Chapter 45

Chapter 45. Something Scarier Than Rent

The date wasn't very far in the future.

Even the shape of his trimmed beard was unmistakable.

GIFs really were useful.

I could even read what he was saying from the shape of his mouth.

Janggun Bodhisattva was saying,

"I will cooperate faithfully with the investigation."

How long had it been since I'd happily thought we'd created a memorable character and good chemistry?

What the hell did you do to end up there, Bodhisattva?

He was being filmed massively in front of a prosecutors' office.

And he wasn't even giving the usual speech about being innocent under heaven and proving his innocence.

It looked almost like guilt was already certain.

Then he was going to prison soon.

Wait.

If the incident that made Janggun Bodhisattva say I will cooperate faithfully with the investigation became public early enough...

Wouldn't the episode of 〈The Sixth Sense〉 we'd just finished filming get canceled?

They couldn't air footage featuring someone definitely involved in a serious crime.

I checked the date on the GIF again.

It was after the scheduled broadcast date of 〈The Sixth Sense〉.

Then our episode probably wouldn't be canceled over this.

If that were the future problem, the spam would've arrived before filming, like with the hidden-camera bear incident.

There was no reason to send me a GIF about a canceled broadcast immediately after we'd already finished filming.

For now, I had to assume the broadcast would be fine.

The upgrade might've changed the rules behind how these messages worked.

But I couldn't account for an unknown variable yet.

Or maybe this meant I needed to stop Janggun Bodhisattva's investigation until after 〈The Sixth Sense〉 aired.

That way Blue Moon could still appear.

I thought about it carefully.

It sounded plausible.

If the man had genuinely done something horrible, I would've simply given up on the broadcast.

I couldn't interfere with some murder case or other serious crime just to satisfy Blue Moon's self-interest.

But if Janggun Bodhisattva was innocent, that changed everything.

If I proved his innocence before the issue became public, then the spam message would've saved both him and our broadcast.

Right.

That had to be it.

And the prosecutor in charge was Yoon Jin-seo.

The same prosecutor who'd once suspected innocent me.

Sure, he'd eventually let me go.

But this time, maybe he wouldn't.

This had to be a case where poor Janggun Bodhisattva was going to be unfairly sent to prison.

Save Janggun Bodhisattva.

Save the broadcast.

I dropped the members off at the dorm, then headed straight to Palbong Shrine.

Palbong Shrine was hidden near Beotigogae in Sindang-dong.

Despite being tucked deep inside a secluded alley, a huge number of people were lined up outside.

I'd come immediately after filming.

That meant it was normally this busy.

A crazy prosecutor is about to falsely charge you.

I'll help you.

If I said that out of nowhere, I'd probably get treated like a lunatic.

Still, I had no choice but to be direct.

If I forced my way into a conversation, at least he would listen.

I planned to enter the shrine immediately.

But the line was so long that cutting in would probably get me beaten to death.

I reluctantly walked toward the back.

Then someone called me.

"Huh? Do Jun-hyeok!"

The person standing at the very end was an amateur film director I'd met while participating in the Iblis fandom.

"Huh? Fancy meeting you here. Doing well? Finally made your directorial debut?"

"I submitted something to a film festival this time. I really hope it goes well... Anyway, what brings you here?"

I decided to make something up.

"Me? I was thinking... maybe I'd get my New Year's fortune read."

"A New Year's fortune? You? That doesn't suit you at all..."

I told him even people who didn't believe in superstition could at least check their yearly fortune.

He seemed to accept that.

"What about you?"

"Me? I came to ask him to perform a ritual before the film-festival results."

He spoke excitedly.

"This place is supposed to be incredibly accurate. I heard he's appearing on television soon too. You work in entertainment. Haven't you heard? Apparently, if you get a talisman here before releasing a song, the track does incredibly well."

"Really? That's the first I've heard of it."

The man looked surprised that I didn't know.

Then he nodded in understanding.

"Right. You don't believe in superstition, so of course you wouldn't know. Fortune tellers and tarot are basically outside your destiny."

"Destiny is superstition too."

"Anyway, rituals and talismans from here supposedly work. Especially for entertainment. People in the industry come secretly all the time. I heard he charges entertainment people hundreds of millions of won for certain talismans."

Hundreds of millions?

Entertainment planners spent hundreds of millions on this kind of superstition?

I'd heard traditions like that existed.

And Moon Pil-su had supposedly performed a ritual before starting 〈Introduction to Unrequited Love〉.

But hundreds of millions was insane.

"So you're here to spend hundreds of millions too?"

"No! He's especially powerful for entertainment. For startups or useless little directors like me... maybe a few million at most? That's cheap. Great value."

A few million for some red writing on yellow paper, and he was calling it great value?

Everyone here had definitely been bewitched.

We talked a little more about warding rituals and evil-spirit talismans.

The line slowly moved forward.

Then someone came out of the shrine.

He was one of the team-manager-level employees at Full Story Entertainment.

We had a minor personal connection.

But I'd also handed him a huge disaster during the Kim Chang-bae incident.

I hurriedly hid behind the amateur director.

"Yes, yes. I got the Sipsa-bu."

The Full Story team leader immediately called someone after coming outside.

Sipsa-bu.

I'd never heard the word before.

Judging by context, it sounded like the name of a talisman.

Full Story.

Full Story...

Before he completely left, I searched my memory.

If entertainment agencies mainly visited this place to buy talismans for successful comebacks, then Full Story probably had a group returning soon.

Come to think of it, one of their boy groups was about due for a comeback.

They'd suffered badly after it came out that one of their rookie girl groups had received sponsorship favors.

