As Giju Wishes Chapter 1.11

“You little shit, hold still, will you?”

Choi Geon punched the sea bass in the head. The sea bass’s resistance grew even stronger.

“You’re in for it now. To catch you, you motherfucker. Oh, you, oh, oh, ha, look at this bastard, where do you think you’re going, you fucker.”

At the sight of Choi Geon in a physical fight with the sea bass, Sittu let out a small exclamation of admiration. He was so strong that he felt a desire for him to become a colleague.

“You’re my meal. My fucking ancestral rite meal.”

The fight ended with Choi Geon knocking out the sea bass in one go.

“To think he caught that, that crazy bastard…”

The captain stared dumbfoundedly at Choi Geon, who had thrown himself to catch the sea bass. If he hadn’t caught him, he would surely have fallen into the sea. Whether he knew that or not, Choi Geon’s expression looked completely refreshed and exhilarated.

“My work here is done, so I’ll be heading inside.”

With those words, Choi Geon went inside the fishing boat. His whole body reeked of fish, but when he thought of the great fish, it was the scent of flowers.

🔖⛩️📿

Clang-clang-clang-! Clang-clang!

The sound of a small gong echoed throughout the yard. And at its center was Choi Geon. Choi Geon paid no attention to Cheon Baksu, who was performing a sword dance in front, and only stared at the great fish placed at the very top, like a man who had lost his entire fortune.

“Warning to the spirits of the dead, ghost of murder, ghost of earthworks and construction, ghost of the East, ghost of the greedy official, ghost of the sly snake, ghost of the shaman, ghost of human sacrifice, ghost of the accomplice, ghost of the city god’s plague, ghost of the city god…”

Giju, hidden behind a pillar, watched Cheon Baksu’s exciting sword dance with eyes full of wonder and curiosity. Despite it being a shaman’s house, his grandmother had never let him watch an exorcism. She said stray ghosts would bother him.

So, he only knew some of the ritual prayers his grandmother made him memorize as a child, but he didn’t know much about exorcisms. All he could do was occasionally see fierce ghosts and have good intuition that allowed him to read the flow of energy a little. Ah, and he also knew a few ways to chase away ghosts from his grandmother’s books.

That’s why Cheon Baksu’s exorcism was fascinating to him. His grandmother would probably be horrified if she knew.

“The ten thousand generals, with tens of millions of divine generals, form a dragon formation, their roars and war cries shake the heavens and earth, the gleam of their spears and swords plays with the sun and moon, turning mountains into mist and seas into wilderness!”

Cheon Baksu stabbed the great fish with the sword he was brandishing. Then he began to sprinkle mugwort water in all directions. Choi Geon, too, was drenched in mugwort water, but he kept his mouth shut and endured it. Only Giju was watching from afar, exclaiming, “Wow, wow.”

An hour later, the exorcism finally ended.

“Thank you, Cheon Baksu-nim. You know this is a secret from my grandmother, right?”

Giju opened his lucky pouch and handed Cheon Baksu a portion of his crumpled allowance as a service fee. Cheon Baksu’s face hardened at the sight of the 5,000 won, but he accepted it as a sincerity payment for keeping his mouth shut. Just as he was receiving the 5,000 won, Choi Geon, who was next to him, snatched it away.

“Forget it, don’t give it to him. How much did I pay, that bastard,”

Choi Geon, who had become sensitive about money after getting involved with them, shoved the 5,000 won back into Giju’s lucky pouch.

“Why, it’s a service fee.”

“Hey. I’m the one who did all the hard work catching that great fish bastard, why are you giving it to that man. I almost fucking drowned in the sea.”

“Still, Baksu-nim drove away the evil spirit.”

As Giju said, the evil spirit was no longer on Choi Geon’s shoulder. But Choi Geon, sensitive about money, felt he had paid his dues and didn’t want to give them any more money.

