Hexed Intention

Haein Ju lives her life, and Yoonmin Seo lives his. Whatever Haein does is none of Yoonmin’s business. At least, that’s what he thought… So why was he so angry?

It wasn’t as if Yoonmin particularly liked Jian, despite how pitiful she looked right now. In fact, he found her overt friendliness annoying. Whether Jian cried or not didn’t concern Yoonmin. But… after seeing how Haein treated the undeniably selfless girl, he just couldn’t hold back.

“Stop acting like such a piece of shit.”

The words that came out of his mouth were so cold, even Yoonmin was surprised. A couple of students who were lingering in the classroom, preparing to leave, stared at him with mouths open. They had never heard the quiet class loner say anything so harsh.

“Y—Yoonmin…?”

Haein stared up at Yoonmin with eyes like saucers.

“Why…”

Her face had gone pale, and her lips trembled, but Yoonmin felt no sympathy.

“You haven’t changed at all, have you? You’re exactly the same as you were two years ago. You act like you’re everyone’s best friend when you want something from them, but the moment you don’t, you throw them out like garbage. How can you treat the people who care about you like that? Did you even take a second to put yourself in Jian’s shoes?”

Jian had shuffled up to stand beside Yoonmin, unsure of what to do. Yoonmin knew that nothing he said would benefit him. In fact, it would probably backfire. People might start saying things like, “Did you hear what he said to Haein yesterday? That freak is ridiculous…”

Despite that knowledge, just like a volcano can’t be capped with cement, Yoonmin couldn’t stop the words pouring from his mouth.

“I don’t know what changed for you to act like this now, but if you really regret what you did over the past two years, maybe you should stop trampling over everyone else’s feelings. Don’t you have any conscience at all? You wanted to be part of the popular crowd, so you betrayed me. Now you’ve realized it was better before, so you’re betraying Jian? Who will you turn on next?” His vision was scarlet with fury.

“S… Sorry…” Haein whispered. Her white face began to color with shame.

“Other people aren’t just tools for you to get what you want. If people show you kindness and trust, you should at least pretend to appreciate it!”

Yoonmin’s voice rang out through the classroom. Only then did he realize he’d started yelling. Tears spilled down Haein’s cheeks, cooling his anger like rain on a forest fire.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I… I wasn’t thinking…”

Haein’s breaths caught in her throat, hitching with quiet sobs.

“I just… wanted to be with you again…” she said, her voice almost inaudible.

Jian recovered from her shock and rushed to Haein’s aid.

“N—no, Yoonmin. You know Haein isn’t like that. She wouldn’t look at people that way. You know that, don’t you?”

Jian’s frantic attempt to smooth things over made Yoonmin feel even more sorry for her. Jian reminded him too much of his own past self, the one irreparably damaged by Haein.

Yoonmin once thought the same way. He had believed that Haein couldn’t possibly be so heartless. He had to learn the hard way that she was like that, using her pretty face and gentle voice as camouflage.

Yes, this is how Haein Ju is.

“You don’t owe me an apology.” Yoonmin tried his best to wrangle his tone into something more gentle. “Apologize to Jian. And to the others, too.”

As if he’d used up all his words for the day, Yoonmin slipped past Haein and into the hallway.

***

Ahhhhh! Why did I do that?

Yoonmin thrashed around on the bed. He wanted to kick the bed in frustration, but it wasn’t his—it was Jiyoo’s.

Other people aren’t just tools for you to get what you want… Yoonmin Seo, who do you think you are? What will everyone else think?

He had promised himself not to meddle in Haein’s life anymore. They were supposed to just continue along their own paths, separately,

Am I even living my life? I’m just a loser who barely fits in the classroom. What do I know about relationships?

He dreaded going to school tomorrow. What would people say about his behavior? Would this be the beginning of his life as an active bullying victim? So far, he had just been a loner, but now he might be an actual target—glue on his chair, torn textbooks, and more…

No, if that happened, I could just drop out, right? Jiyoo threatened to kill me if I dropped out, but maybe she’d let it slide if it was because of bullying. But… what would Haein think then?

“Hey, Yoonmin.”

Jiyoo, sitting in her computer chair, turned toward Yoonmin.

“You can either stop acting like that or just tell me what happened. If you keep this up, I’m going to be pissed.”

“Is it that obvious?” he groaned.

“It’s really obvious,” she snorted. “You know you’re terrible at hiding your emotions, right?”

That made him pause. “Even on a normal day?”

“Yeah, even on a normal day.”

Yoonmin heaved a sigh and crawled down to the floor.

“It’s nothing major…”

“If you say it’s nothing one more time, I’ll kill you.”

“Well… it’s not nothing. I sort of… got into an argument with some of my classmates.”

“Does it have anything to do with Haein Ju?”

Answering that question felt like a trap.

“Just tell me. Does it or doesn’t it?”

Yoonmin hesitated but finally said, “It does.”

“I knew it.”

Jiyoo responded as if she had expected it. Normally, she’d get annoyed just hearing Haein’s name, but today, she seemed strangely calm.

“Yoonmin, did you know my grandmother received a spirit possession? She’s a shaman. She doesn’t take money for readings, but she has a shrine and reads my fortune for me sometimes.”

“What? For real?” Yoonmin sat bolt upright, excitement racing through his veins. “Why are you only telling me this now? You know I’m into this stuff! Introduce me to her! There’s so much I want to ask!”

