I’m the Only One Who Can’t See Ghosts

After consoling Jamsuni with a pat on the head, I entered my room. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Jamsuni followed me in.

“Want some dinner?”

“Yeah.”

Tonight's dinner was spicy pork stir-fry made with pork trotters. Trotters tend to get tough and flavorless when they cool down, but they're almost indistinguishable from regular cuts when eaten right away. At least that's how I like it.

I placed the stir-fry over rice to make a spicy pork rice bowl and took out some kimchi. 

Ah, this is like a silver spoon dinner. right?

“Spicy pork again?”

“What do you mean by ‘again’?”

“Is it spicy pork stir-fry again?”

Jamsuni... talking back?!

“Get out.”

“No! I don’t wanna!”

But Jamsuni started to resist my forceful eviction, rolling around. As I said before, trotters get tough when they cool. So we needed to eat quickly.

“Then shut up and eat fast!!!”

“Ack!!! Thank you, Mr. Yoo Hajin!!!”

Only after kicking up a fuss did Jamsuni and I start eating.

Munch munch- 

Jamsuni inhaled the spicy pork stir-fry and said,

“Why did you go to Pyeon Station? It’s a crappy place with weird phenomena, nothing worth getting. Oh, did you have to visit another dimension?”

“Another dimension?”

“Yeah, some trains there connect to hell or even worse places. I used to go there with Uncle Park Il when we needed certain items.”

More nonsense. I need to tell Uncle to stop indulging this kid’s wild stories. Seems like her teenage fantasies are getting worse.

“I went for the first round of the Cheonji tests.”

“The Cheonji first round? Why?”

Jamsuni was so surprised she dropped her spoon. I pondered how to explain this. 

I absolutely couldn’t reveal that I can’t see ghosts. It’s not that I don’t trust Jamsuni. It’s that I don’t trust this world.

So, my explanation became vague.

I had to keep it secret that I was involved with Cheonsu, knowing Jamsuni would likely boast about beating them. 

Given Cheonsu's psychopathic tendencies, filming snuff regardless of age or gender, I’d feel horribly guilty if Jamsuni got caught by them and something bad happened.

The fact that I can’t see ghosts must be kept a secret for life. So, I just vaguely mentioned getting a lot of help from a kid called Fengchu to pass the test.

“Fengchu? You’re talking nonsense. It wasn’t her helping you; you were the one helping her. She keeps boasting about becoming a tiger-class, as if it’s that easy.”

This sharp little kid.

How did she figure that out?

Suddenly, Jamsuni's expression turned cold.

“I guess there’s no choice. It’s a death sentence.”

“What nonsense is a death sentence now.”

Thunk - 

I unintentionally gave Jamsuni a flick on the forehead.

"Ouchhh!"

"Oh, dear."

"The head of the mightiest genius, even beyond gods, is in pain!"

In a moment, Jamsuni's expression became so beautifully cruel that I flicked her without thinking. 

This kid, when she grows up, she's going to be a fearsome woman in many ways.

"That's why I told you not to use bad language."

Darn it. I learned that when raising a golden child, one should avoid violence as much as possible. But this kid isn't an average golden child; normal rules don't apply to her.

"So, what's your reason for wanting to join Cheonji? The only useful ones in Cheonji are the chief, the tiger, and the bastard child of Uga, right?"

The bastard child of Uga?

That has a nice ring to it.

Now, what to say.

"My goal is obviously employment."

I casually mentioned that my goal was employment. 

Joining Cheonji, a company worthy of a triple-emphasis on greatness, where one would need to slap the combined faculties of medicine, law, and business seventy-seven times, then finish with a pile driver and body slam, was the aim of every psychic job seeker.

"Employment? That's funny. You just want to be part of a group, to belong to society."

Is she suggesting I continue being unemployed?

Faced with Jamsuni's serious expression, I had no choice but to give a serious answer.

"Yes. I want to belong somewhere too. No one can live alone, and you can't run away from society forever."

"No. People can live... alone..."

Jamsuni mumbled with tears welling up in her eyes.

"...Not possible. You're right. That's true."

"Hey. Why are you crying?"

"F*ck!!! I hate you!!!"

Suddenly, Jamsuni sprang up, flicked me off, and ran away in a hurry. Only the empty bowl of spicy pork rice was left on the table.

"She could have at least left it in the sink. That golden child, I swear."

I shook my head.

* * *

To some, she was the one of the three Honored One, to others, the Mistress of Annihilation, and to some, simply known as Kim Sojin- the girl lay on the floor, silently shedding tears.

"Are you going to leave after turning me into this impure being? If you made me this way, you should take responsibility to the end."

Her silent wails made all the surrounding spirits hold their tongues. She was one of the three Honored One who defeated the invading Ghos king 'Gwizon' in Seoul. In the eyes of these spirits, she was almost akin to a walking deity.

"I never needed warmth, someone to cook for me, the anticipation of waiting for someone... nothing at all."

