Midnight Ambush
“Oh!”
The moment Lee Han-gyeol spotted Park Su-hwan, his face lit up with pure delight and he came running full tilt. He held out the honey water in his hand and asked,
“Was today your day off?”
Warm honey water on a midsummer day… Su-hwan half-wondered if it might give him a stomachache, yet he accepted it gratefully. All that showed on the boy’s face was gladness.
The wariness he had once shown toward a stranger was completely gone.
“Yeah. I had somewhere to stop by for a bit.”
He had come home after causing one hell of a scene, and the mere memory of it dragged a deep sigh out of him. People crowding around, begging for readings, every eye following him—it had been anything but pleasant. Beyond burdensome, it had been genuinely uncomfortable.
He found himself wondering whether the famous shamans with real power actually enjoyed that kind of attention.
“I was just about to head home again because it looked like you weren’t here. Good thing I waited a little longer.”
“You could’ve called.”
“You never gave me your number.”
“Ah. Right. So everything got sorted out okay?”
Through the ledger he already knew the boy had prevented his grandmother’s gas explosion, but he still wanted the details.
“Yes. It was complete chaos, though. There was this unused space under the sink and we had no idea gas was leaking from there. We tore everything out and fixed it.”
“Well now. Lucky. I half-expected you to ignore me.”
“Ah…”
From the boy’s expression Su-hwan could read, without much difficulty, that he really had considered not listening.
“I don’t tell lies.”
“Honestly, the electric bill was getting pretty high, so I thought about it. The money you gave me would’ve solved that in one go.”
But Su-hwan’s words and warnings had kept circling in his ears: Don’t do anything stupid—use that money for a gas inspection.
If he had taken the warning lightly and ignored it, he would never have seen his precious grandmother and little sister again.
“I’m really grateful. Because of you we stopped the accident. Just a second.”
Lee Han-gyeol pulled a white envelope from his pocket.
“Here. I wanted to come sooner, but I had to work a little first. It’s not much, but I put in a bit extra.”
Su-hwan looked down at it and felt the familiar lift in his chest that came every time a good deed circled back like this.
If it had been money from anyone else he would have refused once for form’s sake, then accepted it with a helpless expression. But this was money hard-earned by a teenage head of household who had clearly taken on more work than usual just to gather it.
How am I supposed to take this? A man needs a conscience.
“No. Forget it. Hang on—I’ve got something for you.”
“Huh? Where are you going?!”
“Inside.”
Ignoring the envelope, Su-hwan stepped into the shrine. From the kitchen he packed a few premium fruits he had received as gifts into a bag, then grabbed the notebook where he had carefully listed aid organizations and government support programs the boy could use.
“Whoa… so this is what it looks like.”
Lee Han-gyeol was peeking in from the doorway, eyes wide as he took in the shrine. Su-hwan handed him the gifts.
“What’s this? And please take this. You promised you’d let me pay you back.”
“I was joking. Saving a life with that money was a bargain. Just look at what I gave you.”
“Still…”
“Listen to me, will you?”
When Su-hwan let a faintly murderous glint show, the boy hurriedly accepted the fruit and opened the notebook.
“Wow. What is all this?”
It was densely filled with the names of organizations and exactly what kind of help each one offered—perfectly organized.
“Places that helped me when I was in a tight spot. You can get food and all sorts of support if you go. There are more places like this than you’d think if you look around.”
“R-really? That’s amazing. There are churches and temples in here too… but aren’t you a shaman? Going to places like that…”
“Living comes first. Just try them. I’ll leave word ahead of time—I’m still in touch with a few of the people there.”
“Woooooow!! Thank you so much!!”
Lee Han-gyeol bowed deeply, eyes shining with gratitude.
“Good. And the fruit’s the expensive kind, so eat it.”
“Yes…! But are you really not going to take this?”
“You rolling in money?”
“No. I have to go to work again soon.”
“Then buy yourself something tasty with it. Pay me back later when you’re earning properly.”
Su-hwan added, half under his breath, that when that day came he would collect every last won with interest—not a single ten-thousand-won note left behind.
“Looks like that postpartum care center’s going under too. The mothers are all saying they’re going elsewhere, and the rumors have spread like wildfire. It even made the news this time.”
“Wow, really?”
Su-hwan was genuinely startled by his landlady’s words. He had heard the place had quite a history, yet this single incident had apparently wiped it out completely.
