Nuna (Ha-eun) – About the Village

* Nuna (Ha-eun) – About the Village (3)

Afterwards, a story that even I could understand unfolded. The reason why the women bound to the village couldn’t escape or hope for a helping hand anywhere. The idiotic story of those who rule this country from behind.

“A village where the powerful people of this country have gathered since long ago… It’s a suspicious place that makes women into slaves and exports them… And its influence extends not only to the political world but also to parties I know…?”

“Yes.”

“The women they produce are serving as wives and sex slaves to men with power in the political world… And on top of that, those crazy villagers are extending their reach into corporations… Okay, shit, I get it up to here. I get it for now. So, the families that have protected that village for generations are my grandmother and that trash bastard’s side. And I’m the last of that bloodline, is that it?”

“You’re exactly right.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Even surrounded by men at the table, Junseo didn’t tense up. But it’s not a story that’s easy to accept. It’s not a manga, and the fact that such a village has been hidden until now, and that they’re moving the political world by enslaving women, is a ridiculous story. But even if I try to deny it, the scale in front of me is different. There’s no way they’d rent out an entire cafe and have men bowing their heads just to tell this kind of story.

“Our village has existed since before this country was founded. Trading women was originally done with people from corresponding families, and ordinary people have no way of knowing. Sometimes, a certain island village enslaves foreign workers or outsiders and it appears in the news, but that’s completely unrelated to us, and the scale is different.”

“That island village…”

Although he doesn’t say it out loud, our Junseo lets out a hollow laugh as if he knows. While he’s sipping the coffee that the baldy brought, the story continues.

“But, what kind of family is that? Did we have something like that in our country?”

“It’s not strange that Doryeon-nim doesn’t know. The neighboring country openly leaves behind things like Shoguns, and they raise their heads high, saying things like, ‘What family were you from in the past? What general’s family were you from? What were you in the past?’ but we’re the opposite. There are several celebrities who have acquired large lands to honor ancestors who were active in the past and lead leisurely lives. The people we mainly trade with are people from those bloodlines.”

“This is so much like a manga…”

“Please accept it that way instead. But it really does exist. People who want to live leisurely and do what they want, completely unrelated to ordinary reporters or paparazzi. Most of them are taking advantage of their funds to go abroad and spend a peaceful vacation 365 days a year, so there’s no way they’d be noticed by ordinary people.”

The limit of ordinary people’s fantasies is about the rich family in a morning drama. Further, it’s the chaebol family or the head of a large corporation that appears on TV. But the story that the baldy is telling is still on a different scale.

“It sounds even weirder when you say it like that. Why hasn’t such a village been discovered until now? There must be people who escape, and it wouldn’t be strange if rumors spread somewhere on the internet.”

“Doryeon-nim is misunderstanding something, but our village isn’t that sexually charged or strict. Rather, the atmosphere inside the village can be seen as relaxed. We don’t force people to work, and we don’t confine them to the village at all. For example, the women who work there can take people like us and walk around the city whenever they have free time.”

As if to show, the baldy manipulates his phone and shows us a certain photo. A woman with her hair cut prettily in a hime cut, wearing flashy leopard-print clothes, carrying a bag that looks expensive on her shoulder, and accompanied by two bodyguards wearing black sunglasses and suits. It was a sight that seemed to be boasting, “I’m a woman who’s doing well at the level of a makjang drama.”

“Who is this woman?”

“I don’t know her name. She’s one of the servants who works in our village. The ones next to her are my subordinates who work in the village.”

“This woman is a servant?”

“Considering the scale of the village, she receives that much treatment outside, including her salary. It’s really eye-popping.”

Junseo had an unconvinced look on his face, but I was convinced.

“Without even going to college or anything, just working in that village, you can get a salary that’s stronger than working at a large corporation, let alone graduating from college. Instead, there’s an obligation to maintain confidentiality, but that’s really a minor thing, right? The work is easy, and if you do well, you can marry a man from a good family. Considering that most of the kids who work there are orphans, you can brainwash them from a young age… If it were me, I would have worked there for the rest of my life…”

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have done that to your body.”

“Hmph…”

I was annoyed by the tone that our paths had diverged, but I held back because I thought Junseo would grab the bottle again if I got angry here.

“But even so, if you make a mistake… or have bad thoughts…?”

“You die if you make a mistake.”

“Die?”

