ULAD 98

Ma Chohae pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead. The man said he had a cramp again, and Chohae couldn’t very well snap at him for cutting off his explanation halfway.

Still, it was hard to just ignore him and walk away, especially since the topic he’d brought up was Ma Choyeon. It wasn’t baseless nonsense either—she really was someone entangled with ghosts—so he couldn’t dismiss it outright.

I never should’ve gotten involved from the start.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Ma Chohae asked,

“You’re saying you have spiritual abilities?”

“Yes.”

The man answered with a pale face. It looked like the pain was pretty severe.

“…Are you sure you’re okay?”

Seeing such a big guy flustered like that made Chohae’s irritation fade, replaced by a hint of sympathy. Feeling awkward about showing concern, he asked in a slightly brusque tone, and the man shook his head.

“No. I’m not okay.”

“……”

So much for worrying about him.

Well, pretending you’re fine when you clearly aren’t would be even more annoying.

Unable to hold back another sigh, Ma Chohae continued,

“Ha… Can you stand while we talk? Or do you want to sit down somewhere nearby?”

“I think I’ll be okay if I just stand still for a bit.”

“Good, then. If you’re alright, keep going with what you were saying earlier.”

“Oh, even if I say I have spiritual powers, it’s nothing special.”

The man blinked slowly.

“I just see things other people can’t, and hear things I’m not supposed to hear… that’s about it.”

That sounded plenty special to Chohae.

Is that really something you talk about so casually?

Usually, people like that either looked deeply stressed and depressed, or completely enlightened.
But this man was neither—his face was calm to the point of being blank.

“Can you see other people’s fates too? You knew I had a sister.”

“I can see the shadow of a woman beside you. Long hair, small build. She looks close to you, so I assumed she was family.”

A shadow?

Ma Chohae reflexively glanced around. Of course, there was nothing there.

“But there’s something… clinging to her. A lot of things.”

The man muttered, his gaze fixed on empty space rather than Chohae.

“Some are trying to strangle her. Others are grabbing her feet, trying to keep her from moving forward.”

Ma Chohae flinched.

“But.”

The man tilted his head.

“There are also beings holding her hand, leading her forward, or trying to tear away what’s tormenting her.”

The tension drained from Chohae’s tightly clenched fist.

Beings that help her…?

The man looked puzzled even as he spoke, as if he were seeing something like this for the first time.

“I’ve seen all kinds of ghosts, but usually, the ones that cling to humans are evil spirits. Guardian spirits that stay to protect someone are extremely rare.”

“But these don’t seem like guardian spirits,” he added quietly.

Ghosts that helped Ma Choyeon… Chohae immediately thought of the spirits that had been by her side when she escaped the radio ghost.

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone with both evil spirits and protective ones. You must be living an even more exhausting life than I am.”

Wasn’t that a bit much to say?

What made it worse was that the man looked genuinely sympathetic. There were things you should and shouldn’t say about someone else’s sister.

Scratching the back of his head irritably, Ma Chohae asked,

“Is there anything I can do for my sister?”

“Hmm.”

The man looked him up and down.

“No. You don’t seem to have any special talent.”

Should I just punch him?

“But.”

Chohae’s fist was trembling when the man continued calmly.

“Just being by her side seems like it would give her strength.”

“……”

“It doesn’t look like you’re just ordinary siblings. Do you have some kind of story, or… are you twins?”

His gaze wasn’t sharp, yet Chohae felt as though he were being seen straight through. A chill ran down his spine, and before he could react, the man nodded to himself.

“You must be twins.”

“…You can tell that with your spiritual powers too?”

“No. I just guessed.”

“You sounded awfully confident for a guess….”

He didn’t seem particularly sharp.

This feels unsettling…

Still, the idea that simply being by his sister’s side could help her wasn’t a bad thing.

Yeah. How to help my sister is something I should figure out myself. I can’t rely on others for that.

From the look of it, she hadn’t completely escaped the radio ghost yet. That needed to be dealt with first.

This wasn’t the time to be buying dessert.

“Thanks for the advice. I’ll take care of my sister myself, so shall we go our separate ways now? We’re done talking, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then take care.”

Ma Chohae waved lazily and walked on.

It was still only ten in the morning. Since there’d been no word from Choyeon, she was probably asleep. He should go wake her up.

Should I suggest we visit Auntie when I see her? I’m worried that we still can’t get in touch with our parents.

The aunt’s reaction when she’d heard they’d been found also bothered him.

Normally, if your niece or nephew went missing and then returned, wouldn’t you want to see them in person and check if they were okay?

She’d acted as their guardian for a long time in place of their parents, which made her reaction feel even stranger.

Why does everything feel so off?

Maybe he was just overly sensitive after seeing too many ugly things at the auction house.

Lost in thought, Ma Chohae didn’t even notice the man’s gaze boring into his back.

I was sitting by the café window, staring blankly outside. Dan Seohyuk had gone to the restroom, so I was alone.

