The warm sun began to burn his back. A gentle breeze blew over him for a ritual. Tears seemed to fall but were hidden away by a wink as was the way of a man. At the same time, the old man did not hesitate to push Wit out of the way!
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"Hey! Are you crazy! You got the wrong person, young man!?"
The uncle shouted loudly.
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"But I have proof! Look, there are pictures of you on my phone! At first glance, the monk you're talking about must be the same monk I met at the temple. We're sinful, uncle! People who can see ghosts are usually the same type of people!"
Wit recited scene by scene, his godly story-telling skills working.
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"Hey...you're crazy, young man! Let me make some observations for you.."
"You've never gotten old. You probably don't understand that when people get old, their faces start to wrinkle. Hawk's feet and crow's feet stomp on each other's faces! Any old person looks similar. The uncle and the person in the picture might just have the same hairstyle. You're thinking too much~! Oh my god~!"
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The young man immediately glared down. He squinted his eyes and looked at them from the right angle.
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"No, uncle! , No! , I don't think I can see people that wrong!?"
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"Hey! , You're so stubborn!"
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It's like the uncle can't stand modern people anymore. It's like the young man from the capital wants to force the life of a corpse on him. The sharpest sentence had to come out of his mouth and it was a famous phrase that even Wit couldn't argue with.
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"Listen, young man! Have you ever seen Korean stars? Those girl groups, boy groups, which brands are popular with teenagers? Those people all have plastic surgery. The doctors who do it all studied at the same school and use the same textbooks. As a result, Korean stars all look the same! Can you tell who's who?!"
"Now, old people like us are the same! We didn't get plastic surgery, but the law of karma has been cruel to us. When you're as old as me, you'll understand. And you won't stand with your hands on your hips arguing with me like this!"
"Is that all?! Then what do you want to do next? Should we continue according to the map or stand here in the sun so I can go find other customers!"
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He was fierce and didn't care about anyone. His language was old and biased. This uncle seemed to be more outspoken than the uncle that Wit knew. So the young man chose to keep his mouth shut and not respond anymore.
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Looking left and right, the road was still empty. There were hardly any cars, to the point of shock. If you don't count the three-wheeled pedicab with a talisman number in the form of a graphic, this area was quite deserted. So the young man from the capital decided to hand the phone and the map app to the three-wheeled uncle to look at again. He nodded that he knew her before Wit and his favorite backpack, the rat-gnawed mouse, jumped into the back seat and continued their journey.
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"Knock... Knock... Knock... Knock...!"
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The sound of the iron chain catching the gears of the wheel and the tire tread grinding against the road was so slow and painful that Wit almost forgot that he was in a hurry. Even though he had slept enough, he was much more exhausted than when he first got on the bus. His distractions had subsided. His longing for Prao was starting to come to terms with it. The scary incident that had just happened had something to do with it. It had stolen the space in their relationship and replaced it with caution.
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His back rested against the backrest slowly. During that time, he closed his eyes and thought about the various events that had been crashing into him endlessly. Speaking of which, Wit having to sit on a tricycle like this was another strange thing. Was it fate? Or was it destiny? A straight line was formed from many points drawn in a row. And maybe what the young man in the capital is facing will lead him to another place that is more important.
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"Sigh! , So tired!"
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Wit complained a little too loudly until the rickshaw uncle accidentally heard.
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"Uncle, you're already pedaling as hard as you can?! , Don't sigh at me like that~!"
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"Hey! , No! , No! , No! It's nothing, uncle! I was just complaining about something. It has nothing to do with you."
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A moment of silence formed. The sounds of "gong gang, gong gang" alternating with "squeaking, squeaking" could be heard from under the car every now and then. After a while, the uncle finally opened his mouth.
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"Huh!.. Don't be so impatient! Turn at the intersection in front. It's 500 meters away. That's the lady's house.. Uncle always brings people here, but there might be a bit of an uphill section. If you can't handle it, I'll tell you."
