘I came to commission Heun,’ they get guided to a separate meeting room. An organization name that circulates only among those in the know.

Do Seon-hwa said with a sigh.

“Ah, if only our company had someone capable of restoring collapsed buildings to their original state with just a touch.”

Shim Seo-woo looked back at her puzzledly while imagining that ability in his mind. It was quite a novel-like power, but perhaps there really was someone with such ability in this industry.

However, Jin Gwang-min shook his head.

“There you go talking nonsense again. That’s just bullshit about what you saw in a dream, so ignore it.”

“It really exists somewhere! Called the Sun, they said! No, was it Hamster?”

“Director, it’s time you accepted that you also have nonsense dreams.”

“You little!”

Jin Gwang-min quickly hid behind Shim Seo-woo, dodging Do Seon-hwa’s hand. Then he urged them to go inside, and Shim Seo-woo followed bewilderedly.

Inside the building, people were busily moving about. They just looked like ordinary office workers and the space didn’t seem particularly special either, but as he entered following Do Seon-hwa, he gradually felt something strange.

Do Seon-hwa swiped a card key and entered inside. Since large companies strictly manage entry, he watched without much thought, but the act of swiping the card was repeated several times. It wasn’t that the machines were placed at short intervals either.

Could a building be this deep?

Even the air seemed to gradually become clearer as they went inside. Though it felt like digging into an abyss, his body also felt lighter.

Only after swiping the card a full 7 times did Do Seon-hwa stop. Shim Seo-woo looked around bewilderedly.

It was quite a different space from outside. Though the office was arranged like a general company, talismans were piled up on desks, stone tablets carved with strange patterns were visible, and objects presumed to be ritual implements like sacred swords and spears were also abundant.

On the deep red wall, the Chinese characters ‘痕 (Heun)’ were written large and splendidly in a subtle golden color.

“Is this a space only Heun’s affiliates can enter?”

“Yes, that’s right. We told you we’re an organization that aims to balance the two worlds, right? Our work is erasing the traces the dead try to leave in this world, but what we do also shouldn’t remain in the ordinary world. We have to prevent unnecessary confusion.”

“An organization that works in the shadows while aspiring toward the light, you could say.”

At the words Do Seon-hwa and Jin Gwang-min poured out in turn, Shim Seo-woo slowly nodded.

Suddenly he recalled his friends saying this morning that all the posts on the university community had disappeared. They’d said it was noisy until dawn about the commotion at the science library, but by morning everything was erased without a trace, could Heun have been behind that incident? It seemed to be a more secretive and full-fledged organization than he thought.

While Shim Seo-woo looked around with interest, Jin Gwang-min glanced at Do Seon-hwa. He lowered his voice considerably, conveying his question almost just with mouth movements.

‘Did this person really purify it?’

It was newly felt that he knew nothing about ‘this side’ at all. In fact, if one knew even a little about this industry, they couldn’t not know HN.

Since he’d questioned whether ghosts existed in the first place, it was natural, but the gap between them felt large again. Could he who looked at everything, talismans, ritual implements, etc., so unfamiliarly have really used purification power? Was it possible to remove a curse from an object while knowing nothing?

At Jin Gwang-min’s gaze full of doubt, Do Seon-hwa only raised her index finger to her lips. After warning him not to say unnecessary things, she first guided Shim Seo-woo to Team 2’s office to sit, then the two quickly moved outside alone.

And after about 10 minutes…

“Please punish me for doubting Your Excellency the benefactor.”

Jin Gwang-min knelt before Shim Seo-woo.