The Black Lump
"A l-lump?"
The woman, thrown by the unexpected word, rounded her eyes and asked again.
"Yeah. I can see it. A lump."
See it, my ass. I can't see a damn thing.
How was he supposed to explain this feeling? Right. It was as if someone was forcing the words out of him, itching the inside of his mouth like mad until he spoke.
Ugh...
Because of it, Park Su-hwan had no idea what was about to come flying out of his own mouth. His tongue was moving on its own without consulting his brain first. It was not a pleasant sensation. His body no longer felt like his own.
"A lump, you mean..."
The woman looked down at her own stomach and murmured in a trembling voice.
"That's right."
Park Su-hwan was an outstanding actor... no, an outstanding fraud. He glared at the woman's belly with a piercing gaze and growled.
"Exactly what you're thinking right now."
He was a veteran among veterans who never flinched even when unexpected situations blew up in his face.
"C-cancer? Really?"
"..."
Park Su-hwan clamped his mouth shut instead of answering. Immediately, as if it had been waiting, the itching inside his mouth started up again.
Tsk.
It felt like it was prodding him to open his mouth and start babbling this instant.
What the hell is going on?
No matter how he thought about it, this did not seem like the work of some empty-host stray spirit...
A barbecue joint was one thing, but this place was a shrine. Fraudulent shaman or not, this shrine itself was the real deal. On top of that, he had plastered the place with every kind of shamanic remedy he could think of just to keep the grim reapers out. There was no way some gutsy little stray spirit would dare pull a prank here.
Then is it really a god? Who the hell?
"Master..."
As Su-hwan's silence stretched on, the woman grew restless for no reason.
"Wait."
Back at the meat restaurant he had just been spouting nonsense, yet he had nailed Jung Jin-ah's situation perfectly. The odds were high that it would be the same this time.
"So."
That was why Park Su-hwan chose to keep flapping his mouth again. No—there was no other way to kill the insane itch clawing at the inside of his mouth right now.
"You'd better run straight to the hospital. That pitch-black bastard is sucking your life force dry."
"But that doesn't make any sense. I already had a full checkup two months ago. They said there was nothing seriously wrong."
"Of course they did."
Park Su-hwan snorted and shot back.
"Back then that thing was curled up tight and hiding."
In other words, the cancer had been small enough to slip past the tests.
"That can't be..."
"There's still a chance, though. That rotten thing hasn't grown much yet. Get to a hospital and have it cut out right away."
But the woman did not look ready to believe him so easily. It was only natural—out of nowhere she had been told she had "cancer."
"I know there's family history, but aren't I too young for cancer?"
"..."
"Could you have seen it wrong?"
Park Su-hwan listened quietly to her words, then tossed out another line.
"Then just wait half a year."
He left his babbling mouth alone, like surrendering his body to a flowing river, and only then did the tormenting itch inside his mouth slowly begin to subside.
"..."
"By then you'll naturally figure out what this was all about."
The moment he finished spitting out the last of the words, the inexplicable abnormal symptoms vanished completely.
Hoo... Looks like it's over.
Park Su-hwan secretly let out a sigh of relief. Then he skillfully swept the yellow cabbage leaf sitting on the divination table into his pocket.
"Shall we stop here?"
He spoke in a gentle tone with a mild smile. It was a complete transformation from the man who had been roaring and barking orders just moments before. That jarring contrast made it feel as if a real deity had truly come and gone, wrapping Park Su-hwan in a strange and mystical atmosphere.
"Haa..."
The woman moved her lips without saying a word. She clearly still had something she wanted to ask.
"Any further is difficult. He has already left."
Meaning the General—that is, the spirit—had departed, so there was no more guidance to be given.
"I'll pay more bokchae. Just a little longer...!"
"Greed invites true misfortune. It is improper to think that money can buy everything from the one who speaks through my mouth."
At Park Su-hwan's rebuke the woman flinched and lowered her head.
"I-I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry."
"I know. Our connection ends here, so please rise."
