KTC | Chapter 25

“Has the situation reversed now?” Seo Jihan asked, knees planted on either side of Choi Seonwoo’s waist, leaning forward until their noses were almost touching. Like Choi Seonwoo had done at the beginning of the exorcism, Seo Jihan slightly lifted his eyelids with his thumbs.

However, the outcome was starkly different. Seo Jihan was disappointed. He had hoped he might glimpse something in the unconscious state, but it wasn’t to be. Even now, Choi Seonwoo was obsessively hiding his core.

“What’s so secretive?”

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Deflated, Seo Jihan slumped down. Though lean, his inherent large frame meant he had considerable weight, causing Choi Seonwoo to emit a small groan under the sudden pressure. Startled, Seo Jihan stiffened, then relaxed only when Choi Seonwoo’s breathing steadied once more.

Their bodies overlapped as one; Seo Jihan rested his chin on Choi Seonwoo’s shoulder, close enough to see the fine hairs on his face and hear his peaceful breathing like waves lapping a shore.

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“Ah… it was this scent,” Seo Jihan murmured with a mix of joy and emptiness. The familiar scent filled his nostrils, awakening all his senses.

How had he lived forgetting this? How could he have excised such an important person from his memory and continued living like a normal person?

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Seo Jihan wallowed in Choi Seonwoo’s scent, self-reproaching while indulging in the aroma. Fragments of his shattered soul floated slowly above the threshold of awareness, gradually finding their way back, filling in what he had been unable to recognize.

I missed this person. Despite leaving so cruelly, every time my sleepwalking tormented me, it was always him who appeared to rescue me from that place. Even unconsciously, I longed and waited for my savior.

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“In the past, it was me who enveloped you.”

Choi Seonwoo, usually appearing taller and more imposing than he was, seemed considerably smaller when laid out flat. The physical disparity became strikingly apparent.

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“Now, I’m bigger.”

Savoring the pleasant warmth through the thin layers of clothing, Seo Jihan aligned his body with Choi Seonwoo’s, checking their shoulders, chest width, and the length of arms and legs. As he extended his arms fully, his shoulders reached up to Choi Seonwoo’s chest. The process was endlessly fascinating, like a child playing with sand for the first time.

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Choi Seonwoo stirred uncomfortably again, making a throaty noise. Only then did Seo Jihan stop his child-like antics.

“I’m bigger now.”

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Seo Jihan murmured softly as he nuzzled his face against Choi Seonwoo’s collarbone.

And so, if you ever need someone’s embrace one day, I will hold you tightly without any gaps, he silently vowed to himself.

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Just as he had sheltered me so protectively in the past, I would return the favor.

Since his return from abduction, Seo Jihan had occasionally exhibited symptoms of somnambulism. In retrospect, that too must have been the mischief of spirits trying to push him into calamity and confusion, intruding on his unconscious state to provoke despair and make him walk into perdition on his own.

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One evening at age seven, Seo Jihan found himself by the side of a two-lane road. Unusually, there was neither his grandfather nor any bodyguards around. No parked cars, but distant sounds of waves crashing and faint human voices could be heard.

The torrential rain had stopped, leaving puddles all over the ground. Frightened, he started running toward the sounds but misstepped into a puddle and fell hard.

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At that moment, a dark-colored van approached the fallen child. The headlights were off as it pulled up beside him. The door opened immediately.

The kidnapping was swift. Unable to resist properly, the small body of the child was swallowed by the sinister van.

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Though young, Seo Jihan was aware he had been kidnapped. His mouth was taped shut and wrists tied with rope; another child, about his age, lay beside him, face swollen and limp as if dead.

What should I do? Will the men come to save me? Do they know where I am?

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As he trembled with fear, what felt like an eternity passed. As the deep night began to lighten, the continuously speeding van slowed down. They had arrived somewhere.

What should I do now? Overwhelmed with fear as his mind overflowed with desperate thoughts, the van stopped completely.

