As Giju Wishes Chapter 3.2

Muttering to himself, Choi Geon roughly swept his hair up and turned around. Without a second thought, he left the school, crossed the athletic field with quick strides, got on his parked bike, and headed for that strange house he remembered.

Screech-

The bike stopped next to a wall with unfamiliar Chinese characters written on it. Choi Geon glanced down at the characters, their paint all peeled off, with a displeased look, then raised his head to look at the house where Giju lived with an even more displeased expression. Against the backdrop of the red sky as the sun was setting, it looked even more dreary, souring his mood automatically.

Slowly getting off his bike, Choi Geon approached the main gate with a somewhat delinquent-like gait. Then, with a blank face, he stared at the mansion and opened his mouth.

“Shin Giju!! Come out!!”

A booming voice, with no hesitation whatsoever, shouted the name. Silence followed.

“Shin Giju!!”

Choi Geon opened his mouth again exactly five seconds later.

“Shin…!”

Just then, he heard a presence from inside the gate. The sound of seemingly slow footsteps grew closer, and soon the gate opened.

Creeeak-

The ghastly sound of rusted metal screeched for quite some time, and a stranger’s face appeared. A woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun that allowed not a single strand to stray, and with bright red lips, stared at Choi Geon while wearing a dark-colored hanbok. With her tall stature, upturned eyes, and an overwhelming aura, an ordinary person would have immediately faltered and stepped back, but Choi Geon, a possessor of a formidable aura himself, instead stared back at the woman as if to size her up. He then substituted a greeting with a slight nod of his head.

“Shin Giju lives here, right?”

Choi Geon asked like someone collecting a debt; a proper greeting wouldn’t come out because of that damn ritual food. To Choi Geon, the people of that household, excluding Shin Giju, felt somewhat similar to the evil spirit that had once been on his shoulder.

“Did Giju borrow money from you?”

The woman, Park Yeonhwa, asked very calmly.

“No, I’m his friend.”

A questioning gaze fell upon Choi Geon.

“Could you please call Shin Giju for me.”

At his presumptuously negotiating tone, the corner of Park Yeonhwa’s mouth lifted slightly in a sneer.

“Why don’t you see him at school tomorrow. Giju is sleeping right now.”

A faint wrinkle formed on Choi Geon’s brow.

“I need to see him now.”

“I have no intention of waking Giju.”

“Is that so?”

The woman before him was like an unyielding wall. He had a strong premonition that whatever he said would be useless. After a moment of silence, Choi Geon turned his head to the side and shouted loudly.

“Hey!! Come to the alley tomorrow!!!”

After that, he glanced once at the woman’s eyes and turned away without a second thought. Heading to his parked bike, Choi Geon put on his helmet and mounted it. Then, turning on the ignition, he glanced toward the gate. The woman was gone, perhaps having gone inside, and the gate was closed.

Staring at the gate for a good while, Choi Geon, for some reason, didn’t leave and suddenly turned off the ignition. A moment later, he slowly took off his helmet, got off the bike, and began to peer at the windows as if sizing something up. Then he stopped dead in front of the wall.

“Ha, fuck.”

He felt a moment of pathetic self-awareness at his rat-like behavior, but the hesitation was brief. Faithfully following his impulse, Choi Geon held his breath like a petty thief and vaulted over the wall without making a sound. After that, he began to secretly peer into each window one by one. By the time he looked into the third window, he saw a familiar head.

Lying on a bed covered with a multicolored blanket, Shin Giju was looking at something. Choi Geon, glancing at the scene, knocked on the window with his fist. A dull thud rang out from the force, which was neither too strong nor too weak. At the same time, Giju turned around.

Meeting his wide-open eyes, Choi Geon immediately mouthed, ‘Open up.’ In response, Giju, still with a surprised look on his face, approached the window.

Creek-

The window opened stiffly.

“Geon!”

Giju exclaimed softly, full of delight.

“What, are you hap-”

“But I have to go eat now!”

Choi Geon’s face, which was about to playfully ask if he was happy to see him, turned vicious.

“You son of a bitch, should I just flip the dinner table? Hey, Shin Giju.”

Choi Geon grabbed Giju by the collar and yanked him forward.

