Chapter 26
Then how about delaying the release date without notice and, at the same time, publishing a brand-new work.
Sigh.... What on earth are you growing in that head of yours? Even King Yama wouldn't think of that.
In the end, I stripped most of it out of the head mod's draft until I satisfied the dokkaebi.
I wasn't sure whether to call that satisfaction or surrender, though.
“Still, thanks to you, I’ve broadened my horizons! I’ll be off then!”
“Are you heading outside?”
“Of course! My pleasure in life is pulling little pranks with what I’ve learned! Bwahaha!”
The dokkaebi, laughing heartily, had already turned blue again.
Sending it back outside was probably the right thing to do.
‘Provide an appropriate response, then guide it out of the village.’
That was the purpose of the support assignment in the management guidelines.
“You can head out this way.”
I said to the dokkaebi, pointing in the direction Kang Chaeyoung and I had come from.
“Hmm! You’re much more put-together than the fellow I wrestled last time. I’d like to see you often.”
“Unfortunately, I’m only here for today’s support duty.”
“Oh, dear. Still, you never know what ties might lead to! See you later!”
“Take care.”
The dokkaebi lumbered toward the outside with booming footsteps, then vanished as if it had never been there.
“Is it all done, oppa?”
Once the dokkaebi disappeared, Kang Chaeyoung opened the door and came out onto the porch.
She was still smiling brightly, but I didn’t answer her right away.
Kang Chaeyoung talking and laughing to herself inside the doorway.
Thinking about that, the person over there might not be Kang Chaeyoung at all.
So I went with informal speech.
“Yeah, all done. The dokkaebi said there aren’t any more guests today.”
“Park Seongbin, little one, since when did I start speaking informally to you?”
“Ah.”
A brief silence. I felt wronged.
She should’ve at least not used thick Gyeongsang dialect.
“Just in case. I thought maybe something had gotten into your body.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being careful, but you need to pay attention. I already asked everything before going in, didn’t I?”
Sure enough, she had said she’d asked all the questions before entering the hut.
But with individuals, there are always variables, aren’t there.
As if reading my expression, Kang Chaeyoung came out of the hut, walked up to me, and reached out to mess up my hair.
“That’s because when a Grade 1 is a Grade 1, there usually aren’t any variables.”
Even though she only needed to stretch her arm and didn’t have to lower her head, Kang Chaeyoung still went up on her tiptoes to pat my hair.
“And if there is, wouldn’t it be a senior’s job to make sure it doesn’t get passed to a junior? Cough!”
“Senior?”
“Cough! Cough!”
Suddenly, Kang Chaeyoung started hacking up dry coughs one after another.
When Kang Chaeyoung pulled away the hand she’d been covering her mouth with, bright red blood dripped from her palm.
“Senior, your condition is...”
“Don’t worry about it, oppa. Cough! If you don’t send me off quickly and keep me company, this is what happens.”
“How bad is ‘normally’?”
Just in case, I handed over the handkerchief I’d tucked in my pocket.
And that was when I realized the last guest had already arrived.
After wiping her hands and mouth and returning the handkerchief, Kang Chaeyoung’s face was pale.
“It’s just a blood vessel in my lungs bursting, that’s all. This old thing isn’t hurting anybody~.”
She was trying to keep her expression bright so her junior wouldn’t worry, but her complexion was telling the truth.
“Go in and rest.”
“Huh? It’s only two o’clock. Even if the sun rises earlier these days, you’d be bored if I left you alone, oppa.”
“I’m naturally nocturnal, and I do fine on my own. And didn’t you say it yourself, Senior? Grade 1s don’t have variables.”
I kept my eyes on the surroundings so Kang Chaeyoung wouldn’t notice that thing peeking out from behind the hut, then pushed her into the room.
“You’ll have to drive when we leave, so get some sleep. If you’re really tired, I’ll wake you.”
“Alright. Then I’ll trust you, oppa, and rest a bit. I’ll come right out once I’m feeling better, so wait just a little, okay!”
“Please, rest well.”
Creeeak—click.
Kang Chaeyoung went into the room, and the hut’s door closed.
Trying hard to keep my composure, I stepped beyond the fence and bent at the waist 90 degrees toward where it stood.
“Thank you for waiting. I’m Park Seongbin, a field responder in the Gwanak Branch of the Administration Bureau.”
A strange sensation enveloped my whole body, and fog began creeping in around my feet.
At the same time, a rumble sounded overhead.
