A Money Windfall Even When You Spend It - 3

The robes and outer garment that Master No wore looked quite different from what I'd seen on period dramas about the Joseon Dynasty.

They match the style of the robes on the Buddha statue.

What did that mean? It meant he had lived in the very era when that statue was made.

'Am I wrong, Master? You built this hermitage and devoted yourself to practice here, and you passed away in this very place. Isn't that right?'

Master No turned his back to the wall and began chanting prayers.

Had he passed on without ever attaining enlightenment?

But then something strange happened. Among the words of his murmured chant, one repeated phrase sounded familiar to my ears.

It sounded remarkably close to the Thousand-Hand Sutra. Most people knew it as a prayer for driving out ghosts, but in truth its deeper meaning lay in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠consoling souls — a rite for the comfort of the dead.

Whose soul are you trying to soothe, Master? The resentful spirits of those who died building this temple?

The laborers and artisans whose traces were visible all throughout the temple grounds. Was he offering comfort to their souls?

At my words, Master No's chanting stopped with an abrupt break.

Then he resumed the prayer, but this time a thread of sorrow ran through his voice.

So that's it. You carry guilt for the souls sacrificed in building this temple.

Wolsang Temple had been erected during Queen Seondeok's reign in Silla, a time when royal authority was weak. In the dramas, Queen Seondeok radiated girl-crush charm and had a romance going with Kim Yusin, but historians agreed that Silla's political situation in this era was extremely unstable.

The kings of the time had practiced incestuous marriage to consolidate power, so the royal family tree was hopelessly tangled. The king's wife was, in fact, his own sister, and the children born of that union went on to marry the king's younger brother. And when children were born of that marriage, who could say whether the firstborn rank belonged to the first king's children, or to the ones whose mother had married her uncle?

The king was supposed to be the sole, absolute sovereign. Yet by marrying within the family again and again in a bid to strengthen the throne, they had only eroded the very image of absolute authority they were trying to build.

Queen Seondeok at least had brilliant generals like Kim Yusin at her side. Silla had managed to fight its way up to Mount Odae, but no one could say when the tide might turn and they'd be pushed back.

Building a temple, harnessing the Buddha's merit to make sure this land was never taken from them — that was surely the heart behind it all.

You must have summoned Silla's finest artisans here and ordered them to pour everything into building the temple.

How many artisans must have died or been maimed creating the Buddha statue, the stone pagoda, the temple bell?

And so Master No, who would go on to become the temple's second or third abbot, must have come to sense the presence of the countless spirits drifting through this place. That was why he had climbed to this hermitage and chanted the prayers for the dead.

And then he himself couldn't cross over to the afterlife, and became a lingering spirit here instead.

I bit down hard on my lip and read through the temple ledger with my eyes.

Wolsang Temple took the full brunt of history, didn't it.

The Imjin War. The Manchu Invasion. The records showed it had burned down twice — two great fires during the Joseon era alone.

There were even people who died trying to carry the Buddha statues out of burning halls.

Countless artisans would have bled all over again to repair the temple afterward. And after grinding through artisan after artisan to restore the temple ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— what did it amount to? Grave robbers, pillagers, and then outright war came calling anyway.

"Wolsang Temple has been through two fires and one bombing raid, and its relics were stripped clean a total of three times. All that's left are the buildings, the bronze bell, and things like the stone pagoda."

And the hidden relic — the earring — had been stolen just recently.

"So a Buddha statue made in the Silla era is a treasure in and of itself, then."

At my words, the head monk nodded.

"Yes, that's right. I only came to realize that fact myself not long ago."

A Silla-era Buddha statue shaped much like the carved figures of Seokguram Grotto. It had been preserved in exactly the state it was created, all those centuries ago.

The head monk continued his explanation.

"This place was never somewhere outsiders visited, and since the abbots built the hermitage purely for their own practice, no one ever thought to register the statue as a cultural asset. Including me."

When dust settled on the statue, they wiped it; when grime built up, they cleaned it off. That was the extent of its care.

Then at some point, the head monk noticed that the statue's form was different from anything he'd seen elsewhere.

