The Exorcist's Offer
Click, fwoosh.
Shin Yo-sep lit a fresh cigarette.
The tiny flame eating away at its tip died with a sigh, and the bluish smoke he exhaled a moment later dissolved into the rain.
"I'm not simply asking you for a favor. I'm prepared to promise fair treatment—and fair compensation."
He pressed on in a low voice as Kang Hyeong-seok curled one corner of his mouth upward.
"All you have to do is promise to help me, and I could lock in a standing trade agreement with Daejeong Mulsan."
"What do you take me for—the chairman's son of Daejeong Mulsan?"
It was clearly not the reaction he had expected. A flicker of discomposure crossed Shin Yo-sep's eyes.
Priest or not, the man seemed to measure the whole world by his own yardstick—probably what came of being born and raised where he had been.
"Then let me offer you a new job instead. Double your current salary, as my personal secretary. What do you say?"
Wearing a smile as flimsy as a phantom's, Kang Hyeong-seok sipped his coffee and shook his head.
"With no trust between us? A job change is out of the question."
Few things in this world are as dangerous as a check that bounces.
It wasn't a move he was considering anyway, but if he took Shin Yo-sep at his word and jumped ship, he could well find himself left floating in midair when the promise evaporated.
Shin Yo-sep was surely aware of that too.
Which meant that opening with a check he couldn't cash was proof enough of just how badly he needed this.
"...In that case."
"Just say it. I'll listen first, then decide whether I'm helping or not."
Shraaaaaaah! The rain came down as though to sweep the whole world away.
The sky hung thick with black clouds, and though the hour didn't call for it, everything around them had gone dark as the dead of night before dawn.
In a world like that, Shin Yo-sep silently burned through his cigarette, then spoke.
"Earlier you asked whether there was a ghost I needed driven out. To be precise, there's a demon I need caught."
Kang Hyeong-seok let out a heavy breath and gave a small nod.
At last, the scattered, directionless cards seemed to be gathering in one place and laying themselves out into a picture.
"So you're an exorcist priest."
Shin Yo-sep's eyes widened as if the strike had landed true—and yet more than surprise, a faint smile settled on his lips, as if he were glad to have his true nature seen for what it was.
"Did you know because you're a mudang, or was that plain deduction?"
"You're hardly an ordinary man yourself."
The thought flitted through his mind—what kind of face would Kwak Young-ho make if he stumbled headlong into this conversation?
That was how unruffled Kang Hyeong-seok felt, treating Shin Yo-sep as an easy, equal counterpart as the talk rolled on.
"I've heard that people like us recognize our own kind."
It was something Lee Geum-kyeong had told him long ago.
The famed mansin had once mentioned in passing that she'd worked alongside priests before. And she'd added this: that she and the exorcist priest had each been able to dimly sense the other's identity long before either of them came out and said it.
"You hear it often enough, don't you—that your gi runs strong?"
Shin Yo-sep burst out laughing at that.
So it was true.
An exorcist priest is one who performs the rite of exorcism to cast out demons, and that work has more than a little in common with a mudang's. It was a calling no one without towering gi could even dream of, one that won scant recognition from the world and demanded self-sacrifice besides—and even then, he had to face down the most vicious of demons.
"Then why is a man of your caliber sitting on a directorship at Shinjin Construction?"
"Can't tell you that."
It wasn't an answer he truly needed. And Shin Yo-sep's face had darkened enough that pressing him any further felt cruel.
"So—can you help me?"
"When it comes to demons, I can't promise anything."
"The demon is mine to handle."
Shin Yo-sep said it heavily, his eyes unusually strained, and took a long pull on his cigarette.
"All you'd need to do is drive out the other evil spirits."
Kang Hyeong-seok looked down at his nearly empty coffee with something like regret, then gave a silent nod.
The fine details escaped him, but he remembered Lee Geum-kyeong's account of working with an exorcist priest. He couldn't say exactly what her part in it had been, but it seemed the collaboration existed precisely because each side's specialty was different.
"One thing I'm curious about—wouldn't your own headquarters normally be the ones to help with this?"
Shin Yo-sep shook his head, lips pressed into a hard line. Judging by his expression, the answer was no—and he had no intention of explaining.