But Jiyoo ignored Yoonmin’s enthusiasm and continued talking.

“I showed my grandmother Hyungnyun Jubeop, and she was horrified. She said it’s real. She could see it—rotten human flesh stuck to the book, plastered all over it.”

“What?!” Yoonmin gaped at her. “Really? Is that why you didn’t want to borrow it at first?”

His agonizing over the day’s events forgotten, Yoonmin suddenly jumped to his feet.

“Wow! I knew it! From the way it looks, you can just tell, right?”

“Does that actually make you that happy?”

“Of course! I knew it! That psycho Ubutsuna Doman really used this book to curse people, didn’t he? With this very book!”

Yoonmin pulled Hyungnyun Jubeop from his bag and stroked it lovingly. Jiyoo didn’t flinch at its appearance. In the beginning, she’d recoil at the mere sight of it, but now she was even borrowing it to read.

A book that had actually been used for curses, a legitimate tool for casting spells, was currently in Yoonmin’s hands. How cool was that? Whether or not Jiyoo’s grandmother’s story could be believed didn’t matter. What mattered was that Yoonmin now had reason to believe Hyungnyun Jubeop was a genuine grimoire.

Why did he need to believe that? No particular reason. It was just the dream of an occult fan. After all, doesn’t every guy dream of holding a black magic grimoire in his hands?

“Jiyoo, did you know this book has a spell to turn invisible too? If this is real… Let’s try that!”

“Before we do that…” In contrast to Yoonmin’s overflowing excitement, Jiyoo’s voice remained steady and calm. “Can we go out into the yard for a minute?”

“Huh?” Yoonmin was confused.

“There’s something I want to show you.”

Jiyoo’s abnormally solemn demeanor sparked enough curiosity for Yoonmin to follow her outside. Once they were in the yard, Jiyoo pointed to a dirt mound in one corner and said, “That’s it.”

“That’s what?”

“A curse from the Hyungnyun Jubeop. The one that fills the victim’s body with maggots and causes death.”

Yoonmin couldn’t believe it. The feeling of elation he’d had moments before sank deep into the pit of his stomach,

Is she messing with me right now? You’re supposed to collect dirt from a maggot-infested grave and bury smelly pig intestines in it. Jiyoo did that?

“Come on, there’s no way you actually did that.”

“It’s real. Go check it out.”

Shooting Jiyoo an apprehensive look, Yoonmin walked over to inspect the dirt mound. As he leaned closer, he saw maggots and corpse beetles were swarming around it.

“You really did this?” he said, an odd feeling he couldn’t quite identify rising in his chest.

“Yeah,” she said, her face impassive.

“Did you even chant the spell?”

“Of course.”

A chill like cold water poured over his insides spread through Yoonmin’s body.

“Who… did you curse?”

Jiyoo’s face cracked into a small, unsettling smile.

“Haein Ju.”

Yoonmin could do nothing but stare at her, aghast.

“You didn’t do it, so I did,” she continued, that little smirk still playing across her face. “Even if you forgave her, I really hate that bitch. She deserves to die, don’t you think?”

Yoonmin couldn’t believe his ears. What did he just hear? Jiyoo cursed Haein? Jiyoo, with the Ubutsuna Doman curse? The one that makes someone vomit maggots for three months before starving to death?

Even Yoonmin didn’t believe everything in Hyungnyun Jubeop would work 100%, but the book was creepy enough to be acknowledged by real shamans. Haein was weak. She was sick often. Even if it didn’t work perfectly, surely the curse would hurt her. How severe would the harm be?

No, this can’t happen.

“When… When did you do it?” He had to fight to get the words out.

“Yesterday,” Jiyoo answered casually.

A small wave of relief eased the knot in Yoonmin’s stomach. The curse wasn’t complete yet. It was only finished once the maggots had eaten all the pig intestines with the target’s name inside. Since it was cast just yesterday, there was still time.

“Jiyoo… Do you happen to have a shovel or something?”

“Why?” she asked, eyes narrowing. “Are you planning to dig it up?”

He didn’t know how to answer in a way that wouldn’t send her flying off the handle.

“You think I’m going to lend it to you?” she sneered.

Yoonmin stared at the dirt mound watching the maggots squirm. Deep within, a voice whispered repeatedly to him.

No.

Yoonmin glanced briefly at Jiyoo’s face, then knelt down in front of the mound. He took a deep breath to steel his stomach. Then, he started digging with his hands. Jiyoo just stood there silently, watching him. Why wasn’t she stopping him? Yoonmin didn’t know, but it made him feel even more anxious.

The maggots on his hands were disgusting. The dirt was damp. But… he just couldn’t leave it like this.

He could finally see the intestines. A foul smell filled the air, the combination of the stench of intestines and the damp earth. The intestines were tied in a knot, exactly like the illustration from Hyungnyun Jubeop. Yoonmin began untying the knot. He had to find the paper with Haein’s name inside it.

Just as Yoonmin was about to jam his fingers into the pig intestines, Jiyoo spoke.

“It’s not there.”

He froze. “What?”

“The paper with her name on it, it’s not there.”

Yoonmin blinked up at her.

“I lied. I didn’t curse Haein.”

Jiyoo gazed down at him, something between anger and disgust flickered across her face.

“Yoonmin, look at yourself right now.”

His pants were soaked, his arms were covered in maggots, and rotting intestines dangled from his hands.

“Admit it. You like Haein, don’t you?”