37 – Heoju #6
I came out of Hyehwadang’s warehouse carrying a tonpa.
When I went out into the yard, I saw Sarah preparing a spell. There were long wooden sticks and ropes laid out in the yard. I’m not sure, but it looks like they’re preparing a spell to deal with the serpent spirit.
Sera saw me holding the tonpa and asked with a puzzled expression.
“It’s a tonfa, right? Why did you bring that with you?”
“I brought it to deal with Kwak Jin-cheol. Since he is also a human, he can use the tonfa. I will use the gun-woong knife and the tonfa together. I will block the sashimi knife with the tonfa and aim for the mask with the gun-woong knife.”
“If you just listen to it, it looks good… You’ve never used a tonfa before, have you?”
Defend with the tonfa and attack with the sword. It was a plan that made sense in theory, but it could go awry in practice. I had no experience using a tonfa in actual combat. Sarah also pointed out that part.
“Aren’t you making a mistake by holding a tonpa for no reason?”
“So, I’ll mainly use the tonfa for defense. It’s enough to block a sashimi knife.”
“Really…? Actually, I think you might be able to do it.”
The tonfa was a weapon that could be used both for offense and defense depending on the situation. If you just hold the handle and cover the outside of your arm, you can block the sashimi knife with the iron bar. Sarah listened to my specific plan and nodded.
“But it suits you because you’re holding a tonpa.”
“What suits you?”
Sera looked at me with a faint smile.
“You’re the detective’s son! If you’re wearing a police uniform, anyone can tell you’re a police officer. If you do something bad, you’ll probably be caught. Be scared.”
“You really did something bad? I’ll take you to my house first.”
“You mean home instead of prison? So are you going to handcuff me and tie me to your bed?”
“…What does that mean?”
After making a joke, Sarah came back with a dirty joke. They handcuffed Sarah and tied her to the bed. I almost had a delusion on impulse, but I managed to hold it back.
I opened my mouth while looking at the items lying at Sarah’s feet.
“What are the ropes and wooden sticks here? Are these the items needed for the snake catching spell?”
“Yes. When the serpent spirit comes, I will use this to singe the snake. I will make a casting right now.”
Singing a snake.
I had a little idea what kind of magic it was. It was a spell used to ward off snakes in the Gyeongsang-do region in the past. I only heard stories, but I didn’t know how to actually use magic.
Serah showed me how to make the castings needed for her magic right in front of my eyes.
A fetish was an item used when using magic.
“How do you make a casting?”
“You wrap a rope around a stick to create a snake-like shape. If you stick hair on the end of the stick, the casting is completed. There are many other forms of casting, but this one is the most effective.”
Sera held a wooden stick and delicately wound the rope. As the rope continued to be wrapped around the wooden stick, it looked like a snake hanging on a tree branch. The rope was cleverly twisted to create the shape of a snake’s head, making it look like a work of art.
“Oh…! It really looks like a snake.”
“Right? Now get a knife and cut my hair.”
Sera reached behind her back and grabbed the end of her hair. The flowing silver hair was caught in Sarah’s hand. I did as I was told and took a military knife and cut off a bit of Sarah’s hair.
“Here.”
I handed the cut hair to Sarah.
Sarah put each strand of her hair on a wooden stick with a rope wrapped around it. The moment a handful of hair was stuck between the gaps in the rope, the snake-shaped casting was completed.
“The casting is now complete.”
“It looks like a snake. So how do you use it?”
“When the serpent spirit approaches, you can scorch the casting. That way, you can tie down the snake spirit’s movements. I will do it myself.”
“That would be better.”
Sera decided to take charge of using the spell. My role was to burn the mask, which was a sacred item of the gangster. All I had to do was deal with the assailant while Sera tied up the serpent spirit.
“Shall we take a nap now?”
“Let’s take turns sleeping.”
We couldn’t sleep a wink last night because we had to deal with the assailant. After completing the casting, we took turns sleeping. When Sarah was sleeping, I was in charge of security, and when I was sleeping, Sarah was in charge of security. By the time we both got enough sleep and woke up, some time had passed.
7 P.M.
It was slowly getting dark.
I practiced fighting enemies in the yard with a sword and a tonpa. It was a practice of blocking attacks with the tonfa held in the right hand and cutting and stabbing with the military sword held in the left hand. At first, my movements were slow because I had a lot to think about, but I gradually got a feel for how to use the tonfa. I got used to the weight of the things I was holding in my hands, so I was able to move them with ease.
“What about the tonpa? Do you think you can use it?”
“I tried it and it’s okay.”
