Chspter 10: Indiscriminate Dream Bombardment

While Janghyuk’s mother stood hesitantly in front of a payphone for a long time, at the very same moment, President Cha’s house of the Taeseong Group was in utter chaos.

From early evening, the phone had been ringing incessantly.

Ring ring.

President Cha picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Dad, it’s me, your eldest. Just now, my wife, my kids, all of us had this bizarre dream. The Grim Reaper showed up in our dreams……………”

President Cha flinched.

In fact, he’d had the exact same dream just five minutes ago.

He’d dozed off for a split second while watching the news on the sofa, and it had been a nightmare.

“In the dream, Seongjun died in a plane crash on New Year’s Day, dying a terrible death.”

“Ugh!”

“I heard Seongjun has a seven-year-old son now, but with that block of wood? No way that guy has a kid, let alone a seven-year-old! Hahaha!”

“Khhmm!”

The more his eldest son went on, the more President Cha’s temples throbbed.

It was even more of a headache because his wife had come running in, pale as a sheet, and blurted out the exact same story earlier.

“That’s enough. You’re making a big fuss over just a nightmare.”

“But the Grim Reaper recited Seongjun’s birthdate in such vivid detail, it was chilling…………”

“I said enough!”

“Yes, have a good night, Father.”

No sooner had he hung up, the phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Dad, it’s me, your second son. Just now, my wife and I had the strangest dream, you know? The Grim Reaper appeared in our dream…………”

The second son began to rattle on about the same thing as the eldest.

President Cha felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“It’s not even eight o’clock! No wonder your company’s results are so bad when you just conk out and snore from early evening! Hang up!”

The second son quickly hung up.

Ring ring!

[Out!]

“You didn’t dream about the Grim Reaper too, did you?”

“No, how did you know? Did you get divine inspiration, Dad? In my dream, Seongjun…………”

“Haa………….”

President Cha was getting seriously exhausted.

So this time, he didn’t even respond to his daughter and just hung up.

Thud.

President Cha sank into the sofa.

A silky voice and gentle gesture.

“Chairman, I brought you some honey water.”

His wife, twenty years younger than him, set down the tray.

“Drink this and calm down.”

Her hand, holding out the honey water, was trembling slightly.

She was Seongjun’s mother and a woman who blindly believed in superstitions.

So she would often go to famous fortune tellers with other people.

“Chairman, I’m really so scared. What if something terrible really happens to Seongjun………….”

“Nonsense!”

President Cha shouted.

His chest felt tight, and he gulped down the honey water in one go—then spat it out.

“Khghh!”

“That was hot!”

“Damn it! Why bring hot honey water at a time like this? You should’ve brought cold water… Ugh!”

President Cha slammed down the mug.

His already burning insides felt like they were flipping upside down.

‘How can this be happening?’

He’d never heard of such an incident.

‘The whole family having the exact same dream at the exact same time, on the same day. Is that even possible?’

President Cha was not one to believe in superstitions.

He didn’t believe in ghosts, religions, dreams, or legends—let alone Grim Reapers.

‘Honestly, there’s no way our Seongjun has a seven-year-old kid, so what kind of nonsense is this…’

President Cha had always disapproved of his wife frequenting those so-called famous fortune-telling houses.

That had always been the case……………

Ring ring.

The phone rang again.

President Cha, his head throbbing, waved his hand.

“This is getting annoying. You answer it this time.”

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Chairman, it’s me, Inwangsan Seonnyeo Bosal.”

Inwangsan Seonnyeo Bosal.

She was a very famous shaman, known for enshrining the White Tiger God of Inwangsan in her family for generations.

“Bosal-nim? Why are you calling our house yourself?”

“I just had a strange dream. I think it was about President Cha’s family at Taeseong Group. The Grim Reaper showed up………….”

“Excuse me?”

Inwangsan Seonnyeo Bosal was famous for having predicted everything from Korea’s independence, the Korean War, to regime changes due to military coups.

That’s why Korea’s political and financial bigwigs would wear out the threshold of her home, coming and going.

Even high-ranking officials from Japan would visit for a reading.

The Taeseong Group’s Mrs. Chairman was also a regular client of Inwangsan Seonnyeo Bosal.

“Didn’t I warn you recently that a Gate of Death had opened over the Chairman’s house, casting a thick shadow of sudden death?”

Mrs. Chairman’s heart dropped to her feet.

“It was not an ordinary dream. I thought I shouldn’t ignore it, so I called you.”

“Th-thank you for your concern.”

Her hand holding the receiver trembled pitifully.

“Mrs. Chairman, let’s meet soon at the Divination Hall. The reading said you’ll soon welcome a new person into the family.”

Inwangsan Seonnyeo Bosal hung up.

“Oh my god.”

It was the first time.

It was rare for Seonnyeo Bosal to be the one to call first.

Mrs. Chairman looked at her husband.

“Actually… there was a woman with Seongjun before.”

“What?”

This was news to President Cha.

“There’s a woman named Lee Sujin, who got into University at the top of her class. You once said you met one of Seongjun’s college juniors in front of our house, remember?”

“The one with the neat, pretty look, practically glowing. Was that girl Seongjun’s girlfriend?”

“No. Seven years ago, I gave her an envelope of money and broke them up………….”

President Cha’s eyebrows shot up.