They were probably putting a lot of force behind this comeback.

Still.

A talisman worth hundreds of millions?

If I had that kind of money, I'd hire a marketing agency.

"Is it really true that he charges entertainment companies hundreds of millions?"

"I'm telling you. I heard some talismans go up to three hundred million won."

The moment the director said that, the Full Story team leader casually crumpled the talisman and shoved it into his pocket.

Was that how you treated a three-hundred-million-won talisman?

A corner was probably already torn.

"Yes, yes. No, burning it sounds like it might bring bad luck. I'll just stuff it in a locker or something."

Then the team leader casually walked out of the alley.

What did he mean by I can't burn it, so I'll stuff it somewhere?

Burning a talisman usually meant ending its effect.

He'd just spent hundreds of millions.

And now he was treating it like trash.

Strange.

Weird.

Suspicious.

I became increasingly curious about this Sipsa-bu talisman.

Waiting grew harder.

Was everyone drinking soju with Janggun Bodhisattva and complaining about life?

Each person took at least thirty minutes.

Still, I forced myself to wait.

Eventually, I reached the front gate.

"Ugh. Four groups still ahead of us."

After turning the corner past the gate, I saw five people, including the director, still lined up across the five meters before the shrine entrance.

I thought we were finally done.

Feeling empty, I ran my hand along the wall.

Something was sticking out of the mailbox.

From the design, it looked like a utility bill.

"Why are you touching someone else's bill? Janggun will punish you!"

The director whispered when I pulled it out.

"Fine, fine. I'm just bored."

"Put it back!"

I pretended to return it.

Then I quickly hid it instead.

There wasn't any real reason I had to see it.

Maybe the yellow utility bill reminded me of the talismans and somehow felt blessed.

Anyway, I quickly checked whether anyone was watching.

The people behind us were all staring at their phones, trying to survive the boredom.

Let's see how much water shamans use.

I hid the bill with my body and carefully opened it.

Apparently, I wouldn't get to see whether Janggun Bodhisattva lived on morning dew or drank like a hippopotamus.

It was an electricity bill from KEPCO.

Still, there was no reason to be disappointed.

[Current Month Charge: 2,775,350 won]

[Previous Month Charge: 2,640,110 won]

"T-Two million seven hundred...?"

It wasn't hundreds of millions.

But it was still millions.

How the hell did one house spend almost three million won on electricity?

People said winter heating bills were scarier than rent.

Apparently, there was something even scarier.

At last, my turn came.

The shrine interior was filled with bright red objects and had an extremely eerie atmosphere.

At least the heating worked properly.

It wasn't cold.

First, I planned to make him take back the ridiculous statement that 〈N.Dolphin〉 was doomed.

Surely saving an innocent man from prison was enough goodwill to earn that.

"Huh? What are you doing here?"

We had technically met earlier that very morning on television.

Seeing someone from the broadcast suddenly follow him all the way to his shrine seemed to surprise him.

"Blue Moon recently released a new song. I heard you're very accurate, so I thought I'd ask you for a talisman too. That S-Sipsa-bu thing."

"What? Sipsa-bu? Absolutely not! Leave!"

Janggun Bodhisattva refused immediately.

"Why? Another entertainment planner just walked out with one. Give me one too."

"I've already written as many as I can! No more! Maybe Baeksa-bu, but absolutely not Sipsa-bu!"

Baeksa-bu?

Sipsa-bu?

They sounded related to numbers.

Did that mean there was also Cheonsa-bu or Ilsa-bu?

"You think I don't have money? I have money. How much?"

"I wouldn't write one even if you gave me ten billion won."

I didn't actually intend to buy one.

Maybe if it were free.

Did he think I was insane?

I only wanted to confirm whether they really cost three hundred million.

"Fine. I was just asking. Then at least give me a consultation."

"Get out!"

Janggun Bodhisattva shot to his feet and began shoving me toward the door with a terrifying face.

"W-Why are you doing this? Wait. Fine. I'll be honest. You're about to be falsely prosecuted!"

"Begone!"

"I won't talk about Baeksa-bu or Sipsa-bu anymore! Just give me a consultation!"

He refused to listen.

After waiting three hours just to enter the shrine, I was thrown out within one minute.

What now?

I couldn't simply give up.

I didn't have time to try the same thing three times like some ancient strategist either.

I needed to somehow persuade him and stop Yoon Jin-seo's investigation now.

"Bodhisattva! Seriously, just give me five minutes!"

I tried entering again.

The women waiting in line immediately got angry.

"There are all these people waiting! If your consultation is over, get out!"

"Leave! Leave!"

This was the greatest crisis of my entire spam-message career.

If the front door was locked, I'd use the back door.

If the back door failed, I'd open a window and scratch at it until something happened.

Hadn't I already survived a human factory?

I stayed inside the fence and circled halfway around the shrine.

Eventually, I reached the wall that should've been directly behind where Janggun Bodhisattva sat.

According to my memory, the nearest window should've been around one more corner.

But there was one here too.

Come to think of it, behind Janggun Bodhisattva had been an altar.

And behind that altar stood a folding screen decorated like a Buddhist painting, completely covering the wall.

Was this a hidden window?

If so, there wasn't much reason to look through it.

But an unpleasant mechanical sound, something I hadn't heard inside the shrine room, was coming through the window.

I moved closer.

A boiler room?

Didn't sound like one.

The noise felt different from a boiler.

I stacked a couple of bricks on the ground and climbed up.

The moment I looked inside, hot air hit my face.

I flinched.

But not because of the heat.

Because of the unbelievable sight inside that hidden room.