Baekya and the Fallen Peaches
Ptooey.
Thump-thump—thunk! Rattle-rattle.
Baekya stood atop the altar. The half-eaten peach in his mouth tumbled free, bounced a few times across the wooden surface, and rolled to a perfect stop right in front of the reclining Park Su-hwan.
"..."
The peach's skin glistened with thick, sticky drool.
"Hey..."
Whine, whimper.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The little white dog looked as startled as if he had never imagined he could topple the peach tower himself. His usually proud tail had curled tight between his hind legs.
The rest of the neatly stacked fruit on the altar lay scattered in every direction, a complete disaster zone that looked as if a bomb had gone off.
Park Su-hwan found himself speechless. He had forced himself awake only moments earlier, but the shock had blasted every last trace of sleep from his system.
Baekya tried to step down, front paws reaching for the edge, only to flinch and shrink back. The height, it seemed, was suddenly terrifying.
If you were going to be scared, why climb up there in the first place? More to the point, how had he even managed it?
The puppy had always been curious about the altar, so Su-hwan had half-expected trouble. He had never once dreamed the goal was peaches.
With a short sigh he pushed himself to his feet, scooped the whimpering dog up, and set him gently on the floor.
Whine, whimper.
"No playing the pitiful card."
He ruffled Baekya's head roughly as he muttered. By now he knew exactly how cunning the little beast could be—far past mere cleverness.
The shameless way the dog pressed against his hand was so ridiculous that a dry laugh escaped him. At this point, staying angry felt almost impossible.
Ah, well...
From the moment he had decided to keep the dog he had known accidents were inevitable. He had steeled himself for it, so the mood was not as foul as it might have been.
"Haaah..."
The fatigue he had temporarily forgotten came flooding back. He had stayed up late the night before soothing Choi Yu-ri, after all.
He wanted nothing more than to burrow into a soft blanket and sleep. Leaving the wrecked altar as it was, however, was simply not an option.
"Tch..."
Crunch, crunch-crunch.
"...!"
The suspicious sound came out of nowhere. The culprit, once again, was Baekya. The same dog who had been putting on a show of remorse was now busily chewing the peach.
"Hey. Stop eating that. No."
A sudden thought struck him: was a peach even safe for dogs? Choi Yu-ri's puppy had gotten into detergent and nearly died—he could not afford a repeat performance.
Whine-whine.
Baekya clung stubbornly to his prize, but Su-hwan pried the dog's jaws open and pulled the fruit free.
He immediately unlocked his phone and typed "dog peach" into the search bar.
Peaches were nutrient-rich and generally fine for dogs, but the skin could trigger allergies. More importantly, the pit was absolutely forbidden—toxic and a choking hazard that could cause intestinal blockage.
Ah, no way.
He had never raised an animal before, but even he knew veterinary bills could bankrupt a man.
He hastily examined the pieces that had been in Baekya's mouth. The skin was a concern, but mercifully the seed was untouched.
Kang! Kang-kang!
"You want it back? Give me a break..."
One look at those eyes told him the dog would stage another heist the second his back was turned. Better to peel the fruit properly and hand it over on his own terms.
"Wait."
He ended up in the kitchen, peeling a fresh peach and setting the slices under Baekya's nose. It felt like surrender, but he chose to ignore the feeling and turned back to the altar.
"Nothing but sighs today."
As much as he hated cleaning, that only applied when he himself had made the mess.
Park Su-hwan let out a long breath and began hunting for cleaning supplies.
What the hell was that dream?
Park Su-hwan muttered to himself while half-heartedly waving a fishing-rod toy. Baekya hopped and snapped at the fish dangling from the end.
The laws of the underworld are strict so that no one suffers injustice.
True enough. That was why the underworld held so many courts, and why the weight of a sin could never be judged lightly.
Yet right after that solemn statement came a bright, childlike voice.
The speaker insisted on a clean, simple logic of karma: if you commit a crime, you deserve punishment.
Then let me ask one thing. Is a man who steals rice cakes because he is starving truly a villain?
Su-hwan tilted his head. The dream had been far too vivid and peculiar to dismiss as ordinary nonsense.
"Some kind of lesson, maybe."
The atmosphere had been warm, almost playful, and everyone present had seemed close.
What came after that...
If the theft had been to save a starving mother, how should the crime be judged? That question had followed, he thought.
"Hmm..."
Kang! Kang-kang!!
Su-hwan was waving the toy with zero enthusiasm, yet Baekya's tail never stopped wagging as if this were the greatest game in the world.
No, that is not...
What answer had that last man been about to give?
If Baekya had not caused chaos and jolted him awake, he might have heard the rest of the story.
Su-hwan sank into thought, wondering how he himself would have answered.
