NTH 64

“Because he would have kept reincarnating as a Grade C. And that’s all because of you. Did you seduce that pitiful man and have intercourse with him to your heart’s content to devour his soul?”

“When you become lovers, intercourse is a natural thing. However, our intercourse is on a completely different level from the sex of ordinary lovers.”

“How is it different.”

Hwang Juyeol paused his story for a moment and slowly closed his black and blue bruised eyes. When he opened them again a moment later, a flickering madness lurked within them. With gleaming eyes, he continued.

“A celestial ecstasy that transcends the limits of physical pleasure, a feeling as if your body is filled to the brim with pure life force and about to burst. It is incomparable to any drug on Earth.”

Jeha clenched his fists tightly. He resolved that once he had extracted all the necessary information, he would definitely eliminate this parasite. The next target would, of course, be Cheon Sakang.

“In my past lives, I tried my best to take good care of this person and cherish him. I truly wanted to live together for a very, very long time and grow old together. But…….”

Hwang Juyeol continued as if possessed.

“A voice kept speaking in my head.”

“What kind of voice.”

“It said I had to kill him. And not with my own hands, but somehow make him commit suicide or be murdered by someone else. And that had to be before this person’s life passed twenty-five or twenty-six years.”

“What?”

“It told me to inflict despair in some way to make him lose the will to live. It said that only then could I absorb all the remaining life energy.”

To put it simply, it seemed to mean causing a person with a long life ahead of them to die early and then stealing their remaining lifespan. As Jeha glared at him, his eyes unknowingly becoming bloodshot with the force of his stare, Hwang Juyeol slightly avoided his gaze and spoke as if making an excuse.

“I was always tormented and it was difficult for me too, but I found myself acting that way as if possessed by a ghost. After this person’s breath stopped like that, a frighteningly strong power would endlessly fill my entire body as if being injected.”

“And after that? Did you live a normal life until you died in that life? Then when you died and opened your eyes, were you reset to a new life where the host had reincarnated?”

“The time I could live alone always varied, but to put it simply, everything you just said is correct.”

“Son of a bitch!”

Jeha could not contain his anger and threw the water glass Hwang Juyeol had been drinking against the wall of the shrine. With a crash, the glass shattered, and shards scattered across the floor.

Jeha picked up one of the sharpest glass fragments and aimed it at Hwang Juyeol’s carotid artery.

“Tell me right now how to eliminate you.”

“Gag, gag…….”

“Should I just slit your throat like this? Is that it?”

“Wa, wait, keuheuk……!”

“If you don’t talk, I will sever your limbs and imprison you. I will make you continue a painful life as a cripple, unable to even die peacefully in one go. I will make you beg for me to kill you.”

A voice filled with a murderous intent that he doubted was his own escaped Jeha’s lips.

The tip of the glass fragment lightly grazed Hwang Juyeol’s neck, and bright red blood seeped out. The fact that this parasite had the same red blood as a human infuriated him to the point of madness, and Jeha tightened his grip on Hwang Juyeol’s throat.

Then, Hwang Juyeol spoke, gasping for breath.

“Heok, t-the, heart, you have to, pull it out…….”

“What?”

Jeha was extremely surprised and frowned. Hwang Juyeol said with a resigned face.

“I do die if my throat is cut or if I suffocate, but I am not completely annihilated. In the next life, when the host reincarnates, I will be born again following him.”

“So.”

“To be completely annihilated, during intercourse……, while the member is inserted into the host’s body and the two are connected as one, the only way is for the host to pull out the heart with his own hands…….”

“Does that even make sense? What if someone else does it instead?”

“It is useless. Even if I die for the moment, I will reappear in the next life.”

As could be seen with the young master Cheonsu, the host resonates with the parasitic soul that shares his own soul and comes to love him without any particular reason. In such a situation, would it be possible to do something so grotesque?

Even so, how on earth could Jeha explain all these facts to Jin?

