ANTITOXIN Chapter 2

“That, that insolent bastard. Don’t just talk about it, actually move out or something.”

Park Moonhyuk glared at the neighbor’s door, criticizing as if spitting out the words. Whether he heard this too, once again, slam! The neighbor’s front door shook slightly, bursting out a roaring sound. Park Moonhyuk, who had quite a temper, went “Oh, really?” and turned his body toward the neighbor’s house. He looked ready to pick a fight.

Seolwon quickly grabbed Park Moonhyuk’s arm to stop him.

“Leave him be, just. It’s true that I caused a nuisance.”

In reality, the person who truly needed to move out was Seolwon. However, it was impossible right now. It was because time was still left on the lease contract, and money was insufficient. Since he had no choice but to stay here for a while longer, it was better to maintain a peaceful relationship with the neighbor. Besides, it might have been different if the other side had picked a fight for no reason, but it was a complaint with a proper reason. Since consideration is not a given, there was no justification for this side to point out his insolent attitude.

At Seolwon’s restraint, Park Moonhyuk grumbled with an unsatisfied expression.

“He’s sick, what can he do, he’s sick. If a person knows someone is sick, they should cut him some slack. …By the way, are you okay?”

Turning his attention back to Seolwon, Park Moonhyuk asked subtly.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

His head was still heavy and he even had dizziness. However, seeing that he could stand perfectly fine on his two legs, it was right that he was to the extent of being okay.

“Is that true? Judging by your complexion alone, you look like you’re about to die? There’s not a single drop of color… Beyond white, you look bruised blue, hey.”

Seolwon rubbed his face, smiling awkwardly. He hadn’t looked in the mirror yet, but just hearing Park Moonhyuk’s words, he could roughly guess what kind of state he must be in. Without needing to look, he would probably look like a corpse with its eyes open.

“But you…”

Cutting off his words, Park Moonhyuk looked around the surroundings. Then, leaning his upper body close, he whispered in a low voice.

“Did you do drugs again?”

“…”

Seolwon remained silent. Silence at times like this was no different from an admission.

Knowing this, Park Moonhyuk furrowed his brows.

“This is a big problem, seriously…”

There was a proper reason why he was so disapproving. It was because he knew the identity of the medicine Seolwon used. Morphine, propofol, zolpidem, fentanyl-type pain relievers—in other words, narcotics.

“That, it absolutely wouldn’t work with Tylenol?”

Seolwon laughed self-deprecatingly.

“If it worked, I wouldn’t go through this hardship.”

How nice would it have been if it were a pain that could be managed with a few pills of pain relievers sold on the market. Regrettably, such medicine was insufficient. It had to be a medicine powerful enough to completely switch off consciousness and paralyze the nerves of the entire body. Otherwise, there was no way to endure this symptom that was worsening day by day.

“What about the fortune-telling house I introduced to you last time? Did you go?”

“Yes.”

“What did they say?”

“They told me to get the hell out quickly.”

It happened just last week. Through Park Moonhyuk’s introduction, he had gone to find an effective shaman said to be in Incheon. However, as soon as he stepped into the shrine, the words he heard were as such:

‘Uh-huh! Where do you think you’re crawling into with that filthy body! The Elder tells you to get the hell out!’

As soon as she saw him, she crumpled her face heavily and shouted furiously, and how fierce that momentum was… Without even being able to strike up a conversation once, Seolwon ended up stepping backward and backing out just like that.

“What? They ate up as much as 100,000 won for the reservation fee and did that? Damn it, isn’t that a scammer?”

“Since she chased me out, she must be effective.”

In fact, it wasn’t that that shaman was unusual. Most of the shamans he had sought out until now had shown similar reactions.

Of course, there were a few shamans who didn’t kick him out and listened to his story. However, after pretending to know this and that, the solution they presented in the end was ultimately one. A gut ritual. Saying that since it is a misfortune caused by a low-grade ghost, he must perform a healing gut ritual [A shamanic ritual performed to cure illnesses] to detach it. In Seolwon’s judgment, those kinds of characters were the frauds. Because they didn’t know, they were trying to delude him with nonsense like a low-grade ghost being attached. The real deals recognized his state clearly as soon as they saw him, which is why they chased him out.

“No, if they were going to do that, they shouldn’t have told you to come in the first place.”

Because they probably didn’t know the person coming was the bloodline of a filthy family serving an evil god. Park Moonhyuk would have naturally only mentioned that he was suffering from a divine illness.

