Hexed Intention

Hyungnyun Jubeop was the oldest and most worn-out book Yoonmin owned. If you translated the Chinese characters, it read "Cursed Wheel Method:" a terrifying title. He secretly took it from his late grandfather’s storage.

Even if you searched for the book’s title online, there were no explanations. The author, Ubutsuna Doman, had a brief and eerie mention in an online encyclopedia. It says Ubutsuna Doman was an onmyoji (an ancient magic practitioner) who specialized in curses, having killed over 400 people. After a powerful lord’s daughter rejected his affections, he performed a curse, and when he was caught, he was executed. However, even after his death, the lord’s daughter vomited maggots and corpse beetles for over three months before starving to death.

In short, a seriously creepy stalker. But that made his curses look even more legit. A creepy, psycho stalker onmyoji sounded like exactly the person you’d go to for a good curse.

More than that, Hyungnyun Jubeop itself looked incredibly authentic. It wasn’t written on paper but on dried animal skin, with the text in a blood-like dark red. If any curse from this book were cast, it would surely work. Even horror movies didn’t have books like this. Jiyoo was afraid to even look at it. The only problem was that the entire book was written in Chinese characters, mixed with classical Japanese and Japanese kanji.

Over the past few days, Yoonmin had been deeply engrossed in deciphering this book. And recently, he successfully decoded one of the 122 curses.

“So, is this it?” Jiyoo asked hesitantly.

“Yeah. Cool, right?” Yoonmin grinned at her.

“Ew… It uses maggots as an ingredient?”

Jiyoo looked vaguely nauseated. Annoyed, Yoonmin thought, Shouldn’t she be saying something else first? Like how impressive it is that I deciphered all those crazy Chinese characters?

But he kept his mouth shut and watched Jiyoo’s face as her eyes darted across the notes he’d made. She let out a groan.

The summarized instructions were:

1. Write the target’s name and birthdate on a piece of paper.

2. Soak the paper in animal blood and place it inside pig intestines.

3. Twist the pig intestines into a specific shape, then bury them in soil filled with maggots or corpse beetles.

4. Chant the incantation, “This one is already dead, so their blood must seep into the Earth. This one is already dead, so their flesh must become food for the worms. This one is already dead, so their soul must depart for the afterlife.”

These were the key steps. The rest were precautions to take during the ritual: like not saying anything other than the incantation while doing it.

“Yoonmin… This is seriously scary…”

“Right?” he said enthusiastically. “You can feel the real vibe with this one.”

“So, you’re going to cast this curse on Haein, right?”

“Huh?” He blinked at her, startled.

“That’s what you’re planning, isn’t it?” she persisted.

He hadn’t actually thought that far ahead. Wait, why hadn’t he thought about it? He had started reading these books with the intention of cursing Haein in the first place, of course Jiyoo would assume he wanted to try the new curse on her.

Truthfully, Yoonmin had been decoding Hyungnyun Jubeop to avoid reality. He didn’t want to think about Haein.

“Please… Please, can’t we go back to the way things were? Saying hi in the morning, talking together, making jokes together, walking home together…”

The memory of Haein holding onto him, crying into his shirt, kept replaying in his mind. Her tearful face, trembling voice, and raw emotion—All of it hurt his heart. But why did it hurt, after all the things Haein had done to him? She ignored him for two years! When Yoonmin cried and begged, she ignored him completely. Didn’t she deserve a taste of her own medicine?

Even after the day she trapped him in the classroom, Haein occasionally sent him messages.

Haein Ju: I’m sorry, Yoonmin. I know I’m being shameless.

Haein Ju: I know I'm asking a lot, but… can’t you give me just one more chance?

Haein Ju: You can hit me until you're not angry with me anymore.

Yoonmin hadn’t replied to any of those messages, but they drove him crazy. He should have resented Haein, hated her, cursed her—yet he couldn’t muster the energy to do so. Not anymore. He didn’t even have the motivation to carry out a dark magic ritual. All he did was continue to work his way through Hyungnyun Jubeop.

