## Chapter 182 – (13)
“You didn’t drink today?”
“I don’t like alcohol.”
“Come on, you’re joking.”
I exchanged light banter with Jaehee as we left the Supernatural Management Headquarters.
Jaehee and I had not only received our certifications but also completed our exorcist registrations.
We finished the procedures to work together as a team, and even chose and received our own personal, item-type supernatural entities.
I didn’t know what Jaehee chose, but I picked a gold necklace.
The necklace’s ability was simple.
It strengthened mental fortitude.
The person in charge warned that the exact extent of the enhancement hadn’t been clearly determined yet.
But I could tell.
[Acquired Mental Fortitude LV.7.]
The window appeared before my eyes the moment I put on the necklace.
‘Level 7 is pretty high, isn’t it?’
As I acquired various skills, I realized that most skills, even at level 5, exceeded human limitations.
“Well, now that we’re registered, let’s slowly—”
“Ah, just a moment!”
I thought we were going our separate ways for the day, but Jaehee made a suggestion.
“Since we’re out, do you want to solve a supernatural case?”
“…”
It was hard to understand her, as if she were suggesting we pick up groceries while we were out.
Supernatural cases couldn’t be that simple.
Jaehee smiled and said, “Well, we have to solve two cases a month, but I don’t have much time because of university.”
“…You’re still going to university even though you’re an exorcist?”
“I paid so much in tuition, I have to get my degree!”
“Ah.”
That made perfect sense.
So, exorcists had to solve two supernatural cases each month.
It was quite a relaxed number for me, but I didn’t know about other exorcists.
Actually, it all came down to luck.
The difficulty would vary greatly depending on the type of supernatural entity encountered.
“Aren’t you scared of supernatural entities?”
“Huh? Of course, I’m scared!”
Jaehee answered as if it were obvious, which only deepened my question.
“But you’re suggesting we exorcise them…”
“No, no! How could we ever do that!”
Jaehee waved her hands, horrified by my words.
“We’re just going to rescue or evacuate citizens.”
“Ah.”
I assumed that doing supernatural work meant exorcising them.
I guess that wasn’t the case.
As soon as I heard that, my first meeting with Sophia came to mind.
Sophia and Hwan didn’t come to the fire station to defeat the supernatural entity, but rather to evacuate the people trapped inside.
Hwan had said that not all exorcists could defeat supernatural entities, even though they were called exorcists.
“Did you get this app?”
“Yeah.”
Jaehee suddenly took out her phone and showed me a supernatural app.
I had already checked it several times.
“Really? Then you must have seen the report status on the right side, right?”
“…”
I hadn’t seen that.
I was too busy looking at the map and defeating supernatural entities.
I took out my phone and looked at the app, and sure enough, I could see people who had reported supernatural-related incidents.
I thought the red light on the right was just blinking, but it was the report status.
When I touched it, I could easily see where, who, and why they had reported.
“Then… let’s start by looking around Jongno-gu.”
Jaehee said that and started tapping her phone busily.
“Huh?”
Jaehee looked at her phone with a serious expression, as if she was flustered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing… Can I see your phone for a second? With the app still open.”
Jaehee hesitated and smiled awkwardly.
When I asked what was wrong, she pointed to my phone.
When I handed her my phone, she checked it as well and nodded in relief.
“Phew… I thought my smartphone was broken.”
“What is it?”
“Well, suddenly there were no reports, and no red dots…”
“…”
I had an idea about that.
I had definitely moved towards most of the red dots in Jongno-gu and defeated various supernatural entities.
Supernatural entities didn’t just pop up quickly like that, so Jongno-gu was still a rare supernatural-free zone.
“We’ll have to go to another district… What’s going on? Jongno-gu always had the most supernatural entities.”
“…”
All those supernatural entities had become my inner strength.
“I’ll look in another district… Ah, how about this report?”
“…Where?”
How about this report?
I was a little surprised that she asked as if we were deciding on a delivery menu.
That meant there were a lot of supernatural-related reports.
The report on Jaehee’s phone was brief.
“Trapped in a building due to a fire. Please rescue me… Isn’t this something the fire department should handle?”
“No, it’s definitely supernatural. The fire department was dispatched, but they didn’t see any fire. And look, there’s a red dot at the report location.”
“It’s true.”
The reporter’s location and the red dot’s location matched.
There was a high probability that the supernatural entity was showing the reporter a hallucination.
