Chapter 14
Chapter 14
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Mountain Lodge Built on a Dokkaebi Site (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After returning from Cheowon Garden and sorting through his notes for a while, Byung-su was summoned by Cho-seon.
Heading into the editor-in-chief's office, Byung-su greeted his fellow rookie hire, Editor Kim Cho-seon, with a bright smile.
"Editor Kim, I'm here. Am I in trouble again today?"
For some reason, Reporter Kim Byung-su's words came off a bit servile.
"You're here? Byung... uh, Byung-su... Just sit over there for now. Let me finish talking to this guy."
She had a habit of deliberately mixing "ByungX" into his name like she enjoyed it.
Byung-su sat on the sofa and looked around. In the editor's office, a young male reporter was getting an earful from Cho-seon.
'That's exactly the posture I take when I'm getting chewed out. Well, let's eavesdrop. It's been a while since I've seen someone else get it.'
For Byung-su, who always got thoroughly dressed down by Cho-seon whenever summoned to her office, seeing someone else in the hot seat felt refreshingly novel.
"Reporter Park Dong-jin! Hey! Mr. Park Dong-jin! Are you going to write your articles however you please? Didn't I tell you to drop that story? I did, didn't I?"
"It's a investigation based on reliable information. Even if it's you, Editor, I don't think it's right to stifle a reporter's sense of duty to pursue the truth."
"That source of yours ghosted you, didn't they? This isn't just going to fizzle out—now we're going to get hit back hard!"
Cho-seon bellowed, and Dong-jin's mouth snapped shut.
Now her machine-gun barrage of criticism would pour out.
"What? A reporter's sense of duty? You think I'm the one stifling your pursuit of truth? You've got it all wrong. Reporter Park Dong-jin, you're an employee. This is your workplace. And I'm responsible for this place!"
Byung-su suddenly felt like he was the one getting yelled at and straightened his posture.
"Listen up! That prosecutor-media collusion you're chasing? That's not something a little internet paper like us can handle!"
"But... still......"
"If we poke the prosecutors, our legal affairs team won't even be able to do dictation notes anymore. And if we end up in a lawsuit with Dongguk Daily, we're toast!"
Kim Cho-seon pointed at the towering Dongguk Daily building visible through the window and continued.
"Look! We're renting space in a five-story building, scraping by. Dongguk Daily owns their own twenty-story building in prime Gwanghwamun, worth a fortune, plus they have a broadcast station."
"......"
"They're not a fight we can win. Don't ruin a solid company! What kind of life have you lived to try turning us all into the unemployed?"
Dong-jin's tightly pressed lips trembled at her sharp tongue.
His eyes screamed that he was about to throw in the towel right then.
But Cho-seon wasn't done.
"I'm transferring you from politics to the religion and science team. You start under Team Leader Kim Byung-su right now!"
The abrupt department change left Dong-jin speechless.
Byung-su, feeling unnecessarily guilty, waved a greeting to Dong-jin.
"Hey, Park. Nice to meet you. It's religion and science, not science and religion."
"Byung-su! Shut it!"
Even as he got scolded, Reporter Kim Byung-su kept smiling and spoke to Dong-jin.
"Park, pack your stuff and head down to basement level two. Life's long. Don't quit. I'll talk to Editor Kim, so pack well and come on down."
Reading the look in Dong-jin's eyes—like he was about to hand in his resignation—Byung-su hurried him out.
Byung-su stared at Cho-seon's stern face and asked.
"You're not firing him, right?"
"I'm not firing you either... Park was an ace in politics. Now that his source is gone, we're about to face heat from the prosecutors and Dongguk Daily. Keep him close. He's a tiring type, but sharp in his own way."
"Anyway... got it. Put a water cooler and fridge in our team room. How many years have I been asking?"
Having said his piece, Byung-su quickly rose from the sofa.
Cho-seon shot at his retreating back.
"Buy bottled water. And don't write that pterodactyl article. If you run a story about a pterodactyl in Pyeongchon, I'll kill you."
"It's not a pterodactyl, it's a gargoyle......"
"Shut up and don't."
* * *
"You're here? Unpack and sit wherever's comfy. If you were picturing Mulder's X-Files office, sorry to disappoint."
Byung-su grabbed Dong-jin, who stood at the door, and pulled him in.
Na-rae welcomed Dong-jin, who carried a laptop bag and stared blankly at a box.
"Senior Park! Come on in. Hehe."
The religion and science team office on basement level two was surprisingly spacious.
"Did the team leader set up all this equipment?"
Dong-jin eyed the dusty exercise gear.
"As if. This used to be the company gym. You'll grow to like it. No water cooler or fridge is the downside, but anyway, good timing. Get ready to head out. I was worried about sending Eun alone......"
"Now? For what?"
Na-rae stood from her seat to answer Dong-jin's question.
"You'll see when we get there. Let's go! Team leader will come separately."
* * *
Dong-jin and Na-rae headed out to Sacheon-ri, infamous as a ghost village.
There was a mountain lodge in a small village in South Chungcheong Province that was the talk of the town.
They arrived at the village below the lodge just before lunchtime.
This place, divided into upper and lower villages by a small stream, was the origin of quite a famous ghost story.
Na-rae was inwardly excited about this assignment.
"Spiritual energy everywhere! Awesome!"
Thanks to Emel, she had gained a rudimentary ability to sense spiritual energy.
Passing the upper village full of abandoned houses, their final destination was the lodge midway up the mountain.
First, they wandered the lower village for local interviews.
Byung-su was still upstairs arguing with Cho-seon about publishing his Cheowon Garden article and hadn't come down yet.
