Chapter 9 - Boogie Boogie Boogie (1)

Park Cheolmin, the owner of the building that had been haunted, was in a very good mood.

After a young man named Kim Yohan took a security job there, he hadn't had any strange nightmares, and nothing strange had happened in the building either.

Apparently, the claim that Yohan had good energy really was true.

The rumors that had already spread weren't going away easily, so there were still few customers, but things were gradually recovering.

He had been worried that he might have to call a shaman. It was a relief that he could save the money.

He needed to save money to prepare the tuition for the fine arts college his daughter wanted to attend.

"Dad, hurry up."

"Okay~ I'm coming."

Cheolmin walked around the exhibition with his daughter.

Then he heard people murmuring, and everyone's attention turned toward one place.

An elderly man with neatly groomed white hair and a suit that suited him perfectly.

It was the famous painter Mr. Smith, an American mixed-race artist.

Although he had retired, he was still an influential figure in the art world.

When Cheolmin approached to greet him, Smith recognized him and came over first.

"Mr. Cheolmin, it's been a long time. You look well today."

"Yes, yes! Sir, haha! Thank you."

They say life is full of unexpected twists and turns. Cheolmin had gotten acquainted with such a famous and wealthy painter because he had once stopped by an exhibition and happened to have a conversation with him.

Smith had shown interest in Cheolmin's story about his haunted building.

"How have things been lately?"

"Ah, haha! Well, I met a benefactor, and everything was resolved."

"A benefactor…?"

At the word "benefactor," Smith fell silent for a moment, pondering before speaking.

"Mr. Cheolmin, if you don't mind, could you tell me more about it in the café over there?"

"Yes? Yes! Of course."

Cheolmin gladly brought his daughter along and, without even being asked, started by telling Smith about how his daughter had a talent for art. Then he brought up the story of how he had met Yohan.

He even said that he had noticed from the very beginning that Yohan was a special person.

He embellished the story, saying that Buddha had sent Yohan to him as a benefactor out of pity for him.

Perhaps he really believed it himself.

In any case, the conclusion was that nothing strange had happened since Yohan started working security there.

"I see… Thank you for telling me."

After finishing his conversation with Cheolmin and completing his schedule at the exhibition, Smith got into the car driven by his chauffeur and returned home.

Leaving behind the city of buildings illuminated by lights throughout the night, the car headed toward a Western-style mansion on a quiet mountain road.

It had originally been used as a vacation home, but he was now staying there so that his granddaughter, whose health was poor, could recuperate.

…Yes, that was why he was there.

After Smith stared at the mansion's door for a moment and let out a breath, he entered the house.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

A shriek that sounded as though it were tearing apart the air rang out.

"……!?"

Smith hurriedly ran toward his granddaughter's room.

Through the already-open door, he entered and saw Emily, his granddaughter, a blonde girl with skin as pale as the pure white pajamas she was wearing.

Her eyes were wide open as she curled up and trembled on the bed, tears streaming down her face.

"Miss, it's okay. Calm down."

The newly hired maid tried to calm Emily, but it was useless.

"My mother… My father… They're talking to me."

It was a horrible nightmare in which her deceased parents appeared before her.

Smith approached the bed and embraced his granddaughter, who was trembling with fear.

"Emily, it's only a nightmare. It's just a nightmare."

"T-They talk to me with horrible appearances… They tell me to die quickly."

"They would never say something like that!"

But Emily's trembling did not subside.

Smith was tormented as he watched his granddaughter trembling in his arms.

The unsettling things that had been happening in the house since some time ago.

His granddaughter's nightmares.

When he sensed that something was wrong and moved to a hotel with Emily, she had developed a high fever and vomited black blood.

Even the doctor didn't know the cause, and they eventually returned to this house.

But nothing changed.

If anything, it had only gotten worse.

"…Now I see nightmares even when I'm awake. Inside the closet, on top of the bookshelf, in the cracks… They whisper to me."

The precious child his deceased son and daughter-in-law had left behind.

Overwhelmed by grief because he could do nothing for his suffering granddaughter, Smith tightly shut his eyes.

"Lord… What has this child done to deserve this?"

At this point, he didn't care who it was.

Even if it was nothing more than a vain hope, he wanted to try anything if it could save his granddaughter.

With trembling hands, Smith called Cheolmin.

"Yes… Mr. Cheolmin, it's me. …Could you contact a young man named Kim Yohan?"

