Revenant Resonance Ch 10

Chapter 10

“That’s not something I can decide on my own. If all you want is a conversation, show it through your actions.”

What she pulled out and threw was a restraint collar worn around the neck. It was a device called a jihwan (支環), used to isolate self-aware guimae who were cooperative with the Bureau of Control. It looked like a common choker, but it was given the symbolic meaning of “I submit willingly,” allowing guimae to be controlled.

The guimae who had freed the hostages calmly put the jihwan around their neck. The tense atmosphere finally began to ease.

All victims of the Palsang Psychiatric Hospital incident were rescued. Coincidentally, the point at which the patient entities began to die coincided with the victims just reaching the sixth floor. The timing was appropriate.

While rescuing the only injured person, a man in his twenties, and clearing the guimae facility, the squad leader glanced sideways. The name was Yu Jiha, if he remembered correctly. That victim was stealthily approaching the new type of guimae.

The squad leader gestured to the agents trying to stop him to hold back and quietly observed the situation. It was a good opportunity to study the characteristics and behavioral responses of the new type of guimae.

Unaware of the covert gaze on him, Yu Jiha cautiously approached Je Ilheon. Je Ilheon was sitting on the hood of a sedan.

“…Mister.”

Je Ilheon, who had been fidgeting with his lips as if feeling something was missing, slowly turned to look. Yu Jiha, who had hesitantly walked over with his fingers nervously touching, saw in those silent black eyes the same traces of emotion that were in his own.

Je Ilheon was tense. The man who had faced the guimae with such ease was now on edge.

Realizing that, the taut string that had stiffened his spine snapped with a twang, and a silly laugh slipped out. Yu Jiha bowed at the waist.

“Thank you for respecting my stubbornness. My thanks are quite late, aren’t they.”

“…Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“To be honest, it’d be a lie to say I’m not scared…”

He could still clearly picture it. The man who had slaughtered the guimae. The gruesome wounds that regenerated rapidly. The figure curled up in that dark room. Even so, Yu Jiha cleared his throat and put strength into his voice so that his sincerity would not be misunderstood.

“The truth is, earlier I didn’t just trip—one of my seniors at school stuck out their foot and made me fall. That senior is undoubtedly the same kind of person as me, but when things got dangerous, they threw me out as bait without hesitation.”

“……”

“But you tried to get me out safely, and you even listened to my request. You kept looking out for me so I wouldn’t get hurt.”

“……”

“So I thought… maybe what’s scarier than monsters is people.”

Not being very eloquent, the more he spoke, the more scattered his words became—so much so that even to his own ears, they made no sense. Feeling frustrated that he couldn’t properly express his heart, Yu Jiha hung his head. He should’ve gone to that speech academy his mother wanted to send him to when he was little.

Je Ilheon, who had been silently listening, raised a hand. Yu Jiha didn’t flinch as the hand approached his ear.

“You had some debris in your hair.”

After brushing it away, Je Ilheon finally smiled at him. It was a strange smile, thick with emotion, too poignant for someone he’d only met a few hours ago.

“You’ve grown up so beautifully.”

“Th-thank you? You’re pretty too, mister?”

Caught off guard, he blurted out a foolish reply.

“Pretty? It’s the first time I’ve been called that since I was fourteen.”

Maybe it really was a strange thing to say, because Je Ilheon burst out laughing, and Yu Jiha’s earlobes turned a bashful red. His laugh was so bright and fresh that Yu Jiha felt like calling him “hyung” instead of “mister.” From now on, and forever.

‘What are those two even doing?’

Meanwhile, the squad leader, who had been observing closely, cooled his gaze. He wondered if he shouldn’t be checking the mental contamination level of that victim first.

Just then, permission was granted for the guimae’s request. A message came through that the director of the Bureau would meet them personally.

As the scene cleared, and under the guidance of the Bureau agents, Yu Jiha hesitantly walked toward the hongsalmun(sacred red gate), which emerged from within the thick, milky mist. As he passed through the hongsalmun and opened his eyes, what he saw wasn’t a gloomy old hospital in the woods, but a wide, neatly paved clearing. The bright lights that shone like it was midday pierced painfully into eyes that had gotten used to the dark.

