The First Night of the Talisman

It felt as though he had stepped into thick fog.

His vision blurred, and his ears rang dully.

He opened his mouth to scream, but it felt as if water was flooding in, choking his throat so completely that not a sound came out.

The bed, Jeongyun, everything in the room—none of it was visible anymore.

Soon, even his sense of whether he was sitting or standing twisted so badly that he couldn’t be sure of it.

Fear came rushing in.

It felt like wandering alone through space, or sinking deep into the ocean.

Help me.

As he mouthed the words in a silent scream, a piercing, ear-splitting noise suddenly tore through him.

“What the hell are you doing!”

“Hhk—!”

At the same time, the numbness that had enveloped his senses vanished.

The spinning world snapped back into place, and what he saw, heard, and touched began to feel vivid again.

Panting roughly as he lifted his gaze, Seha saw Jeongyun sitting on the bed, staring down at him with an expression full of rage.

“Ah, th-that is….”

As he reflexively stammered, his memories slowly returned.

Jeongyun had been suffering from sleep paralysis, and Seha had entered the room to wake him.

Seha opened his mouth again to explain the situation.

But before he could, Jeongyun spoke in a low, sunken voice.

“Get out.”

“…What?”

“I said get out!

Who said you could just walk into my room?

If you’re not a scammer, are you a thief now?”

“No, that’s not—!

Ah!”

Startled by the unexpected accusation, Seha finally realized he was sprawled on the floor.

He’d been sitting on the edge of Jeongyun’s bed until moments ago.

He couldn’t tell whether he’d stumbled and fallen on his own, or whether Jeongyun had thrown him down.

All he knew was that his wrist and hip throbbed painfully where he’d hit the floor, proof of a hard impact.

Still seated, Seha clutched his aching wrist and let out a small groan.

Jeongyun paid him no mind and raised his voice again.

“What are you still doing here?

Want me to drag you out myself?”

“I’m leaving.

I’ll go.”

Instead of explaining in detail why he’d entered the room, Seha simply forced himself to stand.

No matter what he said now—that he’d woken Jeongyun from sleep paralysis—there was no way he’d get a thank-you.

He’d only be told to mind his own business.

On top of that, his head was spinning from the strange experience just moments ago, and he didn’t want to face Jeongyun any longer.

As he endured the pain and stood up, Seha could feel Jeongyun’s cold gaze boring into him.

He hadn’t done it to be thanked, but he hadn’t expected to be thrown aside like this either.

Even so, he tried not to dwell on how pitiful it was to be kicked out without a single word in his defense.

Silently, Seha turned and left the room.

Once outside, closing the door behind him, a sharp pain shot through his tailbone.

It seemed he’d hit it badly when he fell.

Considering Jeongyun had already grabbed him by the collar and thrown him around earlier that day, it wouldn’t even be surprising if he really had slammed him into the floor.

“Let’s not meddle….”

He’d only earned himself insults he never needed to hear tonight.

Turning over the regret too late to matter, Seha trudged back to his room.

For someone poor and powerless, meddling was the most useless thing of all.

He’d known that perfectly well, yet he’d still stuck his nose where it didn’t belong.

That illustrious third-generation heir of the Yooyoung Group would surely manage just fine on his own.

Worrying about a chaebol family was even more pointless than worrying about a celebrity.

What Seha really needed to worry about was himself—

The one stuck here as a living talisman, forced to live with that man from now on.

Forgetting about the water, Seha collapsed onto the bed and pressed down on his wrist, letting out a sigh.

More than Jeongyun’s cruelty, what troubled him now was the inexplicable sensation he’d felt the moment he grabbed him.

What on earth had that been.

Thinking of the shadow he’d already seen twice since entering this house made his mood sink even further.

Could it be…

No, surely not.

Could I really be someone who can ward off Cha Jeongyun’s misfortune?

The thought made Seha hastily shake his head.

It was nonsense.

In this day and age, things like talismans and warding off bad luck were all superstition.

Even if his maternal grandmother had been a shaman, Seha didn’t believe in any of that.

And even if such powers truly existed, if he actually had them, wouldn’t it have shown long ago?

The fact that he’d never experienced anything remotely supernatural in all his life meant one thing.

He had absolutely no such ability.

Pulling the blanket up to his chin and gripping it tightly with both hands, Seha closed his eyes and thought of his sibling.

