Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Grson-sae (1)
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"Ugh..."
I clutched my splitting head and hauled myself up from the top-grade Italian leather sofa.
Last night's traces from Team Leader Do Jae-hyeok's tactless "surprise housewarming" were a gruesome sight.
Empty beer cans and soju bottles littered the marble dining table, while half-eaten squid legs were scattered across the living room floor.
"Hah, my first night in this 100-pyeong penthouse ends with a booze fest."
As I groaned and stretched, a cold voice drifted from the kitchen.
"You're awake."
I whipped my head around in surprise. There stood Seo Hwa-rin in a perfectly pressed suit, holding hangover relief meds.
Last night, she'd been chugging beer right beside me until her face turned beet red. But somehow, she'd already showered and primped back into her usual strict deputy team leader—no, now "Team 7 Leader"—mode.
"Team Leader? When did you get up? Wait, you didn't go home and slept here?"
"Sleep is a luxury for Ghost Gate agents. I burned off the alcohol with spiritual power ages ago."
She tossed me the hangover relief bottle.
At that moment, Pepper stirred beneath my feet, where she'd been sprawled asleep. Fry trudged out from the room too, looking beat after clicking the mouse all night.
[Humans are truly vicious. Even my energy feels muddied.]
[Agreed. Last night, that female... er, Team Leader Seo tried climbing on the table to dance. I smacked her with my paw to knock her out and got scolded for it.]
"Cough!"
Pepper's telepathic bombshell nearly made me spit out the meds I was downing.
Behind that perfect poker face, Seo Hwa-rin hid such a scandalous history?
She looked baffled by my choking fit, but I clamped my mouth shut—mention it, and she'd draw her blade.
"Now, hurry up and shower, then change into work clothes. No time for slacking."
"Huh? We've still got time before shift starts."
"HQ just issued an emergency summons. They've rerouted a standby chopper to the rooftop helipad."
Seo Hwa-rin's face hardened in an instant.
Gone was last night's cheerful vibe; this was pure wartime mode.
"Jeju Branch sent an SOS for backup. We're flying to Jeju right now."
.
.
.
Whump-whump-whump!
Amid the roar of the helicopter blades, I frowned while swiping through the thick briefing file on the tablet PC Seo Hwa-rin handed me.
"This all happened... in just a week?"
"Yes. Continuous abductions over exactly eight days."
Seo Hwa-rin replied gravely through her headset mic.
Across from me sat Sa-hyeon, chin propped, staring out the window with his usual slouch. Pepper lay quietly on my lap, Fry tucked in my pocket.
I sucked in a sharp breath at the red text on screen.
Confirmed Victims to Date: 149
Survivors: 0. Bodies Found: 0. On-Site Bloodstains or Belongings: None.
"A hundred forty-nine? What, did a war break out? How do nearly 150 people just vanish like smoke? And without a single body or bloodstain?"
"That's why Jeju Branch recognized the severity and dispatched our Team 7."
Seo Hwa-rin pushed up her glasses and continued the briefing.
"Initially pegged as serial kidnappings or violent crimes, but one clear common thread emerged among all 149 victims."
"Common thread?"
"Yes. All struck on 'dark nights,' 'thick fog days,' and strictly when 'alone.'"
She manipulated the screen, pulling up photos of the victims' last sighted locations.
Deserted citrus orchards, broken streetlights on coastal roads, shadowy trails.
All eerie, isolated spots.
"No groups of two or more ever targeted. It only hunts those walking solo through the fog. Jeju Branch's low-rank agents dispatched to sites got separated in the mist and picked off one by one—comms cut off."
"Targets only perfectly isolated prey. A real nasty, cunning bastard."
[Master. Even through the photos, I sense a damp, creepy yin energy. The rotten mud stench of netherworld swamps—ancient and putrid.]
Pepper growled telepathically from my feet.
[Hmph. That puny ghost dares skulk before the sun? I'll roast the whole island and that wretch with it.]
Fry clacked his beak irritably from my pocket.
"Hey, old man. Grill the island, and I'll be locked up before my 10-billion salary hits. Control that fire."
I scolded softly. Sa-hyeon across from me snickered and chimed in.
"Monster that leaves no corpse. Sounds fun. Bet it chews bones too. I'll skin it first."
Sa-hyeon's golden eyes flashed with feral bloodlust.
This battle maniac tiger was already twitching his tail in anticipation.
.
.
.
We headed straight to Jeju Branch's underground bunker upon landing at Jeju Airport.
The control room door slid open, letting in a chill laced with thick sea brine.
In the vast hall's center, a woman perched casually on the ops table.
"Long time no see, Seo Hwa-rin."
Black leather jacket, blue bobbed hair.
She smirked with one corner of her mouth—arrogant and utterly at ease.
"...Skip the greetings, Branch Director Bu Ye-in."
Seo Hwa-rin's voice dropped a tone lower.
Her shoulders tensed ever so slightly.
Bu Ye-in.
At twenty-eight, the youngest A-grade exorcist in Korea and head of Ghost Gate's Jeju Branch.
Seo Hwa-rin's same-age bitter rival.
"Skip greetings? Still so stiff. Wondered why Seoul Branch's ace ended up deputy in the boonies—now Team 7 Leader? Quite the promotion."
Bu Ye-in hopped lightly off the table and approached us.
