The Devil Has Come
“Uncle, that wasn’t because of you.”
Gaon half-rose awkwardly from her seat, opening her mouth to explain.
“Get rid of every last one of them right now! Right now! If another camera turns up, I’ll smash that deranged head of yours to pieces!”
Baek Jeong-hak strode toward her, bellowing. Gaon instinctively tried to back away but caught on the chair and couldn’t escape. In an instant he was on her, seizing her by the collar.
“Did you think I’ve been going easy on you for nothing? The only reason I left you alone was that crazy bitch Gayoung! From now on, no matter what kind of shit Baek Gayoung pulls…!”
He was still roaring when he suddenly fell silent. Cha Taekyung had stepped in close and clamped a hand on Jeong-hak’s shoulder.
“Use your words. Let go of her.”
Taekyung’s voice was perfectly calm, utterly untouched by the chaos.
Jeong-hak trembled violently as he turned to look at him.
“And who the hell are you?”
He didn’t even recognize the guest he himself had invited into the mansion. Up close, the burst capillaries turning his eyes completely red and the reek of someone who hadn’t washed in days laid bare just how far gone he was. Gaon’s uncle looked utterly insane.
“I said let go.”
Taekyung tore Jeong-hak’s hand away. Gaon finally wrenched free, clutching her crumpled blouse, and stumbled back on shaking legs.
“Now I get it! You’re the bastards Baek Gaon brought in! Aren’t you? Here to steal my fortune! To ruin me! What’s your game? Huh? What’s your goddamn game! That bitch Gayoung whispered something to you, didn’t she? Ptui! Ptui! You filthy sons of bitches! Get out of my mansion! This is private property!”
Jeong-hak spat at Taekyung while spewing curses. Dirty saliva spattered across Taekyung’s white shirt.
“…….”
Taekyung said nothing, but the displeasure was plain on his crumpled expression. Jeong-hak wasn’t finished; he kicked out with the leg that wasn’t being held, trying to strike Taekyung. Taekyung easily sidestepped the blow.
“Haa. This is self-defense.”
“No—wait a second!”
With a long sigh, Taekyung drove his fist into Jeong-hak’s face. Han Jun-seok’s attempt to intervene was casually ignored. Fist met face with a solid thud. Like a hammer blow delivered at point-blank range, that single punch dropped Jeong-hak cold. It happened in an instant.
“You can’t just go around hitting people!”
Jun-seok cried out in horror and rushed over to haul the fallen Jeong-hak upright.
“Aaaargh!”
The next moment he shrieked and clutched his ear, scrambling away as Jeong-hak clung to him, biting. Whether the blood pouring down Jeong-hak’s chin was from the nosebleed Taekyung had given him or from sinking his teeth into Jun-seok’s ear, his lower face was a crimson mess.
“Get out! Get out of my mansion! I’m not giving anything up!”
Blood-soaked and howling, Jeong-hak was a grotesque sight.
“You’re a doctor, aren’t you! Give him a sedative or something—now!”
Jun-seok screamed, veins standing out in his neck as he rolled on the floor clutching his ear. The mansion had become pure pandemonium.
Cha Gil-ho, who had been standing frozen at a distance, bolted toward the study. Meanwhile Taekyung floored Jeong-hak with another punch. This time Jun-seok made no move to stop him. When Gil-ho finally came running back, sweat pouring off him like rain, his trembling hands barely managed to draw a syringe. Only after Taekyung and Jun-seok pinned Jeong-hak’s limbs and the sedative was administered did the eyelids of the man thrashing like a beast grow heavy.
Nothing remained in the dining room but ragged breathing, overturned chairs, and scattered drops of blood on the wooden floor.
“What the hell is wrong with him? Was he on some illegal drug? If a person’s going to lose their mind, they could at least do it quietly.”
Once the immediate chaos had been roughly cleaned up, everyone gathered in the dining room again. No one understood what had just happened, so no one even thought of returning to their rooms. Cha Taekyung had carried the sedated Baek Jeong-hak to his bedroom and tied his hands and feet for the time being. Kim Ju-yeon, arriving late, followed after him.
Cha Gil-ho treated Han Jun-seok’s ear. Fortunately it hadn’t been torn off—only scratched—so he disinfected it and applied ointment.
