Chapter 101: Got Caught
It was indeed a shocking meeting.
Or should I call it an encounter rather than a meeting?
The ghost floating behind Sakamoto, with sun-tanned, copper-colored skin and an exotic appearance, spoke to him in fluent Japanese.
“Tsk tsk, you should be more careful. Quickly take the tissue your friend is offering, contractor.”
Then Sakamoto, as if shooing a fly away from the ghost floating behind him, reached out and took the tissue box I offered, saying,
“Thanks, Kim.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
I nodded and handed him the tissue box, concealing my surprise.
It seemed he hadn’t yet realized that I could see the ghost behind him.
I wondered why something that wasn’t visible until just a moment ago had suddenly become visible.
While pondering this, I sat back down and remembered the cat-shaped decoration I had touched earlier.
‘Could it be that?’
It was just a hunch, but the only thing I could guess was that object.
And judging from his reaction just now, it seemed that not only I but also Sakamoto could see that foreign ghost.
‘Is it related to some kind of Jump-style battle drift?’
I made such speculations, but couldn’t speak up rashly.
After all, Sakamoto thought I was a regular person who knew nothing about ghosts.
Anyway, after Sakamoto wiped the spilled drink on his clothes with a tissue, we decided to play a board game in his room, as there was nothing else to do.
“Shall we make it more interesting? The loser gets flicked on the forehead.”
“That sounds good.”
We had several options like The Game of Life, One Card, Blackbeard in Peril, and Thief Catching; considering the short time for each round, we decided to play Thief Catching.
Satoru, being a board game club enthusiast, skillfully shuffled the cards and dealt 18 to each of us.
It was my first time playing Thief Catching since I played it with Sasha and Ms. Hyoneko at the maid cafe.
Honestly, I was pretty frustrated back then.
After all, I couldn’t win even a single game until the cafe closed.
“Then shall I start?”
We decided on the order with rock-paper-scissors and then started drawing cards from Satoru in a counterclockwise direction.
I didn’t have the Joker in my hand, for starters.
That meant either Satoru or Sakamoto had the Joker…
“Ryuji, Satoru has the Joker.”
Thanks to a spoiler from an unrelated ghost, I automatically knew the Joker’s current location.
‘Ghost card king, huh?’
But since it was better to use what I could, I kept my mouth shut.
After all, as long as it wasn’t me.
“This is cheating!”
This was Satoru’s outcry, as he kept losing without winning a single game, thanks to the ghost who provided real-time card information from behind.
“What cheating? Just present your forehead quickly.”
“Ow, let go!”
“Sorry.”
Since I was implicitly condoning cheating, I couldn’t bring myself to hit him, so Sakamoto was entirely responsible for Satoru’s punishment.
Snap!
Another flick hit Satoru’s forehead, and he, held by me, screamed silently while struggling.
Satoru’s forehead was already red and swollen, having been penalized three times in a row.
And the foreign ghost, who orchestrated all this, laughed heartily at Satoru’s plight.
Despite his serious appearance, he seemed to enjoy playing pranks.
After a session of Thief Catching marked by Satoru’s screams and tears, we decided it was time to disperse.
It seemed impolite to stay too long in someone else’s house, and it was getting close to dinner time.
Satoru, who had been the only one flicked till the end, was keen on continuing, but he quietly stood up when I said I’d flick him if he lost next time.
“It was fun today.”
“Grr, I’ll get my revenge.”
“Let’s meet again next time.”
As we said our goodbyes, Sakamoto came to see us out to the entrance.
While trying to leave with Satoru, still grinding his teeth, the foreign ghost behind Sakamoto suddenly spoke.
“It’s a shame. It would be nice if you stayed for dinner.”
I flinched at his words but tried not to show it and put on my shoes.
Then Sakamoto’s sister, who had quietly come out of the living room, bowed to us and said,
“Goodbye.”
I waved my hand in response and then opened the firmly closed front door to step outside.
“Phew.”
I hadn’t felt it while playing, but now it felt like escaping a den.