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“What’s this kid doing?”

A gruff man inside the van spoke, prompting the others to look out. Seo Jihan, holding his breath, carefully moved his eyes.

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The first thing he saw against the lightening sky was a bright neon cross sign beaming from a newly constructed church, guarded like a fortress by high walls.

I’ll never get out if I go in there.

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As he despairingly thought this and looked around again, the men were alerted by someone standing at the only accessible iron gate. The person, dressed in a worn-out black outfit with a backpack, seemed like a tourist at a glance.

He was looking inside the gate with his phone, then slowly turned his head towards the rumbling van. At that moment, his light brown hair, almost mistaken for blonde, shimmered beautifully in the dawn light.

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His face was as pale as if he had seen a ghost, and his deep-set eyes, dark as wells, absorbed the morning’s yin energy, exuding an eerie aura. The round bracelets on his wrists also reflected a dull light.

“Who are you guys?”

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The young man’s voice wasn’t heard, but the shape of his bright red lips conveyed his words clearly to everyone.

“Just take him in with us?”

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“That would be tricky given his age. It’d be different if it was a girl, but he’s a boy.”

“It might be more troublesome to let him go now.”

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The men quickly exchanged views, and the driver got out of the van. He approached the boy with a forced smile, appearing to say something, but the boy’s expression hardened as he alternately looked at the man and the van.

“What are you doing?”

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“Hurry up and get rid of it.”

Eventually, another man from the back seat stepped out as the sliding door opened and closed. In that brief moment, Seo Jihan and the boy made eye contact. As if understanding the entire situation in that instant, the boy’s face contorted uncontrollably.

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“Ha!”

Seo Jihan suddenly woke from his dream. He sat up with a start, panting, then rolled off the bed and rushed downstairs to Choi Seonwoo’s room.

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Choi Seonwoo was still lying exactly where Seo Jihan had left him. Approaching quietly, Seo Jihan gazed at his face for a long time before turning to leave the room.

Leaning against the wall next to the door, he repeatedly wiped his face with his hands.

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Everything is fine. He is here beside me, living a faithful life as a healthy clergyman.

Then why do I feel so sad, angry, anxious, and restless?

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Seo Jihan couldn’t figure out why, feeling suffocated by the unknown.

As the weather grew chillier and the air drier, it was an increasingly inconvenient time for Choi Seonwoo, who naturally had dry skin and wasn’t in the habit of diligently applying moisturizer. His face was prone to flaking, and his lips were frequently chapped, often leading to peeling and scabs from absent-minded picking.

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“You really waste that pretty face in strange ways.”

Watching Choi Seonwoo absentmindedly pick at his lip flakes in the mirror, Seo Jihan murmured. It was almost as if Choi Seonwoo was deliberately seeking to see blood, solidifying those alluring crimson lips.

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“Ah…!”

Once again, Choi Seonwoo ended up bleeding from his lips today. Seo Jihan clicked his tongue, fetched some lotion from his room, and handed it over.

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“Apply this to your lips at least. If the flakes bother you, you need to prevent them, not keep picking at them until they bleed. What kind of self-harm is that?”

“You don’t understand. It’s just too bothersome to care for.”

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The answer felt refreshingly sincere from someone who otherwise never showed laziness. Seo Jihan couldn’t help but find the grumpy response somewhat endearing, prompting a brief fantasy conversation with a sage.

That day, starting with such a trivial episode, was September 27th, the day before the Chuseok holiday. It turned out to be a somewhat unusual day. From the morning, parishioners kept visiting the church, inquiring about Choi Seonwoo’s schedule for the afternoon, and just before lunch, the village chief himself made a rare visit to the church.

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“Oh, Chief! Have you finally decided to embrace the Lord?”

Choi Seonwoo rushed over with a wide smile, his old autumn coat fluttering in the mature autumn breeze.

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“What are you talking about? I’m just here for a visit, so don’t get the wrong idea.”