As Giju Wishes Chapter 3.5

Pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, Giju checked the map Shaman Cheon had drawn.

“Sacred treehouse… there it is. He said to follow that path straight up.”

At the tip of Giju’s pointing finger was a dilapidated wooden house, a far cry from anything sacred.

“You sure it’s sacred?”

As they got closer, they could also see a talisman stuck to the tattered door.

“He said an ancient deity lives there.”

Deity or whatever, the sight of it was just plain unlucky, so Choi Geon stayed as far away as possible and headed for the entrance to the mountain. An old motorcycle and an imported car were parked in front of the entrance. He suddenly began to doubt whether the legendary ritual tool was even in a place like this.

“The shaman said it’s about a 30-minute climb.”

He had thought it would be a bit of a hellish trek since it was in the mountains, but the distance wasn’t as far as he expected. Choi Geon began to climb the mountain with long strides, following Giju.

“Hah.”

This mountain, where the temple was located, was of medium difficulty with a moderately steep incline. The trees were quite dense, and the stairs were better maintained than he’d thought. Still, it was a mountain, so his breathing naturally became a little ragged. Choi Geon glanced at Giju, who was forging ahead like a flying squirrel. He didn’t seem to be having a hard time, appearing even less out of breath than himself.

The thought occurred to him that perhaps ghosts didn’t have physical limits. Then again, that must be why mountain spirits exist.

Just then, Giju suddenly stopped in his tracks and slowly looked around.

“The energy here is good.”

“It’s not good at all.”

“The trees are so green and fresh.”

“Of course the trees are green. What, are they supposed to be red?”

Choi Geon, who had zero sentimentality, replied curtly and started walking again.

“Doesn’t it feel like the trees are talking to you? It feels similar to the village guardian tree shrine.”

“Tsk… looks like he’s possessed again.”

Choi Geon, now muttering about possession nonchalantly, roughly swatted away a leaf that was flying toward him on the wind. The leaf looked coarse, which to him was a sign that the land was bad.

“Oh, I see it over there!”

Just then, Giju, who was beside him, shouted energetically. Then, he passed Choi Geon and scrambled up the mountain as nimbly as a flying squirrel.

“Hey, you punk!!”

Suddenly left behind, Choi Geon, not wanting to lose, climbed the mountain with long strides.

“Pant, pant.”

At the end of the uphill path, a flat area appeared. Behind the wide, flat ground where weeds grew sparsely, there was a small temple. The wooden temple looked extremely old. The two of them stood there quietly, staring at it.

“…Isn’t this an abandoned house?”

Breaking the silence, Choi Geon spoke. No, he gave a simple review. Choi Geon had never in his life seen wood so blackened, as if it had been burned. The atmosphere also seemed eerie. Giju must have felt it too, as he took out the map and checked it once more.

“That’s it. This is Jeamsa Temple.”

Scowling as if something displeased him, Choi Geon strode across the yard and approached the temple. He didn’t bother waiting.

“Hey!!”

Shouting as if he had come to pick a fight, Choi Geon dropped the bag he was holding onto the ground with a thud when the temple remained quiet.

“Hello!!”

The small temple once again echoed thunderously.

“If you don’t come out…! Mmph.”

“Hello, Monk! We’re here! Um, Shaman Cheon contacted you!”

Giju, from behind, covered Choi Geon’s mouth with his hand and shouted politely. But even then, silence lingered.

“Hey, isn’t he still overseas?”

There was no sign of human presence at all. Considering Shaman Cheon’s words and actions up to this point, an error like this was entirely possible.

“Damn it, I can’t believe I trusted that money-grubbing shaman,”

“We’ll do everything you ask, Monk! We’ll clean and chop firewood for you!”

“What the fuck?”

At the unagreed-upon shout, Choi Geon looked at Giju as if to ask what kind of bullshit that was.

Creeak-

Just then, the old door opened, and an old man in a gray robe appeared. He looked down at Giju and Choi Geon before descending like a mountain god. He was a strange old man, thin and small, but he exuded the aura of an ancient tree that would never fall.

Thud, thud-

The old man, Baekryeon, with his hands clasped behind his back, leisurely came down into the yard and approached Choi Geon and Giju.

Then, he suddenly began to assume a strange posture as if gathering his ki. It was so fast that they couldn’t even speak to him. Sensing something was off, Choi Geon grabbed the scruff of Giju’s neck and took a few steps back.

A few seconds later, Baekryeon began to perform martial arts, swinging his knife-hands with sharp precision as if to overpower them. It was a splendid display of movement, like the reincarnation of Bruce Lee.

Swish, swish-

The sound of his hands cutting through the air was heard repeatedly. Giju, seeing martial arts for the first time, watched with his mouth agape, as if he were about to drool. Shaman Cheon had said he was a sage, and he really was a sage living in the mountains.

