Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Evil Spirit Baek Dong-su (9)
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Usong hesitated before answering.
"Yeah, it's a woman's moaning sound?"
It was a familiar noise he'd heard plenty of times before.
"Who's having fun in a place like this?"
Unlike Kotul, Usong's expression was tense.
"Hyung-nim, that sound... it's not that. It sounds like the groan you make when you're getting stabbed with a knife."
[Ah, ah. Ack!]
Usong took it for the pained groan of someone in agony, unable to even scream loudly as a blade tore into their body.
But to Kotul's ears, it still sounded like something entirely different.
"How's that the sound of getting stabbed? You haven't even gotten married yet, have you? Anyway, good timing. Let's go borrow a phone from those folks."
If that compact car was still guarding Kotul's vehicle, there was no chance of getting to it even after daybreak tomorrow.
In a situation like this, he desperately wished he had a cell phone.
"Hyung-nim, that spot looks dangerous. Let's check it out carefully."
Usong cautiously offered his opinion.
"Yeah, let's go. We'll sneak up quietly so that Dong-su bastard doesn't spot us."
Kotul still missed the point of Usong's concern.
In any case, Kotul and Usong crouched low and moved silently.
As they drew closer to the source of the sound, sure enough, there was a man and a woman.
Peering from the bushes, they saw a grassy patch that seemed oddly out of place. The man and woman were lying on it.
Looking around, no one else was in sight.
There was no moonlight, no lights anywhere nearby, yet the pair appeared in vivid detail, like footage projected on a screen.
It was as if the scene had been staged for someone to watch.
The man was straddling the woman, but both were fully clothed—nothing like what Kotul had imagined.
The atmosphere felt deeply ominous.
Every time the man moved, the woman let out a groan.
[Ah, ah, ack!]
In the moonlight, the object in the man's hand gleamed.
"They're probably too busy having fun, but go grab their phone."
What shows up in the eyes is all you see, as they say—Kotul was still completely misreading the situation.
When Kotul told him to snatch the man and woman's phones, Usong hesitated before replying.
"Hyung-nim, something's off."
"What's off? Why are you acting so weird today?"
"They're both still wearing clothes."
Now that he mentioned it, it did seem strange.
Kotul looked more closely at the pair after hearing Usong.
'Come to think of it, they are dressed...'
Every time the man shifted his upper body over the woman, she let out a strained groan.
If not for the fact they were clothed, anyone would think it was exactly the scene Kotul had pictured.
'A knife?'
As Kotul focused intently on the man, he spotted the small knife in his hand.
It was a tiny blade, less than ten centimeters long.
Kotul watched the man's movements closely.
With every motion, the small blade stabbed into the woman's neck and chest.
She'd been stabbed so many times she couldn't even scream, only managing low groans.
Stab to the neck...
[Ah, ah, ack!]
Stab to the chest, and to the side as well.
Each time the blade entered her body, she writhed with a low moan.
Drained by the pain of the knife ripping through her, she couldn't muster a proper scream.
"Damn it, she should scream... Ah, shit."
Finally, Kotul grasped the truth of the situation.
It was pitch dark, yet everything was clear as day, as if someone were shining a light.
Just then, men's voices echoed from somewhere, and seven men appeared.
All the men had similar builds, wore identical black suits, and spoke in the same tone.
Three of them were dragging something.
Looking closer, it was large suitcases—big enough to stuff a person inside.
The ominous arrival of the suitcases drained the color from Kotul and Usong's faces.
"Why three of them?"
Usong pressed a finger to his lips, signaling Kotul—who'd spoken without thinking—to stay quiet.
The woman was no longer groaning, just twitching faintly.
"Still going at it?"
"Almost done."
"That bitch is suffering, but you're working hard too. Should've used a bigger knife."
"Hurry up and finish so we can bag her. Then find those other two and bag them too."
"Will those guys fit in these bags?"
"If not, we'll chop 'em up."
"Chop with what? That little knife? How long would that take? Even killing takes forever like this."
"We'll snap the joints, fold the waist, and cram 'em in. No need to chop."
The arriving men chimed in one by one, looking down at the one stabbing the woman while straddling her.
Their voices all matched perfectly, and for some reason, they didn't sound unfamiliar.
Soon, even the woman's twitching stopped.
"Those two are still around here somewhere."
One of the men explicitly referred to "those two."
Kotul and Usong flinched in shock.
Fortunately, they made no sound.
They exchanged glances and held their breath.
'If they catch us, we'll end up like that woman.'
The men's voices fell silent.
They were listening for sounds around them.
With no insects chirping, only the rustle of grass in the wind.
Kotul didn't even dare swallow.
But saliva pooled in his mouth anyway, against his will.
'This is driving me crazy.'
The men, having listened to the surroundings, resumed talking.
It seemed to be about Kotul and the compact car.
The man who'd been straddling the woman stood up, and one of them opened a suitcase and started snapping her neck and waist to fit her inside.
Her limp head lolled toward Kotul.
He saw her face.
It was Kotul's young wife, who should have been at home.
"Gasp!"
