I Don’t Believe in Ghosts, But I Make a Living by Exorcising Them! - Chapter 102

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

I Don’t Believe in Ghosts, But I Make a Living Through Exorcism! Episode 102

‘Were Bella and Emily always that close?’

I stared in bewilderment at the two people who hugged each other as soon as I finished speaking.

They’ve been living together for a while now, so it’s not that strange, but…

“The Duke definitely likes Miss! How wonderful that he said he’d visit right away!”

“What a relief. Dancing really should be practiced with your partner from start to finish. I was so worried Miss might end up practicing with Sir Zeros.”

It seems like they’ve become the closest of friends beyond that, doesn’t it?

‘Their reasons are clearly different, but anyway, they’re both happy about it for sure.’

Well, as long as they’re happy, that’s fine.

I let out a hollow laugh and continued reading the letter.

Hmm, let’s see.

“There was one more day this week when you were supposed to practice dancing with the Duke, right? He says he’ll come that day.”

“This week… you mean?”

“Yes! It’s Friday, so three days from now.”

Emily’s gentle expression instantly hardened, and she smoothly slipped out of Bella’s embrace.

Bella remained in her hugging position, staring blankly at Emily.

But Emily, as if she couldn’t see Bella or anything else around her, seriously nagged at me.

“Miss, then this isn’t the time for this. You need to practice right away.”

“Practice?”

“There’s barely enough time to learn just the basic movements. Miss, you complain of pain even when bending your upper body forward just 45 degrees.”

“…”

What kind of innocent rudeness is this?

I felt déjà vu.

Of all people, it came from the mouths of the two calmest and most considerate people I know.

The fact that it came from Harman and Emily made me feel quite hurt.

‘I might lack some flexibility.’

They say this kind of thing is all about natural talent. What do you people know…

“Right. I think so too.”

But I agreed immediately.

I can’t complain in front of someone who’s offering to teach me.

‘Just this once, I’ll let it slide.’

Emily, unaware of my inner thoughts, methodically listed out her plan.

“Still, it’s fortunate that today is Miss’s day off. Even though they’re basic movements, if you jump in without any preparation, you might break a bone, so we’ll start with stretching first…”

I think I just heard something dangerous.

“It would be good to simply learn 3 basic movements before dinner.”

“Mm-hmm, okay.”

“And starting tomorrow, 10 minutes of stretching as soon as you wake up, focusing on light movements-“

“Wait a minute.”

I hastily stretched out both hands.

“Emily, I understand that I need to practice right away.”

Since today’s schedule is free, there’s plenty of time to practice too.

“But what should I do? Starting tomorrow, I have exorcism requests, so it’ll be difficult to practice separately.”

“That can’t be right.”

“Huh?”

Emily picked up a memo pad and quill pen and started scribbling something down.

The pen moving without rest felt somehow ominous.

Soon, a memo pad densely filled with something was confidently held out to me.

“Wh-what is this?”

“Miss, when you have appointments, you leave at dawn and come back before dinner, right?”

“That’s… true, I guess?”

“So I’ve made a practice plan that’s fully feasible even during your usual routine. Of course, you can follow this schedule even after the Duke returns.”

“What do you-“

Thud!

Emily pointed forcefully at the very top of the memo pad with eyes that said she wouldn’t accept any objections.

I opened and closed my mouth before shutting it.

When someone who’s usually calm and quiet suddenly becomes talkative, I can’t even open my mouth properly.

[Wake up 1 hour earlier than your usual time, lightly wash your face with cold water, then start with 10 minutes of stretching and spend 30 minutes reviewing the movements you practiced the evening before.]

“Sweating on an empty stomach and then washing up is very refreshing, Miss.”

It was the kind of tone that seemed like it needed a ‘^^’ emoticon added at the end.

She didn’t give me a moment to catch my breath. Emily pointed to the section below again.

[Lying down on the bed out of habit after dinner is now forbidden.

