Boy Monster Chapter 67

Around the time the Vice Commander’s shadow fell upon the door, Jang Hwonwoo stood up from his seat and waited for the door to open, already saluting. The Vice Commander who entered the room ignored his subordinate’s salute and slammed the door shut. Even before sitting down, his displeasure was immense.

“In this busy and critical time of war, a telegram summoning me to and fro! I came here to tell you never to do this again.”

“I apologize. There was something I urgently needed to discuss, so I suggested we meet at a place you favor.”

“Let me tell you in advance, your transfer order cannot be withdrawn. Ahem!”

“……”

“These days, both the homeland and Joseon are in an uproar because of the Sa Hwelju experiment, aren’t they? The Commander is on edge, you know.”

Of course, he hadn’t brought any money. The plan was to handle it after a few minutes of private conversation before any money changed hands. However, Jang Hwonwoo’s ears perked up at the words the Vice Commander had casually thrown out. The Sa Hwelju experiment—it was the first he’d heard of it. Jang Hwonwoo used all his wits to probe for more information.

“Is the folding screen causing trouble?”

“You, really…! Are you that deaf to military affairs? The problem is the Manshin, the greatest shaman in Joseon. They’re experimenting with transferring her power into an ordinary person’s body, but she’s being stubborn as a mule, insisting it has to be done at her original place inside Changdeok Palace and that she won’t go to Unit 731.”

The Vice Commander did not hide his contempt for the subordinate he usually found frustrating. Jang Hwonwoo decided to maintain a foolish demeanor rather than risk a slip of the tongue.

“But without the bloodline… there’s nothing even that shaman can do, is there?”

“If we wait to find the bloodline, when will we ever use Sa Hwelju in the war? Fix your old-fashioned way of thinking. If it can’t be done, you have to make it happen. There must be a way to transfer that power into an ordinary person’s body. There’s nothing science can’t do.”

“Is that what the doctor says too?”

“‘Doctor Gallia’? Of course. He’s the one leading the Sa Hwelju experiment.”

Jang Hwonwoo nodded and drank half his cup of liquor. The Vice Commander, watching his subordinate drink water without touching the side dishes, got to the point.

“So, is that all you had to say? If it’s about a personnel request, I have nothing more to say.”

“……Then why did you come to this meeting?”

When Jang Hwonwoo pointed this out sharply, the Vice Commander sighed and crossed his arms.

If he had no intention of accepting a bribe or withdrawing the transfer, there was no reason for him to have bothered coming here. Jang Hwonwoo’s mind raced. Could he have assumed there was another reason for a confidential meeting besides a request for a favor…?

“Well then, I’ll be on my way!”

The Vice Commander prepared to stand up. Jang Hwonwoo made a split-second decision. He came here with no intention of accepting a bribe…? He must have a guilty conscience about something. Jang Hwonwoo readied his blade and at the same time, took a gamble.

“What if it’s blackmail instead of a bribe?”

“……”

“I know what you are plotting, Vice Commander.”

At the quickly thrown bait, the Vice Commander turned a cold gaze toward Jang Hwonwoo. Jang Hwonwoo’s guess was correct. The man had something to feel guilty about. The Vice Commander did not leave the room and sat back down with a venomous look on his face.

Tense strain filled the room. Jang Hwonwoo did not avoid the Vice Commander’s eyes. What has he done that he can’t let a subordinate find out? Did he get caught in a weakness?

“I knew you always had many complaints about me. How far did you get by tailing and following me?”

If he suspected he was being tailed, it meant he was committing a forbidden act somewhere other than the military, his main workplace. What is his weakness? What is he plotting? Jang Hwonwoo pondered in the fleeting moment where every second counted. The Vice Commander’s hand slowly moved toward the gun at his waist. Jang Hwonwoo nonchalantly drained his cup and spoke.

“If you kill me here, it will only arouse more suspicion about what you were trying to hide.”

“What did you say?”

The man had little time left to live. Facing the Vice Commander’s death, Jang Hwonwoo played a big card.

“I don’t know the identity of the person you conspired with at the red-light district, but I’ll keep it a secret for you for now.”

“The red-light district…?”

At the mention of the red-light district, the Vice Commander’s eyes turned peculiar. He had guessed the matter the man wanted to hide was related to the district, but it seemed his guess was wrong. If so, considering his usual movements, the thing he wanted to hide must be at his mansion.

There’s something in the Vice Commander’s mansion. Even though the guess was wrong, he got the answer he wanted, and that was enough. Jang Hwonwoo put down his water glass and looked straight ahead.

“Are you really the subordinate I knew? For your head to suddenly work so fast… I can’t figure it out.”

The Vice Commander’s eyes grew increasingly cold as he spoke. Above the table, the two soldiers’ gazes met with sharp tension.

“You’re drinking slowly. You, who are a bigger drunkard than I.”

“Because today is not a day to get drunk.”

“You always asked for Japanese tea after emptying your cup. Said you hated the taste of Joseon water.”

“……”

“Now you drink water every time you empty your cup.”

The Vice Commander gripped his gun, a chilling intuition sweeping over his entire body. The division commander before him did not seem like the subordinate he knew.

Just then, a faint sound of movement came from behind the folding screen. It was the sound of a foot sliding, shhhk, across the tatami floor.

