Chapter 48: Junk Food (1)

 

In this neighborhood, there was a boy known as a genius.

 

He wasn’t called a genius because he excelled in his studies.

 

Nor was he called a genius because he was great at sports.

 

These days, children like that are not referred to as geniuses.

 

One must possess strong psychic abilities to be called a genius.

 

And the boy named Gujeon was a genius in this era.

 

Just how much of a genius was this boy named Gujeon?

 

Explaining this boy’s genius didn’t require many words. Simply saying that Gujeon attended Cheonji Academy was enough.

 

Cheonji Academy, the only educational institution run by Cheonji, the world’s top organization of psychics, only admitted geniuses with psychic abilities.

 

“Haa.”

 

But the expression on that genius boy’s face was gloomy.

 

‘I guess I need to work more delivery jobs.’

 

It was all because of money.

 

Although Cheonji Academy’s tuition was free, items used within the academy, like charms and talismans, were not.

 

To be precise, there were basic charms and talismans provided, but to avoid failing, better ones were needed.

 

And those items were very expensive.

 

So much so that his only family, his sister, had to go into debt.

 

His feelings of being pathetic for barely avoiding failure and his guilt toward his sister tangled up inside him. Gujeon sighed deeply, then muttered with slumped shoulders.

 

“Sis, I’m home.”

 

The house was quiet.

 

‘Out working, I guess.’

 

Gujeon headed to the kitchen to at least prepare dinner.

 

The kitchen was a small space with only a single electric stove and a sink.

 

Gujeon thought calling this place a kitchen was an overstatement and chuckled wryly.

 

He opened the cupboard.

 

Inside, there were piles of instant food.

 

‘What’s this? Oh, is this what we got back then?’

 

Sometimes, a relief organization that roamed the slums handed out such items. He vaguely remembered hearing it was some religious organization.

 

He recalled the time his sister had proudly brought home a box of relief food. It seemed the instant food in that box was what he was looking at now.

 

Gujeon’s eyes scanned the cupboard.

 

What should he eat?

 

Curry seemed like a good choice.

 

He decided to use up the leftover vegetables and meat.

 

Gujeon took out two packets of curry from the cupboard. While taking out vegetables and meat from the fridge, something caught his eye.

 

===

[Food Type] Curry, Instant Food

[Net Weight] 200g

[Expiration Date] Until the date indicated on the top

 

Ingredients: Wheat flour, dextrin, curry powder 12% [turmeric 31.95%, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, rosemary, bay leaf], blended edible oil, palm stearin oil, refined salt, corn flour, mixed seasoning, tomato powder, milk cream powder, sugar, spicy seasoning extract, fruit sauce powder, pepper powder

===

 

It was the ingredient list of the curry.

 

Why did the ingredient list suddenly catch his eye?

 

“Fenugreek, what’s that?”

 

Gujeon chuckled and looked at the next curry packet.

 

===

[Food Type] Curry, Instant Food

[Net Weight] 200g

[Expiration Date] Until consumed

 

Ingredients: Wheat flour, dextrin, curry powder 12% [turmeric 31.95%, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, rosemary, bay leaf], blended edible oil, palm stearin oil, refined salt, corn flour, mixed seasoning, tomato powder, milk cream powder, sugar, generic extract, fruit sauce powder, pepper powder

===

 

Something seemed off.

 

“Expiration Date: Until consumed”?

 

What does that mean?

 

“Generic extract”? What exactly was extracted?

 

Gujeon felt a sense of unease and glanced at the trash can.

 

There was an already-eaten curry packet inside.

 

As if drawn by some compulsion, Gujeon picked it up and looked at it.

 

===

[Food Type] Not Curry

[Net Weight] 200g

[Expiration Date] Until you die

 

Ingredients: Powder, agréac, curry powder 1% [turmeric that, coriander, cumin, cumin, cumin, cumin, cumin, dark heart], blended edible oil, palm stearin oil, truth, corn flour, the end, tomato powder, I’m watching you, sugar, generic extract, eat it, pepper powder

===

 

“What is this?”

 

Startled, Gujeon threw the opened curry packet away.

 

The packaging looked normal, but the ingredient list was bizarre.

 

It was as if it had been contaminated by some ghostly information.

 

Thud- Thud-

 

At that moment, strange noises came from the bathroom.

 

The boy turned in alarm.

 

‘Wait, if the curry packet is already opened...’

 

It meant someone had already eaten the curry.

 

And the only ones living in this house were him and his sister.

 

That meant...

 

“Sis!!!”

 

Gujeon rushed to the bathroom.

 

He opened the bathroom door.

 

And one second later,

 

he wished he could close it again.

 

His sister was furiously banging her head against the wall.

 

“S-Sis.”

 

“I see. I see. I see ghosts. These are not the usual ghosts I used to see. These are different.”

