OMS 42
by Cherry“One room, please.”
Through the small window, the motel owner alternately casts looks at Park Dong-sik and the shaman standing behind him. His expression suggested curiosity over this bizarre combination.
“You’re not going to do anything strange in there, right?”
The sentiment was completely understandable. The shaman, dragged from her temple, hadn’t even removed her makeup yet and was still wearing a hanbok. After reassuring the manager and paying for their room, they took the elevator to the third floor. While the building’s exterior was old, the interior was relatively clean. After looking around the room, Park Dong-sik took off his coat, put it aside, and looked at the shaman. She was shivering non-stop from head to toe, apparently cold.
“Seonnyeo-nim. Are you okay?”
The shaman’s face was dark when she turned around, and Park Dong-sik clicked his tongue.
“Hey, for someone so powerful, how did you not see this coming? If you had avoided it, we wouldn’t both be in this mess in the first place. Or can’t shamans see their own future?”
Instead of the expected angry response, she simply bowed her head.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to say anything, but when they threatened me…”
“It’s fine. It’s hard to win when you’re pitted against a group attack like that.”
Park Dong-sik sat her in a chair and brought her a blanket. He’d planned to bring up Kim Yoon-ah, but given the shaman’s poor condition, it would have to wait. He left her alone and went out, returning to the motel with some suitable clothes, medicine, and food from nearby. The shaman, having changed clothes hurriedly, immediately dove into the delivered food ravenously.
“Eat slowly.”
The shaman cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Mr. Lee Hee-soo, you should eat too…”
“Why so formal? You were dismissing me as an ignorant evil spirit earlier.”
Ignoring this, the shaman unwrapped chopsticks and placed them in front of Park Dong-sik. However, Dong-sik had no intention of eating. Lee Hee-soo’s body wasn’t just small in stature— stomach seemed small too, unable to digest much food.
“By the way, you clearly saw how I handed over the gold bars to save you, right? A whole billion won, a billion!”
“I don’t think that was really to save me…”
Park Dong-sik argued, exasperated.
“Why else would I go there? Think I went there for a blind date with those bastards?”
“…”
“But as a shaman, can’t you do that kind of thing?”
“What kind of thing?”
“You know. Cursing people. Sticking needles into dolls to make them suffer and die.”
“…”
“Take this opportunity to show off your skills. Let’s teach them a valuable lesson.”
“If a curse is cast wrongly, the caster could die from backlash…”
“Ah…”
An awkward silence fell between them right then. While the shaman finished eating, Park Dong-sik sat blankly watching TV, then eventually got up with his coat. There was nothing more to talk about anyway. He took several checks from his wallet and gave them to the shaman.
“Seonnyeo-nim. I’ll be going now. Travel safely to Daejeon. Make sure to visit the hospital, and lay low for a while. Those guys have wider connections than you’d think and they’re quite vicious.”
The shaman remained silent as Park Dong-sik walked toward the door.
“It’s you, isn’t it?”
Turning around, he saw the shaman staring intently.
Despite her beaten face and damaged eyes, her gaze now gleamed sharply.
“Park Dong-sik.”
When he didn’t answer, the shaman muttered. It seemed like she was right all along.
Park Dong-sik smiled bitterly. At this point, denying it wouldn’t change a thing.
“What difference does it make whether I am or not? Like you said, I’m Lee Hee-soo now. Park Dong-sik is dead.”
The shaman nodded. “That’s right. You’re Lee Hee-soo now.”
Park Dong-sik smiled bitterly and left the motel, reaching for a cigarette. His chest felt tight.
Looking up at the sky while holding the cigarette in his hand, he saw dark clouds gathering heavily in the horizon. It was the kind of weather for either snow or rain.
“The weather really sucks.”
***
Kim Jun-han stared indifferently at the chef preparing sashimi in front. Across from him sat Jung Nam-su of Young-hwa Group, and beside him, his son was fixing his fallen side hair with a prim expression on his face.
“I said I’d come alone, but this kid insisted on coming along. Said he wanted to meet Director Kim, haha.”
Kim Jun-han maintained his indifferent expression. He didn’t care whether the son had followed voluntarily or been pushed to come. To him, this meeting was too uncomfortable and irritating for words.
Before Lee Hee-soo lost her memories, his father, Chairman Kim, had shown him photos of Jung Nam-su’s son, asking if he’d consider him as a remarriage partner. It was before the divorce, and he had declined since he wasn’t interested in meeting anyone, but he hadn’t expected them to brazenly bring him to this meeting.
“How’s your father doing? I’d like to pay my respects, but it’s not easy.”
“He’s doing well, thanks to you.”
“I heard rumors he was rushed to the emergency room at dawn with serious injuries?”
