Chapter 6
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Head in the Box (6)
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“Young people need to take good care of their health! What on earth did you do to suddenly collapse like that?”
In the park management office, Jeonghan had been listening to a lecture for thirty minutes now.
The elderly man who had introduced himself as the office director showed no signs of tiring as he scolded Jeonghan with a stern expression.
“Yes… I’m sorry for collapsing right then of all times.”
“Eh, normally you’d have to pay a fine or something, but given the circumstances, I’ll let it slide! It’s not like you were doing anything bad here.”
From midway through, Jeonghan had even wondered if it might be better to just pay some money and leave, but knowing this nagging came from genuine concern, he couldn’t bring himself to brush off the old man’s words.
Besides, no matter how you looked at it, the man in front of him was a benefactor. Even aside from the Dokkaebi issue, losing the box would have been quite regrettable, so Jeonghan was already deeply grateful just for that.
“Next time something like this happens, tell us ahead of time! Sure, there was no one to report to when you buried it, but there was a place to report to when you dug it up. It would’ve been better for everyone, right?”
“You’re absolutely right. I was only thinking about my childhood days and didn’t realize this would happen.”
The old man nodded, then spoke up loudly again. This grandfather seemed to have a naturally booming voice; he was quite the hot-blooded type.
“How long are you going to keep living in the past like that! You’re young! It’s all written in the facility guidelines! No one reads them, that’s all…”
Jeonghan nodded along as he listened to the old man. Just as he was inwardly worrying if the man might collapse himself, the old man handed over the box and said,
“Now go! And don’t lose anything else!”
It seemed the lecture was finally over as the old man gestured for him to take the box and leave. Jeonghan hurriedly bowed his head.
When he came out, it had been just under an hour. Exhausted, Jeonghan staggered a bit.
“Sorry. You must have waited a long time.”
It would’ve been better if he were alone, but having someone waiting made him feel even more apologetic.
“It took longer than I expected.”
Jeonghan said in a sorry tone.
“It really took longer than expected.”
Even Taeju, who had been waiting outside assuming it would be quick, was caught off guard.
“But the box looks pretty intact.”
“Yeah… He even gathered up the things scattered around it, so I’m grateful.”
If only the lecture had been a bit shorter, it would’ve been perfect. Jeonghan couldn’t hide his tired eyes. Seeing that, Taeju nodded. The voice had been audible even from outside, so he could easily imagine what it had been like for the one hearing it up close.
“You’ve worked hard. Now we can finally take a look at the box.”
At Taeju’s words, Jeonghan nodded. Then he asked,
“By the way… what should I call that person over there?”
Taeju looked puzzled for a moment at the question, then realized he meant Woli and smiled.
“Oh, right. You didn’t see her yesterday?”
Woli hadn’t introduced herself and had just stood quietly a bit apart. It was partly because she was shy around strangers, and partly because she was still a little sulky from last night.
Well, Woli’s behavior like that was half instinct anyway. So Taeju hadn’t bothered calling her over for introductions.
“That friend’s name is Woli. I brought her along in case we need her to protect the client.”
“Woli… is that a single syllable name?”
“Yeah, it’s a bit unusual, isn’t it?”
Taeju said with a slight smile. Even he had thought when he first heard it, what kind of name is that? Though he hadn’t said it out loud.
“She might look like this, but she’s the most reliable person in our office.”
“Reliable?”
At best, she just looked like a lively high school girl. Jeonghan eyed her skeptically. Sensing the gaze, Woli’s eyes met his for a moment.
“Staring like that won’t change anything.”
Woli responded a bit prickly. Taeju rubbed his head.
“Hey, can’t you tone down that attitude?”
“Nope.”
What an unnecessarily firm attitude. That’s why they usually didn’t bring her along when meeting new people for the first time, but today there was no helping it.
“Sigh. Anyway, even if she’s like that normally, if something big seems about to happen, just get behind her right away. She knows the difference between work and play.”
Jeonghan nodded absentmindedly, then froze for a moment.
“…Something big could happen?”
“Of course it could.”
Taeju nodded.
“We might even run into the Dokkaebi today.”
* * *
The three headed to a pavilion-like structure common in Korean parks and laid out the contents of the box one by one.
Inside the box were small letters, little booklets sold in front of stationery stores, trendy toys or dolls from back then, and old currency bills from the past.
They had been knickknacks even ten years ago, so none of them had any real use now, but each one could revive memories.
Some items were unfamiliar to Taeju, while others stirred memories even for him. Meanwhile, Woli seemed completely uninterested, watching from afar. She looked bored.
“Alright, this is everything.”
Taeju said after scanning the list Jeonghan had made last night.
