Chapter 98
The dark cave felt similar to the Nightmare Corridor. A damp and cool feeling, like a cold hand caressing one's heart.
A quirk even developed midway.
"《Dog》. You become a dog. Woof woof."
Suddenly, I felt like barking like a dog. A quirk that develops even without dying in the Nightmare Corridor! It seemed best to cure it quickly.
"Status window!"
I opened the treatment center and cured the quirk. Yang Juhee also developed the dog quirk, so I cured hers too.
200 points were consumed, but it was better than letting quirks accumulate.
Still, the situation was full of dog barking.
Because I had become accustomed to this atmosphere through multiple trips through the corridor, I was somehow able to put the stakes back in properly.
When I inserted the last stake, the extinguished lights came back on.
"It worked..."
Whatever it was, I seemed to have succeeded.
I had become a hero who defeated the evil scheme of a chaebol chairman by singing hymns that seemed effective in disrupting the gut ritual.
"Oh, young master! You saved us!"
"To be fine when everyone was turning into dogs! What god do you serve?"
The shamans showed interest in me. It seems I looked like an amazing person. I decided to make something up.
"The cycle of life and death must continue. We will live, and they will die."
"Oho. Indeed. A profound principle."
"Your voice sounds young, but you're a very virtuous young man."
I just imitated some game dialogue, but no one knows. They're all complete frauds. My trust in shamans dropped another level.
"So what do we do with Kwon Oh-sung?"
"What do you mean what do we do? Let's tell Cheon honestly and hand him over. Trying to open the water vein on his own. If Cheon finds out, he's a dead man."
"...But if we tell the truth honestly, I feel like we'll all get caught up and screwed too."
The shamans, who had been completely out of it until just now, seemed quite perplexed by the current situation.
They knew Kwon Oh-sung had tried to use them to do something bad, but because he's a chaebol chairman, they can't rashly retaliate.
Kwon Oh-sung was still shouting with eyes that seemed not to have given up yet.
"It's not too late! We can do it again! I'll give you money! If we succeed this time, we might not need to worry about Cheon or anyone else! You idiots! You worthless mongrels! This is why you can never rise up!"
But his cries no longer seemed to reach people's ears. People tied up Kwon Oh-sung tightly.
"Gag his tongue and tie all his fingers too. This guy is terrifyingly good at making curses. He's the one who drowned the tutelary shaman living in Gaeryong, isn't he?"
The tutelary shaman of Gaeryong... isn't that Yoo Dahee's grandmother? To think Kwon Oh-sung drowned Yoo Dahee's grandmother.
This was another story I was hearing for the first time. I asked a heavily made-up shaman ajumma.
"Is that true?"
"That's right. An ungrateful bastard. He stabbed in the back someone who treated him like a mother and sister. There's no evidence, but it must be him. He has such a vicious nature."
"He tried to use all of us as ghost bait today too! He's a psychopath who treats human lives as a joke."
People were getting very angry.
Even though Kwon Oh-sung was a chaebol chairman who dominated Korea, this was a secret gathering place for idol worship that no one would find, and it wouldn't be strange if Kwon Oh-sung was stoned to death here.
That's when it happened. Someone appeared in the basement.
"Everyone, wait a moment!"
His face was familiar to me too. It was the ahjussi who read our palms when we went hiking in Gaeryong before.
Dr. Ji, was it?
Soon, people were surprised.
"Isn't that Ji Dong-seok?"
"Why has the guy who's been in seclusion for years appeared?"
"Isn't he Kwon Oh-sung's classmate? Did he come after getting contacted by Kwon Oh-sung?"
He was the ahjussi who helped sort things out by reporting to the police when we found Gu Hyena's body. To think he was Kwon Oh-sung's classmate.
The name Ji Dong-seok was familiar too.
Wasn't there a document in the principal's office on the second floor of the Nightmare Corridor that said "From Principal Ji Dong-seok"? He was a feng shui master who used to be the principal of old Yeongji High.
