My Girlfriend Is a Shaman

18 – Like the First Snow #2

The morning of a cold winter day dawned.

Sera opened her eyes on the bed. There was an eerie chill in the room. She raised her head and looked out the window to see that pure white snow was falling outside.

“It’s the first snow…”

It was the first snow of the year. When I woke up, it was snowing outside. But right now, there was no one around Sarah with whom she could talk about her first snow. Sarah’s parents left her house empty due to their busy work.

Her mother, a spiritual shaman, received her request and went abroad to work, and her father, a film director, was in the middle of filming a movie in Sweden. Sarah’s parents were busy with work, so they often left her house empty.

This was especially true for her mother. Her abilities as a medium were so strong that her mother’s reputation was known even abroad. She entrusted requests to her mother, Hwayeon Bodhisattva, even from foreigners who did not know much about Korea’s indigenous beliefs.

It was truly an unusual family.

Sera herself thought so too.

‘I like it because it’s cool.’

Sarah started her morning by opening her window and letting in the cool breeze.

She woke up as the cold wind hit her face.

This morning, as always, Sarah had work to do.

The place where Sarah lives is Hyehwadang.

Because she was a house with a shrine to worship the spirits.

When her mother was not at home, it was Sarah who took care of her shrine.

Sarah cleaned her body in her bathroom and went to the well in the backyard. At the back of Hyehwadang’s house, there was a well for purifying water.

━━Splash!

Sarah lowered a small bucket with a rope down into the well to scoop up her water. It’s early so no one is outside yet. The well water that first came to mind during this time became purified water filled with clear essence.

Sarah filled purified water in a pure white bowl and carried it to the shrine. She placed purified water on the altar of the shrine and she said her morning prayers.

“The name of the gods of heaven and earth, the sun and moon, the heavenly king, the Jade Emperor, the Bukdudaeseong, the Chilwonseonggun, the Three Buddhas, the Three Buddhas, and the King of the Three Buddhas….”

After finishing the prayers, I cleaned up the dust that had accumulated in the shrine last night and the work I had to do this morning was over. After Sarah finished her prayers and cleaning, she relaxed and drank her tea.

At that time, a knock on the front door rang outside the house.

━━Thump thump thump!

Someone came to Hyehwadang early in the morning.

There was a doorbell, so I knocked on the door with my hand.

‘Who’s been here this morning?’

Sarah waited quietly inside the house while drinking her tea. However, the person who came to Hyehwadang did not leave the doorstep until she finished drinking the tea. The sound of pounding on the door continued to ring.

“Huh….”

Sera had no choice but to go out into the yard and open the gate.

Then I saw a woman dressed in red standing outside the door.

“Hello.”

“Nice to meet you.”

The woman in red smiled and greeted Sarah. The clothes she was wearing were not just clothes, but a flashy red uniform. On her head she wore a red hat like that worn by shamans, and in her hand she held a fan with a painting of a Chinese painting on it.

“Are you from this family?”

“Yes.”

“Just looking at him, he is a child full of excitement. Being with you will be a great help in spreading heaven’s will on earth.”

The woman in red shed her laughter as she looked at Sarah.

Sarah looked at her woman’s back. She was clearly standing with her back to the morning sun, but there was no shadow on the woman. She didn’t look like a person at all. Sarah asked the woman as she let out a sigh.

“Who are you?”

At that moment, the woman in red spread her fan and opened her mouth.

The red clothes the woman was wearing fluttered as brilliantly as her wings.

“You are a child who serves God, but do you not know me? I am the sun, moon, and stars! I am the god of the sky, who rules over the sun! By my light, all things grow, and you on earth receive your daily bread!”

Sun, Moon and Holy Spirit.

It was a spirit worshiped in Shamanism.

Among the divine spirits, Sun, Moon, and Seongsin, who belong to the Heavenly God series, were the best gods who solved human problems along with the Jade Emperor. If a shaman like Sarah could attend the Sun, Moon, and Holy Spirit, it would have been a great blessing.

“Get down on your knees and support me right now! From now on, I will work with you to spread heaven’s will on earth. If you follow me, I will promise you eternal life.”

The woman in red stood outside the gate and shouted at Sarah.

Sarah sighed and answered the woman.

“Wow, Sun, Moon and Holy Spirit.”

“Yes! I am the Sun, Moon and Holy Spirit!”

“He’s a celestial spirit that even my mother couldn’t worship. Then, let’s check to see if he’s a celestial spirit.”

“Confirm…?”

Sarah lifted her finger and pointed at the woman’s hand.

“Raise your hands properly.”

“What?”

“Your hand is turned upside down. Your wrist is completely twisted.”

The woman’s hand, sticking out of the sleeve of her uniform, was turned upside down. She was raising her arms as if in a hurray, so her palms should have been visible, but her female hands were twisted at a bizarre angle, showing the backs of her hands.

