𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 | 𝐚 𝐭𝐱𝐭 × 𝐢𝐭𝐳𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

thirteen - house of shaman

house of shaman

the road led them to a sleepy sub-urb with posters and graffiti supposedly by the residents denying gentrification. cycling all the way here had made their shirts stick to their back, mouth drawing in sharp breath and huffs while their eyebrows arch. public transport could only lead them as far as the foot of the hill, from there they had cycled miles of hillocks and twists.

if only the situation hadn't been dire, they wouldn't be putting themselves through such difficulty.

"ajumma!" yeonjun yelled as he knocked the runned-down wood used as a gate. the houses around them had dimmed, once recalling that most of the residents had flocked to provincial living due to reconstruction.

the sky thundered, alarming beomgyu.

the wooden gate created open slowly, and a wrinkled face appeared, grumbling, "what?"

"what do you mean 'what'? if not for that entity why else would we be here?" retorted yeonjun, barging in with all due familiarity.

it wasn't their first time coming here, neither was it the second nor third.

the old lady sighed. "pardon me. i was not expecting you to visit so soon."

"the talismans you gave us worked by the sneaky shit is up to something. it's attacking students in broad daylight," said yeonjun.

"we're talking about the girl who can hear the voices," added soobin, calmly.

"oh." the shaman, a gray old lady with a rather calm temperament, said. "well, come on in," she slipped of her shoes and motioned them in.

"what's the girl's name?"

"choi lia."

"korean name."

the boys looked at each other, to which soobin replied, "jisoo." so the boys looked at him next.

"how do you know her korean name?" asked beomgyu, suspiciously.

"i help the teacher in arranging notes a lot, of course i know her korean name," answered soobin, earning even more suspicious looks from the other two. "ugh. whatever be the case, can we get back to the important problem now?"

"oh, yes. what's happening with lia?" yeonjun asked the shaman.

sat crossed legged and heavily draped with shawls and talisman, the shaman closed her eyes and spoke in narration. "i see four girls. their string of fates' entangled. one was chosen by the demons to tread the underworld unless her body is exhumed by rightly procession. a friend mourns for her, unable to move on while another, the faultless one, blames herself for the demise she has no control over; by doing so, they have tangled themselves with the death. and as she fell from the towering heighs, she accidentally catches the eyes of a passerby. whether this passerby was there on that spot on that unfortunate day deliberately i cannot tell, but she is entangled with the rest. the death's string is rotting, and your friend's string is first effected."

"wait! so the 'passerby' and 'friend first effected' is lia. does that mean it will effect the other two too?" beomgyu suddenly interrupted.

"yes. yes. oh! so much chaos! those viles creatures are insatiable, and someone is feeding them. beware! the more they feast, the hungrier and stronger they become. if they escape, they will bring untimely death with them! ha-" with a shuddering gasp, the shaman fell forth and banged her head loudly on the desk that seperated her from the boys.

none of them bothered to check on her, but immediately busied amongst themselves.

"the passerby is definitely lia. so that means she saw someone die."

"'as she fell from the towering heights' implies it was suicide by jumping. two years ago, didn't someone-"

"jo serim. she was friends with ryujin," said beomyu. "that means the 'friend who mourns' is ryujin."

"and what about the 'faultless one who blames herself'?" asked soobin.

yeonjun sighed. "we're gonna have to dig deeper into jo serim... we're gonna have to ask ryujin."

an unexplainable silence followed, one that lingered heavily above them. it was only when the shaman spoke that this smoke dissipated. "there are many souls waiting to be laid to rest. how could you boys possibly do it yourselves?"

her question shunned them. soobin replied after a while. "we have to try... thank you, madam."

the shaman seemed momentarily taken aback by his courageous remark. she reclined and pursed her lips, sighing, "just make sure to consult me if anything happens, alright? i feel unsettled seeing you kids run around brainlessly."

the boys understood what she meant. beomgyu paid her fare, and they bid her adieu for the night. however, lingering behind their shadows, the shaman couldn't bring herself to sleep assuredly.

maybe i shouldn't have told them anything in the first place?

kids these days can be so reckless...