“Nothing special here.”
“Yeah.”
Jeonghan gave a wry smile.
“They’re all such trivial things, now that I see them like this.”
Taeju smiled faintly.
“No, even knickknacks like these aren’t trivial when they hold this many memories. They’re all mementos. The problem is that there’s no problem at all, right?”
Jeonghan had completed the list last night. It was impressive that, with just one day—and really only evening hours—he’d managed to get confirmations from everyone.
The issue was that nothing was missing from the list.
“There should be at least one thing not on the list, right?”
At Taeju’s words, Jeonghan nodded heavily. He knew what the living friends had put in, but he still didn’t know what the deceased friend had added.
Because it hadn’t come out.
“I don’t even know if it was missing from the start or disappeared later, or if it was something particularly problematic. There’s no way to tell.”
“…Is there anything wrong with the box itself?”
At Jeonghan’s question, Taeju glanced at the box and said,
“No. At least, there’s no sealing spell or anything like that to bind a Dokkaebi. I didn’t inspect it super closely, but it doesn’t seem like anything unusual.”
He’d already checked while taking things out.
“If there were some special ritual meaning, I might not know exactly what it does, but I can tell if something like that is there or not.”
Jeonghan nodded at Taeju’s words.
“So… there’s nothing more we can do right now?”
“Yeah. And come to think of it, what was that gentleman’s name?”
Taeju realized he still hadn’t heard the deceased’s name.
“Oh, that friend’s name was Jeonghwan. I guess I never mentioned it.”
“Jeonghan?”
Taeju tilted his head at Jeonghan’s question.
“Was it a coincidence, same name?”
“No, it’s Jeonghwan, with the hwan from patient. The pronunciation’s pretty similar. That’s what made us get close so quickly—our similar names.”
Taeju nodded as if understanding.
“Anyway, we’ll have to give up on finding Jeonghwan’s item for now.”
There were no clues, and no pressing reason to prioritize it. Knowing that, Jeonghan nodded, though his expression was still troubled.
“It’s still disappointing, though.”
There was simple curiosity, regret for the one who passed first, but above all, it was nostalgia.
Looking at these items definitely brought back those days. For reasons apart from solving the problem, Jeonghan wanted to know what Jeonghwan had put in.
“What if it was lost… or someone else took it…”
Jeonghan asked hopefully. But Taeju shook his head.
“No way someone took it. Simple loss is more plausible.”
As teenagers back then, the chances they’d put in anything valuable were low. The other items didn’t have high cash value either. Even the actual old bills were just 1,000-won notes, not worth much.
“Yeah, I guess so. It might not have been there from the beginning.”
Taeju felt a twinge of regret too.
“To be honest, I thought maybe Jeonghwan put in something with ritual significance. It’s a bit surprising there’s nothing.”
“I’d have put something in too.”
Woli suddenly chimed in, finding the conversation interesting. Taeju groaned.
“Make some noise when you approach; you startled me. So, what?”
“I’d have put something in. He’s the one who suggested this, right? The one who came up with it must’ve wanted to do it himself, so he said let’s do it.”
It wasn’t particularly logical, but it was plausible. Taeju stayed silent, signaling her to continue.
“The guy who said ‘let’s do something fun’ wouldn’t just let others have all the fun and skip out himself, right? If it were me, I absolutely wouldn’t! He must’ve had something he wanted to put in first, so that’s why he suggested it.”
Thinking about it, it made sense. At least someone would’ve put in money or something.
“You’re not wrong. We’re treating this as a case now, but back then it was just a fun experience. Right?”
Taeju asked Jeonghan, who nodded.
“Yeah. Even though we worked so hard burying it at night, it was fun. Honestly, we didn’t even think about how we’d dig it up back then. That’s why digging it up was such a hassle.”
It was the kind of thoughtless action only possible at that age. Jeonghan chuckled softly, lost in those memories.
“There’s no reason Jeonghwan would’ve intentionally skipped putting in his own item, right?”
“He liked pranks, but… I don’t think he’d pull something like that. Woli’s probably right.”
“Then it’s reasonable to assume there was an item, and it went missing in between.”
But finding a missing item was unrealistic. If they had time, they could investigate slowly, but they didn’t. Taeju pondered for a moment, then asked Jeonghan,
“What kind of person was the deceased, Jeonghwan?”
At Taeju’s question, Jeonghan answered without hesitation.
“That friend… he was an amazing guy. Just look at how he gathered everyone for the time capsule—you can tell he was the center of our group.”
Even now, after all these years, he called him the center without hesitation. Seeing that, Taeju thought that perhaps Jeonghwan had been even more important to them than he’d imagined.