Sera placed the five flags in the yard in advance and took a lump of rock salt. These were the equipment that were effective last time in Mugok Village. The five flags, the five flags, were effective in driving away evil spirits when placed according to the direction. But this time, what we had to deal with was not a ghost, but a spirit. It seemed that the Five Banners would not be able to block the serpent spirit.
Time passed and it was 2 am.
It was getting dark, but we left the lights on in Hyehwadang and placed flashlights in the yard to ensure visibility.
All preparations were completed, but it was too late. Since nothing had happened in the meantime, our tension was slowly fading away.
━━Jijijik
The lights in Hyehwadang flickered. The light that had been blinking ominously went out quickly. It was a sudden power outage. We immediately tensed up and prepared to fight.
The wind wasn’t even blowing, but the five flags placed in the yard were shaking noisily. It meant that something more powerful than miscellaneous ghosts had appeared in Hyehwadang. Sarah and I looked around to look for intruders.
“Where is it?”
“The front door didn’t open!”
The large gate of Hyehwadang was tightly closed. I looked around the Hyehwadang building. Before long, there was something leisurely walking out into the yard from the backyard.
“It’s in the back!”
“Ah…!”
A pure white mask appeared behind us, turning away from the darkness. The masked assailant had climbed over the fence and entered Hyehwadang. The gunman approached the nearby flag. It was part of the five flags that were placed in the yard.
━━Wood!
The gunman stretched out his hand and broke his flag. Judging by the way he touched the flag, the gunman seemed to know what effect the five flags had. He was like a medium who served gods.
One of the flags was broken, weakening the power of the five flags.
The conditions for ghosts to come have been met.
A masked stranger called out the name of a god.
“Teoju.”
At that moment, a snake spirit appeared behind the monster’s back. A large snake measuring 6 meters jumped forward and wriggled. The snake’s gaze looking at us was filled with greed.
Did you say that the serpent spirit wants us as a sacrifice?
It was Sarah’s guess, but now it was certain. As soon as it saw us, the snake spirit opened its mouth wide and crawled on the ground. The serpent spirit came near us in the blink of an eye. That was the moment when it opened its huge mouth and was about to thrust its head towards us.
“Gotcha!”
Sera lit the match. Sarah held the burning match, producing smoke, to the snake-shaped casting she had made in advance. It was an action that was completely incomprehensible to common sense. But the moment the match flame touched the snake-shaped casting, something amazing happened.
━━Chizijik
The rope wrapped around the casting became charred. The rope coiled like a snake was scorched by the match flame. Then the serpent spirit that tried to stick out her head jumped out of its place. It was jumping around like an animal being burned to death.
‘Is this witchcraft?’
The name of the spell is to singe a snake.
I was a little surprised to see the snake spirit. The rope wrapped around it like a snake was burning, and the serpent spirit’s body was also charred in the same way. The serpent spirit was unable to attack us properly because its body was burning. A horrifying howl came from the snake’s mouth.
A thought occurred to me.
‘Similar things give rise to similar things’
It was a theory that became the principle of witchcraft. It is literally a theory that similar things influence each other. When the snake-shaped fetish was burned, the serpent spirit was burned into it. Although it made no sense in common sense, it was magically possible.
“It really worked!”
“I’m going to tie up the serpent spirit like this!”
Sera shouted as she burned the casting. In her hands were a match and a fetish snake, so she could do nothing else. It was my role to subdue the gunman.
The gunman pulled out her sashimi knife and ran towards Sarah. It seemed like they also realized that it was Sera’s magic that was burning the serpent spirit. I grabbed the martial arts knife and tonfa and ran toward the assailant.
The monster could not ignore me. When I stabbed the gun at the mask, the assailant raised his arm and struck it away. The sashimi knife in the gunman’s hand was aimed at me. I bounced the diagonal sashimi knife away with the tonfa.
A collision occurred. It was only a split second, but I could feel it. The assailant’s movements became more agile than when they fought in the hallway of Hyehwadang. The gunman’s knife skills also became sharper, targeting vital points.
‘You filled your stomach with stolen food.’
I was able to immediately notice why the strange man’s movements had changed. The gunman seemed to have filled his stomach with food stolen from Hyehwadang. The last time we met, he was starving. The gunman’s movements were no longer sluggish.
“…….”
But what changed was the same for me. The assailant swung the sashimi knife at me in succession. I raised my tonfa and blocked several attacks. Thanks to the tonfa, defense became easier. It was also possible to block attacks from the attacker, who was more agile than before.
Because I am strengthening my guard with the tonfa.
In the end, the gunman’s gap was revealed.