A being that desired neither warmth, love from family, nor anything from others. A being who walked the world in pure innocence, untainted by even a hint of corruption. That was who she was.

The child whose soul was engraved with the 'Principle of the Soul.' The child who, therefore, was sold by her parents at a high price to the clan alliance as a strategic weapon. That was who she was.

The child who was deployed as a strategic weapon to self-destruct when the Gwizon, having devoured North Korea, descended to destroy South Korea. And the child who eventually annihilated the Gwizon and became feared as a three Honored One. That was who she was.

The child who sealed herself and destroyed her ego to become a weapon, then annihilated those who tried to do so, accumulating numerous grudges and erasing them with violence.

That was who she was.

Living thus, she had never once desired someone. She lived a life pure of desire, cruel, obsessive, venting her spite, as a soul itself.

But she came to want something.

She came to desire something impure.

"...Yet, I don't want to lose this warmth."

One of the three Honored One, the immortal, muttered to herself.

"A warmth that I can trust, I never want to lose it..."

The immortal Kim Sojin murmured, hugging herself. And lying there, she reminisced about the first time she met that man.

A year ago.

It was a day when the rain drizzled down.

* * *

That day was marked by a drizzling rain. Like any other day, it was also ordinary in the sense that Kim Sojin was disposing of assassins sent by the clan alliance and eliminating the low spirits attracted to the corpse of Gwizon.

In Seoul today, countless people were born and died. To Sojin, who knew where souls came from and where they went, this was an unremarkable scene.

Just like the rain falling now. Human lives fell without reason, gathering and flowing towards one place, only to fall again later.

That's why Sojin felt no emotion towards the assassin she killed. Nor did she expect to feel anything for the man approaching the corpse of Gwizon.

"He's not an assassin."

He was just an ordinary man, without any discernible abilities. 

His soul was that of a regular human. He wasn’t a Soul psychic, which meant he had no special principles in his soul. 

He wasn’t a shaman psychic either. His soul didn’t resonate with anything. He wasn’t a Spell psychic.

The only remarkable thing about him was his face. Everything else was mediocre.

"Strange."

It was all the more unusual. Normally, an ordinary person without psychic abilities, influenced by the corpse of Gwizon, would use nearby objects to commit suicide. 

It was their soul’s way of forcefully controlling their body to escape the Gwizon’s demoralizing aura.

But the man seemed fine.

This meant he was no ordinary person.

Kim Sojin felt intrigued and jumped down from 60 meters above. Of course, she was fine. 

In fact, when Kim Sojin landed, the ground didn’t even dent, nor was there any commotion. She landed as lightly as a feather.

Kim Sojin naturally appeared in front of the man.

“Hey, you.”

“Huh? Do you live around here?”

This was how Jamsuni and Yoo Hajin met. 

.

.

.

Jamsuni was speechless upon meeting Yoo Hajin, who treated her like a child upon their first encounter.

“Do you know where Louisville is? It seems to be nearby, but it’s not showing up clearly on the Naver map.”

Louisville. The site where the Gwizon was assassinated and where the three Honored One currently resided. It was also a special-grade phenomenon that even the strongest psychics couldn't withstand for more than a few minutes.

“If you go there, you’ll die.”

“Really? But if I don’t go there, I’ll just freeze to death outside. Help me out.”

Kim Sojin’s expression turned cold.

This man seemed to have no special abilities, no matter how she looked at him.

Going to Louisville would be a certain death for him, 120% sure.

Even Kim Sojin, who normally wouldn't want to clean up the corpse of a stranger without a grudge in her own neighborhood, had her limits.

'I need to scare him a bit.'

Kim Sojin began to activate the principle engraved in her soul. The Principle of the Soul. It was an overwhelmingly powerful principle that could control and subjugate the soul itself.

"Spirit Energy, release to Valhalla."

She directed the energy of a Grade 2 evil spirit she had eliminated before towards the man. 

This should have been enough to make him wet his pants and flee in utter panic, a preferable outcome to turning him into a wreck.

"Valhalla? Ah, you know about the Gods of War, Ragnarok."

But the man was fine.

And Kim Sojin was flustered.

'A Grade 2 evil spirit doesn’t affect him? Then, even though it might turn him into a wreck, I have no choice but to use the energy of a Grade 1 evil spirit. It's still better than death.'

Kim Sojin steadied herself.

Then she murmured again.

"Valhalla."

But the man was still fine. And what was more ridiculous was that he was looking at her as if she were pathetic.

"This is, what, like, a teenage fantasy? Nowadays, with people actually summoning Black Flame Dragons, having a teenage fantasy isn’t that strange."

Then suddenly, the man stroked her head.

'All my defensive spells are broken?!'

The man, who had just stroked the bewildered Sojin's head, asked again.

"Hey Jamsuni. Is that building Louisville?"

"It's Louisville."

The girl, addressed as Jamsuni, made a dumbfounded face and shook her head.