Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Chapter 213: World of the Dead (5)

Shinjin drew a star and put candles on the points. He placed an ouija board in the middle containing alphabets and holy water on its side. Jaewan was on watchout for any guards or people who might stray that way but there were none. Since the school had been emptied already, there were no people around except for a few maintenance workers who were working on a building across the field. They had shut off every window with shutters and the lights were switched off. The whole place was covered with darkness sans the light coming from the candles.

Junho sat across Shinjin while Jina was seated next to him. She was surrounded by a circle of salt to protect her from any possible spirit which might try to harm her.

"Remember Jina," Junho said. "Do not reveal that you can see ghosts even without a seance. Try not to look at its eyes. If we end up summoning a bad spirit, it might harm you and it'll be difficult to get rid of it."

Jina was terrified and wished that Casper or Yumi could be there with her. She did not want to face all this by herself and it was too overwhelming for the little girl. Her palms were sweating in fear and she was shaking.

Junho grasped her shoulder. "Don't be afraid," he assured her. "Just stay calm."

"Will mommy and daddy be alright?" she asked again. Junho's heart was breaking upon seeing her sad face and there was no way he could answer her question.

"Shush!" Shinjin hissed. "I need to start concentrating."

Junho closed his eyes while Jina looked from him to Shinjin. They were both chanting something under their breaths. A cold chill fell around them as the air became cooler. The darkness seemed to be growing and Jina was gripped by a strong fear as she tried to stay still. Everything was so quiet that she could hear her loud heartbeats. Shinjin and Junho kept on chanting in a language she could not understand. Was it Latin? She could not tell.

Suddenly, there was a noise of something crashing. Yelping, Jina shut her ears as the wind swooshed around her ferociously. If Junho had not stuck the salt with edible glue, it would have spread out and broken the circle around her but Jina felt very vulnerable. She wanted to scream and run away but the thought of her parents kept her rooted to the spot.

"Old man!" she whimpered. "Make it stop!"

She could hear strange whispers in her ears. Some were screaming, some were cursing and they were circling around her, trying to enter the salt buried but were kept away. Jina closed her eyes and lowered her head, trying not to see them. She knew that the spirits were staring at her, trying to catch her attention.

"Don't look at them," Junho stated. Shinjin kept on chanting, not breaking it. Junho stared at the ouija board. The pointer on it was spinning rapidly, as if being controlled on its own. It spun and spun until finally, it stopped at the number '0'.

Shinjin opened his eyes.

"There is one here," he said. Jina opened her eyes and slowly looked up and almost screamed.

The spirit standing in front of her was unlike anything she has ever seen. It was of a woman in her thirties. She had long curly hair which reached till her waist while she wore a plaid shirt and skirt. There was a dark stain on her shirt while her hands were also bleeding. But the most striking features were her eyes.

Instead of eyes, she had empty sockets. 

The woman carried a brick with her which was also stained with the crimson blood as if she had used it many times. There was a nasty sneer on her lips as she faced Jina. The little girl looked away, trying not to stare at the thing's eyes. The woman seemed to have noticed her but she was blind and had to rely on instincts.

"I notice a little pet here," she said in a soft tone. "Do you want to play with me, little one?"

Jina did not dare to reply. Her insides were warning her not to speak. The spirit in front of her was not friendly like Casper or Yumi but a dangerous one which would not hesitate to harm her. These were the type of spirits Gayoon had warned her of. So far, Jina took her mother's advice very lightly but seeing this woman in front of her was making her regret her earlier assumptions.

"There is no one else but me!" Shinjin claimed. The woman turned towards him. 

"A shaman," she noted with contempt. "Why have you summoned me here you wretch?"

"Park Seungjo," Shinjin said. "He has taken a human into the World of the Dead. How can we bring her back?"

The woman let out a loud laughter. "You cannot bring out a human from there!" she wheezed. "It's impossible. The human is as good as dead!"

Junho clenched his fists, trying not to lash out at the ghost who was clearly enjoying the misery of humans. 

"But how did he manage to open the portal?" Shinjin demanded. "You know it. Tell me!"

He threw a handful of salt at the woman who screamed in pain. Jina did not look at her way but she could not shut out the agonizing screams of the ghost.

