Prologue
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 9:45 p.m. (local time)
The sound of police sirens blared in the distance as two siblings, Sohee and Ryujin, entered an oddly empty apartment complex–there were little to no lights along the corridor they walked down, and every single unit was pitch dark.
“Hey, you two…”
Someone called out as the siblings exchanged looks before turning to look at the unit Ryujin was standing next to. A tenant peeked his head out as his eyes scanned the surroundings wildly before landing on Ryujin, “leave while you still can–no one should be out after six,” he told her in a hushed tone, as if afraid of something, or someone eavesdropping.
Ryujin tilted her head and leaned closer to the door, “why not?” she replied in an equally hushed tone.
Before the man could answer, a disembodied scream rang out from the floor above them. The man cowered at the sound and started to shiver, “it’s here,” he exclaimed before retracting his head and closing the door on Ryujin’s face.
“Hey–I’m not done…”
Sohee stopped her and pointed at the charm stuck on the door, “Ryujin, look,” she whispered before inspecting it closer. There was a faint purplish aura emitting from it, “it was imbued with protection spell,” she exclaimed almost at the same time as Ryujin.
While they were inspecting the charm, their attention shifted to the metal hitting the concrete floor directly from above them and. Ryujin clicked her tongue and sighed, “why do I have to come with you?” she whined quietly.
“A bit too late to complain now, don’t you think?” replied Sohee, smiling at her younger sister before her expression turned more serious, “I will investigate what’s causing the noise–you go and find that person,” she instructed before tapping Ryujin’s shoulder, walking past her toward the stairs.
Ryujin sighed as she watched her sister run upstairs. “Be careful,” she muttered before walking the opposite direction. In case you’re wondering what they’re doing in Malaysia, well, the person they were working for received a distress call from a client asking for help to escape whatever was after him.
Sohee was originally supposed to be going with another person–a fellow exorcist named Minjeong, but she had an important exam coming up, so Ryujin ended up taking her place. Ryujin continued to walk down the corridor until she arrived at the end of it when Ryujin fished her phone out of her messenger bag.
“House 3-1A,” she muttered as she looked at the plate above the door. “This is the one,” Ryujin confirmed before knocking on the door, “hello, is anyone inside?” she asked as she continued to knock. “We are sent by Mr. Wang, so please open the door.”
Meanwhile, on the floor right above her, Sohee stood by the stairs as she looked around–compared to the floor below, this one was darker. She took her flashlight out of her bag and turned it on, panning it around her–it was then when she realized that the floor was totally abandoned as none of the units there had any lights on.
Sohee moved her flashlight sharply as she heard a sound coming from the other end of the corridor. “Who is there?” she asked as she walked down the corridor. She could see her sister knocking on a door as she peeked her head to look at the floor below her, but Sohee quickly shifted her attention again when another noise came from a different area.
“I’m not in the mood for a game, so whatever you are, or whoever, really, show yourself,” she demanded, ignoring the sudden chill running down her spine. Sohee stood still for the next few minutes, but the longer she stayed there, the more sounds started to echo through the corridor and they got closer each passing second.
She quickly fished something out of her bag and chanted something in a hushed tone before throwing it blindly into the dark, she repeated the action a few times as his eyes scanned her surroundings–after a few attempts, Sohee turned her head sharply to the darkness ahead of her as she saw a spark coming off, followed by a crackling noise. “I’ve got you!” exclaimed Sohee, smiling victoriously as she charged in that direction.
Sohee gasped and took a few steps back as she saw the thing that she caught–it was a person–or what’s left of it–its skin pale, and its face was distorted as if it was put in a giant mixer, and where its eyes were supposed to be were nothing but a pair of empty eye sockets. “Pathetic thing, aren’t you?” Sohee grimaced as she kicked the creature on its side and it snarled at her.
“And feisty too,” she added as she looked at its limbs–they were twisted in ways that Sohee could only describe as ‘merciless’ and ‘cruel’. Its arms were messed with so much that its elbows were slightly sticking out, and its legs were curved in the opposite direction they were supposed to.
