Pr: K
“Accident? What accident?”
Without uttering a sound, Yoon Taehee rested his chin casually and then abruptly turned his head gazing out the window. His neat fingertips tapped the table as if he was tracing a memory.
“It was an incident where an exorcist from the Talisman Department tried to steal a wooden plaque.”
It was something that happened more than 30 years ago. It was a famous anecdote among the exorcists.
“Once upon a time, there was an exorcist from the Talisman Department who guarded the door of the registry room. But the exorcist did not get along well with their colleagues. Perhaps they had a personal grudge and wanted to place a curse on their colleagues. As a result, they thought they should first release the contract that stipulated that they could not harm their fellow exorcists.”
Since they were a guard, it would have been easy for them to sneak into the registry room. However, the moment the Talisman Department’s exorcist touched the wooden plaque with their name, the wooden tablet instantly burst into flames, and at the same time, flames erupted from their body as well. As a terrible scream rang out, other survivors rushed to investigate the situation, but the scene was so gruesome that they could not bear to open their eyes.
Jaegyeom, who was listening to the story, frowned and asked.
“So what happened to them? Did they die?”
Yoon Taehee was silent for a moment, then nodded with sunken eyes.
“…Yes, they’re dead.”
“Then who is guarding the front of the registry room now?”
“A stone statue.”
A stone statue? Jaegyeom wondered with a puzzled look.
“After that accident, the Talisman Department must have learned a lesson not to trust people. So they erected a stone statue instead of a person, and inside that statue lives a trustworthy watchman. It is a white tiger created by the secretary himself through a spell.”
One of Jaegyeom’s eyebrows rose crookedly.
“You mean that white tiger protects the registry room?”
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.
“Yes. It’s a very loyal guy.”
Pa kbeiv tjnf yffc wemt fjrlfg ab ygfjx atgbeut lo rbwfbcf tjv yffc uejgvlcu la. Cr klat wbra qfbqif, atfs kbeiv tjnf yffc jyif ab ufa jgbecv atfw rbwftbk, ktfatfg ys mbjzlcu bg aglmxlcu. Lbkfnfg, atlr wfatbv kbeiv cba kbgx bc atf ktlaf alufg. Cr la kjr mgfjafv atgbeut wjulm jcv kbeiv wbnf bcis ys mbwwjcv. Pa mjgglfv bea tlr qegqbrf klatbea jcs fggbg.
“There is a spell on the white tiger. If anyone other than the secretary of the registry room tries to enter this place, they will be immediately bitten to death. Sometimes, if you are unlucky, even if you just pass in front of it, it will recognize you as an intruder and jump out of the statue to attack you.”
Jaegyeom, who was listening to Yoon Taehee’s words, blurted out.
“Then it’s probably one of two things. Either get rid of the person who casted the spell or get rid of the statue.”
Yoon Taehee stared at Jaegyeom across the table, with a weary gaze. It was a similar reaction to when he brought up the wooden plaque earlier. Jaegyeom said with a sour expression.
“I can deduce that much.”
Well, how many years had he lived…
Jaegyeom’s point was accurate this time too. Since it was not a real tiger, it would not disappear no matter how many times someone attacked it. The way to deal with the annoying tiger was to defeat the spell caster. If the caster fell into unconsciousness, the spell would wear off on its own. Another way was to get rid of the main body that the spell was casted on. Since it was said that the tiger appeared inside the stone statue, the main body was likely to be the stone statue.
The boy, who had a bored face that seemed dulled by time, sometimes took on a different look, like a razor-sharp blade. Every time, Yoon Taehee felt a dizzying blow that struck a corner of his heart.
“Where the hell did he come from…”
Yoon Taehee muttered to himself without realising it.
“What?”
“…What we are aiming for is the stone statue. It’s the main body of the spell.”
Yoon Taehee, who paused for a while, continued speaking casually.
“The caster is Okrye-ssi, the secretary of the registry room… Attacking a fellow exorcist is a violation of the contract, so it’s a heavy burden. You’ll have to pay the price like last time. And above all, you are admitting that you are plotting treason.”
This time, Jaegyeom accepted the words without wavering.
“But that’s the same even if you destroy the statue. If the body is damaged, the person who performed the spell will know it. They will notice that there’s an intruder, so then what are you going to do?”
Jaegyeom was more knowledgeable about this field than anyone else. It was only natural that he had lived so many years. Yoon Taehee opened his mouth by squeezing and opening his hand.
“That’s right. In the end, Okrye-ssi, the spell caster, will find out that there is an intruder in the registry room. The moment she finds out that the main body is broken, she will immediately run to the registry room, right?”
Yoon Taehee added with a playful smile.
“But what can I do about this? It’s not within running distance at all.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Okrye-ssi is not at Naryecheong right now and for the next two months.”
So there is no secretary? Jaegyeom furrowed his eyebrows together.