"Why should I?" she scoffed. "You humans are nothing but trash! Even when I was alive, the brats in this school tormented me until one day, I was driven to suicide! And even after death, they mocked my resting site! Why should I help any of you?"

"Because," Shinjin began. "I know you are the ghost which haunts the field. You know very well that there was a spirit seer here and she told me all about you. You're Han Kira, aren't you? The one who harms any player who plays on that field because it was once your memorial site."

"And since I know your name," he added. "I can exorcise you easily. The only reason we did not do it all these years is because we weren't allowed inside the school property after Seungjo's death."

The ghost growled at the cursed shaman. If he exorcised her, she would be sent straight to the World of the Dead and live in that unending hell.

"There have been whispers," she admitted reluctantly. "About someone else controlling Park Seungjo. The spirits around here call him Mr. A. Ever since he joined hands with Park Seungjo, most of the ghosts have been staying away from here in fear of being thrown into the portal. Those two conspired to bring in the seer into the World of the Dead once she stepped foot in this school for the reunion. This other spirit needs a seer to accomplish some sort of grand plan. Only a seer who can see ghosts can act as the key to his mysterious plans."

Junho glanced at Shinjin and then at Jina. Park Seungjo does not know that Gayoon had lost her ability to see ghosts and the powers were transferred to Jina. Which meant that even if Seungjo abducted his object of desire, the other spirit ended up taking the wrong person. Does that mean the other spirit still does not know about Jina's existence? How was that possible?

"How do we open the portal?" Shinjin asked. "We need to bring her back!"

"Only someone with the transporting ability can open the portal!" the spirit scoffed. "Transporters can go in and out of the World of the Dead on their will. There was once a powerful family which dealt with the dead and they had built several portals around the country in order to control the ghosts while the seers helped them to throw those spirits into the World of the Dead. But that family has gone into hiding hundreds of years ago after they were being hunted down by locals! No one can track them down unless they reveal their powers. Although..."

She sniffed the air and grinned.

"Seems like someone has used his powers tonight!" she exclaimed in glee. "The Mr. A will be angry. Very angry."

Junho and Shinjin were now even more confused. Seeing how Minho was able to go in through the portal so easily, they had a hunch that maybe he possessed this transporting ability. Which meant that Jina also inherited it.

Both of them looked at the little girl who was visibly scared. She had no idea what to do and could only sit there helplessly while the terrifying ghost loomed above her, trying to sense the seer in the midst but for some reason, could not pinpoint her location.

Shinjin noticed the spirit was trying to sniff out where Jina was and frowned. 

"There's a spirit seer on your right," he lied. The spirit was excited and turned to her right where it was only an empty space.

"Got you!" she tried to catch something in the air but to her shock, there was nothing.

"You tricked me!" she yelled and tried to reach out for Shinjin but he threw more salt at her, causing her to yelp and stagger backwards.

"I now end this session," he declared. "Ghost, go back to your place!"

The spirit lunged at him but an invisible force was pulling her away from him. She screamed as she was being dragged back to her field, screaming and cursing in anger. Jina tried not to whimper as she saw the woman being pulled by the hair until she finally vanished.

Once she was gone, Junho turned to Shinjin. "How the hell are we going to bring them back?" he demanded.

Shijin turned towards Jina. "It seems like Jina has inherited not only her mother's ability to see ghosts but also her father's powers to break through the dimensions," he stated. "But her powers are still not under control. Sometimes, the ghosts can find her but other times she's invisible to them. Seeing how the transporters are still hidden from ghosts and other entities, it's safe to assume that their abilities also include masking their powers. They're discoverable only when they use their powers."

"Tonight, Minho inadvertently used his powers," Shinjin went on. "So the spirits nearby know of his existence."

"So if he can use his powers," Junho began. "Then-"

"Then I can open the portal and bring my parents back."

Both the men turned to look at Jina. "But Jina, your powers aren't under control yet," Junho pointed out. "We don't know how it'll affect you."

"In that case," Shijin said. "We can only open the portal a little so that we can pass a message to Minho! If he can go through the portal from this side, he might be able to open it from the other side and bring Gayoon back!"

The little girl's eyes flared with determination.

Let's do this! She decided.