Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Don't Trust Anyone But Your Shadow (4)
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After turning off the light and lying down in her room, Na-rae struggled to fall asleep, irritated by the sound of wind battering the window.
The wind sounded, at times, like someone knocking on the glass.
Occasionally, it felt like the rough growl of a savage beast.
Closing her eyes made her feel as if something would lunge at her from the darkness, making sleep impossible.
Tossing and turning this way and that, Na-rae was suddenly jolted by a thunderous crash that pierced her ears.
Glass shattered downstairs amid screams, and the ceiling lamp shook with the impact. Startled, she bolted upright and flicked on the light.
“Eun! You okay?”
Dong-jin burst out from the next room and called to her from outside the door.
He must have been scared too, the timid guy, but his concern for her first touched Na-rae. She threw on some clothes haphazardly and replied.
“Sunbae, I'm fine. Not a scratch.”
“Good. Then come out quick. I'm dying of fear here—let's go downstairs together.”
What? He wasn't worried about me?
Stepping out, she saw Dong-jin pale as a ghost, waiting with wide eyes.
“Whew, let's go.”
She took the fidgety Dong-jin's hand and headed downstairs together.
“Aigoo, Jong-sik!”
In the living room, the youth corps president—the old man who'd been sharing drinks with Byung-su—clutched the fainted boy and cried out.
The source of the house-shaking rumble was the persimmon tree in the yard, which had toppled intact, smashing through the outer wall of the boy's room and pinning him beneath it.
Na-rae approached to check on the boy.
Fortunately, no visible injuries.
The boy, who had passed out from shock, came to and called for his grandfather.
“You damned thing! I'll chop down this cursed tree if it's the last thing I do!”
Furious, the youth corps president stormed outside.
He believed the tree had struck with sudden death.
“This is...”
Byung-su, who had followed to calm the old man, froze in shock.
Where the persimmon tree had stood in the wide yard, the ground was deeply gouged. From there to the outer wall was over ten meters.
Unless the tree had walked to the boy's room wall, no way it could fall to reach that far, no matter the direction.
And no one could have picked up and hurled a persimmon tree massive enough to smash the wall.
Only then did Byung-su understand why the youth corps president had charged out in rage.
His eyes caught the old man dashing to the shed with a chainsaw.
“Sir!”
Despite Byung-su's shout, the youth corps president didn't look back as he ran.
Among the villagers who had rushed over at the midnight boom, the village head called to Byung-su.
“Reporter! What's going on? Where's that guy off to?”
“Village head! We have to follow!”
Byung-su shouted briefly and chased after the youth corps president.
The village head and others followed suit.
By the time Byung-su arrived, the chainsaw roared as the old man hacked at the tree.
No one around, yet he yelled as if shouting at someone, pressing the chainsaw into the trunk with all his might.
“Shut up! I'm ending you today!”
In the darkness, the old man, drenched in the tree's dark red sap, gripping the chainsaw, looked grotesque.
Thinking the old man's behavior abnormal, Byung-su rushed over and grabbed the chainsaw to stop him.
“Sir, calm down. Jong-sik's safe.”
The old man turned to Byung-su and asked.
“Reporter, you can't hear this?”
His face and clothes were smeared with sap like war paint, his eyes bloodshot and blazing red.
“Hear what? Ah!”
As Byung-su asked back, a scream tore into his eardrums.
[Don't! Stop! I'll kill you! Don't! Spare me!]
Man's voice? Woman's? Child's?
Too many voices blended, impossible to tell.
“What the... this...”
The aura he hadn't sensed during the day now hit strong.
Astonishingly, dozens of them, including children's.
Byung-su recoiled in surprise and let go of the chainsaw; the screams vanished instantly.
The aura too.
“You took my son, my daughter-in-law! Sudden death on Jong-sik too! Shut up! Even if you get me, you die today! Only then Jong-sik lives, everyone at peace!”
Byung-su couldn't hear it anymore, but the old man still heard the tree's screams.
Pushing down fear, Byung-su touched the chainsaw again; the tree's screams flooded his eardrums.
[Agh! It hurts! Stop! I was wrong. Stop! If you don't, I'll tear your grandson limb from limb, spill his blood at my roots, and feed on it! Stop, please spare me! It hurts! I'll kill you! You damned human!]
Screams, threats, pleas, curses.
The tree's cries, laced with varied emotions, brought Byung-su dizziness and headache.
Amid the splitting pain, one thing clear:
This tree will retaliate even if the old man stops sawing.
Favors unpaid, but grudges always settled.
The nature of power.
In this small village, the tree was what many bowed to worship.
The village head and villagers who followed shouted in varied shock.
Some cursed the old man to stop, others cheered him on.
Clear divide in the uproar, but none approached.
“Team leader!”
Dong-jin and Na-rae ran up calling Byung-su.
