“Is there a wound on your hand?”
It was a wound made on purpose while writing on the amulet earlier. The cut wasn’t deep, but blood was still oozing out little by little. It must have been noticed by the young man when he reached out to take out the book.
Jaegyeom, who hesitated for a moment, looked around.
“I cut myself while turning a book.”
“You were cut by paper, but it’s hurt like this?”
“Yes.”
“It seemed to have cut the flesh?”
When the young man asked again with his eyes narrowed, Jaegyeom’s eyebrows twitched. He would get over it in moderation, there was no need to needlessly fuss. Besides, it wasn’t really a big wound. Jaegyeom didn’t respond and gently took his hand away. Then the young man let go of Jaegyeom’s hand without saying anything. The young man turned his back and went back to the desk, bent down, opened the drawer, and started looking for something rustling. Jaegyeom took advantage of the gap and quickly stuffed the paper he was holding into his pocket.
“Here, give me your hand.”
What the young man took out of the drawer was a band-aid with a sunflower on it. The young man peeled off the wrapping paper from the bandage, and before Jaegyeom could say anything, he took his hand. Jaegyeom, who was standing bewildered, flinched and tried to withdraw his hand. Then the young man raised his eyes and looked at Jaegyeom.
“Does it hurt?”
Jaegyeom, who was silent for a moment, lowered his gaze.
“No.”
It didn’t hurt, but it felt weird for some reason. The young man touched Jaegyeom’s fingers here and there to ensure the bandage adhered well to his skin before removing his hand. The two looked into each other’s eyes for a moment.
“It’s all done.”
Just then, a vibration sounded from above the desk.
“Hello.”
The young man sat down on the desk and answered the phone. A faint voice came through the phone, but he couldn’t hear the conversation. While Jaegyeom carefully rubbed the adhesive bandage and glanced sideways at the young man, bright melodies flowed from speakers hanging from the ceiling. The bell signalled that class was over and it was break time.
He was told to come down when the bell rings…
Recalling Ms Seo’s words, Jaegyeom took his bag from the back of the desk and came out. The young man was listening over the receiver with occasional short answers such as ‘yes’, ‘but then’. Jaegyeom passed the young man without greeting, as he seemed to be busy talking on the phone. It was when he quietly opened the library door,
“Friend, are you leaving now?”
When he turned his head, the young man was looking at Jaegyeom with his phone far away from his ear. The young man who had been staring at Jaegyeom from head to toe suddenly smiled.
“Come often.”
The young man raised his hand that was not holding the phone and waved it lightly toward Jaegyeom.
“…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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There was only one reason why he nodded his head pretending to give in to Jeongju’s suggestion to go to school. If that was achieved, there would be no need to go to school full of humans anymore. Jaegyeom rubbed the bandage on his index finger. He was rough to the touch, but he didn’t hate it too much.
“Friend…”
Mumbling to himself, Jaegyeom went down the stairs.
***
Lee Youngshin, the Chief of Team 1 of the Ceremonial Instruments Department, had a piece of wood in his hand.
It had been cut down from a maple tree that had been struck by lightning. When making ceremonial instruments, sacred materials were needed. This time, the tree he got in his hand was quite difficult to cut down because it was inhabited by a strong wood spirit. He had to be careful when touching sacred natural objects such as trees and rocks. This was because if they did something wrong, the divine spirit could get angry and bring dongti.
In order to prevent dongti, they had to hold ancestral rites or use talisman. Because the rituals took a long time, they usually used the talisman issued by the Talisman Department. This time, he received and attached the most passable Grade 3 felling talisman (a talisman attached to a tree or worn when moving or felling a large tree), but it did not work. It didn’t matter. Two of the senior exorcists of the Ceremonial Instruments Department who went to the logging received backlash. Fortunately, however, it was over with no damage to the soul or life, just the loss of the use of one arm. After two days of cleansing at the hands of the Purification Department, they regained the use of their arms.
