As Giju Wishes Chapter 2.8

Without hesitation, Choi Geon raised his glass and began to drink the somaek. Seeing this, Giju followed suit and put the glass to his lips.

The first taste was sharp and fizzy. Bubbles burst in his mouth, and he could taste the bitter grains and the scent of alcohol. It was a flavor he’d never had before, and his eyes shot open. Giju followed Choi Geon’s lead and drained the glass.

Thump!

“Hah, it’s bitter.”

It was incredibly refreshing. But it was bitter.

“You’ll get used to it and drink more.”

Choi Geon pushed the bowl of puffed corn that was on the table toward Giju and once again mixed a somaek in the empty glass.

“Another one?”

Giju asked, looking at the full glass.

“We’re not leaving until we finish all of this.”

Choi Geon said, placing his hands firmly on top of the soju and beer bottles. Giju was definitely bewildered by this meal invitation, which was different from what he’d expected, but he was so hooked by these new experiences that he followed Choi Geon’s lead. Perhaps he was already getting tipsy from just one glass.

“The fries are on the house.”

The man placed plates of food on the table.

“Oh, thank you.”

Giju bowed his head and looked with sparkling eyes at the french fries, from which steam was rising. There was a yellow sauce on top of the fries.

“Eat up.”

Choi Geon picked up a fry with his fingers and ate it. Giju did the same.

“Ouch, hot. Oh, it’s delicious.”

A salty and savory taste spread through his mouth. It was a sauce he’d never tasted before.

“How is it? It’s not worse than ancestral rite food, is it?”

Choi Geon said, picking up a piece of chicken gizzard with his chopsticks and eating it. Thrilled by the new taste, Giju nodded eagerly and looked at the gizzard Choi Geon was eating.

“What’s that?”

“Chicken gizzard.”

Giju, who had only ever heard of it but never eaten it, tried a piece of the gizzard, which was still sizzling on the iron plate. His eyes widened again. This, too, was a new taste.

“Drink.”

Giju obediently followed Choi Geon’s command to drink while eating and began his meal in earnest. He hadn’t realized it when he was just drinking, but the alcohol went down smoothly when paired with food.

Sitting opposite him, Choi Geon watched Giju with a triumphant smile. This was a bar, but the owner’s cooking skills were amazing. To Shin Giju, who had only eaten ancestral rite food his entire life, this would be a whole new world.

“Hey, you’re not even thinking about ancestral rite food—”

“This tastes similar to the pan-fried beef my aunt makes. I should eat some when I get home later.”

It seemed he was still a long way from breaking free of that goddamn ancestral altar. With a somewhat annoyed expression, Choi Geon drained his glass. He didn’t forget to refill Giju’s glass, though.

“Shin Giju.”

“Yeah?”

“Is everyone in your family a shaman?”

“Yeah. My aunt and grandmother.”

Choi Geon, who was about to say something, instead urged him to drink up, telling him to empty his glass first.

“How are you feeling right now? Don’t you feel a little light-headed?”

“Uhm… a little?”

“Then we need to drink more.”

Choi Geon poured more soju into the glass of the still-sober Giju.

“You’ll be an adult soon too, so you need to start drinking in advance so those ghost bastards don’t look down on you. They say even those bastards pick and choose who to mess with.”

In a way, what Choi Geon said was true. Except in special cases, ghosts were beings that preyed on weakened minds. However, that didn’t apply to Giju.

“I’m fine.”

“Hey. This is a celebratory drink. A toast to the mountain god’s protection. How happy our god must be. When something good happens, don’t you offer alcohol to your ancestors?”

“We do.”

“So drink up.”

Choi Geon spouted nonsense and raised his glass high. Then he once again went on about the great god and downed his drink. Since that, too, wasn’t entirely wrong in a way, Giju willingly emptied his glass. Sincerely hoping that the god would be pleased.

“But how long does this protection last?”

Choi Geon asked something he had been secretly curious about for a while.

“As long as the village shrine exists.”

Giju answered, staring intently at Choi Geon. For some reason, his expression had become completely serious. Choi Geon instinctively knew that wasn’t all.

“And.”

“Until the thing inside you comes out.”

Giju spoke frankly.

“I don’t know what’s inside you either. But I’ve seen it. The evil spirit that was attached to you before was just a stray ghost that took advantage of a gap. The thing inside you is much older.”

Giju downed the glass, which now had a significantly higher ratio of soju, in one go.

“Whew, I guess this is why people drink.”

“There’s a ghost inside me…?”