He looked around and said politely.
"Seniors and juniors. May I take care of this? I came after hearing from the Chairman. If you hand over Kwon Oh-sung to me, I'll take care of the aftermath thoroughly."
"Isn't he trying to help Kwon Oh-sung because they're classmates?"
"No, I heard they're mortal enemies."
The atmosphere was unsettled.
Soon, people's gazes gathered on me wearing the squid mask.
As I was feeling slightly flustered, a heavily made-up ajumma shaman laughed heartily.
"I think it would be good to ask the opinion of the young master who handled today's affair well."
"Yes, that's a good idea."
"The young one's spiritual power seems quite amazing! Kwon Oh-sung tried to burst his heart with a curse, but he didn't even flinch!"
"I saw it too. The young man has a very strong heart."
Everyone praised and liked me. For some reason, I seem to be amazing.
Honestly, it was news to me that Kwon Oh-sung had tried to burst my heart.
Was he hiding a gun or something? It was fucking scary.
I just wanted to get out of this place.
"I am Kwon Oh-suuung! I'm the best in Korea! I aaaam!"
Chaebol chairman Kwon Oh-sung was resisting in a very ugly manner, flailing his arms and legs. He crawled over to Kwon Suho's motionless body, buried his face in it, and cried.
Kwon Suho was breathing, so he wasn't dead. But he didn't seem to be in a living state either.
"Huuugh! Huuugh!"
It was the first time in my life seeing a middle-aged man cry so pathetically.
It didn't feel good at all, and when everyone was silent, the ahjussi called Ji Dong-seok approached Kwon Oh-sung.
"Oh-sung. They say if you want to curse someone, dig two graves, right? One for the other person and one for yourself. This is just what's coming back to you for all the harm you've done to people until now. It's all over. It's all over."
Is it really all over? Whatever the case, I didn't want to stay in this horrible cave.
I thought it would be best to get out of this place quickly with Yang Juhee. I hated getting caught up in more troublesome things by staying here too long.
"I think it would be good if Dr. Ji Dong-seok wraps up this affair."
My whole body was damp with sweat, and the smell of the squid mask was terrible.
It seemed okay to trust Ji Dong-seok ahjussi, who said he came on the Chairman's orders, and I wanted to leave the place after entrusting everything to him.
"Ahem, then as the curfew time for the domain is almost up, I'll be going now. Reiko-san. Let's go. Sua-yang, we're leaving. Sayonara."
Hurriedly-
With that feeling, we succeeded in escaping. We ran so hard it felt like someone might be chasing us from behind.
Patter patter patter patter-
How long did we run like that? Only when Osung's building was out of sight could I finally take off the squid mask.
The air was very sweet.
"Hey! Whatever it was, I think we did it! I feel like we accomplished something, whatever it was!"
I was so happy that I held out my palm towards Yang Juhee. Yang Juhee also took off her fox mask and high-fived me.
"When I kicked, the chaebol chairman went flying! I beat a rich guy!"
It seems Yang Juhee also beat up Kwon Oh-sung under the cover of darkness.
How many chances do you get in life to hit a chaebol chairman?
If possible, I wanted to hit him too.
"No one knew I was a fake shaman! It's hilarious!"
"The big company chairman was about to wet himself looking at me!"
Yang Juhee and I didn't know exactly what had happened, but we felt great and burst out laughing together.
As we were thinking this, Kwon Sua came running from afar, panting.
"Um... It seems like it went well!"
Kwon Sua evaluated today's events as successful. I thought it went very well too.
So what happens now?
As I was thinking this, Kwon Sua fidgeted.
"It... it was amazing. I was too scared to do anything... Honestly, I was so scared I just covered my ears and kept my eyes tightly shut..."
Actually, I was scared too. Didn't she see me trembling with fear in the darkness? I think I messed up the hymn's tune a lot too.