His young, kind sibling, studying hard alone in a cramped room, eating meals by themselves after meeting such an inadequate older brother.

“Yeah.

The scariest thing is money.

Money.”

Murmuring as if to brush away the lingering unease, Seha forced a casual tone.

He wasn’t wrong.

Monthly rent, interest on debts—those were far more terrifying than some vague curse that might not even exist.

More than anything, Seha’s greatest fear was failing at this job and forcing his sibling to give up on the future they dreamed of.

Right.

Even if I really am some kind of talisman, so what.

It’s a billion won.

I’ll do it.

I have to.

Firming up his briefly weakened resolve, Seha finally drifted into sleep.

“…….”

Jeongyun continued to stare down at his arm with a dazed expression.

A lingering, burning sensation still spread across it.

As usual, he’d been trapped in sleep paralysis accompanied by a vicious nightmare.

Then suddenly, some force had yanked him violently out of the deep darkness.

It felt like being pulled out of water in a single breath.

He’d snapped his eyes open, gasping, unable to understand what was happening.

That was when he saw a stranger in his line of sight.

Jin Seha—the man brought in as his so-called talisman.

In that moment, Jeongyun realized Seha had been holding his arm.

From the place where they touched, he could almost feel the same force that had dragged him back moments ago.

Seha himself had looked even stranger.

His eyes were empty, staring blankly into space.

His body trembled as he let out low groans.

He looked terrified, or perhaps in pain.

Everything about that moment felt unreal.

Jeongyun lay there for a long time, simply staring at him.

It wasn’t until later that his senses fully returned.

Only then did Jeongyun realize this was his room, and that the scammer had entered without permission and was touching him.

“What the hell are you doing!”

Shouting that, Jeongyun tore Seha’s hand away and hurled him toward the floor.

Seha rolled helplessly across the ground, finally drawing in a breath.

It was only then that his unfocused eyes regained clarity.

He looked even more confused than Jeongyun about what had just happened.

Even after chasing Seha out, Jeongyun couldn’t fall back asleep.

It wasn’t because of the nightmares or sleep paralysis, things that had long since become routine.

The unfamiliar sensation still lingered in the arm he’d grabbed.

And it didn’t stop there.

As if a thin barrier had spread over his entire body, an unknown energy radiated from where Jin Seha had touched him and seeped through him.

“What kind of trick….”

Jeongyun clenched his teeth.

He couldn’t shake the suspicion that Seha had crept in like a rat under cover of night with some ulterior motive.

For all he knew, the man might have used drugs to manipulate him.

Given how shameless and unflinching Seha had been, he seemed capable of something even worse.

With his other hand, Jeongyun slowly rubbed the arm Seha had touched.

Aside from the warmth of skin, there was no strange sensation to be felt.

He couldn’t let his guard down.

Anyone brazen enough to enter this house and insist on staying for months wasn’t going to be easy to deal with.

It was best to drive him out as soon as possible.

Thinking about how to harass him until he couldn’t endure it anymore, Jeongyun lay back down on the bed.

After one night of sleep paralysis, it was normal to be dragged into nightmares over and over again.

By experience, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.

Yet contrary to his expectations, not long after lying down, Jeongyun fell asleep again.

And until morning came, he didn’t suffer sleep paralysis even once.

It was the first day after bringing in a talisman.

“You’re awake?”

When Jeongyun came out into the living room that morning, he frowned at the bright voice greeting him.

The sight of the scammer standing there, bowing politely like some kind of employee, was downright unpleasant.

Making no effort to hide his irritation, Jeongyun scanned Jin Seha from head to toe, then turned away and spoke to Secretary Shin, who had arrived early and was waiting.

“Do I really have to see that cult bastard’s face first thing in the morning?”

“Young master.”

“Get rid of him.”

It was the kind of tone one might use to order trash to be taken out.

Donghyeon tried not to look at Seha and let out a silent sigh through his lips.

As his mind raced to figure out what to say to hurt Seha less while calming Jeongyun, Seha spoke up first.

“Ah, then I’ll step out of the way and stay in my room for now.

Call me when you’re heading out later.”

His voice was bright and cheerful, as though he hadn’t just been insulted moments ago.

Jeongyun and Donghyeon both turned to look at him at the same time.