Chapter 4
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Head in the Box (4)
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Friends with a dokkaebi?
Jeonghan cried out as if it were utterly ridiculous.
“…I have no guesses at all. I’ve never even imagined having a friend like that!”
“That makes sense. If there was someone like that, you would’ve contacted them before us.”
Sia was right. To begin with, Jeonghan hadn’t been interested in such things until this incident, and he figured his other friends were the same.
In this day and age, who seriously believed in dokkaebi anyway?
“There’s no way my friends…”
“You never know.”
Taeju chimed in from the side.
“None of your other friends would’ve thought you met a dokkaebi either. Likewise, even if someone else went through something similar, you wouldn’t know about it.”
It wasn’t wrong, so Jeonghan had no choice but to stay silent.
“So for now, we’ll have to ask a favor of you.”
“What kind of favor?”
“You’ll need to make a few calls to the friends you can reach right now. Just sound them out a bit—see if they know anything about dokkaebi.”
There was no need to ask directly. Even hinting at it indirectly would be meaningful.
“If one of your friends knows about dokkaebi, it’ll make things a lot easier.”
Jeonghan hesitated for a moment before saying,
“What if none of them do?”
“Then we’re in a bit of a bind.”
Taeju’s expression turned subtle.
“If it turns out the friend who passed away is connected to the dokkaebi… Whew, that’d be a real headache.”
* * *
“A dokkaebi, huh? It’s been a while since we’ve had a real one.”
Taking advantage of the guest’s brief absence, Sia downed the rest of her coffee. She crunched on an ice cube as she spoke.
“So there really are still dokkaebi left in the world?”
“Apparently.”
Taeju stretched as he replied.
“Still, if it’s a dokkaebi, at least there’s no malice. That’s better in some ways.”
“On the flip side, no malice makes them harder to deal with. Depending on the situation, things can resolve surprisingly easily—or get ridiculously tangled up.”
These were the kinds of frank talks that were awkward with the guest around.
“Anyway, if it’s a dokkaebi, we’ll need Woli.”
Since they could communicate, it actually required even more physical power. To negotiate, you had to show you were on equal footing—or stronger.
Taeju furrowed his brow slightly.
“If it really is a dokkaebi, yeah. They’re such wild ones. Sigh, I hate having to call the one on vacation.”
The office was always short-staffed. There were only three people who actually handled cases here.
“Why do we have fewer staff than the building has floors? It’s only four stories.”
At Sia’s lament, Taeju sighed too.
“Well, the Director’s not just slacking off. Anyway, I’ll call Woli. Sorry about this—she’s finally visiting family after so long.”
Sia groaned at Taeju’s words.
“When was she supposed to come back originally?”
“Hmm, not sure. She said she’d stay one more day, but she can make it back by this evening if we call now.”
Sia clicked her tongue and said,
“Then tell her to come tonight. Let her know there’s no rush.”
They’d only need Woli once they had to meet the dokkaebi face-to-face. For now, two were enough.
“Man, we really need to hire more people.”
“You know we can’t just open recruitment for a place like this. We’ll just have to hope the Director picks up another good one somewhere.”
Sia grumbled at Taeju’s words, but they couldn’t just bring in anyone. In the end, they could only hope the Director found someone suitable.
“Then I’ll contact Woli a bit later. Anyway, back to what we were discussing.”
Taeju broached the topic again, his face troubled.
“It’s gotta be that promise from the dead guy, right?”
“We’ll know after the calls… Why do you think that?”
Sia asked, puzzled.
“He’s the one most connected to the box.”
Jeonghan had said the deceased friend was the one who sorted the contents and prepared the box, even though they’d all buried it together.
“Wouldn’t it be kinda funny if someone else made a promise with the dokkaebi?”
Sia groaned. It was a pretty plausible theory.
“Is that guy really involved in this?”
She asked Taeju’s opinion.
“Yeah. High probability. Though we don’t know the intent yet, of course.”
Whether it was coincidence or some malicious scheme, the deceased friend was the most tied to the box. So it was natural he’d be the prime suspect.
“That’d be troublesome if you’re right.”
“Yeah. Dead men tell no tales.”
“We can only hope you’re wrong this time.”
“But probably not.”
Taeju spoke without much hope. It was based on experience—these things never resolved easily.
“If it’s a promise from the deceased, this won’t be easy either.”
“…”
Before Sia could respond, the chime rang as the door opened. The two stopped talking and watched Jeonghan enter.
“All done.”
“That took a while.”
Taeju handed him some warm honey water—figuring his throat must be sore from all the calls—and asked,
“How’d the calls go?”
Jeonghan took a sip before replying.
“I asked if they remembered anything unusual from when we buried the box. But no one knew anything solid.”
“No one knew about any promises?”
At Sia’s question, Jeonghan shook his head.