“Ugh.”

“Why didn’t you come to school?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Giju’s mouth clamped shut like a clam. Along with an expression of being deep in thought.

“You not going to talk?”

“Um… well, I got scolded. For sleeping out.”

This time, Choi Geon was silent. Along with a different kind of puzzled expression.

“What does that have to do with not coming to school.”

“Hmmmm… it’s just a punishment.”

At those words, Choi Geon’s expression crumpled without fail.

“What kind of fucked-up punishment is that, is this the Joseon Dynasty?”

Choi Geon, shaking the collar he held with all his might, ground his teeth and let out a breath of disbelief. The more he heard, the more it seemed Shin Giju was simply being neglected. He wanted to call it a bastard household, but he held back because it was someone else’s family.

“Phew, why does it keep getting more fucked up.”

The level of fucked-up-ness was increasing day by day. It was a kind of silent fucked-up-ness that couldn’t be precisely defined or described. Choi Geon glared murderously at Giju, the source of it all.

“Geon. I found something out by looking through my grandma’s book.”

Giju said, bright and cheerful, whether he knew of this feeling or not.

“That’s not what’s important right now…!”

Suddenly feeling his strength drain, he let go of the collar he was holding. A strange Shin Giju was receiving a strange punishment in a strange house, was that even strange anymore?

“It’s a bit different from your situation, but they say that possession is usually because you accumulated sins in a past life, you see? And because you didn’t pay them off, you’re paying the debt in your current life. First, you have to diligently read the scriptures and master them as much as you can….”

“Hey.”

Choi Geon, who hadn’t been listening to Giju at all, suddenly called out to him.

“Huh?”

“So why are you getting punished?”

This puzzlement, more so than the ghost inside his own body, now filled his entire head, so he had to ask. Strange was strange, but a disquieting suspicion was a separate matter.

“I slept out.”

“What does that have to do with not coming to school.”

“I’m the one who didn’t keep my promise.”

“But why didn’t you go to school.”

His subsided expression asked with a rather serious gaze. At that, Giju was slightly flustered.

“It’s just a punishment…”

His unconfident voice muttered softly.

“Hey.”

At the nonsensical words, his impatient brow furrowed.

“Are you messing with me?”

Giju looked at Choi Geon without a word.

“My grandmother is never wrong.”

“No, ha.”

Frustrated, Choi Geon roughly ran his hand through his hair.

“Where’s your grandmother, go get her.”

“My grandmother is a bit busy. She has a huge pile of reservations….”

Choi Geon, barely suppressing his anguish, started shaking his left leg restlessly.

“Fuck, so I can see her in about 10 years, then?”

“It’s not that, but she’s really busy these days,”

“Get me your grandmother’s phone number.”

“Geon. Are you worried about me?”

At the word “worried,” Choi Geon’s shaking leg came to a dead stop.

Worried? Me? About you?

Choi Geon made an expression he had never made before in his life. It was an expression that was frustrated, strange, and incomprehensible. A giant question mark popped up in his mind as he slowly blinked his eyes. Even to himself, he had just gotten more heated than necessary.

“I’m going to school tomorrow.”

Giju said with a bright smile, as if to reassure him.

“Let’s go see Shaman Cheon tomorrow.”

Even though what Giju just said was the objective that could be called his number one priority in life, Choi Geon showed no expression at all. Sometimes, Shin Giju had a way of turning people into speechless idiots like this.

“Shin Giju.”

“Huh?”

“You think there won’t be another reason for you to be punished?”

Giju, not understanding his words, looked puzzled, but Choi Geon was already pulling away from the window.

“I’m leaving. If you don’t show up tomorrow either, I’m storming through the front gate.”

“Oh, you’re going?”

“What, am I supposed to live here?”

“Geon!”

He was about to turn away after answering in a thoroughly sullen tone, but Giju called out to him.

“Say ah.”

“What? Mph.”

Something was stuffed firmly into his mouth. He saw a beaming face along with a sensation of it melting sweetly.

“The thing you like.”

He knew without being told. It was that strangely delicious hangwa.

“Bye, Geon.”

The sweetness in his mouth deepened the feeling of being a dazed, stupefied idiot.