My Girlfriend Is a Shaman

11 – Shinju Complex #1

A promise to find his dead father.

Sarah didn’t just say it, she actually kept her promise.

From that day on, Sarah started walking around the neighborhood with me.

“Sera, where are we going now?”

“I’m going to look for your father.”

“You can find my father?”

“Ghosts wander around the place where they died unless something special happens. You said your father died in the parking lot of an apartment complex, right? Then there’s a high probability that they’re wandering around in our neighborhood.”

“No… But I think I’m putting you through trouble for no reason.”

“You promised to find it! I don’t make promises carelessly.”

Originally, Sarah did not go out of her house often. She was a child who refused and went home after school, even when her classmates asked her to play.

But for my sake, Sarah went out on rare occasions.

Because Sarah had eyes that could see her ghost.

“Yeah, I see.”

“Let’s start by walking around near the apartment.”

The first place we walked around was near the apartment where I live. I started at the parking lot, looked around the rooftop, and then went directly to my house to look for my father. However, there seemed to be nothing special in Sarah’s eyes.

“Um… I don’t see a spirit that looks like your father?”

“It’s been a while since my father passed away. I think he may have moved away from the apartment. My father was the type to move around all over the place.”

“Really?”

We didn’t give up our search after just wandering around the apartment. When I had time, I visited most of the places in my neighborhood that elementary school students could go. A house where spooky rumors are heard, a coffee shop where business is particularly slow, or a place near a subway station.

“How are you? Can you see my father?”

“I can’t see it.”

“Can you see over there?”

“There’s no place over there.”

Walking around the neighborhood with Sarah like this made me feel like I was exploring. Should I say that it was more fun than when I wandered around the psychic spots by myself? Of course, no matter how much I walked around the neighborhood, I couldn’t see a single trace of my father’s spirit.

“Where have you really gone? Your father.”

“I don’t know. Maybe even if he becomes a ghost, he’s still going around saving people.”

“He’s a great person, but it’s difficult for us…”

Time eventually passed, summer vacation passed, and the second semester began. It is no exaggeration to say that during our vacation, we visited most of the places we could possibly go in the neighborhood. But in the end, no trace of my father could be found.

Well, it wasn’t bad though.

Walking around the neighborhood with Sarah was quite fun.

The second semester began and it was September.

It was the beginning of fall, but the weather was still muggy. When I got to school and assembly time was over, there was a girl coming towards me and Sarah.

“Sera! Jinwoo! Good morning!”

A female student speaking in a lively voice.

That girl was the president of our class.

Her name is Shin Ayoung.

“Hello, Ayoung.”

Ayoung is a very friendly girl who deserves to be the class president. In our class, most of the boys and girls were close to Ayoung. However, there was only one girl that Ayoung could not make as her friend.

“Hello.”

“Sera, what did you do yesterday?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Do you also read webtoons? There are a lot of interesting things these days…”

“I don’t read webtoons.”

“Eh….”

It was Sarah.

Sarah was someone that Ayoung could not become friends with no matter how hard she tried to become friends since the first semester. In fact, not only Ayoung but most of her children were like that. She wanted to become friends with Sarah, so she talked to many kids, both men and women, but very few of them actually became her friends.

“Ha, hahahaha! You’re not looking. Then there’s nothing I can do.”

Because Sarah had a strange habit of keeping a distance from the children around her. She doesn’t chat with girls, she just sits quietly and reads books. Nevertheless, children often gathered around Sarah, and they often started talking to each other and became close friends.

He is truly a celebrity in our class.

A celebrity that no one can easily become friends with.

I was the only person who could be said to be close to Sarah. Strangely enough, she was Sarah and she talked to me as often as I did. She went out with me a lot.

“…….”

The conversation did not continue.

I thought she would withdraw at this point.

Ayoung looked at me and Sarah and continued talking to her.

“Actually, tomorrow is my birthday.”

“Was it your birthday?”

“Yes! So, why don’t you guys come over to my house tomorrow after school? I’m going to ask everyone in my class to come.”

It turned out that the next day was Ayoung’s birthday.

As expected of Ayoung, who is so sociable, she seemed to be planning to invite all the children in her class to her birthday party.

“What do you want to do? Sarah.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t go.”

As expected, Sarah declined Ayoung’s invitation.

She didn’t even worry about it and just turned it down.

“Oh, okay… Jinwoo, what about you?”

What do I plan to do?

“Of course I should go. You live in the same apartment as me.”

“Thank God!”

Well, I decided to willingly attend Ayoung’s birthday party. It so happened that Ayoung and her family lived in the same apartment as me. Because we were on different floors, we didn’t see each other often.

“Then tomorrow, after school, let’s go together with the kids in our class!”

That’s how I ended up attending Ayoung’s birthday party. I said I was going, but Sarah didn’t seem to have any intention of changing her decision not to attend. In fact, until this time, I thought of Sarah as a child who liked her solitude.

