A Head-On Challenge
“I now declare the Chilui Island council meeting open.”
Naechilli village chief Choi Byeong-gae made the opening declaration. They were at the seafood restaurant run by the head of the fishermen’s cooperative, where a spread of fresh sashimi had already been laid out on the table.
The agenda was how to use the 50 million won donated by Chairman Cho.
The island’s long-cherished project was water.
They did use groundwater, but there was never quite enough of it. On top of that, the wells were suffering from depletion and saltwater intrusion, so the quality had grown poor. Some households on the island collected rainwater to get by. Water shortages had played no small part in the island’s slow hollowing-out.
The best solution was a piped water system. But because Chilui Island lay so far from the mainland, that was impossible. The next best option was a seawater desalination plant, but that too was far beyond the reach of 50 million won.
“It’d take at least a billion won for that...”
After all the back-and-forth, that was all they had to show for it: a sigh. Even a small-scale desalination facility would require that kind of budget. The village chiefs had raised the matter with the county office several times, but with so few permanent residents, it never made it onto anyone’s list of priorities.
“If something unfortunate happened to Governor Heo and Kang-to the beopsa solved it for him, maybe he’d build one for us?”
And so the long-cherished project ended with nothing more than a wish left hanging in the air.
Village chief Choi and section head Kim’s proposed alternative was to develop a groundwater source. But the real target was obvious: the inn they were planning to build. When Captain Song and the Oechilli village chief objected, the ball was passed to Kang-to.
“It doesn’t seem like we’re getting anywhere, so let’s have Kang-to the beopsa decide. That money came in because of Kang-to the beopsa, after all.”
Chairman Song offered the alternative. It was a fact, so even Village Chief Choi and Section Head Kim had nothing to say.
Water.
It mattered.
The quality of island life rose or fell on water. What good was all that natural beauty if there was no water? Without it, the island was little more than a deserted rock. And if the number of guests coming to see fortunes kept growing, if tourists kept increasing as well, water could become an even bigger problem.
Back in college, Kang-to had once volunteered for a project that helped green the Mongolian desert.
Three days before the volunteer work ended, the Mongolian side had taken the team on a Gobi Desert trip as a reward. The biggest inconvenience there had been water. The water coming from the shower in the ger where Kang-to stayed was barely more than a trickle of droplets.
That was a desert, so the hardship had been expected.
Chilui Island was different. It was surrounded on all sides by the sea. If you had water right in front of you and still suffered a shortage, the pain would feel all the greater by comparison.
In the end, if the island was to develop, solving the water shortage was essential.
The problem was money.
The necessary budget was anywhere from a billion to 1.5 billion won.
For the islanders, that was an impossible sum.
“What if we just leave that money alone for now?”
That was Kang-to’s opinion.
“Leave it alone? There’s a mountain of things we need money for—why would we do that?”
Village chief Choi exploded at once.
“If desalination is the long-cherished project, then we should go that route. My fan-cafe membership keeps growing, so let’s wait a little and talk about a fundraiser. But we should also set an example ourselves and chip in little by little.”
That was Kang-to’s view. There had been something like that in the comments on his fan-cafe page.
That gave him courage. Kang-to would add his own ritual fee, the residents would chip in what they could, and for the rest, he intended to ask Chairman Cho for help.
“No, that’s like squeezing a flea for its liver. How much do you think we could raise?”
Village chief Choi was nothing if not consistent in his negativity.
“But this is our problem. The proper order is for us to lead by example first, and then ask for help.”
“That’s not how the real world works.”
“Chief, didn’t we agree to follow Kang-to the beopsa’s opinion? Kang-to the beopsa is right. If we just sit on our hands, who’s going to raise a huge sum for us? Right?”
As Village Chief Choi dug in his heels, Captain Song pushed back. Thanks to the subsidy, the village chief’s momentum dulled a little.
“Aigoo, when will we ever raise 1.5 billion won... Let’s just drink. Damn it.”
With that one shot thrown back, the heated discussion came to an end.
Of course it was a huge amount of money.
But Kang-to didn’t think it was impossible.
And yet...
As the saying went, where there is a will, there is a way. This problem was solved more easily than he had expected.
“Kang-to the beopsa?”
It was Monday morning. After finishing Sol-bi’s homeschooling, he had been drawing a talisman when his phone rang. He answered it and found Team Leader Jin from the provincial investigation unit on the line.
