Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 005
Chapter Title: Penalty
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[What’s up with that old man? Why’s he looking for you?]
“Dunno. The old timer said something about a patient.”
[A patient? Why would a patient need you?]
“Dunno. From what I heard, it’s someone who won’t wake up for no reason at all. They’ve tried every hospital under the sun, but nothing worked, so they’re at the point of holding a shaman ritual, grasping at straws.”
[Ahh~.]
At the word “shaman ritual,” the Child Spirit nodded as if he got it.
[So that’s why they called you. Makes sense. Once someone’s tasted your skills, no fake shamans would cut it. Right, right. But you’re actually taking the request? You used to turn that stuff down flat.”
“I quit that kind of thing after I was a kid... but things are different now, so no choice. And if it’s like the old man said, I might even harvest some lifespan from it.”
He needed to be cautious about what counted as a “wrong path.”
But he couldn’t just wash his hands of it entirely out of caution.
Yeonwoo decided to hear out Han Suhwan’s request—the one out of the two that hadn’t incurred a penalty.
The sleek luxury sedan glided smoothly along the road and soon arrived at the destination.
“A hospital?”
It was the familiar hospital he’d been at just a few days ago.
The moment he arrived at the VVIP room, guided by the security guard.
“Yeonwoo, my boy! You’re here! I’ve been waiting!”
The door swung open, and Han Suhwan greeted him with a beaming face.
“Come on in. I bragged so much about bringing in a precious guest. The kid was over the moon when he heard. I had to stop him from rushing out. Wouldn’t want his face getting too known unnecessarily. Come on, come on in!”
Yeonwoo grew uneasy.
‘Who the heck is this old man going all out to bring in for?’
The moment Yeonwoo stepped into the room, following Han Suhwan’s enthusiastic lead.
All the unease so far felt like nothing as an enormous pressure enveloped him.
“...You need me for him?”
A vaguely familiar face.
A famous man no Korean could possibly not know.
Even if you didn’t know the name, you’d recognize the face.
‘Why is Kwon Sung-hyun here of all places?!’
One of the most famous celebrities in Korea.
Kwon Sung-hyun lay pale on the bed.
***
[Yeonwoo.]
“What.”
[Is this for real?]
“Hoo....”
“Wow, damn! Insane! It’s Kwon Sung-hyun! The real Kwon Sung-hyun! I’m seeing Kwon Sung-hyun with my own two eyes! Unreal!”
“You seem to forget—you’re not a living person; you’re a ghost?”
“Who cares! Any cultured citizen would react like me! How are you even less hyped than I am?”
“......”
The moment he saw the man on the bed.
The Child Spirit went berserk, flitting madly around the room.
He hadn’t expected ‘that’ Kwon Sung-hyun to be here.
Yeonwoo hadn’t either.
‘No kidding. If I’d known, I would’ve turned it down upfront.’
As expected of a top actor.
Even pale on the hospital bed, his face seemed to shine.
Somehow, you could feel his aura.
‘Is this what they call celebrity presence?’
What was he supposed to do with someone this awe-inspiring just to look at...?
The shocks kept coming.
[Gasp? That’s Kwon Hee-ra? No way. The famous actress—why’s she here...? No way...]
As the Child Spirit muttered in shock, a middle-aged woman spoke.
“Honey, that must be him. Chairman Han. It’s him, right?”
The impossible became reality.
“Yeonwoo, my boy. Don’t get the wrong idea, but don’t worry... The age gap between us isn’t that big. Ahem. To introduce simply, this friend here is an old acquaintance of mine. It’s been over 30 years already. He runs a modest company. M Group...”
M Group.
Not on the level of S Group, L Group, or H Group—the top conglomerates in Korea—but still a well-known major corporation.
They had their hands in everything from food to distribution, logistics, and even a TV channel, as far as he knew.
“Hm? You don’t seem surprised.”
“Well...”
‘Chaebols? Mom’s shaman clients included plenty of famous ones.’
The real surprise was Kwon Hee-ra’s presence.
But as if that was nothing, Han Suhwan dropped another bomb.
“Oh, and this old coot here is the father of the kid lying over there.”
***
“So... you’re saying Kwon Sung-hyun is the son of those two? Kwon Sung-hyun is... a chaebol heir?”
“That kid’s the old man’s late bloomer. They don’t look much alike, do they? He takes after his aunt’s side completely.”
Yeonwoo was genuinely impressed.
‘He’s got it all. Everything.’
He wasn’t the only one in awe.
[Whoa, jackpot. So that’s why Kwon Sung-hyun kept the mysterious aura! A secret birth! And from a chaebol family at that! No wonder the vibe felt off... He hid his private life for a reason.]
The shock was one thing, but the question of why he’d been summoned remained.
“Sorry, but... why exactly do you need me...?”
It couldn’t be just to brag about the family secret.
“Sung-hyun won’t wake up.”
It had been several months already.
“All tests came back normal. Every hospital, every specialist, every renowned doctor. We left no stone unturned. No pain, no organ issues, no major diseases. They say... he’s just not regaining consciousness.”
Her quiet voice carried deep sorrow.
“They say it’s just a lack of awareness. But does that make sense? How can someone be perfectly healthy and not wake up? Not waking up at all isn’t normal to begin with.”
How heartbreaking it must be for parents with a child who won’t wake without reason.
“So next, we turned to shamans. It might sound foolish, but we were desperate to grasp any straw. We called in people, held rituals, offered prayers... Went to temples for services, even brought in priests.”
But the results were devastating.
Kwon Sung-hyun still hadn’t woken.
