Chapter 15 - Cleaning Up (1)

Astonishment. Admiration. Awe.

As Smith stared at Yohan, at a loss for what to say, Emily woke up coughing, freed from possession now that Yohan had driven out the boogeyman.

"C-cough... cough!"

"Emily!"

Smith immediately rose to his feet, and I stepped away from Emily to give him room. He approached her on trembling legs.

"G-Grandpa... I..."

"Thank... you..."

Looking at Emily's face, still pale but beginning to regain its warmth, he pulled her into his arms.

"Thank you... Thank you..."

He wept as he embraced the granddaughter he had thought he would never see again.

Watching them, I moved away without a word.

"..."

There was no reason to intrude just to take credit, and I didn't want to, either. It wasn't as if I'd exorcised the boogeyman possessing Emily out of some noble purpose or the goodness of my heart.

This was business.

I'd completed the job. Now I just needed to collect the money as promised.

As I walked toward the door, Ellie stared at me wide-eyed before coming to her senses.

"Mr. Ghostbuster! I knew you could do it!"

I'd called myself that, but hearing her say it so openly was both flattering and embarrassing.

"Just call me Yohan."

Ellie looked at Smith and Emily, a gentle smile of relief on her face.

"All right, Yohan... Thank you so much."

I watched her for a moment, taking in that pure, compassionate smile. Apparently, she'd really meant it when she said she wanted to save Emily.

Anyway, my first exorcism was a success. One case closed!

... Or so I'd have liked to say.

"..."

I looked at the pastor's corpse propped against the wall outside the door.

The shaman, Suhyeon, and the pastor.

The evil spirit problem was solved, but with three people dead, cleaning up afterward was going to be a problem.

Now that the boogeyman was gone, the blizzard isolating the mansion would naturally let up, too.

What was I supposed to tell the police when they arrived?

'The killer was an evil spirit possessing Emily, and I successfully exorcised it! Problem solved! You can go home now!'

The moment I said that, they'd haul me away as their prime suspect and give me a drug test.

I stared down at the corpse.

'It's not as if I can just tell Grizzly to eat them all and clean this up...'

The spirit was gone and the strange phenomena had stopped. It would be odd if the bodies suddenly disappeared, too. Besides, it wouldn't erase the fact that those three people had come to the mansion.

Missing bodies might only make things look more suspicious.

Seeing me looking at the pastor's corpse, Ellie cautiously turned her head and spoke quietly, mindful of Emily.

"Um... I think we should cover him with a bedsheet, like we did with the chandelier."

She seemed worried that Emily, now awake, would be shocked to see him.

"Let's do that."

I nodded at her suggestion and looked away. Staring at a corpse wasn't going to solve anything, anyway. It was bad for my mental health.

Brooding over it wouldn't produce any brilliant solutions, so for now...

"And then, shall we get something to eat?"

"Sorry?"

Time to eat and recharge. I'd barely had dinner before getting to work, and I was hungry.

On an empty stomach, I had neither the energy to do anything nor the brainpower to think.

Our conversation brought Sora, the housekeeper still sitting on the floor, back to her senses. She spoke in a trembling voice.

"U-um... I'm sorry. My legs have given out... I can't stand..."

She'd seen the evil spirit emerge from Emily's body firsthand. The shock had apparently left her weak.

I shrugged and cracked a joke to help her relax.

"It's fine. At least you didn't piss yourself."

"W-well... I did."

Sora squeezed her eyes shut, and liquid trickled out from beneath the loose skirt of her housekeeper's uniform.

"... It's fine. You're not dead, are you? Get some rest."

I discreetly took a step away as I spoke.

"I'll make myself something to eat."

Housekeeper or not, she'd been frightened enough to piss herself. Telling her to hurry up, wash, and cook for me would have been a bit much.

* * *

After Ellie and I covered the bodies with bedsheets, she returned to the bedroom, concerned about Emily's condition now that she was awake.

I rummaged through the kitchen for something to eat.

There were instant noodles and microwave rice. So even a mansion had this kind of convenience food. Well, it was convenient.

Honestly, noodles and rice were quick, tasty, and filling, but... carbs on top of carbs weren't exactly good for me.

I rummaged some more and found vegetables and beef sliced for bulgogi in the refrigerator.

"Oh, bulgogi..."

I considered the package for a moment.

I'd saved Smith's granddaughter, not to mention Smith himself. He wasn't going to get angry over a little beef.

"There's meat and vegetables. Maybe I'll make curry."

You might wonder why I'd make curry with bulgogi beef, but it was surprisingly good. Simple, tasty, and good for you, too.

I took out a suitable pot, added cooking oil, and stir-fried the sliced beef. It was thin, so I had to make sure it didn't stick and burn.

Once it was cooked enough, I added potatoes, carrots, and onions cut into bite-sized pieces and stir-fried everything together. Then I poured in water to make a broth and added curry powder once it boiled.

Now I just had to wait a little, and the curry would be ready.

Watching the pot of curry bubble away, I briefly wondered whether reciting a magic spell over it would make it taste better.

'O curry, I consecrate you. May you become more delicious!'

It sounded fun, but it was stupid, so I decided against it.

Then I sensed someone behind me and turned to look. Ellie and the others entered the kitchen.

"You made curry."

