Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: People-Killing Feng Shui Interior (3)
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One week later, inside Bokbok Interiors.
The Heavenly Demon, who had arrived at nine sharp, was faithfully mopping the shop floor as usual, while Jang Chaewon sipped her coffee and sorted through estimates.
Ding-a-ling.
The bell chimed as a shadow slipped inside. Spotting the Heavenly Demon, she rushed over. It was Shim Jin-kyung.
“Save me!”
Shim Jin-kyung dropped to her knees at the Heavenly Demon’s feet and clasped her hands together.
“Please save my husband!”
“What’s this about?”
“Ever since he used the talisman you gave us, he’s been wasting away!”
“Sounds like it’s working.”
“Pardon?”
The Heavenly Demon spoke flatly, mop still in hand.
“Don’t worry. He won’t die.”
“Pardon?”
“No, hold on. Let me check the progress.”
The Heavenly Demon opened his hip pouch and pulled out a yellow talisman, examining it gravely.
Seeing most of the characters on it faded away, he waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s almost done. Probably just a few more days.”
“Pardon?”
Shim Jin-kyung bit her lip before speaking cautiously.
“But this morning... my husband looked like nothing but skin and bones. His eyes seemed off, too—like he’d completely lost his mind...”
“Good. Just a bit longer.”
“And then to me... he suddenly said he was sorry... that he’d be back soon... strange things... like he was about to die...”
“That’s not strange. It’s what he truly means.”
“What does that even... I don’t understand.”
The Heavenly Demon looked down at her pale face, his expression unconcerned.
“‘Sorry’ means sorry, and ‘I’ll be back soon’ means exactly that. No need to worry.”
For reasons she couldn’t explain, hearing the Heavenly Demon’s voice put Shim Jin-kyung at ease. She could sense his words were true.
“I see. Sorry to barge in so early in the morning.”
She bowed politely to the Heavenly Demon, then to Jang Chaewon.
And hurried out of the shop.
“You sure he’s really okay?”
Jang Chaewon watched Shim Jin-kyung’s retreating figure with a worried frown.
“What the hell did you do to leave him skin and bones?”
“Even enlightened monks endure austerities to attain awakening. An ordinary man like him needs even greater trials.”
“Hearing that from you makes me even more anxious.”
“Don’t fret. I’m an expert at this sort of thing.”
“Hey, you do know what kind of place this shop is, right?”
Jang Chaewon wiped sweat from her forehead with a strained smile, and the Heavenly Demon nodded confidently.
“Of course. Bokbok Interiors specializes in home repairs.”
“Yeah... good thing you get it.”
Jang Chaewon slumped her shoulders. As always, the arrow had already flown.
She was uneasy, but she had no choice but to trust the Heavenly Demon.
* * *
Sizzle.
Kim Sang-jae’s finger skin began melting as he gripped the blazing dodgeball.
“Urgh.”
Whoosh. A massive flame suddenly erupted from the dodgeball that had been searing his skin, now burning all the way up to his wrist.
-Oh ho. Is that the famous Flame Shot?
Standing on the dodgeball court with the ball in hand, the demon commentated in an announcer’s voice as he eyed Kim Sang-jae.
-One against a hundred in dodgeball! What will happen?
“Gahhhh!”
Gripping the roaring dodgeball, Kim Sang-jae charged forward with all his might.
“Hyah!”
The ball he hurled with everything he had transformed into a massive fireball hurtling toward the muscular demon’s face.
Thwack. But the demon casually caught the incoming dodgeball with one hand.
“Heh heh heh.”
Letting out a low chuckle, the demon raised his leg high and smashed the ball back with full force.
-Ooh! The Spinning Vortex Shot!
Kim Sang-jae stared wide-eyed at the dodgeball whirling toward him.
Thwack. Crouching down, he barely caught it against his lower belly, but his palms and stomach skin sizzled and melted once more.
“Guhhhh.”
The pain was unbearable. He had no strength left to throw, no hands left to use.
Thud.
Kim Sang-jae dropped the ball and passed out on the spot.
-Now, let’s begin the game.
After dying hundreds of times to complete the deadly dodgeball match, Kim Sang-jae returned to his pristine body.
But his face looked utterly serene now, unlike before, with a faint glow emanating from him.
-This next game will be...