Thinking back, I got the lyrics wrong too.
But isn't it fine as long as the result is good?
As I was feeling a bit smug, Kwon Sua said.
"Um... I know it might seem a bit funny to say this suddenly in this situation... but Young-won, could we talk alone for a moment?"
***
Kwon Sua asked if we could talk alone. We went to a quiet cafe near Osung Group.
People's gazes gathered on us, probably because of our outfits, which was a bit embarrassing.
"What did you want to say?"
Is she going to offer me money? Since I helped her today, there should be some compensation, right?
That's capitalism. Everyone was living like that.
Kwon Sua just kept sipping her iced choco latte through the straw.
As I was feeling nervous for no reason, Kwon Sua asked.
"Hey!"
"Yes?"
"Do you... have someone you like?"
"......"
What's her intention in asking me this? Is she asking if I have someone I like?
Is this going to be followed by "If not, let's date" - that kind of dream-like conversation?
No, that seemed too convenient and biased an imagination, even for me.
The probability of a popular idol member I just met today falling for me and confessing was as slim as someone's heart bursting and dying from a curse caused by an angry chaebol chairman stabbing a straw doll he kept in his pocket.
It was close to zero. Maybe even exactly zero.
"...I don't... particularly have anyone I like?"
But humans can't help but have expectations. All men live with the confidence of "What if it's me?"
It's thanks to such confidence that we've been able to preserve our species.
"I see."
Kwon Sua visibly relaxed.
On the other hand, I started feeling nervous and my heart began to flutter. My heart was pounding hard, maybe because of Kwon Oh-sung's curse.
As I was getting very tense wondering what kind of conversation was about to start, Kwon Sua, who had finished her choco latte leaving only ice, sucked on the empty cup with her straw.
An endlessly awkward atmosphere. Unable to bear it, I asked.
"What did you want to say?"
"Um... will you go out with me?"
Boing-
It felt like my eyeballs were popping out of my head like springs. To think the convenient scenario I imagined would become reality!
No way. This couldn't possibly be considered reality.
Is this a dream?
Maybe I'm still trapped in Osung Group's basement, asleep, and dreaming that I'm sitting in a cafe with an idol. Or maybe Kwon Sua's true identity is an idol ghost trying to bewitch people and suck their brains.
As I was pondering for a while, Kwon Sua looked at me like a rain-soaked puppy.
"...Is it not possible?"
Not possible?
The reason I've been unhappy until now must be because of this very moment. I've been unhappy until now to balance out the excessive luck of this moment.
And on the other hand, I was puzzled.
"Why me...?"
I was an objective person.
With my charms, it was hard even to win over Jung Sojin or Bong Ji-yeon. But for an idol to confess to me? It's natural to be suspicious.
Soon, Kwon Sua said.
"It's the first time I've met someone who has the same experiences as me. I feel like we communicate well too. Just being able to talk about these things is honestly so fun and makes me happy..."
Ah, if that's the case, I could understand. If I nod now, do I become an idol's boyfriend?
I was also unsure if it was okay for an idol to date, but Kwon Sua must have already considered such concerns more than I had.
She must have thought about various things and concluded that she wanted to date me. If so, I needed to think seriously too.
"...Do I have to decide right now?"
"No! You don't have to. A lot has happened today, so you must be overwhelmed..."
Idol Kwon Sua was hesitating.
However, an idol always shines like a high mountain idol wherever they go, and the few people in the cafe recognized her.
"Excuse me, aren't you Kwon Sua from Dorangmul Girls? Right?"
"Wow! Could I get an autograph?"
"Can I take a picture?"
People started gathering around.
Many people began to surround Kwon Sua, and I had to quickly escape, worried that my face might end up in the mass media unnecessarily.
As someone whose father was the culprit in a big incident five years ago, I wanted to avoid having my face appear in the mass media at all costs.