Chapter 10
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Head in the Box (10)
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Taeju returned to the office and immediately poured himself a cup of coffee. His body wasn't tired, but his mind was a little worn out.
The Dokkaebi had been surprisingly chatty for its size, and responding to every single thing it said had been quite a hassle.
At the same time, he had to avoid telling outright lies while still maintaining any misconceptions, which was pretty complicated.
Still, since it had walked in on its own two legs, Taeju's fatigue hadn't been for nothing.
"For now, we can catch our breath."
Taeju let out a sigh as he spoke. At the same moment, the sound of the back door rattling open came from behind him.
"Catch our breath? What breath?"
Sia appeared with an unsatisfied expression on her face.
"Oh, it's over already?"
At Taeju's question, Sia replied with an ambiguous look.
"Over? Or maybe we just got it to end... It was weirdly cooperative."
Sia spoke in a tone laced with bewilderment.
"I figured it wouldn't listen and we'd have to force it, but it was so cooperative that it left me stunned instead."
"I get the feeling. It did the same to me."
Taeju nodded. Once the Dokkaebi decided to go along with something, it followed instructions to an excessive degree.
It was just a bit talkative, that's all.
"I told it to stay in custody until we fully grasped the incident, and it said it had seen stuff like that in human dramas—seemed thrilled about it."
"Did it watch cop dramas or movies or something? Must've enjoyed them."
Taeju chuckled in disbelief. Come to think of it, it'd be weirder if a centuries-old being hadn't seen TV at least once.
These creatures were overflowing with curiosity about humans anyway, so dramas might just be the perfect entertainment for a Dokkaebi.
"I was worried about how to convince it to go inside, but before I could even say anything, it hopped right in."
It was convenient from Sia's perspective, but still disconcerting.
"What can I say... It was like a kid playing pretend cop."
The Dokkaebi had followed the office staff's orders with suspiciously gleeful compliance.
Sia had mentioned there might be other suspicious things or further cooperation needed down the line, but the Dokkaebi just laughed and answered everything.
"Wahaha! Good, good! This is fun!"
It was bewildering, but ultimately not a bad thing. Even humans don't cooperate this smoothly most of the time.
Taeju took a sip of his coffee and said,
"Well, cooperative is a good thing."
"Yeah. It is good, but..."
Sia felt a lingering sense of incomprehension.
The emergency preparations the two of them had made at the start had all been basically pointless.
They'd prepared them hoping they wouldn't need to use them, but actually not using them left her feeling a bit empty.
"It probably thinks it can bust out again if it doesn't like it."
But that wouldn't be as easy as it sounded. Sia wasn't some amateur.
"Or maybe it figures as long as it keeps its promise, it doesn't matter. Either way, it's unsettling."
"Still, nothing bad about it."
Sia nodded at Taeju's words. He wasn't wrong.
"Right, especially since we need to wrap this up fast."
The longer this dragged on, the worse it'd be for them. The other side could hunker down for a decade if needed, and playing a long game against something like that was sheer folly.
"By the way, what’s Woli doing?"
"She’s with the Dokkaebi. Not sure why, but she’s been glaring at it."
Sia said she'd just left her there since she had to be anyway.
"She seemed in a worse mood than usual. Something happen?"
At Sia's words, Taeju immediately understood why Woli was acting up. She was probably still pissed about being called "that thing."
"Well, a bit. It poked at a sensitive spot without a care."
Woli knew the Dokkaebi hadn't meant any harm, so she was just acting a little feral without outright cursing it out.
But she wasn't hiding her bad mood—her expression and behavior made it plain.
The crazy part was that the Dokkaebi was probably thinking something like, "Honesty's great!"
Telling Woli that would just make her angrier, so Taeju kept it to himself.
"Anyway, what happened over there?"
Sia asked the question that had been bugging her most.
"I heard some from the client, but no details at all."
"We'll go inside for the full story. We'll have to repeat it to the others anyway."
Taeju downed the rest of his coffee and said,
"But shouldn't we send the client home tonight?"
Sia nodded. Yeah, better than gossiping about it out here.
"Right. Let's head in now."
* * *
Behind the space the office folks called the cafe room—or pseudo-cafe—there was a small room. They used it for whatever suited the situation at hand.
It looked like a perfectly ordinary room, but of course, it wasn't an ordinary place.
Getting in was easy. Getting out? Not so much.
At least, not for non-humans.
In the center of that room sat the Dokkaebi.
Even after hearing it couldn't leave on its own until the job was done, the Dokkaebi had stepped inside without a word.
It could've felt psychologically oppressive, but it showed no sign of that.
"Aren't you bored just sitting there like that?"
The Dokkaebi was lounging comfortably in the spot set up in the middle. It had refused the chair as tacky but accepted the cushion.
The one who actually looked more uncomfortable was Woli, who was standing guard to watch it.
"Did I mess up or something? Why're you so pissed?"
No matter how many times it tried talking to her, Woli just silently glared at the Dokkaebi.
It had guessed she was mad, but had no clue why.
"Say something, at least. I'm bored."
