1440 - Chapter 28

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 28
Yes. It looked exactly as Deok-u had said. Though Yeon-su had mentioned an abyss, he didn’t actually believe Lee So-yeon herself was the root cause of the problem.
When they’d met before, the aura he’d sensed from her carried determination, resilience, and honesty. In those eyes that looked straight at him, he’d found no trace of any murky energy whatsoever.
But there was no law saying good people only surrounded themselves with other good people. If anything, good people tended to draw parasites—those who sought to exploit them.
Yeon-su turned to Deok-u and asked,
“What’s your take? That cursed energy. Do you sense anyone around her carrying something like that?”
When someone cast a curse, malevolent spiritual energy clung to them as well. The stronger the curse, the greater the harm that rebounded upon the caster and the darker the aura that accumulated around them. When Yeon-su asked if Deok-u sensed such a person near So-yeon, he shook his head.
“Her managers seem fine so far, but… I don’t really know the details of So-yeon’s private life, to be honest.”
As they spoke, the two arrived at the entrance to Unit 501—So-yeon’s apartment. Deok-u pressed the doorbell, calling out,
“So-yeon? We’re here. It’s Deok-u.”
But no one answered from inside.
So-yeon had definitely said she’d be waiting at home. Yeon-su checked his watch—they were exactly on time—and pressed the doorbell again. Still, silence.
After waiting a moment, Yeon-su raised his eyebrows and peered at the door.
“Does she usually not keep appointments?”
“Never. She shows up earlier than newcomers do.”
Anxiety crossed Deok-u’s face. In response, Yeon-su pressed his palm against the entrance door and paused, sensing inward. But the air inside, which had seemed ordinary moments before, was rapidly growing hot. It was the aura of acute spiritual danger. Yeon-su spoke urgently to Deok-u.
“Call the manager. Get the front door code. Now!”
Deok-u didn’t hesitate—he immediately called manager Jun-ho. The manager, who had just arrived at the parking lot, heard the urgency in Deok-u’s voice and rattled off the code.
As Yeon-su heard the digits spill from the phone’s speaker, he rapidly punched them in. The electronic lock beeped and the door swung open.
“Lee So-yeon? Lee So-yeon! Answer me!”
Yeon-su burst inside without even thinking to remove his shoes.
27
The apartment was thick with heat and oppressive spiritual energy. This was something that hadn’t been present in the parking lot—it must have manifested at some point while they were outside.
Yeon-su sprinted through the long, gallery-like hallway with long, urgent strides and cried out at the sight before him.
“Lee So-yeon!”
At the sound of her name spoken with force, So-yeon blinked slowly. But her eyes were vacant—utterly empty. She stood in the center of the kitchen, gripping a kitchen knife, holding it up to her own face with no awareness, no focus, just a blank, hollow stare straight ahead.
The blade’s tip was already pressing into her skin. One wrong twitch of her hand and it would cut deep. There was no room for hasty intervention.
Carefully, Yeon-su stepped toward her and called her name again, urgently. He had to break through the spell that held her mind captive.
“Lee So-yeon! Thirty-fourth descendant of Han-san—listen to my voice! Wake up!”
As he shouted, Yeon-su drew out the Sheen-dae Fan, snapped it open roughly, then—Thwack!—closed it with a sharp, cutting sound. At that sharp crack, So-yeon’s eyes flew open wide, fully awake at last.
“Gasp!”
Clang!
She drew a deep breath and let the knife slip from her grip. It clattered to the floor and, mercifully, tumbled away from her without drawing blood.
So-yeon stared blankly at the knife on the floor, then at Yeon-su, then at Deok-u. Yeon-su watched as the black energy coiled around her arm dispersed like mist and evaporated.
As the force that had held her upright vanished, her frail body crumpled to the floor. Deok-u rushed over and caught her as she fell.
Only then did So-yeon grasp what she’d been doing, and her hands began to shake violently. Behind the three of them, the manager came running inside.
“What the—?! So-yeon! My God, Lee So-yeon… are you all right??”
“Ugh…!”
So-yeon squeezed her eyes shut, fighting down a wave of nausea.
Only after Yeon-su had spent a long while calming her terror-stricken tremors could they finally hear her account.
She remembered receiving a call from Deok-u saying they were on their way, and then going into the kitchen to prepare to receive them.
“After that?”
“I don’t remember anything.”
So-yeon wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering. Even in her fear, she hadn’t lost the sharp intelligence she naturally possessed. She truly had no memory of what came after.
Her account matched exactly with the timing of the curse’s onset that Yeon-su and Deok-u had sensed. So it had all begun in that kitchen.
The two left So-yeon with the manager and began searching the kitchen, examining every corner and crevice.
When Yeon-su deployed his Sheen-dae Fan in Spiritual Manifestation Mode, Child Spirits descended. Thinking they were in communion with Yeon-su, they asked,
“Looking for something bad? Something bad?”
“Yeah. Find all the bad things, and I’ll buy you macarons later.”
“Good! I’ll find the bad things!”
“No, I’ll find them!”
The excited Child Spirits scampered about the kitchen. Yeon-su opened the fan wide and began waving it slowly over the kitchen to give the spirits a broader range to move through. He needed to locate the largest, most deeply tangled root of the black energy that pervaded the entire space.
The Child Spirits, their palm-sized forms darting about with determination, ransacked every corner—under the sink cabinet, along the shelves, deep into the refrigerator’s recesses, beneath the dining table, even inside the range hood. Every place where something might be concealed was thoroughly searched. Finally, they found a small pouch tucked inside a rice container on the lower shelf of the kimchi refrigerator.
It was an incredibly small leather pouch, buried so deep within the rice that its edge only became visible once all the rice had been emptied out.
“Found the bad thing! Found it! Me!”
“Good work. Is that all of it?”
“That’s all of it. I want the black sesame macaron.”
Yeon-su patted the head of the Child Spirit that had found the pouch, then the head of the one that hadn’t, and coaxed them to share several different flavors. Then he took the pouch and approached So-yeon.
The pouch, made from what appeared to be animal leather, was tied tightly with a red cord. Wound around that cord was long hair—unmistakably from a woman.
When Yeon-su loosened the cord, inside lay a razor blade, a small folded talisman, and a withered piece of meat. Naturally, it was a piece of meat with dried blood still clinging to it.
Lee So-yeon recoiled in horror, stumbling backward.
“Why on earth would something like that be there…….”
“……Do you have someone who helps with the housework?”
Yeon-su asked the question, and Lee So-yeon confirmed that she did. Then she shook her head at once, as if refusing to believe it.
“This person does such excellent work that I’ve known them for a long time. I’ve always provided generously for them, and we rarely cross paths, so they’re not someone who would harbor ill feelings toward me…….”
As Yeon-su listened, he split the leather pouch clean in half with his own blade, tearing it apart. Even to Lee So-yeon’s eyes, which possessed no spiritual power, thin wisps of smoke rose faintly into the air.
Yeon-su carefully gathered the fragments of the shattered talisman and answered.
“This sorcery itself isn’t particularly powerful. It could only confuse your mind for a moment, not give someone the ability to physically manipulate stage lighting.”
“Then what happened on stage that night…….”
“It means you’re not receiving a single curse.”
At Yeon-su’s words, Lee So-yeon went rigid with shock and wrapped her arms around her head again.
She had lived with conviction. Even after striving hard enough to die in the effort, and ultimately achieving success, she had never once abandoned humility.
She had made a deliberate effort to remain humble. She had been mindful of caring for those around her. But the revelation that not one or two people were cursing her—that struck her like a blow.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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