“Hmm, do you think we might encounter the supernatural entity?”
“Maybe.”
“If it’s only showing hallucinations to one person, it probably isn’t a very strong supernatural entity…”
I wondered if she learned that kind of information in the Supernatural Studies department at university.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was a very strong supernatural entity either.
The supernatural hotel from before had created a real hotel, not just a hallucination.
“If we don’t encounter it, this seems like the easiest one, should we do it?”
“Let’s do it.”
“The location is Seodaemun-gu… We have to go quite a ways.”
Then Jaehee stared at me.
“…Why?”
“I’m sorry… I only have one helmet, so I can’t give you a ride.”
“Huh?”
I then noticed Jaehee fidgeting with the motorcycle handle, looking a little embarrassed.
She probably felt bad about riding the motorcycle alone.
“It’s okay, I’ll see you there.”
I gratefully accepted her sentiment.
“Okay, I’ll go ahead.”
Vroom, vroom!
As Jaehee grabbed the motorcycle handle and started the engine, I heard a rough engine sound that made my heart swell.
“Wow.”
Hearing it up close was a different kind of thrill.
Whether she was satisfied with my exclamation or not, Jaehee wore a smile on her face as she quickly drove the motorcycle onto the road.
It was a clean cornering.
“…This isn’t the time to be impressed.”
I turned on my phone and called a taxi.
For some reason, I felt a little pathetic.
“…I need to get a license.”
I added one more thing to my to-do list.
***
“Is it here?”
“Yes.”
It was an ordinary apartment.
It wasn’t engulfed in flames, and children were laughing and playing near the entrance.
Even if it wasn’t engulfed in flames, I couldn’t feel any traces of a supernatural entity.
It was hard to believe that a clear red dot was pointing to this place.
That’s how peaceful it was.
“…Shall we go in?”
“Yeah.”
We passed through the entrance that had been opened in advance after receiving the report and entered the apartment.
It was an ordinary apartment.
Nothing happened until we took the elevator and arrived at the 14th floor where the report came from.
Nevertheless, Jaehee was swallowing hard, looking nervous.
Ding.
[14th floor.]
Whoosh.
The door opened.
“Hoo… Oh, it’s not here?”
“The supernatural entity? Yeah, I don’t see it.”
Jaehee was gripping a baton tightly, looking tense. I didn’t know where she got it.
I doubted that baton would work on a supernatural entity, but I couldn’t say anything since I was a physical exorcist myself.
14th floor, to the right.
Room 1402 was our destination.
“Is it here.”
Knock knock.
As soon as I knocked on the door, I heard rough footsteps from inside.
And—
Bang!
The door opened quickly.
The door opened so violently that it slammed against the wall, denting the doorknob.
I leaned my head back to avoid the opening door.
Thanks to that, I barely managed to dodge it.
“Ugh!”
The man who opened the door grabbed his hand and sat down.
“Are you okay?”
“Agh… Yes, I’m, I’m okay. The doorknob was hot.”
“The doorknob was hot?”
Jaehee touched the doorknob and shook her head, saying it wasn’t hot at all.
“I’ll check for a moment.”
“Huh? Kuaagh!”
I forcibly took the man’s hand and checked it.
The man’s hand was perfectly fine, without a single scratch.
But his expression, his expression of being burned, was real.
It was a sinister reason, but I had burned people and supernatural entities with extreme Yang energy, so I could tell.
It was the expression of someone feeling the pain of being burned.
“…Hmm.”
I turned my head and looked inside the house.
The fact that it was marked with a red dot on the app meant it was a supernatural entity with a physical form.
And I had a feeling that the supernatural entity was inside this house.
I couldn’t see anything, but I needed to search every corner of the house.
“First, let’s quickly get this person out of the apartment!”
“Uh, take this person and go down first.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll take a quick look and then go.”
“No! It’s dangerous!”
Jaehee grabbed me as I stood up and tried to go inside the house.
Her hands were trembling.
“Just go. Okay?”
I could feel that she was genuinely worried about me.
“It’s okay, I’m that crazy guy.”
“Huh? What do you mean… Ah.”
Then Jaehee seemed to remember what she had said before.
“The, the one who exorcised two supernatural entities…”
“Yeah. If you know, go. This person is burning.”
“Hwaaagh!”
“…I’ll be back soon.”
Jaehee took the screaming man and got on the elevator.
I loosened my body and started searching the house to find my elixir, no, the supernatural entity.
