The Jangsanbeom Prepares
How many hours had we walked?
In reality, it was only a few minutes, but it felt like hours had passed.
The reason was, no doubt, this woman.
“You, what's your relationship with Mayor Kang Baekho? Siblings?”
“Sworn brothers.”
“Hmm, I see......... Sworn brothers? The kind formed by Yu Bi, Gwan Woo, and Jang Bi? Even jokes are in poor taste!”
Wait, hold on. I want to swallow this woman whole right now, but... Since my hyung told me to protect her, I have to endure it!
The woman kept asking about my relationship with Baekho hyung while walking.
Since she wouldn't believe me even if I said we were sworn brothers honestly...
“Want to ask another question?”
Not okay!
This woman either has no sense of timing or is brazen, she kept talking to me.
She seems to have forgotten that this place is the Underworld Exit 108 where you can get a resident registration if you lie down.
“Who are you?”
“Jangsanbeom, 20 years old, job hunting.”
“20 years old? Wow, amazing! You're really young-looking! I'm only 4 years older than you.”
“Right.”
I answered in a nonchalant tone with a resigned look.
“Use honorifics.”
Damn it! King Yeomra! Master! Please take this brat away! I can't stand it. Making a mountain lord who has lived hundreds of years older than me use honorifics!
I wanted to immediately shed this suffocating body and show my true form to shut this woman's mouth.
But I couldn't do that.
If I show my true form, the ghosts will naturally retreat and the path to the living world will open. Why wouldn't I?
It was all because of this woman.
At the very least, I had to hide my identity from her.
“Again, who are you really that you act so familiar with this place? And what was that Underworld law you mentioned earlier?”
Hmm..... Damn it, I've already been caught. This woman must have suspected us as something other than humans from the start.
“Haha, my grandmother was a shaman, so...... I have some supernatural things too, you know? It's not that I'm not human.....”
“Is that so? So ghosts really exist.”
I prayed that this woman would get angry, but she roughly accepted it and moved on.
Baekho hyung, who was walking in front of us, stopped.
“I found it. Exit 108.”
While other exits were stairs going up, Exit 108 was a downward structure.
And inside it was pitch black with no light.
“Go down here? Even if I look at it, going up to another exit seems better.....”
“If you want to reissue a resident registration in Hell, you can go up. Since you're a reporter, the Hell Disclosure Hell suits you.”
“Is this a joke?”
However, Baekho hyung's expression looked too serious to be a joke.
“Jangsanbeom, from here on, lead the way.”
“Understood.”
At that moment, the woman picked up her notebook and started scribbling with a ballpoint pen.
“The mayor of Busan, Kang Baekho, known as the Inja River, actually fears the dark.”
What slander is this woman saying about hyung.....!
Hyung told me to lead the way to protect this woman.
“Jangsanbeom.....”
“Yes, hyung, want to swallow her?”
“No....”
I thought he would allow it.....
While I was in deep internal conflict over this woman's life and death, the woman pulled out her cracked-screen smartphone.
Flash.
For a moment, I thought it was the camera flash going off, but luckily it wasn't.
“How is it? This way, it won't be as scary, right?”
The woman held out her freshly lit smartphone to Baekho hyung.
Baekho hyung took the smartphone without saying a word.
And.....
Threw it.
The light that had been shot down like lightning under the stairs swallowed by the darkness of Exit 108 disappeared immediately.
“Nooo!!!! It could have been fixed....! This hasn't even finished the installment plan yet......”
“Light that doesn't contain yang energy will only expose our position.”
The woman, who had been looking down at the stairs below with a blank expression, glared at Baekho hyung with eyes full of resentment.
“Let's go.”
“Understood!”
Whether the woman glared or not, we started descending the stairs.
The woman hesitated a bit, probably because being alone was scary, and eventually followed.
.
.
.
After walking down the stairs for a long time, the sound of knocking started to come from around us.
After the knocking sound, the Japgwi and ghosts that had been wandering around us disappeared.
Because the knocking sound would be more terrifying to them than scratching a blackboard.
By the way, it was the same for me.
Baekho hyung might be okay as a divine beast, but I'm not.
But what can I do. I have to endure it.
“Listen carefully to this knocking sound. You must stop your steps exactly when the 108th sound rings.”
“Ne....?”
“17th, 18th, 19th......”