“What else could I do? You forced through Seongjun’s engagement to the youngest daughter of the Ukwang Group.”

Once the engagement was set, the youngest son joined the army of his own accord.

***

After his discharge, he wandered around, saying he was winning construction contracts.

It’s already been seven years.

‘No way… Could it be?’

President Cha rubbed his forehead.

Mrs. Chairman kept opening and closing her mouth but eventually retreated to the bedroom.

“Kim Secretary!”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Get a telegram to Seongjun in the Middle East. Tell him to return home immediately.”

“Understood.”

“One more thing. Lee Sujin, was it? Did you know about her?”

“Yes. I carried out Madam’s orders personally.”

So the envelope of money had been Kim Secretary’s doing.

“Not long after, she was kicked out of the house and disappeared. I didn’t investigate further.”

Which meant she wouldn’t be easy to find right away.

President Cha pressed his throbbing temples hard.

“Find out if this Lee Sujin is really raising my grandson, where she is, and what she’s doing. That’s your responsibility.”

“Understood.”

“I need to meet her. How long will it take?”

“She’s been off the grid for seven years. At least half a month.”

“That’s too slow! In ten days, it’ll be New Year’s Day!”

The Grim Reaper had warned that his youngest son would die in a plane crash on New Year’s Day.

Even if it was just a dream, he couldn’t shake the ominous feeling.

“Whatever it takes, find her fast! Turn the country upside down if you have to!”

“Yes.”

“Mobilize the entire Taeseong Group intelligence team, and call in all the Myeongdong fixers too!”

“Yes.”

“I should call Central Intelligence as well. Who’s their best tracker again?”

Ring ring.

President Cha picked up the phone irritably.

“Hello!”

[Oh, it’s been a while, President Cha. This is Lee Sujin. About your youngest, Seongjun………….]

‘What in the world!’

The person he was planning to search the whole country for calls first? After seven years?

“Oh! I was just waiting for your call.”

President Cha was overjoyed.

“So, why did you call?”

[I’m sorry. I just thought I should at least let you know of my existence. In case anything happens to me…………]

To let them know of her existence in case something happens in the future?

Anyone else would call it an old man’s silly worry.

“Do you have a seven-year-old child?”

[H-how did you know!]

‘It’s true?[

“Is he really Seongjun’s son?”

[………Yes. I’m truly sorry. I have no excuse.]

“……”

President Cha’s jaw dropped.

‘Could this really be a coincidence?’

He couldn’t explain it any other way.

President Cha closed his eyes tight and said,

“Let’s talk in detail tomorrow. Bring the child, too. Is that alright?”

-……Yes.

Because of a single phone call, a meeting that was expected to take at least two weeks would now happen in just fifteen hours.

“Huff!”

I shot up in shock while sprawled on the warm floor of the inn, watching TV.

“Damn it!”

My mind snapped awake.

“Hey, Grim Reaper! Get over here, now. Do it!”

[Do… do it?]

Whoosh.

The Grim Reaper materialized, looking bewildered, like smoke rising up.

I frowned hard.

“You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

[——?]

“What? My dad’s plane is going to crash? I haven’t even met him yet! What the hell!”

That’s not what you promised!

You said I’d be born with a silver spoon!

You said I’d get to meet my dad!

[No, I haven’t even entered your dreams in the first place……….]

“Then let’s just say I eavesdropped!”

Suddenly, I remembered that Yama told my mother to ask who my father was, but never actually promised I’d get to meet him.

‘Come to think of it, the Taeseong Group’s youngest son died young, causing Taeseong Construction to falter. Because of that, they couldn’t even make a move during the subway construction bidding, and were knocked out helplessly.’

I only knew the youngest son of Taeseong Group died—I never knew how he died.

Since it had nothing to do with Taeseong Group’s stock, it was just some old, irrelevant fact to me. But not anymore.

Now, it was my father’s death.

[Wh-why are you looking at me like that?]

‘Why? What? Why!’

Right now, I have nothing to lose!

“Hey, Guardian Spirit. The Grim Reaper isn’t just limited to Korea, right?”

[——?]

“Send the same dream to the other side of the planet right now. Do it!”

[Do… do it?]

A man in a hotel in Dubai sprang upright.

He’d nodded off while working on construction bid documents, only to be plunged into a terrifying nightmare.

He was drenched in cold sweat.

“What was that? Why did a Grim Reaper appear in my dream…”

The one who was warned that he’d die in a plane crash over the Arabian Sea on New Year’s Day.

Cha Seongjun trembled at how vivid the nightmare had been.

Bang.

The hotel room door burst open.

His friend and aide, Secretary Lee, bounded in with a noisy step.

Waving a plane ticket with a huge grin.

“I finally got it! Ta-da, round-trip tickets to Bombay! Let’s head to India and, umhahaha!”

“Let’s land a huge construction contract!”

Cha Seongjun saw the tickets waving before his eyes.

It was just a nightmare.

So why did it look like a one-way ticket to the afterlife?

That wasn’t all.

“My child? If he’s seven years old…….”

Even telling himself it was just a dream, his heart thudded so hard he couldn’t calm down.

“Find me a ticket to Korea. I don’t care if we have to transfer in another country—just make it the earliest possible.”

“You’re going back to Korea?”

“Yeah.”

Secretary Lee’s eyes widened.

“For years, you ignored all those telegrams telling you to come home, and now suddenly?”