SATURDAY 67

However, I couldn’t check the caller immediately. This was because Lili, who had been lingering at the edge of the bed, gave the phone a flick with her front paw, sending it falling to the floor.

“Lili!”

The phone, having fallen onto the wooden floor, began to vibrate with a much louder sound than when it was on the bed.

“Lili, what if you break the phone?”

I scolded Lili while hurrying toward the edge of the bed. But faster than that, my uncle, who had been sitting beside the bed, picked up the phone and checked the screen.

“…Whatever, you don’t need to answer this.”

“Huh? Who is it?”

“A scammer.”

“The Shaman?”

My uncle let out a smirk while holding the vibrating phone.

“I only said it was a scammer, but seeing as you already know it’s that woman, I guess you’ve finally realized to some extent that she’s strange.”

“Well….”

Actually, if I told him that I still feel a sense of rejection even at the word ‘scammer’, my uncle would get angry.

The Shaman is…. I can’t think of the Shaman as a scammer. Most of the bad things the Shaman predicted so far have come true, and because we performed exorcisms, the scale of them was reduced.

Actually, it’s hard to completely trust the medium I met back then, either. Since she seemed to have ill feelings toward the Shaman.

If I said this, both Mr. Taeseon and my uncle would find me frustrating, but since the day I was born, the Shaman has been the spiritual pillar of our household. Also, she was the grateful person who persuaded my parents to raise me until now.

I have many memories with the Shaman. With Professor Jang, too. Honestly, I wished all of these things were just lies or a dream, and that when I woke up, things would be back to how they were before.

Meaning… I wanted it to be a normal day where, when I wake up, Inha is alive, and I just quietly leave the house to marry Mr. Taeseon.

I reached out my hand to my uncle.

“I’ll take it, it’s okay.”

“No.”

“It’s really okay. It might just be a call to check in.”

“….”

My uncle stared at me intently with a look of contemplation for a moment, then silently handed over the phone. Meanwhile, the call that had cut off once began to ring again.

“…Yes, Shaman.”

The Shaman was silent for a few seconds. Then she spoke quietly.

― Yes, so you are Inyoung.

“….”

Again.

Once again, it’s those words.

Before, she asked me if I was Inha. This time, she said, “so ‘you’ are Inyoung.” As if it were possible for me to be Inha. A chill ran down my spine and it felt as though my hair was standing on end.

― Inyoung-ah.

“Yes, Shaman….”

My uncle made a light gesture. He meant for me to turn up the call volume. When I pressed the button on the side of the phone to make the sound louder, the Shaman’s voice echoed out.

Lili, who had been curled up next to me, pricked up her ears, then opened her eyes wide with enlarged pupils and stared at me—more accurately, at the phone I was holding.

― There is no trouble for the time being. However, it will be dangerous if this drags on for too long.

“….”

I shut my mouth instantly. Those words fit the current situation too perfectly. That for Mr. Taeseon, there is no trouble for now, but it will be dangerous if time drags on….

I was about to reply when my uncle grabbed my arm, placed a finger in front of his lips, and shook his head. He seemed to mean for me not to say anything.

As I stayed quiet for the moment, the Shaman continued.

― I know you must have been surprised. The Shaman will resolve this for you, so come to Professor Jang’s room. It’s not a big deal. As long as you don’t drag your feet, he will be able to return without injury.

“…Wha, what….”

To say she was just guessing, it fit too well. Still, because my uncle kept shaking his head, I kept my mouth shut for now, but at the Shaman’s next words, I nearly dropped the phone.

― Hasn’t CEO Lee Taeseon gone missing.

“….”

I made eye contact with my uncle. My uncle also had a shocked face. I felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over my head, and I gripped the phone tightly.

― …Don’t worry too much, because he can return. First, come to the Shaman. Without you, nothing can be done.

“Me? Am I… of any help?”

― Should I say you’re of help…. In the first place.

“….”

― This is something that happened because of you.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Do you really have to go?”

My uncle asked after parking the car in the parking lot. As I was unfastening my seatbelt, I ended up letting out a small laugh in spite of myself at his voice full of worry.

“Why are you so worried, uncle? It’s not like I’m going to meet a strange person.”

