Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Unnie. Unnie.”

Then a visitor came to my room. This time it was the little blond ghost. I tried to just ignore them. But I changed my mind and sat up. I wasn’t asleep anyway, so I figured I might as well hear what was going on.

I opened the door right away and found the child standing there, head lifted toward me.

“Unnie. Theo’s acting strange.”

“What happened?”

“I think he’s still sick.”

“Yeah?”

“He trashed my friend’s room too.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

For a second I parroted back like an idiot. Why was he bringing up Madam’s room?

“He made a huge mess of my friend’s room too.”

The boy repeated, answering me.

“So I think big brother’s angry.”

“Is big brother in your friend’s room right now?”

“Yeah.”

“……Come with me. Let’s go see that room.”

I said it as I stepped out the door. The boy nodded and immediately took the lead, walking ahead of me.

We followed the familiar path until we reached Madam’s room. The door was flung wide open—maybe to air the place out after the commotion with the fire. And inside, where my eyes landed, stood the Duke. He was staring at something with a flat expression. Behind him, the black smoke ghost rippled faintly.

“Your Grace?”

I called out carefully as I stepped into the room. The sharp smell of dry burning wood hit my nostrils. A bad feeling settled in, and I furrowed my brows as I strode closer to him. He didn’t seem to notice my presence—just kept staring straight ahead. Something felt off, so I turned my head to follow his gaze.

At the far end of his line of sight hung a wardrobe, charred black. Its doors were wide open. And inside it sat a little boy. Theo. His whole body was bright red, knees drawn up, curled in on himself like a frightened kitten trying to shield its own body.

I shuddered. I was sure of it now. Theo was the cause of today’s commotion. *He* had set the fire. To think he could affect things in the land of the living so directly. This was no ordinary ghost’s doing. Yeah. I hadn’t wanted to believe it, but judging by the circumstances, this child was turning into an evil spirit.

‘Damn. Oh god. Jesus… I haven’t even submitted my resignation yet…’

It was a crushing feeling. Lucky, or unlucky, Theo had only burned the wardrobe today. But someday he might become a full-blown evil spirit and torch this entire manor.

“See? Your Grace. I told you so.”

I pressed close against the Duke’s side, voice trembling. And as if responding to my voice, Theo slowly began to turn his head toward us. I wanted to bolt, but my feet wouldn’t move. My body had frozen like it’d forgotten how. With no other choice, I clung tight to the Duke’s sleeve and studied Theo’s state.

Very slowly, inch by inch, Theo lifted his head and met my eyes. No—could I even call them eyes? On his face, where eyes should have been, there were just two black pits. And from inside them, gray smoke like cigarette fumes rose without pause. I thought I might actually faint.

“Theo? What’s wrong? Are you hurting a lot today?”

The little blond boy scurried up to him and asked. Theo didn’t answer, only turning his face toward the girl.

“D-D-Duke. Would you step outside with me for a moment?”

I tugged at the duke’s sleeve as I spoke.

A heavy thud—

Something dropped to the floor. At the same instant, I lost my grip on the duke’s sleeve.

No. Not that. Please, not that…

Slowly, I turned to look for him. But against my hopes, the duke wasn’t in front of me anymore. On the verge of tears, I dropped my gaze downward.

You son of a— (vicious cursing)

So that’s why he just stood there without moving…

“Hey! What the hell are you doing passing out?! You think you’re the only one who’s scared?! I’m scared too! I wanna pass out too!”

I grabbed the fallen duke and shook him hard. But he showed no sign of waking. The black-smoke ghost clinging to him shifted this way and that, as if studying his face. God. The fear bit deeper.

“Unnie? Is big brother sleeping?”

The girl’s voice rang out, asking me. I shot a sidelong glance at the children. They were staring straight at us. And from Theo’s eyes, gray smoke still rose in thick billows.

“Uh. Yeah. Big brother’s asleep. I’m gonna move him so he can rest easy. You stay with Theo. Keep him calm.”

“Okay!”

The moment her answer came, I dragged the duke out of the room by the collar. The black-smoke ghost that always clung to him came trailing along.

‘What now?’

I laid the Duke down on the corridor floor and thought. I should go find the butler for help, but I couldn’t just leave the Duke here abandoned like this. Especially after seeing Theo on the verge of becoming an evil spirit. I was worried that some other evil spirit might show up and harm him.

Let me think. Ghosts usually only haunt familiar places. So if there’s a place where no ghost has ever appeared, the chances are high that no ghost will ever appear there in the future. Then I should move this Duke bastard there!

But there was a problem. I couldn’t possibly know whether every single room in this manor had ghosts coming and going.

‘Not a single ghost comes in and out of my room… but that doesn’t mean I can bring him into my room, does it…?’

Yeah. That would just look weird.

‘I’ll take him to the Duke’s study instead!’

“That’s best.” I nodded quickly. The study wasn’t a bad place. The Black Smoke Ghost, well, it always stuck to the Duke anyway, so that was fine. The blonde little girl and Theo were in the Madam’s room right now. And none of the other ghosts had ever shown up in the study. The headless ghost barely made it to the door! So the study, at the moment, was a safe zone—not a single ghost creeping in.

I hoisted one of the Duke’s arms over my shoulder. Then I strained to lift us both up. He was tall, so his knees dragged along the floor. But what choice did I have? I had to move him somehow.

Luckily, I was on the strong side. Even so, hauling a full-grown man wasn’t easy. I panted, taking small, shuffling steps.

“Drop him?”

The impulse hit me. Too damn heavy. What did I care if an evil spirit got him? Was that really my problem?

I was grumbling all that inside when, suddenly, the Black Smoke Ghost split into two long strands and drifted right in front of me. I flinched, holding my breath for a moment.

It immediately shaped itself into two rods and settled into a spot that didn’t block my view. I was so startled my eyes went wide, just staring at it. Then the two rods began to sway in a three-quarter time. Like it was cheering me on.

What the hell? A cheer stick? Rooting for me? What is this ghost? Telling me to man up and move the Duke?

In the end, I made it to the study thanks to the ghost’s encouragement. Then I practically dumped the Duke onto the sofa. But as I was gripping his shoulder, his long legs dropped, dangling off the edge. Lost my mind… I sighed, stretching my own leg out to nudge his up.

‘Goddammit. Heavy. Obviously, this is a whole other level from carrying Lucia and Roti.’

The whole process of moving him was so exhausting that I was panting, and despite the cold season, I was drenched in sweat. A fresh wave of curses was about to spill out, but I forced them back down.

Click. At that moment, I heard the study door open. The Butler strode in and stopped where we were. I looked up at him. He spotted us and halted mid-step. Perfect timing. I could just hand the Duke over and head back to my room.

“Butler.”

“……”

I called out, but for some reason, he didn’t answer. He seemed to put on a flustered expression, then turned around and walked right back out.

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

The Butler quickly disappeared through the door.

“Huh?”

I blurted out a brief question. Why was he acting like that? My mind felt like it was buffering—I couldn’t quite process the situation. I stood there dumbly for a moment, staring at the door the butler had just walked out of. Then, it hit me all at once.

“Huh?!”

At the same moment, the black-smoke ghost formed an exclamation mark in front of my eyes and then slowly dissolved into nothing.

Wait—what the hell was that ghost?!

Anyway, at this point, I was plastered flush against the Duke. And I was in my pajamas, sweating buckets. On the sofa, no less! I’d given him a hell of a wrong impression. I bolted after the butler. Hey! It’s a misunderstanding! I said it’s a misunderstanding!