Shaman Group Muryeong

“Don’t talk carelessly, not even knowing what ‘learning’ means. And I’m not talking about that right now. Don’t change the subject.”

As he brought the conversation back to square one, Sana bit his lower lip hard. It was so tight, his lips turned white.

“Sit down.”

He gestured to the seat in front and said curtly. Sana hesitated for a moment, then obediently returned to his seat.

“Whatever you tell me, I’ll keep it a secret. I won’t tell anyone. I’m just trying to decide if I can trust you.”

He had asked him to investigate Sana, but there was no result. Such cases were rare. The information that the person he had called the day before yesterday couldn’t find was extremely rare.

There were two reasons for this: either the basic information Sana gave him was incorrect, or Sana himself was an individual shrouded in top secrecy. He didn’t think it was the latter. Unless someone was a political or economic big shot, they weren’t kept in top secrecy. There was no way a guy barely twenty years old could be such a big shot.

“Your name on the ID isn’t Sana, is it?”

The name Sana itself was unique. If that name were correct, something should have turned up.

“My name is Sana, yes.”

At the peculiar answer, Doha furrowed his brow.

“Your name is? Meaning it’s not what’s on your ID.”

“…Kim Sanha. But I wasn’t lying. I’m not used to this name either… I just told you my real name.”

Sana desperately tried to explain, perhaps thinking he was being accused of being a liar. The name itself didn’t matter. That wasn’t the part Doha wanted to hear desperate excuses for.

“Your age?”

“I’m really twenty.”

That much seemed true. His eyes weren’t lying. Rather, there was even a hint of resentment in his gaze at times, as if Doha’s disbelief was unjust.

“Who gave you the card?”

‘Who is your owner?’ He almost let a sarcastic remark slip out. Why was the fact that someone might be providing Sana with financial assistance so unpleasant? Was it because he thought he was someone with nothing, and had allowed him to stay, but now realized that might not be true? It wasn’t such a simple emotion. It was an unpleasantness that felt subtly irritating.

“That’s enough, forget it…”

“The Leader!”

He hesitated, not answering immediately, so Doha was about to stand up, saying to forget it, when Sana answered urgently.

“Leader? What leader?”

Doha sat back down and asked.

“The Leader… of Muryeong.”

Sana’s voice trailed off. So Doha couldn’t be sure if he had heard correctly.

“Muryeong?”

Seeing him use the term ‘leader,’ was it some kind of organization?

“Muryeong was… a place where people like me lived together. It doesn’t exist anymore, though.”

Sana’s face clouded over as he spoke the last words. He looked like he was about to cry. So Doha didn’t press him further and took a moment to organize his own thoughts.

‘What did he mean by ‘people like Sana’?’ Sana had said he saw the future in dreams. So Doha thought he was a shaman. Does that mean Muryeong was like a group of shamans? A shaman group in this day and age… It was so surreal that it was absurd.

“Why doesn’t it exist now?”

If Sana had said he had no family or relatives because Muryeong no longer existed, then his words weren’t a lie.

“I’m not exactly sure, but the Leader said we had no more work to do. To live freely, blending in with ordinary people… He gave everyone in Muryeong bankbooks and IDs and had them scatter.”

It was full of incomprehensible things. The phrase ‘live freely’ also bothered him. Did it mean he wasn’t free before? What kind of place was it? Was it some kind of cult?

The questions were endless, but it seemed there were no more answers to be had even if he pressed Sana.

“So you bought groceries with the money in that bankbook.”

The card Sana mentioned probably wasn’t a credit card. If so, it would be a debit card using money in a bank account.

“How much was in there?”

He didn’t ask because he was greedy for Sana’s money. He asked to tell him that he needed to be frugal because he didn’t know how much was in there, and since he currently had no economic means, he didn’t know what would happen in the future.

“I don’t really know.”

However, the answer that came back made Doha sigh.

“You don’t even know how much is in there and you’re just spending it?”

His head felt throbbing, so he raised a hand and pressed his thumbs and middle fingers against the sides of his forehead. Not just sexually naive, but economically clueless as well, it seemed.

“You, don’t ever take out that card again.”

“But I need it to buy things…”

“That’s enough, don’t use it, at least while you’re here. I’ll give you money for groceries.”

He felt like his head would go strange if he sat across from Sana and talked any longer, so he roughly came to a conclusion and stood up. It was time to leave soon. Park Jaemin had told him to come back wearing a proper, expensive suit, so he intended to go to a department store first, then to the office.

“We’ll talk about the rest when I get back. I still have more questions.”

He put his arms into his jacket and put on his shoes. Sana, who had followed him to the front door, had an expression as if he had a lot to say, but he kept his mouth shut at the mention of him leaving.

“Finish your meal.”

