SRW | Chapter 07

“A ghost… you say?”

“An evil spirit! Yeah, an evil spirit.”

“An… evil spirit?!”

Bear’s face turned pale.

‘This guy actually believes it.’

Encouraged by his intense reaction, I started adding more details to the story. I told him that Hyunwoo had an evil spirit attached to him and that something terrible might happen soon. I warned him that if the evil spirit found out I’d given him a talisman, things would get messy, so he had to keep it safe and watch over Hyunwoo. As I spun this ridiculous tale, Bear clutched the box I gave him like a treasure and nodded solemnly.

“And, uh, the reason I picked a fight earlier… I was just curious how the evil spirit would react, so don’t take it personally.”

“Sunbaenim… you must be going through a lot.”

“Huh?”

“You’re such a kind person, but people misunderstand you…”

Huh? What? I was so caught off guard that I stumbled over my words, but Bear nodded firmly, as if to say, ‘Even if everyone else misunderstands you, I’ll believe in you.’ He wasn’t just believing me. He was sympathizing with me? Before I could even express my disbelief, Bear bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle and then ran off to the bench where his friends were.

“Is he insane?”

I cringed so hard it felt like bugs were crawling all over my body. I couldn’t believe I’d spouted such nonsense. The fact that Bear believed it so wholeheartedly made it even more absurd and embarrassing. After flailing around for a while, I accidentally glanced over and locked eyes with Bear. He was now far away. He looked at me with pity, clenched his fist, and gave me a thumbs-up.

Thumbs-up…? Why a thumbs-up…? Don’t tell me he thinks my flailing was because of some spiritual struggle?

“What kind of lunatic is that?!”

Ugh, I hope Hyunwoo survives, but Bear can just drop dead.

*

Somewhere in a rundown neighborhood in Seoul. Under the dim moonlight, a boy in a school uniform walked into a narrow alley. The uneven, sloping stairs that were barely illuminated by the flickering streetlights, were familiar to the boy after ten years of walking the same path. But familiarity didn’t breed affection. No one could love an alley littered with spit, cigarette butts, and broken liquor bottles. Even without all that, the boy had hated this neighborhood from the moment he first arrived.

Whenever the boy walked this path, he would touch his neck. The smooth nape where something that once seemed permanent had disappeared.

After winding through the crooked alley, the boy stopped in front of an old iron gate and frowned at the scattered utility bills on the ground. He always made sure to wedge the bills into the gate when he left. The fact that they were scattered meant an unwelcome guest had come. The boy stepped on the bills and opened the gate as he entered the yard. Inside, there was a door with a broken window patched up with duct tape. Since no light was coming through the cracks, the guest had either left or was passed out drunk. Either way, the boy felt a slight relief as he opened the door.

“Ah.”

The boy couldn’t dodge the rice bowl that flew at him from the darkness. As he squint his eyes to see in the dark, he saw a middle-aged man drinking in the kitchen. The boy smiled and greeted him.

“You’re here.”

The man was startled by the boy’s calm greeting. He gripped his soju glass tightly as if he might throw it next.

“…Whose life are you trying to ruin now?”

His voice was heavy with emotion. Once, there might have been something like affection in the way he looked at the boy, but now it was filled with hatred, anger, fear, disgust, and despair. The boy didn’t avoid his gaze and walked straight to his room.

“Who are you trying to ruin?!”

The man threw a gray box at the boy as he tried to enter his room. The lid came off, and over a hundred photos spilled out at the boy’s feet. All of them were pictures of the same person.

“You crazy bastard…”

“…Still rummaging through my room, huh, Uncle?”

The boy smiled. His face was eerily calm for someone whose secrets had been exposed. The man muttered, “Of course, this guy wouldn’t react to something like this,” then picked up a photo that had been flipped over and waved it in the air. Unlike the other photos taken from a distance, this one was a selfie of the man and the boy together. The back of the photo had a recent date written on it.

“What are you planning to do with him? Kidnap him? Rape him? Or… kill him?”

As the man sneered, the smile faded from the boy’s face. Under the moonlight streaming through the window, the boy’s pale face looked like a wax doll, devoid of any expression. Seeing the boy’s true face, the man crumpled the photo and threw it. Thud. The photo disappeared into the dark corner.

“Still as uncreative as ever.”

The boy tilted his head slightly. It was as if he was daring the man to try again. The man’s eyes glowed fiercely in the darkness. He stood up and approached the boy. The man was tall, like the boy, but years of drinking and gambling had left him gaunt. The boy glanced over the man’s body, and the man did the same, noticing how much the boy had grown.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

“Considering you tried to starve me to death, I’ve grown quite a bit.”

“You monster. I should’ve killed you back then.”

Despite the man’s harsh words, the boy expressionlessly walked past him and picked up the crumpled photo. He stood still for a moment, staring at it, then tucked it into his uniform pocket and turned back to the man.

“Just because you’re wearing the same uniform, don’t think you’re normal like the other kids.”

“Of course not.”

The boy smiled softly again. It was a beautiful smile, reminiscent of the person the man had cherished most. The man’s eyes flared with anger. The boy’s attitude was as if mocking his past failures. It felt like a demon wearing a beautiful mask to deceive a savage human.

“Don’t smile with that face!”

The man’s fist flew toward the boy’s face. Smack. The boy’s head snapped to the side. In the past, the boy would’ve been knocked over, but now his legs were firmly planted on the ground. When the man raised his fist again as he cursed, the boy raised his hand and stopped him. The man realized he could no longer overpower the boy and felt a wave of dizziness. Since when? And why had the boy stayed quiet until now? Questions filled the man’s mind.

“Go to bed, Uncle.”

“Let go!”

The boy dragged the man by force into the bedroom. He threw the man onto a pile of blankets on the floor, glanced at the calendar on the wall, and then closed the door behind him. The man coughed from the dust and looked at his right wrist. It was now bruised in the shape of a handprint.

Was he really going to leave things like this? The man was furious at the thought of the boy, who had mastered the art of toying with people, living a normal life. He couldn’t bear the thought of the boy, who had ruined so many lives, getting away unscathed.

“No way. No way…!”

He couldn’t let that happen. The countless days of failure flashed through his mind in the brief moment it took to open the door. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time. To drag the monster wearing his nephew’s skin into the light, to prove he was right. The anticipation of finally ending this decade-long, tedious battle filled him with exhilaration. The man opened the kitchen drawer, grabbed a kitchen knife, and flung open the boy’s door.

“You disgusting bastard!”

The man slashed downward, expecting to find the boy sitting at his desk. But the blade only hit the back of the chair. The brightly lit room was empty, not even an ant in sight. As the man turned, he realized the boy wasn’t there. Suddenly, something cold touched the back of his neck.

“Uncle, why are you doing this…?”

The boy’s eerie, monotone voice brushed against the man’s ear. The tone made him shudder. The boy had anticipated his return and hidden behind the door. That fox-like brat. The man was unable to turn around because of the cold object at his neck, so his body stiffened as he spoke.

“Stop calling me ‘Uncle’… Treating me like trash ends today, you little murderer!”

The boy stared silently at the man’s back as he shouted in rage. What had his parents meant to him? What had he lost with their deaths that made him so blind? Ten years ago, after his parents’ funeral, none of his relatives wanted to take responsibility for the boy, so he ended up in an orphanage. Though he was older, his good looks helped him find an adoptive family quickly. But then, the uncle who had disappeared after the funeral showed up. ‘This child is the murderer who killed his parents. Do you still want to adopt him?’ The adoption was canceled, and the boy followed the uncle to this house.