Standing with his back to the rusty iron gate, Yamsaeng was fighting the sleepiness that was creeping in. At such a late hour, there was no knowing who would come to such a deserted place.
Yamsaeng was standing guard at the entrance of an abandoned factory. It was abandoned a long time ago, and it was a remote place with no streetlights, let alone people nearby. The only thing that lit up the pitch-black darkness was the faint moonlight and the sloppily stoked flames inside the dented drum.
Just then, a heavy iron door opened behind him and a man wearing a woolly hat pouted out.
“Yamsaeng-ah. Do you want to switch?”
“No.”
Despite the rejection, he steadfastly closed the iron door and came out. The woolly hat man standing next to him looked around. On the desolate vacant lot, there was only a pile of lumber scattered here and there and a van parked across the street. The woolly hat man, who had been staring into the darkness, hesitated for a moment, then turned his head and looked at Yamsaeng.
“Don’t do it.”
“What?”
“You just whistled.”
Yamsaeng frowned at the unexpected words.
“When did I? I don’t know how to whistle.”
“Huh? Did I hear wrong?”
As the woolly hat man tilted his head with a puzzled expression, Yamsaeng said.
“Isn’t it the sound of the wind?”
Before he could finish his sentence, a frighteningly chilly wind swept through the clearing. The woolly hat man shuddered and shook his body. There was a sudden chill in the air. While listening to the sound of the leaves shaking in the wind, Yamsaeng carefully opened his mouth.
“What about hyung?”
Instead of answering, the woolly hat man shook his head. Yamsaeng looked up at the sky with a complicated face. What the hell was he thinking? Yamsaeng had seen his hyung-nim, Kim Seonghun, for a not short period of time, but it was the first time he felt unfamiliar to him like today.
To be precise, it was yesterday morning.
The Kim Seonghun that Yamsaeng knew was a cheerful and honest person. Of course, he was flawed by his ignorance, as was usually the case with people who used fists. Kim Seonghun, who was talkative and liked to tease his subordinates, had been acting like a completely different person since yesterday. His blood-stained face had changed to a pale complexion overnight, and he hadn’t eaten or smiled. Everyone was surprised at his unusual appearance and asked what was going on, but Kim Seonghun only opened his eyes wide instead of answering.
In the afternoon, he left without a single word about going somewhere. It wasn’t until half a day had passed that he reappeared. Back at his office, Kim Seonghun had one of his subordinates be on standby for his car. When he asked where he was going, he only raised his finger and pointed in a direction. They drove as he instructed and arrived. The order to guard the gate was accompanied by an order to simply wait.
For some reason, there was no explanation as to what or who he was supposed to wait for. After giving blunt instructions, he headed to the warehouse inside the building, and when his men followed, he even sent them all out, saying he wanted to be alone. His demeanour was unusually harsh, and no one dared to approach him. The men took turns guarding the door.
It was quite a trouble to spend endless time waiting without knowing why. Just when Yamsaeng was relaxing by bending his stiff neck from side to side, the woolly hat man suddenly hit Yamsaeng on the shoulder and spat out profanities.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Ah, this asshole.”
“Qtja cbk?”
“Lbk vlv sbe ilf ab wf? Qbk, atlr yjrajgv. Tbe mjc jma.”
Ktf kbbiis tja rqbxf, uluuilcu.
“Qtja?”
“Qtja ‘ktja’, sbe yjrajgv? Vabq la, P’w cba ojiilcu obg la jcswbgf.”
“Qtja lr tf rjslcu cbk. Vqfjx rb P mjc ecvfgrajcv.”
“Tbe pera ktlraifv jujlc.”
Tjwrjfcu qea bc j ragjluta ojmf ja bcmf. Llr fzqgfrrlbc kjr jr atbeut jrxlcu ‘ktja cbcrfcrf jgf sbe ajixlcu jybea?’. Ktf ‘kbbiis tja wjc atja kjr milculcu ab tlw ribkis fgjrfv tlr rwlif. ‘P rkfjg P tfjgv j ktlraif? Rba bcmf, yea aklmf’… C offilcu bo lcvfrmglyjyif rfcrjalbc gjc vbkc tlr rqlcf.