Just how many ghosts have I gotten tangled up with by now?

When I first ran into Dan Seohyuk at Eden Villa, I never imagined things would turn out like this.

Maybe Millie knew I’d get involved with more than just the radio ghost—that’s why she made a contract with me.

Even today, I’d had that unexpected encounter with Red. A ghost who didn’t even appear in the early part of the original story I’d read.

If he would leave quietly after our conversation, that would be ideal—but I doubted it. From experience, ghosts didn’t tend to respect human wishes all that much.

I shook my head, trying to dispel the heavy, uneasy feeling.

Let’s not worry in advance.

I achieved my goal.

All I needed was to find Chohae.

Now all that remained was finding Dan Seohyuk’s parents and dealing with the radio ghost…

To be honest, even if people called me selfish, part of me wanted to just grab Ma Chohae and run away.

The ghosts we’d face going forward scared me, and I couldn’t accept my little brother being put in danger because of me.

If we move far away from Eden-dong, maybe we won’t run into ghosts anymore? I could transfer schools…

Clink—

The bracelet on my wrist jingled coldly, as if reminding me not to forget it.

…Should I send Chohae to another area first?

I could already picture him making a fuss, insisting that his sister couldn’t be left alone—but I had to at least try to persuade him.

Carrying around a problem I couldn’t run from only made my worries pile up.

I saw Dan Seohyuk returning from afar. Seeing his usual calm expression somehow made all my worries and anxieties melt away.

Right. Worrying alone won’t change anything. I’ll do what I can.

I deliberately let out a deep breath, and my tangled thoughts felt like they cleared a little.

“Is something worrying you?”

Dan Seohyuk asked as he sat down, saying I looked gloomy. There was genuine concern in his face, which honestly surprised me a bit.

When we first met, he was rude enough that I never expected him to ask if something was wrong. Had we grown this close already?

Thinking about running away makes me the real trash.

Without realizing it, I let out a long sigh. Sitting across from me, Dan Seohyuk tilted his head.

“Instead of sighing, why don’t you tell me why?”

“Seohyuk, you’ve gotten kinder. Back then, I feel like you’d have told me to stop sighing first.”

“Want me to treat you like before?”

He lifted one corner of his mouth.

“If it’s something you can’t talk about, don’t make it obvious. …Like this?”

Oh, so that side of Dan Seohyuk was still there.

I shot him an annoyed look, and he shrugged.

“Just kidding.”

“You heartless jerk. No—actually, I’m the heartless one.”

I shook my head as I said it, and Dan Seohyuk stared straight at me. His black eyes looked oddly innocent, which only made my guilt worse.

“Actually, while you were gone, I had a thought that made me feel bad about you. Can I be honest?”

“Sure.”

“I found Chohae, so all I really need to do now is deal with the radio ghost, right? After that, I thought maybe if I just left this area, I wouldn’t get involved with ghosts anymore.”

I truly wanted Dan Seohyuk to escape his suffering as soon as possible, and I planned to help him with everything I had.

But if we kept moving forward together, thoughts like these—or hesitation—might show up in my actions or expressions without me realizing it.

I thought it would be better to say it first than to let him notice later without understanding why.

After a brief silence, Dan Seohyuk spoke.

“Most missing person reports and incidents happen in Eden-dong or nearby, so that might be true. Is that why you thought about putting some distance between us?”

“…Huh?”

“You said you felt sorry about me. Since we’ll probably encounter even more ghosts in the future, it’s natural to think that way.”

“……”

His tone was calm, which made me feel even more guilty. It was obvious he was trying to ease my conscience.

“That’s not selfish—it’s just a natural survival instinct.”

There was no resentment or reproach in his eyes.

“…Aren’t you disappointed in me? You nearly got hurt several times trying to help me. I said I’d help you find your parents, and now I’m saying things like this….”

“You and I are in different positions.”

Dan Seohyuk lowered his gaze. I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t.

Because unlike me, he can regress?

But that didn’t mean his life should be treated lightly.

“What’s so different about us?”

I realized too late that I’d said something unnecessary. Trying to ease my shallow guilt, I’d ended up hurting him instead, and my heart felt heavier.

“We’re just unlucky high school students who got dragged into ghosts.”

“You… don’t know my situation. I can’t tell you, but if you did, you might get angry.”

“You don’t know everything about me either. Just now… I said that as if I were testing you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s natural, I told you earlier—”

“What’s ever ‘natural’ in this world?”

Emotion surged up, and I sprang to my feet. Then I flicked Dan Seohyuk on the forehead as he stared up at me blankly.

“Just say it! ‘Help me!’ Is that really so hard?”

Maybe I couldn’t actually help, and maybe my trustworthiness was already at rock bottom after what I’d said—but still.

Did it hurt a lot? Dan Seohyuk bowed his head and rubbed his forehead.

After a long moment, in a voice so small I had to focus to hear it, he whispered,

“…Help me, Choyeon.”

For the first time, I heard Dan Seohyuk’s true feelings.