Chapter 16: Lust Ghost (2)
‘Should I just steal that Lust Ghost’s scythe and use it myself...?’
If I fought like this, there was a chance that scythe would cut off my neck, just like what almost happened with the Hungry Ghost.
To deal with the Lust Ghost, I first needed to use my transformation ability.
‘Inhwang Chasa Transformation!’
At once, the energy of the Black Spirit exploded from inside my chest, and I transformed into the true form of the Inhwang Chasa.
“Ueeeh... Inhwang... It really is... Inhwang... Scary Inhwang... I’m running away...”
“Hey! You Lust Ghost! Don’t run away!”
Just like the Hungry Ghost, the first thing this bastard thought of when it saw me was escaping.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Since I was blocking the way in front of him, the Lust Ghost stomped down hard on the roof.
A hole was smashed straight through it.
Then he threw himself through the opening.
‘Damn! This time he escaped downward. Huh?! That’s Officer Kim’s room!’
“Aaaagh!”
Detective Park’s scream came from Officer Kim’s room below.
I immediately jumped through the hole in the roof.
When I landed inside the room, Detective Park was bleeding from his arm and had collapsed into Officer Kim’s embrace.
In front of them stood the Lust Ghost, holding his scythe while staring blankly at Officer Kim.
It seemed Detective Park had been injured while trying to protect Officer Kim from the Lust Ghost’s sudden attack.
“Cecilia... My beloved Cecilia... I have to kill you... Your soul... is mine...”
Drool dripped from the Lust Ghost’s mouth as he stared at Officer Kim like a man possessed.
Officer Kim was trembling violently.
Anyone would have been terrified.
A crazed man was standing in front of her with a blood-covered scythe, staring at her with unfocused eyes.
“Hey! You damn Lust Ghost! Have you lost your mind?! How dare you touch my junior!”
“Inhwang... It’s Inhwang... Avoid him...”
When I landed in the room and shouted, the bastard flinched.
His body trembled.
Then he immediately jumped through the window and fled again.
“Maengryongbo!”
I also threw myself through the window.
After landing on the street, I looked for the Lust Ghost.
He was already floating in the air about twenty meters away.
I immediately used Seungryongbi and shot toward him at high speed.
“Take this!”
KWAANG!
I slammed my fist, filled with Black Spirit energy, into the Lust Ghost’s back.
“Kueeeeh...!!”
With an explosive roar, blood and flesh scattered from his body.
The force of the impact sent him flying through the air like an arrow.
I dropped back to the ground and landed.
“As expected, it’s hard to finish him with just one punch.”
The Black Spirit energy had exploded so strongly that, in a way, I had actually helped the Lust Ghost escape.
Still, the wound on his back was deep enough for bone to be visible.
He probably wouldn’t show himself again for a while.
I jumped back toward Officer Kim’s room.
“Hey! Detective Park, are you okay? Are you conscious?”
I approached Detective Park and checked his condition.
Officer Kim stared at me in confusion.
“Who are you...? Huh?! Detective Kang? Why do you look like that? And why is your hair so long?”
Her mind seemed completely overwhelmed.
A man carrying a scythe had suddenly broken through the roof and attacked them.
Then I had appeared wearing strange clothes.
She clearly had no idea what was happening.
“I’m not someone called Detective Kang.”
Even to my own ears, that sounded ridiculous.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I thought you were Detective Kang. Then... who are you?”
Thank goodness it was Officer Kim.
Her soul was so pure that she believed practically anything people told her without the slightest suspicion.
“I’m an agent working for a secret government organization. I came all the way here while trying to capture that lunatic.”
“Ah... I see. Then please catch him quickly. He’s a really dangerous person.”
“Yes, understood. Then I’ll be leaving.”
I jumped through the window again and landed in the alley.
Then I canceled my transformation and rushed back into Officer Kim’s room.
“What the hell happened here?! Hey! Detective Park, why are you hurt?!”
What happened?
I was the one causing all the chaos.
‘I’m not freaking SuperXman. Why do I have to leave, cancel my transformation, come back again, and pretend I know nothing...?’
Fortunately, Detective Park’s injury wasn’t serious.
His skin had been cut in a long line, but the wound was shallow.
There didn’t seem to be any damage to his muscles or tendons.
Still...
This guy’s glorious first injury as a detective had come from an evil spirit instead of a human criminal.
I had a feeling he was going to have some serious bad luck in the future.
“Senior, I think I’m okay.”
Judging by how normally Detective Park answered, he had probably only been mentally shocked by the sudden attack.
Or maybe...
