ANTITOXIN Chapter 7

Suddenly, a noise cuts in and interferes. It was the vibration sound of a cell phone.

Seolwon, who was a light sleeper, couldn’t ignore it and snapped his eyes open. This was why he could never sleep deeply.

I should have worn earplugs.

Regretting it belatedly, he stretched his arm toward the head of the sofa. Soon, his hand caught the phone. Because his human relationships were inherently narrow, there were few people to contact, so it was highly likely to be spam; however, just in case, it was necessary to check. The possibility that it was the landlord or Mr. Park Moonhyuk wasn’t zero, after all.

When he turned on the screen, a part of a message that came via Telegram popped up on the notification window. Upon seeing this, Seolwon’s eyes widened. It was because of the sender. Seolwon hastily entered the app and checked the full text of the message.

Han River Rider

Online

Hello, customer.

Do you happen to need a lunchbox?

Delivery is totally possible right away lol

The sender, Han River Rider. He was none other than the drug dealer. The “lunchbox” in the message meant drugs.

What is this? Why all of a sudden?

Seolwon was bewildered. Because up until now, he had been the one to initiate contact and trade whenever he needed them. The drug dealer had never contacted him first like this before.

He certainly needed the medicine. Although there was still some left from what he bought last time, as long as his divine illness continued, he would need it in the future. It was safer to stock up generously in advance.

Even so, it was somehow fishy. There was nothing strange about the message itself, but… doing something he never used to do was utterly suspicious. It was like he had some other scheme. It wasn’t anything else, but the act of buying and selling illegal drugs. He had no choice but to be cautious.

Was it strange that he didn’t reply even though he checked it? Before long, another new message popped up.

Han River Rider

Online

Actually, I have a favor to ask. In return, today is a special bargain sale, let’s go. I’ll give it to you cheap heheheheh

“A favor?”

Seolwon muttered, frowning.

What kind of favor could a drug dealer have to ask of him… That question was resolved before long. It was because he could roughly guess. It was probably a request to read his fortune. Since he was a guy who knew that Seolwon was a medium.

“Hah, seriously…”

After a flat laugh, Seolwon sent a reply after a moment of deliberation: Yes. No sooner had it sent than the number next to the message disappeared. Above it, a new message popped up.

Han River Rider

Online

Ok, today it’s sandwiches, let’s go. I will serve you for a late-night snack.

🌀

8:30 PM. Seolwon roughly tidied up the workshop and went outside.

Today’s rendezvous spot was a fast-food restaurant located in a Han River park, which took about an hour and a half at a generous estimate if departing from the workshop. The late-night snack the drug dealer spoke of meant meeting around 10:00 PM, so if he departed now, it roughly fit the appointment time.

Leaving behind the subway that was close by, Seolwon intentionally boarded a bus and vacantly stared at the passing scenery.

Although the sun had completely set, the streets were still alive and moving. The light leaking from building glass windows, the colorful signboards, the people moving at different speeds, the cars that repeated running and stopping according to the signals while shining their headlights, and even the motorcycles speeding dangerously as they squeezed in between them… Up to this point, it was an ordinary landscape reflected even in the eyes of normal people.

However, the world viewed through eyes whose spiritual eye was open was a little different. Because not only living people, but the souls of the dead who lost their physical bodies and wandered also existed.

When the signal of the crosswalk changes, the living and the dead cross the street all at once. There was no such thing as bumping into each other. No matter how close a spirit was, people merely brushed past without perceiving it at all. Except occasionally, someone would feel a chill and look around. It could be because they were a person whose spiritual sensitivity was developed, though they hadn’t realized it, or it could be because the negative energy of the spirit beside them was strong.

Just like the living who possessed different appearances, the spirits were also of all sorts. This was true not only for their forms but also for their behaviors. Some spirits repeated the exact same motion continuously in one spot. For instance, like that short-haired girl who repeated jumping off from that pedestrian overpass. Repeating the action at the time of death was the greatest characteristic seen in suicide ghosts.

