ANTITOXIN Chapter 5

Seolwon toyed with the lollipop in his hand and tried his best to look at the painting. However, he was only placing his gaze there. His consciousness was entirely directed toward the man sitting next to him. Was it because his presence was so extraordinary, or was it because of the malevolent curse emitting the toxic odor? He had never been like this before, but his interest toward the man would not easily burn out.

The man was the same. He didn’t easily withdraw his gaze from Seolwon. Rather, he merely looked at him even more actively while resting his elbow on one crossed leg and propping up his chin. At this search, for which he couldn’t know the reason or the purpose, Seolwon finally felt a sense of anxiety.

It was at the moment he was about to leave his seat, thinking this wouldn’t do.

“By the way.”

The man spoke to him once again.

Seolwon turned back to the man in a posture where he had half-risen. Then, the man pointed to Seolwon’s hand—precisely, to the candy he had handed over.

“Aren’t you going to eat it?”

It was a comment that felt just as out of the blue as the candy handed over out of nowhere. With a puzzled expression, Seolwon asked back, “Pardon?”, and the man rolled the candy in his mouth once more and casually spouted:

“I gave it to you after much effort, but you’re not eating it. Didn’t you stare because you wanted to eat it?”

What on earth…

At the question whose intention could not be read, Seolwon frowned slightly. At this time, the corners of the man’s mouth twisted diagonally.

“I guess it wasn’t the candy?”

Only now could Seolwon understand the meaning behind the man’s words. He seemed to think that he had stared because of the candy. That’s why he had abruptly held it out as if giving charity.

At the completely missed guess, Seolwon ended up letting out a hollow laugh, “Ha.”

Candy? Before the man sat next to him, it hadn’t even been in sight. In the first place, he didn’t like sweet things very much, so he had never even thought to himself that he wanted to eat candy.

“It wasn’t because of the candy…”

Just as he was calmly trying to explain,

“If not,”

The other party abruptly cut him off.

“Is it me?”

This time, too, it was nonsense whose meaning couldn’t be understood.

Seolwon became bewildered again and ended up asking back.

“Pardon?”

The stick held between the man’s teeth wobbled up and down. That appearance was somehow playful. Soon, the man, who pushed the candy to the right side, added words with his cheek puffed out.

“I’m asking if you were throwing passes at me.”

Throwing passes…

Seolwon’s eyes, which had fallen into confusion for a moment because the meaning of ‘throwing passes’ didn’t come to mind immediately, soon widened.

“…!”

It was the first time in his life receiving such an absurd misunderstanding. It was so bad that he couldn’t even catch his bearings on how he should explain. The reason he took an interest in the man was solely because of the malevolent curse attached to his wrist. There was nothing more than that. Even the flashy appearance did not become a factor that drew Seolwon’s interest.

At Seolwon’s reaction, who had frozen with his mouth half-open out of sheer absurdity, the man nodded his head. As if concluding, ‘My guess is right.’ He even scratched the tip of his chin and went as far as to mutter this much for him to hear:

“Well, it makes sense. I was born looking quite appetizing. There’s no way the candy entered your eyes. I went out of my way to ask something obvious, I did.”

Self-love was tightly packed inside the casually spat-out monologue. No matter how one looked at it, it was words spouted not as a joke but in real earnest. Seolwon ended up getting goosebumps in a different sense.

“But…”

The man scanned Seolwon from top to bottom this time. Then he spouted as if it were a pity:

“My cock isn’t reacting just yet.”

A short laugh, “Pfft,” was added to the end of his words.

“Since my taste is more toward pussy than asshole.”

Along with explicit information that he wasn’t particularly curious about.

The utter bullshit brought Seolwon’s mind, which had been falling into a swamp of embarrassment and confusion, back to its place. Seolwon, who had turned cold rather than just becoming calm, put a brake on the man’s delusion.

“It is nothing like that.”

At the firm denial, the man raised one eyebrow and expressed question.

“What is?”

“Throwing passes or whatever, I’m saying it’s nothing like that.”

“Ah, ah… it’s not?”

“Yes.”

“If not?”

Then what is the reason for that lingering gaze earlier—the man’s eyes interrogate. It was obvious that if he didn’t give a proper answer, the man would continue the misunderstanding as he pleased.

“That is…”

Seolwon, who inadvertently opened his mouth to reveal the truth, faltered for a moment. He had no choice but to falter. Isn’t that so? If he abruptly says that a malevolent curse is attached to the watch you are wearing, and that he had no choice but to look because the smell coming from there was terrible? Would he actually believe it? It would be a relief if the man didn’t treat him like a crazy bastard, asking what kind of dogshit he was talking about.

