I’m the Only One Who Can’t See Ghosts

Chapter 88: The Tiger Who Became a Cat (2)

In this world, there’s a skill called parkour.

Parkour is the art of moving quickly by freely climbing walls and rooftops to reach your goal.

“Yoo Hajin’s Parkour!!!”

And Yoo Hajin’s parkour is a step above the ordinary. Jumping between walls while running—think of it like the double-wall jump from platformer games.

The advantage of this technique? It lets you completely ignore the crowds below. In a narrow, crowded alleyway, it gives you propulsion far beyond what the designers of such spaces could ever anticipate!

Whoosh-

Baek Yoorin, her lips split and her hair yanked, was sobbing and wailing. To see her, once so dignified, reduced to such a pitiful state…

How did it come to this?

“Stop!!!”

“What the hell are you all doing?!”

From behind me came Yoorin’s trembling voice, full of sobs.

“Ha…

And before me, the crowd’s faces were twisted in madness.

“Who the hell are you? Are you crazy?”

“Hey, does that thing even look human to you? Get lost!”

“If we let something like that live, it’ll turn into a monster that eats people!”

They were armed—pipes, bricks, and even kitchen knives. While pipes and bricks were one thing, the kitchen knives were a bit too much.

No, beating down this many people was impossible.

Not a question of whether I could or couldn’t—it just wasn’t an option.

If I got into a fight with this crowd and it turned into a full-blown brawl, how much would I have to pay in settlements? It’d be bankruptcy. Plain and simple.

The mob edged closer.

Honestly, this kind of situation was terrifying.

Ghosts that tear people apart, or eldritch horrors that devour the living? Those don’t scare me. People, though? People terrify me.

I slammed my fist into the ground.

BAM!

With a deafening sound, the asphalt cracked and caved in.

“Everyone, freeze!!!”

The Third Act of Heavenly Demon Performance: The Power User Act.

From what I’d seen, the stronger a psychic, the greater their physical capabilities. It’s like the old saying—a sound mind in a sound body.

By showing off raw physical strength like this, you can easily project the image of a powerful psychic. And as expected, the crowd shrank back in fear.

“H-he’s a psychic.”

“Young man, why are you protecting that monster?”

“Right! Sir, don’t you know? Things like that grow up to be butchers or turn into demons and wreak havoc!”

The crowd buzzed, muttering all sorts of things.

But none of it mattered.

I answered them simply:

“This girl… for the past six—no, seven years, she’s lived more kindly than any ordinary person ever has.”

I still remembered it vividly.

The sight of Baek Yoorin, helpless and distraught, caught in the middle of a protest complaining that the presence of a tiger was lowering property values.

Even then, she didn’t retaliate. She respected the people who scorned her.

That’s why she’d tried to leave the tiger’s den in the first place—to accommodate them.

And now these same people, treating her like this? Unforgivable.

I narrowed my eyes and spoke coldly.

“To me, you’re the real monsters here. If you don’t stop right now, I’ll shove my abilities straight down your throats.”

The crowd hesitated, stepping back in confusion.

“What? Why is he saying that?”

“Wait, doesn’t he see our souls? Why are we the monsters?”

Feigning confidence, I made an exaggerated gesture, mimicking a hand seal.

“Hmph, deploying full power should be enough to crush you all.”

“Full power?”

“You mean, like the celestial arts used by immortals?”

Among the mob, the chatterboxes came in handy, explaining things for me as I went along. Their murmurs quickened the retreat.

At that moment, a voice rang out from above.

“So, you’re skilled in the celestial arts, it seems.”

A man stood in midair, looking down at us.

Dressed in the symbolic hanbok of the strong, he was clearly someone of importance. On his chest was an embroidered (Cheonji), marking him as a psychic affiliated with Cheonji.

“For someone like you to protect the seed of such an abomination… I cannot let this pass,” the man said with a smile.

What’s going on? Why is a psychic from Cheonji targeting Baek Yoorin, who is also a Cheonji Celestial?

I turned to Baek Yoorin, but she only looked back with a puzzled expression, as if she had no idea either.

***

In every large organization, there are factions.

Cheonji was no exception.

And within Cheonji, these factions were often led by the Celestials. In the palace of Celestial Leader Lee Jinryong, a quiet conversation was underway.

“What did you say? The tiger’s soul has disappeared?”

“To clarify, sir, the tiger’s soul has reentered its physical body.”

Lee Jinryong muttered to himself as he received the report.

“The soul has merged with the body?”

He could feel his scales writhing with unease.

If he were human, he might have felt goosebumps.

“Negative Harmonization.”

Negative Harmonization: a technique where one embraces negation, the polar opposite of spirit power, and lets it seep into their body. Also known as the “Way of Negation,” it seals all of one’s spiritual abilities but grants extreme resistance to the spirit powers of others.

“Gamlo mentioned teaching the tiger Yin Transformation.”

Yin Transformation was a technique to obscure one’s spiritual state by harnessing yin energy. It was a skill typically mastered by those born into spiritual families or houses after decades of rigorous training—often by their forties.

However, for those with the talent to reach the level of Earthly Immortals, such a skill could be realized by their early twenties.