『You may raise your head.』
“Thank you.”
Slowly straightening up, I clasped my hands and maintained the most respectful posture possible.
Naturally, I had no idea how to deal with an unexpected anomaly.
‘Just be polite, mind your manners, don’t talk back, and think of it as serving those damn difficult old geezers, or something.’
All I could do now was avoid riling that thing up as much as possible, just like the white-hat hacker had taught me.
When I lifted my head, the old man came into view.
Something over three meters tall, wearing a worn, tattered robe that dragged all the way to the floor.
The old man was stooping forward, looking down at me.
His face was hidden behind a hahoetal mask, so I couldn’t tell what he looked like or what expression he wore.
The gat on his head told me he was a yangban, not a commoner or a lowborn.
It looked like something had pulled on a yangban’s shell and was pretending to be human.
Each time the body rose and fell as if breathing, the chin strings of the gat swayed and the mask’s mouth rattled.
Fear turned into needles, pricking every corner of my brain.
The fear was so overwhelming that my mind refused to accept it.
Before long, even while I was looking at the old man, I felt nothing at all.
I didn’t know.
Why had that thing suddenly appeared on the day I came here, and why had it even meddled with my response protocol and the gallery?
『These days.』
A voice echoed from within the mask.
A scent of incense reached my nose.
The old man’s head turned toward the hut with a series of dull pops.
『Do youngsters these days really change the hair color their parents gave them so carelessly?』
“…!”
For some reason, the old man pointed not at me before him, but at Kang Chaeyoung resting in the hut.
And then he began turning his body toward the hut....
“To identify the body, to identify the body.”
At my strained answer, the old man’s body turned back toward me.
But his face was still turned toward the hut where Kang Chaeyoung was.
『Explain.』
A pungent incense smell brushed past my nose.
“I had no choice but to dye it so my identity could be confirmed if I lost my life during Administration Bureau duty.”
The mask’s mouth clacked, making a threatening sound.
『What a brazen excuse.』
Grrrk!
“Huh?”
My vision twisted.
『After death, the soul roams the nine heavens; what use is an empty shell?』
As if my head had been turned 90 degrees.
No, it had actually been bent.
I felt no pain.
『My jangseung asked me not to, so I decided not to take the lives of those who came today.』
The gat strings on the old man’s 90-degree-turned head swayed straight up and down.
『Even if that weren’t so, there is no one in this village who would point a finger at me.』
Crack!
“What?”
The sound of bone breaking came from beside me.
My left arm was bent at a grotesque angle.
...I felt no pain.
『I hear the one inside kept you company even after that girl’s questions?』
“That’s right.”
『Since that girl looked happy, I’ll give you a reward.』
Click, click, click, click, click.
The old man’s mask bobbed.
『I swear I will not lay a hand on that child. Only you, each time you give me an answer that satisfies me, will I return the bent parts to their original positions.』
“Thank you.”
Grrrk!
This time my right arm twisted.
I felt no pain.
『It is rude to interrupt when an elder is speaking.』
I forcibly moved my neck, which didn’t seem to want to move properly, and nodded.
It was a relief just to have Kang Chaeyoung’s safety guaranteed.
『If your answer doesn’t satisfy me, I will break your bones again.』
The parts broken now were my left arm, right arm, and neck.
I didn’t know about the arms, but if my neck didn’t return to normal, instant death was certain.
『Do you have any questions? You may answer now.』
With the words that I could ask questions, the clicking sound stopped.
It seemed the clacking sound meant the old man’s conversation wasn’t over yet.
“Why have you made an unscheduled visit?”
Crack.
My neck turned another 90 degrees.
The world looked upside down.
Of course, I felt no pain this time either.
『Must I report to someone just because I’m out and about?』
“No. It’s just that you gave me a hint you were coming only to me, so I got curious.”
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack!
『Oh? So that is what you thought?』
Grrrk!
The upside-down world changed into the world as seen while lying down.
This must have been what the old man meant by restoring me to how I was.
It wasn’t completely restored. The angle had only been reduced from 180 degrees to 90.
I didn’t know what part of that had pleased him, but if I could get just my neck put back, I might at least be able to keep my life.
Preserving my arms too would have been an unimaginable luxury in this situation.
『Seongbin of the Miryang Park clan, listen well.』
The old man specifically mentioned my bon-gwan, as if he knew it somehow.
『I did not call you.』
Clack-clack-clack-clack!
The old man’s words eventually reached my ears.
『It was you who called me here.』