Chapter 34: To See No More

I transformed the Four Tiger Sword into a ring and focused my mind.

As my fingertips, toes, and heart tingled, the ring began to be surrounded by light, like the Four Tiger Sword.

The light soon exploded, splitting into several beams that stretched out in all directions.

During practice, Baekmung told me to imbue it with my will. 

But I didn’t know how to imbue my will, so I kept repeating that I had to find the evil spirit.

The beams of light that had been spreading in all directions quickly began to converge on one spot. 

Then, they began to gather in circles, circling something in the air.

Soon, a shadow-like figure bound by the beams of light began to appear.

“Amulets!”

As amulets were plastered all over the shadow figure bound by the beams of light, Jang Ha-woon leaped forward.

The moment Jang Ha-woon’s sword cut through the shadow, the beams of light burst out in all directions, turning into sparks.

“Wow!”

The child reached out his palm towards the sparks disappearing in the air.

{The aura of the evil spirit is no longer felt.}

Only after receiving confirmation from Baekmung did I slump down next to the child.

“Oppa, are you tired?”

“A little.”

I had experimented with this power with Baekmung, but this was the first time I had actually found and bound an evil spirit.

As the beams of light spread out in all directions, my body began to lose strength, and now I felt like I had no energy left, as if I had been practicing dancing all day.

“I’ll give you this again.”

The child brought the tiny Baekmung close to my hat.

{You exhausted too much of your spiritual power by doing it alone.}

There was no choice. I couldn’t leave the child alone.

But next time, I definitely have to do it with Baekmung.

I was wondering if I should take a vitamin when a black van came to a stop in front of the emergency center.

Seeing the Japsang Team getting out in droves, I raised my arm high and waved.

Tell the paramedics to take the man who collapsed with a knife.

*    *    *

The child was six years old, too young to even enter elementary school. 

It was even more dangerous because he was so young.

Just looking at this camping site incident, it was clear that the child’s spiritual power would continue to be a danger to the child and his family in the future.

{I can eliminate the spiritual sight. The spiritual sight is opened by spiritual power, causing you to see things that should not be seen. If you take away the spiritual power and put it into a sacred object, it will be resolved.}

Lee Geon, who had spiritual sight since he was young, said that having spiritual sight wasn’t always a bad thing.

“Besides, it’s too young to make such a decision.”

He calls Lee Geon “Uncle” but calls me “Oppa,” so he seems like a very smart child.

“How about asking the child’s parents?”

As Kim Woojin said, it’s right to get the consent of a guardian for a minor, but I was reluctant to tell the parents.

Because of the evil spirit that targeted the child’s spiritual power, the child’s father was seriously injured and could have died.

{Are you worried that the child will become an object of resentment?}

Many of the children in the orphanage were abandoned from birth or were abandoned because they were blamed for the misfortunes that occurred in their families.

So I didn’t want to tell the child’s parents that they were hurt because of the child’s spiritual power.

Someone might say that the biological parents wouldn’t blame the child, that there are no such parents, but I grew up learning that there are such parents.

I moved to Gangnam Hospital, and while the child’s mother was listening to an explanation about her husband’s surgery, I stayed by the child’s side.

And when it was quiet around us, I asked the child.

“Can you see the uncles?”

I pointed in the direction where Lee Geon and Jang Ha-woon were and asked the child.

But the child shook his head. Then he pointed in another direction.

“They’re over there. Two uncles wearing slightly strange hanboks.”

Ah, so Lee Geon and Jang Ha-woon revert to their original attire when they hide themselves. 

I didn’t know because I couldn’t see them.

“But if I tell you this, aren’t you scared, Oppa?”

The child whispered softly.

“Are you scared?”

“…A little. And Mom is scared too.”

Mom already knows.

Seeing that Mom is scared, she probably wouldn’t object to eliminating the spiritual power.

“If you’re scared, should I make it so you can’t see them?”

“How?”

“This sword will help.”

The child looked at the Four Tiger Sword this way and that but couldn’t bring himself to touch it.

“Is that why it’s shining? Like magic?”

Well, it’s kind of similar.

I just smiled.

“Um… Can I ask Mom about it?”

“Of course.”

If the child’s mother hears this story now, she’ll realize that today’s incident happened because of the child. 

Wouldn’t she resent the child then?

But the child said he would ask his mother, and I couldn’t ignore that and do as I pleased.

When the child’s mother returned, the child ran to her and whispered in her ear, and the child’s mother’s eyes widened as she approached me.

“Really? I heard it’s impossible to make it so they can’t see them at all…”

It seemed like she had tried to eliminate the child’s spiritual sight before.

The child’s mother came up to me and asked in a small voice.

“We’ll have to do a gut and use amulets, right? Can I pay the cost in installments with a credit card?”

The child’s mother was speaking quickly, and her eyes looked so desperate. 

Is this what it means to imbue with will?

Besides, she’s already thinking about giving money to someone she doesn’t even know. 

I think I was worried for nothing.

“You must have… had a hard time.”

For a moment, tears welled up in the child’s mother’s eyes.

“No. I looked into it, but they said they couldn’t guarantee it, so I was just leaving it alone, thinking maybe it would get better when he grew up. I couldn’t do anything for him.”

