Whisper Chapter 25

“Just do your work instead of slacking off.”  

 

“Watching you is part of my job, you know?”  

 

Chief Kim playfully quipped as he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position on the sofa.  

 

“They keep pressing us to hurry up. What did President Cha say?”  

 

“Since when does that guy speak to me kindly? How should I know? Who knows what kind of thoughts are stuck in that thick skull of his?”  

 

Jang Pal-yong absentmindedly replied as he reached for a cigarette.  

 

“It’s not a small amount of money.”  

 

“Small? It’s tiny. Might as well use it to dig up some high-end manpower.”  

 

“You brought in a shaman, so shouldn’t that make things easier?”  

 

“Hey, how the hell am I supposed to know whether that girl is still there or if she took off somewhere else? If it’s that easy, why don’t you do it yourself?”  

 

Jang Pal-yong took a deep drag from his cigarette and leaned toward Chief Kim.  

 

“It’s urgent,” Chief Kim muttered before grabbing his cup of coffee from the coffee shop.  

 

“Who says it’s urgent?”  

 

Jang Pal-yong asked casually, eyeing him with curiosity. Chief Kim opened his mouth as if to say something but hesitated.  

 

“Come on, just tell me. I’ll keep it confidential.”  

 

“Geez, why are you so curious about it?”  

 

“Because you’re not telling me, which only makes me want to know more.”  

 

Jang Pal-yong’s teasing made Chief Kim chuckle as he reached out his hand, gesturing for a cigarette.  

 

Jang Pal-yong pulled out a cigarette, handed it to Chief Kim, and even lit it for him. Well, this was the easier way to find out. Assigning someone to eavesdrop would just be exhausting.  

 

“I didn’t know at first either.”  

 

Chief Kim took a long drag, his legs jittering anxiously.  

 

“Our job is just to take the money. It’s not our place to care about the details, right?”  

 

Jang Pal-yong nodded in agreement. “True.”  

 

The air purifier changed color and whirred noisily as the cigarette smoke filled the room. A staff member sitting at a desk quietly got up and slipped out.  

 

“After we found the shaman, we got a request from some woman asking us to tell her where the shaman was.”  

 

“A woman?”  

 

Jang Pal-yong, who had been lounging comfortably, frowned at the sudden revelation. His head started to ache from trying to piece things together.  

 

“It was through that request that I found out who originally asked us to find the shaman.”  

 

This was ridiculous, but it made Jang Pal-yong tense up without realizing it. He didn’t even notice the cigarette ash falling as he swallowed dryly.  

 

“Im Kyung-jin, the assemblyman. You know him, right?”  

 

Of course. Even if he never watched the news and only binged dramas, Jang Pal-yong knew who Im Kyung-jin was. A politician popular among housewives and rumored to be running in the next presidential election.  

 

“Shit! Damn it!”  

 

The smoldering tip of the cigarette touched his fingers, making Jang Pal-yong jump up and angrily stub it out in the ashtray.  

 

“Fuck. That assemblyman? Then who’s this woman?”  

 

“No idea. But there’s something really strange about this.”  

 

Chief Kim stopped shaking his leg and flicked the cigarette ash away.  

 

They were told to check if it was worth negotiating, but it seemed like they’d hit a dead end. Jang Pal-yong stared at Chief Kim with troubled eyes. Everything about this was off, but now there was something even more bizarre.  

 

“After we got the request to find the shaman’s granddaughter, the next day, that same woman submitted the exact same request. She even offered to pay double.”  

 

Yeah, that was seriously weird. Jang Pal-yong scowled like he had just bitten into something foul, while Chief Kim chuckled at his reaction.  

 

Finding a shaman was one thing, but why the hell was someone looking for Lee Heewoo? No wonder Chief Kim had taken an interest in this.  

 

“Chief Kim, you didn’t mention that before.”  

 

“Well, I was still debating it. The money’s twice as much, but I have no idea who she is.”  

 

“And yet, you dragged us into this mess? If this goes south, we’re the ones who’ll take the fall.”  

 

“Come on, would I ever do that? Don’t worry. Just try to smooth things over with President Cha. Every time the phone rings, I feel like I’m gonna have a panic attack. It’s like debt collectors hounding me, except they’re polite about it. What’s the point of being polite if it still makes my skin crawl?”  

 

Jang Pal-yong watched Chief Kim grumble, but all he could think about was how Cha Gyeol would react when he heard this.  

 

***

 

It was unbearably hot. As he listened to passersby grumbling that the country would soon turn into Southeast Asia at this rate, Cha Gyeol sat on a bench.  

 

Seriously, what the fuck, why was he sitting here in this heat?  

 

His irritated gaze landed a few meters ahead. There was a tiny park along the back road leading to the office parking lot, and across from it was a convenience store. In front of that park, Lee Heewoo was squatting.  