‘What is this?’

It wasn’t teleportation, yet the world changed in a single step. Flustered and babbling in confusion, he was pulled aside by an agent.

And as Je Ilheon, who had followed behind, fully stepped into the clearing, the agents from the enforcement division, who had been waiting in ambush, all simultaneously aimed their guns at him. Red laser sights targeted his entire body, but Je Ilheon stood there casually as if he had just come out for a stroll.

“Um…”

Worried about him, an unintentional murmur escaped his lips. Je Ilheon turned his head, met his gaze, and lightly shook his head toward Yu Jiha. His calm eyes were gentle, as if to soothe him. Yu Jiha instinctively stepped back the foot he had unconsciously moved forward and swallowed dryly.

Within a few minutes, a tall middle-aged woman in a suit walked out among the agents with firm steps. With a face full of irritation, she raised her chin.

“I am Kang Sukyoung, Director of the Bureau of Control. If you don’t first explain how you obtained information about those names, then there will be no—”

“Sukja? You became director?”

“…What?”

“Of all people, you taking on such a bothersome position—now I’ve seen everything.”

With a voice tinged with familiarity and even delight, Je Ilheon spoke, and only then did Kang Sukyoung, Director of the Bureau of Offering and Control of Monstrous Entities—formerly named Kang Sukja—truly look at him. It didn’t take long for her openly twisted expression to turn into one of horror.

“You… you, you—!”

Even her pointing finger trembled violently as she grabbed the pistol from the agent beside her and strode forward.

“Director! It’s dangerous!”

She shook off her aides’ attempts to stop her and approached Je Ilheon, immediately pressing the muzzle of the gun against his temple and grabbing him by the collar with her other hand. Between the growling Kang Sukyoung and the smiling Je Ilheon, a low whisper was exchanged.

After exchanging a few words that no one else could hear, Kang Sukyoung lowered the gun and took a deep breath. Then, something completely unexpected happened. She slapped Je Ilheon across the face with the grip of the gun.

“Gasp, mister!”

The blow was so strong that Je Ilheon’s body staggered. He spat out blood-tinged saliva and rubbed his reddened cheek while chuckling.

“You bastard. I thought you were dead for good.”

“Wow, our Sukja still has a fiery temper. I never taught you to act like this. Who did you pick it up from?”

“Got it from you, actually, so shut your mouth and go get disinfected.”

Scoffing, Kang Sukyoung turned her back and waved her arm at the agents.

“Withdraw!”

The agents were just as confused about the situation, but it was the director’s order. As the area quickly cleared, Je Ilheon took off the jihwan and handed it back to the squad leader, then gestured to Yu Jiha. The squad leader’s eyes widened upon receiving the jihwan. Once worn, guimae were never able to remove this restraint on their own.

“Jiha, want to come disinfect with me?”

Yu Jiha, still fidgeting nervously, didn’t even know what ‘disinfection’ meant, but he nodded eagerly anyway.

The monsters born from human fear and the darkness of reality formed a mirror world—constructed like reality but fundamentally different. That was the guiso and the guimae. The mirror world was full of toxins harmful to humans, contaminating them, so those returning from a guiso(otherworld) were required to undergo disinfection—a purification process.

In a space where Eastern and Western magic intertwined with modern science and technology, after even their belongings were fully purified, the victims were finally gathered together at one table. Only Park Junyeol, who had been taken to the hospital, was absent.

They congratulated one another on surviving, but everyone’s eyes kept darting around. After the guiso and the purification process, it all felt too much like an occult film to truly believe.

Soon, the door opened, and staff from the Bureau entered. After the testimonies about what they had experienced in the Palsang Psychiatric Hospital, the staff politely handed them each a document.

“You must be very tired. This is the final step before you may go home, so please take a moment to review it.”

The murmuring people each accepted a copy of the document. Once the paper was in their hands, they fell silent, as if drawn into it, reading with such sharp focus that they didn’t even breathe.

“…?”

Startled by the sudden change, Yu Jiha swallowed his tension and began to read as well.