“What whistling are you talking about since earlier? I don’t hear anything…”
Just when Yamsaeng wrinkled his brow and opened his mouth,
Pa-!
In an instant, everything in front of them turned white. Yamsaeng and the woolly hat man hurriedly covered their eyes from the sudden light.
“W- What?”
Intense headlights emanated from a van parked opposite the iron gate. Yamsaeng slowly lifted his tightly closed eyelids. What Yamsaeng, who barely opened his eyes, witnessed,
It was a strange figure standing on top of the car body.
He couldn’t see the unfamiliar person in the dark behind the headlights. All he could see was a vague shape. Was it the one his hyung-nim told him to wait for? While Yamsaeng, bewildered by the unexpected situation, was organising his thoughts, the unfamiliar figure jumped from the car body onto the bonnet.
With a thump, the first thing that caught his eye was the clean toe of his shoe.
“W- Who is it!”
The woolly hat man, belatedly noticing the unfamiliar figure, shouted at him. The stranger slid lightly off the bonnet and slowly walked out of the darkness. A tall, well-dressed man in a navy blue suit appeared.
He had both his hands in his trouser pockets and a crooked posture that did not match his formal appearance. The man raised his arm and spread a large palm near his shoulder.
“Hi?”
Yoon Taehee greeted them refreshingly.
***
Yamsaeng and the woolly hat man looked blankly at the man in front of them with speechless expressions. It was because the man had a grotesque appearance that did not suit his fancy attire. The curved eyebrows, the curved eyes, the crooked bulbous nose, and… A grinning expression.
It was a mask. The man was wearing a traditional mask that can only be seen in textbooks. Because the lower part of the mask was open, a straight chin and smiling lips. It was a bizarre combination that had never been heard of, a faded suit and a traditional mask. The two of them stood in a daze at the terrifying sight.
“What are you talking about? Who’s here?”
At that time, a voice came out from behind the two frozen people. The heavy iron door opened and the man who came out frowned in surprise. It was because of the headlights shooting from the front.
When the man who was covering the light with his hand noticed Yoon Taehee, he started to be visibly agitated like the previous two. That buzz cut man gave the woolly hat man a look demanding an explanation of the situation, but the latter only frowned and shook his head. He asked vigilantly.
“W- Who are you? Did hyung-nim call you here?”
Yoon Taehee stared down at the feet of the men without a word. All three had shadows under their feet. If so, that meant they were human. Besides, saying ‘hyung-nim’, ‘hyung-nim’, looking at the way they were acting… Yoon Taehee, who quickly guessed the situation with his eyes, slowly raised the corner of his mouth.
The report of the Undercover Department after completing the field investigation was as follows. The child, who was hospitalised, fell asleep after taking the medicine as usual. The birth mother of the child left him sleeping deeply and went out of the hospital room for a while, and then someone came to the hospital room where the child was left alone.
The person who visited the hospital room did not lay a finger on the child. However, if there was one thing that could be said to be unusual, it was that he took the doll that the child usually cherished. The person picked up the doll and left the hospital. This was confirmed by the video recorded on the CCTV at the hospital.
The Undercover Department secretly pursued him. The name of the man who came to the hospital room was Kim Seonghun. He was nothing more than an ordinary person, a local gangster who led a few of his subordinates and he had no connection with Jugyeong Construction.
After Kim Seonghun left the hospital room, the child fell unconscious.
Yoon Taehee, who was lost in his thoughts for a moment, opened his mouth.
“Mhm. Where is your hyung-nim?”
It was too light a tone for an answer that came after a long time.
Thanks to that, the impression of the ruggedly handsome man on the other men became even worse. A bizarre mask, a strangely rude attitude. Everything about him felt suspicious. But that would be too quick to judge. It was a situation where their hyung-nim did not give any information, and seeing that the person who came to visit him covered his face, it might be that he was plotting something secretly without their knowledge.
