Revenant Resonance Ch 15

Chapter 15

“Are you talking about the man? He’s a human being though….”

“No. Until verification is complete, the principle is to assume it’s a gwema.”

At the sudden surge of anxiety, Yu Ji-ha fiddled with his fingers. Could it be that Je Il-heon had been treated as a gwema by the Bureau all this time? Honestly, even Yu himself had been half in doubt about whether the man was really human, but hearing that others were officially regarding him as a gwema somehow left him unsettled.

“Conveniently enough, the person who can deliver a definitive verification just came back, but the gwema is being stubborn, saying he won’t do it unless you’re present.”

“Me?”

“He says he’ll be extremely nervous during the verification, so he needs someone to hold his hand.”

“……”

Was he supposed to be like a comfort doll?

Still, upon learning he would be able to meet Je Il-heon directly, Yu Ji-ha felt his anxiety ease, and even found room to look around the area.

“You said the Bureau is extremely secretive, but is it okay for me to just go in?”

When they had left earlier, he’d fallen asleep in the car again and seen nothing, but now he was wide awake. Would they blindfold him, like in the movies? That tiny bit of anticipation was ruthlessly cut down by Deputy Chief Jang.

“Even if you look out the window, outsiders can’t remember anything anyway. It’s not an ordinary car.”

“…Right.”

“Would you like to read the visitor guidelines on the way?”

Deputy Chief Jang took out a file from the passenger seat and handed it to the back.

[To Visitors of the Bureau for the Enshrinement of Monstrous Beasts]

Should you fail to comply with these instructions, all responsibility lies with you.

Always remain accompanied by an employee of this Bureau.

Do not lose the visitor pass issued to you. If your biometric reactions and the coordinates of your pass do not match, we will regard you as a gwema.

The only area accessible with the pass is the restroom. Any impulse to enter other areas does not originate from you; do not be deceived. Should you attempt to enter restricted areas three times or more, we will regard you as a gwema.

The boy who appears to be in lower elementary school is not an employee of this Bureau. If you encounter the boy, treat him politely.

If you witness the boy wearing a hanbok or gonryongpo (a ceremonial dragon robe worn by kings), promptly inform the employee accompanying you. The gentleman has been wearing Western-style clothing since before you were born.

On rare occasions, some gwema escape from the research wing or containment zone. If you have visited this Bureau through proper channels, you do not need to determine whether what you see is human or gwema — nor should you attempt to. However, assuming you might end up alone in a private space, such as a restroom stall, or get more than one meter away from the accompanying employee due to reckless behavior, we provide the following instructions:

5-1. Check if the being wears a black choker around the area presumed to be its neck. A black choker indicates a gwema that cooperates with this Bureau. Politely apologize for disturbing it and withdraw. Cooperation does not imply friendliness toward humans.

5-2. If there is no black choker, verify again if it is truly human. It cannot perfectly imitate a human; at the very least, one finger or toe will be attached in reverse, or its neck will move at an unnatural angle. If you sense anything off, calmly withdraw and immediately report to an employee.

5-3. If you cannot instantly discern whether it’s human, that means you are already contaminated by the creature. The gwema will attempt to use you to escape, but you need not concern yourself with what follows. Your death will be staged as an accident, and your body will be replaced with a dummy prepared by the Bureau. We will, at least, try to avenge you.

└ Team Leader: Shouldn’t we provide more details about gwema? They’re not all humanoid, after all.

└└ If they just stay with an employee, there’s no problem. If they’ve been warned and still act up, whether they die or not isn’t our concern.

“It’s a long list, but as long as you stick with me, you don’t have to worry too much. Oh, but I printed the wrong file.”

Although the file printed was titled “Final_Final_ThisIsReallyTheLastOne_Real.hwp,” the casual remarks were still included, and Deputy Chief Jang apologized for it. To Yu Ji-ha, the offhand comments about disregarding human life were more chilling than the guidelines themselves. These people clearly felt a sense of duty to save lives, yet they were merciless toward anyone who violated regulations. Would he start thinking this way too, if he joined the Bureau…?

It was a morning no different from any other.

