Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: The Woman No One Can Remember the Face Of (2)
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“Ah, yes! Thank you, station chief. We should be arriving soon. Yes, we'll head there. Ah! That happened...? No one got hurt? Yes, yes. Please go inside.”
In the car heading to Jiri Mountain, Byung-su's expression brightened after receiving a call, only to darken again soon after.
“That was the call from the Jiri Mountain North Office chief. The local police post officers and the office duty staff found student Chang-min. They checked his ID, and he's at the post. Let's head to the post first.”
The quick-witted Na-rae inferred and asked,
“So Chang-min headed to the suicide lodge, right? Did he attempt suicide?”
“Hm, not quite an attempt. Seems a police officer spotted him heading there with a rope and held him back. Even the nearby villagers avoid that lodge.”
“Anyway, good thing he didn't make it to the lodge. That's a relief.”
“But get this. When they were bringing Chang-min down in the car, he saw something. A woman—definitely a woman, but he can't remember her face. The officers at the post are on high alert now. Let's hurry.”
“High alert?”
“The woman whose face no one can remember is infamous in that area. Ever since the first suicide, she's always appeared around the lodge. Legend has it anyone who sees her dies or kills themselves. Park, reporter, step on it!”
Dong-jin accelerated while keeping his eyes on the road ahead and asked,
“Was that woman a suicide victim too?”
“Who knows? No one can remember her face, so we can't even confirm if she was. Anyway, it's been over a decade since the first suicide, and she still looks the same. She can't be human. Or maybe she's just got eternal youth.”
“If no one remembers her face, how do they know it's the same woman?”
Na-rae asked, gazing at the roadside trees flashing by in the darkness.
“They saw her face. Lots of people saw her face and her clothes. But no one can describe the face. They just remember she's young and quite beautiful, but can't even recall her outfit. Kyung-ryeol, student! You saw her too, right?”
Without hesitation, Kyung-ryeol answered Byung-su's question.
“Yes, I saw her. Very clearly.”
“Do you remember her face?”
“No. Not at all... Just that she's a beauty... Nothing else, not even the outline.”
Na-rae snickered at the fact that he at least remembered she was a beauty.
* * *
A police post standing alone by the dark road, its light the only one shining around.
Sgt. Choi, who had been peering out the glass door, jumped up from his chair and yelled, pointing at Chang-min who was trying to head outside.
“Officer Hong! Cuff this kid so he can't move.”
“Th-they'll all die. I have to go. Everyone's gonna die.”
Officer Hong approached the dazed Chang-min as he stood, gently cuffing one hand and the other to the chair, trying to soothe him.
“Kid, sit here. Where do you think you're going? You can't go there at night.”
Even as the cuffs clicked into place, Chang-min kept trying to stand.
He'd sit when caught, then stand again, repeating the cycle.
“Argh, what a mess. I'm already stressed out enough. Just stay put!”
Finally losing patience, Sgt. Choi bellowed, but Chang-min showed no reaction to his shouting.
“S-Sgt. Choi! Someone! Someone's watching us! Over there! That woman, the one who blocked our car earlier!”
“What?”
Sgt. Choi spun around and pressed against the glass door, staring in the direction Officer Hong pointed.
In the darkness, an object glowing with an eerie blue light was slowly approaching.
Her hair was tied up, revealing refined features at a glance—a striking beauty.
“No way, why'd she follow us? Why?”
Sgt. Choi cried out in shock and drew his pistol, loaded with live rounds.
Bears and wild boars roamed nearby, and with countless missing persons and deaths around the suicide lodge, live ammo was issued at night.
He'd never fired it once.
“A lost woman? Or someone like this kid here, come to commit suicide?”
Officer Hong whispered tensely.
“You wanna believe that? She blocked our car in front of the suicide lodge at night and said the kid was hers and to leave him. You forget that?”
“......”
“Villagers say anyone who sees that woman drops dead. Snap out of it! We can't let her in.”
The veteran Sgt. Choi warned Officer Hong sternly, then shouted at the woman.
“Stay back! Go home and come back at dawn!”
Built hastily due to the suicide lodge, the post had only Sgt. Choi and Officer Hong on night duty.
“Officer Hong, call for backup! That's no person. Hurry!”
Even as Sgt. Choi yelled that it wasn't human, Officer Hong struggled to accept it.
He grabbed the radio to request support but hesitated on what to say.
—Samgol Post, what's the issue?
A man's gruff voice came from the radio.
Reluctantly, Officer Hong made the call.
“This is Officer Hong Ji-hyuk at Samgol Post. There's some woman staring us down from outside. Can you send backup...?”
Sgt. Choi raised his fist to hit Officer Hong, then snatched the radio.
“This is Sgt. Choi. A woman from the suicide lodge is pursuing and threatening us. Send backup immediately. Urgent!”
After Sgt. Choi's request, the radio crackled, then responded.
—I told you, leave him. He's mine.
Mixed with static, it was clearly a young woman's clear voice.
“Argh! Shit!”
Sgt. Choi dropped the radio in fright.
It kept crackling, the woman's clear voice leaking out.
—One is enough. You all next. Let him go.
