To be clear, he hadn't felt any particular fondness for the boy. If anything, his overly kind appearance had sparked an inexplicable sense of unease.
The other student, dressed in the sa school uniform, looked far too young—almost like a middle schooler. Yet despite the stiff, unreadable expression on his face, he stared directly at Hwan-young.
Why wasn’t he looking away?
If he was scared, shouldn’t he at least pretend not to see?
Hwan-young was well aware of the kind of looks people gave him. He could tell whether it was fear, admiration, or disgust. And this ti, the emotion in those clear brown eyes was, without a doubt, fear.
There was no point in acknowledging it. Hwan-young wasn’t the type to initiate conversation, and there was no reason to return a forced, awkward nod.
So, he simply turned his gaze away, acting as if he had seen nothing.
That should have been the end of it.
Except, his personal space had been invaded, which ant he needed to find a new place.
'...Ah, my natag.'
The only reason he returned to the back garden was sothing trivial—he had dropped his natag at so point.
There was a spare one at ho, but getting reprimanded for a uniform violation on the very first day of school would be an unnecessary hassle.
He assud the other student had already left for class by now.
But when he arrived, he found sothing completely unexpected.
"..."
The ghost from earlier was still there.
No—calling it a ghost didn’t quite feel right.
It was sothing else entirely, a grotesque mass of darkness, oozing like ink as it dripped and twisted in the air.
A monster.
And he was touching it.
Not banishing it, not fighting it—holding it.
The boy cradled it gently, as if it were sothing precious. His bare hands, which should have been coated in filth, remained spotless as he cald the creature.
For the first ti, Hwan-young felt sothing radiating from him—sothing cleansing, sothing warm, as if his presence alone washed away the filth in the air.
He was glowing.
There was no actual light, yet it felt as if sothing pure was shining from his fingertips, gradually washing away the darkness.
Slowly, the blackened mass faded.
What remained was no longer a monstrous form, but a translucent spirit—not quite human, yet no longer a threat.
And then, with one simple gesture, he let it dissolve like mist.
Hwan-young understood instinctively—this boy hadn’t simply destroyed the ghost.
Unlike himself, who caused spirits to vanish without a trace, the boy had rely sent it where it was ant to go.
Was he an exorcist?
No. That didn’t feel right.
Hwan-young knew about exorcists—the kind who erased spirits permanently, treating them as nothing more than dangerous entities.
To him, exorcists were monsters, feared by the dead but revered by the living.
But if there were those who specialized in exorcism...
Then perhaps there could also be soone who specialized in salvation.
A savior—one who rescued the lost and guided them to their rightful place.
It was a foolish hope.
Yet, it was enough to make him wait—to make him wonder.
And since the boy had picked up his dropped natag, surely, it was only a matter of ti before he returned it.
“Kim Mu-ryeong fell asleep again?”
“Hey, Seung-joo, your back’s gonna break.”
“Damn it, sleep at night, idiot.”
One day passed. Then two. Then a week.
Then a month.
But the boy never ca to return his natag.
He never spoke to him—not even once.
He didn’t even ask soone else to return it on his behalf.
And it wasn’t as if he was so shy, quiet kid.
Within just a month, the entire school knew Kim Mu-ryeong’s na.
But Hwan-young remained nothing more than a stranger to him.
“...A job request?”
Then, Mu-ryeong did sothing unexpected.
He started taking requests.
"If you need sothing fixed, ask Mu-ryeong. He’ll take care of it."
The rumor spread like wildfire.
At first, students had mocked it, wondering what kind of strange gimmick he was pulling.
But then, one by one, they found themselves drawn in—and by the ti they realized it, they had already fallen under his spell.
And the strangest part?
It actually worked.
"Mu-ryeong found my lost necklace."
"That kid who used to be a total nace? One word from Mu-ryeong, and he never caused trouble again."
"Yeah, Mu-ryeong walked
ho after school the other day."
"He unlocked the music room when the door got jamd."
"He found all the missing basketballs from the storage room."
Kim Mu-ryeong.
Kim Mu-ryeong.
And again—Kim Mu-ryeong.
His na beca impossible to ignore.
People whispered about him constantly, like a school-wide legend.
So of the things he solved made no sense—so much so that a student once jokingly suggested he might be using magic.
But the most fascinating thing was what people said about him.
"Mu-ryeong is so kind."
That was always the first thing.
Then, the next most common thing—"He’s adorable."
And finally—"I just really like him."
Strangely enough, no one ever said they ‘wanted to befriend him’.
Perhaps because he was already friends with everyone.
"He can’t actually see ghosts... right?"
But the real mystery wasn’t just how he did what he did.