If he flapped his mouth just a little more he could easily squeeze another fifty thousand won out of her. Park Su-hwan, who had grown up dirt-poor and had a money demon firmly latched onto him, was not about to turn down free cash. But he was truly at his limit now.
Bathroom, I need the bathroom!
The woman bit her lip hard and reluctantly stood. Park Su-hwan tried to forget the churning in his gut by picturing a calm sea. Then, as she left with an uneasy heart, he tossed a warm remark at her back in an offhand tone.
"Just because I see the number of an accident doesn't mean the accident will necessarily happen. Stay home that day and watch your behavior, and that is enough."
"What...?"
"Exactly what I said. Fate does not flow only along a fixed path. Human will is strong enough to twist fate. So think of it as nothing to lose and go to the hospital once."
"..."
"If I'm right, you'll be glad you caught it early. If I'm wrong, you can just think of it as another health check, can't you?"
"Yes... I understand. Thank you. I'll come back again later."
She bowed deeply and left the shrine.
"Does our Han-gyeol have something on his mind?"
Lee Han-gyeol had finished his dawn newspaper route and come home. He sat at the desk staring blankly at a utility bill. Kim Jeom-rye slowly approached him.
"Ah. Grandma."
Han-gyeol hurriedly flipped the bill over and looked up at her.
"No. Nothing like that. How are you feeling?"
Kim Jeom-rye glanced at the bill under her grandson's hand and her face turned sad.
"...Grandma's sorry."
"Again? Please stop saying things like that. I'm really fine."
"..."
"I mean it, Grandma."
"If only Grandma's body were healthy I could go out and earn some money at least... All I do is make my little puppy suffer."
Lee Han-gyeol let out a deep sigh and hung his head. Listening any further would only hurt them both.
"Yes. Aren't you tired? You should still be sleeping."
He decided he had better get Grandma back to bed right away. Gently guiding her bent back, he escorted her to her room. Alone again, Lee Han-gyeol carefully examined the bill.
It came out pretty high.
The electricity charge had jumped noticeably from last month. Little Ha-eun kept whining that she was hot, so he had no choice but to leave the fan running. That seemed to be the cause.
"Haa..."
Because he was a minor, almost no bosses wanted to hire him. In the end he had no choice but to bounce between unstable short-term part-time jobs that did not care about proper identification. His income was irregular as a result, so sudden spikes in expenses like this were hard to handle.
Payday is still a ways off...
Lee Han-gyeol clutched his head. While he was fretting over how to solve the problem, the money he had received yesterday from that strange male shaman suddenly came to mind. He checked the clock on the wall.
4:32 p.m.
The gas inspector he had scheduled that morning would be arriving soon.
"What do I do?"
With the money that man had given him, he could solve this headache in one go. He even considered canceling the inspection right now. The inspector had not arrived yet, so he could simply call and say they did not need to come after all.
"No. No."
Lee Han-gyeol shook his head hard and muttered.
That man had pressed money into the hands of someone he had never met before and insisted he get the gas checked. Moreover, the man's words and manner at the time had not felt like acting—he had truly seemed worried about him.
"I even made a promise."
He had promised he would come back to the shrine to repay that money. Right. First he would go through with the inspection.
Fortunately, when he asked over the phone they said the call-out fee was free. When he pressed them about it, they explained that reports of gas leaks were considered a public service, so they did not charge separately.
That's something, at least. If repairs turned out to be necessary after the inspection, he might even have money left over after paying the repair bill. Then he could use the remainder to cover the overdue electricity. That way he would not be misusing the money he had received from the shaman, just as he had promised.
"...All right."
If things still did not work out, he planned to ask his boss somehow for an advance. He had worked incredibly hard all this time. Surely the boss would be willing to cut him some slack for a situation like this.
- Ding-dong.
A short while later the doorbell rang.
"Huh? Who is it, Oppa?"
"Just a second."
Time had already flown by. It was the hour the gas inspector was due. Lee Han-gyeol, who had been teaching Ha-eun Hangul in the living room, stood up.
"Ha-eun, can you go into your room for a bit? We'll finish studying a little later."
"Really? Okay!"
