Chapter four: Bitter truths.
"...The records say that, one of the previous wives of a famous movie director, who found her with another man... ha_...umm..." Master hesitated. "uhm..." and cleared his voice. "...unable to face her husband, jumped off from the cliff into the ocean, taking her own life..."
Master was reading an article, dated twenty years back into the past.
"Then... that was her!" Ga Eul exclaimed, looking at Yi Jeong, sparing her eyes from Master's computer screen. " That woman_I mean the ghost, who tried to push Yi Jeong Sunbae out into the ocean?!"
Well... if only he was pushed!...
Baekga—the demon, smirked, from inside her head.
"Sshh! Shut up!" Ga Eul hissed, which was now familiar enough for the boys to let go and ignore.
They had been working as associates for about an year now, that it had made her one sided conversations more regular and ordinary—less misleading for them.
I told you... he was Not pushed, he ran there himself... and believe me... that woman had fairly bigger breasts than yours...
The demon continued his rustic chuckling.
Of course—she was told that he was pushed.
Not to say that So Yi Jeong would have never admitted that he fell into an illusion of a naked Ga Eulyang—at least, not that easily. And the 'naked' part was fairly impossible enough to be explained.
In second thoughts...
more ghostly teasing continued...
...he would have loved your smaller ones better...
Ga Eul rolled her eyes.
"Shussh! Baekga! I command you to SLEEP!"
The chuckling stopped, giving some peaceful silence for Ga Eul's head.
The command, in order to make the demon fall asleep—though it was only till Ga Eul herself fell asleep—was a result of Master's researches, done during that whole year. It was an year more of gathering knowledge, than action it self. After all, it was the only useful thing they found, apart from the chain circles, salt and lavender rituals and many hauntings that were found to be pranks or deceit.
Yi Jeong bent in, leaving his half emptied coffee on the table, letting himself to take a look at the article.
They did not get to visit the site the next day followed, not as Yi Jeong told that they would, back on the rooftop. Instead, he had to attend a club party—a request of his very good friend, who was afraid that he would be left out to the dead, if not. So he invited him, and not just invited—he dragged him out of his hotel and forced him inside his car, stating that he felt lonely, as for both Junpyo and JiHu were abroad.
"So, it was a suicide?" Yi Jeong took a sip from his coffee.
"Hm... it seems." The master nodded.
The trio were gathered around the table in his bedroom suit as the ocean roared along with the thunderstorm outside their hotel room. The curtains were drawn, hanging over the windows which did not make any significant difference for its darkness. The interior was teak finished and the lights were pale yellowish glows, barely illuminating the room, unlike the apartment back at Seoul which had the whitish interior with blinding lights, and in which they initially led their research and studies and stayed—which was a request by So Yi Jeong himself—the three of them sharing his apartment, so that it would be easier for their work to progress, and was accepted by Master, who closed his porridge shop, volunteering to be the head chef, as well as the head researcher ( if there was any, if not for himself), as happily as he could be, stating that he had found the 'paradise' of his life, with the vast kitchen and the techie computers feeding his curiosity. As for Ga Eul, she was homeless back then, and the offer was too good to be dismissed.
Ga Eul had gone thoughtful.
"So... is it a ghost or a_"
"_ghost_of course... but a more powerful one ..." Yi Jeong answered, having another sip from his coffee, still reading the article.
"Then... there must be_"
"_a source!" Master interrupted. "But what could that be??!!... we searched every where!!.." he fell back to his chair with a loud sigh.
The source— a thing or a person, for what a ghost is bound to—but not the demons—Another credit for Master's research.
"So... where could it be? The source? In the ocean?" Ga Eul asked.
"Anniyo... it couldn't be... the salt water must prevent its manifest if so..." Master explained."... it has to be somewhere in the site... probably a belonging than a body... don't know..."
"Arasso..." Yi Jeong nodded, finishing the article and returning back to his seat. " hyung... prepare the necessities and requirements... We are visiting the site tonight."
Both Master and Ga Eul went stiff, as Yi Jeong took back his seat and the sketch book and the pencil as casually as he was.
"Mwo? Tonight?"
"Hm.." Yi Jeong nodded, lifting his head, up from whatever sketch he was drawing ever since that morning. "Waeyo? what's wrong with that?" and asked in the sincerest expression.
Yet, rather than answering, both Master and Ga Eul turned their heads towards the window, which happened to be illuminating the room with a lightning glow, that very second.
...
...
...
