“What did you just say?”
“What. What do you mean, yo…”
Shim Kijung approached him, her slippers squeaking.
“What did you just say? Say it again.”
“That I’m really dumbfounded…”
Jaegyeom looked down with a sullen expression and replied.
“Ah, no. Not that, the last one.”
“My flowers must have been eaten by the deer.”
Shim Kijung’s face hardened and she narrowed her eyes. There was a strange tension in the conference room. While the bleached haired man stood between the two of them and watched, Shim Kijung suddenly grabbed Jaegyeom’s arm and led him away. Jaegyeom stumbled as he was dragged away.
“What do you see?”
He stood on the masking tape again. “Tell me,” Shim Kijung pursed her purple lips. Meanwhile, everyone was now looking at Jaegyeom. Jaegyeom, who was standing in a daze in a sudden unexpected situation, alternately stared at her and the screen.
“There are no flowers.”
In response to his sullen reply, Shim Kijung crossed her arms,
“Not the flowers. Tell me everything you see.”
Jaegyeom glanced at the screen.
“I see deers.”
At that, her eyes widened.
Jaegyeom’s answer caused a noticeable stir in the meeting room. The murmuring voices of the test takers were heard, ‘what is he saying, he said he sees deers, I didn’t see it, I didn’t see it either, there were only flowers, isn’t he doing that to get attention…’
“Noisy. Children, shut your mouth.”
Shim Kijung sounded out a warning in a cold voice to the other candidates. The voices of the test takers who were whispering about him suddenly stopped as she looked back at Jaegyeom again.
“What deers? Explain in more detail.”
“They have white spots on their bodies. One is female, and the other is male, judging by the antlers, yo. The female is sitting, male is standing.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
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.
C vffq rlifcmf vfrmfcvfv lc atf wffalcu gbbw.
“Qtja… Qtja’r kgbcu?”
Ajfusfbw ibbxfv jgbecv klat rerqlmlber fsfr. Ktf jawbrqtfgf kjr ragjcuf. Glvc’a atf batfgr rff atf vffgr… ?
“Qts vlvc’a sbe afii wf? Ktja sbe rjk atf vffgr.”
Ajfusfbw gfabgafv uglwis.
“Tbe jrxfv tbk wjcs oibkfgr atfgf jgf.”
Pc atf fcv, Vtlw Blpecu’r qegqif ilqr megifv eq. Vtf rwlifv jr rtf ifa bea j “Lj!” jcv atfc aegcfv jgbecv. Ktf bcis bcf gfwjlclcu kjr atf yifjmtfv tjlgfv wjc, ktb kjr ralii agslcu ab ugjrq atf rlaejalbc klat tlr fsfr.
At that time, Shim Kijung suddenly clapped her hands again.
“Uhh… ?”
It was instantaneous. The applicants’ number tags all changed. Those who received red because they saw fewer flowers remained the same but the tags that were blue because they answered that they saw a lot of flowers changed to other colors.
“Children who received blue, come back when your eyes are more open.”
The tags turned pitch black, resembling that of disqualified candidate number 38.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The test takers looking down at the black numbered tags looked as though they had been slapped in the back of the head. As soon as Shim Kijung finished speaking, the back door swung open. The same tired exorcist, who had been standing in the hallway, stepped in.
“Thank you for your effort.”
The exorcist greeted them with a yawn, then waved his hand as if signaling them to come out quickly.
“Um, th- then, does red mean pass?”
The bleached haired man asked with a puzzled face at the unexpected turn of situation.
“That’s right. Blue is a first stage elimination.”
Pass?! Jaegyeom’s eyes widened at that moment.
“Children who received red go to the second stage. The fewer flowers you see, the better your eyes are.”
Sim Kijung explained the images on the screen in a husky voice. The bleached haired man had found a single flower. His face lit up like the moon.
“Wow! Seven-seven! Oh my god!”
The man was overjoyed and turned to Jaegyeom for a high five. However, the latter turned his head to look at the screen, completely ignoring the other’s raised hand. In response, the bleached man withdrew his hands in a natural manner and clapped with an “ahem…”.
As expected. He thought something was wrong. There’s no way he would be eliminated…
As he thought to himself, Jaegyeom fiddled with the number tag. What the heck, he had gotten all worked up. Of course he would pass, so he scoffed at the test and was at ease, and then he thought he was eliminated, but then things turned around and he realized that he had passed. That must be why he was agitated.
Jaegyeom was oddly happy. Indeed, there was a reason why Yoon Taehee said it was a rite of passage. He wished he had believed it from the start, but he was swept away by people speculating on the red and blue colors.
“H- how did this happen?”
At that time, the test taker whose neck hung a number tag that changed from blue to black urgently spoke up. He naturally thought he had passed, but the result was the opposite of what he expected, so there was a look of incomprehension on his face.
“Isn’t blue supposed to mean pass? You said that the more you open your eyes, the more you see. Then, of course, isn’t it better to see a lot?”
The test taker protested with an incredulous face.
“Did I ever say that it’s good to see a lot?”
“Yes? Ha, but! Then why did you give me blue? Blue is a positive color, and red is an ominous color. Why mislead people…”
After the candidate stopped talking, Shim Kijung slowly opened her eyes.