With each step, the control room air rippled like waves—heavy pressure from her guardian spirit's overwhelming rank.
The Seo family house wields the water spirit 'Haetae.' The Jeju Bu family commands the dragon lady 'Two-Eyed Dragon' of the entire ocean.
Droplet versus ocean.
An innate talent wall Seo Hwa-rin could never breach stood right there.
"This the rumored 10-billion rookie?"
Bu Ye-in's gaze pinned me.
"Nice to meet you. Kang Han-gyeol."
"Yeah. Your aura's worth the price. But don't you wonder why they'd drag a 10-billion asset to this backwater island?"
Bu Ye-in lit up a massive screen with a Jeju map and began the briefing.
"Jeju Branch suspects the culprit behind these mad serial vanishings is a mutant of the local yokai 'Grson-sae.'"
"Grson-sae?"
"An evil spirit that dons an inverted traditional straw raincoat 'dorongyi' on rainy or foggy days to lure and kill loners. Normally just a lowly C-grade pest, but this time's different."
Bu Ye-in jabbed the screen's victim count: 149.
"Devoured 149 grudges and souls whole. Including some of our branch exorcists. It's evolved into at least high C-grade, maybe B-grade disaster level. Pure malice clump—physical hits do zilch."
"But aren't you A-grade, Branch Director? Can't you handle it yourself...?"
Bu Ye-in raked back her hair irritably at my question.
"My guardian Two-Eyed Dragon specializes in 'wide-area' attacks. Unleash it to snag one fog-hiding rat, and Seogwipo City's half gets tsunami'd before the monster drops. Our branch agents alone can't cut it, hence the backup call."
I nodded. The situation clicked.
Immune to physical. Fog stealth. Hunts only solo targets with cunning precision.
"Huh, simpler than I thought."
All eyes in the room locked on me as I crossed my arms.
"Just like the Shrimp Ghost incident. Pure evil spirit immune to physical? Sic the natural counter and chew through it."
I patted Pepper at my feet.
Netherworld gatekeeper.
No specialist better at shredding spirits and phantoms.
"It only targets solo prey, right? I'll bait. Stroll alone in thick fog to lure it. Hide Pepper in my parka."
Bu Ye-in's eyes sparkled with interest at my plan.
Seo Hwa-rin's reaction differed.
"Have you lost your mind, Agent Kang? Absolutely not!"
She slammed the table, face ashen.
"Bait? It's a mutant that ate 149! Even with your A-grade firepower, one illusion slip in that fog, and who knows what happens. We can't gamble Ghost Gate's hard-won talent like this!"
"Team Leader, to catch a tiger, enter its den. Stick together, it won't show. Tomorrow's victim count hits 150."
"But...!"
"Branch Director can't act, Sa-hyeon and you are physical dealers—no damage. Who else? 10 billion ain't for show."
Seo Hwa-rin bit her lower lip at my pointed words.
Undeniable facts.
In this mess, only Pepper and I could exploit its weakness.
Bu Ye-in chuckled and clapped.
"I like him. Seoul Branch spent smart. Seo, don't block your agent's path. It's decided."
Seo Hwa-rin clenched her fist in frustration but sighed in resignation.
"...At least keep the comms mic on always. Signal cuts one second, Sa-hyeon and I rush in."
"Got it."
Sa-hyeon just lounged on the sofa with a crooked grin, like 'go solo if you dare.'
Op set.
I zipped into a thick black parka, stuffing Pepper snug in the inner pocket.
Past midnight.
Seogwipo outskirts, coastal road near a citrus orchard.
Fog clung viciously thick.
Even streetlights smeared white; stone walls two meters ahead blurred indistinct.
Damp sea wind chilled to the marrow.
Hands jammed in pockets, I trudged alone through the empty mist.
Seo Hwa-rin's hushed voice crackled through my earpiece.
[Agent Kang. Civilians cleared within 1km radius. Sense anything?]
"No, still quiet..."
Before I finished.
A bizarre isolation muffled all sound around me.
Crashing waves, whistling wind—gone in a blink.
Eerie silence, as if sole survivor on earth.
Shhh-shick... shhh.
A creepy friction from beyond the stone wall, amid dense citrus trees.
Like someone dragging a dry straw bundle across the ground.
I halted, glaring into the fog.
"...Han-gyeol-ah."
A low, plaintive voice from behind.
Chills prickled my skin.
"What the—."
I spun, startled. Nothing but swirling fog.
But the voice whispered clearer, right in my ear.
"Han-gyeol-ah... why'd you leave me alone... so cold here..."
Hairs stood on end.
It was my mother's voice—from the accident when I was ten.
Vicious illusion piercing my deepest guilt and longing.
Terror clogged my throat, breath ragged.
Vision spun in horrific vertigo.
Feet stuck fast, like in tar.
This was Grson-sae's hunt.
Shatter the mind, leave utterly defenseless.
[Agent Kang Han-gyeol! What's wrong? Why silent? Agent Kang!]
Shhh-shick.
Finally, in the dense sea mist, it took form.
A grotesque shadow hovering mid-air, no feet touching ground.
A figure floating in an inverted traditional straw raincoat dorongyi.
Where a face should peer from inside: pitch-black void.
From it poured mingled screams of 149 victims and my mother's voice—ghastly cacophony.
[...Alone is lonely... come with us...]