As Giju Wishes – Chapter 6.3

Author: nicotine

“Alright, go eat lots of ghost food. Eat it till you drop dead.”

Choi Geon, who was making it blatantly obvious he didn’t like it, told Giju what he needed to prepare to submit the documents.

“Is that all I need to bring?”

“Yeah. You’ll probably screw it up if you do it yourself, so just do as I say.”

“Okay. I’ll prepare it well.”

“Before that, find out for sure if you can stay overnight. If they say no…”

“Hey, don’t worry. Mr. Shaman Cheon will put in a good word for me.”

Giju had absolute faith in the Shaman Cheon effect. Choi Geon was the only one whose expression remained sour, wondering what Shaman Cheon said to get things resolved so smoothly.

“You shamans would probably believe it if one of you said poop was soybean paste, hey.”

“Trust is the foundation among shamans.”

Choi Geon’s expression soured even more as he thought of Shaman Cheon, who had about as much trustworthiness as an ant’s piss.

“Tsk… Are those two dating?”

He muttered to himself, but Giju, who didn’t hear him, asked.

“So when can we go, Geon?”

“When do you want to go?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Get permission today and start preparing the documents tomorrow. For your information, we’re just gonna ditch even if you don’t get permission. I’m going to write that we’re going in two weeks, but I’ll call you with the details, so call me before you go to bed. Get permission by then.”

Giju nodded his head vigorously, steeling his resolve as if to say he would definitely get it done.

“I want to see my grandmother soon.”

“Where on earth is your grandmother… No, wait, hey, hey. You said you don’t know where your grandmother is. Do you know now?”

Choi Geon, who had been muttering cynically, suddenly turned serious and turned his body toward Giju.

“I’m going to find that out from now on.”

Giju didn’t bother reminding Choi Geon of the fact that he didn’t know his grandmother’s location. Because he had to solve it himself, and he wanted to.

“How are you going to find out?”

This was a major problem. If they didn’t know her location, everything they planned was meaningless.

“I’m going to go through my aunt’s phone.”

At the completely unexpected words, Choi Geon couldn’t speak right away. He just stared with a dumbfounded expression.

“Do you have a terminal illness?”

They say when a person does something they don’t usually do, it’s their time to die.

“No?”

“Then why are you doing something you don’t usually do?”

“That’s the only way to find out my grandmother’s location. Nobody will tell me. Not my aunt, not my grandmother… I can’t keep waiting. I’ve already made up my mind.”

It was an act that committed a major error against his own values, but he couldn’t help it. Since no one would tell him, he had no choice but to find out for himself.

“No… Ha, fine. Do whatever you want.”

Choi Geon, who had let out a hollow laugh, started walking again at the sight of Giju’s stubborn-looking face. This was an action he rather liked.

“Hey. If you get caught, say Shaman Cheon made you do it.”

He said it like a joke, but Giju followed up.

“If I can’t find it, I’m going to go through Mr. Shaman Cheon’s phone.”

Pfft.

This time, the hollow laugh was quite loud.

“Are you possessed by a ghost?”

“No?”

“Then why do you keep talking nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense. Mr. Shaman Cheon is really close with my grandmother. He might know.”

Is he sick somewhere? Unlike Choi Geon, who was waving a hand in front of his face, Giju was perfectly serious. He had deliberately not paid attention to his grandmother’s whereabouts until now, but that was now shattered because of Choi Geon. Since his grandmother was the only way to save him, there was no hesitation.

“No matter what happens, I’m definitely going to meet my grandmother.”

He might have wanted to confirm that he wasn’t a folding screen, but more than ever, Giju wanted to meet his grandmother and find the answer.

“If Mr. Shaman Cheon doesn’t know either… I’m really going to run away from home.”

Running away from home meant staying out overnight without telling his aunt. Giju couldn’t have made a bigger decision than this.

“What a psycho.”

Choi Geon, shaking his head, grabbed Giju’s arm and headed for the parked motorcycle.

“Tell me if you run away. I’ll let you crash for a day.”

“Can’t you let me crash a little longer?”

“Then I’ll just have to run away from home too, I guess.”

