Crybaby #2
The reason a baby cries. If you think about it clearly, it was because they were hungry. If you're hungry, of course you'd cry!
“Ju-hui! Do something!”
“What the hell am I supposed to do? Fuck off!”
But Yang Ju-hui was fiercely opposing the “baby feeding operation” I had in mind. What the hell was I supposed to do in this situation? Should I knock on the neighbor’s door and beg the apartment manager auntie for help? No—. If I did that, I’d definitely get called a crazy bastard and the situation would only get worse.
“Baby! Wahhh!”
I genuinely felt like bawling my eyes out too. How nice it must be to be a baby. Just cry like that and your mom will take care of everything. But I was a high schooler on the verge of adulthood, and at this point I needed to solve my own problems.
That’s right! Fuck it! I can do this! How many ghost bastards have I taken down so far!
“Wait a second!”
Baby… baby and mom…. As that thought crossed my mind, the newly acquired Mercenary Group system suddenly came to me. The ghosts I’d defeated. Maybe there was some kind of hint there?
What I chose was “4. Ghost Under the Bed.” From what I remembered, this was the ghost that copied the mother. It was also the one Yang Ju-hui had beaten the absolute shit out of. In other words, even if my gamble failed, she could still control the situation with her violence.
Dispatch the copying mother ghosts… to Yu Da-hui!
Ghost Under the Bed
📍 Target: Yu Da-hui
💰 Cost: 100 P
All or nothing!
Just as I was wondering what would happen next—
Jingle. Jingle—.
The sound of bells began to ring.
“Huk!”
That was the bell sound from my memory.
“Ju-hui. Do you hear the bells too?”
“Of course I do! Ha Yeong-won! What the hell did you just do?!”
“…I summoned the mom, I think….”
Jingle. Jingle—.
Knock knock knock—.
The bell sounds stopped right outside our door and knocking began.
The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Knock knock. Knock knock. Knock knock. Knock knock.
The kind of atmosphere where opening the door would mean getting absolutely fucked.
Between Yu Da-hui crying her lungs out like a baby, the constant jingling, and the endless knocking, I was about ready to cover my ears.
━Sleep well, my little one… In the front yard and the back mountain… The birds too, little one….
A lullaby began to drift through the door. It was an incredibly soft and gentle voice. It felt so warm and caring that it even made me think of my own mom lying in the hospital.
“Hey! Ha Yeong-won! Look at that!”
Whoosh—.
“I see it.”
Yu Da-hui’s body was wrapped in a pure white glow. Soon the baby who had been wailing “wah wah” collapsed limply onto the bathroom floor. The baby cries stopped. The bell sounds vanished. The lullaby disappeared too.
Everything fell silent.
Was it… over?
No, it was too early to let my guard down.
Congratulations! You have triumphed over the ‘Baby Ghost’!
Settling rewards for 3 survivors.
You have acquired 150 P.
Your ‘Ghost Under the Bed’ has achieved enlightenment and passed on. You can no longer dispatch the Ghost Under the Bed from the Mercenary Group.
“Oh, shit….”
###
“What are you staring at?”
Yu Da-hui said to me after opening her eyes. She was smiling bashfully, looking a little embarrassed.
I answered simply.
“Just looking at you, Da-hui.”
“I see.”
Yu Da-hui got up with a rustle. It was already seven in the morning.
“Da-hui. Go wash up and change. We have to go to school.”
Even as I said it, the conversation felt strangely familiar.
Soon Yang Ju-hui, who had been boiling ramen for breakfast, came into the room.
“Hey! I told you to wake Yu Da-hui up! She’s already awake? Yu Da-hui! You’re seriously dead meat! Do you have any idea how much we suffered because of you last night?!”
“…Suffered?”
Yu Da-hui frowned like she couldn’t remember anything.
I asked her.
“You don’t remember what happened yesterday evening?”
“I remember going to church… and then coming home and eating ramen… My body felt really heavy and tired so I wanted to sleep early… but it feels like I had a really fun dream… Whoa. My body feels so light!”
Whoosh whoosh—. She happily spun her shoulders in circles.
