The Price of Memory

“It’s been a while.”

At Theodore’s greeting, Horang crossed his arms and cast a glance.

“Yeah—.”

Annoyance was evident in his monotone voice.

The moment Lee Sun’s gaze met the tawny eyes beneath the gray hair, which looked as if ink had been dissolved and the ends slightly faded, he froze.

‘I’m going to die.’

That thought seized him.

‘If I displease this being, I will die.’

A fear he had never experienced before, even after encountering countless ghosts, gripped his throat.

He felt as if he would be devoured whole if even a single hair moved.

Lee Sun wished he could scream.

A chilling sensation, like a winter wind, caressed his spine. Just as his body felt like it would collapse, unable to endure any longer, their gazes averted.

“You’ve got guts, don’t you?”

Horang frowned at the audacity of the uninvited guest who had brought a human along without permission.

Theodore smiled, having confirmed where the displeasure was directed.

“He’s necessary manpower. I didn’t have a chance to ask permission.”

Horang snorted.

“Not having a chance to ask permission, yet barging into someone else’s home, is called trespassing.

Why don’t you babble about your reason for trespassing with that ‘necessary manpower’?

I need to hear something to decide whether to kill you or not.”

Theodore, still with a glimmer of a smile in his eyes, spoke.

“I’m looking for someone.”

Horang let out a heavy sigh.

“Your eyes seem to be well-attached, but is your eyesight poor? Did you perhaps not see when you came in?

This is a real estate office, not a private investigation agency. If you want to find someone, you should go there.”

Theodore leaned forward, looking at Horang. Horang’s face crumpled at the sudden closeness.

“I heard you’ve found many people here.”

“Who’s spouting such nonsense?”

“The person working with Attorney Hyun happens to be handling my affairs. They told me in detail, didn’t they?

Incidentally, they said they’ve handled your affairs a few times too.

But they said finding them within ten days would be difficult.”

At Theodore’s words, Horang narrowed his eyes.

“Unfortunately, I’m busy with the Underworld Hall renovation. I don’t have time to handle your affairs, so get lost.”
It wasn’t an excuse.

The affairs of the Underworld are, naturally, important matters.

Though thinking of the aftermath, he didn’t even want to start.

Anyway, since it was a matter that required utmost care, Horang waved his hand, rattling off about the construction left behind by the bald duo—no, the Vajra Warriors—which hadn’t even started yet.

If they barged in, he’d just kick them out again, like last time.

Horang let out a boisterous laugh and flipped his palm. A lit pipe appeared as if conjured from thin air.

Theodore’s gaze went to the bowl of the pipe, where the tobacco was burning down.

“I’ll pay the price.”

“Oh, really. What makes you think I’d demand anything?”

Theodore straightened up again and smiled.

Then he raised the shadow he had shown before.

The shadow, though sluggish, instantly took form with surprising speed and opened its beak wide.

“Boss!”

Jeha shrieked as if having a seizure.

Horang swung his pipe at the shadow rushing towards him.

With a light swing in the air, the shadow was struck with a thud and tumbled away.

The shadow was heavy, like a corporeal body. The sensation made him frown.

Scattered by the impact, Theodore’s shadow touched Horang’s skin, then recoiled and reformed on the ground.

Still smiling, Theodore shrugged.

“I’ll pay with this.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

Horang was about to shout that, but then he confirmed something and fell silent.

“Seeing that the scent of blood has faded, isn’t this a sufficient price?”

Theodore continued calmly.

“By the way, have you ever been injured by a yokai? Given that the wound isn’t healing, you must have been seriously hurt.”

He scrutinized the continuous stream of yokai energy emanating from the Mountain God.

He had checked it because the energy, mostly covered by a thick layer of cloth, was bothering him. Even with his senses dulled by his human shell, he could still feel it.

The unique immortal energy possessed by a Mountain God and the yokai energy felt from a monstrous being were conflicting forces that consumed each other, so they couldn’t possibly coexist in one body.

Given his power, he was definitely a Mountain God.

Theodore momentarily set aside other possibilities.

Horang kept his lips pressed together, then finally parted them after a long moment.

“So, you’ve swallowed the yokai energy flowing from me?”

“Yes. If you balance or eliminate it, the wound will stop festering.”

