1440 - Chapter 36

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 36
He’d followed her and bugged her conversations to gather information.
Cha Ji-hee couldn’t stand the sight of that journalist. Her husband had fallen in love genuinely, unmistakably so. Lost in love, blind to everything else, he spent each day thinking of nothing but that woman—wearing the same look in his eyes he’d worn when they were courting in his twenties, that fervent gaze now fixed on a photograph of the journalist.
Finally, even Cha Ji-hee felt the crisis deepening. Seizing his credit cards and locking him in the house wouldn’t be enough.
Cha Ji-hee hired the Detective Agency to intimidate the journalist. She’d even asked a supposedly renowned shaman to perform a Ritual Hex. But the more she did, the more the journalist burned with rage and defiance. She wasn’t the type to be frightened by such things.
“And my husband—if that woman so much as gets a little hurt, he finds out somehow and throws a fit. He calls her pitiful, calls her pathetic. Ha. Real madness should at least be dignified, shouldn’t it? Getting aroused by a girl who looks thirty years younger than me!”
“Ahem.”
In-eum cleared his throat awkwardly, and Cha Ji-hee fell silent. The journalist’s injuries came entirely from the people she’d sent and the Curses she’d commissioned, yet Cha Ji-hee showed no concern for that whatsoever. For her, only her own suffering mattered.
After a moment of composing herself, she spoke again.
“I can’t bear to see my husband caring for that woman, putting effort into her anymore. My heart hurts too much.”
“Then what resolution are you seeking?”
Cha Ji-hee had already tried the Ritual Hex at another Shamanic Clan House. So In-eum asked her directly to state precisely what she wanted.
Cha Ji-hee bit her lip, pride stung at having to speak such words aloud. But soon enough, she delivered her request with clear, measured syllables.
“Kill her. My husband is only temporarily bewitched. Erase that seductive creature from this world entirely.”
……
With each word from the woman’s mouth, Yeon-su felt the rise of nauseating revulsion. The malice pouring from Cha Ji-hee choked the breath from him. Though she was a living person, not a vengeful spirit, the stench of her malice was almost palpable.
Apart from that suffocating reek, his stomach twisted. Looking at Cha Ji-hee brought to mind Yang Mi-ju, who had jealously cursed and tormented her own mother.
His mother, who had fled to avoid bringing any trouble to the Baek Family House. His father, who had torn him away from such a mother. And Yang Mi-ju, who had taken everything and yet remained unsatisfied, pouring curses upon his mother until she became… this.
Yeon-su’s teeth ground together. Fortunately, all eyes were fixed on Cha Ji-hee’s display of tears; no one noticed his face hardening.
Cha Ji-hee emphasized once more that she didn’t care about the method or cost—she simply begged them to kill the woman—and rose to leave.
Yeon-hyeong, who had been bowing respectfully until she completely departed, lifted his head the moment the three of them were alone and snickered.
“Why don’t you handle this one, Baek Yeon-su?”
Yeon-su wanted nothing more than to do it himself. But he could sense another reason behind Yeon-hyeong’s words—his face was twisted with contempt.
When Yang Mi-ju had tormented Yeon-su’s mother, Yeon-hyeong had tormented Yeon-su himself. Growing up watching his own mother mistreat his younger brother’s mother, he’d clearly come to believe he could treat his brother however he wished.
And that hadn’t changed. Baek Yeon-hyeong knew that Yeon-su was sinking into melancholy, seeing in Cha Ji-hee a reflection of what he and his mother had done. Yet he deliberately needled his brother, jeering at him anyway.
“It suits you perfectly. This time, let your competent younger brother handle it while I rest easy. Father, what do you say we let this capable fellow solve it?”
Of course, Baek In-eum bore the greatest fault and responsibility for creating this wretched family tree. But a man with any conscience wouldn’t have created the mess in the first place.
Even now, In-eum didn’t suspect he was treating himself as Cha Ji-hee was treating her husband. He simply believed his firstborn was generously yielding to his second son.
Such thick fraternal love was itself a testament to his own good parenting. Moreover, In-eum was pleased with how Yeon-su handled matters. He had no reason to object.
“Yes. You handle it, Yeon-su. That lady is one of our Shamanic Client House’s major patrons, so handle it thoroughly and well.”
“Yes, Father.”
Yeon-su, who had already planned to resolve all requests himself, answered quietly. Yeon-hyeong laughed mockingly at this.
“If you find it too difficult, tell your brother. I’ll help you out. I’m quite skilled at such curses, you know.”
“Thank you, brother.”
Yeon-su offered a polite bow, words empty of sincerity, then said he needed to prepare and rose from his seat first.
It was unusual for Yeon-su, who always waited for In-eum and Yeon-hyeong to leave before departing last, to show such obvious emotion. But he couldn’t remain seated any longer.
—Yeon-su. Mother is fine.
His mother, speaking those words while patting his shoulder with hands ravaged by inflammation. His mother, who walked with a permanent limp from lasting damage to one leg. Her once-beautiful face now scarred beyond recognition, aging twenty years beyond her years, worn down by suffering…
And in stark contrast, Yang Mi-ju’s unblemished hands. Her flawless skin. The elegant dress of a wealthy matron. And Baek In-eum, who kept her at his side while still daring to covet his own mother, then cruelly abandoning her to wither away in poverty.
35
Yeon-su returned to his room and stood before the mirror. The face reflected back was half In-eum’s—dark with expression, regarding itself with contempt.
Half of it bore his mother’s delicate features, but the build, the high cheekbones, the masculine bone structure were pure In-eum.
He couldn’t look any longer. His fist flew without thought.
Crash!
The sickening face shattered; the mirror splintered and cracked radiating from the point of impact, the reflection warping grotesquely. Blood-stained glass shards cascaded onto the sink, fragmenting further.
It felt good. The pain of his torn knuckles barely registered. Wouldn’t it be even more satisfying to drag these sharp edges across his own face?
Just as he was sinking into such self-destructive fantasy, he heard footsteps behind him. Light steps, but hurried ones—bounding up the stairs in haste.
No, surely not.
When Yeon-su turned, a man appeared in the bathroom doorway, his face stiffening the instant he saw blood dripping from Yeon-su’s hand. He started to enter barefoot, but Yeon-su came to his senses.
“Wait, please! There are so many glass shards right now… I’ll come out.”
He barely stopped the man from entering, then brushed away the glass fragments clinging to his hands and clothes. He turned on the water and held his wound under the running stream.
As he held it there long enough for even the finest slivers to wash away, the man clenched his fists as if he were the one in pain.
Fortunately, it appeared to be only a minor injury—once the blood was washed away, the wound seemed shallower than expected.
He removed the glass-spattered shirt and set it carelessly in the sink, then stepped out of the bathroom, where the man enfolded his hand with both of his own.
“It’s fine. Just some bleeding; the actual wound isn’t…”
The man shook his head firmly at Yeon-su’s words. He kept hold of Yeon-su’s wrist and led him downstairs together. In the man’s room lay the First Aid Kit Yeon-su had used to treat him before.
The man settled Yeon-su onto his soft bedding as he usually did for him, then opened the First Aid Kit and retrieved disinfectant. He placed a towel beneath and thoroughly applied the disinfectant, letting it bubble and foam over the wound.
When Yeon-su flinched at the sting, the man patted his back and arm repeatedly as if to say, Just bear it a little longer.
Beneath those touches, Yeon-su felt his turbulent, complicated heart gradually settling.
The man tended the wound with practiced efficiency. He disinfected, applied medicine, and wrapped it with a bandage neither too tight nor too loose.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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