A sense of futility and powerlessness gradually rose from the tips of his toes, and Jeha felt like he was suffocating. Unable to resist the impulse, he plunged the glass fragment deep into Hwang Juyeol’s carotid artery without a shred of hesitation.

“Kuaaack! Ugh……!”

Blood gushed out of Hwang Juyeol’s neck. The whites of his eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the floor, his body twitching in agony.

A moment later, all movement ceased, and silence fell. But before Jeha could even contemplate how to dispose of his body, something astonishing happened.

Hwang Juyeol’s body gradually became transparent, and then vanished like smoke.

The bloodstains that had splattered everywhere, on Jeha’s hands and clothes, and even on the floor of the shrine, disappeared without a trace.

“Haa. I can’t believe it. How could something like that…….”

The young master Cheonsu, who had woken up from his sleep, cried until his handkerchief was soaked while listening to Jeha’s account of what had happened. More than anything, he seemed unable to believe the fact that Hwang Juyeol had vanished like smoke in the blink of an eye.

It was only because he was a male shaman that Jeha could even bring up topics like reincarnation and parasitic souls. If he had been an ordinary person, he would have undoubtedly considered Jeha half-mad.

But even for a shaman, accepting the story that his soul had been devoured over the past several hundred years was not an easy thing to do. Jeha explained in a calm voice.

“Killing Hwang Juyeol was a somewhat impulsive act, but if I hadn’t, he would have surely harmed you, young master Cheonsu, in this life, so I do not regret it.”

“Sob, heuk, dead, is he really dead?”

“This friend and I both saw his body disappear clearly.”

“No way. I can’t believe it. I thought he was someone I would rely on and love for the rest of my life, how could he so suddenly, heuk……!”

“How on earth did you end up meeting him?”

“While I was gathering material for my Noutube videos, President Hwang contacted me. He said he was a person who remembered all of his past lives. So we started talking, then met, filmed a video, and gradually became close. Then he confessed that he liked me, and I liked him too, so it has only been a few months since we started dating, euheuk…!”

The young master Cheonsu began to sob loudly again.

Since the parasitic soul had died before the host due to Jeha’s intervention, at least in this life, the young master Cheonsu would be able to live out his natural lifespan without dying prematurely.

However, since the parasitic soul was not completely annihilated, Hwang Juyeol would surely appear again in the next life. But the young master Cheonsu was a Grade C soul, so he would not remember this incident at all and would obviously fall victim again.

“I plan to fight a certain parasitic soul in the future. That one is incomparably stronger and more cruel in nature than the naive Hwang Juyeol.”

“Sob, sob…….”

“If I catch him, I might be able to find a way to completely sever the link between you, young master Cheonsu, and Hwang Juyeol.”

“Sob, Juyeol-ssi, Juyeol-ssi……!”

“I will contact you when I find a way, so please forget about that parasitic soul and stay healthy and well.”

As if Jeha’s words were no longer audible, the young master Cheonsu just kept crying with hiccups. Gu Minho shook his head and said.

“That’s enough. You’ve done as much as you can. Let’s go back.”

Jeha had no choice but to leave the place, leaving the crying young master Cheonsu behind.

About two weeks had passed since Jeha’s visit to the young master Cheonsu.

During that time, Jeha often called him out of concern. To him, Jeha should have been the mortal enemy who had killed his beloved lover, yet the young master Cheonsu answered Jeha’s calls, albeit in a listless voice.

Jeha was worried that the young master Cheonsu would ultimately not believe the story about the parasitic soul and report him to the police. If the police were to investigate, what should Jeha say? It was true that he had killed Hwang Juyeol, but how could he explain a murder scene with no body and no bloodstains?

However, Jeha realized through his conversations with the young master Cheonsu that his worries were entirely unfounded. The young master Cheonsu said in a voice soaked with tears.