Aren’t some people tired when they are with strangers?

Introverts who get discouraged and tired when talking to people they are not close to.

Probably Sarah has an incredibly introverted personality.

The next day was when school ended.

As many as 16 children attended Ayoung’s birthday party. Since there were 24 children in the class, most of them attended except for those who had special circumstances. Ayoung escaped from the school building with 16 children.

“Wait a minute! I’ll call my mom and tell her I’m taking her friends.”

It was a while when Ayoung was talking on the phone with her parents.

I suddenly felt eyes on me and looked behind me.

When I looked behind me, I saw Sarah staring at us.

“…….”

The gaze was so blatant that I couldn’t help but notice.

Could it be that Sarah also wants to come to her birthday party?

I quietly approached Sarah and spoke to her.

“Why are you just standing there? Do you want to play with the kids?”

“No…? I’m just standing still and looking at the scenery.”

“No, it’s not like that. He was looking at us.”

“…I said no.”

She said no, but Sarah’s tone of voice revealed regret.

Sera was still looking at the children talking noisily in front of the school building.

“Don’t do that, let’s go together. Ayoung said she wants to become friends with you too.”

“I’m not going. Even if I want to go, I’ll never go.”

“Why?”

“I shouldn’t hang out with other kids too much.”

Sarah still refused to go to her birthday party. Are you saying I shouldn’t hang out with other kids too much? Where in the world is there such a law? It was something I couldn’t understand, but I didn’t have time to ask for a detailed explanation.

“Have a good time with your friends, Jinwoo.”

Sarah waved her hand at me and then she left the school.

*

In the end, she couldn’t catch Sarah.

It’s unfortunate, but you can’t force her to take you when she refuses.

‘Future Apartment’

This was the apartment where Ayoung and I lived.

The children, including me, followed Ayoung to the apartment. Mirae Apartment was a hallway-style building, and Ayoung’s house was on the third floor.

“Welcome! Wow, so many people are here! Are they all Ayoung’s friends?”

“Yes!”

When we entered the house, Ayoung’s mother greeted us with a birthday table prepared for her.

With as many as 16 elementary school students entering, the house was quite crowded.

Soon the birthday party began in the living room.

“Happy birthday! Happy birthday!”

We celebrated her birthday, gave Ayoung a gift, and then had a delicious meal. After eating, we all played together at first, but as there were a lot of people, we gradually started playing among ourselves.

Then, a boy discovered something strange at Ayoung’s house.

“Guys! Look at this!”

It was in the main room of the house where the computer was. There, the boys were playing with the computer and discovered something. I was playing in the living room and went into the master bedroom.

“There’s a strange jar here? It looks like it’s going to be very expensive.”

The place the boy pointed to with her finger was on the dresser in the master bedroom.

There was a shining white jar on the dresser. It was a jar whose entrance was covered with Korean paper and tied with silk thread. It was a pretty jar, like luxurious white porcelain, so it was bound to attract people’s attention.

“Wow, it looks like Ayoung is doing really well with the house.”

“What kind of jar is that?”

It was a time when the boys were curious about the identity of the jar.

I taught the boys what the jar is. Because I knew things about the mystery.

“It’s Shinju Complex.”

“Sinju Complex? What is that?”

“It’s a jar that enshrines ancestral spirits. It’s said that if you worship the ancestral tablet, good things will happen to your home. Simply put, it’s a jar that brings good luck.”

“Ah…”

Sinju Complex.

It was literally a jar that looked like a house where a god lived. This was the first time I knew that Ayoung’s family was worshiping Shinju Danji. Actually, this was my first time visiting Ayoung’s house.

“A jar that brings good luck? But why don’t we have a jar like that in our house?”

“That’s because even adults don’t worship sacred liquor jars much these days. I’m sure there are many people who leave their sacred liquor jars to the temple to be disposed of.”

It was fascinating.

I heard that there are very few people who worship Shinjudanji these days. It was said that everyone was disposing of it because the effect of bringing good luck was minimal and management was cumbersome. Ayeong’s family, who kept a sacred liquor jar in their home, was rather unusual.

“If you touch that carelessly, you’ll be in big trouble. You’d better be careful.”

“What happens if I touch it carelessly?”

“Well….”

What happens if I touch it carelessly?

I don’t know that either.

It was a time when I was thinking for a moment about what to answer.

━━Drur!

The Shinju complex on top of the closet suddenly moved.

“Huh?”

I quickly looked around.

However, none of the children touched the closet in the master bedroom.

“Hey, didn’t that thing just move?”

“Who touched it?”

“No one touched it!”

While the children were talking in surprise, the Shinju Complex started moving again.

The liquor jar hanging at the end of the closet slowly tilted downward.

━━Swish!