Jun-seok complained the entire time he was being treated.
“Tell me, Doctor. Why has my client gone completely insane? He didn’t even recognize people.”
“It could be from excessive drinking. Or some trauma suddenly surfacing and making him lose his reason. We’ll need a thorough examination to know for sure.”
Gil-ho said as he firmly bandaged Jun-seok’s ear.
“Has he been like this recently?”
Jun-seok’s question turned to Gaon.
She shook her head, then remembered the yellow talismans that had covered the ceiling of Jeong-hak’s room a few days earlier. Had Taekyung seen them too? She looked at the man who had just dragged Jeong-hak to his room. Taekyung’s face was expressionless, revealing nothing. Kim Ju-yeon, standing quietly in a corner of the dining room, was the same.
“I haven’t seen Uncle’s face recently. The last time I did, he was drunk.”
“Ms. Kim Ju-yeon, do you know anything?”
At Jun-seok’s question Ju-yeon only went deathly pale and pressed her lips shut. Even if she knew something, her determination not to tell outsiders anything was plain. Jun-seok was about to shout in frustration when Lee Yong-hoon stepped in with a low “Ooo—” sound.
The gardener had appeared several minutes earlier and had been standing guard beside Kim Ju-yeon.
He gestured urgently, trying to convey something. When no one understood, he looked around for paper and a pen.
“Ah!”
Cha Gil-ho pulled a notebook and fountain pen from his shirt pocket and handed them over.
Listening to the soft scratch of the pen, Gaon thought of her uncle—especially the violent aggression he had directed at her.
The reason he left me alone was because of Gayoung.
What did that mean? No matter how she turned it over, the words were cryptic. If he hadn’t left her alone, what had he intended to do? Even if Uncle had tried to harm her, Gayoung had no way of stopping him. That child was only a thirteen-year-old who never even left her room.
When Yong-hoon finished writing what he wanted to say, he held the notebook out to everyone.
Ever since you arrived at the mansion recently, the master has been drinking heavily. He said he couldn’t sleep unless he drank. Even when he managed to fall asleep, he kept waking from nightmares. Then he would pace the living room all night, muttering, “The devil has come.”
Yong-hoon’s handwriting was neat. The clean, even letters conveyed his words without any chance of misreading. Gaon stared down at the notebook. Her stomach churned.
The devil has come…
She murmured it silently to herself. It sounded uncomfortably similar to the nonsense Baek Gayoung had been spouting these past few days. Goosebumps rose along her spine.
“So he drank himself completely out of his mind.”
“Severe alcohol addiction can cause hallucinations. Alcoholic dementia can also make someone unable to recognize people.”
Listening to Jun-seok and Gil-ho talk, Gaon found herself glancing at Cha Taekyung without meaning to. He had been looking at the notebook just as she had; now his gaze met hers. If those pitch-black eyes seemed to know something, was it only her imagination?
He mouthed something.
Are you okay?
The moment she understood, Gaon turned her head away. Hearing Gayoung’s nonsense so many times must have started warping her own mind. How could a person be a devil? Listening to delusions that pulled you away from reality only made you more afraid. She had to look at reality clearly. Someone was leaving rat carcasses around, Uncle had lost his mind to alcohol addiction, and Gayoung was still spouting nonsense.
Come to think of it, she had once again been helped by Cha Taekyung.
“I’ll prescribe something to help detoxify the alcohol and have it brought in. Once he’s a little more lucid, make sure he takes it. And clear out all the liquor.”
“What a pain, picking the wrong client. I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. I’m going to bill him properly for the medical fees.”
Gil-ho was giving Ju-yeon instructions while Jun-seok kept grumbling. Gaon rose unsteadily. She needed to go back to her room and rest. Right now there was nothing she could know. She would have to try talking to Uncle once he came back to his senses. Whether that conversation would be normal either was doubtful, of course.
Just then, Lee Yong-hoon, who had been standing blankly, scribbled something hastily and showed it to Gaon.
Master Baek Jeong-hak is being punished.
The writing was far more rushed than the previous note. What kind of punishment? That was the first question that rose in Gaon’s mind. She was about to ask when Kim Ju-yeon snatched the notebook, returned it to Cha Gil-ho, grabbed Yong-hoon, and hurried out of the dining room.