5 Days-18 Hours
5 Days-18 Hours
Gayoon was probably holding onto the hope that they would be able to save her but they failed the first attempt and the second attempt would take a bigger toll on them unless they were absolutely sure that the ritual would be a success.
"There must be some other way!" Jina insisted. "The Lady Cop is waiting for us!"
"We've tried our best," Shijin admitted. "But this is one type of spirit we have never encountered before. Getting rid of a spirit who is completely dead is easy for us but someone who is living...I don't think we can exorcise this unconscious body as long as he's alive while his spirit is off possessing others…"
Jina's shoulders fell in disappointment while Junho was speechless. His heart was filled with remorse. Was he going to fail to save someone close to him again?
Suna's dead eyes were staring back at him, questioning him. Every night, he saw the recurring nightmare of his wife's still body while the white orb hovered above her. It sneered at him for his failure to save her and gloated its victory.
"You will lose, Hwang Junho…"
Its sinister voice rang in his ears and no matter how much he tried to shut it out, the laughter would not stop. The evil presence which he had hunted down for so many years was mocking him again. It was right; he would never be able to save his loved ones.
Hwang Junho was going to lose a loved one once again.
Casper watched them helplessly, turning his head from one person to another. Yumi was silently crying while Jina was pain stricken and Junho was beyond grief. He was too numb to react. The failure of the ritual had hit them hard and there was no other way they could see.
Can't exorcise the unconscious body…
Suddenly it hit him and he made wild gestures at Jina. She looked up to frown at his strange behavior.
"I think Casper is trying to say something!" she exclaimed. Shinjin and Junho, who could not see the ghosts, frowned.
"Your ghost pal?" Junho asked. "Where is he standing?"
"You can't see him and Yumi?" Jina frowned. "I thought you guys were ghost experts!"
"Well, we can only see them when we perform the rituals and exorcise them," Shinjin explained. "Because the ritual forces them to show themselves. Otherwise, the only way to realize a person is possessed is when their skin turns cold and they start to act feral."
"What's feral?" Jina asked.
"It means to act savage," Shinjin replied. "They act like animals, lash out at people and even eat raw animal-"
"Enough with all that!" Junho snapped. "What is the ghost saying?"
Jina read Casper's gestures and nodded. "That is a good idea!" she realized.
"What did he say?" Shinjin asked.
"He's saying that maybe the ritual failed because the spirit is not in this guy's body!" Jina interpreted. "It's in the body of that doctor, right? So you gotta catch her and do the ritual! Drive it out of her body!"
Junho and Shinjin looked at each other. They had assumed that they could use the ritual on the comatose doctor Nam and pull his soul back in before killing him off. But they had not considered this point at all!
"She's right," Shinjin stated. "This means that we need to do a double exorcism! That too simultaneously!"
"So one of us would have to stay here while the other one goes to that possessed girl!" Junho exclaimed.
"And once the spirit has been extracted from her," Shinjin stated. "It will be transferred to the sleeping lunatic here."
"Can you do it?" Junho asked. "We've never faced something like this before!"
"It's the same ritual but your incantation will be different," Shinjin said, pointing out the passage in the book. Junho read it well, memorizing it until it was etched into his memory.
"Let's try," Junho said. "This is our last hope. If we fail this double exorcism, we'll not get another chance. The black shadow might jump onto someone else if we fail and we'll not be able to find it again!"
Jina was getting annoyed by the old men talking too much. They were pressed for time!
"We have to hurry up then!" she urged. "Which one of you is coming with me?"
The two men turned on her, looking stern.
"You're too young," Junho said flatly. "You will stay here while Shinjin goes to the possessed girl and exorcise the spirit."
"Yeah, I can't let a little kid tag along!" Shinjin agreed.
Jina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Were the old men always this dumb? She wondered
"Do any of you know where that doctor has taken the Lady Cop?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.
"Err…"
"Uhh…"
"Can any of you see Yumi and Casper, who by the way know where the killer has taken the Lady Cop?" Jina questioned them, squinting her eyes.
There was dead silence from the two men who scratched their heads, finding themselves in a fix.
"I think it's obvious that since I am the only one who can see them, I'll be able to help you two communicated with them," she concluded with a smirk. She tapped her foot, waiting for the old men to challenge her who could not think of a single counter argument. Unfortunately, the little girl was right. She was the only one who could lead them to Gayoon.
"Now hurry up!" she scolded the two men, ushering them to follow her. "We have very little time!"
They watched in shock as the girl sped away and were totally ashamed to admit that the two men in their old age were being bossed by an eight year old.
"Is it me or is she more like Gayoon than I initially thought?" Shinjin asked in dismay.
"I don't think we even need a DNA test to figure out their connection," Junho sighed. He turned to Shinjin and added, "Call me when you're ready."
Shinjin nodded and sprinted off behind Jina. Junho went back into the room where the sadistic doctor lay, unaware of everything that was about to happen. As if on intuition, he looked up at the clock. It was 5:59 AM.
Eighteen hours to go.