IGJHM Chapter 6

  “As expected, sister is staying here?! Awesome!”

  What do you mean, awesome…?

  I immediately turned my head to look out the window. I thought it might have been a time warp but no, this ghost was visible even though the sun was shining brightly. 

  This was strange since most ghosts wouldn’t reveal themselves until after dark. Until now, I had never seen a ghost during the day.

  So what was this? Could it be a hallucination?

  I blinked my eyes several times. I even leaned my head forward to take a closer look. However, the girl was still there, lingering in my vision.

  After hesitating for a moment, I cautiously extended my arm over her head, slowly lowering my hand. It meant to pat her head, but ultimately, I couldn’t because my hand passed right through.

  “Sister, that’s my cerebral cortex you’re touching, you know?”

  “Aaah!”

  I pulled my hand away from her head and screamed.

  “Aaah!”

  Another scream came from beside me. I turned around, mouth agape, and saw the Duke with his pupils shaking wildly.

  “Brother, sister can see me too!”

  The girl ran over to stand in front of the Duke’s desk and hopped around, trying to capture his attention. However, the Duke remained frozen, staring at his paperwork. I, too, stiffly turned my head back and buried my face in the book.

  “Brother never responds to me even though you can see me! Play with me a little!”

  〈Hallucinations are visual reconstructions of unconscious phenomena…〉

  I lowered the book once again, reading it through.

  “Ugh, it’s boring. Since it’s boring, I’ll go play outside and come back again! I’ll come back!”

   The child said with narrow footsteps, seemingly losing interest when no one responded. I lifted my face slightly to survey the situation out of the corner of my eye and saw the back of the girl’s head as she disappeared through the door.

  ‘Ah… Of course. This book is nonsense. How could something like that exist in my unconscious mind!’

  I pushed the book to the edge of the desk as I thought. However, there was something that made me hesitate to conclude that way. 

  The girl had revealed herself at this early hour. If it wasn’t an illusion, it meant she was an extraordinarily powerful ghost, almost god-like. The more I thought about it, the scarier it became…

  I looked back at the Duke. He surely must have felt my gaze but he acted as though he didn’t.

  ‘You bastard. You didn’t tell me about this…’

  But come to think of it, there were so many things I hadn’t asked him.

  I was so preoccupied with money that I couldn’t focus on anything else. That’s right, let’s just endure for now. 2,500 florins… 2,500 florins… 2,500 florins is my motivation!

• • • • • • •

  After that incident, the Duke didn’t give me any more work. So, I spent my time idly. I worried about when the girl ghost might appear again and tried to read the stubbornly unreadable books. 

  During that time, the sun soon set. And at some point, I sensed a chilling energy rising. It was the same eerie feeling I had when I first set foot in this mansion.

  My eyes quickly looked towards the Duke. Maybe it was because we had seen the ghost together, but as he came into view, I felt much more at ease. However, at that moment, I saw black smoke rising behind him. It grew larger and swelled like a balloon, enveloping the area above Duke’s head and behind his shoulders.

    It was time for the usual ghosts to make their appearance. I looked back to the seat opposite mine. A green-eyed boy had appeared and was sitting there in the same spot as yesterday, swinging his legs alternately.

  “Kyaaaah!”

  The blonde girl entered the room, screaming. I was taken aback but pretended not to be, turning to the next page of the book. The girl spun around the room a few times and then sat down next to the boy.

  “Theo, your face is not red today.”

  “…”

  “It’s a relief that it’s not red today!”

  “…”

  The girl chattered on for a while even though Theo didn’t speak at all. But then, she suddenly brought me up.

  “That sister over there can see us too, you know?”

  Oh… No… Don’t talk about it…

  “Let’s go see that sister, too.”

  Don’t do that either…

  I buried my head in the book.

  〈From an artistic perspective, even irrational work must be included as art…〉

  As I continued reading the basic concepts of art and philosophy, I found it quite readable. Of course, it wasn’t particularly exciting, but it seemed to provide topics worth pondering. 

  The broader the range of thoughts, the better. To become a wise person, it’s important to think deeply.

  “Sister, sister, sister, sister!”