He simply wanted to stay in Officer Kim’s arms a little longer.
“Officer Kim, Detective Park’s wound doesn’t seem serious. Just put a bandage on it or something.”
Officer Kim immediately stood up and walked toward a shelf in the corner.
“Officer Kim, where are you going?”
“To find a bandage.”
“......”
I really hadn’t expected her to completely miss the joke.
I decided to stay quiet and see what she would do.
She actually pulled a small adhesive bandage from the drawer and tried to put it on him.
Considering the length of the wound, there was no way that tiny bandage would do anything.
Officer Kim gave me a brief, resentful look.
Then she went back to the shelf.
This time, she brought out a first-aid kit, disinfected the wound, and wrapped it properly with gauze and bandages.
At least she seemed capable of learning.
At that moment, I felt Detective Park’s sharp glare.
This bastard seemed to think I was making fun of Officer Kim.
I had only made one little joke...
“Officer Kim, thank you very much for treating me. It doesn’t even hurt anymore. I think I’m completely healed.”
“Hey! Blood is still soaking through the bandage! What do you mean completely healed?!”
Detective Park’s sharp glare stabbed into my face once again.
I felt a little guilty, so I threw Officer Kim a compliment.
“Officer Kim, you’re really good at first aid. Looks like you’ve done this a lot.”
At that one compliment, Officer Kim smiled brightly.
Detective Park’s expression also seemed to brighten a little.
There really was truth in the saying that one kind word could repay a thousand-nyang debt.
Meow...
Cats were crying from the hole in the roof.
This time, their cries seemed to say they were relieved that Officer Kim was safe.
“Want to come down?”
I gently waved my hand and called them.
The height was low enough for cats to jump down easily, but they hesitated and refused to move.
“It’s okay, everyone. Come down.”
As soon as Officer Kim called them, the cats immediately jumped down as if they had been waiting for her permission.
‘These little bastards. When I called you nicely, you didn’t even care. But the second Officer Kim calls, you jump down immediately...’
I felt slightly annoyed, but considering Officer Kim had spent far more time with them than I had, their reaction made sense.
There were about six cats left.
That meant roughly four had been killed by the Lust Ghost.
“Meeeow...”
“Meeeoow...”
The cats rolled around Officer Kim’s feet and acted affectionately.
Watching them made my chest feel strangely heavy.
The nun and the orphans who had died during the war.
And the soldier who had raped and murdered the nun...
I could roughly imagine what had happened between them in their previous lives.
Whatever the full story was, it was clearly not a pleasant one.
“Officer Kim, did you know? Those cats were crying earlier because they were trying to warn you about that lunatic. I think they wanted to protect you.”
“Really?”
“I saw it from outside. Four of them were killed by that bastard. The cats that died before were also killed by him. And he was the one stalking you too.”
“I see... That person is really cruel. That’s horrible...”
She didn’t seem even slightly curious about how I knew that guy had been her stalker.
“Then... were all of you protecting me?”
Officer Kim looked at the cats with tender eyes and picked them up one by one.
“Thank you. I really had no idea you were thinking about me like that.”
Small tears formed in her eyes.
‘Seeing her like this... Officer Kim really does seem like she was a nun in her past life.’
I desperately wanted to tell her about her previous life and the cats’ previous lives, but I forced myself to stay quiet.
“Officer Kim, what are you going to do with them now?”
“I’m not sure. Seeing how attached they are to me, it would be hard to just leave them alone.”
Even the angel-like Officer Kim seemed troubled.
“But raising six cats alone would be really difficult. And I also feel bad leaving them on the streets...”
“Then I’ll help raise them.”
Detective Park suddenly spoke.
Officer Kim and I both turned to look at him.
Officer Kim gave him a gentle smile.
“Then let’s raise them together.”
I frowned.
“Officer Kim, do you actually understand what this guy means when he says that?”
“Huh? Doesn’t he mean we should raise the cats together?”
“That’s right. I like cats too, so I meant we should raise them together.”
I couldn’t understand how two people who lived separately planned to raise cats together.
Had these two already become such a perfect husband-and-wife team without realizing it?
Or was I just the one with a dirty imagination?
‘Whatever. As long as they’re happy...’
Even though Detective Park’s wound wasn’t deep, it was long enough that he would probably need stitches.
“You should go to the emergency room and get that wound stitched up. What Officer Kim did was only first aid. If you leave it like that, the wound could split open again. And Officer Kim, the roof is broken, so go stay at a nearby motel for tonight. As for the cats...”
“I’ll take them.”
Detective Park volunteered immediately.
