Chapter 20
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Head in the Box (20)
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“Cut off its head?”
Before the fight with the dokkaebi, Woli had received one instruction from Sia.
“Yeah.”
Woli made a face like she was grossed out.
“Eww, no way.”
“It won’t die anyway. Dokkaebi don’t.”
“Won’t blood go everywhere?”
“It won’t splash. Don’t worry.”
Sia shook her head at Woli’s distrustful expression and emphasized it once more.
“Dokkaebi aren’t human. Cutting off its head doesn’t kill it. So no blood will splash.”
“Still. Do we really have to?”
Woli said, still frowning. Sia nodded and replied.
“Yeah. We really have to.”
“Ugh, fine. I get it.”
Woli grumbled at Sia.
“But why say that in front of it?”
“Huh?”
The dokkaebi had been listening to their conversation from not too far away.
“That wasn’t meant for me to hear?”
Sia looked at the dokkaebi and said in response to its question.
“It was meant for you to hear.”
Of course, anything said in front of the dokkaebi was fine for it to hear.
“See?”
The dokkaebi said to Woli. She shot it a quick glare and replied.
“Even so, isn’t it weird to talk about chopping off its head right in front of it?”
Woli voiced her complaint, but Sia said nonchalantly.
“Not really. We’re gonna fake it anyway.”
“What?”
Woli squinted. The dokkaebi squinted too.
Sia looked toward the dokkaebi and said.
“Why don’t you pretend to lose once? Time it right and act like your head’s been cut off.”
“Not interested.”
The dokkaebi said halfheartedly, like it wasn’t keen.
“Why should I?”
It didn’t seem too enthusiastic. But Sia knew how to convince it.
“You got pranked once, so isn’t it fair to prank it back?”
“Prank for a prank?”
An eye for an eye, a prank for a prank. The dokkaebi couldn’t resist that.
“What kind of prank?”
Seeing its interest piqued, Sia smiled and said.
“Something like what Jeonghan used last time. You try it this time.”
“So that’s why you said it was half a prank back then.”
The dokkaebi chuckled. It didn’t like being played for a fool, but it couldn’t pass up a good prank plan.
“Fine. What do I get out of it?”
“You’ll get to prank him big time, and you’ll see what was promised on the promised day.”
“Hmm?”
The dokkaebi asked, puzzled.
“You’re not the one involved, so how can you guarantee that?”
“We can. Taeju’s certain of it, so it’s pretty solid. So, will you do it? Or pass?”
Sia said to the dokkaebi.
“If it’s a prank, of course I’ll do it. Isn’t that obvious? So, what’s the method?”
“After hiding once, it’s the same as what I said first. Chop off the head.”
Woli grimaced again, but the dokkaebi’s interest was already piqued, showing no hesitation.
“Make the flying head roll right to Jeonghan’s feet.”
No blood, but still a gruesome sight. A faint-hearted guy like Jeonghan would surely freak out big time again.
Sometimes repetition makes it even more shocking.
“Isn’t pulling the same trick that worked once before pretty fun?”
Hitting them with the same move again is high-level pranking.
“But it feels like you guys are the only ones having fun.”
The dokkaebi said, a bit disappointed. But Sia knew it wouldn’t mind much.
“What are you talking about? You’ll love it most.”
“What?”
“The first day you met Jeonghan, rolling under his feet and opening your eyes on purpose—wasn’t that a prank?”
At Sia’s words, Woli looked over with wide eyes, and the dokkaebi eyed Sia in surprise.
“How’d you know?”
“Too dramatic.”
The dokkaebi’s body wasn’t substantial.
So it could freely change size or even make its body disappear entirely.
For such a being, only a head remaining was a bit odd.
If it had to stay in the box, shrinking the whole body with limbs would be better.
Leaving just the head was clearly a prank to scare whoever opened it.
“Argh, you guys are no fun.”
The dokkaebi grumbled. Like a magician whose tricks were all exposed.
“Well, it doesn’t work on us, but you know someone it does work on, right?”
Sia said that.
“Let’s do it one more time.”
* * *
Right after Taeju chased Jeonghan out of the office, the tension eased.