I couldn’t keep watching the child’s mother, who didn’t even think about wiping away her falling tears and was squatting in front of me as if she would kneel.

So I looked at the child and said.

“You got permission from your mom, so should we do it now?”

The child nodded.

I didn’t think it was necessary to show the child’s mother the process of absorbing spiritual power, so I asked Kim Woojin to leave for just one minute.

“Close your eyes and count to ten slowly.”

“Yes!”

As soon as the child closed his eyes, I transformed the sword into a ring, and Baekmung entered the ring.

Soon, light flickered once throughout the child’s entire body, then shot up into the sky like a single flame.

The flame that went up drew a parabola and slowly fell into the ring on my finger. 

As the flame disappeared, the ring flashed brightly once.

That time didn’t even take 10 seconds.

“…Eight, nine…”

It was pitiful that the child had been scared by ghosts all this time when it could be eliminated so easily. And the child’s parents too.

“Ten.”

The child kept his eyes closed even after counting all the numbers. 

No, he closed his eyes even tighter.

“Did you count to ten? Then would you like to open your eyes now?”

The child slowly opened his eyes and looked around. 

He looked left and right, up and down.

“I can’t see those uncles anymore.”

“Yeah. You won’t be able to see them anymore.”

“What about that person with the dark face and the sword?”

“He won’t appear anymore.”

“Then can I tell you everything I see now?”

When I nodded, the child made a bright face, then suddenly leaned towards me and whispered.

“You’re a prince, right?”

“Huh? No, I’m not.”

“I saw you on TV. You live in a palace, right?”

I don’t live there.

“Mom!”

As soon as he saw his mother returning with Kim Woojin after one minute, the child ran to her.

“Mom! There’s a prince here!”

*    *    *

I was worried that I hadn’t left my contact information with the child’s mother because I had hurriedly left the scene.

Even though Baekmung confidently said that he had eliminated the spiritual sight, I thought I should watch it a little longer.

“The Japsang Team has decided to provide security for the time being. The whole family has been harmed by the evil spirit, so they will provide security until their safety is confirmed.”

“Just in case, it would be good to have the child’s health checked, especially his eyesight.”

“Ah, that’s right. I understand.”

{You, the work is well finished, and the spiritual power that opened the child’s spiritual sight has also been recovered, so the power of the sacred object has become stronger. Why are you like this?}

The work was finished, but I was in a somewhat strange state of mind. 

It wasn’t that I felt bad, but strangely, my heart ached.

Did I become strange while absorbing the spiritual power?

{Are you bothered that you didn’t trust the parents?}

“How are the results of the child’s father’s surgery?”

“There is some organ damage, but there are no critical parts. If he recovers well, he will have no problems in his daily life.”

“That’s a relief.”

When the child’s mother asked about the cost, I asked her to just make sure that the child didn’t think today’s events were his fault.

Then the child’s mother reacted as if it was obvious.

{You, people have many hearts. Not everyone makes the same choice in the same situation. You don’t need to dwell so much on not trusting those parents.}

I don’t know either. I don’t know if I feel sorry for not trusting the child’s parents, or if I’m upset that not everyone thinks like those parents.

*    *    *

“The perpetrator is a 48-year-old man who works at a small distribution company. His family consists of his wife and two children. He said he came to the Han River to fish.”

The perpetrator came to the Han River to fish every weekend, and he remembered that he parked as usual that day and went to find a spot with his fishing gear.

“He said he always carries the sashimi knife with him. The rest of the fishing gear was dropped not far from the parking lot. And the paramedic only remembers looking for the bathroom with the child.”

After listening to the briefing from the Japsang Team member, the team leader asked.

“We still can’t find any common ground with the other perpetrators?”

“No.”

“So we can’t identify the target of possession at all…”

“But we can infer that the location is close to the Four Great Gates.”

“Why?”

Kim Woojin explained in response to the team leader’s question.

“I think the reason why the perpetrator chose the Gangbuk Hospital, which is far from the campsite, as the crime scene is to gain strength inside the Four Great Gates. That way, he can draw in other people like the paramedic.”

As evidence, Kim Woojin mentioned that the man’s shadow was touching the paramedic’s shadow.

“If a strong evil spirit is controlling other evil spirits, that explains what happened in front of my grandmother’s house. Several other guards and townspeople were possessed by the first-stage evil spirit and then released.”

Several people nodded at my words. 

The agents who were involved at that time were still suspended.

“So a third-stage evil spirit can possess other people and control them?”

“Is it that the evil spirit doesn’t move from body to body, but moves as directed by a strong evil spirit?”

“Nothing is certain.”

The conference room became quiet.

I didn’t know what was right.

“We have no choice but to catch them when they appear and find out more.”

This time too, the perpetrator was an ordinary person.

A person who had no contact other than having a knife near the scene at that time. 

But he became a criminal who injured several people.

If we catch the evil spirit after the incident occurs, these unfair perpetrators and victims will continue to occur in the future.

I wanted to at least prevent someone from being possessed by an evil spirit without knowing why.

“When will the Four Tiger Sword key ring be sold?”

“Ah, that would prevent it. I’ll see if we can move up the schedule.”

But the video taken in front of Hwaseong Haenggung was released before the key ring’s promotional video.

“It’s starting.”

Jang Ha-woon, who had the TV remote control floating in the air, was excited and played the video.