Free Web NovelAfter catching his breath, Taeyang opened the zipper of his bag. Inside, a melon soda keyring from the <ParCheHi> Blu-ray funding campaign was hanging there.
Turning on his phone, Taeyang habitually skimmed through the public reactions.
‘Good response.’
Episodes 5 and 6 of <Strange Tales>, which had aired recently, were also receiving explosive reactions.
A claw ghost that could imitate human skin if it ate human fingernails. To find the one hiding among humans, Seoryeong paid a visit to Choi Hundo’s house.
The village was excessively wary of outsiders, yet opening the door at Hundo’s house turned out to be surprisingly easy.
“You’re saying the son beat his mother?”
“Yes. That is so....”
“If two men went and asked them to open the door, do you think they would?”
Seoryeong decided to exploit the fragile heart of Madam Hundo.
“Go to the cloth shop, buy women’s clothes, and casually let it slip. Say that she was very sick before coming here.”
“What illness should I mention?”
“...Heart-heat. Say she was very lonely because her mother passed away when she was young. That she was often beaten by her older brother.”
With indifferent eyes, Seoryeong dug into the human heart.
“As a mother, she won’t be able to keep the door closed.”
Seoryeong was right. The more suspicious a village was, the faster rumors spread. After hearing Seoryeong’s circumstances, Madam Hundo opened the door without much hesitation.
In the claw ghost episode, Seoryeong grasped everything quickly. The real son was hidden somewhere inside the house, and Madam Hundo and the household lived while pretending not to know.
-They should kill the son too lol
ㄴIf that were the case, they wouldn’t have kept him alive until now.. T_T probably going to emphasize maternal love.. redemption arc maybe
ㄴAh then it’s gonna be sweet potato hell, let’s just kill everyone equally
After a clean infiltration, Seoryeong found the son in the storage shed behind the men’s quarters, where Madam Hundo’s treasures were said to be piled up.
“Shh. You want to leave here, right? You don’t want to live like this.”
At Seoryeong’s words, spoken as she covered her lips with her index finger as if she were going to save him, the comments exploded.
-???? Saving him?
-No fuck, Seoryeong, this isn’t it, think again
-They should’ve just raised a healthy hamster instead T_T just feed it fingernails on time
Seoryeong spoke softly.
“Think of what you desire. Desperately....”
At those words, the emaciated son’s eyes gleamed with madness.
If he got out of here, he would kill them all—eyes filled with pure vengeance. His hands and feet were bound, his mouth gagged, so he couldn’t move an inch, but the malice in his gaze was unmistakable.
Seoryeong took out a small blade and drew it along the life line of his bound hand. Thick blood filled the gourd bottle. Tucking the bottle back into her robe, Seoryeong looked down at the son and said,
“Then, farewell.”
Her voice was indifferent, as if her business was finished.
-???
-Ah fuck lol she just siphoned the blood
-This is it, this is our Seoryeong lololololol insane for real lolololol
Looking down at the panicking son, Seoryeong prepared to leave. Still bound, he thrashed wildly, smashing his forehead against the floor.
But thanks to the thick blanket Madam Hundo had laid out in advance, he didn’t even get hurt. Seoryeong stared down at him with disdain, then gently pressed his head down with her small foot.
“How does it feel?” freewebnovёl.ƈom
The son glared at Seoryeong with murderous eyes.
“Isn’t this what you did to the beasts you kicked around at will? Lured them with food, then hacked them to pieces with a knife—I heard that’s what you did.”
“Ugh...!”
Though his mouth was gagged, the son kept trying to say something. Smiling as if she understood everything he was thinking, Seoryeong replied,
“Ah, you’re saying beasts and humans aren’t the same?”
“Mm! Mmm!”
At Seoryeong’s question, the son nodded his head like a madman. Seoryeong sneered and asked Myungdo beside her,
“Hey. In your eyes, does this thing count as human?”
Myungdo looked down at what lay there with a cold gaze.
A human who got drunk every day and beat his family, a human who lured dogs and cats as prey and toyed with them, a human who disgraced his deceased father’s name, a human who ultimately committed acts of filial betrayal even against his mother.
“...No.”
“Right? That’s what I thought too.”
He was human, yet not human. Rather, the claw ghost was more human—simple, warm, and possessing reverence toward humans. It was better for the claw ghost to exist as the son.
This kind of thing was not the humanity of Yeomho Kingdom that Myungdo sought to protect.
“Mmm! Mm!”
And just like that, Seoryeong and Myungdo vanished again, leaving the son alone in the storage shed.
Creak—. Hearing her son’s frenzy, the mother opened the shed door and looked at him with heavy eyes.
Calling him her flesh and blood, she gently covered him again with a soft blanket, then took out scissors and trimmed his overgrown fingernails and toenails.
“When you were little... you promised that once you grew up, you’d cut your mother’s fingernails and toenails for her.”
The dark, windowless shed was filled with a musty stench. In the light of the oil lamp she had brought, tears shimmered in the mother’s eyes.
The son she had loved so dearly as a child, the son who had been her entire world—where had he gone? In his place lay something worse than a beast, rolling on the floor, staring at her with eyes that vowed to tear and kill.
