ANTITOXIN Chapter 25

He had already broken the ice. Any further silence would only turn the situation against him. He had no choice but to confess everything, whether the other person took it as bullshit or not.

In a trembling voice, Seolwon made a clean breast of it.

“A request… to look into what kind of person the arms broker is.”

The party involved, who was that very arms broker, raised one eyebrow.

“So… you barged into the drinking party because you were curious about who the arms broker was?”

“Yes.”

“Aha.”

The man tilted his head to the side. On his face, where a peculiar smile and a faint frown coexisted, a look of contemplation over whether to believe this or not was vividly apparent.

“But for someone trying to look into it, weren’t you a bit too quiet at the drinking party? All Mr. Han Seolwon did there was sit quietly and surrender his thigh to that bastard.”

It was happening again. This time too, he described his appearance at the drinking party as if he had witnessed it firsthand. Seolwon was now certain. The man had watched the situation of the drinking party from somewhere else. It seemed some kind of surveillance camera had been installed in that room. Otherwise, there was no way he could speak in such a confident tone.

At any rate, it was a valid point. For someone trying to find out what kind of person the opponent was, it was true that he had just sat there still. Without asking a single question, without mingling in the conversation, he had just sat there still, staring only at the arms broker… no, at the person he thought was the arms broker.

One more thing.

‘Mr. Han Seolwon. See you again.’

‘That way, Mr. Han Seolwon will become a person without a lover.’

The doubt that had arisen before the accident also turned into a certainty. The man had called out his name, which he had never told him, several times. How did he know? Through a surveillance camera? Or a background check? Either way made sense. The important point was that it was useless to hide it any longer.

Now he had to say everything. This was a judgment based on reason, not intuition.

“The truth is… I have shamanic illness.”

Finally, Seolwon confessed. The truth that served as the plausibility, connecting all the situations the man suspected.

“Hmm? You have what?”

Whether because of the small voice or out of sheer absurdity, the man furrowed his brows and asked back. After a moment of hesitation, Seolwon raised his voice and answered.

“Shamanic illness.”

“…”

This time, he wore an expression that meant he heard it but had absolutely no idea what it meant. Not only the man, but Executive Director Hwang and his subordinates did not react much differently either. No, Executive Director Hwang was slightly different, subtly enough. Rather than not understanding the word shamanic illness, his expression was closer to, ‘It was something like that?’

“Hold on a second. So, this shamanic illness thing is…”

Humm… The man closed his eyes and groaned low. He seemed engrossed in how to interpret the term shamanic illness. Meanwhile, the subordinate who had brought the gun earlier carefully spoke up.

“I think it means he’s a shaman.”

At this, the man opened his eyes.

“Ah, having shamanic illness means that?”

He pointed at his subordinate with his finger and looked at Seolwon. He was asking if what that guy said was right. He was familiar with the word shaman, but the term shamanic illness was unfamiliar, so he seemed confused.

Seolwon did not affirm right away but drew a clear line.

“Not completely, I am a semi-shaman.”

In truth, whether he was a shaman or a semi-shaman was not an important matter in this situation. Nevertheless, the reason he went out of his way to make the distinction was that it was a sensitive issue for Seolwon.

Naturally, the man’s question followed.

“If you’re a shaman, you’re a shaman; what on earth is a semi-shaman.”

“That is what they call a person who is a medium but possesses no qualifications.”

“Why do you have no qualifications?”

“B-because I ran away without serving the spirit gods…”

“…”

Was it thanks to answering back without hesitation? The man did not dismiss Seolwon’s words as mere nonsense. However, he merely cast a cold gaze as if trying to gauge whether it was true or not.

A moment later, the man suddenly turned back to his subordinates and sought their opinion.

“I’m asking because I’m genuinely confused for once, is this the kind of flow where I’m supposed to let it slide around this point?”

His subordinates exchanged glances. They also looked bewildered.

Seolwon became anxious. If the man ultimately judged his words to be a lie, Executive Director Hwang might really die this time. The next turn would be his. To be released safely, there was no way around it but to make him convinced somehow.

