When Yoon Taehee, who had briefly lost consciousness, opened his eyes, it was in darkness.
No matter how many times he blinked, he couldn't see anything. His vision was blocked, as if a cloth was wrapped around his eyes. Additionally, his limbs were bound, and no matter how much strength he applied to his arms and legs, his body wouldn't move. The only thing he could move was his head.
Yoon Taehee was sitting in a plush armchair. Thick leather belts were fastened around his wrists and ankles. Relying solely on his sense of touch to assess the situation, he twisted his wrists back and forth, trying to exert force to slip his hands out of the leather belts. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain near the crook of his arm.
Just then, a voice was heard nearby.
"It's useless to struggle, so don't strain yourself too much."
The owner of the voice was Kim Yekwon.
"What are you doing to me right now?"
Yoon Taehee, who had just woken up from anesthesia, asked with a slurred voice.
"We're drawing your blood."
Yoon Taehee then realized that needles were inserted into both of his arms. Focusing on his bodily sensations, he could vividly feel the foreign sensation of thick needles piercing his skin.
"Ah. No wonder. I was feeling dizzy..."
As Yoon Taehee muttered to himself, bowing his head, a subordinate standing nearby approached and forcefully grabbed his chin, roughly prying his mouth open. An unknown liquid gushed into his mouth. Yoon Taehee coughed and sputtered violently.
It was the champagne mixed with spiritual energy spray that he had drunk as a welcome drink. It seemed they were making him continuously drink to prevent the effects of the spiritual energy-numbing drug from wearing off during the blood-drawing process.
"How much blood have you taken? I'd rather not die from excessive blood loss."
Yoon Taehee asked Kim Yekwon while coughing lightly and muttering to himself.
"And who exactly are you? Are you perhaps a gwijae?"
It was a question asked out of genuine curiosity. The reason he had willingly walked into this trap was because he wanted to know if there were others
within the organization who opposed Naryecheong.
Kang Yibin had said she received orders from the Undercover Department Head. However, there were many suspicious aspects to this case, and something felt off. If this was orchestrated internally, it was necessary to find out who was behind it and what their purpose was.
"No, I'm an ordinary person."
Kim Yekwon shook his head lightly and added in a low voice.
"At least, that's how I was born."
"...What does that mean?"
Yoon Taehee tilted his head and asked. However, Kim Yekwon didn't answer the question. Instead, he took out a piece of paper from his back pocket and stuck it to Yoon Taehee's body. Then, as he chanted something, the paper suddenly burst into flames and disappeared into ashes in an instant.
Kim Yekwon looked at Yoon Taehee with eyes full of wonder.
"This is incredible... You're an even better vessel than I imagined! They say the strongest gwijae work as exorcists in the Exorcism Department, and that must be true. I've never seen such a strong reaction before.
Haha, you might be the strongest gwijae l've ever encountered."
At Kim Yekwon's words, Yoon Taehee shook his head lightly.
"I don't know about that. There's someone else who's the strongest."
"You seem more modest than you look."
"No. This isn't modesty, it's self-awareness."
Yoon Taehee chuckled and muttered as if talking to himself, "Maybe that was true until a month or two ago. But not anymore."
"Hmm?"
"You don't know, but there's someone much stronger than me..." Yoon Taehee, who had been mumbling with his head down, suddenly asked a question.
"Anyway. Why are you drawing my blood?"
He asked, coughing slightly as if something had gone down the wrong way.
"Why, to give you eternity."
What? Yoon Taehee raised his head, startled.
"Wait... What do you mean by that?"
Kim Yekwon chuckled and replied in a kind tone.
"They say a tiger leaves its skin when it dies, and a person leaves their name. But even that name fades with time. However, you're a very lucky person because you'll remain on this earth forever. You should be grateful that you can become a vessel for the teacher."
Teacher? Yoon Taehee frowned slightly at the incomprehensible words.
"Teacher... Who is your teacher?"
"A great person who has realized all the truths of the world."
Kim Yekwon said with a bright smile, spreading his arms wide.
"The teacher's soul never withers. But the physical body inevitably decays. The body is just a shell after all. It wears out like a consumable. That's why the teacher needs a new vessel, and to create a vessel, a strong gwijae was needed as a sacrifice. That's you."
Yoon Taehee instinctively tried to sit up straight but immediately groaned and sank back into the chair. He felt dizzy as the needles seemed to twist under his skin.
"Are you saying that this teacher of yours has achieved immortality?"
"That's right."
Yoon Taehee's eyes widened beneath the cloth.
"How... How did your teacher achieve immortality?"
As Yoon Taehee showed a clear reaction for the first time after consistently maintaining a calm and lethargic response, Kim Yekwon raised one eyebrow.
"Haha, you seem very surprised. Well, it's hard to believe, I'm sure."
