Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Eyes That Show Only What You Want to See (5)
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—No way! Why did you two go in there first? Is Reporter Eun okay?
Byung-su asked in surprise after receiving Dong-jin's call.
“She says her hip bone got injured.”
—Her hip bone? What happened? Did that ghost hit her butt? Why on earth? Anyway, we're all here now, so stay put in the room!
“Yeah, Reporter Eun is refusing to go outside no matter what. We're in room 707. Call us when you're at the door.”
After finishing his call with Dong-jin, Byung-su politely said to the old woman sitting beside him.
“It looks like my colleagues went in ahead. They said they didn't meet the motel owner.”
It was the Mia-ri Virgin Bodhisattva.
Baekho of the Baekho Mountain Spirit and the virgin ghost Yi-hwa were more reliable, but since they were in Daejeon, they had brought the old woman as the next best option.
At Byung-su's explanation, the old woman pointed her bony finger straight ahead and said.
“That's the alley. It's thick with ghost stench—I knew it right away. But it attacked her butt? That's unusual. A female ghost, right? How peculiar.”
“Tell me about it. Even you haven't seen a case like this, have you, Bodhisattva?”
“Nope. I've seen male ghosts from past lives harassing women with their pervy ways, but a female ghost hitting a woman's butt? Never heard of it. Anyway, we're all here now. Let's go in.”
They arrived at the motel parking lot during the conversation.
The old woman got out of the car first, straightened her back ramrod straight, and headed inside.
“Chill, dampness, ghost stench, shadows. It has everything an evil spirit could want. Places like this usually have lots of rooms, so evil spirits gather in droves, but this one's got just the one. Probably too fierce for the lesser ones to butt in.”
“Just the one?”
The counter clerk, who had been listening quietly to the old woman, spoke up with an uncomfortable look.
“Oh, I mean it's a relief there's only one.”
Byung-su quickly made an excuse, and the clerk snapped curtly.
“If you're here with Grandma for a scare experience, go home. You might end up saying goodbye to life for real.”
“You brat! Who's a grandma? I'm the famous Mia-ri Virgin Bodhisattva! Never heard of me?”
The old woman yelled out of nowhere, and the flustered clerk gave a ridiculous reply.
“You're a virgin?”
“What? You little punk!”
Byung-su dragged the furious old woman toward the elevator and said.
“My group's in 707. We'll head up for a bit.”
The moment they got in the elevator, the old woman whispered to Byung-su with a grim expression.
“This won't be easy. It's already one with the building.”
The light on the elevator ceiling flickered slowly as it ascended, gradually deepening the darkness.
The old woman quietly pulled a bundle of privet branches from her bosom, gripped them in her hand, and said with a stern face.
“Take out the bell I gave you.”
* * *
—A guest checked in today? And they're still inside? They didn't run away?
Yubin stood in front of his motel, talking on the phone with the clerk.
Lucifer and Jijang stood beside him, scanning the now even darker alley.
Even with the streetlights blazing, the alley was eerily dark, and no passersby could be seen as if it were broad daylight.
“They're right there—why not go in and talk? You really need to call while standing out here?”
When Lucifer asked, Yubin hurriedly ended the call and replied.
“The sin I committed against that woman is so great that I'm scared she might harm me, so I haven't dared go in... I've just been talking from around here.”
“You'll go bankrupt doing business like that. The owner has to protect the place. Your sin is pretty awful, bad quality too, but not a death sentence. She won't kill you, so let's go in. At a glance! She's a vengeful ghost, alright, but not an evil spirit. Come on.”
Jijang grabbed Yubin's hand and pulled him forward.
“Not a death sentence, but you still have to pay for your crime. No more dodging now. I'd love to beat you into a bloody pulp, but you're clearly repentant, so I'm holding back. Once this is over, you'll pay your dues properly.”
Unlike Jijang, Lucifer scolded him harshly, and Yubin bowed repeatedly in promise.
“I will turn myself in and accept punishment. Even if the statute of limitations has passed and I can't be prosecuted, I won't avoid society's condemnation—I'll live in atonement.”
Jijang, who had entered hell voluntarily to save sinners, felt great compassion and forgiveness for Yubin, but Lucifer still did not forgive him.
“It doesn't matter if Jijang or I forgive you, or even if the world does. Only when that woman forgives you and lets go of her grudge will you be forgiven. Go ask her forgiveness! If she tries to hurt you, I'll block it somehow.”
Lucifer, still displeased with Yubin, scolded him again.
As they entered the motel, the counter clerk, seeing Yubin for the first time in a while, rushed out happily.
“Boss! Screams have been coming from the seventh floor since earlier. I'm scared to death.”
At the clerk's words, Jijang bolted toward the stairs at a ferocious speed.
Lucifer tucked Yubin under his arm and flew up after him.
As they reached the seventh floor, the woman's piteous screams and the sickening whack-whack of a switch digging into flesh pierced their ears.
In the hallway, a white-haired old woman was swinging privet branches like a whip, mercilessly lashing the woman's naked body.
Behind the old woman stood Na-rae and Dong-jin, pale at the bizarre scene.
Byung-su stood beside the old woman, shaking a bell draped in a long cloth.
Each time the switch struck, white smoke rose from the woman's body.
The woman rolled on the floor, screaming in agony.
“Hey!”
Jijang rushed forward like lightning, blocking the old woman's switch, then took off his worn jacket to cover the woman's wretched body.
