"Are you in your right mind?"
After a moment of silence, Seok Juryeon sighed and spoke. If that was true, it meant you were not in your right mind, and even if it was a joke, making such a joke in this situation also indicated you were not in your right mind.
To this, Yoon Taehee simply chuckled without saying much and changed the subject.
"So, about the notice?"
Yoon Taehee moved closer to the table. The exorcists surrounding the table naturally made way for him. Kang Yibin and Jaegyeom took this opportunity to join the rest of their team members. Only after squeezing into the edge of the table did Jaegyeom realize why the exorcists had been gathered around it.
吾周遊四方
不可以木目
人子不為始
再臨於穢土
辟邪團主白
A large white scroll of hanji (traditional Korean paper) was spread out on the table. The notice was large enough to cover more than half of the table, with Chinese characters written in ink boldly across it. Yoon Taehee leaned in and asked,
"Is this it?"
Suddenly, everyone was looking down at the notice. Jaegyeom, positioned diagonally across from Yoon Taehee, wasn't looking at the notice but was stealthily watching the man. It was an action he wasn't consciously aware of doing. Sensing the gaze, Yoon Taehee looked up, and Jaegyeom quickly turned his eyes to the notice.
Along with Seok Juryeon and Yoon Taehee, the high-ranking exorcists stood in good positions to read the poster directly, Jaegyeom had to tilt his head to the side to read the characters from where he was standing. The team members had also been craning their necks to read the characters.
Then, Yoon Taehee straightened up and suddenly began to speak.
He read each line of the Chinese text, adding a quiet interpretation.
"Even after traveling the entire world."
"A single tree cannot be seen."
"Humans cannot be the foundation."
"They shall return to this land again."
"The following is declared by the master of the Byeoksadan."
After vocalizing the interpretation, Yoon Taehee put his hands in his pants pockets. His eyes seemed lost in thought. Most exorcists were familiar with Chinese characters, so those who had looked at the notice earlier had already grasped the content on their own. Yoon Taehee's reading served as a signal, and the seminar room began to buzz more intensely.
Pointing at the notice, Yoon Taehee slowly asked,
"Where was this found?"
Han Jooyoung, assisting Seok Juryeon, answered, "It was found attached to the back gate of the main office about an hour ago.
Exorcists from the Exorcism Department were notified and secured it directly. To ordinary people's eyes, it would appear as just a white piece of paper, but something was done to make the characters visible only to gwijaes, those with spiritual insight."
The initial discoverer was an employee of the Jongmyo shrine management office, who noticed a large piece of white paper attached to the back gate and attempted to remove it. However, for some reason, despite all efforts, the mere sheet of paper wouldn't come off. That's when the exorcists, having heard the news, applied spiritual energy to their hands and detached the paper. It came off easily, as if it was nothing
Listening to Han Jooyoung's explanation, Yoon Taehee leaned on the table, looking down at the notice without blinking, his face expressionless. The atmosphere in the seminar room had grown heavy•
"Byeoksadan's master... The master of the Byeoksadan..."
Seok Juryeon muttered with a cold expression. Yoon Taehee, who had been running his fingers through his hair, sat half-perched on the edge of the table and calmly spoke,
"Firstly... from this notice, we can infer three facts. First, the Byeoksadan indeed exists. Second, there is a leader who directs Byeoksadan. And thirdly... the master has no intention of hiding these facts."
Oh Kiwoong, the chief of the Exorcism Department's 4th team, agreed and immediately responded,
"Yes, that's right. Furthermore, considering the use of Chinese characters and the term 'Inja' to refer to people, it is clear that the leader of Beksadan must be an old spirit."
The content, while metaphorical, was ambiguous yet meaningful.
However, the intention behind attaching the notice to the back gate of the headquarters was as clear as day. Through this notice, the master of the Byeoksadan was announcing the existence of itself and himself to the headquarters.
Oh Kiwoong added his thoughts while stroking his chin.
"It seems they've noticed that the main office has started to take action against them. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of making this just for us to see..."
Yoon Taehee slightly raised the corners of his mouth and said,
"They must have known long before. We called in Master Yeohye to ask directly, essentially handing over our movements and asked. If this were a game of Go, we would be starting the game with white stones, thanks to the Undercover Department's blunder."
Caught off guard by the sharp criticism of the Undercover Department, Oh Kiwoong reflexively glanced around the seminar room, even though he knew only exorcists from the Exorcism Department were present. He checked there weren't any from the Undercover Department just in case.
"So, this is a provocation. Quite bold."
At that moment, Han Joyoung, who had been observing the situation, delivered a precise summary. Finally, Seok Juryeon nodded with darkened eyes.
"They're inviting us to play a game of tag. They're laying out the olaying field."
In essence, the message of the notice was a challenge: "Come and catch me if you can." Thus, Seok Juryeon's intuition was not wrong.