“Yes. It’s common for a servant who was working fine yesterday to be ground into feed for pigs the next day. The servants know that, and they get paid quite a bit, so they’re working happily without any other thoughts.”

“Are all the bastards there crazy?”

“No, they’re surprisingly normal.”

The baldy takes a sip of the hot coffee placed in front of him and laughs, “Hahaha.” Junseo’s worries were natural, but the opponent was a demon that had been doing that shit for hundreds of years. The rebuttal came back quickly as if they had already finished those measures.

“Doryeon-nim just said, ‘If you have bad thoughts.’ If you were to spread it, where would you talk about our village?”

“In this day and age…”

“Yes, as Doryeon-nim is worried about, it would be a famous portal site.”

“Ah.”

Junseo’s mouth closed as if he understood something from that remark. It’s a country where even real-time search terms on the internet can be manipulated at will. The moment they put pressure on the government through the village, the rumor is gone, and the place where the article was posted is identified and caught. Furthermore, even if a servant retires, they’re not completely free, so the probability of confidential information leaking out becomes even lower.

“Newspapers, broadcasting stations, out of the question. Of course, portal sites are also out of the question. People in this country tend to underestimate the government’s tracking power, but they’ll catch everything if they want to. Moreover, illegal organizations like us don’t care about the means. It’s even better if they flee overseas. It’s a story that ends with a mass shooting.”

“Are you just rattling off movie settings now?”

“This is funny because it’s also reality. A shaman can be a behind-the-scenes power, so why can’t we do this much?”

A truism that makes you unable to make a peep. A story that I thought was beyond the TV is coming right up to my nose. Junseo’s expression twisted.

“What do you want me to do? I have a grandmother, right.”

“Our village has traditionally had men as village chiefs. It wouldn’t be dignified if the village chief was a woman in a place that does this kind of work. Originally, Lee Mun-san Hyung-nim was supposed to do it, but he went to the afterlife. Thanks to that Hyung-nim causing a ruckus in the village, Manim is temporarily doing the work, but no one has any complaints, but I thought that was reaching its limit, so I decided to show my face like this.”

“So, you want me to do it?”

“It’s not that we want you to do it. Your name is already on the list.”

“Who told you to put it on the list?”

“Of course, Manim did.”

“You fucking…”

*Tang!* Junseo kicked the table. It was a table that was bolted to the ground and didn’t move, so there was no commotion, but that action alone showed how Junseo was feeling right now. Just yesterday, he spent a pleasant day overlapping bodies with me, but today is the complete opposite. A dark reality strangles Junseo’s neck.

“What if I say I won’t do it?”

“Then you’ll live in fear for the rest of your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ahem, Doryeon-nim. Please think seriously about it. Junseo Doryeon-nim’s bloodline is more important than Doryeon-nim himself thinks. Doryeon-nim doesn’t know what meaning that sweet potato hanging between your legs has. We treat it so importantly that we call it a magic wand, and we’ve even built a shrine for it. It’s a unique building with a goblin standing there. Would you like to come and see it?”

“Beyond politics, now it’s a dick story in this goddamn village? What’s real and what’s bullshit? What are goblins and magic wands… Haven’t you watched too many mangas… *Ssiburaal*…”

“It’s all real.”

“Stop bullshitting me… What the fuck is it… How much did you spend to pull off this lie…”

Junseo presses his temples with his thumbs. I wanted to comfort my younger brother, but I wasn’t in a state where I could interfere. The baldy glanced at me once over his sunglasses, as if he was finally going to threaten Junseo, then turned his head again.

“If you stay like this, you’ll really live in fear, as I said just now.”

“So what is that? Why? Am I going to jail for doing something wrong?”

“No, that would be better. It’s a story that will sound more unpleasant to Doryeon-nim.”

An atmosphere that sinks unpleasantly.

In the midst of that, the baldy’s mouth opens.

“Please know that we are also considering recovering and disposing of the three slaves next to Doryeon-nim.”

*Deolkeodeong!!!!*

“Hey.”

Unable to bear those words, Junseo got up from his seat. In his hand, there are glass shards. It’s clearly a piece of the bottle that he threw on the ground earlier. Did he secretly hide it just in case? He slowly held it in front of the baldy’s eyes and revealed his temper.

“What did you say?”

“It’s exactly what I said just now.”