The storm had reduced into slow pattering of raindrops, once they were back in the site. It was barely five in the evening, yet, thanks for the stormy clouds crying nonstop, it was dark enough as if it was eight. Master had suggested for an early visit, as he sure did not want to stay up till midnight amidst a thunderstorm, in a still-constructing haunted hotel, searching for a woman's belonging, or maybe bones or a skull—in that matter—which would happen to be the source that its spirit was bound to.
Yi Jeong volunteered to take a quick look around the place, while Ga Eul and Master set out the chain circles, stating that it would be better if he did—more of an excuse though, than a part of the plan.
"Agh! That chaebol!" Ga Eul dropped the chains to the floor. " making excuses to keep his suit clean and untouched! We have got to work like slaves!"
Master sighed. "This is that one time I step out of my paradise..." and sighed again.
"Can't he simply hire some workers for this? He's rich isn't he?"
"Forget it...remember that last time we made workers make the circles? Even the fog leaked from it." He sighed again. " better than that...Ga Eulah... you should suggest him to buy a less expensive suit..." and straightened up from adjusting his part of the circle.
"Why should it be me? Go and tell your self!" and Ga Eul kicked it to become round.
"He listens to you better...remember that time you told him the iron was broken? He bought another the very next day..."
"Well, that was because_"
_His suits are all pressed and ironed when delivered ... so the iron must be a present for you... quite unlikely... isn't it? For a playboy?
"Tsk! Shut up! It was only you that was missing_"
_for the party? Ye... I am in!
Ga Eul stood up, dusting her skirt.
Looks like someone is going to have their first night with a ghost...oooh...I am excited... Baekga smirked.
Ga Eul became concerned.
"Who? Master?"
Anniyo... you see, ghosts too have eyes... even if they are hanging to their sockets with a single strand of flesh...
"Ahish, disgusting!" Ga Eul made a face and turned at the Master.
"Master! Fighting!!" and made the infamous gesture which was returned back to her.
Master had already gone near their supplies —the salt, iron, lavender and etc.—guarding them—officially. Unofficially, the supplies were guarding him. Just as he was good in research, he was almost nil when it came to psychic senses. Unlike Ga Eul and Yi Jeong, he was blind and deaf for the ghosts.
... you could call it your Valentine's gift if you want... as I remember ... it was in the last February that iron burned...
"Silence!... Baekga..." Ga Eul hissed. Taking her steps to the third floor.
Waeyo?... I wasn't the only one who was complaining... he is favouring you...
More ghostly teasing continued as Ga Eul headed to her circle on the third floor. Yi Jeong was on the fifth.
The night grew colder and colder. One—because of the storms, which had now decreased to blowing winds, and two—because the manifestation that had already begun.
Ghost fog started forming around, curling and coiling, and steaming when touched the iron. Temperature dropped randomly, crystalizing droplets of water in to ice. It grew colder and colder, that Ga Eul had to take out her blanket. There was a window, more of a frame though, as it was a building still under construction, and through it Ga Eul saw outside.
The sky was moonless, not even a star was shone on it. Only a ship or two on the far horizon that gave a faint glow of light. If not, the rest of the night was sunk in pitch black darkness.
The light beam of the flash light spread clear and straight through the fog, out to the other direction as Ga Eul sat there staring at the starless sky.
The building was silent. They were waiting for the ghost to appear.
An hour passed. Then two. Ga Eul stayed there, silent, if not for the occasional sharing of insults with Baekga. As for being possessed by a demon for a long time, she was able to hear things. And sometimes, the demon as an interface, she was able to communicate with them or even more, to feel them.
"Ga Eulah?!..." Master's voice called out from the ground floor.
"Waeyo?!..."
"Is everything going fine up there?!..."
"Ye... nothing much... than the fog..." she yelled back. "What about Yi Jeong sunbae?!..."
"Better check on him... the walkie-talkies doesn't work anymore..."
The electrical malfunction was another thing about the manifestation. One of the most annoying things of all.
Ga Eul sighed. And took a deep breath.
"Yi Jeong sunbae!... Gwen Chanaeyo?!!..."
And yelled at her top most voice.
She waited patiently for a reply.
Minutes passed.
But it was silent.
"SUNBAE?..."
And again waited.
And again no response. ...
See... I told you... the demon chuckled. Someone is going to have their first night with a ghost...
"Mwo? Ah! How stupid I am?" Ga Eul grabbed her flashlight and jumped onto her feet.
After all these years... finally admitting...
"And you are telling me that NOW?!" she was running towards the stairs.