A helmet was placed on Giju’s head.

“Go home and have a good look. Let me give you a tip: it’s safest to look when she’s showering, not when she’s sleeping. Got it?”

Like a soldier at full attention, the helmet nodded up and down vigorously. Choi Geon, who let out a small laugh, patted the helmet.

“Let’s go, psycho.”

🔖⛩️📿

Park Yeonhwa’s daily routine was like a copy-paste. Because of this, Giju also had his aunt’s daily routine down to the hour, except for the times when clients came. Peeking at the phone of Park Yeonhwa, who was punctual even with her meal and shower times, was not actually that difficult.

Giju, who had been listening with his ear to the door for a good while, confirmed that the client had left. Now, if she washed up and offered her evening prayers, his aunt’s daily routine would be over.

Giju waited in his room for about ten minutes, then carefully opened the door and came out to check the situation. Seeing as there wasn’t a single footstep, it seemed his aunt had gone in to wash up. Just in case his aunt might be in the shrine, Giju moved naturally and walked toward the bathroom. Fortunately, he heard the sound of water before long.

From that moment, Giju’s movements quickened. Giju scurried to the small dining table and took out the phone that was always kept underneath it. He had memorized the passcode when he was young and wanted a phone, from secretly peeking at it.

Giju, who unlocked the phone without any problem, went into the messages and checked the texts exchanged with his grandmother. But contrary to his expectations, there were only a few texts exchanged. Even the contents of those few texts were all just time confirmations or scriptures he couldn’t understand even if he saw them. As he was anxiously scrolling up through the messages, his finger stopped at a certain point.

𝙻𝚎𝚝 𝙶𝚒𝚓𝚞 𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚜.

His gaze was fixed on that message for a while.

𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛.

𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝.

That was all his aunt and grandmother had said about him. Still, he couldn’t stop his heart from wavering.

“Grandmother…”

Giju, whose anxious gaze quickly turned affectionate, tried hard to pull himself together and looked at the other messages. After scrolling past long, long scriptures for a good while, the clue he wanted finally appeared.

𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝙱𝚊𝚎𝚐𝚢𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚊 𝚃𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎, 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚖𝚗.

“Found it.”

“What are you doing?”

Just then, he heard Park Yeonhwa’s voice from behind him. In a split second, Giju pressed the back button and turned his head with startled eyes. It was definitely her bath time, but she was holding not bath items, but a basin full of fish.

“Ah, I came because I had something to tell you, Aunt…”

The flustered Giju dragged his words out slowly, gripping the phone in his hand tightly. If his aunt came any closer, he would surely be caught.

Bzzzt—

Just then, luckily, he felt a very small vibration from within his hand. The regular vibration was definitely a phone call.

“Your phone was ringing, Aunt, so I just looked at it for a second. I’m sorry.”

Giju, who stood up from his spot, handed the ringing phone to Park Yeonhwa.

[Park Huisun]

Giju, who caught a glimpse of the caller ID, handed over the phone and took the basin Park Yeonhwa was holding.

“Where should I put this, Aunt?”

Park Yeonhwa, who was staring fixedly at Giju, didn’t answer the ringing phone and headed for the altar inside the shrine.

“Put it in the yard.”

“Yes, Aunt.”

Giju, who placed the basin in a spot in the yard where the moonlight shone brightest, calmed his startled heart and hurriedly went back into the shrine. He had to get permission quickly before she started her evening prayers.

Knock, knock.

“Um, Aunt…”

Giju, who carefully opened the door and went inside, called out to Park Yeonhwa, who was lighting a candle.

“I’m planning to go on an extracurricular field trip in about two weeks…”

“Isn’t it still a long way until break?”

“Apparently, there’s one you can go on during the semester. I want to go with a friend, would that be okay…?”

“That friend who’s at death’s door?”

At those words, Giju knew in an instant who she was referring to.

“Yes. I’m going with that friend.”

“For how many days?”

“Um… for about ten days. It’s a temple stay experience, Mr. Shaman Cheon introduced it to me.”

Giju, after some thought, set a fairly generous period and answered.