The Vice Commander tried to hide his creeping horror and glanced at the screen. He had clearly heard something move on the tatami, but when he looked, there was nothing there.

When he quickly turned his gaze back to the front, the subordinate sitting opposite him slammed his water glass down hard. The corner of his subordinate’s mouth curved strangely. The subordinate he had transferred to Yeongheungman was not someone capable of making such a cunning expression. The Vice Commander put weight on the trigger of his pistol and rose from his seat.

“Don’t move. …Have you been hiding your true self from me all this time?”

“I was curious about what you were plotting, but it seems this is as far as it goes.”

The subordinate sitting before him now did not have the flushed face that always showed his emotions honestly. His gaze was supremely calm and, at the same time, looked supremely deranged. It was impossible to predict what he might do. The subordinate poured himself a drink and continued speaking.

“Since it’s all out in the open, let’s speak frankly. How were you planning to ruin Sa Yeonri, the property of the Sashimcheon family, after taking him to Japan? Please let me join in.”

“…What?”

“Didn’t you say that with that kind of beauty, there is a pleasure in defiling it?”

The Vice Commander, trying to recall when he had said that, became greatly agitated. He had remembered from whom he had seen this unusual, chilling calmness that his subordinate had just displayed.

“…Hiroshi. No. You Joseon-jing, Jang Hwonwoo! This ridiculously young brat…!”

It was the moment the Vice Commander tried to bend his finger. A force that could not be shaken off by any means bound the Vice Commander tightly. His fingertips and tongue were frozen, unable to move as he willed. He tried to scream, but his neck wouldn’t move. Jang Hwonwoo walked around the table and approached the Vice Commander, who stood frozen with a gun in his hand.

“What to do. You’re about to die at the hands of a ridiculously young brat.”

Jang Hwonwoo, in the guise of the subordinate, did not draw things out or unnecessarily enjoy the foreplay of murder. There was no excess, no hesitation in his actions. With his usual gentle face, he began the slaughter. Jang Hwonwoo swiftly swung the arm holding the knife.

Aaargh!

An excruciating pain of flesh being cut flashed between his legs. The Vice Commander’s eyes flew open and he screamed. He tried to let out a sound, but with his neck held tightly in a left hand, he could only move his mouth wordlessly.

“Sa Yeonri won’t find pleasure in the genitals just severed from your body, but in my young flesh.”

The Vice Commander’s scream was once again trapped inside his body by the blade stabbing into his abdomen. A tremendous spray of blood shot up over the vivid red spatters on the walls and ceiling.

Ugh…! Gack…! The Vice Commander screamed silently.

Thwack. Squish. Each time pain and screams spread through his belly, the Vice Commander’s eyes bulged red from the pressure, and thick veins stood out tautly on his neck.

“The one to have that Sa Yeonri, the one to violate and break his body, is me alone.”

The light in Jang Hwonwoo’s calm eyes distorted as he swung his arm, muttering something in Korean.

“Only. Me.”

The hacking, which deliberately avoided fatal spots, was filled with resentment. The Vice Commander, barely breathing amidst the horrific pain, saw the real subordinate crawling on the floor behind Jang Hwonwoo. Whether it was a hallucination or real, the division commander, with his hands and feet tied, wriggled out from behind the folding screen.

A powerful telekinetic force crushed the body of the division commander collapsed behind the screen. After a quick glance behind him, Jang Hwonwoo turned back and focused on ending the Vice Commander’s life.

The Vice Commander couldn’t believe what was happening. To be killed by a 17-year-old boy who had been a perfect Japanese and loyal soldier of the Emperor! That even after his death, this act would be disguised as the subordinate’s doing and be forgotten by everyone!

Jang Hwonwoo’s calm voice descended upon the Vice Commander’s final consciousness.

“The reason for everything I do is to be with that man. You won’t be able to laugh at the fact that your death today also stems from that.”

Before the proprietress of the red-light district, who heard the belated screams, could come running, everything was finished within five minutes. Just before the Vice Commander took his last breath, Jang Hwonwoo used his hand to fire the gun and finish off the division commander. After confirming that both bodies had stopped breathing, the grand undertaking ended with him slipping out through the window without leaving a trace.

Jang Hwonwoo undid his disguise and entered the sluice gate under the Cheonggyecheon stream, hiding his body in the darkness. Even after undoing the disguise, the smell of blood wouldn’t leave his body, so he smoked a Western cigarette.

Exhaling hazy smoke, Jang Hwonwoo gave a soft smile. It was a smile he only made for Jae Eunho, when necessary.

“My teacher, who thinks I’m timid and kind, will be so surprised to see the extra edition of the newspaper tomorrow. Was I too harsh…. But then….”

Jang Hwonwoo quietly muttered words he would never say in front of Jae Eunho, taking out the blood-soaked Western cigarettes one by one and burning them. Then, he raised his head towards the moonlit dawn sky and chuckled with a gentle voice. The corners of his eyes, which had been soaked in blood, curved softly.

“He thinks of devouring my teacher… bringing up the kimono. I’m the one who’s waited for years just to kiss him. It was justified. Son of a bitch….”

A faint curse flowed from between the neat lips holding the cigarette.