Hexed Intention

Jiyoo crossed her arms and glared at Yoonmin. Her large eyes, set in such a small face, held pupils that shone like pearls. What emotion was burning there? Kneeling in the maggot-infested soil, Yoonmin looked up at Jiyoo.

“Why… Why are you doing this?” he asked, voice shaking.

He couldn’t understand. This wasn’t something he could brush off as a joke. Jiyoo, who was disgusted by bugs, had collected maggot and beetle-infested dirt. She had made Yoonmin dig into that dirt with his bare hands. And then she asked if he liked Haein.

“I wanted to know the truth. You’re always so vague with me.”

“What?”

“You say you hate Haein but stopped trying to curse her. When I sent her those messages, you had a sour look on your face. You zone out on my bed but won’t tell me what happened between you and Haein. Whenever I suggest something, you don’t budge, and suddenly, you’re talking about dropping out because of Haein’s mere existence.”

Yoonmin could feel the cold water soaking deeper into the knees of his pants.

“This time, you can’t deny it, can you? Look at yourself right now. You were so worried about Haein being cursed that you dug through this filthy dirt and even tore through pig intestines. Are you still going to try and tell me you hate Haein?”

Jiyoo’s lips were trembling.

“If you like Haein… What was our relationship? When we first met, you clearly…”

Jiyoo’s face crumpled into a pained expression and tears started streaming down her face.

“I believed you hated Haein. I thought we were on the same page, but have I been alone in this? Was black magic just a way for you to deal with your feelings?”

“No.”

Yoonmin stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes. He reached out to take Jiyoo’s hand, but realized how filthy his own hands were.

“It’s absolutely not that.”

Yoonmin tried to make his expression as sincere as possible. He was always honest with Jiyoo. At least, Yoonmin thought so. Jiyoo wasn’t alone. If Jiyoo was alone, then Yoonmin was alone too. Because Jiyoo was the only person who made Yoonmin feel like he wasn’t alone.

With Jiyoo, Yoonmin had to be completely honest.

“I don’t like Haein. I hate her. You want to know what happened today? I yelled at her.”

“Liar! If you really hate her, why did you try so hard to stop the curse?”

He took a deep breath. “Jiyoo, do you know the concept of zan’e?”

“…Now you’re making excuses again.”

Yoonmin stayed silent, waiting for Jiyoo to calm down enough to listen. Meanwhile, he thought to himself, Am I making excuses? To Jiyoo? No, that can’t be.

“I only learned about this concept recently,” he continued gingerly. ‘I think that’s why you misunderstood. I should’ve told you earlier.”

Her eyes shot daggers at him but she stayed silent.

“Zan’e is a term that uses the characters for ‘remnant’ and ‘dirt,’ meaning filth that lingers. Resentment, curses, hatred… When these emotions accumulate, the filth clings not only to the target of the emotion but to anyone who comes close to it.”

Jiyoo’s expression shifted from anger to confusion, as if she was silently asking, “What on earth is he talking about now?”

Seeing this as his chance, Yoonmin continued. “For example, there’s this urban legend. A man in Japan bought a desk, and after he brought it home, all sorts of bad things started happening. His father collapsed, and his kid got hurt. So he went to a temple to pray, and the monk told him to burn the desk immediately. When the man brought the desk outside to burn it, he noticed it was covered in small, round indents”

He could tell Jiyoo was begrudgingly intrigued.

“What was it?”

“Nail marks,” he answered. “It turned out that the desk was made from wood used in a curse ritual.”

Jiyoo’s expression grew even more perplexed. “Why are you telling me this?”

“That’s exactly what zan’e is. Think about it. The wood wasn’t the target of the curse, right? It was just the medium. But just being near that wood caused bad luck to cling to the man. Just by being close to the curse, it affected him. The same thing could have happened with what you did. That misfortune could have become attached to you.”

Jiyoo’s eyes went round with shock, “W—what?”

“The Ubutsuna Doman curse is real,” he said, trying to press each word into her mind. “But Jiyoo, you buried pig intestines and grave dirt right in your front yard. You turned your front yard into a medium for that terrifying curse. Now, that ‘filth’ is stuck in your yard. The bad luck could have spread to you or your family.”

“H—huh?!”

“That’s why I rushed to break the curse,” he finished, feeling more and more confident in his explanation by the second. “Not because I like Haein, but because I was worried about you!”

Any remaining anger in Jiyoo’s eyes was quelled. “That’s really why you did it?”

Yoonmin nodded, but as he did, he thought to himself, Is that really the reason? Or am I just fooling myself again?

Jiyoo had begun to tremble with fear now.