Doha’s gaze went to the table, where the food remained untouched. He was concerned that Sana hadn’t eaten properly because of him. He was already so thin, and if he collapsed from malnutrition while at his house, his dreams would probably be disturbing.

“Answer.”

When Doha demanded an answer, Sana reluctantly nodded. When Doha stroked his head, signifying ‘good job,’ Sana looked up at him with wide, round eyes.

“Why?”

“No. Just…”

Sana raised a hand and fiddled with the spot Doha had stroked. He chuckled, finding it cute how the guy reacted to such a minor action.

“I’ll come back as early as I leave, so I might be able to eat dinner with you.”

He paused there. ‘Dinner plans, huh.’ He thought he was doing something quite funny himself. But Sana’s face, which had been glum just moments ago, instantly brightened.

‘Truly a funny guy.’ ‘Would someone be so happy just because a person who says ‘I suspect you,’ and ‘I can kick you out anytime,’ suggests having dinner together?’

He shook his head, unable to understand, yet an indescribable, soft warmth spread through his heart at Sana’s smile.

As soon as he got into the elevator, Doha took out his phone and typed a text message.

– Kim Sanha, 20 years old. Please re-investigate. While you’re at it, also look into a shaman group called ‘Muryeong.’

Less than a minute after sending the message, his phone rang. With such an immediate response, he realized it was indeed morning. It had been quite a while since his days and nights were reversed, so the normal routine felt unfamiliar.

[What, his name wasn’t Sana but Sanha? No wonder nothing came up no matter how much I searched. Can’t you even hear the other person’s name properly?]

The other person complained. He nagged Doha, asking if he knew how much trouble he had caused by giving the wrong information, and told him to clean his ears properly.

“I didn’t mishear. His usual name and his ID name were different.”

[Who the hell is he? Muryeong? Don’t tell me he was from there? A shaman? You really get all sorts.]

He seemed to be making all sorts of guesses just from the message he had sent. Since his guesses weren’t far off, he just listened without saying much.

[But is he, by any chance, some kind of spy placed by Park Jaemin?]

Doha hesitated for a moment before answering the other person’s question. Doha himself had considered that possibility, which was why he had asked him to investigate Sana.

“No, probably not.”

Based on observing him for a few days, he decided it wasn’t the case. His eyes were too clear for such a role. When asked difficult questions, he would remain silent if he couldn’t answer, but he didn’t lie. He didn’t think such a Sana could deceive someone and act as a spy by his side.

[Are you sure you’re not being deceived? Is he really your type? You told Park Jaemin you were gay, didn’t you? So did they put a guy there because of that?]

The other person, who hadn’t experienced Sana directly, still didn’t let go of his suspicion. Doha listened silently, understanding his worries.

[Don’t let your guard down because of personal feelings, stay alert. Every day is making me anxious to death. Our Bulldog is starting to badger me. Asking how long you’ll just be guarding the club.]

He was particularly talkative today. It had been half a year, so it was understandable that he was getting impatient.

“Park Jaemin threw me a card yesterday. Told me to pick out some clothes and wear them.”

He only said that, yet silence flowed from the other end of the phone. He seemed to have noticed that the situation had changed somehow.

[I’ll send you a program right now, install it on your phone. It’s a program that can do location tracking and eavesdropping simultaneously. You don’t need to turn it on or off separately; it works automatically, so just install it.]

“You’re talking about bugging me very easily right now?”

[Bugging, my ass. It’s all to protect you!]

The other person flared up at his smiling remark.

“Send it with a feature that allows me to turn it off. Then I’ll install it.”

[This bastard! If I send it with that, our Bulldog will get suspicious.]

Doha smiled wryly at the word ‘suspicious.’

“Do you want to hear everything, even when I’m doing dirty things? If you want to hear a man’s moans, then just leave it on.”

A groan was heard at his added remark.

[Are you really keeping that Sana, or Sanha, with ulterior motives?]

“Well, two birds with one stone.”

[Ah, you crazy bastard. You’re just overflowing with composure.]

“It’s been half a year, after all. It’s about time I adapted.”

He replied calmly, but the other person remained silent. He too felt a sense of incongruity with the word ‘adapted.’

[You, you haven’t forgotten who you are, have you….]

“That won’t happen. You know better than anyone why I started this.”

When he cut off the other person’s words and replied, a long sigh was heard.

[Alright. But never turn it off in situations where you might be suspected. You might end up taking all the blame for nothing.]

“I know.”

He replied calmly and ended the call. Walking while talking on the phone, he had already reached the main street. He stood in front of the bus stop and checked the route map.

‘Which department store was closest to the office again?’ Park Jaemin had told him to come back wearing expensive, proper clothes, not clothes that suited his own level, so he intended to stop by a department store first, then go to the office.