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Wit's ears immediately became strange. His focus returned to the conversation with the old man in front of him. His back swayed and swayed, his legs began to increase in speed, along with the rickshaw that was gradually turning at an angle.
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Prao's house should be on the mountain as he had guessed. The slowness of the rickshaw made him consider the roadside more, before he found that it was only forest! The natural wilderness began to appear. The smell of wood, the smell of incense, everything wafted into his nostrils, which was an atmosphere that a city person like him had never encountered. It was not exactly a relaxing, spa-like atmosphere, or it was a test drive into a graveyard.
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"Knock... Knock... Knock... Knock... Knock...!"
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The sound of the rickshaw continued to groan, as if it was a welcome. The gate of the twilight forest must have opened. And this will be another time that Science has stepped into an unknown territory.
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After battling the gravity of the world for almost 3 minutes, Uncle and his spiritual tricycle finally brought the picky passenger to the destination according to the GPS. It was Prao's house according to the evidence in the documents. It was located on a majestic hill, with only what was seen in front of it, but there was only the front gate and the sidewalk that had to be walked to get in!
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The dirt road ends here, there's no way for the car to drive on, and Wit has to exert some effort himself. So he quickly checked the coordinates on his phone and found out that the location was exactly as the app had pinned it! Uncle didn't make it up! Even though he was standing there sweating, pale, and panting, he really did bring him to the agreed destination!
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"Huff, huff, okay young man, Uncle can probably only take you this far. The madam doesn't like anyone to come near the house."
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"Madam! Does that mean the people in the house are rich?"
The young man shouted with wide eyes. He had never known this part of Prao's history.
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"It must be the family of the old lords, the nobles. Look at the gate over there! Do we commoners have something like this? But Uncle often drops people off here, and you're the only one who asks this and that."
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"Hey uncle! I just want to know. I just want to come..."
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"Okay, never mind! Uncle doesn't want to know your urgent business. Let's just say that once we reach our destination, it's all about the money."
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"Oh... Okay! Sure, wait for me a moment."
Wit immediately went into the banking app and told the samlor uncle to create a QR code for him to scan and pay easily. At that moment, he was still happy that he could still use the 5G signal on the mountain. While waiting, he asked the uncle another question.
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"It's only 1:00 p.m. Why is it so dark, uncle?"
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"Oh... This is how it is in the countryside, young man! There are a lot of trees, so it gets dark faster than in the city."
"By the way! Where's the money? Are you planning to pay for the fare with your phone?!"
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He had a feeling that the QR code wouldn't work! In the end, the cash had to be taken out of Wit's wallet. He had overpaid a little and the old man gave him back a small banknote as change.
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However, after giving him the change, he didn't turn the bike around! He turned to smile at Wit with a face similar to the old man who had died, said "Good luck" and rode the bike straight away, disappearing from sight.
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"Heh heh... What's wrong with you?"
Wit thought to himself. He still held the old man's change tightly and suddenly turned his face in the direction the bike was going.
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The question was, where to go? Since there was only a cliff at the end of the road! If he wasn't familiar with the way, that would be another matter! But the old man's quick back was still swaying. He rode confidently as if he was going to go and never come back.
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"Hey, old man! Where are you going!!"
"W-what the hell!, this kind of thing!?"
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"T- ... , thump! , thump! , thump! , thump! "
The soles of his feet ran after him, beating like a drum.
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And in the end, Wit could not catch up with the old man's wheel. The sky darkened like dusk, even though the sun was high above his head. How could it be like that? How could the countryside get dark faster than the city if there was not an "eclipse!"?
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It was so dark and scary that Wit could not go on because it was at the end of the land. Below was a huge, unfathomable cliff. And the peak was when he tried to look down, he saw small yellow lights scattered and dazzling below! They were marigolds that were illuminated by the sunlight! The ugly yellow light that Wit dreamed of until he was horrified!
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His hands were shaking so hard that he was soaked. The uncle's change was still there, but when he tried to look down, they had all turned into leaves!!!
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"Phew~!!!!"