Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: The Demon Journeying with the Evil Ghost (4)
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'That's weird. Everyone seems to be here, but there are only seven heads lying around. Our room has a total of eight people, so one's definitely missing.'
His thoughts reached that point, and Jjanggu realized that he himself wasn't included in the count of those lying heads.
'Gasp! Seven lying heads plus the one counting them—mine—makes eight! So, who's the guy taking a shit in there? Who shits in someone else's cell toilet?'
Curious about who was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom, Jjanggu sat up and lifted the transparent acrylic panel over the bathroom door.
He saw a massive bald black man sitting naked on the toilet, not a stitch of clothing on him.
Sensing Jjanggu's gaze, the bald black man turned his head to look at him.
Woodr-r-rack.
The bald black man's head rotated ninety degrees, his gaze fixed on Jjanggu.
"Oh, baby! You takin' a backdoor dump today?"
The bald black man's thick lips parted as he spoke to Jjanggu.
His speech carried a hint of a Jeolla dialect accent, somehow.
"What the hell, you fuck! Who the fuck are you, shittin' in there? I just scrubbed that damn toilet spotless, and you're takin' a shit in it?"
Jjanggu unwittingly unleashed a torrent of Jeolla dialect himself.
He'd always held back on the country bumpkin dialect, sticking to standard speech to avoid seeming uncouth, but the bald black man's Jeolla twang had unlocked his sealed-away dialect.
Reacting to Jjanggu, the bald black man rose from the toilet, winking playfully.
The bald black man's lower half was obscenely exposed.
"Oh baby! You and me gonna have a good time today. Plenty of room here. Come on in."
The bald black man's Jeolla dialect was painfully awkward and unnatural.
Seeing the bald black man's nether regions as he stood, Jjanggu instinctively sensed he was in danger.
No matter what, this pro-level bald black man hadn't even wiped yet.
"Hey! Baldy! Where you think you're goin' without wipin' your ass after shittin'?"
Jjanggu sprang up, shoving the bathroom door with his body to block the bald black man from coming out, and yelled.
At Jjanggu's shout, the inmates in the common room woke up, looking bewildered as they glanced between Jjanggu and the bathroom.
"Hey! Jjanggu! What the hell you doin' in the middle of the night?"
Boss Park, who had been sleeping nearby, irritably snapped at Jjanggu as he pushed against the bathroom door.
"Ah, hyungnim! There's a baldy here tryin' to come out all willy-nilly! If this guy's let loose, we're in deep shit! Hyungnim, come quick and help block the door!"
Even as Boss Park spoke, Jjanggu kept shoving the door and bellowing.
Finally losing patience, the sex offender room leader hurled a pillow at Jjanggu and shouted.
"Shut the fuck up! What bullshit in the middle of the night? Go to sleep!"
Even after taking a pillow to the head, Jjanggu kept pushing the bathroom door.
In Jjanggu's eyes, the naked black man's winking face was crystal clear.
Jjanggu yelled even louder at the room leader.
"Hyungnim! You don't see that bald head? You don't see that huge frame?"
"Hey! Room 8! Let's sleep! What's with the bald head talk at night?"
"You fucks think prison's a joke? Sleep now!"
With the commotion from Jjanggu waking them, shouts came from rooms 7 and 9.
"Ah! What a disgrace! Sleep already!"
With rebukes from rooms 7 and 9, the room leader—mindful of prison face—yelled at Jjanggu.
"Room 8, what's the deal with this racket? Go to sleep."
Not sure when he'd arrived, the night shift supervisor stuck to the window facing the hallway and issued a warning.
Overwhelmed by the supervisor's voice, Jjanggu cried out.
"Supervisor! There's a bald black man here! Take him away!"
"What? Has this guy's lost his mind? What's he yappin' about!"
At the room leader's shout dismissing Jjanggu's absurd claim, the supervisor cautioned him.
"Keep it down. You'll wake everyone else. And you there, 2164! Let go of the bathroom door and sleep. If you keep disturbing the other inmates' rest, I'll have to call the patrol team."
After warning the room 8 leader, the supervisor tried to calm Jjanggu when uproar erupted from rooms 7 and 9.
"Supervisor, take that crazy from room 8! Too noisy to sleep!"
"Damn this prison. Make room 8 shut up! Keep this up, and I'm writin' to the Human Rights Commission!"
Protests rained from rooms 7 and 9.
The flustered supervisor tried to soothe Jjanggu, oblivious to his inner thoughts, but Jjanggu whined even more.
"Supervisor! Supervisor! Look here. The bald black man's keepin' eyes on me, callin' me his baby."
Unable to stand Jjanggu shivering and whining, the supervisor radioed in.
"This is in front of common room 3-block 8. New inmate's having a fit and causing trouble. Hurry over."
Minutes after the radio call, a swarm of night patrol and response teams in black uniforms arrived.
Detention centers and prisons ran standby shifts for night emergencies.
As the crow-like black-clad patrol team dragged the flailing Jjanggu away, the supervisor followed after tidying up.
Passing common room 7, the supervisor glimpsed the inmates there sleeping soundly.
