A/N:
Myrslayer, Maria Rosa cisi, SoEul Mates Forever, olamy and guests, thanks for all of your lovely reviews. And thanks for all the ones who favourited and followed and read. Sorry for keeping you wait.
edit(27.04.2021)- see end for more notes.
edit (25.05.2021)- If nothing would go wrong, I will be able to update around this weekend:) For the guest who asks me to update- Thanks. The fact that someone is waiting for my stories, always motivates me:)
Chapter six: Vulnerabilities.
...I'd say... that is totally useless!... came a hoarse whisper . A sixty year old halmoni in a hanbok, jumping side to side waving cloth strips?...How does that suppose to help?...
"Aish... not again..." Ga Eul rolled her eyes. "Care to suggest anything else?" she whispered under her breath, as her palms continued to rub together.
Beneath the cabinet where the samgakdo was on its place, offerings were kept and incense burned, filling the residence in a unique oriental fragrance.
Two nights ago, after their discussion with Master, where they both told him everything— everything, that they claimed to be everything—about what had happened back in the apartment, Master had strongly recommended to hold a clearance ritual for the spirits.
Ahjumma Han, a shaman and a well known relative of Master, was conducting the ritual, who commanded for the Samgakdo to be covered in talisman and sealed away in order to stop it attracting other weaker spirits.
The Samgakdo, which was bought by Miss Jung from an antique auction, and that was kept in her living ever since, happened to be a relic with an ancient demon sealed in it.
To be accurate, its sheath was its seal, which explained well why the demon stirred up when the sword being drawn out, even the shortest of lengths.
Just the way people gather around emperors, the weaker visitors tend to gather around powerful demonic presence, which explained why that apartment held so many of them, and why there wasn't a single apparition in any other floor. A credit for Yi Jeong —for figuring it out on beforehand.
Speaking about him, who was not present at the ritual, which was taking place at the moment.
Ga Eul stared at the blank cushion between Master and herself.
Yi Jeong sunbae... is he not going to come?... He is usually not that type to delay...
She sighed, and again rolled her eyes, as her concentration cleared her psychic listening even better.
...your morning exercises would do better... The demon was still presenting his long list of suggestions . ...especially in that sexy night dress?...even the pretty boy found to be staring at some certain places...
"Mwo?!" Ga Eul scoffed. "Yi Jeong sunbae did not_" She paused abruptly, as she heard the relieving sound of that stupid creature being interrupted by a cough.
The demon coughed, and something about it told he wasn't meaning it for a hint. "So it does work? Doesn't it?" Ga Eul lowered her head, so no one would see her smile.
... the incense?...Yep, it does. At some point...(more cough)...
She should have known, that Baekga had no other intention than making her feel uncomfortable. Even in such kind of a situation, he enjoyed his nasty teasing.
... Khaaaak...care to move out?... a little bit...suffocating... I am... here... he choked, making weird noises, as if he was a chicken who had someone stepped on his throat.
Ga Eul smiled. "Good to hear."
...ooh that goodness won't last long... he managed a chuckle. ... I guarantee...
"Waeyo?"
. ... we are bound together... remember?... as long as I am not replaced...jagi...we'd share each and everything ... He fluttered his eyes, briefly appearing before her.
Not long after Ga Eul started coughing herself. She glanced at the Shaman, who had now retreated on to her own cushion, muttering unrecognisable things while drawing characters on yellow paper strips and sticking them onto the Samgakdo—more talismans, Ga Eul recognized. Master too, was too busy with his bell, that he did not notice her standing up nor leaving the premise.
Leaving the ritual behind, she went to the pantry to help herself with a glass of water, but instead found herself sliding the glass door, stepping out in to the balcony and staring down at the magnificent view of evening Seoul.
The sun was balancing itself on the edge of horizon, blurred by smoke risen from streets. The sky above her, was already crimson, and far around its eastern borders, puffy dark clouds crowded, gloomily hanging over the tall buildings. Black dots busily drifted back and forth on streets beneath, and colourful lumps of cars and trucks cried out loud, annoyed to be stuck in traffic.
Ga Eul sighed.
The city seemed moving.
Then, she thought.
Am I the only one who has stopped?
The voice inside her head cleared once again. ...You are waiting for him...
"I am not waiting for him." Ga Eul sighed again.
... The thing is...You have waited too long for him...
"Aish!..."
...After all...things do retu_
"_Baekga..." Ga Eul said. Her sight fixed onto a distant nothingness, as somewhat firmness took over her voice. " Listen carefully, no matter how much you would swear on it, I ... do not have any feelings for him..."
...
...
...
"Yoh bro, you didn't invite me for a tea party, did you?" Woo Bin smirked, sitting across the table in front of Yi Jeong, who had his tea cup half way to his lips.
Disregarding his greetings, Yi Jeong was absorbed in his own thoughts. As he stared blankly at the opposite end of the studio, his fingertips were absentmindedly caressing the delicate patterns of his ring—a crown-like one, which had a silver beaded chain hanging around it.