After enduring the terrifying knocking sound 108 times and coming to my senses, we were standing in front of a huge gate.
“Luckily, there's no gatekeeper. If we go in like this, we can make it on time for work.”
Baekho hyung strode towards the door.
“Ugh....!”
The woman suddenly squatted down and clutched her head.
“Are you injured somewhere?”
“Th.. headache...... it's too severe......”
“Headache? Damn it! Has the gatekeeper come back already? Especially as a two-oksini.”
Kung!
With a vibration that shook the heavens and earth, it fell.
Its appearance could be compared to a goblin from legends, but instead of the mischievous and playful appearance of a goblin, there was a full of malice here.
“A bold one trying to return to the living world after having their life taken! Who are you?!”
The two-oksini stood upright with its back turned as if not allowing us to pass.
The two-oksini is well-known as a ghost that presses on the head since ancient times.
It appeared at banquets in the form of a beggar demanding food, got beaten and chased away, then laughed and disappeared, and then burst the heads of all the banquet attendees to death. Famous anecdote.
Among named ghosts, it's said to be stronger than the dark one famous as a mercenary.
“The Underworld Bureau hired a two-oksini as a gatekeeper, it seems there really aren't many talented people.”
“Indeed.”
Kwoong!
The iron club of the two-oksini struck the floor where Baekho hyung was standing.
“How dare! How dare! To insult me! I'll crush your head!”
“If you're that slow, you won't be able to catch even one of the ten thousand year old ones properly.”
Baekho hyung was already on the arm of the two-oksini.
Squeak!
In the blink of an eye, Baekho hyung's right arm fell off the two-oksini's body.
“Aaahhhh!!”
“If you step aside obediently here, I won't attack anymore. It's work time now.”
The two-oksini couldn't properly steady itself due to the pain.
Even I would have to risk my life to fight the two-oksini..... As expected, Baekho hyung.
“No! Then at least this woman!”
Squeak squeak squeak!!
Baekho hyung used his claws to sever the remaining left arm of the two-oksini as well.
“Next is the neck.”
Only then did the two-oksini start slinking away to the side of the gate.
“Let's go.”
I supported the woman who was trying to stand up unsteadily due to the headache and walked towards the gate.
Smirk.
At that time, the two-oksini showed a ominous smile.
“M, monster club!”
The two-oksini's huge club moved on its own and swung towards us.
That slow club is easy to dodge. If I dodge, what about this woman.....?
Kwang!
With the horrible pain transmitted through my arms as I blocked the club with both hands.
The pain soon all rushed to my head.
A horrible scene flashed before my eyes.
Jangsan is burning.
My nest is disappearing.
“Find the Joseon people! Don't distinguish between children and adults, kill them all!”
“Bare their noses!”
“I heard there is a hiding place for Joseon people in this mountain.....! Huh, tiger!”
I was going wild.
I hated the Japanese army who burned my nest.
And I was angry that they took away the precious people to me.
I tore the Japanese army with my fangs and claws.
No day or night. This place is hell. I was just going mad.
“.....Stop...... Please stop. I know of the Mountain Lord's anger. So please receive my voice....... Please stop this anger.”
A girl begged me.
That girl also lost her life to the Japanese army but tried to stop me.......
“Jangsanbeom, since it's a tiger living in Jangsan, shall I call you Jangsanbeom? Something sounds good...... What about Sanbeom?”
“Jangsanbeom?”
“Yes, Sanbeom.”
Jangsanbeom. Good ring.
“Jangsanbeom, Jangsanbeom, straighten your clothes! How long are you going to stay like that after getting hit once?!”
When I opened my eyes, Baekho hyung's face came into view vaguely.
Glancing to the side, the two-oksini had already lost its head.
Good.
The two-oksini is a ghost that uses headache and mental breakdown.
The thing I stretched was probably due to mental breakdown.
“Let's go. Hyung.”
I acted nonchalant, brushed off the dust on my clothes, and stood up.
As I entered the gate, a subway exit came into view.
It was the subway exit in the living world where people were bustling.
“Oh, we're already late! I'll head out for now. Take care!”
“Mayor Kang Baekho, interview about the incident that just happened......!”
The reporter chased after Baekho hyung to the subway exit, wondering when she recovered.
Ding!
As I was waiting for the subway again, my phone rang.