My Girlfriend Is a Shaman

9 – Nobleman #2

“Hmm… If my wife says so, I will agree to it. You can sleep at my house.”

“Really?”

“It’s true. What I’ve learned during my married life is that there’s nothing to lose by following what my wife says. And my name is Erik Andersson. My wife’s name is Kang Yeonju.”

Eric Andersson.

It was Sarah’s father’s name. Although he was a foreign man from Sweden, Eric trusted his wife’s fortune telling. I found it somewhat strange that a foreign man would believe in instigation.

“There’s nothing to lose?”

“I’m a movie director. Every time I shoot a movie in Sweden, my wife reads the fortune telling and gives me advice. Who to use as actors and what kind of script to use. But ultimately, a movie has never been a hit thanks to fortune telling. There were quite a few.”

Eric was a famous film director in Sweden. It turns out that his wife’s help with the fortune-telling helped a lot with the success of movies. Eric also allowed me to stay at his house.

“Mom! This guy is destined to become my nobleman?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow, that’s quite surprising…”

Although Sarah was surprised, she seemed to believe her mother’s words.

Cheon-eul nobleman.

So does this mean that I will be someone who will help Sarah in her life in the future? I’m not sure how it helps. As with all fortune telling, I haven’t heard any specific predictions about the future.

“Sera, I’m going to sleep.”

“Uh, yes. Sleep well.”

I was able to sleep comfortably in the guest room that night.

When she opened her eyes the next morning, Sarah’s mother truly treated me like a noblewoman.

“Jinwoo! Come quickly and have breakfast!”

The moment I went to the table to have breakfast, I couldn’t help but be surprised. Even though it was morning, the table at Sarah’s house was full of delicious food.

“Wow….”

Samgyetang, beef, steamed chicken, and many other side dishes and fruits.

It was such a luxurious morning that anyone would mistake it for a birthday party.

“It’s morning and there are so many delicious things to eat. Is this how you usually eat?”

“I don’t usually eat like this. When a nobleman comes home, I can’t send him away without treating him properly. Eat as much as you want.”

“Thank you.”

Sera’s mother seemed to wake up early in the morning and prepare breakfast for me. Being treated like a nobleman was no joke.

“I will eat well.”

I sat at the table with Sarah’s family and ate a hearty breakfast. It was a satisfying meal because Sarah’s mother’s cooking skills were quite excellent. Honestly, it feels like a dream. I never thought I would be treated like a VIP like this when I thought my hiding place would be discovered and I would be kicked out.

“I’ll just go home.”

After eating breakfast.

It was when I was putting on my shoes at the front door to go home. Sarah’s mother spoke to me with a smile on her face.

“Please come to my house often from now on. I’ll make you something delicious again.”

“If you keep giving me things, it’s rather burdensome.”

“Please don’t feel pressured and come.”

I received permission from Sarah’s mother to come to her house as I please. She once waved me off saying that the costume was burdensome, but in fact, it was me who welcomed it. For me, this shaman’s house was a big mystery. As someone who loves mysteries, there was no way I could resist going to a shaman’s house.

So, whenever I had the chance, I often went to Sarah’s house.

“Sera, I’m here!”

“No… You came again?”

“I came because they said I could come. What movie should we watch today?”

“Choose what you want to see.”

Sarah didn’t seem to particularly dislike me coming. She pretends to be indifferent, but she is happy when she watches a movie with me. I guess she needed a friend to watch movies with at home instead of her busy parents.

But we didn’t always just play.

When she went home one day, she saw Sarah doing strange things with straw lined up in her yard.

I asked Sarah what she was doing with the straw.

“What are you doing now?”

“Practice to make a gem.”

Sera was making human-like dolls by twisting straw.

At first glance, you might mistake it for making a curse doll, but I had heard of it and knew what the doll was.

“Oh, that’s Jewoong? It’s used to ward off evil, right? A doll that heals evil by dressing it in human clothes and burning it.”

“I know very well.”

Jewoong.

It was a soldering doll used as a magic tool in Korea. It is a doll that is mainly dressed up as a human and used to ward off evil or curses. Of course, I heard that there are cases where Jewoong is used for cursing.

“Interesting. Why are you making Jewoong?”

“I’m practicing. I’m destined to become a shaman someday because I’m as blessed as my mother. I’m accumulating practice by making magic tools in advance and memorizing scriptures. I learned everything from my mother.”

Now Sarah was practicing as a shaman. Even though I was looking at him, Sarah just made a gesture without saying a word. But just by looking at it, I became interested and wanted to make Jewoong.

