SATURDAY 20

I don’t know how much of a massive uproar ensued. The Shaman and Mr. Taeseon fought, shouting at each other. Mr. Taeseon was in a frenzy, saying he would call the police, while the Shaman stepped forward confidently, telling him to go ahead and try.

In truth, since I, who live in this house together with him, had called the Shaman…. To be precise, since I had invited her after she said she would come, calling the police would have been pointless.

However, I had never seen Mr. Taeseon shouting like that before. He was almost at the level of losing his reason and lunging at the Shaman, and even his pheromones were pouring out. I was completely frazzled trying to stop him in his agitated state.

Ultimately, in front of Mr. Taeseon, who was screaming to clear those things out immediately, the Shaman silently wrapped the shamanic tools in the cloth she had brought and packed the cotton mat I had been sitting on, along with the pouches of red beans and salt, into a large bag.

The Shaman pretended to be calm, but her feelings must have been deeply hurt. I had to stay glued to Mr. Taeseon because I felt that if I stepped even a single inch away from him, he might push her.

The fortunate thing was the fact that he didn’t push me away. I don’t know if he couldn’t see me because he was so worked up, or if he just didn’t feel the need to push me….

However, only when the Shaman finished packing her things and tried to leave did he grab my collar and hurl me away. The Shaman dropped her luggage and rushed to me.

“Inyoung!”

“…Inyoung? You’re doing all sorts of crazy shit. Is it not enough for you to claim it yourself, so now even a shaman is stepping in?”

I struck my leg once against the side of the bed mattress and fell flat on the floor. The Shaman hurriedly helped me up. Fortunately, unlike last time, I wasn’t injured. It seemed striking the mattress first acted as a cushion.

Salt and red beans were scattered all over the floor. They must be stuck to my body in a ridiculous fashion. I could understand Mr. Taeseon’s absurd feelings. The Shaman stroked my arm and then glared at Mr. Taeseon.

This was the first time I’d seen Mr. Taeseon act so roughly, but the Shaman also rarely showed such an angry side. She had never been angry because of me before. Is it perhaps because this body belongs to Inha?

“You.”

Mr. Taeseon, who was huffing lightly, smirked at the voice calling him and looked at the Shaman.

“You, you will regret this.”

“Regret? Ha, what kind of useless talk are you trying to start.”

“Do not do foolish things. If you don’t want to regret it.”

“Cut the dog shit and get out. Unless you want to be dragged out.”

The Shaman shook her head, stroked my cheek once, and stood up from the spot. I checked Mr. Taeseon’s reaction for a moment and then stepped forward to see the Shaman off.

It was embarrassing that red beans dropped—thud, thud—with every step, but I couldn’t help it. Mr. Taeseon watched me with a pathetic gaze.

The Shaman’s car was parked in the guest spot of the garage. Mr. Taeseon seemed to have realized a guest was home upon seeing that. After loading the luggage the Shaman had brought into the back seat, I walked around to the driver’s side. The Shaman rolled down the window and stared at me.

“Inyoung.”

“…Yes, Shaman. I’m sorry, because of me….”

“Don’t worry about things like that. And Inyoung.”

“Yes.”

“Even if Inha returns, I will make sure you do not completely disappear.”

Did I hear correctly? My eyes widened involuntarily. At me, who wore a dazed face, the Shaman looked with a bittersweet smile.

“You are also a pitiful child. A pitiful soul. Where in the world could there be a soul that shouldn’t have been born?”

“….”

“Even if you committed the grave sin of stealing a womb, the Shaman is on your side.”

“Shaman….”

“So always keep your body pure and do not refuse Inha’s entry. From now on, you will have to live in symbiosis. The Shaman has no greed. If you brothers live well, that is enough for me.”

Tears welled up in my eyes naturally. The Shaman is the one who knows better than anyone that I was a person who shouldn’t have been born, possessing the soul of a beast. Yet to think she was feeling this way.

My heart felt warm. I thought to myself, maybe this is what it feels like to be loved. It’s an emotion I’m feeling for the first time since being with Mr. Taeseon.

“If you discard greed in everything and live virtuously, there will be a day for your salvation as well. The important thing is to discard greed. Do you understand what the Shaman is saying?”

“…Yes, I understand.”

“I’m going now. Make sure to eat well. You’ve become so thin, tsk tsk….”

