Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: The Blade of Longinus's Spear and Behemoth's Fang (2)
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“Ah!”
“What the—?”
The man seemed pretty shocked when Da-hee’s head suddenly popped out from the attic door that had swung open in the ceiling.
Seizing the moment of his confusion, Da-hee grabbed the string attached to the attic door and yanked it shut.
Thud!
The loud bang snapped him out of it, and he shouted.
“Boss! Up here! There’s a kid in the ceiling!”
“Hey, hey, hey! Quit your damn yelling! You gonna wake the whole neighborhood? That the spot? Hey! Everyone, come open this thing up.”
Footsteps echoed as shoes clomped over at the man’s order, gathering under the attic door.
The group started jumping up, thumping the floor as they tried to grab the attic door.
‘If these are the guys from that suspicious sedan earlier, there should be four of them total. My phone’s in my room downstairs. What do I do?’
“Hey! You ain’t gonna open that jumping like idiots! One of you, give the other a boost!”
At the command from the guy who seemed to be the leader, the others started forming a human ladder.
“You guys are thieves, right?”
“Huh? Nah.”
“Then get out! If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the cops. Not just them—I’ll call the Chinese place, the pizza joint, and the fire department too! Get out of our house! The valuable stuff’s all downstairs! Grab it quick and go!”
The boss-looking guy chuckled at Da-hee’s shout.
“Aw, how cute. Little miss, thieves don’t wear suits when they steal. We ain’t Lupin or nothin’—real thieves don’t suit up. We ain’t bad guys. Just here to ask a few questions. Open that attic door, huh?”
There wasn’t a hint of fear in his voice, even with her cop threat.
“I-I’m calling right now! Get out before the police and the Chinese delivery guy show up!”
Da-hee yelled, clutching the handle tight as she sat by the attic door.
“Oh man, scary stuff. Ain’t that pink phone yours, little missy? Looks like there’s two phones. What’s up? Hahaha. What now? Hurry up and boost someone to open that door.”
The boss laughed as he shouted.
‘Gasp! They found my phone in my room. This is bad.’
Sunset light filtered through the round attic window.
* * *
“By now, the people I sent should be out looking for that sword.”
Emel boasted to Kwon Geon, whose anger hadn’t subsided.
Kwon Geon glanced at the merchant, then asked Emel.
“Lady Emel, why are you after that sword? I need it for revenge, but you... what could you possibly want with it?”
“Isn’t a ghoul’s goal obvious? Why ask something so random?”
Kwon Geon burst into laughter at her reply.
“Ghouls are such romantics. What you’re planning is something even the great demon Beelzebub despises—it’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“Of course! And I wouldn’t stand by and watch it happen either. So a smart one like you wouldn’t try something so absurd. You’re lying like a true ghoul.”
Ghouls were known to exist solely to turn humans into zombies.
Though Emel claimed her pursuit of the sword aligned with ghoul nature, Kwon Geon just laughed it off.
Emel smiled at his firm tone.
“Our goals aside, we’re on the same side for now. I’ll help you get revenge on Beelzebub, and you deal with anyone interfering with me. I find the sword and hand it over to you first. You avenge yourself on Beelzebub, then return it to me. Sound good?”
Kwon Geon’s expression softened at her promise to deliver the sword to him first.
“You won’t lose out, Mr. Kwon. If you don’t like what I’m doing later, you can stop me then. I take contracts seriously.”
Kwon Geon nodded in agreement, then said.
“You said you’d find it and give it to me. So I’ll follow your lead for now. Keep your promise.”
He smiled as he spoke, but inwardly he mused.
‘This ghoul bitch is hiding her real reason for wanting the sword. Gotta stay sharp.’
Whether she knew his thoughts or not, Emel kept smiling.
“Lady Emel, do you know the sword’s name... and its power?”
Kwon Geon asked the red-haired ghoul with a meaningful tone.
Emel just smiled without answering.
* * *
[Behold Behemoth, which I made along with you, as I made it—it eats grass like an ox.
Behold now its strength in its loins, the powerful force in its belly’s muscles.
Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.
Its bones are bronze tubes; its limbs like bars of iron.
It is the first of God’s works, made to be king over the beasts.
It eats the mountain’s yield, and wild beasts play nearby.
Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
The lotus hide it in their shade; the poplars by the stream surround it.
If a river rages, it is unafraid; it is confident though the Jordan rushes to its mouth.
—Old Testament, Book of Job 40—]
Emel, who had been smiling, approached Kwon Geon on the sofa and whispered in his ear.
“A blade forged by melting the tip of Longinus’s spear, the one that pierced the Son of God. And a hilt carved from the fang of Yahweh’s greatest masterpiece, the colossal monster Behemoth. Who cares what it’s called?”
Kwon Geon fell silent at her answer.
Longinus was the soldier mentioned in the Gospel of John who guarded Jesus on the cross.
Legend said the great demon Beelzebub ordered him to pierce the crucified Jesus’s heart to prevent his resurrection.
