ANTITOXIN Chapter 33

Before leaving the house, he checked his phone, just in case. It was to see if any new messages or missed calls had popped up. He was waiting for contact from President Kim. But as expected, or perhaps as it should be, there was no word from President Kim today either. He hadn’t picked up the phone when Seolwon called the day before yesterday, either. To leave things so quiet after spending a fortune to put him to work… it was an ominous silence.

Could…

“Something have gone wrong?”

Like with Executive Director Hwang.

Perhaps that could be the case.

The inverted face of Executive Director Hwang, which he had seen for the last time, comes to mind. It was a complexion foretelling death. That was why he hadn’t deliberately tried to find out what became of him. Because it was obvious he would have already become a deceased person. His body wouldn’t even have been left behind, having been burned in the incinerator.

Thinking about it now, Cha Jaeyi must have intended to kill Executive Director Hwang from the very beginning. No matter what the relationship between him and Executive Director Hwang had been. The confusing part was this: what if he hadn’t behaved as desired? Would he have thrown him into the incinerator as well… It wasn’t an impossible speculation. No, on the contrary, it was plausible.

All of a sudden, goosebumps rise along his spine.

“Ugh…”

Seolwon shuddered, trembling with aversion. It was because the sense of terror he felt at that time was replayed in its entirety. The fact that it came to mind so vividly even though five days had passed served as proof of how magnificent the shock he received back then was.

Seolwon shook his head to wash away the bad thoughts and headed toward the front door. Before going outside, out of habit, he checked the upper part of the front door. It was to check the condition of the geumjul—the taboo rope.

“Ah…”

A sigh leaked out of its own accord. The condition of the geumjul was even worse than yesterday. It was a subtle difference, but it was visible to Seolwon’s eyes.

It was a geumjul that had been close to a golden hue when he first made it. But now, it was charred black as if it had been caught in a fire. It was a change that occurred in just a fortnight. The reason the color of the geumjul changed was clear. It was because it had been defiled. It was a kind of contamination caused by bearing the yin energy and misfortune trying to enter the house on its behalf. To put it another way, it meant that defilement was continuously trying to intrude into this house. This was why he had planned to move.

He should have looked closely before entering from the start… It was a mistake to just blindly move in because the monthly rent was cheap compared to the location or the condition. He should have come and checked in the evening too, but as soon as they showed the room during the day, he was left utterly defenseless against the real estate agent’s prodding that if he didn’t sign the contract today, the room would unconditionally be taken.

He realized it after moving in and living there. That quite a bit of yin energy was stagnant in this building. To say that yin energy was stagnant meant two things: it was easy for spiritual entities to gather, or a spiritual entity had already built a home here. He came to know that this place was the latter around the time he had been living there for three months.

It was when he returned past midnight after working, for the first time since moving in. Laughter dropped down above his head, so he inadvertently lifted his head, and there he saw two legs hanging from the railing of the building’s rooftop. The two legs, dangling as if splashing water, definitely belonged to a young child. There was no way a perfectly normal child would be sitting on a rooftop railing at that hour of the morning. The moment he recognized it as a spiritual entity, Seolwon averted his gaze and promptly fled into his house.

After that, he never went up to the rooftop at night. No, he didn’t look at it at all. Thanks to that, he never ran into the spiritual entity. Of course, just because it wasn’t visible to the eyes didn’t mean the absence of the spiritual entity. Presumably, it would be a earthbound spirit. If that was right, it would still be attached to this building. The monthly rent, which was excessively cheap compared to the surrounding market price and condition, might also be a price formed because of that.

Even so, he had gotten along without much trouble until now thanks to the secret ward. Honestly, though he thought he should move, then again, he didn’t know. Last night, he had ended up extending it after all when running into a realistic wall. Money was something just as scary as spiritual entities and bad luck. Although the room was a bit small, considering only its location in Bundang and being a new-级 building that was only five years old, a monthly rent of 300,000 won was a unicorn listing. On top of that, when thinking about the moving expenses and the broker fee… he also wondered if moving was necessarily the answer.

Anyway, since there were still about five months left in the contract period, it wasn’t a problem that had to be decided right away. In the meantime, he had no choice but to block it with the secret ward.

“I should replace it sooner or later.”