From the moment she first heard about the Byeoksadan, she had sensed a dangerous and ominous bud.
"But... who does 'return to this land' refer to?"
At that moment, Go Junhyung cautiously spoke up.
Even after traversing the entire world, unable to see a single tree, and since humans cannot be the foundation, it says they will return to this land. Declared by the master of the Byeoksadan.
So, who "will return"?
There was no clear subject written in the content as to who would return to this land. As Go Junhyung raised this question, the exorcists began murmuring among themselves, focusing on the intent behind the notice or the Byeoksadan itself.
"Surely, it's talking about the spirit, perhaps the master himself?"
"Right. Since it says humans cannot be the foundation."
"Then, conversely, it's the Byeoksadan. It means spirits will be the foundation."
"A mere spirit now dares to mimic humans."
As the consensus leaned towards the interpretation that the master referred to the spirit a voice came from somewhere.
"Bangsangsi."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence fell over the seminar room as if doused in cold water.
Seok Juryeon's face hardened. Yoon Taehee, who had been sitting on the table listening to the exorcists' murmurs, paused and looked up. Everyone's gaze abruptly shifted. The one who had spoken was Jaegyeom.
"What did you just say?"
The unexpected mention of Bangsangsi caught everyone off guard.
Seok Juryeon directed her gaze towards the boy standing at the edge of the table. Jaegyeom was staring intently at the notice, absorbed as if solving a puzzle. His persistent gaze traced the strokes of the characters. Jaegyeom then muttered as if talking to himself.
"This is 'paja' "
With that, Yoon Taehee slowly stood up from the table. In a moment, a clear flash of insight crossed his eyes.
"..Paja?"
Jaegyeom nodded and pointed to a section of the notice. The spot Jaegyeom's finger indicated was the second line,"不可以木目"
"Usually, when talking about seeing something... the character '目'isn't commonly used. I mean, it is used but... Anyway, if it were me, I wouldn't have used this character; I would've used a different one.
So, I thought it was a bit unnatural, but..."
Jaegyeom looked very absorbed and muttered as if he was possessed by something.
"But here... if '木' was combined with '目' to make the character '相,' it makes sense. Then there's a reason to specifically use '目.'
Following his explanation, the team members standing nearby widened their eyes in surprise, looking at Jaegyeom. The rest of the exorcists did the same. Everyone was looking at Jaegyeom, but he was solely focused on the notice, oblivious to their stares.
"And here. If you look at the last character of each line..."
Jaegyeom's fingertips traced each character in succession with the tip of his finger.
吾周遊四（方） 오주유ㅅ (방)
"Even after traveling the entire world,"
不可以 （木目） 불가이 (목목)
"A single tree cannot be seen,"
人子不為（始）인자불위 (시)
"Humans cannot be the foundation,"
"If you just take one character from each line and read them vertically, it becomes 'Bangsangsi.' And if you were to leave only
'Bangsangsi' and erase the other characters then..."
方木目始 방 상 시
再臨於穢土 재링어예토
Jaegyeom, who had been focusing as if piecing together a puzzle, stated clearly,
''Bangsangsi will return to this land'"
With those words, the seminar room was enveloped in a silence as deep as death.
Jaegyeom stared at the notice, lost in thought for a while.
Wait. Bangsangsi was returning? So, what happens now? What about the seal? Bangsangsi was the owner of the previous era's Naryecheong, and wasn't he long gone? No, wait a minute. Then, what's the connection between this spirit, the master of the Byeoksadan, and Bangsangsi...
"..."
Jaegyeom suddenly looked up. Suddenly, he returned to reality, and there was a clear sense of dismay in his eyes. It was only then he realized everyone was staring at him. It felt as if all thought processes had halted. If a mere apprentice exorcist knew about Bangsangsi, wouldn't that arouse suspicion?
Jaegyeom swore he hadn't intended to step forward like this. His attention had been on Yoon Taehee the whole time, so he had been focusing on the notice to avoid looking directly at him. That's how he ended up noticing the content of the notice.
Visibly flustered, he inadvertently looked at Yoon Taehee. It was the first time their gazes met squarely since their encounter in the seminar room, after spending the entire time avoiding eye contact.
But Yoon Taehee was looking at Jaegyeom with a very strange expression.
He was faintly frowning, which was rare, as he looked at Jaegyeom, but he didn't seem angry. It was an indescribably subtle expression.
His eyes were focused, yet he didn't blink, as if time had stopped while he stared blankly at jaegyeom.
"..."
Jaegyeom swallowed dryly, clueless on how to handle the situation, feeling a cold sweat trickle down his spine. As he looked at Yoon Taehee, his eyes conveyed a plea, 'Say something, anything.'
As if the signal had been received, Yoon Taehee suddenly blurted out.
"That was incredibly sexy just now."
It was the first thing he had said to Jaegyeom that day.