"Whew."
"So. Will you help me or not?"
Kang Hyeong-seok knocked back what was left of his coffee and crushed the can.
Then he gave his answer with a slow, heavy nod.
This isn't somebody else's fight.
It was the kinship talking.
Kang Hyeong-seok was a mudang living among ordinary people; whatever his circumstances, Shin Yo-sep was a priest living in the secular world. They were alike yet endlessly different—and at the same time, uncannily the same.
The kinship born of that was reason enough not to turn away.
"I appreciate it."
"The logistics are on you."
As if drawing a line in the air, Kang Hyeong-seok raised the crushed can, pointed it at Shin Yo-sep, and swept it sideways.
"On the surface, the two of us are just office workers. Moving around during business hours is hard for me."
"Doesn't matter for me. I'm an executive."
"And what exactly am I supposed to do about that?"
That was simply the lot of a salaried man. And this was a problem for the inconvenienced party—Shin Yo-sep—to solve.
Shin Yo-sep nodded with a faint smile, and Kang Hyeong-seok lobbed the can into the bin tucked in the corner and snapped his umbrella open.
Shraaaaaaah! He stepped out into the rain.
Good grief, it was coming down hard.
And yet even with the umbrella over his head, he could feel it—just how intense Shin Yo-sep's gaze was as it bored into the back of his skull.
What solution Shin Yo-sep had dreamed up became clear first thing the very next morning.
"Assistant Manager Kang! Ah—no, wait. Manager Kang!"
He'd barely set foot in the office before Kwak Young-ho came to greet him, his face gone white.
"Hey! Ye—yesterday! What on earth did you do yesterday?!"
"You mean the Shinjin Construction thing?"
"Th—that! Aigoo! You unbelievable rascal!"
It was early, the office nearly empty, and Kwak Young-ho's voice echoed off the walls. He couldn't have cared less.
"They called us first thing this morning! I mean—just—wow. Words. I don't have the words!"
The door banged open and Shin Jeong-ah trudged in, her face drained of all life.
"Good mor-ning, everyone."
"Manager Shin! Come on in!"
"Boss, did something good happen? I could hear you all the way from the hallway."
"You bet there is!"
So his eyes really could sparkle like that.
Kang Hyeong-seok was marveling inwardly at this never-before-seen sight when it came.
"Manager Kang landed us a contract! Shinjin Construction wants to open a trade line with us!"
"I'm sorry—what?"
The languor burned clean off Shin Jeong-ah's face, and Kwak Young-ho's shoulders squared even further.
"And they said they're hoping to build a long relationship with us. The people upstairs are in an uproar—total chaos up there!"
Kwak Young-ho kneaded Kang Hyeong-seok's shoulder again and again, his face glowing with pride.
"Aigoo, you precious kid! How do you land a deal with a monster of a company in one swing?"
This was the point of contact Shin Yo-sep had cooked up: establish a trade relationship between the two companies first. Once that was in place, Shinjin Construction would be a client of Daejeong Mulsan, and there would be nothing strange about extending a helping hand to Kang Hyeong-seok whenever the need arose.
But Kwak Young-ho knew none of that.
Which meant the answer had better be good.
"It was nothing, really."
"Nothing, my foot!"
"We just talked easily, is all. Turns out I had some history with their company."
"With Shinjin Construction?"
The look in the man's eyes demanded the full story, so Kang Hyeong-seok glanced at Shin Jeong-ah before going on.
"Yes. Actually, I met my uncle over the last holiday too."
"And what does that... what's that got to do with Shinjin Construction?"
"He works there. One of their workers fell into critical condition, so my uncle and I rushed over and pulled him through."
"Aha! So that's how it all came together?"
He left out the parts about the cursed liquor and the curse behind it. Even so, the incident had been massive enough that a man like Kwak Young-ho could follow it without trouble.
"From the sound of it, they're reaching out because I helped stop a major accident at their company."
"Aigoo. Sounds like it was serious."
"The worker ended up hospitalized."
"Aigoo, aigoo."
Kwak Young-ho clutched Kang Hyeong-seok's shoulder yet again, his face soft with admiration.
"This is exactly why a man ought to live decently, day in and day out. You really are marked for great things. And I always knew it—that boy's going to hit the big time one of these days!"