'Huh, they fell asleep quick? Who was complaining just now?'
* * *
"How 'bout that? My plan worked perfect, right? It's night, so the crows'll investigate tomorrow. That guy's gettin' tossed in a punishment cell for now."
Gloating over his successful scheme, the magpie boasted to Dong-su.
Standing on thin legs, flapping its wings and puffing its chest, the magpie looked quite arrogant.
Dong-su replied curtly, displeased for some reason.
"Even so, the bald black guy was overkill. You birds wouldn't get it, but that's racial stereotyping."
Dong-su nitpicked unnecessarily.
Unaware or uncaring of Dong-su's thoughts, the magpie chattered excitedly.
"Naked and comin' on—black, white, what's the difference? All gross. You're an idiot. Shut up and stay put. I'll check the punishment cell window and see which one."
After scolding Dong-su, the magpie flew off into the darkness.
Left alone on the rooftop of Block 1, Dong-su waited for the magpie's return.
Moments later, the magpie came back, urging him on.
"Let's go! Rookie. That guy's in room 10, lower 8-block. The wily one's onto us now—hurry!"
Following the magpie's lead, Dong-su flew over the building roofs and landed in the exercise yard between Blocks 7 and 8, standing before the window of common room 10 in Block 8.
Through the window, the punishment cell looked like a solitary room, too narrow to spread both arms.
The magpie landed on Dong-su's shoulder and whispered.
"Absolutely do not go inside the building. Stay here and ask that guy who told him to kill you. Don't go in! Got it?"
Nodding at the magpie's question, Dong-su silently approached the window.
Jjanggu's eyes still couldn't see the spirit Dong-su.
"Hey, Jjanggu! Look at me."
Jjanggu turned his gaze toward the voice.
Beyond the punishment cell window, in the narrow yard between Blocks 7 and 8, stood a man in a black suit.
Like a pirate captain, a bird perched on the man's shoulder.
The dim light made it hard to see clearly, but Jjanggu guessed it was a parrot.
"Who're you?"
No one but guards roamed the detention yard freely.
Though figuring the man was a guard, Jjanggu couldn't shake the bird on his shoulder.
"Who else? Magwi gang enforcer, evil ghost Baek Dong-su. You smashed me dead with your car. Front and back, twice. Know how much that hurt? Hurt like hell. Hurt so bad I died."
As the man stepped forward, a chill wind blew.
"Ribs snapped, puncturing lung and heart. Heart just barely missed, so blood gushed from the torn organ into my gut. That blood flooded the hole-pierced lung—every breath agony. That's how I died. You? Livin' the good life?"
The black-suited man approached the window, speaking amiably.
The man's face lit up in the punishment cell's glow, his form sharpening.
"Baek Dong-su! You're supposed to be dead!"
Confirming the black-suited man was indeed the Magwi gang enforcer evil ghost Baek Dong-su, Jjanggu's voice trembled.
"Yeah, I'm dead. You killed me. Thanks to you, I became the evil ghost my nickname promised. Got a question. Answer right, and I'll let you live. Wrong, and you'll feel what I did."
The yard window was barred with sturdy iron, looking solid.
Dong-su gripped the bars with both hands and bent them, making space for a man to pass.
Now Jjanggu had scant protection from the bars.
"Hey! Why bend those bars? Ghosts just phase through this shit. Jjanggu! This guy's the real deal scary. Spill everything you know quick!"
The magpie on Dong-su's shoulder menaced Jjanggu.
Jjanggu was amazed and terrified that the bird he'd thought a parrot was a talking magpie.
"What do you wanna ask me?"
Jjanggu replied in a half-crying voice.
As if he'd been waiting, Dong-su asked.
"Who told you to take me out? And why're you in the southern detention center, skippin' police questioning?"
"Kotul hyungnim ordered it. And southern 'cause there's a prosecutor sponsored by Kotul hyungnim at the southern prosecutor's office—skipped cops straight to detention. I just did what I was told."
Terrified, Jjanggu answered readily.
Dong-su pondered if Jjanggu spoke truth or lies.
"Whatcha thinkin'? Obviously lyin'! Look—his number's 2164. 2000-series are from western prosecutor's office. 1000-series from southern. So that southern prosecutor bit's bullshit. You mob ghost don't even know that?"
The magpie chattered into Dong-su's ear as he pondered.
"What? Numbers mean that?"
Realizing from the magpie that Jjanggu tried to deceive him, furious Dong-su flew straight into Jjanggu's punishment cell.
At Dong-su's sudden move, the magpie followed into the cell too.
"You little rat, tryin' to fool who? Jjanggu, do I look like a punk to you?"
Dong-su grabbed the recoiling Jjanggu by the collar at his shout and hoisted him into the air.
The magpie on Dong-su's shoulder screamed in shock, calming him.
"Aaaah! Rookie, where the hell'd you go in? Calm down, drag him out quick! Can't stay here!"
Snapping to at the magpie's cry, Dong-su looked at the window—pitch-black darkness engulfed it.
The ominous darkness resembled a black hole.