But they still needed to tidy up before bed, and Sia needed to air out the cigarette smoke she’d indulged in.
Once the rough cleanup was done, Woli nudged the sprawled dokkaebi body with her foot.
“Looks totally real.”
“Hey, don’t kick it with your foot. That’s real body too.”
“Oh, really?”
Woli hurriedly pulled her foot back, looking apologetic.
“I thought it was fake.”
“That’s how serious they get about pranks.”
“No wonder it’s a monster.”
They couldn’t just leave the body collapsed in the middle of the room. Woli picked it up and sat it on a chair in the corner.
A headless body sitting primly on a chair was grotesque, but better than lying on the floor.
“But where’s the head?”
At Woli’s question, Taeju replied indifferently.
“Probably shrank small and followed that customer, or something.”
Turned into an object, most likely. What kind, who knows—but no need to worry anymore.
Now they could finally catch a break, so Taeju groaned and flopped down.
“Ugh—”
Exhausted from not sleeping since yesterday.
“By the way, the dokkaebi’s acting wasn’t that great, but it worked.”
“No, being able to fake a head flying off makes it an amazing actor.”
When Taeju teased the dokkaebi’s acting, Sia defended it.
“Humans can’t fake a head getting cut off.”
“Who knows. It sucked at faking sleep, so maybe it’s just racial talent.”
Acting skills were iffy, but the impact of actually being able to sever its head was huge.
“Well, that kind of shock is hard to disbelieve.”
No need to fool anyone long-term, so it was fine.
Just until Jeonghan met the friends Taeju had texted with the new number.
“But weird. Does it still have sensation?”
No one but the dokkaebi knew that, so no one answered. Woli hadn’t really expected an answer anyway, so she didn’t mind the silence.
She didn’t kick it after sitting it down, but still curious, she poked the torso a few more times. Soon bored, she scampered over to Taeju and Sia and asked.
“But what was the point of all this?”
Woli tilted her head.
“He must’ve been pretty shocked, right?”
Sia and Taeju exchanged a glance. Where to even start explaining.
“One thing: he was so rigid, we had to shock him to loosen him up.”
Taeju said, propping up his weary mind.
“Otherwise, he’d never see the relationship with fresh eyes.”
Jeonghan’s issue was thinking he had to fix everything himself.
Believing one-sided sacrifice was the only way to maintain relationships.
“It looks precarious, but it’s not as bad as he thinks. Though he doesn’t realize it.”
Showing what the dokkaebi said was possible from the start, but since he thought it impossible, he couldn’t show it to the dokkaebi.
“In the end, this was the best option we could think of.”
By now, he’d probably met his friends.
Didn’t matter how many came—what mattered was Jeonghan realizing it was okay.
“Isn’t calling them out like that being a bother?”
“Yeah. That’s why we had to do it.”
Taeju yawned.
“Friends are the kind of relationship where it’s okay to bother each other sometimes. People who can put up with each other—that’s what I call friends.”
Woli looked unsure.
“We left a cryptic text, so they’ll come out of worry, at least.”
Anyone would sense something off in that message. If they cared, they’d come.
“But what if no one shows?”
“Huh?”
Taeju didn’t think that possible. Jeonghan had always looked after people—surely they’d check on him in a situation like this.
“No way no one comes.”
Taeju said, blinking slowly. Sleep was creeping in.
“If that happens, it’s a relationship not worth having. Better to cut it off, sooner or later. The dokkaebi might even be disappointed.”
Even so, with its body here, the dokkaebi couldn’t do much.
Woli tilted her head and asked.
“But then how does the dokkaebi come back? It has to get its body, right?”
Taeju paused at Woli’s question but soon shook his head.
“It’ll figure it out. I’m gonna rest now. Almost 72 hours no sleep.”
He wanted to sleep before that, at least.
“Don’t wake me even if the sun comes up.”
* * *
Even by that evening, the dokkaebi’s torso sat nicely in place. Good thing this wasn’t a regular cafe.
“Still can’t get used to that thing…”
Taeju had recovered by evening.
The two had guarded it during the day, so now it was his turn.
“About time they showed.”
Right as Taeju spoke, the door jingled open.
