Making Memories
Reflexively, Kang Hyeong-seok shut his mouth.
They were in the middle of a conversation no one from the company was ever supposed to overhear.
Did he hear us?
Just as Kang Hyeong-seok's brow drew tight, Shin Yo-sep replied — pivoting the mood with a swiftness that could have startled a ghost.
"What is it?"
Fortunately, Kwak Young-ho appeared to have caught none of it. He was strolling over with a smile, his face blank as fresh paper — that much was plain to see.
"So, here's the thing. I've been talking it over with my team here."
"Yes?"
"You came all the way out to see us, and you even brought the meat. If your schedule isn't too packed, why not join us for the meal?"
In a word, it was an invitation to hang out.
Kang Hyeong-seok's face soured a touch, and Kwak Young-ho tossed him a line like, "You're good with this too, Manager Kang, right?"
"Tsk."
Shin Yo-sep, who had been running his tongue across his teeth, lit a cigarette and spared Kang Hyeong-seok a brief glance. Then he flicked the ash and nodded.
"Sure. Why not."
"Wonderful! I'll go let the pension owner know!"
Beaming from ear to ear, Kwak Young-ho started back the way he'd come. Watching him go, Kang Hyeong-seok groaned under his breath and clicked his tongue.
Sizzle! The sun had sunk below the horizon, and a barbecue party was underway in front of the pension.
They loaded a great fire pit with charcoal, greased a perforated steel griddle with pork fat, and laid thick cuts of meat across it. Every step of the process fell to Shin Yo-sep and Kang Hyeong-seok.
"Director Shin, let me take that. I'm good at this kind of thing."
"No. I think it's better if I do it."
Shin Yo-sep had clearly spent time in a kitchen at some point. It showed in the way he mixed handfuls of powdered spices with abandon and slathered them over the surface of the meat — and in the probe thermometer he stabbed into the cuts like a needle. Neither Kwak Young-ho nor anyone else dared even dream of taking over.
Pssh, pssh, pssh, pssh.
As Shin Yo-sep misted apple juice over the thick pork with a spray bottle, Kang Hyeong-seok murmured, "Why is it always pork with you?"
"It's good, isn't it? What, you don't like it?"
"It's not that I don't. It's just — every single time we meet, we end up eating pork."
To Shin Yo-sep, pork was something special. It was a memory of the senior priest who had died mid-exorcism because of his own mistake. A longing to turn back the clock — and a symbol that dragged his sin back into view every time.
"It's not something I eat with just anyone."
Shin Yo-sep said it in a voice with all feeling pressed out of it, then transferred the fully cooked pork to a cutting board and began to slice. The spice rub had charred black on the surface, and with every pass of the knife the juices came flooding out — impressive, honestly.
With a clatter, the plate landed on the terrace table, and admiration erupted all around.
"Whoa, I've only ever seen stuff like this on the internet."
"Holy — wow. You made this all by yourself?"
Namgoong Min-ah gaped, and Shin Jeong-ah asked in open awe, but Shin Yo-sep shook his head and tipped a thumb toward Kang Hyeong-seok.
"We made it together."
"Oh... right."
Shin Jeong-ah stared at Kang Hyeong-seok in astonishment, then waved him urgently into a seat.
And so the meal began.
"Thank you for the food, Director Shin."
Kwak Young-ho offered his gratitude, his face a mixture of apology and delight.
"Make yourselves at ease. I bought plenty, so eat up."
With Kang Hyeong-seok finally seated as well, the meal rolled on, and the atmosphere was thoroughly heartwarming — so much so that Shin Yo-sep's presence blended right in.
"You eat plenty too, Manager Kang."
"I will. Thank you, sir."
Kang Hyeong-seok showed Kwak Young-ho a smiling face, and the moment the man's gaze wandered elsewhere, he dropped a piece of meat. Nobody else noticed — neither the fallen morsel, nor the presences that came flocking toward it.
Is this what the countryside is like? So many wandering souls.
There was nothing venomous in the spirits' auras. Even so, leaving nothing to chance, Kang Hyeong-seok poured soju into a paper cup and set it down beside his feet — an act much like the street offerings of food left out for the wandering dead.