“Beopsa Kang-to, can you talk?”
“Yes, I’m available.”
“I’m calling about the case you solved for us last time.”
“Did something come up?”
“Well... you said the murdered doctor’s mother was still lying in the hospital, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“The day after her son’s bones were found, she got up.”
“That’s a relief.”
“She came looking for me and asked where to find Kang-to the beopsa. At first I didn’t tell her, but she was so desperate...”
“......”
“She kept saying that if you’re human, you should at least go and show proper respect...”
“So you gave her my location?”
“I’m sorry. I even gave her your phone number.”
“It’s all right. That’s just the warmth of living among people.”
Kang-to laughed. If a mother wanted to come offer thanks, that was only natural.
If they called, all he had to do was answer. As a new shamanic disciple, comforting people who had suffered was part of what made the work worthwhile.
The call never came.
Instead, the person came in the flesh.
As the ferry docked, cars poured off the vessel one after another. Today, most of the outsiders on the island were Kang-to’s guests. Among them, a white sedan emerged, followed by another sedan behind it.
At last, they’ve arrived.
Kang-to, at the lighthouse, felt the omen and stepped out to the railing. From the white sedan, the formidable Song Ji-na was getting out, accompanied by her executive secretary, Hwang Hyun-su.
From the sedan beside it, two more heavy hitters emerged: a couple in their sixties dressed in black. They were the parents of the doctor who had been murdered.
But...
The two groups seemed to know each other.
Song Ji-na drew every eye with an elegance that did not belong to someone in her eighties. On the one hand was her; on the other, Kim Ki-wook and Yoon Hee-ra, the upper-class couple worn thin with grief for their son yet still shining with that unmistakable aura of status.
As the two heavyweights walked side by side, people coming off the boat began to whisper.
Both groups were the sort of people who made the news now and then, so there were some among the crowd who recognized them. The islanders’ eyes naturally joined in as well. The two powerhouses headed toward Kang-to’s lighthouse, one a step ahead of the other.
In the shrine, Kang-to took a handful of rice.
Scatter.
When he laid it on the small ritual tray, a single word appeared.
Head-On
After returning from his biological father’s mansion, Kang-to had finished drafting a plan for how to define the relationship. The clue from the exhumed remains sharpened it further. With that, he intended to go toe-to-toe with Song Ji-na.
Song Ji-na enjoyed a contest. It came from the competition and fighting spirit woven into her fate. At its foundation was family.
Except for one brief period in her youth, her family luck had been superb. That was why even adoption had fit so well for her.
Of course, the same principle applied to Kang-to. He was an illegitimate child, not blood.
And yet Song Ji-na, with her broad shoulders and open heart, had a protective instinct for anyone who stepped inside her fence.
As it related to Kang-to’s status as an illegitimate child, she was not the direct party—but she was in a position to mediate. That was the card Kang-to meant to play.
“Minister Kim, please go in first.”
Song Ji-na stopped at the entrance to the lighthouse. Minister Kim and his wife had come to offer their thanks for their son, so she was gracious enough to let them have the first turn.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, our son was able to rest in peace.”
The former minister and his wife, who entered the shrine, treated Kang-to with exceptional courtesy.
“I’m glad I could help.”
“No, the police told us something else. They said that without the beopsa, it would have been difficult not only to find the body, but even to secure the confession. They said it was truly the foresight of the gods...”
“It was your desperate wish that helped as well.”
“The night after our son’s body was found, I had a dream. The whole place was covered in fog, and I heard knocking from somewhere. Every time I turned around, there was nothing there, but I could hear my son’s voice saying, ‘Mom, I’m here.’”
“......”
“I followed the sound and tripped over something. When I tried to get up, something was in my hand. My son was there. He said, ‘Mom, I have to go now.’”
“......”
“Then I opened my eyes, and the police called to say they had found our son’s body...”
Her mother, Yoon Hee-ra, held back tears.
The body had come home, but the son had not. He had been a polite boy, and a smart one. A son so dear that no gift in the world would have been too much for him...
“Here...”
Yoon Hee-ra held out an envelope.
“What is this?”
“It’s a small token of gratitude from my husband and me. From what the police told us, you rushed in without asking for a single condition.”
“Please don’t. I didn’t do it for money.”