“Haaap….”

After the short martial arts demonstration, Baekryeon calmly settled into a stance. Then, stroking his beard, he gazed at Giju and Choi Geon as if looking upon foolish mortals.

Clap, clap, clap!

“Wow, wow, that was so cool!”

Giju clapped enthusiastically, his eyes shining. And Choi Geon, next to him, watching the crazy old man who suddenly started swinging his hands around, just wanted to forget about the legendary ritual tool and go home.

“You came looking for me.”

“Yes, yes. Hello, Monk. We came on Shaman Cheon’s introduction, you know all about it, right…?”

Giju greeted him and asked cautiously. Baekryeon licked his lips leisurely before opening his mouth.

“What a strange-looking pair of rascals.”

His gaze soon fixed on Choi Geon.

“Especially you. Your soul is quite ugly.”

At his words, spoken with a leisurely click of the tongue, Choi Geon’s face turned fierce.

“You said you’ll do everything I ask?”

“Yes!”

“Absolutely not.”

The two gave different answers, but Baekryeon only heard what he wanted to hear.

“Ho, so you wish to work. I shall give you the chance. Follow me.”

Leaving just those words, Baekryeon turned and headed for the temple. Giju naturally followed behind him, and Choi Geon, grabbing Giju’s shoulder, glared and cursed with his eyes, asking if this was really the right thing to do. But Giju just urged him to hurry up and even pulled Choi Geon along.

Arriving with reluctant steps, they found the temple’s interior was quite maze-like, contrary to its appearance. And the old man named Baekryeon seemed like an ancient ghost of this temple.

“Monk, I’m Shin Giju, and this is my friend, Choi Geon.”

Giju said, trotting behind him like a servant.

“Baek for white. Ryeon for lotus flower. Call me Baekryeon.”

“White lotus….”

“A pure and clean white lotus, that is my dharma name.”

“It suits you so well, Monk.”

“As expected, you have a discerning eye.”

Giju nodded, thinking of Baekryeon’s white beard. Only Choi Geon, next to him, felt the urge to gag at the unfitting name of Baekryeon.

A moment later, Choi Geon, who was staring drowsily at Baekryeon’s back, whispered softly.

“Is that old man even human?”

“Yeah.”

It was an answer from a ghost expert, leaving no room for doubt. Nevertheless, Choi Geon did not retract his suspicious gaze.

“He looks like a fucking evil spirit.”

While he was muttering with feeling, Baekryeon opened a door and entered a room. There was nothing inside the room. Just a dark wooden floor and faded wallpaper. Without the lights on, even the light was dim.

“If it wasn’t made by nature, leave it all here.”

As Choi Geon stood there blankly, not understanding what he meant, Giju, who had understood perfectly, poked Choi Geon in the side.

“He said to leave all our machines here. Like your phone.”

At that, Choi Geon, who had been motionless as if thinking about something, took his phone and earphones out of his pocket and put them down as if tossing them. For such a great ritual tool, a phone was nothing. Thinking back on the days of being drenched with water and extorted for money, this felt angelic in comparison.

Click.

Just then, Baekryeon, who had exited the room, suddenly took out a padlock and locked the door with a key. Simultaneously, the atmosphere changed strangely.

“Monk…?”

A benevolent smile spread across Baekryeon’s face.

And the next day, Choi Geon bitterly regretted not going home.

🔖⛩️📿

The sound of cicadas crying was refreshing, no, it was grotesque. Choi Geon, wearing tattered gray pants riddled with holes and nervously shaking one leg, couldn’t take it anymore and threw the chili pepper he was holding onto the ground.

“Fuck this, I can’t do this shit anymore.”

Choi Geon stared at the chili peppers filling the basket as if he wanted to burn them all. He had thought about it a hundred times, but after a hundred times, this was still not right. It had already been ten days since he started picking these damn chili peppers.

On the first day, he figured it was payment for the legendary ritual tool and kept his mouth shut, picking peppers as he was told. The second day, the third day, and the fourth day all sucked, but he endured and let it pass. Then on the fifth day, it really sucked, so he raised an objection, asking when on earth he would be given the ritual tool.

But the answer he got back was some pie-in-the-sky talk about needing to get the mountain god’s permission. That damn old man would always add that his soul was ugly, making his blood boil.

“A rainbow. A rainbow!”

Splaash!

Water was suddenly sprayed over Choi Geon’s body, which was hot from his inner rage and the heat of the sun. It was Giju, who, excited by his first time farming, had been spraying water over the chili patch and had sprayed some on the hot-looking Choi Geon.

“Refreshing, isn’t it, Geon.”