The woman in red moved her arms as Sarah said. But there was no way she could raise her hand properly as it was turned upside down. Sarah, who had been watching her woman, clicked her tongue and opened her mouth.

“Is it the Holy Spirit of Sun and Moon that can’t even raise its hand properly? At first glance, it looks like a ghost imitating a spirit. Just go on your way calmly. Don’t try to charm the mysterious disciples.”

“…….”

The woman standing in front of the gate smiled. The woman in red looked at Sarah with her expressionless face. Her fluttering clothes stopped moving and turned into dirty, stained and torn clothes.

The woman’s identity was a mischievous ghost.

Things like this often happened to shamans. This is when a ghost pretends to be a spirit and deceives a shaman and asks them to serve him. Sarah was also familiar with these scams and could easily distinguish between what was a spirit and what was a ghost.

It is not likely to disappear with good words.

Sarah spat in a harsh voice to the woman in front of her door.

“Get out.”

Only then did the woman’s appearance disappear. The woman in red had an expressionless face and her eyes dispersed like smoke in the air. Sarah brought salt from her house and sprinkled a lot outside her door. A peaceful day has returned to Sarah’s house again.

*

━━Ding dong!

After a while, a guest came to Hyehwadang.

This time, it was not a ghost or anything, but a normal guest.

“Sera! I’m here.”

“Wait. I’ll open the door.”

Sarah went out into the yard and opened the gate.

There was a boy standing outside the gate where it was snowing. He was a handsome looking boy with curly hair. He has such a warm impression that it would not be awkward to appear as a child actor in a TV drama.

“Hello!”

The boy’s name is Kim Jin-woo.

Jinwoo was a classmate whom Sarah met at school this spring. Through various connections, Se-ra and Jin-woo became inseparable friends. Like today, Jinwoo often came to Sarah’s house to play.

“Come in.”

Sera took Jinwoo with her and entered Hyehwadang.

“Hey, but there was a lot of salt sprinkled outside the door. What happened to your house?”

“Nothing much happened. It was just that a crazy woman who thought she was the Sun, Moon, and Holy Spirit came to the house.”

“What do you mean…?”

Sera explained to Jinwoo what had just happened. The ghost was trying to deceive Sarah by imitating her spirit. Jinwoo, who heard the story, looked surprised.

“…Ah. Something like that happened. I’ve heard of it too. It’s a story about mischievous spirits trying to possess shamans. That’s what they call heoju, right?”

“I know very well, Heo Joo.”

Heoju, as Jin-woo said, was a word used to refer to miscellaneous spirits that try to possess shamans. Ordinary people may not know much about this, but Jinwoo knew many things. Because he was a boy who was very interested in mysteries.

‘I can communicate with him.’

Although Sarah pretended not to do so on the outside, she was secretly happy. Unlike his other kids, he could communicate with Jinwoo. Aside from his family, Jinwoo was the only person at school with whom he could have occult conversations.

“Did you kick Heo Joo out?”

“Yes. I kicked you out, so I won’t come back.”

“You’ve worked hard too. Anyway, what should we do today?”

“Let’s go see a movie after lunch later. It’s a new movie released by Pixar.”

“Pixar again? Aren’t you tired of it?”

“How fun Pixar movies are.”

When Sarah and Jinwoo were together, they often spent time watching movies and having fun. When we first met, we watched movies on TV at home, but now we often go to the theater to watch movies in person. When I went to see a movie with two kids, the theater staff looked at me with strange eyes.

“If you don’t want to see it, don’t go.”

“Who said no? Let’s go. Let’s go.”

That day, Sarah returned from watching a movie at the theater with Jinwoo. When she got home, she chatted about the movie for a while, and then they played together until nightfall. It was a large house for a child to stay alone, but thanks to Jinwoo being by her side, she was never bored.

“I’ll go to sleep.”

“That’s right.”

Jinwoo fell asleep at Sarah’s house. Se-ra covered Jin-woo with a blanket as he fell asleep on the sofa in the living room. As Sarah was staring at Jinwoo, this thought suddenly passed through her head.

‘I hope I can continue to be close to Jinwoo.’

She thought it would be nice to continue to be close to Jinwoo. However, it was a wish that could not be easily realized. It wasn’t easy to keep seeing friends from elementary school even as you got older. Schools may change and relationships may fall apart.

It was especially difficult for people with a spirit like Sarah to maintain friendships with others.

There were many cases where close people saw ghosts because of Shingi.

“…….”

Sarah recalled a memory from her past.

It was a memory from long ago, when she was attending kindergarten.

In those days, she and Sarah had quite a few friends. Because of her pretty appearance and mixed Western blood, the kids around her approached her. But one day, she started seeing things that her friends shouldn’t have seen.

━━Did you see it? Can you see me?

━━Hee hee! Did you see me?

