Two Knives for One Ox
Thunk.
The moment Kang Hyeong-seok and Kim Jae-sik climbed out of the car, every gaze in the village swung toward them.
No one said a word, but their eyes were brimming with suspicion.
He could understand why. People were dying here, and would-be exorcists kept barging in, hollering that they would be the ones to fix things. Outsiders coming and going would be the last thing anyone wanted.
"Pardon the intrusion. Here — this is who I am."
While Kim Jae-sik went around bowing and offering his business cards, Kang Hyeong-seok swept the crowd with his eyes.
Children, the elderly, middle-aged men. No young men to be seen. Young women, though — there were a few.
One of them, dressed in brown clothes that looked like they'd come straight off a market stall, met his gaze and held it for a long moment. Then she narrowed her eyes and slipped away into the press of bodies.
I was being rude.
He was still trying to scrub the strangely memorable woman from his mind when—
"Yes, yes, we hear you."
A middle-aged man who appeared to be the village youth president cut Kim Jae-sik off mid-sentence.
"Of all the days to come, it had to be now. Turn 'round and go back, if y'all would."
"N-no, wait, we only—"
"I know you're a researcher and all, but look at the sorry state our village's in right now. We've neither the leisure for it nor the reason, I'm afraid."
The shorter the youth president's sentences grew, the more helplessness spread across Kim Jae-sik's face.
"Isn't there any way at all?"
"People are dyin' here — that ain't no joke! Am I wrong, now!"
When the youth president whipped around and shouted, several villagers nodded their agreement.
Things like this didn't happen every day. They had clearly been through something far from ordinary, and it had left them no room to breathe — Kim Jae-sik couldn't bring himself to argue any further.
Are we really going to have to turn back just like this?
Just as Kim Jae-sik shot Kang Hyeong-seok that helpless look—
Cling!
From the bag stowed in the car, the sacred shaman bells rang out — so clear and vivid it might have been sounding right beside his ear.
Kang Hyeong-seok's head snapped around toward the vehicle. And that was how he spotted the car approaching from a distance before anyone else did.
Vroooooom.
Its silhouette was familiar. He had definitely seen it somewhere before.
Screeech!
The car ground to a stop right beside Kang Hyeong-seok. As the villagers' eyes — and Kim Jae-sik's — turned that way too, a man with his hair tied back hopped lightly out of the driver's seat.
"Well now—! Who do we have here."
The man crinkled his whole face into exaggerated delight.
"Donggwan! What brings you all the way out here?"
It was Hong Gyeong-soo.
"You know him?" Kim Jae-sik asked under his breath, but Kang Hyeong-seok couldn't tear his eyes away.
Of all people — Hong Gyeong-soo. The shaman who flung death curses for a living. The man even Lee Geum-kyeong had called dangerous. The serpent's head his Momjusin had warned him about, perhaps.
Thud. Thud.
The man was strolling closer without a care in the world.
"My, my. We haven't seen each other in ages — why so gloomy?"
Damn it.
Careful not to let anything show, Kang Hyeong-seok clenched his molars, then put on a smile to greet him.
"It has been a while. Been keeping well?"
"Me? Same as ever, day in and day out. And you, teacher — nothing troubling you, I hope?"
"No, sir. Perfectly healthy."
"Health is everything, I tell you. Everything."
He could not afford to rouse Hong Gyeong-soo's suspicion. He mustn't let on that he now knew how dangerous the man was. Hong Gyeong-soo was still hiding his true intentions even now — showing his own hand would be folly.
Then it happened.
"And just who the hell are you supposed to be!"
One of the villagers barked at Hong Gyeong-soo.
"Why, you little—"
Hong Gyeong-soo's eyes bulged on the spot, and the man who'd shouted flinched and looked away.
"Hold on now, hold on!"
An elderly man came hurrying over and planted himself in front of Hong Gyeong-soo.
"Aigoo, aigoo. Thank you kindly for coming all this way."
The old man offered a handshake with both hands in deep deference; when Hong Gyeong-soo accepted it with just one, the villagers — Kim Jae-sik included — began to grow visibly flustered.
"Who on earth is that man?"
Kang Hyeong-seok lowered his voice to answer Kim Jae-sik's question.