The Shaman spoke with a worried voice until the very end and left the house. Coming out of the garage, I watched the back of the car disappearing beyond the alley for a long time.

When I returned to the room, the cleaning staff were inside organizing the room.

“Ah, you’re back? It’s almost finished.”

The staff member holding the vacuum turned off the power and spoke to me. The red beans and salt that had been scattered all over the floor were completely cleaned up, and the bedsheets and blankets were all changed.

Other than that, I could see signs of small furniture having been moved and put back in every corner. It seemed they had tried to clean up even the red beans that had gone into the gaps between furniture.

While I was standing awkwardly on one side of the hallway waiting for the cleaning to finish, the door to the room furthest from mine opened and Mr. Taeseon came out. Upon seeing me, he let out a hollow laugh, grabbed my arm, and dragged me into his room.

“Tae, Taeseon…. Ah, Ge, General Manager, wait, ah, it hurts….”

However, the strength gripping my arm did not loosen, and he pushed me right into the bathroom of his room. Before I could even come to my senses, cold water poured over my body.

“…!”

It wasn’t ice-cold water. It was about lukewarm, but to me, who was unnecessarily sensitive, it was cold enough to make me go—huk—and stifle my breath. I barely managed to stick my face out of the water stream to breathe. As I staggered as if about to slip, he grabbed my arm to stand me upright and said:

“Wash up, thoroughly. Don’t let a single trace of that crazy stunt be visible to my eyes.”

Leaving only those words, Mr. Taeseon walked out of the bathroom. I waited for him to slam—bang—the door shut before tentatively turning the temperature control lever.

Soon, warm water began to come out of the shower, and my tense body relaxed along with a ragged breath.

“Haaa….”

I struggled to take off my completely soaked clothes. Once I had even taken off my underwear, I was exhausted just from that. After throwing the clothes that made a splat, splat sound because they were wet outside the shower booth, the moment I stepped back inside, I wrinkled the tip of my nose involuntarily. Since it was the bathroom Mr. Taeseon used, his scent lingered strongly.

He had a brand he favored, and even within that brand, he used a few specific products alternately. On the shelves recessed into the wall, bath products with familiar names and logos were lined up.

As I put some in my hand, a familiar and thick fragrance wafted up. I had to wash my hair for a long time because the salt had melted and stuck to it. Also, even though I had taken off all my clothes, red beans rolled—thud, thud—on the bathroom floor from somewhere and gathered at the drain.

After washing my entire body to an almost obsessive degree of cleanliness, I saw I had no clothes. I had no choice but to take out the robe that was hanging there and wear it, and I threw the soaked clothes entirely into the trash can. I also cleared away all the red beans rolling around the drain.

The robe was the size Mr. Taeseon wore, so it was too big and the shoulders kept sliding down. As I came out of the bathroom, that familiar fragrance drifted again. It was only natural. This was Mr. Taeseon’s room.

Mr. Taeseon’s room….

My feet, which were about to move hurriedly, stopped. Pressing down on my heart, which was thumping as if I were a thief, I slowly looked around the room. It was a clean room, with only the pillows slightly disarranged. It was clean enough that one could hardly feel the trace of a person.

Inside the dressing room, there would at least be Mr. Taeseon’s traces. Clothes, the watches and cuffs he frequently wore, a few perfumes he favored. I could easily guess what would be in his dressing room.

…If I stayed longer, I might arouse suspicion. I hurried to put the towel in the bin, adjusted the robe, and slipped out of the room.

I heard the sound of the TV from the first floor. It seemed Mr. Taeseon was watching TV for some reason. When I quickly went down to the first floor, Mr. Taeseon, who had been watching the screen where the news was playing with a bored face, slowly turned his head.

His expression wavered faintly.

At the expression that seemed surprised, I didn’t know what to do and took a step back, then staggered as I caught on the stairs.

I managed to stand properly by grabbing the railing, but I had shown a foolish appearance in front of Mr. Taeseon. My face reddened naturally. As I peeked at him by slightly lifting my eyes, he was still looking at me with a peculiar face.

It’s an expression I’ve seen before…. Around the time I hadn’t been in this house for long.

While I was just blinking my eyes, Mr. Taeseon rose slowly and approached me. Pheromones were flowing from him. An alarm bell rang in my head. His rut is near. However, it wasn’t at a dangerous stage yet.

He strode closer, grabbed both my arms, and looked down at me.