No Less Than Double – 4
[Boss! There's a noise coming from your room!]
No. 1 came bounding over from the back yard, where he'd been playing with the kittens, and pointed a paw at my bedroom, insisting a strange sound was ringing straight into his skull.
A strange sound? Wait—there it is.
A low, droning chant was rising steadily louder, as though responding to Abe's talisman. I dashed into the room with No. 1 on my heels.
"That stone!"
It was the same stone that had popped out of the Underworld Gate after I delivered the parasitic spirits clinging to Bang Seongeun. The characters Ilbaekguchundo — One Hundred Souls Delivered — had flickered across its surface before vanishing, as if to mark that I had sent a hundred souls on to the next world. Why it had reacted to Abe's talisman, I had no idea. For now, I set it back in its place; what mattered was the signal Abe was sending.
Pressing my index and middle fingers to the talisman, I began to recite the incantation. As the traditional onmyoji spell I'd learned through Abe flowed from my lips, my vision began to shift — and suddenly I was sitting in my own bedroom, looking out through Abe's eyes.
SD FINANCIAL
A gilded sign glittered on the lobby wall. So Son Guchul had gone to SD Financial — which meant Abe was trailing him there right now.
And who is that woman?
She was staring straight at Abe — at a man who was nothing but a disembodied spirit — as though she could actually see him.
Her age was impossible to guess. White hair, yet utterly lineless skin; a lean, sculpted figure draped in designer clothes and luxury heels.
And then—
"So you didn't come alone, Master? Ohohoho."
She saw through everything — even the fact that I was watching her through Abe's eyes.
Hold on. Master?
Don't tell me — Cho Eunsun!
No matter how hard I searched, nothing ever surfaced about Cho Eunsun. She wasn't an executive at Seongdo Construction, nor did she hold even a minor post at SD Financial. And yet it was obvious to anyone that she had Jeon Hyeontaek's son wrapped around her finger, playing with Seongdo Construction like a toy.
Is that woman really the veiled mastermind — Cho Eunsun herself?
A nervous sweat rose in me, and I swallowed dryly.
"And who might you be? You're the one who woke Abe, aren't you?"
More than the man who had materialized out of nowhere, it was me she was curious about.
Even though I'm looking through Abe's eyes, it feels like I'm standing face to face with her.
This wasn't how I'd planned it. Abe had used the talisman to reach me because a major decision required my orders — and now this woman had seen straight through the whole channel.
Her blood-red lips parted.
"I admire people who wield powers I don't have. I love them, even. And you have it, don't you? One Hundred Souls Delivered."
How did she know about that?
My eyes narrowed.
"Give it to me, and I'll give you whatever you want."
She reached out and closed her hand around Abe's throat.
"Ughk!"
Linked to Abe as I was, I felt the woman's grip crushing my own neck.
She must have felt my presence just as clearly, because madness flared in both her eyes.
"What is this? Ahahahahaha! Abe, Abe, Abe!"
She shrieked with delight, gripping and shaking his spirit as if to tear it apart.
"Bring that one to me, Master. Then I'll give you what you always wanted so badly."
Her nails bit into flesh. Blood trickled down; it felt as though the bone would splinter. And still Abe didn't resist. He simply endured it in silence.
"Abe — hhng—!"
I couldn't hold back the searing pain; I gasped out the words between ragged breaths.
"Get away from there. Now."
If I was in this much agony, I could hardly imagine what Abe was suffering. It was painfully obvious that he couldn't withstand this woman alone.
She was evil — and monstrously powerful. I doubted even Tachibana, the ancient onmyoji, could have beaten her.
Unless I combined forces with No. 1, maybe.
[Cho Eunsun.]
Abe pried the woman's fingers from his throat one by one. Only then did my airway open again.
[You will be destroyed. You were my mistake. My shame, and my regret.]
Chanting a spell, Abe hurled a golden talisman at her — a talisman inscribed with characters he had gathered his own energy to write in midair. It flew true and slapped onto the woman's forehead.
"Aaagh!!"
Cho Eunsun screamed. For a moment I thought the strike had actually landed.
"Ooh, that tickles, Master!"
She was completely unharmed. Pinching the talisman off between thumb and forefinger, she snickered. Abe loosed another, but this time she merely swept her hand through the air and burned it to ash in a roar of flame.
They said she was strong enough to destroy Abe thirty years ago.
Now she was powerful enough to threaten even me, peering through Abe's eyes.
I gave Abe his orders.
"Abe, raise a barrier and conceal yourself for now. We lose everything if she strips ours intel from us."
[...Understood, Master.]
Sssrrk. The view turned hazy and white, like a window pane fogging with frost.
Sensing the change, Cho Eunsun's face twisted savagely and she strode forward.
"Where did you go? Hah — you ran?"
She flailed both arms wildly, but from beyond the barrier nothing she did seemed to reach Abe.
My guess had been right. Cho Eunsun was a shaman who borrowed the power of ravenous ghosts — she had no idea how to raise or undo a proper barrier.
That's why she's left the barrier over Ugok 5-ri untouched all this time — because she couldn't undo the one Abe set.
If she could have broken it, she'd have torn the whole thing down a decade ago and flattened the village for construction.
"You're still there, aren't you, Master?"
Her arms finished their fruitless sweeping, and her mouth curled into a crooked sneer.
"Fine! If you want to scrape by like a coward, go right ahead. But show your face in front of me one more time, and you'll know."
