Ch.27Chapter 27 – Abraham

After finishing his volunteer work at the orphanage, Shin Jaehyuk trudged home like a man whose soul had been drained, declining Sister Grace’s offer to treat him to dinner. The cool evening air had somewhat calmed his depression.

He was sitting in front of his computer in the basement of his home, browsing funny posts on internet communities to improve his mood.

♬~ ♬~

Suddenly, a notification sound from his smartphone made Jaehyuk turn around. It was a phone call.

“Two calls in one day! What special occasion is this?”

It was certainly an unusual day. For someone whose contact list didn’t even fill a single sheet of A4 paper, this was extremely rare. Jaehyuk couldn’t predict whether this second call would bring good fortune or bad. With a trembling heart, he checked his phone screen.

“Who is it?”

It was Cha Eunkyung. The female police officer who occasionally requested his help with follow-up investigations. It had been a while since they’d been in contact. After the Gate opened, they had both been too busy to keep in touch.

What could she want? Jaehyuk held the phone to his ear.

“Hello—”

“Hey! Let’s work on something together.”

The voice he hadn’t heard in months barked at him without even a greeting. Taken aback by her abruptness, Jaehyuk couldn’t help but protest.

“Not even asking how I’ve been and suddenly making demands? And every time you contact me, you always say it’s ‘just one job.'”

“Haha, true. I guess I’ll have to keep using you until I retire.”

“Sigh…”

Such a shameless response. He could already feel a headache coming on.

“But you and I have a win-win relationship, don’t we?”

“What benefit do I get exactly?”

“Your pathetically thin contact list got a little thicker!”

“…”

Jaehyuk fell silent at her cheerful yet cutting remark. He felt dazed, as if he’d just taken a one-two punch.

Feeling deflated, Jaehyuk asked, curious to hear what favor she needed this time.

“So what’s this about?”

“You know I got transferred to the National Police Agency, right?”

“No, first I’m hearing of it.”

“Then have you heard that I’ve awakened?”

“You? Awakened? This is news to me!”

Having not heard from her for over half a year, Jaehyuk couldn’t hide his surprise.

“Ah, I never mentioned it? Haha, I’ve been so busy lately… It feels like every day is the busiest day of the year. I’m completely overwhelmed.”

She laughed awkwardly. Despite her light tone, her voice betrayed her fatigue. It seemed the police force was short-staffed due to the many officers who had died in the line of duty because of the Gates. Jaehyuk couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.

“What skill did you awaken?”

“Nothing special. Just got better at handling knives.”

She cleared her throat and continued.

“Anyway! A new department called the Special Abilities Response Unit was created, and I was appointed as its section chief. It’s a new department, but I went from being a senior inspector to an inspector, so that’s a two-rank promotion. Being an awakened person probably helped, but I think running around based on the information you gave me during the first Gate incident was a big factor.”

“Oh, congratulations. I’m glad I could help.”

Jaehyuk sincerely congratulated her with admiration. Even though he had provided early information, it was entirely Eunkyung’s achievement to have used it effectively. She must have sweated bullets convincing her superiors and directing her subordinates during the early stages of the crisis.

“Thanks. You can guess what the Special Abilities Unit does just from the name, right?”

After briefly piecing together the situation, he cautiously shared his deduction.

“Well… I assume it’s a department that handles incidents related to awakened individuals. Your recent lack of contact was probably due to being busy preparing for this new department. And the sudden call means there’s a thorny issue the Special Abilities Unit can’t resolve, right?”

“That’s right. Not that we can’t resolve it, but there are suspicious circumstances that I’d like you to investigate.”

“What kind of issue?”

As she kept stalling, Jaehyuk urged her to continue.

“Well… It’s actually a story from almost nine months ago, right after the first Gate incident. At that time, several gangster organizations in Seoul suffered mass casualties. We were too busy to investigate thoroughly, and since the surviving imps hiding in the city were the main issue, we simply assumed it was their doing.”

She cleared her throat and continued her explanation.

“But now that things have calmed down a bit, I’ve been thinking about it again. Some of the bodies had wounds that were too clean to be imp attacks, and the wound locations seemed off. It was almost as if someone was imitating imp attacks… Of course, it might just be my paranoia, but the atmosphere among gangster organizations has been unsettling lately, so I wonder if this might be something gangsters did to expand their influence.”

‘Expand their influence?’

It sounded like something out of a manga. A conflict between gangsters. All that was missing was a ninja massacre to make it perfect. Intrigued by the exciting story, Jaehyuk listened attentively.

“With the emergence of awakened individuals, the gangster landscape has become unstable. We’re in an era where one high-level awakened person could bring down an entire organization, so the underworld is in turmoil. Until a few months ago, organizations were merging, splitting, and causing all sorts of chaos. It was like the Sixteen Kingdoms period of ancient China.”