“Yoonmin. Are you not going to curse Haein anymore?” Jiyoo asked. She didn’t sound panicked, disgusted, or even nervous anymore. Her voice was strangely calm, almost cold.

Yoonmin didn’t answer. He couldn’t answer. He didn’t know why this mouth refused to obey him.

“Do you not hate Haein anymore?” Jiyoo asked evenly.

“I do.” He sounded unconvincing, even to himself.

“But?”

“But… Jiyoo, don’t you think this curse is kind of messy? Where am I supposed to get pig intestines?” A half truth.

Jiyoo fiddled with her phone for a moment and said, “They sell them online. Cleaned pork intestines, as a whole.”

Seriously, what a convenient world. You can even get ingredients for a curse with a single click. Ubutsuna Doman, are you seeing this? I bet it was a bit tougher back in your day.

Yoonmin tried again. “They’ll smell like pigs. Just thinking about it is nasty.”

“Really? It seems pretty easy,” Jiyoo argued. “You’re not going to cook with them, so you can just hold your breath for a minute.”

Jiyoo was being abnormally enthusiastic about this. She had once brought him a fried chicken instead of using a proper animal corpse, and then complained about using the pig head because it was gross. Why was she so eager now?

“It’s not just that. Maggots and corpse beetles? Ugh, gives me chills.”

“There’s an unmarked grave on the hill behind us,” Jiyoo said. “Can’t you just bury it there? Maggots and corpse beetles will gather on their own. It’s pig intestines, after all.”

Yoonmin searched for another valid argument but failed to find one.

“Let’s be honest, Yoonmin. Something happened between you and Haein, didn’t it? That’s why you don’t want to curse her anymore.”

“Something…” he trailed off.

Yes, there was something.

Jiyoo was right. Normally, he would’ve just gone ahead with the curse, regardless of how difficult or disgusting. Jiyoo would have been the one trying to stop him, not the other way around.

But right now, Yoonmin didn’t want to. Hyungnyun Jubeop looked too convincing and Ubutsuna Doman too insane. The idea of vomiting maggots and corpse beetles for three months and starving to death—it was too horrific. Cursing Haein with that? It felt too… extreme.

Sure, Haein had betrayed him and yes, Yoonmin was deeply hurt. He had wished she would die. But when he imagined her pretty face crawling with maggots and corpse beetles… when he pictured her thin arms becoming even frailer, her small face sinking into a skeletal mask…

“Something… did happen. Actually….”

“What?”

“Actually… I guess I just kind of changed my mind.”

“How?” Jiyoo’s voice was downright icy.

“Like you said, I think I’m too obsessed with her. Looking back, it feels like that’s only hurting me more. So maybe… it’s better to just cut my losses and move on.”

Jiyoo stared at him silently.

“You told me that before. And then you mentioned dropping out together, right? Let’s just do it. We can prepare for the GED together and—”

Suddenly, Jiyoo’s face twisted. She seized a pillow from the bed and swung it at Yoonmin.

It didn’t hurt, but the feathery assault was scrambling his train of thought.

“Hey, seriously, Jiyoo! What are you doing? Wait, hold on, hold on—”

“No! I don’t want to!” she screeched. “I’m not dropping out!”

“What? Why? You’re the one who suggested it! At least tell me why you’re trying to beat me to death with a pillow!”

“Die, Yoonmin Seo! Just die!”

What the hell is going on? You were the one who wanted to drop out together, weren’t you? I’m just going along with what you wanted!

He didn’t get the chance to voice his thoughts. Jiyoo’s pillow slammed into him again and again.

“If you drop out, you’ll never hear the end of it! I’ll seriously kill you!”

He was utterly perplexed by Jiyoo’s sudden and violent change of heart.

Yoonmin spent about another 30 minutes getting beaten by Jiyoo before she kicked him out of her house.

***

The following day was a Saturday and Yoonmin was trying with all his might to yank Jiyoo out of the piss poor mood she was in.

“Jiyoo, look over there, your favorite—Dippin' Dots.”

Silence.