Cho Eunsun whispered, her eyes glinting with murder.
"I'll erase you — you and that young pup hiding behind you — without a trace."
Abe stood staring blankly as she turned and walked away, then spoke to me.
[What shall we do now?]
"Stay well clear of Cho Eunsun. Keep to Son Guchul's men until the court, and be careful until then."
[Yes, Master.]
The writing on the talisman shifted once more, and then the link with Abe went dark.
"Whew. That gave me actual chills."
The killing intent lodged in Cho Eunsun's eyes hadn't been human. She was like a living ghost. No doubt she hid countless ravenous spirits throughout her body and wielded their power like a weapon of immense influence.
Was it really right to let a woman like that live?
I picked up the black stone inscribed with One Hundred Souls Delivered. Cho Eunsun seemed to want this stone — this thing that had bounced out of the underworld — very, very badly.
What on earth is it for?
For now, I pocketed it.
[Boss! Your neck's bleeding!]
"Bleeding?"
I jumped up and stood in front of the mirror. The shape of her hand was printed clearly on my throat, and blood was welling from the spots where Cho Eunsun's nails had pierced the flesh.
"This woman is insane."
Granted, I'd been linked with Abe — but the physical distance between us was considerable. The fact that she could exert force across space itself made my skin crawl.
"If that's how she wants to play it, then I'll just have to use cutting-edge science."
Among the countless souls I had delivered so far, the gifts they'd left behind included programming ability.
I've never tried it, but let's give it a shot.
I looked up the location of SD Financial's headquarters and connected to the central building control system. My fingers slid across the keyboard like water.
Oh — it's working!
No. 1 flopped onto my lap and shoved his face against the monitor.
[What are you doing?]
"Revenge."
[That's revenge?]
"Just watch. It's a petty one, but it's going to be very satisfying."
I punched through the security firewall and triggered the fire alarm. The shriek slammed into every eardrum in the building; workers froze mid-task and looked up.
Shhhhhhh!
The moment the sprinklers kicked in on top of it, startled employees came pouring out of the offices in a stampede.
"Where are you, Cho Eunsun? There you are."
I found her and Son Guchul on the CCTV feeds. Water cascaded down on their heads, and she staggered as the panicked crowd shoved against her.
Slip. Her stiletto heel skidded across the marble floor, and Cho Eunsun went down.
"Nice!"
One of her heels had torn clean off. An employee right beside her tried to haul her up, only to be bowled over by someone sprinting for the exit — and flattened her, stomping her right into the floor.
[Whoa! Now that's revenge!]
Son Guchul, fleeing with the rest of the evacuating staff, tripped and went sprawling, flailing on the ground.
Cho Eunsun pushed herself up onto all fours, struggling for balance. Wet hair clung to her face, her makeup had run in streaks — she was a sight to behold.
She glared up at the security camera, straight at me. She knew it was me. I wiped the smile off my face and spoke to the woman on the screen.
"Sorry. Just a prank."
Next time there won't be any pranks. Next time, we settle this for real — so wait for me.
Click. I shut the computer off.
Monday's the day of the Ugok 5-ri auction, so I'd better knock out the urgent work first.
They were saying the rainy season would start in mid-June this year, which meant the vacant-house repairs had to be finished quickly. Carpenter Jang was off in Wonju with my friend Ko Min-seok, working on a vacant-home project there, so I'd had no choice but to hand our village's repairs to Master Carpenter Hwang, whom Jang had recommended. Hwang was every bit as skilled and responsible as promised, and the work was proceeding meticulously.
"Sir, I wanted to check on the progress."
"I was just about to call you myself, actually — the plastering's finished on all of them."
"Is that right?"
By the time Master Hwang and I had walked through all twelve vacant houses together, dusk was creeping in without my noticing.
"You've worked incredibly hard. Renovating twelve houses all at once can't have been easy."
"Honestly, one or twelve, it's the same amount of sweat. But doing all twelve together saves on materials and the crew's daily wages, so the margin's better."
"Ha, fair enough."
Thanks to Master Hwang working far more carefully than I'd expected, there wasn't much left to request. Except for one thing.
"Jung Haksoo's place over by the reservoir — I'd like you to put some extra heart into that one."
"Ah, that's the one where they're opening a café and a little shop, right?"
"That's right."
"Since you're ordering the tiles, the window frames, the light fixtures, and the door panels yourself, I'll focus on reinforcing the walls."
"I'm counting on you."
If things went on like this, the vacant-house repairs would wrap up within the week. It was a foregone conclusion that Chai would pick one of the twelve and strike out on his own, and the reservoir house would become a café. The remaining ten could take in chon-cance guests before summer arrived, or be rented out to returning farmers with county support.
On the walk home after parting with Master Hwang, the black locust trees — freshly pruned — were in glorious white bloom, every branch heavy with plump clusters of blossoms.
Ugok 5-ri can become a place where people live again, just like this.
If not for the villagers who had died so unjustly — for Heejin, and for Yongsoo, too.
I had no intention of letting Ugok 5-ri be turned into Cho Eunsun's haejangguk factory and food-warehouse depot, not while she wanted it so badly.
Monday, at last.
Son Guchul showed up in front of the courthouse with Abe trailing him.
I looked at him and smirked.
Whatever price you write down, I'm going to write exactly ten won more. You will never get that land.
Abe would relay Son Guchul's sealed bid straight to me.
This was a game I couldn't lose.