As Giju Wishes Chapter 6.10

The woman, who was supposedly the aunt, ended the call and carefully smoothed the hair of the boy with his eyes closed. Then she mumbled something, but it was not loud enough to hear. That was all there was to the scene inside the hospital room. A talisman that was clearly the grandmother’s, a sick boy, and a woman nursing him. It was a common and ordinary hospital atmosphere. If it were not for the bizarre paleness and the talisman.

Choi Geon looked at the talisman. The red letters on the yellow background strangely reminded him of Shin Giju. Shin Giju, eating the sacrificial food in the shaman’s house full of talismans and strange drawings.

Should he view that too as a type of protection, as if it were cast upon himself? Everything was full of questions, whether all of this was the protection of that human, the grandmother, who had the profession of a shaman, but at the same time, one of his legs involuntarily shook with the frustration of not knowing anything even after seeing it.

A hollow laugh escaped Choi Geon as he felt the urge to deeply understand shamanism, which he had never been interested in. He had not even been this interested in the curse on his own body. Soon after, Choi Geon took his gaze off the talisman, lowered his head, and checked the time on his cell phone. It had just passed midnight. There was still time, but he could not wait here indefinitely, relying on an uncertain situation where the shaman might or might not come.

Since the shaman was not here, it was better to look around today and wait, then come back tomorrow or the day after. He would somehow hold onto Shin Giju and come until he found her.

Just as he was making a plan and turning his body, he suddenly felt someone’s presence along with a sinking atmosphere. It was a presence so strong it felt like they were right in front of him, even though they were clearly a few steps away.

Hair tied back tightly and a red hanbok. Choi Geon instinctively felt that the woman in front of him was Giju’s grandmother. He could not mistake that level of pressure. However, Choi Geon faced Park Shinja without flinching, even under the eyes that seemed to pierce through him, and approached her. This mere pressure was nothing compared to Shin Giju’s hardships. Choi Geon stopped when he was just two steps away from Park Shinja, just as their clothes were about to brush, and opened his mouth.

“Excuse me. Could you tell my fortune?”

At that, Park Shinja walked right past Choi Geon and answered.

“You are carrying misfortune.”

“Shin Giju is trying to help me get rid of that misfortune. Always eating sacrificial food and waiting for his grandmother. You do not happen to have another grandson, do you?”

Park Shinja, who stopped at Choi Geon’s words, slowly turned around.

“Why are you so curious, you who will not make it through this year.”

With just one look, Park Shinja accurately assessed Choi Geon. However, even though Choi Geon was briefly perturbed, he was not afraid of her words. Because the facts he wanted to know came first right now.

“I came all the way here just to tell you to go home to that wretched house, since my life is short.”

“Your presence by Giju’s side seems somehow more unsettling than my absence from home.”

Park Shinja said without the slightest tremor, as if mocking Choi Geon’s words for coming all this way.

“What did you say…?”

“Do not come here carelessly. And make sure to tell Giju.”

Park Shinja spoke sharply, like a warning.

“Do not come and just wait.”

Choi Geon gritted his teeth at the unchanged premise of waiting.

“Until when…! How long does he have to wait, why does he always have to wait.”

For the first time, Park Shinja did not say anything.

“What on earth are you doing to Shin Giju.”

This time it was the same. She just stared silently into Choi Geon’s eyes, which were not just clear but seemed to be burning, with unreadable eyes. That was all. Park Shinja passed right by the fiercely glaring Choi Geon without answering and entered the hospital room.

Even though Park Shinja had disappeared, Choi Geon was still glaring at the lingering afterimage like a shadow. Can a person who gives no answers be called family? That kind of family is nothing, so why does Shin Giju not know that?

Choi Geon’s eyes sank instantly. He wanted to abandon the curse and everything and just leave aimlessly like before. Eating apple mangoes until he was sick of them, indefinitely, not thinking anything, like the saint he wanted so much to be.

Choi Geon roughly took off his hat and heavily swept up his hair, then paused and looked back before moving. He saw a sight of her placing her hand on the forehead of the grandson with his eyes closed. Before the image of the grandson was replaced by Giju’s image, Choi Geon turned around and made a phone call.

“Grandfather.”

Choi Myunggil answered his grandson’s call without any trouble, despite the late hour.

“I have a favor to ask.”

Choi Geon, who had pulled his hat down low, got on the elevator and pressed the 1st floor.

“Please investigate my friend.”

Ding–

The elevator door opened, and a blank-faced Choi Geon walked out of the hospital. Choi Geon himself did not know what he was thinking on the way back to the accommodation in the taxi, being so angry. He did not have the busybody nature to meddle in someone else’s family matters, nor was he interested, so he did not know why he wanted to cause such a scene. Beyond meddling, he wanted to know every single aspect without any blind spots. To find out and then….

Choi Geon stared at the closed door in front of him. Then he leaned his back against the door and plopped down on the floor. This was the measure he took because he knew that seeing Shin Giju’s face would surely remind him of that old hag. His mood was already ruined, so he could not sleep anyway.

He thought that if he brought up Shin Giju, she would at least be flustered or offer an excuse, but instead, she was impudently defiant. As if it did not matter whether he knew or not. The treatment of Shin Giju was worse than he thought.

Choi Geon looked at the door across the hallway and fell into thought. It was time to make a different plan.