“Inyoung-ah. The person you are going to meet right now is, as far as I know, the strangest person in the entire world.”

“Is… is it that extreme?”

To the point that the whole world is mentioned. No, but even in my head, I’ve now accepted to some extent that the Shaman is not a good person. However, it was a different matter for my heart to agree.

By the same logic that I still desperately want to be loved by my parents, I still wanted to listen to the Shaman’s words and hoped she would show me the way.

Surely my uncle must think I’m frustrating. Mr. Taeseon too… if he heard, he’d probably feel the same.

But I felt like I had to hear what the Shaman had to say right now. It was the Shaman who immediately realized that something had happened to Mr. Taeseon. If so, then the solution….

“…Inyoung-ah, do you really not see? The fact that the General Manager is out of contact in the Philippines right now—it’s possible the Shaman and Professor Jang provided the cause for that themselves.”

“What? That’s a bit…. How is such a thing possible?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? They have the money, they have the connections, what can’t they do? You, in the Philippines, a person… never mind.”

“….”

My uncle stopped talking, but I could easily guess the content that would have followed. He was probably going to say, “Do you know how easy it is to kill a person in the Philippines?” And he must have stopped because he thought those words would have a bad influence on me, already swept up in anxiety.

But I had already understood it all. My uncle seemed to know that too, as he wore an expression showing he’d made a mistake. I felt as if the blood were draining from my body and closed my eyes tightly.

“Nothing will happen. No matter what the Shaman and the Professor say, don’t believe them.”

Even if he says that, my uncle also suspects that the Shaman and the Professor did ‘something’. That was why I had to meet the Shaman and the Professor even more. I had to meet them and hear their story. About what happened to Mr. Taeseon.

In my head, news reports related to the murders of Korean businessmen still flashed around chaotically. Mr. Taeseon spoke about armored cars and bodyguards, but if it were a country with good public safety in the first place, such things wouldn’t have been necessary.

The Shaman told me to come up alone. Professor Jang will probably be there if I go. The fact that she specifically told me to come up alone hinted at bad intentions, but still, my heart moved of its own accord. I felt like I just had to go meet the Shaman.

“I’ll be back.”

“You don’t have to go, Inyoung-ah.”

“…I’ll go anyway….”

Actually, my uncle probably wanted to know too. About what happened to Mr. Taeseon. Whether it was the Shaman’s doing or not, if I go up and talk, I might be able to find out something. I took a deep breath and got out of the car.

The way to the Professor’s room felt particularly deserted and gloomy today. I got into an elevator that no one else was on, went down to the basement, and walked down the long hallway. Weak fluorescent lights illuminated the walls and floor, which were a mix of the hospital’s characteristic gray and ivory colors.

Even though it was the basement, the courtyard was open all the way down, letting in outside light, but the hallway was chilly like any other basement.

Professor Jang’s office was the second from the end of the hallway. When I stood in front of it and knocked with a trembling hand, the door opened immediately and my body was pulled inside.

“…!”

Before I knew it, the Shaman was hugging me. The Shaman, who was a bit taller and larger in frame than me, pulled me into a hug with ease. Her large hands went thud, thud, patting my back. I blinked dazed. A faint chill broke out on my skin.

“Inyoung-ah, you poor thing…. Come and sit here.”

“Inyoung, you’ve arrived.”

Professor Jang was sitting on the sofa. Three teacups were placed on the table in front of the sofa. As if they knew I would arrive at this moment, white steam rose from my cup as if it had just been poured.

I sat in front of it naturally. It was a setup where the Professor sat opposite me, the Shaman sat in the seat of honor, and I sat in the seat with my back to the window.

“Now, Inyoung-ah. Where should I begin the story.”

“…Mr. Taeseon….”

“Yes.”

“What happened to Mr. Taeseon? What… happened to Mr. Taeseon?”

“Yes, I shall tell you that first. CEO Lee is probably… in a quite dangerous situation by now.”

“What? Then… we shouldn’t be just sitting like this. We have to contact someone, the police….”

“It’s no use, Inyoung-ah. The Philippine police are in league with criminal organizations.”

The Professor said. I looked back and forth between the two of them, carrying the anxiety that had begun to swirl within me.