Woo Bin peeped above his shoulder.
"Waeyo? Any ghosts behind me?" he again smirked, half amused and half confused.
"Ani. There isn't." Yi Jeong gulped down the rest of his tea in one swift move, and put back on the chain, securing the ring under his shirt. "In second thoughts, even if there was, would you believe in me?" he shot him a glare.
In truth, no ghost could come near the studio, not without any serious injury from the burning scent of lavender. The studio grew a forest of it. In large pots at the four corners of the room, and in numerous vases on its cabinets, which held bouquets of lavender springing out from them. With their strong scent hung around in every corner, even the faintest sun ray who bravely managed to creep through the shaded windows, held a shade of purple on him.
Yi Jeong, though once had been a potter himself, rarely visited this dusted old studio of his family. More precisely, it was only once an year—on the death anniversary of his mother. As it was where it all had happened, even still, after fourteen long years, the heaviness—the impact from those events— hung in the air, veiled under the scent. The studio was empty, in all its senses though. It was once, just once that he caught a glimpse of other light in there, and that was it. There was none. Not again.
"You know we do believe in you?... We always did."
It was Song Woo Bin—the best of his best friends, and whose loyalty has marked great territories on their friendship and guarded his deepest of secrets.
Yi Jeong sighed. The sincerity in his tone had evidently made him regret.
He stood up, and went to the mini pantry. "Wine or whisky?" he asked, reaching for the cupboards.
" A whisky would go better with the weather..." Woo Bin answered, still not completely out of his concerns.
A gale was forming outside, and large droplets of rain splattered onto the windows.
"By any chance, you are still not waiting for her ?" He continued.
"Tsk..." Yi Jeong avoided his piercing stare. "She is not likely to return. She hasn't. Ever since." The liquor poured into glasses.
"Yi Jeongah!" Woo Bin's concerns roared to its peak. "Just how many times should we have to tell you, it was not your fault?"
"Just how many times do I have to tell, that I am not suffering from PTSD?" Yi Jeong snapped back. "It makes me feel ill, like, for real, when you guys act as if I am..." He offered the glass.
Woo Bin retreated back to his silence as Yi Jeong allowed himself another sigh.
"By the way, it's about someone else that I wanted to talk." His hand absent mindedly travelled to the itchy spot on his neck. His collar lowered, and revealed a fairly fierce nail bite.
"Well, who is she?" Woo Bin chuckled. He was finally able to let go of his worries.
"It is certainly NOT what you think it is..." Yi Jeong smiled and joined him, casually having a sip from his glass.
"Then what? Did she try to kill you?"
"Almost."
"JEEZ..." he stretched. "Then she's my type."
"Maldo-Andwae."
Woo Bin laughed.
"I mean..."He took another sip, more to buy his time. "She is told to be possessed."
"So what?" Woo Bin chuckled, now amused than ever. " It makes it even more interesting, getting to know her."
"Tsk, Forget it." Yi Jeong said. " To be honest it's not about her, my primary concerns are..."
"Then what else?"
Yi Jeong sighed, returning back to his original worn out face.
"It's these... ..." he hesitated. "... 'visions' I have..." His voice dropped low. ".. disturbing ones... in that case... "
...
...
...
"...And, someone tapped on my shoulder," Ga Eul reached her hand and tapped on Master's. "Uhm... would you, like to go out for a movie with me?" She said in a deep voice.
Yi Jeong heard the twin squeals just when he stepped in. Both Master and Ga Eul were on the living room sofa, seated at its sides, Master cuddling to a cushion with flushed cheeks while Ga Eul was acting out a scene. Yi Jeong chuckled. She was double acting in it. And something about it made her look cute. He shook his head and cleared his throat.
"Oh! Yi Jeongah!" Master jumped to his feat. "Uri Ga Eulah..." he giggled. "someone had asked her out!" and exclaimed.
Yi Jeong stiffened. His grin went dull but managed not to disappear. Good thing, he had a mask in his pockets.
"Is this a date we are talking about?" he took a seat on the arm chair next to him, still not giving up on his grin.
"Deh."Ga Eul smiled and nodded. "Sunbae, can I have a leave on tomorrow?"
"_It was when we were shopping in this evening. I saw someone talking with her at the supermarket, but I thought he was a cashier or someone who worked there. Never thought it was something like that!" Master let out another squeal.
"So, he is a cashier ?" Yi Jeong scoffed, raising an eyebrow.
"Anniyo! He works in a hotel, as a manager." Ga Eul chuckled.
"In which?"
"Don't know. I didn't ask."
"Who cares? He is a manager after all! Ga Eulah, then he sure gets paid a lot!" Master exclaimed again, who was excited than ever.
"Oi, calm down." Yi Jeong shot him a look. "Who knows if he would turn out to be some kind of a jerk at the end? He hasn't properly introduced himself after all."
The other two went blank.
