Chapter 32
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Heaven Sent 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Nati spoke gloomily without touching his tea.
"Do you think that'll change the outcome?"
"Wouldn't it at least ease your mind a bit?"
"I'm the type who sees false hope like that as poison."
"Still, from what I hear, Haewon seems to be clinging to some hope."
"Should I have been a little harsher?"
Only then did Nati lift his teacup to his lips.
"It's pointless. Contracts like that aren't handled so sloppily."
Aerin, having finished her own tea, pulled out her pipe and deftly packed it with tobacco.
"You're being unusually sentimental."
"Am I? Well... maybe I've grown fond of him."
She inhaled deeply, and thick smoke billowed out. Nati wrinkled his nose and turned his head slightly. Aerin stared blankly at the drifting smoke before suddenly saying,
"Or maybe it's sympathy from shared suffering."
Rushing to the address Haewon had given her, Ibi didn't find a house. It was one of the rooms on the second floor of an old commercial building, seemingly abandoned for a long time without tenants.
Perhaps because of that, the inside was crammed with all sorts of random junk. But there was a light on, and she could hear movement from within, so she took a deep breath and opened the door.
"This place is..."
"Ah, you're here?"
Hearing the greeting, she looked that way and saw Haewon sitting on the floor.
"Oppa..."
Ibi unconsciously licked her lips. Haewon looked utterly exhausted.
His usually relaxed and friendly face now looked awkward even forcing a small smile.
Since returning from the exorcism shrine, he probably hadn't slept much—his sunken eyes looked like dark hollows punched right through.
The wound on his forehead had scabbed over, but the scab was still exposed.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Really, I'm okay."
He didn't look it at all. Combined with the ominous aura permeating the room, Haewon seemed even stranger to her today.
"Where is this?"
"My mother's shrine."
Haewon let out a rough laugh and continued.
"Well, it used to be."
At those words, Ibi glanced around. It was definitely worn and dilapidated in places, but it matched the typical image of a shaman's home.
"Oh, right. Your mother was..."
She had heard bits and pieces at the exorcism shrine a few days ago, but no specifics yet. She knew the woman had been a shaman and had pushed forward with Haewon's soul marriage on her own.
Then Haewon spread his arms lightly and said,
"She's dead."
"..."
Ibi hesitated before murmuring softly.
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Good riddance. That demon of a hag."
Ibi flinched at his words. By her standards, talking like that didn't make sense.
Their family hadn't been well-off, but she and her mother had always gotten along great. Even when they fought occasionally, the cold wars never lasted more than a few days.
Her mother had had her young, and with her youthful face relative to her age, they were often mistaken for sisters with a big age gap.
When she passed away, Ibi had grieved for a long time, and it had taken quite a while to return to normal life.
So seeing Haewon so indifferent to his own mother's death—cursing her even—was hard for Ibi to accept.
"There must have been a reason."
"For what?"
"A reason why your mother acted that way..."
A bitter sneer crept across Haewon's gaunt face. It was surprising that someone who seemed so good-natured could make that expression.
"Oh, there was a reason. A perfectly clear one."
And with that, Haewon began telling Ibi his story step by step.
His mother, a shaman, had wanted him to inherit her trade from the moment he was born. But disappointingly, Haewon had no spiritual gifts whatsoever.
She'd held out hope that something might awaken as he grew, but it never did. As Haewon passed through puberty and matured, their relationship drifted further apart.
Up to that point, he'd at least still thought of her as his mother. Until that incident happened.
When he got to Saetbyeol's death, Haewon's voice began to tremble. Learning afterward that he'd unknowingly been betrothed sealed the break with his mother.
She'd done it to bind a spiritually ungifted Haewon to some spiritual entity.
Ibi listened with her head bowed as he recounted the women he'd met since—Ji-hyun dying, then Eun-ha.
So when news came two years ago that his mother had died, he hadn't cried. Complicated emotions he couldn't put into words had swirled through him, but not sorrow, he said.
That's when he'd met Nati and the Ghost Bridge Society. In a dazed state, he'd wandered into that teahouse and felt an uncanny intuition.
Good or bad, he must have been a shaman's son after all. Digging into the suspicious teahouse, he'd learned of this odd cult-like group called the Ghost Bridge Society and managed to join them.
In truth, Haewon couldn't properly refute what Nati had snapped at him back at the exorcism shrine.
It had started vague. He might not have even realized it himself. But as he spent time with them, he'd felt joy—but also a dark anticipation creeping up.
That maybe, just maybe, here he could escape the grip of that fiancée strangling him.
"Call me selfish, I don't care. I just hate it. I don't want to sacrifice myself for something I never agreed to. Binding myself to some spiritual entity like that... it means death. No, even death wouldn't free me."
Ibi listened silently to Haewon's tale. From a certain viewpoint, it did sound selfish. Befriending people while hoping for personal gain felt underhanded.
But she didn't think he'd betrayed his friends. Would she have acted differently in his shoes? He'd spent the last two years genuinely enjoying their company, he said. Was it wrong to gaze at a single star from the gutter?
"I don't want to die."
Haewon buried his face between his knees. Ibi crawled over on her knees and grabbed his hand. He lifted his head slightly, looking surprised.
"I'll help you."
Haewon's eyelids fluttered briefly. But then he let out a wry chuckle.
"How?"
"You said it before. You never agreed to it. If we can prove that, can't we void it?"
"True, but..."
Ibi looked up and scanned the shrine interior widely.
"The answer's in here, right? That's why you've been rummaging around."
She'd heard it clearly. He'd said he'd scour his mother's traces to find a way to nullify the betrothal.
"It's not that big. We can turn this place upside down in no time. The deadline's a bit worrying, though... that 'wedding day.' When is it? You know, right?"
But Haewon just shrugged and said something absurd.
"No idea."
"...What?"
Haewon gave a hollow laugh, staring at Ibi's stunned face. Was he joking in this situation?
"I really don't know. At first, I thought my mom was rambling nonsense in her delirium. All I remember is..."
Haewon trailed off, rummaging through his memories.
"The day Mount Taebaek burns brightest..."
"..."
Oh, come on. What kind of riddle is that?
Ibi clicked her tongue. Well, it had been like this from the start. From that warped, affection-filled letter to now. Nothing about this mess ever gave straight answers.
"But it can't be far off. She never showed up in front of me all this time, but now with the letter and the confinement threats, pushing things this far. Probably won't last past this month."
That made sense. Hadn't that woman been singing the same tune all along—that time was running out? It wouldn't even be shocking if it was tomorrow.
But...
"Okay. You get some rest, oppa."
"What?"
It came out of nowhere, as if he'd ignored everything she'd said so far.
"What are you talking about? Time's short."
"Go look in the bathroom mirror. In that state, you'll drop dead from overwork before sunrise tomorrow. Rest first, then we'll figure it out. Have you eaten dinner? I'll grab something."
As she headed for the door, Haewon stared at her blankly.
"I've never met anyone like you."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"This place doesn't scare you?"
Haewon gave a self-mocking chuckle and gestured to the shrine, which looked like a typhoon had torn through it.
"Looks like ghosts could pop out any second. And it was a shaman's place."
Ibi let out a small sigh. She pushed the door open and replied,
"I'm possessed by a ghost myself."
Stepping outside felt like entering a completely separate world from inside. It was just an ordinary commercial building.
A nearby snack bar that looked fine was still open, so she pushed the door and went in.