“W—wait, what do we do now?” Her voice was high with panic. “We’ve done these rituals here more than once! Isn’t the filth already left behind?”

She made a good point. This wasn’t the first curse they’d attempted here. Although, they had used rotisserie chicken instead of corpses, pig heads instead of animal skulls… Did those curses even work properly?

Yoonmin chewed the inside of his cheek. “Just to be safe, let’s perform a cleansing ritual.”

“How?” Jiyoo asked weakly.

“We’ll burn mugwort and salt around the yard. And we’ll take that maggoty dirt back to where it came from. Where did you get it from?”

“The hill out back. You know that unmarked grave? From there,” Jiyoo admitted.

Yoonmin let out a low whistle. “You’ve got some guts, messing with that.”

“I’d better order some mugwort,” Jiyoo muttered, not meeting his eye. She took out her phone and opened up her shopping app. What a convenient world. Curses through the internet and cleansing rituals through it as well.

Yoonmin went inside to wash his soil-stained clothes. He took a shower, and changed into a borrowed set of Jiyoo’s father’s clothes. Seeing him in the baggy outfit, Jiyoo burst out laughing.

As they sat on the bed, talking about the cleansing ritual, Jiyoo suddenly asked, “But you’re serious, right?”

“About what?”

“That you don’t like Haein.”

Yoonmin immediately responded, “Of course.” He didn’t need to think twice about his answer.

Yes, it has to be that way.

***

As soon as Yoonmin arrived in his classroom the following morning, trouble arose.

“Hey, Yoonmin Seo. Let’s talk in the hallway for a second.”

It was Minsu Kwon. The Minsu Kwon who got suspended in middle school for swearing at a teacher. The Minsu Kwon who supposedly attacked five people with a wooden sword and sent them to the hospital. The Minsu Kwon everyone was too scared to even talk to.

Damn.

It was obvious. This had to be because of what happened yesterday. He was being called out because of what happened with Haein.

“Who do you think you are, acting like that? Freaks like you should stay out of sight, in the corner. And you dared to not only speak to Haein, but to yell at her?” That was probably what he’d say.

Yoonmin didn’t want to go. But if he didn’t, he’d probably just get beaten up in front of everyone. It was better to get hit where no one could see.

“F—fine,” Yoonmin said, trying to push down the terror welling up inside him.

The other students glanced at Yoonmin and Minsu. They were probably all expecting Yoonmin to come back bloody.

Feeling like a calf being led to the slaughterhouse, Yoonmin followed Minsu. His shoulders were annoyingly broad. Seeing how tall and muscular he was, Yoonmin thought that the rumors about him taking down five people at once might not be a lie. His hardened expression, upward-tilted eyes, and tightly shut, crooked lips… That was the face of someone rebelling against the world.

Minsu led Yoonmin to the west stairs, an empty place Yoonmin was now becoming unfortunately familiar with. He could still clearly remember Jian’s palm as it struck his cheek.

Damn, what are the teachers doing? Not watching the west stairwell, that’s for sure! Why do only teachers get to use the elevator?

Minsu interrupted his mental tirade. “Hey, you’re something else, huh?”

Just as expected, Minsu’s tone was accusatory.

“S—sorry.”

Yoonmin felt it was the best course of action to just apologize before getting hit. It might soften the blow. Minsu tilted his head.

“Huh? Sorry for what?”

“For acting out,” Yoonmin muttered. Was this some kind of power play?

“What? When did you act out?” Minsu seemed genuinely baffled.

“Yesterday…” Yoonmin said slowly. “Isn’t that what you wanted to talk about?”

Minsu and Yoonmin stared at each other in confusion for a few moments.

What’s up with this guy?

Yoonmin broke the silence first.

“Um… If it’s not about yesterday, why did you call me out here?”

“Oh, right,” Minsu looked at his shoes. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Yoonmin stared. “Ask me what?”

“So, there’s this girl I like,” Minsu started, his words flooding out like water through a broken dam. “She’s my neighbor, and she just started her first year of college. So she’s three years older than me, right? She’s quiet and graceful and… What should I do?”

What? What do you mean, what should you do? What the hell is this?

“I’ve told her three times that I like her, but she seems to think I’m joking. I’m dying here, man. Why does she take it as a joke? I had to muster up a lot of courage just to say I like her, and she totally blew me off!”

“Uh… Um… Wait, hold on.”

Yoonmin cleared his throat, his brain scrambling to make sense of what was happening. The biggest delinquent in school had brought him to the west stairwell… to ask for advice… on handling his feelings for the girl next door. What kind of convoluted thought process had led Minsu to decide that Yoonmin was the right person to ask? He was utterly perplexed. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t even begin to figure out how Minsu could have come to this conclusion.

