As Giju Wishes Chapter 2.5

Giju quietly opened the main gate and peeked inside. Then he turned back and gestured for Choi Geon to follow him.

“You have to follow me quietly, got it?”

With a sullen expression, Choi Geon did as he was told, shutting his mouth and following Giju. Then, he briefly hesitated. Outside the gate was child’s play. Inside, red cloths with Chinese characters written on them were hanging in a long, neat row.

“Hurry up.”

Giju, who was ahead, whispered for him to come quickly. Frowning at the house, which had an atmosphere worse than a haunted house, Choi Geon followed Giju. Giju went around the wide-open main entrance and opened a small door to the side. Upon entering, a cave-like passage appeared.

“Are you a human trafficker? Tell me the truth now.”

At this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if a human organ popped out.

“Shh! We have to take off our shoes from here.”

Ignoring him, Giju was solely focused on the need to be quiet. After taking off their shoes and passing through the tunnel, the inside of a shrine was visible through a slightly ajar door. Giju paused in front of it, then ducked his body and passed by quickly. Of course, Choi Geon just strode past. After turning the corner, a room door finally appeared.

It was a door that looked like it belonged to an ordinary family home where ordinary people lived. While smelling the scent of incense that subtly filled the entire house, Choi Geon stared at that door for quite a long time. It was because of the ridiculous doorplate that read ‘Giju’s Room’. He really makes a point of doing things just like himself.

“This is my room.”

Before opening the door, Giju turned back and said quietly to Choi Geon.

“Are my eyes just for decoration?”

Choi Geon said, looking down at Giju as if telling him to cut the useless introduction.

Squeak-

As soon as Choi Geon finished speaking, the sound of an old hinge rang out and the door opened. Giju, who went in first, hung his bag on the desk chair. Choi Geon, who followed behind, faltered for a moment at the scene unfolding in the room. The walls were plastered with talismans, and the blanket was the same five-colored type he had seen at the village shrine. The bizarre interior, which seemed like a remodeled shrine, suddenly made him want to go home.

“Put your shoes here.”

Just then, Giju spread out a crumpled newspaper next to the door and said. Choi Geon, who was standing still in front of the door, was still glaring at, no, observing the room, before placing his shoes down on the newspaper with a thud.

“Put your bag down, Geon.”

Giju, having closed the door, said as he sat on a five-colored cushion on the floor. With a reluctant, slow pace, Choi Geon put his bag down and plopped onto the floor.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Did you seal some evil spirit in here or something?”

Choi Geon, who sat with his legs spread wide like it was his own living room, asked sincerely. He was still looking around the room as if it were a haunted house.

“In all my life, I’ve never seen such a shitty interior….”

“My grandmother decorated it.”

Having unintentionally insulted family again, Choi Geon immediately shut his mouth.

“Fuck, you did that on purpose.”

“Did what on purpose?”

At the innocently staring eyes, Choi Geon chose to turn his head away.

“Forget it, I’m the idiot for asking. But when are you gonna feed me?”

At the shameless question, Giju checked the clock on the wall. It wasn’t even 6 o’clock yet.

“It’s not time to eat yet.”

At that damn mealtime, a vein popped on Choi Geon’s forehead.

“Do you die if you miss a mealtime or something? We can just make it ourselves. I have to hide and eat here anyway.”

“It’s because the table isn’t set yet…. And you don’t have to hide.”

Choi Geon couldn’t understand what Giju was saying. He had no idea what table he was talking about. He wondered if a shaman’s house had a live-in housekeeper.

“Are you really hungry?”

“On the verge of starvation.”

Like mismatched gears, all the situations were slightly getting on his nerves, and Choi Geon’s mood soured as he spoke with a completely grim expression. At that, Giju felt a little sorry that he couldn’t feed his first-ever invited friend right away.

“Wait a minute.”

Just then, Giju crawled on his knees under the desk, rustled something, and brought it out.

“Eat this for now.”

In Giju’s hand was a hangwa wrapped in plastic. Seeing it, Choi Geon’s expression sank even further. Coincidentally, the number one food he couldn’t understand why people ate was hangwa. He wouldn’t eat hangwa even if you gave it to him.

“I don’t like hangwa.”

“This one is delicious.”

Giju unwrapped the hangwa and took a bite.

“If that’s delicious, I’ll change my last name.”

Leaning back with both hands on the floor behind him, Choi Geon looked up at the ceiling, feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion. Then, the crunching sound of the hangwa being eaten got on his nerves, and he was glaring at Giju again in annoyance when something was shoved forcefully into his mouth. He knew it was hangwa without being told.