Furthermore, the man clearly didn’t look like the type to believe in shamanism. He wouldn’t have any interest at all. Because the presence of the malevolent curse was large, it was difficult to read the man’s original energy, but one could tell just by looking at the feeling exuded from his appearance. Therefore, it was clear that even if he spoke, he would only suffer ridicule, and it would be difficult to draw out understanding and conviction.

“That is?”

The man urged for the following words. Seolwon, who had only started the sentence and played the role of a goldfish by repeatedly opening and closing his lips, soon let out a deep sigh.

“It’s nothing. Just… I just looked without much reason.”

Instead of the truth that wouldn’t get through, Seolwon chose an insincere excuse. It was because he thought that way would be better.

Whether it was an answer that fell short of expectations, the man’s eyes narrowed. As if saying, ‘Look at this?’.

“Hmm, just. Just, you say…”

The corner of the man’s mouth, which had been slightly raised, stretches longer. Naturally, the smile deepened further. Anyone, not just Seolwon, could tell that it was not a smile that meant goodwill.

“Do you know what word is used most often when washing over things roughly to hide a scheme? It’s ‘just’. In fact, the point that you used it not once but twice is quite bothersome, don’t you think?”

“…”

A vivid blade is cast over his eyes that wore a smiling face. A sharp fire-energy rushed fiercely toward Seolwon. It was a clear threat meaning he could inflict harm on him, and it was the inherent murderous intent latent within the man.

The next moment,

― How scary.

A certain voice was heard by his ear.

It was the voice of a girl… laced with laughter.

The peculiar chill possessed by a deceased person’s voice digs into his ear. Seolwon shook his head sideways like a bird, feeling a sensation as if his hair were standing on end. And he quickly looked around his surroundings.

However… there is no spirit that catches his eye. The fact that the voice is heard this clearly should definitely mean it is nearby.

― Huh? You heard me?

As if letting him know he didn’t hear wrong, a question flies in this time.

Seolwon felt a sense of ruin belatedly. He should have ignored it, but he had ended up committing a rudimentary mistake.

― You heard me! You heard me, haha!

The spirit, concluding that Seolwon was a medium [a person who acts as a bridge, mediator, or channel of communication between the world of the living and the world of the dead.], laughed.

Along with the sense of pressure the man was applying, even the presence of the spirit that wasn’t captured in his vision was felt, so anxiety wells up. Cold sweat formed over Seolwon’s forehead. A fear that couldn’t be hidden was cast in his eyes. It was because there was a possibility that the identity of the spirit that made the voice was a ghost.

Spirit is a collective term referring to the deceased who could not achieve Buddhahood. Mostly, they did not exert influence on the living. But ghosts are different. They were ravenous ghosts (Agui) that were seized by emotions such as hunger, grudge, and sadness, holding a intense lingering regret and trying to inflict harm on people. Perhaps naturally, to Seolwon, whose spiritual eye was open and even whose ghost-gate was open, ghosts were fatal existences that he shouldn’t associate with if possible. Therefore, the action just now was a clear mistake.

“Why are you so tense? Did you get caught doing something wrong? Huh?”

The man, whose suspicion deepened at the sight of Seolwon trembling in anxiety, openly interrogated and came to rest his arm over one of Seolwon’s shoulders.

Tap. It was at that time the watch, to which the malevolent curse was attached, touched Seolwon’s body.

“…!”

Screeech!

Boom!

A roaring sound echoed by his ear, and a burning smell brushed past the tip of his nose. Following that, a tremendous pain struck directly. As if it would tear his head apart.

“Ugh!”

Seolwon groaned while holding his forehead with his head lowered.

Sound, smell, and the sense of pain.

These fragment-like clues plunging down into his five senses were a kind of message. His divine energy, which had activated on its own, showed in advance what kind of disaster the malevolent curse attached to the man would invite.

“What is it, what’s wrong with you?”

At Seolwon’s behavior of suddenly having a fit, the man made a puzzled voice.

Seolwon dropped his head without an answer. While quickly breathing out his breath, which had grown rough in the meantime. Even amidst this, his head was spinning busily to interpret the clues given by his spiritual sense [supernatural ability to physically and mentally sense spiritual energies, auras, and curses around him.]  and spiritual hearing [It is the supernatural ability to hear things from the spiritual realm that ordinary humans cannot.].

The interpretation didn’t need that long a time. Suddenly, Seolwon jumped up from his seat. And with a frowning face, he quietly looked down at the man.