My Girlfriend Is a Shaman

24 – Changgwi #4

The residents of Mugok Village live while possessed by ghosts.

When Sarah said that, I also had a guess. Among the ghost stories I’ve heard so far, there were quite a few stories about ghosts possessing people.

When I came to my senses, I realized that I was doing something without realizing it, and it turned out that it was the work of a ghost.

When I woke up during the night, I found myself in a haunted house, and it turned out that I was possessed by a ghost.

The story about a ghost that can possess people was a major ghost story.

“Are all people possessed by ghosts…? Then that makes sense.”

“Isn’t that right? I thought it was a bit strange ever since you searched for a bed and breakfast on the app yesterday. There’s no way the villagers near Chilryongsan Mountain are living well, right? It’s also puzzling why people live in such an ugly place in the first place. “

I remembered the lady at the bed and breakfast I met last night. The lady at the bed and breakfast with whom we spoke at that time didn’t seem to find anything particularly strange. But since she only saw her briefly during the night, she couldn’t conclude that the woman was fine.

“If I do something wrong while I’m in this room, won’t I be in big trouble?”

“Let’s go out now, Jinwoo. We’d better just pack our bags and leave.”

It was dangerous to continue staying at the guest house. A villager possessed by a ghost could have attacked us. We packed our duffel bags and quietly left the annex. Because it was still early, there was no one walking around and it was quiet outside.

“First, let’s secretly search the management office. Rather than just climbing the mountain, it would be better to do some research and then go.”

“Sneaking in? How did you get in if the door was locked?”

“If the window is open, you can get in. If it’s locked, you can break the window and get in.”

“It’s exciting to think about it. After all, Jinwoo is the son of a detective.”

“Could you please leave out the word ‘detective’s son’? It’s embarrassing.”

No matter how I thought about it, going straight towards the mountain like this was a dangerous move. Judging by the presence of spirits, it meant that something was clearly happening near Chilryongsan Mountain. If I searched the management office, I might be able to find records about the mountain. We immediately set off towards Chilryong Mountain, where the management office will be located.

We came out onto the main street of the village.

It was right then.

A familiar voice came from the direction of the guesthouse.

“Students! Where are you going without eating?”

The lady at the bed and breakfast came out of her house and was calling us.

Standing behind us was the lady from the bed and breakfast we saw last night. The moment I saw her, I was a little surprised. It was now 6 am. I didn’t expect that lady to be awake at this early hour.

“Wow….”

“Uh…”

First of all, Sarah and I pretended like nothing was wrong and talked to the lady at the bed and breakfast.

“…I’m just looking around the village for a moment!”

“The village has a nice view. Let’s go for a walk.”

She said she was going for a walk, but the lady at the bed and breakfast did not let us go easily.

“Were you two going for a walk? Wow! Still, we ate breakfast at my house. I woke up early in the morning and cooked a meal for the students.”

“Rice? I don’t think there was anything on the lodging app that said this place provides meals.”

“Even if it wasn’t written down, there is a rural spirit. Are you going to just let the students starve? The food is all cold, so come in and eat it quickly.”

The lady at the guesthouse tried to feed us with a warm smile. But we had no desire to eat the food provided by the villagers. I didn’t want to eat food served by someone who might be possessed by a ghost.

“Gwae, it’s okay. We ate breakfast, so I’ll just go.”

“Why are you in such a hurry? Is something wrong?”

The lady at the bed and breakfast looked at us with a puzzled expression, and clapped her hands as if she suddenly remembered something from yesterday.

“Ah…! You said you were going to the mountain with students, right? Because someone was looking for you?”

It was the moment when the word ‘mountain’ rang out from the mouth of the lady at the guest house.

Then something strange happened.

“Students… Are you going to the mountains?”

The expression of the lady at the guest house, who was having a normal conversation, became strange.

Her focus became blurred and her face became hazy, as if she had been drugged.

“Yes, yes! If you are going to the mountain, you should let me go. You should let me go right away.”

“No. We have no intention of going to the mountain right now.”

“Why?”

“It’s dangerous, so I’m going to go when it gets brighter.”

“You can go now.”

The lady at the guest house smiled and opened her mouth.

“The mountain is not dangerous.”

Acids are not dangerous. That’s what I heard last night. These were the words she heard from the ghost that was gnawing at her neck. However, the words that had been heard from the ghost were now flowing out of the person.

“The mountains are not dangerous. I’ve been to the mountains a lot since I was young, but nothing dangerous has ever happened. It’s absolutely not dangerous, so you can go now.”

“It’s not dangerous? Do you know how many people went missing there?”

“The mountains are not dangerous. I’ve been to the mountains a lot since I was young, but I’ve never experienced anything dangerous.”

Conversation did not work. The bed and breakfast lady repeated the same words like her broken radio. The woman’s voice, her voice growing louder, echoed everywhere around her. It didn’t end with just a voice ringing out.

━━Squeak!!

“Mountains? Who said you were going to the mountains?”

“Who goes to the mountains? That’s a really good thing!”

The villagers who heard the sound came out of their houses one by one. Some residents came out wearing pajamas, as if they had just woken up. The lady at the guest house smiled and told the residents about us.

“Those students over there! They said they were going to the mountains!”