It seemed she didn’t remember anything from when she was possessed. Anyway, the important thing was that the possessing ghost had been properly exorcised and the incident was safely resolved. I hadn’t expected a shaman ghost to suddenly pop out, though.
“Maybe….”
Suddenly I remembered how the shaman ghost had been frantically searching for something in the Nightmare Corridor. Could it be that the shaman ghost had been looking for a ‘baby’?
My reasoning went like this.
1. The shaman ghost who committed suicide at school had a ‘baby.’
2. And that ‘baby’ was abandoned by its mother and became a ghost.
3. The baby ghost latched onto Yu Da-hui last night (?). When we were near the church and Yu Da-hui heard a cat crying and Yang Ju-hui reacted with “That was a cat’s cry?”, maybe that was the moment.
4. The possessed baby ghost was then put to sleep by the fake mother acted out by the ‘Ghost Under the Bed’—.
Was that how it worked? It was just my guess, but it seemed plausible. If I used this information well, it might help me deal with the real shaman ghost inside the Nightmare Corridor. Maybe bring in a baby doll or something and use it as bait.
Anyway.
We ate the ramen Yang Ju-hui had boiled, then left the house. But today there was a black car parked in front of our place.
“Da-hui. The chairman says it’s time to stop this and come back home.”
A man in a black suit got out of the car and spoke to Yu Da-hui. He then took a phone out of his pocket and held it out to her.
“…….”
Yu Da-hui looked back and forth between the man and us. Then she spoke quite coldly.
“I don’t want to.”
The man looked extremely flustered. Yu Da-hui added,
“But staying at a friend’s house forever would be a nuisance too. If my grandfather accepts the conditions I proposed, then I’ll go home.”
What kind of conditions had she proposed to her grandfather? Something like receiving her inheritance early before he dies? While I was imagining all sorts of things, Yang Ju-hui chimed in too.
“Hey. Just go home already. Running away like this is a pain for your family and a pain for Ha Yeong-won too. How many people are suffering because of you? Seriously, you’re not even a kid. What do you mean, running away from home?”
It felt really fresh hearing something like that come from the delinquent Yang Ju-hui.
The man soon spoke as if he had made up his mind.
“I will take full responsibility and speak to the head of the family. Now, everyone please get in the car. I’ll drive you to school.”
Oh, shit. Would I ever get another chance to ride in a car this expensive in my life? I hopped in immediately, and Yang Ju-hui followed me. Yu Da-hui grumbled, “Walking would be better,” but eventually got in the back when she realized she had no choice.
Sssss—.
Wow, this car really glides like it’s been oiled. The ride quality is insane. When would I ever be able to buy and drive a car like this? Could I threaten the American president with my abilities?
While I was thinking about that, we had already arrived at school.
“Then Da-hui, I’ll come pick you up after school. And Yeong-won student.”
The man called out to me.
Why?
“Could I have a moment of your time?”
“Me?”
Why? What did he want to talk about? Maybe it was about Yu Da-hui. He might threaten me with something like “Stay away from our young lady from now on.”
“You two go on ahead.”
I sent Yu Da-hui and Yang Ju-hui into the school and decided to hear what the man in the black suit had to say. What could it be?
As I was thinking that, the man opened his mouth.
“I heard Da-hui stayed at your house. Nothing unusual happened, right?”
Nothing unusual…. What would count as unusual? Getting possessed by a baby ghost? Or something between a man and a woman? Either way, it was probably best to say nothing happened.
“Yes. Nothing happened.”
“I see. That’s good. Our head of the family… Da-hui’s grandfather is quite the unusual person, and he dotes on his granddaughter very deeply. Do you know who Da-hui’s grandfather is?”
Da-hui’s grandfather? Maybe a descendant of a family that even held the title of count during the Japanese colonial period? An incredibly rich man. That’s what I thought, but I couldn’t say it out loud.
“I don’t know. I just know they’re extremely wealthy.”
“Hahaha. Wealthy family. Yes, that’s right. Da-hui’s grandfather is truly an enormously rich man. He has no family left except Da-hui. You seem smart. You understand what I’m saying, right?”