 

Cha Gyeol downed the rest of his bottled water from the convenience store in one go, the condensation dripping down its sides. He watched as her crouched back twitched slightly. Then, she sharply turned her head to check whether he was still sitting there—for the umpteenth time.  

 

Like a child playing but glancing back to see if their mother was around.  

 

In this frustrating weather, just seeing Lee Heewoo made his already heat-prone body boil over.   

 

“Fuck.”  

 

Who the hell built something like that in a place like this? Should he have some guys come at night and smash it all up?  

 

Cracking his neck audibly from side to side, Cha Gyeol looked at Lee Heewoo, who seemed unsure what to do with the stray cat circling her nearby instead of running away.  

 

Even though she was close, the cat wasn’t fleeing. Her gaze toward it wasn’t exactly kind.  

 

Under the convenience store’s awning, he and Lee Heewoo, squatting in the scorching sun, seemed like they were in different seasons altogether.  

 

Her small frame fidgeted before she slowly got up. She must have decided it was time to leave. She waved her hand with a smile, as if saying goodbye.  

 

Her turned face was filled with regret. The gazes of people passing through the park lingered on her for a long moment before shifting away. He was just about to stand up, annoyed.  

 

“Aaahng!”  

 

The sudden cry of a child rang out.  

 

Cha Gyeol looked at the startled Lee Heewoo and the child sprawled on the ground.  

 

The kid had been riding a kickboard in the park and must have crashed into Lee Heewoo without noticing her. She quickly crouched down, trying to comfort the crying child.  

 

“S-Sorry. Are you okay?”  

 

Seeing the child cry, Lee Heewoo looked like she was about to burst into tears herself. Uncertain of what to do in this unfamiliar situation, she raised her hands but didn’t dare touch the child.  

 

And then—  

 

“What the hell is wrong with you?! Taeyang, are you hurt? Do you even have eyes?!”  

 

A woman, seemingly the child’s mother, ran over, shoving Lee Heewoo aside as she checked on her son.  

 

Cha Gyeol’s brow furrowed sharply.  

 

Lee Heewoo brushed off her backside as she stood up and apologized. Watching her, Cha Gyeol took a long stride forward.  

 

“Is ‘sorry’ enough? Oh my god, look at his knee! He’s bleeding! Blood! Ahhh!”  

 

As the enraged woman shrieked and pointed aggressively, Cha Gyeol stepped in and shoved her aside with his leg.  

 

The woman, now on the ground, shot up and braced herself as if ready for a fight.  

 

But Cha Gyeol paid her no mind. Instead, he pulled Lee Heewoo toward him protectively. She looked up at him with teary eyes, her face resembling a puppy that had just gotten scolded.  

 

“Who the hell are you?!”  

 

“Fucking hell.”  

 

At the icy, low growl, the woman flinched. Even the child, who had been wailing moments ago, now stared up at Cha Gyeol with wide eyes before grabbing onto his mother’s leg and hiding behind her.  

 

Cha Gyeol finally let loose the irritation that had been simmering in him all this time.  

 

“Take your damn brat and go to the hospital together. Who the hell do you think you’re screeching at? Fucking hell, you gonna make me take responsibility for your kid getting scared?”  

 

Even just his presence was imposing, but his voice and tone made it downright suffocating.  

 

The woman, now utterly speechless, stammered uselessly.  

 

Lee Heewoo, however, turned her gaze toward Cha Gyeol, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. The overwhelming emotions surged up, spilling over.  

 

She didn’t even understand what she was feeling.  

 

Lowering her head, she grabbed onto Cha Gyeol’s shirt tightly.  

 

***  

 

At the foot of Bukhansan Mountain, the shrine was quite large.  

 

It had a main hall where the shaman lived, a separate annex where her younger sister and the shrine’s apprentice resided, and a small waiting area for clients with appointments.  

 

After a busy morning of visitors, the shrine was quiet for now.  

 

The shaman leaned against the wall, sipping warm barley tea. Her throat felt dry and parched.  

 

“Have some rice cakes. They’re fresh and still warm.”  

 

Her younger sister pushed a tray toward her, a small plate of injeolmi set upon it. The shaman let out a long sigh as she set down her cup.  

 

“Did you contact her?”  

 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t sound good. She’s barely eating.”  

 

Kim Jin-mi’s eyes gleamed sharply. Her younger sister, Kim Yeon-mi, three years her junior, poured more barley tea into her cup with a worried expression.  

 

“The time is approaching. We just need to find the granddaughter. No word yet?”  

 

“Nothing. But… do we really have to do this?”  

 

At Kim Yeon-mi’s hesitant question, Kim Jin-mi shot her a piercing glare. Shrinking under that gaze, Kim Yeon-mi muttered under her breath, “I was just saying…”  

 

She had been known for her ambition and ruthlessness since childhood. Age had done nothing to change that.