「I can’t believe it. All traces of Juyeol-ssi have disappeared.」

「What do you mean by that?」

「The call logs, the social media chat history, even the photos we took together, I can’t find any of them. I called Juyeol-ssi’s company, and they said there’s no such person.」

「…….」

「I even saw his photo in the president’s message on Juyeol-ssi’s company homepage, but that has been changed to someone else too. How, how on earth can something like this happen?」

It seemed that even for a practicing shaman who spoke of ghosts, souls, reincarnation, and past life karma on a daily basis, the concept of a parasitic soul was something utterly unbelievable.

Jeha sighed and looked up the young master Cheonsu’s channel on Noutube. No new videos had been uploaded, and the replies to comments that the young master Cheonsu always diligently posted were also nowhere to be seen. Two weeks would by no means have been enough time to recover from the sorrow of a breakup.

In the meantime, December arrived. Jeha, using research as an excuse, declined all requests to open courses during the vacation period, including the seasonal semester. Fortunately, this time, other professors, including Professor Min, opened enough courses, so Jeha was able to secure a lot of time to be with Jin.

After meeting Hwang Juyeol and the young master Cheonsu, Jeha felt even more mixed emotions whenever he held Jin.

The ‘method to completely annihilate a parasitic soul’ that Hwang Juyeol had mentioned was realistically too difficult to execute. For one, Jin had no memory of his past lives and did not even know about the existence of parasitic souls.

How could he tell such a Jin to have sex with that vile loan shark and pull out his heart from his chest? He could not make Jin, not himself, commit such a murderous act that would make even a psychopath cry.

Then how about this.

「First, kill Cheon Sakang in this life, and then live happily with Jin. In the next life, and the life after that, eliminate the parasitic soul as soon as I find it.」

The death of ‘Yeoheun’ that Jeha had remembered from his sixth past life dream had always weighed on his mind. He had died immediately, as if under some spell, as soon as Jeha’s past self, Nam Euntaek, killed the basket seller.

However, seeing that the young master Cheonsu was perfectly fine this time even after Jeha impulsively killed Hwang Juyeol, he wondered if there was some other variable at play.

As Jeha’s reincarnations continued, the strength of his body and mind would grow stronger, and conversely, Cheon Sakang would be repeatedly killed without being able to devour more of Jin’s soul, thus becoming progressively weaker. When the next life came, Jin and Cheon Sakang would not recognize Jeha, so if they were to face each other again, Jeha, with his memories intact, would have a significant advantage.

Therefore, would it not be the second-best option, if not the best, for Jeha to kill the parasitic soul every time? But what if Jin died following the parasitic soul like Yeoheun did again? Would Jeha be able to live the rest of his life with a sane mind?

One evening, as his mind was preoccupied with worries about how to save Jin, Jeha was in the kitchen preparing a snack for him.

Jeha, who had brought Jin’s favorite red bean butter scones and warm milk tea to the living room, placed the tray on the table and asked Jin, who was watching TV.

“What are you watching?”

“The news. Let’s watch together.”

“Alright.”

Jeha, who was watching the news with Jin habitually seated between his thighs, his back leaning against Jeha’s chest, froze for a moment at the content of the broadcast.

He had to wonder if he was really in his right mind, or if he was perhaps dreaming.

「A shaman in Y City, Gyeonggi Province, has shocked the public by making an extreme choice.

Shaman A, who uses the nickname ‘young master Cheonsu,’ was in his early 20s and was also active as a popular Noutuber with one hundred thousand followers.

It is said that Mr. A had always uploaded a new video once a week and replied to all of his fans’ comments without fail. However, one fan, who found it strange that there had been no activity for the past two weeks, visited Mr. A’s shrine early this morning and discovered Mr. A deceased, subsequently reporting it to the police.」

The police investigating the case analyzed CCTV footage around Mr. A’s residence and revealed that there appears to be no possibility of homicide.

Following Mr. A’s death, ‘cyber memorial altars’ have been set up on some Noutube channels to commemorate him…….」

“Do you really have to go this far? It is not like you killed him.”

