Chapter 66
Yeo Moon-beom quickly withdrew his strength, curling his fingers at the sound of metal breaking the silence.
But it was already too late.
“A dokkaebi?”
The monster that had once terrorized the entire village long ago – the dokkaebi.
The villagers, who had been unable to hide their shock at just the name, stood up one by one and glared at Yeo Moon-beom with suspicious eyes. The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly changed.
“Me, a dokkaebi? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
He had only intended to restrain them moderately and intimidate them. But dealing with humans instead of ghosts for the first time, he unknowingly failed to control his strength.
A slightly distorted smile appeared and quickly disappeared on his face, which had remained composed until now.
This has become troublesome.
Although the situation had taken an unexpected turn, Yeo Moon-beom skillfully concealed his true feelings and showed his empty hands to the villagers as if he had no hostile intentions.
“Are you alright, Village Chief? I’m a martial arts expert, so I should have been more careful. I applied too much force. I apologize.”
The man with three long, slash-like scars might look like an executive of a violent organization as rumored, but he didn’t look like a dokkaebi at all.
As the murmuring grew louder, Jeon Man-sik, supported by his son Jeon Sunam, stood up and approached Baek Dong-man, asking a question as if urging him to explain.
“What do you mean, a dokkaebi?”
“I saw it with my own eyes! Fire came out of that fella’s hand and then disappeared! He’s a transformed dokkaebi. My eyes don’t lie!”
Baek Dong-man was the one who had revealed the identity of the reclusive wealthy person after witnessing blue dokkaebi fire burning near the dokkaebi site.
At Baek Dong-man’s statement, who was trusted as much as, if not more than, the village chief, the villagers were startled and stepped back. They pulled Jeon Man-sik and Baek Dong-man’s arms back.
“Stop dawdling and come here! Here!”
“Yes, it’s dangerous, hurry and come here!”
Yeo Moon-beom gave a hollow laugh. He had intended to cause conflict and confusion from the start, but he never imagined he’d suddenly be treated like a god of plague.
“Hah…”
Yeo Moon-beom sighed lightly, ran his hand through his hair, and lowered his hands, speaking in a tone one level lower.
“If I were a dokkaebi, I would have already built a resort here and more. Why would I bother with all this trouble?”
“Liar! It’s clear you’re trying to drive all us villagers out and take over Wolhwa Island for yourself!”
Shim Bong-pil, trembling all over as if having a fit, grabbed a standing wooden coat rack from the corner and threw it hard at Yeo Moon-beom. The diagonally protruding hook hit his right shoulder and broke with the impact.
“Boss!”
Park Jeongbae, who had been hesitating, unable to use force against the elders, ran over in alarm.
“Are you alright?”
Yeo Moon-beom silently brushed off the debris from the coat rack on his shoulder. Light-colored wood chips scattered on the floor as they were brushed off by his large, rough hands.
‘Everyone hates me. They say I’m impure. They say I’m so unlucky that they wish I would die.’
He was well aware of being an object of hatred, but their hostility towards dokkaebis exceeded Yeo Moon-beom’s expectations.
Even if they didn’t directly bully him like the ghosts did to Eun-hwi, this atmosphere alone was enough to cause harm.
He couldn’t even imagine how lonely the half-dokkaebi must have been, living alone after losing his family at such a young age, how much pain he must have endured and cried.
One might expect him to resent others, but Eun-hwi had endured all that humiliation quietly until now without harming anyone.
Rounded without any sharp edges, weak-hearted enough to be bullied even by crows, and so naive that he could be easily fooled with a little coaxing.
Nevertheless, he was an excessively beautiful child who had lived his best life, holding onto the dream of becoming human.
Yeo Moon-beom felt endlessly pitiful and proud of Eun-hwi, who hadn’t lost himself despite such dog-like treatment. He thought that perhaps Eun-hwi might be stronger in heart than himself, who had become a monster solely for revenge.
But that didn’t mean he intended to turn back from the path he had walked so far.
“…”
He swallowed the anger rising to the top of his head.
Because only a monster could drive out another monster, he intended to exact retribution from them just as he had from the ghosts. That was the only repayment he could give Eun-hwi with the dokkaebi power he had obtained.
“…Boss.”
As Yeo Moon-beom silently stared at the villagers with a cold expression, Park Jeongbae stepped forward, clenching his fists as if he could no longer endure it.
“Damn it, you’ve really done it now! What the hell are you doing to our boss who’s trying to drive out that dokkaebi or whatever? We’re going to call a lawyer tomorrow and sue all of you! Have you ever seen a dokkaebi sue people? Huh? You’re all dead!”
