Chapter 162 - The Carousel Incident

That dark night, the hungry Wraiths surrounded the lit place, attracted by the succulent magical prey, with its diffuse and pulsating energy. Searching among mortals, they ignored small prey as they skimmed through the air to reach their target.

The carousel spun, and inside, a human with bright aura protected the big, fat magical prey. Still, it was worth taking a chance.

The hunt could be worth it.

ººº

Ye Rim heard Eun Ha shout to her, grinning,

"Why did we never do this before?!" she looked at her unnie, who had her arms raised on her pink horse. The singer's vision suddenly blurred. The lights seemed to flash at a very high speed, and even the music seemed a little distorted and sped up. Trying to fix the vision at one point, she looked at the mirrored axis of the ride, behind Eun Ha. But her unnie's reflection was distorted and odd! Was she seeing a dokkaebi, like in old school stories? 'Wasn't that your friend and unnie?'

"Unnie?!" Ye Rim called, starting to get dizzy. She knew that if she closed her eyes, it would be worse.

"Ye Rim?" she heard Eun Ha's voice, worried. But then she felt the sudden cold. She already recognized that. The 'shadows' arrival. Looking up, she saw several of them, approaching Eun Ha for a boat.

"Watch out! Unnie! Unnie, watch out!" She screamed without thinking, throwing herself at Eun Ha clumsily. The two fell to the floor of the carousel, while the creatures descended like crows on them.

"Ye Rim, what's going on?" she heard her unnie ask, underneath her. Ye Rim turned the body, raising her hand to defend them from the evil shadows.

A loud crash was heard, and the carousel stopped, the lights suddenly went out and electric sparks came out of the toy. People screamed in panic. Eun Ha hugged her and rolled to a corner, avoiding people who rushed to take children or run away from the carousel.

"Are you okay?" one asked the other, hearts beating in unison and hard. Ye Rim couldn't see very well, lights continued to flash in her vision, and she turned her head in all directions trying to perceive more shadows. But she felt they had run away. Soon they felt strong hands pulling them. Kim Jun Hyeon took them out of the ride quickly, covering them with his coat because of the sparks that occasionally popped out of the short circuit lighting. Upon getting off the carousel, Professor Shin was running towards them, and then asked Eun Ha,

"What was that, Jung?!"

Jun Hyeon still held her in his embrace, but Ye Rim didn't like the tone in which the French Teacher spoke to his unnie,

"I don't know. Everything spun crazily and Ye Rim threw herself at me!" Eun Ha looked at Ye Rim in distress, "but right after something exploded in the carousel!"

"Did you see anything weird, Ye Rim? It's all right?" Jun Hyeon pushed her away from the carousel's vicinity. The amus.e.m.e.nt park workers were running towards the ride and they would just get in the way. The other couple followed, whispering to each other.

He sat her on a bench and measured her pulse. Ye Rim complained about her vision that blinked with colored lights, but was returning to normal.

"Take a little rest. This is the effect of adrenaline on your bloodstream."

A doctor's words had the power to make the fantastic things she had seen seem like just a psychotic break. Would it be this? Was she experiencing hallucinations, caused by external events? She wanted to cry as she felt her body relax. She heard the couple next door arguing in a low, nervous voice. Again Ye Rim felt her blood heat up. She really didn't like the authoritative tone of the teacher to her friend!

"Is there a problem, unnie?" she asked, to let Eun Ha know that she was paying attention.

ººº

Eun Ha's body was sore and tingling, and she was still trying to remove the yellow confetti stuck in her hair and hidden in the folds of her clothes. Her magic was out of control, and she didn't know if she was the one who caused the carousel's incident. Professor Shin had guaranteed that everything would be okay and that she shouldn't worry! And why had Ye Rim jumped on her, as if saving her from a sniper attack? Did Ye Rim still see things? It would be good to take her home and ask what was going on, and take the time to clear it up. Just the two of them. But Dr. Flamingo now looked like an appendage to Ye Rim. And Professor Shin was nervous as she had never seen before,

"I'm just a little sore, Ye Rim," and before Dr. Flamingo wanted to take her to a hospital, she got up from the bench, stretching,  It's all right. It was just a tumble. Only the pride and the butt are sore, in fact."

