The Youngest Master wants to be exorcised! chapter 37

The time when Team D was attending the year-end party.

A young man, appearing completely drunk, suddenly staggered and lurched into the path of an oncoming car.

Screeech!

The loud noise of tires skidding across the pavement filled the air.

The car came to a screeching halt, narrowly avoiding the man, and the driver jumped out, shouting angrily.

“What the hell are you doing, jumping in front of a car like that?!”

“Hehehe…”

The man, crouching on the ground, just laughed.

Is he crazy? the driver thought, bewildered.

Though he hadn’t been hit, the man sprawled on the ground looked every bit like someone staging an insurance scam.

The driver tried to pull him away from the car, but despite his thin appearance, the man was surprisingly strong and wouldn’t budge.

“What the hell is wrong with you, really?!”

As the driver continued to struggle with the man, Lee Jaeyoon, seated in the back of the car, quietly observed the scene.

I wish they’d hurry up and get him out of the way.

He was utterly exhausted, having just returned from torturing the man responsible for his brother’s death.

Unlike other families where sibling rivalry was common, the three brothers of the Lee family shared a close bond.

Their family wasn’t like other chaebols, where power struggles were the norm.

The loss of his brother only grew more painful with time instead of fading.

If only he had somehow entered someone else’s body like Park Hyunsoo….

His eyelids felt unusually heavy today.

He’d planned to get some rest at home, but the man who had suddenly appeared in the alley was delaying his return.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, Jaeyoon finally stepped out of the car when it became clear the situation wouldn’t resolve itself.

“Are you okay?”

He asked the man lying on the ground, thinking of resolving the situation by either calling the police or giving him some money.

But then, the man, who hadn’t moved an inch, suddenly lifted his head. The streetlight illuminated his hollow face.

His pale skin, pronounced dark circles, bloodshot eyes, and cracked lips gave him a grotesque appearance.

As their eyes met, an inexplicable shiver ran down Jaeyoon’s spine.

When Jaeyoon instinctively frowned, the man’s eyes gleamed, and he grinned, revealing his teeth.

“Hyung.”

The man addressed him with a term that caught him off guard.

The driver, who had momentarily stopped to catch his breath, was startled and tried to pull the man away again.

“Is he insane? If he’s crazy, he should be in a hospital!”

But the man’s gaze remained fixed on Jaeyoon. When Jaeyoon didn’t respond, the man’s smile widened as he spoke.

“It’s me, Jaehee. Your little brother.”

The raspy voice filled with steel grated in Jaeyoon’s ears.

His fingers trembled slightly.

But despite the shock, a strangely rational thought crossed his mind.

Is he an imposter?

Although he had stopped, Jaeyoon had conducted many exorcisms in the past.

He had been careful to keep things discreet, but he hadn’t expected that word might have spread among shamans.

It was highly likely that someone had obtained information and approached him with the intent to extort money.

“Our Jaehee is currently serving in the military. This man seems to have some mental issues.”

Jaeyoon looked down at the man with cold eyes.

He didn’t show it to the driver, but the thought of someone impersonating his brother made him furious enough to kill him on the spot.

“He’s a fake. I’m the real one. Don’t you believe me, hyung?”

The man’s voice, slipping through his cracked lips, sent chills down Jaeyoon’s spine.

It was an eerie voice, like a radio with its frequency distorted.

Jaeyoon slowly bent down, looked the man in the eyes, and whispered in a low voice.

“You’re saying you’re Jaehee?”

“Yes.”

“And how am I supposed to believe that?”

Ignoring the puzzled look from the driver, Jaeyoon questioned the man.

The man rolled his eyes a few times before smirking.

“The trip… You didn’t go on the trip I asked you to. Don’t you remember?”

Jaeyoon’s eyes widened at the mention of the trip.

His family had been extremely careful not to speak of anything that might hint at Jaehee’s past, fearing that such details might be used in a scam.

Only the family knew that Jaehee had suggested going on a trip. It was a conversation that had taken place during a quiet family dinner.

The household staff who had been present at the time had been replaced after the incident with Park Hyunsoo’s possession.

Although exorcisms were performed frequently, the staff knew nothing of the actual circumstances.

They just assumed that the rituals were to ward off misfortune after Jaehee’s tragic accident.

However, if someone was determined enough to gather information with the intent of extorting money, there were many ways to find out.

Even if Jaehee’s spirit really had entered this man’s body, why had it taken so long to appear? Though his mind was fiercely skeptical, Jaeyoon’s heart began to waver uncontrollably.

“Hyung.”

The man’s voice, cracked and unnatural, made Jaeyoon grit his teeth.

“Let’s get in the car.”

Jaeyoon ordered the driver to keep quiet and helped the staggering man into the car.

The man, who had been lying motionless on the ground, suddenly climbed into the car as if nothing had happened.

The driver blinked in disbelief but silently started the engine.

“There’s an imposter in my body. But I’m stuck in this one… It’s so unfair.”

The man seated next to him continued to smile eerily and mutter to himself.