He agreed that crime deserved punishment—but only halfway.
Simply branding a man a thief and consigning him to hell... would the dead ever accept such a verdict quietly?
The answer was no.
If they had, the underworld would have been packed wall-to-wall with resentful spirits and vengeful ghosts.
First, the man had tried to save his parent, so the crime would be pardoned.
After all, the value the underworld cherished above all others was filial piety.
That did not mean the rice-cake seller's grievance was simply ignored.
In the next life the shopkeeper would receive help from the thief, or the thief would repay the labor with interest—the price of the stolen cakes paid in full.
That was the knot of cause and effect the underworld called justice. Harsh, merciless punishment was never the only answer.
"Oh, Su-hwan."
The landlady leaned over the railing and peered down at him.
"Good morning. Hope you slept well."
"Mm-hmm. Did you? Playing with him first thing in the morning, I see. I actually have something for you—hang on a second."
"Again? Ah, no, really, you don't have to—"
But she had already vanished back inside. She was always bringing him food and odds and ends.
He felt awkward constantly receiving, so he refused every time, yet it never worked. Moments later she came down the stairs and held out a blue plastic bag.
"What's this?"
"Treats and toys for Smarty."
"This much?"
The bag was stuffed with every kind of toy and snack imaginable. Even a glance told him it had not been cheap.
Kang-kang!
Baekya's tail shot straight up.
"My, Smarty looks happy!"
The dog's expression clearly said otherwise, but the landlady seemed blissfully unaware.
Kang-kang!!
She always praised the name Baekya as pretty, yet somehow it never stuck on her tongue.
In the end the puppy had been rechristened "Smarty" in her private dialect...
"Full of energy first thing in the morning. Must be because he's still little."
Su-hwan privately thought the little disaster-maker deserved the nickname after the morning's wreckage, so he chose not to translate Baekya's clear displeasure.
"Auntie, things got pretty loud last night. I'm really sorry."
"Oh, don't worry about it. I was curious what was going on, but... I'm sure you had your reasons."
Thankfully she only smiled her gentle smile and waved it off. Once again Su-hwan was reminded what a genuinely good person she was.
"Moooom! Can I get that one, that one over there?"
"I already said no. Keep this up and Mom's leaving without you."
A child's whining and a mother's exasperated reply drifted over. The department store, which he had not set foot in for a long time, felt strangely alien.
Park Su-hwan kept glancing around at the unfamiliar, noisy scenery. In his entire life he could count on one hand the times he had come to a place like this.
It really is all sparkle and shine.
Endless rows of goods and throngs of people bore no resemblance whatsoever to the neighborhood supermarket he usually visited.
And right now his pocket held a solid, reassuring gift certificate worth a full million won.
With it he planned to buy fruit and the household appliances he had been eyeing for ages.
Originally he had no intention of coming today, but Baekya's rampage had left the altar looking pitiful. So he had steeled himself and made the trip.
Pushing a cart, he headed first—of course—to the fruit section.
"Ha...?"
Armed with a high-value voucher, he strode confidently up to the displays. A second later he swallowed a hollow laugh.
"Why are the prices like this?"
Every single piece of fruit carried an outrageous price tag. For this money he could buy entire boxes at his usual market.
Of course the quality there would be nowhere near as good...
Here every item was plastered with glamorous words like "premium" and "high sugar content."
Su-hwan fell into deep thought. Maybe he should just buy fruit at the regular market and pour the rest into appliances.
After all, the spirits never actually came down to eat the offerings. He was a fraudulent shaman who housed no deity to begin with.
Yet somehow his conscience twinged. He kept remembering those times an unknown spirit had descended and delivered a genuine gongsu.
Could he really keep claiming no god stood beside him when the situation had grown so strangely complicated?
In the end he placed a few peaches and several other fruits into the cart. It was nowhere near enough to refill the altar Baekya had turned into a wasteland.
He would pad the rest with ordinary market fruit and hope the presentation looked decent.
...They won't notice. Probably.
That was when it happened.
Thump, thump!
"Is this one ripe enough...?"
A woman tapping watermelons entered his field of vision. She moved from melon to melon, rapping each one and listening intently.
"Hmm. Maybe this one's better."
Sensing the stares of people around her, she suddenly lifted her head.
"...!"
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrkk!!!
The moment their eyes met, the noise of the department store vanished as if someone had flipped a switch. The world itself turned inside out.
No way...
And in the ledger-world that unfolded before him, Park Su-hwan felt a shock of pure horror. A smell he had never once encountered in that place flooded his senses with vivid clarity.
"Nurse Kim! Over here, please!"
"I need help with this patient—stat!"
The sharp bite of alcohol and the metallic reek of blood stabbed his nostrils. This was no department store. He was standing in the middle of a hospital.