I cut off the assailant’s mask with a military knife. As the gunman tilted his head back, the sharp tip of the knife grazed his mask. The monster’s body shook greatly. I quickly caught up with the stranger who was trying to retreat.
I quickly stabbed the tonfa and drove the end of the iron bar into the assailant’s head.
━━Peook!
The tonpa hit the mark. A dull sound rang out. The gunman who was hit by the tonfa’s stab was pushed back significantly. But unfortunately, the mask was not broken. The moment I stabbed the tonfa, the gunman lifted his head up. What was hit by the tonfa was not the mask, but the assailant’s chin.
“…!”
Blood flowed from the gunman’s mask.
It wasn’t a mask, it was a hit to the chin, but there was a hit.
The gunman appeared to be staggering in his seat.
‘Is it a concussion?’
Since we were born as humans, our brains were bound to shake when our head was hit. When I got a concussion, I couldn’t control my body properly. The gunman recovered from his knife wounds but was unable to survive his concussion. The gunman’s limbs were shaking and he looked like he was going to collapse at any moment.
It was time to end it.
I blocked the front with the tonfa and approached the assailant.
Then the stumbling stranger did something strange. He had cut his own palm with the sashimi knife he was holding. He must have been cut quite deeply, and blood spurted out from his palm. I was puzzled when I suddenly saw the assailant’s self-harm.
‘Why did you cut your own palm? Are you trying to commit suicide now?’
Blood pooled in the attacker’s palm. A large amount of blood gathered in an instant, as if washing the face with the palm of one’s hand. However, what the gunman was doing was not suicidal.
━━Chaeak
The masked man swung his palm at me. The accumulated blood scattered into the air. The blood that flew straight into his face obscured my vision.
“Ugh.”
The monster’s blood spattered in my eyes.
Something unusual happened. The gunman cut himself and splattered his blood, blocking my view. I quickly wiped my eyes. I forced my stinging eyes open and looked ahead.
The gunman bent down like a snake and ran towards me, stabbing me with a sashimi knife. A sharp knife shot out from below, aiming for my neck. It was a strike aimed at the blind spot of vision. The scene of the sashimi knife approaching flowed into my head as if a flash of lightning had passed by.
I almost got stabbed in the neck.
If I hadn’t blocked the front with the tonfa.
━━Chaeng!
My hands moved reflexively. The hand holding the tonfa responded with a feeling of muscle tightening. I swung the tonfa towards the sashimi knife flying towards my neck. As the tonpa and the sashimi knife collided, a metallic sound echoed through the yard.
“Wow….”
That was the gunman’s final blow.
The moment the gunman’s surprise attack failed, he could no longer control himself. The gunman, who was forcing himself to move even though he had a concussion, passed me and moved a few steps before falling down.
“Huh.”
From noble mtl dot com
A sigh of relief flowed out.
I approached the assailant and took off his mask.
I held the mask in my hand and took out a Zippo lighter from my pocket. This was the end. Burning the wooden traditional mask caused the monster to lose all his powers.
“It’s over! Jinwoo.”
“Yes.”
Sera spoke to me from nearby. The serpentine fetish Serah held in her hand was still burning brightly. The serpent spirit that had been running wild was seen lying limp, burnt black. While I was fighting, Sera was binding the serpent spirit with her magic.
It was right then.
A voice came out from the mouth of the assailant who fell to the ground.
“Why…?”
I lifted the mask and looked at the assailant.
The gunman opened his mouth, exposing his face.
It was the face of Kwak Jin-cheol, whom I had only seen in pictures.
“This… Is unreasonable…”
The gunman pronounced with his clenched jaw.
I’m not sure what’s unreasonable.
“For me… The divine spirit gave me strength… But for you… I don’t feel the divine spirit…”
Who are you talking about?
When I looked closely, I saw that the gunman was looking at me.
“It’s unreasonable… I have a spirit…”
Now I know what you are talking about.
The gunman thought it was unreasonable that he had been harmed by me. He, who had received strength from the serpent spirit, seemed displeased with what had happened to him. Because I was just a high school student. I had no divine power.
I asked the gunman back.
“Is this unreasonable?”
“That’s right….”
The gunman answered.
When I heard the answer, I thought of the people who had been killed by the gunman.
12 People murdered at a camping site, police officers killed in an attack while on the job.
The dead people must have thought the same thing.
This is unreasonable.
I spoke while thinking of them.
“The people you killed probably thought the same thing. How about experiencing the irrationality yourself?”
The monster’s face was distorted in an ugly way.
There was no answer.
I turned on the light with a Zippo lighter.
The blazing fire burned down the pure white mask.