Jaeyoon listened silently, his mind in turmoil as they headed home.

For some reason, his entire body felt heavy, as if it were being weighed down.

His mind grew foggy, and it became increasingly difficult to think clearly.

When they arrived home, the man who claimed to be Jaehee got out of the car and walked straight across the garden, as if he owned the place.

Jaeyoon watched the man’s back, deep in thought.

Could he really be our Jaehee?

Though he had brought the man home because he knew things only Jaehee would know, part of him desperately wanted to believe it was true.

Overwhelmed by confusion, Jaeyoon whispered cautiously, as if entranced.

“Are you really our Jaehee?”

“Yes.”

He had held numerous exorcisms to summon his brother’s spirit for a final farewell, but Jaehee had never once spoken to him.

How wonderful it would be if that man were really our Jaehee.

Jaeyoon’s heart wavered uncontrollably. At that moment, the man strode up to Jaeyoon and grabbed his hand.

The cold touch sent a shiver through him. As Jaeyoon looked down at the man’s bloodshot eyes, his vision blurred.

…He’s back. This must be our Jaehee.

As if possessed, Jaeyoon wrapped his arms around the man’s thin shoulders, without a second thought. The man’s body was as cold as ice.

“It’s cold out. Why are you dressed like this, huh?”

Jaeyoon hurriedly led the man into the house, worried he might catch a cold.

“Jaeyoon, who is that?”

In the living room, Jaeyoon’s father, who had been drinking tea, looked up in surprise and asked warily.

It was unusual for his son to bring a stranger home without warning. The man’s disheveled appearance, emaciated frame, and out-of-season clothes were suspicious, to say the least.

“Father, it’s… it’s our… Jaehee.”

Jaeyoon stammered, on the verge of tears. The man’s face broke into a wide, unsettling grin.

“What are you talking about?”

Jaeyoon’s father slammed his teacup down and shot to his feet. After being away for so long, his son’s words were absurd.

The sight of Jaeyoon, claiming that a stranger was his brother, seemed disturbingly unnatural.

The eerie smile on Jaeyoon’s face, filled with what appeared to be misguided joy, sent chills down his spine.

“Jaehee, it’s our Jaehee. He called me hyung. I know he even suggested we go on a trip together. I met him on the road in front of our house. It’s definitely our Jaehee.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Calm down and speak slowly.”

Even though the low voice urged him to calm down, it was no use.

Jaeyoon, unlike his usual self, was rambling incoherently like someone who had lost his mind.

He kept repeating the same thing he just said, without any other evidence.

Jaeyoon’s father held off on trying to calm him down for a moment. Instead, he glared menacingly at the emaciated man standing before him.

“You’re saying you’re our… Jaehee?”

The man who was claiming to be his son, whom he hadn’t yet buried in his heart, was suspicious, but he had to at least confirm it. It could really be his son.

Despite the sharp, chilling gaze, the man let out a bizarre laugh.

“Hehe. Where’s Mom?”

“…She’s sleeping right now.”

Half doubting, he answered, only to receive an unexpected reply from the man.

“She took her medicine again, didn’t she?”

The strange, cracked voice clung to his eardrums.

“Again?”

Jaeyoon’s father felt a strange sense of unease.

When Lee Jaehee was alive, the mother of the three brothers had lived a life far removed from sleeping pills.

She was very active and healthy. But after learning of Lee Jaehee’s death, everything fell apart.

She began being prescribed sleeping pills and antidepressants, unable to sleep without them. Even Park Hyunsoo, who had been at home for a while, didn’t know about it.

“How do you know that?”

“I saw it.”

“Saw it?”

“She cries and then falls asleep after taking her medicine. I saw it all. Hehehe!”

The laugh was chilling. It wasn’t the laughter of the living Lee Jaehee. The suspicion grew even stronger.

“If you are Jaehee, why did you take so long to come back, even though your mother was so worried?”

“Father, why are you talking to our Jaehee like that?”

“Stay out of this.”

Stopping Jaeyoon, who seemed incapable of thinking rationally, he pressed the man for answers.

“You’re not pretending to be our youngest, are you? If you are really Jaehee, you should know this. What’s our family motto?”

“…I don’t remember.”

“Then where was the last place our family went on vacation together?”

“…I don’t know! Agh! My head hurts!”

The man started to claw at his head with his bony hands. A terrified Jaeyoon tried to stop him, but it was futile.

“How dare you try to impersonate my son here!”

“Aaaaaaagh! I’m real! I’m really Lee Jaehee! The fake! The fake! He’s the fake!”

The man’s eyes were bloodshot as he screamed, his cracked lips splitting as he spat out curses.

“I’m Lee Jaehee! Your son! Your son! Idiots! Fools! Hehehehe!”

As the madman’s screams echoed, the faces of the employees turned pale.

“What on earth is going on here?”

A man descended the stairs from the second floor, unable to bear the noise, his face ashen. It was none other than Lee Jaemin, who had returned home to spend the year-end with his family.