“Can I try making Jewoong too?”

“You? Well, you tried making it.”

I sat down next to Sarah and started making a straw doll. By moving her hands while squinting at Sarah’s movements, she was able to create a vaguely human-shaped doll. They made her head and tied it with straw, then made her arms and legs and tied them with straw, and so on.

“Huh. Even though it’s my first time making it, I made it well.”

Serah, who had finished making Jewoong next to her, looked at me with an expression of interest. Jewoong, whom Sarah created, was a female doll wearing a straw skirt. Unlike Sarah, I made a male doll.

“It’s done…!”

I also completed Jewoong.

In the yard, a male doll and a female doll created by Sarah and I were born. I was happy because I felt proud when I saw the matching dolls. We played with dolls in the yard for a while.

*

It was after the doll play was over.

I wanted to take Jewoong home, but Sarah said no.

“Can’t I take this home?”

“No. The rule is that if Jeung is not used for rituals, it should be burned and disposed of.”

“What? Are you going to burn it? It’s a waste!”

He said he would burn the Jewoong he had created on the spot.

I felt like it was a waste, but Sarah was adamant.

“Ghosts tend to attach to human-like dolls. This is especially true since Jewoong is used to ward off evil. If you leave it alone, miscellaneous ghosts can attach to it and turn it into a cursed doll. You can take the doll home and turn it into a cursed doll. Do you want to curse?”

“That’s not it.”

I have nothing to say when I bring up my mother.

I quietly handed Jewoong to Sarah. Sera put the pair of Jewoong down in the yard and prepared to burn them.

“I’ll bring matches from home.”

“Hey, wait a minute. If you need fire, I have it.”

It was when Sarah was about to bring matches from home.

I happened to have a tool in my pocket that could make a fire.

I took out the tool and showed it to Sarah.

“Because there’s a lighter here.”

“Huh? A lighter…?”

Zippo lighter plated with silver.

It was something I always carried with me. I said I needed a fire, so I showed it to Sarah, and when she looked at me, she made a bewildered expression.

“No, it’s a real lighter, right? Besides, it’s something that looks like something out of a movie…! Jinwoo, are you smoking a lighter?”

“I don’t smoke.”

I shook my head.

Do you think a 10-year-old would smoke?

“This is a gift from my father.”

“Who gives a lighter to their son as a gift?”

“My father said that. He said it’s good to always carry ‘something that can burn.'”

“What is that…?”

In fact, the silver-plated Zippo lighter was a birthday present from my father.

My father gave me a Zippo lighter as a gift and told me to always carry it with me.

━━Son, always carry that Zippo lighter with you. If you can’t carry a lighter, at least carry a matchbox.

━━Yes? Why do I carry a lighter?

━━It is always good to carry something that can burn. Dad taught me that last time. Someday a ghost may try to harm you. At that time, you need fire to protect yourself.

It is said that fire is needed to ward off ghosts.

My father’s words were trustworthy. Because my father was a person who was knowledgeable about the mysteries of this world. About half of what I know about mysteries I learned from my father.

“My father said that fire is needed to exorcise ghosts. He said that the most effective exorcism method is to burn objects or corpses that are possessed by ghosts.”

“So, you gave your son a lighter to ward off a ghost? Surely burning the traces of the dead is an exorcism, but… I guess such an exorcism is only used against extremely evil spirits, right?”

“A terrible evil spirit?”

“Among the ghosts, there are evil spirits with whom you cannot communicate at all. No matter how much you try to appease them, they are vicious ghosts that use evil to avoid attaining Buddhahood. The method used to extinguish evil spirits is what your father told you about.”

Burning the traces of the dead.

It was an exorcism that my father taught me. Sarah nodded, as if it was definitely the right exorcism method. But after hearing the story, Sarah looked at me with even more curiosity.

“I’ve been curious about you since I first saw you. Even though I can’t even see ghosts, I know quite a few things, such as ghost gates and object bites. Did your father teach you all of those things?”

“I heard about half of it from my father.”

“…I’m really curious.”

Sarah asked me a question with her eyes shining.

“What on earth does your father do?”

There was nothing I couldn’t teach you.

“My father was a detective. And.”

Yes, up to this point, I could teach it to anyone.

My father was a police officer. All that is said is that he was a detective working in the violent crime investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. However, from this point on, it was a story that could not be easily taught to anyone.

But it would be okay to tell Sarah.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

“My father secretly worked as an exorcist.”

An exorcist who solves cases that cannot occur according to common sense.

Going to save innocent people and defeat evil.

That was my father’s secret business.