Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: You Have to Experience It to Know (3)
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“Eek!”
[He looks just like a poison dart frog.]
[But I heard he’s good at spinning tales.]
[And that’s not all. They say he’s great at acting too!]
[What kind of acting?]
[He bragged that his arrogant official act is top-notch.]
Park Chil-deuk, who had been dragged out against his will, nearly fainted on the spot.
‘G-Ghosts!’
The beings surrounding him were grotesquely bizarre.
From a man with a pale face and pitch-black empty eye sockets.
To a muscular giant with a single bulging eye in the center of his forehead.
And a sleek-looking man whose lips were torn up to his ears, exposing his muscles.
There were others too—faintly visible ones, or faces floating disembodied.
The place was packed with monsters, or things close to ghosts.
‘It’s a dream, right? Has to be a dream. Stuff like this can’t exist in reality!’
Park Chil-deuk squeezed his trembling eyes shut.
As if begging a nightmare to end quickly.
But.
[Feels like a dream to you?]
Swish.
Swish.
At the strange sound and the sensation on his ankle, Park Chil-deuk’s gaze reflexively dropped downward.
A ghost without a lower body was climbing up his leg.
[Really feels like a dream?]
Suddenly, a chilling touch prickled his nape.
He looked up and nearly collapsed.
[Feels like a real dream?]
His eyes met one clinging to the ceiling.
The tickle on his nape had been from its long dangling hair.
[Even if it is a dream.]
[Think you can wake up?]
[Think you can escape this place?]
He couldn’t even catch his breath properly.
Park Chil-deuk wished he could just pass out right there.
But a sharp, icy pain slapped his cheek, jolting him awake.
[Who told you to close your eyes and make a fuss? Hey. Open ‘em now, or you wanna hear your skull rolling?]
[Don’t scare him too much. We’re here for the show. Hey, human. Heard you’re good at the arrogant official bit? Let’s see it! Entertain us!]
[Do it quick, or we’ll eat you. We get hungry without fun. Tearing you apart might sate us a bit!]
Cackling voices pinned him down.
“I... I don’t act... I select... projects...”
[What? You think we’re swallowing nonsense? We’re ghosts—do we look like idiots who don’t know human affairs?!]
[Just do what you do. No partner? Hey, egghead. You’re the youngest—play opposite him.]
“Eeeek...!”
A floating egg-shaped head approached, sending Park Chil-deuk into convulsions.
Mongdal ghost.
Even as a child, Park Chil-deuk had heard of them in stories countless times.
Usually depicted as featureless egg-headed ghosts, but the one before him wasn’t.
It had hair, a body, and limbs like a normal person.
Except for one thing.
Its face was perfectly smooth, as if nothing was there.
The sheer dissonance was hard to grasp without experiencing it.
[Why’s this poison dart frog-lookin’ guy freaking out at my smooth face? Ridiculous.]
The approaching Mongdal ghost clicked its nonexistent tongue and poked Park Chil-deuk.
[Hey. Get on with it.]
“W-What... do you want me to do?”
[You know what you’re good at. Posing like a noble. Or what do they call it now? Ah, right.]
The ghost tilted its blank white face, then clapped.
[Yeah. Power-tripping! You’re a pro at that, right? Show us.]
“M-Me...? I c-can’t... do that...”
[Why not? It’s your daily routine. Or...]
A long neck thrust forward.
The black-holed face came nose-to-nose, murmuring.
[Are you saying you can’t even perform a simple play in front of us?]
Park Chil-deuk knew instinctively.
One wrong word, and these ghosts would devour him instantly.
*
“How’d it go?”
[Perfectly successful.]
The Child Spirit, free from its body for once, floated munching sticky rice cakes.
[Hey, this is good. Offer stuff like this more often.]
“Cut the chatter. It really worked?”
[Yeah. You should’ve seen it.]
The Child Spirit burst into delighted giggles.
[He bawled while reenacting his usual self—pure comedy. Sobbing, “I-I told you to go there, boo-hoo...”, “Y-You think... sniff, with that crap, CFs? It was all me, me, boo-hoo...” Whew.]
It stopped eating, righted itself midair, and mimicked him vividly.
[The finale was gold. The bit about Yeon Do-hee stripping.]
-These days, exposure scenes are everywhere. Strip, and you’ll hit ten million views. Time to bare it once.