Mwo? That you are stupid? Ani... I have been telling that since quite some time...I was wondering why on earth I had to posses you...
Ga Eul rolled her eyes.
"Oh, then why don't you just get out! The doors are always opened!"
The demon broke into laughter.
I would have... but there are certain rules and procedures... even here, in the other side... how about you seducing him and do ... you know?... the 'thing' with him... so I can get out of your body into his ... you get your heart back, and I get a more brainy human... does that sound like a fair deal to you?...I could help in the seducing part, if you'd want to...
"Oh! Just please DO SHUT UP!" Ga Eul was panting, trying to grab her breath after running up the stairs onto the fifth floor.
"Yi Jeong sunbae!... where are you?!.." her voice echoed between the concrete walls.
... or you could simply cut out his heart and seal me in it... its far better to be sealed in a human heart than inside a silver ornament... it's like being trapped inside a sanctuary with feasts, banquets and chocolate waterfalls...moreover the heart decays... and once it does, I will be free...
"Would you mind help me to find him?!!"
Waeyo?... he's going to die in either way...
Baekga chuckled.
"Agh! forget it! I'll find on my own!"
The fifth floor of the ballroom complex was the most complicated floor, with three small ballrooms, the kitchen and many little storage rooms. Ga Eul began from the first ballroom. He wasn't there. Then the long corridor with the storage or workers' rooms. Ani, not even there.
The ghost fog crept in each inch of the ground, and it was colder, much much colder, than the third floor.
Need some help?
"Is that something to ask?" Ga Eul muttered between her gritting teeth.
He's dancing to the west...
"The western ballroom!" And Ga Eul started running to the west.
The fog thickened.
Breath...
Ga Eul froze.
"M-Mwo?" she gasped. "What w-was th-that?"
She is soo clooose...
The demon chuckled with a sing song tone.
Breath...
A female voice whispered.
Breath...
I can not breath...
"Waeyo? Why can't you breath?" Ga Eul asked in an equal squeak.
Breath...
She was almost there. The ballroom doors stood tall and half opened. The ghost fog aroused from every corner, swallowing her till her waist.
Breath...
Ga Eul pushed the door, entering the hall. There in the middle of it floating on a sea of ghost fog, hung another cloud of mist. Its shape told that it was a woman, but Ga Eul's eyes didn't gave her any more detail.
Breath...
I can not breath...
But at the far end of the hall she saw a figure of a boy staring at the apparition in widened eyes.
"Yi Jeong SUNBAE!!" Ga Eul called out and ran to him.
Breath...
"Sunbae!" she practically tripped onto his arms, which were stretched wide at the ghost.
I can not breath...
Her touch brought him back to his senses, as he shook his head and then looked at the exhausted Ga Eul.
"Ga Eulyang?"
"Sunbae? Gwen Chenaeyo?"
He nodded, confused, before aiding her back to her feet.
Then he looked back at the apparition, only to turn his head back down and cover his mouth to stop his lunch coming up from his throat.
The illusion had fallen off and the ghost's true appearance was shown. Which was a corpse covered in mud, decayed fabric hanging from her body, her hair with pieces of soil here and there, waving in the wind, long till her waist, glued to an exposed skull in which an eyeball hung down from a rotten strand of flesh—better , than its other socket, in which ghostly worms dangled out.
Yi Jeong had his head turned at Ga Eul, mostly to divert his eyes from the nauseating sight, as to keep his lunch in its place.
Breath...
I can not breath...
"Waeyo? Why can't you breath?" Ga Eul asked again.
"Mwo?" Yi Jeong gave her quizzical look.
"She says she can not breath." Ga Eul explained.
Breath...
"Why can't you breath?"
And she waited for the answer.
He buried me...
"Eh?" she wasn't expecting something like that.
"What did she say?" Yi Jeong asked.
"Someone had buried her..."
"alive?"
Ga Eul nodded, uncertainly.
"Who? Who did that to you?"
He buried me alive...
"Ani... ask her where..." Yi Jeong whispered in her ear.
"W-where? Where did he bury you?"
A ghostly hand outstretched towards one of the windows. The bones were clearly visible in the tips of her finger.
Yi Jeong and Ga Eul stared at the window. There was a garden, drowned in ghost fog in which at the far end, stood an old pine tree, covered in snow—something unnatural for the season.
"Let's go!" without sparing another second Yi Jeong dragged Ga Eul out from the ballroom and down the stair,
"I think we have found the source!".
And shouted at the Master who was been guarded by the supplies.
"Oh! And do bring a shovel, we'll need that!"
