TINL Ch 15

Sitting up, he saw the damp sheets and Won, flushed and fast asleep.

“I really am crazy…”

Sunwoo groaned, covering his eyes. He regenerated the soaked sheets and mattress to their original pristine state, then carefully tucked the blanket around the sleeping Won, purifying her two, three times over. Only when Won’s entire body became not just dry, but almost sparkling, did Sunwoo finally withdraw his hand and call Grandma Seolmundae.

—Yes, Sunwoo. Is the work manageable? Have you eaten?

“Both of you, you talk about food as if you’ll die if you miss a single meal… Never mind that. I need to know exactly why you pushed me into the Celestial Realm.”

—Judging by your grumpiness, you skipped a meal. We all do this to eat and live, so take care of yourself, kid. Especially since you eat so much.

“…”

Grandma Seolmundae laughed heartily, as if she could see Sunwoo clenching his teeth.

—Come to think of it, I felt like I babied and spoiled you too much, so I sent you to the Celestial Realm, thinking you needed to experience some hardship. Is it very difficult?

“It’s not just difficult, there’s not a single sane person here! I haven’t even been here a full day, and I think I’m catching their madness!”

He raised his voice, then quickly shut his mouth and winced as Won frowned and stirred in her sleep. The fact that he was instinctively watching Won’s reactions proved he was truly crazy. Sunwoo glanced meaninglessly at Won, sleeping soundly, and continued to grumble endlessly.

“I can fix a pierced body in an instant and make a crappy motel room like new, but why can’t I purify negativity on my own? Do I really have to suck it out through the mouth or there? Do I really have to keep doing this… this… until my name is listed in the Divine Registry?”

—Yes. It’s my arrangement for you to realize that you are a negative and incomplete being.

“This is driving me crazy. You did this, Grandma?”

—In the beginning, Mago divided the earth and sky, and I created living things. I added a cute little penalty so no one would forget that they are not perfect alone and can be tainted by negativity at any time.

“The Grandma Seolmundae I know doesn’t operate with such profound thoughts. Unless you pulled this prank because you were obsessed with oral sex back then.”

—…Well, I won’t deny that.

Rubbing his face, he continued to groan. Grandma Seolmundae, who had been chuckling, soothed him with a playful voice.

—It’s a plan I’ve prepared for longer than you think. Both you and Won are important pieces I’ve arranged to overturn the board at the right time and in the right form, so endure and persevere.

“A plan…?”

Sunwoo, who had been about to ask if there was any other way to remove negativity or if there was a secret to his death, was speechless at the unexpected words.

‘Come to think of it… Lady Jacheongbi is the one who will succeed Grandma Seolmundae as the next generation’s Grandma. If she’s scheming something with Won, it makes sense that Grandma Seolmundae is also involved. When did they start plotting?’

As Sunwoo’s silence lengthened, Grandma Seolmundae calmly explained further.

—You know Mago’s symbol is order, and mine is balance, right?

“I know. Is this plan related to that ability?”

—It’s because I find Mago’s habit of hounding Won and Cheongbi like they’re vermin, all in the name of order, extremely irritating. I believe Mago’s actions aren’t beneficial at all to a world that naturally lives in a moderate balance.

“Well… Having experienced it myself, I wouldn’t say she’s beneficial at all.”

—Right? She wasn’t originally like that. Sigh.

Grandma Seolmundae let out a deep sigh and ended the conversation before Sunwoo could ask anything else.

—This is all I can tell you, so stop asking and feed Won. As you saw today… she’s been living on scraps, never able to sit down and have a proper meal. Take this opportunity to put some weight on your senior.

“…Then, while I go buy some food, please send someone to watch over Senior.”

—Hmm? Send someone? What are you talking about?

“I’m saying that Mago came and did something horrible while I was away for a moment. I’m worried it’ll happen again, and I can’t carry her out while she’s sleeping, and I can’t let her starve, so please send someone, anyone, just for a while.”

Grandma Seolmundae, who had been drawing out her words with a long “Ehnnn?” as if she couldn’t understand what Sunwoo was saying, burst into laughter.

—Sunwoo, oh my, my boy! Don’t you know how to order delivery? You’re not from the Celestial Realm, you lived on earth for hundreds of years, why are you acting like you’ve lost your touch?

“She can’t eat just anything… can she? She said she has to eat only pure vegetables, so I set the TRV brand concept as a vegetarian resort and raised her that way…”

—That’s for when you’re training! No, really, did you really only eat vegetables for 600 years without sneaking any snacks when Cheongbi and I weren’t looking?

“…”

—Oh my. I wondered how you were so energetic, and it turns out it’s because you lived without doing anything that attracts negativity. What kind of a person is this?

Tsk tsk tsk. As Grandma Seolmundae’s clicking tongue grew louder, Sunwoo felt increasingly resentful of the past 600 years he had lived so diligently. Just as he was about to hang up after a cursory goodbye, he paused with his finger over the end call button and casually asked, as if it were just a passing thought.

“By any chance, do you know what’s popular in the human world these days? I’ve been grazing on grass for 600 years, so I don’t know anything.”

—You could just ask Won what she likes, why beat around the bush? Cheongbi said she likes stimulating things, spicy, salty, and sweet things. Cheongbi told me to get you the best hotel room instead of severance pay, so I’ve taken care of that. I’m hanging up.