Kim Yekwon nodded as if he understood and continued speaking.
"It's possible if you become part of the teacher. Your body will return to dust when you die anyway, right?
But if you become the teacher's vessel, you can live in this world forever with them, never dying. To be precise, you become part of the teacher. That would be a great honor."
The reason Yoon Taehee had allowed himself to be captured by Kim Yekwon so easily was that he thought it would be advantageous in many ways to appear as if he had helplessly fallen into a trap and been victimized by Kim Yekwon. He had originally asked to be treated roughly because he needed to appear as if he had suffered great harm. The picture Yoon Taehee wanted to paint was one of himself as a loyal dog of Naryecheong.This incident would make the main office feel indebted to Yoon Taehee, which would make it easier to avoid suspicion from the main office when stealing the wooden tablets later or when acting as Byeoksadan.
That was Yoon Taehee's intention in staying here.
However, he never imagined he would hear about immortality here. It was a completely unexpected harvest. There might be some connection between Jaegyeom's immortality and the so-called teacher's eternal life.
"..."
He suppressed his agitation for a moment. He racked his brain, trying to stay calm.
"A great person who has realized all the truths of the world..."
First, he needed to extract more information. He decided to provoke Kim Yekwon.
"Well, I don't know who your teacher is... but if they truly realized all the truths of the world, I don't think they'd want to cling to life using such underhanded methods..."
Yoon Taehee, having regained his composure, continued with a slight smile.
"Tell your teacher this: It's more virtuous to step aside for the next generation rather than stubbornly clinging to life. Then again, even someone who has realized all the truths of the world might be ignorant in this aspect."
"Shut your mouth."
Kim Yekwon, who had been listening to everything Yoon Taehee said with a generous expression, suddenly hardened his face and slapped Yoon Tehee's cheek hard. His head whipped to the side.
The effect of the provocation was beyond imagination.
"Don't you dare insult the teacher!"
Kim Yekwon, who had suddenly changed his attitude like someone with a split personality, couldn't contain his anger and repeatedly slapped Yoon Taehee's cheeks. After being hit several times in quick succession, Yoon Taehee slowly raised his head. He sucked on his split lip once, tasting the blood, and then muttered quietly.
"I clearly said not to touch the face..."
Judging by how sensitively he reacted to just one comment about the teacher, almost like an allergic reaction, it seemed that Kim Yekwon was not a normal human being either.
"I don't understand why people don't listen to warnings."
Yoon Taehee muttered with his head bowed.
"Why do they do this? Even though they'll regret it later..."
He didn't know how long they had been drawing his blood, but he was reaching his limit. Although his vision was completely dark, his head was spinning. He could feel the strength draining from his limbs.
Even while conversing, Kim Yekwon had been regularly checking Yoon Taehee's blood bags and replacing them several times. The current blood bag, who knows which number it was, was already more than half full.
804
It was time to assess the situation. By now, the main office should have received news that he was being held here. There was a possibility that they had already sent someone.
He needed to handle this before an exorcist from Naryecheong arrived. Because no one should know what Yoon Taehee's real weapon was: the bracelet on his wrist. From the beginning, he had allowed himself to be captured by Kim Yekwon with the intention of summoning an intelligent ghost.
Even though his spiritual energy was blocked, Yoon Taehee wasn't too worried because of the bracelet.
However, with his wrists bound by leather belts, he couldn't count the beads. He would have to summon someone randomly without the chance to choose.
Ideally, it would be Paehyeon or Daga. Those two could definitely resolve this situation.
He planned to hear more detailed stories about the
'teacher' and immortality after resolving the situation.
Of course, Kim Yekwon wouldn't willingly provide answers even if asked, but in that case, more aggressive methods could be used to make him talk.
Just as Yoon Taehee was about to summon an intelligent ghost, all of a sudden, a call came through on the radio at Kim Yekwon's waist.
- Sir! We have a big, big problem!
At Chief Jung's urgent voice, Kim Yekwon raised the radio.
- On the first floor, on the first floor... Suddenly, some crazy person...
Through the radio came the sound of crashing, along with incomprehensible shouts and screams. "What, what's going on?", "Catch them, catch them!" Whatever was happening, the chaotic atmosphere was palpable.
As Kim Yekwon looked down at the radio with a puzzled expression at the untimely commotion.
- Don't, don't come! What, what are you doing? Stop them!
"Chief Jung, what's going on?"
He explained in a terrified, trembling voice.
- Some lunatic showed up just now... bl- bleeding heavily...
"What? Who exactly came?"
- Well... that is... you see...
At the following words, Yoon Taehee couldn't help but freeze.
- Someone calling themselves 'Bride', demanding we return 'Imae'...
Yoon Taehee froze at the words.