“Oh, Director.”
Taeju greeted the man in black warmly.
“I heard you missed a little something this time.”
The Director smiled and said. Taeju scratched his head, guessing what he meant.
“Hey, ‘little’?”
A mini dokkaebi sat on the Director’s shoulder.
“I almost got left behind there.”
“Compared to a successful prank and kept promise, isn’t it minor?”
The Director said to the dokkaebi.
“You even got to scare him one last time.”
The dokkaebi had nothing to say and shut its mouth.
“Wow, thought small would mean cute, but nope.”
At Taeju’s words, the dokkaebi scowled and said.
“Can’t be cute, so gotta grow quick. Come here, torso!”
At the dokkaebi’s words, the body sprang up. It lumbered over and merged straight with the mini dokkaebi. A bizarre sight.
“No issues, I take it?”
Taeju asked the dokkaebi. It seemed in a good mood, so it must’ve seen what it wanted.
“Yeah. Aside from a headache, no problems. Got hit too hard.”
The dokkaebi shook its head and said.
“No holding back or anything. Guess it really held a grudge against me. Still don’t get why, though.”
The dokkaebi groaned. But clearing some old resentment wasn’t bad.
“By the way, why didn’t you kill me?”
It asked, puzzled.
“You guys must know how to take me down easy.”
“You mean the blood thing?”
“Ugh, you do know.”
The dokkaebi grimaced. That made it even more puzzling. If they knew, they could’ve killed it easily.
Taeju chuckled at the dokkaebi’s expression.
“No need to kill you.”
“Heard humans reject anything different. Attack even small differences, right?”
“Well, that still happens… but now we call it the wrong attitude.”
“Well, I didn’t die, so good for me.”
The dokkaebi stroked its chin and said.
“We prefer peaceful resolutions when possible. But the world’s full of unreasonable types. Even when they listen, they don’t hear.”
“Practice run, huh.”
The dokkaebi said, deflating.
“Well, even if it was practice and you spared me, I owe you now.”
It said to Taeju.
“Some personal greed too.”
Sia hadn’t wanted to kill a rare dokkaebi, and Taeju didn’t want to harm one that could talk.
Woli strongly disliked harming anything humanoid anyway.
“Well, I did get help. Thanks. If I can return the favor someday, I will.”
“Just don’t come back for stuff like this.”
The dokkaebi giggled at Taeju’s words and vanished naturally.
As if it had never been there.
Only the Director and Taeju remained.
“So, what’d you get, Director?”
“A box.”
Come to think of it, they hadn’t returned the box to Jeonghan.
“A box?”
“Yeah, not expensive, but rare.”
No longer produced, the Director said.
“Probably only three intact ones left in the world?”
“What do you even use those for?”
“You collect collectibles to use them?”
The Director said like Taeju was clueless. Basically, the box was useless.
“Where do we put this one?”
“Fourth floor. Don’t worry.”
“You’re not gonna tidy it up again, right?”
Taeju sighed, knowing the state of the fourth floor.
“We don’t clean up there, so that’s fine.”
The Director said shamelessly. Not wrong, so Taeju just shook his head.
“Office got another weird thing. How about adding people instead of stuff? Sis mentioned it too.”
Taeju said without much hope.
“Can’t just bring anyone here.”
The Director said only that. Not wrong, so Taeju sighed deeply.
Part of him hoped someone new would come soon; part hoped not.
Another day passed like that.
*Next Episode*
“…You’re seriously dropping me off here in the dead of night and leaving? For real?!”
Sia looked desperately at the mountain. The Director grinned and said.
“Yeah, just circle it once and you’ll get a rough estimate.”
“No no, circle the whole mountain?”
“Trails are trendy these days.”
“Don’t talk nonsense—that’s not even a trail to begin with!”
“Trails are made by walking.”
Sia clutched her head at the Director’s chuckling nonsense.
“Even if I let the rest slide, isn’t ditching me alone in a place like this too much? Who knows what might come out.”
“Nah. No wild animals on this mountain.”
Sia’s expression shifted slightly at the Director’s words. He still looked amused and said.
“It’s a bit dangerous for animals to live here. Humans are fine, though.”