Chapter 64.1

Chapter 64.1

“Na Ara.”

Out of nowhere, Baekseol’s voice came through the phone.

Ara was lying on the wooden floor of the abandoned house in the Maze Garden, fiddling with her phone. When she heard the soft rustle of white fur behind her outstretched arm, she sat up sleepily.

“Baekseol-nim. Why are you out here? Hungry again?”

“Do you think I’m some kind of glutton? It’s barely been an hour since dinner.”

“Haha.”

Well, that’s true. But you are a glutton, though.

Instead of saying it out loud, Ara just smiled awkwardly.

Baekseol sniffed and scrunched her pink nose, then settled down right next to Ara’s legs.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, just… searching for something.”

Ara pointed toward the old sliding doors of the house. “The internet doesn’t work inside, you know.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Hmm, someone who might be able to help Suho sunbae.”

She turned her gaze back to the phone screen. The bright display showed a portal site’s search bar filled with keywords. She’d been jumping between temples, churches, and cathedrals known for powerful priests, and was now reading reviews about shamans who supposedly performed the most effective cleansing rituals.

She wasn’t picky about religion or method. She just wanted to find someone, anyone, who could draw out the evil spirit inside Suho. But useful information was hard to come by.

Most of what she found were complaints about being scammed out of money by fake exorcists. The rest were people saying, You should probably take them to a hospital. Everything else was random pages caught by a stray keyword or two.

Come to think of it, even in movies and dramas, the real exorcists or monks always showed up through word of mouth. Maybe she should try going to church? Or send a letter to the Vatican?

As Ara mulled over her increasingly absurd ideas, she finally turned the phone toward Baekseol.

“What do you think, Baekseol-nim? Who’s better, priests or pastors? There are a few old temples nearby, so maybe a monk would be better? Or maybe a shaman who can do a cleansing ritual…”

“Hey.”

Thwap.

A small, round paw pressed down hard on the phone screen.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“Of course I am…”

Ara trailed off and dropped her phone onto the floor. A sigh deep enough to sink the whole floor followed.

“But what can I do? No one else can do it but me.”

The words could have sounded like empty righteousness, but in truth, there was no logic more solid than that.

The only people who knew about the strange thing inside Suho were Ara and the goblins who lived in this house.

If she went to Suho’s family, relatives, or friends and told them there was an evil spirit hiding inside him, she would be the one dragged off to a psychiatric hospital first.

Baekseol watched the gloomy Ara in silence.

“That’s another way of saying all this would be over if you just closed your eyes and pretended not to see.”

“How is that a solution? That’s just letting an innocent person get hurt while I sit and watch.”

Ara’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Besides, it’s after me. What if it drains Suho’s life and then jumps to someone else to keep chasing me?”

“Then keep hiding, like you are now.”

“No. I’m done running.”

Ara shook her head firmly.

“So that’s what you told Seok-kyung orabeoni? That you’re scared, but you’ll face it head-on?”

“I just said… I didn’t want to regret it.”

Baekseol snorted. “What a fool.”

Muttering under her breath, she flicked Ara’s leg with her paw.

“Get up.”

Her white body moved first, trotting toward the entrance of the goblin house.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”

She didn’t bother to explain and simply urged her along.

“Huh? Oh… coming.”

The tone was so matter-of-fact that Ara followed before she could even ask why.

With her tail ringing softly like a bell, Baekseol led Ara into the goblin house. The first thing that caught Ara’s eyes when they entered was the group of goblins gathered around the living room table.

“Oh, there she is.”

Cheongseon, who had been kneeling on the floor working on something, waved both hands. Hongseon and Seol-do, sitting across from each other, turned their heads toward Ara.

“Why’s everyone gathered?”

“Why else? Our fragile Ara’s heading off to war. We can’t send you out without armor.”

“…I’m going to war?”

Completely bewildered, Ara blinked. While Cheongseon nodded shamelessly, Seol-do reached out and guided her down to an empty seat.

“Sit down first. We’ve got something for you.”

“For me?”

“Ah, perfect timing.”

Cheongseon clapped her hands with a cheer, and only then did Ara take a proper look at the table.

In the middle of the wide table sat three items.

A small silver dagger about the size of her hand, a hairpin decorated with a fluffy sprig of foxtail grass, and a keychain with two glass orbs. One blue and one red.

“What’s all this?”

“Hmm, your very own three-piece weapon set,” Cheongseon said, giggling playfully with exaggerated flair.

When Ara tilted her head, still looking confused, Hongseon pushed Cheongseon aside with his arm and spoke up.

“His Majesty gave you a special protection charm, Na Ara-. We also heard a bit about the situation.”

His gaze fell to the necklace around her neck.

“So we prepared these as our humble way of helping.”

“Ah, I see…”