"Rise and shine, everyone! Morning has arrived in the afterlife! (Well, technically we're in a basement, so there's no actual sunrise.) Time to wake up! It's mission time!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I slammed a ladle against an aluminum pot as I kicked open the door to the Spirit Guest Quarters.

The scene inside was something else.

Hyunwoo sat upright in the center of his barrier, legs crossed as if he'd spent the entire night meditating.

Jieun had fallen asleep right outside the barrier, using one of Hyunwoo's dress shoes as a pillow.

Meanwhile, Minsu was sleeping in the corner, muttering in his dreams.

"...squats..."

[Anonymous1]: Wait, did the exorcist seriously stay up all night?? Dude's defense is insane LOL.

[Anonymous2]: Honestly, Miss Shaman is scarier than the ghosts.

[Anonymous3]: Where's Miss Mija? Did she get exorcised? 💀

"Today's wake-up mission is called [Deliver Your Heart Talisman]! Last night, Mr. Hyunwoo gathered spiritual energy and prepared a Purification Talisman. Now he must choose who to give it to! So, Mr. Hyunwoo—which lucky person gets it?"

Hyunwoo glared at me with exhausted eyes.

The top two buttons of his shirt had come undone.

The chat immediately lost its mind.

"This is staged, right? Why am I even doing this..."

"Think about your installment payments, Cha Hyunwoo. And... action!"

With a sigh, Hyunwoo pulled out a yellow talisman.

Jieun rubbed her eyes awake and immediately posed with her hands under her chin.

"Mr. Exorcist, it's me, right? You're going to purify me, right? Last night I even dreamed that we ascended together!"

Just then—

Jiiing—

Mija gracefully emerged from a closet and plucked her gayageum.

"They say dreams often mean the opposite. Young sir, would you grant that talisman to me and wash away the resentment I have carried for centuries?"

Minsu suddenly jumped up and flexed his chest muscles.

"Mr. Hyunwoo! Man to man, give it to me! I wanna stick that thing on and go back to the living world to hit a 200-kilo bench press!"

As I swept the gimbal across this increasingly ridiculous love polygon, I kept one eye on the donation feed.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[Donation: ₩150,000]: "Time for the exorcist's choice! If he picks Jieun, I'm cracking open drinks tonight!"

[Donation: ₩50,000]: "Give it to Miss Mija! Show us the romance of Joseon!"

Hyunwoo's hand hovered uncertainly in the air.

Then finally—

It stopped right in front of my forehead.

"Hey, shaman. You should put this on and get your act together. Stop tormenting the dead."

SLAP!

He smacked the talisman onto my forehead and walked out of the room.

I froze for a moment.

Then immediately turned the camera toward myself and zoomed in on the talisman.

"WOW! Did everyone see that?! A historic moment! The exorcist chose the shaman! Is this enemies-to-lovers material?! He says he wants to purify me—but isn't that basically love?!"

Jieun stood frozen with her mouth hanging open.

Minsu stared blankly at me.

Meanwhile, the chat had descended into total chaos.

[Anonymous4]: NO WAY 💀 Main character buff is real. Shaman × Exorcist confirmed??

[Anonymous5]: Jieun taking an unexpected L again LOL.

[Anonymous6]: I'm dropping 1,000 stars if those two go into the Truth Room together!

I smiled softly without removing the talisman from my forehead.

Whether the exorcist liked me or hated me didn't matter.

This one talisman had sent our ratings through the roof.

Turning even other people's hatred into content—

that was the true specialty of Ham Sunyoung, a thirty-something shaman just trying to make a living.

As I switched off the camera, I quietly selected the location for our next episode's One-on-One Midnight Date:

the deserted back roads near Independence Hall in Cheonan.

Maybe it'd be nice to take ghosts and an exorcist on a little field trip.