“The students are here?”

“I have to go to the mountain quickly.”

“We have to send it away.”

The village residents who came out all had dazed expressions. Her focus was blurred and her speech was unstable, just like the lady at the bed and breakfast. In an instant, as many as six villagers approached us. It was approaching with unsteady movements, like a sleepwalker.

Me and Sarah’s eyes met.

We had a short conversation.

“Everyone is fascinated.”

“I guess I should run away.”

The villagers were clearly out of their minds. If I stayed like this, I could be caught by the locals and forced to go to the mountain. We tried to escape through the crowd of residents. But the moment I tried to run, something completely unexpected happened.

“Don’t touch those kids over there!”

A man’s voice rang loudly among the residents.

The villagers who were approaching us stopped.

A middle-aged man appeared among the village residents.

“Even if you take me to the mountain, I’ll take you with me! You don’t mess with me!”

At first, I thought it was a villager possessed by a ghost.

However, unlike other residents, the middle-aged man’s expression and gait were fine. He appeared to be the only normal person among the villagers, who all seemed to be drugged.

“Ah… Nam Hong is here?”

“Nam Hong, you are going to take the students yourself?”

“Yes, old man! I know the mountain path best in the village.”

Nam Hong.

It was a name I heard from the lady at the guest house yesterday. It is said that in this village there is a mountain keeper named Baek Nam-hong. He was the man who ran the management office near Chilryong Mountain. He was a person who knew more about Chilryong Mountain than anyone else.

Nam Hong walked up to us and spoke to us.

“Let’s go quickly, guys.”

“Where?”

“Let’s go to the management office.”

We had no choice but to stop trying to run away and think for a moment. I didn’t know whether to trust or doubt the person named Nam Hong who appeared out of nowhere. Although he seemed to be more normal than other residents on the outside, he could actually be possessed by a ghost.

“Jinwoo, what should we do?”

“Hmm…”

I couldn’t trust Nam Hong yet.

But we were planning to visit the management office of Chilryongsan Mountain anyway.

There would be no harm if Nam Hong took us directly to the management office.

“Let’s go to the management office first. We can’t just go to the mountain.”

We ended up following Nam Hong.

Preparing to take out the military knife in the duffel bag at any time.

*

To conclude, there was no way we would swing our military swords at Nam Hong.

After a while, we arrived at the management office of Chilryongsan Mountain.

As soon as he entered the office building, Nam Hong closed the window and drew the curtains.

Namhong spoke to us from the outside, making sure we couldn’t see the inside.

“You guys, what are your names?”

“This is Jinwoo.”

“It’s Sarah.”

“It’s Jin-woo and Se-ra. This guy advises you that you should go home right away. Climbing Chilryong Mountain is dangerous. I don’t know if you knew, but hikers are going missing on that mountain.”

I heard that climbing Mt. Chilryong is dangerous. It was an obvious statement, but it couldn’t help but sound welcome to me. Because all the other villagers were saying strange things. Surprisingly, Uncle Nam Hong was speaking normal words alone in this strange village.

“It’s dangerous? Other people said earlier that it’s safe to climb the mountain.”

“That’s…”

Nam Hong thought for a moment and then continued speaking.

“It’s a bit odd to say this, but the people in the village here are crazy. They all turn strange when they hear the word ‘mountain.’ When outsiders come to the village, they try to get them to go up to the mountain.”

“Then why is Mr. Namhong okay?”

“There were times in the past when I lost my mind. But when I prayed to God, I gradually came back to my senses.”

Nam Hong opened a desk drawer in his office and carefully took out a rosary. He was a tool used when praying in church. A cross was attached to the end of a long rosary made of string.

“When I held the cross and prayed every day, my mind became clearer.”

Only then did we realize why Nam Hong was maintaining his sanity alone in Mugok Village. Believers who had devout religious beliefs were not easily possessed by ghosts. Uncle Nam Hong seemed to have gotten rid of the ghost through his faith.

I was able to trust a person named Namhong to some extent.

In this village possessed by a ghost, Nam Hong was the only person with whom he could have a normal conversation.

“Anyway, go back home! I’ll send you out of the village. I was lying when I said I’d take you to the mountain earlier.”

“I can’t just leave. I have something to ask you.”

“What are you curious about?”

There were two things I wanted to ask Nam Hong. I wanted to ask him if he had seen a spirit that resembled his father and what was going on in Chilryong Mountain. After wondering which of the two to ask first, I chose the latter. Because what was happening on the mountain could have put us in danger right now.

“Why are people disappearing in the mountains? I heard that a shaman was once found dead here.”

“You want to know why strange accidents happen?”

“Yes.”

Nam Hong looked at Sarah and me and his tone blurted.

“I saw something on the mountain. But even if I told you what I saw, you wouldn’t believe me…”

“I will believe you, so tell me. You are the only one who knows much about Seven Dragon Mountain.”

“Umm…”

Nam Hong finally opened his mouth cautiously towards us.

“…It may be hard to believe, but there is a strange monster living in Seven Dragon Mountain. I have seen it myself.”

“A monster?”

“I saw a very white beast! A pure white monster that looked like a tiger and was eating people.”

Nam Hong’s story continued.

We were able to find out the identity of what needed to be exorcised.