"Yes. The ingredients were here."

Sora, who had changed her clothes, stared at the curry pot with stunned, shaken eyes.

"Professionals really are different... So calm... You're even making dinner."

You could ask how I could stomach food in a mansion littered with corpses, but...

"I'm alive. I need to eat."

I could stomach it. I had to.

No one else was going to look after me. I had to take care of myself. It was best to eat while I could and recover my strength.

The police would come to investigate after daybreak. Rest was important if I wanted to hold up through that without making mistakes.

At any rate, after hearing what I said, Ellie nodded, some thought evidently occurring to her.

"That's right... We're alive."

She spoke gently to Emily.

"Emily, let's eat together, too. The possession weakened your body. Eating will help you recover."

"I... don't have an appetite... Hic, ugh... Because of me..."

Tears welled in Emily's blue eyes.

"Because of me, those people..."

Her small shoulders shook. Apparently, she retained some memories of being possessed.

Smith and Sora quietly turned their eyes toward me.

Now I understood why everyone had come to the kitchen. They weren't here for curry. They wanted me, the expert in this sort of thing, to offer some comforting words.

I wasn't a therapist, though.

Still...

I looked at Emily, the blond girl trembling so pitifully.

... I felt sorry for her.

More precisely, I felt sorry for the situation she was in. It was similar to mine.

Without ever asking for it, she'd become entangled in something uncanny and ended up connected to people's deaths.

For me, it was a grimoire. For Emily, a boogeyman.

I'd decided to live as a magician, the master of a grimoire, while Emily's boogeyman had been exorcised and she could simply live happily. That was different, but our situations were still similar.

So I approached Emily.

"Emily."

I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and comforted her in my own way.

"Sometimes you accidentally kill a person or two in life. Don't let it get you down so much."

"... What?"

Emily looked dumbfounded. Ellie, Smith, and Sora also gaped in shock.

Emily and Ellie spoke in trembling voices.

"U-um... Thank you for caring, but... Well..."

"Y-Yohan, I know you're trying to comfort Emily... B-but I don't think that's quite appropriate."

At their reaction, I quietly averted my eyes.

'Was that wrong...?'

Apparently, after deciding to become a magician, even my character had sunk to the magician average. Mag-average.

Just then, the curry finished cooking, and I changed the subject.

"So, who wants curry?"

They must have been hungry and exhausted without realizing it, because they served themselves curry and ate.

"... It's good."

After a moment's hesitation, Emily joined them, too.

"I'll have some as well."

Anyway, I'd succeeded in perking Emily up.

Then I looked at Smith and Ellie.

"Oh, there's actually something I'd like to ask you both to do for me."

In the mansion isolated in darkness, corpses lay scattered here and there.

The scent of curry drifted through the air as dawn broke.

* * *

Surprisingly, the aftermath was settled quite easily.

I'd been prepared, in the worst case, to be dragged into an interrogation room and grilled. But when Smith reported the situation at the mansion, government officials in black suits arrived instead of the police.

They investigated various parts of the mansion, made us promise to keep quiet, and sent us home.

At my request, Smith told them that Ellie's prayers had driven out the evil spirit possessing Emily. Ellie vehemently objected, but when I told her I had personal reasons, she agreed to go along with our story.

And honestly, I couldn't quite put it into words, but considering the peculiar aura I sensed from Ellie, that woman would have survived on her own even without me.

Anyway, if the officials who came to the mansion belonged to the secret government organization I'd imagined, either they were much less thorough than I'd expected...

...or something so enormously demanding and dangerous was happening elsewhere that the mansion incident seemed minor by comparison.

Either way, it was good news for me.

Some time passed, and now I was at the airport to see Smith off to America.

The government organization had downplayed the incident, but people had still died. Apparently, he was concerned about rumors and was leaving for Emily's sake.

"Yohan, once again, thank you so very much."

"Not at all. It's thanks to Emily holding on so well."

I didn't have to come just because he'd asked, but he was my first client, and I wanted to keep my customer satisfied.

Besides, I might need to flee abroad someday. It wouldn't hurt to stay in touch with Smith now that he was moving to America.

I was his granddaughter's savior, after all. If I went to America, he'd at least give me a meal.

Emily was studying my face. When our eyes met, she spoke politely.

"Um, thank you so much for everything."

I gave her a gentle smile out of courtesy.

"Have a safe trip. If you ever need help again, get in touch."

"..."

Emily gazed silently at my face for a moment, then turned away.

‧

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‧

After Yohan left, Emily sat in an airport lounge, drawing something in her sketchbook.

SCRITCH-SCRITCH

Her pencil moved with a steady scratching sound. Smith approached, pleased by the sight.

"Emily, what are you drawing?"

"Huh? No, um! It's nothing!"

Startled, Emily hurriedly closed the sketchbook.

"I-I see."

Smith left, thinking she must be embarrassed to show him an unfinished drawing. Emily sighed and opened the sketchbook again.

It depicted one of her memories from when she was possessed.

Yohan, gripping Emily by the hair on the bed.

"Ooh..."

At the explicit drawing she'd made herself, Emily's face flushed bright red. She covered her face with both hands. Her toes curled.

She no longer had nightmares, and the boogeyman had been exorcised.

But Emily had developed a strange fetish.