The demon, preparing another round of hellish games, paused at the change in Kim Sang-jae’s expression and let out an intrigued hum.
-Aren’t you afraid?
To the demon’s question, Kim Sang-jae took a deep breath and nodded.
“I am.”
Yet his eyes showed no tremor, belying his words.
-But your face doesn’t look scared at all.
Kim Sang-jae nodded slightly to the demon’s follow-up.
“I realized it after going through this dodgeball game.”
-Realized? What exactly?
“That this game... is something I deserve to endure.”
-Interesting. Something you deserve?
“Isn’t dodgeball about throwing at your opponent, only for it to come right back at you?”
Kim Sang-jae’s gaunt frame and snow-white hair framed eyes as clear and unshaken as an enlightened monk’s.
“Every night in this hellish torment, I wondered: Why am I suffering this? Why must I endure this pain? And every time, the answer was the same.”
Remorse burned fiercely in Kim Sang-jae’s eyes as he gazed at the demon.
“I inflicted hellish suffering on the one I love, so of course I must suffer the same.”
If you’ve put another through hell, you deserve to go through it yourself.
The demon mulled over Kim Sang-jae’s words before bursting into laughter.
-Bwahaha!
After laughing uproariously for a while, the demon nodded.
-Quick on the uptake! To grasp the enlightenment of one who’s toured all one hundred eight hells after just eight rounds!
A hazy mist rose around the demon’s body.
Its fading form soon shifted into a figure clad in black robes and a tall hat—the spitting image of a grim reaper.
-You stubborn bastard. I still had a hundred hells left to show you...
Clicking his tongue, the reaper addressed Kim Sang-jae.
-Now only the final hell remains.
With those words, the hellish scenery vanished, filling Kim Sang-jae’s vision with pure white light.
And memories surfaced of the first time he met his wife, Shim Jin-kyung.
After finishing his military service and returning to school, Kim Sang-jae fell for her graceful beauty and followed her around relentlessly.
During that time, Shim Jin-kyung’s father and mother—long plagued by illness—passed away one after the other.
Kim Sang-jae comforted the grieving Shim Jin-kyung and handled every little and big matter for her.
Touched by his care, she accepted him, they married, and lived happily...
Until one day, he fell into the thrilling pleasure of adultery and grew to despise his devoted wife.
From then on, he oppressed and belittled her. Yet she always responded with unwavering love.
Because on her own hard days, her husband Kim Sang-jae had been her pillar...
“I... I created this hell. For you... and for me.”
Enlightened to it all, tears of regret poured from Kim Sang-jae’s eyes.
He awoke from his sleep and slowly opened his eyes. The clock showed it was still before noon.
“H-Honey.”
Fresh from his great epiphany, Kim Sang-jae rushed to his wife on the sofa and knelt before her.
“I was wrong!”
Tears of remorse streamed down Kim Sang-jae’s face.
His half-year affair had kept her in hell for so long.
Home had become a vast prison for her, and her solitary hours a punishment that burned body and soul alike.
“Please forgive me...”
Knowing it was shameless, Kim Sang-jae still clasped his hands in plea on his knees.
“I won’t.”
Shim Jin-kyung wiped her tears and pulled the sobbing Kim Sang-jae to his feet, staring at him with cold, emotionless eyes.
“Our child begged me to give you one chance. Just this once.”
“Our child?”
Spotting her slightly bulging lower belly, Kim Sang-jae slammed his head to the floor and wailed in despair.
“Waaah!”
Unbeknownst to him, Shim Jin-kyung had endured this hell alongside their child. And she wouldn’t forgive him because of the child.
“I... I didn’t even know.”
Overwhelmed by the hellish time his wife had endured, Kim Sang-jae wept until he nearly fainted.
“You’ll devote your life to us from now on. To me, and to our child.”
Kim Sang-jae would never hurt his wife’s heart again. Having committed an unforgivable sin—even in rebirth—he would stay by her side, atoning for life.
* * *
Shield Boundary Zone, Heavenly Demon’s rooftop room.
As the Heavenly Demon sat cross-legged on the rooftop platform, regulating his breath, a black mist rose before him.
With it emerged the grim reaper who had appeared to Kim Sang-jae.
“Uh, Lord Heavenly Demon.”
The reaper approached the seated Heavenly Demon, bowing low before speaking timidly.
