Chapter 11
Unlike the excited Hae-an, Bari remained completely calm.
Bari shook off her wrist from his grip and casually curled up the corners of her lips. That smile looked like she didn’t care at all, which made Hae-an’s mood drop straight into the underworld.
“Choi Kang-ho. Go outside for a moment.”
Hae-an signaled to Kang-ho, who was still dazed. Kang-ho instinctively nodded and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Hae-an grabbed Bari’s wrist again.
“Isn’t touching someone without permission a crime?”
Bari lifted her chin and shot back in a cold tone.
“Yeah. It isn’t.”
“What?”
“The police authority in Korea exists for situations like this.”
Hae-an suddenly leaned in closer. He noticed Bari’s slight confusion, something unlike her usual self, but he didn’t even raise an eyebrow and carefully examined her face. As expected, Kim Bari’s features overlapped with a woman buried deep in his distant past.
“Unless it’s a doppelgänger, there’s no way two people can look this alike.”
When he was young, Hae-an had an IQ over 150 and was once offered membership in Mensa as the youngest candidate. A genius from birth, his monstrous memory was still intact. So his conclusion—that the woman from the past and Kim Bari were the same person—felt absolutely correct.
“I need an explanation.”
“What explanation?”
“This situation. Right now.”
Hadn’t she shown him enough that he should have realized it himself?
Annoyed, Bari twisted her wrist out of his grip. Hae-an raised his voice without realizing it.
“Answer what I’m asking! Ha….”
Barely suppressing his rising emotions, Hae-an closed his eyes tightly and opened them again.
“From what you can see, I’m not in my right mind. So stop joking around and tell me properly. What are you?”
A man who doubted everything—he had shown her his past life directly, yet this was the level of his question. It was ridiculous.
Bari, equally frustrated, shook off his hand again.
“Human? Don’t compare me to those insignificant things.”
“What did you say?”
“I’m not on the same level as humans like you.”
“If you’re not human, then what are you?”
“What else? A god.”
He had heard this kind of absurd claim many times before, but this time it couldn’t be dismissed as a joke. Her eyes, fixed on him, had turned a deep blood-red and were trembling violently.
“…Don’t tell me you’re really Princess Bari?”
Bari nodded.
The stubborn atheist, Kang Hae-an, could not accept the reality before his eyes.
“I know. You still can’t accept my existence. You think my words are nonsense. Because you only believe what you see.”
“What are you even—”
“Why do you think I kept this body even though I could have remained just another wandering spirit in this world?”
He couldn’t understand a single word she was saying.
“My ex-husband, Mu Jang-seung’s reincarnation, Kang Hae-an.”
Bari stepped forward and pressed her finger firmly against his chest.
“I had to be seen by you, now that you are human.”
“……”
“My fate depends on someone as insignificant as you. Whether I threaten you or beg you, I must make you stay by my side in order to end this miserable existence.”
Hae-an, just an ordinary human, had no power to deny what he had seen. The memories he had just witnessed with his own eyes and felt with his own skin were undeniably real.
“Stop saying nonsense.”
Even he thought his own words were ridiculous. After meeting Kim Bari, he had experienced so many events that could not be explained scientifically.
“So you still want to deny it? I understand.”
Bari clicked her tongue as if she were being generous. Of course a stranger who suddenly claimed to be his past-life wife could not be welcomed. But she only wanted him to stop denying reality.
“The human body is so fragile that when pain becomes unbearable, it numbs itself.”
Long ago, Princess Bari—who lost her entire family to her cruel husband—stabbed a sickle into his chest in a moment of impulse. It was the same principle.
“Kang Hae-an. For hundreds of years, you were my pain. Now it’s my turn to become yours.”
Speechless, Hae-an clenched his fist tightly. Bari smirked and looked at him with folded arms.
“So endure it. Like I did.”
Mu Jang-seung. I wonder what choice you will make now that you are human.
Meanwhile
Dakjae raised his hand into the air and slowly closed his eyes. The cold evening wind scratched across his cheek.
The ghost that had fled deep into the mountain valley still refused to accept death. Dakjae exhaled deeply and, with final restraint, created a blue dokkaebi flame in his palm.
“I am giving you my mercy for the last time. If you do not wish to be erased as a vengeful spirit, answer the call of the reaper.”
But the ghost, unable to see its fate, laughed and mocked the dokkaebi’s mercy.
“So be it.”
Dakjae muttered coldly and threw the blue flame. It struck the ghost’s head precisely and exploded, disappearing like smoke. Watching the terrifying scene, Ganglim unconsciously rubbed his arms.
“How could a merciful Haetae god make such a decision….”
Ganglim swallowed hard and stepped back. Dakjae’s eyes grew sharper than ever as he brushed his hands off.
“Who told you the Haetae dokkaebi was a merciful god?”
“But still…”
“Excessive mercy and pity can sometimes become poison. Remember this well, Ganglim, servant of the underworld.”
Ganglim was confused by his lord’s unusual demeanor. Dakjae’s long strides quickly brought him down the mountainside. Ganglim hurried after him, carefully observing his mood.
He wondered if he had upset someone unnecessarily, but no matter how hard he tried, Dakjae’s usual calmness did not return.
Finally stopping, Dakjae clenched his fists.
“…Damn it.”
Ganglim realized the irritation was directed at the Jade Emperor. Carefully holding Dakjae’s pale fist, he sighed.
“You are troubled because of Mu Jang-seung’s reincarnation.”
Dakjae nodded, holding his aching forehead. He had lived so long, yet still couldn’t control his emotions.
Still, he could not turn his back on Bari.
“I have lived 500 years with Bari. If I did not favor her, that would be a lie.”
“Of course. Even the Jade Emperor will understand.”
“If only he would pity her as I do…”
Dakjae’s expression turned cold. He was certain the harsh deity would never do so.
A bitter laugh escaped him. The sound of a sacred ritual bell echoed in his ears—something bad was definitely coming.
“It’s time to go.”
“Back to the shaman house?”
“No. I have somewhere else to go.”
Ganglim already knew what decision his master had made, and how much he had struggled before making it.
“Do not worry. This is my karma.”
Dakjae looked up at the dark sky filled with clouds.
Meanwhile
After the argument with Bari, Hae-an stormed out of the shrine and drove with sharp, angry eyes. Kang-ho, sitting in the passenger seat, could not hide his confusion.
After a long drive, the car stopped in the middle of the city. Hae-an unbuckled his seatbelt and rushed out.
“Senior! Where are you going?!”
Ignoring Kang-ho’s shout, Hae-an disappeared into a large building. Kang-ho hurried out and finally realized the destination.
“A bookstore…?”
Just then, his phone vibrated. A message from Hae-an arrived.
→ [I left the car key. Go back first. I have something I must check.]
Kang-ho remembered the argument between Bari and Hae-an earlier. A strange sense of unease crept over him.
“What exactly is he trying to check here?”
Biting his lip, Kang-ho stared anxiously at the entrance of the large bookstore filled with people.