Shin Jeong-ah, who knew exactly what had actually happened, turned her head with an odd look in her eyes—but nobody else caught it.
Then—
Ziiiiiing! Kwak Young-ho's phone went off.
"Hello?"
He picked up without a thought, and a heartbeat later his eyes had gone round as saucers as they swung to Kang Hyeong-seok.
"Yes, yes. He's right here beside me. Pardon? Right now? This minute? Ah—of course! Naturally that's fine!"
With Kang Hyeong-seok and Shin Jeong-ah staring at him in bewilderment, Kwak Young-ho hung up and spoke in a rush.
"Manager Kang, Shinjin Construction is asking for you."
"What?"
"Get moving and wait out in front of the building. Their director is on his way over."
Kwak Young-ho bustled about like a man with flames licking at his heels—and yet his smile stretched so wide it nearly touched his ears, as if he were savoring every second of this.
"I suppose they want another look at you before the contract's signed. Whatever they ask, answer sincerely and thoroughly, and leave them a good, generous impression! Understood?"
Kwak Young-ho, who couldn't have dreamed of what had passed between Shin Yo-sep and Kang Hyeong-seok the day before, went so far as to add that plea.
Truth be told, Kang Hyeong-seok wasn't the only one in this arrangement whose temper was best left untested.
"Fighting!"
Out in front of the building, Kwak Young-ho even pumped his fist in the air to see him off.
Watching him go, Kang Hyeong-seok let out a short laugh, shoulders shaking, utterly dumbfounded.
"Hah."
What a strange feeling.
He'd assumed a company that size would move like a glacier, yet barely a single night had passed since his conversation with Shin Yo-sep.
They had, he supposed, talked everything through.
And still Shin Yo-sep, impatient as all that, was showing up at the crack of dawn.
The deep, weighty growl reached him first: a luxury imported SUV was gliding closer from down the street, easing off its speed as it came.
A corporate car, its license plate the pale green reserved for company vehicles.
With a soft whir, the passenger window of the SUV, now stopped in front of the building, slid down—and there was Shin Yo-sep's face at the wheel.
A designer logo glinted on the arm of his sunglasses.
"What are you waiting for? Get in."
At a tone far more familiar than yesterday's, Kang Hyeong-seok climbed into the passenger seat wearing an odd expression.
Ah. This one even splurges on the air freshener.
"What is all this, first thing in the morning? Don't you have work to do?"
"Work is what the employees are for."
"And you're not an employee?"
"My father is the chairman of Shinjin Construction."
"That much I'd gathered."
"I know. I'm bragging."
Kang Hyeong-seok fixed him with a look that plainly said, you little—
With the sunglasses on and his face perfectly blank, there was no telling whether the man was joking or dead serious.
"So what is it you couldn't say over the phone?"
The engine hummed and the passenger window rose as Shin Yo-sep pulled away.
"You heard that we've signaled our intent to sign, yes?"
"How could I have missed it."
"We'll put pen to paper before the day is out. Mostly insulation materials and exterior cladding. Call it three billion won all told."
Big, if you wanted to call it that.
What mattered more was that a door had opened with a client the size of Shinjin Construction. That was why a department head like Kwak Young-ho had been over the moon, carrying on the way he had.
"That's the story on the surface. Think of the real contract as the one between you and me."
Shin Yo-sep, perhaps finding them a bother, pulled off his sunglasses and revealed his narrow, half-lidded eyes. Then his gaze slid to Kang Hyeong-seok.
"I've shown my good faith. So it's only right that you show me yours."
Just then, a muffled rustling drifted up from the back seat.
Kang Hyeong-seok turned—and there sat a single paper shopping bag.
Something about it snagged his attention in the strangest way, and while his eyes stayed locked on it, Shin Yo-sep gestured for him to take a look.
Rustle.
Kang Hyeong-seok drew the bag over and opened it. Inside lay things he knew all too well.
The Divine General Blade and the sacred shaman bells. And the five-colored banners.
"Ritual implements, aren't they?"
"Show me a little of what you can do."
Kang Hyeong-seok studied him, brow drawn tight.
Shin Yo-sep's eyes gleamed softly with anticipation.