"Man, it's an absolute shame you're not part of the same company as us."
Kwak Young-ho laughed cheerfully over a shot of soju, and Shin Yo-sep answered with a smile.
"I'm just glad to be so welcome."
"Haha! Of course you are. That much goes without saying."
And so another long stretch passed, loud and harmonious — until Kwak Young-ho tilted his head back toward the clear night sky and spoke up, careful with his words.
"Say, once we finish eating — how would everyone feel about a little night walk?"
Shin Yo-sep was just sliding into a look that asked why so cagey over a simple stroll? when—
"It's actually really close by. Turns out there's a course around here that's perfect for a courage test. Call it a walk with a bonus — what do you say?"
"Oh, come on, sir. What are we, children?"
"Oh! I love it!"
Shin Jeong-ah went pale at the very idea, while Namgoong Min-ah, quite the opposite, lit up with interest. Lee Jin-pyeong went without saying, and Kwak Young-ho wore a face brimming with anticipation.
"Do we really have to go?"
Shin Yo-sep — a man who had squared off against possessed exorcist priests more times than he could count — arched a brow, and Kwak Young-ho laughed awkwardly, embarrassed.
"It's just... I'd like to make some memories."
Every gaze in the group converged on him as he scratched his cheek, and then he went on.
"I hold the Department Head's chair, and sitting in this seat, watching people come and go... it wears on you. You want to keep working beside the teammates you actually click with, but that's easier said than done."
Resignations and job-hopping. Sooner or later, anyone who works an office runs into them — and at a fairly frequent clip, too.
"Truth be told, at my age, retirement no longer feels like somebody else's problem. So I'd like to make at least one memory. The kind that's easy to look back on even after we've all moved on."
"Memories..."
Shin Yo-sep rubbed his lips together, his face crowded with thought. Kang Hyeong-seok, watching him from the side, wore much the same expression.
So that's what's been on his mind.
Kwak Young-ho had seemed to enjoy this workshop more than anyone. Kang Hyeong-seok had assumed it was simply the novelty of escaping the office; he had never imagined the man was carrying something like this.
Kang Hyeong-seok rubbed the corner of his mouth with a bittersweet look, and Shin Yo-sep's eyes had turned inward as well. Of all the words he could have chosen — memories. For Shin Yo-sep, who lived in the present while shackled to the past, the word was impossible to brush off.
"Hoo..."
Shin Yo-sep let out a heavy sigh and slid his gaze to Kang Hyeong-seok. With Kwak Young-ho reading his every reaction, the deciding vote appeared at a glance to rest with Shin Yo-sep. But Shin Yo-sep read the look in Kang Hyeong-seok's eyes instead, and only after catching the small gesture of assent did he nod.
"Thank you! Everyone's all right with this?"
Shin Jeong-ah nodded with an ambiguous smile, and Namgoong Min-ah threw her approval at the idea with both hands.
"I am SO in! First time since middle school!"
"You liking it this much makes me happier than you know. All right — we get ready the moment dinner wraps up."
The meal wound down in that warm, cheerful air.
Clatter, clatter. The ones who hadn't cooked made short work of the cleanup, and a visibly giddy Kwak Young-ho gathered everyone together — even producing lanterns from his bag.
"Seriously? Lanterns?"
Shin Jeong-ah groaned the words, but one look at Kwak Young-ho's face had her waving her hands in quick retreat.
"Not that I mind! It's nice. We won't trip over anything — nice and safe."
"Th-that's right, isn't it?"
Apparently the man had been itching to run a courage test ever since the day he planned this workshop.
"All right, we move in pairs of two. Only problem is, the numbers don't split evenly."
"There are six of us, so can't we just do groups of three?"
Kwak Young-ho answered Namgoong Min-ah with a smile.
"No can do — somebody's got to judge."
"The judge?"
"Word is there's a desk in the innermost room of that place. First team to snap a photo and make it back wins."
He meant to keep it as fair as possible. So that the young ones could enjoy themselves freely, without an old man's legs slowing anyone down.