 

His sister was laughing as she spoke.

 

“Things I shouldn’t see. Things I shouldn’t look at. I see them. I see them. I see them.”

 

Gujeon tried to stop her, but she had a kitchen knife in her hand. Seeing that, Gujeon made a decision.

 

“Sis, get a hold of yourself!!!”

 

The boy’s desperate cry filled the corner of the villa.

 

***

 

The boy ran.

 

Blood was flowing from his arm, but he didn’t care.

 

‘The barrier sealing my sister won’t hold for long.’

 

The boy set up a barrier around the bathroom. A barrier that even a second-grade evil spirit couldn’t easily break. However, the barrier in the bathroom was gradually cracking.

 

It wasn’t something his sister, who knew nothing about psychic abilities, could do. The fact that she had broken through his defense and left a wound on his arm was strange to begin with.

 

‘Why did my sister end up like this?’

 

The boy hurried into the police station.

 

He quickly explained the situation.

 

“So, you’re saying your sister ate something bad and is acting possessed by an evil spirit. Is that right?”

 

“Yes, please, take action, please do something quickly.”

 

“But if a student from Cheonji Academy can’t handle it… that means it’s an evil spirit of grade two or higher…”

 

The police avoided the boy’s gaze.

 

They muttered apologetically.

 

“This is beyond what we can handle. Sorry.”

 

“What? But you’re the police!”

 

“If we go, we’d only add to the body count. You’re a student at Cheonji Academy, right? Ask the Cheonji masters for help. Are you telling us to go and die?”

 

Instead of answering, Gujeon just muttered a curse under his breath.

 

He ran out of the police station.

 

“Maybe I should contact the professors…”

 

The professors at Cheonji Academy, the revered masters of Cheonji, did not take calls from students. More accurately, they didn’t take calls from students close to failing.

 

Children whose lives would be ruined if they failed at Cheonji Academy. Kids whose families invested all their resources into their graduation. It was obvious what such calls would be about.

 

If they fail, they’re doomed.

 

Please, save me.

 

Gujeon was one of those kids.

 

But the laws of Cheonji were strict.

 

So, the professors didn’t take calls from students.

 

“Damn it.”

 

Gujeon put his phone back in his pocket and ran.

 

He needed help from a nearby shaman or sorcerer.

 

No matter the cost.

 

As long as he could save his sister.

 

And this is what he heard from them:

 

“A great misfortune, an immense calamity. Give up on your sister.”

 

“Are you crazy? Your sister is already doomed. Child, you seem to have some understanding. Don’t you realize the situation yet?”

 

“A student from Cheonji Academy? And you can’t solve it? There’s no way I can solve something you can’t.”

 

No one was willing to help Gujeon.

 

His arms and legs trembled, the barrier seemed about to break.

 

If the barrier broke, his sister would go on a rampage.

 

He had to go back.

 

Even if it meant being stabbed to death by his sister, he had to go back.

 

“Hey. Unlucky brat! I’ve been seeing you a lot lately.”

 

At that moment, a voice came from behind him.

 

It was a man’s voice he recognized.

 

Gujeon remembered the man’s face.

 

‘It’s the guy I kept running into while doing delivery jobs. He looks like a celebrity but is clueless, not living up to his looks.’

 

But for some reason, Gujeon wanted to cling to him.

 

‘High-risk delivery jobs. Doing those means he must know how to handle evil spirits. I need to get help from him, even if it’s just him.’

 

With tears he had been holding back, Gujeon spoke.

 

“Please, help me.”

 

“Whoa, kid. Why are you crying all of a sudden?”

 

“My sister… she…”

 

Gujeon began to explain.

 

The spoiled instant food.

 

His sister seeing things that weren’t there.

 

And then her going mad.

 

Upon hearing this, the man frowned and got off his electric scooter. Seeing his expression, Gujeon realized how foolish he had been.

 

‘To make such a request of someone I only ran into a few times at work. Even I would have cursed myself for being so naive. There’s no way a stranger would help with something this dangerous.’

 

The police couldn’t help.

 

He couldn’t hire a shaman or sorcerer with money.

 

So why would a stranger help him?

 

Gujeon quickly wiped his tears and said, “I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.” Then he ran back home. But the electric scooter was following him.

 

The man on the scooter spoke.

 

“So, your sister ate some weird food and now she can see ghosts? You’re saying she can see ghosts that were invisible before? Really?”

 

Why, why is this man following him?

 

Gujeon couldn’t understand any of it.

 

“Kid, get on!!! Let’s go to your house right now!!!”

 

Why? Why is he willing to help with this?

 

Sitting on the back of the scooter, Gujeon cried like a child, not knowing the reason. He didn’t notice the excited expression on Yoo Hajin’s face as he drove the electric scooter.

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

 

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