“Of course. They offered to cover every paternity test, but what’s the point? How are you supposed to trust them with your baby after that?”
“They didn’t even realize the babies had been switched.”
From what he gathered, the center was claiming they were the real victims. In Su-hwan’s eyes they were no different from the nurse who had caused the mess.
It had happened because of clear negligence in management and supervision, after all.
“That’s what I’m saying! There could be more victims among the babies who already left. Who knows how many more haven’t come to light yet. Of course that nurse is crying and carrying on that this was her first time. Tsk.”
“Doesn’t sound like she’s reflecting at all.”
Su-hwan let out a dry, incredulous laugh.
“If you’re going to try wrecking someone else’s life, you should be ready for your own to get smashed to pieces. I hope this drives the lesson deep into her bones.”
“Ha! Looking at that temper of hers, I doubt she’ll ever truly repent. She probably just thinks she got unlucky and got caught. Not that it matters. The victims’ families are suing, the center’s facing damages—lawsuits stacked on lawsuits. How’s she supposed to wriggle out of that?”
And they were multi-billion-won suits. No ordinary rookie nurse could shoulder that kind of money. She would struggle even to cover a decent lawyer’s retainer, and she would need a good one if she hoped to shave even a little responsibility off herself.
“So where are you moving to?”
“Dunno. I’m not sure yet. Though… maybe I can take my time finding a place.”
“Huh? Why?”
Hadn’t she already washed her hands of the center that had tried to cover everything up?
The landlady gave Su-hwan a sly look.
“Every other day someone comes by with a gift, begging me to introduce them to that young bachelor of mine. Hoho.”
It was no empty boast. Whenever she showed her face, the mothers flocked to her and badgered her without mercy.
Please, just tell us about that miraculously gifted young male shaman Park.
“….”
Su-hwan found himself completely speechless. Word must have gotten around properly that he and the landlady were connected.
As if his head didn’t already hurt enough wondering why his mouth had chosen that particular moment to start delivering real oracles.
This was the third time the same pattern had repeated. Even Su-hwan had no choice left but to admit it: he now possessed genuine spiritual power.
The problem was that he still had no idea why this was happening or who was sending down the Gongsu.
Bari Gongju had taken a solid dislike to him, so it definitely wasn’t her. That left ancestral spirits or Okhwang Sangje as the remaining candidates.
But this latest incident had added a strong new contender: Samsin Halmeoni herself.
After all, he had set right a child’s fate that had nearly been swapped. It was a perfectly reasonable theory.
“You really didn’t tell them, right?”
Su-hwan swallowed a heavy sigh.
“Of course not! I trust every word my young bachelor says. I may talk like that, but I haven’t accepted a single gift.”
“Thank you.”
I just want to live quietly…
Somehow everything felt like it was getting more tangled by the day.
“Yeah, I was kidding. Deep down I’d love to leave right this second. But nothing’s quite good enough, so I keep putting it off. The spirits are being so stingy too. Would it kill them to let me make a little more money? No, they insist I only take clients who come to me of their own free will. Honestly…”
“Right? They’re being pretty cold about it.”
Su-hwan had plenty he wanted to say on the subject, but he bit it all back. Most of it was nothing he could safely tell her.
Aigoo. Forget it. Time for more peanuts.
- Crunch! Crack!
The moment he bit down, a wave of sweet, nutty flavor flooded his mouth.
“These are seriously good.”
He kept popping the peanuts she had brought into his mouth. The sweet-savory taste made it impossible to stop.
“Hoho. Right? I roasted them myself.”
She covered her mouth with one hand and gave a shy little laugh.
“You did?”
“No. At the mill. You know the Sparrow Mill at the market? They did it there.”
That explained it. He had thought the peanuts tasted faintly of sesame; now he knew why.
- Crunch, crack-crack!
Su-hwan tucked another peanut into his mouth.
“Mmm.”
“Good, right? Next time I’ll bring even more.”
“Nah, this is plenty. Whoa—did you see that? How does putting on one set of false eyelashes make him not recognize her? Does that even make sense?”
He pointed at the old, tiny television perched on the cabinet. On screen the drama’s leads were locked in fierce confrontation.
It was the story of a wife who comes home after eyelash extensions and proceeds to thoroughly educate her cheating husband and his mistress.