The team members caught his meaning and nodded along with Shin Yo-sep, and Namgoong Min-ah fired off a question, curiosity blazing in her eyes.
"Is there a prize if we win?"
"You bet!"
"Huh? For real?"
Kwak Young-ho grinned with great ambition and spread all five fingers wide.
"Five hundred thousand won. The workshop budget came through, and I chipped in a little extra myself."
"WHOOOOA!"
Namgoong Min-ah bounced on her toes in shock, and even Kang Hyeong-seok and Shin Jeong-ah marveled in silence. Five hundred thousand won was nothing to sneeze at. Even Shin Jeong-ah — who'd been resolved to simply humor the old man — caught herself thinking huh, that's not bad at all, while Lee Jin-pyeong quietly folded down his fingers, working out some calculation. No doubt picturing something he wanted to buy.
"Well? Worth playing for, right?"
"Yes!"
"Then hurry up and pick your partners!"
Kwak Young-ho had barely finished the sentence before Shin Jeong-ah seized Kang Hyeong-seok's shoulder.
"Manager Kang! You're with me."
They'd be walking a dark road on the strength of a single lantern. So Shin Jeong-ah, who knew Kang Hyeong-seok's secret, latched onto him without delay, and Shin Yo-sep, as naturally as breathing, drifted toward Namgoong Min-ah and Lee Jin-pyeong.
"Then that makes it a team of three."
"Uh, sure. Are you all right with that, Director Shin?"
"Why? You don't want me?"
"No, it's not that. I'm happy — really."
Namgoong Min-ah seemed to feel their team had it almost too easy. But with three men among them, there was no helping how the teams fell out.
"All right then — which team heads out first?"
Two answers came before the words had fully left his mouth.
"Us."
Shin Jeong-ah claimed it first, and Shin Yo-sep pointed at Kang Hyeong-seok. Shin Jeong-ah's eagerness was one thing, but Shin Yo-sep's response made no sense at all.
"W-well then, shall the managers head out first?"
Kwak Young-ho had no way of knowing. What Kang Hyeong-seok and Shin Yo-sep truly were — the identities they kept hidden.
You scout ahead and text me.
Kang Hyeong-seok read the look Shin Yo-sep sent his way, gave a nod, and set off toward the destination shoulder to shoulder with Shin Jeong-ah.
Their target was an abandoned building four hundred meters out, as the crow flies. He had already mapped the route there on Street View, and though the road was remote and utterly without streetlights, it was no mountain trail.
Crunch, crunch. Even so, the road was dark, and Shin Jeong-ah let her pace ease naturally as she spoke to Kang Hyeong-seok in a low voice.
"That Director Shin fellow. What do you know about him?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Oh, come off it — just now, for one. He pointed you out first thing."
Kang Hyeong-seok laughed without a sound, weighed it for a moment, then spoke.
"He's no ordinary man. He's a priest."
"What...?"
"An exorcist priest, to be exact. I'd say he wants me to go first and check whether anything nasty is waiting out there."
"Wait, no — hold on. The son of Shinjin Construction is an exorcist priest? Like in The Exorcist?"
"Yes."
"Tell me everything. From the top. How did all of this even happen?"
And so Kang Hyeong-seok walked on, trading stories with Shin Jeong-ah the whole way. He told her about saving the demon-possessed boy at the orphanage together, and passed along the news that they were investigating the scissors recovered from the ceiling of Lee Ha-yoon's office.
"Wow... I never would have guessed. Not in a hundred years."
Shin Jeong-ah said it looking truly stunned, and Kang Hyeong-seok nodded, a face that said he understood. Who on earth could have predicted it — that the heir to a major conglomerate would carry the identity of an exorcist priest and spend his life hunting demons?
Crunch.
By the time Kwak Young-ho and the others had fallen well behind and the two of them stood at the halfway point, Kang Hyeong-seok stopped walking. Then, signaling Shin Jeong-ah for silence, he slipped a hand into his pocket.
By now, Shin Jeong-ah knew exactly what was coming. She pressed her lips shut and fell back a single step, and Kang Hyeong-seok drew out the sacred shaman bells and the Divine General Blade he had smuggled along in secret.