The Night Of The Untraced

Then, in a flash, blue flames spread out across the lake.

“……Wow.”

It was as if a match had been dropped into stagnant oil. As promised, the flames grew intensely, completely engulfing the lake in bright blue fire. The surface of the lake, once reflecting the nightscape, was now covered entirely by the flickering flames.

It was a truly amazing sight. A lake on fire under the dark sky—how could there be a fire on water? And yet, Muheun had made that impossible thing happen without a second thought.

“Wow, what is this…?”

“Is it that amazing?”

It seemed like Muheun enjoyed Seungjoo’s reaction. The way he smiled with his eyes half-closed and teased him was telling.

“If you play with fire at night, you’ll end up drawing maps on your blanket.”

“No…”

He was the one playing with fire right now. Seungjoo chuckled awkwardly and looked at the lake over Muheun’s shoulder. Though he wanted to look at it more closely, he felt a bit hesitant to get any closer.

“Did you use your spiritual power for this?”

“Yeah, I put it into the talisman and spread it over the lake.”

Muheun explained that it was a method sometimes used to find weaker Gwimae. For example, when searching for a Gwimae that had recently broken its seal or one that had escaped while partially sealed. Usually, it involved setting fire to mountains, so this method sounded a bit like arson again.

“Normally, with Yeongi this concentrated, even Gwimae would be afraid.”

As Muheun said, Seungjoo could feel that the flames were filled with Muheun’s Yeongi. Despite how hot the flames looked, Seungjoo didn’t feel any heat. If anything, it felt cold.

“If it doesn’t come out of the water, we’ll just have to bring it out.”

Muheun smiled leisurely. It was definitely an effective method, but somehow, Muheun seemed like a villain in this scenario. Thinking about the goldfish that had been begging for help, Seungjoo felt like Muheun was almost tormenting it.

“If it’s still not here, then it really isn’t.”

Seungjoo nodded slowly, blinking slowly in disbelief. It was amazing that such a large fire could happen, yet nothing was visible outside. If his spiritual sight hadn’t opened, he probably wouldn’t have seen anything.

“Now we just wait until the Gwimae comes out…”

Muheun’s soft words didn’t quite reach Seungjoo’s ears. While he gazed absently at the lake, Seungjoo suddenly caught a familiar smell and twitched his eyebrows. At first, he thought it was the smell of the water, but it was sweeter and thicker than that.

‘This…’

He recognized this alluring scent. The energy that blurred his vision and made his head feel dizzy. Even the small whispers that brushed his ears.

“Hyung, did you just…?”

Did you hear that sound? Seungjoo couldn’t bring himself to ask.

“……!”

A sharp pain shot through Seungjoo’s chest, as though his heart were being squeezed. His breath caught, and a high-pitched ringing in his ears began. Instinctively, he bent forward, and Muheun, who was next to him, firmly grasped Seungjoo’s arms.

“What’s wrong, Seungjoo? Are you okay?”

‘If we block the river…’

“……”

The humming voices grew louder, then faded, only to return again. At times, they sounded like a man, at other times like a woman, sometimes like an older person, and other times like students around his own age.

‘Hey, what are you doing throwing trash there?’

‘Who cares? No one’s watching.’

At first, it was just a sound, but gradually, it shifted into a scene with Hyungtae. The chaotic, random images were not just noise—they were more like someone’s memory. These were memories Seungjoo had never experienced, jumbled up and mixed together.

‘That fish will eat it anyway.’

‘Do fish eat things like this?’

‘Don’t you know? If they don’t eat it, it’ll rot.’

“……Hah.”

His head throbbed like it was going to split open, and his heart raced uncontrollably. If Muheun hadn’t held him, he would have collapsed to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut, but instead of darkness, more and more images appeared before him.

‘If we block the river, this area…’

‘…even if we build a purification plant…’

“Seungjoo!”

Seungjoo suddenly snapped out of it and took a deep breath. The air rushed into his collapsed lungs, and his blurry vision gradually returned to normal. Instinctively, he gripped Muheun’s arm and trembled, staring at the lake.

