1440 - Chapter 40

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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 40
Ja Yoon drained the bottle in long, satisfied gulps, then fixed her gleaming eyes on the wound that remained across her palm.
“This is what Cha Ji-hee wanted, then?”
“Yes. And because of it, you’ll need to fake your death for a while.”
The moment the shamanic ritual ended, Yeon Soo had rushed up the mountainside to escape Baek Ga’s notice, still wearing the ceremonial robes without time to change. He gathered the cumbersome fabric folds and tucked the discarded tall hat neatly into his waistband.
Ja Yoon watched Yeon Soo arrange his shamanic garments with practiced ease, then posed another question.
“Why should I do that? I could go straight to the police and report this right now.”
At that, Yeon Soo looked at her as though questioning whether she was serious. Ja Yoon felt suddenly like a foolish student.
“And tell them what? That Cha Ji-hee tried to kill me using Dark Sorcery? Incitement to murder? Sorcery as a murder method doesn’t meet the legal elements—the murder charge itself wouldn’t stand. Without the murder charge, incitement to murder wouldn’t be established either.”
“…Ah. You know the law well.”
Yeon Soo shrugged once and gazed down the mountainside.
Though invisible from here, Baek Ga lay below. He’d lied to Cha Ji-hee, claiming he was conducting business in some remote rural corner, when in truth he’d been just behind the compound the entire time.
Though he maintained an even tone to apologize to Ja Yoon as respectfully as possible, Yeon Soo’s mind was actually churning with complexity.
The mountain he now stood upon was part of Odae Mountain, famous for channeling the Dragon God’s power. Yet……
‘I don’t feel the presence.’
More precisely, he felt no sanctity from the mountain spirit.
Even as he offered apologies and explanations to Ja Yoon, he’d been continuously searching for the mountain spirit’s essence. He’d sensed something amiss when observing the mountain from Byeol Chae, but coming up to verify it himself struck him with far greater dismay.
There was no mountain spirit here. The shaman’s ground of Baek Ga had become land that the mountain spirit had abandoned.
Rather, what resembled the mountain spirit’s presence dwelt in Byeol Chae. He couldn’t explain why it felt that way, but Yeon Soo sensed vaguely that it touched upon the reason the man was sealed within that building.
Unaware of Yeon Soo’s complex thoughts, Ja Yoon asked once more.
“Then exactly how long? It seems you have some plan in mind. At any rate, our interests have to align for me to cooperate.”
Whether Ja Yoon cooperated or not wasn’t her decision to make. If Cha Ji-hee learned that Ja Yoon lived, she’d lodge another request, claiming the ritual had failed. Then In Eum or Yeon Hyung would step in and actually kill the real Ja Yoon.
But instead of explaining everything, Yeon Soo quickly laid out the terms.
“While I can’t give you evidence that establishes a murder charge, I can provide materials to expose a major corporation chairman’s Korean Shamanism scandal.”
Ja Yoon’s eyes gleamed.
Her country had a particular sensitivity to corporate and political corruption. She believed that sensitivity formed the foundation of rapid democratic transformation. In such a society, a corporate owner’s image was a matter of considerable importance.
If they could strike a major blow to that image? And with material as buzz-worthy as Korean Shamanism?
Then she’d be able to bring the remaining cases involving Cha Ji-hee and Goo Won Deuk properly into the light.
“You’re trying to make a deal for just that?”
Ja Yoon affected toughness, but Yeon Soo, already reading her honest intent in her eyes, laughed lightly.
“Yes. Let’s make that deal. And it’s not just pretending to die and hiding—you’ll need to hold a funeral as well. You don’t need to file a Death Report, but your parents will have to be filmed weeping and laying you to rest, captured on video evidence.”
“Damn it, I’m really getting the full death experience. This is insane, seriously.”
I’m a proper unfilial daughter. Ugh. Ja Yoon rapped her forehead with the hand not in a cast.
Though she didn’t know how that scene would be created, this man somehow seemed capable of it. Ja Yoon’s eyes scanned Yeon Soo up and down, seeking an explanation. But the answer came from Deok Woo instead.