A ghost appeared in the kindergarten. She must have been burned to death, but a black ghost came to the kindergarten and tormented Sarah and her friends. Because her friends saw ghosts in their eyes. Ghosts had a habit of becoming obsessed with people who could see them.

━━aaah!

There was chaos in the kindergarten. Sarah’s friends collectively made a fuss. To save her friends, Sarah asked her mother at her house how to exorcise her ghost.

When I exorcised her the way her mother taught me, her dark ghost disappeared.

It was Sarah’s first exorcism in her life.

━━Mom! I saved her friends.

Sarah returned home and proudly told her mother the story of her exorcism.

However, after hearing the story, the mother only had a bitter expression on her face.

━━Did I do well?

━━Yes.

━━But I have a question. Why do I see spiritual values in my friends’ eyes? They probably aren’t particularly exciting.

━━Seraya….

Her mother made eye contact with Sarah and answered her question.

━━The reason your friends watch the spirituals is because you are close to them.

━━Is it because you are close to me?

━━If you communicate with someone who has spiritual energy, other people will also see spiritual energy. The more you communicate, the better you see the spirit. People who are close to you will probably start to see strange things. I’m sorry to tell you this story…

Only then did Sarah realize the truth. Whenever she played with Sarah, her friends tended to see a lot of strange things. The only children who saw the spiritual song in kindergarten right away were children who were close to Sarah.

━━Now I understand.

Sarah realized that the accident at kindergarten was her fault. From that day on, she no longer hung out with her friends named Sarah. The girl who was her best friend also cut off ties with Sarah as she distanced herself from her.

Then, as time passed, Sarah met a boy at her elementary school.

A strange boy who goes to see dead people of his own free will.

The boy was now sound asleep on the sofa.

‘He will leave my side someday, right?’

Sarah thought as she looked at Jinwoo.

She didn’t know that one day Jinwoo would also be afraid of Yeongga. I could have become so afraid of the ghosts’ terrible appearances that I tried to stop seeing ghosts. Jinwoo had a goal to find his deceased father, but giving up was enough. Because children are naturally very fickle.

‘If he wants to leave, I should let him go gently. ‘There’s nothing you can do about it.’

Sarah imagined the day Jinwoo would leave her side.

She suddenly became sad.

For some reason, she felt like she was going to cry.

“Still, I can’t help it.”

But she couldn’t forcefully catch the person leaving.

She fell asleep while Sarah decided to let Jinwoo go at any time.

The next day came.

Jinwoo came to visit Sarah’s house.

“Sera! Are you inside?”

“Yes.”

The next day, Jinwoo visited Sarah and played with her. Time continued to pass. Jinwoo was able to see the spirits more and more clearly. Since he always hung around with a child who had spiritual energy, it was inevitable that he would see spiritual energy.

“Hey, I can see a little better. That thing you see over there is a skinny spirit, right?”

“You’re looking at it well. It’s the same as what I’m seeing.”

A week passed, a month passed, and a year passed.

As time passed, Jinwoo continued to stay by Sarah’s side.

Hyehwadang with its high walls.

I heard the sound of ringing the doorbell and went outside to see Jinwoo standing in front of the front door.

“I’m here!”

“Are you here again?”

Jinwoo came to see Sarah without even being tired. Sarah was happy to see Jinwoo, but opened the door with a calm expression. I didn’t want to give too much affection to a child who I never knew would leave my side.

The number of days the two of us spent time together has already exceeded 1,000 days. Jinwoo and Sarah became middle school students. Even when he became a middle school student, Jinwoo did not stop visiting Sarah.

“You! How long are you going to come to my house?”

“If you want to hang out, come! Do you have to set a deadline?”

“Well, that’s not it…”

Three years have passed.

Jinwoo and Sarah are now in high school. When she was on winter vacation after graduating from middle school, Jinwoo came to Sarah’s house as usual.

On the first snow day, Jinwoo came to the front gate and called Sarah.

“Hello.”

When the door was opened, Jinwoo smiled and waved to Sarah. A whopping seven years had passed since they first met, but the boy in front of her remained the same. Now I can see the spirits better, but the boy hasn’t changed.

“What should we do today?”

At some point, I was speechless.

The boy was always by Sarah’s side. The boy didn’t care at all that Sarah had magical powers, that she saw spirits, and that she was the daughter of a shaman.

Even in the distant future, the boy would always be by Sarah’s side.

That was the moment I realized that.

Sera’s heart began to pound. She couldn’t speak properly because her heart suddenly started pounding. Even as she tried to treat her boy calmly, as she always did, her tongue twitched.

“Eh….”

Sarah lifted her hand and touched her own cheek. Although it was a cold winter day, Sarah’s cheeks were flushed. Her emotions welled up, her heart pounding beneath her chest. It was a feeling she had felt for the first time in her life.

“…….”

For the first time in my life, I felt toward a boy.

It was my first love.

A winter day with the first snow falling.

Se-ra began to fall in love with Jin-woo for the first time.