Kim Jun-han gave a faint smile.
“He just slightly twisted his ankle. It seems like the story got exaggerated.”
“That’s a relief. Those damn tabloids are always causing problems. By the way, how’s your wife? I heard about the accident. Is she okay?”
“Yes.”
“Since your marriage, Daesan Group has had endless small incidents. The old saying about choosing the right person to bring into your home shouldn’t be ignored.”
He then patted his son’s hand, his expression suggesting, ‘Here’s your potential match.’ Kim Jun-han quietly observed his son. Outstanding looks, proper posture, neat attire. He clearly appeared well-educated. Though his inner nature was unknown, he exuded class on the outside.
“Everyone in this field knows about your marriage situation. Nobody would point fingers if you remarried. Right?”
When Kim Jun-han downed his drink in one gulp, the person across from him politely refilled his glass.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Director. I pestered my father to come, so please don’t be displeased.”
His kind smile with crescent eyes was beautiful. Compared to Lee Hee-soo, who constantly turned people’s lives upside down and backstabbed them, he seemed flawless. Remarriage…He seemed to have been thinking about it until recently. Of course, it wasn’t a remarriage based on love. It would just be another business move to expand the company.
During the dinner, the three of them had several drinks while mostly discussing business. Jung Nam-su son occasionally smiled while articulating his opinions clearly. Looking at him as a person, he was undoubtedly faultless. And yet…
The alcohol was taking effect. After concluding the conversation and seeing off President Jung Nam-su and his son, Kim Jun-han headed to his car. Secretary Choi was waiting and opened the door for him. He sat in the back seat, and whether due to the heater’s warm air or something else, he felt the effects of alcohol more strongly.
As he loosened his tie and opened the window, Secretary Choi instructed the driver to lower the temperature. As soon as the car started moving, Secretary Choi took out a tablet from his briefcase, turned it on, and handed it to Kim Jun-han.
Even with a hat pulled low and face mask over the lower half of his features, the man in the photo was clearly recognizable.
“Is that Hee-soo?”
“Yes.”
Swiping the screen revealed the words “Zeus Capital.” Zeus Capital…
“He went in and came out after about 30 minutes. Then took a taxi straight to Paju.”
The photos continued to the next scene, seemingly taken secretly from above.
“Myungjin Industry, a company that went bankrupt last year. Zeus Capital was their lender. There are rumors the CEO deliberately caused their bankruptcy. They’ve acquired quite a few factories this way. Myungjin’s president committed suicide two months later.”
Kim Jun-han stared at Lee Hee-soo’s back in the distant shot. In the final photo, he was leaving the factory with a woman in strange traditional clothes. Even zooming in, the face was unfamiliar.
“Who is this person?”
“Well…”
As Secretary Choi hesitated to give a response, Kim Jun-han turned to look at him.
“It’s a shaman the First Madam knows. She once dragged Hee-soo there, claiming he was possessed.”
Kim Jun-han laughed in disbelief. His mother’s obsession with superstition and shamans wasn’t something new. Once she had put a charm under his pillow without permission, causing him to get angry, but even after that, her beliefs hadn’t wavered.
“They went to a motel, and Hee-soo stayed briefly before taking a taxi home.”
Kim Jun-han carefully observed Lee Hee-soo’s face in the camera. He’d been suspicious since he suddenly asked to borrow a car to go out. He had people follow her after dropping her off in Jongno, but this combination became more incomprehensible the more he looked at it. *A loan shark, a shaman, and Hee-soo…*
“You have recordings, right?”
Secretary Choi bit his bottom lip slightly, appearing to be troubled.
“You said you put a bug in the bag.”
The person tailing and photographing Lee Hee-soo had said they planted a listening device in the bag. But Secretary Choi’s behavior was strange. He hesitated before finding a file on the tablet and handed Kim Jun-han some earphones.
“You should listen to this alone.”
Kim Jun-han put the earphone in his left ear. Pressing play, a familiar voice came through. As he listened, Kim Jun-han’s expression noticeably darkened, and Secretary Choi’s face beside him showed clear signs of dismay.
Kim Jun-han pressed the ‘stop’ button and looked at Secretary Choi.
“Did you listen to this?”
“Just the beginning, to verify it.”
“Erase it from your mind.”
“Already done, sir.”
Kim Jun-han put the earphones back on. He stared ahead, clenching his molars all the while. He recalled a movie from his youth. One with incomprehensible dialogue that became a masterpiece upon reflection.
That was exactly how he felt now. At first, nothing made sense, but as time passed, the dialogue became more interesting, eventually leading to a twist. By this point, he was quite curious about the protagonist’s position. What would they say next?