Finally, Yoonmin asked, “Why are you asking… me? I’m a total nerd who’s never dated.”

“What? Nah, you’re like a dating pro.”

This conversation was making less and less sense. “What are you talking about?”

“The guys were saying you’re in a love triangle with Jian Kim and Haein Ju. That they fought over you.”

Yoonmin’s jaw dropped in disbelief. He probably looked like a moron with his mouth wide open but he had no control over his face anymore. What the hell? How did me yelling at Haein turn into gossip about a love triangle?!

“They said Jian likes you, but her best friend Haein also likes you, and she couldn’t hide her feelings anymore, but when she tried to ask you out, Haein got mad and cut her off,” Minsu said in a single breath. “If you can make two girls fall for you like that, you’ve got to be a dating expert, right?”

“That’s… probably just a rumor,” Yoonmin said unsteadily.

It was a rumor, but it was oddly specific.

Who the hell made this stuff up? Might as well write a damn YA novel rather than spreading gossip.

“Come on, don’t deny it. I even saw Haein crying and hugging you.”

Yoonmin’s spine snapped straight. “You saw that?”

“Yeah, when I was passing by. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone. I don’t have any friends anyway.” Minsu shrugged.

Yoonmin felt like he was losing it. What would Jian and Haein think when they heard this rumor? They’d probably think their reputations were ruined. And Haein just wanted to be friends with Yoonmin, not his girlfriend.

“That was for a different reason… Minsu, think about it,” he said desperately. “I’m not good-looking like you, and I don’t really get along with other people. Would any girls really be attracted to me, let alone the most popular girls in our year? Isn’t it obvious that it’s just a dumb rumor?”

“They say you’ve been reading psychology books since you were a kid, so you can, like, read people’s minds. Making someone fall for you must be a piece of cake, right?”

Damn, who’s the idiot spreading this shit around? They’re having way too much fun embellishing my life.

“Anyway, Yoonmin, stop bullshitting and just answer me. What should I do about that girl?”

Yoonmin hesitated. “Well, I think… it seems like she’s rejected you.”

“What?!”

“I don’t know the details,” he said carefully, “but if you told her that you like her three times, there’s no way she still thinks you’re joking. She’s probably aware of your feelings but doesn’t feel the same way about you, so she brushed it off as a joke.”

Minsu grabbed Yoonmin’s shoulders and shouted, “Why?! Why would she reject me?!”

Yoonmin recoiled under his classmate’s powerful grip. Oh man… This is terrifying.

“Well… That I don’t know,” he said, voice cracking a bit.

“So I don’t have a chance?” Minsu bellowed. “Should I just give up? Damn it, she’s the only one for me! I want to marry Yumi! What do I do, huh?”

Sensing the emotional turmoil within the sentient boulder before him, Yoonmin straightened up a bit.

“First, you need to assess the situation,” he said. “You need to understand exactly how she feels before you can make any decisions. With the little information I have now, there’s nothing I can really say.”

“How do I figure out her feelings?”

I don’t know, damn it.

But he couldn’t say that, not with Minsu’s ham hands still clutching his shoulders.

“Try having an honest conversation,” Yoonmin suggested. “Tell her how you feel one more time, and ask her how she feels about you. Tell her that you’re serious about her.”

Minsu seemed to consider this. “Would it help if I bought flowers?”

“No, no.” Yoonmin shook his head. “That might make you seem too emotional. She could feel pressured and run away. It’s better to talk in a more casual situation.”

Minsu nodded slowly. “Yeah, that makes sense… You really are a dating pro!”

He released Yoonmin, looking highly impressed, and handed him his phone.

“Put your number in,” Minsu said. “I’m gonna talk to her today, and I’ll let you know what happens. You can give me advice on what to do next.”

Yoonmin took the phone with shaking hands. “Isn’t there someone better for you to ask?”

“What are you talking about?” Minsu said, bewildered. “Your advice was spot on! Thanks for the help. I’ll buy you something at the snack shop later!”

Yoonmin punched in his number and handed the phone back. “No need, really…”

Without waiting to hear the rest of Yoonmin’s response, Minsu turned on his heel and headed back into the classroom.

Yoonmin felt frozen in place. What just happened?

Overwhelmed by everything he had just experienced in the last five minutes, Yoonmin wandered back toward the classroom in Minsu’s wake.

Then, as if he hadn’t dealt with enough today, another alarming scene unfolded before him.

Just ahead, a crying Haein was being held by Jian and Soyul.

When Soyul saw Yoonmin, she jammed a finger in his direction and yelled.

“There he is!”