Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Mountain Lodge Built on Dokkaebi Grounds (5)
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Unable to hold back his curiosity any longer, Dong-jin interrupted.
"Seung-yong was killed, right?"
"His head was cut off, so yeah, he died. Anyway, our youngest, Kyung-seok, didn't even look back. The moment he got home, he locked the door and tried to call the police first. But then, from outside the door, he heard, 'Honey! Open the door, please.'"
"Same situation."
Dong-jin chimed in.
"Exactly! It sounded just like his wife, but he was afraid that if he opened the door recklessly, he'd end up like Seung-yong. So he didn't even dare go out to the yard and just shouted from inside the room."
The old woman mimicked her son's and daughter-in-law's voices as best she could.
Kyung-seok deliberately asked something offbeat.
"Is my father-in-law doing well? I'm in the bathroom, so it'd be best if you came in and opened it yourself."
Then his wife replied from outside the front gate.
"Dad's fine. Mom packed me a ton of food, so my hands are full with bags. Hurry up and open the door."
That's how she responded, she said.
Our in-laws passed away side by side when our daughter-in-law was young, so how could she say something so random?
Plus, our daughter-in-law never uses formal speech with her husband.
I've never heard our daughter-in-law use formal language with Kyung-seok.
"Our parents do that too."
The old woman laughed at Dong-jin's words.
Anyway, Kyung-seok thought, 'Something's wrong here!' and carefully called the police station.
Even while on the phone, he was scared she might open the gate and come in, so he stalled for time.
"I'm in the bathroom, so wait a sec."
She replied, "Okay. Hurry up and come out."
Oh man, it's tough mimicking my son and daughter-in-law.
Anyway, when he called the police station, they were so dense they didn't get it at all.
Still, he filed the report and begged them to come quick.
Not satisfied, Kyung-seok even called the Chinese place in town.
He trusted the jajangmyeon delivery guy more than the cops, so he ordered jajangmyeon and sweet-and-sour pork.
"The Chinese place? In that situation, he ordered food?"
The old woman waved her hand at Dong-jin's question.
"Food? Nah. Anyway, between the police and jajangmyeon, guess who got there first?"
Dong-jin reflexively answered the old woman's question.
"Jajangmyeon?"
"Right!"
It took about fifteen minutes for them to make jajangmyeon and sweet-and-sour pork in town and ride over.
Kyung-seok was in his room when he heard a motorcycle approaching from afar. It stopped at the front gate, and the bell rang.
"Who is it?"
"Delivery."
That's how they talked, she said.
"So when the jajangmyeon delivery guy showed up, where'd the head-cutting lady hide?"
Dong-jin interrupted again.
Na-rae was starting to get annoyed but held back from joining in.
If she got involved, the story would just drag on longer.
She didn't hide or anything.
Anyway, Kyung-seok was still scared, but he crept to the front gate and peeked through the crack. Sure enough, it was the delivery guy.
He grabbed the guy who was about to drop off the food and leave, terrified he'd go.
"I'll give you 30,000 won if you eat with me."
That's what he did, apparently.
"What about the police?"
"The police? Anyway, they ate together, but the cops still hadn't come, so he called again. Only then did they say they'd come."
"They hadn't even left yet."
Dong-jin got fired up hearing the police hadn't even departed.
Na-rae silently watched Dong-jin, who got heated over others' troubles, while the old woman enthusiastically agreed.
"Exactly! So if thieves or robbers break in from now on, call the police, but call the Chinese place too! They arrive faster than the cops and help more!"
"Makes sense. Jajangmyeon really comes in clutch."
Dong-jin kept butting in during the old woman's tale.
She appreciated him playing along, but Na-rae found it irritating.
Anyway, two hours later, the police finally arrived—and the delivery guy had stuck around the whole time.
Our son got hauled to the station and suffered for a good while.
That night, not just Seung-yong, but the neighbors next to our youngest also had their heads cut off.
The delivery guy probably went next door after our place.
"Whoa, no way!"
Na-rae poked Dong-jin's side to make him tone it down as he kept reacting.
At this rate, they'd end up staying overnight again.
The whole neighborhood was in chaos.
Everyone was getting dragged to the station and dealing with funerals.
A few similar incidents happened after, but our youngest had already moved out by then.
The rest of the upper village folks didn't move, though—they just worried.
The rest of the story matched what Kim the manager had told them about the dokkaebi.
Someone went around smashing all the kimchi jars on the platforms.
They dragged the fridge into the yard, removed the door, crumpled it up, and shoved it inside.
After that, folks said they couldn't live there anymore and moved out.
Kimchi jars and fridges are more precious than life, after all.
As the upper village tale wrapped up, the old woman asked Baekho,
"But why do you keep wanting to go to that haunted lodge?"
"To perform a ritual. I'm a Taoist master, see. Haha."
The old woman took Baekho's lighthearted, laughing response as a joke.
"Oh my, what a fun young man."
By the time the old woman's story ended, it was lunchtime.
The group skipped lunch and headed to the upper village.
Crossing the bridge, the upper village came into full view—far eerier up close than from afar.
Everything they'd glimpsed while passing the bridge now seemed laden with stories and meaning.
"The upper village was probably built first, then the lower one. It's the older village."
Byung-su said as they looked around the upper village.
Dong-jin, curious how he knew, asked,
"How do you know that, Team Leader?"
"I've covered feng shui experts before. Look! It's a classic backed-by-mountain, facing-water setup. Haha."
Byung-su kept pretending to be an expert, mimicking one.
"In our country, villages form with mountains behind and rivers in front. The lower village probably came later as the upper one grew."
"Ah, got it. You know so much, Team Leader."
