Kill My Grandson

The client who had been pressing for a meeting for some time revealed his true intentions the moment Heeseo took her seat.

"Kill my grandson for me."

It was an excessively blunt demand, a request beyond anything she could have imagined. But the old man's words did not end there.

"Marry my grandson. And then kill that thing."

Where to even begin pointing out the problems? Heeseo, about to pick up the expensive teacup, paused in thought.

Elder, you've got the wrong person. I may look rough, but I've never actually killed anyone? No, wait. When did you even see me to suddenly tell me to get married? No, more than that...

"Are you saying you want me to kill your own grandson?"

Even if her respect for the law wasn't exactly stellar, she had to wonder how to regard an old man who openly declared he wanted his grandson dead. Especially when the other party wasn't some deranged geezer, but the chairman of GM Group.

The elderly man sitting across from Heeseo was someone no one who skimmed the newspapers could fail to recognize.

Kim Jonghyeop, chairman of a global medical conglomerate that owned world-renowned hospitals and, not content with that, developed all sorts of new drugs and technologies. The kindly looking old man was one of the owners of Korea's top ten conglomerates. At the very least, if he were in his right mind, he was not the sort of person who should be saying such things to Heeseo, whom he was meeting for the first time.

"I don't know what you've heard about me or how you heard it, but I'll pretend I didn't hear that. If you'll excuse me."

Of course, the other party was merely the chairman of a major group; such incidents were not unfamiliar to her. Rumors had spread about Heeseo—that she could summon dead ancestors in a single gut ritual to give out lottery numbers, or cast curses to cripple cheating husbands, and the like.

I really ought to leave Korea or something. Finding a runaway daughter-in-law is cute by comparison now.

She was thoroughly sick of the people who came looking for her. About to coldly leave her seat as if not even a needle's eye could fit through her resolve, Heeseo looked down at her hand. A wrinkled hand without a single age spot was gripping her wrist.

She exhaled a long breath out of habit and surveyed her surroundings.

Exactly five paces away. Not far from them, the old man's bodyguard was watching her. His posture perfectly adhered to the basic rules of security. If Heeseo were to twist and break the old man's wrist, the bodyguard would probably rush in within two seconds. Then subduing them and leaving the place would likely not be easy.

Of course, it wasn't impossible either.

"The one I want you to kill isn't my grandson."

"...What did you say?"

But at the old man's words, Heeseo temporarily set aside her plans. Because what he was saying was the same as what the "clients" who came looking for Heeseo usually said.

Crunch. The old man who had maintained composure throughout ground his teeth. The jaw muscles bulged and vanished over his gaunt cheeks.

"Kill the 'thing' that has taken over my grandson's body."

His piercing gaze shot at Heeseo. Beneath the unusually clear black pupils for his age, hostility boiled. Facing him, a sharp aura faintly swirled across Heeseo's expressionless face. The old man's request, which she had dismissed as nonsense, was now gradually approaching her "true profession."

"...Are you saying your grandson has been possessed?"

Possession. The act of a dead person taking over a living person's body. People usually thought of it as something that only happened in movies or fictional worlds, but to Heeseo its meaning was different.

At Heeseo's question, the old man fell silent. It was the atmosphere of gauging what to say and what to hide. The silence did not last long.

"Yes. Something is in my grandson's body. It is deceiving me by pretending to be my grandson right now, desecrating my family, and monopolizing what my bloodline should have possessed. So I want you to end it."

Unconcealable rage seeped into the old man's voice. Facing that raw anger, Heeseo stroked the handle of the teacup.

The person she was facing was not some common neighborhood figure. A big shot whose face appeared in the news and newspapers had come to her asking to resolve his grandson's possession. The world was full of wonders if you lived long enough.

Heeseo savored the cooling tea, then set the cup down. Then, without any regret, she opened her mouth.

"I refuse."

"...You're going to refuse without even hearing what conditions I'll offer?"

"Yes. Whatever the conditions."

At Heeseo's firm reply, the old man's cheek twitched briefly. She could clearly feel the anger he was suppressing, but Heeseo instead met the old man's eyes and continued.

"You'll say you'll give me an amount of money I can't even imagine. Since it's a request difficult enough that I have to play the role of the chairman's fake granddaughter-in-law, it'll be an amount that even winning the lottery couldn't compare to, right? Well, I am curious how much you'd give."

As the cheeky reply continued, the old man's eyes sharpened. Heeseo paid it no mind.

"Even so, I refuse this request."

"Why?"

The old man asked again, staring piercingly at her.

She lightly sighed and brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen. The chairman, who lived in a world where money could solve anything, would not be able to understand her. Even so, to maintain a measure of courtesy, she stated her position.

"The first reason I'm refusing the chairman's request is that I'm not a shaman. I haven't received a divine calling. Therefore, in the acts I perform—that is, in exorcism rituals—people might get hurt."

At the word "people" getting hurt, the chairman's brow furrowed. Heeseo smiled as if she had expected that.

"Even if by some chance I drive the ghost out of your precious grandson, if even a slight scratch is left, you won't leave me alone, will you?"

To be precise, there were two methods in the exorcisms Heeseo performed. The method she mentioned was an exorcism that required a "slight" use of force. Of course there was a safe method as well, but in a situation where she was refusing, she didn't particularly want to tell the old man about it.

"And second. There must be a reason you're trying to attach me to that ghost's side even going as far as a fake marriage. Shall I try guessing?"

"..."

"Probably because that ghost is a very cunning bastard, and if you drag him to me outright he might hide, so you want me to secretly mess with him from behind... Am I wrong?"

In that instant, the old man firmly shut his mouth. Her words had struck exactly on the mark. It was a situation where the moves had been read before even placing a stone on the Go board. But instead of growing impatient, the old man acknowledged her words with a calm expression.

"I thought you only dealt with ghosts, but you have the ability to read people's minds as well. I like that. Yes, that's right. You've grasped the reason I'm demanding this fake marriage from you quite accurately."

He continued as if grinding his teeth.

"That bastard has long since taken the body my grandson should have had, and even at this very moment is deceiving people by pretending to be my grandson, my bloodline, my successor."

Long since... Heeseo suddenly felt pity for the man who was the grandson.

The easiest timing for an exorcism was not long after the possession. Conversely, the longer the period of possession, the more difficult the exorcism became. Because the two souls that were initially separate mixed and tangled with each other as time passed.

But she had no intention of accepting this absurd request out of mere pity.

"Then all the more reason you shouldn't waste time. Someone of the chairman's caliber could find a skilled exorcist or shaman other than me. I've made my refusal clear enough, so I'll be getting up now. I won't pay for the tea?"

Without waiting for the old man's reply, Heeseo gathered her crossbody bag and lightly rose from her seat.

Recently she had been short on money for various reasons and had planned to accept any reasonable request, but it was a pity. She herself had many things to do and couldn't afford to get tangled up in such nonsense.

But Heeseo froze before she could even turn her back and take a step. Because the words the old man spat made her heart plummet.

"Your parents have been missing for over ten years, haven't they?"

"...I don't know why our parents are coming up here, Elder."

An edge entered Heeseo's previously leisurely tone. Heeseo turned only her head and looked down at the old man with a chilly gaze.