As Giju Wishes Chapter 1.9

Suddenly, the dried nosebleed caught his eye, and he asked. Giju then fumbled with his hand over the part of his head that had hit the telephone pole. He could feel a bump swelling up.

“Oh, I have a bump.”

The way he fumbled with his head, his eyes wide with surprise, made him look a little foolish. Even that sight strangely got on his nerves.

“Hey, at least wipe your nose.”

The way he fumbled at his nose with his fingers also looked foolish, and Choi Geon furrowed his brow sharply.

“He-He! Here, here!!”

Unable to watch any longer, Choi Geon grabbed Giju’s hand and scrubbed under his nose as if it were a towel. The rough touch managed to wipe off some of the dried blood flakes.

“Ugh, it stings.”

His nose turned red from how hard he had wiped it.

“Hey, I’m saying this just in case, but don’t go telling that de… I mean, your grandmother that it stings.”

Even Choi Geon, who was born fearless, had no desire to see such a being again.

“I’m gonna tell her everything.”

“What…?”

Choi Geon, dumbfounded, asked back like an idiot.

“Just kidding.”

Giju found Choi Geon’s dumbfounded expression funny and giggled. Choi Geon wanted to punch him, but he held back.

“Besides, it’s not like I can call on grandmother every day. It was a complete coincidence that she came today. It’s just… when a crack forms in my consciousness, I get briefly possessed without knowing it, so I don’t know when she’ll come. Don’t worry. For now, she probably only knows that you have bad luck because a ghost is attached to you.”

Choi Geon stared at Giju with a look like he’d just chewed on shit.

“Don’t be offended. Grandmother still told you a way to fix it, didn’t she?”

“The stuff about the ocean?”

He was so shocked he couldn’t remember everything, but he did remember the parts about a water ghost and the ocean.

“Yeah. The water ghost on your shoulder is angry right now, so you have to catch a fish for it.”

“…So I just have to give it a fish to eat?”

As if he didn’t quite understand, Choi Geon tilted his head and asked.

“Well, it’s like… that water ghost is a bit tenacious, so you have to grant its wish, and that wish is a great fish. A water ghost like that can be appeased if you catch a great fish and perform a rite.”

Choi Geon still didn’t understand, but he decided to do as he was told for now. The moment ‘ghost’ was mentioned, he gave up on understanding in the first place.

“I’ll go to the fish market and get a huge fucking flounder, so wait here.”

As Choi Geon immediately got up, Giju hastily pulled on his uniform shirt.

“That won’t work. You have to catch it yourself. That’s the only way it’ll leave.”

Giju omitted the part about the bond between his soul and spirit being weak. That was why the evil spirit was stuck to his body and wouldn’t leave. It was a bizarre phenomenon that even Giju was seeing for the first time in his life.

“So you’re telling me to get on a boat and go fishing now?”

“Yes. A rite is all about sincerity. You can’t think of doing it half-heartedly.”

At the mention of going fishing, Choi Geon let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

“Ha, look at this little shit.”

He chuckled in disbelief for a long while before opening his mouth.

“I’ll give you a pass. I can just fish from the tank at a sashimi restaurant.”

“No, no. That’s not a rite. A great fish is sincerity itself, raised by nature. The act of a human catching it is in itself an immense display of sincerity. From ancient times, great fish were offered during rites to the heavenly gods… Even our shrine can’t offer one because we don’t have any. It might be hard, but you have to catch it.”

At his firm words, Choi Geon blinked his eyes blankly as if to deny the reality of having to go fishing himself, but looking at Giju’s face, he quickly returned to reality. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. Then, he plopped back down.

No matter how much he denied it, the task was set. Even if he ignored it and went home, he’d feel uneasy and would eventually seek this guy out again. The answer was already decided. It was just a matter of how long he’d avoid it.

“Fishing, right. Fuck it, I’ll do it. I’ll catch a monstrously huge bastard. I’ll even catch a shark if I have to.”

His face, clenched with determination, nodded grimly as he spoke to himself.

“I just have to catch that huge fucking fish, right.”

“Performing a rite with that should work. Probably?”

“What? Probably…?”

Choi Geon looked at Giju as if he were spouting utter nonsense. His face clearly said, ‘It should be a certainty, what do you mean probably?’

“I’m not a shaman. I just see some strong ghosts sometimes and have good intuition. Still, I rummaged through grandmother’s room and did my best to find out, so the rite should be correct. Grandmother said so herself too, didn’t she? That it’s a water ghost.”

His squinted eyes looked at Giju with an expression that said, ‘Should I believe this or not.’