“Where is she now?”
“Okrye-ssi is 79 years old this year.”
“She’s seventy-nine years old?” Jaegyeom echoed in disbelief.
“She will be celebrating her 80th birthday the day after tomorrow. But what does that matter?”
Okrye became a nun when she was young and practiced Buddhism. However, because she indulged in drinking and entertainment, she was excommunicated from the temple where she worked. So Okrye, who returned to the secular world, entered Naryecheong. Okrye-ssi had an eccentric personality and was stubborn, so she did not get along easily with others. In particular, her behavior was so eccentric that she was treated as an odd person even within Naryecheong.
Whenever someone called Okrye ‘grandmother’, she would get angry. “You punk! I’m not even married, so why would I be a grandmother!”, she would say, beating them with a cane. And she always wore black sunglasses, day or night, and a thick scarf regardless of the season. However, she was so faithful to the teachings of Buddha that she went around reciting Buddhist sutras to herself, making people tremble.
“Okrye-ssi is a person who is very obsessed with the number nine.”
It was said that when the number nine comes, the year would have bad fortune and misfortunes, so whenever the number nine came around, Okrye-ssi would take refuge in a hermitage in the mountains for three months from April to July of the lunar calendar. It was a time of seclusion. This year was no different.
“So Okrye-ssi must be in a mountain valley somewhere by now. Even if she notices that the statue is broken, she won’t be able to come in person. Instead, she will contact the main office and inform them of the fact. When the people who received the call come running to the registry room…”
A faint blush appeared on Yoon Taehee’s cheeks.
“Unfortunately, the criminal must have leisurely fled the crime scene, right?”
Destroy the statue and remove the watchman. It would take at least a few minutes for the other exorcists to arrive after receiving the call, and in that time, he would break into the registry room and steal the wooden plaque.
If they found out that there was an intruder in the room, the main office would first check the wooden plaque with the name on it, but a fake wooden plaque would be placed in the place where the wooden plaque with the name has disappeared.
This was Yoon Taehee’s plan to get his name back.
Even if the wooden tablet came into someone’s possession, the contract would not be immediately broken. If that happens, just like the stone statue, Okrye, the caster, will notice. Yoon Taehee planned to break the contract at the moment right before he invaded Naryecheong. By the time the headquarters realised the traitor’s identity, it would be too late.
The war would have already started by then.
“It goes without saying, but if you steal the wooden plaque, the headquarters will be in an uproar. A large-scale search will begin to find the intruders. If someone can remove Okrye’s stone statue, it means that they are strong enough. Most of the people working in the Exorcism Department will probably be the first suspects, including you and me.”
Yoon Taehee paused for a moment and locked eyes with Jaegyeom.
“So, I want you to hide your power appropriately on the outside, even in front of the teammates. It would be strange if a mere apprentice was stronger than the chief of the team.”
Jaegyeom quietly nodded at Yoon Taehee’s request.
“And to avoid suspicion later, it would be better to establish trust now. I’m pretending to be loyal and sacrifice for Naryecheong. So, for the time being, please focus on solving cases and achieving results as a member of the Exorcism Department. The date for taking away the wooden plaque has not been decided, but it will be after the end of June.”
Jaegyeom stared blankly at the face in front of him. The eyes, which had suddenly lost their smile, looked cold and sharp. He seemed completely engrossed in discussing future plans. Since when had Yoon Taehee been collecting all this information, and how much effort has he put into building his tower to this point?
That day, in the library, the image of Yoon Taehee leisurely looking at a book came to Jaegyeom’s mind. Yoon Taehee had said that he read the same book over and over again. So what on earth was he looking for as he looked at the sentences he had already read countless times? Were you really reading a book at that time? The fact that Yoon Taehee was sitting there, that he was reading a book, all of that was one of the pieces of the puzzle to destroy Naryecheong.
“You…”
After a while, Jaegyeom suddenly opened his mouth.
“So you’ve been waiting for ten years?”
For the secretary of the registry room to leave when the number nine returned.
“Yeah.”
Yoon Taehee rested his chin and looked calmly at the boy in front of him. A strange pounding feeling spread out like ripples in Jaegyeom’s heart as he received the gaze. The ten years of waiting that Yoon Taehee had endured, he was at the end of it. He had Yoon Taehee’s ten years in his hands.
Jaegyeom felt dizzy.
Somehow I really wanna see Jaegyeom working cases and trying not to stand out. lol
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the chapter
Jaegyeom realizing he just didn’t come to cause trouble and die quickly and it will in fact take some time😵💫😵💫😵💫 and on top of it he will have to work🥲
I think I’m feeling more nervous than them, it all sounds so complicated. But wouldn’t it be boring if it was so easy to destroy Naryecheong? There would be no satisfaction in that. Excited to see what else our weird friend has planned.