Malicious Intent, Fatal Fall
What the hell is that bastard doing?
Kim Jin-woo and his friends were laughing their heads off as they happily pelted the cat that had fled up the tree with rocks.
At the foot of the tree, the kittens already lay cold and still, killed by the stones.
Grit.
At the horrific scene, Park Su-hwan clenched his teeth tight with fury before he even realized it.
“One more time!”
Thwack!
Fortunately the cat twisted its body by a hair’s breadth and dodged the stone.
Hssssssss!!
The cat, eyes full of venom, bristled every hair on its body and hissed savagely at Kim Jin-woo.
“Ah, shit… It dodges way too well.”
Kim Jin-woo paid no mind to the killing rage pouring off the animal. If anything, that reaction seemed to amuse him.
“Right? I thought it was a goner this time.”
“Try again.”
“Yeah. We’ll hit it this time. Heh heh.”
The friends beside him laughed and egged him on. Those bastards were trash no different from Kim Jin-woo himself.
“Isn’t it raining too hard? Let’s just head in already.”
That was when the one who had been sitting quietly watching finally spoke up.
“No. I’m not leaving until that thing’s dead.”
“You crazy bastard. Why again? So you can sleep better?”
“Yeah.”
Kim Jin-woo shook his head with flat finality.
“Don’t you feel sorry for it?”
“…Why would I?”
He truly seemed not to understand that he had done anything wrong.
“You try it too.”
He glanced around, picked up a stone hidden under the leaves, and held it out to his friend.
“I’m good.”
The friend took it anyway and hurled it hard in another direction.
“Want a bigger one?”
“This isn’t fun.”
“Just do it once. Dogs just yelp and die when you hit them, but cats fight back—that’s what makes it interesting.”
“So that’s why you killed Han-ul’s dog?”
“Whoa. That was you?”
The friend listening in from the side shouted.
“Then they should’ve tied it up properly at home, right? If they had, I wouldn’t have had to kill it.”
How was this supposed to be a model student and a filial son?
He was a full-blown psychopath wearing a perfect mask. And this was clearly not his first or second time. Killing animals seemed to be nothing more than entertainment to him.
Ah… Now I get it. Why Choi Hana avoided this guy.
No doubt a whole swarm of animal spirits that had died unjustly were clinging to him.
And Choi Hana, a real shaman, must have seen them and seen through his mask long ago.
You could’ve at least told me before you left! Running off by yourself like that is seriously shady.
“That’s why you’re retaking the exam, right? To get into vet school.”
Kim Jin-woo found another stone and closed his fingers around it.
“Yeah. Then I can kill as much as I want, completely legally.”
Watching a creature that couldn’t even speak feel the terror of death and grow cold—that was pure fun.
Especially the eyes. Kim Jin-woo particularly loved the way an animal’s pupils filled with fear.
Dogs, cats, birds…
Every single one of them had the exact same eyes.
Crack!
Hssssss!!
“Nice!”
Caught off guard, the cat failed to dodge and its front leg snapped. The animal screamed in agony.
Park Su-hwan clenched his fist as he watched. It was too cruel. He simply could not understand why anyone would do this.
“Okay. Now it can’t dodge.”
“Here.”
Another friend quickly scooped up a stone and pressed it into the guy’s hand.
Kim Jin-woo lightly tossed the stone up, caught it again, and muttered,
“Alright. Time for you to follow your babies. They’re waiting.”
Hssss!
Sensing the end, the cat bristled even harder at Kim Jin-woo. But the earlier ferocity was gone—pouring rain and a broken leg.
The cat swayed precariously on the branch, ready to fall at any second.
“Bye now.”
Kim Jin-woo swung his arm hard and threw the stone with everything he had.
“Whoa—!”
In that instant the cat, staring death in the face, wrung out the last of its strength and launched itself into the air.
Haaaaah!!
Its target was Kim Jin-woo’s face. Completely unprepared for the counterattack, he screamed and flailed.
“What the—!”
Hsss! Hss!
The cat latched onto his face and raked its razor-sharp claws across his skin.
“You little shit…! Aaaaagh!”
And then—
“Huh?”
Kim Jin-woo’s left foot skidded hard on the thoroughly soaked leaves.
“Whoaaa!!!”
He flailed desperately for balance, but it was already too late.
Hssssss!!
“U-uaaaaaaagh!!!”
In the blink of an eye he was tumbling down the dark, steep slope.
Malicious Intent, Lost Footing
Falling to Death’s End
Having harbored evil intent to harm a living creature, one loses footing and falls from a height to die.
“Hup!”
Park Su-hwan snapped free of the underworld. The moment his eyes flew open, a thoroughly startled Kim Jin-woo filled his vision first.
Su-hwan frowned before he could stop himself. His mood was foul. Unlike the vicious aura the guy had radiated moments earlier in the underworld, right now the bastard wore the most innocent face in the world.
“Young man, are you all right?”
The landlady who had been holding onto Su-hwan asked with worried eyes.
“Ah… Yes. I’m fine.”
“Did a spirit come down? It happened last time too.”
Su-hwan flicked a glance at Kim Jin-woo and quietly nodded.
“Oh my. Oh my. Really?”
“This is huge. You said he gets everything right.”
“Did you see our Jin-woo’s future? Our Jin-woo—can he get into medical school?”