“It’s all done now... Could you send me back?”
The Heavenly Demon slowly opened his eyes.
The reaper quickly averted his gaze from the crimson eyes still infused with Blood Flame Radiance.
“You handled it properly?”
“Y-Yes, sir. Thanks to the one hundred eight hells storyline you scripted. Blending humans’ fear of death with imagery of the afterlife worked perfectly...”
The reaper rubbed his clasped hands vigorously.
“I stuffed that cheating bastard full of it. He won’t stray again.”
“How can you be sure?”
“After tasting those hells a few times, he woke up to his past sins like some monk who’d taken the tonsure. And I still had a hundred left to show him...”
The Dream Demon smacked his lips regretfully.
“Well, screwing around without even knowing his wife was pregnant? If he hadn’t repented, he’d be one of ours—demon blood through and through. Heh heh.”
The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue at the reaper’s garb.
“What’s with that getup?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? This is the standard black-and-white impermanence garb for reapers in this world. It’s the uniform here.”
The black mist surged, transforming the reaper’s form into a ragged ghost draped in sackcloth.
“Anyway, I was shocked. To think Lord Heavenly Demon was in this world...”
“I was shocked too. To think using the Absolute Death Soul Binding would summon you, Dream Demon.”
“Heh heh. Around here, they call it incubus.”
The Dream Demon—also known as a male succubus—had a past grudge with the Heavenly Demon.
Long ago, Jang Sang Blood Demon, one of the Heavenly Demon’s subordinates, had stumbled upon a forbidden art from the Ghost Gate, thought extinct for a thousand years. It was a rite to summon the Dream Demon, who ruled dreams.
With the Dream Demon’s art that could kill without touch, Jang Sang Blood Demon sought to drain the Heavenly Demon’s essence and devour the Ten Thousand Demons Palace.
But the Heavenly Demon, master of all demonic arts, countered with the Supreme Spirit Subduing Ritual and Absolute Death Soul Binding, subjugating the Dream Demon instead.
In the end, Jang Sang Blood Demon lost his head, and the Dream Demon swore eternal loyalty before being released.
“I figured you’d kicked the bucket since you hadn’t called in ages... Er, passed on. You look even more vigorous now.”
Sweating at his slip, the Dream Demon rubbed his hands again.
“Of course, the supreme Heavenly Demon has surely attained immortality. Heh heh.”
The Heavenly Demon closed his eyes wearily.
“Begone if you’re done. Summoning you alone drains my Heart Force True Energy.”
“Got it. Call me anytime!”
The Dream Demon vanished warily, step by step.
“Hmm.”
Gazing at the spot where the Dream Demon had disappeared, the Heavenly Demon spoke in a heavy voice.
“So the Dream Demon from the Murim world can come here.”
Was this world connected to Murim? Why had he come here?
The Heavenly Demon’s eyes narrowed as he looked up at the distant sky.
* * *
“Hello? No, we don’t do that kind of remodeling. Sorry.”
Jang Chaewon slammed the receiver down and sighed.
“You handled it well, but... what the hell is this? Weird rumors are spreading.”
Once the Heavenly Demon resolved the Shim couple’s issue, strange rumors spread fast.
Word was Bokbok Interiors specialized in interiors that improved marital harmony.
Jang Chaewon hadn’t pried into exactly how the Heavenly Demon fixed their love troubles. No need—she knew it was some brutally harsh method.
“Either way, it’s spreading our name far and wide. Isn’t that good?”
The Heavenly Demon, reading a book at the reception table, prompted Jang Chaewon to furrow her brows in annoyance.
“You joking? It was talismans, wasn’t it? That’s not interior work.”
“It’s feng shui interiors.”
“What kind of feng shui is that?”
“The ‘geography’ in celestial geomancy is the same as the ‘geography’ in feng shui.”
“Whatever. I’m not accepting it!”
Jang Chaewon declared firmly to the Heavenly Demon.
“No more jobs requiring talismans from now on. Even if clients request feng shui interiors.”
“Hmm.”
Summoning the Dream Demon with his current depleted inner energy had indeed strained his mind and body greatly.
It had been an act of pride against Jang Chaewon’s scoffing, but the Heavenly Demon had no desire to repeat it.
“Understood. I won’t.”