And then after began twenty minute of Master digging through the soil under the pine tree.
As usual, Yi Jeong just stood beside, observing and commanding the process.
It grew colder and colder.
Yi Jeong checked his thermometer. The temperature had dropped down to minus three degrees and Ga Eul was shivering even under her many sweaters.
Breath...
The ghostly voice became clearer every moment.
I can not breath...
Clearer and nearer.
"Chajahs seo..." Master called out, from under the soil.
He had found a skeleton of a woman.
"What's next?" and he shared looks at both Yi Jeong and Ga Eul.
Yi Jeong hesitated, but Ga Eul jumped inside the burial, and started digging herself, clearing the skeleton from her own hands.
It was then it touched her.
A cold cold, thing... as if it had taken out from the freezer the second before... something metallic.
A wave of emotions hit Ga Eul, just the instant her fingers touched the metallic thing.
First, there was happiness, an enormous Joy shooting to her veins. She heard a woman's laughter and a squeal of surprise...
It was a proposal...
More joy followed. Joy laughter and emotions that were foreign for Ga Eul to name... then again happiness. A blend of happiness joy, amaze and love... but the spectre darkened then after...suspense and despair and anger and hate...
He had cheated on her...
He had cheated on her...
And then sobs, wailings heard as Ga Eul felt her body being beaten by thousands of strong hands... and another foreign but yet fiercely painful sensation in her abdomen... and she heard the screams of a woman being dragged by her hair along the way... then the sound of a shovel cutting through mud... more wailing and pleading...
then ...
Ga Eul grabbed her throat.
She could not breath anymore...
She was suffocated.
Ga Eul felt someone pulling her towards them, and whatever thing that touched her finger was no more on it.
"HAAHHH..." Ga Eul took a breath, and few shallow breaths followed.
Yi Jeong had pulled her up from the hole and was embracing her tight to himself.
He slowly let her go, as Ga Eul felt normal again with her breathing, and in that dark still night, with the three flash lights hanging around the hole dug in the ground, she saw a glint of light, reflecting at her eye.
Master cleared the soil using his shovel.
And there, still around a finger bone, dirty from the soil though, shone a ring.
A golden wedding ring.
...
...
...
Weeks passed, after the noted haunting at the Jeju was settled. The ghost found to be a previous wife of the said director, who had cheated on her, and beaten her brutally when she had objected for a divorce, before burying her alive under that pine tree.
Sadly though, that man had lived a long life, then after, again being married for several times, before passing away the month before. He was a demon left alive, as said by Master.
Ga Eul was much disturbed after the events and so was Yi Jeong. Yet rather than the ghost, Yi Jeong was disturbed in other ways. Maybe it was because of the rumour, telling the ghost woman was drawn for men who were in love, and Yi Jeong was wondering why on earth that ghost always appeared in the form of Ga Eul.
He wasn't sure. Every time he started wondering about it, his mind drifted to thoughts that were far from acceptance.
Moreover, he wanted to get it out of his head—the naked Ga Eulyang. Even when he was back in the club, at Woo Bin's party, that thought didn't stop bothering him. And he had no choice but to put it on paper. It was what made him sketch it down, the moment he returned back from the party.
He was successful in keeping it hidden from the curious eyes of Master and Ga Eul. Until after two weeks, he got caught, almost...
Ga Eul came out from her room into the lobby, when he was giving the finishing touches to his drawing: the shading and darkening.
Fortunately, she did not see. She looked too worn out, to notice anything, and Yi Jeong had never being that glad to see her tired. She asked how the wine would taste, if it would help her sleep better.
But when Ga Eul fell asleep on his shoulder, being knocked out after the three glasses he offered—certainly not something Yi Jeong had expected though—he felt his face heating up and his cheeks glowed crimson.
What if Ga Eul had seeing it?
Of course, she wouldn't have acted that calm if then.
He exhaled.
And with much hesitance, he let himself fall asleep, resting his cheek on her hair.
That night was silent.
And the couple slept undisturbed.
But the demon was confused.
Ga Eul did not visit the other side that night—something that happened after thirteen long years.
But at the same time, her heart was not red anymore.
Her heart, and the blood that streamed from it, had turned darker—black.
An indication—that she had now entered the state of Namanari.
–to be continued.
A/N:
Forgive me, if the ghost's appearance was too explicit. could not help that.
Next update will take some time, as a chapter in River flows in you is in progress.
This chapter was much focused on the haunting, the next chapters will focus more in romance.
Till then,
Reviews?