Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 4: I Bought an Abandoned House
"Uwaaack!"
"Uh, snake, snake!"
It happened when I parked in front of the abandoned house and opened my car door.
A group of people jumped over the fallen gate of the abandoned house and ran out.
"What’s going on?"
Thud. I closed the car door loudly and raised my voice.
"What do you think you're doing right now..."
"Run away, it's a snake! A snake!"
"The yellow dog was barking like crazy, so I couldn't think straight. Its leg was bleeding profusely, but it was so agitated it looked like it was about to bite!"
A man running out with a selfie stick wiped the sweat drenching his forehead.
Snake? Yellow dog?
There are such things in the abandoned house?
I had entered the house several times, but I had never seen anything like that. Did the YouTubers release a snake and bring a dog just to film a "haunted house" video?
I bought an abandoned house in this mountain valley because I wanted to live quietly. So I absolutely hated seeing people swarming around.
I frowned deeply, looked around, and shouted in annoyance.
"Hey, the person who parked over there, move your car. This is private property."
Here, there was a difference in elevation between the parking space and the space where the house stood. The area where I pitched my tent and parked was lower, and you had to go up some stairs to reach the main gate entering the abandoned house.
Once over the gate, there was a yard overgrown with thickets and a 20-pyeong abandoned house sitting quietly.
‘Including all of that, it's about 200 pyeong.’
In other words, if you measure just the house and the yard, it's about 60 pyeong? Anyway, it wasn't even 100 pyeong.
The open space below the stairs outside the house gate was wider. But people had parked their cars there, leaving only the spot where I pitched my tent.
Because of that, my tent was stuck right in the middle of the cars.
The cooking pots I had stacked up to dry after washing them had been knocked over by someone and were rolling on the ground, covered in dirt. The towel I washed and hung up yesterday was the same. It had fallen onto the wet ground and was filthy.
It didn't look like they had gone inside the tent and rummaged through my things, but still.
"Imagine doing wild camping, and suddenly cars block the front and back of your tent."
Whether this is private land or a campsite, anyone would be angry.
"There's an open lot near the village hall and a riverside area down by the valley, so why park your cars here?"
"We didn't know an abandoned house like this had an owner."
"I bought it recently. So move your cars."
"But what are you going to do about the dog?"
The man who had just made a fuss about the yellow dog barking and attacking shouted at me.
"Even if it's an abandoned house, how can you let a dog loose without a leash! And the dog was injured; why aren't you taking it to a hospital?"
"No, where is this dog you're talking about?"
When I reacted with disbelief, the man took the phone he had attached to the selfie stick and played a recorded video.
And then, suddenly, he screamed.
"Uwaack! Shit, the dog is gone! Aaaack! Then what was that?"
The man made a huge fuss.
"What? The dog is gone?"
"Let me see."
People who had entered the abandoned house together gathered around to check the video.
"It's really not there? But I only heard a dog barking. I didn't see the dog."
"Dog barking sound? I didn't even hear that. But I saw a huge snake!"
"Where was the snake? Is everyone crazy?"
The people muttered as if possessed by something, then turned their gazes to the abandoned house.
"Do you think a ghost lives in that house?"
"What? You mean a dog ghost lives there?"
"No, I definitely saw a living dog!"
"I only heard the sound of a dog barking."
"I saw a huge spider! It was disgusting!"
It was hard to believe these people had entered the abandoned house together because they were all saying different things. What they claimed to have seen inside the house was all different.
‘Were they really possessed?’
I watched the people carefully with calm eyes.
Assuming they weren't lying, it seemed they had entered the abandoned house and each seen something different that scared them.
Wait a minute.
The old man wearing the New Village hat had said it. The Site Spirit of the abandoned house is a serpent.
And the old man had an injured ankle.
‘He was wearing a beige jumper.’
The snake and the injured yellow dog they saw. Could they be the serpent and the old man in the New Village hat?
"Ah! Let's go in again."
"I hate it, I'm scared."