Choi Geon, muttering to himself with a bewildered face, picked up a fish cake skewer and shoved it into the mouth of Giju, who was suffering from the strong taste of alcohol.

“Are you starting to get the taste of alcohol now?”

Giju, chewing on the fish cake, gave a small nod.

“So, to get rid of that bastard, no, to block ghosts from entering altogether, what do I have to do?”

Choi Geon remembered what Giju had said before about him having a body that ghosts were easily drawn to. It was an ordeal to have to endure and put up with that bullshit.

“We decided to go see Mr. Cheon the shaman, didn’t we?”

“No, is there really no one else besides that money-grubbing shaman?”

Choi Geon knew he had to go see Mr. Cheon, but he was truly reluctant.

“I want to solve it for you, but Mr. Cheon is the best shaman in this area. Mr. Cheon is really skilled. Truly skilled shamans are not common.”

“Fuck, they say the money ghost is the most persistent.”

That shaman must have been possessed by a money ghost. That’s probably why he was so skilled.

“I’m also curious about what I saw, Geon. Whether it’s nothing serious or something dangerous.”

He hadn’t mentioned it, but when Giju went home, he would take out his grandmother’s books and look things up. At first, he thought receiving the mountain god’s protection would solve everything. But it didn’t take long for him to realize it wasn’t a fundamental solution.

“When should we go?”

“I don’t know.”

Choi Geon looked at Giju arrogantly with his arms crossed.

“It’s not urgent, is it?”

In truth, Giju didn’t even know if it was urgent or not. He was vaguely trusting in the mountain god’s protection, but he didn’t know the identity of what was inside Choi Geon in the first place, and so he couldn’t answer.

“For now, just drink.”

Choi Geon poured a drink into Giju’s glass. Then, he clinked glasses as if in a toast and drank. Giju also emptied his glass. After that, he naturally took a pocket watch out of his pocket and checked the time. Seeing that, Choi Geon’s drowsy feeling completely vanished.

“I’m going to have to pick a day and flip that ancestral altar upside down.”

Muttering to himself, Choi Geon now poured only soju into Giju’s glass. It seemed his alcohol tolerance wasn’t that weak.

“Geon, I’m a little dizzy.”

Just then, Giju’s head wobbled.

“Perfect.”

“Huh?”

“Here, drink up.”

Choi Geon held the glass of soju to the lips of Giju, whose eyes were half-glazed over. Giju drank as he was offered.

“Ugh, bitter.”

“Soju’s a bit sweet, isn’t it? Hey, next time, it’s whiskey.”

“Oh, right.”

Giju, who was chewing on the french fry Choi Geon had shoved in his mouth, opened his bag and rummaged around.

“I have something to give you.”

“If you sprinkle salt, I won’t let you off easy.”

Choi Geon, who had been tricked by Giju more than once, was on guard from the start.

“Here.”

However, what Giju took out wasn’t salt, but hangwa. The same one they had eaten in Giju’s room the day before, the one that had left Choi Geon smacking his lips after just one bite.

“I don’t have two hundred, but there were five, so I brought four for you.”

Choi Geon stared down at the hangwa Giju handed him.

“What happened to the other one?”

“I wanted one too, so I took one.”

Letting out a deflated laugh, Choi Geon took two of the four that were offered.

“Next time, really bring two hundred, Shin Giju.”

“Okayy.”

Giju, seemingly getting drunk, pretended to put the hangwa into thin air before fumbling and putting it back in his bag.

“But Geon.”

At the call of his name, Choi Geon’s hand, which was grabbing a bottle, paused for a moment.

“When are we going to round two?”

“Round two already?”

“We can’t go to round two if it gets too late. I said I’d be home around 9…”

Choi Geon’s hand tightened on the bottle. He’d wondered why he was going on about round two; it turned out he was still only thinking about going home. The stubborn pride that had subsided for a moment was reignited.

“Yeah, it’d be fucked if you go too late, right? We’re going to round two when you finish all of this.”

Choi Geon poured soju into Giju’s glass with a glugging sound. Giju, whose vision was already spinning, didn’t even know what was being poured.

“We have to go to round two, Shin Giju. Can you really completely ignore the invitation of a friend who’s already stuck with bad luck?”

Choi Geon annoyingly tore the wrapper off a hangwa, popped the whole thing in his mouth, and raised the corners of his lips as he chewed. As if bewitched by the words ‘a friend’s invitation’, Giju picked up the glass and finally drank it down.

“My vision is spinning round and round, Geon.”

Confirming Giju’s completely dazed eyes, Choi Geon finally stood up from his seat.

“I’ll make it spin more, so get up.”