“We’d feel better if we could at least give you this. Please, take it.”
“Your coming here to thank me is more than enough. So please donate that envelope in your son’s name to a good cause. Then he’ll go somewhere even better.”
“Beopsa...”
“Here on Chilui Island, it’s chilly in winter, but it’s a place worth seeing at least once. There’s still time before the next ferry. Let the sea breeze wash away those lingering thoughts before you leave.”
“Beopsa...”
In the end, Minister Kim and his wife left the shrine in a flood of tears.
And then.
The one whose instincts tugged at Kang-to stepped inside with light, graceful footsteps: Song Ji-na.
“This doesn’t feel like a shaman’s house.”
That was Song Ji-na’s first impression.
“Do you know shaman’s houses?”
“When I was young, they were everywhere. There wasn’t much to look at back then, so if there was a gut, the whole neighborhood would crowd in.”
“......”
“Take this. The family relations register you wanted.”
Sitting herself down on the cushion she had pulled over, Song Ji-na produced a transparent folder.
Lee Kang-to
Father: Lee Tae-seop
There it was, his name in crisp black letters.
“How do you feel?”
“Not exactly delighted.”
“You’ve got more guts than you look. You’re listed in the family register of the great Cheonjo Group, and you’re not delighted?”
“Isn’t that because the process was what it was?”
“Then should I hold a welcome press conference for you?”
“Do you think Chairman Lee would really do that?”
“If he won’t, I will.”
“......”
“This is your ritual fee.”
Another envelope was slid forward.
Ritual fee?
“There was a problem with Chairman Lee’s M&A, and you helped solve it, didn’t you? From what I hear, Hyung-wook played a big part too. So I put in one big bill.”
“And this is the ritual fee I’m giving you myself.”
Another envelope followed.
“......?”
“I’d like a reading too.”
“Are you serious?”
“Would I have brought an envelope otherwise?”
“What do you want?”
Kang-to fixed his gaze. No matter how formidable she was, this was his shrine. Nothing could dominate Kang-to here.
“I want you to choose someone for me. I hear you even handled Chairman Cho Chul-woong’s personnel consulting.”
Fast.
And precise.
That was exactly like Song Ji-na.
“You’re not the only one who can read the world. I’ve seen enough to know my way around.”
With a faint smile, Song Ji-na pulled out several photographs.
Lee Tae-seop
Director Eun
Lee Hyung-wook
Lee Eun-seo
The Cheonjo Group family.
“Among these people, who has the greatest ability and fortune?”
Song Ji-na looked at Kang-to.
Cheonjo Group.
A chaebol kingdom was not built on money alone. If it were, no company would ever rise and fall or go to pieces.
It meant that Song Ji-na’s fighting spirit, her competitive drive, her vast network of social connections—everything that made her who she was—had stood behind it. And now she wanted Kang-to’s assessment of the people in the kingdom she had passed down to her son.
What was she after?
Whatever it was, he would follow the flow of things.
Staring at the photographs, Kang-to swapped the positions of Lee Eun-seo and Lee Hyung-wook, who had been lined up in order. The granddaughter’s luck battery was stronger than the grandson’s.
“Is that how it goes?”
“For now, yes.”
“Then tell me this—what happens if this one is added into the mix?”
Song Ji-na produced another photograph. Pinched between her index and middle finger, the subject was Kang-to. It must have been captured from the mansion’s CCTV footage.
“......?”
“Since you’re on our family register now anyway.”
Song Ji-na set the photo down. Its place was the very end.
Kang-to and Song Ji-na’s gazes met in the air.
Song Ji-na really was a formidable woman. Even with Kang-to bearing the authority of a divine shaman’s body, she didn’t bend an inch.
That combative nature. He liked it.
Battle-star.
That was why.
It was Song Ji-na’s fate. If you had battle-star in your destiny, you were passionate and forceful; you even came to enjoy competition and struggle. And when that star worked in harmony with everything else, it brought wealth and honor. That was Song Ji-na in a nutshell.
He had deliberately stirred her up after coming from Seoul because he understood that. Chairman Lee, too, had been influenced by the mother who raised him, but compared to Song Ji-na’s relentless drive toward the highest ideal, his edge was softer.
Kang-to’s hand moved to pick up his own photograph.
Where should he place it?
Contest.
The deal between Kang-to and Song Ji-na was beginning here.
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