1440 - Chapter 39

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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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Episode 39
“Why? Why are you doing this? Why?!”
The injustice burned. She had lived without a shred of shame.
She had never wronged a soul.
Even her investigations into corruption had been conducted with integrity—she’d started uncovering corporate malfeasance to protect those being exploited unfairly, nothing more.
To die like this felt so unbearably unjust.
As Ja-yoon wailed her anguish, a powerful blow struck her back, and she pitched forward into the pit she’d dug herself. She fell.
“Aaahhh!”
Before she could register what had happened, she was flat on her back, staring at the black sky. Her spine hit the hard, stone-studded earth with force, pain blooming across her chest.
“Ugh, h-huh… I won’t let this slide. I won’t.”
Ja-yoon forced her blurred eyes open despite the tears. Even if she died, she needed to know who was killing her. But the sky above held no one. Only dirt and dead leaves tumbled through the darkness, silhouetted against the starless night.
“…!”
The soil crackled as it fell. Handful after handful of earth—the dirt she herself had excavated—began raining down onto Ja-yoon as she lay with her hands folded across her chest.
Fine particles of soil pressed into her nose, her mouth. At the same moment, her heart twisted as if crushed in a vise. She couldn’t breathe. Even the musty smell of earth vanished.
***
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Yeon-su bounded up and down in place, two enormous kitchen knives gripped in his hands. As they struck blade-against-blade with sharp metallic shrieks, he suddenly jerked his head back and came to an abrupt halt.
The sleeves of his five-colored ritual robe—donned for the occasion—fell as his body stilled, and the large blade he held was swiftly hidden within the flowing fabric.
He slowly lowered his head and removed his ritual hat, running his fingers through his tousled hair and sweeping it back. His gaze fell upon the object resting on the table before him.
It was the Spirit Doll, fed on his blood. The straw figure, no larger than a man’s wrist, bore a Name Slip and lay upon a crimson talisman.
A thin cord encircled its neck, and it rested neatly inside a narrow, coffin-like box—positioned as though a corpse laid in state.
Yeon-su placed the two kitchen knives crossed atop it, then turned his gaze to Cha Ji-hee, who sat at a distance across from him.
She held her phone, watching a video—the recording of Hong Ja-yoon weeping that had played moments before.
“You’ll be able to confirm the success in tomorrow morning’s news. Though since it occurred in a rural area, it won’t garner much attention.”
At Yeon-su’s words, Ji-hee’s carefully painted lips curved into a smile.
“That’s better, actually. This needed to end quietly and cleanly, didn’t it? The Baek Clan’s skill remains as formidable as ever.”
“Thank you.”
As Yeon-su bowed, Ji-hee continued.
“But I want something more certain than a news article.”
Ordinarily, a Curse Ritual employed the blood of poultry or swine, yet she had fed this one the blood of Yeon-su himself, a Mudang—a shaman. The potency of such a curse could not be doubted. And hadn’t she witnessed in real time, through the video feed, Hong Ja-yoon’s death unfold before her eyes?
Ji-hee’s meticulousness, her relentless intensity—Yeon-su felt a sigh building deep within, but he suppressed it and smiled quietly instead.
“Then I’ll provide you with photographs of the body and the address of the funeral home. There’s nothing more certain than that.”
At this, Ji-hee finally nodded with satisfaction. She rose and was escorted from the Ritual Chamber by her secretary.
Once she had left, In-eum and Yeon-hyeong, who had been witnessing Yeon-su’s Curse Ritual, approached. They examined the talismans, ritual implements, and Spirit Doll he had created.
In-eum straightened from his inspection and smiled with approval.
“It’s become quite credible now. It’s different from our family’s Curse Technique, certainly, but this is formidable indeed.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Yeon-hyeong, too, must have sensed the power emanating from the fetish, for the sneer that had begun to curl his lip faltered and twisted downward instead.
Yeon-su’s work appeared flawless—a curse without flaw or weakness. The Spiritual Power he had cultivated through his training felt exceptional.
Was one permitted to wield Spiritual Power for such purposes? Even he, lacking a Spirit Guide, paid dearly for curses when karmic recoil came for him. Why should this man, blessed with a Guardian Spirit, feel no fear of consequence?
Yet what Yeon-su suffered—recoil or misfortune—was no concern of his. If anything, Yeon-hyeong found himself wishing the man would meet with karmic backlash and calamity.
At first he’d merely wondered why Yeon-su had returned at all, but now the man grated on his nerves far more than was reasonable.
Yeon-su felt Yeon-hyeong’s hostile stare but deliberately did not meet it. The work had exhausted him; he wanted only to rest peacefully in familiar arms.
***
Thwack!
A dull, explosive sound echoed through the quiet mountain.
“Are you out of your mind?!”
“……”
Yeon-su kept his head turned sharply to the right, chin lowered for a long moment.
Pain was trivial; but raising his head too casually now would only inflame the woman before him further. Best to wait.
As predicted, an agitated Hong Ja-yoon—her hands torn and ragged from digging—didn’t hesitate. She lifted her palm again and slapped his cheek once more.
The crack was so sharp that O Sang-hyeong, who had been standing nearby with a cigarette, dropped it in shock.
Ja-yoon shook out her own throbbing fist toward the empty air and cursed.
“You insane bastards! Ahhh! Ahhh!”
What followed was a torrent of profanity so crude one might question whether a journalist should ever speak such language. Yeon-su allowed her to vent her shock and fury in this manner.
Deok-u, who had arrived at the mountain slightly after Yeon-su, set down his makeup kit and watched carefully. Only then did Yeon-su calm Ja-yoon and apologize.
“I’m sorry. It was necessary to make it appear authentic, but I understand it must have been deeply traumatic for you. My sincerest apologies.”
Ja-yoon let out an incredulous laugh.
These men had kidnapped her from her home to the mountain, subjected her to bizarre sorcery until she was half-possessed, and nearly let her die for real.
She pointed an accusing finger at the grave she’d been buried in just an hour before.
“Of course I heard the whole explanation from that bearded fellow, I heard it all right. But what if I’d actually died? What’s the difference between the one who ordered this and you, the one who actually did it?!”
“That would never have happened.”
38
Hong Ja-yoon grew even more irritated at Yeon-su’s composed tone, despite having struck him twice across the face.
Every time she opened her mouth, the dirt clinging to her face released a stale, musty smell that only infuriated her further. Was it enough that he stayed calm?
“How can you possibly guarantee that? When my throat was being squeezed, when the earth was smothering me and I couldn’t breathe—I really felt like I was dying?!”
The methods had been unrealistic, almost absurd. The fact that she’d just learned curses could actually drive someone to the brink of death was part of why Ja-yoon’s agitation had reached such a fever pitch.
It chilled her to the bone.
That she could die at any moment on someone else’s whim, without ever knowing it.
No matter how carefully she locked her doors, how cautiously she crossed streets, how strictly she avoided food offered by strangers—there existed dangers she could never escape.
Watching Ja-yoon tremble as the chill ran through her body, Yeon-su explained in his flat, measured voice.
“I was controlling it the whole time. There was never any real danger of death. Still, I’m truly sorry.”
She had no more strength left to be angry at a man who said nothing but apologies no matter what. Ja-yoon simply collapsed where she stood, her body still quivering with rage.
Deok-u approached quietly with a bottle of water. Ja-yoon eyed it with suspicion, but knowing he could kill her anytime if he wanted to, she gave up and drank anyway.

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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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