"A shaman."
Then he shook his head at Kim Jae-sik. Stay away — the man is dangerous.
The message got through. Kim Jae-sik promptly put distance between himself and Kang Hyeong-seok and melted into the crowd.
"What's all the ruckus for, anyway? What's got everybody gathered up like this?"
Hong Gyeong-soo asked in that trademark drawl of his, Jeolla vowels tangled up with every other dialect under the sun, and an awkward smile tugged at the old man's lips.
"Like I told you before, things have been unsettled around here, so... Hey — what're you all standin' there for! Greet him properly, now!"
"Who even is he, that you bow to him, Chief?" the youth president demanded on the crowd's behalf, and the old man — evidently the village chief — glared at him.
"I told you already, didn't I! We brought in a shaman of real power!"
"...O-oh! Right, right!"
Kang Hyeong-seok quickly swept his gaze across the villagers again. Not one of them looked down on Hong Gyeong-soo as a fraud. Every single one was staring at him with fierce, unwavering trust, as if beholding a savior.
The irony of it. Truly.
A shaman who harmed people, treated as an honored guest in a village where people were dying. Looked at the other way, though, maybe that was precisely why the chief had summoned him — in this line of work, you'd be hard-pressed to find an expert who could match Hong Gyeong-soo.
"Greet him, all of you! Quickly!"
Once every villager had bowed their heads, Hong Gyeong-soo shot Kang Hyeong-seok a sheepish look. Then he fished a cigarette from his pocket and spoke up.
"So what's all the fuss about? From a ways off I could see this place churning like a fish market for the past while."
"Well, that is..." Flustered, the youth president shifted his gaze to Kang Hyeong-seok and raised a finger. "Those people over there... who are they? One of 'em's gone off somewhere — anyway, they just showed up sayin' they had questions to ask..."
Hong Gyeong-soo nodded as though that explained everything and lit his cigarette, and the youth president added with an awkward smile:
"It's nothing. We'll send 'em on their way shortly, so pay 'em no mind."
At that, Hong Gyeong-soo's eyes curved.
"Send them on their way?"
"Pardon?"
"Whew—! Did you not hear a word I said earlier? What did I call this fellow here?"
Hong Gyeong-soo glared at the youth president — a man older than himself, no less — as he burned through his cigarette.
"Donggwan. I said Donggwan. A practitioner, same as me."
"Th-that is, we, we didn't know."
"Aish, you leper-brained fool."
Hong Gyeong-soo clamped the cigarette between his lips and, hands jammed in his pockets, swept his gaze across the villagers.
A shaman's eyes are fearsome things. And not merely because of the work they do with gods and spirits. Their trade is dealing with people — which is precisely why they read people so well.
"You rotten lot, I hear you've been givin' him some filthy talk."
The youth president's lips worked uneasily, but no words came out. Even after the village chief shot him a warning look, still nothing.
"Donggwan, these folks spoke out of ignorance. Don't take it too much to heart."
Kang Hyeong-seok shook his head, dropping his gaze as if to wave the words away.
"Aigoo, look at that face of yours." Hong Gyeong-soo clicked his tongue and heaved a deep sigh. "You're plenty hurt, I can see it. Let it go, Donggwan. What would they know, eh?"
He gave Kang Hyeong-seok's shoulder a light tap, then addressed the villagers, cigarette still in his teeth.
"Fate's a fickle, unreadable thing. And those folk there wouldn't know that if it bit 'em. So don't you go holding it against them too long, Donggwan."
Cigarette clamped in his mouth, Hong Gyeong-soo beckoned the village chief closer. And then—
"I say, Chief. How many months back did you call me? Two months ago, was it?"
"Yes, yes. That's right."
As the chief bobbed his head vigorously, Hong Gyeong-soo exhaled a lungful of smoke and let his gaze drift over to Kang Hyeong-seok.
Kang Hyeong-seok forced the corners of his mouth upward into his salesman's smile.
"It really is. What are the odds of such a coincidence, honestly."
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise, I'll grant — but it puts me in a spot. A real spot."
"And what would that be?"
"Two shamans in one village. Two. It's a headache. Goddamn it all."
Kang Hyeong-seok ran his tongue over his teeth, watching Hong Gyeong-soo for a tell. He'd called it a coincidence, but he didn't believe that for a second.
