## Chapter 173 – (4)
“Hoo…”
I let out a long sigh, grateful for the ice magic and the air conditioning.
I almost collapsed.
Not from a ghost story, but from the heat.
Maybe this heat is a ghost story?
Actually, the Earth is cool, but the ghost story is creating the heat.
“Hoo…”
Thinking such nonsense, I must be getting heatstroke.
Cooling down my heated body, I looked at the two people standing awkwardly in front of me.
I had exchanged brief introductions with them a little while ago.
As confirmed by their licenses, both of them were legitimate exorcists.
I first looked at the male of the two.
He was a polite and handsome man.
He introduced himself as ‘Lee Hwan’ and even handed me his business card.
The card stated his profession as an exorcist affiliated with the Ghost Story Management Headquarters, along with his phone number.
The nun also followed Lee Hwan and gave me her card.
She was an exorcist from the same affiliation, and her name was—
“Sophia?”
“Yes?”
“Ah, I didn’t call you.”
“Ah…”
Her name was unique, and I unconsciously spoke it, so Sophia replied, thinking I had called her.
‘That name…’
She says she’s an exorcist now, not a nun, but that name sounded like a baptismal name.
So was her attire, and that necklace too.
All were outfits a nun would wear.
I wondered if she still had lingering feelings for her profession as a nun.
But is a nun’s habit supposed to be so revealing?
Or is it because of Sophia’s figure that draws the eye?
The nun’s habit clung to Sophia’s body, emphasizing her figure, making me feel like I was accumulating sins just by looking at her.
“Ahem, ahem!”
“Hmm…”
At Lee Hwan’s cough from behind, I averted my gaze as if I hadn’t been looking at all.
I felt a little wronged.
“Mr. Seonghan, you’re the one who took care of that ghost story, right?”
“Yes.”
I answered Sophia’s question without hesitation.
Because it was the truth.
“…How did you do it?”
“I punched a hole through its chest.”
Both of their gazes turned to my hand.
Hardened by various events, my fist looked threatening even to those who weren’t deeply versed in martial arts or fighting.
And the statement that I pierced the ghost story’s chest with this fist was also completely true.
Although that wasn’t the only thing that brought it down.
“Is he an exorcist who enhances his physical abilities?”
“It seems so.”
The two exchanged words and nodded as if they understood.
Then, looking at the citizens sitting in the fire station, they said.
“First, let’s evacuate these people from here.”
“Evacuate? Didn’t I defeat the ghost story?”
I asked at Sophia’s words.
Sophia gave a bitter smile and said.
“It’s amazing that you defeated the ghost story, but perhaps, that ghost story isn’t the reason why the disaster alert was sent.”
At that, I nodded.
I somehow thought that might be the case.
It was dangerous for ordinary people, but I didn’t think it was enough to evacuate all the citizens of Jongno-gu.
It felt like it would be enough to evacuate the citizens around here.
At that moment, a firefighter who had been quietly watching the whole situation added a word.
“…Do we really have to leave? Isn’t it safer to stay here with the talismans…”
I also agreed with that opinion and nodded.
It definitely wasn’t because I was tired of the deadly heat outside and didn’t want to go out anymore.
If there was a possibility of encountering a dangerous ghost story by going out, I felt it wouldn’t be bad to just endure it indoors.
“It’s better to leave now while we’re here and no ghost stories are confirmed around us. Later, you might not be able to leave even if you want to.”
“I… I guess so…”
The firefighter nodded at Lee Hwan’s firm words.
Once the firefighter agreed, everything was practically decided.
We all decided to leave Jongno-gu under the guidance of the two exorcists.
***
“Aish…”
“It’s hot…”
“Why did we leave there!”
The complaints from the citizens following behind were no joke.
I didn’t say anything in particular, but I secretly took out a small piece of ice and put it in my mouth.
Eating it while breaking the ice definitely made it better.
“What are you eating?”
“…Candy. Green grape candy.”
“…Do you bite your candy?”
Sophia and I had a meaningless conversation.
“It’ll only take about 15 minutes to walk.”
When Lee Hwan said that, the expressions of the people subtly changed.
It was a distance that was hard to get annoyed at or not.
It was far if you thought it was far, and not far if you thought you could escape from the ghost story.