“Let’s put you to rest,” she muttered, but before she could do anything, something grabbed her by the shoulder and threw Sohee all the way to the other end of the corridor.
At the same time, Ryujin felt a shiver creeping down her body as she continued to knock on the door. “Hurry up and open the door–I assure you we don’t mean harm,” she reassured while occasionally looking around her–she couldn’t shrug off the feeling of being watched. After a few more knocks, Ryujin sighed and stepped away from the door, “last chance–open this door or I will knock this door down,” she threatened.
It seemed to work as not long after that, the lock clicked and the person behind the door, a young man around her age, finally opened his door, albeit reluctantly. Ryujin sighed, “see, it’s not that hard to…” before she could finish, the man’s eyes widened and she pulled Ryujin inside his unit just as something sharp whistled past where Ryujin was standing previously.
She fell on top of the man, but the latter quickly pushed her off him before crawling toward the door, about to close the door when someone stopped it–sharp claws planted themselves into the wooden door followed by cold laughter. “I finally got you, Yuki,” said a deep voice, almost like a snarl.
Yuki quickly took his hand off the door and stumbled backward, watching the door as a figure slowly revealed itself. Its’ complexion was similar to the one that Sohee caught, but instead of a distorted face, this one had a huge grin on its face as if it was sewn–but it lacked lips, revealing its set of sharp teeth and purple cavity. Instead of human eyes, its eyes consisted of a pair of dark red orbs, like, literal orbs.
“I’ve been chasing for a year–and now, I can finally eat your heart!” its voice boomed through the corridor as it tried to step inside the house. Ryujin stayed still on the spot where Yuki had thrown her while cautiously studying the creature. It shrieked in pain as it hit an invisible barrier–its skin burned slightly.
“Haha–good luck getting through the barrier,” Yuki said as his lips curved into a nervous smile. “Maybe you should wait for another year,” he added as he slowly got up from the floor and reached for something from the coffee table–a sachet of salt. He poured the whole content on his palm and clenched it before looking at the creature, “go back to hell!” he seethed as he swung his arm and threw the salt against the creature’s face.
Yuki was breathing heavily as he looked at the creature–the smile on his face slowly disappeared as nothing happened to the thing before him, well, except for making it angrier. “What…why isn’t it working?” he asked, taking a few steps back from the creature. His previous action only made it angrier as it started slamming against the barrier, ignoring the burning and scalding.
“It’s because that thing is not a spirit, idiot!” Ryujin scolded as she got up from the floor and finally stood in between Yuki and the creature, “that is a manmade monster,” she added as she extended her arms, pointing her palms toward the creature, “now, stay back and don’t move a muscle if you don’t want to die,” instructed Ryujin.
Just as the creature destroyed the barrier, Ryujin closed her eyes and quickly opened them again before clenching her fists and pushing them against it–nothing happened, “hah–your time is up!” the creature laughed as it took another step forward.
Sohee, who was on the floor above them, started dusting herself as she looked at the creatures lying all over the floor, “poor souls,” she muttered as they slowly turned to dust. Her attention shifted to the booming sound coming from downstairs, and she ran toward the railing, leaning against it as the creature that tried to kill Yuki blew away, turning into dust midair.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 10:30 p.m. (local time)
Sohee and Ryujin were in Yuki’s place as the former looked around the living room. “Wow–you really went all out in driving those creatures away, huh?” Sohee mused as she got up and walked toward a wall, studying the charms stuck all over it with a smile.
Yuki nodded, shaking his leg nervously, “yeah–but it didn’t seem enough to completely drive them away,” he replied, looking at the charms he had stuck all over the place–even the windows.
“That is because they are not spirits, as I told you earlier,” Ryujin chimed in, crossing her arms as she leaned against the couch, “they are most likely results of experimenting with some kind of hairless creature’s DNA with human DNA,” she added, earning Yuki’s attention. As their eyes met, he quickly looked away, but Ryujin didn’t take her eyes away from him.