What's your game?
Hong Gyeong-soo kept stressing that this meeting was pure chance. Was it really? The odds said otherwise. Then what was he after?
He was grinding down to the molars, trying to bury both his expression and his true feelings, when—
"I'll take myself out of this one."
At the words, dropped so abruptly, Kang Hyeong-seok's eyebrows twitched.
"N-no — where do you think you're going!"
The chief grabbed Hong Gyeong-soo's arm in alarm, but the man simply carried on, cool as ever, eyes fixed on Kang Hyeong-seok.
"Put plainly, you don't need two knives to butcher one ox. I go, Donggwan stays. Cleanest way, no?"
"M-Master Shaman!"
"Let go, will you, there."
Irritated, Hong Gyeong-soo shook off the chief's arm and stuck a fresh cigarette between his lips. Then, taking in the crowd — half bewildered, half shooting Kang Hyeong-seok accusing looks — he lit it.
"You rotten bastards — where do you get off glaring at him like that!"
The thunderous roar snapped every gaze onto him at once.
"Do you even know who this man is! A great shaman — and a Daemugyeok at that, one you'll never lay eyes on again — not in your lifetimes, nor your children's, not till they die old and gray! A Daemugyeok, I say!"
A mugeok — the word for a male shaman. Hong Gyeong-soo, hammering the term home, jabbed a finger at Kang Hyeong-seok, the cords of his neck standing out.
"Know your place! A mugeok far greater than the likes of me is willing to stay in your village! Where do you get off squandering a golden opportunity with your shit-for-eyes judgment!"
Hong Gyeong-soo's fury bordered on excessive, and the villagers shut their mouths, unable to squeeze out a single word.
Then a few of them let their eyes drift toward Kang Hyeong-seok. Far softer than before. Eyes that seemed to think: if Hong Gyeong-soo, who was leaving, vouched for him this much, maybe it was safe to pin their hopes on this one after all.
"Ah, honestly. Tch."
Hong Gyeong-soo drew hard on his cigarette, then dropped his voice far lower than before.
"Now hear me well."
Having recaptured everyone's attention, Hong Gyeong-soo went on, eyes glinting.
"Take that man's word as outrankin' mine, always. Whatever he tells you to do, you do it. Unless you're keen on climbin' into a coffin the very same day as the person standin' beside you."
Having flung down that icy warning, Hong Gyeong-soo turned on Kang Hyeong-seok eyes gone cold and venomous. Then, without another word, he left the crowd behind and climbed into his car.
What on earth is he thinking...
A man with an agenda doesn't simply walk away. And if he'd had one at all, it could only have been to lay eyes on Kang Hyeong-seok with his own two eyes. But even that much failed to add up — his visit here had been arranged two months ago, so the timing was all wrong.
Don't tell me he matched his date to mine.
Waiting, all along, for the day Kang Hyeong-seok would come to this village. Curating a meeting that would pass as pure chance. Wasn't that exactly what Hong Gyeong-soo had been doing?
The thought having reached that far, Kang Hyeong-seok couldn't help but bore his gaze into Hong Gyeong-soo as the man got into the car.
Vrrrm!
Hong Gyeong-soo buckled his seatbelt, then rolled the window down and flung a glance at Kang Hyeong-seok.
"Well then, I'll be off. Do see to the cleanup nicely, won't you."
"..."
"And remember — this time, Donggwan, you're the magpie, the pheasant, and the swallow of Chiaksan all rolled into one."
Before Kang Hyeong-seok could even ask what that was supposed to mean—
"Oh, right — the fee I was promised. Twenty million won. Twenty million. Every last won of it goes to Donggwan, not a coin short. I told them to have it ready in cash, so don't you fret over taxes."
Hong Gyeong-soo held up two fingers toward the village chief, then pointed at Kang Hyeong-seok. Pay the money promised to me — pay it to him, in full.
Vroooom!
And just like that, Hong Gyeong-soo was gone.
Watching him vanish without a shred of hesitation, Kang Hyeong-seok found his clenched hand falling open, almost of its own accord. Whether from the weather or some other cause entirely, a clammy sweat had pooled along the lines of his palm.