  Sigh…

  I raised my eyes slightly at the loud voice in front of me. The blonde girl had brought the boy to the desk. They stood side by side, looking at me intently. For a moment, our gazes met, but I quickly averted my eyes and resumed reading the book.

  〈How can art be defined…〉

  “This sister also pretends like she can’t see me.”

  “…” 

  “The same as brother!”

  The girl whined.

  “Theo, let’s go ask that brother for some cookies.”

  Yeah, just go quickly.

  Once I confirmed the sound of footsteps, I reassessed the situation. The kids were making a commotion, heading towards the Duke this time.

  “Brother, brother, brother, brother!”

  Although the girl called out, the Duke didn’t even flinch. Suddenly, it occurred to me that he might not be a workaholic, but rather, he was engrossed in his work to keep his attention away from the eerie situations. Just like how I had been diligently reading an uninteresting philosophy book a moment ago.

  Fortunately, after that, the little ghosts kept to themselves. Perhaps because we weren’t paying them much attention, they didn’t bother us or try to scare us. 

  When the butler brought in a plate of cookies and placed them on the table, the kids rushed over just like ordinary children, sitting side by side in front of the cookies. Then they spread themselves out on the floor, engrossed in conversation.

  “Miss Haien, it’s time, so go back.” The Duke spoke. 

  I hadn’t done anything but read a boring book, and now it was time to go back. If there would be no work tomorrow, I might as well bring my own books to read. I didn’t want to keep reading philosophy books.

     I gave the Duke a quick bow and left the room. But on second thought, there was a shapeless ghost beside him. It didn’t look dangerous but there were also two little ghosts playing around. And one of them was incredibly energetic.

  Is it okay to leave the Duke behind and go?

  “Your Grace, should I stay a bit longer?”

  “There’s no need to stay beyond working hours. It’s late, so go and rest.”

  He replied calmly. Actually, it had been more of a formality on my part. Opening the door, I breathed a small sigh of relief. 

  ‘Goodbye, Duke. I’m leaving work, freeing myself from the constraints and bounds of ghosts.’

  But when I opened the door, my attention was immediately drawn to a button sewn onto an old piece of cloth. It didn’t take me long to figure out what it was. Someone was standing in front of me and I was looking at their chest. 

  I blinked, slowly raising my head along the line of neatly arranged buttons that ran up from the chest to their neck. And then above that, I noticed the absence of a head where one should have been.

  Bang—

  I quickly slammed the door shut.

  What? There was another ghost? The three in this room weren’t all there were?!

  My thoughts deepened. I felt completely cheated. If he was going to pay me a lot of money, he should have at least mentioned how many ghosts there were, right? This bastard. We’re going to see them together!

  Knock.

  Suddenly, a knocking sound came from outside the door.

  “Aaah!”

  “Aaah!”

  Thinking that it was the headless ghost knocking, I shivered and let out a scream. Just for the record, it was the Duke who screamed along with me. His face might look cold and composed, but he’s no less of a coward than anyone else.

  “What’s going on?”

  The butler opened the door and looked at me. Luckily, it seemed he was the one who had made the knocking sound. I let out a small sigh of relief. Then I looked up at the butler again. At that moment, my whole body stiffened.

  The butler’s body overlapped the ghost’s body. Their shoulders lined up quite well and because the ghost was slightly in front, it appeared as if the butler’s head was resting on top of the ghost’s body.

  “B-b-b-butler, please step this way.”

  I grabbed onto the butler’s clothing and pulled him a few steps forward. Then he followed me and fully emerged from the ghost’s body.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Well… There was just a headless… a headless ghost!”

  I answered, my voice quivering. Then I tilted my body to the side and glanced behind the butler. Fortunately, the ghost had disappeared in the meantime. I quickly returned to my original position and looked up at him.

  “Butler, I need to leave now, and I’m really sorry, but could you please take me to my room?”

  At that moment, the Duke urgently interrupted.

  “Just a moment, Handel.”

  “…”

  “…”

  “…Don’t go…”

  After a prolonged silence, he finally spoke in a small voice. It seemed that even though he was pretending to be fine, being left alone was frightening for him. The butler looked puzzled, first glancing at the duke, then back at me. He seemed to ponder for a moment.

  No. Butler, don’t do that. Please choose my request…

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