The real absurdity was that the husband failed to recognize his own transformed wife and fell for her at first sight.
I could write better than this right now.
Even if they had thrown logic out the window, they ought to keep at least a shred of it.
“Something must be wrong with his brain.”
“Exactly. Instead of taking revenge she should be hauling him to the hospital first…”
Even so, Su-hwan couldn’t tear his eyes from the screen. No matter how nonsensical the plot, he kept wanting to know what happened next.
Just like right now, when they were fighting like cats and dogs—
“Oh my. Oh my. Oh my! They’re kissing out of nowhere?”
—even the sudden skinship. The drama was pure endgame stimulation.
“She’s lost it. Completely lost it…!”
The landlady clapped and jumped in place. In the process the tip of her foot bumped the divination table.
- Clang!
The bell that had been perched precariously on top crashed noisily to the floor.
“Aigoo! Sorry.”
She quickly set the bell back in place. Yes—the two of them were sitting in a shrine.
In a place that ought to have been solemn, they were sprawled in the most comfortable postures imaginable, watching the currently infamous trashy drama The Stepmother’s Temptation.
The postpartum care center incident had made them close friends in a hurry—close enough to watch daytime soap together like this inside the shrine.
“It’s fine. So now she’s getting in a car to go catch her husband?”
A ritual implement used to call the gods had just gone rolling across the floor, but Su-hwan didn’t spare it a glance. He was far more interested in how the wife was about to destroy her husband.
“Good heavens, on horseback… it’s all over now.”
They were both leaning forward, all but sucked into the television, when it happened.
A red banner crawled across the bottom of the screen. Su-hwan’s expression grew quietly grave.
Uh… again?
He had lost count of how many times this had happened. Just last week alone there had been three separate incidents.
“Heavens… the world’s getting so vicious. I don’t understand what’s going on anymore.”
The landlady shook her head slowly.
“We should all be careful for a while.”
He truly could not understand it—why anyone would target completely innocent people for something so horrific.
“Mm-hmm. I’m thinking I should start carrying something for self-defense. That spray people are talking about these days…”
“Pepper spray?”
“That’s the one. Everyone’s buying it, apparently.”
The drama had been completely forgotten. The news was far too grim for either of them to keep watching the story unfold.
“Hoo… hah…”
- Tap-tap-tap!
Once the drama ended the landlady returned to her own place. Su-hwan, instead of going to bed, stepped outside.
“Hoo… haah…”
Only when his lungs burned and his breath came in ragged gasps did he finally stop running. He wiped the sweat streaming down his face with the towel he had brought.
The night was still muggy, yet far better than the daytime heat. For someone who barely felt the temperature, it was just right.
“This feels amazing.”
Barely two months ago he could never have imagined running freely like this.
But the moment the ledger came into his hands, a thin thread of hope had appeared. For the sake of rapid rehabilitation he had walked every single night—walked and walked again.
Now that his leg was fully healed, those midnight strolls had become full sprints, and the sprints had become a precious daily ritual.
Su-hwan pulled out his phone. Midnight was almost upon them.
Time to head in.
He wanted to keep running a little longer, but he had an important reading booked for the next morning. Better not to stay up too late.
- Tap-tap-tap!
He turned back toward home and ran until his breath grew short once more. That was when he noticed a man walking slowly toward him from a distance.
…?
The man had his hood pulled low and his head bowed deeply. Something about the picture felt off.
Isn’t he hot?
It was far too early to be pulling out autumn clothes. The news still ran stories about tropical nights; summer heat was in full swing.
What bothered him most, though, was the right hand buried in a pocket. Whatever was in there kept fidgeting without rest.
Su-hwan found the man a little strange, yet he felt no real alarm—even though less than an hour earlier he had watched a news report about random stabbings.
It was the complacent thought that something that terrible could never happen right in front of him.
The man in the white mask yanked a sharp knife from his pocket and lunged.
“D-die…!”
“Whoa—!!”
Su-hwan’s eyes flew wide. It was already too late to dodge, and the man was far too close.
Ah, no…!
“U-uaaaaagh!!!”
In the instant he thought he was about to cross the Samdocheon, the man’s eyes met his. Suddenly the attacker hurled the knife away and crashed backward onto the ground.
He looked exactly like a man who had just seen something utterly terrifying.