In truth, it was better to replace it right away, but the task of making a geumjul was not that simple. He would have to invest a good half a day, but right now, he didn’t have that much leisure. If it was in that state, it should be able to hold out for two weeks, so it seemed it would be fine to change it roughly a week later.

Having finished his thoughts, Seolwon went out the door and walked down the stairs. Thud, thud, with every movement, dust scattered into the air along with his footsteps. Midway, he looked into the mailbox in front of the building entrance. Most of the newly arrived mail consisted of advertising flyers. He tucked only one utility bill that was sandwiched between them into his bag, and shoved the rest back into the mailbox. He intended to bring them out and throw them away all at once later.

He turned his steps outside the building again. And it was just when he had passed through the entrance without any thought.

“…!”

Seolwon could not help but freeze at the sight he confronted as soon as he stepped out of the villa. It was none other than because he was there, across the street. That man who had appeared like a disaster five days ago, and who had popped up into his head abruptly this morning as well.

Cha Jaeyi.

Today, without exception, wearing a crazy… no, a flashy shirt, he was biting a straw while wearing sunglasses. In one hand, he held a beverage presumed to be coffee.

Even though he was just standing on the street drinking coffee, his presence was extraordinary. To Seolwon, it was a presence that was beyond burdensome, to the point of being fascinating. Separately, honestly, he didn’t want to act like he knew him. If possible, he wanted to pass by pretending not to see him, but…

“Hello, hellooo.”

As if there was any way he could.

As was perhaps natural, having discovered Seolwon right away, he offered a lively greeting. Along with a playful wave of his hand.

Seolwon blinked only his eyes, frozen stiff. He had prayed they would never meet again… Of course, contrary to that wish, he had intuitively expected that they would definitely meet again. Even so, it was a reunion faced with too little mental preparation.

Cha Jaeyi soon approached toward the frozen Seolwon without hesitation. Despite being a leisurely speed, his stride was large, narrowing the distance in an instant. Presently, having come to a stop right in front of Seolwon, he spoke again.

“Wow, you were living here? As expected, we must be destiny. Was there something between us in a past life?”

Pretending to have run into him by chance, when he had come knowing all along. It was a truly abominable piece of acting.

Seolwon opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Why are you here…”

“Because I have business. I was looking around since I came here anyway. How should I put it…”

He stopped mid-sentence and looked around the neighborhood, including the villa. He then pointed his finger at the villa building where Seolwon lived, adding:

“It’s become quite vintage-esque. Especially here.”

The way he spoke, and the expression with which he looked around, gave the impression that he knew this neighborhood a bit. To Seolwon, it was something that felt mysterious. It wasn’t Seoul but Bundang, and a neighborhood situated in a quite secluded place at that. What would be the reason for a weapon broker whose base of operations was overseas to come all the way to a place like this? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t guess.

“Well, I’ve done enough looking around, so shall we take care of some business now? That being said, let’s eat.”

An unwelcome proposal flies in like a surprise attack.

Unable to hide his bewilderment, Seolwon knit his brow.

“With me?”

“Ung.”

Cha Jaeyi made a cheerful sound, puckering his lips as if to give a kiss. To Seolwon, it was an aegyo that was thoroughly burdensome.

“…Why?”

“What do you mean why. To get close, of course. Are you perhaps not a concept but really from the idiot department? Why do you deliberately ask something so obvious?”

Because he didn’t consider his purpose obvious, it was a proposal that remained nothing but awkward. Thus, the cynical question, ‘Why do we have to get close?’ rose all the way to the tip of his throat, but fortunately, he endured it tightly. It was partly because he didn’t want to be treated like an idiot, but it was also because he was afraid of upsetting the man.

Even if one tries to hide it, human nature is bound to be revealed somehow. No matter how lightly he laughed and spat out nonsense, that man’s fundamental nature was cruel. And he had already witnessed that cruelty several times. At least as long as the stray ghost, Executive Director Hwang, and the incinerator existed in his memory, he couldn’t hold him in low esteem.

“I’m sorry, but… it’s because I’m not hungry.”

Because he felt like he would get indigestion if they really ate together, he carefully tried to make an excuse. Since it was true that he wasn’t hungry, it wasn’t a lie.

Regrettably, the excuse didn’t work.