“Are you telling me not to get close to her?”
“No. It’s the opposite. Continue getting along well with Da-hui, and if anything happens, please contact this number.”
Slide—. I carefully put the piece of paper with the phone number into my pocket. It must be the man’s number. Maybe it was just my imagination, but lately a lot of older men kept giving me their numbers.
Then a question suddenly occurred to me.
“If Da-hui is his only family… what happened to Da-hui’s parents…?”
“I only started working for them five years ago, so I don’t know the details. But Da-hui’s grandfather said he lost his son and daughter-in-law… in a rather unfortunate incident. Da-hui is a child who has been through a lot of pain, so please treat her well.”
###
A modern mansion built like a castle. In the most splendid and luxurious room of a place designed by a famous architect who had reinterpreted a medieval fortress with modern engineering, a man was sitting.
He appeared to be in his seventies. White hair and deeply wrinkled eyes gave him a rather strict appearance. In front of the man was a nameplate carved from ivory.
理
Yeongji Foundation Chairman Cheon Dae-gon
Cheon Dae-gon. He was undeniably one of the most influential figures in Gaeryong City. Such a man was sitting in his chair, staring at a picture frame placed on his luxurious mahogany desk.
“Are you thinking about your son again?”
Someone spoke to him. When he looked up, a woman wearing red high heels was already standing in front of him. To appear without making a single sound while wearing heels so high it looked difficult to even walk in—she really had talent. It was Hong Miri, the English teacher at Yeongji High School.
“If only your son were still here, everything would have gone smoothly. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? Why don’t you try contacting him?”
“Miri. Watch your tongue. My son is dead. How many times have I told you not to bring that bastard up in front of me? That bastard is dead.”
Cheon Dae-gon closed his mouth. Hong Miri didn’t scratch at the old man’s nerves any further. But there was something she needed to say.
“While we’re on the subject, it seems the pastor of Yeonggwang Church is going to contact Seoul. If people come from Seoul, we won’t be able to handle things secretly anymore.”
“…What about Da-hui?”
“From what Driver Kim said, it looks like she’ll be coming home today. Kids are difficult, aren’t they? If that shaman bitch hadn’t gone and killed herself at school, things would have been resolved long ago. To think we’ve reached the point where we have to rely on Da-hui because everything got so twisted.”
Slide—. The old man stood up from his seat. Then he slapped Hong Miri hard across the cheek.
Slap—!
The English teacher Hong Miri dropped her head from the unexpectedly strong force.
“Watch your mouth.”
“…Did I say something wrong? Please leave it to me instead, Chairman. Head of the family. I’m confident I can do it better. I will definitely—”
“No. You have no talent. If it had been the other twin, maybe. But you are only half. You know better than anyone why I’m saying this.”
Grind—. Hong Miri looked more humiliated than when she had been slapped. Of course, whether Hong Miri got angry or tried to provoke him with sarcastic remarks, Cheon Dae-gon didn’t care at all.
He stroked Hong Miri’s hair and spoke coldly.
“A dog should act like a dog. Don’t try to sit at the same table as your master. Just guard the house.”
Cheon Dae-gon paid Hong Miri no further attention. There were only a very small number of things in this world that could capture his interest. Come to think of it, there was one thing that had been bothering him lately.
“You said Da-hui has a male friend recently, right? Not that mayor’s son.”
“That coward? His name is Ha Yeong-won. There are plenty of other boys, so I don’t understand why Da-hui would date someone like him. I don’t think he’s worth paying any special attention to?”
“…A coward. I see. Blood doesn’t lie after all. Da-hui’s mother liked that sort of thing. But fear, you see, is the root of survival and evolution. It is the measure of all things. Cowards live longer.”
“…….”
“Tonight, invite Da-hui’s friends over for dinner. Call them all to the house. I need to see what kind of boy this friend who’s gotten close to Da-hui really is.”
“What if they say they have plans or have to go to cram school?”
“…….”
Cheon Dae-gon said nothing more and sat back down in his chair. Hong Miri didn’t make any more sarcastic remarks either.