“……”

Every image was etched clearly in his mind. The bright blue flames flickering, the black shadow jumping above them. Something struggling in the lake, not even creating ripples as it swam.

It was the goldfish they had been searching for.

***

Muheun had said it before. Gwimae was like a beast, and even if they caught it, there was no way to communicate with it. However, someone in Seungjoo’s ancestry had once interpreted the anger of a Gwimae, and maybe, because Seungjoo shared that blood, he had inherited the same ability.

When Seungjoo heard those words, he was skeptical. After all, he didn’t have any spiritual sight, and he had never communicated with a spiritual entity in his life. Even if it were true, he thought it might just mean exchanging a few words.

‘This is…’

But now, Seungjoo had heard a voice. Or more accurately, fragments of what could only be called ‘memories.’ He didn’t know when or how it had happened, but the owner of these memories was none other than the Gwimae, the same as the goldfish’s Hyungtae.

“Hy… Hyung.”

A sudden wave of fear swept over Seungjoo, and he tightened his grip on Muheun’s arm. He was almost clinging to him, but he couldn’t even think about that. He just stared at the goldfish and muttered, as if in a trance.

“I just saw something strange.”

“……Strange?”

“The scene before the lake was made… and some students’ appearances…”

The images that had jumbled together in his mind wouldn’t come out properly when he tried to speak. Amid this, his heart was racing faster and faster without slowing down. Seungjoo, panting, was calmed by Muheun’s steady voice.

“Let’s start with deep breaths.”

Muheun bent down, pulling Seungjoo into his embrace. After a couple of gentle pats on his back, Seungjoo felt his stiff shoulders relax from the warmth. Breathing along with Muheun, Seungjoo tightly closed his eyes before opening them again, turning his gaze back to the goldfish.

“……”

The goldfish was struggling, swimming in circles in the same spot. It seemed like the flames burning on the lake’s surface were too hot for it, and it was helplessly circling, unsure of what to do. Its small size, the shadowy, almost black figure—it was the same goldfish Seungjoo had encountered before.

‘…Is it in pain?’

Seungjoo straightened up and carefully observed the goldfish’s movements. The surroundings were eerily quiet, but he could almost hear a crying sound. The heavy, oppressive aura around him felt like the goldfish’s scream.

When had he felt this way? It was the first time he had encountered such an eerie, threatening creature, and couldn’t tear his eyes away from the strange scene.

“……Wild boar.”

At the sudden thought, Seungjoo spoke up. Muheun looked down at him, sensing his words. Seungjoo raised his head to meet Muheun’s gaze and continued.

“When I saw the wild boar last time, it felt like this.”

“A wild boar…?”

The day Seungjoo first faced Gwimae, he had felt the same way. The wild boar, as large as a house, was so terrifying that it made him almost pass out, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off it until the moment he lost consciousness. The emotion conveyed to Seungjoo from the deep growl was nothing but fear.

“I think it’s scared right now.”

“……”

Muheun didn’t respond immediately to Seungjoo’s words. Instead, he relaxed the arm around Seungjoo’s shoulders and slowly turned his gaze. His sharp eyes fixed on the spot where the black goldfish was.

“……It could look that way, Seungjoo.”

The slow words didn’t exactly affirm what Seungjoo had said. Seungjoo couldn’t take his eyes off Muheun’s moving lips, focusing intently on what he said.

“Gwimae isn’t a real animal; it’s the vengeful spirit of nature that has lost its reason. Emotions like… that…”

He knew Muheun would say that. It was impossible for a Gwimae to have emotions. But the next words were not quite what Seungjoo had expected.

“……It shouldn’t have emotions.”

The meaning was unclear. It almost sounded like a promise, rather than a response. Still, one thing was clear: he hadn’t fully rejected Seungjoo’s words.

“Did you see Gwimae’s memories?”