Theodore’s expression asked what he would do now.

“I can help you until you recover.”

Horang bit the mouthpiece of his pipe, as if burning the turmoil within.

The medicinal herbs burned, their essence scattering and seeping into his mouth.

He was silent for a moment, as if contemplating, then spoke.

“Alright. I’ll find them.”

Theodore, with the negotiation concluded, sent his shadow back.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Kim Hae-im. The child who was supposed to deliver the sacred artifacts containing my memories to this place, as I mentioned before.”

“If it’s from over a hundred years ago, they must already be dead.”

“That’s right.”

Tracing the footsteps of a dead person wasn’t a difficult task. At least, not if they were a human who had lived on land.
Horang narrowed his eyes.

“Are you specifically looking for Kim Hae-im? Or are you looking for your memories?”

“Why do you ask that?”

Horang replied with a look of absurdity, as if he had been asked the most obvious question.

“The commission fee varies depending on the nature of the work, customer.”

“What do you accept as payment?”

“Cash is standard. Card or bank transfer are possible, and a receipt will be issued.”

At that, Theodore tilted his head, as if considering it.

“Then let’s do both.”

Horang’s eyes crinkled in a frown, then smoothed out nonchalantly.

“What do you know about Kim Hae-im?”

“It’s all here.”

Lee Sun quickly offered what he had brought.

At a glance, it was obvious that the thick paper envelope contained relevant personal information.

Horang nodded, and Jeha, frowning, reached out his hand.

“This is a bother to carry around. Don’t you have a file version?”

“Pardon?”

After receiving the envelope, Jeha took out his phone from his pocket and shook it.

“I mean, don’t you have a PDF file or a scanned copy?”

Horang sighed, looking at Lee Sun.

“Even in this business, we use computers and cell phones.”

Lee Sun quickly collected himself, opened his bag, and took out a tablet pad.

“Then I will send it now.”

“Send it here.”

Jeha held out the business card tucked behind his phone case. Lee Sun quietly moved his fingers, looking at the email address and SNS ID written on it.

Watching this, Horang suddenly spoke out something that came to mind.

It was obvious that someone would come looking for him with memories from a hundred years ago, but there was one thing he needed to confirm.

“By the way, is Kim Hae-im a manshin?”

Theodore closed and then opened his eyes.

“She was Kim Ha-woon’s goddaughter, a baksu, and the last manshin who could summon me.”

Horang remembered a dusty name tucked away in a corner of his memory. Kim Ha-woon was someone he knew.

He was one of the few who possessed the qualification to summon gods on this land after the gods began to disappear or depart.

Such power would certainly allow her to summon that being. However, the manshin named Kim Hae-im was not in his memory.

If she had that much power, he would have heard of her at least once.

“I received it.”

Jeha, having received and checked the file, nodded.

Horang decided it was time to chase out the troublesome uninvited guests.

“Then, you may leave now, customer?”

It wasn’t an invitation.

Theodore let out a small laugh.

Horang had merely called him by a different title, but the sensation of being continuously pushed away from the land vanished.

The ten-day period he had received during his previous visit hadn’t been this effective, but now there was truly no resistance.

As if he had finally been accepted by the land. He finally remembered what it felt like to breathe properly.

The throbbing headache and persistent pain vanished instantly, and the world felt brighter.

Theodore’s body leaned forward.

Because of his towering height, nearly 2 meters, a shadow fell over Horang’s head.

He looked down at Horang, who was sprawled on the sofa in that posture.

His calm and composed expression felt aloof.

“Am I a ‘customer’ now?”

“You’re no longer merely a passing guest.”

Horang retorted, biting on his pipe.

“It would be a loss if you died before paying the full price.”

Words exchanged with a powerful being possessed their own efficacy.

He did not desire its demise.

Whether good or bad, everything had a purpose, and this being still had a purpose on this land.

That’s why it had returned, after all.

While he had indeed left it to languish, hoping the needy party would cling, it was too soon for disposal.

“Then I’ll see you next time.”

Theodore smiled and met Horang’s eyes.

“What do you mean, ‘next time’? If I find her, I’ll contact you.”

Horang immediately averted his gaze and waved his hand as if shooing away something bothersome.

Behind Theodore, the door swung wide open with a rough sound.

