Rattle, rattle.
I sat in the rattling back seat of the bus, staring blankly at the envelope of money in my hand.
It was today's wages. It was a fairly thick envelope, befitting the hard work I'd done, but looking at it, I could only let out a sigh.
"Wonder if there's other work out there."
Due to a terrible accident at the construction site, the project had been indefinitely suspended. Thanks to that, my job had vanished too. So I needed to find my next gig quickly...
"Haaaah...."
I sighed as if the ground might cave in beneath me and pressed the bus stop button. After the bus pulled to a stop, I got off and walked toward my destination.
To continue my earlier worry, finding new work wasn't easy. Especially since I mainly took tough sites that were hard but paid well. It was slowly becoming winter, and nowhere seemed to be hiring.
What should I do? I had been seriously considering whether I should sign on to a deep-sea fishing vessel when I arrived at my destination.
[Korea University Hospital]
I entered the hospital, checked in at the reception desk, then took the elevator up and walked down a corridor packed with hospital rooms.
Thud, thud.
Perhaps because it was a space filled with silence, my quiet footsteps rang out through the corridor without being buried by any other sound.
This was a thought I had every time I came here, but the air in this place was dense. A warm, cozy atmosphere. But rather than tranquility for rest, it felt more like the result of someone's pain and desperation being forcibly pressed down and contained so it couldn't leak outside.
I pushed through that heavy air and stood before the hospital room door at the end of the corridor.
I decided to do one last check before going in. I straightened my slumped shoulders and forced a faint smile onto my lips. Ahem. After steadying my voice one last time, I was ready.
Creak.
When I opened the door, a cold breeze brushed past me as if a window had been left open. Upon entering the room, I saw a girl standing before the window. She was blankly staring at the sky stained crimson by the sunset.
I approached the girl standing before the window, gazing at the sky. A girl with white hair and red eyes—despite being at the age where she should be running around with friends, she was trapped in the hospital, unable to go outside. She was my younger cousin.
"I'm here."
"Yeah, I was waiting for you."
When I stood before her, she turned her head to look at me. She met my eyes with a faint smile on her lips. I forced myself to avert my gaze from those eyes, sat her down on the bed, and closed the window.
"It's cold; you might catch a cold. Did the nurse say you could open the window?"
"Yeah, she said just for a minute is fine."
"I see."
The conversation didn't continue for long. But it wasn't awkward. It was only natural that topics of conversation would run out when visiting the hospital room every single day.
"How was work today? It was hard, right?"
"Huh? Ah, no. It was bearable, like usual. Haha."
I raised both arms, deliberately striking a ridiculous pose to show her I was alive and well. I tensed my arms and legs, which were trembling with exhaustion from the hard labor. Whether I succeeded in hiding my weakness, she giggled and smiled.
"Did Noona come by earlier too?"
"Yeah, Unni stopped by for a bit earlier."
I lost my parents when I was young and was raised by my aunt and uncle. But now, the aunt and uncle who raised me were gone too. Our family consisted of just me, my younger sister, and our older sister.
In the midst of all this, my younger sister had fallen ill. The doctors said it was the first disease of its kind to appear in the world. Treatment was out of the question; they didn't even know how to keep her alive.
The only thing I could do was visit her every day and stay by her side.
"I should get going now."
"Yeah, thanks for coming today, Oppa."
She saw me off with a bright smile. Though she pretended nothing was wrong, her gaze was subdued. Eyes that didn't think about tomorrow, like the pitiful heroine of a movie.
I could see that it was all a forced smile to keep me from worrying. Because we were family. You can't fool the eyes of family.
"...Yeah, see you tomorrow."
Even though I knew that fact, the only thing I could do was smile back at her.
Leaving the room like that, I trudged to the elevator and pressed the button. Just then, a doctor in a white coat approached me.
"You're the guardian of the patient Yuseoa, correct?"
***
"Haaaah...."
How many times had I sighed today?
I stared at my bank account, emptied after paying the hospital fees.
They say happiness flies away when you sigh.
I didn't believe in such superstitions, but I was worried that what little happiness I had might fly away, so I held back another sigh that threatened to spill out.