He was suspicious, but seeing that he appeared at the right time in such a remote place that was hard to find, he didn’t even know that he was the person hyung-nim was waiting for. It was a frustrating situation because they couldn’t understand their hyung-nim’s intentions. After thinking about it for a while, the buzz cut man nodded. It was a signal that he would guide him to their hyung-nim. As Yoon Taehee came closer, his tall frame was quite intimidating.
“W- Wait!”
At that time, the hesitant Yamsaeng called and stopped Yoon Taehee, who was about to enter through the door. The buzz cut man threw a questioning glance at him.
“Uh… th- the headlights… How did you do it?”
Yamsaeng rummaged through the padding he was wearing and took out his car key.
“I have the car keys, how did you turn on the headlights?”
Except for Yamsaeng, everyone looked like they had been smacked in the back of the head. The woolly hat man that was with Yamsaeng froze his mouth wide open, as if he finally understood the situation. As soon as they saw the man, they were overwhelmed for a moment and everyone else forgot his strange appearance.
A man who turned on the headlights of a car without a key and stood silently on top of the car body. Strangely, it wasn’t just that. This was a location that could not be reached without a car. But the man appeared with just his body.
“…”
The lips exposed under the mask slowly drew an arc.
“I know, right. How did I do it?”
Yoon Taehee turned his back and faced Yamsaeng. The other three flinched, their hands reaching for the dagger in his waistband. They were ready to jump out and subdue them.
“Oh, shall I show you something interesting?”
Yoon Taehee, who had been standing there rubbing his neck for a while, took something out of his suit jacket out of the blue. It was a small iron case. When he opened the lid, what was inside was a square post-it.
“This is very precious. I don’t use it most of the time because it’s something I got from the Ceremonial Instruments Department, but today I’ll show you something special. Because I’m in a good mood right now.”
While the subordinates exchanged glances at words they could hardly understand, Yoon Taehee peeled off his post-it notes one by one and put them between his fingers. There were a total of three pieces of memo he removed.
“Look closely, this surprise show with an interlude.”
Yoon Taehee spread his palm and placed the notes on it, then blew softly. The papers fluttered as if they would fly away at any moment from Yoon Taehee’s breath, and floated up one by one. It was an unbelievable sight to see with his own two eyes. The three sheets of paper floated in a row in the air and began to fold at the same time. The more the paper was folded, the smaller it became, and the shape became more complex.
After a series of processes, the finished product was a ‘bird’.
It was in perfect shape even without a fingertip touching it. It was incomparable to the ordinary paper department. Every part of the head, wings, and torso was delicately angled.
“Say hello, it’s called a black bird (黑忘鳥). It is literally a bird that forgets everything that happened in the dark when the day is bright. So, some people say that this bird is a foolish and pitiful bird…”
Yoon Taehee kindly began to explain, but the men didn’t seem to hear anything. The woolly hat man was rubbing his eyes and pinching his cheeks and making all sorts of fuss, and Yamsaeng and buzz cut man was completely stunned. As Yoon Taehee predicted, if this was a surprise show, it was a great success.
Yoon Taehee continued his words regardless of the reaction of the underlings.
“But I think a little differently. The night is the gutter of life. Most ugly things happen at night. You see things you shouldn’t see, or you come to know things you shouldn’t know… Well, in that sense, forgetting the night is not foolish and pitiful, but rather a blessing.”
The three paper birds did not even move an inch. It was as if they were frozen in a sealed vacuum. Yoon Taehee slowly stretched out his arm. When he gently touched the back of his hand, to one’s surprise, three paper birds fluttered and flapped their wings. The paper birds hovering around them landed lightly on the back of Yoon Taehee’s hand.
“Well then… These gangsters, shall we end the show?”
After finishing his words, Yoon Taehee flicked his fingertips. The paper birds sitting on the back of his hand folded their wings and shrank as if preparing to rise. Yoon Taehee hit his thumb and middle finger and made a click.
“The night is confiscated in the name of the exorcist.”
Yoon Taehee muttered insincerely.
Woah this is cool so far..
Thanks for the chapters!!
Taehees introduction is so damn awesome, like the way his casual demeanor is described ((o(°▽°)o))
Next! Hahahahaha! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️
❤️❤️❤️