As Giju Wishes Chapter 3.8

“Fuck, where did this come from?”

Throwing the hoe aside, Choi Geon grabbed Giju’s hand as if he were going to devour the ritual knife.

“It was in Monk Baekryeon’s robes,”

“Ugh… you, you bastards,”

Just then, Giju’s words were cut off by a groan from somewhere. Choi Geon, his sanity fully restored, glanced at Baekryeon and then said to Giju without hesitation.

“Run.”

“Waaaaah!”

Choi Geon grabbed Giju’s hand and ran down the mountain path they had come up.

“Wh-what about the monk…!”

“Hah, you still don’t get it. We just committed theft!!”

“That’s true, but you killed the monk,”

“Hey!! I didn’t kill him!”

Choi Geon, who had suddenly become a murderer thanks to a simple twist of words, flew into a rage.

“Hah, will he really, really be okay?”

“Didn’t you see him trying to open his eyes just now!? I guarantee you, that bastard will be chasing us soon.”

The thought of the crazy old man chasing them while swinging his knife-hands made him feel dizzy from excessive stress. Choi Geon, who had been conditioned like a slave by the hard farm work and isolation from society for the past few days, shuddered at the mere thought of Baekryeon. If he happened to find a white lotus on the street, he would tear it to shreds.

“I’m going to get my phone, you pack your bags in the meantime. I’ll give you 2 minutes!”

As the temple came into view up ahead, Choi Geon shouted, pulling Giju, who was looking back worriedly. Before he could even reply, Choi Geon let go of his hand and went ahead, so Giju, for the sake of his friend, carried out the mission as ordered.

As soon as he entered the temple, Giju carefully placed the ritual knife, wrapped in clothes, and the memorial tablet into his backpack. Then he roughly stuffed some clothes, whose owner he didn’t know, into the bag, put it on under his raincoat to keep it dry, and went outside. He had come out because he was told to, but in truth, Giju was planning to give the ritual knife to Choi Geon and send him off first. He couldn’t bring himself to leave Baekryeon in this rain.

As he was waiting for Choi Geon to come out, birds suddenly shot out from among the trees in the distance, as if startled by something. The faint sound of a man’s voice was an added bonus. Coincidentally, that direction was the mountain path they had just come down.

“The monk…?”

He could feel it was the monk without even having to check. Just as a smile was about to form out of relief that he was safe, a creeping fear washed over him. Because he was clearly angry. Giju stomped his feet and called out to Choi Geon.

“Geon! The monk is coming down!!”

“Aish, fuck!!”

At the word ‘monk,’ Choi Geon spat out a thick curse and burst out of the temple. If he had his way, he would have liked to hit him again and knock him out like before, but if they ran into Baekryeon again, he might hold Shin Giju captive with some bizarre act. Baekryeon had already captured Giju’s heart and enslaved him with his martial arts once.

―Hey, you sons of bitches!!

Just then, Baekryeon’s vulgar voice echoed like a megaphone. The calm, sage-like demeanor he had shown until now was nowhere to be seen. Choi Geon and Giju started running without looking back.

―You bastards!!

“Hah, the sage seems really angry!”

Although it was a choice made for his friend, he couldn’t help but feel like he was being chased by a tiger.

“Sage my ass, I told you that bastard is a con man!!”

At the word ‘con man,’ Giju couldn’t refute it this time. The memory of not taking the path filled with the energy of the sacred tree flashed through his mind. But Giju, who had been completely captivated by Baekryeon’s sage-like knife-hand strikes, still believed in Baekryeon until the end, thinking there must be a reason for everything. His methods were just a little mischievous.

Even though they stole it, Baekryeon was a sage, so he would probably understand.

“We’re thieves, though.”

Even while being chased, Giju giggled, saying that even if the monk really was a con man, they were thieves, so weren’t they the same? It was meant to lighten the mood, but of course, Choi Geon’s face crumpled mercilessly.

“Hah, you need to be hit with a hoe about ten times.”

Perhaps even ten times wouldn’t be enough. It had to be assumed that Shin Giju was missing a part of his brain.

“But Geon, did you find your phone?”

―Give me back my ritual tool!!

“Pant, pant, did that damned old man boil a train whistle for breakfast? That crazy bastard was chasing me, so I didn’t even see my phone. Instead,”

Even while out of breath, Choi Geon raised one corner of his mouth in a smirk.

“I got something good.”

“Hah, hah, what is it?”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

―You punk!!

At the voice getting closer and closer, Giju and Choi Geon’s faces grew even more rigid. They were running, but somehow, they were being caught up. When he glanced back for a moment, a scene from a horror movie was unfolding. Baekryeon, running with a hoe in hand, looked like an evil spirit that had failed to achieve nirvana.