“So what’s the situation now?”

“Most members have been absorbed into two organizations, stabilizing the landscape. One is the Red Dragon Faction near Busan Port, and the other is the Black Snake Faction near Incheon Port.”

Jaehyuk searched his old memories. He seemed to have heard of them when he was working as a fixer in high school.

“I think I’ve heard of the Black Snake Faction. Weren’t they a prominent organization involved in gun smuggling even before the Gates appeared? I’ve never heard of the Red Dragon Faction, but considering they’re near Busan Port… I guess port-based organizations have an advantage in smuggling, so they could grow rapidly in this climate.”

Guns would undoubtedly be important for gangsters to deal with demons emerging from outbreak-type Gates or to eliminate awakened individuals from rival organizations. And smuggling tends to be active during times like these when the arms industry is booming.

“You know quite a bit… Anyway, the Red Dragon Faction is a new organization known for treating awakened individuals according to their rank, so many awakened people are joining them. On the other hand, the Black Snake Faction is a coalition of gangsters who prefer the existing order.”

She continued her explanation with an uncertain tone.

“It seems the Black Snake Faction feels threatened in the power struggle since they have fewer awakened individuals than the Red Dragon Faction… Our informants have recently spotted unidentified containers being unloaded near Incheon Port.”

Jaehyuk stroked his chin. The rising star of the criminal world, the established stone trying to fend off the newcomer, suddenly increased cargo… It was a familiar story.

“So, the Black Snake Faction is smuggling large quantities of what are presumed to be firearms to prepare for a major confrontation with the Red Dragon Faction? And you want me to find out what’s in those shipments or gather evidence to arrest these gangsters?”

“Exactly! You get it right away. That’s why I like you. The guys under me are so frustrating… I wish they were half as sharp as you. Tsk, tsk.”

She playfully clicked her tongue, imitating an old person. She studied Jaehyuk’s expression and asked with subtle expectation in her voice.

“So, is that okay? You just need to hack into their organization’s computers or port records. It’s a simple job.”

“Hmm…”

True, he didn’t have much to do these days.

‘And though it might just be my imagination, I have an ominous feeling.’

It was the same uneasiness he felt three months ago when he saw Li-Tem disguised as a human in the Gate.

Perhaps demons disguised as humans had already infiltrated deep into human society.

It was necessary to probe these criminal organizations to investigate whether the dark hand of madness existed in this world.

And even if there was no such shadowy figure, it didn’t matter. It was just gathering evidence of smuggling—how hard could it be?

Jaehyuk nodded with a light heart.

“Alright. I’ll give it a try.”

***

“I apologize, Father.”

“…”

In a lavish office atop a high-rise building, a man in his forties wearing a suit bowed deeply to an elderly man sitting behind a desk. His back, bent at a right angle, looked rather servile.

According to the middle-aged man’s words, the two were father and son. But for an ordinary father-son relationship, his tone was far too rigid.

The old man’s desk was covered with documents filled with various charts and tables. His wrinkled hand gripped one of the papers. As he understood the content of the chart, his grip naturally tightened, mercilessly crumpling the paper.

===

March 27: Sujeong Industries -5.1%, Sujeong Shipping -4.3%, Sujeong Construction -3.7% …

March 28: Sujeong Industries -4.4%, Sujeong Shipping -4.6%, Sujeong Construction -1.5% …

March 29: Sujeong Industries -5.9%, Sujeong Shipping -3.8%, Sujeong Construction -2.2% …

===

The blue numbers disturbed his mind. Habitually, his gaze shifted to the nameplate on his desk. It was an elegant nameplate with dragon patterns, engraved with the words “Song Sujeong, Chairman of Sujeong Enterprises.” As the old man’s trembling hand moved toward the nameplate, the middle-aged man watching him flinched. He seemed to anticipate the impending outburst.

Fortunately for him, the old man took several deep breaths and barely managed to contain his anger.

Song Sujeong, the old man with a noticeably gaunt face, sighed deeply and looked at his second son, Song Sookwon.

He once again realized how futile child-rearing could be.

Children always made him feel inadequate.

“If only that boy had lived…”

He thought of his first son, Song Soohyung.

His son who had met an absurd end at the hands of some crazy psycho known as the Chopstick Killer.

At one point, he suspected there might have been someone behind the assassination, or that it was a plot by his second son who coveted the vice chairman position. But after hiring even the National Intelligence Service for a private investigation, it was revealed that Kwak Taewoo was genuinely, simply, just a mentally ill person who stabbed random people.

Even now, thinking about that incident made him feel empty-handed and utterly disillusioned with life.

