Chapter 103…
Promise,
The guardian spirit of Mansu, whom we hadn’t seen in a while, greeted me with a nervous look.
[He, hello?]
[Ah, ahnyonghaseyo.]
[Ha, you speak Korean?]
Yeah. Pretty well, actually.
And the reason I’m in this mess… is all because of Yeonju.
After we finished busking that day and gave a little fan service to the crowd, Yeonju waved at me.
Just then, some foreigner nearby, who must’ve been touched by my performance, gave me a thumbs-up and said—
[Fantastic!]
“Oh! Thank you!”
[What the… F@@k!]
When I greeted him back, the jerk swore at me.
I got pissed and was about to snap back when Yeonju started frantically shaking her head, looking panicked.
That’s when I realized—
This guy… was a foreign ghost.
Apparently, Yeonju had been chatting with this ghost in broken “Konglish” while watching my busking.
I didn’t know that, and I’d greeted him thinking he was just part of the audience.
And because of that… he got attached to me.
So this is what they mean when a ghost sticks to you.
I almost exorcised him on the spot but decided to bring him here instead.
After all, I’m with the experts.
“The thing is, most ghosts are kind of similar.”
“If we exorcise him here, does he go to his country’s heaven? I mean, we have the Sando River, and they have, what, the River of Hades?”
“What kind of half-asleep nonsense is that….”
Seeing Mansu swear like that for the first time in ages, I guess there’s no such distinction.
“Anyway, I came here to see if ghosts have something like illegal immigration status.”
“Sigh… would they?”
“So the afterlife really is ‘We Are the World,’ huh?”
“…….”
I ignored the dagger eyes Mansu threw at me and asked the guardian spirit:
“I was just going to exorcise him, but… I felt bad.”
[I’m sad. So sad…….]
Thanks to my half-decent English from dealing with buyers overseas, I could sort of understand him.
Though mixing in Korean probably helped too.
[Good grief… at this rate, you’ll end up dragging in every ghost in the world.]
“I know. But if I ignore him and he spreads rumors to all the Western ghosts that I’m rude, they might start showing up at my place, so I brought him here.”
[You were scared of that? Aren’t you past that phase?]
“Should I just beat him until he ascends? But, like, evil spirits don’t bother me, while nice ones like this guy make me feel kinda guilty.”
[Good instinct. If you randomly force spirits that aren’t malevolent to ascend, their resentment becomes karmic debt for you.]
“……So that’s why I felt uneasy.”
[It’s like a warning signal.]
That explains why I felt drawn to come here.
At least the guy seems harmless enough.
“So what do I do? My house is small. And there’s a girl living there.”
“Why didn’t you just leave him where he was?”
“I could have left him… but he’s a wandering spirit, right?”
“Looks that way. Foreigners who die abroad tend to wander around until they return home, unless they’re tied to a place like a haunting spirit.”
I’d seen foreign ghosts before — UN soldiers during my military service near the border.
They’d pop up sometimes, mostly old-timers, muttering things like ‘Fire in the hole!’ over and over.
Some even kept repeating ‘Give you chocolate?’ like they were sharing treats.
They usually disappeared whenever there was news about recovered remains.
“This guy probably needs his body found too.”
“Right.”
“Huh?”
At this point, shouldn’t they be getting on it already?
Mansu just stared blankly.
“Shouldn’t you be doing divination or something to locate it? Aren’t you supposed to be a shaman?”
“I need payment first! I’m a professional!”
“Huh? You capitalist sellout! I’m never asking you for help again!”
“No, wait!”
He grabbed at my pant leg in panic.
I had asked John where he’d died.
Oh right—his name’s John Smith.
Anyway, he said he didn’t know.
He just woke up as a ghost, apparently.
That meant one of two things:
Either the memory of his death was too traumatic, so he subconsciously blocked it,
or too much time had passed and he simply forgot.
Mansu sighed and explained.
“Unless he’s a haunting spirit, it’s hard to find where he died.”
“Why?”
“Half the time, haunting spirits stay because they died unfairly and can’t leave the spot.”
“And the other half?”
“They linger around loved ones they missed before dying.”
That made sense.
“So in this case, how do we find him?”
“Sometimes through objects they owned in life.”
“Pass. He’s got nothing.”
“Or through family…”
“…Pass.”
“Then by checking their birth chart—”
So I asked John:
“Do you know your saju?”
[Saju? Four week?]
“Are you making a joke right now?”
That’s a Korean pun.
[Oh! I’m joke! Hahaha!]
“You wanna get exorcised?”
[Sorry! Forgive me! Ah, right, I’m dead. Haha! Joke! Joke!]
Was he insane before dying, or did death drive him nuts?
Dealing with ghosts like this really reminds me I’m the normal one.
…Is that a good thing, though?
“Anyway, can’t I just leave him here?”
[A ghost isn’t a stray cat, you know… you can’t just leave it.]
“You don’t have the power?”
[…That’s not it.]
The guardian spirit glanced at John, whose already-pale face turned even whiter as he flinched.
Well, he is a divine being, so he’s on another level.
[Oh! Brother! I’ll be quiet! Let me follow you! Help me! Help me!]