“I couldn’t ask outright about dokkaebi, so I hinted like, ‘Remember any promises from back then?’ But they all said no.”
The two exchanged glances. Just as expected.
“We figured as much… So it’s probably that deceased friend’s promise.”
At Taeju’s words, Jeonghan fell silent for a moment before saying,
“If it’s the dead guy’s promise, how am I supposed to find out?”
Jeonghan laughed hollowly.
“We’ll figure it out somehow. It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible.”
Taeju stated firmly. He’d braced for this, and it wasn’t the first time. Just a bit more annoying, that’s all.
“Rest for a bit. We’ll think of something.”
“Hm, it’ll be evening in just a few hours anyway.”
As Sia said, the sun was setting. Soon it’d be time for the “voice” Jeonghan mentioned.
“If you hear the voice here—or don’t—that’ll give us more info.”
Sia smiled leisurely. Her confidence was somehow reassuring, easing Jeonghan’s mind a little.
“Wait an hour or so. Night is dokkaebi time—if it’s nearby, something’ll change.”
* * *
Despite the claim that night was dokkaebi time, nothing happened. Not even anything like a voice.
They even had the two office staff leave to test if being alone was the trigger, but still nothing.
“No sounds at all, huh.”
Taeju said, deep in thought. Jeonghan replied awkwardly.
“This is embarrassing. It always came around this time before.”
“You said it only happened at home, so maybe it’s not just time—location matters too.”
“Yeah… Honestly, I never thought to go outside before.”
Jeonghan admitted he’d been too scared of the hallucinations to even consider going out—afraid he might cause an accident.
“Then we can make one guess.”
Jeonghan stared at Sia as she spoke. She met his gaze.
“The dokkaebi’s probably hiding somewhere in your house.”
“Huh?”
Jeonghan blurted in surprise.
“It’s somewhat expected. Dokkaebi don’t have tricks for sending voices from afar.”
Dokkaebi were bold and boisterous by nature. So a small voice like that only happened when they were right there.
“It’s a guess, but that voice definitely wasn’t a shout or yell.”
“Right. It didn’t sound like shouting.”
Sia nodded at Jeonghan’s confirmation.
“Dokkaebi are masters of disguise, so it’s probably turned into an object and hidden in your house. But don’t worry too much. It has no intention of harming you—for now.”
“Because of the promise?”
Jeonghan said grimly. Sia shrugged.
“More precisely, it has no need to harm you.”
She filtered and relayed the earlier talk with Taeju appropriately. Jeonghan seemed to get it.
“So it’s not that dangerous yet. That’s a relief.”
Sia nodded at his words.
“Yeah. So you should head home for today.”
It was the opposite of what Jeonghan had hoped.
“Huh? There’s a dokkaebi in my house—go back?”
He jumped in alarm.
Ignorance had been fine before, but now he couldn’t pretend.
To put it harshly, it was like finding a cockroach in your studio apartment.
If you hadn’t seen it, no problem—but once you knew, you couldn’t ignore it.
“I know it’s tough. But suddenly leaving isn’t an option.”
“Why not?”
“If you up and leave, the dokkaebi will definitely go out looking for you.”
Jeonghan grimaced in horror.
“So here are your two safe options.”
Sia held up two fingers. Jeonghan sat back down.
“First: Go home, pretend you don’t know, and sleep.”
If you could handle the mental strain, it was actually the best. No stimulus to the dokkaebi, status quo maintained.
“Think I can actually sleep there?”
Jeonghan asked anxiously.
“It’s what I recommend. If it thinks you broke the promise and ran, it might not hold back.”
Even so, Jeonghan grimaced—it clearly didn’t appeal. Truthfully, most couldn’t endure it once they knew.
Sia said it, but didn’t expect him to follow through.
“If that’s too hard, option two: Book a room somewhere. Of course, you still need to go home first.”
“So I have to go home anyway.”
Sia nodded at Jeonghan’s words.
“Book somewhere in advance. When you get near home, call Taeju. Then follow his instructions and act the part.”
“Act?”
Jeonghan echoed, puzzled. It sounded odd.
“My acting’s not that great.”
“Doesn’t matter. You think a guy who can’t even tell faces apart will notice?”
Sia smirked.
“It’s not about acting skill—it’s what you say. Make it know you’re not running away, but stepping out for business.”
It had to be a reason the dokkaebi would accept, and convey you’d be back in a day or two.
“So go home once, call from in front of it. Follow Taeju’s lead. It won’t get mad.”
Jeonghan nodded, understanding. He was still anxious, but knew he had no choice.
He got Taeju’s number and stood.
“I’ll call then.”
The chime rang as the door closed. The two relaxed their tense bodies and slumped for a bit.
“Rest till Woli gets here?”
“Sounds good. Thirty minutes at least?”
Speak of the devil—the chime rang violently.
“I’m here!!”
“Aw, not even thirty seconds…”