Chapter 10
“After all the trouble I went through to bring this for your sake……!”
Shin Yu-jin huffed as he picked up the bottle of nutritional supplements that was about to roll down the stairs.
When he held it out to Park Su-ho and told him to take it back, Su-ho let out a hollow laugh.
“Did you really bring that for my sake?”
“If it wasn’t for you, why would I bring something this precious……!”
“Are you sure you’re not trying to curse me?”
Shin Yu-jin’s shoulders jerked, and his eyes darted around restlessly.
Soon, he noticed Park Su-ho’s face, which was calm but filled with anger. Yu-jin swallowed nervously as Su-ho stared at him.
“W-What are you talking about?! A curse?!”
“You should know better than anyone. ……Isn’t there something you want to tell me?”
Park Su-ho acted as if he already knew everything, making Shin Yu-jin increasingly uneasy.
The truth was, there was a reason Yu-jin had become so restless and was desperately trying to get Su-ho to take the supplements.
It was also the reason Yu-jin had become so haggard over the weekend.
It was all because of what had happened yesterday.
[Oh, Yu-jin! What are we going to do?! The shaman ran away in the middle of the night!]
[What? What do you mean?]
Yesterday. That was Sunday morning.
Shin Yu-jin had been sleeping when his mother suddenly flung open his bedroom door and barged inside. He looked at her irritably.
Then he heard some shocking news.
The shaman they often visited had suddenly fled overnight.
[She told us never to contact her again! She said she couldn’t teach us any more curses or secret rituals……! What kind of disaster is this out of nowhere?!]
In fact, this wasn’t the first time they had used a shaman to send harmful energy toward someone and curse them.
Ever since middle school, Shin Yu-jin had given objects tainted with his saliva and curses to friends who were better at studying than him, using them in black magic rituals. He had also found out their dates of birth and asked the shaman to perform secret rituals against them.
Thanks to this, he had never lost his place as the top student in his grade throughout middle school.
Although someone had helped him a little along the way, he believed that the rest of his success had come entirely from his own hard work.
So, when he entered high school, he had resolved to become the top student through his own efforts alone.
But what was this? He had been overtaken by a country bumpkin who had come up from the provinces.
No matter how hard he tried, he could only chase after that guy. He had even been pushed down to third place in the entire grade because of the pressure Su-ho put on him.
Shin Yu-jin’s goal was to get into Hanguk University with the best possible school record by ranking first in his grade. So he persuaded his mother once again to ask the shaman to perform another secret ritual.
Unlike the others he had dealt with easily in the past, Park Su-ho had people protecting him, so the shaman said it would take time.
The process had taken a whole six months.
It had truly been a test of patience.
But a few weeks ago, that guy had started growing weaker and weaker. Finally, the curse had begun to take effect.
As a result, Yu-jin had managed to rank first in the entire grade for the first time in the latest mock exam.
Thinking that he should seize the opportunity and completely cut off Su-ho’s luck, he had planned to visit the shaman over the weekend and ask for an even stronger ritual.
But the shaman had suddenly fled overnight.
From that moment on, Shin Yu-jin had sensed that something was wrong. He couldn’t sleep at all and stayed awake the entire night before going to school.
At least, judging from how badly Park Su-ho had been injured, the effects of the previous ritual were still there.
He thought he could strengthen its effects with his own black magic……
‘H-How did he find out?’
When Su-ho acted as if he knew everything, Shin Yu-jin couldn’t help trembling like a leaf. He couldn’t even look Su-ho in the eye.
For some reason, his own right leg began to ache terribly, just like Park Su-ho’s injured right leg. His head also throbbed as if it were about to split apart.
“I asked if you have anything to say to me!”
Park Su-ho’s sudden shout thundered in Shin Yu-jin’s head.
Students walking up and down the stairs on their way to class noticed the strange atmosphere between the two and began whispering among themselves.
Shin Yu-jin clutched his throbbing head before angrily throwing the bottle of supplements at Park Su-ho.
“Damn it! What do you want me to say?! I’ve been bringing you food and supplements, and now you’re getting pissed off and acting like an asshole!”
“What? An asshole? Who was the one who started doing suspicious things in the first place……!”
“What did I do?! Do you have proof? Do you have any proof?!”
As Shin Yu-jin raised his voice and brazenly turned the blame on Su-ho, Park Su-ho was so dumbfounded that he was at a loss for words.
Just as a string of curses was about to escape his mouth—
Jingle—
“Su-ho.”
Along with the clear sound of bells, Yu Hae-won’s familiar voice rang out.
At the same time, Park Su-ho’s boiling anger instantly subsided.
Shin Yu-jin’s previously irritated face had turned deathly pale, and his body began trembling.
Yu Hae-won appeared behind him. Seeing Shin Yu-jin frozen in place, she clicked her tongue disapprovingly.
“You can cover the sky with your palms, but that doesn’t mean the sky doesn’t know what you’re doing.”
“……Who are you?”
“This isn’t the first time you’ve done something like this. It’s hard enough to accumulate so much bad karma at your age. You’re almost impressive.”
For some reason, Yu Hae-won, a girl Shin Yu-jin had never met before, was becoming increasingly frightening to him.
“That’s right, Su-ho. Your older brother mentioned that there have been a lot of fraud cases involving shamans lately. He asked you to let him know if any of your friends had been scammed. I guess even detectives in the violent crimes unit investigate things like that.”