Staring at the unilaterally disconnected call, he opened a food delivery app with a disgruntled look, meticulously compared reviews, and placed an order from a place that seemed decent. The food arrived at the door in less than 30 minutes.

“Oh, dear.”

Sunwoo clicked his tongue disapprovingly as he picked up the boxes emanating pungent smells and set them neatly on the faded table. He was dissatisfied with both the table and the appearance of the food.

‘I should have woken Won up and checked if she could walk, and if she could, we should have gone out to a nice restaurant. I wasn’t thinking straight.’

Preoccupied with everything that had happened, it hadn’t occurred to Sunwoo that they could simply go out to eat. Just as he was considering throwing this fried chicken in the trash and waking Won up to ask if she could walk, he clicked his tongue again, even louder.

‘No matter the circumstances, no matter the plan… I’m the victim here, why am I so anxious about not feeding the perpetrator better food?’

Sunwoo ruffled his hair and shook his head to clear his cluttered thoughts.

‘I just need to focus on protecting her, and then I can get my revenge after the mission is over. Let’s focus on the task at hand.’

Exhaling his complicated thoughts, he looked down at the sleeping Won, tidied her hair, and straightened his clothes. He gently patted her cheeks to relax her stiff facial muscles and even lifted the corners of her mouth. Sunwoo completely washed away the vestiges of Bae Sunwoo, who had been tossed and turned by events. Returning to the face of the TRV hotelier he had been until just yesterday, he straightened his tie and reviewed his to-do list.

‘Wake her up, check her condition, feed her, finalize the safety agreement, check tomorrow’s schedule, and then put her back to sleep. No more unnecessary conversations.’

Only after repeating the same words to himself several times did Sunwoo gently shake Won awake.

“Senior. Wake up and have dinner.”

“…I’m not really hungry…”

Without even properly opening her eyes, she sat up with his help, put on a robe, and slowly blinked, mumbling. Sunwoo supported her waist and guided her to the table, checking the way her slender legs moved as she walked.

‘Her steps seem a little heavy… but she doesn’t seem too uncomfortable. Maybe it helped that I kept it inside after removing the negativity.’

Won, who had been dazed and disoriented after sitting down, gradually regained focus in her eyes. The effects of the drugs had completely worn off, and her pupils, having returned to their normal size for the first time in a while, sparkled with the clear color of autumn leaves, flitting between the chicken and Sunwoo.

“Oh… you bought this while I was sleeping? Mr. Sunwoo must be tired, you should have just rested. I feel bad that I was the only one sleeping like a log.”

Why she felt bad about this, he didn’t know. Won kept apologizing to Sunwoo as she adjusted her robe. Pretending not to notice her discomfort, he placed a wet wipe in front of her and draped his jacket over her shoulders.

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I chose the top-ranked item. It’s supposed to be spicy, I hope it suits your taste.”

“I eat spicy food well. And… thank you for getting it for me.”

“What did I get right…?”

“Mr. Sunwoo wanted to go to the hot spots on land after work, right? I’m saying thank you for eating here with me like this. Actually, I don’t like going out to eat.”

He took the used wet wipe from Won’s hand, placed the split wooden chopsticks in her hand instead, and replied with a dismissive smile, as if it were nothing. Won, fidgeting with the neatly cut chopsticks in her hand, held out her empty hand.

“Give me the receipt for this chicken.”

“I burned it while cleaning up the delivery packaging.”

“Why did you burn it?”

She frowned, clicking her tongue as if exasperated, as if the person who had smiled gratefully was someone else entirely.

“Don’t do that next time. I need it to submit my business trip expenses. They say I have full authority, but I get heavily scrutinized for these trivial expenses without supporting documents.”

While he was dumbfounded, not expecting to be nagged even while feeding her something she liked, Won picked up a large piece of boneless chicken and ordered in her usual flat voice.

“Let’s organize tomorrow’s schedule while we eat. Can you open the schedule I put in your phone?”

Sunwoo silently followed her instructions again. Won cleanly chewed and swallowed the rather large piece and pointed at the table on the screen he held out.

“According to the original plan, we were supposed to negotiate with the Sun God and then give revelations to the prophets, right?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks to Mr. Sunwoo, the Sun God matter has progressed rapidly, so we’ll have to hurry up the Sun God storytelling. Now that the Sun God has been incinerated, Sun Gods around the world will be pestering Mago to avoid becoming kindling.”

He tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“Even if they pressure Mago, the extinguished Sun God won’t come back to life. It’s the principle to follow the disposal of the Korean branch, the origin of the next civilization. Do the Sun Gods of other branches have any other option than to be burned away?”

“We can create a new Sun God myth based on today’s disposal. Something like, ‘A passing scholar burned the two old suns that were ruining the world and became the new sun.’”

Won’s index finger pointed at Sunwoo. Sunwoo, who had been watching Won’s mouth with a pleased expression, thinking how well she ate, noticed the finger pointing at him a little late and stammered.

“Are you saying… the ‘passing scholar’ is… me…?”

“Yes. In Korean mythology, the traveling monk, the passing scholar, and the village woman are the strongest. It’s also a typical plot that signifies the end of the old era and the beginning of a new one.”