“So they were training Yin Transformation, but instead, they’ve instinctively awakened Negation?”

But Negative Harmonization?

It was an art so difficult to master that even those with the aptitude to reach Earthly Immortals or Celestial Immortals could rarely achieve it, even after fifty years of practice.

Negation is the very antithesis of spiritual power.

Negative Harmonization is the technique of embracing and embodying negation itself.

Even for someone like Lee Jinryong, mastering this technique had taken decades of practice.

But this tiger… to achieve it after only a few months of training?

“How much of a monster are they, really?”

For a brief moment, a memory flashed through Lee Jinryong’s mind.

It was the memory of a girl—called by some the Eternal One and by others simply Jamsuni.

A monster among monsters, who stood as an equal to the Celestial Immortals before she could even speak, and waged war against them before the age of ten.

Lee Jinryong recalled the moment she invaded that clan household, commanding more than ten Demon Kings as her slaves and draped in a cloak of countless spirits.

She was an Eternal Quasi-Demon Sovereign.

And now, Lee Jinryong saw that same terrifying potential in the tiger.

A lowly lineage—not a descendant of hereditary shamans or the great houses.

Yet her strength was maddening.

An ugly surge of inferiority twisted in Lee Jinryong’s chest.

They had surpassed her to become the Baekdu of Cheonji.

They had risen above her to become her superior.

If they were to be destroyed, it had to be now—before her mastery of Negative Harmonization fully settled and her spiritual power recovered.

Lee Jinryong’s eyes gleamed as he gave his order.

“I will issue the command.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Even if they’ve suppressed their spiritual power through negation, we cannot simply obliterate their soul. Its essence is too dangerous and terrifying. Leave no trace. Use the commoners to eliminate her.”

***

“For someone like you to protect the seed of such an abomination… I cannot simply stand by,” the man repeated.

And so, the situation had escalated to this.

A clash between a subordinate of Lee Jinryong, tasked with inciting the mob to eliminate Baek Yoorin, and a man who looked more like a ruggedly handsome rogue than an opponent.

The Earthly Immortal assessed the man before him.

‘I can’t read his spiritual state at all. His soul seems entirely ordinary.’

The realization unsettled him. He immediately pushed his spiritual energy to its limits.

‘Yin Concealment, is it?’

From the way the man had shattered the asphalt earlier, it was clear he was truly psychic. But to so perfectly conceal his spiritual state?

Could he really be on the level of Earthly Immortal?

The thought nagged at him.

‘But he isn’t using his abilities to chase off the mob. He must have some kind of moral code or vow related to the common people. In that case, I’ll simply use the crowd against him.’

And so, with a smooth smile, the Earthly Immortal spoke.

“But you’re saying ‘that thing’ isn’t a monster?”

“That’s right.”

“Then take a good, hard look at it. Doesn’t it feel monstrous to you?”

The man looked at Baek Yoorin.

His expression didn’t change in the slightest.

‘Unbelievable. Even I can’t help but bite my lips and clench my fists when I look at the tiger. But this man… his reaction was entirely natural, almost serene.’

Normally, he would use this moment to rile up the crowd further. Something along the lines of, ‘See? Even you grimace when you look at that monster. You can’t deny it’s a monster, can you? So why accuse us…?’

But this man? He just stood there, quietly observing the tiger as if admiring something beautiful.

‘His self-control is remarkable.’

Suppressing his frustration, the Earthly Immortal forced a calm tone.

“It doesn’t look like a monster at all,” the man said casually.

The Earthly Immortal shot back, “Monsters and anomalies don’t have families. Even their own blood relations abandon them, disgusted by their corrupted souls. If you truly don’t see it as a monster, then prove it with your actions.”

“Prove it, and all this stops?”

“Yes. If it’s truly someone’s beloved family member, it can’t possibly be a monster or an anomaly.”

Monsters and anomalies lacked humanity.

That’s why they had no one to love them—no family to care for them.

It was common knowledge in today’s world.

“Well,” the Earthly Immortal continued, “if it’s a cherished person, surely you wouldn’t hesitate to kiss them?”

The Earthly Immortal was confident.

Who in their right mind would kiss ‘that’?

The crowd seemed to share his sentiment.

“A kiss?”

“What’s the matter? Can’t do it? So, in the end, you see it as a monster, too—”

But before the Earthly Immortal could finish, Yoo Hajin let out a small chuckle.

.

.

.

‘Can’t do it? Bullshit.’

Kissing such a stunning beauty out of nowhere? Sure, it might cause a ‘few’ problems later. That was the ‘only’ reason for hesitation.

To Yoo Hajin, this wasn’t a test. It was a reward.

“Miss Baek Yoorin.”

“Y-yes?”

“Given the situation, I don’t think we have much choice. Is that okay with you?”

“Uh… y-yes. But this is my first… kiss. And… with someone like me? I can feel it now. Even though my soul has diminished, it’s still so disgusting and frightening. I… I…”

But Yoo Hajin didn’t see any of that in her soul.

There was no need for further words.

Yoo Hajin gently reached for the nape of her neck and drew her closer.

“

Baek Yoorin’s face turned as red as a cherry.

And then, Yoo Hajin kissed her.

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

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