ANTITOXIN Chapter 32

“Please refrain from being rude in front of our guest. It’s Eric. Eric.”

As if he desperately hated being etched in memory by the name Joongsik, the secretary stared at Seolwon with glaring eyes, emphasizing his real name. Because his look was so intense, Seolwon had no choice but to nod his head to signify that he understood.

As if mocking the secretary’s efforts to protect his real name, Cha Jaeyi committed another act of rudeness.

“Yeees, Mr. Joongsik.”

The secretary’s lips trembled finely, with the desire to punch him vividly revealed on his face. Seolwon thought it was only natural.

By the way, Joongsik?

Jwasik, Woosik, Joongsik… they were highly consistent names. Then, could that man also be brothers with those two from yesterday? Looking only at the names, the probability was high, but… he wasn’t sure. Those two yesterday clearly had areas of resemblance just by looking at them, whereas this man felt connected neither physically nor energetically. For starters, it was certain that he was the oldest among the three.

“You heard him, right? They say I have to leave.”

Cha Jaeyi’s voice abruptly cut into his thoughts. When Seolwon looked back, he saw him getting up from his seat, exuding an air of reluctance.

“It’s a shame, but you’ll have to eat alone. Stay and take your time before you go. If you don’t feel like leaving, you don’t have to.”

Seolwon had naturally assumed he would tell him to just leave, but he was telling him to eat before going. In a house without its owner? Rather than something to be grateful for, it was a burdensome consideration.

“No. I should be going as well…”

“What about the food I ordered? Do I throw it away?”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, he had already ordered the food. Unable to bring himself to tell him to just throw it away, Seolwon bit his lips. Looking down at Seolwon, Cha Jaeyi let out a smirk and walked out of the dining room. The secretary followed right behind him as well.

Seolwon remained in his seat, feeling restless. It was true that he was hungry, and it was also a bit much not to eat the food specifically ordered for him, but he wondered if this was right.

Had about ten minutes passed? Cha Jaeyi showed himself once again.

“I’m leaving now.”

Wearing a flashy shirt that made one doubt whether he had chosen it with his usual right mind. Today, it was a shirt with a black background densely embroidered with a red pattern resembling haze. The jewels embedded here and there were truly the crowning touch.

“I know, it’s admirable.”

Cha Jaeyi, misunderstanding Seolwon’s horrified gaze in his own way, blathered proudly.

“No…”

Seolwon, who was not admired at all, tried to protest, but he did not give him the chance.

“See you again, Mr. Han Seolwon.”

It was a farewell that included an unwelcome prediction. This time too, there was no room for Seolwon to react in any way. It was because he vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

After a moment, thud! Along with the sound of the door, even the presence of a person completely disappeared.

“…”

Left alone, Seolwon sat staring blankly for a long while even after that. Like a person who had been caught up in a windstorm… no, a massive storm, and had barely managed to escape.

About two hours later.

“Haa!”

Finally returning home, Seolwon collapsed onto the floor as soon as he entered and closed his eyes.

He was tired.

Even though he had slept soundly without even dreaming in that comfortable bed, a fatigue he had never felt before was heavily pressing down on his entire body.

Perhaps it was because he had been too tense the whole way home. Since he didn’t have his talisman and couldn’t hide his energy from the spiritual entities, he had come back while being completely on guard.

The talisman was in the inner pocket of the suit he had been wearing. However, he ultimately could not find the suit. Fortunately, he was able to find his phone on the living room table, though.

The clothes he was currently wearing were clothes a hotel staff member had brought to him. As if he knew Seolwon would look for them, it seemed Cha Jaeyi had prepared them in advance.

By the way, a hotel…

He had thought it was somehow too clean for a house, and as it turned out, that place was a hotel. He was able to realize that only after seeing the food brought directly on a tray by a staff member, rather than food contained in plastic bags.

He had never used a hotel before, but it was clear that the cost for a single night’s stay would be no joke. Using such a place like a home? It was a lifestyle that an ordinary person wouldn’t even be able to attempt.

Then again, he is an internationally active weapon broker. Even without trying to look into it, one could tell that his wealth was at a substantial level.

“…Cha Jaeyi.”

