SATURDAY 82

“CEO Lee!”

Mother cried out, her face turning pale. It was almost pitiful to see her quickly checking the Shaman’s reaction. I realized once again that Mother served the Shaman with true desperation.

Mr. Taeseon took a cell phone from his pocket, turned on the screen, and showed a photo to Mother and Father.

I caught a glimpse of it too, but it was an unfamiliar face. The person in the photo was in a place that looked like a factory, holding something in his hand and pushing it into a narrow gap.

“There was an accident at the Jeongeup plant due to a lithium battery explosion as well. This is part of the footage captured on CCTV at that time. He is compressing the battery, which, as you know, is an extremely dangerous action. It can easily lead to an explosion.”

“The footage was definitely lost….”

Father muttered with a frown. Mr. Taeseon played the video without a word. Amidst the noisy factory sounds, a man was compressing a lithium battery so clearly that he couldn’t even make an excuse.

The area around it was entirely filled with flammable materials, and not long after the man left his spot, smoke began to rise from the battery before it exploded, surrounding the vicinity in flames.

Mother and Father stared at the video with their mouths hanging open.

“On the logistics side, there was also a series of truck accidents. This doesn’t even require deep thought. A truck driver was asked to cause an accident, and the drivers who accepted caused accidents, whether large or small.”

Mr. Taeseon played the next video. A man who appeared to be in his fifties, with a shaved head and piercing eyes, appeared on the screen. Mother and Father’s eyes widened. I obviously didn’t know the faces of all the truck drivers, but I knew that man.

This was because, one year, he had been chosen as an outstanding driver at the company’s year-end ceremony and received an award from Mother.

— I was offered 50 million to 100 million won depending on the severity of the accident if I caused an intentional crash, but I did not comply. After that, there was workplace bullying for a while.

— Who made such a proposal?

— It was a stranger. I even asked who was doing this, but he said he was just an errand boy and didn’t know anything.

“Now, this is the background of how the Jeongeup plant fire and the truck chain accidents occurred. They are fabricated misfortunes.”

“That makes no sense…!”

Mother shouted, but Mr. Taeseon spoke with a face that had suddenly turned as cold as ice.

“And it makes sense that a kid not even twenty years old had some transcendental power to bring these things about?”

“….”

Back then…. when that incident happened, I was nineteen. I remember I was still attending high school. However, even before I could see the news, I was called home from school and immediately seized by the Shaman and dragged to a prayer site on Inwang Mountain.

He said that this time, the calamity that had befallen the house was no ordinary matter, and that I must have done something. I didn’t even know what had happened until I arrived at the prayer site shaded by layers of rocks and thick tree branches.

When I returned home after performing an exorcism for three days at the prayer site, the Shaman sprinkled salt and red beans on me in front of the entrance.

After enduring all of that and entering the house, Inha was watching a variety program in the living room. Amidst the crashing sounds of laughter, Inha looked back at me, frowned, and muttered. ‘You look like a total beggar’.

Actually, I did look quite ridiculous.

My clothes and shoes were damp from the drizzling rain that had fallen for three days, my body was dirty because I hadn’t been able to wash, and salt and red bean grains were stuck all over me because the Shaman had sprinkled so much. Furthermore, because I had been beaten with peach branches, every visible part of me was full of bruises and scratches.

And because I had been continuously praying and bowing, my school uniform was torn and crumpled here and there, and covered in dry grass.

Even my fingernails were packed with dirt, and my hair was a mess with soil, leaves, and dry grass… calling me a beggar wasn’t for nothing.

It was only after I came home and washed that I learned what had happened at the company. The Shaman said that I had brought in a very terrible evil god without even knowing it myself. He claimed that the desire to torment others had piled up inside me and caused such a thing.

From that day until today, until this moment arrived, I had forgotten about that incident. But hearing Mr. Taeseon’s words, it felt strange. I caused such a huge thing just with my thoughts? Without even openly wishing for it, and without me even knowing?

Then, if I were to hate someone to death, what would happen to that person?

When I was a high school student, I was quietly bullied. At that time, I sometimes thought that I hated someone. The kids who took the lead in harassing and mocking me, or who stole my belongings. However, nothing ever happened to those kids.