Shim Bong-pil, a dried fish manufacturer, had a criminal record of being reported for illegal manufacturing. Just moments ago, he had boldly thrown the coat rack, but now he clutched Jeon Man-sik’s clothes with a pale face at Park Jeongbae’s threat.
“Stop it, Park Jeongbae.”
He ordered Park Jeongbae, who was raising his voice exaggeratedly and pointing fingers. It wouldn’t be difficult to deal with old people who would fall over with just a little force, but now was the time to step back to achieve his goal.
Relaxing the stiff muscles in his neck, Yeo Moon-beom bent down with an unperturbed face and picked up the bundles of money.
Even if it was laundered money, releasing a large amount of cash in one village at the same time would cause headaches. Even though it was annoying, he had to take it back.
“Hey, Yang Jincheol! What are you doing just standing there? Hurry up and get the money!”
“…”
“You’re as big as a mountain but standing there like an idiot! What are you doing?”
Despite Park Jeongbae’s nagging, Yang Jincheol stood as if nailed to the spot, watching Yeo Moon-beom pack the money into the bag.
He was confused about whether the person surrounded by the yin energy that should only be felt at the dokkaebi site was really Chairman Jang’s son or if he was the dokkaebi living on Wolhwa Mountain as the villagers said.
Yeo Moon-beom glanced at Yang Jincheol, who couldn’t escape his dilemma, and Jeon Sunam, who couldn’t hide his perplexity, and asked:
“I guess you two also see me as a dokkaebi, huh?”
“…”
“Well, that’s… Boss…”
After finishing packing the money, Yeo Moon-beom slung the bag strap over his shoulder and let out a dry laugh.
“You need a beating to come to your senses. Come out. Outside.”
A beating was the medicine for those who couldn’t understand words. Yeo Moon-beom gestured with his chin towards the outside to the two who were still standing there stupidly.
Although the form was slightly different from what he had planned, he had achieved his initial goal of creating conflict and clearly confirming the differences in positions. There was no need to stay any longer in the chaotic village hall.
“Th-th-th-that wretched dokkaebi spawn!”
Thinking his identity had been exposed and he was running away, Hwang Young-ok, who had rushed out somewhere and brought back a bunch of eggs, threw them wildly at Yeo Moon-beom’s back as he was leaving through the door.
“Die! You evil monster!”
Splat!
“Get out of our island!”
Splat!
“You ungrateful bastard! Go drown and die!”
Splat!
The flying eggs struck the back of his head. Although he could have easily avoided them, he deliberately let himself be hit by the eggs and wiped off the sticky liquid mixed with broken shells that clung to his hair with his hand.
“You’ll be punished for playing with food.”
He never thought he’d receive an egg shower usually reserved for famous politicians. Rather than feeling unpleasant, he laughed at the thought that he had fulfilled Jang Gitae’s dream before him.
“No! Boss is not a dokkaebi!”
Jeon Sunam, who had been standing there dazed, finally realized the seriousness of the situation and shielded Yeo Moon-beom and the demolition team from the eggs.
“Sunam, you fool! How dare you act so stupidly, bewitched by a dokkaebi?”
As the eggs stopped falling, Jeon Man-sik came with a broom and started beating Jeon Sunam mercilessly.
“Ah! Father! Why are you doing this! Damn it, are you crazy?”
The other villagers, perhaps unable to bring themselves to touch the plague-like dokkaebi, took out their anger only on the innocent Jeon Sunam.
“Boss! Is it really okay to leave them like this? I think we should go and stop them.”
Park Jeongbae asked for confirmation, having been ordered not to interfere in other people’s family fights.
“Leave them be.”
Worried that it might harm him, Park Jeongbae remained vigilant while watching the fight.
However, since they fear the plague so much, they wouldn’t dare to come to the dokkaebi site to harm him. If necessary, he could wield the knife he had gained from today’s incident.
Yeo Moon-beom slowly walked away, leaving the fierce fight between father and son behind.
* * *
“…Huh?”
The tip of the white fingers that had been moving slightly lingered around the last buttonhole.
Remembering how Yeo Moon-beom had carefully tidied up his clothes following Dr. Hong’s advice to look disheveled, Eun-hwi took out a light pink shirt from the closet and put it on.
It wasn’t intentional, but perhaps because it was an unfamiliar method and he was nervous, he made the same mistake as before.
Eun-hwi looked down at the shirt with misaligned buttons, causing one side to hang longer, and wondered whether to wait for Yeo Moon-beom like this or button it up again.
“Should I just unbutton it all?”
It seemed it would be fine to just drape the clothes on his body without buttoning anything, like Yeo Moon-beom. Just as he was fidgeting with his fingers, gripping the sleeve that had come up over the back of his hand, it happened.
A heavy footstep that he could now recognize just by hearing it echoed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