The words had a glaring contradiction.
But Park Chil-deuk hadn’t noticed.
It wasn’t devised for Yeon Do-hee anyway.
‘Anything sensational buries the rest. Might as well be something nice to watch.’
Half laziness, half lechery.
A method born purely of desire.
And it had.
[Right, actors strip these days?]
[Do they now?]
[Power-tripper. Strip. Let’s ogle some live human flesh after ages.]
[Already drooling...]
Bounced back to Park Chil-deuk in twisted form.
[You should’ve seen that frog bawling and stripping! Kyahaha!]
Though its eyes were rotted horrors, the Child Spirit cackled at Park Chil-deuk’s pleas to stop.
“You didn’t really eat him, right?”
[Relax. Only decent ones there. And I was watching. No one’d dare eat a human in front of me.]
“Good. Jerks like that only learn by experiencing it themselves. Won’t listen to reason.”
[He won’t even utter ‘power’ now. If he still pulls that crap after, he’s hopeless. Not worth scouting for Lady Kang’s shrine.]
If he emerged unscathed and unchanged, he’d be prime talent for Lady Kang’s shrine.
“Alright. We’ll see the results soon.”
As dawn broke, Yeonwoo smirked at the glittering skyscrapers in the chilly wind.
*
Ding!
Yeonwoo thought: This sound never gets old.
[Request perfectly fulfilled for the client!]
[Congratulations! Acquired additional acquirable ability points as reward.]
[Reward: Ventriloquism [B]]
‘That’s more like it.’
A thick smile spread on Yeonwoo’s lips.
[No articles popped up. He handled it clean first thing.]
The Child Spirit, peering at the internet, clicked the mouse like a pro sparrow.
[How’d you think of that? Genius. Minor spiritual power cost, but worth it.]
Yeonwoo’s solution for Yeon Do-hee was simple.
Her wish:
‘Make Park Chil-deuk experience role reversal. So he never pulls that again.’
Interpretation: About that.
‘And I nailed it.’
The morning alert and ability gain proved it.
Ways to make him feel power’s abuse abounded.
Use reality: Kwon Sung-hyun or Woo Do-gyeom could do it.
‘But that rubs me wrong. Feels like giving them leverage.’
No handles for those two.
Or possess someone influential.
‘Nah, drags innocents in.’
Arrays or barriers? Too restrictive, as before.
One option left.
Dreams as medium.
[Everyone sleeps, no reality-bending needed. Perfect. Lady Yeon-hwa’s early Think Big training paid off?]
Like Columbus’s egg.
Not easy, though. Needed spiritual power to entice ghosts.
‘If you’re pranking, do it right.’
No惜惜 on power then.
Overcoming human consciousness takes force, even briefly—living humans have limits.
So Park Chil-deuk felt eternal torment, but
‘Actually brief. But condensed thick—like the best prank.’
Power refills easy. Human vending machine nearby.
And a day passed.
*
“This looks good to upload as is. Good work.”
A neat, gentle voice.
Relief sighs erupted everywhere.
Everyone knew this stunningly handsome man had exacting standards.
-Kwon Sung-hyun? Total pro. Huge star, yet humble. Cares for others first. So polite to staff.
-At that level, yet so easygoing, diligent, kind. No two-faced crap.
-Sure, actors have strong cores, but he never makes absurd demands or nitpicks.
On set, actor Kwon Sung-hyun was warm, brightening the mood.
Not picky, no weird demands, soothed NG outbursts and pushed forward.
But.
“Excluding that part we discussed seems right. Definitely unnecessary.”
Nodding like this, he differed from actor Kwon.
“Whew... Sung-hyun rarely gets this intense. Probably extra careful ‘cause it’s Yeonwoo’s thing.”
Manager Lee Gyu-han noted Kwon’s meticulous confirmation.
Snapping many from his charm halfway back to reality.
“Can’t we just slap it up?”
He’d said that at first, but
“No. Yeonwoo rests easy. I’ll handle it.”
“...”
So why are *you* handling it?
Actor Kwon and agency rep Kwon were worlds apart.
“Yeonwoo. Know this? Sung-hyun... confirmed trailers himself.”
“...”
Emphasizing effort, but...
‘That’s why staff look half-dead...’
Charmed them to start, now charming to the finish.
That picky, and they’re only half-sane? Says it all.