Mr. Taeseon spoke again.

“This isn’t the only evidence. As I investigated, it reached an absurd level.”

“…Hand it over!”

While Mr. Taeseon was operating his cell phone, the Shaman suddenly lunged at him and tried to snatch the phone away. Naturally, Mr. Taeseon jerked the phone upward and lightly pushed the Shaman away.

“Shaman!”

The Shaman stumbled but did not fall.

“Why don’t you try to guess what’s in here with that great divine reading of yours?”

“…!”

Glancing at the Shaman who was gritting his teeth, Mr. Taeseon tucked the phone back into his pocket and said.

“There are records of cash entering the truck drivers’ bank accounts.”

“Ha! What bank accounts….”

Instantly, the atmosphere turned chilling, and the faces of the Shaman and the Professor turned pale. Mother and Father also looked at the two of them with strange eyes for a moment.

“Ah, I misspoke. You gave the money through subway lockers, didn’t you?”

“….”

He had fallen beautifully for Mr. Taeseon’s words. After a short silence, the Shaman suddenly approached me. Then, he grabbed my arm and dragged me away, then pushed my chest thump thump as he pressed me.

“You! You, what did you do to CEO Lee? You seductive thing.”

Both my uncle, who suddenly had me taken away from him, and Mr. Taeseon’s expressions changed in an instant.

“Huh? I’m asking what you did!”

The Shaman continued to push my chest while shouting terrifyingly, but Mr. Taeseon strode over, fiercely grabbed the Shaman’s arm, and pushed him against the wall just like that.

“Shaman!”

Mother, Father, and the Professor cried out simultaneously. In the meantime, Mr. Taeseon pulled me into his arms and glared terrifyingly at the Shaman. Uncle also hurriedly approached and worried over me.

The Shaman exhaled, stood up straight, straightened his clothes, and said in a much calmer voice.

“CEO Lee, there is something you don’t know. I’m telling you this because people like you are particularly easy to bewitch, but weren’t you attracted to that child as soon as you saw him?”

“What about it?”

“You are currently possessed by a ghost.”

My heart sank for a moment. It couldn’t be true, but what if Mr. Taeseon believed those words? However, Mr. Taeseon held me tight in his arms and let out a chuckle. His heart was beating quite fast, as if he were managing his anger.

“Don’t think about playing tricks and you’d better confess honestly to Father-in-law and Mother-in-law before it’s too late.”

“Can you still not snap out of it, CEO Lee? I told you that child is not a person!”

“Mother, Father. I will be going now. I know it is still hard to believe. I will send a few more videos through my secretary. Whether you watch them or not is your choice, but you will regret it if you don’t.”

For some reason, my energy was completely drained. Feeling extremely tired, I bowed to Mother and Father.

“I’ll be going now….”

But just then, Mother leaned forward almost as if she were going to fall off the bed and stretched her arm toward me.

“Inha!”

“….”

A moment of silence followed. Mr. Taeseon’s expression hardened, and Uncle’s face twisted into a deep grimace. I stared at Mother blankly.

“Inha, don’t go, stay with Mother….”

“Mother.”

Mother flinched and her eyes trembled. Mother had called me Inha even though she knew I wasn’t Inha.

“I’m Inyoung, Mother.”

“….”

“Mother, do you remember that incident? It was so trivial that you might have forgotten… on Christmas when I was six, you bought me the exact same doll you bought for Inha. Do you perhaps remember that?”

“What, what are you….”

“Inha cried so much when he saw it that eventually the large doll was thrown away…. and Mother bought me a doll smaller than that, the size of a palm.”

Mother’s eyes widened as if she only just remembered. This was a secret between only Mother and me. Later, when Inha found out, he claimed I had stolen that doll from somewhere, and Mother pretended not to know. In the end, I had to endure severe corporal punishment for the crime of stealing.

“How do you know that, Inha….”

“…You know.”

Mother flinched and her body trembled.

“You know, Mother. Don’t pretend you don’t.”

“….”

“Inha is dead.”

At that, Mother stared at me blankly for a while, then said as if muttering.

“No?”

“….”

“No? Inha didn’t die.”