"Excuse me. There is a dog, right? Even if there isn't, just say there is."
"Just move your cars first. Before I call the police."
Honestly, Site Spirits, ghosts... I hated people more than any of those things.
There were plenty of empty lots and open fields on the way here, but I was annoyed by these people who insisted on jamming their cars in here and causing a ruckus.
"I said, go quickly!"
After the commotion ended, the people drove away in their respective cars. It seemed they had come out of curiosity upon hearing that a meteorite had fallen. Seeing that they only rummaged through the abandoned house and left, it seemed they hadn't even thought about looking for the meteorite in the first place.
‘They won't come again, right? Please don't come.’
I picked up the dirt-covered cooking pots and towel and headed to the valley.
‘It must have rained the day before.’
Splash, splash. I washed the dishes in the cool flowing valley water and rinsed the towel again.
"Ah, refreshing."
It was now the beginning of autumn. The leaves hadn't turned yet, but the wind blowing from the mountain smelled of autumn. The fallen leaves that had dropped prematurely seemed ready to become one with the earth, embracing the moisture from yesterday's rain.
I hummed a tune as I returned and took the icebox out of the car. Before leaving Seoul, I had bought pig's head meat and rice wine. I also bought assorted pancakes sold at the shop that sold the head meat.
They said they saw a snake and a yellow dog, right?
While washing the dishes, I thought about what the people running out of the abandoned house had said.
And I made a decision.
The Site Spirit and the Mountain God living in the abandoned house? Or maybe they are spiritual creatures, since they mentioned a yellow dog. Anyway, whatever they are, nothing changes.
"The fact that I have to live here remains unchanged."
Just being near the abandoned house cleared my head and made my tinnitus disappear. This place is the "site" where I can live healthily.
‘Other things aren’t important.’
I put the pig's head meat and assorted pancakes on a plastic plate and took two cups to the abandoned house.
"Elders, please take good care of me from now on."
This time, I even bowed twice.
Please don't chase me away. I'll make sure outsiders don't come in here and make noise. While fixing the house and resting, I'll help the Village Foreman with village work, too. In a few days, I'll pick pine mushrooms, sell them, and if I buy delicious things with the earnings, I'll share a little with you.
After reciting my resolution in my heart, I observed a moment of silence.
"Please enjoy the meal."
"Now, is it my turn to eat?"
I lit the charcoal fire and took out the beef tenderloin.
Come to think of it, I'm giving pork to the beings living in the abandoned house while I eat beef?
Next time, I should buy beef for those beings too.
No, why bother setting up two separate tables? I can just tear off a little bit before I eat and offer it to them, then eat the rest myself.
I sprinkled salt on the tenderloin, which was lightly cooked over the charcoal smoke, and devoured it.
"Ugh-uh, it melts, it melts."
I didn't need the side dishes my mother had packed for me this time. The clear air, the tenderloin infused with the scent of true charcoal, and salt were enough.
"Ah, right. I have alcohol too, right?"
I took a soju out of the icebox and swallowed a mouthful. The thrilling sensation scratched down my esophagus and flowed pleasantly into my stomach.
"Kah, this is the taste."
Soju and beef.
But drinking soju definitely made me crave soup a little.
"Since the weather has gotten chilly, shall I boil some ramen?"
I ate ramen the day before yesterday too. From tomorrow, I should cook rice properly. I have side dishes brought from home, after all.
Bubble, bubble. Just as the ramen was cooking...
"Can't you sell that?"
A man panting as he came down from the mountain swallowed his saliva and approached me. He was carrying a large backpack and wearing very expensive brand-name hiking clothes. He looked like someone who had come to find meteorites.
Sigh, seems like he searched the mountain all day.
‘I have all the meteorites, though?’
Feeling a bit sorry for the man who had labored in vain all day, I smiled and said,
"You look very hungry, so just..."
I stopped mid-sentence and shut my mouth. My gaze stopped on the diamond logo engraved on the hiking stick the man was holding.