“Aaaah!”

“You crazy son of a bitch, run faster, Shin Giju!!”

Further conversation was a luxury. The two of them ran like mad down the mountain.

“Pant, pant!”

Just as they were about to run out of breath, the entrance to the mountain finally appeared. And next to it, he saw a parked motorcycle.

“Get on that, Shin Giju!”

Without a moment to think, Giju blindly got on the motorcycle as Choi Geon pulled him. Choi Geon, who got on after him, inserted the motorcycle key he had been holding in his hand the entire time he was running. What he had found instead of his phone was none other than the motorcycle key. It had been hanging on the door, and he had snatched it instinctively.

“Please, please, please.”

“Hurry, hurry, Geon!”

After turning the key a few times, praying for the engine to start, it miraculously started.

“Fuuuck, we’re escaping!! Hold on tight!!”

Choi Geon charged forward like a general at the head of an army. In this moment, he was a slave who had escaped after 10 years.

“Hey!! You sons of bitches!!!”

From behind, Baekryeon’s desperate voice echoed.

“We’ll be sure to return it later! We’re sorry and thank you!!”

Baekryeon went even more berserk at Giju, who was even waving his hand, but Giju didn’t know. Regardless, Choi Geon reveled in his freedom in the rain. As if infected by it, Giju, whose tension had eased, also stretched his legs out excitedly. The dopamine from the high-intensity thrill brought forth only foolish laughter.

“Wow, we really felt like thieves!”

“Hey. Get your words straight. We’re heroes who rescued a ritual tool from the hands of a con man.”

“Where did you get the motorcycle key?”

“I calculated that bastard would chase us and brought it. If it weren’t for me, you would have lived in that ginseng field, Shin Giju.”

“Ooh.”

Shin Giju probably would have been digging ginseng, ha-ha, ho-ho, without even knowing he had become a slave. While spouting some nonsense about rainbows.

“Pyak, ptooey! Like I’m ever coming back.”

Choi Geon, who had spat in the direction of Dobongsan Mountain as if to ward off evil, glanced back. Giju, as excited about the motorcycle as he had been then, had his mouth open, catching the rain. And smiling, at that.

“You’d better know you’re dead if you even come near Dobongsan Mountain.”

Seeing that foolish look, it seemed likely he would come back to see the tomatoes ripen, so Choi Geon gave him a firm warning.

“But Geon.”

“What.”

“Where are we going?”

At the very realistic and fundamental question, a chilling silence fell. The dopamine from the escape began to disappear like a ghost.

The rainy sky was getting dark, and they didn’t know what time it was or where they were going. Because they didn’t have a phone.

“Hey, hey, we can just ask people.”

Although it was the countryside and raining, so there wasn’t a single soul in sight, Choi Geon just drove straight ahead. And just like the unchanging scenery, no matter how far they went, not a single soul was to be seen.

“We’re not heading back to Dobongsan Mountain, are we?”

From behind, breaking the silence, Giju said jokingly. But Choi Geon turned around as if having a seizure and glared at Giju murderously.

“There’s not a single person in sight, huh? There are buildings over there!”

Giju, having spotted something, pointed to the left. Choi Geon’s gaze followed his finger. As he said, he could see short buildings. But they looked quite far away.

“Did all that fucking farm work just improve your eyesight? Hold on tight.”

Vroom!

Choi Geon accelerated the motorcycle. They were already running out of gas, so it was a blessing in disguise.

Rattle, rattle-

“What the.”

Just then, not long after he had accelerated, the motorcycle suddenly started to rattle and came to a stop. The gas gauge had clearly shown a little left, but it had suddenly dropped. Just like its owner, it was already shabby, and now it was a scammer, too.

“Is it broken?”

“Hah, wait a minute.”

Choi Geon tried hard to start the engine, turning the motorcycle key. But no matter how many times he tried, it showed no signs of starting.

“This crazy thing!”

His patience at its limit, Choi Geon blindly kicked the motorcycle. He should have stolen the car keys.

“Let’s walk, Geon.”

“To there?”

The buildings, which looked like dots, seemed like an oasis in a desert that they could never reach no matter how far they walked.

“We’ll probably get there before the sun rises.”

“And you call that comforting…?”

Despite the hardship, Giju opened his mouth with a hopeful face.

“It’ll go by quickly if we walk. You’d be surprised if you knew what the monks’ path of asceticism is like. My grandmother also prayed all night with a bowl of water. And we have experience working in the fields all day. Remember when we dug up that giant potato? It was fun….”