“Chairman Han, who knows our situation, recommended you. Please, I beg you for my child. Please understand a mother’s heart—we can’t let him go like this.”
Kwon Hee-ra bowed her head.
Her desperation was palpable.
‘Family, huh...’
Call it a weakness if you must. He couldn’t help it.
Strangely, Yeonwoo had always been soft toward people his mother’s age.
The scales had already tipped the moment Kwon Hee-ra stepped in.
The three in the room gazed at Yeonwoo with pleading eyes.
A long while later.
After much deliberation, Yeonwoo slowly spoke.
“Phew... No helping it. Alright, I’ll do it.”
Yeonwoo finally gave his okay.
***
‘No way this is another wrong path.’
At least it wasn’t a lifespan-related request—that was one small mercy.
As Yeonwoo closed his eyes to examine Kwon Sung-hyun’s body, his brow furrowed slightly.
“Hmm... That’s weird.”
The soul that should be visible in any normal person wasn’t there.
People in a deep sleep generally fell into two broad categories.
The first: those preparing to meet death.
“Are you sure his body is completely fine?”
“Of course! We flew in specialists from overseas; it was chaos. All of them confirmed normal and left. By modern medicine’s standards, he’s perfectly healthy.”
“Hmm.”
The second: cases where the soul and body separate for some reason.
A major accident shocks the soul into thinking it’s dead, or it gets ejected and wanders, unable to find its way back.
‘So Kwon Sung-hyun’s the second type... but why can’t I see it?’
If his soul was in a living spirit state, there should be a thread connecting body and soul.
And this faint familiarity he’d been sensing since earlier...
“Ma’am. Has Kwon Sung-hyun ever said or done anything strange?”
“Strange words or actions? Well... Sung-hyun’s always been a bit special, even as a kid. More mature than his peers. If that counts as different, then yes.”
“Not that. Like talking to thin air, muttering to himself—anything like that?”
“Like what you mentioned earlier?”
“...Yeah, something like that.”
“Ours is pretty normal, so no... Ah, if I had to pick one odd thing, there is something. Sung-hyun’s always had great luck. All the projects he’s chosen himself have been massive hits.”
Petty things like winning an extra popsicle in a stick draw.
Or sleeping in once, and by chance, no teacher was at the school gate that day.
From those small strokes of luck to major career wins.
Even when everyone said the script was a no-go, if Sung-hyun liked it and took the role, the movie was a smash.
Conversely, a famous director’s film that everyone hyped as a sure hit bombed before release due to his scandal, yanked from theaters without breaking even.
“If Sung-hyun avoids something, bad things happen; if he likes it, good things or hits follow. Though the accident shows his luck isn’t perfect. Does this help?”
“Yes. It helps a lot.”
Though skeptical at first, her answer confirmed it for Yeonwoo.
‘Kwon Sung-hyun. You had divine intuition too, huh?’
***
It was probably due to Kwon Sung-hyun’s innate intuition.
‘No wonder Lady Kang recommended either shamans or entertainers.’
It was well-known that those two professions shared similar fates.
[First, let’s find the thread.]
“Agreed.”
He’d figured out why the thread connecting body and soul wasn’t visible.
Once you have the reason, there’s only one thing left to do.
Solve it.
Using a talisman, the invisible slowly came into view.
‘There you are.’
A smile tugged at Yeonwoo’s lips.
At the end of his gaze, a faint, thin thread shimmered.
***
“Dongja.”
It had been half a day already since he set out tirelessly after Kwon Sung-hyun.
Yeonwoo’s voice sank low.
“Didn’t you say our actor’s a homebody hermit type?”
“No, our actor isn’t a hermit! He just doesn’t like going out much!”
“Whatever. That’s what you said.”
“Yeah...?”
“So what do you make of this situation?”
“Full of adventure spirit...?”
He’d been circling Seoul for hours, following traces.
As Yeonwoo’s already fierce glare sharpened, the Child Spirit desperately pointed to one spot.
“Y-Yeonwoo! Look there! Doesn’t the thread look thicker?”
It definitely was thicker than before.
Kwon Sung-hyun was definitely nearby.
‘...So I have to go there?’
Yeonwoo looked up at the towering skyscraper piercing the sky.
Kwon Sung-hyun’s thread led inside the building.
***
The observation deck on the building’s top floor.
Being a weekday afternoon, it was nearly deserted.
Surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass with panoramic views, yet Yeonwoo didn’t glance around—he strode straight toward one spot.
‘Finally found you, you escape artist.’
A man pressing his hands to the glass, gazing out with clear eyes, lost in the view.
Even from the side profile, his aura was extraordinary.
Normally, crowds would swarm him, making it too noisy to talk, but thankfully, that wasn’t an issue.
No one could recognize him now.
Even his dazed sightseeing looked like a CF scene.
But Yeonwoo felt nothing.
Of course not.
‘The wild goose chase ends now!’
Would the guy who’d made him roam half a day look cute?
Top Korean actor or god-sent sculpture—it didn’t matter.
Just drag him back already.
Yeonwoo marched toward Kwon Sung-hyun.
Oblivious, Sung-hyun kept staring outside blankly.
First, secure a safe distance.
In case he bolted again, he needed to grab him immediately.
Just as Yeonwoo stopped at a proper range.
“...!”
Their eyes met—clear pupils locking on.
Kwon Sung-hyun, who’d been looking out, had turned to face him.
Before Yeonwoo could react, the living spirit’s smooth lips—still boasting a rosy hue—parted slowly.
Shocking words spilled from those perfect lips.
[Angel?]