Right, divine illness (神病). A harsh rite of passage that someone born with the fate of becoming a shaman must undergo. The reality of the illness that visited irregularly and worsened day by day was that.

“In any case, that shaman wouldn’t have had a clear method either.”

It is an illness that stops only when one receives a god into their body and serves that god. However, Seolwon had already attempted an initiation gut ritual once. Except, a problem arose midway so the ritual was interrupted, and as a result, he could not receive the god. He had become in an ambiguous state where he became a vessel but the god did not enter. In the aspect that the door was opened but the inside was empty, it could also be called a dangerous state.

Of course, he could just try again. But he didn’t do it. Rather, he ran away. He refused to receive the god. Therefore, this divine illness was also a divine punishment [Divine punishment or retribution inflicted by a deity when a person fails to fulfill their spiritual duties or defies their fate.] handed down toward the shaman who refused his fate and responsibility.

“Then do you have no choice but to keep doing th…at?”

Park Moonhyuk could not bring himself to spit out the word ‘drugs’ directly. It was because he was afraid someone might hear. Especially, he couldn’t help but be conscious of the man next door. Since he was a human who already had plenty of dissatisfaction with Seolwon, the probability was high that the moment he found out, he would report it, saying he caught him good.

“Yes. For now.”

Seolwon replied calmly.

Even when he spent money to get tests at a hospital, only the diagnosis that there was no problem returned. It was natural. Because it was not a phenomenon that could be explained medically.

“Ha, seriously… It’s a headache.”

Park Moonhyuk muttered textually. Since he said there was no other way, it was difficult to nag more, but even so, his chest felt stuffy to just look on as a bystander.

Isn’t that so. It’s drugs. A substance no different from poison, which didn’t even need explaining how harmful it is to the human body. It might be helpful in the short term, but it could never be good in the long term. In fact, Seolwon’s appearance, which was becoming impoverished day by day, proved this.

“By the way, what brings you here?”

Sensing the atmosphere becoming serious, Seolwon openly attempted to change the topic. Even if they kept talking about the medicine issue, it would only be a repeating mark, and a good conclusion couldn’t possibly come out. Park Moonhyuk also knew this, so he readily chimed along.

“What do you mean what brings me here. Since I couldn’t contact you at all, I came because I was worried. I have to know whether you’re dead or alive. And…”

Park Moonhyuk pulled something out of his coat pocket and held it out, saying, “Here.” It was a rectangular piece of paper. Even before receiving it, Seolwon could tell it was an exhibition ticket.

“If you feel up to moving around, go check it out.”

“What should I look at?”

“Kusayogi, The Face of Mindlessness.”

“What’s the deadline?”

“July 7th. Exactly two months left. The down payment is 3 million, and after completion, 10 million more.”

He was also worried about Seolwon’s condition, but Park Moonhyuk’s purpose for coming all the way to the house also included this. It was to entrust work to Seolwon, who made a living through art reproduction. The exhibition ticket was also being handed over for the same purpose.

“They say it’s for personal collection. As you know, that’s just talk, they’re probably trying to bring it and sell it. Keep even the possibility of an auction in mind and tell me whether it’s possible or impossible. In my opinion, I do think you can sufficiently do it with your skill.”

The uses of replica paintings were diverse. They were used for interior and exhibition purposes in various facilities including art museums, and were also used for educational purposes in schools or public offices. In this case, they can be used only for public domain, meaning works whose economic copyrights have expired or been waived, and are traded in a state where it is clearly marked that they are replicas.

However, there are cases where they are distributed for purposes that exceed the boundary of legality. It is a case where an expensive work that is not public domain is copied and sold by deceiving it as the original. To speak plainly, it was illegal distribution.

The personal collection use that Park Moonhyuk mentioned was the latter. It meant it would be distributed illegally. Because it was awkward to speak openly that it was a use intended to scam by pretending it was a genuine piece, he was beating around the bush. Of course, there were cases where people requested it genuinely for the purpose of collection, but generally, it was as such.

Perhaps naturally, this kind of use required a degree of completion not inferior to the original. If it were to go into an auction, it would bound to go through an expert’s appraisal. The work fee is also considerable to that extent, but because risk always follows illegality, one shouldn’t snap up the work greedily.

“I’ll go look at it tomorrow and contact you.”

“Right. For now, rest more today.”

“Yes.”

“And.”

This time, Park Moonhyuk pulled out his wallet. He took out 50,000 won bills and handed them to Seolwon.

“Buy something to eat with this. You must have starved for a few days.”