Thanks to this, the Purification Department showed displeasure at the Ceremonial Instruments Department, and Lee Youngshin, who was furious about it, scrambled to chop down the tree. The piece of wood he held in his hand was the trophy. Originally, the production of ceremonial instruments was a high-level task that required constant spiritual energy throughout the cutting and trimming. Others confine themselves to a small room and put their heart and soul into making it, but Lee Youngshin was making his own instrument while talking on the phone with his cell phone propped on his shoulder. Of course, it was possible because he was a Senior.
“Hey, according to common sense, what did our kids do wrong? Isn’t it because the Talisman Department was given to the wrong talisman? If they gave it to a grade 1 felling talisman in the first place, our kids would have been fine? Am I wrong? But the Purification Department messing with us, fuck. I was going to go and pay it back, but I put up with it.”
Lee Youngshin was talking passionately into his cell phone. But there was no reply on the other side of the phone. Lee Youngshin, who was diligently carving wood, stopped his hand.
“Hey, are you listening?”
— Friend, are you leaving now?
The voice faded over the phone.
— Come visit often.
Lee Youngshin narrowed his eyes.
“Hey. Chief Yoon.”
— Not you. I was just saying bye to someone for a while.
“What, weren’t you alone? Who were you with?”
— I’m alone now.
“Where?”
— School library.
“Library? Why the library?”
— I’m on secret assignment. I infiltrated as a librarian.
Lee Youngshin grabbed the mobile phone that he was supporting on his shoulder with both hands. The half-hewn piece of wood slipped out of his hand and rolled across his desk. What? Infiltrate for what?
“…”
Lee Youngshin, who was silent for a while, flared his nostrils a few times, and then started to burst out laughing until he was out of breath.
***
Lee Youngshin and Yoon Taehee were close friends. The former entered Naryecheong earlier than Yoon Taehee and attained a Senior rank first. Yoon Taehee entered the service a year later than Lee Youngshin, and as soon as he entered, he outpaced Lee Youngshin, and he was promoted rapidly. The situation was enough to make Lee Youngshin envious and jealous of Yoon Taehee.
But Lee Youngshin didn’t care about that. Rather, he chased after Yoon Taehee. He had begged him to become his friend, saying that he had never seen someone his age stronger than me. Of course, this was only possible because Lee Youngshin had room and confidence in his abilities. Even if Lee Youngshin was not in a hurry, he had no doubt that he would one day attain the Chief position, and it actually happened.
“Youngshin-ah. I’m going to fall deaf, put your phone away and laugh.”
Lee Youngshin giggled for a while as if something was so hilarious.
— Hey, do you think I’m you, someone unable to laugh? Well, even if you sneak in, pfft!
Teenagers were usually targeted to be chorani. Each gwijae was born with a total amount of spiritual energy, and depending on how strong the energy is, they were able to see, hear, and even physically contact ghosts. The younger the age, the more latent the spiritual energy were found. There were a few exceptions, but this was usually the case.
After a certain age without knowing how to handle ghosts, spiritual energy gradually became duller. Therefore, before that period passed, one had to learn how to sharpen and polish it through training. Allowing a person gifted with strong spiritual energy to use it freely was like melting precious gold and smelting it into the desired shape.
An exorcist, who has a strong spiritual energy, could bring out a much stronger effect even if he uses the same talisman and ceremonial instruments. For the exorcists, spiritual energy could be said to be the sum of one’s talents. When it was time to recruit chorani, the exorcists from the Secret Service Department roamed around schools across the country in search of young gwijaes. Most of them disguised themselves as teachers, but,
“If you infiltrate as a teacher, you have to teach. I’m terrible at teaching.”
There were occasional exceptions.
— Hey, nevertheless. Who would go to the library?
“Youngshin, you shouldn’t think that everyone is like you. There are a lot of kids who come to read books.”
Yoon Taehee consoled Lee Youngshin, who was desperately refuting, and carefully rummaged through the pockets of his pants with his hand, which was not holding his cell phone. He had kept a jade seal in his trouser pocket. It was an instrument made by Lee Youngshin. The jade seal was a special tool used to search for gwijaes. If you put ink on the stamp and stamped each corner of the floor with the spiritual energy in your hand, inchworms appeared in that space.
