Chapter 64
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“You’ve arrived, Boss!”
Yeo Moon-beom shifted his gaze to Park Jeongbae, who was bowing at a 90-degree angle, his voice unusually excited today.
Normally, he would have handed over the empty ice box without a word, his face expressionless as usual. However, instead of passing on the small luggage he was carrying, Yeo Moon-beom approached Park Jeongbae, who had his head bowed low and his hand outstretched.
His thick eyebrows slightly raised as he felt an oddly unsettling sensation on his skin.
Already having good intuition, coupled with the remnants of dokkaebi power stimulating his physical senses, it was hard to ignore. Yeo Moon-beom asked in a voice as devoid of emotional fluctuation as his expression:
“What happened?”
“…Pardon?”
Park Jeongbae lifted only his head to look up at Yeo Moon-beom, his arms still outstretched. There was a dark bruise on the end of his noticeably asymmetrical, crooked chin.
“What happened to your face?”
“Well, that… I…”
“Speak. Now.”
His demeanor suggested he might strike the same spot again if Park Jeongbae didn’t open his mouth. Left with no choice, Park Jeongbae told the truth.
“I didn’t fight with anyone! Actually, yesterday, Sunam had a big fight with the village chief. I got hit by mistake while trying to break it up. Please don’t misunderstand, Boss.”
“Jeon Sunam fought with the village chief?”
Yeo Moon-beom recalled how Jeon Sunam had been irritably calling the village chief multiple times after hearing about the sighting of the human-faced bird.
“Yes. Sunam is one thing, but the village chief is no pushover either. It was so fierce. I thought I might die from fear just watching.”
Park Jeongbae continued, rubbing his arms with both hands as if still getting goosebumps thinking about yesterday’s events.
“To be honest, I know there’s nothing good about getting involved in other people’s family fights, right? But seeing them go at it like they were ready to kill each other, I thought things might get really bad. I was worried they might even call the cops if things went wrong, so Jincheol and I tried our best to stop them.”
Seemingly embarrassed about failing to properly stop a mere father-son fight and ending up with a mark on his face, Park Jeongbae rambled on about things he wasn’t even asked about.
He looked at Yeo Moon-beom with subtle eyes, as if hoping for praise for preventing the situation from escalating further.
“You did something unnecessary.”
However, words that betrayed Park Jeongbae’s expectations flowed from Yeo Moon-beom’s mouth.
“…Pardon?”
“It would have been easier if you had let it run its course.”
Given Jeon Sunam’s hot-tempered and thoughtless nature, Yeo Moon-beom had expected that he wouldn’t leave the village chief alone and would cause trouble.
He had hoped that conflicts with the villagers would spread and hinder the resort construction, but unfortunately, it seemed to have ended in incomplete combustion.
His straight lips twisted into a diagonal line. Yeo Moon-beom, with a small vein showing on his forehead, tossed the empty ice box to Park Jeongbae.
“Take it.”
“Ah, yes, Boss.”
Park Jeongbae blinked in confusion as he hugged the ice box. He was cowed, having received a scolding despite his efforts that resulted in a bruise the size of a fist on his face.
Looking at the visibly dejected Park Jeongbae, Yeo Moon-beom pulled up the strap of the sports bag slung over one shoulder and said in an indifferent tone:
“Don’t interfere in other people’s family matters. No matter who it is.”
He wasn’t just talking about the Jeon father and son. Like Chairman Jang Gitae, who had eliminated his biological father Jang Myeong-gil and seized control of the organization, Yeo Moon-beom had also planned to usurp the chairman position, so he meant not to interfere unnecessarily in that matter as well in the future.
Of course, he didn’t think small fry like Park Jeongbae or Yang Jincheol had the bold personality to interfere with him.
Park Jeongbae hurriedly followed Yeo Moon-beom, who had started walking without waiting for a response, and replied:
“Yes, understood, Boss! If something like this happens again, I’ll just stay put and do nothing!”
“No. Don’t just stay put, report to me first.”
Yesterday, he had been spending intimate time with Eun-hwi, so even if he had been contacted, he wouldn’t have been able to come down to the village immediately. But there was nothing more troublesome than grasping the situation belatedly from a superior position.
Especially in a situation like now where he needed to take control.
“Yes, yes! I’ll report to you right away!”
“Guide me. To the village hall.”
“Yes!”
Park Jeongbae ran ahead and started guiding the way. Yeo Moon-beom headed towards the village hall where the chief and residents were all gathered, rather than the open space in front of the inn where they usually met.