Probably because of the foreign ghost that suddenly became visible.
Satoru, who came out with me from Sakamoto’s house, adjusted his bag and asked,
“By the way, your restaurant is around here, right? Can we stop by on the way for dinner?”
“…No.”
This guy was planning to freeload on me after Sakamoto?
Seeing my wary expression, Satoru sighed heavily and said,
“That’s stingy! I though we we were quite close. So, I’m not good enough to hang out at your place yet?”
He grumbled, and I had nothing to say.
Actually, if you think about it, I’d known Satoru even longer than Rika.
After a brief moment of thought, I decided to give in a bit.
“It’s okay to eat, but you have to leave right after, okay?”
“Is the meal free?”
“You have to pay for it.”
“Tch, stingy guy.”
Satoru said that but still pulled out his wallet to check his cash.
It seemed like he was really planning to pay.
Seeing that, I felt a bit sorry and waved my hand.
“Forget it, forget it. What’s money among friends? I’ll make something for you today, so just come.”
Then, Satoru’s face suddenly brightened.
“Really?!”
“Yeah.”
Having gotten a definite answer from me, Satoru, as if never upset, hummed a tune and pressed the elevator button.
I thought it fortunate that his simple nature was appeased by food, and we got into the same elevator.
After Kim Yu-seong and Satoru left, Mahes, the Egyptian ghost following behind the protagonist Sakamoto Ryuji, muttered as if intrigued.
“Can that guy see me?”
Startled, Ryuji, who was cleaning his cluttered room, turned around in surprise.
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Then Mahes pointed to the top of the cabinet with his hand.
“When you spilled your drink earlier, Kim Yu-seong touched the Bastet Goddess statue while grabbing that tissue box over there. Right after that, his gaze turned towards me.”
“Isn’t it just your imagination? Nothing happened when Satoru touched it last time.”
Considering Ryuji’s point, Mahes nodded thoughtfully and said,
“That might be true. But it’s a fact that he seemed to react oddly at the time. He also seemed to respond to my words occasionally afterward.”
Hearing this, Ryuji sat in his desk chair and countered,
“Even if, as you say, Kim suddenly became able to see you, why wouldn’t he have said anything?”
“Maybe… because he’s scared of ghosts?”
“Do you think Kim would be afraid of just a ghost?”
Mahes readily admitted that his comment was a slip of the tongue.
“True, it’s hard to imagine a warrior of his caliber trembling just because he saw a human soul.”
“Then why?”
Then Mahes stroked his chin and said,
“Maybe he doesn’t want to get involved with me?”
While more plausible than the fear of ghosts, Ryuji still couldn’t accept this explanation.
“That sounds like Kim already knows about ghosts.”
Then Mahes tilted his head and asked back,
“I’d like to ask the opposite. Why do you think he wouldn’t be aware of ghosts’ existence?”
Ryuji’s expression suddenly looked as if he had been smacked on the back of his head upon hearing the question.
“Well… because he’s just an ordinary person?”
“In modern times, would someone of his strength be called an ordinary person?”
Now that he thought about it, it made sense.
Mahes had mentioned before that Kim Yu-seong’s ‘Twt-Ra’ was on par with him.
A person with that level of power couldn’t just be an ordinary person, so why did he think Kim Yu-seong was?
Ryuji, while reflecting on his own complacency, began to feel excited at the possibility that he might also be able to see Mahes.
If the ghost visible only to him could be seen by others, it would prove he wasn’t hallucinating.
And if Kim Yu-seong had known about ghosts from the beginning, he could definitely inquire about the reason why.
Though Ryuji had inadvertently become entwined in fate with Mahes, there were still many mysteries surrounding this Pharaoh Ghost.
Mahes, as if pleased, said to Ryuji,
“Weren’t we planning to hang out together this summer? How about testing it then?”
“A test?”
“To see whether he can see me or not.”
With his arms crossed, Mahes responded to Ryuji’s question with a meaningful smile.
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