“A motel probably won’t allow her to bring all the cats anyway.”
Officer Kim looked at Detective Park with a warm, satisfied expression.
‘Ah... Something inside me feels twisted...’
Still, there was nothing I could do.
That was what love did to people.
These two had their own business.
And I had a much more urgent problem.
I had to capture the Lust Ghost that had escaped before he could hurt Officer Kim again.
“Then I’ll see you at the police station tomorrow.”
“Yes. Thank you for everything today, Senior.”
Detective Park loaded the cats into his car and drove away.
“Then I’ll be going too.”
Officer Kim politely bowed to me before heading toward a nearby motel.
After everyone left, I finally started walking home.
‘I’m pretty tired too...’
Today, I had encountered two evil spirits.
A Hungry Ghost and a Lust Ghost.
It was strange.
Those bastards should have been receiving punishment on the fifth level of Hell.
So why were they freely roaming around the living world?
‘Arang, are you listening? If you are, can you answer me?’
—Yes, Inhwang-nim. What is it?
For some reason, Arang’s voice sounded especially pleasant today.
‘I met a Hungry Ghost and a Lust Ghost today.’
—Yes. I know.
‘How are those guys in the living world? Aren’t they supposed to be in Hell?’
—I think they’re among the evil spirits Taerang took into Yeongbongan.
‘Just how many evil spirits did he bring there?’
—Around 190 in total. About ten Ghost-class spirits, over one hundred Murderous Ghost-class spirits, around fifty Mad Ghost-class spirits, thirty Explosive Ghost-class spirits, and finally the Three Evils of the Underworld, who are Demon-class spirits. That’s all of them.
‘That’s quite a lot. I have another question. Reincarnated humans can’t remember their past lives, but can evil spirits remember theirs?’
—To reincarnate, your memories have to be erased. That’s why humans naturally can’t remember their previous lives. But evil spirits don’t reincarnate, so they keep their memories.
‘Ah... I see.’
—And when they’re being punished, they need to remember their previous lives so they know why they’re being punished, right?
‘That makes sense. What about animals?’
I thought about Officer Kim’s cats as I asked.
—Whether human or animal, once a soul reincarnates, it normally loses all memories of its previous life. Except for dogs and cats.
‘Why?’
—Among the good souls who are allowed to enter Mureungdowon, there are sometimes souls who give up the chance to go there because they desperately want to remain beside someone they deeply miss in the living world.
‘Giving up Mureungdowon... That’s hard to believe. But why do they become dogs or cats instead of humans?’
—If they reincarnated as humans, their memories would definitely be erased. Then there wouldn’t be much point in reincarnating for that reason, would there?
I could almost hear Arang silently adding, ‘Are you stupid?’
—Dogs and cats are animals that naturally live very close to humans, so it’s easy for them to stay near people. That’s why a special exception exists. If they reincarnate as a dog or cat, they can sometimes keep the memories of their previous life.
After listening to Arang’s explanation, I thought about Officer Kim’s cats.
Those orphans who had died during the war...
Just how much must they have missed her?
They had even abandoned Mureungdowon and reincarnated as cats just to stay near her.
Then a strange thought occurred to me.
‘Wait. Then why did Officer Kim reincarnate as a human? Someone like Officer Kim should have been good enough to enter Mureungdowon, shouldn’t she?’
Something felt strange.
—Would you like me to explain why?
‘No.’
I rejected the offer immediately.
—Why? With your personality, Inhwang-nim, won’t you go crazy from curiosity?
‘I don’t know... I think when it comes to the person I like, there are some weaknesses I’d rather not know about.’
More than anyone else, I knew that I couldn’t control my own mouth.
—...Inhwang-nim, you have a strange habit of making up for all your lost points at the most critical moments.
‘That was a compliment, right?’
—Let’s call it a compliment.
‘Thanks. You helped me a lot today. At times like this, Arang, you explain things so well that you could put a top instructor to shame.’
—Hehehe. This much is basic.
Arang sounded pleased.
I decided to strike while she was in a good mood.
‘Then where is Arang’s older sister right now?’
—My sister is currently... Chiiiiik...
So close.
I almost had her.
If I had managed to pull her one step further into the trap, I might have gotten the answer.
But Arang noticed what I was doing and shut off the microphone.
“Ah, damn it! You said I’m being punished too, didn’t you?! You said when someone is punished, they’re supposed to know what crime they committed! Then why won’t anyone tell me anything?! Why?!”
My frustration was on the verge of exploding.
But Arang didn’t answer again.
In the end, I could only lower my head and continue walking home.