“……”

Instead of explaining in detail, Seungjoo just nodded. Muheun probably hadn’t meant to ask that much anyway, so Seungjoo quietly met his eyes and calmly answered.

“Yeah, I understand for now.”

The soft tone of Muheun’s voice gave Seungjoo a sense of relief. If Muheun had shown a troubled expression, Seungjoo would have become anxious too. But his voice, as casual as it was, was also extremely kind.

“Is there any pain?”

“……It’s better now.”

After calming down, the headache seemed to subside. Even though he had said it hurt earlier, Muheun didn’t point it out. In fact, he seemed to appreciate Seungjoo being honest.

Seungjoo finally pulled himself away from Muheun’s embrace and looked back at the goldfish.

“What should we do now?”

They had found it. But now what? The goldfish was still swimming under the flickering flames of Yeongi, a sight full of danger.

“We need to go closer and seal it.”

“Go into the water? Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

The lake was situated lower than the ground they stood on, so even if the rain caused the water to rise, it wouldn’t overflow beyond the fence. Although Seungjoo didn’t know how deep the lake was, it would be risky to enter.

“I’m not going into the water.”

Muheun said, then approached the fence. The fence, which wasn’t very high, came up to Muheun’s waist. Relaxing his shoulders, Muheun extended his left hand and grabbed something in midair.

“I usually don’t do this, but…”

The swirling Yeongi gathered at his fingertips. At first, the Yeongi seemed like a clump, but then it stretched into a long, thin shape resembling Hyungtae. When Seungjoo saw the crescent-shaped form, he asked in a dazed voice.

“A bow?”

“Yeah, there’s no other way at this distance.”

It was the same pose Seungjoo had seen in the archery club booth earlier. Holding the bowstring with his left hand, Muheun hooked his right index and middle fingers in midair. As he pulled his arm back as if drawing a bowstring, a flaming arrow formed.

“I seem to use a bow a lot these days.”

The casual remark wasn’t just about what had happened at the festival. It was the same method he had used when encountering the evil spirit that had slammed its head against the wall—concentrating Yeongi to create a spiritual bow. Gi Hwanyeong could do it too, and Kim Muryeong was good at it.

“By the way… Hyung isn’t very good at it.”

Muheun spoke nonchalantly and then shot the arrow without hesitation. The arrow, flying straight towards the goldfish, split into three before touching the water’s surface. It was a spectacular sight, but Seungjoo couldn’t even breathe, his eyes wide with surprise.

“……”

The arrows, which had struck the water one after another, unfortunately didn’t reach the goldfish. The goldfish, startled by the sudden wave, changed direction. Watching silently, Muheun pulled back the string again and shot another sharp arrow.

‘…Did he miss?’

Was this what he meant by not being good at it? Unlike when he had aimed at the target earlier, Muheun’s expression was serious, without any playfulness. Yet, the result was the same: the arrows continued to land beside the goldfish.

However, after about three attempts, Seungjoo started to sense something unusual and narrowed his eyes.

‘No, it’s not that he’s missing…’

The three arrows had blocked the goldfish’s path, the fish startled by the flying arrows, turning away in a panic. While it swam away, Muheun, who had been silent, pulled the string as soon as the goldfish changed direction.

‘He’s cornering it.’

That was when Seungjoo realized. Muheun was intentionally luring the goldfish toward the diagonal fence. The arrows that seemed to miss were not mistakes—they were all intentional.

‘It feels a bit cruel…’

Perhaps it was because the appearance was of an animal, but Muheun felt a bit uneasy about cornering it. However, after a short time, the goldfish was getting closer to the lake’s edge, just as Muheun had intended. The goldfish, trapped against the wall, tried to turn around, but Muheun blocked its path with another arrow.

At that moment, as the panicked creature leapt out of the water—

“……!”

Whoosh! The arrow, flying quickly, hit the goldfish squarely in the body. The palm-sized fish was pierced by the arrow and pinned to the lower wall of the fence. The event happened so quickly that Seungjoo’s eyes widened in surprise, unable to comprehend the situation in time.