After passing the village guardian tree surrounded by sacred straw ropes and with a small shrine at its base, the village hall built with red bricks appeared. Yang Jincheol, who was outside, bowed at a right angle as soon as he saw Yeo Moon-beom.
“Boss, you’ve arrived.”
“Is everyone here?”
“…”
“Yang Jincheol. I asked if everyone is here.”
“Ah, yes. Everyone’s here without exception. Except for that strange guy who claims to be a professor at Korea University or something.”
Yang Jincheol, who had been momentarily lost in thought, hastily gathered his wits and answered. His unnaturally stiff face felt oddly strange.
His face, with his lower jaw twitching slightly, looked not like someone afraid of getting punched, but like someone wrestling with questions in his mind.
“Yang Jincheol.”
“…Yes?”
“Stop testing me and speak up while I’m still being nice.”
“…”
“Before I make you mourn in front of the villagers.”
His tone was quite gentle, but his words were direct. Yang Jincheol, closing his eyes tightly and then opening them again in the face of Yeo Moon-beom who seemed to see right through him no matter how he tried to hide it, stammered an excuse.
“I, I wasn’t trying to hide anything, Boss. It’s just, how should I put it… I felt a strange energy…”
“A strange energy?”
“Suddenly, I felt an eerie chill like I used to feel at the dokkaebi site. I think it must be my imagination. I’m sorry for acting strange.”
I heard that Yang Jincheol, whose great-grandfather was a shaman, had a slight spiritual sensitivity. He wasn’t clairvoyant like his great-grandfather, but could sense a bit of yin energy, so I wondered if he might have detected the dokkaebi power remaining in my body.
The divine power that used to disappear in an hour or two had remained for nearly a full day.
Amusingly, rather than feeling satisfied with finally obtaining the ghostly power I had so desired, I first felt the urge to explore Eun-hwi’s body again before the energy flowing in my body disappeared.
I couldn’t tell if it was because I was intoxicated by the mysterious power that humans couldn’t possess, or if I had fallen for the act itself.
What was certain was that I had become addicted to sex after just one time. I was in no position to blame the monster living according to its primal desires.
Yeo Moon-beom whispered to Yang Jincheol and Park Jeongbae with a bitter smile on his lips.
“It’s not your imagination. I’ve been feeling chills lately too. I think I might be possessed by a ghost.”
The two turned pale and panicked at his utterly serious tone.
“G-g-ghost?”
“I’m joking. Open the door.”
“Hahaha, Boss, you got us. We almost believed it was true. You have a talent for jokes.”
Park Jeongbae slid open the old aluminum sash door, shedding a tear. Though their obvious relief was quite amusing, Yeo Moon-beom didn’t show any reaction and slowly stepped forward.
“Village chief. Manager Yeo Moon-beom has arrived.”
As he entered the meeting room, he saw elderly men with faces darkened and shriveled from sunburn, and Jeon Sunam pouting in the corner.
And the two old men sitting submissively next to Jeon Sunam seemed to be those who had signed contracts and become traitors to the village.
“Hello. I’m Jeon Man-sik, the chief of Wolhwa Village.”
Though he wore a friendly smile, the village chief with stubborn eyes offered his hand to Yeo Moon-beom.
Yeo Moon-beom deliberately let a little energy flow as he shook hands with Jeon Man-sik, who wore a New Village Movement hat, a symbol of the modernization and lifestyle improvement movement, yet adhered to superstitions more than anyone else.
“I’m Yeo Moon-beom, manager of the business development department at Gang-il Construction.”
Jeon Man-sik unknowingly frowned, perhaps feeling a tingling sensation in his fingertips from the power that flowed over during the handshake.
The puzzled gazes of the villagers converged. Embarrassed, Jeon Man-sik let go of his hand and cleared his throat before getting straight to the point.
“There are all sorts of rumors about you, but I’ll ask just one thing, no more, no less. I heard you saw a human-faced bird in the sacred forest of Wolhwa Mountain. Is that true?”
“It is true.”
“What did the human-faced bird look like?”
“It had Northern features not seen in the people here. Its winged body was even larger than an ostrich.”
“Ooh…!”
The seated elders exclaimed in admiration and started whispering among themselves. Amidst the suddenly chaotic atmosphere, Yeo Moon-beom opened the zipper of the sports bag slung over his shoulder and spread the opening wide as he spoke:
“I will protect you all from that disgusting and terrifying monster. I promise you with this money here.”
Bundles of 50,000 won bills were visible through the opened gap.