"Senior Park, the Cheowon Garden story probably won't make it to print, right?"
Dong-jin let out a long sigh in response to Na-rae's question.
"I thought about what you said, Eun, and you're right. Stories need some realism to get published. Great demons, dream demons, ghost gates, ghouls, grim reapers, ghosts in coffins, swarms of flesh flies and poison toads... Editor Kim would never approve. If you want it published, write the facts. Just the facts."
"Ugh! But that's the truth—what do we cut?"
"Everything? Let's focus on stuff we can actually publish here."
"OK!"
Na-rae nodded vigorously.
Before they knew it, they'd spent half the day interviewing around the lower village.
Na-rae showed no signs of tiring.
That was thanks to Emel infusing her with half her energy.
Na-rae sat on a bench at the corner store for the already exhausted Dong-jin.
She was treating the elderly lodge manager to makgeolli as promised, to get some info.
The old man downed a bowl of makgeolli and said.
"That lodge was originally bought for haunted house experiences."
Na-rae was startled by the unexpected words and asked.
"Whoa! A haunted house?"
"Yeah, about eighteen years ago, that Byung-chul guy bought it as a villa for haunted experiences."
Even while recording, Dong-jin pulled out his notepad and jotted notes.
"I told him no one buys something like that, but he said buying a dokkaebi site would make him rich later. That kid always thought differently from the rest."
There was an old saying that building a house on a dokkaebi site would make three generations wealthy.
"Jackpot! A dokkaebi site?"
Na-rae lit up at the words and asked the old man.
Dong-jin, sensing it wouldn't make the paper, stopped noting and downed some makgeolli.
The old man, finding Na-rae cute like a granddaughter, tore off a piece of his dried squid snack and handed it over.
"Yeah, when he was little, the villagers called that house a dokkaebi site. At night, lights would flicker on in the supposedly empty lodge, and will-o'-the-wisps appeared in the yard. That's how it got the name."
"Byung-chul must've had money to spare?"
"After college, Byung-chul made a fortune exporting something to America during the IMF crisis. A young guy not even forty yet buys that lodge. Turns out it was his childhood dream."
Dong-jin chewed on the squid and asked.
"Did he make big money after buying the lodge?"
"Hmm, must've raked it in. Why? He went to America and shacked up with a blonde actress. Gorgeous one!"
"Whoa, jackpot!"
Dong-jin let out an envious exclamation too.
"But because that guy bought the lodge, the upper village went into an uproar, and Byung-chul couldn't even come back home. The place was abandoned right after purchase. He emigrated to America and never looked back."
Na-rae downed some makgeolli and asked.
"Why?"
"Well, about eighteen years ago. I was in my late forties then... So, that day wasn't a grand opening, more like a housewarming."
The old man took a swig of makgeolli and continued.
"You probably know the basics about the lodge—it's a Japanese-style building. Original owner was Japanese."
"Oh... really?"
"Yeah, Byung-chul bought it through the village head who managed it, and the Japanese owner said to burn all the furniture and stuff left behind."
The old man, who'd emptied his makgeolli, held up the bottle to Dong-jin like he wanted more.
"This reporter lady sure can drink makgeolli."
"This is my first time with makgeolli—it's delicious. Oishii!"
Na-rae awkwardly used a Japanese exclamation at the mention of a Japanese-style lodge.
"Drink up. Not buying, but anyway."
"Ah, yes! Thank you. So, what happened next?"
Na-rae set down her empty glass, urging the story on.
"There was a little shrine in the lodge yard—they tore that down. Oh right! There was a pile of stones in the yard too; they moved it to line the path up to the lodge. Looks great for decorating the road, and there was a ton. Check it out on the way up. Impressive."
Na-rae chimed in to stroke the old man's ego.
"Ah, yes. I'll definitely photograph those big stones lining the mountain path. What about the furniture?"
"The stuff was old but high-end and pricey-looking, so Byung-chul said to leave it and use it."
Dong-jin had slipped out and returned with six bottles of makgeolli.
"At Byung-chul's request, I got people to tear down the yard shrine, lay sod, and just clean the inside. He liked the vintage incandescent bulbs, so we only swapped the entryway for sensor lights."
Na-rae prodded the old man, who kept refilling his glass.
"Sensor lights—must've been tough. Finish the story."
"Yeah, it was work. Anyway, I've managed the lodge since then. Byung-chul said no need for a landline, so we skipped it but installed electricity, water, gas, and cable TV. TV still works fine."
The old man showed off his smartphone.
"Didn't know back then cell phones didn't work up there. They do now, but not then. Anyway, once it was sorted, Byung-chul came down from Seoul with friends. Housewarming, and showing off the lodge."
The old man clinked glasses with Na-rae.
They hit it off as drinking buddies.
"That was the first and last night Byung-chul spent at the lodge."
He closed his eyes, as if calculating the date.
"It was a Friday. I prepped the barbecue and drinks, then went home."
Looking around, the old man lowered his voice cautiously.
"This is all from what Byung-chul told me—believe it or not. I don't."
Dong-jin and Na-rae nodded, and the old man nodded back.
"The lodge is two stories, right? I told him not to go upstairs. Don't go up. You won't, right?"
"No, we have to. We'll check every room, even the one at the very end."
Dong-jin unwittingly threw salt on the old man's words.
"The one at the very end? The windowless room? Looks like you know the rough story. But that room, about ten years ago? After an incident in the upper village, someone Byung-chul hired from America came, carved something on the door—sealed an evil spirit inside with a talisman. So don't go in."
Pausing the story, he asked Dong-jin.