Gu Minho said with an expressionless face. Jeha placed the dried flower decoration and a photo frame in front of the young master Cheonsu’s urn. The photo was a printout of his Noutube profile. In the photo, the young master Cheonsu was wearing his trademark red hanbok and smiling brightly.

Jeha, trying hard to hide his gloom, answered Gu Minho.

“I am just doing this for my own peace of mind.”

The young master Cheonsu, Kim Heesu, twenty-three years old, was a person for whom no relatives within the eighth degree of kinship could be found. Jeha, feeling guilty for having driven him to his death, had collected his body and come to the columbarium. Gu Minho was also dressed in a black suit.

“If I had not killed Hwang Juyeol, this person would probably be alive right now.”

To Jeha’s murmur, Gu Minho replied.

“Who knows. Whether he would have lived a few more months, or a few more years. But even if you had left them alone, are not hosts like him destined to be devoured by a parasitic soul and commit suicide in the end anyway?”

“I feel like things got more complicated because I needlessly interfered.”

“Do not worry about it. He was a human who would have died soon, one way or another.”

If he were a Gumiho, he might have been able to think so coldly, but because Jeha was human, his heart was just endlessly heavy. Moreover, for Jeha, who had been planning to kill Cheon Sakang soon, this was a very bad turn of events.

The death of ‘Yeoheun,’ Jin’s sixth past life that he recalled in his dream, was not much different from the young master Cheonsu’s death in a broader context.

The difference was that the young master Cheonsu had taken his own life, unable to bear the sorrow of losing the parasitic soul he had considered his lover, while Yeoheun had died together with the parasitic soul, vomiting blood, as soon as Jeha’s past self, Nam Euntaek, killed it.

There was another difference. The body of the ‘basket seller’ whom Nam Euntaek had killed did not disappear immediately after being killed like Hwang Juyeol’s. At least until Euntaek buried Yeoheun and left, it was sprawled out in the small room with its glaring, three-white-ringed eyes wide open.

「Right before he died, Yeoheun said that the man with the snake tattoo might have put some kind of curse on him.」

When Jeha had talked about that dream, Gu Minho had replied like this.

「Rather than a curse, could it not be that by then, too much of that Nana kid’s energy had already been absorbed by the parasitic soul? Something like they had entered a symbiotic relationship where Nana could no longer live if that bastard’s breath stopped first.」

He had not yet dreamed the final past life dream, but except for that time, the parasitic soul had never died before Jin, so there was some truth to Gu Minho’s words.

In any case, with the situation being as it was, if Jeha were to end Cheon Sakang’s life in this lifetime, Jin’s safety could no longer be guaranteed.

“The two of them will be reborn again someday and continue their ill-fated connection. Devouring, and being devoured.”

At Gu Minho’s words, which were close to a curse, Jeha’s face filled with despair.

“Minho. I honestly do not know what to do now. I did not expect the fetters of a parasitic soul to be this strong. It feels like a shackle that I can never break with my own power.”

“It is someone else’s business anyway, can you not just leave it alone? Do you like that kid that much?”

To Gu Minho’s question, Jeha answered immediately without hesitation.

“Yes. To the point where I can understand the feelings of the young master Cheonsu, who took his own life because he loved a mere parasitic soul.”

“What did you say? Are you really insane?”

“It might seem that way to you, but that is how humans are. They seem to value reason, but in essence, they are largely governed by their emotions.”

“The you I have seen is not that kind of person. It is to the point where I suspect that some other human is pretending to be you.”

“Minho. I cannot live without Jin now. If Jin dies, I think I might die too. So that we can meet again quickly in the next life.”

He could hear Gu Minho quietly swear, calling him a crazy bastard. Jeha looked at the smiling face of the young master Cheonsu placed in front of the urn and spoke to him in his mind.

I do not have the confidence to endure Jin’s death in my right mind. So I will bet all my remaining lives to annihilate Cheon Sakang for sure. If I learn something in the process, I will try to sever the bond between you and the parasitic soul attached to you as well.

Until then, I hope you can rest in peace.