‘Wow, there are people who actually buy that.’
It was an incredibly expensive stick. Something an ordinary person couldn't afford.
How did I know that?
At one time, our branch manager got into hiking and made us gather at Gupabal Station Exit 1 once a month. As I started hiking involuntarily, I learned that there is a hierarchy even in hiking gear.
Literally, depending on what you wore and what shoes you had, you were distinguished as a "noble person" or a "lowly person."
Back then, when I heard the price of the stick with that logo, I thought, Who would buy that unless they were crazy?
The man approached, poking the ground with the stick as if it were nothing special.
‘Even if I sold all the meteorites I have, I wouldn't buy that stick.’
I didn't want to spend money on things like that. It would just make me a sucker for the hiking gear company.
But this person is saying that's okay?
"Will ten thousand won do? For that ramen."
He's even asking me to sell him ramen for ten thousand won.
He seemed like a person determined to live as a pushover. Originally, one should show compassion to those poorer than oneself. However, the man didn't look poor, and he was someone who volunteered to be a pushover.
"If it's ten thousand won, I can't give you kimchi."
Honestly, even as I said it, I wondered if I was being too harsh, but—
"Fifteen thousand won!"
Another man popped out from the forest path behind the man and shouted. He was also holding the exact same expensive stick.
‘Are they a club?’
While I blinked in confusion, the first man who offered to buy the ramen scowled and said,
"I'll give you twenty thousand won. I feel like I'm going to faint from hunger."
"Hey, Go Dong-soo, are you the only one hungry? Isn't it because you dawdled this morning that we started late and couldn't eat breakfast!"
"If you hadn't suggested coming this way, we would have found the meteorite by now. I told you, it's behind the mountain!"
The man who had already walked up to me took twenty thousand won out of his pocket and held it out.
"Sell it to me. In times like this, it's first come, first served."
"Hey, you really!"
They seemed to be friends, but they couldn't yield a single ramen to each other.
I took the money first and said,
"I brought a whole box of ramen because I plan to camp for a long time, so don't fight."
I gave the already cooked ramen to the man who arrived first, then poured water from the jug to boil water again. Although I clearly gave them two pairs of chopsticks, they didn't share.
Bubble, bubble.
"Here, it's already done."
I set down the newly cooked ramen in the pot and brought out kimchi too.
"Wow, this tastes like pure honey."
The men sat on the ground and devoured the ramen.
‘I sold two bowls of ramen in an instant and made 40,000 won.’
But that wasn't the end.
I heard people talking from the trail...
"Wow, you bastards! Eating by yourselves? Where's the loyalty?"
"What? When did those jerks come down?"
About five men came running toward us. They all must have been starving. They made a fuss trying to steal even a single chopstick of ramen.
"Hey, you guys buy and eat too. It's twenty thousand won."
"Then me too."
"Me too."
"Me too."
People scrambled to take out money.
‘What is this? I'm going to sell ramen to a total of 7 people for 20,000 won each?’
I didn't even boil the ramen for them. They decided the order, boiled the water in the pot, and cooked the ramen themselves. I just sat still and earned 140,000 won.
It turned out they were a gathering of collectors who were born with silver spoons in their mouths and collected rare items.
‘There’s a profession called collector in this world?’
Well, you couldn't really call it a job. Since they weren't doing it to make a living.
‘But you can't call it a hobby either.’
They do it to satisfy their own satisfaction, but they also make money from it. Hearing the amounts mentioned in passing made my jaw drop.
"You know that cursive script from the Joseon Dynasty last time? 1 billion was too cheap. If you had put it up for auction, you would have made double."
These guys were players.
Relics, meteorites, rocks, cultural assets, etc. Players who make money as a hobby by selling rare items.
"By the way, do you live here?"
A man who introduced himself as Lee Hoyoung asked me.
"The tent is wet, and seeing as you hammered in the pegs before the rain, it means you've been here for at least three days. I was wondering if you saw the meteorite fall."