She had not wanted to study anyway, so she scampered into her room at once.
- Ding-dong!
"Yes, coming!"
Lee Han-gyeol hurried to the front door and opened it. Outside stood a man who looked considerably older than the previous inspector, an old tool bag slung over his shoulder.
"Hello. You reported a suspected gas leak, correct?"
He adjusted the bag and asked.
"Yes. Actually, they said there was nothing wrong at the last inspection a little while ago. But I keep feeling uneasy."
The inspector slipped off his shoes with practiced ease and stepped inside.
"That can happen. You did the right thing. Prevention is everything with gas leaks. When an accident does happen, it tends to be a big one."
He spoke casually as he walked. The two of them moved into the kitchen right off the living room.
"First of all, I don't smell the distinctive gas odor, so it looks okay. Still, I'll check once."
The inspector pulled a portable gas detector from the bag at his waist. He switched the machine on and began slowly sweeping the kitchen. First he held the detector up to the ignition lever that supplied or shut off the gas. The machine remained completely silent. Next he gave the lever a few firm twists. Then he tilted his head and muttered.
"Nothing wrong, but..."
"Is there some other problem?"
Lee Han-gyeol asked carefully after watching him.
"Thankfully no gas is registering, but the handle feels like it's spinning a tiny bit free. Usually that means the internal fixed shaft has corroded."
"So it needs to be replaced?"
"Yes. And looking at the grease and rust around here, the inside probably isn't in great shape either. In that case we can't just swap the handle—we'll have to replace the entire internal valve."
"Ah... I see."
Lee Han-gyeol fell silent for a moment, then opened his mouth with difficulty.
"Is it urgent? Or could we just replace the one part?"
If he wanted to clear the overdue electricity bill with the money from the shaman, the repair cost needed to be as low as possible.
"We have to do it all. Gas could start leaking through that gap at any time."
"They definitely said there was nothing wrong last time..."
"Everyone looks at a situation from a different angle. I would replace it without question."
Was this why he told me to get the gas checked?
"Understood. Please replace it, then."
The inspector quietly studied Lee Han-gyeol's darkened expression. The old door, the worn furniture—he had known from the moment he stepped inside that this household was not well off.
"The cost is what's worrying you, right?"
"It's embarrassing, but... yes."
"Tsk. This isn't right."
He worked his lips and clicked his tongue.
"...?"
"I'll just swap it for you. I happen to have a decent used part in the truck."
"R-really?"
"Yes. Student, you've got it hard in all sorts of ways, so this is so you don't give up and keep living hard. Good things come along now and then when you do."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Lee Han-gyeol beamed and bowed deeply at the waist. In that moment the words the male shaman had spoken the night before flashed through his mind.
He said good fortune comes when you pile up virtue in ordinary times, right?
He had thought it was just something people said. He never expected luck like this to keep landing on him one after another. Thankfully he would be able to settle the electricity bill on time without trouble.
"Right. Then I'll check the rest as well. No cracks or sticky spots that I can see."
The inspector carefully examined the connecting hose near the gas range, then pointed under the sink cabinet.
"I'll take a look underneath here too."
"You check there as well? We don't use it, so it's probably pretty dirty."
Lee Han-gyeol scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. The inspector paid the reaction no mind at all.
"Yes. There's a fuse cock here—the mid-line valve. This is the critical part. They didn't check it last time?"
Lee Han-gyeol nodded.
"They just gave the handle and the boiler a quick once-over and left."
The inspector's face soured at that.
"They did a slapdash job, then. This is the most important spot. It's where the pipe meets the hose, so it's vulnerable to corrosion."
He explained kindly for Lee Han-gyeol's sake.
"Besides, under a sink like this the door stays closed most of the time, so you don't notice when gas leaks and builds up."
"Ah... I didn't know."
"Well then, let's have a look."
The moment he yanked the lower cabinet open, a foul hydrogen-sulfide stench that had been trapped in the sealed space came pouring out. At the same time—
- Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!!!!
The detector that had been silent until now screamed like mad.
"...!"
The inspector's easygoing face went deathly white in an instant.