It was small, but Kotul made a noise.
In that instant, Kotul and Usong's minds went blank.
The man who'd been stabbing the woman crept stealthily toward the bushes where Kotul and Usong hid.
Once nearby, he crouched low and listened intently.
The man's profile came into view.
It was a familiar face.
After listening for about a minute, the man smirked faintly and whispered low toward the front, as if speaking to someone specific.
"Still alive. If you want to save her, get on your knees."
The man holding the bag turned his head and called out.
"What're you doing? Go catch 'em!"
"Wait, I'll get 'em. Haha."
He stared at the bushes where Kotul hid for a moment, then stood and ran back to his comrades.
Two men stuffed Kotul's wife into the suitcase—wheels and all, it was a struggle—and carried it off.
The rest followed.
They headed toward where Kotul's car was parked.
Even after the men vanished, Kotul and Usong stayed hidden in the bushes for a long while.
Only after some time did Kotul finally stand, and Usong followed, running after him.
They bolted in the opposite direction from where the men had gone.
They must have run for ten minutes.
Kotul yanked Usong down into another bush.
"Hyung-nim, did you see that?"
Usong panted heavily as he asked.
Kotul sat dazed, mumbling as if he hadn't heard.
"Evil spirit... Evil spirit Dong-su... How? Evil Spirit Dong-su has eight bodies? Does that bastard really know cloning spells?"
The man who'd stabbed Kotul's wife while straddling her, and the seven who followed—all bore the face of the dead Evil Spirit Dong-su.
* * *
Having spent the night wide-eyed in the bushes, Kotul and Usong straightened up as dawn broke.
There was no sign of the men.
Usong spoke to Kotul cautiously.
"Hyung-nim, wasn't that your wife? And not the evil spirit?"
Usong had seen the same thing Kotul had the night before, so it was a natural question.
"Evil spirits are dead, aren't they? My wife should be home—there's no way she'd die out here."
Kotul had witnessed the dead Dong-su killing his wife, but he tried to deny it.
"First, let's get to the car and grab the phone. Gotta call the guys and check home."
They moved slowly, staying low, toward the car.
Alert to every sound around them, their pace was glacial.
It took over an hour to reach the parking spot.
Hidden in the bushes, they scanned the area.
The pesky compact car was gone.
No sign of the hundreds of Dong-su heads that had bounced away from it either.
The eight Dong-sus who'd headed toward the car were nowhere to be seen.
Only the dented door from the compact car's impact remained.
"Hyung-nim, I'll go start the engine. Run when it turns over."
Usong crept forward in a low crawl, still vigilant.
'That dead Dong-su definitely killed my wife. How? Why was my homebound wife out here? How did dead Dong-su show up to kill her? There can't be that many Dong-sus. Those hordes definitely came to my car, but no trace...'
Kotul's heart raced wildly as he watched Usong's back, his mind a whirlwind.
Finally, Usong reached the car and started the engine.
Kotul sprinted to it and hopped in, immediately telling Usong,
"Head somewhere crowded first."
He pulled out his phone from the fishing vest and dialed.
It rang seven times before she picked up.
—What's up this early?
It was his young wife's voice.
'Did I see wrong last night? That was definitely my wife...'
Kotul had seen his wife murdered by Dong-su, but he was relieved she was alive, whatever the case.
"Where are you right now?"
—Home, where else at this hour?
It was early morning, just as the sun peeked over the horizon.
The night's events felt foreboding, so he barked urgently,
"Don't go anywhere today. I'm sending guys over—stay put!"
—What's going on?
"Just do as I say!"
'Busy as hell, and she's nitpicking.'
He hung up on his young wife and immediately called Manager Kim, the number two in the Kotul crew.
As soon as Manager Kim answered, Kotul got straight to it.
"It's me, Manager Kim. Send some reliable guys here! And some to my house to guard the wife."
—Huh? What's happening? Where are you?
Kotul had no idea where "here" was.
Seeing Usong reboot the nav in the driver's seat, he told Kim,
"Figure out the location with Usong and do it fast!"
Everything felt urgent amid his anxiety and fear.
Usong parked in the busiest town center nearby.
There were plenty of people coming and going, and lots of traffic.
They hadn't eaten since yesterday, but food was the last thing on their minds.
It was past two in the afternoon when Manager Kim arrived with crew members in two sedans.
Eight men, including Kim, piled out.
They lined up beside Kotul's car and bowed at ninety degrees.
It was a rare sight in the sleepy rural town.
Their bows were polite, but their faces were frozen stiff.
Kotul felt uneasy peering through the window at their expressions.
'The bastards look pissed...'
He figured they were unhappy being dragged to the boonies on a day off.
Manager Kim straightened up and climbed into Kotul's car.
"Hyung-nim, what happened?"
"You made it? This feels like we've been possessed. Too complicated to explain—ask Usong later."
"Then, hyung-nim, let me report. On the way here, we ran into the evil spirit. Ma-gwi faction's enforcer, Evil Spirit Baek Dong-su."
Kotul recalled what he'd seen the night before.