His father had been absent since last night, off searching for some woman. His mother was already up early, reading the newspaper. His younger siblings were still fast asleep. It was an ordinary morning, just like yesterday.

He rose as usual, washed up, and went downstairs. In the distance, his mother sat on the living room sofa, her back turned toward him.

〈Going jogging?〉

〈I’ll run a lap and be back.〉

〈Don’t push yourself before school. I told them to make marsh clam soup — your favorite — so come back quickly.〉

With his Walkman earphones in, the boy bowed to his mother. She turned her back slightly to see him off.

〈I’ll be bac—〉

Suddenly, his vision flickered, and ominous letters began floating over his mother’s body.

[Hungr■Hun■■■gryHun■gry■HungryHun■■Hun■■HungryHungry■■■■■HungryHungry■■…]

〈Heon-ah, what’s wrong?〉

Wearing his mother’s skin, something that was not his mother smiled at him like she was.

Je Il-heon sucked in a breath and opened his eyes. Blankly blinking his lashes, he bit back a scream from the sudden surge of horrifying hunger, pressing his palms hard against both eyelids. His eyeballs ruptured and regenerated repeatedly under the pressure; only after that did he manage to pull his hands away, panting heavily. The hunger gnawed at his nerves so viciously that he couldn’t even register the pain of his bursting eyes.

Just a little longer. That child will come soon. Just a little longer. Just a little more.

His hand groped along the nightstand until it found the mug of water he had poured yesterday. Even after draining the lukewarm cup, he couldn’t calm down and spent a long moment heaving ragged breaths.

To dream for the first time in twenty-two years — and for it to be that day, of all things. Twenty-two years. The word that pierced his brain out of nowhere made Je Il-heon’s breathing even shakier.

Yes. Twenty-two years. The time he had lost.

“Haa…”

Je Il-heon let out a heavy groan, clutching his forehead. He had braced himself upon seeing how much that child — Nam Ji-ha — had grown, but actually confronting the gap of twenty-two years dealt a shock far beyond what he had imagined.

Kang Suk-young was now nearly old enough to be his parent, and most of those close to him had either died or retired. In those twenty-two years he hadn’t known… the siblings he hadn’t met yet must now be over forty or fifty, and children he had never seen before would call him uncle. No — after disappearing for over twenty years and now returning as an unaging monster, would they even acknowledge him as family at all?

He had lost his family. He had lost his time. He had lost his life.

Time had raced far ahead, leaving only him behind. No matter how desperately he ran, he would never catch up to the time that had passed him by. But who could he blame? He had chosen this path knowing this could happen.

Due to the bloodline of his maternal family, famed as shamans even more revered than the Jinryeong-gun of late Joseon¹, he gained the ability of “true sight” at the age of seven. And at fourteen, he lost his mother to a gwema. The fox demon, driven mad by hunger, had tried to kill not only his mother but his entire family. Only blood‑red hatred and a thirst for vengeance were carved into the boy’s heart.

Many who join the Bureau for the Enshrinement of Monstrous Beasts do so to avenge themselves against gwema. Even among them, Je Il-heon was the most extreme.

Since joining at seventeen, the reality he stood in was no longer the world of humans but an underworld. Je Il-heon had no interest in the dramas that boasted ratings over 50 percent, nor in the songs that created social phenomena. His social life was limited to Bureau employees, for the sake of smoother gwema hunts, and he had not a single common hobby. If not for his siblings, the tenuous thread connecting him to human society would have been entirely severed.

Je Il-heon had never sincerely upheld the Bureau’s noble ideal of saving and protecting humans. To him, rescuing people was nothing more than a secondary byproduct of hunting gwema. Kill, and kill, and kill again — that was enough. If that led to his own death, so much the better. His vengeance, pursued with disregard for his own life, earned him the title of youngest department head in the Extermination Division, yet he felt no honor in that achievement.

…That is, until he met that child — Nam Ji-ha.

¹ Jinryeong-gun (진령군): A legendary shaman figure from the late Joseon dynasty, reputed for extraordinary spiritual power and divination abilities. Referenced here to emphasize the maternal family’s status in shamanistic circles.