“Which reminded me–what are you doing all the way in Malaysia?” she asked.
“Oh, um…” Yuki cleared his throat and looked at her again, “I was one of the students that applied for an exchange program,” he answered before taking a seat on the empty couch across from Ryujin, looking down at the papers on his table nervously.
Ryujin leaned forward and continued to look at Yuki, “how did you know to contact Mr. Wang?”
Yuki thought about it while knitting his eyebrows and after a few seconds, he looked at Ryujin. “I was told to contact him in case something like this happens,” he said, realizing something after hearing himself, “huh,” he snickered.
Sohee, who was studying the charms, looked over her shoulder at him, “what is it?”
“No, it’s nothing,” Yuki shook his head, “I’m just wondering how she knew that this might happen,” he added with a shrug.
“I see…” Sohee nodded as she pulled one of the charms off the wall, looking at it closer before sitting down next to Ryujin, “Y/n, how much did you spend on these charms?” she asked as she put the piece of paper on the coffee table.
Yuki looked at it and then at the charms all over his walls, “I think I spent around $200 on them,” he answered before clearing his throat, “the guy I bought them from told me that those were the best ones he had, so I bought them all,” he added. “Why?” he asked afterward while tilting his head.
“Well,” Sohee took a deep breath, “if this is the best he could offer, I must say–it is pretty weak,” she exclaimed before picking up the charm and handing it to her sister, “take a look–it barely has any energy on it.”
Ryujin took the piece of paper and studied it, closing her eyes for a bit before opening them again and nodded at Sohee’s statement. “Yeah, I guess he made a profit selling these charms in numbers,” she noted. After a few minutes, she huffed and got up from her seat, “well, I suggest you get some rest, Yuki and start packing as early as you can tomorrow–you are going back to South Korea.”
Hearing her, Yuki raised his eyebrows, “but what about my classes? I still have a few months–”
“We will handle that,” Sohee cut him off before smiling, “but yeah, I suggest you listen to Ryujin. We will come back here tomorrow,” she told him before getting up as well, “but don’t worry, we will put up a new barrier so you can sleep in peace tonight.”
Kyoto, Japan - 11:30 p.m. (local time)
In a rural village, a man was sitting in an empty living room, his hands resting on his lap as he closed his eyes, focusing on the sound around him. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and quickly looked to his left, “there you are,” he muttered before placing a hand on the empty space between his left hip and arm, clenching his hand as if holding onto a sword’s grip.
“No running away now,” he exclaimed as he pulled a Japanese straight saber, a Chokuto, out of thin air. The sword glowed in a greenish aura as he swung it upward, producing a gust of wind following the movement.
A few seconds following the swing, a spirit appeared, split in half as they dissipated. The man got up from the floor and looked behind him at the door, “you guys can come out now–the spirit is gone,” he reassured, and a few minutes later, the door opened and the family who owned the house stepped out of it.
The man turned on his heels and walked toward a little boy before kneeling in front of him, “can you see it now?” asked the man, his tone gentle and kind.
The little boy looked around the room as he raised his eyebrows, and a smile formed on his face. “No–it is gone now!” he exclaimed excitedly as his elder sister turned the light on. “Thank you, Oniisan!”
“You are welcome,” replied the man before getting up. “The spirit is gone now, but we can never be sure,” he told the father before crossing his arms, “if spirits start appearing again,” he fished something out of his pocket and pulled a medallion out, handing it to the father. “Go to the nearest shrine, and show this to anyone there–they will know what to do.”
The father politely took the medallion from the man’s hand before bowing, “thank you so much, Raiden!” he said gratefully as he started to bow repeatedly.
Raiden, feeling slightly awkward at the sight of an older person bowing to him, shook his head and stopped the father, “please, you don’t have to be so polite with me,” he requested before chuckling lightly, “I am just doing my job.”