But neither I nor the baldy were surprised this time. It was a natural course of events that he would explode at those words, and both of us knew that point. This was the timing for me to calm Junseo down, and while my heart was pounding at Junseo’s violent appearance, I opened my mouth calmly.

“Junseo, you seem to be forgetting lately. From their perspective and our perspective, we were just doing a family ‘play’, right? The three slaves who failed to guide Junseo down the right path will lose their freedom and rights and be disposed of. I hate to say this, but I think it’s a natural course of events. They’ve received that much support until now, but they haven’t achieved a single goal.”

“Why are you understanding it on your own and acting up? So are you going to die quietly? Are you listening to these bastards who I don’t even know?”

“I brought you here because I didn’t want to die. I thought it was about time you’d be getting fucked over if you didn’t know the situation soon.”

The baldy nodded at my words.

“Living in fear means that. The life you’ll live alone after losing your family will surely be enjoyable. And all the women who approach you will be people who want Doryeon-nim’s seed. In the worst case, you’ll get pregnant and be abandoned right away.”

“What’s that… What are you talking about…”

“If Doryeon-nim doesn’t return to the village, we’ll need a successor to take over the position of village chief. After that, you can think of all the women who approach Doryeon-nim as people who have influence in the village. From Doryeon-nim’s perspective, you’ll have a happy romance, get married, and even have children, which is a fulfilling life in a way…”

“As this baldy says, there may be a day when your wife and children disappear. Really, really, it’s fucking annoying to even think about it. But it’s all 100% possible.”

“That’s right.”

The baldy’s hollow laughter briefly burst out, as if he was dumbfounded even though he was the one who said it. After receiving the seed, Junseo will have nothing left, so it’s obvious that a lonely life will continue after that. Moreover, our sisters won’t be by his side, so he may become a person who can’t trust anyone.

“Losing the three people who lived like family, even though they were slaves. After that, all the women who approach Doryeon-nim will be people who have influence in the village. If Doryeon-nim is okay with that, I won’t recommend it any further, but I don’t recommend it.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s not a threat. It’s advice.”

Jang Mun-sang, who was letting go of his breath, saying that it wasn’t even a story that a low-ranking person like himself should get involved in. Junseo seemed to be pondering something as if he understood what he had said so far, but the first to leave was the baldy’s side.

“I’m not saying you have to decide right now. There’s still plenty of time, and we’re always watching Doryeon-nim. When you’re enjoying your college life and you think it’s enough, please contact Manim. I can say with confidence that just by doing that, the safety of the slaves Doryeon-nim has will be guaranteed. As I mentioned with the servant as an example, we’re not that scary of a place. Even if there are abnormally protruding places like pig feed, there won’t be any uncomfortable places for Doryeon-nim… probably, it won’t be.”

I wanted him to say it definitively there, but it must have been difficult to say such a thing in front of me. Because it’s a place that makes a woman’s body so battered. But I was surprised that he had prepared this much and was only saying a few words and leaving, so I grabbed the baldy without realizing it.

“Are you leaving already? It’s your first meeting with Doryeon-nim that you’ve been looking forward to so much. Don’t run away and say a few more words before you go.”

“That’s enough to give Doryeon-nim a bad impression. I’ll prepare a place where you can feel more at ease next time. Even though I look like this, I like to laugh and chat. If I had my way, I would have liked to talk to Mun-san Hyung-nim’s child in that way.”

With those words, the baldy, who doesn’t match his size, relaxes with a friendly feeling.

“Ah, one last thing I’d like to ask before I go.”

“Why? What is it again?”

“Do you like women who are burning with a sense of duty, feeling like they can do anything for their master? She’s good at fighting and swings a sword well.”

“Why are you suddenly talking about that?”

“Just tell me if you like it or not.”

Junseo closes his mouth as if he didn’t expect such a story to come out so suddenly.

But the answer came out quickly.

“I guess it would be fun because it’s like a manga character?”

“Is that so… She was born in the wrong era, but if it’s Doryeon-nim…”

Hearing those words, Jang Mun-sang smiled contentedly, then completely lifted his waist. At the same time, the curtains of the cafe are raised and the front door is opened wide. The men, including the women who were sitting and looking at us, rushed out, and we were left alone in that spot.

“What the hell…”

“I don’t know.”

That meaningful smile…

He must be thinking of something insignificant…

I was sure that my prediction was probably not wrong.