And underneath the bed.

Two heads, their male and female faces pressed tightly together, were smiling with their mouths stretched all the way to their ears.

They quietly tapped the floor with their long fingers, waiting in anticipation for the new prey that would walk in of its own accord.

Then they slowly slipped deeper underneath the bed.

***

Yohan went to a department store with a traditional herbal medicine shop that sold herbal medicine products and purchased powdered musk along with the other materials he needed.

Since he was there anyway, he also bought other things he needed besides the ingredients for the incense, so his expenses were even higher.

In any case, the ingredients were ready, so he decided to make it right away.

In the kitchen, he opened the grimoire and reread the section about magical incense, reviewing what he had learned.

[The ingredients used for incense are not necessarily fixed, and they can differ depending on the mage and their school of magic. When I searched for and experimented with several unusual ingredients and spices in Damascus, I found that they produced good results. Therefore, I use these ingredients.]

My eyes narrowed.

Teacher… If the ingredients differ from mage to mage, couldn't you have used some cheaper ingredients?

Those Middle Eastern spice merchants… Those bastards…

"Fine. It's not like I'm giving it to someone else. I'm the one using it all anyway, so I might as well use good ingredients."

I muttered to myself, cleared my mind of distracting thoughts, and began preparing the ingredients with the grimoire in one hand.

For making the incense, the day and hour of the planet weren't particularly important.

The first step in making magical incense.

Put aloe, nutmeg, benzoin, and musk together, crush them, and mix them thoroughly.

I pressed down on the ingredients with a mortar and pestle, grinding and mixing them together.

Second, once everything seemed evenly mixed, it was time to recite the incantation.

"God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. May this incense possess the power and virtue to draw good spirits and drive away evil spirits."

"By the grace of the Holy Spirit, grant protection and virtue to those who use this incense. Lord, bless and sanctify it."

Once the incantation had been recited completely, additional spices were added.

The book simply said to add spices at this stage, so I decided to use whatever I had at home.

I added some pepper, a representative spice, and since chili peppers were also considered spices that provided heat, I finely crushed some peperoncino and added it.

As for the fragrant oil, I had considered using cooking oil, but since I had already used expensive, high-quality ingredients, I decided to use good oil as well and added olive oil.

Then I mixed everything thoroughly again.

Clatter~ Clatter~

I narrowed my eyes as I looked down at the contents of the earthenware bowl.

Am I a mage… or a chef…?

Anyway, as the finishing touch, I sprinkled Holy Water over the finished mixture using the holy-water sprayer.

Then I wrapped it carefully in a soft cloth or handkerchief and stored it.

Whenever I needed it, I could take out as much as I needed and put it into a fire.

And I had a use for it right away.

I took out the white trench coat I had bought at the department store.

Of course, I hadn't bought it because I suddenly wanted to wear a coat.

It was to make a robe that would protect my body from evil spirits and assist my magic.

Since the book said that a white robe was necessary, I bought a white coat instead.

These days, magical fiction was popular with characters calculating everything mentally and casting magic without using auxiliary tools like wands or crystal balls…

So I wondered why I even needed to prepare a robe.

I drew the magical inscriptions shown in the grimoire on the inside of the robe using red ink.

Then I wrote names on the front, back, left sleeve, and right sleeve on the inside of the robe.

On the front.

On the back.

On the right sleeve.

On the left sleeve.

After that, I lit the mini brazier I had bought from the camping section of the department store.

Then I placed the incense I had made earlier into the fire and dried the robe in the smoke rising from it.

I fanned the air so that the smoke would travel properly toward the coat hanging there.

The scent of the incense was somewhat special… but it also smelled a bit like smoked food.

Anyway, after all that…

Ta-da! The magical incense and robe were complete.

Then my phone rang.

When I checked the number, it was the man who had posted the security part-time job before.

It was Park Cheolmin.

I didn't think there was anything else we needed to talk about… What was going on?

For now, I answered the phone.

"Yes, hello."

"Haha! Teacher Yohan, how have you been? This is Park Cheolmin. Thanks to you, I've been living comfortably."

My eyes immediately narrowed.

It wasn't as though I'd done anything worthy of respect.

If someone addressed me respectfully as "Teacher," then either that person was extremely polite……or they had some ulterior motive.

Let's hear him out first.

"To say it's thanks to me is too much praise. Yes, please, go ahead.”