Byung-su yelled to keep them back.
“Stop! Don't come! It'll end soon. Stay there!”
Byung-su sensed the tree's dire state and blocked approach.
Sap splashed onto Byung-su's face and body from the old man's sawing.
A fishy, bloody stench assaulted his nose.
Blood. Not human maybe... but this red sap means fresh feeding.
No more hesitation.
Couldn't transform left arm to Yi-mugi's forepaw to subdue it.
Too many people.
The tree's energy surged fiercer; dozens of spirits raged, moving to punish threats.
Windless, yet the tree shook violently, wailing.
“Aak!”
Someone hurled a stone at the chainsaw-wielding old man.
He staggered, dropping it.
The chainsaw floated midair, then plummeted toward his head.
“You damned thing!”
Byung-su gathered energy in his left hand and thrust out.
His left hand clamped the vibrating chainsaw blade.
Vibration stopped; villagers' shouts ceased.
The tree, overwhelmed by Byung-su's energy, quit shaking.
Blood trickling from the stone hit, the old man seized the chainsaw from Byung-su's hand and charged the tree again.
Byung-su helped, channeling energy into his left arm, gripped the handle hard, and sawed fiercely.
[Stop! You're just some outsider. Please, don't. If you don't stop, I'll slaughter your wife and kids too!]
Now the tree threatened Byung-su.
“Shut up! I ain't even married—where's my wife, my kids? Quit yapping and die!”
Byung-su's outburst silenced the tree and villagers alike for a moment.
“Holy my ass! Like some shaman who don't know if I'm hitched. All bark threats. Shut up and croak!”
With Byung-su's shout, the trunk cracked with a crunch and toppled at last.
[Aaaak!]
This final scream from the tree reached the villagers behind, Dong-jin, and Na-rae clearly.
* * *
Back in Seoul, Prosecutor Kang In-mok called Na-rae.
—Eun reporter, thought it over? What do you say? Accept my offer?
Refusal meant retaliation.
Not with power? Then enemy.
Na-rae glanced at Dong-jin beside her, oblivious, then answered firmly.
“No. Prosecutor Kang, I won't grab your rotten lifeline. If you've got time today, turn on the TV, watch the news. Airwaves. Watch it twice. Worry about your own neck instead of nonsense.”
Done talking, Na-rae hung up.
Byung-su asked, puzzled.
“Who was that? Prosecutor Kang?”
“Nothing much. Let's watch TV.”
Na-rae grinned and turned on the office TV.
The news channel explained bones and corpses found under the tree.
“From thirty years ago to days back, varied. Besides Prosecutor Kang's dad, others too, huh.”
Byung-su nodded at Na-rae's question.
“Recent corpses likely. Need DNA on missing locals and bones, but all kidnapped and killed. Probably sacrificed to feed the tree blood. World's gonna buzz.”
“Did Prosecutor Kang know?”
Na-rae asked, eyes on screen.
“Not about bodies under tree. But the rest... his house... yeah, he knew.”
Dong-jin sneaked a peek at Byung-su's face and asked.
“No regrets calling airwaves instead of exclusive?”
“Exclusive? No one'd believe. Just rumors. Sucks, but no choice. Airwaves better for corpse probes.”
Saying it sucked, Byung-su looked relieved.
* * *
Prosecutor Kang, before the TV, turned with a smile to the young man watching him.
“Something up at my hometown house, looks like.”
Nonchalant expression.
“Anyway. That Park reporter. Instead of sacrifice, make him ally? Ditch the branch chief. What say, Director Park?”
Seemed he didn't want to hurt Na-rae, who refused.
The man nodded silent agreement to Prosecutor Kang's proposal.
The young man was Park Young-ho, director at Haedong Daily, Haedong Group's paper.
Haedong Daily led subscribers and trust over Dongguk Daily.
“Chairman dislikes Kim Byung-su over Jirisan lodge lately, but as fellow press, no grudge. Do as you wish, Prosecutor. Gotta redraw plans—busy times.”
“Thanks. I'll paint a picture you'll like.”
Prosecutor Kang bowed in thanks; Young-ho rose toward the door.
“Hometown house? No worries. We'll spin and bury it nice. Press is public's eyes, right? We close 'em, people blind.”
As if expected, Prosecutor Kang smiled and bowed thanks.
“One thing, Prosecutor. Park reporter's teaming with Kim Byung-su now?”
“Yes, but?”
“Then I'll meet him. You said ally him—got a favor. Let's take out Teacher Paeng this time.”
Young-ho's words hardened Prosecutor Kang's face.
“Dangerous picture.”
“Can't keep dancing to his tune forever. Do what we want, not that monster's whims grabbing ankles. Let's chip him together.”
Prosecutor Kang replied, resolute.
“I'll paint the picture.”