As Giju Wishes Chapter 2.6

Shin Giju was strange to begin with, so it made sense that his eating habits were strange too. He knew that the ghost clinging to him, its exorcism, and that damn nosebleed were all strange. He also knew that he himself, for expecting normalcy, was now the abnormal one, but still, this was a bit too strange.

“…If I eat this, am I going to become a ghost right away?”

“No. I eat this every day and I haven’t become a ghost. Let’s hurry and eat.”

At Giju’s urging, Choi Geon very slowly sat down across from him. He looked past Giju at a scroll painting hanging on the wall and made a face like he’d bitten into shit. The fire-breathing monster in the scroll seemed to be telling him to hurry up and eat.

Clatter-

Giju brought over an empty wooden bowl, scooped up a heaping portion of rice from a large noodle bowl, and placed it in front of Choi Geon.

“Here you go, Geon.”

Choi Geon looked down at the rice, which was glistening beautifully. It seemed they used good quality rice, unfittingly enough.

“Enjoy your meal.”

Giju scooped a large spoonful of rice and put it in his mouth. But Choi Geon, who had completely lost his appetite, just wanted to get out of this ridiculous house.

“…Is it good?”

Giju replied, chewing heartily.

“Yeah.”

Seeing Giju act as if he were at a famous restaurant, Choi Geon felt the strength drain from his body. He temporarily shut down his brain’s higher functions and picked up his spoon. He made a compromise with himself to act on instinct alone for now.

“I don’t know, fuck it.”

Perhaps because he’d already been through so many strange things, Choi Geon quickly got used to the ancestral rite food. He surrendered his body to his hunger and began stuffing food into his mouth until his cheeks bulged.

Clatter-

Clatter-

It almost looked like a desperate struggle to forget reality, but without any further complaint, he finished a bowl of rice even before Giju did.

“You’ve been eating ancestral rite food since you were little?”

Once his stomach was a little full, Choi Geon, having regained his rationality from all the strangeness, asked as he refilled his rice from the large noodle bowl.

“Yeah.”

Giju replied, putting some seasoned vegetables in his mouth. Choi Geon’s face twisted strangely with a sense of bewilderment he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

“How little?”

“Ever since I can remember being little. Around 4 years old?”

It was longer than he’d thought. Choi Geon’s chopsticks paused mid-air.

“What? No, for real, isn’t this a fucking cult?”

Choi Geon couldn’t understand anything, from one to ten. Shin Giju eating ancestral rite food as if it were natural, and the people called his family who nonchalantly served it.

“There’s no religion or anything. We just eat the ancestral rite food…”

Just as he said, Giju had never forced any religious events on him or performed any religious acts himself.

“No, can’t you just eat regular food? You eat the school lunch, don’t you?”

Choi Geon was now holding his spoon and passionately making his case.

“I see ghosts, you know. Because of that, my grandmother told me not to skip it and to always eat the ancestral rite food. If I can’t come home due to unavoidable circumstances, she said to pack something that was on the ancestral altar and eat that.”

“So, you have to eat this fucking ancestral rite food for every single meal?”

“No, just once. If I can’t eat a meal, I have to eat fruit or hangwa at least.”

“What happens if you skip it.”

“I’ve never skipped it, so I don’t know.”

“Wow, holy shit….”

Shin Giju’s family was shocking enough to make him curse automatically.

“Shin Giju. I’m just asking to be sure, but they’re really your family, right?”

“Yeah. My real aunt and grandmother.”

At the words that they were his real blood relatives, Choi Geon’s expression turned even more bizarre. No matter how much of a friend to ghosts Shin Giju was, and even if his grandmother was a powerful shaman and there must be a reason, the unpleasant feeling wouldn’t go away. Choi Geon might have bad luck, but his intuition was pretty sharp.

“Then until when do you have to eat this ancestral rite food?”

“Uhm… forever?”

Giju said after thinking, and reached out with his chopsticks to grab a meat skewer that was far away. Choi Geon, finding even that unpleasant, slapped the back of Giju’s hand to stop him from eating it. He didn’t know why. He was just suddenly pissed off that Shin Giju was eating ancestral rite food.

“Ow! Why’d you hit me.”

“Hey. Don’t eat it.”

Giju found Choi Geon, who had eaten all the meat himself and was now being greedy for the one remaining skewer, a little annoying.

“You ate a lot already. I want to eat too.”