At the same moment, Muheun softly spoke.

“It’s done.”

“……Heh.”

A hollow laugh escaped. He had said he wasn’t good at it, yet he had hit the small goldfish with pinpoint accuracy in an instant. Just as he had promised, if the goldfish wouldn’t come out of the water, he would force it out and pin it to the wall with an arrow as soon as it emerged.

“Did you kill it?”

“No, it’s just knocked out.”

Muheun kindly answered as he looked at the limp body. The spiritual bow, which had been formed from Yeongi, disappeared without a trace as soon as Muheun let go of it. The flames seemed to die down, and the blue ash scattered into the air like smoke.

“Gwimae doesn’t die from this.”

So, does that mean other things can die? Now that he thought about it, the evil spirit that had attacked him had been eradicated by Muheun. He wasn’t sure if it had been finished off with the bow or something else, as he hadn’t seen it clearly.

“Hyung, I’ll be right back. Wait here.”

With those words, Muheun left Seungjoo behind and began walking. Since he couldn’t cross the fence, he seemed to plan on going around the lake to reach near Gwimae. Before leaving, he reminded Seungjoo not to come too close, as it was dangerous.

“……”

Seungjoo stepped back from the fence, watching Muheun walk away. The flames that had spread across the lake were nearly extinguished. Some parts still flickered, with only embers left, almost resembling the dying embers of a real fire. Even though he saw it with his own eyes, it felt surreal.

“……Kim Muryeong can do this kind of thing too.”

A sight he would never have seen if his spiritual senses hadn’t opened. He now understood, for the first time, what the term ‘operation’ meant, something he had only conceptually understood before. It wasn’t likely that everyone did things this way, but still, it was an unbelievably fascinating sight.

‘The goldfish…’

Seungjoo glanced over at the direction Muheun was heading, a beat too late. There, under the fence, was the goldfish, still hanging. Unlike the arrows that had disappeared into the water, the one pinning the goldfish was still burning.

‘…What did it even ask for help with?’

What had he really meant by asking for help? He didn’t think he had meant anything like this. He probably hadn’t hoped for the goldfish to end up as prey after fleeing in fear.

Though Seungjoo felt uneasy, he couldn’t do anything. He wasn’t an exorcist, he didn’t have Yeongi, and he was just an ordinary person, flustered by memories that had briefly flowed into his mind. All he could do was watch.

“……Huh?”

As Seungjoo thought to himself, he blinked and looked again. The goldfish, which had barely been visible before, seemed to have grown a little. It also seemed to be twitching its fins.

‘Did I see that wrong?’

He didn’t get any closer, maintaining a safe distance. He simply frowned, staring intently at the goldfish still caught by the arrow. This time, he saw its fins move for sure.

And then, it opened its mouth.

“……”

His mind went completely blank. He couldn’t even see its mouth clearly, but the voice it spoke was alarmingly clear. There was no sound around him, yet the voice echoed in his mind as if it were directly in his head.

Seungjoo.

“……”

The call was the same as the one he had heard on the trail before. A deep, sweet scent filled the air, and he suddenly felt an impulse to throw himself into it, to drown in it. His vision blurred, and his mind began to fog up slowly.

“……”

Seungjoo, Seungjoo.

“……”

Seungjoo……

“……”

Who was that?

“Seungjoo!”

The moment his reason returned was so brief. When Seungjoo regained his senses, he was already stepping over the fence. Through his blurred vision, he saw Kim Muheun’s voice calling his name like a scream, along with the black goldfish and the flickering light on the surface of the lake.

“……Ah.”

At least there wouldn’t be any rocks below.

As soon as he thought that, Seungjoo’s body fell below the fence.

The chapters have been revised, edited, and compressed, and the complete main story has been released for free, as I’m concerned it might be taken down or worse. I didn’t want to disappoint the readers, so I apologize for any inconvenience, and I hope you enjoy reading the complete story! The side stories will be coming soon, so don't worry~