Inadvertently, he pronounced his name. As if it had been waiting, that flashy face that he couldn’t forget even if he tried was drawn vividly in his mind. Strangely enough, he had merely thought of him, but, how should he put it… he felt like his energy was being drained. Thinking about it again, his presence alone was truly magnificent. To the point where he wondered if such a human being could possibly exist anywhere else in the world.

And, one more thing.

‘A lie.’

That spiritual entity who helped him last night… the entity presumed to be blood-related to Cha Jaeyi was also the same. It was extraordinary. The fact that it had a form but could hide or display itself at its own will was especially so. Seeing that intellect also existed, it was difficult to dismiss it as a mere stray ghost.

What was bizarre…

“Why does it not feel unfamiliar?”

The more he chewed on it, the more a strange sense of déjà vu was felt from the spiritual entity. Come to think of it, it had been like that when he first heard the voice at the art museum as well. It wasn’t familiar, yet it wasn’t unfamiliar either.

…He didn’t know.

But then, he thought, what did it matter anyway.

No matter what, a spiritual entity is a spiritual entity. It was an existence that one should not get involved with if possible. Instead of being curious, it was right to ignore it as much as possible. That human named Cha Jaeyi too.

…But it seemed things wouldn’t go as he wished.

His intuition answered him.

That he would have no choice but to meet both of them again.

“Ha, damn it.”

Seolwon scratched his face roughly with both hands.

Somehow, it felt like he was caught up in something bad.

And very firmly at that.

He had a dream.

A dream of being whipped with a switch by his grandmother when he was young.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

At the merciless whipping, Seolwon bit his lip tightly. It was to forcefully hold back the crying that was about to burst out. Although he couldn’t see because his back was turned, the strict expression of his grandmother standing behind his back was vividly drawn.

From the whipping that exceeded twenty strokes, his calves turned bright red. Only after seeing blood at long last did his grandmother lower the switch.

‘You’ll know what you did wrong.’

The cold rebuke was as sharp as the switch.

He knew. The young Seolwon of the past, and the Seolwon of now.

It was because he did something he was told not to do. It was because he meddled in the affairs of ghosts without any qualification. It was because he acted like a shaman when he didn’t even revere a god. Because he knew, he couldn’t feel wronged, and therefore, he couldn’t whimper either. He simply endured it.

Toward Seolwon, who was nodding his head while sniffing, his grandmother did not show the slightest bit of sympathy. It was always like that. Her gaze toward her only grandson was nothing but strict. Because she lacked affection? That was also true, but it also felt like she was purposely trying not to attach affection.

When he was young, he felt hurt by that. But now he knew. That his grandmother’s coldness, that heartless attitude, was actually to protect him.

‘Sit down.’

According to the instruction, Seolwon turned his body and sat down on his knees with difficulty. When his buttocks touched the skin that had been whipped, a pain that felt like tearing flared up, but he did not dare to disrupt his posture.

His grandmother asked.

‘Do you want to become a male shaman?’

Seolwon answered while meeting his grandmother’s eyes, which had faded to white.

No.

‘Do you want to become like me?’

This time, he answered while looking down at his grandmother’s two scrawny legs that couldn’t function properly.

No.

‘Do you want to live while serving and rehering something utterly evil as a god?’

This time, he answered while looking beyond the door that was behind his grandmother.

No.

‘Then why do you run your mouth so carelessly?’

I was wrong.

‘Even if you see, pretend not to see; even if you hear, pretend not to hear; and even if you know, pretend not to know. Cut off yin energy and only keep yang energy close.’

At this moment, a sorrowful look permeated his grandmother’s eyes, which had been nothing but strict.

‘You, at least, must live as a human.’

Seolwon nodded his head. And he resolved.

That he understood, and that he would be even more careful in the future.

Only then could he be released.

From the corporal punishment he had brought upon himself.

Waking up as usual, he washed, appeased his hunger roughly with some fruit, and then prepared to go out. It was to go to his workshop. Since a gap of a few days had occurred due to getting caught up in an unexpected matter, he was in a situation where he would have to do nothing but work until late at night today as well in order to meet the deadline. Yesterday too, he had returned home only when it was close to midnight, but today, he might have to stay up all night at the workshop altogether.