Whack! The old woman's switch couldn't stop and struck Jijang's suddenly appeared face, leaving a long mark.
“What the—!”
As Jijang took the hit, an enraged Lucifer charged with Yubin still under his arm.
“No!”
At Jijang's shout, Lucifer stopped.
The old woman's switch halted too, and the bell Byung-su had been shaking fell silent.
This bell feels like a mistake. It's creepy. That ghost getting beaten is pitiful. Better if I'd taken the beating with my bare hands. This is pathetic.
As Byung-su thought this to himself and nearly dropped the bell on the floor, Jijang tightly embraced the frail, wound-covered woman's pitiful body, weeping as he soothed her.
“How much it must hurt, how humiliating. So lonely and scared, right?”
A compassionate smile graced Jijang's face.
Tears caressing her pain fell onto her body, beginning to heal the wounds.
Yubin trembled, recalling the woman's appearance from ten years ago.
As the axe scars on her chest gradually faded, he knelt before her and begged forgiveness.
“I was wrong. Fearing our crime would be exposed, I pretended not to know you were murdered. I installed cameras in the room like vermin, watched the footage laughing, and even shared it bragging.”
The woman looked at Yubin.
Feeling her icy gaze, Yubin continued begging forgiveness.
“Scared that vile act would come out. I ignored your death and lived shamelessly until now. Even knowing you were suffering like this, all I thought about was saving this motel. I was wrong.”
The woman shifted her gaze from the kneeling, begging Yubin to Na-rae and said.
“Your man didn't kill you. That's a relief.”
With a faint smile, the woman's form slowly melted into the darkness and vanished.
* * *
“These things aren't human.”
The old woman gripped her privet branches tightly, glaring at Lucifer and Jijang.
Byung-su hadn't sensed any spiritual energy from Lucifer and Jijang, so he thought they weren't spirits.
But the old woman, feeling no human warmth from them, declared they weren't human.
At her words, Byung-su looked flustered at Lucifer and Jijang and asked.
“You're not human? Who are you?”
Not spirits, not evil-looking, and they'd even helped—so confusion outweighed fear.
Lucifer smirked slightly, mockingly curling his lip at the old woman's privet branches, and said.
“Not human, so you hit us with that? Must sting. Humanity's clannishness is something else. Anything not human is dangerous? If you've lived till your hair's white, you should know the world's bigger than that. At your age, picking sides like 'us vs. them'—what's the point?”
Lucifer's sarcasm enraged the old woman, finally making her swing the privet branches.
Whack!
It whistled through the air, striking Lucifer's face hard enough to make a sound, but he didn't flinch a bit.
Instead, the privet branches that hit his face caught fire and turned to ash in an instant.
“I should punish you strictly for daring to strike me, but since I've burned your precious possession, I'll let this one slide.”
Lucifer's stern voice echoed through the hallway.
“Ack!”
Overwhelmed by his presence, the old woman staggered with a short scream and collapsed.
“Oh no, Bodhisattva!”
Dong-jin cried out in alarm, checking her pulse.
“She's not dead. Just knocked her out to shut her up—don't worry.”
Lucifer spoke gently to Dong-jin, then felt awkward under Byung-su and Na-rae's puzzled stares. He gestured for Yubin to explain instead.
“I'm the motel owner, and these are the people I called. But who are you?”
At Yubin's question, Na-rae realized they were the uninvited ones causing a ruckus, so she had no grounds to make a fuss.
Na-rae stepped forward and apologized.
“Ah! You're President Yi Yubin. Sorry for the disturbance. We're here at Director Park Young-ho's request—reporters from KD Report. We came to help with the strange happenings here.”
“......”
“The two with us—you've met them before. If you have time, could we talk for a bit?”
She mentioned Lucifer and Jijang to emphasize they were reporters, making it hard for Yubin to refuse.
As Yubin hesitated, Lucifer stepped in.
“That old lady's out cold anyway. Let's move her to the room and chat.”
Lucifer and Jijang already liked Byung-su's group, so there was no reason to refuse a talk.
Everyone entered 707, laid the old woman on the bed, and crammed onto the narrow floor to talk.
Na-rae deliberately avoided asking about Lucifer and Jijang's identities.
* * *
“You're turning yourself in? Even if the statute's passed, the social backlash will be huge. Good call. It was wrong, but no one would've known if you stayed quiet... Better late than never.”
Byung-su praised Yubin kindly after hearing the full story.
Lucifer and Na-rae's expressions soured.
“You shouldn't have done it in the first place. Repenting now won't change anything.”
At Na-rae's criticism, Yubin hung his head, and Dong-jin pulled out his phone.
“Has Director Park Young-ho discussed your intent to turn yourself in?”
“I don't have a friend like that. No contact since that day, when I was suffering in fear. I even texted him my intent to confess as the sole photographer and witness, but no reply. He probably has no plans to turn himself in.”
Yubin's words brimmed with anger toward Young-ho.
Byung-su, who had been listening quietly, interrupted with his thoughts.
“No, that's not right. Director Park Young-ho approached our Park reporter first, asking him to find you. There must be some change of heart. If two people sinned, both should face punishment and repent—that's justice for the victims.”
He was blocking Yubin from confessing alone.
“Plus, as a director at a top media outlet, his social responsibility is huge. If it's hard for you to tell him, Reporter Park can relay your intent. And ask about his too.”
Yubin nodded in agreement to Byung-su's suggestion.
Dong-jin turned on the speakerphone and called Young-ho.