“It’s for your own good.”
[Why?]
“Because the dark dragon inside me keeps telling me to smite you and send you to heaven.”
[…]
John fell silent instantly, shoulders slumped.
Mansu, who’d been eavesdropping, shook his head and chimed in.
“This shrine can’t handle him. It’s not built for random spirits wandering in and out. Only shady fake shamans would let that happen.”
“He seems fine though.”
“Only because you’re here.”
“Me? I didn’t even get possessed.”
What was he talking about?
I’m no protective totem or anything.
“It doesn’t matter. As long as you subconsciously reject them, it forms a kind of protection.”
“So… like a passive skill?”
Now that I thought about it, lately ghosts didn’t cling to me unless I got curious about them first.
“Strange, though. Last time I saw you, every ghost in town was following you.”
“……”
[That’s because this boy’s spirit is the size of a soy sauce dish. That’s why his life span almost got cut short.]
The guardian spirit spoke instead of Mansu, who’d gone speechless.
Apparently, even though this shrine was fine thanks to the deities, outside, he used to get swarmed by ghosts.
His body weakened so much that even during rituals, random strong spirits would butt in, messing up the readings.
“So the food trucks and snack offerings were just small gestures of gratitude, huh?”
“Why does your brain always go there!?”
“Anyway, you’re saying no?”
“Pretty much impossible.”
[Please~.]
John’s face fell again.
He probably realized that if he kept joking, he might actually get exorcised.
“Tsk. I was hoping to use this place from time to time.”
“This isn’t a daycare or a homeless shelter, you know.”
Mansu grumbled, but I didn’t get it.
“Why not? There are plenty of wandering ghosts around here.”
That’s literally why I came — I thought they took in lost souls.
It is a spirit-related business, after all.
But Mansu frowned deeply and groaned, like there was more to it.
“Ugh…”
[That’s because before he passed his divine power to you, rumors spread that this place was like a ‘famous restaurant.’]
“Ah…”
A “famous restaurant.”
Yeah, I’d experienced that before too.
When people found out I could see ghosts, every spirit in the area swarmed me, trying to talk.
I had to pretend not to see or hear them for ages until they got bored.
Still, the persistent ones clung for months.
“Anyway, you said something about objects, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll push him to remember. Maybe we’ll find something.”
“Uh… about that, there’s one problem.”
Here we go again. Mansu always does this.
Best to play hard to get.
“I’ll think about helping after this guy’s gone. You know I’m busy these days.”
“R-right.”
That look.
My instincts tingled.
“You watched my movie yet?”
“Uh? Yeah! Of course! The one about catching demons…”
He hadn’t.
“You lying bastard. Don’t ever call me again!”
“W-wait! I’ll watch it! I’ll even gather the shrine ladies to watch it together!”
“Shut up! Even the shrine elders asked for my autograph—they loved it! You’re the only one who didn’t watch it!”
“Mercy!”
[I watched it.]
I stepped on Mansu’s leg.
Even the guardian spirit watched it, and this so-called friend of mine hadn’t?
“Aaagh! Spare me!”
“Just die! I’ll send you off myself!”
After venting my frustration, I left the shrine.
I forgave him, of course—after buying 100 movie tickets on his phone as “compensation.”
He said he’d give them out to shrine visitors as freebies.
So yeah, I walked out with the ghost still tagging along.
[Thanks, brother!]
“Tch. Lately everyone’s been nagging me… guess I can’t help it.”
I pulled out my secret weapon.
“Chairman?”
[Ah, there you are!]
The voice mixed gruffness with warmth.
Chairman Yang Mansik—his spirit sounded lively as ever.
“How about some crab today?”
[…What do you want this time?]
Yup. Definitely a ghost.
Beside Chairman Yang, his secretary Yoo Ji-gwang asked carefully:
“What’s his name again…?”
“John Smith.”
“……”
Secretary Yoo froze.
“We think he went missing or died here.”
“Now even foreign ghosts are following you?”
Chairman Yang gave me a dumbfounded look.
“I thought he was just some foreigner who came to my busking event for the ‘5 Million Promise’ campaign in Hongdae. There were so many people…”
“Um…”
Secretary Yoo cautiously spoke up.
“Yes?”
“About the name John Smith…”
“Yes?”
“If you call out ‘John’ in the English-speaking world, about three or four out of ten will turn around.”
“Huh?”
“Same goes for ‘Mr. Smith.’”
“…What?”
What he meant was, finding this guy was like trying to locate a random Kim in Korea — an incredibly common name.
“Hmm… but at least he’s a foreigner. The name’s Western, so we can narrow it down.”
“That’s true.”
“See? Experience counts for something!”
I eagerly buttered up the chairman, and Secretary Yoo smiled, a bit more relaxed now.
“Then we’ll start looking through missing and deceased foreign nationals. That should help.”
At that, I turned to John with a grin.
“Hey, looks like we might find you after all!”
Both the chairman and the secretary froze instantly.
“…Did you seriously bring a Western ghost all the way here?”
The chairman asked this while cautiously picking up a small crucifix nearby.