A special inchworms made of spiritual energy can detect a person with spiritual energy. It was because only those whose senses were open to a certain level or higher could see the inchworms with the naked eye. Yoon Taehee had placed in this library. If a gwijae entered this place, inchworms would come out and climb on the body of the gwijae. And Yoon Taehee has met two so far.
However, Yoon Taehee did not pay much attention to the two students. He intended to watch for a while. Depending on how strong the spiritual energy was, the number of inchworms that clung to one would change. Only one hung onto both of the students. As far as Yoon Taehee was concerned, he wanted a strong gwijae. Anyway, he had two months, so he thought to wait calmly.
Yoon Taehee took out the jade seal that he had quietly put in the back pocket of his pants. Yoon Taehee, who had been fiddling with the jade seal the entire time he was talking on the phone with Youngshin, stopped his hand at some point.
— Have you been to the new store across from the main office? The tonkatsu there…
“Youngshin.”
— Hm?
“The jade seal you gave me.”
— Oh, that. What about it?
Yoon Taehee looked down at the seal in his palm.
“It’s broken.”
The seal made by Lee Youngshin had a crack in the centre. As if it had been cut with a knife, it was precisely and cleanly cracked. Surprised, Lee Youngshin screamed.
— Why is it broken?!
“I don’t know. Looking at it now, it’s broken.”
— Hey! That’s what I made with so much hard work!
A broken jade seal cannot function properly. Inchworms would no longer come out, and all the work in the library became for naught.
“Why did it break… it was fine until morning.”
Yoon Taehee, lost in thought, muttered to himself.
— What why! It’s because you dropped it!
“I never dropped it.”
Lee Youngshin was puzzled and said.
— You didn’t even drop it, but it broke? Did you kill all the worms? If all the worms die, the seal will break.
“What are you talking about, I didn’t even touch the worms.”
— Therefore! It must have been broken by dropping or something.
“I had the seal on my body all day, I couldn’t have dropped it…”
Ah. Yoon Taehee stopped talking halfway through. A glint flashed over the still eyes. The seal that has never been dropped broke on its own, and if all the inchworms die, the seal would break. And the worms were visible only to those whose spiritual senses were open. The seal, which was fine in the morning, was broken in a short time. So then…
— Do you know how hard it is to carve jade? Even if you shave for an hour, your whole body will lose all of your spiritual energy! And how difficult it is to find jade, I went to a well that was possessed by ghosts before, and over there…
Yoon Taehee took the phone away from his ear. Lee Youngshin’s constant chattering voice buzzed like mosquitoes. Yoon Taehee stared down at the broken jade seal, then stared at the tidy desk. A book was placed on the desk.
Knowledge And Love.
No way… He had looked at him from head to toe, but he thought it was boring because there wasn’t a single bug hanging on him…
Yoon Taehee, who recalled the boy who was somehow cold, rested his chin on his hand. His long fingers tapped the top of his desk like a piano.
“That’s sexy.”
So, it was Taehee? The school librarian? That was cool.
This is so interesting..
Thanks for the chapter!!!
I wonder how taehee plans to win jaegyeoms heart :DDD
IM FANGIRLING SO HARD! “That’s sexy” oh my, Yoon Taehee I like you already… He is so cool!
🧡🧡🧡
Hmmm did he realise already that the boy killed all the worms? 😳😳
Khhhhhhgsvdhsjejekeoesjsjsksjwj i was fangirling over the interaction in the library but i was holding myself back cause i though that was not the ml. BUT now i know, I’m screaming
Loooool I thought the other J guy (yk the celebrity) was the mc😂😂
HELP HE’S SO 😭 UNHINGED. “That’s sexy.” Yeah, I hear that all the time in good ol cliche dramas with a creepy male lead. Oh well, all’s fine because this guy is strong and handsome amirite? All that aside, he’s so unnecessarily on crack. Well, that he is. Will now continue reading. Thank you for the chap, translator ❤️