“Child, it’s different for each person.”
She added while stroking her black hair.
“Why is red ominous? Red is the color of passion to me, right? Besides, this field is a place where common sense is subverted. It would be good to adjust your preconceived notions first.”
She said with a straight face. Jaegyeom, who was standing next to her, turned his head and looked at the bleached haired man and opened his mouth, “Did you hear that? Strawberries are not ominous.” The man gave him a dumbfounded look, thinking, ‘no, what’s with being hung up on strawberries since earlier…’
***
“By the way, child number 77. See me for a second.”
While the eliminated applicants left the meeting room, Shim Kijung dragged her slippers and approached Jaegyeom who was still standing on the masking tape. She crossed her arms and stared at him.
“What’s your name, child? You’re a recommended candidate, right?”
Jaegyeom, who was about to reply, suddenly closed his mouth.
After clearly cautioning everyone not to reveal their personal information, Shim Kijung asked for his personal information as if the test had been over. What… If he answered this, wouldn’t he be eliminated? Jaegyeom raised his eyes in silence with a strange suspicion. Sensing his wariness, the woman clicked her tongue and let out a laugh.
“I thought it was pretty interesting that you couldn’t see any flowers at all.”
Shim Kijung looked at Jaegyeom with amusement in her eyes. The boy, wearing a yellow shirt with crooked bangs, looked both rough and ordinary.
“Only one or two out of a hundred say that they cannot see a single flower. Not being able to see any flowers means having perfect eyes, this is something you have to be born with.”
Jaegyeom scratched his cheek at the light compliment and averted his gaze.
“But I was surprised you even saw deers.”
Shim Kijung muttered as she stroked her wiry hair.
“Children who see a deer only come out once every few years. It’s been 3 years since I’ve been supervising tests, and you’re the first one to see a deer, child number 77. I think there are about 20 people in Naryecheong who have seen deer in decades…”
Those who passed the first stage in the conference room widened their eyes. Attention was focused on Jaegyeom. A gaze of admiration, a gaze of wonder, a gaze of envy, and various gazes pierced at him.
“Um, excuse me. Excuse me for interrupting…”
At that time, the bleached haired man raised his hand.
“What does it mean to see a deer?”
Shim Kijung’s gaze turned to the screen.
“That picture is a special picture. The deers in the picture are spiritual creatures invisible to ordinary people, and they liked that place. The deers died long ago. There are no deer in the actual photo. Child number 77 saw an afterimage of a deer.”
All Shim Kijung could see was only the faint shadow of the deers. She knew there were two deer, but she couldn’t see their patterns, postures, or detailed shapes. Even this was not visible when she was in the position of a test taker, and only a single flower was visible. However, number 77 gave an accurate and specific description.
“Your eyes have to be perfectly open to see the afterimages. And not only hearing and seeing ghosts, but also being able to touch them. This means your spiritual senses must be open. And the vessel of spiritual energy you have must be large.”
At the explanation that followed, the bleached haired man looked at Jaegyeom with a bewildered face. Seven-seven, who had been talking about strawberries, suddenly looked so tremendous. Jaegyeom, with a pensive expression, was only innocently fiddling with the number tag.
Well this much was… hmm…
“This is probably the first time since 10 years ago that someone has seen a deer as clearly as child 77. Hm, there was Chief Yoon Taehee of the Exorcism Department.”
At the three-letter name that flowed from her purple lips, Jaegyeom raised his head involuntarily. So Yoon Taehee had also seen the same thing as him. When he thought of it like that, a strange feeling arose for some reason. Just when Jaegyeom looked at the screen again as if possessed, Shim Kijung smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder.
“If you see him later, child, tell him you saw a deer too. He’ll probably be pleased to hear it. Although it might be difficult to meet because his face is hard to see… If there is a chance.”
After she finished speaking, Shim Kijung raised her index finger and touched the red number tag hanging on Jaegyeom’s chest. Then the color of the number plate changed. Everyone else, including the bleached haired man, made puzzled faces. The color that changed was a dazzling golden yellow.
“What is this? What.”
Jaegyeom paused and looked down at the number tag.
“As explained, seeing the afterimage of a deer means that your spiritual senses are open, and the vessel for the spiritual energy is excellent. Of course, even if you’re immature in handling spiritual energy, that’s something you need to train for, and if the child falters, the headquarters will also suffer a loss. So, we let those who saw the deer pass the first test like this. We jokingly call it the gold pass. I had also looked forward to using it one day too.”
Gold pass? Jaegyeom, who did not understand Shim Kijung’s words, cast a glance at the bleached haired man. He had a funny look on his face.
“Child number 77 is exempt from the 2nd and 3rd stages.”
The room erupted in murmurs at the untimely appearance of the successful candidate.
“Congratulations on becoming a probationary exorcist in 1st place.”
A rite of passage. It was indeed what Yoon Taehee had said.
Jaegyeom is so silly and cute and best of all he’s an op
That’s ma boyyyy
I feel so proud hahaha
Yoon Taehee continues to become even more interesting! Seeing deers while being so young? Sounds cool