Shamans have a knack for sniffing out money, and using the excuse of a more perfect exorcism, they fleeced him of all his money, claiming they were out of salt, the price of domestic mugwort had gone up, or they needed to buy new cotton thread.

“I’ll give you at least this.”

“Hey, hey, give it to me.”

Choi Geon, who had become a stingy scrooge, got angry and snatched the 1,000 won from Giju’s hand as he tried to offer it.

“I suffered the most, so give it to me. We’re all done here now, right. Hey, let’s go.”

“Oh, I’ll be going then, Baksu-nim!”

Giju hurriedly chased after Choi Geon, who was leaving through the main gate. Then he placed a 100 won coin in the yard and closed the gate behind him.

“Your luck should get better now.”

Giju said as he walked alongside Choi Geon.

“Of course it has to get better. I went through every kind of hell imaginable.”

As he said, it had been a series of very unlucky days. Perhaps because of that, Choi Geon still found it hard to believe that the ghost had been exorcised. He felt like they might do a half-assed job and then come at him saying they needed to do another exorcism.

“Still, it’s a relief. I was a little scared you might drown.”

“Fuck, the things you say…”

Choi Geon stopped walking and looked back at Giju, then sighed and started walking forward again.

“It’s true. It’s a good thing I found you before it was too late.”

“Yeah, a fucking great thing.”

Giju stared intently at Choi Geon, who didn’t seem so relieved. It was because he felt the same way. The evil spirit was certainly gone, but his soul was still unsettled. A sense of responsibility, along with curiosity, arose, making him want to solve it.

“You know. Can I call you again to check if you’re okay?”

Choi Geon glanced at Giju beside him.

“Do whatever.”

“Oh, right. I’ll give you this.”

Giju started rummaging through his bag for something. Choi Geon’s pace naturally slowed to match Giju’s.

“Take this.”

What Giju took out was a talisman. A bright red one at that. It looked so cursed just by looking at it that Choi Geon looked at Giju with a displeased face.

“What’s this.”

“A talisman. I secretly took it from my grandmother’s room, it’s very powerful.”

Giju said, looking at Choi Geon’s soul, which was still unsettled and not fully attached to his body. At that, Choi Geon, who thought it was all over, asked indifferently.

“Why do I need a talisman.”

“You’ve had a lot of bad luck until now.”

“You said my luck has turned now.”

He wanted to say it was to prevent another ghost from latching on, but Giju didn’t tell him the truth. He felt like Choi Geon would throw a fit if he did. Normally, a talisman wasn’t necessary after an exorcism, but he had brought one just in case, and it was a good thing he did.

“Still, you never know. It’s to ward off bad fortune after an exorcism, so take it.”

Choi Geon looked at the talisman, which looked like a demon’s summoning scroll, with a sour expression.

“Is it that effective?”

Choi Geon, not wanting to take it, asked a pointless question.

“Of course. This is worth a million won.”

“What the fuck?”

At the mention of a million won, Choi Geon snatched the talisman from Giju’s hand as if stealing it. The moment he knew the price, it suddenly changed from something ominous to something miraculous.

“So what do I do with it.”

“Keep it on your person for a while.”

“Is that all I have to do.”

Choi Geon shoved the talisman, which had now been transformed by a sacred energy, into his pocket.

“Don’t forget, make sure you carry it with you.”

“I got it.”

“What time is it?”

When asked for the time, Choi Geon gave Giju, who still didn’t have a cell phone, a strange look before telling him the time.

“I have to go. It’s almost mealtime.”

Choi Geon made another displeased face at Giju, who always went home punctually on time.

“Does your house serve meals like a mess hall?”

“Something like that. Are you going home too?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m going now.”

Choi Geon stared intently at Giju as he said he was leaving. He wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind.

“Go on, Shin Giju.”

“Okay. Bye, Geon-ah!”

Giju waved against the sunset and walked away. Choi Geon watched him for a moment before turning around. Then he looked around at the surroundings, which were all rice paddies. He didn’t know why he had walked all this way when he could have just taken his bike.