From now on, after dinner ends, immediately loosen up your body with 10 minutes of stretching and do 2 hours of dance practice starting with basic movements.]

That wasn’t the end. Below that, unfamiliar movement names were listed in a row.

Just as my eyes were rolling around, Emily recited mechanically.

“If you skip exercise even for one day, your body returns to the state it was in the day before, no, even before that. No matter how hard you practice basic movements, if you rest for one day, it becomes completely useless.”

“…”

“You just thought ‘What if I collapse from practicing like this every day?’, didn’t you, Miss?”

How did she know?

I felt guilty and averted my gaze, but then felt unfairly treated.

‘Even so, that’s too much. How am I supposed to spend almost 3 hours just dancing, including morning and evening?’

It’s not something to brag about, but I’m someone who didn’t even do basic stretching.

Isn’t it too much to suddenly force such intense practice on someone like that?

From what I know, they say it’s actually dangerous for someone who’s never exercised to suddenly do high-intensity workouts. Actually, I’m not sure, I think I heard it somewhere…

I took a step forward with the intention of opposing Emily. At that moment, Bella blocked my path with both arms.

“Bella?”

“Emily. Miss has collapsed from overworking herself before. But now you want her to practice dancing every day too! Isn’t that too harsh?”

Bella, who winked at me, declared boldly.

You’re the only one who thinks of me after all!

I looked at Bella’s back, which seemed broader than usual today, with sparkling eyes.

But it didn’t work on Emily at all.

“Sorry, but Bella. Miss doesn’t exercise at all, so she has almost no muscle. She probably collapsed from lack of exercise back then.”

Instead, I, who had been quietly watching from behind, took a direct hit.

“It’s only 2 hours and 50 minutes a day combining stretching and dance practice. And Miss lacks flexibility so much that this state is absolutely unacceptable.”

…This is strange.

She’s clearly talking to Bella, but why do I feel like I’m the one getting hurt?

“Think about going to the banquet hall like this. Everyone will be watching since she’s the Duke’s first partner, and it could be a complete disaster.”

Emily continued to gently crush me with a smiling expression.

Bella’s arms, which had been reliably shielding me, gradually lost strength and slowly lowered.

Having mercilessly defeated Bella, Emily looked at me.

“Miss, if you don’t believe what I’m saying, you can ask Sir Zeros. You absolutely must exercise a certain amount every day.”

Bella’s and my gazes simultaneously turned toward Sir Zeros’s door.

“…”

“…”

There’s no need to ask.

If I asked him what he thought, he’d probably say without hesitation, ‘Honestly, Miss, you are lacking in exercise.’

I became dejected in an instant.

“When I first came here for my interview, you asked if I wasn’t scared of Miss being an exorcist, right?”

“Mm-hmm, I did.”

“I’m not scared of ghosts and such things at all. What I’m afraid of is never being able to dance again and situations where I can’t exercise.”

“…”

Should I… like this?

Asking if I, an exorcist, wasn’t scary, if my ability to see ghosts wasn’t unsettling.

I’d been wanting to ask all along, but to find out this way.

I answered with a somehow deflated feeling.

“Yeah, I think I can manage at least this much.”

“Right? I knew you would say that.”

Emily covered her mouth and smiled gently.

The atmosphere seemed to have calmed down to its usual state, so I was about to smile along and quickly turn away.

My arm was suddenly grabbed.

Her eyes looked slightly… no. They looked completely unhinged.

“I haven’t been able to dance for quite a while now, and you have no idea how hard it’s been trying to cope with other exercises and walks instead. Miss, it would be good for you to take up dancing as a new hobby while we’re at it.”

“I see…”

Emily must be part of the ‘love exercise’ group too.

‘Come to think of it, whenever I tried to take Bokdeungi out, she’d come running from somewhere saying she’d go instead.’

She did say she particularly enjoyed walks.

I had no idea it was withdrawal symptoms from not being able to dance. I had even less idea she was this kind of person.

And so, having agreed—semi-forcibly—I began dance practice.

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