In reality, towards the end, Choi Geon had brought the entire noodle bowl over and eaten all the rice himself for the pathetic reason that it tasted good. He had basically wiped out the entire ancestral altar along with the rice. The only side dishes left were one meat skewer and a few strands of seasoned vegetables.

With a displeased expression, Choi Geon, despite having finished his rice, shoved the remaining skewer and vegetables into his mouth. Giju, unable to say anything since Choi Geon was a guest, could only smack his lips.

“Hey.”

“What?”

Choi Geon called him and then just stared at Giju silently. He didn’t know how to explain this unpleasant feeling. Especially when he looked at that face, which seemed to not have a single care in the world, like a little kid.

“Are you going to eat ancestral rite food tomorrow too?”

Choi Geon asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah.”

And Giju gave the expected answer.

“But who prepared all this?”

In truth, he had been curious from the start about who prepared it, but the unexpected nature of the ancestral rite food had made all the questions fly out of his head.

“My aunt.”

Choi Geon scanned the room, then his gaze moved back to the ancestral table, and finally to Giju at the end of it.

“Where is that aunt now?”

“My aunt is busy right now. She’s in the shrine.”

“So you eat alone like this every damn day?”

“Yeah.”

All expression vanished from Choi Geon’s face. His mood got even worse.

“But it’s nice eating with you. Come visit again next time, Geon.”

“Will we be eating ancestral rite food then too?”

“Of course.”

“For fuck’s sake.”

Choi Geon threw the chopsticks he was holding onto the table.

“Hey, Shin Giju.”

“Yeah.”

Giju answered, pecking at plain rice with his chopsticks.

“This ain’t right.”

“What isn’t right?”

As the innocent eyes stared at him brightly, Choi Geon’s mood soured yet again.

“Th-th-this whole damn thing of you eating like this.”

Agitated, Choi Geon picked up his chopsticks and pointed accusingly at the empty dishes.

“No, even if you see ghosts, what is this, what is this, this, this, this fucking ancestral rite food, what the fuck is all this? I mean, are you gonna drop dead right now if you don’t eat ancestral rite food? Huh? Is the ancestral rite food plated in gold or something?”

His pointing became more aggressive.

“Ancestral rite food? Fine, I can eat it a few times. But fuck, every day is just them dumping leftovers on you.”

Choi Geon didn’t mince his words at all. He never did, but the intensity of his pissed-off feelings was so strong that he had to say it directly to feel any relief.

“Grandma told me to eat it, what can I do.”

“Where is your grandmother.”

“At work….”

“At work where.”

His tone was strangely sarcastic.

“I don’t know either. Grandma doesn’t tell me things like that. She’s super busy and also….”

Giju said, enunciating clearly.

“She told me to eat it because there’s a reason for everything.”

“Do you even want to eat this?”

Giju blinked his eyes, then said.

“I eat it every day, so it’s okay… It’s delicious.”

Choi Geon was at a loss for words for a moment. Because it had, in fact, been delicious.

“And my aunt doesn’t usually eat dinner.”

Thwack-!

Choi Geon threw his chopsticks onto the table again. Then, he looked as if he was about to say something, but instead just scanned Giju up and down with a glare.

“Hey.”

“What.”

“After school tomorrow, come to the alley.”

Choi Geon’s eyes were filled with an unreadable sense of stubborn pride.

“Why?”

“You treated me to your ancestral rite food, so I should treat you to my food.”

Curiosity flickered in Giju’s eyes.

“Your food…?”

“That’s right, I’m thinking of inviting a friend over too.”

“Inviting…?”

“You’d better look fucking forward to it.”

Choi Geon’s eyes flashed brightly.

🔖⛩️📿

Choi Geon, who finished school first, waited for Giju in the alley, restlessly shaking one leg.

He planned to treat him to a meal with alcohol, one that would correspond to the ancestral rite food. He would make him fall so deeply in love with food and drink that he would skip that goddamn ancestral meal. He was determined to show him clearly that skipping one day wouldn’t kill him.

No matter how bizarre and strange Shin Giju was, being treated like a dumping ground for ancestral rite food was just not right. If he were just a little more of a busybody, this would be a case to report to the police for child abuse. Not even ten minutes had passed, but Choi Geon kept checking the time, wondering why he wasn’t here yet. Just as his leg-shaking was getting even more frantic, a round head started to appear in the distance. Choi Geon went out of his way to meet him. The way he was striding forward seemed to indicate he was seriously pissed off.