“It’s true. It really is. …It’s true, but.”

The problem was Seolwon’s lack of eloquence. To begin with, the very nature of shamanism conflicted with logic, and it was difficult to bring up a long and tedious past or fabricate a plausible, false story on the spot. Thus, Seolwon only repeated his miserable pleas. With a quite desperate and deeply sorrowful expression.

At some point, a different look flashed through the pupils of the man, who had been quietly listening to Seolwon’s pleas. A look by the name of interest.

Before long, he lowered the muzzle downward and commanded toward a subordinate.

“Jwa-sik, a chair.”

This time, the subordinate who had been standing still on the left as if nailed down until now moved. Walking toward Executive Director Hwang, the subordinate grabbed an empty chair and placed it behind the man.

The man, who sat down on the chair immediately, looked at Seolwon and muttered.

“Interesting. A semi-shaman…”

And he added.

“Fine. For now, I’ve felt a desire to believe you.”

To put it another way, it probably meant he couldn’t believe it yet. Even so, he didn’t blindly condemn it as a lie. That alone was a relief for now.

But there was no time to be relieved. It was because of the troublesome demand that followed immediately.

“So, prove it.”

To prove it…

There is only one way for a shaman to prove their ability. It is to deliver an accurate oracle about the opponent. For instance, it would be enough to hit upon the opponent’s secrets, their past that has gone by, or their current situation.

However, it was an impossible task for Seolwon right now. To be precise, it didn’t work against this man. Because nothing came to mind or could be read as before. If an ancestral spirit were visible, he would risk the danger to attempt a possession, but even that was absent. As if a black curtain that nothing could pass through was drawn around him, nothing could be seen or felt from the man.

It wasn’t merely because he was a semi-shaman. Hadn’t it been said that even a shaman who had just received the initiation ritual found it pitch black with nothing visible? The time when the divine energy is most intensely present is right after receiving the initiation. Yet, even a shaman in such a state couldn’t see, they said. It meant he was of a breed that shamanic illness simply did not work on. Therefore, even if he had been a fully-fledged shaman, it would have been the same story with nothing visible.

Then how should he prove it? The answer was simple. Change the target.

As it happened, there were several people here besides that man. The moment the idea crossed his mind, Seolwon looked at his subordinates. Fortunately, they were different. There was an energy that could be felt. As he focused, information about them popped into his head. There was no luxury of time to gauge whether it was real or not. Seolwon chanted exactly as it came to mind.

“Those two gentlemen are brothers… but the word comes out that you have different seeds. The one on the right must act as the hyung. In fact, you are older in age too. Since the one on the right is a Rabbit and the one on the left is a Dragon… it would be about a two-year? One-year? Gap around there. And water? A strong smell of water comes from the gentleman on the left. Either you lived near the water for a long time… or swimming? …At any rate, the word comes out that you have a deep connection with water. Also, for the gentleman on the right, a stick… no, a cross? Something like that is visible… but it’s faint. Not now, but it seems you were a religious person a very long time ago.”

Seolwon calmly laid out the fortune-telling read through his shamanic illness. At this, the pupils of the parties involved shook wildly. One of them even let out a dumbfounded sound, “Woah!” It was a reaction that made it unnecessary to even ask if the fortune-telling was correct.

The man pointed back and forth between Seolwon and his subordinates and asked.

“Did you guys happen to meet behind my back?”

The man’s subordinates answered almost simultaneously.

“No, sir.”

“No way. Absolutely not.”

The man’s eyes narrow, unable to fully withdraw his suspicion despite the immediate denial. However, failing to find any trace of falsehood from his subordinates, he turned his gaze back to Seolwon. Within a brief moment, the suspicion inside his pupils had grown a layer fainter.

“…”

As if weighing whether to believe him or not, he stared at Seolwon for a while longer with a sharp gaze, as if dissecting him.

Before long, he pointed out a part that was completely unexpected.