“First you’ll get some corpse makeup done. We’ll take some photos. We’ll write up a fake news article and spread it online—don’t worry, the journalist’s identity won’t be revealed.”
“Tell your parents to keep the funeral simple, family only, and turn away visitors. Cha Ji-hee might send someone to spy, so you need to remind them they must maintain their grief at all times.”
Sang Hyung cut in.
“The embalming is fine—only family enters—but at the Crematory you’ll really need to cry. Can the journalist’s parents act?”
Sang Hyung posed the question without much hope, but Ja Yoon considered it seriously before nodding.
“I think they could manage.”
“Oh……”
At the unexpected response, Deok Woo expressed admiration and turned to Yeon Soo and Sang Hyung. Hearing only that reply, Sang Hyung immediately pulled out his phone. He needed to contact Kim Tae Gon, the doctor who would issue the Death Certificate.
Yeon Soo studied Ja Yoon intently, as though gauging whether they could truly proceed this way.
“My mother was also a journalist, and my father has always been the emotional type. He’s quick-witted too, and I think if he imagined ‘my daughter has died’ as a thought experiment, he’d really throw himself into it.”
Even at Ja Yoon’s words, Yeon Soo didn’t readily agree. Then Ja Yoon, who had been excitedly thrashing about at first, grew composed instead, watching for his reaction. Only then did his mouth open.
“Sincerely—this must succeed without fail. I’ve staked everything on this.”
“Don’t talk like that……”
Ja Yoon tried to laugh it off as if burdened by his words.
“If it fails, you’re just burying one case and moving on. But I lose the one single thing I’ve ever truly wanted in my entire life. Then I’m no different from dead.”
If she loses the man. If she can’t save him. If instead of saving him, she’s hunted forever by Baek Ga and lives a miserable life like her mother. Then is there any reason for her to live?
Yeon Soo’s eyes turned cold and hard. Seeing that gaze, Ja Yoon understood his words were no empty boast. In the eyes of a journalist who’d witnessed many people and many madmen, Yeon Soo appeared polite in speech yet somehow twisted in ways she couldn’t quite name.
“So…… let me just clarify. I play dead and hide for a while, then at a time you and I coordinate, I expose Cha Ji-hee’s corruption. All the evidence you give me is usable, yes? After that, what I do is your concern?”
“Yes. Just coordinate the timing of the exposure with me.”
“Fine, then. Let me see the quality of this evidence first. After that, we write up a contract and proceed.”
At Ja Yoon’s words, Sang Hyung produced the video evidence he’d prepared.
In footage that appeared to have been taken covertly, Cha Ji-hee handed money to In Eum, her voice ordering Ja Yoon’s death, and her smiling face as she watched video evidence of Ja Yoon screaming during the shamanic ritual.
Moreover, there were Financial Documents showing large withdrawals on the day Cha Ji-hee came to hire Baek Ga, and records of Baek Ga depositing an equivalent amount in cash after her visit.
This was enough to create a scandal vivid enough, even if establishing actual criminal liability proved difficult.
39
Ja Yoon examined the evidence and began reciting various contract conditions to Sang Hyung.
Yeon Soo felt a quiet relief wash over him. Ja Yoon was taking the situation far more flexibly than he’d expected—it seemed that having witnessed it firsthand, she could no longer dismiss the power of Korean Shamanism as mere falsehood.
Deok Woo was preparing makeup tools for the corpse when he glanced sideways at Yeon Soo. Catching that look, Yeon Soo smiled faintly.
“Why do you keep looking at me like that, all worried?”
“…Are you really going to be all right?”
Deok Woo had disapproved from the moment Yeon Soo announced he would descend the mountain once his training was complete. His old friend had spent months urging him not to do this, asking why they couldn’t simply live in quiet obscurity. Even now, Deok Woo seemed anxious about Yeon Soo’s resolve to stand against Baek Ga.
But Yeon Soo understood that concern, so he harbored no resentment. He only patted Deok Woo’s shoulder gently and said one thing.
“I live for her.”

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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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