Na-rae got inexplicably annoyed as Dong-jin praised Byung-su over something trivial.
'Senior Park jumps in whenever someone speaks. Such a know-it-all.'
"Senior, why do you butt in every time someone talks? You need some gravitas."
Reprimanded by Na-rae, Dong-jin slunk along dejectedly.
As Byung-su surveyed the upper village, he asked Na-rae,
"You feel it too, Eun Reporter?"
"The village? Yeah, lots of earth-bound spirits. Animal spirits too. But you sense it well too, Team Leader? You've got some gift."
She answered, eyeing Byung-su curiously for his sharp intuition.
Byung-su seemed to have gained spirit-sensing abilities from the energy Emel gave him.
"Intuition! Park Reporter and Eun Reporter, head to the lodge first and check it out. I'll poke around the village and catch up."
Na-rae urged worriedly at Byung-su's suggestion,
"Team Leader, I see animal spirits in that village. Chuk-gwi. Strong spiritual energy too. Be careful."
"Don't worry. My intuition's sharp, so I'm good. Plus, Baekho's here. Haha. You be careful too, Eun Reporter."
Dong-jin cut into the warm colleague concern.
"Team Leader, bring Baekho and hurry—show off that intuition."
He seemed uneasy about going to the lodge alone with Na-rae.
"I didn't bring any talismans. Used 'em all at the pasture sending off those stray ghosts. Gotta make more soon..."
Baekho mumbled awkwardly, but Dong-jin had no clue what he meant.
* * *
After parting with Byung-su, Dong-jin and Na-rae stopped at the base of the mountain path leading to the lodge.
Na-rae, filming the large stones lining both sides of the path, asked,
"She carried these alone? Senior, could you lift one?"
They were too big for even three people, let alone one.
Dong-jin just smiled without a word.
Na-rae, getting the meaning behind the smile, continued without pressing.
"They're bigger than me. A woman carried these to build a grave at the lodge? These aren't stones—they're boulders. Do they even move?"
Recalling the lodge caretaker's tale, Na-rae muttered and pushed against a huge boulder.
"Heave-ho!"
She gave it a big shove, and the boulder wobbled before toppling backward.
Na-rae, covered head to toe in the dust from the impact, stared blankly at Dong-jin in shock.
"Your strength... Eun Reporter, are you always this strong?"
Dong-jin stared back in surprise, then tried pushing the boulder himself, figuring he could manage.
But it just hurt his back.
Neither realized their physical abilities had surpassed human limits since Emel infused them with energy.
They could only panic.
"Must be a haunted boulder. Let's hurry up, Senior."
Na-rae shuddered and took the lead.
Dong-jin followed, not wanting to be left by the fallen boulder.
"Let's go up first. Better to check the lodge than here."
The boulders lining the path felt menacing, so Na-rae hurried along, urging the huffing Dong-jin.
Leading the way, she thought about the boulder she'd toppled.
'Felt no weight at all. Doesn't seem hollow, but weird. It really felt like a woman could move it. Gotta check inside the lodge.'
Unaware her strength had increased, her fear only grew.
The path felt chillingly cold despite early summer weather.
By the time the stones flanking the path vanished from sight, the lodge came into view.
The two-story exotic building certainly lived up to its haunted reputation.
"That's the lodge. We okay just the two of us?"
Dong-jin asked uneasily.
Na-rae was scared too but snapped curtly to hide it.
"We're fine. It's broad daylight—what's to fear?"
Dong-jin nitpicked her calm words.
"From all the stories, ghosts and such roam day and night... No day-night difference."
Spirits could indeed act anytime, day or night.
They were just more active at night when yin energy peaked, making them visible.
"Ugh, Senior! Why so scared? You served in the army! Trust me."
Na-rae strode ahead boldly.
Dong-jin trailed hesitantly, muttering,
"You got spooked by the lodge caretaker's story yourself—can I trust you?"
Ignoring his grumbling, Na-rae said,
"Bigger than I thought. Why would a Japanese guy build such a huge house here?"
Standing before the lodge's iron gate, white breath escaped her mouth.
"Eun Reporter! Your breath's visible. Huh? Mine too?"
Dong-jin noticed Na-rae's breath, and his own came out too.
"The lodge must be emanating cold energy."
Thoroughly spooked but feigning calm, Na-rae kept exhaling vapor.
"Wasn't like this down below."
"Stronger yin energy up here."
"Gasp! Dangerous, right?"
"Safer with Team Leader, sure. Anyway, Senior, open the gate."
Dong-jin had zero desire to open it, but Na-rae's firmness left him no choice. He unlocked the chain and padlock.
The gate creaked open with an eerily scary screech.
'Damn, even the gate's creepy. Why's my breath nonstop?'
Dong-jin grumbled, following Na-rae inside.
"Oho! This the tree they chopped? Right, Senior? Couldn't uproot it, just cut the trunk."
Na-rae cheerfully pointed at the stump.
Rain and wind had worn the rings, but its girth showed it'd lived many years.
Na-rae pulled out her phone and dialed.
After three rings, it connected.
"Sergeant Han! It's Eun Na-rae."
Definitely a colleague from her time at Susu Police Station.
"Actually, I'm down in Chungnam checking something out. Yeah, Sacheon-ri, the ghost village. Oh! You know it? Great. The owner took over recently, but back around 1963, before that, two women lived here, I think. Japanese, maybe? Can you look into it? Thanks."
Ending the call, Na-rae headed for the lodge door, Dong-jin tagging eagerly along.
"What'd they say, Eun Reporter? They'll check?"
"You heard. Yeah, Sergeant Han Han-su. Veteran's got it. Hehe."
Na-rae cheerfully opened the door.