“They say a master craftsman made that. It’s so delicious, I was saving it.”

“Hey, you son of a…! Bi….”

Unable to spit it out, Choi Geon chewed what was in his mouth, but he stopped cursing at the unexpected savory taste and focused on chewing.

“What is this.”

Suddenly tasting its deliciousness, Choi Geon mumbled quizzically as he chewed the hangwa in his mouth. It was a completely different level of taste from the hangwa he knew. It was savory with a subtle sweetness.

“It’s good, right?”

“Give me more.”

“There’s no more. Since you weren’t eating it, I just ate it all.”

Giju said, his cheeks puffed out. Choi Geon felt the urge to hit him again, but he held back because this was a house of ghosts. All the ghosts living here would surely be on Shin Giju’s side.

“Tsk, but it really was delicious, wasn’t it.”

Giju, who had finished what was in his mouth, asked lingeringly to Choi Geon, who was watching him while sucking his fingers.

“Yeah, sure. Fuck, it was so damn delicious I want to pull out what’s in your stomach.”

“You must have really liked it… I’ll save you some next time I get more.”

“Save about two hundred.”

It felt like that damn hangwa had increased his hunger tenfold. With those last words, Choi Geon flopped down on the floor, spreading his arms and legs out. Then, while staring blankly at the ceiling, he discovered something.

“Did you put those up.”

He hadn’t noticed, but there were a few glow-in-the-dark constellation stickers on the ceiling.

“Yeah.”

Choi Geon stared intently at the constellations. For the first time, he had found an artifact that matched his own age. Things like that suited Shin Giju, who always brandished strange and old-fashioned items, much better.

“Why did you only put up that many? You need a lot of those for them to look good. What’s the point of putting up a piddling amount.”

“The chair wheels kept moving, so it was hard to put them up by myself.”

Choi Geon turned his head slightly and glanced at Shin Giju. Judging from their conversation so far, it seemed his parents weren’t in this house. He was curious about his family situation, but instead of asking, he just stared at the constellations on the ceiling again.

“Want me to put them up for you?”

At the question, a rustling sound came from beside him. Then, a face suddenly loomed over the ceiling. It was Shin Giju, looking down at him with wide, round eyes.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d love that!”

Choi Geon gazed at the innocently smiling Giju, then sat up.

“Where are the stickers.”

Giju opened a desk drawer and quickly brought out the constellation stickers.

“Put them up above the blanket so I can see them while I sleep. They shouldn’t be too close together.”

“Such a picky bastard….”

Choi Geon, who took the stickers, shook his head and muttered to himself. Then he stretched out his arm to gauge the distance to the ceiling.

“Don’t you need a chair?”

“Hold on, you punk.”

He didn’t need a chair for this height. Choi Geon stuck a bunch of stickers on his fingers, reached his hand toward the ceiling, and stood on his tiptoes at the same time. The constellation stickers went on the ceiling without any trouble. He could hear Giju’s voice from the side, going “Ooh.”

“So this is possible because you’re tall… I’m jealous.”

Choi Geon concentrated and stuck all the stickers on the ceiling according to Giju’s needs.

“Done. Can we eat now?”

Giju looked at the clock and nodded.

“We can eat now.”

“What’s the menu….”

“Don’t come out, just wait here for a moment.”

Cutting Choi Geon off, Giju suddenly went out of the room by himself, and a few minutes later, as if he had been checking the situation, he came back into the room.

“Let’s go eat now.”

Choi Geon stared at Giju, then opened his mouth.

“I’m just asking to be sure, but this isn’t someone else’s house, right? Hey, no matter how much of a backwater this is, stealing and eating someone else’s food is a crime, a crime.”

“It’s our house.”

Giju said, “What are you talking about?” and told him to follow quickly. With a very skeptical expression, Choi Geon followed Giju out of the room. Leaving the room and going down the stairs, they arrived at a basement that didn’t feel like a basement. The smell of incense also grew stronger.

Screech-

Giju slid open a door and went in. Then, a table came into view. On the table, food was set. The reddish-brown wooden dishes were all raised, and the wide variety of food made it look like a table for ancestral rites….

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

Giju gestured for him to sit down and eat quickly.

“Was the meal ancestral rite food?”

“It’s fine. We eat ancestral rite food during holidays, too.”

Choi Geon, who was blinking his eyes calmly, watched Giju sit down as if nothing was wrong and wondered if he was the strange one, or if this household was.

“Do shamans normally eat ancestral rite food?”

“I don’t really know about other houses. But I’ve been eating it since I was little.”