"The shape is completely unlike the statue in the Main Buddha Hall, and the way the robe's hem seems to flow downward felt almost like a work of art in its own right."

"It does have a certain aesthetic beauty, like gazing at the Pensive Bodhisattva."

"Precisely."

The head monk had called in experts who understood relics and opened the statue's hidden interior for examination.

"Thank heavens we didn't bring in any journalists. It broke everyone's prediction that a Silla-era scripture would emerge — instead, out came a single earring and a nail."

"A nail?"

"Yes. Apparently it's a tool used for carving jade. And this is a photograph of the earring."

The head monk took out his phone and showed me the picture. The teardrop-shaped earring, seemingly carved from jade, bore lotus blossoms engraved in raised relief.

Wow. So jade can be carved like this?

It was a beautiful piece — even the dew clinging to the lotus petals had been rendered in stone.

"This earring looks even more refined and beautiful than the ones unearthed from Silla-era tombs."

"We did some digging of our own, and it turns out to be a registered Treasure. But of all things, a Treasure that turned out to be an earring — it was rather embarrassing. We went through every wild theory you can imagine. Did the monk who built this hermitage lust after women, or what."

At those words, Master No — who had been chanting at the wall — sprang to his feet and glared at the head monk with unmistakable fury.

So that's who you are — Master Bo-eun.

As if he'd read my mind, Bo-eun spun his head around sharply.

That's right. Master Bo-eun.

I turned my gaze back to the head monk.

"Master Bo-eun was not the type to chase after women. My thought is that..."

Bo-eun had been chanting prayers for the consolation of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the dead. And all around the temple drifted the spirits of countless artisans. Weighing it all together, the owner of the earring must have been —

"Perhaps an artisan who worked on the Buddha statue made it for the wife or lover who was waiting for him at home. I'm guessing from the fact that a jade-carving nail came out of the statue."

"It belonged to one of the artisans?"

"Yes. Most likely, Master Bo-eun, who built this hermitage..."

I stole a glance at Bo-eun. He was listening to my words with careful attention, which told me I was on the right track.

In that case, I had no choice but to say what was rising to my mind.

"An artisan who died making the Buddha statue, leaving an earring he never got to deliver... I believe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Master Bo-eun placed it among the hidden relics so that the man could close his eyes in peace within the Buddha's grace."

The moment my words ended, Bo-eun closed both eyes, pressed his palms together, and began to chant.

So I was right.

If that were so, then the artisan who made the earring might still be drifting somewhere within these temple grounds as well. He'd never managed to deliver it to his wife, after all — which meant he would have become a resentful spirit, wandering the nine heavens without rest.

"Head Monk, I know the whereabouts of the person who stole the earring. It's late today, so tomorrow, I'll guide you to wherever they are."

"If you'll simply tell me who they are, we can handle the rest ourselves."

A sham religious cult called Cheonligyo. An elected residents' representative — the village chief. And grave robbers joining the mix. Would calling the police actually solve any of this?

I had to admit it would be difficult.

"I learned of the earring's disappearance through an introduction from Lee Ho-young, the head of Miho Gallery."

To make him believe that collecting a hundred-million-won reward wasn't my entire purpose, I kept talking.

"Finding the earring isn't where it ends for me. I won't be able to sleep with both legs stretched out in comfort until the thieves are caught and punished."

"Representative Lee of Miho Gallery is someone I know well, as it happens. He's the one who introduced the expert who appraised the Buddha statue for us."

So it had been Moon Sung-il who examined the statue?

The head monk asked me,

"If you intend to catch the grave robbers and see them punished, Teacher, then what am I to do? I feel there must be something I should be doing as the abbot."

"Don't you have anyone high-ranking among your congregation? We may well need the help of the authorities."

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

So it looked like I'd be doing a temple stay after all. My phone buzzed, and when I checked it, the call was from Moon Sung-il.

Could the person the head monk had reached out to be Moon Sung-il himself?

Tilting my head, I pressed the call button.

"Yes, Representative Moon."

"You're at Wolsang Temple, aren't you?"