“What are you talking about?”
Park Su-ho looked confused. He had never heard anything about this before, but Yu Hae-won continued, giving only him a small wink.
“Come on, don’t you remember? Seong-ho oppa told you to report things directly to him. How can you not know what your own brother does?”
“……A detective?”
Park Su-ho had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but someone else reacted immediately.
Shin Yu-jin was trembling even harder than before, his face even paler than it had been a moment ago.
Yu Hae-won calmly widened her eyes and nodded.
“Yeah. Didn’t you know? Su-ho’s older brother is a detective in the violent crimes unit. These days, catching fraudulent shamans is one of his main jobs.”
“I-I see…… I just remembered I have something to do, so I’ll be going……”
Shin Yu-jin made up a ridiculous excuse and hurriedly left.
Park Su-ho, who had been wondering why Yu-jin was suddenly acting that way, was approached by Yu Hae-won.
“He’s feeling guilty because he knows what he’s done. Since you have a detective for an older brother backing you up, he’s probably afraid he’ll end up behind bars for his actions. He won’t approach you again. And he won’t be able to get a shaman to curse you anymore, either.”
“…….”
Even after hearing Yu Hae-won’s explanation, Park Su-ho still seemed dissatisfied. He glared at Shin Yu-jin’s retreating figure as the latter hurried away.
Yu Hae-won gave Su-ho a hard smack on the shoulder.
“Ow! Why did you hit me?!”
“Don’t harbor murderous intent.”
Park Su-ho paused when he met Yu Hae-won’s calm, steady gaze.
“When hatred toward someone takes root in your heart, it eventually takes over your body and turns into action. I already removed all the bad energy inside you. Do you want to let it back in again?”
“……But how am I supposed to not be angry when he did something like that to me and then shamelessly shows his face like nothing happened?”
“You don’t need to take revenge yourself. Heaven will punish him. When you send harmful energy toward someone, it eventually comes back to you as a countercurse. From what I can see, he’s been doing this kind of thing for a long time, so Heaven has already set its sights on him.”
Besides, the shaman who had been helping them had also abandoned them. Shin Yu-jin would soon face his punishment.
“Your midterms and October mock exams are coming up soon, right? Just wait and see what kind of punishment he’ll receive before long.”
“……You’re seriously amazing.”
Thanks to her comforting words—or perhaps words that weren’t exactly comforting—Su-ho felt much more at ease.
Come to think of it, exam season was just around the corner. Rather than letting someone like Yu-jin distract him, it would be better to focus on the studying he hadn’t been able to do properly and improve his grades.
After all, what he wanted was a scholarship.
“This time, you have someone helping you, too. All you need to do is work hard. Good luck getting first place in the grade.”
But at her next words, Park Su-ho tilted his head.
“Someone helping me? Do you mean you? Or my parents?”
“No? I’m talking about the student ghost that’s attached to you.”
Park Su-ho looked confused for a moment before his expression gradually turned horrified.
“That’s right! Come to think of it, you said you attached that ghost to me again last time! Why would you attach the ghost that tormented me back to me?! Get rid of it!”
“Come on! I told you it won’t hurt you anymore. That ghost begged and pleaded with me so much that I let it return to you. It said it really wanted to fulfill its lingering wish before moving on.”
“What is that wish?”
“To rank first in the entire grade.”
“……What?”
“It’ll help you, not hurt you. It would never do anything bad. Besides, you have me and your guardian spirit, so what’s there to worry about?”
Park Su-ho still felt uneasy, but Yu Hae-won’s bright, innocent expression left him with no choice but to trust her words.
One week later.
Park Su-ho approached his consecutive midterm exams and mock exams with renewed determination.
Unlike before, he could concentrate much better while studying. As a result, he took the exams in the best condition possible.
“Kwa-ha-ha-ha! The pride of our class! You got perfect scores on every single question in the midterms! Amazing! And what a shame about the mock exam! You would have gotten a perfect score if you’d answered just one more question correctly!”
He achieved the best grades of his life, something he had never managed to do before.
Later, when he asked Yu Hae-won about it, she told him that the student ghost attached to him had finally fulfilled its lingering wish, so she had helped it move on to the afterlife.
There had been a few questions he wasn’t sure about, but since he had gotten all of them right, he suspected that the ghost had helped him.
Meanwhile, Shin Yu-jin, who had previously ranked second or third in the grade, had fallen out of the top ten.
He had also received one Grade 2 and one Grade 3 on the mock exam.
Yu Hae-won said his grades would continue to decline even further from now on.
Thinking that this was simply karma, Park Su-ho stopped paying attention to Shin Yu-jin.
Instead, he turned his attention to his benefactor.
“By the way, did you do well on your exams? Let me see.”
“W-Wait a moment……!”
Park Su-ho looked over Yu Hae-won’s exam papers, which she had graded herself, and was momentarily speechless.
“……Don’t the ghosts tell you the answers?”
“Come on! That would be cheating! Besides, ordinary wandering ghosts can’t even get close to me!”
“So that’s why your grades are…… Oh, dear…… You’re going to have to study hard with me for a while.”
“Waaah…….”
Although Park Su-ho had felt somewhat distant from Yu Hae-won after learning that she was a shaman, seeing her exam results reminded him that she was just an ordinary high school student, too.