“If you can’t trust me, do you want to go to another shaman’s house? I know a lot of them.”

Giju kindly took out an old lucky pouch from his pocket. And from within it, he took out a crumpled piece of paper. On it were several numbers that seemed to belong to shamans. It was so old that the ink had bled all over. Seeing that, Choi Geon’s eyes glazed over like a dead pollack’s.

“…Fuck it, I’ll just go catch a fish.”

He didn’t want to get involved with any more shamans. Just looking at that was already making him sick to his stomach. The one possessed by a ghost was the one right in front of him…

“Hey. What’s your name.”

Suddenly, Choi Geon realized he didn’t even know the guy’s name and asked.

“I’m Giju. Shin Giju. And you?”

“Choi Geon.”

Giju stared intently at Choi Geon. As he did, he hoped that this kid would live his life to the fullest. Separate from his soul being adrift, just looking at his overflowing life force naturally made him feel good.

“What’s your number.”

Just then, Choi Geon took his phone out of his pocket and held it out to Giju.

“I don’t have a cell phone.”

At the words that he didn’t possess an item that even kindergarteners have, Choi Geon was momentarily speechless. For a high school student to not have a cell phone, it was either because they were crazy about studying and got rid of it, or because their identity was shady. One thing was for sure, this guy wasn’t crazy about studying.

“Are you an illegal immigrant or something?”

“Ah, it’s just that my constitution is a bit unique, so my grandmother told me not to use electronic devices. She said the electromagnetic waves would make my spiritual energy fly away. This is a secret, but I’ve never used a microwave before.”

At the pathetic secret, Choi Geon’s eyes once again glazed over like a dead pollack’s.

“Fine, whatever. I’m the one who’s a dirty, unlucky, shitty bastard possessed by a ghost, what can I expect.”

Choi Geon shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket.

“Write your number here.”

Giju opened his lucky pouch again and took out a pencil stub. Then he held it out to Choi Geon along with the piece of paper.

“…Was this your phone book?”

Choi Geon, who was looking down at the numbers on the piece of paper in disbelief, wrote his number with a hollow laugh.

“You’re really something else, you are.”

In Choi Geon’s eyes, Shin Giju was a remarkable guy in many ways. A double-nosebleeding human possessed by a demonic ghost who had abandoned the benefits of civilization was surely a rare sight.

“It doesn’t matter when I go fishing, right.”

“Write your birthdate below, too. I’ll pick an auspicious day for you. Oh, write it small. There’s no space.”

He meant not to take up much space on this tattered phone book. Choi Geon pressed down hard and wrote his birthdate, almost tearing the paper.

“There.”

“Oh, we have the same birthday.”

Choi Geon made a displeased face at the news that he shared a birthdate with this underdeveloped-looking thing.

“I’ll let you know the auspicious day tomorrow.”

Giju said as he put away his lucky pouch.

“How are you going to let me know.”

“There are pay phones.”

At the mention of a pay phone, Choi Geon fell silent for a moment.

“Fine, do whatever you want. I’m leaving.”

His phone had been blowing up with calls from his friends since earlier. With nothing more to do, Choi Geon got up from his seat.

“Are you going home?”

Choi Geon, worried about him getting hit earlier, glanced at Giju’s head.

“I have to go, I’m late.”

Giju took a watch out of his pocket to check the time and seemed to be in a hurry.

“Just in case, you should go to the hospital and get your head checked. And if those bastards bother you again,”

“Bye!”

Giju, who had quickly slung his bag over his shoulder, paid no mind to what Choi Geon was saying and dashed off. Left behind, Choi Geon glared at his retreating back.

“That little shit…”

🔖⛩️📿

Splash-

A stream of water from the faucet that had just broken splashed all over Choi Geon’s face as he washed his hands. He tried to be careful, but it seemed the ghost bastard on his shoulder was trying to kill him by drowning. Choi Geon glared at the invisible presence in the mirror, then washed his heated face with cold water.

As if challenging it to see who would win, not caring if the water splashed, Choi Geon washed his face until his uniform shirt was soaked, then stared at the mirror with a ‘so what now’ expression. And when he turned off the water, the broken faucet, perhaps from the force of his hand, tilted to the side with a thud. Simultaneously, water shot up like a fountain and drenched Choi Geon.

“Ah, you son of a bitch!”

He dodged fairly quickly, but even his underwear got soaked. Furious, Choi Geon tried to shove the faucet back in, then threw it as if to vent his anger.

Bzzz-

Just then, a vibration came from his pocket. Choi Geon, who had just come out of the bathroom, answered the call from an unknown number while dripping water.

“Who is it.”