“Let’s grab some together,” he went on, deciding that plowing ahead was the best course of action. “How about it? You like strawberry, right? Strawberry and… Let’s see…”

“Hey, Yoonmin.”

“Yeah?”

“You think I’m an idiot, don’t you?”

“Uh… no?”

“You’re thinking if you stuff me with food, I’ll cheer up.”

“N—no. This is just… me showing that I’m sorry…”

“Is it?” she sniped. “Do you even know what you’re sorry for?”

“W—well… you know… that… um….”

"You don’t know, do you?” She gave a humorless laugh. “You don’t know. You really don’t know."

Why the hell is this so hard? She’s being so unreasonable! Am I supposed to telepathically understand why she’s upset? She needs to tell me the reason so I can apologize if I have to!

This was probably the most upsetting thing he’d endured this year. Being on his only friend’s shit list for reasons unknown, and being unable to escape it.

What exactly did I do? All I said was that I was tired of obsessing over Haein and that we should drop out and study for the GED together. It was Jiyoo who told me to stop obsessing over Haein and suggested dropping out for the GED. Now I’m saying I’ll do what she wanted, so why is she upset? This is driving me crazy. Is this what people mean when they say women are hard to understand? What complicated thoughts are going through this little girl’s head while she’s munching on those chocolate bars? Damn it, why can’t she just tell me!

As usual, Yoonmin kept these thoughts to himself. He couldn’t afford to lose his temper here, not when Jiyoo was already pissed off. She was his most important friend. She understood and supported him more than his family, more than anyone in the world. Come to think of it, Jiyoo was able to understand him, so it was Yoonmin’s fault if he couldn’t understand her.

“Well… I guess… I must have done something wrong since you’re angry, right? You’re not the type to get angry for no reason.”

“Of course not,” she said loftily.

“I’m too dumb to figure it out… Can you just tell me?”

“No!” she snapped. “The fact that you don’t know is part of the reason I’m mad!”

He groaned.

This is driving me nuts. I’m going to lose my mind. How do popular kids handle situations like this? Am I struggling because I’m poorly socialized?

Despite his distress, Yoonmin made sure to closely observe her expression. He noticed her gaze was now fixed on one spot. He followed her line of sight to a sign.

It read: A Manga Cafe with Cats! Read manga with 15 adorable cats!

It dawned on him that Jiyoo absolutely loved cats. This might be his way out.

Seizing the moment, Yoonmin said, “Hey, want to go in there? I’ll buy you drinks and treats for the cats!”

Jiyoo said nothing, but her eyes gave her away. She obviously wanted to go to the cat manga cafe.

Yoonmin grabbed her wrist and led her inside. As he predicted, Jiyoo didn’t resist and followed him into the cafe.

I’m counting on you, furballs. Please help me get back on Jiyoo’s good side!

Muttering to himself, Yoonmin paid for the entrance tickets. They found seats, picked out some manga, and started looking for cats. But soon, Yoonmin stood up. No cats were coming near Jiyoo. These hairy fleabags, tainted by capitalism, weren’t even interested unless they were bribed.

“I’ll go buy some treats. Wait here.”

Yoonmin headed toward the counter, leaving his phone on the table.

He heard his phone buzz. Jiyoo stared intently at the notification on the screen.

***

Yoonmin Seo was an idiot. He was smart, but an idiot. He played it cool and aloof all the time, but inside, he was ridiculously soft. That was why he acted like this.

Haein Ju: Yoonmin… I’m really sorry, but could we meet and talk just once? I really, sincerely want to apologize to you. Please… I’m begging you…

Jiyoo glared at Yoonmin’s phone, fury rising up within her and spilling out into her veins.

He wants to drop out over someone as pathetic as this?

Unable to hold back her rage, Jiyoo grabbed Yoonmin’s phone. She’d known the lock pattern for ages.

Jiyoo opened his messaging app and typed a message out to Haein Ju.

Yoonmin Seo: Hey, I’m Yoonmin’s friend. You’re seriously shameless. You know that, right?

Yoonmin Seo: Did you put your conscience through a meat grinder and fry it up?