Everyone started pouring out the questions they had always been curious about. Su-hwan’s head began to ache little by little.
“Can I get into med school?”
Kim Jin-woo asked with harmless eyes.
Anyone looking would have thought he was desperate to go to university.
His acting’s something else.
Well, that’s why everyone falls for it. Tch.
In a different sense, the guy was impressive.
“Please…?”
He couldn’t take any more of this.
“Med school, my ass.”
“…?”
“Hey.”
Sudden informal speech.
“Yes?”
Su-hwan was older, so it wasn’t strange—but Jin-woo hadn’t expected the switch without any warning, so he answered with a flustered face.
“Just because they can’t talk, you thought they were lowly little creatures.”
“…?”
“Thought they couldn’t feel pain either?”
Su-hwan had no courtesy left to show him.
“What are you talking about…?”
“You killed them.”
Su-hwan slowly turned his head and locked eyes with Han-ul’s mother.
“Han-ul’s dog. And the cats too.”
“…!”
“What did you just…?”
Flustered, Kim Jin-woo hurriedly rearranged his expression and spoke in a tone of pure disbelief.
“Why is our dog coming up all of a sudden?”
“…That’s right. I spent the whole night looking for Han-ul’s dog.”
He continued with a bitter face.
“I just never found it in the end.”
Tch. This bastard’s hopeless.
“Fine. Let’s say that’s true.”
“Excuse me?”
“Heaven’s punishment is about to fall on you.”
He no longer wanted to trade another word with this guy. He felt like the bad luck might stick to him too.
“Ah. Your friends as well.”
He hadn’t seen the futures of Kim Jin-woo’s friends in the underworld, but once you piled up evil karma, you paid the price one way or another.
“W-wait a second! Young man!”
Just as he was about to leave, the landlady grabbed Su-hwan.
“You saw it, didn’t you? Jin-woo dying. That’s right, isn’t it? It is, right?”
“Yes.”
There was no reason to lie, so he answered honestly.
“Please. Just help him this once. I’m begging you.”
She couldn’t bear the thought of the son of a close neighbor—a boy she had always doted on—dying.
“Can’t you tell us…?”
“Unnie, what are you talking about?”
The fish-shop auntie asked with a blank face.
“I told you. The benefactor who saved my little sister is this young man right here.”
“…!”
“He’s not the type to speak carelessly. What he just saw must have been Jin-woo dying.”
Listening to her, Su-hwan hesitated for a moment.
Leave just like this, or not.
Haa…
I can’t. Considering the kindness she’s shown me, I can’t just ignore this.
“Th-that was real? No, Jin-woo dying?!”
“I’m telling you it is! When have you ever seen me lie?”
Kim Jin-woo stepped closer, wide-eyed like a startled rabbit.
“…I’m going to die?”
So disgusting I could throw up.
The landlady wet her dry lips and carefully asked,
“When…? Could you tell us when?”
Even the fish-shop auntie, now grasping the seriousness of the situation, joined in. Beside them Kim Jin-woo still stood wearing his mask.
“….”
Su-hwan glanced around the fish shop for a moment. One fish stood out more than the rest.
Exactly—the expensive, rare wild rock bream.
He pointed straight at it.
“I’ll take that as bokchae. Two of them. How about it?”
Compared to a son’s life, it’s cheap, right?
When the fish-shop auntie hesitated, the landlady bellowed,
“Just say yes already! No—I’ll pay for it!”
“Ah. Fine. Fine.”
She nodded reluctantly. Su-hwan pushed it one step further.
“I’m eating it as sashimi, so please prepare it cleanly too.”
He held out his hand to the fish-shop auntie and added,
“Payment in advance.”
“….”
A short while later, rock bream sashimi in hand, Park Su-hwan fixed Kim Jin-woo with a frigid stare and warned him.
“You. The shit you’re doing right now—you’d better stop it immediately.”
No matter how earnestly the landlady had begged, Su-hwan had no sincere desire to save him.
“Otherwise you cross Samdocheon.”
Unlike Professor Kim Jun-young or Firefighter Jung Jin-hyuk, this guy wasn’t dying while trying to save someone else. So there was no reason to actively step in and prevent his death.
“What the hell does that mean…?”
Su-hwan smirked at Kim Jin-woo, then looked at the fish-shop auntie.
To some it was a vague, hard-to-grasp answer.
“He knows exactly what I mean. I’ve warned you. That’s all from me.”
To someone else, it was a clear answer on how to avoid death.
But Su-hwan was certain.
Kim Jin-woo would never cut that evil karma.
Ssssssshhhh!!
Heavy rain pounded against the window outside.
“Son. Heading off to study again today?”
“Yes. There’s a mock exam coming up soon. I need to prepare.”
“Aigoo. Even so, it’s pouring outside like this…”
Kim Jin-woo’s mother looked worriedly out the window as she asked.
“It’s fine. I’m just going to the study room anyway. No big deal.”
“Watch out for cars, okay?”
“Yes. I will. I’ll be back.”
“Alright. Text me when you get there.”
The moment he stepped out the front door, the smile that had hung on Kim Jin-woo’s lips vanished as if it had never been there.
With a blank face he opened a black umbrella and walked out into the rain—toward somewhere that was not the study room.