The situation of the roads packed with cars was similar. Several spirits who must have lost their physical bodies in traffic accidents wandered the streets or lay sprawled in a blood-soaked sight. A few among them even looked around as if noticing his gaze. Seolwon could see all of those things. Even though he didn’t want to.

Like this, today as well, Seolwon confirmed with his eyes the truth of the world that he had known since childhood. That truth was the fact that the world never belonged solely to the living. Albeit unpermitted, the deceased were also members of this world.

A world where life and death, the living and the deceased coexisted. Some people pass by without ever knowing this their whole life, some occasionally cross back and forth over the boundary, and others connect them to each other in the gap between those two worlds. As such, a place that was one yet possessed a duality was precisely the world Seolwon knew.

The bus maintained a constant speed and moved without blockage. There was a reward for intentionally avoiding the rush hour time frame. Constitutionally, he disliked the night when negative energy grows stronger, but he detested crowded places even more. It was because there were inevitably many ghosts in such places. The problem was that during the day, there were many people on the streets, and at night, while there were fewer people, the negative energy grew stronger. Therefore, he rarely went outside at all. But times when he had to move inevitably, like today, occurred often. At those times, he would aim for a relatively uncrowded time frame to move.

An outing at night when negative energy is strong inevitably brought an enormous sense of fatigue. Today was no exception. By the time he arrived around the stop to get off, Seolwon was already exhausted. At times like this, he desperately wanted his own car. But since he didn’t even have a license yet, let alone the financial capacity to buy a car, it merely stopped at being a wish.

From the moment he got off the bus, Seolwon walked while hunching his body and looking only at the ground. He was defending himself in his own way so that he wouldn’t make eye contact with a spirit even by mistake. In reality, the reality is that most of the spirits wandering the streets without achieving Buddhahood are ghosts. In the first place, if they didn’t have a grudge or obsession, they wouldn’t wander and would have achieved Buddhahood at the proper time to depart for the world of the deceased.

The deceased who lack a physical body are also human. As a rule, humans covet what they do not have. If it were to the extent of attaching themselves simply because they were lonely, it would rather be better. However, the vast majority were wicked things trying to steal one’s body. Seolwon, who was in an open yet vacant state, was like a mouth-watering prey to such things. Therefore, it was best not to stand out to a ghost’s eyes as much as possible.

A gaze is the starting point of communication, and turning away is the first step of disconnection. Even if they were visible, he had to act as if they weren’t visible. Because he was hiding his energy with talismans, he wouldn’t stand out easily, but the quick-witted things managed to recognize him anyway. Like that formless spirit that recognized him at the art museum before.

After walking about 20 minutes from the stop, the green signboard he was looking for came into sight. Seolwon went inside without delay. Whether because it was a late hour, the interior was uncrowded. For now, neither ghosts that would cause a headache nor ominous energies were detected.

It was when he looked around and went a bit further inside.

“Yo!”

Sitting in a corner spot and eating a sandwich, a man raised his hand high. It was the appointment partner, Han River Rider—the drug dealer.

Seolwon quickly approached and sat in the opposite seat. Having already devoured half of a huge sandwich, he extended a cordial greeting toward Seolwon.

“It’s been a damn long time, little brother. How’ve you been?”

The attitude of treating Seolwon was exceedingly friendly. It was a kind of camouflage, but in reality, he also possessed a bit of friendliness toward Seolwon. It wasn’t merely because they had traded several times; it was a friendliness where another clear reason existed.

“Yes.”

Conversely, Seolwon returned a blunt reaction without a shred of friendliness.

“Ayy, how stiff. Dry as always. When will our little brother’s throat become moist?”

Toward Seolwon who acted distant, the drug dealer gave a light reprimand. Even though they had already met several times, since he acted stiffly with absolutely no sweet taste to him, it was understandable. Though Seolwon didn’t care in the slightest.

At Seolwon’s attitude of sending only a cold gaze without making any reply, the drug dealer shook his head as if he lost. Then, he picked up a paper bag he had placed in the next seat and set it on top of the table. On the surface of the paper bag, a brand name saying ‘Good Lunchbox’ was written.