The voice from the radio grew clearer.
Even the static faded away.
Chang-min, who had been thrashing noisily, now sat still, trembling.
The woman's voice echoed again in the cramped post.
“Hurry, hurry. The boy is enough for today. Hurry.”
Sgt. Choi and Officer Hong, staring at the radio, realized the voice was coming from right in front of them.
They slowly looked up at the glass door.
There she was, face pressed close to the glass, smiling.
“Y-you crazy bitch! Get lost!”
Sgt. Choi aimed his pistol at her head in panic.
The woman reached out fearlessly.
Her hand passed through the closed glass like water, grabbed his pistol, and began to squeeze.
“Argh!”
The sound of bones crunching echoed from Sgt. Choi's wrist.
His wrist twisted, the barrel turning upward toward his left eye.
“S-save me... Officer Hong.”
As the gun he held now pointed at his own eye, Sgt. Choi trembled and pleaded.
The woman's finger traced the trigger guard and hooked the trigger.
“Told you, why'd you do that?”
Her lips parted slightly against the glass, mocking Sgt. Choi.
Officer Hong snapped to his senses and desperately tried to wrench the barrel away from Sgt. Choi.
It wouldn't budge.
“Officer Hong, save me.”
Feeling her finger pressing his on the trigger, he begged desperately.
“You seductive stray ghost! Heavenly Hand Palm!”
Suddenly, a man's deep voice boomed from behind the woman.
A house-sized palm dropped from the sky like a flyswatter, smashing the woman flat against the glass and into the ground.
“Aaah!”
The woman splattered flat, and her finger pulled the trigger.
“Argh!”
Sgt. Choi screamed and jerked his head.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
Fortunately, Sgt. Choi's eye and head were unharmed.
The giant palm had weakened her grip on the barrel just enough to save his life.
“Sgt. Choi! You okay?”
Officer Hong called to Sgt. Choi, who had collapsed, strength drained.
In the chaos, Sgt. Choi pointed at the glass door.
“The door—guard the door!”
The glass door was intact, without a single crack.
No sign of the giant palm from the sky or the threatening woman.
Instead, a skinny middle-aged man who looked Southeast Asian stood there with a friendly smile.
Behind him, a tall blond man scanned the surroundings.
“Who are you?”
Even in his disoriented state after cheating death, Sgt. Choi stood and asked.
“I am Jijang, and my friend here is Lucifer. We were lost and heard police help in such cases, so we came by. Nice to meet you.”
At Jijang's gentle tone, Sgt. Choi and Officer Hong unwittingly bowed in greeting.
“Nice to meet you! Ah, wait, this isn't right.”
They realized mid-greeting it didn't fit the situation.
Sgt. Choi cautiously opened the glass door to let Jijang and Lucifer in and asked,
“But what about that palm that fell from the sky and the woman it squashed flat?”
Jijang hesitated at Sgt. Choi's question.
Lucifer stepped forward instead.
“You think a palm falling from the sky makes sense, and that's why you're asking? The woman who was here got spooked by the gunshot and fled into those mountains.”
Sgt. Choi and Officer Hong found Lucifer's answer dubious but had no rebuttal, exchanging only glances.
“This young man looks like he's on the verge of death. He was meant to be a great tycoon living past eighty, but those clinging ears mean he won't last days. Lucifer, what do you think?”
Jijang examined the blankly seated Chang-min's eyes and asked. Lucifer replied indifferently.
“I don't read faces. But he looks like he's headed to hell soon. These police officers too.”
Sgt. Choi stared at Lucifer, who had appeared out of nowhere cursing them to hell, and asked,
“Are you two shamans by any chance?”
“I am Jijang Bodhisattva, and this is the fallen angel Lucifer. People think he's a demon, but that's a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding.”
Jijang interjected with an innocent smile.
Officer Hong whispered in Sgt. Choi's ear.
“They seem crazy.”
Overhearing, Lucifer sidled up and murmured,
“That guy's a bit off. Thinks he's Buddha and I'm the devil... Haha!”
Lucifer laughed boisterously for no reason, making Officer Hong uneasy and slip behind Sgt. Choi.
* * *
Moments later, Byung-su's group arrived and heard the story from the half-dazed Sgt. Choi.
“The woman whose face no one can remember attacked us. Then two foreigners showed up, and she vanished. Those foreigners asked for directions and headed to the lodge.”
“Shouldn't you guide people away from the lodge path at night?”
Only then did realization hit Sgt. Choi, panicking.
“Ah! Damn... I was too flustered to think. This is bad.”
“I'll go find them.”
Byung-su reassured Sgt. Choi and headed straight out.
“Eun and Park reporters, stay here. I have to check the lodge.”
“Team leader! I'll come too.”
Na-rae told Dong-jin to stay and followed Byung-su, but he firmly stopped her.
“No. Stay here, Eun reporter. She might come back, so we need people here. Don't come out no matter what.”
Sgt. Choi, his twisted wrist wrapped tightly in a compression bandage, earnestly warned Officer Hong.
“I'll go with you. Can't let that woman who dared attack the post get away. Officer Hong, I'll be back soon. Backup's coming, so wait here. Don't come out!”