15 minutes on foot, a distance that could be reduced to around 10 minutes if you increased the speed a little.
In fact, most of the people gathered at the fire station were neither very old nor very young, so it was okay to increase the speed a little.
“Hmm…”
Even in that positive situation, Lee Hwan’s expression wasn’t good.
“What’s wrong?”
“I heard that other exorcist teams are also successfully isolating or exorcising ghost stories…”
Lee Hwan gave a bitter smile as he spoke to the nun, Sophia’s question.
But why that expression?
“Isn’t that good news?”
“It is good news, but…”
The firefighter questioned Lee Hwan’s words.
I had the same thought.
“The fact that it’s going so smoothly means there’s a possibility that no one has encountered the ghost story that actually caused the disaster alert…”
“Can’t we just find or avoid ghost stories with that app anyway?”
When I asked, thinking it was an excessive worry, Lee Hwan gave a bitter smile.
“If it’s a ghost story with a form, it’ll appear on this app, but there are also ghost stories without a form.”
“No form…”
How do you exorcise such a ghost story?
As a pseudo-exorcist who can’t exorcise if I can’t hit it, it was an answer that deepened my worries.
“…Let’s go for now.”
We all started moving in two lines, following the backs of the two exorcists.
Just walking in a line in a quiet city made me feel a sense of alienation I had never felt before.
There probably wasn’t anyone who saw an empty city as often as I did.
While walking, Sophia and Lee Hwan were constantly talking.
The firefighter inadvertently asked first.
“Are you two dating?”
“Yes? Ah, no…”
“How could the nun and I…”
The two blushed and turned their heads left and right.
Their reactions, denying it so vehemently, somehow seemed a little youthful.
In my eyes, no, in anyone’s eyes, the two of them didn’t seem to be just ordinary colleagues.
At least, they seemed to have a little affection for each other.
Leaving that somewhat heartwarming scene behind, I asked.
“Ms. Sophia, are you a nun and an exorcist?”
“No, I’m an exorcist now.”
“Now…”
So she was a nun before.
“But, Ms. Sophia.”
When I spoke in a low voice, Sophia turned to me.
“Yes?”
Her expression was so calm.
That’s why I couldn’t understand it even more.
“Where are you going?”
“Yes? Ah… Wh, where is this?”
That’s what I wanted to say.
It seemed to be right after the firefighter asked the two of them.
After denying each other and laughing at the question of what kind of relationship they were in, they suddenly had blank expressions.
Thump.
Feeling a sudden presence, I looked back.
The people who were walking in two lines started moving to one line, behind Lee Hwan’s line.
Everyone had blank expressions as if they had been hypnotized.
Then Sophia started walking towards an alley.
As if she couldn’t properly support her body, she walked with a slight stagger, and I followed behind her.
No one but me was looking at Sophia.
Neither Lee Hwan, who had been talking to Sophia for a while, nor the firefighter who had asked Sophia the question.
Walking behind Sophia, who was blankly heading somewhere, I suddenly felt a sense of floating and had moved to the current location.
To a hotel lobby with a classic atmosphere.
“Where is this…”
“Is this the ghost story?”
I felt it instinctively.
That this was the ghost story that created the disaster alert.
A ghost story that even deceived two exorcists.
“N, no way. I should be protected by this nun’s habit…!”
Sophia seemed a little shocked and flustered.
The nun’s habit she was wearing didn’t seem to be just an ordinary nun’s habit.
But it seemed that even that couldn’t stop the ghost story after all.
I slowly looked around the hotel.
It was a classic hotel matched with wood and red.
It wasn’t a large and clean feeling like modern hotels.
Still, the red carpet and ebony wood blended well, creating a luxurious atmosphere that was as good as modern hotels.
There was no one at the counter.
Only a booklet labeled as a guide was placed there.
I picked up the guide, which could be seen as the only clue for now.
After roughly skimming through it, I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
“Look at this.”
“This is… a guide.”
“The content is important.”
At my words, Sophia took the booklet and started reading its contents, calming herself down.
Sophia’s breath, which had barely calmed down, became rapid again.
“What’s this about?”
“It’s about the ghost story. The ghost story is telling us how to攻略 the ghost story.”
It wasn’t an ordinary guide.
It was a guide with various suspicious precautions written on it.
I could tell that the entire hotel was the ghost story’s territory.