"Haha, my guess was right again. Did the head monk contact you saying he needs help from the authorities?"

"Something like that."

"Then please help us."

I calmly laid out the situation with Cheonligyo, the chief of Ugok 2-ri, and the fact that the grave robbers were all in league with the cult.

At that, Moon Sung-il's voice went rigid.

"From what I understand, Cheonligyo is an extremely violent and fanatical organization."

"Is that so?"

Moon Sung-il spoke as if taking on Cheonligyo would be no easy feat.

"Cheonligyo is a splinter faction that broke away from Manligyo after COVID. Whereas Manligyo actively proselytizes with the doctrine that ten thousand souls will be saved, Cheonligyo holds that only a single thousand will."

Apparently you could only attain salvation if you were numbered among the precisely 1,004 elect. Hence the brutal internal competition — the doctrine held that only ranks one through 1,004 would be saved, and everyone else would fall into hell.

"Without hard evidence that Cheonligyo actually stole the hidden relic, no search and seizure warrant will be issued. And even if one were, they'd have certainly already moved the earring somewhere else."

An earring painstakingly crafted by a Silla-era artisan. And since it had been discovered as a hidden relic inside a Buddha statue, it would fetch an extraordinary price.

But my thinking was different.

"They probably haven't sold it. The reason they stole the hidden relic was to divert attention from their internal problems — chances are high they're keeping it stored away like a war trophy."

"Even so, we'd need at least circumstantial evidence that they took it before a warrant gets issued."

Chai had overheard the man running Cheonligyo's action squad, along with the Ugok 2-ri village chief and the grave robbers, talking about the Buddha statue.

They mentioned the earring inside the statue without me having to pry it out of them.

In other words, it wasn't a story Chai had made up.

The problem was that Chai was, at the moment, an undocumented immigrant.

Then I've got no choice. Time to deploy No. 1.

I steadied my voice and spoke.

"Tomorrow afternoon, an assault incident is going to take place at the Cheonligyo Gangwon Compound in Ugok 2-ri."

"An assault? Don't tell me you're planning to infiltrate the place and hit their leader, Representative Kim?"

"Of course not."

I continued with a smile in my voice.

"But an assault incident will happen. Would that work for you? I'm asking you as a favor."

It was probably the first time I'd said the word "favor" to Moon Sung-il since we'd met. Perhaps he was aware of that fact too, because he answered in a calm, measured voice.

"I'll look into it right away. I'll call you back tomorrow."

"All right. I'll be waiting."

After hanging up with Moon Sung-il, I found myself agonizing over how exactly to issue the deployment order to No. 1.

Is there really no way to phone a cat from outside the house?

Guess there was only one way after all.

I called Bang Seonghyun.

"Hey, Seonghyun. Working out right now? Your uncle's out of the house at the moment..."

I told him I'd gone out on business and wouldn't be able to make it home tonight. I explained that a foreign worker named Chai was staying at my place, but since Chai didn't have a cell phone, there was no way to reach him directly.

"Could you stop by my house for a minute after your workout?"

When I asked him to hand the phone over to Chai and then to No. 1, he'd probably laugh at me, right?

But with no other way to reach No. 1, what could I do?

"When you get to my place, I need you to pass along some pointers to Chai about looking after the cat."

"Sure thing."

"Thanks, kid."

"Uncle, does this Chai person also know how to look after the chickens?"

"Huh? No. He can manage a cat, but I doubt he knows the first thing about chicken care."

"Then I'll change the feed and water for the chickens myself. It's cold, so I'll make sure the plastic sheeting is on tight, too."

"Thanks, Seonghyun."

This was exactly why having neighbors was such a good thing.

A little later, once Bang Seonghyun handed the phone to Chai, I'd have to ask... for No. 1, wouldn't I?

My face was getting awfully warm. It made me sound like some man who couldn't bear to be apart from his cat for even a single day.

Anyway.

Right. Now, shall I head out properly and hold interviews with the artisans?

Finding the earring's owner would be ideal, but even if I couldn't, I figured I'd come away with useful information.

After all, this temple had been home to a great many spirits wandering the nine heavens for a thousand years.