Professor Shin cleared his throat,

"I'm sorry, but I got a call now and people I know have a problem."

"What's it? Can we help in any way?" asked Dr. Kim. 

"I still don't know. But if I need help, I'll ask, rest assured," he told his new friend. "I just have to leave now. I'm sorry since I was the one who invited you," he added, and Eun Ha realized that the Hunter seemed in a hurry. Then she said,

"Okay, we understand. Dr. Kim will not be upset, since you have a bromance. Ye Rim and I are going home, there's still a lot of food there."

She pretended not to notice Ye Rim making head movements that she should invite Dr. Flamingo too, a little mad at her.

"Jung, don't you want to come with me?" Professor Shin asked. But if she did, she might miss the opportunity to speak to Ye Rim. Besides, she needed a shower and a change of clothes, to get the yellow confetti out of her and control her magic again. Perhaps he wanted to protect her from herself and her magic without control. But Eun Ha thought if she stayed at home, everything would be fine,

"Don't worry, Professor Shin. I will be at home with Ye Rim, rest assured. All I'm going to do is go to bed after dinner."

He frowned, looking sideways at the couple beside him,

"Jung, you better come with me."

"But Professor, everything is fine…"

"Jung! Come with me. Please! Now. I can't stay long," this time he spoke under his breath and a little impatiently. Eun Ha understood that it was important to go with the Hunter, and she glanced at Ye Rim, who was frowning at the scene. Unfortunately, she had no way of undoing the misunderstanding in front of Dr. Flamingo. 

"Ah, all right," and turning to her friend, she said, "Well, in that case, I'm going with Professor Shin. I am sorry that our night ended so abruptly."

ººº

"If you don't want to go, you shouldn't go, unnie!" Ye Rim spoke, and Jun Hyeon noticed a strange change in all of them after the incident. Of course, the carousel's explosion was frightening, and luckily no one, a.d.u.l.ts or children, was hurt. The ride was spinning more and more and suddenly everything went dark. Then lights came back with a blast before the short circuit and the sparks. It was really weird. But he had a lingering, disturbing impression about it all.

"It's all right, unnie," replied Eun Ha. He realized that the couple was tense and didn't want to tell them what was going on. But Dr. Kim imagined that everything was related to the phone call that Shin Hye Seong received. They headed for the parking lot together, as they parked their cars next to each other.

So Shin, after keeping the stuffed tiger in the car, said goodbye to them, while Eun Ha looked nervous.

"Are you going anywhere near here?" Ye Rim asked, in an aggressive tone, and Jun Hyeon took her arm, trying to calm her down. She was being very invasive! As much as she wanted her unnie to stay, if Hye Seong didn't want to tell where he was going, how could they pressure him?

"Ye Rim, it's okay. It is not polite to ask that kind of question," he murmured so that only she could hear. She stared at him with wide eyes, as if she didn't believe he was interfering. 'Ah, the judging glare of a woman! How can a man live with that? ' he asked himself, also questioning his sanity for wanting a serious relationship and being subject to these things. Meanwhile, after a brief greeting and without giving any explanation, the couple quickly moved away from them in the open parking lot. It had definitely been very suspicious behavior. He exchanged a meaningful look with Ye Rim, who said,

"Did you see that? He completely dominates it! She becomes a puppy with no opinion near him!"

"Ah, well, I think ..." Jun Hyeon wasn't sure what to make of the scene he witnessed, but he found the couple's relationship a little strange. I just didn't know how to label it at the moment.

"We will follow them. I need to know what's going on!"

"Ye Rim! It doesn't make any sense! We can't follow people just because…." he tried to explain, but Ye Rim interrupted him impatiently,

"Doesn't it make sense?! It makes perfect sense! And what is the law that prevents me from doing it?!" she snarled and started walking in the direction the couple headed to. Jun Hyeon sighed, feeling that he had no alternative but to accompany his little troublemaker.