Song Soohyung, the eldest son of the Song family and vice chairman of Sujeong Enterprises, had been quite a remarkable businessman. He was a vice chairman who perfectly met the exacting standards of Song Sujeong. He was such a capable executive that he would go overseas personally to negotiate with the chairmen of other companies to secure business deals…

Song Sujeong looked at Song Sookwon. Unlike his brother, he was utterly incompetent.

With the vice chairman’s position changing from a capable person to an incompetent one, the void left by the firstborn felt even greater.

“That good-for-nothing bastard…!”

He swallowed the rest of his words.

If only that one had died instead.

The old man grew depressed. He was old and sick. The youth and vigor of the past were nowhere to be found. Now he was just a sidelined old man who had mostly withdrawn from management, retaining only the title of chairman.

If only, if only it had been me…

Song Sookwon, who had been glancing at his father’s face as it changed from flushed to bluish to dark, suddenly noticed something on his father’s desk and widened his eyes.

“F-Father! There’s a spider as big as a fist on your desk!”

It was true. On the high-quality wooden desk was a large spider. Having climbed up one of the desk legs, the spider was large and creepy enough to appear in a child’s nightmare.

Song Sujeong’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of the spider. It was a startled expression rarely seen on him.

Thinking his father was too shocked to move, Song Sookwon lunged forward to catch the spider. It was a shallow attempt to show loyalty and score points with his father.

“Father, be careful! I’ll catch it!”

However, his attempt was in vain.

Song Sujeong, having regained his composure, raised his arm to stop his son.

“…Get out.”

“Y-Yes?”

“I said get out of my sight!”

Finally, a roar erupted from the old man’s mouth. At that harsh dismissal, Song Sookwon flinched, then quickly bowed and fled the room.

Only after confirming that his son had completely left the room did Song Sujeong sit back down. He pressed a few buttons on his desk, and with a click, the office door locked and all the lights went out. Darkness engulfed the room. Only the city lights coming through the window dimly illuminated the room.

Song Sujeong briefly gazed at the pitch-black night sky without stars and took a deep breath.

Then, he addressed the spider on his desk.

“…It’s been a while since your last visit.”

It was a scene that would have made employees whisper that the old man had finally succumbed to dementia.

Talking to a spider!

But what happened next was so shocking that one might doubt their own sanity.

The spider’s body began to convulse and twist. Its abdomen split open like a crevasse, forming a shape resembling human lips. From that gap emerged a tongue made of twisted entrails. The tongue contorted ingeniously to form sentences.

“How far, have the, preparations progressed?”

“Y-Yes… They are proceeding as planned.”

“Hurry, hurry more! My stomach is hungry. Truly, very, very, very, very, very-!!!”

As if excited, the spider’s entrail-tongue flailed like a whip. Blood spattered in all directions like saliva.

Song Sujeong was inwardly amazed.

‘Already speaking so fluently…’

The voice, which had been unintelligible babbling when they first met, had developed remarkably with each meeting, and now it was speaking as fluently as a native Korean.

After convulsing for a while, the tongue suddenly stopped moving. Two pairs of obsidian-black spider eyes examined Song Sujeong’s expression.

“I sense surprise from you.”

“…Can all demons master language so freely in just a month?”

The spider’s abdomen-lips snickered.

“Do you covet it? The superior brain of a demon? The body that never ages?”

Wisdom, and immortality!

The demon tempted with a serpent’s tongue. It was truly a demonic seduction. The demon’s words pierced through Song Sujeong’s desires.

Eternity.

Song Sujeong’s tongue followed the demon in pronouncing that word. It was such a sweet resonance.

Song Sujeong nodded as if entranced.

“If you wish to become a demon as soon as possible, fulfill the contract conditions quickly! On the day the conditions are met, you shall grasp everything you desire!”

With that declaration, the spider trembled violently, and then all four pairs of legs simultaneously went limp. The spider’s body collapsed and rolled over. Blood flowed profusely from its wounds.

Song Sujeong poked the spider’s chest with the tip of his pen. It was dead.

Song Sujeong burned the spider’s corpse with a lighter over an ashtray. The flame glowing in the darkness cast shadows on the old man’s face. The flickering, slimy shadows reflected his anguish and greed.

After destroying the evidence, he stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window, the city sprawled.

A city that could not be grasped in the short life of a human.

This time, he lowered his head to look at what he had built.

His company, his employees, his building.

His, his, his…

With his face distorted by greed, the old man thought of his vice chairman.

The second son was too incompetent.

He would eventually destroy the company he had built.

If only, if only it had been me…

“If it were me, this country, in my hands…!”

The old man’s mouth twisted hideously.

His face was already that of a demon.