Looking at the son’s palm, sharply torn by something, the mother gently stroked it. Her touch held no strength, afraid she might hurt him even more.
But greater than her affection for her son were the wounds that had piled up from his years of violence.
This was not something that could be resolved by her enduring alone. The lives he had injured so recklessly were not few.
As a mother, a decision was needed... yet she could not bring herself to kill him with her own hands.
“Take good care of the beast.”
“....”
The next day, before leaving the village, Seoryeong came to Hundo’s house and said that. Gone was the demure attitude from the day before; she now carried herself arrogantly, as if asserting her superiority. Madam Hundo sensed it at once.
She knew everything.
“Make sure it can never escape.”
Did “the beast” mean the claw ghost, or her son? Madam Hundo could not bring herself to say anything and simply bowed her head.
“You can’t kill it, can you?”
“...I know it is selfish of me.”
Madam Hundo smiled weakly through her tears. She knew her son would never be fixed. But they could not live as before.
For the sake of the household and villagers who would suffer under her son’s grip, she knew this was the best choice. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
“Here. A gift.”
Seoryeong took a talisman from her robe. At Madam Hundo’s questioning gaze, Seoryeong turned her back as she answered,
“It’s a talisman that lets you leave together on the day you depart.”
“....”
“The soup shop madam makes good boiled pork and gives it out. She said you helped her when she opened her tavern? Well... I can’t just take it for free, so I’m paying the price to you.”
What would happen after she died? Would her son continue to live at the hands of the household? Or would he be brutally killed? If someone were to free him, would he slash through the village in vengeance for all the grudges he held...?
Always tormented by such fears, Madam Hundo collapsed on the spot.
Leaving behind Madam Hundo, kneeling and sobbing, Seoryeong and Myungdo went on their way.
The claw ghost episode was a massive success. Acting, directing, and a story that didn’t disappoint—viewers’ reactions and comments exploded, and it became a constant topic everywhere.
Scanning the reactions again, Taeyang read a few comments closely.
-That kind of rude personality could easily become obnoxious, but maybe because Seoryeong’s acting is so good... the arrogance actually suits her better.
ㄴThe refined voice, intonation, delivery... it feels like flawless acting. It really pulls viewers into Seoryeong as a character and makes them care about her... overflowing with charm. This actress is definitely going to blow up^^
Taeyang pressed the like button on the comments. After liking several clips like that, he finally arrived at GCV Wangsimni.
* * *
‘I’m really not into movies like this.’
IP 85.152 bought a carbonated drink at GCV Wangsimni. Normally, when it came to films, IP 85.152 only watched cinephile-recommended works or ones that had won prestigious awards. Entertainment movies like this were unfamiliar territory.
‘Predictable story, predictable ending, predictable overall vibe.’
Unlike art films where you had to watch even your breathing, movies like this would be packed with people checking their phones, chatting with whoever was next to them, noisily eating popcorn... in short, full of people who irritated IP 85.152.
‘Still... well.’
A birthday coupon had come in from GCV, so giving it a try once didn’t seem like a bad idea.
After all, dabbling a little in genres different from what you usually enjoyed was how you broadened your cultural world.
‘And it’s fine as workplace small talk material too.’
So it wasn’t that IP 85.152 came because they wanted to see it. They’d taken a half day off work, GCV Wangsimni was near the office, and the timing worked out....
“We’ll begin entry for the 15:50 screening of <Law-Faster-than>.”
At the staff’s guidance, IP 85.152 quickly entered. It was twenty minutes before the movie started. The theater was fairly large, and it was crowded. Many of Yun Hyeonjo’s fans were visible, having brought banners and headbands.
‘For a stage greeting, they just show their faces and the director says enjoy the movie. What’s with all the fuss....’
Fiddling with the empty hand holding only a soda, IP 85.152 sat down. It was an aisle seat—chosen just in case they needed to go to the bathroom.
‘I came to watch a movie. Of course I’d pick a seat where I can see the screen well.’
Right. Since they hadn’t come to see Han Yeoreum, it had to be the back rows. Absolutely, definitely not because stage greeting reviews said the actors often took selfies with people in the back rows.
“We’re entering now—.”
Someone came in through the open front door. Shutter sounds erupted ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) everywhere.
“Hyeonjo actooor!”
“Here! The headband!”
Yun Hyeonjo’s fans went wild. With his hair neatly slicked back, Yun Hyeonjo bowed politely as he accepted the gifts.
When he couldn’t put on the headband himself, Yeoreum nearby helped him.
‘Why doesn’t Han Yeoreum have a headband!’
Assuming someone would obviously bring one, IP 85.152 sprang to their feet. A male student nearby stood up as well.
“Yeoreum—!”
Just then, someone ran in and thrust a bouquet and a headband into Han Yeoreum’s arms.
Yeoreum stared at the audience member with wide eyes, then broke into a bright smile and hugged them tightly.
“What the—!”
Without realizing it, IP 85.152 blurted out loud and hurriedly sat back down.
“What was that just now? The mic—didn’t that get picked up?”
“Uh... I think it did....”
The unexpected noise stirred the audience. IP 85.152 carefully composed their expression and pretended to look at their phone.
At some point, the uniformed male student had also sat back down. For some reason, he seemed to be subtly hiding his face.
