As Giju Wishes Chapter 2.1

Ssssk-

Strange sounds were heard in the space of utter darkness. It sounded like whispers, and also like laughter. Even though he couldn’t see anything, Choi Geon fearlessly approached the sound. The sound began to get closer and closer. And up ahead, he saw an unidentifiable shape. Strangely, it was clearly visible even in the darkness. It was blacker than the darkness itself.

In an instant, that unidentifiable shape rushed toward him.

—Now you’re mine.

With the whisper right next to his ear, Choi Geon woke up.

It was such a vivid dream that Choi Geon shot up in bed. He unknowingly replayed the dream and tried to remember what was said at the end, but he couldn’t recall a thing. All he could remember was wandering through the darkness and finding some kind of shape.

He usually didn’t dream much, so it left a very bad taste in his mouth. His gaze naturally went to the phone on his desk. Choi Geon made a displeased face, unwilling to admit to himself that he was waiting for Giju’s call. Then he shook his head from side to side. That damn water-dousing curse is gone now, so what could possibly happen?

He even whistled leisurely as he entered the bathroom. After roughly drying his hair and putting on his school uniform, Choi Geon grabbed his motorcycle key and phone and left his room.

As he came down from the second floor and reached the front door, he remembered that he had left his wallet, but he was too lazy to go back, so he just opened the door and went out. And so, the wallet containing the amulet was left all alone on his desk.

Sitting on a bench, drenched in sweat and chomping on an ice cream, Choi Geon threw the finished ice cream stick like a bullet when his team let a goal in.

“Hey, you fuckers, why don’t you just hold a funeral for our chances!!”

After scoring all those goals in the first half, they were now letting in goal after goal in the second. Choi Geon, who took competition very seriously, was going berserk by himself, utterly infuriated. He stood up and sat down, punching the air.

“Hey. The stairs are gonna collapse because of you.”

Lim Hyojun, who was next to him, told him to stay still. But Choi Geon, as always, ignored him and, despite no one watching, started kicking an invisible ball by himself, advising them on what to do.

“Left, left! Fucking left!!!”

A goal was scored on the open left side. Feeling dizzy, Choi Geon collapsed helplessly like a man on death row.

“…Did these bastards all catch some disease today?”

They were unusually terrible today. Unwilling to believe it, Choi Geon muttered to himself and with a rough hand, took out a half-frozen sports drink from the plastic bag next to him. He then twisted off the cap and chugged the bottle, but the drink wouldn’t come out, as if ice was blocking the opening.

Choi Geon shook the bottle a few times. Still, nothing came out. Irritation welled up on his already sensitive face. He gripped the sports drink bottle and shook it for all it was worth, as if to break it. Then, the ice at the opening, under pressure, shot out all at once, and the drink gushed out, drenching his face.

“Gack.”

The drink went up his nose, and Choi Geon quickly lowered his head and coughed.

“Cough, ah, shit….”

Choi Geon, who had been swearing naturally, trailed off his sentence with a strangely bad feeling. The dream from the morning and this recent bad luck. Choi Geon, who was particularly sensitive to bad luck, suddenly got a very uneasy look on his face.

He quickly searched his body for the amulet. But far from an amulet, his wallet was nowhere on his person. Only then did he remember leaving it at home. The fact that his mood had been swayed by a piece of paper since the morning made his already existing annoyance even worse.

Choi Geon, without realizing it, took out his phone and stared at the screen. Unlike in the morning when he wouldn’t admit he was waiting for a call, he now blamed Giju for not contacting him promptly.

“The A/S on this is slow, huh?”

The guy who said he would check if he was okay hadn’t contacted him for a week. Like those fuckers who lost the soccer match, Shin Giju’s state of mind must have been rotten to the core. The bad luck he experienced today turned Choi Geon into an utterly shameless nuisance. Even after entering the classroom, Choi Geon just stared at his phone like someone who’d had his money stolen.

“Got a girlfriend?”

Song Jiseop asked, seeing Choi Geon staring only at his phone, which was unlike him.

“Waiting for a double nosebleed.”

At the words “double nosebleed,” Song Jiseop naturally thought of Giju. Since that day, Giju had been branded in their minds as a terrifying double nosebleed that should never be messed with. Just thinking about that day still sent a chill down his neck.

“Hey. You’re not possessed by a ghost too, are you…?”

Hearing that, Choi Geon suddenly had the ridiculous thought that maybe his consciousness was possessed by a ghost. That the soul of Choi Geon had actually died when it fell into the sea that day….