“Goodbye.”

Jeha held the door, urging them to leave with his farewell.

Unlike being unceremoniously thrown out with a single gesture, seeing them properly escorted out truly made him realize that a contract had been made with the Mountain God.

Theodore, taking Lee Sun with him, leisurely crossed the threshold and walked through the passage leading to the alley.

As soon as they left, Horang clenched his fist. The sound of the main gate closing echoed in the distance.

“Shin Jeha.”

Jeha turned around with a creaking movement.

Horang swung his long pipe at the only employee in the office.

“No snacks for a month starting now.”

“Oh—no!”

The old ghost, who had never left the land of Korea, either alive or dead, let out a wail in English.

“Shut up.”

Horang barked, then stretched out on the sofa.

“Kim Hae-im. Kim Hae-im. Kim Hae-im.”

He muttered the name that had been thrown at him.

He wasn’t an Underworld Emissary; calling a name three times wouldn’t summon a soul.

Jeha, who had collapsed onto the floor like a tragic protagonist from the shock of losing his snacks, stealthily looked up and asked.

“…Should I contact Attorney Hyun first?”

“Do that. If she’s gone to the afterlife, Attorney Hyun is faster.”

Jeha nodded with a gloomy face and then spoke again.

“Boss, even if you cut out snacks, shouldn’t you at least eat the pancakes that are already cooked?

If we leave them, they’ll just become food waste.”

Horang waved his hand while lying down. Knowing this was permission, Jeha quickly dashed into the kitchen.

***

–I found them.

On the fourth day after taking the job, Attorney Hyun sent a message.

Horang shambled out of bed. Looking at the clock, it was an ungodly 11 AM.

For Horang, whose average wake-up time was 2 PM, this was excessively early.

Horang left the Sanshingak and came down to the house below.

As soon as he opened the door, a savory smell wafted out.

His head tilted to the left, and he saw a back stirring a ladle in front of a large pot.

“What are you doing?”

Jeha turned his head.

“I’m brewing yulmu-cha.”

Horang silently looked at the pot, used for boiling bone broth in an ordinary household, sitting on the gas stove, and shook his head.

He had cut off snacks, and now Jeha was finding strange ways to fill his stomach.

“By the way, you’re up quite early.”

As Horang wobbled to the kitchen table, Jeha pulled out a mug inscribed with ‘Lee Horang’ and ladled out yulmu-cha.

Horang, seeing the steam rising vigorously, didn’t even think to touch it and blurted out the words on his mind.

“I’m going to see Attorney Hyun.”

Jeha nodded his head.

“I already contacted our new customer about that matter.”

“—What?”

The answer burst out a beat late.

Jeha scooped yulmu-cha into a large bowl, like scooping soongnyung, and took a seat opposite him.

“When I received the file before, I exchanged SNS IDs with our human customer. I even friended them.

When I brought up Attorney Hyun, they said they wanted to visit together.”

Horang buried his face in his palms.

This was why innocent kindness was so agonizing.

“So?”

“I said I’d contact them again once you woke up.”

As if to suggest he should contact them right away, Jeha reached for his phone, which was lying face down on the table.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

Horang’s nose wrinkled at the sight of his employee blinking and tilting his head.

“Go to the Underworld Hall this afternoon.”

“…Me, dare to go there?”

Horang felt a slight improvement in his mood as he watched Jeha point a finger at himself.

“Go and get an estimate for the renovation.”

“Since when did we switch from real estate brokerage to an interior design company?”

“From now on.”

“Didn’t we agree to hire a separate contractor for the interior? I even prepared ads to find part-timers to handle it!”

“You haven’t found one yet. List all the requirements for repairs, inconveniences, items to clear out when moving furniture, and items to pack.”

Horang just stated his demands, as if telling him not to nag. Jeha’s eyebrows crinkled.

“No—if I go alone, they won’t even let me past the gate. And what ghost goes to the Underworld Hall on their own two feet?!”

After dying, if a soul had to face judgment, the Underworld Hall was where they were dragged by the Underworld Emissaries, even if they didn’t want to go.

“You won’t be the first, so don’t worry.”

Horang lightly sipped the yulmu-cha, which had cooled just enough.

The taste spreading in his mouth was very savory.