But in the moment of stabbing, Longinus regained his will, missed the heart, and was cursed blind by the furious Beelzebub.
Fortunately, washing his eyes with Jesus’s blood that flowed down the spear healed him. Longinus cherished the blood-stained spear and passed it down through generations.
Thus, the Spear of Longinus, which pierced God’s son, became a symbol of immense power.
Possessing it was said to allow world domination, and countless rulers coveted and owned it over the ages.
Most notably...
Emperor Constantine, who legitimized Christianity with the Edict of Milan.
Charles Martel, rebuilder of the Frankish Kingdom, and his grandson Charlemagne.
Otto the Great, founder of the Holy Roman Empire.
They wielded the spear’s power to victory in countless battles, flaunting their might.
But after ages, the spear vanished from the world.
Napoleon scoured Europe for the lost Spear of Longinus but never claimed it.
Time passed, and it reemerged.
The Spear of Longinus was displayed in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria.
Hitler, a believer in legends, seized Vienna and took the spear.
With it, he swept to victories, turning the world into a battlefield.
Obsessed with its power, Hitler had a bizarre idea.
He removed the bloodied blade of Longinus’s spear to forge a new sword blade and ground Behemoth’s ancient monster fang for the hilt.
Believing this maximized the spear’s power, he instead plummeted to ruin.
After Germany’s defeat, Allied forces raided Hitler’s secret vaults and found ancient relics.
One was the Spear of Longinus.
But it was a fake. The real one had become a small sword from the long spear, its traces lost to all.
“You know exactly what that sword is, Lady Emel. And yet you’d hand it to me? You’re a real mystery. Fine. I’ll take out whoever’s bothering you. Who?”
Emel beamed at Kwon Geon’s question.
“A reporter named Kim Byung-su and a virgin ghost named Yi-hwa. You’d be better off without them too, Mr. Kwon. I guarantee it.”
* * *
The burliest guy hoisted up the smallest one on his shoulders.
The guy on top fumbled at the attic door crack and said.
“Boss! It’s a pull-to-open door. But the kid took the string inside with her.”
At his words, the boss ordered the guy standing beside him.
“You, go find something to wedge in that gap!”
The guy next to him was the short-haired one who’d locked eyes with Da-hee earlier.
At the boss’s order, the short-haired guy pulled a small sheathed knife from his pocket.
“Boss, how ‘bout this?”
The boss examined the handed-over knife, then smacked the short-haired guy’s head with his palm.
“You idiot! Where’d you get this? Ain’t this the knife we’re looking for?”
The short-haired guy shrank at the boss’s roar.
“I found it earlier rummaging the fridge for ice ‘cause it was hot. This is the one? Why’s it in the freezer?”
The boss shoved the knife back at him.
“Shut it. Use this to pry the attic door open.”
Da-hee freaked out at their talk and yelled.
“That knife! Don’t pull it from the sheath! You’ll all die! Possessing spirits will swarm and kill you all!”
The boss laughed at her desperate cry.
“Aw, so scary. Real frightening. So come down here, little missy. If you don’t, I’ll yank this thing out and we’ll all get torn apart by ghosts like Chunhyang. Come on, spirits, let’s go.”
The boss brushed off Da-hee’s warning as a joke, and the short-haired guy cautiously said.
“Boss, Chunhyang didn’t die—she lived fine. Non-gae and Simcheong are the ones who died.”
The boss smacked his head again.
“Idiot! Simcheong got a three-hundred-seok loan to cure her dad and lived happily ever after! Where do you get this crap? Just hand over the knife!”
As the guy passed the knife to the one on shoulders, Da-hee shouted in alarm.
“No! Don’t draw that knife from its sheath! You’ll all die! Please don’t!”
The boss laughed back at her cry.
“Aw, so sweet! Worried we’ll die, huh? What about you, little missy?”
“I won’t die to lowly possessing spirits. So don’t draw that knife.”
Worried they’d pull it anyway, Da-hee yelled desperately again.
The boss grinned at her shout.
“If you don’t come down, we’ll yank this knife and let the ghosts rip us apart. Hey! You hear that, spirits? Come get us quick!”
“No!”
“Hahaha. Guess we’ll just die horribly to ghosts then. We got plenty of sins anyway. Hell’s waiting. Oh mama! I’m coming!”
Da-hee couldn’t help giggling at his antics, then opened the attic door and peeked out.
“You’ll hurt me if I come down. You’re thieves—how can I?”
The boss looked up at her.
His face full of mischief didn’t look evil.
“We just wanted this knife. Found it, so we’re outta here.”
Da-hee tilted her head at his words.
“Then why try opening the attic door?”
The boss picked up a vitamin drink box from the floor, slipped a business card into it, and handed it to the guy on shoulders.
“To give you this. Take it, study hard, and hit me up if you need a loan. Kid.”
After they left, Da-hee opened the box to see it stuffed with fifty-thousand-won bills.
“Whoa! How much is this? Jang Tae-min, Section Chief? Guess they’re not thieves after all. But they took the sword—big trouble.”