If even more happiness disappeared from here, I had no idea what I would do.
"Should I walk today?"
Even the bus fare was too precious right now. It wasn't that far to home, so I decided to walk back today.
'You're the guardian of the patient Yuseoa, correct?'
The doctor I had met earlier delivered good news. A new drug was being developed in America, and if we applied, my younger sister could participate in the trial. He said it was a clinical trial conducted by a globally renowned institution, so there were no worries about side effects. Though it was the doctor's personal opinion, he said she absolutely had to participate if she was to be treated.
But the problem was money.
Even without receiving any special treatment, the hospital bills were coming in at amounts I couldn't ignore. And now, an overseas clinical trial? There was no way I could afford that in my current situation.
When I recalled that fact, another sigh tried to escape. I clamped my mouth shut and held back the breath trying to leave. Then, suddenly wondering what the point of all this was, a hollow laugh escaped me.
I just wanted to get home and rest quickly.
"Kya-ha-ha!"
While walking blankly, staring at the ground, I raised my head toward the sound of bright laughter. There, a group of girls who looked like middle schoolers were walking down the street, smiling at each other like a scene from a youth drama.
"...."
Seeing them, I felt as if my throat was choked shut. My one and only younger sister was living each day in terror of not knowing when she might die. At the age when she should be laughing and chatting like the girls up ahead.
Ah. It felt like I had realized something.
"Haaaah...."
I decided to stop holding back the sighs bursting from deep within my heart.
Happiness leaving? It was a sound that made hollow laughter spill out. Because there couldn't possibly be a more despairing situation than this one.
I lowered my head again and shuffled toward home.
***
"I'm home."
A cramped home. Arriving at this nest devoid of any sign of presence, I washed up and sat at the dining table. On the table were side dishes Noona had prepared and a note.
'I'll be late today, so eat first.'
She must have come home from work, made the side dishes, and gone out to work again. Our noona was a person with a strong sense of responsibility. She spent more than half her day working, yet she still tried to make sure I had my meals every single time.
She didn't have to do this for me.
I picked up my chopsticks and looked at the side dishes. A humble table without a single piece of meat. But I knew the sincerity that went into these dishes. Noona making time she didn't have to go grocery shopping, faithfully watching cooking shows to learn dishes she wasn't even good at making.
I knew it better than anyone. Because I saw it every day.
"I'll eat well."
I ate every last bit of the side dishes, leaving nothing behind.
After washing the dishes, I lay down on my humble bed and browsed job sites.
"I need to go somewhere that pays a lot."
While browsing like that for a while, my phone rang. Checking the caller, it was Gusechan.
"Hello?"
[What are you doing right now?]
"Just getting ready."
[What? Already? Don't do that, come out right now!]
"No. I have to wake up early tomorrow."
[You don't have to. You got fired too.]
"That's exactly why. I have to find a new job quickly."
[Heh heh. I called you because I figured as much. I'll tell you about a new high-paying job.]
"I'll pass if it's illegal."
[What do you take me for? It's obviously legal! You'll definitely be satisfied too, right?]
I hesitated for a moment. Gusechan was definitely someone who looked reliable despite everything. The chances of him introducing me to something illegal were low.
But they say you can fathom ten yards of water, but not one yard of a man's heart. Wasn't it possible this guy would drag me off to Cambodia? So I tried to politely decline.
[Hurry up and come out! I'll buy you meat.]
Hmm. Should I at least hear him out?
***
"Ten million won."
*Munch munch munch,* "What?"
"Hey, you bastard, finish chewing before you talk!"
"What did you just say? How much is the pay?"
"I'll tell you again, so listen closely. Ten million won."
*Gulp.* I swallowed the meat in my mouth without even chewing it properly and glared at Gusechan with wide eyes.
"You, is that illegal... *cough! cough!*"
"Hey, chew it all up before you swallow."
I took the water Gusechan handed me and gulped it down, and the chunks of meat lodged in my throat slid down with a thud.
"Phew... so explain. Just what kind of job pays that much money? You're saying it's really not illegal?"
Watching my surprised reaction, Gusechan smiled and began his story.
