Seance (1)
Seance (1)
He saw a pair of headlights approaching him and soon, Gayoon's car stopped in front of him. Minho and Gayoon got out of the car and walked up to him.
"Did you get all the things I asked for?" he asked.
"Yes!" Gayoon replied. She was carrying a bag full of materials they needed for a seance. Shinjin decided to hold a seance so that Minho could directly talk to his mother via a medium.
"Who'll be the medium?" Minho asked.
"Me," Shinjin stated. "But remember. Whatever happens, you must follow the instructions to a T. Otherwise the summoning will fail."
Both of them nodded and they entered the mansion. Gayoon stepped in first and she felt Suna's presence somewhere in the house.
"She's here," she whispered. Minho did not reply but stiffly nodded. He was facing a complicated mix of emotions at the thought of meeting his mother again. Would she recognize him? What was he going to say to her?
It had been so many years yet, the pain of losing her was as fresh as ever. He had suppressed the grief for a long time, trying not to think of the past but now, he was done running away. After losing his best friend, Minho no longer had the energy to run away from his sadness anymore. He needed closure and had accepted a long time ago that sometimes, people simply could not get that closure.
He was a rich man with infinite wealth and yet, all his money was wasted. For the first time in his life, Minho thought himself to be the poorest man of all. What was the point of so much money if it could not buy someone a few last moments with their loved ones? Was it all worth it?
Gayoon gripped his arm. She knew that he was too depressed over the things that had happened and she wanted to comfort him.
"You're not okay," she murmured. "Do you want to come back later?"
"No," Minho said. "We have to do this now. Otherwise, I'll never get the courage to return here."
Gayoon was a little worried but Minho was determined. They must extract that demon from Kanji's body.
"Okay…" Shinjin muttered. He went straight towards the hall while Gayoon and Minho followed.
"Move the furniture away," he ordered. "We need to draw a large circle here."
Together, the three of them moved aside a few old couches to create an opening in the middle. The house was dusty and smelled like mould. Gayoon had to wipe off a few cobwebs which fell on her hair.
"Ugh!" she exclaimed in annoyance as she fended off more webs. "You guys could have at least cleaned this place!"
"We kinda just gave up on it after mom died," Minho explained. He was glancing around every few seconds as if trying to sense someone.
"She's not here right now," Gayoon explained, reading his mind. "She's probably upstairs. If she had spotted Mr. Shinjin then she knows very well that she should only show herself at the right moment during the ritual. Otherwise, you won't be able to talk to her."
"What if the ritual fails?" Minho asked.
"Well…" Gayoon began. "I'm not really sure what happens in that case-"
"Your mother will be stuck in my body," Shinjin stated. He was drawing a hexagon on the floor and a star in the middle of it. Placing a small round bowl in the middle of the shape, he turned it over.
"Gayoon, you sit there," he instructed, pointing to his right. "And Minho to my left. Make sure the distance between us is even."
They did as he told and they settled into a symmetric rotation. Shinjin took out a few yellow papers and wrote spells on them before folding the papers and stuffing them under the bowl.
"Put your right index finger on the bowl," he said. All three of them put their fingers on it.
"Now, there are a few rules you must follow," Shinjin warned. "First of all, whatever happens, do not move your fingers until I say so. Otherwise the connection between me and the spirit will be broken, causing her to take over my body. My soul will be lost and I might even die."
"Second of all," he went on. "Do not forget to say goodbye to her. Otherwise, the spirit will not be able to leave. It's a sign of respect during a seance. Luckily, your mother is a gentle spirit so she won't create a fuss but volatile spirits can be very tough to handle. Still, say goodbye to her."
"Lastly, I can at most keep her in me for ten minutes," he stated. "If you don't finish talking by then, the spirit will not be able to leave and that'll create another complication. Whatever you do, follow these rules."
He turned to Gayoon. "Record. the encounter with your phone so that we can listen to the clue later."
She took out her phone using her left hand and turned on the recorder. Minho was a little nervous to meet his mother after so long but he steadied himself. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes.
"Let's do this," he announced.
…..
Kanji was peeking at Mina from afar. She was now sitting up in her bed, reading something but it was obvious she was very distracted. Every minute, she kept on glancing outside as if waiting for someone.
"Uncle, you look like a creepy stalker," Jina remarked.
"I'm scared!" he exclaimed. "What if she doesn't love me anymore?"
"Right now, she won't recognize you!" Jina said. "You're in someone else's body. And she doesn't know that you're…"
She could not bring herself to say it. Mina was still waiting for Kanji and yet, they could not gather the courage to tell her the truth. Kanji was occupying Haejong's body. While he expected the latter's soul to be dormant, it turned out that he had to share space with the annoying guy.
"Who the hell are you calling annoying?" Haejong's angry voice echoed in his head. "I'm letting you borrow my body! Be thankful."
"If I had a choice, I wouldn't have taken your offer!" Kanji hissed at the voice in his head.
"Uncle, just go and talk to her as the mafia uncle!" Jina suggested. "See what she feels!"
"Alright!" Kanji moaned. Gathering the courage to face her, he limped on the crutches, heading for her room.
Mina sighed and put the magazine away. It had been three days and Kanji still did not come to visit her. But she had no one else to blame but herself. Even after being so brutally rejected, she kept on clinging on to him.
"No more," she decided. "I'm done…"
"Ahem!"
She looked up to find Haejong standing there. He was shot but had recovered a lot because the bullet did not hit a critical point so it did not harm him much. Mina shuddered to think what would have happened if it had seriously hurt him.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Uhh...yeah!" Haejong said with a smile. "I'm good! How are ya feeling doc?"
"I speak in a formal way with her, idiot!" Haejong's voice scolded him.
Mina was taken aback by his sudden informal attitude. What is up with him? She wondered.
"I'm okay…" she said. To her surprise, Haejong pulled up a chair and sat next to her bed.
"There's a new mall opening," he said in excitement. "You wanna visit that place after being discharged?"
"Huh?" she frowned. "But I already told you that I don't want anything from you!"
"Oi!" Haejong's voice yelled in his head. "The last time she went shopping with me, she didn't take any of the stuff! She called it blood money!"
But Kanji was not giving up. It was a matter of love and now that he was no longer bound to the usual rules, he was determined to win her over.
"It's the least you can do!" he claimed. "After all, I saved your niece's life. You owe me...a date!"
"Heh?" Mina scowled at him. "Did that bullet mess with your head? Are you nuts?"
"I promise I won't use any of the mafia money!" he swore. "I've got legitimate businesses too! I'll use my earnings from there to pay-"
Jina was sitting outside the room when suddenly, Mina came out, running for her life. She was followed by Kanji who was staggering as he chased her.
"I swear I'll take you shopping afterwards!" he yelped.
Inside his head, Haejong was cursing at him for ruining his entire image in front of Mina while Jina could only facepalm herself.
"Nothing can cure his stupidity," she said, shaking her head in dismay as she watched her aunt being chased by the ghost of her idiotic lover.