It was that, despite the endless ghost stories surrounding him, there wasn’t a single bad rumor about him.
Even the troublemakers—those who had no problem slandering anyone—sohow, never spoke ill of Mu-ryeong.
If anything...
They treated him with unusual generosity.
"Hey, go buy so drinks."
There was a ti when sothing like this happened. At the beginning of the sester, a male student who was seen as an easy target was being bullied by a group of delinquents, the kind who spent their ti smoking in the back alleys. At first, it was just small errands, but it was clear that things would escalate soon.
"...Did you guys just make him run an errand for you?"
That was when Mu-ryeong, who wasn’t even in the sa class as them, stepped in. Hwan-young, without realizing it, found himself listening intently. The group huddled together, and even at a glance, they looked like bad news.
What kind of nerve does he have to say sothing like that? Just as Hwan-young was wondering, Mu-ryeong flashed a bright smile and held out his hand.
"Give
the money for the drink. I'm heading to the snack bar anyway, so I’ll grab it for you."
It was just a simple sentence, but the atmosphere shifted in an odd way. The ones who had been sneaking glances at each other hesitated, then suddenly threw an arm around Mu-ryeong’s shoulders and walked off with him.
"Damn, he really called us out on sothing like this."
They grumbled, but after coming back from the snack bar, they never bothered that student again.
He was an incomprehensible person. Hwan-young was certain he himself would never, not even in another life, act the way Kim Mu-ryeong did. He was the kind of person you might never et in your entire life. And yet, for so reason, every ti Hwan-young saw him, he couldn’t shake off a strange sense of déjà vu.
"Ah, Kim Mu-ryeong, walk on your own."
"I'm tired... Carry ."
Even after sumr break ended and the second sester began, Hwan-young’s impression of Mu-ryeong didn’t change much. An unpredictable, erratic guy. One mont, he was running around with bright, clear eyes, and the next, he was being dragged along lifelessly by his friend.
At first, he had only been watching Mu-ryeong to figure out when to return his na tag. But before he realized it, the na tag had beco a secondary concern. His na was unusual, so it kept catching his ear. His pale, almost ghostly complexion was strangely distracting.
"What the hell?"
"...Is it dead?"
"Damn, that’s disgusting."
Then, another incident happened. One day, a bird crashed into the tal structure above the sports field and fell to the ground, unconscious. It must have hit a sharp steel edge because it was bleeding heavily. It wouldn’t be long before it died.
"Oh no..."
No one stepped forward to help. Instead, they huddled together, murmuring about getting a teacher, treating it as nothing more than another spectacle to watch from a distance.
The bird wasn’t at fault. Just as Hwan-young frowned at the situation, Mu-ryeong suddenly erged from the crowd and strode forward.
"Hey... Are you seriously going to touch that with your bare hands?"
His friend, the one who always carried him around, asked in disbelief. But Mu-ryeong crouched down without hesitation. Gently, he cupped the lifeless bird in both hands. The small creature, no bigger than Mu-ryeong’s palm, had already turned cold and stiff.
"We should bury it."
His expression didn’t hold any sorrow. If anything, there was just a fleeting mont of emptiness, a quiet sigh of resignation.
"Seung-joo, let’s go."
"Your hands... Ugh, seriously..."
"I can wash them later."
Hwan-young didn’t know what Mu-ryeong did with the bird afterward. He had headed toward the back garden, so he likely buried it sowhere there. The only thing Hwan-young saw for sure was the bird’s spirit fluttering after Mu-ryeong as he walked away.
It was unexpected. Mu-ryeong looked so frail, like the kind of person who would faint at the sight of blood. His face was soft, almost delicate, as if he’d be easily scared.
But there were so many things about him that were surprising.
During the fall sports festival, Mu-ryeong participated in almost every event—and won first place in all of them. How could soone with such a small fra be that athletic? He didn’t even look tired.
"Kim Mu-ryeong is close with the third-years too."
The more Hwan-young learned about him, the more often he spotted him in the hallways. And the more their eyes t—only for Mu-ryeong to quickly °?? N ?? v ?? l i g h t ??° look away—the more questions Hwan-young had.
"..."
"..."
Why hadn’t Kim Mu-ryeong returned his na tag yet? Why did he keep such an awkward distance? When they ran into each other outside the teachers’ office, why did he stiffen so visibly, as if his entire neck had gone rigid with tension?
The truth was, Hwan-young already had a vague idea.
Just like most people, Mu-ryeong probably felt uncomfortable around him. No matter how sociable he was, there had to be so people he didn’t want to get close to.
He understood that. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared.
But for so reason, Mu-ryeong’s attitude toward him didn’t just bother him—it annoyed him.
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