"You see, in this world... magic exists."
My jaw dropped at those words. Because I was shocked.
"You... at your age, you still haven't grown out of your chuunibyou? No wonder you were always carrying around weird talismans...."
"No, no, wait! Just hear me out first! Don't look at me like that!"
Thanks to Gusechan's passionate plea, I decided to at least listen. He was buying me meat, after all; wasn't it only polite to hear out his nonsense, no matter how ridiculous?
"The other side exists in this world. The ghosts and monsters we know of aren't all stories made up by people—they really exist."
"Hmm."
*Munch munch.* Maybe because it was meat I hadn't had in a long time, it kept going down my stomach even though I'd already eaten. I was already finishing my third bowl of rice. If this wasn't the mystery of the human body, what else could you call it?
"The job I'm proposing to you is related to that. You catch ghosts and monsters and sell their byproducts to people who need them."
"Mmm. Excuse me, one more serving of pork belly here!"
I placed new meat on the empty grill. I stared at the cooking meat, drooling. I probably couldn't wrap this up to take home, could I? I thought it would be nice to eat it with Noona when she got back from work.
While I was staring at the meat like that, I felt a piercing gaze and looked up to see Gusechan staring at me with a sulking expression.
"Are you listening to me?"
"Ah, yeah. Of course."
"I don't think so. You don't believe me, do you?"
"Ah... that's not it?"
Oh no, I seemed to have inadvertently offended the guy buying me meat. Just as I was wondering how to smooth things over, Gusechan let out a deep sigh and picked up a piece of meat I'd grilled and ate it.
*Munch munch.* "Why don't you believe me? You've experienced it too, haven't you? The other side of the world."
"What are you talking about? When did I?"
"That Chinese bastard died because you cursed him."
"What?"
I frowned and looked at Gusechan, who was stuffing meat into a lettuce wrap, as though demanding an explanation.
"That Chinese bastard died because you cursed him."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
Talking about something that ruins my appetite while I'm eating. When I recalled the corpse of the foreman, turned into a bloody mess between the steel rebars, my appetite vanished naturally. I put down my chopsticks and asked Gusechan, who was trying to mix rice into his soybean paste soup.
"Don't tell me you actually believe that straw doll was a real cursed doll? You didn't know if it was a scam or not either. So how can you be so sure?"
Honestly, it wasn't like I hadn't thought about it. The timing was strange. The moment I broke the straw doll, the foreman died. But it didn't make sense logically.
"I didn't know back then either. But now I do."
Gusechan grinned and showed me his phone screen.
[Seoul Wizard Community]
"What is this? A wizard community?"
"So you can see it too?"
Gusechan's ensuing explanation left me bewildered. He said this screen couldn't be seen by ordinary people and could only be seen by those with a talent for magic. Naturally, I didn't believe him at first.
But when Gusechan showed me proof, I had no choice but to believe.
"What the hell is this...!"
In the alley next to the restaurant. In a deserted spot, Gusechan conjured blue will-o'-the-wisps in the empty air. No, not only did he conjure them, but he moved them about freely.
"Do you believe me now?"
"No... what the hell is this...."
"You must be very confused. You probably don't know why I'm telling you this either. But know this one thing. The reason I'm asking you to work with me is because you have talent."
"Talent?"
"What I heard in the community is that curse dolls weren't originally created to kill people."
"Then why did the foreman...."
"Because the effects of artifacts like curse dolls change depending on the user. You killed a person with a curse doll whose limit was merely tormenting people. That can only be explained as talent!"
Gusechan grabbed my shoulders and passionately tried to persuade me.
"Please! I'm so looking forward to seeing what magic you'll show! I'm so curious what path a magic genius like you will walk! Please! Let's work together! Let's become wizards!"
Putting aside Gusechan's desperate cries, I thought for a moment.
The pay was ten million won.
But it was a job where I'd have to face unknown powers, whether you call them magic or whatever, and mysterious entities like ghosts and monsters.
It would be incomparably harder and more dangerous than construction sites.
But even worrying about it was a luxury.
"Alright, I'll do it."
I needed the money.