“Fuck, stop spouting unlucky shit and get lost.”

“If you’re possessed, tell me quickly. So I can cut you off.”

Song Jiseop went over to his crew and babbled on about how they all had to cut off the possessed Choi Geon to survive. Regardless of what he did, Choi Geon became even more agitated and was now practically glaring at his phone. After about five minutes of this, even bouncing his leg, the call he had been waiting for rang.

Vrrr-

An unknown number appeared on the screen. Normally he would have ignored it, but Choi Geon sensed it was Shin Giju and answered the call right away.

“Hey, you, it’s been how many days….”

—Have you been well?

At the question of whether he’d been well, Choi Geon fell into thought for a moment. He got lost in the useless thought of whether he had, in fact, been well.

“It’s been kind of shitty.”

Choi Geon spoke only the truth. It was his overall assessment after summarizing his fortune up to today.

—How so?

“I had a shitty dream and shitty things happened.”

—But you’re not getting doused with water, right?

Choi Geon was silent for a moment. It wasn’t a water-dousing, but….

“Yeah. But something feels a bit off.”

—Want me to take a quick look?

“No, you’re stating the obvious….”

Of course, he should take a look.

“But if you tell me to do another exorcism, I’ll just stay possessed and die.”

Choi Geon hated exorcisms now. To be precise, he hated the process of an exorcism. If a fire ghost was attached to him, did he have to sear his body with fire or something?

—You must not like exorcisms… Then let’s see each other first. I’ll check for you.

“By the way, whose phone is this?”

—A friend’s.

At the word “friend,” Choi Geon was at a loss for words for a moment.

“…A ghost friend?”

Choi Geon asked in all seriousness. It seemed like Shin Giju would actually have a ghost friend. Who somehow managed to make a call through a ghost phone owned by his ghost friend.

—A human friend.

At the word “human,” Choi Geon made a rather strange expression. That guy has friends?

“Anyway, come to the alley after school.”

—Okay. See you later, Geon-ah.

At the name “Geon-ah,” Choi Geon, as if he couldn’t get used to it, made a sullen face and hung up without replying. After that, he didn’t look at his phone.

After school, Choi Geon headed straight for the alley and spotted Giju, who had arrived first and was waiting, and approached him. Giju, who turned his head at the sign of his presence, waved his hand happily, saying he was here.

“You’re here?”

Giju, who was fanning himself with his hand as if it were hot, greeted Choi Geon with a smile.

“When did you get here?”

“I got here a little while ago and was waiting. It’s a bit hot today.”

Though he said it was hot, Giju wasn’t sweating a single drop. However, his cheeks were a bit red, as if he was running a fever.

“Hey. First, let’s go grab an ice cream.”

Choi Geon gestured with his chin at the sight.

“I want a slushie.”

“Picky bastard….”

Choi Geon, glaring at Giju, started walking. The two went to a nearby supermarket. This store, which sold all sorts of junk food and miscellaneous things, was practically the neighborhood’s mart. Giju went inside first and checked the slushie machine. But the slushie machine that was always there was gone.

“Sir, where’s the slushie machine?”

Giju asked the grandfatherly-looking man.

“Oh, that just broke down, so I put it away.”

With a disappointed face at the news, Giju reluctantly headed to the ice cream section.

“What a shame.”

Choi Geon followed beside him with a smirk.

“See, I told you to get ice cream.”

“Then I’ll have a Ssang-O-bar.”

“There are no Ssang-O-bars?”

Choi Geon, who had arrived at the ice cream freezer first, told Giju. Giju, looking inside the freezer at his words, saw only Byeol-O-bars and looked disappointed once again.

“You’re having an unlucky day too, huh.”

Shin Giju, who always nagged him about being unlucky, was also having an unlucky day like him. Choi Geon, who loved shared misery, hummed a little tune, hmm hmm, and took out two ice creams. He had been feeling wronged about being the only one with bad luck, but now his mood improved a little.

“How much is it?”

Choi Geon took out the 10,000 won he had stolen from Song Jiseop before leaving school and handed it to the owner, Mr. Kim.

“Two thousand won.”

After paying for the two ice creams, Choi Geon frowned upon seeing Giju trying to take out a thousand won from that worn-out lucky pouch of his.

“Hey, hey, put it away. Don’t take out money in front of me. What are you gonna do with just a thousand won….”

“I was going to get this too.”

Giju handed over the thousand won and paid for the jelly he had picked up at some point. Seeing that, Choi Geon was silent for a moment.