But Woli just shot it an even sharper look in response. In the end, the Dokkaebi gave up trying to chat.
"Man, you need two hands to clap..."
The Dokkaebi grumbled and slouched crookedly again.
Just then, footsteps approached.
"You here?"
The Dokkaebi spoke as the door opened.
"Took longer than I thought."
It scratched its belly as it said,
"We had some stuff to talk about among ourselves. But we came as quick as we could."
Taeju smiled as he replied.
The two of them stood in front of the Dokkaebi.
"Glad you're comfortable."
Taeju remarked, seeing the Dokkaebi sprawled like it owned the place.
"Way better than the box. This is a palace compared to that! A palace! Uhahaha!"
The Dokkaebi laughed heartily.
Woli leaned against the wall by the door, her face saying she wasn't amused. But she kept up her vigilant watch without doing anything else.
"We were worried you'd feel cooped up since we said you can't go outside."
"Well, maybe if I wanted out, but right now I don't, so no reason to feel cooped."
It had endured a decade in that box just fine, after all.
"So, this the interrogation or whatever?"
The Dokkaebi asked with an intrigued look.
"Similar, but a bit different. If anything, think of it as listening."
"Listening? What's that, different from interrogation?"
"Yes. Interrogation's for suspects. This is just 'hearing your story.'"
More like handling a bomb than a suspect. But Taeju kept that to himself.
"Oh, really? Bummer. I wanted to try that interrogation thing. Tsk."
"We can't call it interrogation, but... we'll still be asking questions."
At Taeju's words, the Dokkaebi seemed to get that there wasn't much difference in practice and nodded with a big laugh.
"Good, good. That's why I'm here—to answer. Ask away!"
It grinned widely, clearly pleased with the situation and the office folks keeping their word.
"You show sincerity, so I'll help out that much. I like honest humans."
Taeju gave a small smile at the Dokkaebi's response before getting to the point.
"Most important is the promise you made."
"Right. Start there."
The Dokkaebi chimed in.
"You said the deceased promised to show you something valuable. And that 'something valuable' wasn't specified."
Taeju confirmed once more. The promise was too vague.
"Yeah. Something valuable."
The Dokkaebi said calmly.
"There might've been a set answer, or maybe not."
"Can you even call that a promise?"
Sia piped up, incredulous.
"But it promised to show it. Said it'd show me for sure in ten years."
The Dokkaebi insisted, tone utterly firm. That might've been enough for it, but not for humans.
Taeju said,
"That's a stretch to call a promise."
"But it said it'd show me, so it is."
"The word 'promise' isn't wrong, but strictly speaking, there's an issue with that promise, right?"
Taeju explained carefully.
"Something valuable to me but worthless to you—would that count as keeping the promise?"
"Hmm, nah, that wouldn't. Guess I need to be more specific?"
The Dokkaebi scratched its head at Taeju's point.
"There's tons of valuable stuff out there, like gold or whatever. But that's not what he promised. He said it wasn't something money could buy."
The Dokkaebi recalled back then as it spoke.
"But it definitely had meaning. That's exactly what I wanna see. What the hell was he so cocky about?"
"So showing just any valuable item wouldn't be what you want, right?"
"Of course not! I waited ten years—it's gotta be something special."
The Dokkaebi answered a bit curtly.
"Not monetary value, then..."
Taeju thought for a moment. A condition added, but still too broad. If it were something with a fixed value, they could hunt it down, but no.
"Nothing else you know?"
"Nope."
"Then next question. What did the promise-maker get in return?"
"What I did for him?"
The Dokkaebi grinned at Taeju's question.
"While that mountain got dug up by humans, I kept the capsule safe. I dug the hole to bury it, and I kept the riffraff out."
It boasted confidently.
"Think that spot got totally bulldozed—how'd this box survive intact? How'd the contents stay undamaged? All 'cause I used my power."
"So you protected that Time Capsule."
"Yeah. I wanted to see it too. The valuable thing he said he'd show when we dug it up in ten years."
It was only natural, unless it'd been forcibly sealed.
"So you being inside the box wasn't part of the promise."
"You're smart, but you talk too fancy."
At the Dokkaebi's exasperated remark, Taeju simplified.
"So, the reason you were in the box wasn't something else—it was just to protect it?"
"Yeah. Not the only reason, but the rest was minor. It worked out that way."
The Dokkaebi nodded.
"Got it for now. We'll dig deeper into the situation, but some questions are cleared up."
"So, can you judge now?"
The Dokkaebi stared straight into Taeju's eyes.
"Think you can keep the promise?"
Taeju met the Dokkaebi's gaze squarely and replied,
"Not sure yet. And honestly, it's not my call anyway."
"What?"
The Dokkaebi tilted its head in surprise.
It'd expected a quick answer, not this.
"The one who can give that answer is someone else."
Taeju grinned.
Woli, who'd been leaning against the wall, stepped forward one pace.
No. That was the Dokkaebi's mistake.
Woli hadn't moved. What had moved was the wall.
"What?"
The Dokkaebi finally realized the room was bigger than it had seemed.