"Mwo-ra-gu?" Ga Eul asked.
"I am telling this as you are the 'naive' type. Don't be disappointed, if he would."
"Mwo?" her frown turned to a glare.
Yi Jeong stood up neglecting them, and headed to his bedroom. He paused for a final look at the perplexed and furious.
"Besides, you haven't entered any of the last cases into our case book, and your teachers keep whining with me about your poor grades. Is that what I pay you for?"
...
...
...
Thud thud, thud thud...
The familiar aroma, arouse from earth, when raindrops soothe drought battered soil...
The wheel spins fiercely, despite the play around its axle when kicked. A blob of clay on it ,forms its shape and leans to its height as guided by his hands...
A sweet scent pierces through ...So sweet that it cuts cleanly through the earthly ness...A scent like honey...
Peach blossoms...
"Orabeoni!" A girl cries out.
Yi Jeong woke up.
Silence...
He stared at the darkness for few more minutes, before he made his way through the shuffled comforter, to the edge of the bed. The scream still seemed to echo in his ears.
He sat there, and buried his face in his palms. His forehead felt wet.
What was it really? It's not even a nightmare... then why am I...
...like this?
Yi Jeong was used to nightmares. After everything he had experienced in his life so far, his sleeps were not scarce with them. Yet this particular one, made him want to cry, to scream and to bend himself into a ball and merge in to the walls.
He sighed and brushed the sweat out from his forehead. He tried to calm himself down.
That was a vision he had ever since the last case. Ever since Ga Eulyang had attacked on him. Or did she?
Was it Ga Eulyang?
He didn't know.
The question was, why it was always her? There has been plenty of other choices for them?
It was true that he cared for her. He needed her, to find out if he was 'crazy' as everyone told he was, when he saw the other light back in that studio, when he was five. It has been long since, he had first vowed to himself, not to let anyone get hurt because of him. Or worse, die.
His staff was no exceptional. He had ensured their safety in every possible way. And Ga Eulyang, was one of them. Yet even the numerous faceless women he had dumped after his nights, he had made them understand, the aftermath on beforehand, that non of them would break too much. They in fact, ended up finding other men. Probably a better one, than him.
Yi Jeong sighed, and rubbed his palms on his face.
Sunbae... come to me... I am all yours...
"Aish! Even that one?!..." he muttered. And again sighed, recalling the events back on the rooftop at Jeju island.
He stood up and raked his hand, combing back the hair, covered his eyes.
He desperately needed some aid to go back to sleep, and that aid was bottled in, on the higher racks of the pantry. If not that would help enough, he would take a pill. Anything, that won't make him go back to that strangulating dreams.
When he was passing by the dining room, he saw someone passed out on its table. Arms folded, head resting on it as her hair partly speared on the table and partly hung down from it. Beneath her, there was a black leathered case book.
Ga Eulyang had fallen asleep while entering the cases.
Did she that desperately want to go on that date?
Yi Jeong sighed again.
The storms have still not withdrawn themselves.
He brought a blanket out from his cupboard and laid it on her. It was the least he could do.
...
...
...
Ghost fog covered every inch of the invaded dreamland. As always, the lake beneath stayed calm and quiet. Only its sour odour rose up, reminding that it was all blood.
Baekga looked up.
Is it him who falls first this time?
He looked at Ga Eul. Another self, completely covered in bruises, sat by her left. And her heart on her hands, had now gone even darker. Ga Eul stared back, pulling up a confused face.
Are you sure we could survive against them?
Ignoring Ga Eul, he turned to her other self.
She looked up—the darker twin soul of Ga Eul.
And grinned.
–to be continued.
Other self- once the demon Baekga enters her body, it becomes even weaker. This allows another even worse or more cruel demon to enter her body, who would make Ga Eul's own character more demonic and humanity less. Unlike the first demon, the second demon would stay silent and destroy her humanity, and would devour on her desires even more thus killing her step by step and turning her into a demon(in her after life; will be reborn as demon, not as a human). It would likely take the 'appearance ' of the human itself. Hence would be called as the 'Other Self'.This is the same thing that is called as 'Namanari self'. And if that demon (other self/ Namanari self) kills her, she would turn into a demon who posses her own body, called as a vampire. Once that body dies out, only their purest demonic forms may remain.
When having two demons inside, ( called as a Namanari self 'grown' inside) they will have massive strength. Which was how she was able to attack Yi Jeong.
This concept was burrowed from Owari no seraph. Its inspired from something that had happened to one of its main character named, Mahiru Hiragi. At least it was how I understood it. ( I took a horrible lot of time trying to understand them.) So it may not be the exact same thing depicted in the light novel or manga. If you would have any interests feel free to search or read about her character in Wiki.
I was going to add this description as always at the beginning or at the end when first publishing. But for some reason I had forgotten. I am really sorry for any confusion it had caused. :( I don't like or want to confuse or make my readers feel uncomfortable or feel any negative feeling.I am really sorry.:(